Quest Of Six - Shorts

I'm starting to branch out! These one-part stories will be relevant to the main series, and here's the first one!

The Fire Within - Prim's POV

I opened one eye to see Ali grinning at me.

“Wakey wakey, Prim!” she giggled, sticking her tongue out at me as I grumbled into my pillow. I rolled over, but Ali just scooped me out of the bed and plonked me on my feet. She’s so strong. I made a dive for the bed. Completely forgetting how fast she is. Half-asleep, I growled under my breath as Ali steered me down the stairs and offered me a steaming bowl of porridge. It smelled tasty, and I munched through it without really thinking, before Ali bounced over and whisked the bowl away. Ali’s dog trotted into the room, carrying his leash in his mouth. Ali crouched down.

“You wanna go walkies?” she cooed. Patches barked a muffled agreement and dropped the leash at Ali’s feet. She attached it to his collar and looked at me.

“You coming?” she asked. I yawned and nodded.

We wandered through the countryside, Patches darting around to smell everything, and found a field with a couple of large, warm rocks. Ali released Patches, who raced away to play in the long grass, and I turned to my best friend.

“Ali… when Fluffy kidnapped me… what was it like for you?” Ali clenched a fist.

“She left this stupid little treasure hunt. It was… frustrating,” Suddenly an arm looped around me and I was dragged backward off the rock. Brown hair flashed past my face. I yelped as my feet slid backwards over the grass and kicked out. Ali flipped over and jumped off of the rock.

“Let her go, Fluffy,” she growled. I caught sight of the edge of a sword, and felt Fluffy’s body trembling.

“Give me that book,” she demanded, but even her voice was shaky. The sword twitched closer to me.

“You wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt, would you?” asked Fluffy, plainly terrified. Ali’s hands curled into fists. Her whole body started to quiver. I watched as she shook more violently, and suddenly…

Fluffy and I both jumped as Ali exploded out of her skin. She seemed to shoot upwards and outwards, until my best friend was replaced by a magnificent dragon, cyan scales rippling as she turned her head, ice-blue eyes fixing on Fluffy. The dragon Ali gently wrapped a clawed foot around me and pulled me out of the way, before snarling down at Fluffy and opening her long jaws. Blue fire streamed out of her mouth, leaping and crackling in a deadly torrent. When the fire faded, Fluffy was nowhere to be seen. It looked as though she had been burned into nothing. The dragon’s head swayed, it collapsed in on itself, turning back into a human. Ali toppled over in a heap. I scrambled to her side, her blue eyes were closed, her body limp.

“Ali! Ali, wake up!” I called, shaking her. Her eyelids twitched and fluttered open. She giggled weakly and passed out. I cursed under my breath and hauled her arm over my shoulders, starting the slow journey home, calling to Patches to follow us.

Neither of us saw Fluffy emerge from behind a boulder and run away, her eyes wide in terror.