24. Kaida

Deep within her heart, Kaida knew she had made the best decision possible with the available options. With the wind blowing against her face, her wings open as she sailed through the air, and a couple of hundred dragons, along with her mates, by her side, the odds of her decision being a mistake were low. No matter the outcome, they would all go down in history. They would be the first to rise against the kingdom and fight for the island’s right to live among those in Dragaal.

I will win that throne. I will make this kingdom see the error of their ways and unite my people.

It was easier than she thought to gather those behind her to agree to fight for their place in Dragaal. They ended up with thousands instead of hundreds. Many were outraged to learn that Gemar came to the island and took Blaze against his consent. It was the final straw for many as they were tired of the king and queen thinking that the Elementals were there to laugh at and control.

The news of Gemar being fated to an Elemental, rejecting her, and then spreading the lie that he never found his Fated Mate broke Enzo entirely. He already did not have much love for his father, but this sealed the hatred he felt for him. The lies were piling up, and Enzo was done, especially knowing that his mother believed that Gemar had never found his Fated Mate and lived her life believing that he would always choose her. Gemar accepted his Chosen Mate because he loved Nande, and they were together when Gemar found Amy. He rejected Amy because she was an Elemental.

As they approached the barrier, Kaida let out a roar that alerted everyone to gather their magic. With the power of a couple of thousand dragons among her own, Kaida knew in her heart that was what was needed to make the barrier disintegrate. Gemar would expect her and her mates to try to break the barrier, but he probably felt too confident that everyone on the island would remain loyal to him and not accompany them.

With the crackling of her plasma energy inside her jaws, Kaida let loose the first beam of magic at the barrier as soon as the mainland beaches came into view. The sizzling magic that held the barrier was within sight, making the air appear like a mirage with rippling energy. Within seconds, she could see the other’s magic soar through the air and into the barrier. Her mates’ power swirled around her as they finished the attack on the barrier by mixing their magic in with everyone else’s. Kaida heard the crack of the magic breaking, and slowly, the ripples faded away.

On the beaches stood just as many dragons waiting for them.

Kaida roared at the sight of them. Her mates echoed the crackling sound of her dragon’s roar, and the rest of her troops made the dragons down below roar in response. They all opened their wings and pushed themselves off the ground to fly toward them. By opening her mouth and allowing her magic to build, Kaida gathered enough force inside her magic so that, when she let the beam of plasma toward the oncoming, it could bring down three at once. Beams of colorful magic and Elemental forces rained down onto the oncoming dragons from below. A crackling of Thunder from above alerted Keta to what the magic of the troops was conjuring. Storm Dragons were able to do many things, like control the weather. With the number of troops approaching the beach, she thought they would surely conjure more than rain and lightning. To her surprise, lightning danced all around the Dragons in the air. Before they left the island, she and her mates discussed with those willing to fight with them that they would need to power up a shield when going into battle. Many of them listened, and the lightning only slightly damaged their bodies as it connected with the shields. She heard disturbing roars and saw a few bodies diving into the water below. When they did not resurface, she knew their shields did nothing for them, and she had already lost a few of her fighters.

As the kingdom’s Dragons approached, Kaida did her best to release her magic in many forms and attack as many people as possible. She made sure to change up her attacks so she would not deplete the energy too quickly. A few were plasma in sphere form, spraying the troops to hit as many as she could at once. Another attack was sent to hit the bigger dragons with one thick beam. She managed to take out many of them, at least for a moment, so they could make it past the threshold of the beach.

The plan was always for them to be able to get Kaida and her mates to pass the troops so they could go in and find Blaze. So far, the plan has been going according to plan. With her and her men being at the front of the troops, navigating through the crowd of dragons, making it further into the kingdom was easier. The downside of it was each dragon came out first. With her and her mates being stronger than the rest, it made the most sense for them to be at the front lines of the troops and knock down as many of the army as they could.

Many of the kingdom’s dragons doubled or tripled on one island dragon to overwhelm them. The islanders had never fought in such a manner, so fighting more than one person at a time was difficult. There was no way to tell people to fight together to minimize the damage, so they were not as overwhelmed without risking themselves. Humans cannot fight off the dragon’s magic or their teeth and claws.

It is a risk that I am going to have to take.

