by Kylie Gold
19
Amelia
It felt like the jungle was closing in around me. Everything looked the same and I had no idea where I was going. Lost didn’t even begin to describe what I was. I was gone, with no trace of hope of ever finding my way back to Harp. I just wanted to be back with humans, to fly home to my apartment and be alone, to feel normal again.
I tripped over a root and fell into the dirt. With a groan, I stood and dusted myself off. I went to look back around and honestly had no idea which way I had been heading. I really should have paid attention more to where we had been going when I was with the attack party—but instead, my head had been clouded with worries of what we had been about to do. I felt defeated by the jungle. It was so humid and sticky, not to mention completely eerie with plants and insects and animals I had never seen before. It was nearly pitch black with the impossibly thick foliage blocking out the moonlight.
I stood there, my eyes scanning my surroundings frantically for any sort of sign as to which way was which. Tears began to sting my eyes as the stress completely overwhelmed me. What was I even doing there? Confusion filled my body as I tried to reason with myself as to why I allowed myself to get lost in the jungle. Dracon’s words had scared me with how bold they were and how he already wanted to make me his wife. That we were fated to be together. I wasn’t sure how much I believed in the power of a shaman, but Dracon did, that was for sure. But if his words scared me, why hadn’t I spoken up? Why did I just lay there and let him ramble on? And it wasn’t like he was forcing himself on me, saying I was going to be his mate, but that he wanted me to be and that the shaman told him we would be together. So why run away?
As I began to walk through the trees, having just picked a random direction, it hit me. It hit me like a ship. I was running away from my own feelings. Never had I experienced anything like love, and certainly not to the caliber in which Dracon was speaking. When he came out with the knowledge he had, he had already had time to process his feelings and sort out what he wanted. Dracon had just unloaded all of that information on me and my body had a fight or flight reaction—and apparently I chose flight. I didn’t give myself time to process, I just went with a knee-jerk reaction to run away. Because as I fought through some vines and grew more and more terrified of the jungle around me, I felt something in me yearn for Dracon’s protection. If he would have been there, the jungle wouldn’t have been terrifying at all; perhaps a little uneasy but certainly not terrifying. And if I didn’t want to be with him, why would I want him there to protect me?
The little vision I had in the darkness was becoming blurry from my tears building in my eyes. I had made a mistake, a terrible, terrible mistake. I knew I wanted Dracon. He had been nothing but caring of me since I woke up in his hut. He unchained me, fed me, allowed me to bathe, protected me from the tribe, and paid attention to my desires. While there was so much about one another we needed to learn, I knew in my heart I wanted to know everything about him. I… I loved him, maybe not in a way I could understand at that point, but in a way I wanted to understand. And I had run away from the man I loved because I was too afraid to admit to myself that I could love a being I had only known for a short amount of time. Maybe that shaman was right, maybe we were fated mates.
My heart made the decision for me, I needed to head back to the tribe. Perhaps I could even make it back before Dracon woke up, and crawl back into bed and be there in his arms. That’s what I wanted, and what I needed. It had been just such a stressful, emotional week and maybe I had needed to run away in order to figure out where my heart actually was. I searched around to try and find my way back, heading into a direction that I felt could have been a way back Everything was just so overgrown and dark, it made it hard to make out any details that would be memorable. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I combated with the leaves and vines of the jungle, just wanting desperately to get back to Dracon.
As I tried to trek through, there was a whoosh sound somewhere in the distance, but was growing nearer. My brow creased and I found a bit of a clearing to see what it was coming from. But I immediately froze. It was a small hovercraft filled with four human men—and they were headed directly to me. I began to head back into the thick tree line, but as I did, the hovercraft flew next to me. “What are you doing out here?” one of them called to me. I was at a loss of words, not knowing what to say to them. I had a feeling they would have a similar reaction to the tribe upon hearing Dracon and I were together. Trying my best to ignore them, I headed into the tree line.
“Hey lady!” another voice called and I heard the craft nestle into the grass as it parked. “Can you hear us? What are you doing all the way out here?”
“Yeah, let’s take you back to town.”
Then a hand was around my arm, one of the men trying to pull me with them. I jerked my arm away from his hold and tried to get away from them. “She must be in shock. C’mon, we need to get her to town.” Then all four men were out of the hovercraft and were approaching me. No, no, no. I didn’t want to go to Harp, I wanted to go back to the tribe. My eyes were wide and my hands shook. The one closest to me tried to soothe me, “It’s okay, it’s okay. We aren’t gonna hurt you. We’re gonna take you back to town.” I shook my head no, but two of them grabbed my arms and dragged me towards the hovercraft. “Lady, you don’t have to fight us. We’re just trying to help. How long do you think she’s been out here?” one spoke to another.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen her. Must have been a while, look at what she’s wearing.”
They forced me to sit down between two of them, I was still crying but even harder than before. I didn’t want to do go to Harp. I had a sinking feeling I would never see Dracon again.
