Ginelle's Dragon

After scaring the crap out of a lot of people in the capital, Ginelle and Ruki flew back to a decent hill that was far away from any town that appeared to be the most secure place to hold out for the night. There was a lot of trees, and a clear patch big enough for the black dragon to land on and settle in for the night. As long as the young witch slept under one of the dragon’s wings, they would be impossible to spot a night. It would give them both time to get ready for what was to come next. Once they were back on the ground, Ginelle fed the massive creature enough enchanted food to fill him up for the night. She had a little regular food herself, but she wasn’t too hungry and chose to save the rest for later. Ginelle found somewhere comfy to sit so she could spend a little time reading something she had brought with her. She had scribbled down some notes of the spells she wanted to use to enact their plan. Ginelle was tempted to bring the spell book Margorie gave her, but decided against it as she didn’t want to risk losing it. The notes she brought were enough, as she only had a few spells to work over just to make sure she recited them perfectly. The dragon watched from where he was laying down as the young witch kept going over her notes again and again, slowly became aware of how nervous she was.

“Are you well, young witch?” Ruki softly asked.

“I’ll be alright,” Ginelle replied, “Just need to get ready for tomorrow.”

“Are you sure it will be necessary?” Ruki inquired.

“We haven’t heard back from them yet,” Ginelle reminded him, “That spell is easy for any witch or wizard to use to send a response back to us. I think if we were going to get a reply, it would have returned to us already. The longer we wait, the more confident I am that we are going to have to attack tomorrow.”

“I don’t want this fight anymore than you do,” Ruki replied, his voice deep with regret, “But if that is our only option, I will do what I can to ensure our victory.”

“Thank you, Ruki,” Ginelle said, as she stopped reading the spells to look back at her massive companion. “I hate dragging you into this but appreciate that you want to fight by my side.”

“Think nothing of it,” the dragon insisted, “They have your mother, and that nice lady who made the very tasty foods. We will free all of those witches, or make that kingdom pay for their insolence.”

“I also wish that wasn’t necessary,” Ginelle said, taking a deep breath, “But it appears the choice is already being made for us.”

“It’s time to get some rest, little one,” Ruki ordered, “You need to your strength so that ready for what must be done.”

“Alright,” Ginelle conceded, “Let’s get some rest.”

Ginelle slept well under the dragon’s wing, and they were both well hidden for the remainder of the night. Much to their disappointment they never received a counter spell to Ginelle’s initial message. Their lack of response was the response, and the message was coming across to them loud and clear: they would have to attack. Ginelle was a little scared, but the other option was to do nothing and allow the king to execute them all which she was not going to accept. She was going to fight for those she loved and hoped that the plan she and the dragon had concocted would work well enough that damage to the kingdom into submission. If the king and his arrogant grand wizard still refused to surrender, the young witch and Ruki had planned to concentrate their attack on the palace and try to keep civilian injuries to a minimum. The Dragon was watching the young witch as she dug into her bag to get some enchanted food for her winged companion.

“Don’t eat too much,” Ginelle warned him, “While I agree we shouldn’t fight a kingdom on an empty stomach, I would not recommend filling up because our spells might make both of us a little woozy. We should save a little for the ride back too.”

“Good advice, little one,” The dragon concurred as he ate his food slowly and ground it up more than usual to aid digestion.

Ginelle didn’t eat too much but had her fill as she was still quite nervous about what was going to happen that morning. She strolled over to Ruki and slowly climbed upon his back. Ruki flew walked closer to the edge of the grassy area and launched into the sky. They flew low to the ground to hide their approach, but as the started to reach the end of the forest, Ruki dipped down and made a soft landing without being noticed, which Ginelle thought was rather impressive. They had a decent view of the kingdom, but Ginelle tried to look but had no idea what to find.

“They don’t look ready to surrender,” Ruki said to her.

“How can you tell?” Ginelle asked.

“They are setting up ballistas,” the dragon replied, “They are large harpoon weapons that are fired from those large looking crossbows. They are made specifically to take out dragons. They are clearly preparing to fight back.”

