Dragon Guard

by Kit Bladegrave

  “We’re stopping so soon?” I uttered as two dragons grabbed me by my wrists and pulled me back towards my cage. “I was just getting started.” I was tossed unceremoniously into my cage and remained right where they left me. “Benji? You okay, kid?”

  “You’re freaking crazy, you know that?” he told me, but laughed as he said it.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  I shut my eyes, thanking whatever gods would listen for letting me get through another day.

  Two down… I had no idea how many more to go.

  Nine

  Everest

  Two days. Two whole days since Slade hadn’t come back and I’d seen Fredwin, covered in blood, come out of a portal. I’d been trying to keep busy tending to the wounded and working on brewing more potions, both for healing and fighting, as well as sparring with Tank, as much as he was able.

  Jared’s arm was nearly mended thanks to the salves, and he would be back with me in the training room soon enough, but none of this was enough to distract me for long from worrying about Slade.

  “What are we doing in here again?” Tank asked, leaning in the doorway of the supply depot.

  “I told you, there has to be proof,” I muttered, crouching down and running my hand over the floor. “Magic leaves traces, right? Even a portal?”

  “He can’t do magic. Jenny and Preston tested him when he and Elsa were told they would have to stay,” he reminded me, just as he had the night I told him what I saw. “There’s no proof because it didn’t happen, alright? You’re just seeing things.”

  “I’m not crazy.” I pressed my palm to the floor harder and shut my eyes. “Come on.”

  I knew there were spells to reveal what magic had been cast, but I hadn’t gotten that far. Jared and Amelie, though, they’d be able to do it, especially Jared. I said nothing as I pushed past Tank and went to find them.

  Amelie was working with another witch, and Jared was speaking to Fredwin. I skidded to a stop when Fredwin turned, and his eyes narrowed, but he wasn’t about to scare me off. Whatever he was up to, I was going to find out.

  “Jared, can I steal you away for a minute?” I asked lightly. “Tank’s been showing me some new moves, and I need someone to test them out on.”

  “Yeah, sure. Think my arm’s up for it.”

  “Great. I just have to snag Amelie, too. Mom wanted her to get something out of storage for her,” I explained and started to walk away.

  “What new moves?” Fredwin asked curiously, and I paused.

  Should I call him out right there in front of everyone? Tank’s warning glance behind Fredwin told me not to do anything stupid. I, in turn, pleaded for him to come up with something to say before I opened my big mouth.

  “Knife techniques, nothing too crazy,” he said and slipped a dagger from the sheath at his side. “I can show you if you like.” He tossed the knife over and over in his hand, in front of Fredwin’s face.

  I could’ve kissed that damned dragon.

  Fredwin’s face paled as he held up his hands and laughed. “I never was one for knives. I’ll catch up with you later then. Jared, Everest.” He walked away and stopped to talk to Elsa.

  Was she in on it, whatever it was? Jared asked if we were really working on knives again today, but I ignored his question, told Amelie I needed her too, and together the four of us set off for the supply depot.

  “I take it we’re not training,” Jared said as I closed and locked the door. “What’s going on?”

  “You’re acting weird,” Amelie agreed.

  “I have to tell you both something and I didn’t want us to be overheard. Just bear with me,” I pleaded, then launched into my story of what happened the other night. Neither one looked like they believed me by the end of it.

  “Everest, come on,” Jared said firmly. “He’s one of the good guys.”

  “And he’s a Hollow Well, not a Black Diamond,” Amelie pointed out, as if I hadn’t thought of the obvious. “Are you sure you weren’t just sleep-walking and dreamt you saw all of that? You sure it was even Fredwin?”

  Why couldn’t they just trust me? Bad enough, no one was letting me go after Slade, but now my friends stared at me like I was slowly losing my mind. “Fine, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll drop it and not say another word about Fredwin if you do me one favor.”

  Tank was muttering under his breath, probably curses, but I tuned him out.

  “What do you want us to do?” Amelie asked.

  “You can search for traces of magic, right? Just check this room, please.”

