Dragon Guard

by Kit Bladegrave

  I was too weak and my failure at escaping weighed me down even more.

  “Said he was important. He’s survived much. His blood will do well for this ritual.”

  “That’s about all he’s good for, bloodletting,” Fredwin agreed. He crouched down, grabbing my face harshly in his hand. “I look forward to killing you… and don’t worry, if Everest’s not dead yet, she’ll be joining you in a cage soon enough.”

  I growled, but Nikolai’s boot met my face, and everything went black again.

  When I woke next, it was night, and a chill had set in. I shivered, my chattering teeth having pulled me from my daze. I was left on the wagon with ten dragons surrounding me.

  Fredwin was nowhere in sight, and I curled in on myself.

  I’d failed, I’d failed them all and as soon as I was delivered to Radnak, one way or another the truth would come out.

  I’d be better off as dead then.

  Dead and forgotten.

  Eleven

  Everest

  I hadn’t been out for very long when I came to and found the Underground in a state of controlled panic. Mom was close by, and she checked the wound at my shoulder. My shoulder throbbed in pain and I couldn’t move my left arm too high up without making me wince, but I’d live. Aiden was no longer in his bed and only a few others previously injured and too wounded to be up and about just yet remained.

  “What’s going on?” I asked as Mom finished touching up the bandaging.

  “Jenny and Preston have ordered an immediate evacuation,” she told me. “We’re heading to another outpost farther north. We’ve been working on setting up connecting portals, and once the supplies are gathered, we’ll head out.”

  The shock at finding out Fredwin was a Blood Moon Priest had stayed with me and I still wasn’t sure I believed it, though I saw it happen, felt him dragging me back towards that portal with a dagger to my throat. And now we had no choice, but to get out of here before he returned with Black Diamonds and more Blood Moon Priests to either take us all captive, or kill us. Mom took my hand suddenly and gave it a squeeze.

  “I’ll be fine, really,” I promised her and offered up a smile. “Just tell me where you need me.”

  She hesitated, but glanced around. “The entire infirmary needs to be packed up. Our salves and potions, all our bandaging. I have a feeling we’re going to need all of it soon enough.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” I hopped off the bed, wobbled for a second, and then righted myself. “See?”

  She opened her mouth, probably to argue, but someone was calling her name, needing help with prepping some of the more dangerous potions to be moved. She said she’d come check on me soon enough and left me to my packing.

  My stiff shoulder made it slow going, but I pushed through, using the boxes someone had brought over earlier to pack up and organize the supplies. I hoped keeping my hands busy would keep my wandering mind from obsessing over Slade and what he was going through right now. It killed me not being able to see him, or at least know that he was really alive. I pictured him bloody, or dead even, and my hands stilled.

  We were evacuating Underground, leaving this place. What if he managed to escape and came back here? He wouldn’t know where to find us, and if Fredwin did come here, I doubted they would leave it unguarded. I’d held myself together the last few days only because I’d been concentrating on Fredwin and figuring out what he was up to, but now Slade was the only thing on my mind.

  “Hey,” Amelie said as she joined me. “Collecting boxes. How’s it coming along?”

  “Alright, should be done pretty soon,” I told her, not looking her in the eye in case she realized I was up to something.

  “Good. Jenny asked if you were up for it, would you mind heading to the training room next and gathering up what weapons are left in there? Most of the guards already took what they could carry, but she doesn’t want anything left behind.”

  “Yeah, sure. My shoulder’s feeling pretty good so far.”

  “It should, we’ve got some wicked good healing salves here,” she said brightly, but I heard the tinge of worry in her words.

  “Amelie, you know you could probably return to campus,” I said as I gently grabbed her arm. “Get out of this before it’s too late. And what about your family? They need to know you’re alright.”

  I doubted Jared would leave, but he was a fighter. Amelie was meant to be a healer and sooner or later, I worried this would break her.

