Dragon Guard

by Kit Bladegrave

  “This war won’t last forever, and you’re not going to win.”

  He ran his tongue over his pointed teeth as he glared at me. “Is that right, Slade?”

  I crossed my arms, not saying a damned word. I knew how he worked. Liked to rile his prisoners up before he dragged them out of their cages to throw them around. Throw them off balance, and then he’d tear them apart, mentally, beat them down physically. He made it an art form, torturing those under his care.

  “You think because you joined this Light Guard as you call yourselves, that you’re what, important now?” he asked. “You are the son of two worthless slaves who did nothing except lead themselves into an early grave. Your sister? She was nothing but a dreamer and a traitor who died for nothing.”

  I growled at the mention of Victoria, but still said nothing.

  “You are going to die just as they did, a failure, not even worth the dirt on my boots.”

  “Last I heard,” I said, pushing off the back bars to wrap my hands around the front ones, “Radnak wanted me alive.”

  Nikolai stiffened. “Who told you that?”

  “A few of your assassins who came after me back in Virginia. They were to take me alive so no matter what you’re going to do to me, Nikki,” I leered, and he gnashed his jaws at me, “you can’t kill me. That is up to your beloved king.”

  He leaned down, so his face was right against the bars near mine. “Then I guess I have permission to do everything else, don’t I? Get him out of that damned cage.”

  “Benji,” I said quickly as they hurried to unlock it and get me out, “you close your eyes no matter what, you hear me? You don’t listen, and you don’t watch.”

  “Slade,” he cried.

  Then there were hands reaching in and pulling me out.

  “Slade. No! Let him go,” he yelled and ranted until I heard a sharp cry of pain. I fought against the three that held me, straining to see Benji. He lay slumped at the bottom of his cage, not moving.

  My hands were bound by chain, but they left me standing in a ring of Black Diamonds. I stared past them all, searching for any more familiar faces, trying to see who was here, or what they were planning.

  Tents stretched on in all directions. We weren’t in Radnak’s dimension, though. The air was too clean here, and the stench of death was absent. If they weren’t taking me back to the stronghold, then what were they planning?

  The line of dragons parted again, and Nikolai appeared. He’d rolled his sleeves up and had nothing but his bare fists, for now. It would change at some point. I was careful to keep a calm, blank look on my face, but inside, I was wishing I could disappear.

  Pain. That’s what Nikolai’s gaze promised me. Pain and agony until I thought I was going to die. Then he’d start it all over again.

  “Where are your headquarters?” he asked as he grabbed my hands by the chain.

  “The moon,” I replied with a shrug.

  His first backhand slap made my teeth rattle, and I spat out a mouthful of blood. He hit at least ten times harder than Tank.

  “Where are your headquarters?” he repeated, and this time didn’t wait for me to answer before he landed another blow. “Where?”

  “Go to hell,” I growled, and when he raised his hand for another, I timed it just right and ducked with a smile. “Have to be faster than that, Nikki—”

  He buried his fist in my gut, and I gasped for air.

  “You know how this goes, Slade, answer, and the pain stops.”

  “Bullshit,” I spat. “It doesn’t ever stop, not with you.”

  My gut screamed in agony as he landed another solid hit, followed by a punch to the face that threw my head back. I would’ve been on the ground if he hadn’t been holding the chain. My knees threatened to buckle, but going down this early would only make matters. I pictured Everest, imagined her standing by my side with that cute frown she’d get when I made her mad during our sparring sessions. I remembered how she risked her life, time and again for me when we were attacked, throwing herself onto the enemy like a wild fury.

  I closed my eyes for a few brief seconds and felt her arms holding me tight as she kissed me.

  “Get your head in the game, boy,” Nikolai growled as he shook me hard. “We’re just getting started.”

  “You sure you’re up for this?” I asked with a mocking smile. “Look like you’re getting tired, old man. If you need a breather just ask, I don’t mind giving you a break. I can take it easy on you if you want me to.”

