by Katie Cherry
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here. Well, my mission tonight was simple. I was to look at their patients’ records to see if the rumors were true- that the princess was here. If she was, then I was to drug her- you- so that you wouldn’t wake up until tomorrow night. Then my companion and I were to return and kidnap you and take you to our leader. Ironically, it seems that my job is made faster and easier because of you!” He steps out of the window. Once he does, the man holding me pushes me out of the window after the first man.
I hook my feet onto the sides of the window, trying to pull away as the first guy pulls on my arms, but to no avail. The man is too strong. Soon I am being tugged into the nearby woods. After a while of this, I finally fight through the panicked fog in my brain and concentrate once again on the feeling of being a dragon. I feel the scales emerge from my skin and wings erupt from my back, clipping the guy holding me. He falls back, landing in the undergrowth.
Before I can finish the transformation, the first guy pulls out a large syringe with a green liquid inside and injects it into my foreleg. I quickly revert to my human state and fall to the ground, devoid of all my energy and unable to control my muscles. I look at the man, wide-eyed. He scowls at me. “I was warned you would try something like that. I didn’t believe him when he said that you could turn into a dragon, but luckily, he took precautions and gave me this liquid. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, it makes you turn back into yourself, and you can no longer control most of your muscles. The best part is that you can never turn into a dragon again, no matter how hard you try.”
Disbelieving, I concentrate on being a dragon again. Nothing. I try harder. Still nothing. My eyes widen and a tear escapes my left eye. This means that I can’t help the Sohos. I can’t help the dragons… I can’t even help myself. I am overwhelmed with panic and fear with no outlet. The man laughs. “I see it works, just like Patrick told me it would. He truly is a visionary man. In fact, he had us hide this to make our job easier when we were to grab you tomorrow…” he searches in the bushes a few feet from us. He finally pulls out a sled a little longer than my body.
The second man grunts and heaves himself out of the plants, wiping blood off his forehead before it drips into his eye. He glares angrily at me after laying me on the sled, then grabs the rope in front of the sled and begins pulling. I close my eyes, just wanting to die. I know that these guys want to use me against my friends, or else they would have just killed me outright. I won’t be able to stop them from causing great destruction and sorrow- not in this state. I open my eyes and gaze at the sky overhead and am suddenly struck by the beauty of it. As I watch, it slowly lightens as the sun begins to rise, not yet clearing the tops of the mountains.
We stop about an hour later. I can now move my head, but nothing else is responding to me. I look up at them to see what they’re doing. They are talking, quietly arguing about something. Finally, the second man turns to me and tells me they will be right back. They are going to go prepare their people to open up the way for us. I open my mouth to say something, but the only thing that comes out is a weak croak. The two laugh at me and walk off.
Now I’m worried about the wild animals in the woods. They could easily walk right up and eat me while I can’t do anything to fight back. I start to wish they had been smarter and left one of them with me while only one of them ran ahead. Surely they would be better than being eaten alive by some wild animal- right? So I start trying to yell for them to come back, but again, all that comes out is a weak little croak. As I continue, I get a little louder and stronger. I finally stop and rest my vocal cords.
After a little longer, I can move my arms. Deciding that will have to be enough for me to escape back to the Village, I heave myself off of the wooden sled. I begin dragging my body back the way we came, using my forearms in an army crawl. I wonder if anyone is looking for me yet. Surely someone has noticed by now! The sun is already up. …I wonder if they will even bother sending out a search party? I worry. I am just an expendable person who participates in their little ‘Games.’ They can easily do without me. I sigh and begin despairing. At the rate I’m going, I will quickly be re-caught by those guys again. I’ll never make it back to the Village, and no one cares enough to come rescue me, so I’m on my own.
My legs eventually gain a little strength so I can crawl a little faster and my forearms no longer have to bear my full weight. I stop and rest when I reach a large rock. Leaning back against it, I feel my arms screaming out at me in pain, but I don’t look. It won’t help to see all the blood. As I’m resting, I hear a small group of people, maybe three or four, walking toward me. I freeze, hardly daring to breathe. They stop a short ways from me. I hear them talking, but I can’t make out anything they’re saying. They continue walking again, slowly. I make out what they’re saying as they draw near.
“Are you sure they came this way?” A worried voice asks.
“Yes,” a disgruntled man replies. “See the sled marks?” They move on past me.
They don’t get far when they stop again and I hear someone gasp, “…Is that blood?!”
Another concerned voice responds, “…Yes. That is definitely blood. I wonder what happened? How much trouble is she in this time?” Hmm. These can’t be the same people that kidnapped me. They wouldn’t care what happened to me, much less be worried about it. …These people must be on a search party from the Village! Deciding that my best bet would be to contact these people, I call out, even though my voice is still hardly more than a croak. Luckily, they hear me anyway and hurry toward me.
They catch sight of me and gasp with relief, surprise, and disgust. I look down. My arms are almost entirely covered in blood with rocks and sticks ground into them. The blood has been dripping down my shirt and pants, covering them as well. I realize I’m light-headed and swallow as I think about how much blood I’ve lost. I try to stand, but I sway and fall. One of the guys in the group catches me, saving my head from a meeting with the large rock. He looks down at me, surprise in his warm brown eyes. Those eyes are the last thing I see before I pass out from blood loss.
