Almost immediately, counter spells began crashing against her and the other dragons. One of the gray dragons was too slow to evade the spells and was blasted into oblivion in seconds.
“Spread out and watch yourselves!” Grainne shouted angrily. The attack had just begun, and she was already down one dragon.
Through the invisible barrier, there appeared to be thousands of people running around in confused panic. The others couldn’t see through the barrier yet, but Grainne could. It filled her heart with a lust to destroy her longtime enemy. They’d fought against her, as their rightful ruler, for so many centuries. Now they were running amok, knowing that their doomsday had arrived. There would be no mercy given, and no prisoners taken. Only their entire annihilation would satisfy her terrible rage.
Grainne closed her eyes and focused on the devastation spell that she’d been revising and strengthening for over a hundred years. It took a tremendous amount of power and strength to cast such a gargantuan spell.
She swirled, dodged, and dove in unpredictable turns to avoid the protective spells being hurled at them from below. When she was finally centered over Rundimahair, Grainne nosedived toward the barrier with blinding speed. Just before she was about to crash into it, she unleashed the devastation spell on the barrier.
There was a tremendous explosion, as Grainne completed a reverse spin. The dark spell crashed into the barrier and spread across its surface like a gray cloud. Grainne didn’t bother to watch it spread. She was desperately soaring into the dark night sky. If she didn’t get clear of the spell’s unleashed power, she might die along with everyone inside of Rundimahair.
* * *
Within minutes ten gray dragons were in the air above Grainne’s Ireland compound. Eight of them closed quickly on Sean, Ashling, David and Susan, who were each in their dragon forms. The remaining two grays began searching for enemy warriors on the ground.
Ashling had ordered a captain of one hundred to take his warriors and attack the beautiful castle-like building. Everyone else had been ordered to stay under the cover of the trees until they could gain control of the skies above the compound.
Sean saw that Ashling was busy fighting two grays, while he and David were fighting three gray dragons. Two other grays seemed to be gliding close to the ground, searching for enemy ground troops.
The remaining three grays were closing in on Susan in her beautiful, golden dragon self. Sean had an urge to go help Susan, but he couldn’t leave David alone against the three grays.
Two grays attacked Sean, from above and below, hoping to confuse him long enough for one of them to set him on fire. It was an attack strategy that he’d practiced countering over and over.
Sean arched upward suddenly, catching both attacking grays by surprise. The gray above him was forced to pull out of the dive he’d begun, which is exactly what Sean wanted. With his blinding speed, Sean was able to reach the dragon above him while the gray was trying to regain his balance. Having to pull out of his own nosedive had left him slightly out of control.
Slightly off balance was all Sean needed. As he streaked passed the struggling gray, Sean released a searing blast of fire into the belly of the enemy dragon. It was a perfect strike against the soft underbelly of the beast. Within seconds, his entire dragon body burst into flames as he spiraled out of control. He crashed hard into one of the barracks buildings below. Within seconds, it too burst into flames, leaving a fiery inferno no one in the building would survive.
Sean turned in time to see David closing on the other dragon that had been attacking Sean. A quick glance around showed Sean that David had already taken out the dragon he’d been fighting.
Trusting David to handle the remaining gray he was closing in on, Sean rushed to help Susan. She was desperately trying to keep three grays at bay, with her superior speed.
Sean could see she’d been singed along her back, as he approached the dragon belching flames at her from above. It struck Sean as a cowardly way to fight. He soared past the gray dragon, ripping a large hunk of back muscle off the creature with a vicious tearing motion.
The gray roared in pain as he turned to see what had attacked him. To his surprise, the powerful red dragon had already reversed direction, with a graceful arching movement. Before it could regain its balance, Sean blasted him with a red-hot ball of fire. The ball of fire struck the gray in the face, virtually melting its head, as it dropped from the sky.
Sean immediately arched away to his left; in case another dragon was on his tail. When he turned back to the sky battle, there were no grays coming toward him.
Susan had just broken one of the gray dragon’s neck with a fierce twisting motion of her powerful jaws. When he turned to fly to David’s defense, he saw the powerful brown dragon had just toasted the final gray they’d been fighting. He felt a surge of pride for how well the young dragons were faring in their first battle.
He felt a dragon approaching him from behind, but when he turned he realized it was Ashling coming to check on him. He knew grays shouldn’t be able to keep up with her, but he was happy to see she was safe.
The four dragons gathered together high above the compound. Ashling took one look at Susan’s scalded back and said, “I’m taking her into the woods to heal this. You two handle those last two dragons, who are still looking for our warriors.”
Ashling nudged Susan toward the woods. Susan was in terrible pain, but she was reluctant to leave
