Hailey gasped. Isabella was the dragon? She hadn’t told Hailey that, but then she might not have remembered. Hailey looked at the silvery spells and she knew. She had killed this dragon. It had died. Her heart thundered in her chest, but she had to concentrate. She only hoped that the dragon would not turn on them.

Hailey took over the spell that Isabella had been casting, pushing magic into the shimmer, not letting it fall. If the wargs got through, they would rip through the army so quickly that none of them would stand a chance. The shimmer held, but it was a more difficult spell to hold and it drained more magic faster. She groaned against the effort, not knowing how long she could hold on.

Where was Natalia when she needed her? She glanced around and saw her running back into the shimmer. At least someone was able to battle the wargs. She looked exhausted, but she was still fighting.

Isabella glanced at her, sorrow in her huge dragon eyes. Hailey’s stomach threatened to empty itself. If the dragon turned on them, there was no hope. She didn’t even know if Aaron had his dragon sword, but the last battle with the dragon had only ended because of the death spell, a spell that Hailey hadn’t learned, a curse that she didn’t think she would have to know.

Lillith was still standing there, looking at Isabella as if he had a new pet to command. She pointed directly to Hailey. “Kill her!” Lillith shouted.

Isabella’s head swung towards Hailey and she thought for a moment that this was it, the end of her life. She panted, trying to focus on the spell, trying to keep the wargs at bay.

“Kill her, now!” Lillith shouted again.

Then, inside Hailey’s mind, she heard a shout, more of a shriek. “No!”

The dragon swiped at Lillith, but Lillith only hovered over her, moving around as if she were one of the fairies.

“What did you make me do?”

Lillith laughed at this. “Whatever I wanted. Don’t forget, I have goals, things I’m trying to accomplish. You just helped me achieve them.”

The dragon swiped at Lillith again. “You made me curse the princess! It was you! You made me curse the child!” Isabella’s voice in her head was filled with agony and regret.

Lilith dodged the swipe easily and looked at her nails. “Well, she was sort of in my way and it was a good distraction for the heir to spend all of his time worrying over his daughter instead of focusing on his kingdom.” She grinned. “I thought that was brilliant, don’t you agree?”

Isabella snapped at her in response, trying to catch her in her teeth, but Lillith was always too quick.

“Don’t forget about the damage you did to the castle. You killed people there. You even killed a mage.” Lillith’s voice was musical, exuberant.

Hailey’s heart was in her throat. She had trusted the woman who had killed Barinon, destroyed the mage library and almost left Taivalon completely. How much of that was Lillith and how much was Isabella? Isabella had known not to tell Hailey that she was the dragon. She would have had a harder time trusting her, but Hailey refused to blame Isabella. Lillith had been pulling the strings, twisting her mind and making her fight against her own countrymen.

She looked at the beautiful dragon, and realized that despite everything that Isabella had done, she still trusted her, at least she could as long as she was fighting against Lillith, the one who had enslaved her and tried to destroy the kingdom.

Hailey fought to keep control of the spell. A new wave of something was pressing against it. She could feel the resistance to her magic.

The dragon lunged at Lillith and caught her up on a clawed hand. The Hailey had to jump back to stay clear of the massive wings. The dragon lifted into the sky, beating its massive wings and knocking soldiers to the ground.

“Let me go,” Lillith ordered, but the dragon didn’t listen. She rose higher and higher into the sky.

“You can do this,” the dragon’s voice echoed in her mind. Hold the shimmer while I deal with the witch.”

And Hailey did just that, focusing on the spell, pushing magic into the spell and hoping to see Natalia again. She needed help and the soldiers needed to be able to see. She could not maintain both spells without help.

Hailey glanced up to see the dragon, but as dawn finally began creeping over the horizon, she could make out nothing in the clear winter sky. She wondered if Isabella would just fly away. A dragon would be a huge help against the wargs.

But then, as Hailey began to give up hope on receiving help from anyone, the dragon swooped in, breathing fire on the fairies that were pushing agains the shimmer. The body of a warg was thrown into the line of men. Its neck had a massive bite mark on its neck. Hailey gasped. She had only seen them from behind the shimmer. She had had no idea how big they were. No wonders only parts of the soldiers remained. The mouth was large enough to almost take an entire man in its jaws.

But the dragon was stronger. Isabella breathed fire behind the shimmer and the screams of tiny fairies met her ears. Hailey felt relief as the pressure against the shimmer began to lessen, and the morning sun began to rise.

Natalia staggered out from behind the shimmer and collapsed. She had been burned and cut, but she seemed to still be alive. Hailey squared her shoulders. If she was the only mage left in the battle, then she would do her best.

Something massive screamed and dropped out of the sky. Hailey glanced up to see a green dragon flying straight for the line of men.

“Look out!” Hailey screamed, pointing to the sky. The men scrambled back, trying to stay clear of the monstrous beast. Isabella turned, looking angrily at the other dragon.

Isabella ran, crashing into the other dragon. The green swiped massive claws, cutting into the silver dragon’s side. They were matched in size and Hailey almost dropped the spell as she turned to watch.

Men ran in every direction, trying to get away from the fighting dragons. Gillian was knocked aside by a massive tail and Hailey had no idea where Aaron was.

Derrick was screaming orders to the men but no one seemed to be listening. Pressure built against the shimmer. Hailey was almost to of magic. She tapped into the reserve magic that she had stored. What had Isabella called it? Either way, she was glad to have it, relieved that she had spent days wearying herself to the point of complete exhaustion.

She watched the dragon’s fight, still trying to focus on the shimmer. The scales that had been impossible for swords to penetrate were sliced with claws and teeth. One of Isabella’s legs was dripping blood and she held it off the ground. Lillith snarled at her, lashing out with a claw but the silver dragon sidestepped and slammed into her with her massive head.

Her attention was dragged away from the dragons as her magic began to fade. Her reserves were almost used up. Men were still swinging at fairies with their iron swords, but they all looked wearied, beaten and exhausted. Many of them were covered in tiny arrows, and still swinging their swords.

Hailey did not know what she would do when she ran out of magic. How could she continue to hold? The soldiers would not be able to fight against another wave of fairies.

Her attention was drawn to the dragons again as they became closer. Hailey tried to run, tried to dodge out of the way, but a massive tail sent her flying. She flew through the air, letting go of the spell that held the shimmer in place and shielding herself. She bounced and landed on her feet.

Then she turned and ran. The green dragon was trying to get to her, trying to kill her. Hailey turned to see the silver dragon slam into the green dragon, knocking it on its side.

Her heart pounded in her ears, and her arms trembled as she poured her last bit of energy into the shimmer. It would have to be enough to hold. She could do no more.

The green dragon swiped at her and Hailey tried to shield herself but there was no magic there, nothing for her to draw on. She flew through the air again, but this time she landed on stone with no shield to protect her. Hailey heard a crack and pain lanced through Hailey’s spine. She cried out in agony. She had broken something. She had heard the crack of her bones breaking. She tried to move. The dragons were coming her way. Lillith would try to finish her off and she couldn’t even pull herself off of the rock that was digging into her back.