by Jada Fisher
A war? I felt my face simultaneously grow pale and flush at the thought. Was this what my dreams of fire had been all about? What kind of terrible position would that put Mickey and Mallory in? As capable as any of us might be, we were just squishy, very flammable people stuck in the middle of a conflict.
“My sister!” I blurted suddenly, my head throbbing at my own inner jolt.
Yes?
“If they were able to find me so easily, I know they’re going to find her! We have to go to her, now!”
That has already been taken care of.
“What do you mean?”
The moment our manor was attacked, I knew that it had to be some sort of diversion. Why else would you attempt to burn a dragon? So, I sent people I trusted to your address to collect anyone who might be there. While I haven’t been in contact with them yet, I assure you that if you sister was there, she is in incredibly capable hands.
“Oh, uh. Thanks, I guess.”
You’re welcome.
I fell quiet, and we had a brief moment of peace before I swayed and nearly toppled off Bron’s back.
“Whoa! Easy there, Davie!” Mallory said, clenching even more tightly to my sides. “Are you okay?”
What is going on?
“Davie just tried to pitch off your back!’
“I did not,” I argued, but at the same time, I instinctively let go of the scales I was holding onto and pressed my palms to my eyes. If it weren’t for Mallory’s tight grip, I probably would have fallen off.
“Are you crazy! Hold on!”
“I…I think I need to be set down for a minute.”
It must be the altitude, Bron concluded, tucking his wings into his sides and hurtling downwards. The thin air is starving her already injured brain of oxygen.
“Hey. We don’t know that my brain is injured.”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure I do,” Mallory said from behind me. “Now please, will you hold on for just another minute?”
I pulled my hands away from my eyes and managed to do as she asked. As Bron slowed and lowered himself to the ground, I did actually start to feel better, but my improvement was undercut by more nausea as we finally landed.
I slid off of his back like a wet noodle as soon as we touched down. I knew both of them were quite concerned about me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about anything other than laying down for a second and catching my breath.
I made it about one step, not even really noticing where we had set down, before I collapsed. I tried to roll over and tell my friends I was fine. I fell into unconsciousness before I could utter a single word.
12
Sweet Dreams Are Not These
At first, I was in total darkness, suspended above existence like an ember floating on the night wind. Then, colors and reality came rushing at me in a tidal wave, drowning every single one of my senses.
I was being led down a set of stairs, the walls dark and foreboding around me, almost as if they were absorbing the light from the few flickering torches illuminating my descent. There was someone leading me, but I couldn’t make out any of their features and every time I tried to focus on them, their form would quiver and shift like a shadowy sigh.
That didn’t matter. What was important was the coiling bit of dread in my stomach. Something terrible had brought me to this place. I knew that much.
We reached the bottom of the stairs and I exited into something that could only be described as a medieval prison. It smelled of blood and rot, and I could hear the low moans of those close to death and the clinking of chains. This was not a nice place.
Was I imprisoned? Was this what awaited me if I was finally captured? I couldn’t say for certain. For all I knew, this could just be a very detailed nightmare. However, I had this feeling in the back of my mind that I had come to this terrible place willingly, even if that didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
I heard the distinct sound of something heavy hitting flesh and I instantly recognized the weak cry that followed it.
“Bron!” I cried, running forward.
A strong hand gripped my shoulder, preventing me from reaching him. I came to a stop with a jerk, but no other words came out of my mouth.
The center of the dungeon had a large open space stuffed full of all sorts of contraptions and tools that I didn’t want to know the purpose of. The floor was slick with liquid and smelled faintly of both copper and urine, but that wasn’t what horrified me so.
No, it was the sight of Bron, strung up by the shackles around his wrists to the ceiling above. He could hardly stand, hardly move, and when he did look up, I saw that his features had been beaten into an almost unrecognizable state.
There was someone standing behind him, a long rod in their hand. Before I could really comprehend the situation, they pulled it back and slammed it right into Bron’s back.
“Stop!” I cried, trying to pull against the hand holding me still. “I came, now let him go!”
“Davie…” The low murmur came from Bron himself and finally, I managed to tear free and run to him. I collapsed to my knees, my hands hovering over him, wanting to comfort but not knowing where I could touch without causing him pain. “I told you not to come.”
“And you should have known better than to waste your breath,” I shot back. “How could I leave you here?”
“Sometimes…war means sacrifice.”
“No,” I said adamantly. “Not you. It won’t be you.” I stood, emotions flowing through me that I didn’t understand as I whirled to face the shadowy figure that had guided me into the depths.
“You have me. Now let him go.”
“Actually, I’ve thought about that, and I’ve decided to change the terms of our arrangement.”
“What!? You can’t do that!”
The figure stalked toward me, and a very human hand reached out of the shadows, gripping my hair and shoving me to my knees.
“Let her go!” Bron cried, struggling against his chains.
“You silly little seer. I can do whatever I want. With the prince and an oracle in my grasp, who’s going to stop me?”
Rage burned in me so brightly, I swore I almost became bio-luminescent. I whipped my head to the side and buried my teeth into the wrist connected to the hand in my hair.
