The dragon swiped its barbed tail towards them, and it smashed into the tower. The huge tower shuddered violently, and Quinn's scream cut through Aliyah's panic. Her brother and Quinn were still in the tower!

       Aliyah had never really believed that one's heart could stop, but when she heard her brother's cry of pain, she would have sworn several times over that it did.

        The stone at the base of the tower cracked, and the structure lurched jerkily to the side. Quinn's scream came again, and Marcus's head appeared in the open window, "The witch is here, she—" But he was jerked away again.

       "Marcus!!" Aliyah screamed, but huge talons slashed at her. She bounded up into the air, shrieking as her hands transformed into deadly claws. The dagger-like claws sunk into the stone, and Aliyah sprinted up the side of the shuddering tower.

        Isaiah drew a bow from his back, peppering the dragon's chest with arrows. Each arrow shattered against its scales, doing nothing but capture the monster's attention. It reared up, bringing claws down towards him.

       "Hey, ya giant worm!!" Kaden stabbed his sword into the sensitive skin around the talon, and blood oozed around the blade. The cut was tiny compared to the size of the dragon, but it was a sensitive spot. The dragon bellowed, reeling back as it shook its foot hard.

        Aliyah swung through the window at the top of the tower into the room, and instantly summed up the scene. Quinn's beautiful, long hair had been tied around a doorknob to a closet, and she was shrieking as she tried to pull free.

        Marcus was dodging desperately around blasts of fire from Janessa's hands, not having an recovery time for an attack. Anger surged through Aliyah, "Hey! That's my brother!" Her claws landed a surprise blow from behind, and the witch tumbled forward.

         "You'll pay for that!" Janessa hissed, but Marcus tackled her from behind. Claws tore through flesh, but Janessa's long fingernails found the rod Aliyah realized was impaling her brother's shoulder, and the sharp nails dug into the open flesh. Marcus screeched, jerking away and smashing his hand onto his shoulder. Blood oozed through his fingers, but Aliyah tackled Janessa back. Her claws tore through Janessa's robes, but a blast of energy hit her face. She coughed hard, rolling back, but looked up to see Janessa bringing down a chair towards her face.

        "Paws off!!" Marcus kicked Janessa in the face, and she stumbled away, dropping the chair with a clatter.

        Janessa spread both hands, and blasts of energy knocked them both into the walls. Janessa grabbed the chair again, raising it above Quinn's head. Quinn shrieked, tugging at her hair in a desperate attempt to get it to pull free. But it was bound too tightly by every single strand, making it impossible to pull free. Her scalp burned all over, stinging nastily with the pain, and Janessa brought the now-flaming chair down at her.

        "Hey!" Marcus swiped his claws up, slicing clean through Quinn's hair as he pulled her out of the way. The pain lessened on her scalp, and she nearly cried with relief. Marcus set her down on the floor. Aliyah's foot collided with the flaming chair held in Janessa's hands, and it shattered towards her. Janessa sprang backwards, landing narrowly on the window ledge.

         "You're going to pay for that interference, boy!" Janessa caught Marcus by the wrist, twisting him towards the edge. He shoved her away, but she sent a fiery blast towards his face.

        "Marcus!" Aliyah screamed as he was knocked out of the window with a cry of pain, "No, Marcus!" She bit back a scream from rising in her throat, and she lunged at Janessa.

        Down on the ground, the dragon had knocked Kaden into the wall, and he laid facedown in the grass, blood leaking from his mouth. Kaizen was running for his life, Isaiah at his side, but it only took a moment for them both to get pinned against the side of the valley.

        Kaizen gritted his teeth, his hands clenched onto the leather-wrapped hilt of his sword, "If it eats us, I'm ripping up its insides. You?"

         "If it eats us, and you rip up its insides, I think I'm just going to throw up," Isaiah replied solemnly.

        The dragon's mouth opened, and Kaizen saw the back of its throat illuminate with the fire roaring in its belly. He cursed, knowing there was nothing to be done against the blazing heat of fire, and ducked his head.

        There was an explosion, and the huge dragon stumbled back, falling sideways into the ground with a tremendous crash.