  He backed away, and for a confused minute, I thought he was going to walk away, but then he spun, and his booted foot clocked the side of my head.

  I hit the ground with a grunt as my vision blurred and my ears rang. There was no chance to recover. He kicked me in my gut once, twice, and I gasped, trying to get air back in my lungs before he came at me again. I rolled out from under his stomping boot, and it slammed into the ground an inch away from my face.

  “So, you got some fight left in you still, good. That’s really good.”

  He yanked me up to my feet and punched me three times in a row before he shoved me away from him. There was no staying upright this time. I sank to one knee, clinging to consciousness by sheer force of will alone.

  “You’re going to give me something,” Nikolai snarled, wiping sweat from his face. “Otherwise this day of yours isn’t going to end.”

  “Guess it’s a good thing I don’t need much sleep,” I managed to reply, adding one of my charming smiles. “What about you, old man? Don’t want to forget your beauty sleep. That ugly mug of yours could certainly use it.”

  His hand wrapped around my throat as he lifted me off my feet. I clawed at his flesh 'til my fingers were drenched in his blood, but he only squeezed harder until black spots appeared in my vision. I kicked against him, but he was too big for me to get the advantage, especially as weak as I was now.

  The world was fading away, even the yelling of the other dragons disappeared until there was just the rushing sound of my blood pumping, drowning everything else out.

  I’d come close to dying several times, and each time was always different. It amazed me and terrified me.

  Then I was falling and clutching at my throat as I swallowed gulps of air.

  “By the time I hand you over to Radnak,” he informed me, kneeling down and pinching my chin painfully in his meaty fingers, “you’re going to know exactly who you are. You are nothing. Nothing, but a dirty-blooded dragon. Slade of the Light Guard,” he scoffed, shoving me away from him in disgust. “How could you ever be more than a worthless slave?”

  I stared at him as he started to walk away.

  Then I laughed. Not just once; I laughed until I cried. Laughed until my sides protested, unable to handle the strain atop my current wounds. I cackled with mirth, glancing around at the Blood Diamonds surrounding me.

  If only any of them knew the truth and how wrong Nikolai was about me, none of them would dare lay a finger on me.

  No, they’d deliver me straight to Radnak and let him have the honor of beating me to a bloody pulp before he killed me.

  “Shut up,” Nikolai seethed.

  All it did was make me laugh louder.

  “I said be quiet.”

  He backhanded me, but that did nothing to stop me.

  Again, and again, he pounded his fists into my face, my gut, but through the pain, I found a way to force the cackling sound out of my mouth until I was shrieking like a madman.

  Fools, they were all fools.

  Nikolai bellowed in rage, and the last thing I saw were his two fists slamming down into my face.

  “Everest.” I bolted upright and grimaced as agony flooded over me. “Damn it.”

  “Slade?”

  “Benji?” I tried to see him, but one of my eyes was swollen shut, and I had to turn completely around to find him, reaching a hand through the bars of his cage into mine. I took firm hold of his tiny hand and squeezed it. “Are you alright? Looks like you got a
shiner there.”

  His right eye was blackened, and his face looked bruised.

  He shrugged. “Not my first. I’ll be okay. What are you thinking, ticking him off like that?”

  I tried to smile, but stopped when I realized I’d split my lip, and fresh blood dripped into my mouth. “Don’t worry, kid, it’s all part of the plan.”

  “The plan to get yourself killed?”

  “He can’t kill me, no matter what he says. Remember what I said. Don’t listen to them.”

  The bars were horribly uncomfortable, and I gave up trying to find a better position, settling for mentally checking over my injuries. A rib or two were definitely broken; my face was bruised and swollen. I had no major broken bones, but this was only day one. I’d managed to throw Nikolai off his game, but I doubted I’d be so lucky to do it a second time, or a third. However long I was going to be stuck here.

  “Who’s Everest?” Benji asked. “You were talking about her in your sleep.”

