Breathing Fire

As I searched, my attention was drawn to the battle below us. Piercing animal screams filled the night as my gaze finally found Dom. He was in the middle of it all, of course, the light from a street lamp falling directly onto him as he ripped out a necro’s throat with his teeth. It was clear the druids well known bloodlust had a firm grip on him. I was staring at him, fascinated, when I saw it.

It was just a break in the air that caught my notice at first. The voice had been right. It was literally right in front of me. I took deep breaths as I studied it, preparing for the pain I would feel upon breaking a powerful ward.

I began to chant as I walked towards the circle determinedly. I stopped when my shoe touched a strange spot in the grass. The wind wasn’t strong, just strong enough to sway the grass gently. Or some of it, anyway. Where the grass stayed still was where I focused. “Christian,” I said softly. He appeared at my shoulder.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I need you to swing Dragonsbane at the ground exactly when I say. Ok?”

He looked at me like I was crazy, but nodded slowly. He clutched the ancient sword in his hands, waiting for me.

I pointed at the spot in the grass. “Watch that spot carefully. Swing with all your strength the instant I say ‘break.’”

I began chanting again, holding my palms out to the circle. It was no comfort to stand empty-handed before such a circle, but a necessary evil. “Prepare yourselves to fight,” I told the soldiers who’d come to gather around us.

I felt the spot weakening. “Break,” I screamed with every fiber of my being. Christian swung.

It was like shattering glass as the circle broke. Within lay a large gathering of necros. They formed a circle, their King kneeling at it’s center. I identified him by the crown on his head. He held an unconscious druid in his arms, cutting deep symbols into the skin of it’s wrists. I didn’t recognize the druid it held at first, he was covered in so much blood.

The necro King snarled at me, ordering his minions. “Kill them. We still have time to remake the circle.”

The necros rushed our small group, and we met them head-on. I ran straight for their king. He stood, roaring at me, “You wish to die?”

I pulled the huge axe from my back, hacking it down at him with one fluid motion. His own blade met mine, the druid tumbling from his arms. My eyes swung down to the unconscious man, and I sucked in a sharp gasp. It was Collin, and if he was breathing, I couldn’t see it.

I sent a bolt of red fire straight into the air. It was a make-shift warning flare, accompanied by my scream, “Dom!”

I couldn’t tell at first if it worked, occupied as I was with the necro King. I hacked at him relentlessly, cursing him every time our weapons clashed. Finally I sent him sprawling. I wasted no time, sending a wave of flames crashing into him. He screamed, rolling away, frantically beating out the flames.

He flew at me, sharpened teeth sinking into my neck. “That doesn’t work on me, you zombie bastard,” I muttered, ripping him off my neck. I threw him hard across the clearing.

He rolled to a stop and lay still, but his eyes were open wide. “What are you?” His discordant voice filled my ears.

I approached his still body, my foot stepping hard on his neck. “Haven’t you ever watched a zombie movie? You guys aren’t supposed to speak. So shut the f**k up.” I punctuated this with a hard stomp of my heal to his throat.

I took a quick glance around at the rest of the fight. More necro bodies littered the ground than not, but it still looked grim.

I looked west at the sound of approaching howls. Dom and crew were bearing down on us at full speed. I braced myself for the onslaught.

The rest of the circle’s necros perished with one viscous wave of fighting.

Cam reached his brother first, frantically feeling for the pulse in his neck. He was nude, obviously newly changed from beast form. I got way more of a show than I wanted as he sprinted to his fallen brother’s side.

“He lives,” Cam finally spoke. Dom loomed over his shoulder. Their eyes turned to me. “Why was he carving these symbols into his arms?” Cam asked me. His tone was cold. He didn’t seem to properly understand that I had just saved both his brother and his Arch.

“He,” I indicated the necro I spoke of by bouncing my heal on his neck, “was using him to cast some sort of death spell against your Arch. I’m not familiar with his magic. Don’t ask me to interpret those symbols.” My tone was just as cold. “They were practicing their magic within a very powerful circle. It was almost completely invisible. I wasn’t even aware that necros could do this kind of magic.”

Dom looked grim. “That’s because it’s druid magic. Apparently the necros have been learning a few things.”

I tapped the neck beneath my foot again. “Want this one for questioning? Or should I finish him?”

“We’ll take him.” At his words, the unconscious necro was bound, bagged, and dragged away. I tried to be subtle as I knelt down and quickly grabbed his fallen crown, clipping it to my belt. I had a slight problem with hoarding treasure. So what? Name me a dragon who didn’t.

I looked back at the two brothers, healers now descending on the unconscious one. Cam met my eyes. “How did you know about the circle if it wasn’t visible?” His voice held accusation.

I looked at him coldly. Leave it to Cam to turn it around on me. He’d always been an ass**le like that. “There was a voice calling for help, actually. It was loud enough that I caught the sound from across camp.”