by S. T. Bende
“Bodie!” I shrieked.
Everything shifted into slow motion then. My shoulder and face hit the ground, the metallic flavor of copper filling my mouth as I bit down hard enough on my tongue to draw blood. Sharp rocks dug into my cheek as I skidded across the gravel. All the while, Bodie’s flailing form descended into the darkness. His feet disappeared first, then his legs and his torso. Bile filled my gut as I stared into his horror-filled eyes, and his shaking hands disappeared into the void.
Just like that, Bodie was gone.
CHAPTER FIVE
“NO!” I SHRIEKED. “BODIE!” I scrambled to my feet and charged at the portal. No way was my friend going to face the darkness alone. I pushed off the balls of my feet and leapt into the air, holding my breath as I prepared to drop into the spinning black mass. But as I soared across the space that separated me from the portal, it crackled loudly and disappeared. One minute, a swirling black hole was gouged deep into the earth. The next, I landed hard on the solid, gravel path.
No. No. No!
I clawed at the earth, my fingernails digging into the rocky surface in a fruitless attempt to dig my friend out of a non-existent hole. How had this happened? How had a dragon, a freaking possessed dragon, kicked one of the sunniest souls I’d ever met into a black void? And how were we supposed to get Bodie back when the hole was completely and totally missing?
Somewhere in the haze that was my consciousness, I registered the rumble of Tore’s voice and the clash of Johann’s swords. But I couldn’t think. Bodie was gone—gone. He’d taken the kick so I wouldn’t have to. And if the heat at my back was any indication, the monster who’d sent my friend to God-knows-where had turned its focus onto me.
I pivoted on one heel to stare down the scaly creature. His nostrils flared as another stream shot from its nose, landing in the exact spot I’d last seen Bodie. Screw you, dragon. A fresh surge of anger flared the Liv to life in my chest. A furious cry tore from my lungs as I ran the energy down my arms and into my palms. I charged the dragon as my whip formed in my hand, then cracked the blue rope at the creature’s head. It caught him by the throat, so I wrenched my arm behind me to force the dragon onto its knees. When he was pinned down, I freed my sword from its sheath and pierced the monster’s gut. Pearlescent-colored blood spilled along the hilt to cover my hand. I didn’t care that the dragon had belonged to our dwarf-guide’s brother or that he had allegedly been possessed and might not be acting of his own will. The only thing I cared about was making sure the monster who sent my friend away died. Right now.
A blur of movement caught me off guard, and my blood-covered sword slipped out of my hand before I realized Tore was there, taking the beast down with me. His features were set in an expression of complete and total shock, and he rammed his sword in and out of the dragon with a rage that matched my own. We would end the thing that took Bodie from us. And we would do it together.
It wasn’t long before the dragon keeled over on his side, life seeping out of his body while blood oozed down our arms. My rage didn’t ebb until the moment the monster died, when its crimson eyes morphed to a striking emerald green before flickering to black. In that moment, I understood why Milkir had been confused when I’d said it had red eyes. Bodie had been right—the dragon hadn’t been born of the darkness; it was changed. Possessed. The re-emergence of its emerald eyes, even for that brief moment, proved Red was more like Big Blue than the black terror Tore and I had fought down the mountain. And unlike Black, whose death had yielded just one orb of darkness that rose from his body, Red’s lifeless form now had two orbs that floated just above his chest. One was black, the other blue. But the orb wasn’t just blue; it was the most brilliant cerulean I had ever seen. My breath caught in my throat when I realized why the color was so familiar. It was Liv. This dragon’s soul was made of the Liv. No freaking way.
Red was just like me on the inside, but he had been possessed by an evil entity and forced to attack. The dragon hadn’t been the one who hurt Bodie—it had been the other, darker entity. Rage bubbled inside of me for a whole new reason, and I focused all of my anger on the likely culprit: Red’s possession. Nott needed to die, for so many reasons.
