Autumn

Something slammed into the Barrier Autumn had set around the Enclave, hard enough to shake her to the core. She staggered and doubled over from the shock of magical feedback. Several concerned voices collided, asking what was wrong, was she okay. They were drowned out by a bestial roar.

Autumn gasped out some kind of answer. She straightened her back, located the damage she could feel in her Barrier and ran.

There was another roar as she bolted across the strange Enclave, a small herd of barely armed, barely trained young warriors following her into Creator knows what trouble. No time to tell them to seek shelter. It wouldn't matter. From the sheer power of that one strike, whatever attacked them was powerful enough to lay waste to the tiny Enclave. There was no place they were safe. They might as well stand with her as hide.

"What's going on, Princess?" Buck asked as he ran at her side.

"Champion," Autumn corrected softly, skidding to a stop and staring through the Barrier.

"Is that..." Tanaka breathed.

"That's a fucking dragon," Buck said. "That. That giant lizard is a dragon. Isn't it?"

Autumn could only nod, staring up, and up again, at the massive being.

He was magnificent and terrible. Golden scales protected his underbelly, exposed to the group below. The gold shaded into a soft grey at his sides, darkening to deep charcoal on the fore and hind legs, with wings as black as the darkest night spread wide from his back, mantling in a clear display of threat and aggression.

As she stared, one of those tree trunk legs rose and he struck the shield, scraping his claws along the curve of the invisible dome. Autumn staggered back, the feedback jarring through her magic with a sensation like an electric shock. She winced and gasped, fighting just to stay on her feet under the assault.

"You, uh, your shield thing, it can keep it out, yeah?" asked one of the recruits, a blue-eyed young man with a paper bird tucked into his shirt pocket and a deep scratch down the side of his face.

"It's a he," Autumn said, "and you might as soon ask if a mouse can hold out against an eagle. They'll have the same success."

"I thought you said your shield would hold out anything the mist sent at it!" another recruit wailed.

"Yes, well, I didn't expect a dragon!" Autumn shot back. "Dragons aren't wandering beasts! They're... that dragon is a bonfire to a matchstick in comparison of power to that spider I fought."

The dragon slammed the Barrier again.

"Make that two bonfires," Autumn muttered.

"Why is it, um, he, attacking us? Is he intelligent?" Tanaka asked. "Could you, maybe, talk to him?"

"Well, I can understand him," Autumn said. "Humans can't actually speak draconic. Our throats aren't made for it. But, uh, he doesn't seem all that interested in opening a parlay."

Honestly, Autumn was shocked that her Barrier was still up. It wouldn't survive much longer though. Maybe one, maybe two hits like that last and it'd shatter. She braced herself for the pain and moved to stand between the dragon and the young warriors. It wouldn't matter, not really, but damn it she wasn't going to cower.

"We need to get his attention," she muttered.

"I think we have enough of that!" Tanaka protested.

"No, I mean, we need to get him to talk to us, somehow," Autumn corrected, just as the Barrier shattered.

The dragon roared its triumph to the Unformed as Autumn crumbled to her knees. The destruction of her Barrier couldn't injure her physically, no, but it sure hurt like hellfire. She breathed through clenched teeth and braced herself with one arm, the other extended to conjure her sword. Her hand shook too much to form the sigil; she'd never had a Barrier shattered under force before. She hadn't realized how much it would shake her.

She felt a hand land on her shoulder, heard one of the recruits demand to know if she was alright. Buck moved to stand between them and the dragon, which was incredibly brave if utterly pointless. And for some reason, a bunny illusion hopped past them all.

She watched, baffled, as the little glowing thing bounced between Buck's legs, hopped across the remaining tarmac, and leaped right for the dragon's mouth.

"Did... did you just try to..." she twisted to look at the recruit she'd given the illusion rune to.

An explosion rocked the area, right in the dragon's mouth. The dragon roared in rage and pain, reared back away from the edge of the Enclave.

The dragon certainly noticed them now.