Black Ruins Forest (The Elder Series Book 1)

by Karen DuBose

  Now I’m just stalling and hoping to get information from him. “So, what if I don’t want to kill the Elders? Maybe I came here just like the rest of you⸻to get away from them. I do have a say. It is my lifecycle.”

  “If you don’t kill them, I kill her,” he says, pointing to my mom.

  She stands there calmly. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do that. She’s a lot braver then I will ever be. Maybe she knows there’s no way we are going to just let them have her.

  “Then I guess you’re just going to have to kill her,” Bruno says.

  I spin around to face him, and my first instinct is to beat the hell out of him. What is wrong with him? Has he lost his mind? There is no way I am going to stand here and let them kill her.

  I’m just about to say that when Rome picks me up and flies away from them all. When did he shift? Why is he taking me away from my mom? I twist and turn to break free from his hold, but the only thing it does is leave cuts and bruises on my arms and torso.

  “Let me down! How could you take me away from my mom? They will kill her for sure. Please take me back to her. I can’t leave her there!” I cry.

  He lands in a clearing. As soon as our feet hit the ground he shifts. He puts me down and hugs me. All I want to do is kick him for taking me away from her. What if they kill her and I didn’t do anything to stop it? What were they thinking taking me away?

  I hear his voice rumble through his chest. “We did not betray you. We’re saving your mom. We did this to protect her and to make him think we betrayed you. We would never put you or anyone you love in more danger. Do you really think we would leave your mom there, in the hands of the crazy shifter?”

  I look at him with my mouth open and tears running down my face. Boy, do I feel like an ass. “I’m sorry, things just happened so fast. I thought… never mind what I thought. It shouldn’t have even entered my mind. I should have known that you guys had a plan. It’s just that, seeing my mom like that, I lost all coherent thoughts. Please accept my apology.”

  He looks at me and gives me a smile. He then lifts my shirt to see the damage I have caused myself. I didn’t feel the pain until just then. I look down, and I see that my shirt is red. There’s a gash by my ribs. I look back to Rome and start laughing. For what I don’t know.

  I think the past few minutes is finally catching up to me. He takes my pack off and digs through it until he finds something to wrap my rib cage up until Isobel gets here.

  To keep my mind off the pain, I start asking questions. “So, what’s the plan? Are you going to kill Jamel? Do they know where we are?”

  He doesn’t even stop to look at me. “Alums and Cicero are hiding. They scouted out the area and found a clear path to your mom. I don’t know if this is normal or not, but since we all pledged ourselves to you, we can speak to each other in our minds, but only when we need to. Cicero is going to snatch her up. Matter of fact, they have her now. Hold still this is going to hurt.”

  He lifts my shirt up and put something on it. It burns like hell. I suck in a breath through my teeth. Looking down, I can see he found a bandage and is taping it up. I don’t know what he put on it, but after the first sting. It’s numbing the pain.

  Chapter Twenty

  Bruno the Dragon

  “So, I guess she can’t even trust the dragons that are with her. It’s a shame she won’t see her own mother get killed,” Jamel says.

  “She shouldn’t trust anyone, let alone anyone here,” I say, not giving anything away.

  I need him to believe we betrayed Dariya or this will never work.

  Jamel shifts his position. “You’re right about that, but you just ruined what I had planned.”

  I get into my relax stance hoping to make him feel like I let my guard down some. “Oh, what was your plan? To murder her mother in front of her?”

  “Well, that would have made my day, but no. I was going to trade them. I want to make sure she did what I want. Now it looks like I’m going to have to kill all of you.” He nods to his men.

  They start to come after us. Before they even get a few feet, Cicero comes flying out, snatches Eimear up, and hauls ass. They all look at each other, confused. Stupid Shifters. They should have known: we take care of our own.

  “Well, I guess you’re going to have to make more plans. Just leave being the ruler out of them. You will never be our ruler.”

  I don’t even give him a chance to respond. We take off before things get worse. I grab Isobel and go look for Dariya. I just hope she isn’t going to kill me. She does have a temper that kind of scares me.

  Hopefully, Kiernan can calm her down when we get there. We’re going to have to find a place to hide until we can figure out what to do with Jamel. Bears are strong, but they don’t have the skill to fight. With them having other shifters and non-shifter, it will be tricky, but not impossible.

  We’ve learned something new. We can communicate to each other without being in dragon form, ever since we pledged ourselves to Dariya. I wonder if the Elders can do that.

