The Dragon Warrior

Chapter 9

Her fingers dropped the pendant as what felt like a fiery stone was dropped into the pit of her stomach. The dragon bounced back against Emma's chest; she took no notice of it, as it was only a trivial event compared to the creation of the balloon that was swelling inside her, threatening to break her from the inside out.

But she didn't break - she grew. Emma opened her bright blue eyes and saw that Opa and Julia were now just tiny specks on the ground and that the clouds seemed much closer than they had before.

Turning the other way, Emma felt a great mass turn behind her as she did and then realized that it was her own body. She was not accustomed to having 80 feet of body to work with; she was left awkward and unstable, and she imagined her brother felt the same.

She looked at him now and saw that his scales had turned a midnight blue, with pearly white ones scattered here and there. It was though the sky had been taken down and wrapped around him like a cloak. She glanced down at her own body.

She was dotted with all different colours of scales, the prominent ones being a beautiful, rich dark blue, a soothing peaceful olive green and a pure, smooth white. Dragging her claws along the ground, Emma inspected them and saw they were razor sharp. She gave her tail an experimental flick, and moved forward a couple of steps, testing out her new form.

What she really wanted to do was fly.

She scooped up Opa gently in her claws, being careful not to scratch her, and motioned for Noah to carry Julia. He nodded his giant head and they prepared to take flight.

Pushing off her powerful, springy back legs, Emma spread her wings and let the wind carry her towards the Great One's palace.

Flying was wonderful. It was almost as though she had known how to do this her whole life - no one had taught her how to feel the cool breeze on her face, or look down and have the entire world spread out beneath you, or swoop through the clouds in a pure phase of happiness.

Noah was zooming downwards, his wings tucked and his nose pointed, and Emma saw what he was doing. She dropped Opa off at the roof and followed his lead.

Ouch. Emma crashed into a bristling wall of spears, but they didn't hurt her that much. More injured were the fleet of Movopare she had crushed with her enormous body.

Around her, a colossal battle was raging on, although one side only had one person. The Great One was taking on 7 or 8 Movopare at once, using a combination of magic and combat skills to skewer each and every one.

Thousands of Movopare lay dead on the floor, but waves and waves appeared through the doors. Noah, Julia and Opa tackled them, scattering their ranks and protecting the Great One. But he still looked distressed. And Emma could see why.

A monstrous creature half her dragon height stood patiently off to the side, smiling as he watched Noah pick off an entire row of his army. Emma realized too late with a sickening jolt it was all part of a master plan that both she and her brother had been too dense to see.

The Leader began to advance towards her brother. Emma gritted her teeth and flew silently off to his left, pretending she hadn't noticed him. At the last minute, she turned sharply and rammed into him, sending him flying into a wall of swords.

Even though he was seriously injured, the Leader didn't seem too bothered. He stood up, grunted, and began to pick the blades out of his body. Emma didn't let him get that far.

She rushed at him again, this time with her claws extended, and attempted to kill. But he was quick, and he dodged, pulling a gigantic sword out of his sheath as he went.