          "I see I arrived just in time," a voice said, and Kaizen looked up in time to see Rowan land next to them, her wings folding into her back neatly.

       "Rowan!!" Kaizen's eyes lit up, and he raced over to her. She found herself caught in a huge embrace, and nearly fell over beneath his weight, "Gak! Let... go... can't... breathe!"

       "Oops!" Kaizen let go, stepping back, "Sorry! But, uh... great to see you!"

        "Would this be a bad time to mention that the dragon is getting up again?" Isaiah asked awkwardly from behind them, pointing his hand at the dragon looming over them.

        Rowan rolled her eyes, but clapped her hands together with a shout in a different language. The roaring dragon lunged at them, its left eye horribly burned from the initial explosion, and Rowan threw her hand outwards. The ground in front of the monstrous beast ruptured, and the dragon's front claws disappeared into the deep split.

        Its head crashed to the ground in front of them, and Kaizen took the opening to race forward, driving his sword deep into its bad eye. It let out a blood curdling shriek, reeling backwards to escape. Kaizen was knocked to the ground, but Rowan spread her dragon wings again. The wings caught the cold wind, and she was lifted into the air. She slashed a hand down at the monster, and a ball of energy crashed into it. This bolt didn't seem to faze the beast, and the dragon opened its mouth.

         "ROWAN!!" Kaizen shouted, racing forward as the streak of flame leapt from the dragon's jaws, heading straight for her. Rowan didn't have time to move, but her wings disappeared. She plunged towards the ground, but Kaizen dove beneath her, attempting to break her fall.

         "Thanks," she panted, pulling him to his feet, "How the heck did you guys get here before me?"

       "What, the deadweight isn't allowed to show you up?" Kaizen gave her a teasing smile as the dragon charged at them.

        "I never said you were-" Rowan began defensively, but he cut her off with a laugh.

        "No, but you thought it." He raced towards the tower, the dragon storming towards them and gaining swiftly. Isaiah had hidden in bush behind them, and once the dragon had turned away, he ran full sprint for Kaden to help him.

       "We have bigger problems," Rowan snorted, and he nodded solemnly.

          "I know. I'm not your true love! That's a problem if I'd ever seen one."

         Rowan gave him an incredulous look as if unable to fathom the stupidity of this statement in their current situation, but he waved this aside. "Keep running, someone just fell out of the tower. Go help."

       "But-" she began, but he spun on his heels to face the dragon. She sank her teeth into her cheek, but continued running towards the tower ahead.

         Kaizen drew his blade from his belt again, facing the dragon, "Hey, lizard! I've met squirrels more vicious than you!"

       The dragon didn't seem to understand his taunting words, but that didn't stop it from bringing claws the size of carriages down towards the young king. Kaizen dove beneath the wicked claws, tuck rolling out of the way at the last second. A jet of flame followed him as he ran back the other way, his back to the tower. To his relief, the dragon turned with him, turning its scaly tail towards the white stone structure.

        Rowan slid beside the figure she had seen fall from the tower, pulling him out of a thick bush that had softened his fall. Either way, the drop should have killed him.

        She was astounded when Marcus coughed weakly, pawing at his face, "Ow... my eyes..."

         "Are you okay?" Rowan asked urgently, pulling the werewolf into a sitting position against the base of the tower. His eyes were wide and unblinking, looking dazed.

        "I c-can't open my eyes," Marcus choked, wiping his lip, "The witch did something... I can't open my eyes!"

         Rowan's blood ran cold, "Marcus, your eyes are open!!"

       Marcus reached up shaking hands, touching his face slowly. His fingers found his eyes, which were now blinking very fast. He slumped back against the wall, moaning in disbelief.

       "Rowan!!" Kaizen shouted from the far side of the small valley, running full sprint away from the dragon fire pursuing him, "Some help would be nice!!"

         "Marcus," Rowan rested a hand on his shoulder, "Marcus, I'll be right back, just hang tight-"

        "My sister is up there fighting the witch!" He rubbed his face roughly in a useless attempt to fix his missing vision, "You have to help her!!"

