Ryllis blinked, then nodded. Sam's heart skipped a beat.
"Wait, Sam." Meg turned toward her, looking alarmed. "Do you even have it memorized?"
Oh. Yeah, that would be a problem. But Sam still didn't want to give up. "I can look it up in my sketchbook," she said, swinging her backpack in front.
"I suppose...but that might take some time. Will you be able to concentrate? Ah!" Suddenly Meg whipped back to the battle and threw out her hand, casting a scarlet shield spell in front of Darian.
Just in time, Darian ducked out of the dragon's way. Smoke still billowed from the dragon's neck and its movements seemed slower than before, yet it hadn't run out of juice. Fighters scrambled back and forth, trying to avoid its snapping jaws and lashing tail.
Meg had a point. In this chaos, Sam would have a hard time finding a safe place to open her sketchbook, let alone focus on one diagram.
"Then you cover her." Ryllis stepped forward, armor creaking.
"What do you mean – ah, Lodo!" Meg cast a speed spell to help Lodo escape the dragon's latest attack. When she faced Ryllis again, she was panting and drenched in sweat. Sam had never seen her so frazzled before.
Ryllis didn't seem to care. "You cover her," she said again. "Buy us the time we need."
Meg drew in a shaky breath. "You may have only one shot at this."
"One shot should be enough." Ryllis lifted her chin. "I'm sure of it. I can't create a strong enough fire on my own. But I can with her help."
She nodded at Sam, her mouth set in a firm line. But the resolve on her face couldn't compare to her Levia, burning bright and hot as the sun.
Tears flooded Sam's eyes, to her great embarrassment. Still, who could blame her? They'd been wizard and familiar for barely an hour and already Ryllis trusted her this much. She could never have imagined it at their first meeting, when Ryllis had seen her as just another wizard out to exploit her.
She had every reason to after what wizards had done to Jin. But Sam had done her best to show that she was different, and maybe that meant she'd changed as well. Because this wasn't just a fun adventure anymore. There were people depending on her, people she needed to save. People she needed to avenge.
And for their sake, she'd finally become the wizard she had always wanted to be. The wizard worthy of Ryllis.
The tears burned, but Sam blinked them back. Instead, she met Ryllis' gaze head-on.
"Let's do it," she said.
"Well." Meg laughed a little and tossed her hair. "Then I'll do my part as well. Lodo, I'm casting the elemental spell! Darian, will you be okay on your own? I can't support both of you anymore."
"Understood, my lady," Lodo called, while Darian flashed her a thumbs up.
Meg closed her eyes and spread her hands, and Sam felt power ripple in the air before a circle of scarlet light blazed at her feet. The same circle appeared beneath Lodo and his claws extended and flashed with metal. Snarling, he leaped at the dragon and slashed at its head.
Sam couldn't just stand here watching. Pressing her back to the wall, she crouched down and cracked open her sketchbook.
With each shout, screech, clang, and thud, Sam's heart jumped like a spooked rabbit. But she tried to close her ears to the sounds, to ignore Ryllis' tense, hunched figure in front of her. Right now, all that mattered were the lines and symbols of the diagram beneath her hands.
Sweat beaded on her forehead; her heart slammed against her ribcage like it was going to explode out of her chest. But she had to do it. She would do it. For Ryllis, for the trust Ryllis had placed in her. For Ivo, who had saved her life. For Jin, for all the prisoners she had come here to free.
The Levia throbbed in her muscles and bones, almost painful now. So she let it out, watching in amazement as the most complex diagram she had ever cast spread beneath her feet.
That wasn't all. Her Levia wasn't just flowing into the diagram; it was also reaching across the contract to the burning core of Ryllis' power. The flames surged as if trying to frighten her away, and for a moment Sam hesitated, but then they quieted to a comforting warmth.
Her gentle light twined with Ryllis' ferocious blaze, not taming it, but augmenting it. Giving it a more solid, steady kind of strength. Sam had never felt anything more beautiful in her life.
Slowly, she rose to her feet. Across the diagram, Ryllis nodded at her.
Then Ryllis took off. The dragon reared back, jaws stretching wide. As its Levia deepened, its crystals flashed orange.
Sam's breath caught. But Ryllis wasn't afraid, so Sam wouldn't be either. She didn't stop pumping her Levia into Ryllis' body, stoking the flames higher and hotter.
Soon Ryllis' jump carried her directly above the dragon's mouth. She drew her spear back, intention crackling through her Levia.
Now! Together, Sam and Ryllis unleashed their power.
Fire exploded out of the speartip, bright enough to wash out the dragon's glowing crystals. Thrusting the spear forward, Ryllis blasted an enormous jet of flame straight into the dragon's gaping maw.
Even from this distance its heat beat against Sam's face, drying her sweat and blurring her vision. The dragon's howls echoed inside her skull as if trying to scrape it clean; it took all her effort to keep her eyes open.
Against the fire erupting from its mouth, the dragon was a thrashing black silhouette. The stench of burning filled the air, choking her. Still she squinted, hunting for Ryllis.
There. A tiny figure drifted down and landed atop the dragon's head, like a falling cinder. With a decisive thrust, she drove her spear through the roof of the dragon's mouth.
Snarling, the dragon snapped its jaws shut. Flames billowed from the sides of its mouth. Ryllis pushed harder, and Sam sensed every ounce of the strength she was forcing from her sore, aching muscles.
'Then I'll help her!' Clenching her hands into fists and gritting her teeth, she tried to push too.
Whether it was working, she had no idea. But suddenly Ryllis yanked her spear out and a column of fire surged through the dragon's jaws. As it writhed, Ryllis leaped out of the way.
The fire exploded, swallowing the dragon's entire body. Sam watched in horror and amazement as it thrashed inside the blaze. Its movements grew slower, its wings curling inward and head drooping. Finally, it collapsed to the floor with a bone-shaking thud.
Smoke rolled across the hall, stinging Sam's eyes and making her cough. She hunched down and squeezed her eyes shut.
A dizzy wave wracked her, almost knocking her flat. When someone grabbed her shoulders, she realized the connection between her and Ryllis had snapped. Ryllis' blazing flames were just a distant memory.
Which alarmed some tiny part of her mind, but the rest of her was too exhausted to even think. Groaning, Sam forced her eyelids open. Though the smoke hadn't fully cleared, she made out Meg's worried face.
"Did...did we...," she choked out, only to break out into a coughing fit. Meg's grip tightened and she might have said something, but Sam didn't hear it.
Her coughs died into gasps and sputters. Meg shifted so Sam was leaning her back against her chest. When Sam lifted her aching head, she saw Ryllis standing in front of her.
It struck Sam that the exhaustion in her bones didn't just belong to her. But Ryllis stood straight and proud, and when she yanked off her helmet, her eyes sparkled so brilliantly Sam's heart skipped at least ten beats.
"Well." Ryllis' voice was rough, but bright with something Sam had never heard from her before – joy. "Looks like I can put defeating a dragon under my belt now. Thanks to you, Sam. Wait till Jin hears."
An impish grin flashed across her face, and Sam just about forgot how to breathe. 'I can die happy now,' some delirious voice in her mind sighed.
Except she wasn't going to. They might have defeated the dragon, but they still had to free all the other prisoners. Though the prospect made her muscles ache even harder, Sam refused to give up. At the very least, she owed it to Ivo.
Besides, it wouldn't be so hard with Ryllis by her side.