Tricked Into Flight

Chapter 16

*Rakota's POV*

I swiftly flew back to the mining village. Andar was on the ground behind the mine entrances, keeping people from warning the mages. The others circled the area, ready for the battle to come.

Serepha quickly gave me an update. "Three mages are in the second mine. It isn't connected to the other tunnels, so Victorya and Qwest are rerouting the stream inside. We'll flood them out and hope the water damages their runes and gear."

Like most villages, this one had been built beside a water source, in this case, a large creek. I examined Victorya's and Qwest's spells as a trench formed on its own accord. Molding the ground took a lot of concentration and a special knack – one I happened to have – and I quickly figured out what they were doing and joined their efforts to divert the water into the tunnel opening.

Soon enough, the water ran freely into the mine entrance. I kept deepening the trench, trying to encourage more water to pour into the tunnels.

It was only a matter of time before they were forced out.

I kept an eye on the villagers, who were mostly hiding in their houses or fleeing into the forest. A few men were still running out of the other mines, although more would be hiding inside. Andar remained on the ground, likely ready to dump fire spells down the air shafts. His rider was firmly secured to the saddle in case Andar had to take flight, which wasn't likely with his concentration dilemma and the lack of dangerous ground-based weapons.

I readied various shielding, blocking, and attack spells, preparing to cast whatever was needed at a moment's notice. The spells glimmered in my mind, waiting for my magic to power them. Pure magic had a higher cost than rune magic or using other aids, but the casting time was almost instantaneous and it was nearly impossible for other mages to determine what spell was heading their way in time for them to stop it.

Time seemed to drag on as water continued to pour into the mine. I wasn't sure how deep the shafts were, but it would have started reaching the mages by now. I deepened the water channel even more, hastening the flow so the mages would have less time to prepare.

When I spotted movement just inside the entrance, I roared and threw a fireball. The flames splattered across a faint blue shield, which disappeared seconds later, letting the burning gobs drop to the ground where they continued to burn cheerfully with minimal smoke.

The faint glimmer of a large rune glowing made me do a wingover while activating my shields. The nearly invisible blast missed me, as did the unexpected second one. A strangled noise made me glance back to confirm the second one had struck Victorya.

Her spell blocking amulet glowed furiously, but it absorbed enough of the immobilization spell that she was able – barely – to glide toward the meadow behind Andar. Qwest shadowed her, casting spells to make her lighter and slow her fall.

Her amulet was one of the most powerful I'd ever seen – it shouldn't have had this much trouble blocking a spell. The mages had clearly put a lot of work into the runes and found a type that was very effective against dragons.

Lightning cracked out of the cloudless sky, courtesy of Serepha, causing rocks near the entrance to explode and either injure or distract the mages. I sent another fireball down, which hit another shield. Andar was sending spells down the air shafts – smoke-producers, if I had to guess at a quick glance – while the rest of us, minus Victorya, kept pummeling the entrance with spells.

Heavy smoke began pouring out of the entrance, which hindered our view and made it next to impossible for the mages to breathe. Grandel's gray scales blended in almost perfectly as he instantly took advantage of the camouflage.