“Then let’s not disappoint them,” Ginelle said, taking a deep breath. “So, what should we do first?”

“I would recommend powering all our totems,” Ruki suggested, “Once they are all active, then you’ll be able to cast your spell stronger than any witch ever has before. Grab onto two of my spikes and I will try to relax while we power up.”

“Alright,” Ginelle said, reaching out for two of his spikes. “Get ready.”

She held onto the spikes tightly, closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Ruki relaxed as well as he could and could feel every spike, scale, tooth, and bone is his body started to glow and power up. Every piece of the big black dragon was a totem that was helping the witch grow stronger with each passing second. The dragon was starting to shine almost as bright as the sun, and a second later the light died down.

“There you go,” Ruki informed her, “You’re powered up with every single totem that is on my person. Now cast your spell.”

Ginelle was still holding onto the spikes and held onto them to keep herself steady as she cast the spell she wanted to use. It was a spell she had used often, but it was the scale in which she was casting the spell that made it so difficult. This was also the first time that she was using her mirror spell on more than one person and also on something that wasn’t human. She cast a mirror of not only herself, but a mirror of the dragon she was sitting on. About a minute later, there were close to a hundred Ginelle mirrors sitting on just as many mirrors of Ruki. Ginelle took a deep breath and exhaled loudly and happily when she realized that the spell she had casted worked.

“Very impressive, little one,” Ruki said, “That worked a lot better than I had thought it would.”

“Alright,” Ginelle said, taking a deep breath. “Now that we have the numbers, it’s time to free with witches,”

Ginelle turned to face the mirrors she could see, as Marjorie taught her that speaking to one of them was the same as speaking to them all. So, giving a command to one of them was the same as giving it to them all no matter how close or far away they were.

“Attack the towers and take out those crossbow things,” She commanded, “Do not attack the town below and concentrate all fire on the palace. Take out their defenses and draw them inside the castle. We need to force them to barricade inside.”

The other mirrors nodded, as they understood their instructions.

“Alright,” Ginelle said again, “Let’s go!”

Ruki expanded his wings, and he was the first dragon to lift up into the air. When he was about fifty feet up that was when the other mirrors all launched into the sky. The sight of almost a hundred dragons lifting up into the sky had to have been a very scary sight for anyone who could see all these dragons raising into the sky. Despite her eagerness to fly first and lead the way, Ruki held back and allowed the mirrors to fly ahead first as he was aware that the ballistas would fire at them first which was a waste of their spears. The mirror dragons started to breathe fire at the palace, taking out a few of the ballistas before they even got a chance to fire. Archers were firing arrows, and wizards were trying to fling fireballs as the dragons above, but neither had any effect. The dragons continued to pound the palace, hitting it with fire over and over again, knocking down walls and towers with ease. Many of the archers and wizards ran for cover and Ginelle could tell they were barricading themselves inside the palace, which is exactly what she wanted them to do. The bird had informed her which tower the witches were being held in, and once the palace had sealed up to protect themselves from the dragons, Ginelle and Ruki flew down to the front gate of the tower where the witches where being imprisoned. Standing at that front tower’s gate were a few soldiers who were quite scared as they watched the big dragon land before them. Ruki snarled and growled at them very menacingly.

“If you wish to survive,” Ginelle called out, “Vacate the area, and seek shelter in the town with the civilians. Remain there and none of you shall be harmed.”

The guards looked up at Ginelle and thought about her offer. Ruki growled again and that seemed to convince them.

“Your keys!” Ginelle demanded, “Hand them over!”

Ruki emphasized her request with a roar that freaked the guards out thoroughly.

One of the guards tossed is keys up to Ginelle and screamed as he ran away. Ginelle hopped off the dragon’s back and quickly unlocked the gate. She strolled into the dungeon and went up a few flights of stairs and thankfully for her, there were no guards at the next gate. The king had clearly moved the guards into the palace to protect him from her, which is what Ginelle was hoping for. She unlocked that gate and strolled up to the first set of cells that were holding the witches. One of the older ladies noticed her and walked up to the bars of her cell.

