Chapter 22

Talia's breath hitched as she stumbled. How far had they run? How much farther would they have to go? She used what little mana she had left to move large chunks of debris off the road. Lotus did her best to help as well but learning new spells on the fly was no easy feat.

"Do you think we're nearly there?" She huffed while pushing a large support beam that used to reside within a building off the street. Talia coughed harshly. With all the smoke she couldn't see where the gates were. From what she could remember they weren't all that far but the process of clearing a path was draining them of precious energy and burning away time.

"I sure hope so." She continued to cough; reaching for the satchel she reassured herself that the egg was still safe. Once the support beam was moved they both pressed on, hands covering their noses as the smoke billowed down into the streets.

Time passed painfully slow, with each new pile of debris removed they came across more and more dead. At first Talia wasn't bothered by it but the more unseeing eyes she gazed upon the more her stomach turned. She wasn't above murdering dozens of people when it was needed, but these people had no money down to kill them... They were all just caught up in their King's idiocy. While most were far from innocent they still didn't deserve to die in a hailstorm of flame and fury.

"This is horrific. How did this happen?" Lotus's voice cracked as she closed the eyes of another victim. She looked away towards the skies which had long since been darkened out.

"Hell if I know, Dragonfyre is illegal for a reason. When I first saw it I swear it looked like they were moving it up from the dockyards. The King must have had it shipped in some time ago for it to have aged as much as it did. Perhaps he was simply too stupid to know that it grows unstable with time." Perhaps it wasn't common knowledge, she couldn't truly be sure.

"Whatever the case... All these people..." Lotus stood up and swiped at her brow smearing the dirt, soot, and blood across her bronzed skin. Talia bit the bottom of her lip; her good arm reached out and once again she cast the spell to shove aside a large pile of broken wood, bodies, and stone.

"We can't dwell on it Lotus. We don't have the time." She stepped forward again only to stumble and fall to her hands and knees. With a start she noted that her satchel had fallen forward and the egg rolled free. To her horror it started to roll across the stone street; with each bump she could feel her heart stutter.

"G... Grab it quick!" She shouted, her hands and feet scraping desperately as she lunged forward. Lotus didn't even have time to reach for the egg as Talia's fingers brushed against the glowing shell.

The moment her fingers touched the shell a rumble rocked the ground. Small glowing orange cracks started spread from the center and light softly peered through. She watched in mounting horror as the thin little cracks stretched further.

"Oh gods, what have I done?!" She picked the egg up to place it in her lap. Quickly she covered the growing breaks with her hands as if that would stop the damage. What would the dwarves be angry with her? She didn't expect the egg to ever hatch with her carrying it.

"You are my rider, of course I would hatch for you..." A feminine voice whispered in her mind softly. At first she was terrified at the intrusion. She tried to close her mind to everything but the voice persisted,

"You can not lock me out rider... We are one. I will not stop, I will not hide, this is our destiny." The voice grew stronger as it broke through her mental barrier. She slumped and grabbed her head instead of the egg which had now all but disintegrated. The egg rolled forward and exploded into a mess of shell pieces.

"By the gods!" Lotus screeched. She lunged forward and grabbed up the larger pieces of shell to try and piece them back together.

"Of all the places to hatch, you chose here?!" Talia snapped out loud as she too grabbed up some of the bigger shell fragments. They were still warm and slightly sticky. With a sigh she let them fall from her fingers, what was she planning to do? Try to stick them back on the now hatched dragon?

Looking down she noted that the dragon had found it's legs and had turned to stare up at her. The dragon had an angular head with small glittering ruby eyes. Small black spikes stuck out from the top of its head, it's cheeks, and its lower jaw as well as a few spikes that flowed down its neck. The dragon's two large leathery wings were spread out and flapping slowly. It was colored similarly to its egg shell, the dragon was a deep ruby color from its head to the back of its neck, back, and tail while the underbelly was a slightly lighter shade. The only part of it that wasn't red were its spikes which were black.

"Well aren't you a vision of majesty." Talia muttered. Reaching forward she ran her finger along the dragons jawline eliciting a noise of excitement from the small creature.

"By the gods, I never thought I'd be so blessed to see something like this. A dragon? Truly this is the turning of the tides of time." Lotus spoke breathlessly eliciting an eye roll out of Talia.

"Boy aren't you a poet?" Gently she reached for the dragon to scoop it into her arm wincing slightly as her broken arm gave protest.

"Well excuse me for thinking an event like this could use some... I dunno, flair? Class?" Talia rolled her eye again.

"Don't be too harsh on her, my majesty is too overwhelming." The feminine voice laughed lightly in Talia's head giving her pause. Her lips curled up slightly as she replied mentally,

"I suppose you aren't wrong...?" Should she name her? It seemed like something a rider would do. Were dragons born with names? She felt woefully unprepared for everything that was happening and that didn't even include the disaster going on around them.

"My name is Reezara. I am a fire dragon, though I'm sure you knew that already. I have hatched for my one and only rider, and now we are soul bound for the rest of our lives. I wish I could have picked a better time to hatch but your need drew me out early." There was no question that Reezara was smart as any fully grown human already. She wanted to ask more on how her dire need had caused her to hatch but she knew there was no time.

Talia looked around to make sure no one else had seen what had happened before scooping up the satchel once more. She wasn't going to let anyone know that a new dragon had hatched if she could help it, surely it would bring only trouble.

"The fire is still advancing. How far are we from the gates?" Lotus's voice wavered while Talia carefully slid the newly hatched dragoness into the satchel. Reezara gave a small squeak then remained silent.

