Aaron looked down at the men who had fallen. Some of the soldiers knelt next to their friends as if the battle was over. It wasn’t.

They had watched the dragon go into the spell. It moved slowly at first, as if it were pushing against an incredible force, but then something had changed and it was able to move at a normal pace. It smashed into the castle.

Hailey’s people, the ones she had cared for for so many years were screaming and running out of the castle in a steady stream. The dragon had disappeared into the castle and the soldiers still stood, dumbstruck as if they didn’t know what to do next. He wasn’t in charge of this. He didn’t know the first thing about dragons. So far, all of their attacks had been useless except for that one hit on the dragon’s flank that Derrick had landed.

They couldn’t give up now, though. The person who had believed in him the most was in there and so was the dragon. She needed their help

Derrick moved forward to ask the people what was going on, but even he didn’t move into the spell. But the spell couldn’t be there anymore if the people were running out. Something had changed.

“Before we go against this thing, there is one more spell I want you to know.” Barinon showed her the motions. It was not unlike the light spell. When he was done, he said, “Ignio.” He held a ball of fire.

“If the mage sword doesn’t work, try this one and don’t forget about that lighting one you did. Most important, I think will be your shield. Stay safe. The kingdom needs us both.”

Hailey nodded. She practiced the spell a few times, but she could feel the panic begin to rise within her as she did so. The dragon would be here soon. She could hear its thundering footsteps. Finally, she made the spell. A ball of fire crackled just above her palm.

“Say Amitto,” Barinon told her. “That will undo the spell. There are so many things I have not taught you yet.” He sounded frustrated.

She practiced the spell one more time. She knew it would be difficult to remember the moves and the word when she was facing down the dragon. Then she nodded to her mentor. She was as ready as she could be.

As she looked at Barinon, the fear that she was feeling was reflected in his eyes and that made her even more afraid. Still, he took a deep breath and said, “let’s do this.” Then he ran into the hallway.

The sounds of smashing walls and thundering footsteps continued. Aaron could not sit by and wait. He had to do what he could for Hailey. The spell that had taken his hand was gone, he was sure of it. Bracing himself, he stepped forward, prepared to fall if he had to, and then he stepped over the ribbon that had marked the edge of the spell for the last fifteen years.

He remained standing. Gasping, he realized that he had expected to fall, had braced himself for it, but nothing happened. Hope began to spread through his chest. Maybe if the spell was gone, his hand would work again. He concentrated and tried to move his index finger. Nothing happened.

It doesn’t matter, he told himself. Then he turned back to the soldiers who had not even been watching him.

“Hey,” he shouted. “The spell is gone. It’s safe and we have a dragon to kill!”

They didn’t move. They just stood there in disbelief, blinking at him as if he were a crazy person.

“You’re trying to trick us. Your little mage friend did something to you and now you can enter,” Donald said. The big man was sitting on the ground as if he were having a picnic.

“Don’t be a fool, Donald,” said Christian. “His little mage friend is inside the castle right now.” But Christian was not relishing the idea of stepping past that ribbon either.

Derrick shook his head at Aaron. “Soldiers! You heard him, let’s go save our kingdom!”

Hailey walked next to Barinon. Where was it now. From the booming and crashing noises she heard before, she knew it was somewhere inside the castle. Yells were coming from outside. She and Barinon hurried down the steps. “It’s probably on the ground floor,” Barinon told her.

No! She thought. That’s where all of the people are sleeping except they weren’t sleeping now, they were running for their lives. She felt so many things, fear and sorrow that everything would be different now, joy that her people were free, terror that they were running away from a dragon from the moment they woke up and mostly uselessness. Who was she to face off against such a creature. She wasn’t even half way trained.

She could see her own flaws clearly now. She had been stuck as a young girl, unable to grow up. She had been thinking like one, too, pretending that everything was going to work out and that all of those people would wake happy to see her. Instead, they woke screaming and some of them were dying. There was nothing she could do.

The smell of blood and vomit came to her as she rounded the corner. As she came down the stairs, she saw all the people that had lined the corridor when she had run out of room in the dining room. They had been stepped on. Some of them had made it out, but many had perished before they even had time to wake.

Hailey gasped. It was headed back to the dining room. The dragon filled the entire corridor, smashing walls when it turned. It had to walk in a crouch, as the ceilings were not high enough.

She was glad it was not facing her until it turned into the dining room. It picked up Mandy with one powerful claw, its talons wrapping tightly around her and threw her against the wall. Hailey shielded her, and she bounced off the wall before landing safely back on the floor.

Before the dragon could turn to face her, Hailey had created her mage’s sword. She threw it at the dragon, hoping to hit it in the flanks.