Dragon Guard

by Kit Bladegrave

  I waited until Fredwin went to take another step then, remembering exactly what Slade showed me to do if I ever found myself with a knife to my throat. I drew my head back away from the blade and moved my arms up at the same time.

  I fell, grimacing at the agony of his other hand still twisted in my hair, but the dagger was no longer an imminent threat.

  He cursed in surprise, trying to keep hold of me. The dagger slashed downwards, but I was already moving to swipe his feet out from under him, and his hand fell from my hair.

  He toppled, and with one swift kick, I threw him through the portal without me.

  “Close it,” Jenny yelled.

  Jared rushed forward, finally returning with ten other dragons, to seal it before Fredwin could reach back through for one of us.

  “Everest.” Jenny’s eyes appraised me for damage.

  “I’m alright,” I muttered, straightening until the room spun and I sank to the floor again.

  Jared and Tank were there, lifting me between them and helping me out of the supply depot.

  Warmth covered my shoulder, and I glanced down to see the hilt of a dagger sticking out of me. I started to panic, nearly falling over and about to make it worse, when Mom hurried around to me and cupped my face in her hands.

  “Everest, look at me,” she said sternly, and I did, my breathing ragged as I fought back my fear of being stabbed. “If you keep struggling, the wound will get worse. Take a deep breath and calm yourself. Understand?”

  I nodded shakily and forced my gaze to stay on anything but the blade in my shoulder. Each step sent a jarring bite of pain through my entire body, but I never looked at it again. My latest heroics caught up with me, replaying over in my head and by the time we reached a bed in the infirmary, I was giggling deliriously.

  “Should I be worried?” Jared asked, leaning over me as I saw Mom and Amelie bustling around.

  Another dragon helped Aiden along, and he was now conscious at least as they set him on a bed nearby. His head was bloodied and bruised, but otherwise, he looked fine.

  “Everest, you’re still laughing,” Jared mumbled.

  “Sorry, just thinking about what Slade would say right about now,” I mumbled through my laughter.

  “About what?” He was looking at Mom as she returned, and I knew what was about to happen before they even did it. “Everest, just keep talking. What would Slade say?”

  I licked my lips, feeling Mom’s fingers prodding around the wound.

  She grabbed hold of the dagger. Tank moved closer to help hold me down, and Jared took my hand, blocking my view, so all I could see was his face.

  “He’d say I was still being an idiot for throwing myself on an enemy’s back,” I managed, right before Mom pulled the dagger free.

  I yelped and felt a strange rush through my body before I gave in and just let my eyes close as they applied pressure to the wound and Mom called for a salve and more bandaging.

  “He’d be pissed,” I whispered and then felt nothing.

  A tear slipped from my eye. I prayed Slade was still alive.

  Ten

  Slade

  I was jolted awake as the cart I was being pulled in hit a rough patch of dirt road.

  My cage had been loaded up early this morning, along with Benji’s. They were moving us out, away from the encampment, but I hadn’t been able to decipher where we headed.

  Trees closed in on both sides of the road, but the air felt heavy and old. Wherever we were, I seriously doubted it was still in the normal world.

  There were more pocket dimensions than just the one the Council occupied, or the one Radnak used to hide out in for the past several hundred years.

  The Shadowguards, my clan, used to have our own until we were taken over by the Black Diamonds. I hadn’t been alive yet, but I remembered the stories of how our clan had been living peacefully, away from the other clans, trying to start over, when the Black Diamonds appeared and attacked an already weary and beaten down group of dragons. They’d attempted to resist, but it had been futile.

  The only mystery Radnak and his clan of bastards had never been able to solve was what happened to the royal family of Shadowguards.

  I grunted again, trying to rest against the hard bars. What happened to them indeed?

  I glanced around again, but nothing seemed familiar. If this was one of the many domains the Black Diamonds controlled, the chances of my being found and rescued dropped dramatically. I attempted to sit up, grabbing hold of the bars to help, but my arms gave out, and I slammed back into the cage, bashing my head on the bars with a curse.

