Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire- Chapter Sixteen

My muscles were sore, tiny pangs of pain zinging up and down my spine and legs. It was hard to ignore. Instead of letting myself wallow in self-pity, however, I returned to reciting the Ten Commandments of Lǐmào.

The sky outside darkened quickly, stormy grey clouds forming above the mountains like steam above a tea kettle. They were thick enough to prevent sunlight from shining through. All we had for light in our wagon was a flickering candle, which didn't provide much light or heat.

I shivered as yet another breeze wafted through the wagon, sliding across my dry skin and raising goosebumps. Now that the Sun was no longer warming the atmosphere, every gust of wind left me quivering against the thin white cotton that covered the wagon.

"D'you feel that?" Hayden murmured, leaning down so his lips brished my hair. Another shudder ran through my body, and I wrapped my arms around my body in an attempt to conserve my body temperature.

"Feel what?" I whispered back. Hayden glanced around at the occupents of our wagon, then outside.

"The Néngyuán is acting strange," he clarified. "Can't you feel it? Something's wrong." I furrowed my brows, then let myself drift into the Other World. Sure enough, I could feel the Néngyuán bristling against my skin. It was a new sensation.

"What is... Get out!" I leapt from the wagon, followed closely by Hayden and soon after the rest of our companions. Immediately after the last man stumbled out of the wagon it was hit by a yellow fireball, a blaze than soon turned a bright, vivid orange.

I coughed heavily, shielding my eyes from the heat and the smoke as I helped myself and Hayden up. Ash floated into my eyes, causing a sharp pain than dulled momentarily when I blinked.

Behind us, there was a scream as a green fireball slammed into the following wagon. It erupted into an inferno of orange and green. My head whipped skyward, catching sight of the leathery green wings before they were blocked by a metallic blue body. Dragons.

I gasped, eyes locked onto the magnificent creatures circling above the train of wagons. They looked so peaceful, so in their element, than I felt as though I could have watched them forever. The illusion was shattered when the Blue Dragon let out an Earth-shattering roar and sprayed fire over the landscape.

"Oh, crap," Hayden whispered hoarsely. "Well, I believe this means we are screwed." I regained my bearings quicker than him, tugging him to hide behind a large buolder sticking up through the velvety grass on one of the hills.

"What are they doing?" I muttered in horror, watching the supposedly peaceful beasts destroying the beautiful scene and attempting to set fire to anything and anyone. "How are they here? Who's controlling them?" Hayden didn't answer, only breathed raggedly as he watched the chaos unfold before us.

"We have to stop them," he eventually said, then pulled himself over the boulder and ran at the nearest Dragon. The landed beast shrieked and flew back into the air to scream at him from above. Hayden remained in the open, almost dancing about with his arms waving in the air. It wasn't until he caught my eye with a meaningful glance that I understood his actions.

I tried to calm my racing heart, shutting out distractions from the outside world and focusing on finding Yín sè as quick as possible. She was so far off, unreachable, but I pulled on the small nugget than was her Běnzhí until I finally felt a release and was flung backwards into the boulder.

Blood trickled down my neck, but the moment I opened my eyes the pain in my skull was forgotten as I saw my Dragon standing proud in front of me.

"Yín sè!" I cried, running to her and mounting her easily. "I've missed you!"