20
Dracon
We had no idea where she could have gone, but the only guess we could have made if anyone had her was they would be taking her back to the human colony. Shan and I trekked through the jungle, already knowing in which direction the colony was. We hustled but kept our footsteps light, not wanting to be heard if we did find someone. I was more than grateful to have Shan by my side. Though part of me did ache at the fact the men I had fought side by side with for six years turned their backs on me, it paled in comparison to the worry filling me over Amelia. We had to find her.
The two of us gained ground quickly, using a common route humans took to lessen the distance between us and the human colony. My eyes searched as we traveled, hoping just to see her alive and well and just lost. We were to the right of a clearing when we heard a whoosh. Humans. They must be up ahead. I picked up speed, my eyes staying on the clearing. When we neared a few humans on some sort of craft, my eyes widened at the sight. Amelia was there, and two of the men were pulling her to their craft, despite her fighting back and tears streaming down her face. My eyes darkened, we had to get her from them. I looked to Shan and nodded ahead. As they pulled her into the craft, we gained some distance on them and then stopped and waited in the trees for them to take off.
The metal craft lifted into the air by a few feet and began up the clearing towards us. Once they grew near, Shan and I drew our weapons. There was only four men in the craft excluding Amelia. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard to overcome them. When they were just a couple of yards away, I jumped from the safety of the trees and directly into the crafts way. My axe swung down and cut into the front of the metal craft, causing it to lurch forward before falling to the ground. The men rushed out of the craft, drawing their guns. They all rushed at me, only for Shan to shoot an arrow from the trees, causing one to fall down as electroshocks coursed through his body from the arrowhead containing the same electricity my axe did. Shan launched from the trees with a traditional blade in hand, assisting me and the men. I was fighting off one of the ones which had grabbed her. I struggled to gain a blow on him as he kept jumping back from my swings. He fired his gun several times, but I had learned long ago to keep moving when fighting with humans so that it made it harder for them to hit yo
u. Eventually I managed to kneel a bit and swing with a mighty blow, the laser of my axe slicing clean through his leg. He fell down in agony, erupting with a bloodcurdling scream. My axe swung down again, this time splitting open his head and ending his screaming as the center of his skull bled out. My eyes focused in on the man whom Shan had shot with an arrow, already stumbling to his feet and pulling the arrow from his back. He drew his weapon and began toward me.
Before I could even raise my weapon, an excruciating pain overcame my chest. I didn’t even have time to react before I fell back towards the ground, my axe falling and gashing my shoulder before the shaft rolled to the crease of my arm which held it away from harming me. My eyes just stared up at the night sky above me, unable to move and struggling to breathe. My body must have gone into shock, because all I could feel was the beating of my hearts. One ran rapidly, faster than I had ever felt before; the other was giving painful, labored pounds. It felt as though all of my senses were going out, another scream in the distance.
Then, Shan was suddenly jumped over me and rushed towards the man who had shot me. My eyes gave a long, slow blink. When they opened, a sweet pale face loomed over mine. Her tiny hands cradled my face as tears rushed down her cheeks. I wanted to reach and brush the tears away, but I couldn’t find the strength to lift my arm. When I went to blink again, my eyes seemed to want to stay closed, but her hand tapped on my cheek as the other pressed something against my chest. My eyes opened just to see her face, a ghost of a smile on my lips. She was safe, that was all that mattered. Something in the back of my mind told me to memorize every detail of her face in case it was my last.
But then there was a heavy tug on my arm, causing me to sit up. My head instantly fell forward, unable to hold it up from the blood loss. I could hear Shan speaking to Amelia, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. They each had an arm and began to hoist me up. Managing to get to my feet, I began to slump back down. Shan ducked and put himself under my arm and held me up. Amelia was at my other side, her hand on my stomach and pushing a bit to keep me from falling forward. They were trying to hurry back to the village, but I could hardly move my legs, unable to walk. My head slumped forward and eyes closing as they carried me into the trees.
21
Amelia
I couldn’t stop crying as the Navani man and I struggled to help Dracon back to the village. His chest was pouring blood and his face was turning from the rich umber red into a pink shade. A giant wound from the blast of the gun covered part of his chest, and a deep gash on the opposite shoulder from his axe falling on him. The man assured me he would be fine, that we needed to find the shaman; but I didn’t believe him. So much blood was pouring from his chest and his shoulder. He was going to bleed out and quickly if they didn’t do something.
We made it through the tree line, approaching the tribe. There was people everywhere, which was surprising for the time of night it was. Had something happened? Shan and I helped drag Dracon through the huts. As we neared the shaman’s tipi, voices came from behind us.
“What did she do to him!?”
“This is what happens when you trust a human!”
“This is her fault!”
More and more voices added in, attacking me and blaming me for Dracon being hurt. If I hadn’t been crying hard enough, their stabs at me made it worse. They were right, it was my fault—just not for the reason they blamed me. I didn’t do it to him, but I was the reason he had been out there. I was the reason he fought with those humans and was shot, and the guilt was completely crushing me.
