Eternal Fire

Chapter 19

They neared the end of the valley when dragons shot at them from all sides, the green (and sometimes blue) scales shown in the sun, but these dragons had rolled around in some mud, making their scales look different to the dragons on Ember's side. The two sides clashed with a bang and a roar, which echoed in Ember's mind for the next couple of minutes. Dragons flew straight into Ember's fire wall, and she felt every single one, she also felt other dragons try to put the wall out, and manipulate the wall, which she let them do. When they passed through Ember put the wall back up, and thicker as well, catching many in its fiery grasp. 

A force pushed her to the side, she spun to face the one that had crashed into her. And saw nothing. Just the normal green landscape. Well the hills and some dragons coming for the right side, and possibly the back, but not close enough to hit her. She felt another thump, this time in her neck, she gasped for air before wildly swinging her claws to the right side. And caught nothing.

She felt one right wing get ripped, and roared as she struck out with fire, she heard a snarl to her right, bit still saw nothing. The ground loomed closer as she beat her wings harder to remain in the air. She felt for warmth, that of a dragon to her right side, and found a warm being the size and shape of a dragon hovering slightly above her to her right. She gave that being some more heat. Nothing happened. And some more. The green scaled dragon appeared and started falling towards the ground, too hot to fly.

"Found you, stupid invisible dragon." She murmured, taking the excess heat from the dragon before it hit the ground, who flapped wildly before landing with a crunch. She cringed; they would need serious healing if they wanted to fly like they used to. Ember followed the dragon down, the tear in her wing was getting worse, she landed in a semi-controlled-earth-shuddering boom. She walked over to the fallen dragon who raised their head and looked at her.

"Oww, I'm sorry about your wing." they said, face scrunched up.

"I am the one who should be saying sorry, I didn't realise that you were going to break your wing so badly. Here's a tip, sneaking up on a dragon that can sense your body heat, the water in your body, the dirt on your claws, or the air around you is never the good idea. They will find you. And kill you. Pass that tip to the other invisible dragons.

"In the meantime, be careful with your injuries, you don't want to make it worse. I'm sure there is a healer hanging around here somewhere, it would make sense to leave them behind... Now, I must not kill or seriously injure any of my dragons whilst remaking my fire wall. I would say good day, but it is not appropriate. Good luck."

The dragon nodded. Ember looked at the gash in her wing, if only they were protected by scales like the rest of her body too, then she would be able to fly without fearing further injury, and they wouldn't be so fragile. She looked towards the battle, a snarl escaping her jaws, her fire wall was failing, dragons were coming through, and her side were being surrounded. Just her luck. 

She drew more fire up, keeping a close eye on it, she valued her freedom, even if it did seem that she was not free. I'm not exactly free, I never will be. I hate prophecies. But at least I can still make some decisions for myself. She let some fire loose, around her side, 'accidently' burning some on the attacking side. Dragons roared, the sound carrying past Ember and into the distance. Those who could fight fire, ones with water, ice or air powers protected themselves, and if they could, those around them. Those gifted with powers with fire struggled against Ember and her fire's will. When her fire was getting satisfied with the number of dragons falling with their wings burning, it started to tug to injure more, but Ember reeled her fire in, feeling the heat from the fire's attempt to break free. Those who had some ability over the elements started to help those who were powerless against Ember's fire, healers running in. Ember walked forwards, watching as her fire begged and thrashed to be rereleased, trying to burn Ember, but Ember only let a tiny smudge free, which quickly attacked any defenders who were still flying and uninjured.