  “Was I now? What did I say?” I dreamt of her, I remembered seeing her face hovering over mine, felt her hand touch my cheek and scolded me for being an idiot. It was almost like she’d been right here with me. I was damned glad she wasn’t.

  “Nothing much, just whispered her name a lot. She your girlfriend or something?”

  We were certainly something, Everest, and I. A very unlikely pair. “Something like that, yeah.”

  “You love her?”

  “Yes,” I said without a second’s hesitation, and my heart sank. “No matter how much of a pain in the ass she is sometimes.”

  “Can you tell me about her?” he asked.

  When I glanced at him, could tell he wanted a distraction. He clung to the bars, looking very close to crying and being mad at himself for it at the same time. Poor kid. I’d been right where he is before and wished there’d been someone like me in the cage beside mine.

  “She’s not your typical girl I guess,” I started off. “She’s a witch for starters, and those are always trouble.” That got a small laugh from him. “She’s got this black hair that shimmers in the sun and looks almost blue. And her eyes, yellow-green eyes filled with so much passion and determination… more than even she knows she has.”

  “Is she a dragon, too?”

  I nodded. “She’s a Shadowguard, just like us. And she’s strong, one of the strongest people I know.”

  I fell quiet, thinking about what she must be doing right now in the Underground. Probably freaking out and demanding they come back for me. I prayed with everything in me that Tank wouldn’t let her do anything stupid. She was important to Radnak, and we had to keep her out of his grasp as long as possible.

  “Do you think they’ll come for us?” Benji whispered after a while. “Come save us?”

  The answer to that was no. Jenny and Preston would want to, but they lacked the manpower for a rescue mission against unknown numbers. One dragon’s life was not more important than the rest, even when that dragon was me. I was sure to make that clear when they first learned who I was and wanted to give me a full guard detail.

  I’d declined and ordered them not to do anything to give away who I was. That was how I wound up with Tank. No one else was allowed to know, in order to prevent them from doing something foolish like coming after me. I only mattered if we managed to win this war and only then would my true identity be revealed. There was no point in letting anyone know sooner. Then they would feel obligated to save me, and I’d told Jenny and the others when they first rescued me, I wanted my name to be kept a secret. I’d seen enough of our kind being driven to their deaths because of a ruler.

  I was not going to go down that same road.

  But I wasn’t about to tell Benji the truth right now either. No kid needed to hear that we were alone, and we would be alone unless a miracle happened. “Yeah,” I told him and reached for his hand again. “Yeah, they’ll come for us. Just you wait and see, kid. They’ll burst into his camp and set them all alight.”

  “You know fire-breathers? On our side?” he asked eagerly.

  Sadly, I did, but that was if there was no other option left. I nodded all the same, hoping when he found out I lied, he wouldn’t hate me for it. “I do, and you know who’s going to lead them? Everest. She’s going to come soaring in here with her fire, and her magic and these bastards won’t even see her coming.”

  I doubted he believed every word I said, but it made me feel better, thinking of Everest arriving on wings of fury and unleashing her wrath against Nikolai. A darker part of my mind said I would never see her again.

  “Get him up,” Nikolai yelled through the camp. “Now.”

  “Slade,” Benji whispered, clinging to my hand.

  “Don’t worry, kid,” I said as the Black Diamonds moved to drag me out again. “I’ll be fine. Just do what I told you and remember, they’re coming for us.”

  He was holding tightly to the bars as they dragged me back into the circle, not bothering to bind my hands this time. Funny how weak they thought I really was. I remained on my knees, not bothering to make them see me as any different.

  “Now, Slade,” Nikolai said, approaching me with a dagger this time. “Let’s try this again. Where are your headquarters located?”

  “You might want to try another question.”

  “Hmm, perhaps, or perhaps I’m just not asking you the correct way.” He moved his hand, motioning someone forward and I heard Benji yell. “So, we’re going to try a new tactic today and see how it goes.”

  I spun around, anger overflowing when I saw two dragons drag a kicking and screaming Benji from his cage. “Let him go.”

