Then the one with the gouged out eye twisted and rolled away with a strained roar. Andar smirked at the monster and turned his attention to the next dragon.
We were down to two. Could Andar possibly keep his shield up and take out two more? After everything else he’d already done?
No.
I was realistic enough to know that answer.
As if reading my mind, Andar dropped to his knees next to me and turned his face to mine. “I’m going to apologize for this now because I don’t think I’ll be able to after it’s all done.” His lips bent somewhere between a smirk and a wince. “You should know I don’t apologize, so this is a big deal.”
What was he talking about?
“So,” he panted. “I’m sorry. Don’t be offended. And hold still. As still as you can. Until the dragons leave.”
“What—”
I didn’t have time to ask anything. Andar gripped my shoulders, pressed me to the ground, and then flopped on top of me. I lay on my back, facing the sky, and Andar fell face up on top of me, his head laying on my stomach as if I were a pillow. A shimmering layer of magic wove between us. It smelled like an illusion, but—
The last two dragons both opened their mouths and blasted us. I closed my eyes again, annoyed at dying under Andar, but certain that I could not escape this fire. I was beyond exhausted, nobody else was here to help, and Andar’s body would not keep flames from scorching mine.
Chapter 23: Khiona
Ididn’t die.
I didn’t feel any heat.
I opened my eyes.
A mountain of flames filled my vision.
Why wasn’t I dead?
The flames disappeared, and I remembered the shimmery magic between Andar and me. He must have made a shield of some kind, and—
The dragons stomped into the forest.
They didn’t see me?
Andar must have tied an illusion to a shield and—
Andar!
Was he dead on top of me?
The dragons found my pack and hissed and growled as they shook out everything Maeva had given us.
That was it. I couldn’t wait any longer. I slid out from under Andar, and—
I couldn’t breathe.
Dragons’ flame had landed on him unevenly, biting and burning through the skin on his face and chest, but still smoldering on his pants. His boots hadn’t burned at all. I touched his leg and sent a chill through his whole body, stopping any burning that still ate away at him.
I needed to heal him, but healing wasn’t something I’d practiced with.
Still—Ihad to be better than nothing.
I eased magic into his body, trying to feel what was most essential to heal first, but I immediately felt light-headed and almost passed out.
Everyone gets tired eventually, but—
