Chapter 11

As the town came into view they could see that parts of it were on fire.

Caelan was trying to keep everyone up on what was going on via Darla as they rode the horses hard towards home.

But there was a lot going on and some of it was getting lost in translation. Darla had her hands full trying to fight fires, show Caelan the devastation, and talk with Galen about what he thought was going on.

But from what they could piece together, it appeared that all of their homes were attacked first without warning, but now the fires were spreading to other parts of the city.

Darla was now aware that magic could be exhausted, and was trying her best to only pull just enough from Caelan to create rain clouds to put out the fires. Galen was helping her by creating ice as well as rain, but they had their hands full along with the city Guard who was working to save various residents that might either be trapped or needing help to reach a shelter from the falling fire.

But as the six of them rode up Aric could be seen watching the sky as they got closer.

Suddenly he stopped his horse was staring straight up.

"Oh no..." said Aric softly.

"What? What is it Aric?" asked Brianna as she slowed down her horse as well.

"It's a Dragon," said Aric simply.

"WHAT!" said Caelan, "Are you sure Dad? I mean, when was the last time anyone saw one of them around? I mean you only hear about them in stories or from a person of a person of a person who saw one!"

"If you watch the angle of the fire coming from the sky, you'll notice that it seems to sweep down in a steady stream, and it seems to curl back up again near the end of the blast. It's the only thing that makes sense. Then there is the fact that the fire is only coming from above the clouds. It's like its searching for something, but hasn't quite found it yet so its attacking until it does," said Aric.

"Darla said Galen says your right," said Caelan. "He said he should have thought of that before."

"What do we do?" asked Cassie. "Is it even possible to fight it?

"Do we have a choice?" asked Aric as he spurred on his mount headed for the city.

"Aric, Brianna, Rayne, Boys, we need to find a way to make the Dragon land before the entire city goes up!" said Galen as they rode into the city pass the walls.

Caelan directed them to where Galen and Darla were busy making it rain heavy in various spots around the city. While it was helping with the fire already burning, the blasts from the Dragon every once in a while were drying the surfaces almost as fast as they could wet them making it eventually a losing battle.

Galen was also making tidal waves every once in a while but that was only keeping the buildings around the docks drenched and did nothing for the rest of the city.

"What about David and Matt?" asked Cassie with much concern.

"And Gail!" asked Jaden.

"They are all safe for now. They, their parents, and various others are taking shelter in some of the various shelters around the city. They should be safe enough for now since the shelters are underground," said Galen

"Cassie come with me. We need to search for any survivors or ones who were missed and in need of our help. Let's see if we can link up with members of the city guard to help," said Brianna.

"Bri..."called out Aric worried.

"Aric," said Brianna as she moved closer to him to touch his face. "We're not mages. We can't do anything here to help. What we can do is make sure that others are safe. We all have a part we can play. You just be the hero we know you can, and we'll do what we can as well."

"Be careful. Please. I want you to come back to me," said Aric looking into Brianna's eyes.

Then he pulled her close, kissed her, and let her pull away from him as she and Cassie went looking for survivors in need of help. He watched her run off into the night until he couldn't see her form any more.

"We need ideas. The Dragon doesn't have any reason to land that we know of. We need to make it land if we can," said Galen as Aric and Brianna were saying a quick goodbye.

"What if we use spells to attack it? Like say lighting or a fireball?" Jaden asked.

"That's some pretty long ranges to throw them there boy, think you're up to shooting spells repeatedly that extreme distance?" asked Galen with a smile that belied the seriousness of the situation. "Not to mention Dragon scales are very highly magic resistant. That's why Dragon slayers are usually warriors and not mages. Mages can only offer support to them."

"How about trying to make it rain higher in the sky? If we make it too hard for it to see maybe it will either fly away or fly lower so we can get a better look," said Caelan.

"No it will just fly higher. It has no reason to come closer if flying higher will work just as well. Not to mention it came here for a reason, and I doubt it's going to just fly away because it gets a little tough for it to see," said Galen.

"But how is it able to pinpoint us from so high up?" asked Rayne.

"Because like an eagle it can see a mouse in the grass from that high in the air," said Galen.

"Then why don't we give it a reason and lure it down with the one thing I've always heard Dragon's can't resist?" asked Darla suddenly. During their discussion, she was continuing to make it rain over the city.

"Of course! I'll be right back," said Aric as he vaulted for a horse and took off in the direction of his house. His kids looked on in confusion, but Darla and Galen knew what he meant. And after Caelan asked Darla mentally he did to, and told his siblings what was going on.

After about 20 minutes Aric was back carrying a heavy sack that made a lot of noise as it moved around.

"The house took a good beating. It will be a while before we can live in it again," said Aric.

"Dad do you think what you have in there will work?" asked Caelan.

"It will. It's something I know the Dragon can't resist," said Aric as he removed various gold items and threw them on the ground in front of him.

'THEIF! I KNEW I'D FIND YOU HERE! I HAVE FINALLY FOUND YOU!" said a loud booming voice from the sky.

Everyone looked at each other in shock and wonder. Who was the voice talking about?

About that time they heard a loud rushing noise and everyone looked up and saw a large "reddish black" object dropping quickly out of the sky.

At the last moment they realized it was the Dragon headed their direction and it was moving very fast. It spooked the remaining horses and they all took off in random directions trying to avoid its approach.

Just before it landed it beat its wings hard a couple times and created a down draft that completely knocked everyone off their feet. The downdraft was so powerful it that it left every ones ears ringing.

As everyone slowly got up they looked up and up, and had their first real look at the Dragon.

Its scales were a shimming mixture of deep red and almost black in color. Its head was huge. It had to be almost eight to ten feet long. It had a long almost canine like nose, large swirling greenish yellow eyes with a cat like pupils, and two black horns on either side.

It stood two stories easy, as it looked down on them with is long serpentine neck as it was watching them for any sudden movements. It had talons that were easily as 4 feet long in its huge paws. As it was not close by its mouth was slightly agate and the teeth looked to almost be three feet in length in its mouth.

It slowly flapped its wings one more time as they settled close to its body. The wing membranes were almost transparent, but showed veins crisscrossing through them. But the wing span had to at least be easily fifteen yards across. The dragon looked to be about twenty to twenty five yards long.

As everyone stood staring at the Dragon for a minute, Aric took a deep breath and spoke first.