The dragon turned from its relentless chasing of Hailey to attack the people who had come to help. A white bearded farmer with a pitch fork charged the beast. Without even a thought it was slapped aside. He cried out before crumpling in a heap. Hailey did not think he would rise again.

Soldiers charged from every side. One of the smaller men came in from the front, aiming his sword at the giant green eye. He was chomped in two and spat at the other soldiers. The looks of terror on their faces made Hailey all that much more determined to fight. Only the mages didn’t stood a chance against this animal. They would all die and if Hailey didn’t do something about it, it would be her fault.

But she was so tired. She had thought that being a mage would be easier. She would create portals for the kingdom and maybe learn to heal people. She would do things for the kingdom that weren’t dangerous, but required magic. She had been a fool. No, she had been young and full of a girl’s ideals of how the world should be. Fighting a dragon was not something she had ever wanted to do. Just being near one was terrifying enough.

Aaron kept hammering away at the beast despite not making any headway. Now that it was injured in a dozen places, he could deepen the wounds. He stabbed into a gash on its hind leg. The dragon turned to him. Hailey held her breath. Her friend was knocked aside. She watched to see him rise. Terror gripped her.

“Aaron!” She screamed. He staggered to his feet. He had a cut on his forehead, but otherwise, he seemed to be ok. She had to stop the dragon from turning to him again. How dare it hurt her friend? How dare it come into her home and hurt her people? She let the anger build within her again. It helped her tired focus on what she had to do.

Barinon was fighting away at the beast, keeping it’s attention on him. He was using magic to throw things at the dragon, smashing the tables that Hailey had never been able to move into it’s silvery hide.

She drew her mage sword again, but this time, she imagined it much bigger. Since it didn’t weigh hardly anything to begin with, the much larger blade was still easy enough to hold. Then she came at the beast, slicing into its side and making it turn away from the defenseless people. The larger sword cut deeper, and she couldn’t manage to pull it out. Instead, she let it dissolve into mist. The dragon screamed, letting its frustration known to the world, but she could not pity it. It raised its giant head towards the sky and let out a powerful cry of pain.

She was tired. Every muscle in her body was exhausted, but as she saw the dragon’s head swivel towards her, she forgot all about that. Panic rose within her. What have I done? She thought. Bright green eyes blinked and narrowed at her. It was an all to human expression.

Hailey turned and began to run.

Hailey ran out of the dining room. Behind her, she could hear the dragon. She thought about going out onto the courtyard, but the dragon was faster. If it was following her, at least it wasn’t near her friends. She couldn’t let it hurt Aaron again. She was surprised that he had been able to stand.

The dragon came closer and closer to Hailey, snapping at her and almost catching her feet. She turned at the staircase and ran up. The dragon followed. She could feel its breath on her ankles. She was going to die.

She turned at the staircase, knowing it couldn’t follow. Half way up, she realized she should have gone down. She was leading the dragon to the princess’s room. If the heir died, then all this work, the entire reason that Barinon had hunted her down, would be for nothing. She hurried on anyway, knowing that the dragon wouldn’t fit through the staircase.

She paused for a moment on the third floor, trying to catch her breath. Should she go back down? She could hear the dragon crashing through the corridor below. What if the floor gave way? What if it turned and went back to hurting everyone that she was trying to keep it away from?

She looked back down the stairs. It wasn’t coming this way. She took two steps down and then a shadow fell across the corridor. At the end was a large window. A moment later, the window and much of the wall smashed inwards. The dragon came for her. Her heart was in her throat. What should she do?

She prepared a lightning ball while running away from the dragon. Then she threw it behind her, not even checking to make sure it hit. She prepared another one, and turned. The dragon opened its mouth to chomp down on her. She tried to create a shield but it failed. She was going to die. She had led the dragon here, away from everyone else, but after it killed her, it would turn and destroy everyone else.

She tried again, but she couldn’t manage to get it in place. What was she doing wrong? She knew how to do this! She had done it before. She ran farther down the corridor, away from the chomping jaws. She had to do something. Finally, she created the mage sword. It was small and her hand was trembling.

Something smashed through the window on the other side. She there where mage sword at the beast but it only made a small cut on the dragon’s nose. She thought that Barinon had stopped the thing from being able to breathe fire. She braced herself for the blow that would kill her, finally getting her shield into place. What was wrong with her? Had she forgotten everything that he had taught her?

From out of nowhere, Barinon was by her side. He had picked up one of the soldier’s swords and was batting at the dragon pushing it back. Had he flown here? Did mages know how to fly? Hailey stood dumbly. Her mind was not working correctly. She ran to help Barinon, launching lightning spells one after another, but the dragon wasn’t backing away anymore. It was coming back towards her. She backed away, terrified.

The dragon’s throat was glowing again. The sword would do no good. She was about to be caught on fire. “Shield, Hailey.”

But Hailey couldn’t remember the most important spell that he had taught her. She tried again but nothing happened.

“Sheild!” He screamed. The dragon’s mouth opened.

She cringed away from the fire that was about to engulf her. She had not gotten her sheild up in time. She was about to die.

But the fire didn’t burn her. Beside her, Barinon screamed. She knew what had happened then and tears streamed down her face. Why had he done it?