Nosedive tried to think of something, anything, else than his current situation. If it being darker than a coal mine after a cave-in wasn't bad enough, it was getting unbearably warm. He wasn't sure if it was because of the heat or maybe he was running out of oxygen, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe, too.
He could feel his heart start to pound and he tried to concentrate on why he was there. He needed to get to the Aerowing so they could get the kids away from that psychotic dragon. However, he was worried if he'd be in any condition to fly the airship by the time he got there. He didn't have claustrophobia before, but he was concerned that he may just develop it.
With no warning, Nosedive was suddenly dumped onto the ground with the afternoon sun blinding him. He lay there, blinking his eyes furiously as he tried to get used to the painfully bright light. Nosedive filled his lungs with fresh air and thanked the first egg that he was on the ground, not in it.
Hurry, the dragon admonished as she disappeared back into the ground without so much as disturbing a clod of dirt.
"Next time, I'm going by unicorn," the young drake grumbled as he slowly got to his feet, brushed himself off and saw that he was at the foot of the stairs to the Aerowing.
Did you need a ride? an eager voice asked and Nosedive looked around to find a unicorn standing next to him with a hopeful look on its face.
"No, I'm good, thanks," the teen hastily replied.
Nosedive was up the stairs and into the pilot's seat in record time.
Wildwing's cry for Ruby was drowned out by twenty frightened kids starting to wail all at the same time. The goalie ran over to the mage and saw that she had tried to break the fall of the siblings. Tony and Tina were partially laying on Ruby and Wildwing quickly, but gently moved them off of the hen.
As soon as the kids were out of the way, the dragon carefully picked Ruby up and moved her out of the drake's reach. The large beast settled her limp form between his forelegs and looked at her worriedly. Wildwing was less than pleased, but the demands of the young humans took precedence.
The team captain helped to move the older kids off to the side farthest from the fire Elemental while Raleigh tried to settle down the younger children. It wasn't an easy task for the father with his daughter clinging to him like a barnacle. It was obvious the man just wanted to comfort his own child, but he understood the importance of calming all of the kids. The seven who had created the shield were barely functioning, but they were awake, but dazed.
Wildwing was doing his best to help when something hot wrapped around his middle and lifted him into the air. He let out a yelp of surprise as he was carried away from the kids and his team. Before he could start to struggle to free himself, he was set back down next to the head of the dragon and Ruby.
Help her, the dragon ordered.
"I have to get to her first," the drake stated in a less than pleased tone.
The dragon moved back as best he could in the confined space to give Wildwing access to the mage. Ruby's eyes were open, but she wasn't moving. The team captain made sure she was still breathing before he got down on his knees and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Ruby?" Wildwing softly called. "Can you hear me?"
The hen made a small noise, but otherwise gave no indication that she was aware of him.
She's exhausted, the dragon told the duck. She needs to eat and drink.
"I don't have anything with me," Wildwing replied, shaking his head. "We have food on the Aerowing. Once we're back on board, I can get her something then."
She won't last that long, the large beast growled. She needs something now!
"I came here prepared for battle, not a picnic," the drake snapped back. "Can't you do something? The Forest Lord was able to give her a boost."
He's bound to her, I'm not, the reptile told the duck.
"So?"
She's already bound to the Forest Lord and the Phoenix. I doubt she wants to be bound to me, too.
"Her other choices are what? There's no food or water here. If she passes out, we won't be able to get the kids out of here when Nosedive brings the Aerowing in."
If she passes out, he won't need to because the shield will fail and we will all die, the dragon growled.
"So, there isn't much of a choice now is there?" Wildwing shot back.
The dragon snarled at the drake, showing some pretty impressive teeth. Wildwing didn't back down. He didn't like it any more than the Elemental in front of him, but Ruby was fading.
A glance up at the top of the pit showed that Black Death could see and hear everything again. She was watching them, knowing that they had no way out. All she had to do was wait and sooner or later, all of that magical energy would be hers.
With a growl that resonated through his chest, the dragon opened his mouth. Wildwing didn't move, hoping that the lizard wasn't hungry for duck. With great care, the beast gently pried a scale loose on his foreleg.
Have her swallow this, the dragon instructed as he moved his leg toward the drake.
"How will that help?" Wildwing asked as he carefully removed the scale.
It will create the bond for me to share my energy with her, the fiery beast explained.
The goalie nodded his understanding before he tried to gently sit the prone mage upright. He knew he didn't dare handle the scale with his bare hand, so he left his armor on. He had some difficulty pulling Ruby into a sitting position and leaning her against his body with his equipment on, but he managed.
However, he soon found out getting her into position wasn't the hard part. The mage was weakened, but she had heard the conversation between Wildwing and the dragon just fine. She knew she couldn't stop Wildwing, but she wasn't going to make it easy for him.
