SPELLBOUND

"Hazyehr!!!" she had confidently yelled out, and the dragon crouched lower. Instinctively, she held onto its back as tightly as she could as she anticipated the dragon to fly.

It really did so in the next second and Evie was so terrified she would fall off its back! But she forced herself to calm down and when she finally opened her eyes, she was awed and thrilled at the same time, seeing that she was already soaring in the sky, seated on a magnificent ebony dragon.

At that moment, she could not quite explain what she felt. All she knew was that her nervousness dissolved instantly, and she was very calm again. She was even amazed at herself!

But she did not have time to ponder long about her feelings anymore. Her mind was immediately pulled towards her men, and she looked down. It was hard to see because of the fog covering the tops of the trees but thanks to the leaping orcs, Evie managed to pinpoint exactly where her men were.

She pointed at that spot and yelled the word 'hazhyer' again. And the dragon obeyed. She could understand the word now and knew that it means 'go'.

As the dragon dove towards the orcs, Evie felt the need to order it to breathe out fire from its mouth. But then she realised she did not know the command word for it! She waited for the word to come out voluntarily like previously, but it did not work.

Evie reflexively grabbed on her necklace and closed her eyes. It glowed even brighter when she gripped it hard in her palm. In her mind, she spoke. 'Please… save my men… burn those savage orcs…' she uttered as if praying and just like that, the dragon breathed fire and cleared the fog that were blocking their view.

She held her breath as the dragon breathed more fire and she was a little scared at the inferno that appeared before in the next moment. Instinctively, Evie hid her face but a moment later, she bravely lifted it again. She knew in her heart that the dragon would not bring harm to her.

She looked back the moment the dragon landed on the ground and when she saw her men, her grip on the dragon tightened. Seeing them all bloodied and battered to the extreme angered her and bravely, she pointed at the orcs in anger.

"Ryehza hinn!" she screamed, not realising she had once again uttered a command in a foreign language in her rage. And the dragon flew again and sprayed fire on all the fleeing orcs.

Evie was breathless as she watched her dragon burn the orcs down. Those new words came to her all of a sudden again as her anger somehow triggered the words to come to her. Those words that meant 'burn them'.

Feeling the anger in her heart, Evie took a deep breath and her heart calmed again. She looked down and saw that the forest was on fire now and that most of the orcs now were burned to ashes.

She remembered her men and she closed her eyes again. And as if it was suddenly so natural for her, as if she already knew this was the right thing for her to do, she uttered words in her mind as she held onto her necklace. 'That's enough, let's go back.' She said and the dragon circled around, heading to the place where her men were.

…

"Zolan! Samuel! Luc!" Evie called at them. "Climb up here, I will bring you all to the nearest water source!"

Evie had realized that her men needed healing now or their life might be in danger. She could see that their injuries were severe. Even though vampires were supposed to heal fast, the orcs had poisonous claws and fangs and it seems that her men might have inhaled the poisonous fumes from the fog as well.

Zolan had told her, their skin would turn greenish if they were exposed to the poisonous fog in this forest and would make them go numb and would eventually kill them after a few hours. She was not exposed to it because her dragon had cleared the fog first before diving towards the ground as if the dragon knew about it.

"Hurry!" Evie yelled again and Samuel hauled Zolan with him. They climbed onto the back of the dragon and the dragon immediately took off into the sky.

The men immediately smelled Evie's blood and they felt as though they would go mad. Thankfully, they were using the very last of their strength and all they could do at that moment was hold onto the dragon's spikes as to not fall off.

Evie immediately spotted a nearby stream past the foggy dark forest she believed was right before the gate.

She pointed at it and the dragon landed before the water.

Leon, Elias, Reed and Levy were already there to. It seems Leon had guided the three vampires there in the hopes that the small stream would heal them.

When Evie turned to order the men to go to the water, she froze. It was because she could see them looking at her with hunger now. Oh, no!

But suddenly, she was grabbed by someone and then the next thing she knew, she was already immersed in the water.

"Your blood is driving them mad, princess. I hope this water heals you first." Leon whispered into her ear as he soaked her in the water that had already turned golden.

Both of them breathed out a sigh of relief when her small wounds and scrapes began to close up and heal.

"Is the smell gone?" Evie asked and when Leon looked at the vampires who were now in the water themselves, he nodded with a small smile.

"Yes princess, they are back to normal now." He said and the vampires too, slumped over weakly in the water that was now starting to heal their wounds.