Her Dragon Protectors

by Lilly Wilder

  I took the torch from him and picked myself up, wincing as I did so. I was moving a little more easily than I had before, although it was still a struggle. I took my blanket with me, wrapping it under my arm, and held the torch in my other hand. The flame illuminated a circle around me, and when I reached the mouth of the cave, I saw that Finn was sitting there with his head in his hands, no doubt brooding about what had come to pass.

  I walked into the cave and put the blanket on the ground. The spring was a small lake at the rear of the cavern. The water shimmered. There were buckets and bowls placed around. I went to the edge of the spring and placed the torch in a bucket so that it still provided light, for the moonlight was not really strong enough to penetrate the darkness this far back. I sank to my knees and the first thing I did was cup my hands into the water and brought it up to my face. I gulped it down and gasped, pausing a little so that I didn’t choke on the water. It was fresh and cool. I would have preferred it to be warm, but beggars can’t be choosers.

  I splashed some water on my face and felt the shock of the cold water. Then, I slowly peeled away my clothes. I looked back to make sure that Finn wasn’t there to see, but secretly hoped that he was. I dipped my toe in the water and gasped, but I needed to wash. I slowly and gradually lowered myself into the water, my naked flesh being swallowed by the calm pool in the cavern. I dipped my head underneath and felt instantly refreshed, and then rubbed the water all over my body. There didn’t seem to be any soap around, so I had to make do with clear water, but it still felt good to wash away the grime that had accumulated on my body as a result of the efforts of the day.

  The water reached the rise of my breasts and lapped at my shoulders. I massaged the weariness out of my muscles, reaching deep down to my thighs, and I remembered what Finn had told me about swimming. I stretched out my limbs and swam through the lake, closing my eyes and enjoying the feeling of freedom that came with it. I reenacted my dream and pretended that I was a dragon flying through the sky, although it wasn’t the same because the water offered more resistance than the clear air. However, I did manage to lose myself, and for the time being, I was able to imagine what it was really like to be a dragon. I forgot about all the troubles that plagued us and about the threat of Zerinthor.

  I was interrupted from my reverie by a cry of anguish and an angry flutter of wings. My eyes widened in fear and my heart almost jumped out of my chest. I heard a loud roar and I knew that it wasn’t Finn. It must have been Zerinthor. He’d found us.

  13

  My mind was panicked and I wasn’t sure what to do. Finn hadn’t told me this was a possibility, although I supposed I should have thought about it. If this was Zerinthor’s domain then he would know if there were any intruders. I thought about hiding in the spring. I doubted that Zerinthor would check in here. He only cared about Cal and Finn, and he had them already. Finn had told me to hide as well, but it wasn’t in my nature to do nothing.

  I swam to the edge and pulled myself up. Water trickled from my hair and my naked body. I quickly rubbed myself dry with the blanket. The heat from the torch licked at my body as well. I pulled my hair between my hands and wrung it out. The water splashed against the floor and for a moment I froze, afraid that Zerinthor would hear and come in to burn me alive with his fiery breath.

  I put on my clothes and looked around for anything I could use as a weapon, but about the only thing I had was the torch. I held it in my hands and crept towards the entrance of the cavern, slowly and carefully. I tried to hide the torch from view, and then looked out, and what I saw shocked me.

  Above where the fire had been was a huge black dragon. Its wings were impossibly long, and he blotted out the stars behind him. Only smoke and ash remained where the fire was, his wings having evidently put the flames out. His mouth was cruel and twisted, his eyes as dark as obsidian. His claws were sharp and when he growled it sounded like cracking ice. I froze in terror and fear crept down my spine at the sight of this behemoth, and I suddenly realized how much danger Cal and Finn were in.

  I tore my gaze away from Zerinthor and looked at the man standing before him. Finn looked tiny compared to the beast, and I wondered why he hadn’t turned into a dragon yet, but then I realized. Near him was another shape, and as I looked at it, I saw that it was Cal’s body lying there. He looked bruised and battered, and Finn was leaning over him, trying to protect him from Zerinthor’s fury.