  “If you answer my questions, we won’t have any trouble.” But the truth was evident in his eyes. He was looking forward to this, hurting Benji. He was just a child in this war. An innocent. The two dragons dragged him to Nikolai, and he grabbed Benji’s hair in his hand, yanking back hard as the boy winced.

  I made to move towards him, but then the dagger was at his throat, and I froze.

  “Now, Slade, your headquarters?”

  “Leave him out of this,” I demanded.

  Benji winced when Nikolai pressed the blade harder against his throat. He lifted his chin high though and shouted, “Don’t tell them anything.”

  “Hush, boy, or I’ll slit your throat right now,” Nikolai warned. “Answer me, Slade.”

  Why couldn’t I have been captured alone? “You let him go, and I’ll tell you,” I tried.

  Nikolai’s lip twitched in annoyance, and he drew blood and a cry from Benji.

  I gritted my teeth. “Stop, damn it.”

  “You can end this anytime. Just tell me where your headquarters are.”

  All my training told me what I needed to do, but how was I supposed to stand here while a kid was put to the knife in front of me? I growled my rage, but Nikolai only raised his brow, his hand constricting ever so slightly on the blade. My time to make a decision was running out, fast. He wouldn’t wait forever.

  My gaze fell to Benji’s, and I held it steady, pleading for him to understand and forgive me.

  But what I saw caught me completely off guard. It was like I stared at a younger version of myself. Benji might be scared, but he wasn’t scared of dying, not for the cause our people shared. He squared his shoulders and told me without a word no matter what happened, he would do his clan proud. He would die to keep them safe.

  And so would I.

  They should’ve bound me when they had the chance.

  I roared as I shifted, rushing towards Nikolai and Benji at the same time, praying that the blade would not slice his throat open as they fell.

  Fully shifted, I snagged Nikolai in my claws and took off into the sky with him in my grasp. He bellowed orders, but I wasn’t about to let him go, not yet. We were going for a ride first, and I needed a better idea of where the hell we were. My wings pumped, and I felt him trying to shift in my clutches. I squeezed him harder, letting him feel a bit of pain for once,
and I soared over the camp.

  Mountains were to the east of us, but there were trees in every direction. No buildings at all in sight. No indication of where the hell we were.

  “Kill the b—” he yelled, and I squeezed again, cutting off his words with a gasp.

  I faltered, weakened from yesterday’s beating, and he sensed it. I tried to finish him off, but Benji’s scream had me whipping my head around to see him backing away from several dragons closing in on him, swords drawn.

  I dropped Nikolai and dove for the ground, tucking my wings into my sides, readying to barrel right into the mass of Black Diamonds, when a horrible sensation—as if I’d just been electrocuted—hit me and I convulsed, dropping out of the dive.

  By the time I hit the ground, lying between Benji and the other dragons, I was shaking uncontrollably. I thought I’d felt pain before, but this was excruciating. I tried to shift, growling furiously, but nothing happened.

  Red crackling magic washed over me in continual waves.

  Nikolai shifted into his dragon form long enough to touch safely down before he was back to a man.

  “You are certainly much stronger than your sister, I’ll give you that much,” he told me. His boot slammed into my face.

  Benji yelled at him to stop.

  “That’s for thinking that you, of all dragons, could kill me. Me. Who do you think you are, huh? Who?”

  I almost let it slip, my anger and the pain blinding me, but I bit my tongue at the last second. The seizure slowly came to a stop, draining the last of my strength from my body.

  I might’ve failed at killing Nikolai, but Benji was still alive and being carried off to be thrown back in his cage. That, and I learned who else was at this camp.

  Blood Moon Priests.

  One, possibly two. Only they would have enough power to force a dragon out of its true form and keep one out of it.

  A figure dressed in dark red robes, head covered in a hood, appeared in the midst of the mass of dragons. Power matching what washed over me crackled at his fingers, and he hissed, but said nothing else.

  “Throw him back in his cage,” Nikolai ordered. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”