Nothing is mine.

Another longer one! And a bit of an AN you can skip or read if you're curious!

Absolutely yes, Yik, I see you, my man, that is exactly the question I want you to ask. If the point of the story isn't the protagonist winning and vicarious entertainment for a reader, then what is it? Beyond all the death of the author stuff and reading my story for whatever reasons you all enjoy to read it - be it the action scenes, the guilty pleasure of red flag romance, world-building, hate-reading and reviewing because it didn't give you exactly what you wanted within four chapters or whatever - what is the point I'm trying to make? Now, it's not something anyone has to think about while reading, we all read for our own reasons, indeed, if I've done a decent job of this, you've probably already thought about it quite a lot by this point in the story and potentially not even realised it's something I'm deliberately trying to get you to think about, and in fact when a lot of people actually read this, they do realise what I hope they will realise, and then drop the fic for good. They get the point and that's that. And for me, that's success.

I mentioned a while ago, probably several times, that this story isn't just me writing to entertain readers, but a hybrid of personal challenge-seeking, craft experimentation for things to use in my original stuff, and working out how best to convey a genuine meaningful point in literature. It's not the classic power-creep, curb-stomp, happy romance deal that everyone generally likes to read to get away from the less enjoyable parts of life - and I did warn everyone that it wasn't. If I'm going to write popular stuff like that, I will, and have, write my own original novel and it'll be a fun, fast-paced, 70k length novel named The Heart-Tree that looks less like this bleak thematic literature thing and a lot more like an enjoyable read. Or it'll be its sequel. Or one of the other 5 novels I have. But here, where I don't have to abide by the rules of commercial fiction, I get to play around and write purely whatever it is I want to try without any obligations to anyone else, because, of course, it's all out here for free and anyone can drop it whenever they want. After this, I think I'll probably write something a lot lighter and more fun, because the headspaces of the characters here aren't the most enjoyable place for me to spend my time and I fancy something a bit less dark and harrowing, but until then, strap yourself in, there's two more parts after this one, and there's going to be a little turbulence en route.

Ritt der Walküren

Snowflakes drifted down out of the thick blanket of grey hanging across the sky, settling on Bella's legs and soaking into her soft white leather robes.

Bella swept two handfuls of cold snow together in her bare hands, squishing them into a ball, and stared down from the roof of her turret at the white-covered rooftops of Nurmengard's halls and spires.

'I'm boooored, Bell.' She hurled her snowball at a small bird perched on the turret below her feet and watched it flutter off below the wall toward the mountainside. Bella wriggled her butt in the cold snow, flopping her head back against the cold weather vane. 'When are we going to go have fun?'

Soon, Bella. Bella batted snowflakes away with the back of her hand. We're meant to be leaving this morning, Bell, and it's been aaaages.

'Urgh.' She bounced her boot heels off the roof tiles, sending little showers of snow floating down toward the distard courtyard. 'I'm so bored.' Fire flashed through her veins. 'They're taking forever!'

A ripple of magic tore from her, stripping the snow from the roof and rattling the tiles.

'Oops.' Bella poked her finger into the snowflakes settling on the winged golden sword emblazoned over her heart and watched them melt.

'Bella!' Astoria's voice rose from the room below.

It's time, Bell! Bella jumped to her feet, skipping to the edge and lowering herself down off the cold frosted lead guttering. Time to play, Bella.

'Time to feel alive,' she whispered.

Bella pushed the window further open with the heel of her boot and swung herself back and forth a few times on the gutter, letting go.

She landed on the window ledge with a little giggle.

Daphne folded her arms over her chest. 'We're leaving for Polans, Bella.'

'I'm ready!' Bella bounced on her toes and pulled her wand from inside of her new robes. 'What's the game?'

Astoria grinned. 'We're going to portkey there in a moment. Chasca and Enni will be in the hall.'

'Who?' Bella cocked her head. 'Are they more of us?' She poked the golden emblem on her chest. 'These?'

