The battle against the ashen gray elf did not go as expected. Her spellcasting was far more proficient than Thomas, in addition to having more experience and magick reserve. His inexperience in spell battle was made apparent by his focus on finding the right page to use, which distracted him. Clydethian style of spellcasting relied on stocking spells in his spellbook. Given his unfamiliarity with quick-thinking in high-stress situation, he was struggling to keep up with his enemy's dark magick. The ashen-skinned elf cast what Thomas recognized as simple magick that required no incantation. The only indication of the spell being cast was the barely visible silvery threads that formed into something transparent that Thomas could only defend himself using a barrier. He managed to notice that she made use of her hands to cast her spells, but he wasn't perceptive enough to understand her gestures and how the correlate to her spells.

  Thomas would be overwhelmed if it wasn't for the dragon. The dragon could not use fire due to the cursed collar, but she compensate with her ferocity. She was fearless, fueled by the desire to rip her opponent apart for endangering Thomas. This ferocity caught the elf's attention, who immediately turn her attention towards her the moment she lunged and failed to get past her spell.

  Henrietta silently admitted that this was her first true battle against a human-sized opponent that did not involve tricks or ambushes. It was a disadvantage for her, as she couldn't gauge how strong her opponent was. Realizing this, she moved around, keeping her late mentor's words in her mind.

  "Don't just stand around when engaging an opponent. Keep yourself on the move and attempt a strike when you see an opening."

  This advice worked well for her. Even after her body became several times larger than a human, she was still as agile, perhaps even more than that, when she managed to move around avoiding the magick projectiles the dark elf shot at her. It was hard to see, but she could feel it. Whether it was her instinct or because she was a dragon, Henrietta couldn't tell. All she could do was to be grateful that, despite the difficulty of moving on all fours, she caught on pretty quickly for someone who only became a dragon for two years.

  But this was not something she wanted to maintain forever. She was doing this because she was waiting for someone to remove the curse that was impairing her. She knew the elf she was facing would eventually lose patience and used advanced spells that would surely trapped her. Thomas was a capable mage, but this fight was beyond his ability.

  Nearby, Shana managed to finish the incantation to the curse removal spell. The Sionnach looked towards the battlefield, where she saw both Thomas and Henrietta were engaged in a battle with the dark elf. Realizing the situation, she knew she couldn't delay.

  "Hen...." She stopped, noting that Henrietta did not wish for her secret to be revealed just yet. She shook her head and cried, "Princess!"

  Henrietta dodged a dark projectile then turn her head toward the Sionnach. Realizing that she had finished her spell, the dragon quickly ran towards the fox. Her abrupt disengage alerted the elf that something was going on. The elf immediately focused her attention towards the Sionnach, preparing to cast a spell. Thomas sensed a great amount of magick being molded by the elf. Realizing that they were in great danger, he quickly opened his spellbook on a page where he stocked the strongest spell in his arsenal, preparing himself to counter whatever the elf was preparing.

  The elf, who noticed Thomas preparing himself, let out a chuckle, as if ridiculing the young man's determination. Thomas simply stayed his ground, aware that she could actually be bluffing, or perhaps she truly knew that she had a stronger spell, which started to manifest on the tip of her hand. From the look and the feel, Thomas could tell that it was a fire spell.

  "Foolish human," said the elf. "I know your kind's limits. You are too inexperienced to even stock anything of worth to counter this spell. Your pitiful attempt will surely be consumed by my magick."

  "I know that," retorted Thomas. "But at least I tried."

  "Hah! Defiant until the end. Very well, then. Perhaps I'll tell you the true nature of this spell."

  The fireball was forming, and Thomas knew what to expect when he turned his spellbook's page to an ice spell. But before he could cast the spell, he noticed, or rather, felt, something was different from the fire the elf was casting. Visually, it started to change color from the red and orange color of a fire into a dark purple color, before it settled in a color dark enough to be mistaken as black. From this point, it started to grow bigger, and from it, a chilling sensation creeping into him, causing him to shudder from the vile feeling of dread. It was as if all the negative feelings he had ever felt was condensed into the fireball that grew bigger and bigger every second. That feeling of unease also caused him to doubt, and the elf noticed this, evident from her smirk.

  "Your magick is nothing compared to the power of Vyrnia," said the elf. "This is the truth we Fel'uven seeks. This is our salvation. This truth is greater than anything you ever hoped to achieve!"

  Yet before she could complete the spell, a powerful burst of flame engulfed her, breaking her concentration.

  Thomas snapped out of the dreadful feeling and turn towards the source of the fire. He saw the pink-scaled dragon alongside the Sionnach supporting herself on the dragon's body. The sight of the dragon made him smile.

  Henrietta ever felt so alive ever since she turned into a dragon. The relief of having the collar off was followed by a surge of power within her. It was like a sealed tap within her was finally open and left that way, filling her with magick beyond which she had ever felt before. She wasn't aware of it back then, but now, she felt it. She felt the warmth in her lungs. She felt her body whole again.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  She felt what it was like to be a dragon.

  "If you have time to admire your newfound powers," said Shana. "Reserve that once this battle's over."

  "She couldn't have possibly survived that fire," said Henrietta.

  Shana scoffed. "Don't overestimate yourself, Princess. That fire wasn't strong enough against a Fel'uven mage. Especially her."

  True enough, Thomas sensed the similar feeling of dread and turned his head towards where he sensed the familiar feeling. There was a swirl of dark energy, followed by the elf appearing in a blink of an eye. There was smoke billowing from her body, but she was otherwise unharmed.

  "Dimensional shift," said Shana. "The only way you can escape that intense fire. From the look of it, you barely made it."

  The elf dusted off the soot caused by the fire.