  She set down the stack of boxes she’d already picked up with a sigh. “I had Elsa send a brief message along with hers to at least let my family know I was fine and to ignore everything they heard. They trust me. And I’ve thought about it. All this? It scares me, Everest,” she admitted quietly. “But, how could I live with myself if I left all these people who need my help? They need healers, and if this war is really just getting started, I’d rather be here saving lives than sitting in a classroom reading a book. You know?”

  I hugged her as I said, “Yeah, I know. I just don’t think I could live with myself if anything happened to you or Jared. Bad enough Elsa is now just like Mom.”

  I’d seen her walking around, helping out where she could, but could tell she was weak after Fredwin’s attack. Hopefully, Mom would be able to help her through the transition, and she’d be able to keep helping us any way she could.

  “We’re here by choice, Everest. We could’ve easily stayed with the Council or on campus,” Amelie reminded me and picked the boxes again. “I’ll be back for more soon.”

  I watched her leave, noticing how when she passed Jared, he slowed to check in with her and they both smiled at each other in a way that was clearly more than just a friendly grin.

  “Good for you two,” I mused and went back to packing up the rest of the few cabinets in there.

  Once I was finished, I started to head towards the training room when my necklace warmed against my skin. I expected it to stop as it had so many times before, but the warmth turned to a pulse that increased and sent a sudden chill of fear and rage shooting through me.

  Neither emotion was mine, and I staggered into the nearest wall, trying to catch my breath. More rage, followed by a crippling depression struck me like a hit to the gut, and I gasped, the necklace still pulsing against my skin.

  And just as suddenly as it started, it went cold. Ice cold.

  Slade.

  Something was wrong. He was in trouble, more than I’d been willing myself to think about before. My steps grew hurried as I rushed to the training room and spotted the wall of daggers, holsters, and swords that had yet to be gathered. I needed to keep helping with the evacuation, but when I reached the wall, my hand stopped halfway to the first knife.

  The necklace pulsed one more time and I knew exactly what I had to do.

  I found a holster to hold six daggers and slipped it around my shoulders, cursing as it hit my wound and got it stuck twice, being unable to maneuver too easily.

  Once it was on, I picked out six knives with silver and black hilts that were light enough for me to handle easily. I was shoving the last one in place and moving to grab a thigh holster next, when steps sounded behind me, and I turned to find Mom in the doorway.

  I expected her to yell at me for arming myself and to get back to what I was doing. I held my breath, waiting, but then she came to me and smiled sadly.

  “You’re not coming with us, are you?”

  “I can’t, Mom,” I said in a rush. “I’m sorry, but Slade’s out there, and I don’t know how I know, but he needs me, and I don’t think he has much longer. If I stay here, it’s going to drive me crazy and I can’t… I won’t leave him out there.”

  She reached for my hands as she said, “I know.”

  That wasn’t what I expected at all. “You do? But I just got back to you and Aiden… Dad.”

  “And the last thing I want is for you to leave and not come home,” she said, her voice breaking as tears shimmered in her eyes, “but the worst d
ecision I ever made was letting your father walk out that door and living with knowing he could die and I would never know. I got lucky I found him again, but I wished… I wished I could’ve done it differently.”

  She hugged me to her, and I wished more than anything I could stay, but Slade needed me now.

  At least I could leave with the knowledge that Mom was in good hands. She had Aiden.

  “You’ll need some supplies,” she said quickly, wiping at her eyes and hurrying to grab a black bag. “Water and some rations. I should get some salves, too. I’ll be right back.”

  I put on two thigh holsters over my black cargo pants and found a pair of boots to switch out with my sneakers. As much as it pained me to think of Slade, I ran back over all my training with him, remembering what he told me about being prepared for any situation. I considered a sword, but we’d never gotten that far, and the daggers were bad enough. I was double checking the pack when I caught movement at the doorway, but it wasn’t Mom.

  “Oh, hi guys,” I said and shoved the pack behind me.

  Amelie and Jared eyed the knives I had strapped to me already.

  Jared crossed his arms, but Amelie had a box in her hands and simply glared at me. “Where are you going?”

  “Nowhere. Just you know, getting the weapons together.”