"I don't know to tell the truth. I can't use most of my powers right now so I can't even see where it's located. If we keep going down this main street we should make it. I'll keep trying to talk to Nico but so far either he's too far away or I'm too weak to keep up that level of telepathy."

"We need to stop the fire's advance, there is no outrunning Dragonfyre." Reezara stated quietly. Talia stood back up, brushed off her knees, and turned to see the pillars of black smoke slowly advancing. Was there no real way to outrun the stuff? She had never faced the stuff before.

"How does one fight Dragonfyre? I read it was impossible to stop it once it was released." She said it out loud. Lotus turned with her, a look of mixed desperation and fear glinting in her eyes.

"You aren't seriously thinking of trying to stop this madness are you? You broke your arm saving us from the explosions. Can you really take any more?" It was a valid question, her arm felt like it was swelling up and burning. Her mana was all but depleted, some of which she was sure the dragon had sucked away to hatch.

"If Reezara says we can't outrun it I'll trust her word for it."

"Reezara?" Talia paused, of course Lotus didn't know what she was talking about.

"That's the dragon's name, she told me telepathically. I guess I sort of forgot you weren't part of that conversation." Lotus huffed,

"Whatever. If she says that's what we're supposed to do I suppose it's smart to do it. Dragons are supposed to be super wise right?" Talia bit her lip in thought. What did she know of dragons? She supposed dragons were generally very smart. As a newborn Reezara was already capable of thoughtful conversation.

"So what do we do?" Talia asked mentally once more. Reezara shuffled inside the satchel before replying,

"I'll teach you both the spell. Go around the city and put the flames out and rescue who you can."

"Wait, I was down for saving my own ass by putting out this green hellflame but why do I have to go around saving people?" Talia bit out irately. She wasn't a heroine, why would she expend valuable energy pulling useless humans out from the rubble? She could feel Reezara's biting annoyance like it was her own emotion before the dragon retorted,

"Because we have a responsibility as dragon and rider. Our purpose in the world is to bring balance, order, and safety." Did the gods design dragons to adhere to their belief system? It seemed awfully naive.

"I'll save who I can but I'm not going to expend valuable energy pulling out every single human. The guards can do that, it's what they're paid for after all. But first we have to put out the fire, that is if your spell works. So teach us." Reezara was still annoyed, it was a palpable feeling after all, but she put the emotion aside to attempt to teach them.

Talia learned very quickly that Reezara could conversate with anyone she pleased telepathically. Lotus nearly shat her pants at the new voice invading her mind, especially once she realized it was the dragon. Once Talia got her to calm down Reezara was finally able to attempt to teach them the nuances to a new spell. It took only a moment but it felt as if it had lasted hours.

"Do you think you can do it?" She turned to Lotus who was pacing and muttering to herself like a madwoman. Lotus paused, her bright blue eyes turning to meet Talia's gaze.

"I know the words to the spell, I have the mana, but I've never actually cast spells like this. I play with water, that's about it. It doesn't need words to guide it, I just do it. So in truth I guess I don't know but I will try my best. When a dragon asks you to do something you best do it yeah?" Talia laughed. Reezara was far too pleased with Lotus's eagerness to serve.

"Let's get to it then, before the fire destroys what's left of the city." First Talia summoned up a gust of wind which pushed the smoke and flames back in the opposite direction which quickly cleared up the streets around them. The destruction became clear to see as well as the death toll which was much larger than Talia had first anticipated. Ignoring all that she pressed forward, releasing the spell after a few more moments to focus on the fire ahead.

Together with Lotus they cast the new spell in unison. It was an old spell that Talia had never even heard of before. It wasn't the most complex spell she had ever learned but it did involve a measure of concentration she was worried Lotus couldn't emulate. She watched the girl closely as they started to cast the spell. To her amazement Lotus didn't stumble once. Together they were able to slowly take back the streets.

"Do you think this was destiny? Did the gods want us to save this city? I mean we might be the only two people in the world who know the spell to combat this fire. And all because of a dragon. Your dragon." Lotus huffed, her hands shaking as she put out another pocket of Dragonfyre. Talia grit her teeth as a wave of nausea rocked her.

"I don't want to think about gods or destiny right now. I want to get out of this city as soon as possible." Now that they had pushed back into the city she could hear the guards doing their best to manage in the chaos. She didn't want to get caught up with them.

"I suppose that's fair enough. It looks like we're getting close to the city's center. From there we should split up and try to get the last of the fire under control. The guards can rescue people once they're not so worried about burning up." It was a solid plan, a good enough one she could agree to go along with it.

"Alright, meet back up in the city's center when you're done. I think I should have enough mana left to get this done. After that we tie back in with the dwarves and Nico and get the fuck out of here before the guards start asking questions. Let them think it's a miracle." Lotus nodded and they both separated. Talia moved towards the docks hoping against hope she would find Alister and Mino safe in their ships.

"It'll be ok, the gods have foreseen this day and they will guide us. This is not the end for Amethyst Cove." Reezara was trying to be reassuring but Talia couldn't get behind the message. The gods were pulling strings, killing people to see their goals to fruition. The only god she cared for was Hephatus and she was certain Hephatus wasn't one for this level of pageantry or mass suffering.

"Whatever you say, I just want this to be over so I can wrap my mind around... You." She still couldn't believe Reezara had truly hatched. She was still half certain she was in another coma dreaming it all up.

"This is no dream rider." Reezara's voice was powerful and only growing stronger as time passed.

"No, I don't suppose it would be huh?" She wouldn't be so lucky after all.