  "So, you have broke the curse," she said. "Only a member of the faerie race could have done it so easily. You clearly live up to your reputation, Shannara."

  "That's quite an honor, coming from you," said Shana, sarcastically.

  "You made a mistake leaving our side. You don't owe anything to the people who rejected you. Why help these people? Their efforts pale in comparison to Vyrnia."

  "Sorry, Mizzorra. You should've known how faeries only have themselves to rely on. Even that's a stretch, since we like to play tricks to one another. But if there's one thing we faeries don't do, is play around with dark magick, especially something as demonic as Vyrnian magick."

  Mizzorra sighed. She was hoping that Shana, with her loose morale and her own past, would be willing to follow the Fel'uven. Perhaps she was overestimating her willingness.

  "Then die, knowing that you made the worst decision in your life," said Mizzorra as she prepared casting another spell.

  "I doubt it."

  From behind her, the Carlesian bartender, one of many townsfolk that was under her spell, held her in place. She stomped on his feet, realizing too late that he was under some sort of trance.

  "Now, Princess! Give her hell!" exclaimed Shana.

  Henrietta let out a fresh burst of fire, but once again, it came out a split second too late. Mizzorra broke free by burning the man using purple flame and managed to teleport herself away, moments before the fire hit where the bartender was. She instead teleported beside Shana.

  "Shit!" exclaimed Shana.

  "Checkmate," declared Mizzorra.

  But right at that moment, something unexpected happened. Mizzorra's prepared spell, a concentrated projectile that would kill Shana failed, bursting in the Fel'uven's hand and knocking it away. It surprised both of them, especially Mizzorra. She knew the type of spell that could easily do that. It angered her.

  "A counter spell?!" she exclaimed in anger.

  She turned towards where the counter spell was cast. Bartlett, still concussed and was propping himself on a nearby wall, pointed two fingers towards the elf. Mizzorra immediately cast a quick spell to finish him, but Bartlett was much faster.

  "Cancel!" he exclaimed.

  A spark of energy came out of his fingers and hit the elf's hand, dispelling the spell the Fel'uven tried to cast. It also caused her hand to recoil painfully.

  Him declaring the spell caused Mizzorra to turn towards him in anger.

  "You bastard!"

  "I can say the same to you!" taunted Bartlett, between his ragged breath.

  Not taking anymore chances, Shana held her palms in front of Mizzorra and cast a sealing spell that prevented Mizzorra to teleport. Thomas, who managed to find the right spell to use, and after quickly assessing the situation, cast a barrier spell right in front of Shana just as Henrietta breathed out a fresh burst of fire.

  This time, they heard scream. An agonizing scream as the elf was burned and was unable to escape. However, it was abruptly cut off. Shana heard something breaking just moments before a swirl of dark energy engulfed Mizzorra.

  When Henrietta stopped. Mizzorra was gone. Her fire was not hot enough to burn her into ashes, so there was only one reason.

  "Damn it!" exclaimed a frustrated Shana. "She must've had a recall point! We lost her!"

  As she tried running, she felt herself weakened and was unable to even keep standing. She fell on her knees, coughing blood. The pain from her broken ribs, and her spending more magick reserves than she usually did, took a toll to her body. Thomas, who was nearby, tried to help her, but to his astonishment, saw her body slowly morphing from a more anthropomorphic form to a fox, albeit wolf-sized.

  "Wow," said an astonished Thomas.

  "Don't just stare," said Shana. Her voice croaked from overexertion. "Do you know...any healing spells?"

  Thomas, sadly, shook his head.

  "Yeah. I figured," she said, before she lost consciousness.

  Thomas, unsure of what to do, turned to Henrietta.

  "What should we do, Princess?"

  "We need to get off this mountain before anyone realized what happened," said Henrietta. "We can't survive another ambush like that again, not when everyone's incapacitated."

  "Wait," said Thomas, looking around. "Where is Rory?"

  "I'm...here."

  They all turn to find a severely injured Rory striding slowly towards them. He was covered in gashes and cuts, clearly caused by the monster he fought by himself. Thomas ran towards him before he fell to the ground, while Henrietta went to Bartlett, whose grogginess was a clear indication of his current health. Henrietta could immediately tell how dire the situation was when she saw his head soaked in blood. She immediately grabbed him and carefully put him on her back with her nimble, hand-like right claw.

  "You...fought them by yourself?" asked a bewildered Thomas to Rory. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

  "You'll be a distraction I don't need," said Rory. "Don't worry. I won't die. I can't afford to."

  Rory, unable to deal with the pain from all the injuries, fell unconscious too.

  "Get him and the fox on. We need to go now," commanded Henrietta.

  Thomas did so, with great difficulty. His physique was not built for lifting adults. Nevertheless, he finished the deeds and climbed on top of the saddle.

  "Where to?" asked Henrietta to Bartlett.

  "That mountain...at the base of the mountain," said Bartlett. "Glide there."

  "I will try," said Henrietta. "Hold on tight, everyone!"

  She quickly dashed on the only straight strip of flat land while keeping her wings open. Once she reached the end of the cliff, the dragon jumped off. Her wings kept her airborne, surprising and astonishing Thomas as he kept a tight grip on Shana.

  As she left the town, the surviving townsfolk of Carlesi, those that Shana evacuated into the town hall when she was alerted by the fake soldiers, walked out to find a town damaged by a recent attack they were not aware of. The had no memory of what happened; all they remembered was that there was an attack, and that they seek shelter in the town hall. They had time to ponder about it after they prioritize in checking for survivors and to bury their deaths. To them, the attack came and went without their involvement.

  Yet, little did they know, this attack was the first of many attacks behind the battlefield, one that would determine the fate of Manarithia as a whole.