I held the torch aloft, waiting for him to breathe fire again. When he did, I held out the torch and watched it ignite before turning away from him to give him the chance to turn back.
“Why are you leaving?” he asked a few moments later. I turned to find him fastening the top button of his jeans. He wasn’t angry. It was fear in his eyes. Putting the torch down carefully, I ran to him and threw my arms around his neck. He felt so warm and yet the hug was awkward thanks to all the armor. I couldn’t help but begin to sob again as he held onto me, comforting me, making me feel dreadful because it should have been me comforting him.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said as I pulled back. “I have to go home.”
“Without telling me?” I could see the pain in his eyes matching my own.
“I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t want to hurt you or get your hopes up, but I think there might be a way to get Stone back. That’s why I left.”
“He’s dead, Julianna. You heard it yourself. One of your people killed him.”
I blanched at his words but I had to make him believe me.
“We don’t kill just because of centuries of hatred. Each kill we make is said to take the soul of a dragon that imbues our swords with power. It’s their soul that the sword takes, not their life. I’ve not once seen where the dragon’s bodies are taken after death. What if they are all lying somewhere in an eternal slumber? Alive and yet empty at the same time?”
He regarded me for a second as I willed him to believe me.
“You don’t kill the dragons?”
“I don’t know, but what if I’m right? I have to try to find out. I was planning to go to my village and see if I could somehow get the souls out of the swords.”
“I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell me all of this before. I’d have come with you. I want to protect you.”
“I know.” His words made me feel guilty and yet elated at the same time. He had protected me throughout all of this and yet hearing him say it filled my heart. “I didn’t want to put you in danger. I’m scared that the other dragons will turn against you because of me.”
He came closer and held me tightly once again. This time, I managed to keep the tears at bay.
“I’m a big boy, Julianna. I know how to handle myself. I don’t want you to worry about me, but there is something you can do for me.”
“What is it?” I asked, pulling back slightly so I could see him.
“I want you to tell me everything from now on. We’re in this together and the only way we can do this is if we are honest with each other.”
“I’ll never lie to you again. I promise.”
“Good.” He took hold of my hand. “Now let’s go to your village and find these swords.”
He held my hand, expertly guiding me through the maze until we were at the other side. In the distance, the lights of my village seemed small and insignificant, especially from this great height.
Minutes later I was soaring through the rain on Ash’s red-scaled back. I was finally going home.
Chapter Fourteen
Water stung my eyes as we flew through the angry clouds, blinding me for the whole journey. I trusted Ash to know what he was doing and only hoped that his dragon vision was better than my human eyesight as we flew down the mountains.
The rain came down in hundreds and thousands of big, fat drops that not only drenched me, but Ash’s clothes that were squeezed in my hands. Only I would be crazy enough to pick the wettest night of the summer to sneak out.
We landed just outside of the village with a great thump. Lightning crackled across the sky, illuminating the small houses for the briefest of moments. The darkness of the night and the clouds kept us in the shadows and made me feel grateful for the storm, even though I was soaked through and freezing cold. I threw Ash his clothes and walked to the fence that marked the border between the village and the mountains. All the houses were dark. However, in the distance, I could make out the road that would take us to my house. I turned and gazed up at the mountain we had flown down from, holding my hand above my eyes to shield them from the pelting rain that still came down in torrents. The mountain range was shrouded in clouds to the tree line, almost like the towering peaks weren’t there at all.
“What now?” asked Ash, making me jump. He’d changed and dressed already, the sound of the rain hitting the pathway beneath us covering the sound of him changing.
“I need to go home.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” he asked. Concern filled his voice and I understood why. He thought that I wanted to see my parents. In a way, he was right. I missed them terribly, maybe even Jasper too, but that wasn’t the only reason.
“It’s the only place I know where some of the swords are kept. My brother, Jasper, has one, and my father too. His is said to be one of the most powerful swords in the village.”
“Does that mean he’s taken the most dragon souls?”
I nodded, unable to speak. I’d spent my whole life looking up to my father, wanting to follow in his footsteps. I could barely believe that I was now planning to break into my own house and steal his sword. What would he think of me if we got caught? I wasn’t even sure what I thought of him anymore. “I’m sorry.”
He kissed the top of my forehead. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
I heard his words, but, not for the first time, I wasn’t sure if they were true.
The road to our house was deserted and yet we kept to the trees, partly for the cover they offered from the rain, but mainly because if anyone were to turn their lights on, we could dash into their cover.
The rain had turned the usually dusty track into a muddy bog. Ash held my hand as we trekked through it, giving me the strength to do what I had to do and reminding me how important it was that we did this.
“Do you think you’ll know?” I whispered, as we approached my house.
“Know what?”
“Will you know whose soul is in each sword when we get close to one? Will you be able to feel it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel anything other than freezing at the moment. Are we nearly there?”
“This is it. This is where I live.”