Daphne nodded, her cool blue eyes sweeping over Bella. 'They are the last two of the Walküren. The others have gone ahead to prepare but Enni prefers to spend less time in the sun and Chasca likes to sleep in late.'

'Let's go,' Astoria chimed, taking her sister's arm. 'We've got a lot to do today.'

They vanished with a loud crack.

Lots to do, Bell! Bella waved her wand at the window, slamming it shut. Lots of fun at last! She disapparated, appearing between the long tables in the bare stone hall with a pop.

A tall, slim witch twisted around in a blur of white robes, levelling the point of a metre and a half of rune-engraved steel at Bella's ribs.

'That's Bella, Enni, you can put your giant sword down,' Astoria said. 'Bella, this is Enni. You can say hi. She doesn't… bite.'

Enni tutted, her soft red eyes glowing through her long auburn hair. 'But I do bite, little Astoria.' Her lips curled back into a fierce grin; two wolves howled at the moon in dark ink upon her left canine and a great sea serpent crushed a longship in its coils upon the other.

'I like your teeth!' Bella beamed. 'The pictures move.'

Enni lowered the blade, resting the tip upon the steel-plated top of her right boot.

'Fangz, Enni.' Astoria snickered.

Daphne sighed. 'We're just waiting for Chasca now…'

Bella skipped across the floor and poked at the thick fangs hanging in Enni's long red hair. 'Are they real?' She stuck the tip of a finger through the hole bored into one four inch fang. 'Why are you wearing them in your hair? Don't they make noises when you move?'

'They are fangs of trolls, little Bella.' Enni's hand snapped up and caught Bella's fingers in a cold, iron grip. 'One from each that I have hunted and slain upon the lands of my home.' She shook her hair and the fangs swayed and rattled together, hanging from locks of her red hair like needles dangling from thread. 'They make some noise.'

'Isn't it annoying?' Bella asked.

A savage grin spread across Enni's face and she reached up and patted the plain steel pommel of her blade. 'I like my prey to hear the sound of me coming in the dark, young Bella. It is more fun that way.'

Bella giggled. 'It's like a game. Ready or not—' she twirled and thrust her wand at the doors '—here we come.'

Footsteps rang down the stairs at the far end of the hall and a slim young witch burst from the narrow door, two long dark braids woven with gold thread flying behind her.

She skidded to a halt and glanced around, her dark almond-shaped eyes lingering on Bella. 'Am I late? I had to do my hair.'

Daphne sighed. 'Yes, Chasca.' She pointed a finger at Bella. 'This is Bella. She is one of us too, now.'

Astoria beamed. 'But now we're all here—' she lifted a length of copper chain from her pocket '—we can leave.'

'Sorry!' Chasca leapt forward and grabbed one end of the chain, the bright gold tassels hanging from the tops of her fur-lined boots fluttering. 'I'm ready now.'

Bella skipped a couple steps closer and grabbed the other end of the portkey. 'Where are we going?'

'Polans,' Chasca said. 'To fight.'

'But wheeeeere in Polans?' Bella asked.

'An old stronghold called Odwrót Mokosha,' Daphne replied. 'It's in northeastern Polans near the border with Russkaya and sits at the edge of the great forest there.'

Astoria tugged the copper chain. 'All aboard?'

Enni reached out and wrapped one iron-plated, white-furred glove around the chain.

'For the Greater Good,' Astoria chimed.

The stone hall vanished in a flash of golden flame and Bella stumbled into Chasca's side, slipping in thick mud.

'Uh oh.' Chasca steadied Bella with an arm. 'Hello. I'm Chasca Sousa. Aclla daughter of Juan Sousa, President of the South American Confederation of Magical Peoples, emissary of the Mamaconas of Inti and the Incan Empire.'

She's weird, Bell. Bella reached out and tugged one of the long gold-threaded braids. We're pretty weird too, Bella.

'Ow.' Chasca scowled. 'Don't pull my hair, strange girl.'

