Dragon's Wings

Chapter 33

The spirit known as the One Who Is Wrongly Shaped And Made and the One Who Rages thought itself very smart. It had Taken one that the One Who Wronged It had welcomed and greeted and now? Now it had the Blood of the One Who Wronged It.

She called herself the Dragon Rider, but the only thing that mattered was that she was one of Theirs. She was why They had awoken and made the world tremble.

It was a clever spirit, a crafty one. It fashioned itself to be a spirit that should be Great and Powerful. It might be considered lesser but it would prove itself. It wanted its Revenge but it was also host to the group, and hospitality laws were sacred things.

But, the spirit thought to itself, hospitality laws are for the spirit realm. For, you see, the spirit knew that the group it was hosting was not from the spirit realm at all. Well, one had given up its claim to the spirit realm and was only really part spirit, but the rest weren't spirits.

And so the spirit thought to itself about this and schemed. It hatched a cunning plan. If it was sneaky enough, when it broke the hospitality laws, none would know. And if no one heard what it had done, then no one would attack it for breaking the hospitality laws.

There were rumours, of course, that the world shifted if hospitality was broken. But surely those were lies. Rumours. Myths. The world did not change if hospitality was broken. And if it did, why would the world care for creatures not of this realm?

So when it next saw the one that was Theirs, it screamed and snarled and reached out with jagged teeth and attacked.

***

Rashmi dodged. The One Who Is Wrongly Shaped And Made screamed and lunged. Gigantic green wings flapping, sending feathers flying.

Rashmi! Vera called, and then the dragon was in the way, leaping into the air, teeth bared, at the spirit.

However, Rashmi knew that Vera could not hold the spirit at bay for long. Not only could Vera do not damage, but the spirit was bigger than the dragon. Its green scales protected it well that even the weapons they had would be ineffective.

"You good?" Shiori said, stopping next to Rashmi. Rashmi swallowed and nodded. The spirit had only managed to leave tears in her clothing. Still, it had been unexpected. Hospitality had been broken, which Amor had said was unlikely to happen.

"Don't know if we'll be able to get close without getting injured," Shui said beside them. They'd taken to wearing their hearing aids ever since they entered the One Who Is Wrongly Shaped And Made's region, simply because they didn't feel safe.

"I'll see what I can do," Amor said, and then shifted into their kelpie form. They charged forwards. Just in time too, as Vera was thrown away, slamming into a wall before falling to the ground. The dragon was quick to get to her feet, angry and sore, but alive and relatively uninjured.

To keep the spirit at bay, Amor had leapt into the air. The kelpie had managed to close their jaws around the spirit's wings. The spirit screamed and flailed, and Amor was forced to let go, but immediately went back after the spirit, which climbed higher in the air to avoid them.

"What do we do?" Shui asked as Vera, too, threw herself back into the fight. It was a fight for giants. It felt like there was nothing they could do.

"We see if the Summoner is nearby," Rashmi decided. "Come on, hospitality's been broken by the spirit so surely we can do the same."

"But we stick together," Shiori said. "The Dragon Rider, keep half a mind on the Dragon if you can. Let us know if they need help or we need to get ready to escape quickly or something."