  I have Isobel in my arms as we run. “We need to make a plan to keep these women safe. Isobel is there a place we can hide for now, until we can make these plans?”

  She nods her head yes. “I do have a place in mind. No one has been there for many cycles. The land is unstable, and the magic is heavy there, but I think it will be our best chance right now.”

  Kiernan is running on my left next to me. “We need to make sure Dariya doesn’t want to murder us when we get there.”

  I laugh at his expression. “I guess you better get to talking to her.”

  Kiernan gives me a look that says, ‘you’re an ass.’ I know I am, most days. At least I own up to it.

  We’re running at dragon speed; we should be getting close to Rome and Dariya. I can feel Cicero and Alums close by. We need to catch up and get to this place Isobel mentioned before they catch up to us. Other shifters are not as fast as we are, but if we stop for too long, they can catch up easily.

  Breaking through the next clearing, I spot Rome and Dariya. They’re talking, and Rome is doing something to Dariya’s side. I look over at Kiernan and can see the anger rolling off him. They both turn around when they hear us coming. We stop long enough to tell them to follow us. Kiernan picks up Dariya and Rome falls in step. I’m holding Isobel, so she can tell me which way to go. I ask her, and she points left.

  I run left for a few minutes, then I backtrack. I want to lose Jamel’s group. I’m hoping to make them think that we’re running in circles until they get tired and stop to wait for us.

  Isobel voice is high when she speaks. “What are you doing? You’re going the wrong way.”

  “I’m giving them a fake trail. They’ll think we’re running in circles. Once they realize that, they’ll stop to wait for us to come back around. We’ll be long gone by then.”

  I just hope this works and that they’re as dumb as they seem to be.

  I have come across some dumb shifters in my thirty cycles, but Jamel takes the pie. Why does he think he can become ruler? If he kills Dariya, the next dragon in line becomes ruler. I think that bear has lost most of his mind.

  When I became a dragon, all I wanted to do was do my job and protect Zilo⸻that is until I realized I needed to protect Zilo from the Elders. I can remember the day I met Asher. He wanted to meet me somewhere private. That got me worried. When an Elder wants to talk private, chances are you’re not coming back.

  But Asher was different from the others. He was kind and wise. He told me about Dariya and how I needed to protect her with my life cycle no matter the cost. I knew Dariya from her interactions with my younger sister. They hung out sometimes.

  So, getting close to her wasn’t the problem. The problem was keeping myself off the radar. That was harder to do. I couldn’t let the other Elders know I knew something they didn’t. They would have killed me for two reasons. One: I didn’t tell them about Dariya. Two: I was a traitor to them.

  I wa
s trying to find ways to take the Elders down without putting Dariya’s lifecycle on the line. She’s just a youngling. She’s my little sister’s age. I didn’t want that for her. But here we are, and there’s nothing I can do but protect her as well as I know how. I’m always ranked in everything battle related. I make sure I know my enemy before I go head on⸻that is until we came here. Everything changed. I don’t know anyone from here to give me intel. I’m hoping that changes with Isobel.

  “Bruno, we need to go over that small mountain to get there. I think you will need to shift. It will be faster.” I hear Isobel say.

  I stop and put her down. The others put down, Dariya, Kira, and Eimear.

  “We need to shift to get over that mountain. I don’t know if there are other dragons here, so keep an eye on things as we fly.”

  We walk away from the women. We don’t need them to get hurt when we shift. I stretch my body as the shift takes hold. It feels great to shift. My dragon has been antsy since we got here. I walk back over to the women and lie on my stomach. I need Isobel to climb on. I notice she doesn’t know what to do.

  “Kiernan, ask Dariya to tell Isobel what needs to be done. Please.”

  “I’m on it.”

  I block out Kiernan asking Dariya to tell Isobel what I need her to do.

  Dariya walks over to Isobel and points at me. “He wants you to climb on, so we can fly over the mountain. If he uses his claws, you’ll end up like me.”

  She lifts her shirt to show Isobel the bandage.

  Eimear rushes over to Dariya after seeing the bandage. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Look, it’s not even bleeding anymore.”

  Dariya is the first to get on. Kira is going to ride on Rome and Eimear is going to ride on Hiram. I think Hiram has a thing for Eimear, but I’m not sure. I haven’t asked him about it. I figure it’s none of my business. They are grown shifters, they can figure it out on their own.

