Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [339]
“Hold on!” Jozo screamed. Kee Keema grabbed Meena with one hand and wrapped his other around the edge of Jozo’s wing. “Wataru, my leg!”
Wataru reached out, grabbing Kee Keema’s ankle with both hands. The winds had pushed him off Jozo’s back until he was hanging with nothing but empty sky below his feet. They were falling. The ground came hurtling towards them. Falling, falling…
Then, as though a giant hand appeared from below to cushion the fall, Wataru felt them rise once again. Jozo tilted his wings, regained control, and took off toward the sky. In relief, he roared a spiraling ball of flame.
“Is everybody okay? Nobody dropped off?”
“All here, Jozo!”
They had been tossed nearly to the outer city walls. The other dragons were fighting to remain near the cyclone. Wataru could see them beating their wings, railing against the powerful winds. He counted them: one, two…all seven were there. Which is Kutz’s dragon? Where is she?
“Kutz!” he shouted, but the wind snatched the cry out of his mouth and tossed it away.
“Here! I’m here!” Kutz’s dragon came flying down to where they were, one wing dipping lopsidedly as it came. It appeared to be slightly wounded. Jozo descended further. Wataru climbed up his neck until he was directly on Jozo’s head. The dragon’s eyes were filled with tears.
“That was too scary,” Jozo muttered. “What was that?”
“Wind magic. Mitsuru wrapped it around the Crystal Palace so we couldn’t come near.” Wataru patted Jozo on the head. He felt like crying too.
When they were in flying formation with Kutz’s dragon at last, he saw that the staunch branch chief was wounded too. She was covered with burns and soot except for one place above her right eye. The blood from a cut on her face had washed a little bit of the smoky grime away. “No way we can get in there now!” Kutz swore, gritting her teeth. Her whip hand was covered with blood. “Can you do something about that damn barrier?”
“I’m not powerful enough to break it,” Wataru said, struggling to steady his breathing. “The only thing I can think of is to use warp magic to jump inside.”
Kutz opened her one good eye wide. “If you could do that, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I can try it, but I’m not sure it’ll work. I can’t control it like Mitsuru does. I don’t know exactly where we’ll end up.”
“Nothing to do but try then!” Kutz said, lightly jumping from her dragon onto Jozo’s back. “Let’s go,” she said, grabbing onto Wataru’s arm.
“Go?”
“You’re taking us with you! I’ll warp too if I’m holding on to you, right?”
Wataru looked around at Kee Keema and Meena.
“You two help the people down in the city,” he said. Then, before Meena could protest, he added, “Kutz and I will deal with Mitsuru!”
Meena’s wide eyes reflected the red flames from below. “O-okay.”
“You be careful,” Kee Keema said, kneeling on Jozo’s back. “All right, Jozo! Once Wataru and Kutz are gone, you can take us down to the city. We’ll help get the survivors to safety!”
Jozo gave his wings of a powerful beat. “Gotcha!”
Wataru shut his eyes and mouthed the words to the spell. He felt his body grow light and he could no longer feel the heat of the blaze or the push of the wind. I’m a magebullet. He shot into the air, streaking over the heads of the golems and above the capital city of Solebria. He was heading straight toward the Crystal Palace.
Suddenly, reality snapped back into focus. Wataru was floating in the air with Kutz by his side. Right in front of them they saw a large terrace, an elegantly decorated watchtower, and sweeping stone balustrades. It was the palace! The central spire caught the light of the sun, reflecting it back into their eyes.
For a split-second, Wataru saw a garrison