  Jared raised his brow and glanced at Amelie. “She sucks at lying.”

  “Yeah, yeah she does.”

  “What? I’m not doing anything, I swear,” I tried again.

  Amelie walked forward, set the box on the table nearby, and grabbed the bag from my hands.

  “You’re leaving, that’s exactly what you’re doing. What are you thinking?”

  I wasn’t about to be made to feel bad for doing what I had to do. “I can’t leave him out there. You can lecture me and yell at me all you want, but Slade has saved my life too many times to count, and if he dies out there while I’m standing here twiddling my thumbs, I’ll hate myself… why are you two laughing?” I asked sharply as Jared joined us.

  “We’re not going to lecture you,” Amelie sighed and started to unload jars and potions from the box and place them in the bag.

  “We’re going with you. Dibs on a sword.” Jared walked to the wall of weapons and strapped a sheathed blade around his waist.

  He was picking up a set of wicked looking knives when I grabbed his hand to stop him.

  “No, you guys can’t leave.”

  “Says who?” he argued.

  “Me! It’s bad enough I might get myself killed going out there, but I can’t let you guys come with me. It’s dangerous and if anything happens to you—”

  “Then it’ll be on us,” Amelie cut me off. “You’re not going to stop us.”

  “But Jenny will if she figures out what your mom’s up to, so we have to hurry,” Jared added, tucking the knives at his belt as Amelie closed up the bag and slung it onto her back. “Everest, you coming or what?”

  I was still standing there trying to figure out what was happening, but they were at the door, waving for me to get a move on. Not believing I had such good friends to risk their lives to go find Slade with me, I took off after them, and we raced to the supply depot, empty of anything useful now.

  Jared rushed to the rear wall, and I felt a heavy dose of magic fill the air as Amelie closed and locked the door.

  “Are you guys sure about this?” I asked again. I wasn’t even sure myself. “I have no plan. I don’t even know where I was going to start looking.”

  “That’s why you have us,” Jared said as a bright white light grew and expanded to the size of a portal on the wall.

  I had no idea he could even make portals. I was still figuring out how just to keep a shield up.

  His smile was grim. “I do know where we’re headed. The outpost that was attacked. If they left any kind of trail, we’ll pick it up and hope it leads us to Slade.”

  Yeah, they were right. I definitely needed them. I was just going to leave the Underground and use a tracking spell once I was outside, but this would at least put us much closer to his last location. Once the portal was up and running, Amelie joined us and together, we stepped in. A gust of heat washed over us and then we were through, stepping out into a clearing.

  But it was not quite like I expected. Jared grabbed me and Amelie, pulling us away from the closing portal just as someone yelled, and footsteps pounded our way.

  “Black Diamonds,” he whispered as we slid out of sight behind a stack of boulders and trees.

  “Why are they still here?” Amelie asked.

  I peered around and saw four dragons rush to the portal just as it closed. They sniffed the air, and I heard a stream of curses as one pointed out in various directions.

  I shoved Amelie, and she took off after Jared, dodging through the trees to try and find some cover. I caught glimpses of the ruined outpost, smoke rising from burnt out structures, but it was the pile of dead bodies that had me freezing on the spot until Jared grabbed my hand and yanked me forward. So many had been massacred it made my blood boil, and the necklace grew hot as we pushed onward until we came to a sudden stop.

  “We could use one of them,” I whispered. “Find out where they took Slade.”

  Jared seemed hesitant, but if we used a tracking spell now, they would feel the magic. And there was a chance a Blood Moon Priest was here, or Fredwin even. We couldn’t risk magic, not yet. But we could grab hold of a Black Diamond and get the information out of him. I’d never tortured someone before, but right then, after seeing those dead and mutilated bodies, all I wanted to do was take my anger out on something, anything.

  One of those bastards would just have to do.

  A tiny voice in the back of my mind said this was crossing the line, but the necklace grew hot again, shushing out any remaining doubts. The enemy had kill innocents. We would do whatever necessary to find Slade.

  When I looked at Jared next, the same determination was in his eyes, and he bowed his head in agreement.