*****
I wake suddenly. Looking around, I see that I am, once again, in the hospital. I am instantly filled with relief, since that means I made it back safe. I notice a doctor standing near me. He looks relieved that I’m awake. I recognize this doctor. I smile at the thought this puts into my head.
“…Why are you smiling?” he asks me, concerned. “Are you delirious?”
“No,” I laugh. “It’s just that I’m here so often the hospital is more my home in Zilferia than the house they set aside for me.”
He’s not amused. I can tell he thinks I’m crazy. I sigh. “Wait… where are Nathan, Nora, and Greg?” I ask, suddenly panicked about my friends’ welfare.
“They’re fine,” the doctor assures me. “Although it seems they had inhaled a fair amount of toxins. However… as far as we know, there are no such toxins anywhere near here.” He watches me, waiting for an explanation. I shrug and don’t reply, deciding it’s far easier not to tell him the truth- or anything at all, for that matter.
He isn’t happy about me avoiding his question, but he pretends not to care. “…We saw what happened last night through the security cameras, so we heard what that man said about his plans. We have a theory as to what group those men belong to. …Did they tell you where they were going? Who their leader was?”
“…Yes,” I reply. I quickly tell him what happened- excluding the dragon part- and what they told me. He grimaces at the name Patrick.
“It’s just as I thought. They are part of a group called…”
“The Dragon Hunters,” I whisper, my voice filled with unmasked dread. The doctor’s surprised.
“Yes. How do you know about them?”
“Uh… I just… um, heard about them from people.”
“Did you hear what they did to your family?” He continues before I say anything, suddenly becoming animated as he relates the story.
“Patrick came with his goons and snatched you and your two brothers away from the King and Queen, and although one of your brothers is still lost, Rex, the other one is with Patrick. Your parents are in a coma right now, so they have no idea that one of their children is back. For a while we thought it was due to stress and lack of taking care of themselves, but now… we can’t help but wonder if Patrick slipped them something once he heard of their strategy to use the Games to find you and Rex. He must have known they were close to finding you. Most of the Village doesn’t know the truth about them- or about you being the Princess, honestly. Oh, that reminds me…” and with that, he leaves the room. I shake my head, quietly laughing at the strange doctor.
After getting dressed, I find a nurse and ask her to take me to my friends. At first, she tries to make me go back to bed, but I refuse. I’ve been in bed far too much lately. She finally gives in and takes me to Nathan’s room. The two Familiars are there with him as well. I sit in a chair next to his bed as the nurse leaves. I watch him as he sleeps for a little while. I’ve never seen him look so… peaceful. That is, until his face suddenly fills with pain. I’m shocked and unsure of what to do. I’m about to wake him up when he lurches upright, shouting. After breathing heavily for a few seconds, he sees me next to him. His face instantly fills with relief.
“Oh, good. You’re okay,” he gasps.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I respond. I refrain from telling him about my kidnapping since the nurse told me he was sleeping the entire time and had no idea that it had even happened. I figure what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He grimaces and lies back down. I notice that he’s soaked in sweat. “I… had a dream. It was just a nightmare, really. But… I dreamt that the dragons took you away, and the babies started eating your arms and you were screaming but they paralyzed you so you couldn’t escape and… and then… you… you died. Again- just like what happened with the Zyloff and almost with that cat in the Second Challenge. It happened right in front of me and I… I couldn’t do… anything…”
I calm him down, assuring him that it was just a dream and that I’m just fine. He believes me until he notices the bandages on my arms. “What- why… your arms…”
“Um, yeah… about that…”
“My dream wasn’t true, was it? The dragons didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“Well, no, but I was kidnapped by someone else,” I say, finally giving in. I tell him the whole story, starting with what happened at the Dragon Council and finishing with me waking up here just a few minutes ago.
“Are you okay?” he asks the instant I’m done. I smile a little at his sweet concern when he’s in worse condition than I am.
“Yes, I’m fine. Are you okay? You breathed in a lot of toxins on that mountain…”
He starts assuring me that he’s good to go when he suddenly starts coughing so violently and for so long that he has to catch his breath when he’s done. “Yeah, I’m good too,” he finally manages through his scratchy, dry voice. I hand him a cup of water from his bedside table and watch as he hastily gulps it down. His voice is better now, but it still sounds painful to talk. “In fact, we need to go train with Thaddeus. He told us that no matter what, we had to go to training when we came back. If we hurry, he might not find out that anything happened.”
I look at him with concern. Not only has it been an entire day since he wanted us back, but it is also late in the afternoon. I feel his forehead and find that it’s burning up. It’s obvious he has a fever. I shake my head. “No, you can’t go in this condition.” He starts protesting, but I quickly stop him. “No. You can’t go. You have a terrible fever, and you are coughing like crazy. I’ll go.”
“But…”
“No. I will go- alone. Don’t worry, I’ll come back and tell you everything he says, okay?”
