16: Where the Trust Lies

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A sizzling sound filled the air as everyone looked around to see their village halfway melted from the poison jelly. Murmurs and confusion spread to everyone as they looked around their now destroyed home.

"Morana!"

"Chief!"

Shouts called out as the villagers and mages looked over to where Morana and the chief were last seen. Smoke had covered the area, and everyone waited in anticipation as the smoke cleared.

"You are pathetic." A hiss echoed. The smoke cleared, and relief filled everyone as they looked upon Morana standing over the chief as she had her hands raised in the air. The ice dragon has cast an ice shield over herself and the chief. The poison jelly was still able to melt through it, but the damage wasn't as bad.

"Bobo! You're still standing!" The chief paid no attention to the ice dragon that protected him and held onto the grave in despair. Rolling her eyes she grabbed the back of the chief's tribal garments and dragged him back towards the villagers. The chief went kicking and screaming.

"Morana! Are you okay?" Lucy immediately got to the ice dragon to assess the injuries she might have sustained from the poison. There was a good amount of steam coming off of Morana's skin that had Lucy concerned.

"I'm fine," Morana grumbled as she threw the chief towards several of the villagers. They had caught him and were quick to check him over as others watched the ice dragon in confusion.

"You protected our chief! But I thought you hated our kind." One of the villagers asked, confused, as he bravely approached the ice dragon.

With a sharp glare, she responded coldly, "I still do. But that does not give me the right to ignore a life in danger."

Her words hovered over everyone as they watched the ice dragon closely. It was clear as day that she was in immense pain. Her skin hadn't stopped steaming, and her sports bra and cargo pants had small spots that were melting. The only thing that didn't seem to be touched was the scarf around her waist.

"All that posion jelly was wasted; how sad." A female voice spoke. Heads turned to see the three mages that rode on the giant rat earlier appear before them. One of them had kicked Bobo's grave down. Natsu and Morana glared at the three mages with pure hatred.

"Well, it doesn't matter. Fifteen villagers and four mages, we can handle them." Yuka analyzed.

"Five counting me!" Happy interjected.

"Now's not the time, Happy!" Lucy shouted.

A groan came from behind as Gray stood up and said, "Don't... I'll help."

"No, you're not Gray. You need to stay back and rest." Natsu objected.

"You need to rest, Gray; we'll take care of things from here." Morana cracked her knuckles.

"But...your magic." Gray pointed out as the three fairy tail mages examined Morana's back, noticing small black crack-like markings appearing from the center of her back and slowly spreading out.

"Don't worry about me." Morana knew what they were worried about. Not wanting them to know, but she was also worried as well. Fighting Lyon and casting her dragon ice spell had drained a lot of her magic energy. It didn't help that she also cast a very large ice shield over the village and a few small ones over her and the chief.

"We are wasting time; shall we start taking care of these pests?" Yuka asked as he took note of the strange behavior of the three mages. Gray attempted to stand on his own, but Natsu had done the unthinkable. Slamming his fist into Gray's stomach, he knocked the ice mage out cold.

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