They came at her all at once, no holds barred. Streaks of blue tinged flame rocketed out from one dragon, brilliant bright purple bolts of crackling energy ignited the air from another. One of the six had conjured up a golden lattice of pure energy, which hovered steadily in the air, all the time moving towards the, by now, raging mad Earth. This all happened in the blink of an eye, as the other three of the six designated to take Earth out, closed in for some hand to hand combat, determined to take her alive and present her to the dragon council.
So many thoughts whizzed through her mind, primarily, how the hell she could catch up with, and save, the love of her life. Instinct and common sense fought off the battle lust that she felt, telling her she had to deal with the six in front of her, and fast. By the look of things, they were all professional and experienced. This was going to be no easy task. Searching her mind for something, anything, that might get her out of this hole, her search didn't include anything dragon related. There seemed little point. Clearly her attackers would be able to defend themselves against anything they already knew about, so it had to be something different, something that the nagas had taught her in all the time she'd spent with them.
Off to one side, the Crimson Guard stood still, his eyes closed, concentrating with all his might on the golden net hovering in the air, getting ever closer to his target's position, totally unaware of the tiniest of movements in the long grass beside him. That is until a bite, causing him the most unbelievable amount of pain, made him lose focus and drop to the ground. The sizzling golden trap disintegrated into nothingness, with the overwhelming odds having just turned a little in favour of the rogue dragons.
Earth's husband pulled up, dropping to his knees as he did so, wanting to vomit, but fighting against the urge. Instead, he coughed violently, globules of blood spewing out across the stony path that he found himself on. Knowing they were behind him, he was conscious that he had only moments to act. Before now, he'd never been afraid of dying. Many situations across the years had seen him close to death. In each and every one of those, he'd always faced his destiny with the typical arrogance that was probably a trademark of his old self. But over the years, he'd changed. Whether it was him, or because of her, or just the fact that they were together, he didn't know. But that arrogance was long gone, replaced with love, and regret. He didn't want to lose her; he didn't want to die. For the very first time he was afraid, not only for him, but for her as well. Staggering to his feet, all the while clutching his belly wound, he moved as quickly as he could into the breeze, the salty sea air a constant reminder of what he'd just lost.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed her serpent taking down another of the hopeless dragons. A twisted smile writhed across her face. Not just because of what she'd just seen, but because she had it. The answer. And now she intended to use it. With the streaks of fire and purple bolts being deflected harmlessly away by her cleverly designed personal shield, she lowered her head to face the attackers who were almost upon her, twisting her finger in a very intricate fashion, putting all her rage, willpower and temper behind but one thought. BOOM! A solid ring of sound erupted out from her. All the Crimson Guards were thrown back, with the closest one smashing his head on a huge chunk of rock jutting up out of the path. The other two charging dragons had fared little better. One twisted his ankle, while the other was out cold, both of his arms twisted in unnatural positions where he lay. Both the Crimson Guard's who'd been casting spells stumbled to their feet, blood streaming from their ears and noses. All around, the 'thud', 'thud', 'thud', of birds dropping to the ground, dead, could be heard. In the sea, fish floated to the surface in nearly a half mile radius, while crabs stayed buried beneath the sand, never to move again. Earth strolled purposefully forward, heading straight for the two spell casters, stopping briefly on the way to break the neck of the unconscious dragon, which she accomplished with the ease of a trained professional. It clearly wasn't her first time.
Ignoring the pain they were in, the two Crimson Guards concentrated on channelling their power. But it was too little, too late. Earth was upon them, gouging the first one's eyes out in an instant, his howling screams carried off into the distance by the squally gusts. The second one, despite the severity of his injuries, lunged forward, swivelled and kicked Earth's feet from under her. Falling brutally to the ground, the wind having been knocked out of her, for a moment she was completely at his mercy. Knowing this was his chance and despite decades of training, his anger tore through him, controlling his every action. Leaping upon her, he rained down a torrent of punches into her face and chest, watching as her cheeks erupted in a shower of blood and bone. She tried to mutter some words, but they only came out as a gurgle of blood. With all consuming rage defining his actions, he'd decided what needed to be done.
'To hell with the council and their judgement,' he thought, still hammering blows into the seemingly helpless Earth. 'She deserves to die,' he decided. And so calling forth every last ounce of power within him, he let rip. Purple bolts surged out of him, so lightning fast they looked like one long continuous stream. Her beaten body started to convulse and writhe with the pain, making him look like some demonic rodeo rider on the cold, dark, evil winter's night. Thoughts of justice and righteousness consumed the guard, knowing that for once he'd become judge, council and the king all at once. It was then that two huge mouths slithered up from nowhere and clamped themselves around his head, causing him to scream out in pain, all thoughts of his previous target forgotten. Rolling off Earth, hoping to shrug off the giant beast, he'd not counted on its teeth having firmly dug into his skull. He tried to get to his feet, but as he got to his knees, powerful muscles wrapped themselves around both his legs, squeezing as hard as they could. Tumbling onto the hard ground, all the time rolling, both his hands searched in the darkness for the beast's eyes, hoping to jab a finger or two into them. But it was no good, he couldn't find them and the pain was stopping him thinking. By now the evil looking snake had wrapped its entire twenty yard body around the guard, literally crushing the life out of him. As his vision went dark for the final time, and he expelled his last breath, he smiled, knowing that at least that witch of a rogue dragon would never harm anyone ever again.
A sharp, metallic tang filled her throat and lungs. For all intents and purposes she'd died. But the single thought within her hadn't been told about that. All it cared about was him. And it knew that to keep him safe, this broken and battered body it was concealed in had to get up, get going, and fight. The thought urged the body to roll over and expel its contents. It did. Whacking great mouthfuls of blood were coughed up onto the sand beside it. Casting aside the pain it felt, Earth's body lurched to its feet and, avoiding the mass of dead bodies surrounding it, started to jog in the direction she'd last seen her husband.
'He has to be alright, he just has to,' she thought, over and over again as she followed in his footsteps.
Having never had his wife's skills with familiars, they were, for him, out of the question. But that didn't mean he needed to concede defeat. Resting behind a craggy rock on the cliff's edge, needing to catch his breath and focus his thoughts, the cold wind whipped at his face, keeping unconsciousness at bay. All his eyes wanted to do were close and stay that way. But as with his wife, one singular thought pushed him on. HER. He needed to fight and stay strong for her. They would be together again, he was sure of it. It was meant to be. Over the harsh screaming of the wind, his enhanced senses could just make out noises... no, words. With a great effort he lifted his head up against the rock he had his back to, all the time panting heavily, aware of the precarious drop to his left. The cliff path had mainly headed up, and the rock that he was sitting behind lay at its highest point, some hundred yards above the beach, somewhere below him in the darkness. With a fall like that, he'd definitely be done for, and there would be no time to revert back to his dragon form, even if he had the energy to do so, which of course he didn't. Weary and mindful of his enemies approaching, he grabbed a handful of large stones from the ground around him. Ignoring the blood seeping from his stomach wound, he channelled his magic into the stones. One by one, they turned the darkest shade of black known to man. Holding tightly onto what had now become something of an arsenal, he reached out behind him, searching for his ever elusive pursuers.