The dragon came to a halt some twenty feet away, its mossy yellow fangs bared, watching as its prey screamed in terror; it looked faintly amused. They broke off and stared at the beast for a full thirty seconds, and it stared back, its tiny, evil eyes alight with malice. The dragon, Milius thought, bore a slight resemblance to Verdona, Sirius’s companion, though she was about twice as large, with longer and thicker spines, and looked much more majestic than the dragon looming over them.

The Knights had huddled closer without even realizing it; it seemed that the sudden appearance of this new threat had driven the memories of their grudges squarely out of their minds, for when Shakil spoke, he addressed them all. “What do we do?” he said timidly.

“Oh, I don't know,” Sirius said with awful sarcasm, “maybe RUN!”

They bolted into action at the same time the dragon reared, blasting a plume of fire and scorching the spot where they so recently stood. Sirius and Ariana rushed to one side, while Shakil and Milius darted to the other. The dragon's head jerked about as it stared from left to right, evidently trying to decide which pair to devour first. Deciding, it lunged at Milius and Shakil.

The dragon was much faster than they could have imagined. Shakil only narrowly dodged its head as it beared down upon him, and in the mess of trying to escape, his sword flew from his hands. Oceannerva was thrust, point-first, into the ground. Then something strange began to happen.

As Milius struggled to get to his feet, the ground began to quake so violently that surrounding boulders burst open, and large cracks appeared in the forest floor; trees were swallowed whole into these fissures, and Sirius had to grab Ariana by the scruff of her neck and throw her aside to prevent her from falling into one, herself.

It was as though the particles inside Milius’s body were struggling to break apart and burst out of his skin, so powerful were the pulsations. The dragon was being affected too. In fact, the only place that seemed still was a small circle of the forest floor where the sapphire-encrusted sword pierced the middle.

Shakil must have noticed this, too, for he was crawling towards the spot, reaching out for his blade. As he pulled it free, the vibrations stopped as suddenly as they had come. The dragon was still lunging blindly, but Milius was starting to get some feeling back in his arms. As it flung its head in his direction, he slashed out with the sword. The blade connected, tearing a clean gash in its scaly jaw. It screeched in agony, stumbling backward and falling over. It got up, now looking weak and tired, rather than simply dazed as it did seconds ago, then it melted into the trees.

Sirius made his way over to Milius, head still spinning, and grabbed his shoulder for support.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

“I … I don't know,” Milius said, raising the sword. There it was again. A pulsing in the blade, stronger than the first time he felt it, and like it was with Ariana, there was no trace of the dragon's blood on it, despite it trailing all over the ground ahead of them.

Shakil and Ariana stumbled over to them, too. “We should move,” Ariana said, eyeing Palpatunde uneasily.

Sirius, though his head was still revolving, sneered at the sight of her. “If you think we'd really —”

“It’s okay, Sir,” Milius said. “She's right. We need to move.”

Sirius looked incredulous for only a moment, but then his expression softened. “Fine, let's go,” he said grudgingly.

Slowly, clumsily, they made their way across the torn-up forest floor. Once or twice each of them stumbled and fell. When they'd finally cleared the area, Sirius looked at Shakil, then Oceannerva, and, in spite of himself, demanded, “How did you do that?”

“Do what?” Shakil asked, with genuine curiosity.

Sirius glared at him. “That earthquake, you idiot! It started the second your sword dropped, and stopped as soon as you picked it up!”

Shakil was silent for a moment. “I don't know,” he said finally. “It just … happened.”

“And you just happened to know that picking it up would cause it stop, did you?” Sirius said coldly.

“Enough, Sir,” Milius said. It was more of a request than an order.

“I was just wondering,” Sirius grumbled. Then he held up his own sword. The ruby in Vulcatrix’s hilt gleamed as it was struck by the sunlight. “Calder tells you two that you unlocked your swords’ abilities, now this dolt causes an earthquake with Oceannerva, and I still haven't figured out what this thing does, yet!” His tone was unbearably bitter.

In an effort to cheer him up, Milius said bracingly, “Right, Calder said we tapped into the swords’ abilities, but I still have no idea what Palpatunde actually does.”

“Whatever it is, it was good enough to take out that dragon, back there,” Sirius muttered. “And her,” he added, shooting a contemptuous look at Ariana.

She looked uncomfortable for a few seconds, but Milius, who felt as though his brain was pounding against his skull, and who couldn't be bothered at the moment with petty arguments, said, in an effort to steer the discussion in a more positive direction, “Calder said you tapped into Stormpyre’s abilities, too.”

Ariana looked startled as Milius addressed her, but recovered quickly. “So he did,” she said, “but I've no recollection of doing so…. Then again, a lot of things became a blur after — after my treatment,” she finished, going slightly pink around the ears.

Milius watched her as she spoke, but she kept her gaze fixed firmly ahead of them. When she finished, Milius turned away, looking back down at his blade. The pulsing had faded again, though it took longer this time than the last, but it was still shining as though recently polished. So lost in wondering what on Earth the sword actually did, he almost missed Shakil’s cry of relief.

“A cave! We can spend the night there!”

Milius followed the other three, though rather reluctantly, into the cave, where they all sat down.

“We should take turns doing watches, so everyone else can get some decent hours,” Shakil suggested immediately.

“I'll do it,” Sirius said.

“I'll help — I'm not tired, anyway,” Milius said. He sat down at the mouth of the cave, beside Sirius, eyes trained on the surrounding area, but they had barely gone fifteen seconds before Shakil let out a strangled cry. Upon going deeper into the cave, he had trodden on something — something very much alive.