  Amelie looked at Jared, holding her hands up. “I haven’t mastered that spell yet. You?”

  I was close to begging when Jared sighed and moved to the center of the room. He shook out his hands and closed his eyes, raising his hands outwards. Red mist came to life in his palms as he whispered under his breath. The air grew heavy with his magic, and red tendrils slowly crept outwards, taking in every crevice and inch of floor they could reach. They soared around the room until all I saw was red glimmering magic.

  Jared’s eyes shot open, and the magic zeroed in on the back wall, forming a perfect circle.

  Exactly the size of a portal.

  “No,” he whispered in disbelief as the magic continued to swirl around that spot. “He can’t use magic. He told us himself. He’s not a hybrid.”

  “I guess he lied.” I went to the wall and reached out my hand. “You think we could somehow recreate what he did? See where he went?”

  “It doesn’t work like that. This won’t even prove it was him who cast it, but if you said you saw him,” he went on, talking over me when I started to argue again, “then I believe you. We have to tell the others.”

  “Tell them what exactly?” Tank asked seriously. “That someone you told us we could trust, is sneaking around creating portals?”

  No one said anything against him. I knew Fredwin as little—or as much—as Tank did and looked to Jared and Amelie to offer up some sort of explanation. They appeared just as lost as I had been the night I saw him walk out of the supply depot. He’d had blood on him. Wherever he’d gone, he’d hurt someone, or worse. I thought back over my short time at school, trying to picture a moment when he made me feel as if he wasn’t being truthful… or maybe he’d been a bit too easy to accept what was happening to us all. He’d been angry at first when he saw Slade, but what if that had nothing to do with him being a Shadowguard and Fredwin a Hollow Well.

  What if it was something far worse?

  He was nice, almost too nice the more I considered his position. A young professor, the cool one who all the students liked. What better way to get close to potential targets? I paced away from them as more ideas raced through my mind. The assassins in Jersey, they hadn’t attacked me until the day before Edgar came to collect me, when he told me I’d be going to school there. The attack on campus hadn’t happened until after I started… and after I announced in class that I was a Descendant. The only part of this that did not make any sense was the fact that he was a Hollow Well. There was no faking that as far as I knew.

  “Tank,” I said slowly, “these Blood Moon Priests you all keep mentioning, they’re an old coven, right?”

  “Very old, why?”

  “Are they warlocks, or are some of them dragons, too?”

  “What are you saying?” Jared snapped. “You can’t think Fredwin is a Blood Moon Priest.”

  Did I want to think it? No, but why else would a Hollow Well lie about being able to do magic and be creating portals in the middle of the night?

  “Tank, we need to tell Jenny and Preston,” I urged.

  He hung his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And if you’re wrong?”

  I frowned. “Then I’m wrong, and we can at least figure out why Fredwin’s been lying about his magic.”

  His being a Blood Moon Priest was a stretch, but some facts were just adding up almost too perfectly. Slade himself told me briefly one time they were a very el
usive society, one he swore had been dead and gone for centuries.

  And the first time he saw them was a few streets from campus.

  “Alright, you three stay here and keep this door locked,” Tank ordered. “I’ll be back.”

  “You sure about this?” Jared asked me, Amelie still shaking her head, not willing to admit I could be right.

  “I haven’t been sure about anything since I found out I was a damned Descendant.”

  He laughed bitterly at my words and the room fell silent.

  There was nothing else to do except wait.

  I thought of Slade, picturing his annoyed smirk at my stirring up trouble. If only he was here in person.

  I hadn’t been this nervous in a long while, and nothing Amelie or Jared said helped to calm me down. Fredwin, a professor I trusted and one I knew the others did too, might wind up being a traitor. How was this not going to make everything worse?

  “Everest, you’re freaking me out more than I already am,” Amelie complained.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled and forced my feet to stop. “What’s taking them so long?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Jared grunted. He moved to the door, pressing his ear against it to listen.

