I tanked a bolt of fire with my mimic.
'How in the hell are they flying with fire Eneru?'
I ducked under a sword as someone came from my left.
'They can keep up with wyvern wings somehow! Have I been surpassed?' I thought. 'Wait, of course, I have, I haven't practiced in months, plus they're higher-stage mages.'
"Oi! Back off!" I shouted at one of the men as I stabbed at him with my spear.
'My spear is keeping them away, but I'll run out of steam before they do. That said, I have to use my other inventions to my advantage.'
I braced my spear and kicked my Airsteppers forward. I used up as much of their power as I could and stabbed at the man behind me. I pierced his chest through his heart and he fell dead on the forest floor.
'Only four of the scouts followed me since they were dealing with wounded. Now we are down to three. I just need to kill one more before they can't keep up with Wyvern Wings.'
I dropped my spear since it was a disposable one and built a bow and a set of arrows out of a nearby tree and my hair.
'So far the trees are the reason I haven't been killed, but now they're limiting me.'
I faced directly up and poured on the power.
'I can only fly like this for another five minutes.'
"Hey! Dumbass! Eat this!" I shouted as I shot my featherless arrow at the scout.
'He will dodge.'
The scout rolled to the side, slowing down his companions as he lost focus on helping them. My bow split into three, weaker bows that started to rain arrows like mad while I floated them with intuitive manipulation, they were too slow to kill, but were still fast enough to maim.
While the scouts were distracted I started work on a runic set.
'Hov, Hun, Raspe' I thought as I drew the runes.
As soon as I finished the spell all of the arrows I had been sending down suddenly got heavier and faster, fast enough to kill.
I ran out of arrows very quickly, but I used the bows to make a new spear and I dove directly down with my arrows. With a slash of my spear, I cut the throat of one of the scouts but I received a nasty bruise and a damaged wing in return.
'Damnit that hurt! They got me in the head and now I'm all off-balance.'
I fixed my wing mid-flight with intuitive manipulation and took off in a random direction, leaving the scouts in the dust.
I landed under the trees and once I was certain I hadn't been followed I used the last charge of Rift Garden to take me to the location I sent everyone else to.
"By Knowledge I'm tired," I said as I collapsed into my father's arms.
'Everything hurts, I'm not even out of Eneru I've just beat my body the hell.'
My wooden spear fell to my side and once the adrenaline ran out I lost consciousness.
********
I woke up on the ship, it had just gone invisible again after we boarded it.
"This deck is hard against my back, let me up." I sat up without any resistance.
"Wow, it's dark in here." The sky was dark because the light was bent around the ship.
"Rive, Dan" I heard Dad say, then I was suddenly able to make out the outlines of everyone around me.
"That spell lets you see using the tiny amount of light in the dome, we have a scout outside right now guiding us since we've been flying for about an hour now."
"What is our situation on potions? Is it safe to take down the invisibility shield?"
"Potions ran out five minutes ago, but since Larry is back he can supply Eneru. We have three minutes till we get to our destination, then we can uncloak."
"Alright, in the meantime, I have to go donate my remaining Eneru, what I have isn't enough to attach the sails so I may as well empty out and take a nap."
I made my way to the front of the ship and explained my intention to Larry.
"Alright, I'm gonna go sleep." I made my way to my room and slept until the next morning.
--------
"The rebels have a dragon?!" Fear slipped into Insopr's voice.
"Yes sir, the wyrmling wore Ingen's glider and used his equipment, we theorize that the wyrmling is just Ingen in costume."
"So Ingen not only has given birth to new golemancy innovations, revolutionized personal flight, and broken several records, but now he's tamed a dragon? Perhaps making him an enemy was a mistake. What of the Dragon itself?" Insopr's voice regained its majesty.
"Disappeared without a trace, we attempted to chase Ingen down and corner him, but he escaped because of his superior equipment."
"What you have given me is good enough, take your men to the bar."
Insopr handed The Captain of the Glider Corps a bonus before returning to his war room to repeat the report to his generals.