I was lost in thought about Flare. She'd been a puzzle I'd been trying to work out since Magefalcon had shown up on the island. I had just realized after Pinewatch had crashed into me on my way out of the Flymwiing Notar, that she was orange. The only other orange dragon to be recorded in history had been with the first Magefalcon... and she hadn't been a dragon. It couldn't be a coincidence.

What aren't you saying? Rayn asked me mentally. I realized he'd been studying my expression when he continued. There is something. You know more of the Old Times than I do.

Only because I was alive in the Old Times, I shot back. You weren't.

Rayn sighed. Pinewatch, the only living soul who knew besides myself, and I always dodged his questions about the Old Times. We did it because none of us wanted to talk about it. I especially didn't like talking about Magefalcon. Being the Guider isn't always an easy task. I was required to lead anyone who came to Enzarna to the Dragon Caverns and then to the Island of Draco. Some of the people who came died in the caverns some lived to get to the island, but Magefalcon was the first to live long enough to get an orange dragon and to become the leader of the Draco Legacy.

He had almost destroyed it.

That was why I didn't talk about it and Pinewatch swore to never tell a soul of my problems. That was our agreement.

Present time Magefalcon was watching Rayn with a deep concentration. I guessed he was trying to read Rayn's emotions. I silently wished him luck. Even I couldn't read Rayn's expression.

Bring Magefalcon to the Hideaway in half an hour. I said, mentally, to Pinewatch. Then I turned and walked away from the group.

The tunnels were usually my sanctuary, but today they weren't. I'd already enchanted everything in the first nine depths, lower than that and I felt claustrophobic. Like most elves, I couldn't stand being that deep underground. The enormous amount of magic inside of me was shifting restlessly, begging to be used.

Arnica! I called as I pushed the bush away from the tunnel entrance.j

The power in me was pushing to get out. I gritted my teeth resisting the urge to let it all out. Come on. It seemed to whisper. Just one little spell. Pleeeeaaaaase? This was the problem with being one hundred and sixty-eight years old. The older you get the more power you get, the more spells you need to cast, bigger enchantments, longer lasting spells, more power to hold back when you didn't want to cast any spells. The more power you had the harder to resist, the more you resist the more it insists until you find something, anything to counteract it. I had more power than elves older than me. Pinewatch thinks it comes from keeping some of the aspects of a dragon, but I'm not a fan of that theory. I don't keep enough aspects of a dragon to cause that kind of change.

Arnica! I called closing my eyes. ARNICA! Hurry up!

I heard the whoosh of air in dragon wings as I opened my eyes. In a flash of blue scales, Arnica stood before me.

  You called? Arnica said.

You took your time, I grumbled leaping onto her back. I don't have much time, take me as far away from the island as you can.

Arnica spread her wings and shot into the sky. Her wings beat powerfully as she flew away from the island. Once we were far enough away from the island to prevent any unpleasant accidents, I started throwing fireballs into the ocean, making huge waves, using the wind to make Arnica go faster, anything I could think of until it was almost completely drained. I never used all of it just in case, but even the small bit that I kept just in case was a large amount.

I leaned against one of Arnica's spines as she wheeled around and flew back to the island. I could feel my power coming back, drop by magical drop. I needed to release it at least once every day. Sometimes I woke in the middle of the night and needed to cast some spells. When that happened I tried to find something that wasn't enchanted. That was hard. I had enchanted everything on the island the first two days I was there.

Arnica landed in the clearing. I slid off her back and found myself face to face with none other than the most annoying, childish, clueless, and energetic elf in all of Enzarna, Kalican. How annoying? Picture a small, excited child that only speaks in a voice that could shatter glass and follows you around everywhere. Now, picture ninety of those small, annoying, excited children. You still have not reached the correct level of annoyance she posed to me.

"Hello, Nightshade!" Kalican screeched. "I was wondering where you were!"

I winced as my sensitive ears started ringing. "Not so loud," I complained. "At least be nice to my ears. My hearing is better than everyone else's!"

  Kalican looked horrified and she lowered her voice from a screech to a scream. "Sorry!" But she didn't lower it quite enough and I winced again. "My, your ears are really sensitive today!"

"I am a shape-shifter," I pointed out. "It happens." Think! I told myself. How can I get rid of her? "Hey, Kali how about we play hide-and-seek?"

"YAY!!" Kalican screamed extra loud, I winced again.

