Remy

  One day ter

  Our rescue pn was simple! Very simple. We stormed the despicable event, grabbed Lou, and hurried away. My three dragons, Harper (of course!), and Haper's siblings, whom we didn't have to ask for long, and his parents helped.

  Harper's siblings would provide a distraction, me and my dragons would ruin the Wise's day, and Harper would grab Lou. Or I and Narcisse, Renan, or Basil. Depending on who had the chance in the end.

  Lou would probably be executed in the rge square in front of the temple. There, where the Wise Men had welcomed me as a rider. The st time executions took pce was a hundred years ago. And there was the usual pce for it. Where else in the city was enough room for many spectators? And since they were expecting a rescue attempt, they were prepared for anything. A vision showed me guards guarding the square. Unfortunately, the vision was too blurry and short to discern the exact location. I only saw the guards, witches and wizards. People who could fight dragons with magic. The necessary spells were complicated and you needed a lot of magic to be able to perform them. I, too, mastered one of these spells.

  I was able to shape the desert sand into ropes that prevented dragons from flying. They then inevitably crashed. It didn't kill the dragon, but it did stop them for a while. Until the dragon was released from the spell. Killing dragons with magic was almost impossible. Their own magic made them immune to most spells. And with their strength, they could easily free themselves from normal ropes. Dragons did not escape my ropes. I had used it many times against bck dragons. But of course, these ropes could also be used to tie people up...

  Haper's parents, disguised as rge birds, flew over the city. They would warn us if the execution unexpectedly took pce in a different pce. After that, it was up to us. Harper paced nervously up and down next to me. We waited on the cliffs near the temple. But far enough away not to be seen from below. But we were able to see everything.

  ‘Is it really going to take pce here?’, he asked with trembling wings. His thunderous dragon voice made the air around me vibrate slightly.

  There was hardly anyone down there yet.

  “Yes”, I confirmed. "I think so." Despite my blurry vision, I was sure. However, I didn't see how our attempt would end either.

  Harper snorted in annoyance. ‘They will atone!’

  ‘They will!’ Renan agreed. Steam gushed from his nostrils.

  We waited a long time. As time passed, my stomach growled, just like Basil's. Harper became increasingly nervous.

  Then, in the afternoon, they erected a gallows in front of the temple. I felt sick at the sight. Harper and Narcisse growled softly. Bojan and Hallie nded next to Max, as they no longer had to search the city. Hallie pulled Harper under one of her wings. At sunset, we got ready. Slowly, the square in front of the temple filled up. Tensely we watched everything. Ross growled as the first Wise Men entered the magnificent stage and looked at the crowd streaming in. 'Barbaric!,' hissed Bojan.

  'Take care of yourselves! And bring Lou home unharmed!', demanded Hallie.

  Everyone nodded without looking at them. The two old dragons now returned to their cave to wait for Lou’s arrival there. Connie scratched grooves in the stone with her cws. We saw the priests enter the big stage. I couldn't tell if Louise was among them. I didn't see them anywhere. She may have refused to watch her brother's death. The entire city seemed to gather in front of the stage. One of the Wise Men stepped forward and made a speech. I couldn't recognize him or understand his words. Unlike the dragons.

  'Disgusting!', Renan scolded. 'They act as if Lou is waiting for his fate with gratitude. Poor boy! Where is he? I still can't smell it!'

  'He's not here yet!' Harper stared at the stage. 'I hate them!'

  'I wouldn't mind tearing that Wise to shreds! And a few others", Ross agreed. 'With gratitude? Great moment? That he dares to speak of it in such a way!'

  'I'm hungry. Maybe I'll eat one?' Basil mused.

  Gratitude? A great moment? It is going to be one. For me! "Enjoy! I won't stop you. But first, we'll save Lou, then you can do whatever you want. I won't stand in your way!" No, I really wouldn't. I wanted to see heads roll. Blood. Finally, I spotted several people leading a scrawny figure to the stage. Lou. His smell, according to the dragons, was imperceptible. They had covered him with magic. As expected. Narcisse was giving a compint report about it when Lou reached the stage and I interrupted him: "Now!", I shouted.

  A noose was pced around Lou's neck. We started moving.

