“I’m not doing that.” I said flatly and the entire SUV was engulfed in laughter again.
“Princesses have their perks.”
“And friends of princesses have their perks too.” Becky left her two scent comments.
Emanual parked the SUV.
Sir Robert smiled as we all climbed out, and gave me a tight hug. “I’m so glad that you are here.” He sounded happy.
“That is not fair, Sir Robert.”
“Sir Bower, I am a strategist, one that will not surrender easy.”
He laughed.
“Sir Bower?” I teased Emanual.
“You didn’t know my surname, Elena?” He teased and I laughed again.
“You are Emanual to me. Why doesn’t anybody address you as Sir Bower?”
“Because I asked them not to.”
Another guy in an army uniform rushed to Sir Robert while troops were being drilled through each obstacle of the boot camp. It was crazy to think that George and Blake had to do this too.
I put my baseball cap on, feeling the vibe coming through. The guy shook Emanual’s hand and smiled.
“Recruiting more deputies, I see.”
“Not at all,” Emanual answered.
“This is the team that is going to bring back the Rubicon.” Sir Robert had a lot of confidence in me, which was scary.
The guy squinted as he looked at us and found his eyes on me. He laughed as I looked back.
“Sir Robert, bad form.”
“I don’t care. That boy is not going to break my record.”
They all laughed.
“Welcome to the Dragon League, Princess.”
I bowed my head and followed Sir Robert into the house and to the first door on the left, which he had turned into a huge office, with a 3-D map of the forest in a glass case.
Sir Robert spoke first, explaining that this entire case was the key to where everything was. Blake and his team were stationed somewhere. He sent Emanual an evil glare, and looked back at the map. Our duty was to find them and retrieve the flag before oh-six-hundred hour tomorrow morning. That was our mission.
As for where the flag was, well, Blake kept it with him at all times, but Emanual grinned which told me it wasn’t the truth.
“Why a flag?” I asked. “I mean, it’s just a flag.”
Sir Robert and Emanual looked at me the same time.
“It’s not just a flag, and the only two dragons that will guard it with their lives are the two that are part of a Dent.”
Emanual laughed.
“Why?” Becky asked too.
“Because that flag represents something really important to them.”
“Like what?” Becky asked again.
“Well, in George’s case it’s a little lightning wielder that scares me to death sometimes,” He looked at Becky and we started to laugh. “And in Blake’s case, a certain stubborn royal.”
“So the flag represents us?” She asked and he nodded.
“And now you are sending us after it?” I asked and Sir Robert smiled. “You are brilliant,” I said as I kept staring at the fine detail of the forest that was inside the case.
“So now the number one question is,” I said. “How the hell do we get Elena out of his hands?”
I WASN’T WRONG when I said Emanual was hiding something and it turned out that the flag in Blake’s hand was nothing but a stick. He’d used persuasion on all of the other teams to make them think it was the flag, and had hid the one in a cave nearby, filled with booby traps. The reason Emanual knew all of this was because he’d helped Blake and his team to build the traps.
He’d been interfering so much without even Sir Robert knowing about it.
He’d also take them food, booze and snacks on a weekly basis. He made sure they had a royal life so that Blake could break his father’s team’s record. And here I was, helping Sir Robert. I felt so bad, but so good at the same time.
“No, you have to take Oliver with.”
“Why, Elena?”
“To take Blake’s teams’ place. I heard what you said. My team is not going to hunt. We are not dragons, well, Sammy is but not for tonight.”
“Thanks Elena. Makes me feel super special betraying my kind.”
I scrunched up my nose at her.
“A strategist already.” Emanual stared at me.
“I’m not. I’m just saying it is not the game I’m playing.”
“It’s not a game.”
“Oh camping out, drinking and what, screwing with people’s minds making them see a stick as a flag, is not a game?”
Emanual laughed.
“The cave is dangerous Elena.”
“So? I need a bit of danger in my life, the kind that doesn’t kill me.”
He raised his eyes.
“That dangerous?”
“Well you can get seriously hurt.”
“Well then I know how serious Blake is about his flag.”
“So it’s like a test.” He huffed. “Damn, Robert is smart.”
We all laughed again.
“Okay,” he said and started telling us about all the traps. We had to memorize it. It sounded dangerous as he spoke about swinging logs that were hoisted high into the cave. We wouldn’t die if we fell off, but we would break at least half of the bones in our bodies. There were hidden obstacles as well, which reminded me of the Sacred Cavern.
I was going to relive that again?
Last was a podium. There was nothing major guarding it and access to the flag was easy, but the leap was a tough one, not impossible though. Something I just had to do.
“Oh, my word this is so exciting!” Becky shrieked. I hadn’t seen her this excited the past two months.
“Still I don’t see why Oliver’s team has to come with.” Emanual voiced. “Blake might not let you catch the flag and then they’d have to stay.”
“Because precisely that.” I said. “He doesn’t know we are coming and if you are going to spill it, Oliver will tell me and then Blake and his team will have to forfeit.”
“Forfeit?”