  A few Black Diamonds walking behind the wagon tittered at me, but I had no energy to care. Every muscle ached, and the latest injuries from Nikolai trying to get anything out of me were fresh and exposed to the elements. Slashes and gouges on my arms and legs.

  Pain, I could take, and thankfully he lost his chance to use Benji against me.

  “Hey kid,” I muttered, seeing Benji slumped in his cage beside mine still as the wagon bounced along. “Benji?”

  “Hmm?” He turned his head and offered a half-smile. “Good, you’re alive.”

  “Yeah, I’m alive,” I said, checking him over to make sure nothing happened to him while I was out cold for the past few—hours, I supposed. “You holding up okay?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll survive.”

  “Yeah, you will,” I swore fiercely.

  At least I hoped he would. If it was the only thing I managed to accomplish before Nikolai killed me, I’d save that kid. He deserved a chance to live a normal life and not have to face whatever was being prepared for us.

  Just last night, Nikolai had been ready to drag Benji back out of his cage when the Blood Moon Priest who forced me from shifting into my Shadowguard form, dragged my torturer aside and argued with him hotly for nearly an hour.

  I hadn’t been able to hear most of the conversation, my head still woozy and hearing cutting in and out, but I managed to pick up enough.

  Benji was not to be touched. The priest had arrived just in time it seemed. Apparently, he was needed for whatever ritual was being planned. That had me sighing in relief. I held out the first time with them using the kid against me, but I doubted I was strong enough to do it again. I’d settled down, ready to tune out the rest of their argument until I heard them mention Radnak and strained to pick up anything I could.

  “We are running out of time,” the Blood Moon Priest had snapped, glaring my direction, but I kept my gaze downcast. “The boy is crucial… Radnak’s ritual… as is the other Shadowguard. We need… reach the required destination alive… be punished.”

  Nikolai had snarled something back, but all I’d caught was muttering about power and blood of the chosen ones. The priest had dragged him further away after that, and the rest of their words were lost.

  “Slade?”

  “Yeah, kid?”

  “What do you think it’s like?”

  I cringed as I resituated my back, but there was no getting comfortable. “What what’s like?” I wasn’t sure what I expected to hear come out of his mouth, but his next words shook me to the core, and if I’d had any energy, I would’ve been attempting to bust through these bars to get us both out and away to safety.

  “Dying. You think… you think the pain lasts long? Or that there’s nothing afterward?”

  I growled at my lack of ability to save him from this moment in time. To think of how many others suffered or were already passed from this life. I should’ve been able to save them, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything without revealing who I was, what I was, and making matters a hundred times worse. But what did I say to this kid? That every person I saw die had not gone peacefully? That they’d been terrified and begged for someone, anyone, to save them? How did I tell him about the screaming and the blood, and the cold touch of death I’d felt a few times myself before someone managed to bring me back from the brink?

  How did I tell him right now, death migh
t be the better option?

  “I told you,” I finally made myself say, forcing a confident smile on my face. “We’re going to get out of this. They’ll come for us, you’ll see.”

  “You don’t have to lie,” he whispered, his lower lip trembling. “I thought I was ready to, back there, but… but I don’t know if I am or not. I don’t… I don’t think I want to die, but if I do then I just want to be ready, you know?”

  I settled back as I reached through the bars to hold his cold, little hand. “Yeah, yeah, I do.” I gave it a squeeze, and he did it right back. “It’s like falling asleep,” I lied. “There’s a bit of pain, but then it fades away, and you’ll be welcomed by your family and friends. They’ll fly down from the heavens, just like the great stories, and they’ll carry you away on their backs. You’ll be at peace.”

  When I glanced over, Benji had tears in his eyes, but he was smiling softly. It was all the comfort I could give him, hoping it would be enough.