'I'm not Strange Girl!' Bella stomped her foot in the mud. 'I'm Bella.' She cocked her head. 'There is no Strange Girl. Strange Boy and his brother were the only two Strange People and they lost.'

Chasca blinked. 'What?'

Enni laughed a deep throaty chuckle. 'This young one is a bit mad, Chasca.'

'I am not!'

We are, Bella. Bella huffed. But we know we're a bit mad, Bell, so we can't really be that mad.

Scorched, shattered stone towers stuck like the stubs of severed fingers from a sprawl of broad banks and thick deep ditches in the valley bottom. The broken arches of a ruined bridge rose from the swollen brown river waters between the crumbling road ends, looming over countless short metal bars sticking up through the current like pins from backs of Aunt Wally's dead butterfly collection. Spells flashed across the river, bursting in bright sparks of pink and red and orange and green against the faint shimmer of wards, and at the bottom of the slope, blue-skinned trolls, spear-and-bow-toting centaurs, and towering giants huddled around great fire pits.

'Look at that, Daph,' Astoria said, nodding her head down the crater-pocked slope. 'There's even less of this place left than when we were last here.'

'There were more towers before,' Daphne murmured. 'Now it will be slightly easier.'

Liu Zhou and Zareen appeared with a loud crack.

'Chasca has made it out of bed,' Zareen said, patting Chasca on the head with one hand. 'Before midday. We are so proud.'

Liu Zhou snorted. 'Chasca has never seen the dawn in her whole life.'

'Hey!' Chasca kicked him in the shin with one red-tasselled boot. 'I do not have to get up before dawn, old man. My ancestors have provided their guidance already. They do not need me to spend all night playing with bones out in the cold; I can stay in my nice warm bed.'

'Ah yes, your ancestors' prophecy.' Liu Zhou grinned. 'Something about the sun being eaten?'

'That's the Mayan prophecy! They think it will be eaten and the whole world will end,' Chasca retorted. 'My Incan ancestors warned that Inti will disappear and a world will end. Our world. Or theirs. If your burnt bones were any good, they'd show you.'

'Why do you think the bone oracle and my people sent me here?' Liu Zhou muttered. 'A world will end. One of two.'

'Ancestors and bones.' Zareen laughed. 'But what about the sun, Chasca? Who is going to eat it?'

'I just told you the bit about the sun!' Chasca folded her arms and glowered at them. 'I told you both at least three times the difference between the Mayan and Incan prophecies! Or are you both so old your memories have gone completely soggy?'

Bella giggled and Astoria snickered.

Daphne sighed. 'Astoria,' she murmured.

'Right. Sorry, Daph.' Astoria pointed a finger at Liu Zhou. 'You, stop teasing Chasca about the really old prophecy her and many of her kindred cultures dread and go find Karsten Metternich. He's the one with only one ear wearing a double-headed black eagle on his robes.' She turned her finger on Zareen. 'You go find Marie Renner. She's the haughty snobby blonde witch with a golden eagle on her robes.'

They disappeared with a loud pop.

'What now?' Bella grabbed her wand and jabbed it at the collapsed bridge. 'What's the game? Are we going down there?'

A broad grin spread across Astoria's lips. 'Oh yes, Bella. We are. But not quite yet. We've been scouting about, haven't we, Daph?' She poked her sister in the hip. 'Daaaaaaph?'

Daphne sighed. 'Yes.'

'And Grindelwald devised a plan,' Astoria said. 'This is — what did he say? — the first moment of great horror necessarily done for the greater good of our world.'

Bella pouted. 'Is it a boring plan or a fun plan?'

'Do you like nearly dying on the end of a broken bridge while being too close to several adult dragons drugged into a frenzied rage?' Astoria asked.

'Nearly dying is just nearly losing,' Bella said. 'And nearly losing is winning!'

Win and feel alive, Bell. She beamed. Win and feel alive, Bella.

