Black Stained

Chapter 16: Silver and Crimson Red

The hot breath in the air was boiling her insides. But still she felt stone cold. Cold and heat. Heat. Dragon.

Sounds were mixing together, not making it clear of what was going on. Her sight was blurry. Somewhere in the distant she heard her name, but she paid it no mind.

The heat.

It was all she could think about. Damnation was upon them all. They had been stupid, not paying attention to their surroundings. She was still frozen on the spot. A big spot of crimson red was infront of her. Colours were flashing around her. Her heart was beating fast and her breath quivered.

'Aral!' In the distant.

She noticed she got pulled back, back to the protective barrier. But somehow she felt something was wrong. Wrong. The magic around her was overwhelming. She couldn't tell it apart. A wave of magic broke her thoughts, she had crossed the barrier. Everything happened in slow motion. Her head tilled so slowly she thoughts she would never see his face. Charlie's face. The only thing her eyes could focus on were his eyes, the dark grey depth she felt like falling into. She frowned.

'Char-'

'Aral, God. What the hell?' He cut her off.

She shook her head, his voice was still strange and her ears were pounding, as if too much sound tried to make her listen.

'Aral! What wer...' But his voice faded away. For a moment she thought he had stopped talking, but his lips were still moving. But there were still sounds around her. Strange sounds. What sounds? She noticed she didn't hear anything normal, no screaming voices or people running to savety. Her legs were trembling and weak, as if they were made of cooked spaghetti. She tried to concentrate.

Then a high pitched sound penetrated her ears and she screamed in pain. With both hands she covered her ears. She collapsed to the ground, but before her body hit the ground two strong arms, again, held her up and slowly guided her down to the ground. The sound continued to hurt her and made her sight even more blurry and her head ache. She whimpered in pain. Then, just like the normal sounds had left her, her feelings left her. She didn't feel the heat anymore, nor did she feel cold. The feeling she did have was hard to explain, but you could picture it as a dark room, you float in the air. Everything is pitch black, except for a small shimmer far away. But it grows and grows, it feels save. She felt its savety and control. But she knew that feeling and she dreaded it.

No.

Not this!

Please don't make me go back!

Please, not now!

I could kill them! All of them!

She mentally screamed in agony.

Or you could save them.

Save them. Could she? She felt like she was fading away, but then something pulled her back. A voice.

'Aral!'

Slowly she felt something again. Longing. But she seemed to be in a trance, or a sleep. And she didn't know how to wake up.

'Aral! Come back please!'

More voices returned to her and she could make sentences.

'Charlie, boy! You need to run!'

'I can't leave her!'

There was silence, she could feel the tension. But the feeling quickly got pushed away by a sharp pain in her hands. Her hands were shaking, heavily.

'Aral, I can't leave you here. It was all my fault.'

'Charlie, now! There's no time!'

Her breathing was quickening again and her heart pounding heavily in her chest. Another sound came. And another feeling. A tear.

One tear fell on top of her cheek and her eyes flung open. She took one deep breath and her body pulled up in one movement. Charlie froze and stared at her. She saw colours. Colours divided all sound and feeling. Sense and magic in colours! The barrier. It was but a mere weak shimmer compared to the crimson red dragon behind it. It won't hold.

'It won't hold.'

She muttered under her breath. Her eyes staring at the danger before her.

'It won't hold.' Charlie understood.

Time slowed when she got up onto her feet. The yellow eyes gazed dangerously into hers. Others would have said the dragon was angry or infuriated, but she felt something different. She saw something different behind its small and narrowed eyes.

Maternity.

The fear of a lost child. The killing feeling of losing.

There was shouting behind her and she did not need to look around to know that a whole lot of new dragon tamers had joined them. Stunning spells flew passed her and she saw the dragon in pain. She felt the pain, like a connection. She felt its pain and the emotions of the people surrounding her. She felt their racing heart beats and aching muscles. She felt Charlie's heart, confusion, shock and adrenaline flowing through his veins. The stunning spells did not work. And she could feel the hopelesness behind her grow.

