The Dragonstones Trilogy

Immediately, the battle stopped. For several minutes, nothing made a sound. No breeze shook the trees’ leaves. No one moved. They all were looking at Sara, and the dead body of Aevill. The remaining dark magicians, after seeing Aevill’s corpse, took off running into the woods, the light magicians letting them go. It didn’t matter what happened to the dark magicians now, because their leader was dead.

All around her, there could have been cheering, but Sara never noticed. She could not get Aevill out of her head. She could not ignore those last moments of sanity, where Aevill had realized all he had done, how he had begged her to kill him. Sara shifted back into a human, and let the tears flow freely.

She looked around the battlefield, and saw all the fallen dark magicians, dead with steaming green wounds. She had killed Aevill, and countless other dark magicians, that were just following orders. Sara knew she had done the right thing, but at what cost?

Sara looked over to where James was, the bright dome of light still shining there. And now James was dead too, because of her! Sara sank to the ground, and buried her face in her hands. She could not bear all the grief that was coursing through her at the moment.

Sara felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Alva. Her eyes shone with tears, but something told Sara they were not real, only for show. “I’m sorry for your loss, but he gave his life for a worthy cause,” Alva said. She looked at Sara sharply. “Did you take care of the dark magicians?”

Sara was about to answer truthfully, but something stopped her. Something told her that Alva was not all that she seemed, though Sara already knew that. Finally, Sara remembered James. Don’t trust her. Guard your thoughts.

Sara realized with a start that if Alva could read minds, she would be able to hear everything Sara was thinking. She thought back to what James did, how he thought about nothing of importance. Hiding her thoughts in the same way, Sara said, “There is no more dark magic.”

Alva looked at her closely, then said, “I’m glad, more than I can say.” Seemingly satisfied, Alva stood up and left Sara without another word. Sara heard footsteps approaching her, and looked up to see Cole. “I’m sorry,” was all he said.

It took all the energy Sara could muster to stand up, but she did so anyway. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said. She wiped at the tears running down her face, and estimated that, by the end of the day, she would be able to fill a swimming pool with her tears alone.

Cole looked down at the ground, then at her. “I can’t say I won’t miss my magic, but I’m glad I won’t be controlled by those things anymore.” He pointed to the Shadow Stones on Sara’s wrist.

Sara smiled, then burst out laughing. It was a hysterical laugh, a mix of laughing and crying Sara laughed harder at herself. She had been so stressed just a few moments ago, and yet she was laughing now. Cole’s expression went from confused to hurt. “What?” he asked. Sara continued to laugh.

“Sara...” His tone darkened.

Wiping at the tears, Sara said, “I didn’t take your magic.” She smiled.

“What!” Cole exclaimed.

Sara nodded. “There has to be some dark magic in the world. It can’t all be light. I gave magic to you, and other people I can trust.”

Now it was Cole’s turn to sink to the ground. He waved his hand, and his signature shadow flames appeared. Cole looked up at her. “Thank you,” he said. “But I heard what you said to Alva. Why would you lie to her?”

Sara shrugged. “She may be the light queen, but I don’t trust her.”

Cole nodded. “Neither do I.”

That was quite a battle. Sara whirled to see Smolder standing there. She looked down at the Dragon Stones, and immediately knew how Smolder had gotten there. Behind her, Cole jumped up with a yell. “Is that...is that...?” he asked.

Sara nodded. “Yep. It’s a dragon,” she said.

Cole backed away from Smolder, his eyes wide. He looked so much like James that Sara started laughing again, until she remembered what had happened to James.

Smolder spoke again, his red scales gleaming in the sunlight, which had reappeared shortly after the battle had ended. Sara, you might want to go see James. If Sara didn’t know better, she would have thought Smolder was amused, but how could someone be amused when someone else died? That would make them just like Aevill.

Smolder was right, though. Sara had to face the truth sometime. She nodded, then walked over to the dome of light, Smolder and Cole following closely behind.

Sara didn’t know where the dome of light came from, but when she looked inside it, there was James, looking exactly as she had left him. She glanced down at the Lightstone, and saw that it was glowing happily, as if pleased with itself.

“What did you do?” she asked it.

Behind her, Smolder spoke. It appears the Lightstone is interested in our friend James. It has frozen him in time, so he is not dead yet, only on the brink of death.

“So what do we do?” Sara asked.

“Your venom is deadly, but I’ve come across similar poisons, that if used right, can heal almost anything,” Cole said.

“So I just...scratch him?”

That would be my guess. Smolder said.

Sara took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. She focused on changing only her hand into a dragon’s foot, nothing else. She watched as her hand went from a normal human’s to covered in emerald green scales, with claws dripping with her bright green dragon venom. She closed her eyes, and scratched James right along the arm, focusing on healing instead of harming him.

They waited. Nothing. Sara looked away, and tried to still have hope. James could still be healed.

Suddenly, James screamed.