The Last of the Dragons-Set 1

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       I hovered over the motionless body, my shadow blocking out the suns light. I waited for a moment, hoping for a response, but getting none. The others circled around the two of us and watched silently as I placed my hand on the side of Bailey's face and slightly rubbed her cheek. I felt a hand gently rest itself on my shoulder, followed by Amy's comforting voice.

"Move aside. Let me have a look at her." She said softly.

Reluctantly, I stepped to the side and was met by Tahli's comforting arms around my shoulder. I watched as Amy knelt down beside Bailey and pressed her head up against her chest.

"Her heart is beating. So she's still alive." Amy said.

I nodded my head rapidly, trying to hold back an outburst of sadness and frustration as Amy turned her focus to Bailey's head. She looked it over and brushed her hair aside, revealing a bloody wound on the back of her head just above the base of her neck, with blood dripping down her back and into her clothing.

"I need something to wrap this! Now!" Amy exclaimed.

"Here!" Jules shouted as she stepped forward and reached out to Amy with a piece of cloth in her hand.

Amy grabbed it and wasted no time wrapping  Bailey's head with it, leaving only one of her eyes exposed, just in case she woke up. Then, just as a false sense of hope started to roll over me, I was reminded of the reality of the situation when the sound of Magar crying out for comfort assaulted our ears. 

"What can we do?!" Jules asked urgently.

"I'm not sure. Give me a minute." Amy said.

Amy approached Magar, but was stopped when Doron snapped at her, flaring his teeth and hissing, causing Amy to stumble back and trip, falling to the ground.

"No! You know her! Let her pass!" I shouted furiously at Doron.

He lowered his head and cowered in submission at the familiar sound of my angry voice, before slowly backing up enough for Amy to approach Magar and examine her. Amy gently stroked the wound on Magar's side, causing the dragon to cry out in pain at Amy's touch. Doron hovered over the two of them, looking down as the stricken purple dragon helplessly.

"Her leg has been compromised somehow. She'll be alright in a while, the pain of trying to land on it was the only reason she crashed when trying to land. There doesn't seem to be any actual damage that could prevent her from landing in the future. She'll be okay." Amy exclaimed.

I felt the first real sense of relief I had felt in what felt like forever. Knowing that the dragon at least would be alright, though the fear of losing Bailey kept ripping away at my sanity at a frightening pace. I had already lost so many people who I loved and cared about, I certainly couldn't handle the loss of somehow who I viewed as my own child. I looked up at the sky and took a deep breath, before turning back towards the group.

"We can't stay here. In time, they will find us. They slaughtered so many with great ease, and I sense that they won't stop at those killed today. These people will kill us all, with no remorse. The only hope now is to retreat as far inland as we can, and hope that the messengers we sent make it to the villages in time. Should we stumble across any on our journey inland, we will spread the word. Other than that, there is nothing further we can do except pick them off one by one whenever we get the chance." I said bluntly.

The look on everyones face clearly showed displeasure, but only Tahli and Amy were willing to speak up and protest.

"Jess, we brought  the king down and slaughtered him and all of his followers! What makes you think we can't do the same here?!" Amy protested.

"She's right Jessica. We can't just run. If we do that, most of our people will be enslaved and live in misery once again, and the lucky ones, killed. While I would prefer not to die a senseless death, I'd rather not watch helpless people die and suffer when we have dragons on our side." Tahli added.

I paused for a moment, before uttering my response.

"This is different. You saw how quickly they drove us back. And you saw those weapons. We can't possibly fight them off ourselves, and we simply do not have enough men left alive who can fight that could drive them back. Our best chance is, like I said, to pick them off one by one and hope enough of us survive long enough to grow a new army without being discovered, and then, possibly force them back to the sea. You may not like it, but you both know it's our best chance to survive." I exclaimed.

They both looked at me in frustration, knowing that they couldn't disagree with me given the facts I'd just presented.

"We'll rest here for the night. We take shifts keeping watch. In the morning, we leave, and we never look back. Perhaps even make for the far coast, putting as much distance between us, and them as possible. As for the villages and their inhabitants, what they do is now up to them. We can't protect them anymore. For now, it's over. We're on our own now." I said.