  Zerinthor beat his wings and Finn braced himself against the powerful gust of air. Even I had to hold myself against the cave lest I lose my balance. The power of his wings was amazing, and I dared not wonder about the rest of his fury. The torch I was holding flickered out, and I was left in the dim light of the moon.

  My breath caught in my throat as I wondered what I was going to do. Zerinthor towered above the two men. Finn was in the midst of transforming when Zerinthor opened his mouth, ready to blast them with his fiery breath. Finn turned into a dragon and leapt up, and although he had seemed massive when I had ridden him the previous night, he looked so small against Zerinthor. He leaped up before he had transformed so that he was airborne when he made the final transformation, and lunged towards Zerinthor. Zerinthor was taken aback and reared back to try and defend himself against Finn’s attack. Finn aimed for the tail and snapped his jaws around it. Zerinthor yelped in pain, a blood-curdling cry that made the sky crack, and then he looked down at Finn enraged.

  Finn held onto Zerinthor’s tail with everything he had and tried to pull Zerinthor away. I felt elation in my heart because it seemed as though it was going to work, but then Zerinthor flicked his mighty tail and it was clear that although Finn had caused the great black dragon pain, Zerinthor was still in control. The flick of his tail made Finn jerk around on the end, and eventually he lost his grip. Finn went flying back and took a few moments to regain his composure. His wings flapped about and his body twisted, but he took too long to recover and Zerinthor swiped at Finn with his tail, knocking the blue dragon back with such force that he slid across the plateau.

  Finn struggled to his feet with anger in his eyes. He twisted his long neck to glare at Zerinthor, but there seemed little he could do. Zerinthor had them both in his sights. The black dragon made a noise that sounded like a grim laugh, reared his head back, and I knew that if he did what he planned Finn and Cal would be burned to a crisp, and I would be left alone on this plateau with no hope of ever getting justice for them.

  Out of instinct, I rushed forward and screamed at Zerinthor. Finn jerked back to look at me and ran towards me, and then stopped, as if torn between defending me or Cal from Zerinthor. I ran out, fighting against the pain in my muscles, but that seemed secondary than my need to protect Cal and Finn. I waved my arms to get his attention and the black dragon descended on me like the shadow of death.

  He came over me and I looked up at his eyes. He narrowed them, and for a moment I thought that everything was over. I realized then that I had no plan, and had only flung myself in harm’s way. But Zerinthor didn’t immediately attack me. Instead, he tilted his head as though he recognized me. Behind him, Finn had crept up and clamped his jaw around Zerinthor’s tail again. The black dragon cried in pain, but it didn’t do anything to tear his gaze away from me. Instead, it did quite the opposite. Zerinthor leaned down, seeming to ignore Finn’s attack. I stood there, motionless, as Zerinthor peered at me. I got a closer look at his deep dark eyes and it was as though I was staring into an abyss. When I looked into Finn or Cal’s eyes something magical had happened, but when I looked in Zerinthor’s, I felt nothing but dread.

  Then, something happened. He reared back and roared at me. The sound was deafening and the blast of air knocked me off my feet. My ears were ringing as I fell to the floor and the heat of his fetid breath lingered around me. I looked up, afraid that this was it, that Zerinthor was going to kill us all, but instead he flew off, his black wings like sails as he swooped back towards his lair.

  Cold sweat trickled
down my brow and I looked toward the horizon, panting breathlessly. Finn turned back into a man and came rushing over to me, helping me to my feet. I was still trembling. He helped me over to Cal, who was just regaining consciousness and breathing heavily himself. At least he was okay, although he looked much the worse for wear. His eyelids fluttered open and he smiled when he saw me.

  “What happened?” I asked, not taking my gaze off of Cal. “Why did Zerinthor fly away? I thought for sure he was going to kill us.”

  “Because you look like her,” Cal said in a hoarse voice.

  14

  “What do you mean I look like her?” I turned to Finn. “What does he mean?”

