before another arrow came from nowhere and hit him square in the eyes making his head explode into blue flames. I screamed and automatically ducked down and at the same time, covered my head, as I didn’t particularly care to be next.
After this I heard the same whizzing sound time and time again, all coming from different directions, which was followed by the sound of bodies thudding as they dropped on the floor. In the end it was like waiting for popcorn to be done in a microwave, you waited until the popping sounds slowed to a near stop before you checked it. And sure enough, I was right, as soon as the sounds ended, I looked up to find everyone dead but myself and the growling dragon still in the net.
I didn’t really know what to do because I couldn’t see where the arrows had come from, so in the end I did the lamest thing yet, and that was throw my hands up in the air and shout,
“I’m not with them! See, no fur in sight and my teeth are still white!” Then I grinned a cheesy grin, that even in the back of my mind had me asking myself what the hell I was doing but mainly, what the hell must I have looked like?!
Well, whatever the case, something I did must have worked as for one, I didn’t end up with an arrow in my body before becoming Miss Crispy of the Realm! Oh, and secondly, the air around us started to shimmer just like it did when opening up a portal. Only instead of it being confined to the space of a doorway, it was all around us. However, when it started to open up, it did so in slices, as it looked like people sized tears being made in the world around us, where another world could be seen beyond.
I rose to my feet, feeling compelled to get closer to it, but by the time I took my first step, a man emerged from beyond the opening. This happened over and over again, as pretty soon a whole regiment of soldiers appeared, now being the ones to surround us in place of the barbarians.
I wisely staggered back until my back was against the McBain’s dragon form, feeling some comfort in this as I felt it breathing heavily with the rise and fall of its stomach that was obviously now at my back.
Once the new army had us completely surrounded, they all stood to attention the second their own leader obviously stepped through, and he couldn’t have been further from Mr Piglet Squealer, who had just died by a flambéing.
I turned my head slightly, patted the dragon’s belly in comfort and told them all the only thing my irrational brain could come up with in that moment…
“Well, Toto, it looks like we just found the Wizard.”
6
Land of Dragons
The dragon at my back whined slightly, and I wondered if this was due to my bad joke in sight of the army now surrounding us, because if it hadn’t been impossible odds before, then now there was no masking the chance of escape from being near impossible. This was because calling them an army was exactly the right word for they were the polar opposite of the bandits that had been slain in seconds. The same bandits that now lay in patches, bleeding on the grass like this area of the land had just been infected.
Each of the men now surrounding us were all wearing matching armour of the highest quality, and trust me, I had seen enough in my time to know the difference. It was simply exquisite and exactly what I would have expected to see from a Kingdom of Fae beings. This being the more fanciful term for elves. However, what they themselves preferred to be called was still yet to be discovered.
But the sight of them was what confirmed we were indeed now in the Elemental Realm, as this show of strength was also one of beauty. As line after line of tall, slim men dressed in black and gold armour that gleamed under the sun was proof of that. Gods, but there wasn't even a speck of dirt in sight, making me randomly wonder if polishing the uniforms every night was part of the job description?
Matte black steel was contoured to every muscle in sleek flowing lines that were adorned by the high sheen of gold inlays, pieces of which created a