Rivals (Dragon Reign Book 1)

by Kit Bladegrave

  She believed her family was dead at the hands of dragons. I didn’t understand how it would be possible. I would’ve heard of an order going out to destroy a family. Had they been traitors? Victims of another family rising to power within a clan? We did our best to act in non-violent manners, but no race was immune to such atrocities.

  One way or another, I would seek out the truth and get her to understand and trust me, as she should.

  The ruins towered over us and we reached their shadow, but the ground dipped, and we had to wade through more bones, piles, and piles of them. Kate whispered a stream of curses under her breath, but Craig helped keep her on her feet. We had to keep moving. The temperature, which was already frigid, dropped again and the air puffed out in little clouds before our faces.

  “Nearly there,” Craig said, urging us on faster.

  The hill towards the ruins was steep, but we pushed through and finally, pressed our backs against the scorched black stones. Nothing came out of the trees to kill us, and no shadow-plague beast appeared. For the moment, we were safe. I glanced at the stones surrounding me and carefully ran my fingers over the black soot marks on them.

  “Dragon fire,” I murmured. “My kin were here.”

  “Told you.”

  I pursed my lips at her cold tone, but didn’t respond. If dragons fought and died here, I would know of it, so why did I not? Once we returned to the dragon world, I would confront my father about this place and try to find some much-needed answers.

  Kate and Craig could assume we were going back to the human world, but despite how horribly wrong this mission had gone, orders were orders. They were coming back with me, even if I had to drag them unconscious through the portal to do it.

  Kate was a dragon, and she belonged with the dragons. We would sort out the mess of her family once we were home.

  And Craig, well, as much as I respected him for not killing me, if we tried to hide him from Raghnall, we could potentially start a war.

  “We have to sneak around to an entrance and get inside,” Craig whispered. “Stay as quiet as you can.”

  He led the way, moving around the ruins until we came to an opening in the wall. Stones and debris filled it, but we climbed over. Rocks scattered at our movements, and we froze as the sound echoed loudly across the clearing. We held a collective breath and waited.

  But still, nothing came. Perhaps the half-demon was wrong, and there was nothing here.

  We made it fully into the ruins. The ceiling overhead had been arched before it was destroyed and only parts of the structure remained standing. None of it looked safe, and I waited for our cautious steps to bring it down on our heads. Though being killed by stones was better than being turned into one of those feral plague beasts. My back throbbed in remembrance of the first attack and I did not want to feel that pain again.

  “Where’s the portal?” Kate asked as we spun around in a circle.

  The temple was empty, aside from the few walls still standing, and a large stone altar set in the center of the space. On it were stone holders for candles long since gone. Whereas dust covered every other surface, the altar was clean as if someone took the time each day to wipe it down.

  “It’s here,” Craig whispered, closing his eyes and holding out one of his hands. “I sense it.”

  I watched as he moved around the altar, his hand moving as if it ebbed and flowed with some invisible current.

  Curious, I stepped closer and was taken aback by how strong the power was here. It took my breath away, and I had to steady myself before I could move again.

  “So, yes portal?” Kate asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Craig replied and approached the altar, resting the torch beside it. “We have to activate it.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  “Magic.” He waved for her to join us at the altar and reluctantly she did so, standing at one of the shorter ends while Craig and I stood opposite each other at the longer sides. “Place your hands on the stone.”

  I did it, my hands moving as if drawn by a magnet.

  Craig followed me.

  Kate hesitated. “The bangle. What if it doesn’t let me?’

  “Then you have to remove it,” I told her. “It’s time you embrace who you are anyway.”

  She glared. “Maybe I don’t want to be part of a race that murders families.”

  “Kate, we don’t have time for this,” Craig growled surprising us both. “You can kill him after we get out of here.”

  He looked around paranoid, and just as I was about to ask him what was wrong, I felt the strange shift in the air, too.

  “It’s quiet,” I breathed, but it nearly came out as a yell.

  The ambient sounds around us were gone as if we’d been pulled into a void.

  “Kate, please,” Craig said. “Now or never.”

  She scowled, but set the sword aside and placed her hands flat on the altar. “Now what?”

  “Focus,” he instructed. “Focus on pulling the power from deep within you and pushing it into the altar.”

  She blinked a few times at him like he was crazy. “Seriously? I’ve never done that before. I don’t even know what’s in me, and you just want me to pull on this power?”

  “You are a dragon,” he stated firmly. “You are strong, we’ve all seen it. There is something inside of you, and it’s time you face it. If you want us to get home, you have to let yourself feel, let yourself understand what you are.”

  She looked like she wanted to argue again, but scrunched her eyes shut tight and breathed heavily out her nose. “Focus… focus…” she repeated a few times.

  I did the same as did Craig. I hadn’t been able to access my power, except for shifting since arriving, and feared now we wouldn’t be strong enough to open the portal.

  Then a jolt shot through the stone, and I looked at Craig.

  He shrugged; it wasn’t from him.

  Together, we turned to see Kate’s hands glowing a vibrant blue, her palms melding into the stone as the light crept up her arms.