  I furrowed my brow in confusion and my gut was twisting. Finn had the look of a guilty man. “Finn,” I said tersely, demanding to know what was going on.

  “Dovalia. You look like her.”

  “So I reminded him of his dead girlfriend? But that means…you knew about this.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “You basically brought me as bait.”

  “No, not bait. And if you remember I wasn’t going to bring you along at all. I knew it would be too dangerous, but you had to insist, so when you decided to come along with me, I thought there was a chance this could work. I wanted you to stay out of sight, but if you came out then I hoped that he’d see you and he’d be confused, and maybe we might have a chance to live, which, as it turned out, was exactly the way it happened.”

  “You used me,” I said, feeling betrayed.

  “No, I didn’t, it was a coincidence. You were the one who wanted to come up here. You knew the risk.”

  “The risk! I didn’t know any of this! There was just the same chance that he would have taken me away to his lair and I’d have never been seen again!”

  “I wouldn’t have let that happen,” Finn protested.

  “It didn’t seem like you had much choice. You were hardly in control of the situation back there. None of us were. This is Zerinthor’s territory, and he just proved that he was king of this castle, and what do you think will happen now? He’s only going to come back, and either he’ll be angry at you for dredging up memories of Dovalia or he’ll want to take me as some twisted replacement!”

  “But we got Cal back,” Finn said, and the relief was palpable on his face. I saw how haggard he looked and remembered the way he had so fiercely defended Cal. This was a man who would do anything for love, anything to get his man back, even if it meant putting me in danger. When I realized that my heart softened for him, but I didn’t get a chance to say anything because Cal rose and interrupted me.

  “Wait, don’t blame him,” Cal said in a wheezing voice. “It’s my fault. This is all my fault.”

  “What do you mean?” Finn asked. We both helped Cal up into a sitting position. I was overjoyed to see him again, although it looked as though he had been through a very hard ordeal. He coughed sharply and his hands shook. His face was bruised and his clothes were tattered. It looked as though he had borne the brunt of Zerinthor’s ire.

  “Danni,” he began, taking a few moments to compose himself. “When we met, I saw the resemblance between you and Dovalia. It brought back all the memories, all the pain, and I knew that I couldn’t leave it. I sought out Zerinthor, sending him a message because I wanted to make it right. Finn, I know how badly you’ve taken it since the community broke apart. You lost yourself in the human world and its part of the reason we broke up, and it’s all because none of us handled our grief properly. I couldn’t let it continue any longer, and when I thought of Zerinthor alone in his lair, brooding, I knew that he’d never come to terms with it. I wanted to bring him closure, to put the past behind us so that we could come together again, but it didn’t work. He lashed out at me. He’s never going to listen. I’m sorry. I tried so hard to get him to see sense but he’s beyond it.”

  “I thought you might have been doing something stupid like that when I found you in the forest. So I guess I caught the end of you little conversation?” Finn said.

  Cal bowed his head.

  “You know, you’ve had some really dumb ideas at times, but this is by far the worst,” Finn said, exasperated.

  “Maybe it was, but we can’t go on living like this Finn. We’re broken, the lot of us. When Dovalia died it changed things for all of us, not just Zerinthor. I know you felt it too. Things changed between us, and I hated how they did. Sometimes it was like watching other people make mistakes, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop myself from making them. I wanted things to go back the way they were, back to when we were happy,” Cal said. The more he spoke the stronger he seemed. After what I’d seen I realized that the ability to heal quickly was something innate to the dragons. They could take a lot of punishment, and it made me think about how much pain Dovalia must have been in when she died to have her powerful body completely broken.

  “I do as well, but you should have come and spoken to me first. Going to Zerinthor wasn’t something you should have done without consulting anyone.”

  “I didn’t want you to get hurt. I knew that if it went wrong Zerinthor would have taken me away. I thought it was best that I went alone. I was only trying to protect you.”