“Young lady,” she called out, “What is going on out there?”

“I’m a witch,” Ginelle corrected her as she walked over to unlock her cage. “And this is a rescue.”

“It is now?” the old woman replied, “How did you get in here, and what is causing all those explosions going on outside?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Ginelle said as she was unlocking all the cells on that floor. Once they were all open she walked over to the old lady and handed her the keys, “Release the rest of the witches and bring them down to the courtyard.”

“What good will that do?” the old lady asked.

“Your ride will be waiting there to take you far away from here,” Ginelle answered, “Now hurry up before the fools in the palace realize what I’m up to!”

The other witches took the keys up to the next floor and started unlocking all the cages. Ginelle went back down to the front gate where Ruki was standing guard. She walked back over and retook her spot on the dragon’s back.

“How are things going?” She asked him.

“The palace is still locked up, and the other dragons have been blowing fire to keep them inside but are doing no more damage.” Ruki reported, “And the town below has been unharmed thus far.”

“Excellent,” Ginelle replied, “The witches are being released and should be down here soon. Once they’re all here, we’ll make our exit.”

“Here they come,” Ruki said, as he noticed some of the ladies emerging from the front gate.

The witches slowly emerged from the gate and once enough of them were there, she called out to one of the mirrors that was flying above and gave it instructions, which was heard by all the mirrors that were flying around the palace. One by one, the Ginelle mirrors all flew their dragon mirrors down to the courtyard and landed. Once about a dozen of them were down, Ginelle turned to the witches to instruct them.

“Board the dragons!” She called out, “Three witches for each dragon. We’re getting out of here!”

The witches started to board the dragons without question and once they were seated, the dragons lifted off and started to fly away to allow more dragons to land and pick up more witches. Ginelle watched as more witches boarded the mirror dragons and were being quickly evacuated from their prison, and that is when Margorie emerged from the front gate. Margorie was the first to speak as she was surprised to see the young witch standing there before them.

“Ginelle!” Margorie called out, “What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ginelle responded, “Ruki and I are getting you all out of here.”

Margorie noticed all the mirror Ginelle and dragons landing.

“How long are those going to last?” She asked.

“Long enough,” Ginelle answered, “Well get you out of the kingdom and across the border long before they expire.”

“Are you sure about that?” Margorie demanded.

“I am,” Ginelle assured her, “Climb on.”

Margorie took a deep breath and mounted one of the mirror dragons, and while she looking uncomfortable, she would rather be there than go back to her cell. That’s when Ginelle saw her mother come out onto the courtyard.

“Mother!” Ginelle called out, as she never thought she’d see her ever again.

“Ginelle!” her mother said, running over to where she was. “How?”

“It’s a long story,” Ginelle answered, “Which I’ll be happy to tell you once we fly back somewhere a little safer than here. Climb on.”

Her mother looked hesitant but trusted her daughter enough to conquer that fear and climbed onboard behind her girl. Once her mother was onboard with Ginelle, Ruki started to flap his wings and fly up off the ground. Right after Ginelle and Ruki took off, Harrison emerged from the front gate as well with the last few witches. He watched as the last few witches mounted onto the last few mirror dragons and took off with them. He noticed that Margorie was still sitting there on a dragon with a Ginelle mirror.

“That’s all of them!” he called out to her, shaking the keys.

“Lock the gate,” Margorie ordered, “And then climb on.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Harrison replied without hesitation, as he locked the gate and climbed onboard the dragon.

Once all the dragons were mounted they all took off and immediately vacated the area, flying off as their mission was complete. With all the witches on their backs, the mirror dragons flew off and looked like a flock of geese in the distance and they kept flapping moving as fast as they could as Ginelle had no idea how long they would last. She was hoping that Ruki’s super charge was enough to make them to fly all the witches across the border and take them far out of the king’s reach. With her mother and Margorie back with her, Ginelle considered her raid and rescue a great success.