Beside me, Tore withdrew his sword from the dragon’s corpse and leaned over to put his hands on his knees. His chest rose and fell with the effort of breathing, and I knew he was barely holding it together. The black orb must have sensed his vulnerability, because it flew through the air, heading straight for Tore’s heart. Oh, hell no, orb. With one flick of my wrist, the light whip surged in my hand. The darkness scurried backward in a hasty retreat, but I ran forward, lashing until I’d hacked the orb into tiny pieces that dissipated into the Nidavellir sky. When I was sure it wasn’t coming back, I turned my attention to the blue orb. It wasn’t moving. Instead, it hovered over the dragon’s heart as if it wanted to go back.
Hold on. Could it go back? Was that what had happened to me when the darkness overtook me back on Jotunheim? At the time, I’d been so sucked under, I’d lost all sense of who and what I was. Had my own Liv left, then somehow been returned to my body? Could I do that for the dragon?
Purely on instinct, I reached out to touch the blue orb of the dragon’s soul. At the contact, a pulse of energy ran up my arm. No freaking way. My Liv and his Liv were connected. The dragon and I were one.
“Allie.” Tore’s voice broke with raw emotion.
“We’re the same,” I said. There was no other way to explain it.
As I spoke the words, a fresh surge of energy hit me. A wave of sadness hit my heart, and I knew it came from the blue orb of the dragon’s soul. It wasn’t Red’s time to die—I knew that deep within my being. And I sensed I had the power to correct what Nott had done.
Even if I had zero idea how I was going to do it.
Acting purely on instinct, I dropped my sword and placed both hands on the orb. It molded into a semi-solid mass in my two outstretched palms.
“Allie.” Mack’s deep voice came from my side. He must have joined Tore while I’d been communicating with the orb. I turned my senses outward, where clangs of metal let me know that Milkir and Johann continued their fight against the night elves. In all likelihood, they needed our help.
But, so did this dragon.
“I need to make it right,” I told my protectors. I bent down and gently nudged the blue light against the dragon’s chest. When it hit the creature’s skin, the orb turned into a molten liquid. The blue flowed into the scales, through the veins, and covered the dragon’s entire body in a glowing, azure hue. As seconds ticked by, the dragon’s wounds began to heal. The deep cuts Tore and I had inflicted with our swords repaired themselves, the gaping wounds knitting themselves back together as I tried not to gawk. Red remained immobile. But his veins glowed beneath his scales, and his wounds shrank so they were barely noticeable. The dragon was healing—the Liv was restoring him!
A fierce wind pulled my attention to the sky. Big Blue had returned and now flapped his wings fifty yards from his comatose comrade. The dragon’s green eyes studied Red; then his gaze settled on me. Oh, God. But any animosity Big Blue may have felt toward our party seemed to vanish as the creature hovered beyond the ledge, looking at me as if awaiting instructions. My necklace pulsed, sending a fresh surge of strength through my torso. Without thinking about how ridiculous I must have looked, I pointed to where Milkir and Johann battled the night elves and shouted a command at Big Blue. “Go help my friends!”
Big Blue bobbed his head up and down, then flapped toward the battle going on down the hill. He dove down, taking one night elf at a time in his massive jaw and crushing each with a loud crunch. In no time at all, the attack party was nothing more than a terrible memory. Good riddance.
A snuffing at my feet brought my attention back to Red. The glow had faded from the dragon’s scales, and his eyes fluttered open. They were green again, thank God. He was free of the darkness. Red drew shallow breaths as he pushed himself onto his knees and drop
ped his head low in submission.
“Allie?” Mack’s voice dripped with confusion. “What’s going on?”
I honestly didn’t know. It was Tore who chimed in with the most improbable answer imaginable.
“Allie can control them,” Tore whispered.
What the hell did he just say?
We didn’t have time to deal with whatever was happening with the possibly controllable dragons. Now that they weren’t trying to kill us, we needed to figure out how to get Bodie back before heartbreak ended us all. I stumbled to the spot where the black hole had been and turned to Tore. “Can we reopen the portal?” I asked.
Tore shook his head, then rubbed the heels of his hands against his red-rimmed eyes. “Only dark magic can do that. And we don’t have any allies who can wield it.”
