Let’s hope I get a chance to do it, he thought as he climbed.
Nali swung the sword at the alien, slicing several deep cuts into its flesh. Despite the creature’s claim that they couldn’t destroy it, the magic in the sword was inflicting damage. Now, if she could only get close enough to do some lethal damage without becoming a morning snack!
She ducked and gritted her teeth when the serpent rammed the tree near her. The crack of snapping wood alerted her to the added danger she faced. She barely dodged a large branch that fell to her right. Quickly, she flew upward, threading her way through the maze of limbs falling around her. Her left wing collided with a branch, and she winced when the force of the impact sent her spinning out of control. She rolled, trying to miss a clump of branches, and bounced off a tree trunk.
She tucked her wings in, rolled in the opposite direction of the tree as it fell, and planted her feet on the trunk. With a tight grip on the sword’s hilt, she ran up the falling tree, jumping over limbs. In her peripheral vision, she could see Asahi climbing the serpent’s back near its head. She smiled.
“We know what you are. You are nothing but a parasite,” she shouted, jumping the last few feet and taking to the air again once she was clear of the tree.
“No longer,” the alien replied before breathing deeply. “You think I cannot sense the Goddess’s power in you? I know. It will not save you or your world,” the alien goaded.
“Yet, you are fearful. We stopped the others of your kind. You are the one who is powerless. You will fail just as the others failed—parasite,” Nali retorted in a condescending tone.
While she antagonized the alien, the sun appeared over the horizon, and Asahi reached the base of the serpent’s head. Nali called forth the Goddess’s Mirror and lifted it into the air. The sun caught the polished surface, and she directed the blinding rays at the serpent.
The creature screeched in rage when an intensely bright beam of sunlight struck its eyes. Nali threw the enchanted sword to Asahi and held her breath. This might be their only chance to defeat the creature.
She was so focused on Asahi and the sword that the serpent’s strike caught her off-guard. She cried out when it closed its powerful jaws around her. The mirror tumbled to the ground, disappearing beneath the branches of the fallen tree.
She braced her hands between the serpent’s fangs and pressed her booted feet into the soft tissue of its jaw. She groaned when the serpent exerted pressure. Tiny fissures appeared along her skin, and her knees bent as she fought to keep from being crushed. Pain slashed through her when the serpent slammed its forked tongue into her stomach.
The alien’s menacing laughter nearly deafened her. She winced as its fiery breath surrounded her. It was impossible to turn into another creature without making herself even more vulnerable.
“Asahi, if you are ready, now would be an excellent time,” she muttered between gritted teeth.
“He’s working on it. In the meantime, I have an idea, Empress,” Mr. Gryphon cheerfully responded as he sailed into the serpent’s right nostril.
Nali blinked in surprise. The alien shook its head, trying to dislodge the sudden irritation. It flexed its jaws, moving like a wave rolling to shore. It took her a second to realize that the serpent was about to sneeze.
She muttered a curse when Mr. Gryphon reappeared out of the serpent’s left nostril, grabbed the back of her collar, and yanked her out of the creature’s mouth with surprising strength. She shouted in alarm and rolled aside when the serpent opened its mouth wide and moved its head in her direction.
The serpent’s head brushed the tip of her left wing as she turned and faced it again. In that instant, she realized that the alien’s head was continuing to the ground while the rest of its body collapsed.
Plumes of black ash rose from the fallen creature, transforming into white mist as the magic sword did its work. Nali’s heart pounded as she searched for Asahi. She laughed in relief when she saw him clinging to a branch.
“We did it!” she breathed, lifting a shaky hand to her cheek.
“I hope he remembered to retrieve my dagger,” Mr. Gryphon commented, fluttering next to her ear.
Nali absently nodded, her rapt gaze never leaving Asahi’s face. He was staring down at the ground. The branch he was clinging to was drooping dangerously. She quickly flew to him.
“Would you like a lift?” she teased.
He looked at her and smiled. “That would be nice. I appear to have developed a distressing habit of getting stuck in trees since I arrived—or at least since I met you,” he confessed.
“Thank you for sending Mr. Gryphon to help me,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and lifting him off the branch.
He held onto her and kissed her lips softly. She parted them and returned his kiss with a passion born from the fear of losing him and her love. A persistent and irritating noise next to her ear brought her back to the present.
“Can you two do that later? I’d like to find my dagger,” Mr. Gryphon growled.
Asahi sighed. “I dropped it along with the sword when the serpent evaporated underneath me,” he admitted.
“You dropped it! ‘Go save the Empress. I’ll protect the dagger’ you said,” Mr. Gryphon complained. “I’ll be having nightmares for the next century of being inside that monster’s nose. No offense, Empress,” he quickly tacked on. “Of course your life was worth it.”
“None taken, my dear, brave Golden Dagger,” Nali replied with a smile.
She fought to keep from laughing when the tiny lion puffed out his chest, fluttered his wings, shook out