'How the hell did a Chinese Fireball get here?'

Chinese Fireball. Fireball, Fire.

A large blast of fire came soaring in their way, although the barrier was able to hold most of the fire, it was terribly weakend. One more blast and it would break.

'We need to get to the second barrier!' A voice roared.

Charlie was pulling at her again, while shooting as many stunning spells as he could at the dragon. But Aral stopped, she pulled away from his grasp and turned back to face the dragon.

'Aral, what the hell are you doing? Did you loose your mind?!'

But she didn't hear him anymore. Others screamed at her too, yelling she had to come back and run for her life.

'The second won't hold either.' She screamed without looking.

Some stopped stunning and running, turned and could only stare at the mad witch in front of the infuriated dragon.

Fire dragon. Some said dragons were the strongest species on earth, and were invincible. But everything and everyone has a weakness. She knew this in her heart and she knew she was the only thing between the dragon and death. The opposite of fire is... Water. And almost everything contained water. She was so scared. Not scared of the dragon. Scared of herself, what she might do and of what could go wrong if she lost control.

'I'm scared, Charlie.' She said.

But he didn't hear her, he was too busy with everything else. She turned her head to look at him and she saw him covered in bruises and blood. Something inside her snapped. She didn't want to see anyone else hurt. Not today! She was back in the dark room again and hesitant she moved towards the shimmer, then she thrust herself in it. Taking back the control and the darkness. Her eyes clenched shut she took another step forward. Then the inevitable pain came back and made her scream and she almost fell down again, but she held her ground and after a moment she straightened her back. The barrier was about to break and she could feel the hot breath from the dragons nostrils burn her skin. She heard its rough breathing and roaring battle cries. Once again they screamed at her, but she ignored them all.

'ARAL! NO!'

Charlie. She turned her head, but didn't take her eyes off of the yellow ones, which were staring back directly at her.

'Run!' She yelled.

They all froze. And everyone gasped at what followed next.

Aral felt all the magic around her and could feel the colours of the wind, hear the earth crumble beneath their feet and she could feel the water in the earth. There was so much water around them, but they were blinded. She raised her hands and pulled at the water. Like magnets, droplets of water pulled form the earth and condensed from the air. The big lake on the reserve was too far to reach, but she was still able to feel all of it, the cool water and streams. The dragon stopped and froze, watching the witch infront of her.

The droplets floated in the air like small, smooth diamonds. But everything that happened on the inside of Aral didn't feel smooth or pretty like diamonds. Sharp knives stabbed her and fire burned her insides, she felt the scars all over her body reopen and wanted to scream. Horrible memories came pouring back, but she forced herself to concentrate on one thing and one thing only. She closed her eyes and concentrated with all the energy she had left. Her hands trembled under the pressure and she moved them in one circle. The water, which had floated all around them, formed a stream and swirled in the air. she guided the stream with her hands. The dragon responded with a roar, and prepared to attack, it had waited long enough now. With another blast of fire the barrier broke and a wave of magic shook the earth and some people fell down.

The water moved in a spiral up in the air. The dragon moved towards her and spread its wings, showing of its size. There was now no barrier left to protect her. She swallowed and she opened her eyes. The golden colour flashed in the sun and the dragon tilted its head, confused. Aral bent her fingers and the water split in different forms. Magic rushed through her and in the air, filling everthing and everyone with the power she possessed. She forgot the people behind her, she forgot Charlie who was still standing several feet behind her and she forgot her fears. One corner of her mouth curled up into a smirk. She felt the control flowing in her veins and the power amplifying. The dragon went into a trance and this was her chance, with the speed of lighting she shot her hand through the air and the water obeyed. The streams circled around the dragon and it staggered back. Fire dragons, obviously, hated water. The circles tightened and the dragon was chaining the dragon, burning its tough scales. It panicked and Aral kept tightening the circles.

