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The dragon lunged for the closest badger, stepping on a dakya and the soldier fighting it. The soldier’s scream cut off abruptly, and Iryana gagged. The dragon couldn’t quite lift the badger in its jaw, but it tried, using its great claws and teeth to rip it apart.

The snow and ice around the dragon melted almost instantaneously everywhere it touched. The surrounding ground quickly became a pool of mud and dark blood.

As it pulled at the badger, it tossed part of the metal-spiked hindquarters blindly, not seeming to notice it landed on a group of soldiers.

Those nearest the dragon tried to back away, but the dakii hadn’t stopped fighting. Some of the soldiers lifted their weapons at the massive beast.

“We can’t kill it!” Iryana yelled. She couldn’t imagine how much magic it had taken to create, and there wasn’t much time. Mhakiza would need all her warriors. “If the badgers are gone, it will leave!”

Her first thought was to have everyone run from the badgers, letting the dragon get them. But if they relented even for a moment, would either of the remaining badgers make it under the wall before the dragon could stop them? There were only two left, but they were doing everything to get into the fort, and she had no doubt that the dragon would destroy the entire fortress if that’s what it took.

They tried to stay out of the dragon’s way, but it was killing them accidentally faster than the dakii were killing them intentionally. Some of the soldiers tried to fight it; arrows and large stones rained down from the wall, but the dragon didn’t care. Metal was weak to fire.

But fire was weak to water.

“I have a plan!” she yelled to the others, who were all fighting off dakii. “I’m going to distract the dragon with my water forging. You need to order everyone to focus on the badgers. The dragon should leave once they’re destroyed!”

“No,” Pyetar instantly shouted, looking over his shoulder at her in horror.

Uncle Dinhal and Vaneshta looked at her with slightly less vehement opposition, but their deep frowns and dropped jaws didn’t suggest much confidence either.

“I have a plan, just do it!” She didn’t give any of them a chance to argue.

She raced toward where three of Limhiz’s bears were blocking the dakii from the soldiers.

“Help me protect the people!” she cried to the bears, hoping they would understand her. “I need to hold off the dragon, protect me!” It felt silly talking to them, but they clearly knew friend from foe.

She thought at first that they wouldn’t aid her, but then they dropped to four legs to follow her, letting the dakii race into the fray. She hoped she wouldn’t regret that.

There was little snow left anywhere nearby; the air was warm, which made it easier to move.

Iryana ran around the side of the dragon, which was trying to push its way through fighting soldiers and dakii, letting her spear dematerialize and forming her water staff for the first time in months, nearly collapsing from the staggering pain. It surged through her, her very being seeming to rip apart at the seams. Her abdomen cramped and her body curled in to protect itself, nearly pulling her off her feet. Her arms shook as she forced herself to keep moving, nausea surging up her throat.

This better work, she begged silently.

The dragon didn’t even seem to notice her, letting her get close. With all her strength, Iryana shoved the end of her staff behind the dragon’s front leg, watching a strange ripple through its hide.

The dragon paused, shaking its leg. And then it continued trying to get to the badgers.

Iryana jabbed it again.

As the dragon turned, Iryana dove behind the bears who stood like a wall in front of her.

Gods, she worried antagonizing it was a mistake, but she was committed now.

The dragon roared, and the bears roared back.

When the dragon turned again, Iryana darted out and jabbed her staff into the dragon’s underbelly. She hit it again as she narrowly dodged its tail. As the beast turned, Iryana raced for the abandoned city with the bears at her side.

Iryana tried to move faster, but without her snowshoes, she was fighting the snow with every step. With every breath, she expected the dragon’s teeth to clamp around her.

She was pulled into the air, and Iryana shrieked, flailing. But then she was on the back of one of the bears, scrambling for purchase. She looked over into the all-black eyes of the bear which had put her there, and there seemed to be deep intelligence in them.

The bear beneath her took off, and she fought for a better hold. She shouted for them to head for the densest part of the abandoned city, where the dragon would have trouble following them.

It was nothing like riding a horse. Its gait wasn’t smooth, but violent. Its shoulders churned as she was jostled up and down. Her legs were spread too wide around its huge body to properly hold her, and her feet had to dig into the plates on the creature’s sides to keep from sliding off.

Without slowing themselves to her pace, the bears were agile, darting into the streets and moving faster than a horse despite the snow.