Rivals (Dragon Reign Book 1)

by Kit Bladegrave

  “Come on, we’re getting you to a hospital.”

  “No,” I growled, and she stiffened, but didn’t run off. “No hospital.”

  “What’s wrong with you anyway?”

  I couldn’t find the words again and pointed to my side. She shoved away my shirt and gasped.

  “That’s a lot of blood. Ok, I’m taking you to my place. Can you walk?”

  “Where… where is your place?”

  “Not far, but there’s a woman there, she can help you.”

  A woman? I needed to know who, or what, but my mind became a muddled mess. My arm draped over her shoulders, and she started to lead me away, but the leather-wrapped sword was on the ground.

  “Wait!”

  “What?”

  I nodded to the sword on the ground. “Can’t… can’t leave it.”

  “Seriously? You could be dying, and you’re worried about that thing?”

  “Priorities,” I mumbled, and she glared at me. I removed my arm and Harry helped me stay standing as she bent to pick it up. I was about to apologize for it being so heavy, worried she might not be able to carry it around, but she hoisted it easily into her arms, and then put my arm back around her shoulders. “Who the hell are you?”

  “That’s not very nice to ask the person helping you.”

  I winced with every step we took back down the park trail and out to the sidewalk. She held me up and carried that sword as if we weighed nothing. If I doubted what she was a few seconds ago, I didn’t any longer.

  But the question remained if she knew what she was.

  I guess I’d have no choice, but to let her take me back to this woman and hope it wasn’t a trap.

  “What is this place?” I grunted when we finally reached an huge old, mansion smack dab in the middle of town. “You live here?’

  “Yes, now I told you to stop talking and save your strength,” she scolded.

  I grinned. “I’m fine, perfectly fine.”

  She glanced worriedly at my side, and I knew that was clearly not the case. “You should’ve just let me take you a hospital,” she muttered.

  “No, no hospitals,” I growled again, but weaker, much weaker. “They don’t do well treating patients like me.”

  “Oh, you mean stubborn jackasses?”

  “You’re funny you know that?” I squinted at her as my vision blurred. “And kind of cute when you’re mad.”

  She opened her mouth to say something else, but I didn’t hear it. It was like someone put cotton in my ears and my legs gave out, too.

  I crashed to the ground, and Harry started licking my face.

  I tried to lift a hand to pet him, but it didn’t reach.

  All I could do was lay there, on a stone path, and stare up at the sky.

  5

  Kate

  “Idiot!” I snapped again as I rushed up the front steps and into the house. “Mama Lucy!”

  “Kate, what’s the matter?” she asked, rushing out of the kitchen.

  A few of the kids followed, but one look at the panic on my face and she sent them back outside to play.

  “Kate?’

  I grabbed her hand and dragged her outside with me. “He needs your help.”

  Mama Lucy’s face darkened the second they landed on the guy. “Where did you find him? What happened?”

  “At the café,” I rasped as she ran to his side and knelt down.

  Harry promptly sat back on his butt watching contently.

  “I tried to talk to him, but he was being rude, and then he followed me, and I saw the blood, but he said no hospital.”

  “Take a breath, Kate,” Mama Lucy ordered gently. “Help me get him inside.”

  “No hospital?” I asked confused.

  “No, not for this. Come on.”

  She grabbed his feet, and I hefted him up at the shoulders. Together, we managed to get him up the few wooden steps, and inside the living room with pocket doors she slid closed.

  Then she was back at his side as he laid on the couch, peeling back his coat and lifted his shirt. The wound looked awful, not that I’d seen many wounds before in my life… or none, really.

  “Is it supposed to look like that? All weird and oozing?”

  “No. Whatever stabbed him was poisoned.”

  “Stabbed? Poisoned?” I stared intently at the guy’s face. “What’s going on? Why would someone stab him?”

  Something pawed at the door, and I rushed to open it thinking it would be one of the kids, but it was Harry, dragging that huge sword behind him by the hilt.

  I picked it up for him, and he trotted to sit by the guy’s head. I leaned the sword against the wall, more concerned with him surviving than the trinket he had with him. Who walked around with a sword anyway?

  “Kate, I need you to grab me a few things from the shop,” Mama Lucy said, poking and prodding around the wound with her fingers.

  I gagged and turned away, not wanting to see what was happening to the wound.

  “Grab a pen and paper, it’s going to be quite a few items.”

  I nodded and rushed out of the room to find a paper and pen. I peeked out back, but all the kids were still out there playing and laughing in the garden, safe and sound and not seeing that ghastly wound.

  I ran back to Mama Lucy and jotted down everything she told me.

  “What is this stuff?” I asked, staring at the list. “I’m not sure they sell this at the pharmacy.”

  “You’re not going to the pharmacy,” she informed me, her brow crinkled so deep I wondered if it would un-crinkle. “He needs different help besides the medicine of men.”

  I blinked a few times before muttering, “What? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “I know, but I have no time to explain right now.” She removed a gold coin from the pocket of her skirt, and my eyes went straight to it.

  The urge to snatch it out of her hands grew in me suddenly. I forced myself to back away.

