*Katerina's POV*

Several dragons examined the rising ground as Rakota began gliding above the tree line.

"Cover him!" a turquoise dragon shouted. "And watch the river! Build lakes and widen the river to keep the flooding at a minimum. Make sure the naga don't sneak through!"

A dozen dragons circled around us as Rakota stared at the ground below. A galloping horse would have been faster than his glide as trees rose in front of us and toppled over to reveal a rocky cliff twice as wide as a dragon's shoulders. Behind us, the wall stopped moving as soon as it was about equal to a dragon's height.

The rock rose up, cutting off a smaller stream. A dragon landed on the newly built wall and stared at the pooling water, which soon began flowing toward the larger river behind us. The naga abandoned their games and were swimming rapidly toward us.

Rakota's slow pace had me watching them uneasily. We weren't flying much higher than the wall behind us, and they were quickly getting closer. Several naga jumped out of the water while swimming, firing their bows while their torsos were above the waves.

Other dragons swooped between us and the incoming projectiles as flashes of fire appeared midair, reducing the arrows to ash. I was surprised to see the naga using bows when such things were useless against a dragon's scales. A chill ran down my spine when I realized there was only one thing in this part of the sky vulnerable to arrows.

They were shooting at me.

Arrows were tiny compared to a dragon, and I wasn't sure how easily they could see them. What if they missed one? The more I watched, the clearer it became that every naga was aiming at me or at Rakota's head.

The naga had almost reached the shore but didn't try to come onto the sand. Instead, most of them swam back and forth, firing as they jumped out of the waves. Their scales created an almost hypnotic pattern which I carefully glanced away from every few seconds.

A few naga remained stationary among their milling companions, with their head and upper body rising out of the water. One waved her hands in a complicated gesture that created a green fireball. As it flew toward us, it was intercepted by a small red fireball.

A dragon flew lower as lightning cracked out of the sky, only to strike a greenish shield that appeared just above the naga. The same naga from before bared her teeth at the dragons as she held onto her necklace with one hand and raised the other skyward, somehow powering the shield.

When another dragon flew overhead and dropped three large trees above her, she and the others near her dove beneath the surface. The trees struck the water and created a large splash. Mere seconds later, they – or I assumed they were the same naga – appeared to the sides.

The fight was either attracting attention or the naga were calling in reinforcements because more and more kept appearing along the surface to join the fight. The number of dragons had also increased as they circled around us as they intercepted arrows and spells. They occasionally attacked our foes with magic, which was always blocked, or tried dropping trees or rocks, but the naga saw those coming in advance and had plenty of time to dodge the incoming object.

Ignoring the growing battle, Rakota continued building the rocky barricade whose sides were too smooth to climb. My eyes kept drifting to the naga. There had to be thousands of them, most of which were sending arrows or spells this way.

I swallowed hard, hoping more didn't show up. A couple tried to sneak onto the beach far ahead of us but quickly retreated into the water when a dragon swooped closer. None of them dared fight a dragon on the sand. It wasn't much of an advantage, but I was grateful for it.

Farther out, the water suddenly rose as a huge boulder emerged. Some sort of huge spear launcher was on top of it that looked like a ballista. Several naga were already aiming the glowing spear in our direction.

Three dragons immediately flew over, attacking with spells while blocking ones sent by the naga appearing around the bobbing rock. My jaw dropped when I saw a huge head rise out of the water. It wasn't a boulder – it was a turtle almost the size of a dragon.

One of the dragons swooped down, and just as the naga launched the spear, it managed to snatch it out of the air. Fire and lightning erupted around the dragon's hands and it roared in pain as it spun the spear around and threw it at the turtle's head.

With a deep grunt, it dove beneath the waves with the spear still lodged in its neck. The dragon was already gaining height and shaking its hands as a pale green light appeared around them briefly, likely a healing spell.

The naga seemed unfazed by the failed attack and kept shooting arrows, trying various ways of clustering them and spreading them out to get past the dragons' defenses. Thankfully, our defenders were single-minded in stopping each and every attack. Serepha often flew close by, glancing at us as she went past. Andar was easy to recognize with Randel on his back, although he tended to fly far ahead and patrol the shore.

Pursing my lips, I turned my head as I examined the dragons weaving through the air. Not a single one carried something to drop on the naga, nor had I seen lightning flash out of the blue sky lately. The dragons either had their hands full just blocking the arrows and battle magic or they had given up trying to attack for some reason, which didn't seem likely.

Seeing them shift to the defensive hinted at how the war would turn out if we didn't stop them here. My hands tightened on the saddle handle, wishing there was something – anything – I could do to help.

Maybe there was...

Rakota's magic usage created a gentle pull on my remaining magic as he built the long cliff capable of stopping the deadly creatures. Closing my eyes, I removed my shields to let every bit of magic I might have flow through the bond.

Something deep inside me gave way – acceptance of the rider bond now that I was truly willing to work with him – and more power flooded through the link.

I hoped it would be enough.