Rosalia was still gone to gods only knew where and he had to hold his own.
If only they’d brought the water flasks with them from the mage tower. Those had been left with the Moritta guides for safekeeping, because neither he nor Rosalia had anticipated the wraiths would materialize within the volcano while they were retrieving the stone.
In hindsight, he felt a fool.
The wraith fed off of the sweltering environment and grew stronger with each passing second. It expanded in size, growing taller and wider until it was more of a fire giant.
Immeasurable panic crawled down Xavier’s throat and squeezed the air from his lungs before decades of old instinct set in. As a dragon, he’d be one enormous moving target, yet less likely to burst into flame. As an elf, he had his grace, and he used it desperately to keep out of the elemental spirit’s attack range.
“Xavier! Take cover!” a man’s voice boomed from the platform below at the base of the stairs leading to the temple.
He jerked toward the sound of Ahrak’s voice to see the man drawing back his arm for a tremendous throw before rocketing a charmed waterskin through the air. It collided with the fire wraith and exploded in a brilliant font of boiling water and steam. Bits of the molten rock escaped. Some pebbles clattered to the ground with slush and debris as water sizzled against the stone floor and instantly evaporated.
Xavier had never thought he could be so happy to see someone who hated him, and it seemed endlessly ironic that the only thing standing between him and certain death was a sip of enchanted water.
Simi took the stairs two at a time with another of the enchanted water flasks gripped tightly in his hand. The beast yowled with the fury of an angry cat as the villagers rushed it.
Xavier couldn’t harm the wraith. They could. And they had no business putting their lives on the line to save him, but their cuts were furious and graceful despite the sweat pouring down their faces and the steam wafting off their clothes.
Slowly but surely, they were cooking to death within their own former city, a place where they should have thrived if not for his selfish grandfather.
Ahrak’s bravery only got him so far. He missed a parry, then the volcanic blade plunged into his muscular thigh. Hyraj shrieked in dismay and hurled a satchel at the wraith. The leather skin ignited on contact, then a white substance billowed around it and muted the flames. Unfortunately, it was only a temporary reprieve while Simi dragged the injured Ahrak away from the wraith.
The panic in her voice filled Xavier with anger. They shouldn’t have come. They shouldn’t have followed him, and whether it was distrust or to help, he didn’t know.
What he did know was that he couldn’t stand by as it killed them too, regardless of how much his body still longed for rest after the dragon’s bane poisoning.
The shift was not painless, as it should have been—his body was too worn down, shoulder bleeding and hands throbbing. Damaged tissue elongated and stretched, tugged his joints, and pulled the wound until the minor bleeding became a gush of dragon blood. He was torn apart and made anew, his shapeshifting raw and hurried, breaking bones and reshaping them in the most agonizing way, all without time to prepare himself for the transition.
The villagers stumbled back onto the main platform, Hyraj and Simi dragging Ahrak out of harm’s way. The wraith snarled at Xavier, flames flickering angrily at the sudden appearance of the dragon that towered over it.
Assuming a form larger than a common desert lizard taxed him soul-deep. His time was limited. He knew that for a multitude of reasons, the least of them being that he might bleed to death from the wound if his regenerative ability hadn’t recovered.
Burdened by the unnatural heat, the bleeding, and his own desperation, he sank his claws deep into the flaming wraith’s shoulders and chest.
He wasn’t a fire dragon. No matter how he masqueraded as one, he could never truly compete with the vengeful wraith spewing magma onto his talons. One push with his wings propelled them from the platform into the air, and another sharp beat sent them hurtling higher into the sky. His claws sizzled and the flesh blistered.
He didn’t let go. His roar and the wraith’s enraged bellows harmonized the whole while they soared toward the black, ash-filled clouds swirling above Mount Mori’onga.
His shoulder tugged