  “He’s lying to you,” Nikolai growled. He’d brought his horse back to ride beside the wagon. He leaned in towards Benji and the kid scrambled to get as far away from him as he could. “Death is the most painful thing you will ever experience. It will utterly destroy you from the inside out.”

  “Shut up,” I snarled in warning.

  Nikolai laughed in reply. “I’m merely telling him the truth instead of painting some pretty picture for the lad.”

  “We won’t die,” Benji yelled back defiantly. “We’re going to be saved. Just you wait.”

  “No, I’m afraid you won’t.” Nikolai tapped his fingers on the cage, making a clinking sound and grinning wider each time it made Benji flinch. “You’re going to be used to give our master what he craves, what he’s been searching for these last few hundred years.”

  I narrowed my gaze at him, ready to yell at him again to back off, but at the same time, I needed him to keep talking and explain what he meant.

  “Radnak needs blood,” Nikolai stated. “Blood of the chosen… and their souls. Well, one soul in particular from four very special dragons. Souls he will have in his possession soon enough, and then nothing can stop him. Not even an army of Light Guard or Descendants. He will be invincible and cover this pathetic world in ash and fire once again.”

  Four souls. Which four souls? I wanted to ask, demand he tell me what Radnak planned, but he wouldn’t answer me. I could do nothing, unless I gave myself away. Nikolai seemed more than ready to keep up his game of mental torture, but a bright flash of white light startled the horses, and our convoy came to an abrupt halt.

  I rose, painfully, and stood as tall as I could in my cage, staring in the direction of the light. A portal. Someone had opened a portal. I prayed it wasn’t Everest coming to rescue me, or anyone else for that matter, but was ashamed to see how disappointed I was when it wasn’t someone I recognized.

  A red-robed figure emerged from the trees. Just another Blood Moon Priest.

  Nikolai turned his horse and rode to greet him. They exchanged a few words before the convoy was ordered to make camp off the road for the evening.

  “And get the prisoners off the wagon. Find them something to eat and let them relieve themselves.” Nikolai didn’t sound happy about those orders, but the other priest insisted on our at least being given our basic needs.

  I wasn’t sure what the point was either but wasn’t going to argue. A chance to stand up straight, if only for a few minutes, was better than remaining in this cramped space.

  Benji’s cage was hauled down first, and two dragons let him out, one holding tightly to his shoulder as he steered him into the woods to take care of business. The rest of the dragons pulled the horses and supplies from the convoy, moving deeper into the trees to find a place to make a decent camp.

  I impatiently waited for my turn to be let out, keeping a close eye on Nikolai and the new arrival. The Blood Moon Priest kept his hood up, but I could tell he stared in my direction.

  “Alright, you bastard,” one of the dragons snapped as he came to unlock my cage. “Try anything, and I’ll knock you on your backside and take an ear, got it?”

  I said nothing. I was too damned weak to attack anyway. I stepped to the rear of the cage as he ordered and waited for him to unlock it.

  Nikolai’s voice grew closer, and I turned in time to see him and the Blood Moon Priest walk past the wagon. I froze the second that voice hit my ears. I knew it, not very well, but well enough to make my blood boil in fury.

  “Come on already,” the dragon snapped, reaching in to drag me out.

  I stumbled out and nearly fell off the back of the wagon as the priest continued to talk, either not realizing I was so close, or not caring I heard.

  “We have to move swiftly. I’m sending a message to the encampment, telling them to gather our forces and attack before they have enough time to prepare a counter defense,” the priest stated angrily. “They thought they could attack me and win. They will find out how horribly wrong they were.”

  “You were sent there to find and capture the girl, what happened, huh? She give you too much of a fight?” Nikolai growled.

  Girl. Everest? It had to be Everest.

  “I’ll admit, she is stronger than I anticipated, but she will not get away from me a second time. If she lives after the first time, that is.”

  “You were meant to bring her back alive and unharmed.”

  “She left me no choice. She attacked, and the dagger wound up embedded in her. If she’s as strong as we all assume, she will live,” he muttered.