  “You want to be bait?” he asked.

  “Bait?” Amelie snapped. “I don’t like the sound of this plan.”

  “We have to do something to draw him out,” I argued. “And right now, they’re after me because I’m a Descendant. We don’t have time to come up with anything else.” I rested my hand on my necklace, willing Slade to feel we were coming for him. “We’re doing this. Head that way,” I pointed ahead of us. “About a hundred feet or so, think there are boulders that should give us some cover. Jared? I hope you’re ready.”

  Before I could freak out and change my mind, I unsheathed two knives and keeping low, moved away from them, heading towards where we’d come through the portal.

  One dragon had been left behind to guard the area, and I heard the others calling out to head back to the outpost and finish gathering up what supplies they could find. I purposely stepped loudly, cracking a few sticks and shaking tree branches.

  The dragon’s head whipped in my direction, squinting as he tried to see into the gloom of the forest. He growled and took a step in my direction, then another.

  I worried for a second that he was going to call out to the others, but I made more noises and then poked my head out all the way, so he could see me and the necklace I wore. He took off after me at a dead sprint, and I cursed. I hadn’t expected him to do that and ran as fast as I could without tripping over roots or running headfirst into a tree.

  I pulled him further and further from the others, wondering how exactly Jared planned on stopping him when I miss-stepped and hit the ground, sliding through the leaves before coming to a stop against a boulder.

  Shaking out my head, I scrambled to get back up, but the dragon was on me. His hand closed around my throat as he lifted me off my feet. I kicked and punched, but he barely budged, leering at me as he spotted the necklace.

  “Descendant. Now, what are you doing out here all alone, eh?”

  I glared at him, struggling to talk, but he squeezed tighter, and
I squeaked, trying to get air.

  “Radnak will think very highly of me when I deliver you. Soon, you’ll be like all the others. But for now, you just need to go to sleep.”

  Black spots filled my vision, and I felt my body growing weak, but then his grip loosened, and I fell to the ground, coughing and hacking as the dragon stared around wildly.

  “What’s happening? What did you do?” he snarled.

  “Not… alone,” I spat, rubbing my sore throat.

  Jared and Amelie appeared from either side. I hadn’t seen the magic at first, but Jared’s outstretched hand helped me focus on the red tendrils barely visible as they twisted their way up the dragon’s body, finally reaching his throat as he opened his mouth, probably about to call for aid.

  “There’ll be none of that,” Jared snapped in warning. “You’ll answer our questions, and then we will consider letting you live.”

  The dragon’s eyes narrowed, but he couldn’t say anything, not while Jared had a grip on him like that.

  I stepped forward, holding one of my knives and thinking of how proud Tank would be of me as I tossed it end over end without stabbing myself once. I wanted to appear as intimidating as possible, so this wouldn’t get messy.

  “Where did they take Slade?” I demanded and nodded to Jared.

  The second Jared loosened the dragon’s tongue, he started to yell, and Jared squeezed his fist, cutting off the sound. I took my knife and pressed it against the dragon’s throat in warning.

  “You will answer my questions, or you’ll die painfully and slowly. Understand?” Those words, I never expected them to come out of my mouth, but too late to take them back.

  I nodded to Jared, and he waited a few more seconds before doing it again.

  “You three? You three are children,” the dragon spat. “What would you know of pain?”

  I shot a glance towards Jared, his eyes narrowing in hatred and knew he thought of his baby sister who was slaughtered. “We know plenty. Where did they take Slade?”

  When he didn’t answer, I debated what I was about to do. Did I really want to do this? Dip into that darker part of me? I was a Descendant, and that came with a responsibility to uphold honor and all that crap. But this was war, and they had the person I loved held captive. They were going to torture him and kill him, and I couldn’t let them do that. As if comforting me and assuring my next move was necessary, the necklace warmed again, and a flash of another time appeared before my eyes. Witches fighting with sword and magic, killing without mercy, to save those they loved. Blood and mud covered them and any concern I had for what this might do to me in the long run vanished.