  “I need you to go to the herbalist shop three blocks over, you know the one.”

  “I’ve never gone there before. You said I wasn’t allowed to,” I whispered, my still eyes transfixed by that gold coin in her hand.

  “And now I’m telling you to go there. Take this,” she said and grabbed my hand, setting the coin in my palm.

  It was heavy, not physically, but I couldn’t describe what it did to me. I rolled my shoulders and broke out in a cold sweat.

  “Kate, look at me.”

  The power in those words made my eyes whip to her, and I shook my head. “Sorry, right, the shop.”

  “Give this coin to the woman behind the counter along with the list. She’ll give you what you need. And hurry. Your friend doesn’t have much time.”

  I tucked the coin into my front pocket and nodded. “He better be nice to me after this,” I muttered and stomped for the door.

  The guy grunted in his unconscious state, but it came out more of a growl. His lips moved, and he mumbled a few words I couldn’t make out, but then Mama Lucy was shoving me towards the door.

  “Is this his dog?” she asked, nodding to Harry sitting by the couch.

  “I think so, at least he said it was. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  The wound oozed more blood as we’d stood there talking and not wanting to waste any more time, I darted out of the house, and sprinted through the streets.

  My mind raced with possibilities of what was going on, but each one was crazier than the last. The guy had been stabbed by someone and carried around a sword, had a weird dog as a companion, and growled.

  None of it made sense, but then again, nothing about these past few days made sense. The dreams had gotten worse, and the sensation that I was not alone in my own body intensified at random times throughout the day.

  I took a deep breath as I rounded the corner and took off again. A tantalizing scent made me come to a dead stop.

  The coin.

  My eyes darted to my pocket, and I placed my hand over it. I wa
nted the coin, wanted to hold it again and keep it… but I couldn’t.

  “What is wrong with me?” I picked up the pace and turned my thoughts back to the guy on Mama Lucy’s couch potentially going to die if I didn’t get back to them both fast enough.

  Whatever else was going on, the only thing that mattered was not letting that rude person die on the couch. I had a feeling he’d come back to haunt me one way or another and never let me forget I failed him.

  I was maybe a block away from the shop when I turned another corner and slammed right into a group of people.

  I took one of them down with me as I yelped in alarm, but somehow, he managed to twist us mid-fall, and I landed on top of his hard, muscled form.

  “Oh God! I’m so sorry,” I gasped, but the rest of the words stuck in my throat.

  He smiled, and it lit up his face, his very smooth, chiseled face. Two bright blue eyes met mine, and I swore they glimmered.

  “That’s quite alright. Are you hurt?”

  “Am I hurt?” I repeated dumbly and shook my head. “No, no I’m fine. How did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “I was going to land on the sidewalk, and then you moved, and I crushed you.”

  “I hardly call this crushing me, and you seem to be enjoying it since you have yet to move… though your elbow is digging into my ribcage.”

  I yanked it away and tried to get off his very comfortable, very warm chest. “Sorry! I’m so sorry.”

  He helped me, and I noticed his buddies standing close by, staring curiously at me. “It’s alright. Not every day a beautiful woman runs into me.”

  “Yeah well, I’m in a hurry and crap! I’m sorry, I have to go!”

  I took off at a run again, but a glance over my shoulder told me the guy stood there with a mix of confusion and delight on his face as he watched me go.

  Damn it! Why couldn’t I have just stayed a few seconds longer? Gotten his number maybe? But that was selfish of me. The other guy I ran into was about to die if I didn’t hurry. There was no time for getting numbers from handsome guys on the street.

  And I didn’t know either of their names.

  Fantastic.

  But that second guy, he seemed familiar. I hadn’t seen him around town before, just like the first one, but he was different.

  I wrinkled my nose as the notion that he smelled familiar passed through my mind. How could someone smell familiar? Was it his cologne maybe? But I was lying right on top of him, and I was pretty sure there was no cologne on that guy anywhere.

  He looked a little older, too. Maybe nineteen or twenty. College guy. Could’ve been in town for something I guess. I shouldn’t know who he was, but that voice in the back of my mind said I did and I should turn back to find him again.

  “No,” I told myself firmly and sprinted the rest of the way to the shop. “Have to save the idiot first.”

  Outside the shop with windows filled with herbs and oils, candles and hanging charms and ornaments, I waited a few seconds longer, to catch my breath, then sweaty and a bit out of sorts, stepped inside the one shop I’d always wanted to go into, holding my breath for what I might finally get to see.

  A bell chimed over the door as I entered and a strong, familiar scent that reminded me immediately of Mama Lucy’s greenhouse hit me hard. Soft flute music played from speakers in the ceiling, and a bubbling fountain filled the center of the shop.

  The walls were lined from floor to ceiling and filled with jars and bottles, wooden boxes, and things with names I couldn’t even pronounce. More glittering charms hung from the ceiling.

  I glanced up at them as I moved slowly through the shop. There was one wall dedicated to books and another to horns and other strange looking items that had to be for show.

  “May I help you?” a voice came from behind me.

  I turned to see a woman with jet black hair and piercing ice blue eyes standing behind the counter. She had a broom in one hand and a red shawl around her shoulders.