Kaida quickly shifted into her human form and kept her wings. She flew over the battle and screamed at the top of her lungs, "YOU NEED TO FIGHT TOGETHER! NO MORE FIGHTING ALONE!"

Enough of them heard her, flew into groups of three, and pushed their magic outward from each side. Kaida could see the odds were beginning to balance out. A few of the army instantly noticed Kaida in her human form and were on top of her. She pushed for the shift, but it was coming slower than usual. Kaida threw her magic from her hands, but it was not as effective as her dragon’s power, which redirected itself to shift back into her dragon form. Her mates flew to her side and began to do the same as she instructed until her dragon could complete the change.

She could feel her mates’ anger at her for risking herself, but she ignored them. They were still too far away from getting past the kingdom’s army to find Blaze.

A larger Storm Dragon with deep blue scales flew before her and her mates. Enzo flew to be in front of her and let out a deep-throated roar. The enemy Storm Dragon must have been Gemar, and Kaida was ready to fight him off herself. If Gemar died, the rest would surrender. He snapped his jaws at her as she pushed herself ahead of Enzo. He didn’t want her to fight him.

Gemar shifted back into his human form, wearing a devious smirk. "You insolent child. Did you dare to think you could win against me in my own kingdom? You are sorely mistaken. The ocean and sand will be drenched with your army’s blood." His smirk grew. "Unless you would like to forfeit now and give me back my son and kill your other mates."

They were right. Their thoughts on what he wanted were right. Gemar wanted to keep Enzo and her so he could kill the others. If he killed her other mates, he could rig it so that the possibilities of heirs would only be storm or plasma.

No one moved. Enzo remained staring down at his father from within his dragon form. Kaida looked at the others, and none of them moved to shift back into their human forms to discuss anything with Gemar. The war raged below, with the cries of Dragons being hurt or using their magic rank plaguing the air. Kaida wanted to attack Gemar, but her instincts told her she needed to find Blaze. Through their bond, she could feel them nudging her to do so. They wanted to take on the Dragon King themselves and wanted her to break away to find Blaze.

Don’t mind if I do.

Gemar’s eyes flashed green before he shifted back into his dragon form. Kaida counted ten dragons as they materialized beside him. No shields or magic kept them hidden. Kaida wasn’t sure how they just appeared, but within a blink, they were there. Since his eyes flashed green, she knew he was using his ability to control them. Gemar let out a roar, and the ten descended upon her and her mates. Enzo rushed ahead to face his father alone while the rest of them were left to deal with the other ten dragons.

The sounds of bodies colliding and the crackling of magic were the only things Kaida could hear. An Ember Dragon charged at her first. Realizing that Gemar had managed to gain control over one of her own, she did not want her to do anything more than knock this dragon out. Kaida breathed in the dragon’s scent to ensure it was not Blaze. The Ember Dragon was a lighter shade of red than Blaze, but it had a similar build to his dragon, so she was unsure. Something was off from the scent that did not remind her of Blaze. If anything, he smelled like a campfire that burned up garbage instead of smelling like a normal one. She was able to clamp her jaws down onto its neck normally. The Dragon used his claws on the bottom of her stomach to open the weaker scale to harm her. Kaida moved her body back and slammed it back into the dragon to knock him off course just as she let go of his neck. She quickly built up her magic and blew her plasma beam at his face. The scales on a dragon’s face were not as tough as the ones along its back, so she hit him exactly where she needed to do the most damage. She watched as the scales melted away and left behind the skull as the body plummeted down toward the water. Kaida hated that it was one of her people, but without the dragon being one of her mates, she had no idea how to rid this dragon of being controlled by Gemar.

The rest of her mates were faring well against their opponents. With Gemar being distracted by Enzo, only nine Dragons were left to face. While she quickly looked to see who would need help, Kaida noticed that only five Dragons, who were not her mates, were left in the air. The rest of them were storm dragons. There was no way she could go after Blaze yet. She rushed to their sides and noticed that Beckett had the most trouble with his battle. Both dragons tried to do what she did, using their teeth and claws more than their magic. One opened his mouth to build the lightning strike of his magic, while the other had Beckett’s neck inside his jaws. Kaida gathered her magic and let it loose on the storm dragon, who was aiming its magic at Beckett. Her magic did the same thing it had before: melted away the scales on the dragon’s face. She moved her mouth further down from his head and dug into its neck for safety. As the attacker fell to its death, magic flew into the other dragon, making him let go of Beckett’s neck. Beckett poured his ice magic over the dragon, encasing him in a block of ice. As the dragon fell to the water, Beckett looked at her pridefully before flying off to help Arlo, who was facing two dragons alone.