The thought of being bound to yet another Elemental shook Ruby to her core. She was too tired to think straight, so she fought Wildwing when he tried to get her to open her beak. She pushed on the hand holding the scale and shook her head from side to side. She fought with every ounce of her being.
Ruby's squirming in his lap was having rather distracting effect on the drake. If he didn't get that scale in her and quick, he was going to have a hard problem to deal with. He tried to shift her away from his lower half while getting her to open her beak and ended up having a wrestling match that he was sure was going to be keeping him up at night.
"Come on, sweetheart, just open your beak," Wildwing whispered.
Ruby went perfectly still and gaped up at the handsome drake in surprise. If years of being a goalie had taught him anything, it was to think quick and act even quicker. While her beak hung open in shock, he popped the dragon scale in and then clamped her beak closed with his hand.
The scowl she gave him should have burned every feather off of his body. He tried really hard not to grin, but he couldn't keep the smug look off of his face.
"Now swallow," Wildwing instructed the hen.
Ruby just glared at him.
"I'm not letting go until you swallow," he told her.
She made a show of gulping.
"Did you swallow the scale?" the drake asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
No, she didn't, the dragon stated. I would have felt it if she had.
"I'm not letting you go until you've swallowed that scale," Wildwing reiterated and when she still didn't comply, he added the kicker. "I promise."
He was expecting the magic that time, though he wasn't ready for the look of fear on her face. He could feel the muscles in his hand and wing lock into place so he couldn't release her beak even if he wanted to. He felt bad for doing that to her, but they didn't have time for her to be stubborn.
Ruby tried to pull her beak out of Wildwing's grip, but even if the magic hadn't frozen his hand in place, she wouldn't have stood a chance. She sagged with exhaustion a couple of minutes later as what little energy she had, left her. With no other option, she consumed the scale with a small sob.
Wilddwing let out a sigh of relief when he felt the magic release his hand and he shook his wing to relieve the cramping that had started. He was actually a bit worried that she had passed out when she stopped fighting him. As soon as he laid Ruby back down, the dragon gently nudged Ruby's shoulder with his snout.
Freely given, the beast said.
Wildwing wasn't sure what happened next. All he knew was that he was being held by Grin on the other side of the pit from where he had been. The team captain looked around and saw that everyone was staring at Ruby.
Even from where he was, he could see the mage standing in the middle of the hole and physically shaking. He eyes glowed, but the color went from red to white to blue and back again. Wildwing barely even noticed when Grin set him on his feet. He wasn't sure if getting her attention would be a good idea or not, so he stayed where he was.
You fool! Black Death yelled. How dare you give your power to this pathetic little creature!
"Shut it, you overgrown handbag," Ruby snarled as she blasted the black beast.
The Mighty Ducks and humans watched in fascination as the giant lizard went flying backwards. The roar of fury made the trees shake as the Elemental righted herself. By the time the evil creature got back to the pit, Ruby's shield was back to its darkened state, denying the monster from seeing or hearing anything those in the hole were saying or doing. That didn't mean they couldn't hear her roars and she was back to trying to dig past the wall of energy blocking her.
"That should keep her busy for a bit," Ruby grumbled before turning her blue glowing eyes to her own dragon friend. "You really need to learn how much energy to give someone. If there hadn't been such a handy target, someone could have gotten hurt from all that extra energy."
I'm sorry, the dragon said as he gentle nosed the mage. I've never shared my power before.
"I wouldn't recommend you doing it again any time soon," Ruby sighed as she turned to the ducks and humans. "How much longer until Nosedive gets back? I have more energy I need to vent off and I'd rather not use it too soon."
"How should I know?" Wildwing replied a bit testily. "You're the Elemental expert. How long do you think it will take the dragon to get there?"
As if on cue, the team captain's communicator beeped.
"That you, Dive?" Wildwing asked into the device.
"The one and only!" Nosedive cheerfully answered. "I'm about to lift off. I should be there in just a couple minutes."
"Ok, signal me before you get here," Wildwing instructed. "We don't want that monster bringing the Aerowing down before the Elementals do their thing."
"No problameo, bro!" Nosedive responded just before he disconnected.
Wildwing shut his device and saw that Ruby had walked over to the group of humans. He watched as she went up to each of the seven kids who were still loopy from creating the shield. She gently touched each one and one by one, the adolescents gasped before sitting up. The kids blinked and looked around in confusion.
"What did you just do?" Malory demanded.
"I gave them some of the extra energy the dragon gave me," Ruby explained as she carefully watched the children.
"Don't you have to create some sort of bond with them to do that?" Wildwing questioned.