“I’m the princess. I’m sure I have a say in this too, as it turns out that the Dragon League is actually mine.”
Emanual laughed again. “Actually your family’s, but since you are the only one alive, you are so right again, Elena.”
I felt guilty again. My father was still alive too. “Don’t you just hate that?”
“Very much.”
WE TOLD SIR Robert the plan and he loved every second of it. We had to get Oliver and his team in too, but they were ready to go back in tonight.
They loved it just as much as Sir Robert and couldn’t say thanks enough that they are actually going to witness The Big Guy—as everyone called him—and “that Tracker”, see their asses. Payback was such a sweet thing.
Then Sir Robert had to say that. “On one condition.”
“What?” I sounded surprised. He needed me.
“I know Blake, Elena. He will not give you the flag without a fight.”
I’d fought enough with him.
“If, by any chance he is going to win…”
“He won’t,” I said.
“If,” he said. “You have to come back with Oliver’s team. You and Becky.”
Emanual laughed again. “You are really good.”
I didn’t get it.
WE LEFT AROUND ten and walked for nearly an hour through tall grass.
“Remember, when I show you the sign, you all wield your shields, otherwise you can all forget about it.”
The four of us nodded, even Dean. They were going to stand guard at the entrance in case Blake’s team caught onto our brilliant plan
We walked in silence and I couldn’t stop smiling. I was going to see Blake again. I missed him more than I could put into words, so I recited some of his poems. I couldn’t believe I was going to part with his journal tonight. I loved that journal and the poems in it—even the dark ones. It was who he was, every inch of hi
m and I didn’t care that he’d killed people. He had been dark then and hadn’t had a choice.
He’d had to do what he had to do, to hang on.
I always knew there was something about Irene and why I didn’t like her. She’d lured him in with her blue eyes and beautiful black hair.
None of that mattered anymore.
I was going to see him tonight.
Then Emanual showed us the sign.
BLAKE
WE SAT AROUND the fire. I hated this feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was Elena’s nineteenth birthday and I was here. I didn’t spend any of the important days with her, because I couldn’t find her, and now, I was not with her on her birthday as she’d refused to believe that I had nothing to do with that night.
Every time I closed my eyes I saw the hurt, the shock, and the betrayal.
How could she even think that?
I would never do that to her, and yet she did. Because of who I used to be.
Sleeping with girls just to soothe my needs, or because Tabitha was too far was so stupid back then. I’d been a mess then.
I knew that one day it was going to bite me in the ass.
Now, George was paying for it too. Sort of.
At least it was his choice, to make a point that I hadn’t done that to Elena. To get Becky on our side would help but I knew it was hopeless to begin with. Still, he refused to give up.
We sulked like two pups today, missing home—missing our girls. Even if she didn’t want to be my girl anymore, she would always be my girl. I would never love another, ever again.
We drank a bit today. Emanual was going to bring new stock tomorrow for next week. My father still didn’t know about him bringing us supplies. It was good to have an old dragon on our side that knew war, how to blend in and how to sneak around.
It was sort of a payback to my father for finding him two hours before he could break my father’s team record so many years ago.
The girls were planning something big today. We’d both tuned in. Elena was happy, or that was what her emotions told me. She was excited about something and it was about tonight, her party.
George stayed in tune a bit longer. It wasn’t as strong as my connection with Elena, but he could sense Becky’s excitement too, which only made him sulk more. So we drank.
George was a good friend, almost a second Lucian.
He’d come with me to the Dragon League.
We were on a roll and in less than ten hours I was going to break my father’s record.
Nobody knew were our flag was. I was showing them a stick and making them believe it was the flag. Persuasion was really one of the coolest abilities I owned. The real one was in a cave. Far away from dangerous claws or hands.
George sighed as he stared at the embers too; the rest of the group was talking softly to one another. I found Taylor’s eyes on me. She smiled as I looked at her. There was seriously something up with that chick. I just couldn’t pinpoint what it was. It made my skin/scales crawl.
I shook it off, I would find out what it was eventually. I lay back into my chair.
I gazed at the sky, it was beautiful. The moon was bright, no clouds, nothing but a million stars in the sky.
I wished that I could just fly to wherever she was having her party and beg her for her forgiveness, even if it was for something I hadn’t done. But yes, she’d said those words and nothing could break them. It had to come from her. She needed to forgive me.
“Urgh,” George grunted and I chuckled.
“Dude, let it go.”
“I don’t like this giddy feeling. I miss her.”
“Then go back home. You don’t need to punish yourself like this man.”
“No, I said I’ll be here, and I’m no quitter.” He took another sip of his beer.
He was one of the best damn trackers our era had ever seen. He’d found the other groups in record time and found a way to hide ours. He’d found me in the darkness. He was going to be one hell of a Moon-Bolt.
Both George and I jumped when we heard twigs and leaves crush under footsteps. Someone had just walked into our shield. The smell of strong fire and roasted oak filled my mind. It was a Sun-Blast.
“Emanual is here,” Emile sang.
It was still a couple of miles away, but we heard and smelled him.
