[COMPLETE] R E V E R S E #NaNoWriMo2k17

Chapter 17

After the short trip, he concluded that teleportation was one thing that he'd never want to try again.

After being spun around the force of the Twisting Crescendo, flipped over and over and generally falling so fast his face felt like it was being ripped off, he fell on his head onto hard earth, almost breaking his neck on the impact. He barely had enough time to roll out of the way when Stella landed in the same spot he'd been only a second ago, her wings still smouldering from the strange flames. The rift above them closed with a horrible crunch.

He scrambled over to her, the morning sun baking into his skin. "Are you alright?"

"Ugh... wait..." She suddenly bolted upright, apparently panicked. "Crap. Crap crap crap. Is it just me, or is it extremely hot?"

"Um... no, it's not just you."

"CRAP." She jumped to her feet, apparently ignoring the fact that her wings were still smoking, turning around in a full circle out of frustation. "That idiot! She just - ugh!"

He looked around. Wherever they were, it definitely wasn't the Icefields. Earthy mountains stretched as far as the eye could see, plants sparse. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a familiar, yet alien crumbling tower in the distance.

"Oh my gods. Is that -"

"I HATE YOU TALONA!" She screeched, forcing him to cover his ears. "THAT BASTARD! SHE INTERPRETED MY SPELL!"

"The fuck does that mean?"

She waved the dagger in his face. To his horror, he realised that it was horribly cracked. The end was a molten mess, the tip collapsed, still glowing red. The handle was split down the middle.

"SHE BROKE IT! SHE REDIRECTED US TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CONTINENT!"

He shook her roughly, trying to calm her down. "It's fine! You can make another one, right?"

"It's not that simple," she snapped, as if that were obvious. She was shaking, from anger or fear he didn't know. "We're stuck here until I get my magic back."

"Wait, she blocked your magic?" His mind flashed back to the spell that destroyed his sight and hearing, as well as rendering him incapable of speaking.

"I don't know if she's actually destroyed it or what. But I can tell that it's gone. I won't be able to do anything for at least a day."

"Well, shit." Talona was probably already rousing her forces, preparing to march on towards their home, and the only two dragons who knew about the attack were stranded on the other side of the continent.

"What do we do now? Do you know anything about Dragonhome?"

He didn't. He'd often complain to his teacher when he was younger, 'These places are so far away! Why do I need to know so much junk about them? I'll never go there!' Now he promised himself that, when this was all over, he would built a time machine, go back in time and give his past self a good punch in the face.

"We're just going to have to wing it. Let's see if there's actually anyone still living in these mountains," he muttered, staring to move forwards. He'd only taken two steps when an arrow thudded to the ground at his feet.

He jumped back, flailing, as Stella drew her broken dagger. His sword was in his hand a second later, whipping around from side for side, expecting a pack of centaurs to burst out of the shadows any moment.

None came, he was about to withdraw his sword when he heard something whistle. He whipped around and barely deflected the arrow off his blade.

A tiny Fae perched silently on a rocky outcrop just two winglengths away from them, so close he didn't see how he missed them. Their scales were a deep, rocky brown, and their eyes were a gentle shade of amber. They held a bow in their undersized hands, pointed as if though they were about to shoot. As he watched, the dragon made to reach for another arrow in their quiver.