Arlo managed fine because he had the magic to create binds around the dragons with vines. Since they were in the air, his magic was extremely limited in helping him win. The vines held the two Dragons in the air, but Arlo could not get close enough to use his teeth or claws against them. Beckett joined in, wrapped his jaws around one of their necks, and bit down until he could throw his head back and forth to cause damage. Kaida blasted her magic at the other, melting away its scales as she had done with the others.

Esen kept his opponent in a vortex while assisting Enzo with Gemar. She could feel the wind pick up as he tried to blow Gemar off course to give Enzo an edge. Gemar was calling on lightning to rain down on Enzo, and she could see him flying around, trying to avoid the strikes.

Kaida looked down below, and her heart jumped into her throat. The Islanders were not doing much better. If anything, they were losing against the Storm Dragons. She could see that she had not lost many of them, but their dragons were bloody and losing momentum. Kaida tugged on her mate bonds just as Beckett and Arlo killed the one Esen was fighting. They looked at her, and she urged them to look down below. They needed to do something before they lost more than they could afford.

Kaida urged them to pull back through the bond. She was met with a block, and she could see that her mates were flying toward Enzo to give him help. She could feel it in her bones that she needed to get them not to fight Gemar. With his ability to control dragons, he could call a number of them from down below to join in on his fight. His father was playing with Enzo, making him seem like he had a fighting chance again. She knew better than that. The way they fought one-on-one would not remain that way for long. The moment the king thought he would lose, he would call on his ability and call every dragon from down below to his aide. This was not something they would be able to face. Her magic was not strong enough to attack that many at once, Plasma or not.

She tugged on the bonds again, this time using her power to assist her. She didn’t know if it would work, but the walls that were there before were easily blown through.

We cannot face him ourselves! We need to retreat! Kaida pushed her thoughts into the bond, hoping it would reach her mates.

She noticed their posture changed, and they were sneaking glances at her. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to stop the battle below them, but the best thing they could do right now was fly back to the island and regroup.

Put all your energy into building a wall. Imagine your power overriding everything these dragons know and forcing them to listen to you. If you manage this, you can make the storm dragons stay on one side while the islanders stay on the other.

Kaida did not fight her dragon. If she suggested something, it was because she knew it would work. Considering that her dragon knew more about their magic and power than Kaida did, she would do as she was told. She took a moment to gather herself. With some focus, she conjured the thought of the storm dragons on the side closer to the beach while the others headed toward the island. When she opened her eyes and glanced down below, she noticed the storm dragons slowly flying toward the beach while the Islanders were flying toward home.

It worked! I can’t believe it worked! Okay. Now they are safe. I need to make this wall.

With her next thought, she imagined a wall of her plasma magic. She felt the energy building inside of her and circulating through her body. Since she was inside her dragon form, the only thing she could think of was to let the magic loose through her mouth. The next time she opened her eyes and mouth, she could see her magic as a swirl of energy instead of the purple plasma she was used to. With her next breath, she let it loose and formed the wall between the kingdom and her people.

When she looked back up at her mates, they were all trying not to be struck by lightning. Gemar could keep them at bay with his magic as he added more attacks with balls of energy flying in every direction from his mouth. None of her mates were remotely close enough to do anything to Gemar, so she tried to push her thoughts through the bonds again.

I made the islanders go back home. STOP! We need to go home! We can come back and fight against Gemar later!

There was an indication that her thoughts went through. Kaida then gathered her power and pushed it through the bonds. I SAID STOP! GET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL!

It did not work yet again. Kaida pushed energy into her wings and began to fly toward her mates to knock some sense into them. They must have felt her coming to them as they started to fly toward her instead of toward Gemar. She sighed in relief, seeing that they were listening before a shroud of black encased her. Kaida roared and tried to pull a shield of her magic around her. She could feel the black mist touch her scales as her shield did nothing.

Then everything went black.