The house looked almost deserted with the lack of light but I knew it was because it was late enough for them all to be asleep.
There was no way to hide as we snuck across the training ground in front. It was a wide-open space with the house on the opposite side. We could only hope that the darkness and the lateness of the hour would be enough to get us to the house without being seen.
The back door was locked but my mother always kept a spare key under a potted plant near the door in case of emergencies. I picked the pot up and scrabbled around in the muddy earth beneath it.
“It’s not there!” I whispered.
“What isn’t?” asked Ash, falling to his knees to help me look.
“The spare key. My mother always has one under this pot and it’s gone. Can you see it?”
“No. There’s nothing there but mud.”
“Why wouldn’t it be here?” I asked, wiping my muddy hands on my tunic.
“You’ve been gone for a few days now. Maybe they think we’ll come for them next.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I replied.
“They lost a daughter. They’re scared. People do strange things when they’re scared. Is there another way in?”
The thought of my father being scared of anything was preposterous. He was the bravest man I had ever known. And yet...he never lost a daughter before.
“I think there might be a crowbar in the shed,” I replied, trying not to feel overcome with emotion. We had a plan and we needed to stick to it.
I left Ash by the back door and ran to the shed. We never locked it as there were only a few tools that weren’t worth a lot, but as Ash had said, things had changed. I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer before pulling on the door handle. It opened immediately; however, in the darknes
s, I couldn’t see the crowbar. We kept all kinds of junk in here as well as tools—too-small bikes from our childhoods, bits of broken furniture that my father hadn’t gotten around to fixing, and the miscellany that families accumulate over time. I could spend all day going through it all and not find the crowbar, especially in the dark.
I ran back to Ash and told him the problem.
“Use your sword,” he suggested. “Slot it in the crack between the door and the frame and jimmy the door open.”
I pulled my sword from its sheath and did as he instructed. After a few pushes the wooden door splintered with a crack and opened.
Thankfully, at the same moment, a roll of thunder crashed, hiding most of the noise.
“Are you okay?” whispered Ash.
“I just feel weird having to sneak into my own house,” I replied. I looked around the kitchen, remembering the last time I’d been in here. The morning of my eighteenth birthday, we’d had a huge breakfast to get us ready for my first day of slayer training.
I thought about stealing a sword and it occurred to me that perhaps my father’s wouldn’t be the best one to go for after all. “I think we’ll go for Jasper’s sword.”
“I thought your father’s sword held the most dragon souls. Surely it makes sense to go for his so we can release more of my people.”
“We need to check if my theory is correct first. We can do that with either of the swords, but Jasper’s will be easier to get. He keeps it propped up against the wall in his room. My father’s is in a locked cabinet in my parent’s bedroom. We’ll never be able to get it without waking either of my parents up.”
He was eager to know if I was right about the whole thing, and excited to free his friends, family and ancestors, but if we got caught, my father would make sure that neither of us would have the opportunity to be near a sword again.
I held my forefinger to my lips to indicate we should be quiet. The noise of the rain was much less intense inside although I could still hear it tapping on the windows. Ash stayed behind me the whole way up the stairs until we reached the landing. How easy it would be to go through my own door and fall into a nice warm bed and forget the last week had ever happened. But it had happened and as long as I lived, I didn’t think I’d ever forget it.
My father’s snoring rattled the windows from the inside almost as much as the rain did. I pulled down the handle on the door to Jasper’s room and pushed silently. The room was almost pitch black, making everything difficult to see, but I could hear his much quieter snoring coming from the general direction of his bed.
I tiptoed in and gazed around the room, trying to make out the shape of the sword in the shadows, but it was too dark. I couldn’t see much at all.
“I’ve got it,” a voice whispered quietly into my ear. Ash had found the sword straight away. How had he done it? Had he sensed his ancestors nearby or had it merely been that his eyesight was a lot better than mine in the dark?
He passed me the sword which I had to hold in my hand as my own sword was filling up my sheath.
“Let’s go!” I turned to follow him out the door, but in my haste to leave, I knocked over something that made a loud crash on the floor by my feet.
Suddenly, light flooded the room, making me blink in surprise.
I should have run but the shock at finding my brother sitting up in bed, his eyes on the sword in my hands, was enough to have me rooted to the spot.
“Julianna?” he asked, the shock at finding me in his room evident on his face. “What are you doing?”
Chapter Fifteen
For a split second, he didn’t notice Ash, but as his eyes widened, focusing on something behind my right shoulder, I knew he had been seen and that our chance to run had passed.
“What’s this?” growled Jasper, jumping out of bed. I stepped back as he bounded towards me.
“Jasper, I can explain—” I began but he cut me off before giving me the chance to say anything else.
“Explain? Are you going to tell me why you’re in my bedroom with whoever this is, trying to steal my sword?”
“This is Ash, he’s...” How could I explain who Ash was? If I told Jasper he was a dragon, Jasper would go for him without listening to anything else I had to say. Jasper always had a tendency to react first, think later. We needed to get out of here.
