thaumaturgic force that lanced out at the dragon swooping down on

her. The blast struck the creature and it shrieked with pain,

dropping like a stone below the clouds with a bellowing roar of

agony.

Gasping with pain, Leila tried to summon up the strength to heal

herself. Wounded as she was, the bolt of force she’d thrown at

Kanno had cost her. Grimacing with the effort, she focused her

energies on the gaping wound in her side. The blood stopped flowing

and the torn tissues started to magically regenerate themselves

with astonishing speed. Sweat poured from her as she drew energy

from deep within herself to heal the wound. Moments later the skin

had closed and only a raw redness remained where the dragon’s

jaws had torn the flesh away. She gasped as she slowly raised

herself to her hands and knees, still drawing on her power to renew

her strength.

With an angry roar, the dragon shot up from beneath the cloud

banks, its tail thrashing the sky as it rose above her, folded back its

wings, and came hurtling down at her in a screaming dive. She

tried to summon up another bolt of energy, but the dragon was too

quick. It struck her with tremendous force and bore her up into the

sky high above the mountain, its wings beating as it coiled around

her, crushing her. The jaws came snapping down at her, but before

they could close, a huge talon gripped the dragon just below the

head, the claws sinking deep into its skin.

Leila’s mouth opened, the jaws unhinging and gaping wide,

revealing rows of serrated teeth, and her body hardened into dark

green scales like armor plating. Dark, vertical pupils gazed out

from golden eyes with nictitating membranes and a long forked

tongue flickered out to strike at the dragon’s eyes. Locked in mortal

combat, the two huge reptiles soared high above Mt. Fuji, jaws

snapping at each other, talons raking, and then the leathery wings

stopped beating at the sky and both creatures fell, landing with a

jarring impact on the summit of the volcano.

For a moment neither of them moved, and then one of them

began to twitch and shudder as Leila slowly regained her human

form. She disentangled herself from the dead beast beneath her and

crawled away, coughing up blood. Her entire body throbbed with