  Intricate designs that had not been clear before covered her bare arms, traced up her neck and finally her face, ancient runes that matched the same styling as the ones on her bracelet.

  “Uh, Kate?” Craig asked gently.

  “Hmm?” she asked. “Is it working?”

  “Maybe you should open your eyes and look,” I suggested.

  She opened one eye then the other and jumped. “Holy crap. What is this?”

  “That is some very strong magic,” Craig answered. “Very old magic.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. No dragon alive had power running through their veins like what she displayed here. No one.

  “Who are you?” I whispered, confused and in awe at the same time.

  The bangle on her wrist was glowing, too, so bright I couldn’t stand to look at it. Maybe this would work after all.

  The altar vibrated and hummed with the amount of power pulsing through it, and a gust of warm air blew around us.

  Not far away, a black hole appeared and steadily grew larger and larger.

  “Is that it?” Kate asked excitedly.

  “Yeah. Keep holding on,” Craig instructed. “Once it’s holding steady, we’ll let go together and dive in.”

  “How will it know where to take us?” she asked.

  “We guide it with our thoughts,” he replied. “All you have to do is think of Mama Lucy’s house, and that’s where we’ll go.”

  No. No, that was not where we were going to go.

  My plan had been to steer the portal back to the dragon world, but I had not realized how strong Kate’s magic would be.

  Her thoughts would override mine, and we would go where she wanted.

  Guess I was going to have to knock her out anyway; it was for her own good.

  As the gust increased in speed, the portal grew larger, a crack between two worlds. Once it was ten feet in diameter, it held steady, pulsing with magic as it waited for u
s to use it.

  Craig nodded, and we began to pull our hands back when a sharp screech erupted from the altar.

  I winced, covering my ears as something warm trickled from them.

  Kate cried out in pain and Craig growled as we fell away from the altar.

  I expected the portal to shut, but it remained open, powered by the strength of Kate.

  The ground rumbled, stones shaking before starting to collapse around us.

  “We have to go!” Craig yelled, and waved us towards the portal.

  I rushed to join them, but the altar exploded as a dark mass shot upwards into the sky. We went flying, slamming hard into the walls and stones. I slid to the ground, grunting as every part of my body screamed in pain.

  I heard Craig yell, but it was muffled, like someone shoved cotton in my ears.

  Kate was lying not too far from me, but she wasn’t moving. Her eyes were shut, and her breathing looked labored. She was hurt bad; the attack knocked her out.

  I crawled towards her, ready to carry her and yell for Craig to follow as we dove for the portal, but the shadow slammed back down on the remains of the altar.

  A bone-like cracking came from the swirling darkness, and a figure took shape within its depths.

  From first glance, I would’ve said it was a demon, but it was far too large, too broad to be one. When it turned, I caught the silhouette, and my stomach dropped.

  It had the head of a dragon. I stared, transfixed by the sight as it towered over us, red eyes smoldering with fire. Talons stretched at least a foot from its hands, and as it took a step towards us, the ground shaking, the swirling shadows remained with it.

  “You,” it hissed in a voice that made me grit my teeth to hear it grate against my mind. “You should not have come here.”

  “Don’t worry, we’re leaving,” Craig told it, pulling himself to his feet. He held the sword in his hands, thrown with us when the altar exploded. “Let us pass, and we won’t give you any trouble.”

  “But trouble you have already given me.” It lifted its massive head, sniffing the air. “And what a gift you have brought to me. So much power. So much strength! You will not leave, oh no, not now. Now, you will be a sacrifice to my master.”

  “Master?” Craig repeated, and I heard a tremor of fear in his voice.

  His eyes found mine, and we thought the same thing at the same time. If this thing wasn’t the plagued shadow causing the darkness to spread, then what the hell was?

  “You will not touch her!” Craig hoisted the sword as high as he could, but it was a struggle.

  His arms trembled, and I knew he wouldn’t be able to stand against this spawn for long.

  For a brief second, I almost grabbed Kate and lunged for the portal, but he saved my life, and I owed him a debt.

  Whether I liked it or not. If I saved him now, when I turned him over to his father, I could do it with a clear conscious.

  I had no weapon except my dragon form, and I rolled my shoulders as it awoke within me.

  The beast laughed at us both, a dark, evil sound that tore at my soul. “You think you can stop me?” It reached out a hand and without touching me, lifted me off my feet by my throat. It choked me.

  I gasped, kicking my leg trying to free myself, but it held fast.

  Craig charged it with a yell, but he was in the air a moment later, about to join me in my fate.

  “You will die, and then the power will be mine!”

  The pressure on my neck tightened and black dots formed in my vision.

  I couldn’t shift, couldn’t breathe.

  This was how I was going to die, in some Burnt World, beside my enemy.

  There was no hope.

  18

  Kate

  Something was wrong.

  Get up, Katherine.

  Dad. That was Dad’s voice, wasn’t it? But that wasn’t right. He was dead. I shouldn’t be able to hear him, but that was him.

  I tried to open my eyes, but they refused to budge. The air was heavy around me, almost like trying to breathe in water. I wanted to move, see what was happening, but my body refused.

