Illarion grimaced and sat down by Valerius. “I better get comfortable before I, too, become a doll without sand.”
One by one, the Dragon Spirits exited the lair. Valerius watched as their human counterpart gasped, groaned and clutched their chests. Tez staggered and went to his knees. Kaila caught him and held him close. Esme leaned against the mirror and breathed deeply. She looked frail suddenly, her shoulders curving forward. Anwar grimaced and clutched the front of his shirt. He was shaking. Jahara sank to her knees, but in prayer, not weakness. She closed her eyes and rocked. Mei held her head and paced.
Valerius looked over at Illarion. The Green Dragon King stared straight ahead. His jaw was working. Clenching and unclenching. He slowly turned towards Valerius.
“Everything I said about you, I take it back. This is worse than you made it out to be,” Illarion said. “I need Mephous back.”
Valerius reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “Mephous will return to you. All the Dragons will return.”
All For One
Caden nearly pumped a fist into the air and cheered as Iolaire sent flows of icy breath at all of the Behemoth’s heads. The main head was fully encased in ice. Already, there were cracks forming all along the ice sarcophagus. Caden flew well out of reach, going around the huge body to where Iolaire’s head came out of the massive form.
How do I get Iolaire out of there? How can I help?
Any time one of the other heads got too close, Iolaire would send a gout of ice at them and they’d rear back, trying to shake off the ice muzzles that would appear around their jaws, keeping them sealed shut.
Iolaire, I’m here. I’m here! What do we do?
He heard a soft twitter in his mind. The feeling of connection flooded Caden. Iolaire was there, in him, surrounding him, joining with him. Caden imagined Iolaire ripping its slender white form out of the Behemoth’s bulk. He imagined the skin splitting and Iolaire sliding out of the interior, almost like being birthed. He imagined pulling Iolaire out, drawing Iolaire to him, making his Spirit separate from the Behemoth. And then a crack appeared where Iolaire’s head was attached to the body and strange fluid began to stream out. There was no way that the Behemoth’s body could hold all of the Dragon forms so Iolaire was still separate, or this was just a visualization of the spiritual separation.
Yes! Yes, come, Iolaire! Come to me!
The crack lengthened and widened. He saw the tip of a white wing sticking out. Claws tore through the Behemoth’s skin, exposing more of Iolaire’s form. Screams of pain echoed from all of the other heads that weren’t frozen shut. They snapped at Iolaire. Caden distracted them.
“Hey, ugly! Hey, nasty! Over here!” Caden waved his arms wildly above his head.
The heads--maddened with pain--were easily distracted and went after Caden. He flew like his life depended on it, slicing between them, so that the heads smashed into one another and were stunned for a moment. They were so angry that they didn’t even attempt to use their powers, but if they had they would have sent them at each other.
The heads let out earth-shattering screams that had Caden curling into a ball, hands over his ears, head ringing. Luckily, they were too distracted by their agony to snap at him as he had stopped flying. The crack was now a split in the Behemoth’s back and Iolaire’s form, covered in fluid and all curled up, was revealed.
“IOLAIRE!”
Caden spread his arms wide as if to welcome Iolaire into the world again. Iolaire’s head twisted around to see how far it had come. That was the moment that the main head broke through the ice sarcophagus. There was a tremendous crack and the ice slid off in sheets and fell to the ground with a crash. Rage burned in those strange yellow eyes.
Uh oh…
“Iolaire, get ready to--”
That main head lunged towards Iolaire, jaws open wide, aiming at the White Dragon’s slender neck. One bite would sever Iolaire’s head from its body. Iolaire let out a terrified squeal and strove to crawl out of the Behemoth’s body, but its way was impeded by the slick fluid.
“No! Get away! You bastard!” Caden screamed as he swooped in close enough to smell that ophidian breath.
The Behemoth’s head turned so fast that Caden was nearly sucked between those jaws. He backpedaled and was sure it would have looked hilarious if not for the fact that he was about to get cut in two. There was another blast of ice from Iolaire, giving Caden those precious moments to fly out of reach. But another head nearly chomped him. Only zigging instead of zagging got him out of range though his foot brushed against Dragon teeth and was slick with saliva.
Eweh.
The main head had redirected its efforts towards Iolaire. It went again for that slender white neck. Its teeth barely brushed the white scales. Caden’s mouth opened in a scream, almost as if he felt Iolaire’s pain… and then he felt something wet roll down his neck. His hand went up to touch it. Iolaire was bleeding. He was bleeding. He had felt Iolaire’s pain. Because it was his pain. Because it was their pain.
We’re bound. It’s still there and growing back!
But that meant that if Iolaire was damaged, so was he! Iolaire had managed to lean away from the Behemoth’s main head. But just barely was it out of reach. The other heads were swarming towards Iolaire, herding it back towards the main head. The main head grinned and cut him a look of triumph when Iolaire trilled in terror as it had nowhere to go but back within range.
“NO!” Caden screamed.
The main head’s jaws went to snap shut around Iolaire’s trembling throat, but then it stopped. Those yellow eyes went blank with shock. And then a black head rose up from behind. Raziel’s jaws were clamped around the Behemoth’s throat, holding it in place. The Behemoth’s head flew upwards in a scream as more of that strange liquid poured out between Raziel’s teeth.
“Iolaire! Now! Get out of there now! Raziel, hold it!” Caden cried.