“ENOUGH!” the man helping me carry Dracon bellowed. “She is not to blame! This human helped us back there, which is more than any of you can say. Don’t act concerned for Dracon when you just turned your back on him. You abandoned him and left us vulnerable for being overtaken. Humans aren’t the enemy when there are you, turning on your own chief. She is not like the humans which attack us and threaten our tribe. Leave her alone and get away so we can get Dracon the help he needs,” he barked at the tribe before turning and continuing to the tipi. The voices fell silent behind us as we made our way to the entrance of the tipi. I couldn’t believe he had just stood up for me… I was honestly speechless, but knew I would thank him later.
The Navani man opened the curtain with a hand before pulling Dracon inside. “Shaman Kowlow, Dracon needs your help,” the man spoke urgently, helping lay Dracon in the middle of the room. Dracon gave a painful intake of breath when he was laid down. I kneeled next to him and touched his face, trying to get him to open his eyes. He stirred, his face grimacing hard from the pain, but did not open his eyes.
The elderly Navani hurried over, already carrying a bag of supplies with him. The Navani man which helped carry Dracon came over and lifted Dracon’s head, placing a pillow underneath it. The shaman leaned over Dracon, examining the wound. “He’s a lucky man, his second heart was almost pierced by the shot,” he said as he began to dig into his bag.
Second heart? Navanis had two hearts? He brought a jar out of his bag which was filled with a burnt orange liquid. He looked to me, “Hold his hand, dear. He’s going to need it.” I looked to the old man with worried eyes but didn’t hesitate to grab Dracon’s hand and held it tightly. “Shan, you hold his shoulders down.” The other Navani moved over and placed his hands securely on Dracon’s shoulder, being careful not to touch the wound.
I looked down to Dracon’s face, his forehead beginning to break out in a sweat from the pain. He remained unconscious as we held him. The shaman then opened the jar and aligned it with the large, open wound on Dracon’s chest. The thick orange liquid was poured into the wound. As soon as it touched his flesh, Dracon jolted awake and let out a pained scream. His body fought against Shan’s hold, but Shan had him pinned securely. His chest heaved with labored breathing as his hand clutched my hand nearly to the point I thought he would break it. My other hand remained on his face, my thumb rubbing against his cheek to try and soothe him. His eyes were wide and staring straight up at the ceiling.
“That will stop the bleeding and help his insides heal,” the shaman spoke aloud, unsure if he was just speaking to me or to all of us. He then reached back into the bag and grabbed out a tiny pouch. Inside was a curved needle, looking like a suture needle, and then a thin, copper thread. The man began to work the needle in and out of Dracon’s skin, pulling the skin closed with each stitch he made. Dracon’s grip on my hand lightened from the pain of the orange liquid being mostly over, but would tighten a bit each time the needle pierced the sore skin. After a long time, the shaman finished stitching his chest, reaching back into the bag and pulling out a very small jar and undid the top. It was a white jelly looking substance, with a smell so potent I could smell it from where I sat. It smelled sort of like mint, mixed with an herbal smell I couldn’t place. With a gentle finger, he rubbed the jelly over the stitches before setting that aside and moving to go to his shoulder. The shaman cleaned the wound before beginning to stitch that as well.
When he began to work on Dracon’s shoulder, it seemed as though Dracon was finally pulled away from the pain and looked over to me. His eyes were scorched with pain, but also smoldered with worry. “Are you okay?” he croaked, his grip on my hand loosening.
I gave a brisk nod. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me… You need to focus on healing.”
Dracon didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, his eyes looking over my face. “Are you sure you are okay? Did they hurt you?”
“Dracon, I’m fine. They didn’t hurt me. They found me just a couple of minutes before you did. I didn’t want to speak to them, and they thought I was in shock or something and forced me to get on the hovercraft. Nothing happened…” I tried to soothe.
He winced, his hand gripping mine harder as the shaman pierced his skin again. “Who took you from the hut?” he asked in a tone that suggested he was demanding an answer.
“No one,” I told him, looking away.
“Don’t lie to me, Ame
lia,” he warned.
“I’m not lying, Dracon…” a new wave of tears stung my eyes. “I… I left. I panicked when you told me I was your fated mate and was a part of some prophecy, okay? It was a lot to take in, and for some reason I just… ran. But then I got lost in the jungle and I realized here was where I wanted to be. That I wanted to be with you,” I told him with as much honesty as possible. I didn’t want to lie to him, I didn’t want to hide what I had done. I was embarrassed and riddled with guilt, but he deserved to know. He didn’t need to blame the Navani nor the humans. I was the only one to blame. I stared into his eyes, “I’m sorry I ran, I really am. I love you, Dracon. And if it wasn’t for me… you wouldn’t be hurt right now. I’m so sorry…”
Hurt flashed over his face before he shook his head and removed his hand from mine. At first my heart fell, thinking he was upset with me and wanted nothing to do with me. But his hand lifted and touched my cheek. “Don’t apologize for being overwhelmed. I had put too much on you at once, I see that now. I had needed time to process at first as well, and I didn’t give you that. Don’t blame yourself for this, you didn’t shoot me. I love you too, Amelia.”