'Then this is going to be fun for you.' Astoria snickered. 'And it's a great chance for our first team-bonding moment!' Her forehead creased and her eyebrows drew down into a vee. 'We need a team chant to do before these things.'

Daphne folded her arms and shook her head.

'Awww, but Daph…'

'No,' she murmured. 'They are silly. You got to do it last time. This time it's my turn.'

'Fine. Fine.' Astoria flapped a hand at her sister. 'You're such a melt, Daph.'

A loud crack echoed across the slope and Liu Zhou appeared with a tall, bald man in a long brown leather jacket bearing a black double-headed eagle on the breast.

What happened to his ear? Bella stared at the small stubs of flesh sticking from the right side of his head. He lost it, Bella.

'Just waiting for two more…' Astoria said.

'What about Charlie?' Chasca asked.

'He's busy feeding those dragons things you're not meant to feed to dragons unless you want to be burnt or eaten,' Astoria chimed.

'Or both,' Daphne murmured.

'Or both!' Bella giggled. 'Both is good! When can we go? I've been waiting for ages now!'

Zareen appeared with a pop. 'Marie Renner will be with us in a moment; she did not want to apparate up here into the mud in her nice boots.'

Astoria snickered. 'What about a nice little swim in the river?'

Karsten Metternich snorted and spat into a small puddle of mud. 'Peryn's Chosen, Tsarina Bugrov's best fighters, have stuck metal rods all throughout the river bed. If you do not know who they are, then know they are the members of her Oaksworn who specialise in duelling with lightning…'

'That kind of electric shock will ruin your hair, Chasca,' Zareen said.

Chasca's hands flew up to her braids. 'I am not going near that river. I am not cutting my hair.'

'But it always grows back…' Bella frowned and shook her dark curls out over her shoulders. 'Are we going now?' She bounced on her toes. 'I haven't gotten to play with anyone in ages, I'm probably all rusty.'

'Patience, Bella.' Astoria wagged her finger. 'Good things come to girls that wait. Right, Daph?'

Daphne frowned.

A tall thin witch with a sharp pale face appeared with a soft snap, straightening her tight white robes and picking her way around the puddles.

'Marie!' Astoria beamed and waved. 'You're looking great in the same kind of frigid chilly way you always look great.'

Marie Renner's blue eyes narrowed. 'Greengrass.' She turned to Daphne and dipped her head. 'Quieter Greengrass who I like infinitely more.'

Astoria sniggered. 'How's the party?'

'Party…?' Marie Renner sucked a breath in through her teeth and sniffed. 'Polans's Fürst-Elect, Nadia Dabrowski, is no fool. And nor is Tsarina Bugrov. Separate ward bubbles. Overlapping lines of fire. Variation in magical specialties. We took the west half one warded area at a time, but they swiftly pulled back and collapsed the bridge. Tsarina Bugrov's Peryn's Chosen have made the river impassable.'

'We know,' Astoria chimed in.

'We tried breaking a ward bubble and apparating across to take the eastern half in the same fashion,' Karsten said. 'But the Russkayan Oaksworn have dug bunkers under the ground and counter-attacked each time to drive us back before we could establish a foothold. Our Norse trolls are fewer than their Russkayan ones and the centaurs, while swift, will sustain many casualties charging across the bridge.'

'We have done our best to reduce their defences. The muggles believe this entire area is part of the Siemianowka reservoir, so the Statute is not at risk,' Marie Renner said. 'I had the giants hurling enchanted rocks and glass balls full of various potions to reduce the number of towers and walls.'

'We knooooooow.' Bella cocked her head at Astoria, ignoring Marie's sharp glare. 'We know, right?'

Astoria grinned. 'We do, Bella, yes.' She glanced at her sister. 'Daph?'

'Grindelwald has devised a plan,' Daphne murmured. 'And sent us, the Walküren, to deliver victory.'

Marie inclined her head. 'And what does Grindelwald require of us?'

