Free Guardian by Shannon Mayer

an archer’s hole, spurted once, twice, and then the fire ripped down the left side of us again. Like human ping-pong balls, we swerved away from the fire, only to be pushed back from the flame shooting out on the right of us. We were almost to the moat.
    “Water, it’s our only chance!” I yelled as Val let out a holler and the drawbridge fell open with a thunderous boom. On the other side, I glimpsed an open courtyard filling with hunters, their eyes wide as they saw us running for the safety of their castle. Or at least, the relative safety, as it were.
    The flames were tight on either side of us—less than ten feet away—and the oxygen was burning up around us faster than anything. I fought to get the air I needed to put my legs into a higher gear. Without meaning to, I drew on the energy between Liam and me and was able to just reach the edge of the drawbridge before the ground in front of me erupted in a shower of dirt and rocks. My body was thrown into the air, high enough that I could take a deep breath before considering how bad it was going to hurt to hit the ground.
    Or, in my case, the water. Below me, I saw Liam and Val get similar treatment. The hunters weren’t trying to kill us; they were just trying to get us into the water. Which didn’t bode well for us.
    Not in the least.

    Rylee hit the water first, but he was right behind her. Beside him, Val dove in, the edges of his boots singed and melting from the fire; the burnt rubber smell made Liam want to gag.
    Then the water sluiced over his head, and for a split second he was relieved, the heat of the fire gone in a single icy instant. They’d dodged the flames. He took a few strokes and broke the surface. Val cringed along the edge of the moat and Rylee tread water across from him. The cold didn’t seem to be bothering her any more than it bothered him. Val, though, was already turning blue. They had to get him out quick.
    “Well, fuck,” she grumbled, pushing hair out of her eyes. “How the hell are we going to get out of this now?”
    “Let’s swim around; there has to be more than one entrance. Unless they are complete fools.” Liam looked over as the drawbridge was pulled back up. No more fire, no more explosions. So whatever was in the water was bad enough that the hunters thought it would finish them off. But whatever ‘it’ was hadn’t shown up yet.
    The moat was a good twenty feet wide and the sides were a slick metal with no way to climb out. Not to mention they were at least fifteen feet down from the top edge of the moat. No way they were getting out of this.
    “Val, can you lift us out?” Rylee beat him to the punch.
    “No, only those very strong with their spelling can do that,” he said, his eyes wide as he stared around them. No doubt he was looking for the water dragon he’d said resided in the moat.
    As they swam, trying to find a way up and out, Val muttered continually in Russian, no doubt a prayer if Liam caught the cadence right. Praying wasn’t going to get them out of the watery hole they were in, though.
    Rylee didn’t look back, just swam, as always leading. She never held anything back.
    “Wait up,” he said, his voice carrying easily over the water.
    She paused and turned in the water, her mouth open as if she would say something. Yet, the way her eyes widened and she tried to back pedal was enough to spin him around. The water dragon had found them. Or more specifically, it found him .
    Shit.

    Holy mother of the gods. The water dragon rose above Liam as I spun to mouth off to him. Silvery blue, it blended into the water and looked as though it was the water itself. It was reminiscent of a snake with fins, its head flaring out like a cobra and fangs that would put Blaz’s to shame seated inside its open mouth. Small, thin forearms with almost delicate looking fingers and claws were attached partway down its body. I couldn’t do anything; had nothing to fight this one with.
    “Val, hit it!”
    Val let