Raven Girl

Chapter 31

A/N: I think this is Raven Girl's longest chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

Elias stood beside the thief as she held the sceptre out, feeling the wind buffet them slightly. The blood on him was already drying, and he was disgusted by its metallic stench, but there was nothing to do about it. They had to escape. But as Elias's eyes travelled over the state of the harbour... That didn't seem likely.

Nadine forced the sea serpent to lunge at the shrikes heading to attack Gylfi and Regina. It snapped them up. The survivors screamed and bolted, or dived into the water. But Nadine was shaking. When she turned to look at him, her eyes were full of hopelessness.

"What do we do?" she whispered.

Elias had no answer. We are going to die here. Our blood will stain these stones. We will never see home again. He heard a strange sound – the beating of wings. A dragon. "What's that?"

Nadine whirled. "Ares?" The hope in her voice was weak.

Elias saw it before she did. His heart dropped like a stone. The dragon was rising from some hidden place in the courtyard, unfurling from the fortress and flying above them. He took in its skeletal body, the saddle on its back.

It was not Ares.

Astride the dragon, tugging on reins, Svetlana's laugh echoed. "You really thought you could win? You thought you could get away from me?"

He couldn't breathe. Half of the terrible dragon's scales looked translucent, but it glowed with blue light – blue fire. The blue crept up its long snake-like neck. It had white, terrifying eyes, and Elias could feel the heat coming off it from where they were.

Elias knew what was coming. "Nadine, come on!" There was no choice. As the flames rushed to consume them, he grabbed Nadine's arm and jumped, dragging her off the tower. They were falling – Nadine screamed – the world flashed around them, and Elias prayed they wouldn't hit the island because Regina would be scarred for life if she saw them splattered across the rocks –

They plunged into water. After the dragon's heat, it was like ice, and rushed up Elias's nose and in his ears. He moved his arms to start swimming, when he brushed something huge and scaly.

He froze, head breaking the water.

Nadine, still holding the sceptre, was crawling onto its tail. "Come on! It won't hurt us while I'm controlling it." Elias followed her, looking back as the sea serpent moved beneath them.

The stone tower had melted. It was a smoking mess, and Elias's jaw dropped in horror as Svetlana's dragon emerged from it, perching on the top of the fortress, eyeing them. Its wings looked like a dragonfly's, they were so iridescent and pale, but they were huge. The blue glow was already building in its chest again – nothing like Ares's comforting orange flame.

This is a nightmare dragon.

"Ready to give up yet? Hand the sceptre over, fools – you don't know what you're dealing with!" Svetlana called.

Nadine hung on to the sea serpent and moved the sceptre through the air. The beast moved with it – Elias was nearly thrown from its back. The dragon surged through the water, dodging Svetlana's next attack. The sea and sky was lit up with the light, but it was terrifying and unearthly.

Regina and Gylfi had realised what was happening and were swimming towards them, their eyes huge.

"Ice," Nadine commanded with the sceptre, her voice shaking.

The sea serpent swelled up with water, rearing its head high. Elias pulled Regina and Gylfi onto its back beside them, and the four of them clung to one another, shuddering.