Charlie had slowly stepped forwards and looked into her eyes. She didn't notice him, her focus was on the suffering of the dragon, her face emotionless and her hear wild. He saw her eyes glowing gold and his breath quivered. But slowly something happened in her eyes. From the centre a dark colour started to overflow the gold, it was pitch black. He somehow knew what this meant. It meant she wasn't able to hold her power in control for much longer. The dragon roared in pain. He quickly turned and his eyes and he froze yet again when his gaze fell on the dragon in pain. He shut his eyes and thought.

No, this isn't her. She wouldn't want to hurt the dragon.

He had to do something. He turned back to her and he noticed she was shaking and tears were pouring from her eyes, her pitch black eyes. He then noticed he was shaking too. He was able to feel the magic radiating from Aral like everyone else. The power was flowing through them all and it was overwhelming and making him dizzy. Another roar from the dragon pulled him out of his thoughts and back into the terrbibly dangerous situation. He staggered forward and stood infront of Aral, but her eyes didn't see him. They just stared right through him at the dragon. He noticed the glint in her eyes, but he knew he had to act quickly and get her back. Back to him and reality.

A deafening sound came from behind him. He looked over Aral's shoulder at the others. They were afraid and confused. Their wands trembling in their hands and adrenaline in their blood. Their widened eyes were all staring at the witch. Another deafening roar reached his ears, but this time it wasn't from the dragon. No, it had come from Aral. Tears were dripping down from her cheeks and her face contorted in pain.

She started muttering words, as if she wasn't really there.

'Please. Please, no. I will do anything! Anything!'

She was reliving a memory.

'Please, don't hurt me.'

Charlie didn't know what to do and everything was overwhelming him. There were too many sounds, from the roaring dragon in pain to Aral's muttering, and too many things that he didn't understand. Her face darkened and her eyes more hollow, her already thin face becoming more gaunt in a matter of seconds.

'Kill me!' She hysterically screamed.

'Kill me!' She repeated between her cries.

She wasn't here at all. She wasn't knowingly hurting the dragon. Charlie's heart sank at her words, he felt so sorry for her. What happened next scared him even more; Aral tilted her head up and looked straight into his eyes.

'Kill me...' She whispered. At the same time a roar errupted from the dragon. Charlie couldn't stand it anymore and he grapped Aral by her shoulders. But apparently she had no strenght left and she dropped to the ground. He picked her up and looked over his shoulder. The once very dangerous and hostile dragon had staggered back and fear was the only thing he saw in its eyes. He felt sorry for it. Once Aral had dropped to the ground the water had fallen from the air and on the grass, mingling with the earth as if it had never stirred. But before anyone was able to contain the dragon it spread its wings and quickly flew over the hills and beyond the boarders of the reserve, out of their reach.

Charlie's only concern now was the weak form of Aral in his arms, she felt so light and fragile. He was breathing heavily as the overwhelming magic slipped away from him and the power radiating from Aral weakened. He sprinted back to the top of the hill and crossed the barrier. He didn't look back at anyone else and didn't respond to their calls. She needed the hospital, he feared for her condition. He didn't understand anything that was happening to her, but he was able to quess that whatever it was it wasn't good. He was almost at the entrance and he glanced down at her. Her eyes were staring at the bright blue sky and his breath caught in his throat. He kept running as fast as he could.

Aral was looking at the blue sky, but her mind was clouded and dark. Her cheek rested on a solid chest and she could hear his heart. She knew she was slipping away and the last thing she saw were two dark grey eyes. Grey eyes. Not silver, but dark grey. A memory crossed her mind and filled her thoughts. A memory of silver eyes and pain. Silver had been her salvation in the dark. Her eyes closed in exhaustion and she heard Charlie call her name once again. The only thing she was able to do at the last moment was breath a word.

Silver.

'Malfoy.'