He isn’t too happy about it, but agrees reluctantly. Talking to me must have depleted his meager store of energy, because he falls back asleep very quickly. Before I go, I walk over and check on Greg and Nora. They haven’t awoken yet. Their breathing is shallow and even worse than Nathan’s. I wish there was something I could do for them, but I’m powerless. I just have to depend on the doctors to help my friends. As I head out of the hospital, I talk to a nurse to tell her Nathan’s condition. She thanks me, although I can tell she already knew this, and tells me not to worry. They have everything under control. I nod and turn toward the door, but another nurse comes by and stops me.
He insists that I eat something, so I grab a sandwich and head outside. I eat it as I head to the building where we do our training with Thaddeus. When I get there, I see the lady with the blue necklace at the weapons again. I ask her if Thaddeus is here. She replies that he’s at the top, meditating. I ride the elevator to the top of the building and head towards him. I walk up beside him but don’t say anything.
He sighs heavily, and I can see the weariness on his face. Not looking at me, he stares out at the forest. I follow his gaze, but I don’t see anything. “It seems that you get into trouble a lot, Crystal,” he begins.
“Yes, but I don’t usually seek it out.”
“True, the Dragon Hunters sought you out this time, but what about the dragons?” There’s a knowing tone to his voice. What- how does he know about that? There’s no way… the only one I told was Nathan… “Of course, you didn’t really get into any trouble there…”
“What?!” I exclaim. “How… how did you know about that?”
He chuckles slightly. “Come on. You really think I fell for the ‘working on our relationship’ thing? I kept an eye on you with magic.”
“You… you were spying on us?!”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it spying…”
“Then you… you saw the other me?”
He stands and looks at me solemnly. “Yes, and I was quite impressed, both by your actions as well as your skill. I knew you were the Dragongirl. …Well, alright, I didn’t know for sure, but I had a feeling. What I’m truly stunned at, however, is how you were able to raise a dragon right under all our noses and no one knew about it! Not only that, but your willingness to give him away! I saw the bond between you two, and it was strong.”
I sigh. “Well, I’m still going to miss him.”
“Of course.” He turns back to the forest. After a while, he says, “One thing concerns me, though.”
“Oh? Just one?” I tease. He doesn’t smile.
“Yes. You see, I tried to find you with magic when you were kidnapped.”
“Okay?”
“I couldn’t see you.”
“Um… what does that mean?”
“It means the Dragon Hunters have somehow found a way to not be detected by magic. Which is very bad… that means that they could retake you. We will have to keep people around you at all times.”
I groan. “Really? …Can’t Nora just look out for me?”
“Perhaps, once she is back to full health. For now, I’ll look for volunteers to guard you. Alright?”
“…Okay,” I reluctantly acquiesce.
“Good. Now then, it’s about time for you to be getting to bed. It’s getting late.” I look around and realize it’s true; the sun is going down.
“But I’m not ti…” Even as I start saying this, I am interrupted by a sudden yawn. This surprises me. I thought that after sleeping so much, I wouldn’t be tired again so soon.
Thaddeus smiles wearily at me. I notice that there are bags under his eyes like he hasn’t been sleeping. “Don’t worry, you’ll be feeling better soon. How is Nathan? Is he well enough to come train tomorrow?”
“No, not even close,” I reply as we head to the elevator.
“Hmm,” he grunts. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to tell you about the Third Challenge. Now get some sleep, I’ll send over a couple of people to guard you. Don’t worry about anything. The Dragon Hunters won’t be able to get to you again.”
I don’t reply, deeply annoyed with the idea of being babi
ed- but strangely comforted by the security at the same time.
*****
I wake the next morning feeling refreshed. In fact, I feel so good I completely forget that my arms were previously reduced to hamburger- until I sit up and the blood rushes straight for the wounds in my forearms. I gasp as they burn with pain, instantly causing tears to pool in my eyes. After a couple of minutes, the pain subsides and I can see clearly again. Looking up, I see a guy sitting in a chair next to the door. It’s a guy from the rescue party- the one with the warm brown eyes.
At first, I’m confused at his presence, but then I remember that Thaddeus was finding people to guard me day and night. The guy smiles at me heartily. “Good morning!” he says, standing. “I am one of the people protecting you until your Familiar is able to watch out for you again.” He steps toward me, covering the short distance between us in just a few strides. He holds out his hand, and I shake it carefully. “My name is Dallas Peterson. Pleased to meet you, Princess Crystal.”
“Uh, yeah. Same,” I respond, a little surprised he knows who I am. Not that I should be. My guards would have to know who I am and why their job is so important, so it only makes sense. “Before I go and train with Thaddeus, I want to check on my friends,” I tell him, sliding out of bed.
He nods. “Of course.”
Nathan is still sleeping when I go in, but there’s a nurse there this time, so I ask her how he’s doing. She tells me that his fever broke and they’re still trying to flush out all the toxins he breathed in, but he should be good to go for the Third Challenge. I sigh with relief. The bad news, however, is that neither of our Familiars will be able to help by then.