  “Well, we both know how that works out. I don’t get you Cal. I thought you had what you wanted? You were the one who finally got to leave.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t how I wanted it to go. There’s been a shadow hanging over us ever since Dovalia died. I wish we could turn back time and do things differently, but I don’t know how to get back there. I’m just trying to fix this aching that’s in my heart.”

  Finn was quiet and turned his back to Cal. I was sitting in between the two men and had stayed quiet so far, not wanting to get involved in their dispute because it was fueled by a lot of history that I simply wasn’t a part of, but it was clear that the two of them weren’t going to get through this without my help. Even so, there were other more pressing concerns, like us being stuck on a plateau at the mercy of Zerinthor.

  “Wait,” I said, standing up. “There’s time enough for this later. What are we going to do about Zerinthor? We can’t very well stay here. What if he comes back?”

  “He won’t come back, not tonight. He’ll brood, and he’ll be concerned with the feelings that seeing you conjured up in him.”

  “Then let’s fly away,” I suggested.”

  “No. We should speak to Zerinthor again and make him understand. We should try and help him,” Cal said. Both Finn and I looked at him, mouths agog, shocked that he would suggest such a thing.

  “Are you crazy?” I gasped.

  “What is the meaning of this Cal? Do you have a death wish? You know that Zerinthor can’t be reasoned with. Surely you must know this is suicide. I’m not going to let you make the same mistake again,” Finn said.

  “If it is a mistake, then it’s mine to make,” Cal said softly. There was something about his features that was resigned, as though he had seen his destiny and accepted it resolutely. “We are supposed to be a brotherhood Finn. There are few of us left in the world. The dragon population has dwindled. We must take care of one another.”

  “Even if it’s Zerinthor? He’s chosen to live up here in the mountains, and you know that he wouldn’t be doing the same if one of us had died in that storm.”

  “Perhaps not, but he is still deserving of our pity. I know what it’s like to lose the person I love, but if you were killed? Zerinthor was never perfect, but if there’s any hope of saving him it will have to come from us. It’s time to try and rectify the mistakes of the past. If we had sought him out after Dovalia died…”

  “He didn’t want to be sought out! He turned away from us remember, not the other way around,” Finn yelled.

  I looked at the two men with concern etched upon my face. It seemed as though they were opposed to each other and wouldn’t come to an agreement about this.

  “Cal, Finn,” I said softly, “Why
don’t you both sit down and we’ll talk about this calmly. You both miss the old days and you want to look out for each other and the other dragons, but Cal, surely you can see why Finn has his reservations? Zerinthor didn’t look like he was much in the mood for talking.”

  Finn scoffed at this.

  “No, he didn’t, but Finn, do you remember that Zerinthor wasn’t always like this? Sure, he was a bully and he thought he was better than everyone else, but he took his duties seriously and didn’t you ever wonder why Dovalia loved him?”

  “Of course I did. We all did.”

  “There must be something noble in him that she saw. I want to do this for her sake as much as ours or Zerinthor’s. Can you imagine what she thinks at the moment, seeing us all cast adrift? We’ve both known that something’s wrong. It took me time to figure out what it was, but when I did, I knew there was only solution, and the solution is found up there,” he pointed to Zerinthor.

  “I don’t know what happened to you Cal. I thought you were happy, living your human life, making new friends.”

  “I was never happy without you Finn, but at the end of our relationship neither of us were happy.”

  Cal and Finn stared at each other for an interminably long time. The tension was high between them, and as I stood there caught between the two of them, I thought that either they’d feel an explosion of passion and rekindle their love, or they’d end up fighting. I was suddenly aware of the chill and turned around to strike two stones together, trying to make a fire like Finn had done earlier. I knocked the stones together, but nothing happened, and finally I must have struck them at the wrong angle because when I brought one stone down upon another it was knocked out of my grip and jumped to the ground, distracting the two men. Finn came over, glowering, and made a spark instantly. The flames burst into life and took hold of the kindling, licking the wood that Finn had placed there. The warmth spread out and I felt instantly relieved. Then, I turned to both men.