  It’s time. You must get up, Katherine. You must fight!

  “Die now!”

  My eyes shot open, and I gasped for air, eyes wild as my mind tried to play catch up.

  A dark shadowy figure, another plagued spawn, stood in the center of the temple, and gripped in its talons were Forrest and Craig.

  They tried to fight back, but they were losing, and both looked like they were on their last bit of strength to hold on.

  They were going to die. Was I really going to sit here and watch them die?

  The hell I was. I came too far in this crazy life of mine to give up now.

  I made it to all fours, searching for anything I could use as a weapon.

  The sword! It was a few feet away.

  If I moved, I was sure the creature would see me, but I didn’t have a choice. It was move and be seen, or watch as that thing tore them to shreds.

  I moved as carefully as I could, but when my arm was before my face, all thoughts of moving stopped.

  The glowing marks that appeared on my body when I’d touched the altar were back, and they were pulsing in time with my racing heartbeat.

  The bangle warmed against my skin, and I heard Dad’s whisper again that it was time.

  “No, not yet.” I wasn’t ready to see myself turn into a dragon yet.

  What if I couldn’t control it? What if I accidentally wound up killing Craig and Forrest instead of helping them?

  The sword was close. Ignoring the voice in my head, I crawled towards it.

  “You will not fight me,” the plagued spawn snarled and took a large step towards me, shaking the foundations of the ruins. “You will be part of us!”

  “Kate… run!” Craig rasped, pointing towards the portal that was still open.

  “No! I’m not leaving you!” I snatched up the sword, sucked in a deep breath to ready myself for the attack… but nothing happened.

  My feet were stuck to the stones as if someone glued them down.

  I went to swing my body around, but it refused to respond to my commands. “Let me go!”

  Its evil cackle struck me like a slap to the face, and I winced in pain… and then I growled.

  My foot slid forward an inch, but it was still an inch.

  “You are a fool,” the demon snarled. “You will not beat me!”

  “That’s what you think.” I moved forward another inch and another.

  My arms trembled, fighting against whatever power held me back. I managed to bring my arms forward, and the shadows swirled faster around the demon, some lashing out to strike me. I took the pain. I needed to break free of its hold so I could save my friends.

  Well, one friend. Forrest was still up in the air.

  My feet moved again and again and with a final push, my arms glowing so brightly I was blinded, I lunged forward with the sword, slashing at the demon figure.

  It shrieked as the sword struck something solid and Craig and Forrest were released. They coughed and hacked, backing away from the shadows reaching back out, trying to snatch them up again.

  “The portal! Get to the portal!” I yelled as I continued the attack.

  The shadows moved as one, and suddenly, I was trapped within them. The sword was yanked from my hands, and I heard it clatter somewhere far away.

  “Kate!” Craig yelled, but as he made a grab for my hand, the shadow shot out like a whip, slamming him back into the wall.

  “Get out of here!” I twisted and turned as the shadows raced around me, blocking out my view of the light, of the portal and my way home. I thrashed wildly in its grip, but darkness was all I saw. It was becoming a part of me, and I couldn’t break through.

  “Give in,” a voice growled, different from the demon I could no longer see. “Give in and join me, Darrah, Vindicar. It is your destiny.”

  Fight, Katherine! You must fight!

&n
bsp; “I can’t,” I cried back, sinking to my knees as the shadows pressed down around me.

  Yes, you can! You are a Darrah, the last of our kind. Your destiny is only beginning, my daughter. The time to fight is now, so fight!

  I curled up in a ball, waiting for the end to come, but my dad’s words rang through my ears, and I knew what I had to do.

  Yelling with the effort of pushing back, I reached for my wrist with the bracelet.

  With one hard tug, it broke, and the shattered pieces fell powerless to the ground.

  19

  Craig

  My heart was in my throat. I couldn’t see Kate.

  The shadows swallowed her up completely, and nothing Forrest or I did let us past them.

  I growled in fury, feeling my demon side ready to burst through and attack mindlessly, but that would get us nowhere. I reigned it back in.

  “She’s dead,” I whispered to myself in numb disbelief. “She’s dead.”

  Forrest didn’t argue, and it made me feel worse. I dragged her into this mess, and she was dead because of me.

  The portal was on the other side of the ruins. We had to get passed the shadows to reach it, but I couldn’t just leave. Not without knowing for sure if we could save her.

  We needed to distract the plagued demon. Make him leave her be, but I couldn’t make out his silhouette anymore. The shadows were too dense.

  Forrest yelped, and I spun around to see a tendril of shadow wrapped around his legs, dragging him towards the altar.

  “Craig!”

  I jumped to try and grab his arm, but another tendril lashed out, pinning my arms to my side as I collapsed to the ground.

  They dragged us roughly across the stones. This was it. I was going to die and with the only two people who believed me about the plague spreading. About this world existing. It was over, everything was over…

  I blinked and squinted at the ball of shadows. I had to have imagined it. I shook my head, fighting to break free and saw it again.

  The tiniest blip of blue light amongst the darkness.