"Close your eyes and count to one hundred and eighty-nine," I said. I hope this works.

  Kalican closed her eyes and obediently started counting. I took several steps away. Arnica watched with obvious amusement.

"Incanto invisible," I whispered.

I looked down at my hands. I couldn't see them. I congratulated myself as I ran to an opening in the hillside that only Pinewatch and I knew about. I had placed exactly fifteen concealing enchantments on it. I crawled through the small space. The room beyond was my pride and joy. I had created it myself, the walls the furnishings, everything. It was all enchanted.

The walls weren't moonstone, like the rest of the tunnels on the island, but the plain gray rock emitted a dull blue glow. A cabinet stood against the far wall and I knew it held a pile of various soul orbs for creating animals from magic. A table with two chairs was on the right wall, bookshelves on the left one, and a huge dark green rug in the middle of the floor.

I heard someone coming down the hole. A moment later Pinewatch appeared. He turned back to face the tunnel, then quickly jumped back as Magefalcon tumbled onto the floor. I laughed as he stood and brushed himself off. He looked around and, much to my surprise, his eyes landed on me.

"Greetings Nightshade," Magefalcon said.

Pinewatch followed Magefalcon's gaze. His confused expression changed to one of concentration as I knew he activated his Magesight.

I released the invisibility spell and looked at Magefalcon. "Does that have something to do with that 'seeing magic' you mentioned earlier?"

Magefalcon shrugged. "I don't know."

Pinewatch looked at Magefalcon in awe. "I have always wanted to do that," he said. "The Magefalcon of old was said to have that ability, but I don't. I don't know why. But why was everything in the tunnel enchanted?"

I sat in one of the chairs around the table and started tapping my fingers. "I have no idea," I said trying not to give myself away. "Even a small enchantment requires a lot of power..." I trailed off. So much for not giving myself away. I thought. Pinewatch probably knew it was me the second I opened my mouth. Oh well, it couldn't be helped now.

Magefalcon looked at me, a small smile forming on his lips. "Are you sure?" he asked causing Pinewatch to grin.

I sighed. "Figures," I muttered.

We fell silent for awhile. Magefalcon was staring at everything in the room, Pinewatch was falling asleep against the wall, or he was until Magefalcon looked at the ceiling above Pinewatch's head. Magefalcon grinned then reached out with his hand. Water started to gather above Pinewatch and I could feel the air get dry. After the blob of water was about the size of a coconut, it dropped onto Pinewatch's head making him thoroughly soaked. Pinewatch's eyes shot open. He glanced at me first, which I found mildly offending, before looking to the laughing Magefalcon. Pinewatch smirked and, with obvious difficulty, gave Magefalcon the same treatment. They were both laughing now.

I activated my Magesight so that I could see all of the magic on everything. Magefalcon was doing something above me, probably the water. I was right. As the water fell towards me I created a thin sphere of air around it, then I hurled it back at Magefalcon. I laughed at the surprised expression on his face as water exploded everywhere, getting everything but me even wetter. This cavern that I had made seemed to unlock anyone's magic. Pinewatch called the unlocked magic 'Magic Wars' because that's exactly what it was. Magic Wars, but less dangerous. Usually including flying balls of water or dirt along with the occasional block of ice or glob of flames.

  Eventually, the Magic War stopped. I gathered all of the water to me, making everything dry. Magefalcon tensed like he expected more water to get thrown at him. But I decided not to throw it. Instead, I started forming a falcon. I had only made one once before but that one had drowned. I had never understood how a falcon that I made out of water could drown, but it could. When it was done I didn't make it live instantly. I walked over to the cabinet in the corner and pulled out one of the smaller soul orbs. A falcon's feather hung suspended in the middle of the sphere.

I dropped one life orb into the water falcon that I had made. It shook itself then flew over to Magefalcon. Good. I thought. It worked.

Magefalcon held out his arm for the falcon to land on. His expression was something between wonder and sadness. He stroked the watery feathers of the falcon. I studied his face as he looked up at me. He smiled. "Thank you."

I nodded and wondered where he'd gotten the experience with birds.

_________________________

Hey there heroes! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I know there's a couple of you that really wanted me to do this one next and a couple people who really wanted me to do Speed Demons. Trust me, I really wanted to do Speed Demons, but something was weird with Wattpad and I couldn't work on that one. Next time, Speed Demons is coming.

If you have any questions about the story that don't give away what happens, just let me know!

As always, may the speed force be with you!