I turned to tell Ash to run, but as I did, the sword was pulled from my hand. Jasper had taken the weapon back and now stood ready to fight, his sword arm raised.
“Jasper, don’t!” I whispered. “This isn’t what you think it is.”
“So you aren’t stealing my sword? Because that’s what this looks like to me.”
My hesitation was all he needed. The sword came swiping down at me and I only missed getting hit because Ash pulled me backwards quickly.
“I thought so,” said Jasper, getting back into his stance and looking from Ash to me.
“I don’t want to fight you, Jasper. You remember what happened last time we fought. I beat you.”
“Yes, well this time is different,” he growled. I guess he still hadn’t forgiven me for beating his behind the last time we fought. He must be angry to strike before I even had a chance to draw my sword.
He was right though. This time was different. This time, we weren’t training. This time, it was real. Someone was going to get hurt. I unsheathed my sword and copied his stance, hoping that when he saw how real the situation was, he’d back down, but he didn’t. My decision to fight only angered him further. He thrust his sword forward, aiming for my stomach. I jumped back, just avoiding it by millimeters. Had he managed a hit there, it would have killed me. What was he doing?
“Jasper, stop!” It was my last-ditch attempt to not have to fight him. My back was now literally against the wall. If he tried anything else, I would have to defend myself and I wasn’t experienced enough to fight him without hurting him.
He answered by swinging his sword again. I had no choice but to bring my own sword down against it to deflect it. He recovered quickly and tried again, but I was ready for him. I thrust my own sword forward, trying to nick his hand so he would drop the sword.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ash, his wide eyes bouncing around the room, searching for a way out of the fight I was now embroiled in. But there was no way out. At least not with me in tow. If I ran now, Jasper would only follow and would be much quicker with his dry pajamas than I would be with my rain-soaked clothes and armor. Of course, the armor offered some protection against injury, but it wasn’t the best, and he knew which bits of me were unprotected.
We both skirted the room, occasionally thrusting and deflecting. I was at the advantage with my armor, but only one of us was fighting to hurt and that wasn’t me. I had no need to win except to finish the fight and get away, but if I only spent my time deflecting his sword, we’d be here all night. It wasn’t helping that my wet clothes felt like ten-ton weights, severely impeding my reaction time and movements.
The only way to end this was to get the sword or to injure him. I didn’t know how to do the first without having to resort to the latter.
Something in the air changed and it took me a few moments to realize what it was. The room was suddenly much quieter. Had the rain stopped pounding the windows? No, I could still hear it lashing down. It was then that I realized what it was. My father’s snoring had stopped. Either he’d turned over in bed or the commotion had woken him up.
The door to my father’s bedroom opened and I heard his footsteps on the landing.
Jasper must have heard it too. He hesitated for a moment, and that’s when I struck. I hit the handle of his sword hard enough to make him drop it. The sword clanged to the floor just as my father came into the room.
“Julianna?”
I stood there with my sword outstretched, pointing the blade at Jasper who had his hands raised as though I were about to hurt him. Ash was on my right, closest to my father. From my father’s point of view, it must have loo
ked pretty bad.
“Who are you? What did you do to my daughter?” he bellowed, lunging toward Ash who dodged to the side quickly.
“Daddy!” I screamed as he knocked over a bookcase, sending books scattering all over the floor. “Stop it!”
“What did he do to you?” he asked me, running after Ash again who cut between Jasper and me to escape him.
“Annie, fetch my sword!” my father shouted to my mother who must have still been in their bedroom.
I wanted to hold up my sword to my father to stop him chasing Ash. He was so much bigger than him and I knew if he caught him, Ash wouldn’t survive to tell the tale. And yet, I couldn’t do that to my own father. What if he got hurt? Besides, if I took my sword away from Jasper for a second, he’d be able to retrieve his own from where it lay on the floor.
My father passed me, nearly tripping over Jasper’s sword. When he saw it, he bent down himself to pick it up.
“I’ve got you now!” shouted my father to Ash, who had run back to the open doorway. He lifted Jasper’s sword and charged at the defenseless Ash. Without thinking, I jumped in front of the sword to stop. My intention had been to jump into it right where my armor was, but I missed slightly and the sword sliced a thin red line into the flesh of my forearm. It wasn’t a deep cut—it wouldn’t even need stitches—but the shock at what he had done was enough to stop my father from trying again.
A scream from just outside the bedroom door had us all silent. I looked to my left to see my mother holding my father’s sword. She looked so tiny with it in her hands.
“It’s okay; it’s just a scratch,” I said, trying to appease her although she could just as well have been screaming at the sight of Ash in the doorway. The whole thing was a great big mess, and I didn’t know how to deal with it. For now, everyone stood still with shock, paralyzed by the fear of what would happen next. If my father got his own sword, Ash would not get away again. My father was the most skilled swordsperson in the whole village.
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