  “Yeah, sorry, Mama Lucy sent me,” I said, gulping down my apprehension over being here.

  But the woman’s face softened immediately, and she smiled, waving me forward. “Well then, welcome. You must be Kate.”

  I frowned. “How did you know?”

  She nodded her head towards my wrist and the bangle. “I know many things, child, and I know your time is precious. Why have you come? Where is Lucy?”

  I couldn’t speak for a moment, but remembered the wound on that guy’s side and rushed to pull the coin and list from my pocket. “She’s helping someone. Said we needed the things on the list and to pay you with this coin.” I handed both of them over, though my fingers tried to cling a moment longer to the gold coin.

  She whispered over the list. “My, my, this is interesting. Wait here. I’ll gather what you need.”

  As she disappeared into the back, I meandered around the shop to keep my mind from thinking the worst. If I was too late… if I couldn’t get back to the house in time…

  No, no I was going to think positive. I might not have known that strange guy for long, but I could tell he was a fighter. He’d live. I knew he would.

  I glanced aimlessly around the shop as I walked, but stopped when voices whispered as if people stood right beside me, speaking into my ear.

  I whipped around, but I was alone. The voices were still there, but when I moved towards the counter, they grew quieter. Curious, I took another few steps towards the far corner of the shop, and they increased. I winced at how loud they became when I reached a small table, and everything fell deathly silent.

  Sitting on the table was an intricate looking dagger, gold hilt encrusted with sapphires. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Dragons were etched into the sheath around the blade and even the hilt curved into the tail of one.

  I reached out to touch it and like a magnet, my hand tightened around it. The shop fell away, and I was no longer a girl in a shop.

  I soared high above the town, heavy wings beating the air as I pushed myself higher and higher above the clouds. When I rose above them, I was free.

  Finally, free!

  Wind rushed past me, and I rolled as I soared effortlessly through the air.

  Then the sky darkened and turned red, and screams came from below.

  I flew below the clouds, and the town was gone.

  Instead, a castle stood in its place surrounded by other buildings on fire. People screamed and ran, but from what, I couldn’t see.

  A massive body flew right by me, and I stared in awe at another great beast like me… and another… and another. The sky was filled with dragons, fire shooting from their mouths as they attacked the shadowy force overwhelming the land, but it did nothing to hold it back.

  I tried to flee, but I was no longer in control. A roar erupted from my great body, and the dragons rallied to my side.

  As one, we flew towards the shadow. I opened my jaws, my inner fire shot upward, through my throat…

  “Kate,” a stern voice snapped, and my hand was yanked away from the dagger.

  “What… sorry… what was that?” I asked panicking as I staggered away from the table.

  “I said to wait by the counter.” She didn’t sound angry; concerned, but not angry.

  “Sorry, yeah.” I sheepishly shoved my hands in my pocket and stepped back to the counter.

  “I’ll have your items ready in a few minutes. I recommend you not touch anything else. You might not like what you see.”

  She disappeared into the back of the shop again leaving me to wonder what she meant… and what the hell I’d just seen.

  6

  Craig

  “That does hurt you know,” I growled as fingers poked around the wound again.

  “Stop being a baby,” the woman muttered and pushed harder.

  I winced and bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn’t snarl and snap my jaws at her. “Who are you?”

  “Lucy. I’m the witch who’s trying to
save your life.”

  I sat up long enough to stare at her smirking at me mischievously, and then sank back to the couch. “damned witches. I knew that girl was trouble. Damn it!”

  “Oh, quit your whining. Kate has nothing to do with our kind, yours or mine.”

  “Kate, that’s her name?”

  “Yes, the girl who saved you from dying on the street like a dog.” She dabbed at my wound with a clean cloth and met my gaze. “And you are a half-demon. Why are you here? And why are you carrying around that behemoth of a sword?”

  I wasn’t about to tell my life’s story to a witch I didn’t know. “It’s a long story.”

  “We have a few moments, and I think I have a right to know since you’re running around with my daughter.”

  “Your what?” I sat up at that and studied her face. “She’s not really your daughter, she can’t be.”

  “Adoptive daughter,” she corrected. “But still mine to protect.”

  “Are you in the business of protecting dragon shifters?”

  Her gaze turned dangerous in a heartbeat, and her hand hovered over my wound as we stared each other down.

  “If you try to harm her, I will let you lie here and die. Do you understand me, demon? I have no love for your kind.”

  “No one does, but are you going to condemn me for the crap my kin does?” I lowered my gaze to the wound. “That was inflicted on me by my cousin because I’m a half-breed bastard son. My father put a bounty on my head. Dying here on your couch is preferable to being dragged back there so let me die if you like.” I closed my eyes and settled into the cushions, waiting for her to make her next move.

  She blew out an aggravated breath and dabbed gently at the wound again. “You can at least be honest with the witch trying to save you. Who are you, truly?”

  “Exactly who I said. My name is Craig.”

  “Raghnall’s son?” she asked in alarm. “The demon king’s son?”

  “Bastard son, remember?”

  “And you have that blade with you, why? Are you planning on killing your father?”