Mia had a split second to brace herself for being burned alive. The shock of it was nothing she could absorb, and her eyes involuntarily clenched shut.
The heat was enough to make her skin hurt, but not so badly as she'd imagined. Once she'd burned her hand on the cookstove, and this wasn't so bad as that had been. That confused her. Maybe dragon fire was less painful because it was magic?
After several seconds, she pried one eye open, and then the other.
The dragons were not aiming for the humans at all. Their faces had turned downwards, propelling fire into the crack which surrounded the tree. The scar in the earth grew a little wider and a little longer, almost meeting in a full circle around the magical tree.
That confused her only for a moment. Denholm spoke, his voice quivering with anger.
"They're… digging it up?" He gritted out. "They're going to take it? But how?"