Grief squeezed me from the inside out. Tears pooled in my eyes as my chest rose and fell with barely-contained panic. “Where did it take him? I saw some red inside the black hole. It looked like a fire waterfall—maybe lava?”
“Sounds like Muspelheim.” Mack’s voice was robotic, devoid of the Zen-like peace I’d grown accustomed to.
Johann, Milkir, and Big Blue moved slowly up the pathway. The guys flanked Tore and Mack, while Big Blue knelt beside Red and lowered his head. Tore quickly brought Johann and Milkir up to date on what had happened to Bodie. I didn’t bother to greet any of them. The only thing I could think about was getting our friend back.
I paced back and forth, trying to ground out my fear in measured steps. “Okay.” My voice shook as I fought back tears. “We’ll kidnap some dark magic users and make them re-open the portal. Or wait! Screw the portal, we can just go to Muspelheim on our own. Heimdall! Open the Bifrost.” I screamed at the sky, my voice distorted by the wrenching sobs that finally escaped my gut. Once they began, they came in earnest. And as I shouted Heimdall’s name over and over, the words became one continuous wail. Hot tears streamed down my face, and I fell to my knees. Bodie was gone. It was my fault. And I had no idea how to get him back. “Please, Heimdall,” I hiccupped. “Take us to Bodie.”
Tore crossed the space and swept me into his arms. His hard chest pressed against mine, absorbing some of my pain. “Shh,” he soothed, stroking my hair.
“He saved me,” I managed between sobs. “The dragon was going for me, and Bodie pushed me out of the way. He got pushed into the portal in my place.”
Tore’s lips brushed against my ear as he spoke in low tones. “We can’t go to Muspelheim now. Nott will be expecting us to go after Bodie, and she’ll have an army waiting for us. We need more warriors. And we need the Alfödr’s ravens to scout the realm to pinpoint Bodie’s location. Muspelheim is a huge realm; going in blind would get us nowhere but dead. We need a plan.”
“She’ll kill him!” I whispered into Tore’s chest.
He pulled away from me and wiped the tears from my cheeks. “No, she won’t.”
“How do you know that?” I desperately wanted to believe his words, but they were even more improbable than the twin dragons currently bowing at my feet.
“Because.” Tore slid one hand around my lower back and closed his eyes. “Now she has the perfect bait to get you.”
CHAPTER SIX
AS WE MADE OUR WAY down the mountain, my heart was nearly as heavy as it had been on Jotunheim. Logically, I understood why we couldn’t follow Bodie straight to Muspelheim. But leaving him alone with the night goddess while we worked out an extraction plan was terrifying. I could only imagine the kind of torture she was putting him through in the name of interrogation, or just plain cruelty. My friend would suffer horrors beyond my wildest nightmares, simply because he’d protected me from a monster.
I couldn’t wait to fuse Gud Morder and shove it through Nott’s sorry excuse for a heart.
My remaining protectors, the dwarf, and I made our way down the narrow trail, with Red and Big Blue flapping their wings alongside us. Mack had told us non-related dragons were territorial, so from the way these two flew close together, I could only surmise they shared some DNA. They seemed protective of us. It was comforting to know that if we were attacked again, the dragons could straight up kill the perps before we could whip out our weapons. Or so I hoped.
As we shuffled down the hill, Milkir repeatedly turned around to shoot me curious looks. No doubt he was wondering how I’d brought his brother’s dead dragon back to life. I was wondering the same thing myself. The Liv didn’t exactly come with an owner’s manual.
“Uh, Milkir?” I asked as the dwarf shot me his umpteenth look. “Why isn’t your brother’s dragon flying away? I get that yours lives with you and all, but Karvir’s dragon is free now. He could leave if he wanted to. Right?”
Milkir skidded to a stop so quickly, I nearly slammed into his back. Big Blue and Red flapped backward, hovering beside us, while my protectors exchanged confused looks.
“What’s going on?” Tore asked.
“I’m not sure.” I turned to the scarlet-hued dragon and waved my arms in the air. “Go on! You’re free!” I called. But that only seemed to encourage the creature. Red flew closer to me, the thick lids of his eyes pulling back as if he was . . . amused?