“Someone is close. Another group?” Taylor got up.
“Relax, they are far from the flag,” I spoke back and smiled as I heard a steady, confident heartbeat. Why was he already here? He was only supposed to come later, after her party.
“It’s just Emanual.”
“What is he doing here with other people, Blake?”
I only got what she said as more heartbeats closed in on us. I got their scents. It was Oliver’s team. Their two days were up.
“Taylor, relax please. The flag isn’t close by.” I mouthed that last part of my sentence and George took a sip of his beer next to me. He was like an injured deer without Becky. Still, I knew how he felt. It wasn’t easy for dragons to be so far from our riders. But he was adamant to make his point.
A couple of minutes later Emanual made it out of the forest and into our small camp. Without supplies. The entire team’s faces fell.
“What are you doing here, I thought by now you would’ve been drunk?” I didn’t look at him.
Emanual chuckled. “Drunk?”
“Elena’s party, I’m sure she’s having one.”
“Oh, no that was last night.” He came to sit down and Oliver’s team followed him a few seconds later.
“How did Oliver find us Emanual?” I teased him.
“They bumped into me along the way. I looked suspicious with the cooler.” They dropped the cooler bag as one my group members went to see what was inside.
He dropped off papers that featured Elena’s interviews from the past couple of days. I would read them later tonight when the pain grew unbearable. I hated what had happened to her in Areeth and wanted to skin Caleb alive.
“You getting old?” I joked.
“Easy,” he joked and laughed.
“So what, they got her birthday wrong again?” I didn’t like how they kept getting it wrong.
“Nope, they had a huge cake around twelve.” He chuckled and I smiled. “She will forgive you, Blake.”
“I don’t know, Emanual. She doesn’t even want me to explain that I had nothing to do with it.”
“She will, eventually.” He had that knowing smile on his face and I squinted at him again. Had he spoken to her last night?
“What the hell did you say?”
“Nothing, just that she is being stubborn, which is the truth.”
I huffed. “I hope that is all you said to her last night.”
He laughed again and rested back into the camp chair he’d stolen from Rikus when he’d gotten up to get a new drink.
I stared at Oliver again. “Oliver, what are you guys doing here?”
“Getting your flag.” He kept staring at my hand.
Emanual and I both laughed.
“Not going to happen, dude,” I said and threw him the stick, which he caught but then I switch off my persuasion and loved the way his face changed.
“A stick, seriously?”
Emanual and I laughed again as Rikus handed me a new beer, and Emanual one too.
“Your father is really getting nervous, Blake.” Emanual desperately tried to hide his grin as he opened the beer and took a big gulp that almost finished half of it.
“Oh, I really don’t care,” I said and took a gulp too.
“We’ll see, he has pretty amazing tactics,” Oliver said. He’d tried to find our flag for the past month, and instead we’d taken his, time and time again, forcing them to go home, rest two days and try again. He seriously hated my guts.
“Tactics. None of them will make me part with that flag.”
“It represents too much.” Emanual simply stated.
“You Dents take everything way too seriously
,” Oliver said.
“As it should be,” George chirped.
I chuckled.
It fell silent again. Oliver was really sure of himself, but his entire team was here, after I’d showed him that our flag was nothing but a stick. He hadn’t gotten up and told his team to look for it. It couldn’t be the beer. They had beer and could drink as much as they wanted.
I looked at Emanual. They weren’t acting like a team who was desperately trying to find our flag. They were making themselves comfortable around our fire, not searching like a team would.
Emanual didn’t even look at me.
“What are you not telling me?”
Emanual raised his eyebrow slightly. “Nothing.”
There was something, otherwise he would’ve said I don’t know what you mean, or talking about.
Suddenly, George gasped and I looked at him. He was tuned in again.
“What?”
He smiled. Like someone who’d just found their favorite toy again. Becky. “You were right about the planning Blake, but wrong about what they were planning.” He looked at Oliver. “Sir Robert’s tactic,” he looked at Emanual. “Bringing them here.”
“Ah, man.” One of his other team members sang.
Emanual just laughed. “Dents, what can I say?”
It felt as if life poured back into my soul. That was why he was so sure about Elena forgiving me. “She’s after my flag?” I asked him, and couldn’t help the huge grin. “And you told her were it was, didn’t you.”
He roared with laughter. “I serve the Princess, Blake until the day my King is ready.”
“Idiot.”
At once all of us got up and went straight for the cave we’d fixed with booby traps. Now I was worried that she might get hurt.
The run was hard. George and I were a couple of paces in front, with Taylor right behind us. She sure was one fast girl.
We found Dean and Sammy at the cave’s entrance and Sammy let out a huge shrilling sound and then she laughed her hyena laugh. I changed direction and ran past them through the trees. I could hear Becky and Elena already inside, working as a team.
George had gotten new life back in his bones, and leaped for the upper wall of the entrance. He pushed himself up, but I chose one down the path while Rikus and Meg stayed to distract Sammy and Dean. If I knew Taylor, she was already inside with George.
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