'First, the Walküren will establish a foothold and Marie's aurors will put up wards to prevent magical escape,' Daphne said. 'We will then bring Charlie's dragons in and release them, falling back to safety up here beneath the wards and concealment of Karsten's aurors—'

'And then when the dragons are dead or fled and their aurors are all scattered, we will go back in and fix the bridge,' Astoria said. 'Trolls and giants and centaurs will attack across the bridge to prevent them from re-organising and your squads will then take the place hole by hole while we go after Karl Lange, Nadia Dabrowski and the Tsarina.'

'We want Nadia and the Tsarina alive to force an end to their resistance,' Daphne said. 'Karl Lange is condemned—' she sighed as Astoria snickered '—to death.'

Marie and Karsten exchanged a glance.

Karsten grunted. 'What are we waiting for?'

'Nothing,' Astoria chimed. 'Walküren—' Grey mist poured from her sleeves, curling around her in three coils of thick fog '—We will go to the end of our side of the bridge. Chasca and Zareen, you are the Walküren's shield. Zhou, you are the eyes and ears of the Walküren. Bella, you are the Walküren's spear; keep the defenders more worried about getting hit than hitting us. Daph and I will be the wings, if they try to counter our attack, we will counter their counter!'

'And what of me?' Enni asked.

Bella jumped, cold shock washing through her. 'Hey! That's not nice. I forgot you were there!'

'There are interlinked bunkers beneath the ground,' Daphne said. 'You are best suited to emptying those, Enni.'

A savage grin spread across Enni's face and she swept her fang-decorated hair over her shoulders, resting her long broadsword upon her shoulder. 'After the dragons?'

'Yes,' Astoria said. 'Gather the Norse trolls, giants and centaurs, Enni, you speak their languages. When the dragons are out of the way, take them across the bridge and hunt down anyone in your path.'

Enni leapt forward down the slope, blurring into a huge white wolf and bounding toward the nearest huddle of trolls.

Karsten raised his wand aloft. 'I will signal our aurors to fall back here, but when?'

'When you see a bunch of dragons in cages fly overhead.' Astoria beamed. 'You can't miss it.'

'Ready?' Daphne asked.

'Get set. Go!' Bella giggled and apparated down onto the bridge.

A storm of colours streaked from the ruined towers.

It's so pretty, Bell. She batted aside blues and greens and pinks and yellows, laughing and twirling and ducking through the storm, a bright thrill rushing through her veins. Don't we feel alive, Bella?

A red spell ripped a line of fire through her thigh and orange and blue curses seared across her left arm. The fierce burn and warm trickle of blood melted into the sharp thrill.

'Stop hiding!' Bella yelled. 'Come and play!'

A series of loud cracks fell over the bridge and a ripple of bronze magic swept past her, sweeping the spells aside.

'Awww.' Bella pouted. 'They hadn't even come out yet!'

Zareen stepped past her; a pair of translucent bronze arms rose over her own, their glowing palms pouring magic over the bridge, washing the hail of spells away.

'Chasca,' Astoria said. 'Your turn. Zareen, patch up Bella's small wounds.'

'Here I go!' Chasca leapt up beside Zareen and closed her eyes, thrusting out her arms.

Threads of magic sprouted from her fingers like tiny silken strands of sunlight, splitting into ever finer tendrils and weaving together into a brilliant shroud.

'Inti's cloak,' Chasca declared, sweeping it into the sky.

The shining veil of sunlight floated past Bella and fell over the bridge's end. Zareen's bronze magic faded away and the spells struck the woven rays of sun, bursting against it in flashes of sparks.

It's really pretty, Bell. Bella watched all the bright colours streak into the sunlight and explode like fireworks. We won't be bored here, Bella.

Zareen turned, her translucent bronze fingers tracing over Bella's wounds; the cuts melted closed beneath her warm tingling touch.

'Thank you!' Bella beamed. 'They stung!'

Zareen smiled and shook her head. 'You are a reckless one, aren't you?'

