“Ari! Make a hole in the top of the shield. Open up the top!” Merrick called.
Ugh. With three fire dragons flying around us, I hated to lose the cover. But we couldn’t attack through my shield wall, and I couldn’t sustain it against an attack if all the dragons came at us at once. A fourth one had joined their ranks, rising up from the left side of the boat.
We had to get rid of them.
I dropped the top part of the shield, and Merrick stood, bracing his feet wide in the base of the wobbling boat as he began to throw long rotating spears of energy at the dragons.
“Fuckin’ hell!” Lachlan shouted as he turned and sent out a vibrating surge of magic toward several more dragon-like creatures that were bearing down on us from the other direction. “Is there anythin’ in this bloody forest that isn’t deadly?”
I snorted, struggling to hold my shield up. “I’ve been asking myself that this whole time. I’m still waiting for the sweet, furry baby bunnies.”
Trace threw large balls of electric magic over the shield, taking down two of the dragons. “Yeah, right! Baby bunnies in this place? If they exist, they’ll probably just try to eat you. Or they have some sort of weird human skin fetish where they’re creating little rabbit houses with human lampshades.”
For a half-second, all three of us paused in our fight to turn and stare at him.
“You’re so weird,” I said.
Trace chuckled.
Then his eyes grew wide as he looked straight behind me. “Watch out!”
Before I could do anything, he threw himself at me, wrapping his arms around me and dragging me down into the bottom of the boat, shielding me from a spray of fire that came from one of the dragons.
Merrick moved as fast as he could, piercing the beast with his spear and watching as it sunk back into the fire. Still, it wasn’t fast enough.
By the time I was able to move Trace’s limp body off me, half of his back and all down his right arm was burnt. He was groaning and looked as if he were about to pass out.
Fuck. Fuck!
The other two men continued to fight off the last beasts until finally the boat picked up speed again, moving at a faster pace this time.
I pulled energy from the pit of my stomach and began to move it carefully around the burns on Trace’s body, hoping it would do something to help him until we could get him somewhere to treat him. He winced as the energy circulated around him, and I winced with him.
My heart slammed against my ribs, and my hands shook, my stomach twisting as if I could feel his injuries in my own body.
“I know it hurts,” I whispered desperately, “but you have to hold still and just let me do it. If nothing else, it will protect you from getting anything in those burns. Just hold on.”
I felt like I should say something else—touch him or thank him for what he had done—but I wasn’t quite sure how to put it into words, or whether he’d even hear me right now. I would’ve been nothing but a burnt shriveled up body in the seat next to him if he hadn’t tackled me.
But now he was the one who was hurt, burnt badly.
Suddenly, another dragon shot up out of the flames, and the anger in me took over.
“Lach! Steady me!” I yelled out.
Not even waiting for him to respond, I stood up on the bench seat next to Trace and began waving my arms back and forth wildly.
Sprays of magic, pulsating and red, shot out all around us. Merrick and Lachlan ducked down, avoiding my rage as they each wrapped their arms around one of my legs, keeping me from toppling out of the boat as I whipped my magic around.
The energy wrapped around the dragon’s throat, and I held my arms straight out in front of me before spreading them wide, as if I were pushing open two sliding doors.
I snarled and grunted as the dragon’s body split apart, its head flying to the right, into the fire, and its body to the left, landing on the shore. The other dragons that had begun to emerge when they heard the noise quickly dove back down and out of sight.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to bring my temper back down, trying to get a hold of myself.
The sound of Trace groaning slightly pulled me out of my rage.
Just as I turned toward him, a shadow fell over us.