Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

before grabbing Maura’s arm with one hand, and rushing past me with a fierce battle cry that attracted the attention of the nearest negrets. Dragon fire was everywhere, turning some of the negrets to metal, but there were just too many of them for Maura and Nico to toast.
    Behind Nico, Brom was pressed against the wall, his face smeared with blood and his eyes huge. Nico was using his own body to shield him, but, judging by the number of negrets that poured out of the chapel and swarmed over Nico, I knew that even in his dragon form, he wouldn’t last but for a few more seconds.
    “Nooo!” I screamed when one negret climbed over the top of another, and reached down to grab Brom by his hair.
    I yanked hard on Baltic’s fire, intending to blast the negrets with it, but got only a thin trickle of fire. Baltic, I knew, was using it himself to stem the flow of negrets into the keep, leaving me without access to his fire. There was nothing for it-I had to summon my own fire, weak though it was.
    “Sullivan!” Brom’s cry reached my ears as I dug deep within myself, desperately trying to rouse my fire.
    Savian went down, covered in negrets. Maura screamed as some of them, slashing and biting her, climbed onto her body, keeping just out of reach of her fire.
    Holland was literally being torn limb from limb before our eyes.
    Nico’s fire occurred in shorter and shorter blasts, his body staggering as the massive swarm of negrets was taking its toll on him.
    I spun around, desperately needing Baltic, but he and Pavel were too far away to help.
    “Sullivaaan,” Brom wailed, the negrets viciously yanking him from behind Nico.
    Fury, fear, anger, hate ... it all spun around inside me, my soul screaming with agony and impotent rage and desperation, building to such a crescendo, I thought it would explode out of my skin.
    “Brom!” I screamed, leaping forward to attack the negrets that dared touch my child. I literally saw red when my dragon fire finally answered my summons, bathing the area in a scarlet tidal wave of flame that swept across half the bailey, from the towers to the other side, where the chapel and outbuildings stood. Negrets screamed in a chorus that lightened my heart almost as much as the sight of the little metal bodies hitting the ground. “Brommy! Are you all right? Did they hurt you? Stand still and let me see if you’re injured. Oh, lovey, I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to protect you. Is that your blood or Nico’s? By the rood, if any of them harmed you-”
    “Sullivan?” Brom struggled in my arms as I tried to simultaneously kiss, hug, and check him for injuries. “You’re ... uh ... white.”
    “White? What on earth are you talking about? Oh my god, they hit your head, didn’t they? My poor, poor darling-” I stopped stroking the hair back off his face, staring in surprise at the white-scaled fingers tangled in his brown hair. I lifted the hand, startled even more to see black claws tipping each finger.
    “Good lord,” a weak voice said behind me. “Ysolde?”
    I looked over my shoulder to where Nico was getting to his feet, his dragon body battered and bloody. Beyond him, Savian groaned and moved one arm. Unfortunately, it was Holland’s arm that one of the negrets had ripped off and had been using to beat Savian, but the fact that Savian was alive gave me hope for Holland. Maura, now in human form, was covered in blood as she staggered to her feet, looking dazed.
    I spun around and stared at the chapel, but Holland lay halfway in the door, with no negrets coming from within. Either we’d reached the end of that particular attack force, or they were wisely hiding from my wrath. “We have to close up the bolt-hole again. But first ... Brom, can you walk?”
    “Of course I can walk.” He rubbed his head, his gaze locked on my body. “They just pulled on my hair.”
    “I have to show Baltic this. He won’t believe me otherwise,” I said, taking my child by the hand and marching around the tower to the far side of the bailey.
    “You’re a lot bigger than I thought you would be,” Brom said as he bounced against my side a couple of times.
    “I’m not big. I’m statuesque,” I corrected, staring down at myself, unable to keep from twitching my tail experimentally. It felt strong, as if I could take down a tree with it. “Male dragons are intimidating when in dragon form. Females are statuesque while still retaining femininity. What do you think of my tail? I rather