Breaking Free: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 4: The Water Queen

Sagittarius screamed something at one of the guards chasing her and summoned a large phoenix, whooping as it headbutted the guard into a nearby building.

"I hope they're doing alright!" she yelled at Leo, who was fending off a few soldiers with a wave of fire. "Careful!" he yelled back, throwing a bullet of fire over her head. Sagittarius spun around to see a soldier howling in pain as he was thrown into another building.

"Hmph." she snorted, waving her hand to manipulate the nearby flames. She threw up a large shield to create a barrier for a few seconds. "Let's move closer!" she called, summoning a large dragon and throwing herself onto its back. She ordered the dragon to grab Leo and they took off for the palace.

---

"Kill them all."

Aries immediately summoned his sword and lashed out at the guards closest to Cancer and Pisces. They immediately spun around and easily avoided his sword. Aries hissed with pain as they suddenly slashed at his arms with whips made of ice.

Scorpio finally started moving, driven by his emotions. He summoned a spear and swatted the two guards holding down Cancer and Pisces. "Cancer! Pisces!" he yelled, grabbing them and pulling them to their feet.

"S... scorpio?" Cancer whispered, opening an eye. Scorpio quickly looked around; there were now four guards attacking Aries and the queen was just... standing there. "Wait here and stay safe." he whispered, nudging them behind a pillar before swinging his spear at the closest guard.

"Sc - pio!" Aries yelled something at him, but it was drowned out by the sound of solid magic clashing against magic. "What?!" he yelled back, forcing a guard into a nearby pillar with his spear.

"Th - een!" Aries yelled back. Scorpio spun around to see the queen, surrounded by a circle of magic, and muttering something under her breath. He felt his veins run cold as he recognised the spell.

Aprixus celestialius... a spell that will kill anyone in a 10m distance. Including her own guards and us.

Scorpio made a mad dash for the queen, transforming his spear into his scythe. The queen hardly looked up and created a barrier around herself, still chanting. Scorpio slammed into the barrier, hacking at it with his scythe.

Aries ran up next to him, clutching his sword. "We need to break this thing," he said, still gasping for breath. He quickly recovered and lifted his sword in the air, sweat beading across his forehead as he powered his spell.

"Scorpio, help," he hissed between clenched teeth. Scorpio turned around to see Aries with his hands in the air, a glowing fireball between his hands. Scorpio followed his instincts - he began to take energy from his surroundings, forming it into a glowing ball of magic.

Scorpio glanced back at the queen. Magic circled her as she finished the last line of the chant.

"Scorpio," Aries growled. "We... we need to... I'm going to share my magic with you."

"Wh... what?" Scorpio managed to say, before Aries pressed his burning hot hands against Scorpio's arm.

A giant creature made of ice and fire leaped out. It looked like some horrific fusion of a ram and a scorpion; it was already melting where it stood.

Aries and Scorpio seemed to be glowing with blue and red fire, their eyes clenched shut. The ram-scorpion, powered by the two of them, rushed at the queen. The barrier shattered under its hooves and the queen let out a strangled cry before the scorpion's tail jabbed forwards and into her chest.

The queen's head rolled back. Liquid magic and blood trickled from her mouth. The creature stood there, its tail still in her chest, before melting away. Aries managed to tear his hands away from Scorpio, then the two boys collapsed.

Cancer and Pisces immediately got up and left their hiding spots behind the pillar. Cancer kneeled down next to them, running her hands over their injuries.

"You're going to be fine, you're going to be fine," she muttered to herself. A surge of magic rushed through her; she let out a sigh of relief, unconsciously rubbing at her wrist.

"Cancer, are you okay?" Pisces asked, kneeling next to Cancer. "Yes, yes, I'm fine..." she mumbled, channeling her magic. Before their eyes, wounds began to close up; Pisces tried to help by splashing water on Scorpio's face.

"I think that... other boy is, um, a fire elemental." Cancer pointed out. "You might want to keep water away from him. Not that I know anything about fire elementals, because, well, you know." Pisces nodded in response. "Oh, okay!" she said, channeling her power towards Scorpio instead.

---

Sagittarius guided the dragon towards the palace after seeing the explosion. "Let's get them and get out of here!" she yelled at Leo, who was still dangling in the dragon's claws. "Not like I can do anything about it anyways!" he yelled back, sending a wave of fire towards the guards below.

The dragon swooped towards the palace. "Brace yourself!" Sagittarius yelled down at Leo, pressing herself against the dragon's back. Leo yelled something unintelligible - it was lost in the sound of shattering brick and stone.

"Let's get out of here!" she yelled down. Leo removed himself from the dragon's claws and hauled Aries up. "You two - can you get, uh, Scorpio, was it?"

Sagittarius rolled her eyes, glancing behind her to see if there were any guards close by. She helped Leo put Aries onboard, then yelled down at the two girls. "Get onboard!"

The dragon grabbed Scorpio with one of its massive claws. "Quickly! Your friend's safe with us!" she yelled down, getting a little impatient.

Cancer and Pisces shared a slightly frightened look, but they quickly made their way to the dragon as they heard guards approaching. Leo grabbed their hands and helped them up, just as Sagittarius ordered the dragon to take off.

Leo created a circle of fire on the floor, sending the guards skidding to a halt. "Go!" he yelled at Sagittarius, who didn't need telling twice. The dragon shot through the hole in the ceiling and turned itself towards the wall. "Let's go!"

---

There were no guards after that. Sagittarius found a hole in the wall; they couldn't pinpoint where they had come in from because nobody could remember.

"Thank you," she whispered to the dragon, stroking its snout. Meanwhile, Leo was attempting to haul Aries through the gap. "A little help here?" he whisper-shouted at her. Sagittarius nodded. "Alright, let's go." she replied, turning back to Leo. The dragon took off; in a few beats of its wings, it had vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Three, two, one!" Leo yelled, tugging at Aries arms as hard as he could. On the other side, Sagittarius shoved at his feet; with a grunt, Leo pulled Aries through.

"Are... you okay?" Pisces asked. The two girls were standing on Leo's side, looking around nervously. Leo replied with another grunt and poked his head through the hole. "Alright, how about Scorpio?"

"Right here." Sagittarius replied, grabbing the dark-haired boy by the arms. Abruptly, Scorpio woke up with a growl. "Whoa; hey, don't punch me!" Sagittarius yelled, nearly slapping him in the face.

"I can do it myself." he said simply, clambering his way through the gap. Sagittarius snorted in response. "Yeah, right..." she muttered, crawling through after him.