  I held my breath for those first few seconds when he shook his head, hearing nothing, but then his eyes widened, and he hurried backward just as a heavy fist pounded on the door.

  “It’s Tank, open up.”

  Jared did as ordered, and Tank bustled in, followed immediately by Aiden, Jenny, and Preston… holding a very disgruntled Fredwin with his hands tied behind his back. Elsa and Mom brought up the rear.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Fredwin said, but Preston jerked his body to make him shut up. “Is this how you treat everyone trying to help you?”

  “Help us? If you really want to help us, why are you hiding your magic?” Jenny snarled.

  “Magic?” Elsa asked appearing genuinely confused as she laughed nervously. “Fredwin has no magic. He never has. He’s a Hollow Well and nothing more. I can vouch for him. He’s worked for me since he graduated. Is this what this is all about?”

  “Are you sure about that?” Jenny pressed and grabbed Fredwin by his shirt front, ignoring Elsa’s question.

  I was too stunned to speak at first. When I thought they were bringing Fredwin in to talk to him, I assumed that’s what we’d do. Talk. Jenny was in full-on interrogation mode, but when I finally decided to open my mouth to tell her to take it easy, Tank grabbed my arm and shook his head hard.

  I glowered at him, but his serious face said if I wanted to find out the truth, letting Jenny and Preston get to it their own way was best. After all, this was the Underground, their safe haven, and if it was threatened, if the people here were suddenly in trouble, I figured I’d be pissed off too. I bit my tongue and stood by to watch.

  “I can’t use magic,” Fredwin repeated, sounding innocent enough. “I could never do magic.”

  “We have witnesses,” Preston stated.

  Fredwin’s eyes narrowed at me immediately.

  “Everest, tell us all exactly what you saw that night and please do not leave out any details.”

  Every set of eyes turned to me, but it was Fredwin’s that held a warning, but what could he do in a room full of dragons and witches? His hands were bound, and he had nowhere to go.

  I crossed my arms in defiance of his threatening gaze and nodded.

  “I was up late two nights ago when I saw magic being cast from this room, very bright magic signifying a portal had been opened,” I started to explain.

  Fredwin tugged on Preston’s grasp, but the dragon wasn’t letting him go anytime soon.

  “At first, I thought it was the enemy, but then I saw Fredwin walking down the hall, coming from this room, the only other one down this hall.” I swallowed hard, remembering how much blood had been on that rag and on his hands. “He was covered in blood.”

  Aiden’s eyes narrowed in fury as he growled. Jenny’s hand went to the dagger at her hip, and a deadly silence fell over the room.

  “That proves nothing,” Fredwin said calmly, far too calmly.

  “And later,” I went on, “he threatened to hurt me if he caught me spying on him again. Jared came here with me today to see if we could find magic used and, well… Jared?”

  He nodded, and recreated the same spell he used before to find if someone had exercised magic in the vicinity. The trail lit up without hesitation, and we all watched those tendrils focus on the rear wall again, forming into a perfect circle for a portal. They swirled around, lighting the supply depot, and Fredwin’s innocent smile disappeared in a shot. His eyes flared red, and I yelled a warning a second before a bright flash of light exploded outward from his body, sending a shockwave through the depot.

  I slammed into the shelves behind me, taking them with me to the floor as I heard curses and shouts around me.

  “Fools,” Fredwin bellowed in a voice booming with power. “You’re all fools.”

  When I managed to find my feet, hauling Amelie up with me, I was shocked to see our professor standing before us, power whipping his hair back, and blood-red robes covering his body now. His eyes were still bright red as he glared at us.

  Power crackled at his fingertips and the second Jenny charged him, he unleashed it.

  A whip shot out and slapped her sword from her hand then snatched her around the throat. It threw her across the room.

  Preston snarled in fury, charging in next with Aiden and Tank at his sides. The latter yelled for Jared to get help and he bolted from the room, dodging around Fredwin’s attack on his way out.

  Jenny hadn’t moved yet, so I crawled my way to her, Amelie and Mom right behind me.