'Zhou,' Daphne murmured. 'What can you sense?'

'Pockets of enemies all behind their own wards,' Zhou replied. 'They overlook the bridge in a zig-zagging semi-circle.' He chuckled. 'They are worried. Chasca's magic is something they have not seen before.'

'The gifts of Inti!' Chasca smiled and drew a dark wooden wand from inside her white robes. 'But I am more than just aclla.'

'Yes yes,' Zhou muttered. 'You have a wand and your peoples' magicks. You have told us a hundred times.' He coughed. 'There are clusters of enemies under the ground as they said. Not all are human.'

'Russkayan trolls,' Astoria said. 'Zareen, tell Charlie it is time.'

'And warn Karsten to send up the signal,' Daphne said.

Zareen disapparated with a crack.

'Are we going across?' Bella waved her wand at the shadows of the ruined towers behind the bright veil of Inti's Cloak. 'I want to go across and see if any of them are any fun!'

'Dragons first,' Daphne murmured.

'Fun later,' Astoria chimed in.

Charlie appeared in a deafening pop and swept his long red hair aside. 'Here? Or the far side?'

'Here,' Astoria said as Zareen reappeared. 'It's going to get messy either way.'

Charlie grimaced. 'Here it is then.' He disapparated.

A glowing red light soared overhead into the sky.

'Karsten's signal,' Daphne murmured.

Chasca waved her hand in the air. 'Inti's cloak isn't going to last that much longer.'

Smoking holes gaped in the weave of sun rays shielding the bridge end and loose threads of sunlight hung free, swaying as the spells hissed past them.

'It only needs to last a few more minutes,' Astoria said. 'Zareen…'

'I can shield us again for a short while if need be.' Zareen stepped to the edge and sucked in a deep breath, raising her palms; translucent bronze limbs split from her arms. 'Chasca, let me know when your magic is about to go.'

'Is there any movement, Zhou?' Daphne asked.

'Only fear and determination,' Zhou replied.

Bella twirled around.

Six thick cages billowing flames floated through the sky within diamonds of broom-mounted dragon handlers; the red light drifted past them, sinking down into the river.

'Here we go.' A broad grin spread across Astoria's face and a bright gleam shone in her blue eyes. 'The biggest magical battle since Grindelwald's last war is about to begin for real.'

'Zareen,' Daphne murmured. 'Protect Chasca's magic for a moment, then we can fall back to the hill and still leave a little protection for the handlers.'

A bright glow emanated from the palms of the translucent bronze arms and a wave of magic swept past the veil of sunlight, scattering spells before it like rain before the wind.

The shadow of the dragon cages fell over them.

'Time to split!' Astoria chimed.

Grey mist swirled around Bella and the world lurched.

We didn't get to have any fun, Bell! She staggered in the mud, spinning on her heel. The game hasn't really started yet, Bella.

Bella pouted and poked the toe of her boot into the puddle. Her violet eyes glowed like purple stars in the brown water beneath her foot.

Spells hissed up toward the cages as they thudded to the ground, bursting against the white glow of Shield Charms. A crackling beam of lightning flashed from the top of one tower, arcing through the handlers.

'Down they go,' Bella breathed, watching them spiral out of the sky and splatter on the ground.

The dragons spouted flames and hurled themselves into the cages' barred doors, bursting free with furious roars and hisses.

Charlie appeared in the puddle in front of Bella with a loud crack and a splash. 'At this point, we just watch and see. Dragons can't really be tamed, just… unleashed.' He glanced down at his damp boots and sighed. 'Bollocks.'

Bright gushes of flame washed through the ruined towers and screams rose from the distant banks and ditches as four of the six dragons dragged themselves away across the banks; the smallest vanished into a ditch in a flicker of yellow and orange fire. A large black-scaled dragon slammed into a smaller green one, clawing at its wings and biting at its throat.

Charlie shook his head. 'I knew that was going to happen. Bloody Marzanna.'