  Harper's siblings headed for the temple. They would set it on fire. If they spotted Louise, they'd get her to safety, I heard Max say in my mind. Louise and Lou smelled, according to the dragons, almost identical. If she was there, they would find her and bring her to safety. Personally, I didn't care about the girl, but Lou loved her dearly. Nothing was allowed to happen to her. I held on to Narcisse and looked over at Harper. I nodded at him as he turned into a bird so he could approach Lou unnoticed. The first people shouted in panic. We headed for the crowd, Basil and Renan roaring loudly.

  At the same time, Harper's siblings spat the first fmes. Soon the temple was in fmes. Panic broke out. The spectators fled. The Wise Men either prepared to attack, or hid. Guards rushed to the temple to stop the dragons. Others threw their spells at us. Among them were my fellow dragon riders. But their dragons only appeared to be attacking. Each time, they missed their target, determined to help the innocent Lou. (We had let them in on our pn and asked for their help. Dragons had a hard time betraying their riders. So I was very grateful to them.) Their riders did not notice this and led the dragons to the attack. I used my magic to protect the dragons from the special spells. I stopped ropes of sand, incredibly strong gusts of wind that could push us off our path, and other impudences. I caught a glimpse of Ross rescuing Louise from one of the burning houses. Disguised as an attack, he then dropped her into the sand between some of the priests.

  Several spells were hurled at us at the same time. My head was pounding as I tried to fend off any spell. Ropes of sand shot toward Basil. I tried to fend them off as well, but I couldn't. I lost control and a sharp wind blew me and Narcisse, and Renan away from the temple grounds. The crowd screamed. In the meantime, everyone fled. Basil was caught and fell down. In the middle of the now high fmes of the temple. There, the wizard lost sight of the dragon and thus lost control of the magic. Basil shot up from the fmes, flew towards the wizard, pulled him into the air, and bit him in two. He devoured half of it. In the midst of all the chaos, a small bird flew undeterred towards the gallow. There, the executioner wanted to drag Lou away, but one of the Wise Men stopped him. Then Ross was caught with a rope.

  I summoned my magic again and attacked the Wizard who was holding Ross captive, tying him up with the same ropes so that he would lose control of the spell. As I did so, I saw the Wise Men pointing to the gallow. The executioner led Lou there again. But they did not notice the little bird, which approached them with furious fpping wings. I fended off several spells again. Water and fire swirled around me and Narcisse. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harper suddenly change into his dragon form, grabbing Lou with his cws as one of the guards was about to put the noose around his neck, and then they flew away. The executioner fell down the stage and stopped moving.

  Now, several sorcerers fired their spells at Harper. I stopped several ropes that nearly knocked him down, but a gust of wind grabbed him and Lou. The two were pushed towards the fmes. There, wizards, witches, and priests tried to extinguish the fmes and stop Harper's siblings at the same time. Sally saw the distress Lou was now in and pushed Harper out of the fmes before Lou was injured. Harper escaped. I had to concentrate hard to fend off as many spells as possible. But slowly I got tired.

  A gust of wind caught Max and threw her against the rock face of one of the nearby mountains. Connie immediately flew to her, while Ross used his cws to lift the wizard who controlled that wind into the air and then threw him into the fmes.

  Renan and Basil lifted several guards into the air and threw them into the fmes. Most wizards, however, were able to save themselves with their magic. My dragons flew to Narcisse and me, as three still unharmed witches attacked us. My magic was on the verge of failing. I was in danger of losing consciousness.

  At the same time, I noticed a rge whirlwind of sand hurtling towards us. A group of Wise Men, who rushed out of one of the houses in which they had previously hidden themselves and thus escaped us, created the storm together. I saw how they were concentrating on chasing the vortex towards us. In the meantime, all the spectators had run away and so the hurricane was moving dangerously fast towards us.

  'Remy!', cried Narcisse in panic.

  "I know, but..." I tried to stop the whirlwind. I needed all my magic for that. But I was exhausted. Basil and Renan were caught by ropes. Just like Narcisse. They held us down so we wouldn't escape the storm. I narrowed my eyes. Sweat ran down my forehead. I focused on the merciless whirlwind. I forced it to slow down for a few moments, but then I colpsed exhausted on Narcisse's back. I had reached my magic limit. For a wizard like me, this rarely happened. After all, I had a lot of magic. But now the time had come.

  Then the whirlwind hit us, my breath hitched, and I clung to Narcisse. We whirled through scorching sand...

  sasi