Blood burst into my mouth and for the briefest of moments, I felt victorious. Sure, I may have been a powerless, squishy flesh bag, but I still had teeth.
Knuckles crashed into my cheek and the world spun around me. As I fell to the ground, I felt the vision break apart until I was hurtling back toward reality.
I was dumped into my body with a jolt, my mind trying to figure out the line between what was a dream and what was actually happening. I gasped and sat up, right into two sets of awaiting hands.
“Hey there, calm down.”
Mallory’s voice drifted over me and I calmed a bit. My vision cleared, and I saw we were far out of the city, thick trees surrounding us and a thick canopy above. “Where…where are we?” I whispered, throat raspy and head still pounding.
“In the forest past the river in the south city,” Bron answered, gently pressing a hand to my forehead. When I looked to his face, I could see the same beaten visage he had in my dream before it faded, leaving only his normal appearance. “How are you feeling?”
“Like someone shook me up and flipped me inside out.” I groaned. “My head still hurts pretty badly.”
“We need to get you to a healer as soon as possible.”
“You mean a doctor?”
“No.” He pulled his hand away from my forehead and looked around. “We’re still a long walk away from where we need to go, but I’m not sure I want you going high into the sky.”
“I’m not sure we have much of a choice,” Mallory murmured softly. “I think keeping her in this state for the hours we would need to walk wherever it is you want us to go would be a lot worse than however long it would take you to fly there.”
I grimaced. “Hey, when did we decide that
talking about me like I wasn’t here was an okay thing to do? Because I don’t remember signing off on that.”
“Oh, sorry,” Mallory said. “It’s just, you’re kinda mentally compromised.”
“What? Says who!”
“Says your dilated pupils and fifteen minutes of unconsciousness.”
“I actually agree with your friend here,” Bron said, kneeling by my side again and fixing me with a concerned stare. “Speaking of which, I’m afraid I haven’t introduced myself properly, considering that the circumstances have been fairly harrowing.” He extended his hand to Mallory and flashed her a charismatic grin that had my cheeks burning within seconds. “My name is Lohikarmme Bronne, but you may call me Bron, if you wish.”
“Mallory,” she said cautiously, shooting me a look as she shook his outstretched hand. “So, do you do that pretty thing on purpose, or are you one of those annoying people who doesn’t know how attractive they are?”
His eyebrows came together and he laughed a little nervously. “What? I, uh, I’m not—” He shook his head and managed to wipe off his surprise. “You’re not a human, are you?”
“Half-human,” she said with a wry grin. “Nice topic change, by the way.”
“Thank you. That makes sense then. Let me guess, the other half is dwarf?”
“What do you mean ‘that makes sense’?” she countered.
I sighed, rubbing at the bridge of my nose, but it didn’t help. “Guys, as much as I love the lively banter, I think we have more important things to worry about.”
“Right, sorry. Of course.” Bron offered both of his hands to me, and I saw the bruises from my vision flicker across his wrists before vanishing.
I couldn’t tell if I was seeing these things from the head injury, or if being around shifters exacerbated my condition, but the lines between my hallucination and reality were blurring just like they had when I was a child.
“Do you think you can stand?” he asked quietly.
“Only way to find out is to try.”
“True.” He offered me a small smile as my hands slid into his. His fingers were so much larger than mine, so much stronger. They wrapped around mine and pulled me to my feet without seeming to expend any effort. “How’s that?”
I wavered for a moment, my equilibrium trying to figure itself out, and his hands moved to my arms, squeezing reassuringly. “I’m…I’m good. I think.”
“Why don’t we try walking a bit, and then if we have to, we’ll fly?”
I looked to Mallory and she shrugged. “You know your body best, babe.”
That was right. I did. It felt like the past few hours had been largely out of my control, so it was nice to be back in charge of me. “Yeah, let’s walk a bit.”
Bron’s smile grew brighter, and he moved to my side, wrapping an arm around my waist supportively. “Is this alright?” he asked.
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
“I’ll get her other side,” Mallory offered quickly. However, our heights didn’t exactly work out, and her arm ended up supporting my butt more than anything else, but I didn’t object. She was my best friend and was obviously trying her best. How could I be ungrateful for that?
We strolled along like that for quite a while, not gaining much ground, but I felt myself slowly start to center as we went along. My head still throbbed and I was exhausted down to my bones, but it was manageable. At least it was until a shriek broke through the air.
I sighed. “Please tell me that’s completely unrelated to our situation.”
Bron’s previously happy face quickly grew tense. “I am not sure if I am supposed to lie to you in this situation or tell you the truth.”
Mallory let out an aggravated growl and I couldn’t help but agree. “Are you kidding me? What, did they send a whole army after us?”
“As far as I could tell, everyone so far has been a mercenary unattached to a specific family. If they sent their army, the whole city would be destroyed by now.”
“How could you possibly know that? It wasn’t like they were all wearing signs or sigils.”
“Their scent.”
“Gross,” I couldn’t help but whisper under my breath.