'Who?' Bella asked. 'Who's that?'

'The big dark female one…' Charlie winced as the large black-scaled dragon ripped the throat out of the smaller green one and spread its wings, rearing its long neck like a cobra over the twitching corpse. 'That's Marzanna. We rescued her as a hatchling from goblin poachers. We reckon she's some kind of wild cross-breed. She's got the horntail spines and magical resilience but the thick scales and extra wing-claw of an ironbelly.'

'She seems upset,' Astoria chimed in.

'They are drugged,' Zareen said.

Charlie snorted. 'Five of them are drugged. Marzanna is just a monster. We used to have to keep her warded into her own territory or she'd kill anything large enough to look a threat.'

'Why?' Daphne murmured.

'The goblin poachers snatched her from about twenty hatchlings, but they saw the mother returning and panicked,' he said. 'They slaughtered all of Marzanna's siblings to try and distract the mother, but the mother tracked them down and killed almost all of them before they killed her. Dragons are very sensitive to what they experience as a new hatchling. Marzanna's earliest experiences were blood, pain and the loss of the only comforting presences she knew. A couple years ago, a young male tried to court her. She ate him.'

'Scary,' Chasca whispered. 'Enni will like her.'

Astoria snickered. 'Enni likes anything with big teeth and a hostile attitude.'

'Just like Enni!' Chasca grinned. 'What's happening, old man?'

'Brat.' Zhou shook his head and closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath through his long quivering moustache. 'Two of the dragons went into the bunkers and tunnels, one is in a lot of pain. Dying, I think. The other is eating trolls somewhere under the far bank. Many aurors are afraid and fighting the other two dragons.' He shuddered. 'That large dragon, she is full of fury. And there is… a storm coming? I can feel the magic tingling, like all the hairs standing up on my arms in a storm.'

Marzanna hauled the carcass of the green dragon across the river and dropped it in the long grass before the forest, hunching over it like a vulture and ripping into the belly.

A bolt of lightning tore through the ruins between the two blue-scaled dragons.

'The Tsarina has sent Peryn's Chosen to deal with the dragons.' Marie Renner strode across from the neat ranks of white-jacketed aurors. 'They are adept at fighting such beasts. Russkaya has vast swathes of magical wilderness to contend with.'

White flashes ripped through the neck of the furthest blue dragon; it rolled through a tower and slumped over beneath the tumbling rocks, the smoking expanse of its wings covering the rubble. The other dragon smashed its tail through a wall, hurling a pair of aurors into a ditch, and breathed a rush of orange flames over the wreckage.

'Zareen,' Daphne murmured. 'Tell Enni it is time.'

'Ready?' Astoria pointed her arm at the broken arches rising from the river. 'We're going back where we were to fix the bridge, then after Karl Lange.'

Slim arcs of white lightning splashed off the blue scales of the remaining dragon and it threw back its head and roared, spitting fire over the ruined towers and sprawling heaps of stone. Spells tore through its wings and thick stone tentacles burst from the ground, wrapping around it and dragging it down.

'Herr Lange's aurors are on the southern side.' Marie Renner extended one finger at the right side of the hillfort. 'We will follow you through and secure this stronghold for ourselves.'

'Don't kill the Tsarina or Polans's Fürst-Elect,' Daphne said, grey mist spilling from her white sleeves and curling around Bella's waist. 'Grindelwald wants them alive to bring the Russkayan Tsardom and Polans to heel.'

'I know my orders,' Marie Renner replied. 'I will not fail.'

The hillside lurched and Bella appeared on the bridge end with a deafening crack. The second dragon lay still, impaled with countless sparking iron poles, and thick red dragon blood spread from beneath its pale blue wingspan.

Here we go, Bell! Bella gave her wand a swish, showering violet sparks across the stones; a bright little thrill fluttered through her. It's time to play again!

Bright colours rushed over the broken arches.

