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clawing one and biting
another—and swiping the third with her wings. She stopped them right before
they breathed fire, driving them face-first into the earth.
    They all impacted the ground together,
and there came a great rumble and clouds of dust as Mycoples drove their faces
down beneath the earth, until they were lodged so deeply in it that they were
stuck, only their rear talons sticking up out of the ground. As they touched
down, Thor turned and saw Gwendolyn’s shocked expression, and he thanked God
that he’d saved her just in time.
    There came a great roar, and Thor turned
and looked back up to the sky, and faced an onslaught of approaching dragons.
    Mycoples was already turning and flying
upwards, launching, heading up for the dragons fearlessly. Thor was weaponless,
but he felt different than he ever had entering a battle: for the first time in
his life, he felt he did not need weapons. He felt he could summon and rely on
the power within him. His true power. The power his mother had instilled him
with.
    As they approached, Thor held up his
wrist, aiming his golden bracelet, and a light shot forth from the black diamond
in its center. The yellow light engulfed the dragon closest to them, in the
center of the pack, and knocked him backwards, sending him racing through the
air, upwards, colliding into the others.
    Mycoples, in a rage, determined to wreak
havoc, dove fearlessly into the nest of dragons, fighting and clawing her way
through, sinking her teeth into one, throwing another, and cutting a path
through them as she knocked several of them back. She clamped down on one until
it went limp and then dropped it; it fell to earth like a huge boulder falling
from the sky, and hit the ground, shaking it. Thor could hear the impact from
here as it caused another earthquake down below.
    Thor glanced down below and saw Gwen and
the others running to take cover, and he knew that he needed to direct all
these dragons away from the island, away from Gwendolyn, in order to give them
a chance to escape. If he led the dragons out to the ocean, he figured he could
lure them away and take the fight out there.
    “To the open sea!” Thor cried.
    Mycoples followed his command, and they
turned and flew through the nest of dragons and out the other side.
    Thor turned as he heard a roar, and felt
a distant heat as flames launched his way. He was satisfied to see his plan was
working: all the dragons had abandoned the Upper Isles, and were now following
him out to the open sea. In the distance, down below, Thor spotted Romulus’s
fleet blanketing the sea, and he knew that even if somehow he survived against
the dragons—he would still have a million-man army to face on his own. He knew
he likely would not survive this encounter. But at least it would buy the
others some time.
    At least Gwendolyn could make it.
    *
    Gwen stood in the razed and smoldering
courtyard of what remained of Tirus’s court, still clutching the baby, looking
up at the sky in wonder and relief and sadness all at once. Her heart soared to
see Thor again, the love of her life, alive, returned, and on Mycoples, no
less. With him here, she felt a part of her had been restored, felt as if
anything was possible. She felt something she had not felt in a long time: the
will to live again.
    Her men slowly lowered their shields as
they watched the dragons turn and fly off, finally leaving the Isles and
heading out to open sea. Gwen looked around and saw the devastation they had
left, the huge piles of rubble, the flames everywhere, and the dead dragons
lying on their backs. It looked like an island ravaged by war.
    Gwen also saw what must have been the
baby’s parents, two corpses lying nearby, right beside where Gwen had found
her. Gwen looked into the baby’s eyes and realized she was all she had left in
the world. She clutched her tight.
    “This is our chance, my lady!” Kendrick
said. “We must evacuate now!”
    “The dragons are distracted,”