Chapter 17: Battle on the Inferno Dunes
The scorching heat hit them the moment they set foot on the **Inferno Dunes**. Waves of heat shimmered in the air, making the vast expanse of golden sand look like an ocean of fire. The sun bore down relentlessly, and the air itself seemed to vibrate with the power of elemental magic lurking beneath the surface.
Evanora wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced around nervously.
“This place is even hotter than I imagined. How are we supposed to fight in this heat?”
Everett fanned himself with his shirt, already drenched in sweat.
“Forget fighting—how are we supposed to survive in this heat?”
Prince Alaric, standing tall beside them, surveyed the landscape with a grim expression.
“The Inferno Dunes are one of the most dangerous places in Astoria. Monroe's forces must have chosen this battlefield because they know magic is unstable here.”
One of the witches from the Moonlight Meadows, a sharp-eyed woman named Thalia, nodded in agreement.
“The heat messes with spells, making them unpredictable. We’ll have to be careful.”
Evanora’s broomstick, stubborn as ever, lay half-buried in the sand behind them. She tugged at it with a frustrated grunt.
“And this stupid thing isn’t helping! It’s stuck again!”
Everett grabbed the handle and pulled with her. “Come on, broom! We don’t have time for this!”
With a sudden jerk, the broomstick popped free, sending both Evanora and Everett tumbling into the hot sand. They yelped in unison, quickly scrambling to their feet, their faces red not only from the heat but also from embarrassment.
“Great,” Everett muttered, brushing sand off his clothes. “We’re off to a fantastic start.”
Before Evanora could respond, a deep rumble echoed across the dunes, making the ground beneath them tremble. The sand shifted, forming swirling eddies, and a cloud of dust began to rise in the distance.
“They’re here,” Alaric said, his voice tense. “Monroe’s forces.”
Emerging from the horizon were Monroe’s bad tourists and evil escort witches, riding on sleek, dark broomsticks and casting sinister spells into the air. Their leader, Monroe, stood at the front, his eyes gleaming with malevolent intent. The escort witches by his side began conjuring up small tornadoes of sand, twisting them into powerful sandstorms.
Evanora’s heart pounded. “What do we do?”
Alaric raised his staff, and the witches of Moonlight Meadows followed suit. “We fight,” he said simply. “And we win.”
The two sides charged toward each other, the oppressive heat making every movement feel sluggish. As the bad tourists and evil witches closed in, the sand beneath them erupted into swirling, fiery clouds.
Evanora clutched her wand tightly, her palms slick with sweat. She tried to cast a basic shield spell, but the heat warped the magic, causing the barrier to flicker and sputter. “This is impossible!” she cried. “The heat is messing with my spells!”
Everett, standing beside her, had drawn a small enchanted blade he’d picked up from the Wobbly Wand Shop. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
“Just do your best! We’ll figure it out!”
Suddenly, a fierce wind whipped through the dunes, carrying with it burning sand that stung their skin. Evanora raised her wand again, this time summoning a gust of wind to push back the storm. The spell sputtered at first, but she concentrated, drawing on the training she’d received.
The gust of wind worked, and the sandstorm was briefly pushed back. But in the chaos, one of the **fire elementals** summoned by the evil escort witches appeared. Its body was a towering inferno, crackling with heat so intense that the very air around it warped and shimmered.
“Look out!” Everett shouted, grabbing Evanora’s arm and pulling her back just as the fire elemental lunged at them, its fiery fist slamming into the ground where they had been standing.
Evanora gasped, her eyes wide. “That thing nearly turned us into toast!”
Alaric rushed forward, raising his staff. “Focus your magic!” he called out to his allies. “We need to work together to defeat these creatures!”
The witches of Moonlight Meadows began casting their spells, summoning waves of water and ice to battle the fire elementals. However, the intense heat of the dunes caused their spells to evaporate almost instantly. One of the witches managed to conjure a torrent of water, but it barely reached the elemental before turning into steam.
Evanora glanced at her broomstick, lying useless in the sand. “If only this thing would work properly…”
Everett smirked. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
He hopped onto the broomstick, pulling Evanora with him. “Let’s see if we can outrun these things!”
With a jolt, the broomstick lurched into the air, wobbling unsteadily as it ascended. The fire elemental roared in frustration, swinging its molten arms at them. Evanora struggled to steer the broom, narrowly avoiding a swipe that would have incinerated them both.
“This is insane!” Evanora shouted over the roar of the wind and flames. “We’re going to crash again!”
“Not if I can help it!” Everett said, gripping the handle tightly as the broom swung wildly from side to side.
The broomstick zigzagged across the dunes, skimming just above the sand. Below them, the battle raged on. The witches of Moonlight Meadows were locked in combat with Monroe’s forces, casting spells that collided in bursts of light and energy. Prince Alaric was fighting several evil escort witches at once, his staff glowing with intense power as he deflected their attacks.
Everett glanced back at the fire elemental chasing them. “We need to do something about that thing before it fries us!”
Evanora took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. She raised her wand, aiming it at the fire elemental. “Okay… here goes nothing!”
She cast a spell, and a stream of freezing air shot from her wand, striking the elemental in its chest. The creature screeched in pain as the ice collided with its fiery body, causing it to stumble back. For a moment, it looked like the spell might work—until the elemental reignited, the heat of the dunes reigniting its flames.
Evanora’s heart sank. “It’s not enough! The heat here is too strong!”
Just as they were about to be engulfed by the flames, Thalia appeared on her own broomstick, zooming past them. She cast a powerful wind spell that sent a blast of sand directly into the fire elemental’s face, temporarily blinding it.
“Keep moving!” Thalia shouted. “We need to regroup!”
Evanora nodded, her hands shaking as she steered the broomstick back toward the others. The fire elemental roared behind them, but for the moment, they had a chance to breathe.
When they landed back near Alaric and the witches, the battle had reached a fever pitch. Monroe’s forces were conjuring more fire elementals, and the heat of the dunes was becoming unbearable.
Alaric, his face grim, raised his staff into the air. “This ends now.”
He closed his eyes, concentrating. The wind around them suddenly shifted, and the sand began to swirl into a vortex. A bright light formed at the tip of his staff, and with a powerful thrust, he sent the magic into the ground.
The dunes trembled, and the ground beneath the fire elementals began to collapse. The creatures roared in fury as they were swallowed by the sand, their fiery forms extinguished by the shifting earth.
Monroe’s forces, seeing their advantage slip away, began to retreat. The evil escort witches shot one last volley of fireballs toward Evanora and Everett before disappearing into the distance.
“We did it…” Evanora whispered, collapsing onto the sand in exhaustion. “We actually did it.”
Everett flopped down beside her, panting. “Barely… but yeah. We survived.”
Alaric approached them, offering a hand to help them up. “The battle may be won, but the war is far from over. Monroe won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”
Evanora nodded, her determination returning. “Then we won’t stop either.”
As the sun set over the Inferno Dunes, the heat finally began to fade, but the weight of their mission hung heavy in the air. Together, they would face whatever challenges came next, no matter how dangerous or unpredictable the magic of Astoria might be.