“That no how dragons work,” Milkir said. “My brother’s dragon bond to him when he was child. They were one for many years. But now . . .” The dwarf pulled on my arm and stood on his toes so he could study my eyes.
“What’s he doing?” I whispered to Mack.
“Just go with it,” Mack whispered back.
Tore didn’t seem to like the dwarf’s fascination with my face. He stepped in front of me, separating us. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Her eyes,” Milkir whispered in awe. He turned to study Red. “And dragon—she have same eyes as girl. Look!”
Okay, so Red was a female. My bad.
“Look at me, Allie,” Tore commanded. I stared at him, and he studied my eyes before glancing at the dragon. His brow shot up as he muttered, “Impossible.”
“What’s impossible?” I asked.
Milkir reached around Tore and gently touched my hand. “You bond to dragon. Animal’s green eyes now streaked with blue. Your blue eyes have small green streak now.”
“But Allie’s not a dwarf. She’s a demigod.” Tore rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not possible for her to bond with a dragon.”
“A demigod.” Milkir raised his palms. “Who knows what your kind capable of?”
I backed up a step. “You’re saying I’m bonded to a dragon? Through my eyeballs. Is this for real?” Commence full-fledged nervous breakdown . . . now.
Tore exhaled slowly. “Apparently. Not the eyeball part, but you’re bonded, all right. And if what I understand about dragon culture is true, you and this red one here are bonded for life.”
“What?” I screeched. My breathing grew shallow, and I wondered if I was due for another panic attack. It had been at least five minutes since the last terror-inducing incident; surely the universe owed me another reason to freak out.
Mack walked back up the hill so he stood just behind Milkir. “This is a good thing, Allie. A real honor.” His yoga voice had returned.
It wasn’t having the desired effect.
“I live on Earth. I can’t have a pet dragon!”
Milkir scowled. “Is no pet. Is best friend. Warrior. Life partner.”
“Right.” I lowered my voice an octave. “I just . . . I can’t have a dragon warrior life partner. Can we undo it?”
Milkir looked like I’d slapped him. “Most dragons only bond once in lifetime. This one chose you to replace my brother. She do anything for you now. You discard that?”
When he put it like that, I felt like a total jerk. “No. I’m . . . I’m honored. It’s just, well, I live with humans. We don’t keep dragons back home.”
Milkir looked from me to Red and back before stroking his thick, crimson beard. After a moment, he snapped his fingers. “I feed her for you, let her live with me. But you come once week
to fly her. Or you call her on golden horn, and she find you. Horn no have boundaries. Dragon no have boundaries, either. Her soul chose you,” he said by way of reminder. “She bonded to you. Not me. Without connection to you, her soul die.”
Good Lord. Now I was in charge of keeping the dragon alive? I couldn’t even keep a lucky bamboo alive! And what was this about riding her? What we really needed to focus on was getting Bodie back from wherever Nott’s portal led. This was hardly the time for animal husbandry.
Mack chose that moment to speak on my behalf. “Allie will visit weekly. And we will figure out a place to keep the creature long term. Your brother’s dragon will not suffer for lack of connection.”
I glared at Mack. Visions of this dragon living in the complex sent a throbbing ache through my skull.
Milkir motioned to the dragon. “She reborn. New Master. New name.”
My brow furrowed. “Huh?”
Tore sighed. “He’s saying you need to name her. Got any ideas?”
Oh. “Uh . . . well . . . What kinds of names do dragons usually have?”
“Dragons regal creatures, deserve regal names. Your dragon’s sister—my dragon—named Drakira,” Milkir offered.
Drakira? Seriously? I raised my eyebrows at Red’s sister, silently apologizing for thinking she was a boy, too. She snorted a tiny fireball. Nope. That dragon was most definitely named Big Blue. I’d figure out a way to tell Milkir later.
“Huh. Well, what if I went with a, uh, non-regal name?” I hedged.
Milkir furrowed his brow. “Why you do that?”
“Because I’m really not that creative of a namer.” And also, because I didn’t want my dragon to be saddled with a name that made her sound like a reptilian pop star.