"I already did when I gave them their first lesson," Ruby told him as she continued to watch the young humans. "It's not as complicated to create a bond between mortals as it is with Elementals and mortals. Hey, kids, how many of you have blue eyes?"
Out of the twenty-eight children, only nine raised their hands. Wildwing frowned when he realized that several of the kids hadn't responded who had very bright blue eyes. A moment later, the drake realized that seven oldest kids had amazingly brightly hued eyes, though only two of them had their hands up.
"The seven oldest…" Wildwing started.
"Looks like that's the physical change the magic created," Ruby confirmed. "Better than having blue lips."
Before Wildwing could respond, his communicator chirped.
"Dive is in position," the goalie stated after quickly checking the device.
We're not ready, the gnome stated as he popped out of the ground.
"Why not?" Wildwing demanded as he activated the communicator. "Hold your position, Dive. We're not ready."
"Will do," Nosedive responded.
We've been carefully moving the dirt out of the way so Black Death doesn't realize what we're doing, the earth Elemental retorted. If she realized what we were up to, she would move and then all of that work would have been for nothing.
"What if you moved all of the dirt at once?" Ruby inquired as she kneeled down to the Elemental's level.
What do you mean? The gnome asked. Where would we put it?
"Right here," Ruby replied, pointing at the ground beneath them. "Could you do that? Take the dirt out from under her and push us up to ground level?"
"What good would that do?" Wildwing demanded.
"If the earth Elementals can drop her into a hole and bury her while moving us up, it would make it easier for everyone to get into the Aerowing," Ruby told him. "She won't stay buried long. The sooner we're on board, the sooner we can get out of here."
It would take some doing and we'd have to move quickly, the small Elemental said as he frowned at nothing. I'll need to get more gnomes to help. See if a few wyrms would be willing…I think we can. Let me check.
The gnome disappeared into the ground without a trace that he had been there. Ruby stood back up and started to pace. The Mighty Ducks and the humans remained against the wall on one side of the pit, with the dragon on the other and Ruby walking back and forth between them.
"Nervous?" Mallory finally asked, a little less than kindly.
"Ever drink an entire pot of coffee followed by a six pack of energy drinks?" Ruby asked while she continued to pace.
"No, can't say that I have," Mallory replied.
"Me neither," Ruby stated. "But I imagine it feels an awful lot like I'm feeling now."
Sorry, the dragon said as he nudged Ruby with his nose.
"I know," Ruby sighed as she caressed the spike covered head. "The sooner I can vent this extra energy, the better."
"Can't you give some of it back?" Duke asked and Ruby gave him a hard glare. When it appeared that she wasn't going to answer him, he continued. "I really am sorry I tried to kill you."
"No, I can't give him back the energy without risking giving him too much and ending up worse than I started," Ruby finally replied.
"Wait," Raleigh interrupted, scowling at the hockey playing ducks. "I knew you guys didn't like her, but I didn't realize you were at each other's throats."
"It was just Duke that dropped a house on her," Tanya tried to explain.
"Right," Ruby grumbled as she continued to pace. "And emptying your weapons at me when I first arrived is the traditional way of greeting someone on this planet?"
"The only good blue beak…" Mallory softly grumbled.
The red haired duck never finished her sentence as a thin string of light wrapped around her beak and snapped it shut. Mallory let out a muted cry as she tried to get the glowing thing off of her beak, but to no avail. As one, the Mighty Ducks turned and glared at Ruby only to see her scowling right back with white glowing eyes.
"Anyone else who needs to be muzzled?" the mage snarled.
Wildwing opened his beak, but nothing came out when Ruby pointed at him.
"Don't," the angry hen growled. "Just don't."
The team captain was wise enough to shut his beak, though he did give her a good hard glare. The mage just turned on her heel and went back to pacing back and forth. Wildwing turned his head enough to see Tanya trying to help Mallory by analyzing the thin band of light that was keeping the weapons master quiet.
The white drake held onto his temper by a mere thread when he saw Raleigh standing between his team and the kids. The man didn't look the least bit happy and Wildwing had a pretty good idea why. Gipsy was quietly crying in her father's arms and Wildwing remembered that the little girl was a Mighty Ducks fan and had a fondness for Ruby.
Wildwing was tempted to start pacing in the confined space himself, and he just might have if Ruby wasn't already doing so. He felt this overwhelming need to do something otherwise he might explode. His heart was racing and he could feel his hands shaking. It felt a lot like he had downed an entire pot of coffee and followed it with a six pack of…
Great Mother of Ducks! Wildwing stared over at Ruby and watched in horror as she continued her pacing. He finally understood what that strange spark had done. He was able to feel Ruby's emotions!
The thought of having that intimate of a connection with the blue beaked hen had the drake nearly ready to crawl out of his own feathers.