  “Jenny,” I said urgently, tapping her cheeks to try and get her to wake up.

  After a few tries, her eyes shot open and she held a hand to her throat as she hacked, sitting up. She glared over my shoulder at the fight happening and with a growl, was right back in it.

  The three of us anxiously watched the fight, but I was trapped between wanting to help and too worried I’d get in the way. Sparring was one thing, but Fredwin was casting so quickly, I could hardly keep up with every move he made. And the level of magic was impressive.

  I hated to admit it, but he was strong and watching him attack had a strange hypnotic grace to it. The power moved without his saying a word, blocking blows and tripping up the four attackers without even having to try hard.

  Elsa had been creeping up closer, her hands moving in a circular rotation before her, blue mist seeping out of her fingertips as her lips moved. Whatever she was doing, I hoped she’d do it fast.

  A tendril of red magic grabbed Tank around the middle and pinned him to the wall. He shouted and clawed at it, but was stuck. Aiden went down next, taking a heavy hit to the head and dazed from it, Fredwin easily kicked him in the chest, sending him to the floor, where his head hit again, and he fell unconscious. Jenny and Preston tag-teamed him, each moving in to attack as the other blocked. Luckily, Elsa was nearly there.

  She held her arms high over her head, ready to attack when Fredwin suddenly spun around and shot every tendril of power right at her. She gasped, and I was horrified, as they seeped into her body. Jenny and Preston, frozen in shock by the sight, yelled and went to attack his exposed back, but bounced off an invisible shield.

  “You will not defeat me,” Fredwin sneered.

  I had no idea what he was doing to Elsa, but then her skin grew deathly pale, and a blue light shimmered beneath her skin.

  “No,” Mom whispered in terror, and I felt her shaking beside me. “No.”

  “What’s happening?” Jenny demanded.

  “He’s taking her power… he’s stealing it.”

  Just like what happened to Mom when she’d been kidnapped not by Shadowguards, but by Black Diamonds. They said it was a demon who stole her powers, but I had a feeling it was these Blood Moon Priests instead. Priests just
like Fredwin.

  My feet were moving before I realized it and I launched myself at Fredwin. Mom and Amelie yelled at me to stop, but it was too late.

  Power flooded my hands, and as the necklace grew so hot against my skin, I expected to be burned. I threw myself at the invisible shield protecting Fredwin. It resisted for a second, but I pushed harder, and the magic shattered around him. Elsa crashed to the floor, weakened and still horribly pale as Fredwin spun around to face me.

  Dark tattoos covered his face now, and veins protruded grotesquely on his cheeks and forehead. This was nothing like the man I’d met on my first day of classes. He was a monster.

  “You think because you are a Descendant you can stop me?” he hissed.

  “I think we all can stop you,” I spat and threw a punch.

  I honestly hadn’t expected to make contact, and a strange hush fell over the room as his head flew back and remained there for a full ten seconds.

  I bounced on my feet, willing my power to stay with me as Fredwin slowly brought his head back and that red gaze bore into me. His hand lashed out faster than I could see, and he grabbed my hair, yanking it back in his fist as I screamed in pain. Something cold and hard was at my throat in the next second, and he was yelling at them all to shut up.

  “You have been far too much trouble,” he complained, dragging me back with him towards the rear wall. “Far too much, but no longer. I am bringing you to my master so we can finish this.”

  “Let her go,” Mom yelled fiercely, but Fredwin clicked his tongue in annoyance.

  “Mahlia, you have nothing to threaten me with, and you know it. One move, and I slit her throat right here, right now,” he warned as Jenny and Preston both moved.

  Fredwin shifted, and I heard him mutter a stream of guttural words. A bright flash of power lit up the room again, and I knew there was a portal there, waiting to take us both. I couldn’t go with him, not now. If he knew where we were, then others did, and soon they’d be coming for everyone here. All those innocent Shadowguard dragons and witches that had finally been free of the Black Diamonds would be taken as slaves again, or worse. And me? Who knew what Radnak wanted with me, but I wasn’t about to make this easy.