Page 67 of Ava's Legacy of the Dragons
Simultaneously, all the hooded figures stormed towards them from both the front and the back. On one side was the high wall, meaning their only escape route was the theater square.
"Run!" Marcus shouted.
They ran towards the bleachers with Lilly in the lead, followed by Ava and Marcus and their enemies in close pursuit. The starlight was too weak to illuminate the surroundings, yet at this moment it revealed their every single step to their pursuers. Every direction they tried to flee. Moreover, their opponents outnumbered them. In seconds, they had caught up and surrounded them in the center of the theater square.
Ava once again positioned herself in front of Lilly, still holding the branch in her hands. Marcus stayed beside her, knife raised. He glared at the sorceress's followers with hatred.
"Think carefully about what you're doing now, because if you lay a hand on the Guardian, the dragons will hunt you down for eternity!"
The hooded figures just laughed and stepped closer,unimpressed. Ava and her friends had to huddle closer together to avoid being caught by the tips of their swords.
"The time for talking big is over." The leader spat on the ground.
With her heart pounding wildly, Ava reached out mentally to the small dragon that sat motionless in her bag. Through her eyes, he saw the danger they were in. She should have protected him better. How could she have encouraged him to hatch before bringing him to a safe place?
She didn't dare speak to him mentally. After all, the men in front of them were accustomed to dealing with magic. Perhaps they would perceive the mental connection as a form of magic, and she would immediately reveal where she was hiding the hatchling.
The leader raised his chin and targeted Ava's bag. Apparently, it wasn't difficult for their opponents to guess where the dragon was. How many possibilities were there, after all?
"Attack!"
He raised his sword and she lifted the branch in defense, even though she didn't know how much time it would buy her. When the sword hit the wood for the first time, it immediately broke in two. Ava froze. Horrified, she looked at the two halves of the branch in her hands.
The leader laughed and raised his sword again. A glow emanated from the blade, making it clear that this was no ordinary weapon. With an ugly grin, he swung back to continue the fight.
Lilly didn't hesitate for a second. She threw one stone after another, which kept the hooded figures atbay for a moment, but one of the mages muttered something, causing a red shimmering wall to appear. The stones bounced off of it. The girl looked to Ava for help, but she couldn't find a way out. If they called loudly for Kilian, the king's men would hear them, and that would have meant jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Searching for answers, she looked over her shoulder at Marcus, who was holding his knife out in front of him, fiercely determined to defend them. But she didn't need to fool herself. One look at him was enough to make it clear that he had never been trained as a fighter. He abhorred violence, which meant neither his mind nor his body was prepared for such a confrontation.
Especially not for a fight against mages.
He sensed her scrutinizing gaze and looked at her reverently, a burning in his eyes that she had never seen before. "I'll give it my all, Guardian."
"I know you will."
Were their final seconds approaching? If so, she would leave no stone unturned and fight until her last breath. For herself. For Lilly. For the dragon!
As she held the two wooden stumps in front of herself and Lilly for protection, a beating sound carried by the wind reached them. It grew louder and louder until a huge dragon suddenly spread across the sky, swallowing the light of the stars. It opened its maw and heat spread across the theater square before any of the mages had a chance to mutter a spell.
Immediately, Ava pulled Lilly to the ground and lay down protectively over her. The heat of the fire swept over them and it became hot, but the flames didn't reach them.
The hooded figures screamed and fled, but not allwere fast enough. The dragon caught some before they could escape. With every beat of its wings, it sank lower until they could see the rider sitting on its back.
Kilian.
He began to land beside them with his monstrous fire dragon. The wings generated so much wind that Ava's hair fluttered wildly. A few sparks sprayed and landed on her sleeve, which she quickly patted out. A bleacher crashed down, the previous year's foliage had turned to ash, and embers glowed here and there. When Thalara touched down, the earth shook, and the little dragon child in her bag began to squeak joyfully.
Ava raised her head cautiously to make sure the fire show was over. Apparently that was the case, because Kilian swung off the dragon's back and in one step was by her side, pulling her to her feet.
"Are you alright?" His eyes glowed as if he would pursue each individual opponent to their death if it were otherwise. Which she was convinced of immediately.
"We're fine." She helped Lilly to her feet, and the girl coughed and wiped the dust from her face. Once Ava had checked that Lilly and Marcus were unharmed, she stroked her leather bag where the dragon child was moving. He desperately wanted to come out.
"Shouldn't we wait a moment longer?"
"No, no. I want out!"
She hesitated. Shouldn't she wait a bit longer to make sure the hooded figures were really driven away? But he was kicking and turning, unable to stay in the bag for another second.