Bella swatted pinks and purples back as the stone shifted and flowed beneath her feet, stretching across the river. Chasca leapt forward beside her, poisonous greens hissing from the dark wand in her hand and boring deep, smoking holes into the bank beyond the bridge.

White mist curled around the bridge's edge and coalesced into Enni. 'Step aside, little Chasca and young Bella.' A savage, fanged grin spread across her face and the broad steel blade flashed in her hand as she spun it. 'Or you will get trampled.'

The ground trembled under Bella's feet and bronze magic washed past them, sweeping all the spells out of the air.

This is so exciting, Bell! She skipped to the edge of the bridge. It's the biggest game we've played in, Bella.

Centaurs flooded past, leaping over the fallen rubble, and tall, blue-skinned trolls in crude fur tunics charged after them, waving rock-studded clubs; a dozen giants lumbered in their wake, toting huge lengths of iron chain and uprooted trees.

'Bella!' Chasca yelled in her ear. 'Astoria and Daphne are going across!'

Grey mist coiled around Bella's waist, sweeping her across the river and down among the sprawled, smoking corpses of a handful of grey-robed aurors. Screams rose from beyond the bank at their left and flashes of magic sent small showers of dirt pattering down around them.

Chasca smoothed her long braids out and edged back out of the rain of mud.

'What's the insignia on the robes of these bodies?' Daphne asked.

Zhou pushed one over with his foot. Burnt, melted flesh clung to blackened ribs and the seared stubs of arms stuck up before its face.

'Pick a different one,' Astoria said. 'That one's been overcooked.'

Zareen's translucent bronze arms rolled over a legless corpse. 'A white eagle.'

'Wendburgian,' Daphne said. 'Good.'

'What?' Chasca asked. 'What's that?'

'Karl Lange's aurors,' Charlie said. 'He'll be around here somewhere.'

'You get your handlers,' Astoria ordered. 'Get Marzanna back in her cage and if any of the others are still alive, get them back in their cages too. Zhou, where do we start looking?'

Charlie vanished with a loud pop.

Zhou drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. 'Across the bank within a half-collapsed tower. There are a group of aurors there who do not seem to be fighting or have been fighting. That might be because they're with Karl Lange.'

'And elsewhere?' Daphne murmured. 'How is the rest of the plan going?'

He swept his blind gaze across the smoking stronghold. 'Enni is beneath the ground… feasting. The Russkayan trolls have been let loose from their bunkers and are holding us back; they're too stupid to flee, but there are many wizards and witches fleeing across the grasslands toward the forest in the meantime.'

'No time to lose then!' Astoria chimed. 'Onwards, Walküren!'

Bella bounded up the steep slope.

A red curse flashed from the low door in the sub of a tower.

She slapped it back into the stomach of the short thickset wizard. His belly bubbled, swelled and burst in a shower of glistening blue entrails, and he sank to his knees sobbing and shaking and convulsing as the life bled out of him.

'You lose!' Bella sang. 'I win!'

They're in the tower, Bell. She cocked her head, peering through the door. But we can't see them very well, Bella, they might be trying to surprise us.

'Ardens flagello!' She cast a wave of pink flame through the door, immolating the auror sprawled in the mud. 'Can't hide from that, Bell!'

Screams rang out from within.

Grey mist smashed through the wall as Daphne and Astoria strode down the bank, snatching burning bodies from the fire and smacking them into the walls; their heads splattered against the stone like bursting water balloons.

A thick balustrade floated away from her flailing hands and white marble flashed before her eyes.

Don't think about that, Bella. Bella scowled and clutched her wand tight in her fist. We didn't die! We're not a ghost! A horrible cold feeling knotted in her tummy. We're us, Bella. And we're here to play.

'Dead?' Zareen asked.

Zhou nodded, sweat gleaming on his wrinkled bald brows. 'Onto the next?'

'And the next and the next and the next and the next,' Bella breathed. 'That way it's never boring!'

AN: My profile has all the details about what I do!