        Rowan looked to Kaizen, who was racing towards them with the dragon on his heels. Then she looked up in time to hear her sister scream. Panic filled her, and she hesitated. Her hands were trembling as she looked from the dragon to the tower. What should she do?

        She didn't have time for uncertainty.

         Rowan's hands curled into fists, and she ran towards the dragon, "Hey!!" She sent a ball of fire at it, but with the massive dispersion of magic, she could feel her energy go with it. The flames exploded over the dragon's head, doing nothing against fire resistant scales. Smoke filled the air, stinging her eyes.

        Rowan heard Quinn scream again, and a shriek of pain from Aliyah, and she cupped her hands over her mouth. The smoke scratched at her throat and made her lungs ache as she breathed it in, but she yelled at the top of her lungs, "You can't get me!! You can't see me with all of the smoke!"

        Indeed, it had gotten nearly impossible to see far ahead in the thick smoke that clouded around them. Rowan tensed as she heard the dragon's below just in front of her, so loud it hurt her ears. The ringing persisted as the roar ended, and Rowan clapped her hands over her ears as she could hear the dragon thudding towards her. She could see it leap towards her, its huge silhouette moving through the smoke with terrifying speed.

        Rowan found her back against the tower again, but she ran to the side, grabbing Marcus by the wrist and pulled him after her. The dragon slammed into the already weakened base of the tower, and the hole tower shuddered violently. Rowan pulled Marcus as they both ran at full speed away from the tower as it toppled slowly over.

        Rowan heard a scream from Aliyah in the tower, and she saw Kaizen's silhouette in the smoke. She shoved Marcus into the king's arms, "Watch him!" and spread her wings. The black scales caught the wind, and she launched herself into the air. Rowan rose up beside the tower, then dove down into the tilting top of the tower through the window. She crashed to a halt on the floor, grabbing Quinn by the arm, "Aliyah!"

       "You!!" Janessa whipped around to face her, the witch's face twisting into a hideous expression of hate.

       Rowan raised her hands to cast a spell, but she was blown back into the wall. The tower tilted to the side, making everything in the house slide towards Rowan. She ran forward, dodging a table and a desk, leaping at Janessa. Pain seared through her mind as the witch grabbed her head. She knew Janessa was causing her pain to make her back off, but her hands found her stepmother's throat.

       "I'm not letting go!" she shouted, the pain mounting to unbelievable agony, "You hurt my sister! My friends, and my father are all suffering because of you! And I am not letting go."

         "Then I guess I'll just blow your head off," Janessa snarled, her hands glowing with the increasing surge of energy.

        Rowan pulled back, and Janessa cackled in triumph. Then Rowan ducked to reveal Aliyah behind her with a charred, broken chair leg. The splintering tip sank deep into Janessa's chest, and a horrible wail was wrenched from the witch's jaws as blood spurted onto the once clean wooden floor, staining brown with scarlet so dark it was almost black.

      Aliyah drove the stake all the way through Janessa's body and into the wall behind her. The witch tried to stumble towards them with her hands charging for one final attack, but she was pinned against the wall.

        "We need to get out!!" Quinn shrieked as the falling tower picked up speed, and Rowan scooped her sister into her arms, heading for the window.

       Aliyah shot Janessa one last look of hatred, "That was for my brother!!" Then the werewolf sprang out of the window, followed by Rowan and Quinn.

       Janessa's screams echoed inside the tower as it fell, Aliyah sliding down the base while Rowan struggled to support both herself and her sister. The three girls fell into a pile in front of Kaizen and Marcus, Isaiah helping Kaden walk beside them.

       Rowan felt dizzy from the strain of magic on her body, and Quinn sat up slowly. Aliyah was on her feet the moment she saw her brother and she crouched beside him. Tears ran down her face as she realized he couldn't see, and she pulled him into a hug.

       The tower collided with the ground, white stone shattering against gray boulders on the far side of the valley. Debris cluttered the once serene valley, and the dragon was crushed between the tower and the boulders. It managed to pull free with a whine, and they all tensed.

       But the beast no longer wanted a fight. It spread enormous wings, taking to the sky and disappearing over the mountains rising up on all sides around them.