“So, what are we—” Before Mallory could finish her sentence, deafening cracks sounded all around us. I winced, opening my mouth to ask what that was, when fire sprang up all around us.
“Sorry, Mi— Davie. I’m afraid we’re out of time for our walk.”
I nodded gravely. “I guess it’s time to fly.”
Bron’s arm dropped from my side and he walked ahead of me. Anticipation bubbled in my middle, wondering how the magnificent creature I had seen could come out of the beautiful man in front of me.
It…wasn’t pretty.
Bron let out a cry and his body seemed to explode outward, scales rippling over skin and clothes alike as bones rapidly burst into existence. It was much more virulent than any of the drakes I had seen shift, almost horrific, and yet it was all over in less than a minute.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to eat again,” Mallory groaned.
Apologies for the sight, ladies, but perhaps it would be best to hurry and save your comments for later.
“Right, yeah, that makes sense,” I said before clambering on.
It was much more difficult this time around, and I didn’t know if that was from the exhaustion or the flames that were really starting to pick up around us. However, Mallory helped shove me upwards until I was settled once more.
It was a bit of déjà vu as her arms held me once more and I clenched my thighs against Bron’s scaly hide, but I didn’t have much time to think about it because we were taking to the sky.
Branches and trees whipped past us, cutting at my head and arms. I whimpered at the contact on my skull and hunched down. Poor Mallory did her best to guard me with one of her arms while still holding onto me with the other, but our height differential was just so great that there was only so much she could deflect.
We finally broke free of the canopy and shot back into the sky. It was just cold as I remembered, and just as blue. I wanted to enjoy the beautiful sight, but I could already see three large shapes barreling toward us.
“Oh crap,” I breathed.
Hold on, Bron ordered. We’re about to go very fast.
“You mean we weren’t already?!” Mallory shouted.
There were no words for an answer. Instead, Bron picked up his speed, shooting forward so fast that I felt the skin of my face pull back like a thrill ride. We rocketed past one of the shapes, which I realized was a vermillion dragon a bit smaller than Bron. It whirled and tried to snap at one of his wings, but caught only air as we shot by.
A plume of fire shot over our heads and Bron dove, trying to spare us from the heat, but I still smelled singed hair. I tried to duck down, but there was only so much I could do without falling off.
All of it would be so much easier if my head would just stop hurting! Everything was beginning to grow fuzzy at the edges, and I felt like my comprehension of things was on a delay.
By the time I realized open jaws were headed straight toward us, Bron had already spun out of their path. My heart was going crazy from all the confusion, not sure when to be relieved and when to be terrified. It was maddening, and I didn’t know if I wanted to scream or laugh.
Everything clarified when I felt air displace above us, and talons dug into my shoulder, piercing my shirt. I cried out, pain shooting through me and sending adrenaline following in its path.
“Bron!” I cried, not sure what I expected him to do, but needing to shout his name nonetheless.
“Let go of her!” Mallory screeched, pulling at the leg, but it didn’t let go. If anything, it dug its claws in deeper. “Davie, I’m gonna need you to hold on real tight, okay? I’m gonna let go.”
“What? No! Mallory!”
“No arguing. Just do it.”
I dug my fingers into Bron’s scales and clenched my thighs as hard as I
could. Mallory must have felt my reaction, because her arm unwrapped from my middle and the next thing I knew, she was moving. She stood and I looked up just in time to see her leap onto the dragon’s legs. “Mallory!” I screamed.
She paid no attention to me, instead wrapping her arms around its legs and flipping her body so she was upside-down. I watched, utterly amazed, as she kicked as hard as she could into its underside.
One blow and the creature cried out. Another blow and it let go. I felt the claws slip out and Bron shot forward, leaving my friend behind.
“Bron!” I shrieked frantically. “We can’t leave Mallory! We can’t!”
I would never dream of it, he responded smoothly. This is just going to take a little bit of maneuvering. Ready yourself!
I didn’t know exactly what he meant by that, but I leaned down and held on as best I could.
Bron was true to his word, spinning in a full circle until we were upside-down and above the vermillion dragon that Mallory was still fighting with. I didn’t know whether to be impressed with the girl for her utter audacity, or angry at her suicidal penchant to never back down, but I could decide that later when she was safe.
“Mallory!” I shouted, unable to see her through the thick body between us. I just had to hope she knew we were coming.
Bron lowered suddenly, until his own claws were in our enemy’s back. His whole body thrashed, and it took my everything to hold on. I heard a cry from below, and to my absolute horror, I saw Mallory go hurtling downward.
“Bron! Get her!”
But he was already on it. He released the vermillion dragon and tucked his wings in, diving down, down, down, until he was below her. I reached up and our fingers interlaced, allowing me to yank her down until she was sitting on his back again, facing me. This time, it was my arms around her, holding her tight to me as she buried her face in my non-wounded shoulder.
“Thank you,” she breathed, trembling in my grasp as her arms found their way around me too.
“Thank you,” I countered. “And you’re never allowed to do that again.”
She laughed quietly. “You’re the seer. You should know better than anyone else that that’s probably not going to happen.”