  Dagger. He’d stabbed Everest with a dagger.

  My hands curled into fists so tight, my fingers screamed in protest, but I didn’t stop. Something inside me snapped, and as soon as I moved a bit further away from the wagon, I was finally able to see that Blood Moon Priest’s face to confirm my suspicions.

  Fredwin.

  Fredwin was a damned Blood Moon Priest this whole time. He’d seen our Underground, knew its defenses and its weaknesses. If he’d managed to create a portal there, then he’d tricked the wards the witches had in place, too.

  He might not be able to make another one to get in, but that meant nothing. With enough dragons, especially fire and ice breathing ones, they could bust in and kill everyone there.

  Including Everest… if she wasn’t dead already.

  “Our men will take the Underground, save the ones who might be useful in the ritual, and slaughter the rest not suited for work,” Fredwin stated as casually as if they were talking about the weather. “You just ensure these two prisoners of yours make it there. We will need as many chosen as we can get for this ritual to be a success each time.”

  “They will,” Nikolai snapped. “Don’t you worry—”

  I launched myself at Fredwin, surprising the guard and he yelled, but it was too late.

  I was on Fredwin, beating his face to a bloody pulp with my hands, cutting off whatever magical bullshit he was trying to throw at me. Each hit did little to relieve my anger, only making it worse.

  “You traitorous bastard,” I snarled. “If you killed her, I will tear you apart, you hear me? I’ll kill you.”

  “Get him off me,” Fredwin yelled in between my blows.

  I clocked him again, right in the nose, grunting in satisfaction when I heard it break, before several sets of hands yanked me backward and away from him.

  I fought to break free, but there were too many, and the exertion of so much energy left me drained. I sank to my knees in the dirt, gasping for air as I glowered at the man struggling to his feet. I spat at him, smirking when it hit him right in the face.

  He raised his hand, red power swirling around, but Nikolai caught his wrist.

  “Alive, remember?”

  Fredwin tore his arm free and adjusted his robes, wincing as he touched his bloodied and soon to be bruised face. “You will wish you hadn’t done that,” he warned.

  “No, you’ll be the one wishing you hadn’t betrayed us,” I snarled. “
Or hurt Everest.”

  “Your love for her will do nothing for you in the end, either of you.”

  I growled as I lunged forward, tugging both dragons with me as Fredwin lurched backward.

  “Get him back to his cage,” Nikolai ordered. “You will not come out again, not until we reach our destination.”

  I didn’t care, but I continued to fight even as they were forced to pick me up and carry me.

  Everest. He’d stabbed Everest, and I had no way of knowing if she was alive or dead. And they were going to attack the Underground. There was no way to warn them, not unless I could escape.

  Repeating my true name in my head over and over, a strength flooded my veins, and I felt every single soul, every living dragon in my clan lend me their strength.

  With a fierce cry, I ripped my body free of the dragons’ hold and took off blindly back down the road, ducking into the woods. I hated to leave Benji behind, but I had no choice.

  So many were going to die if I couldn’t get back to them in time. If I could get back to the encampment taking the portal we used to get here, there might be a way to use one of the portals at the camp and at least get closer to the Underground. Or send a message.

  Shouts echoed behind me, but adrenaline kept me going. My breathing was harsh in my ears, and my legs cried with every step, but I refused to let myself give up.

  The noises behind me were trickling away, and I laughed in disbelief, when a sudden tightening grabbed me around the gut, and I glanced down to find a red tendril of power wrapped around me.

  It tore me off my feet, and I yelled, cursing and sputtering dirt and leaves as I was dragged over rocks and underbrush, my body cut and banged up.

  I came to a stop at the feet of Fredwin. He glared down at me, shaking his head as his power curled back towards him and disappeared into his hand.

  “Pathetic. Do you have any idea as to why Radnak wants this one?” he asked Nikolai, nudging me with his boot.