  I can see Isobel is nervous. She finally gets on my back. I flap my wings a few times to get air. Once I’m up, I take off. It feels great to have the wind blowing on me. I feel free when I’m flying, like I have no care in the world. I head toward the mountain with more speed than I should with Isobel on my back. I don’t trust this place enough to let my guard down. The faster we get there, hopefully, the safer the woman will be.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Dariya

  I start to get dizzy. I’m not used to running this fast for this long. I’m about to ask if we’re running in circles. I swear we were just here four times already. Even though I could be wrong, everything is a blur.

  I look up at Kiernan. “So, are we going in circles, or is it just me”

  I feel and hear him laugh. “Yes, love. We’re going in circles to make a fake trail. We need to lose them before we go to the safe place Isobel’s taking us.”

  Well, I guess this will be her test to see if we can trust her. If she leads us to danger, I just might have to hurt her again. I’m so tired, but I want to make sure that my mom is fine. I can see that she’s still in Cicero’s arms. The blindfold is gone, but her hands are still tied. I guess he hasn’t had the time to take them off without risking getting caught.

  “Do you know how my mom is?”

  “I’ll ask, love.”

  I still can’t believe they can talk to each other without being in dragon form. This will be to our advantage. I hope I will be able to do the same thing when I shift.

  “Love, your mom says she’s fine. She’ll fill us all in when we stop.”

  I let out a relieved sigh. “Tell her I said I love her, and I’m glad she is ok.”

  He laughs again. “I think you’re enjoying us being able to talk to each other more than we are.”

  What wasn’t to love? I assume that they have this gift to make sure they know what’s going on with each other and where they need to be in times of battle. It is the perfect gift to have. I wonder if the Elders can do that. I can’t really see anyone pledging themselves to them. That would be suicide. Make one wrong move, and you’re done for, never to be heard from again.

  “You know I’m loving it. I’m mean come on you guys can talk to each other. I wish I could do that.”

  He smiles down at me and rubs my cheek with his free hand. I know he’s tired of carrying me. I’m not light, and he’s had to carry me a lot. I can’t wait to shift. So, he doesn’t have to carry me anymore. I feel bad not being able to keep up.

  The guys need their strength just in case we do come across Jamel again. I don’t want them weak if they need to battle that stupid bear. Just thinking about him makes me angry. How dare he kidnap my mom? He has lost his mind if he thinks he can become the next ruler after he tries to kill me.

  All of the wishing in Zilo would not change that fact, unless he has dragon in him. I don’t know what other shifter or non-shifter he is. I just know he’s a hybrid, we need to figure that out soon. Maybe Isobel will know.

  Kiernan’s laugh brings me out of my thoughts. I almost forgot I asked his to tell my mom I love her. “She said she loves you to and to stop abusing the communication.”

  Well, I doubt that I’ll stop now that I know it’s there. It is very helpful to know I can check up on everyone.

  I laugh with him, than sober up. “Do you have any clue what Jamel’s other shifter or non-shifter is? If he thinks he can become the next ruler, he would have to have a dragon too, right?”

  “That is a great question, but I don’t know the answer. I didn’t feel any other dragons there except our group. If he does have a dragon, then it’s really weak. That’s probably why he shifts into a bear instead. We’ll ask Isobel when we stop. I don’t want to distract Bruno right now.”

  “Ok, I just hope she knows. It will give us some insight as to what is really going on with him, and we can deal with it.”

  Bruno stops just inside a clearing. He puts Isobel down and turns to face us. Kiernan puts me down as well.

  “We need to shift to get over that mountain. I don’t know if there are other dragons here so keep an eye on things as we fly by.”

  They walk away from us to shift. It’s a good thing I don’t feel like being flattened by them. Once they shift, they walk back to us. I still can’t get over how beautiful Kiernan’s dragon is.

  They are all beautiful. They range in color from the lightest blues to even the darkest pink.

  Bruno is an emerald green fading into a cream color on his bottom side from snout to tail.

  Rome is fire red and orange.

  Taz is light blue and light pink.

  Alums is a smoke color and green.

  Cicero is almost as beautiful as Kiernan. His dragon is a deep purple and a dark gray.

  Desean is deep orange and white.

  Errol is white and sunshine yellow.

  Hiram is black and teal.

  Aidian is the only one who has more than two colors like Kieran. His dragon is amber, light grey, and coral.

  Knox is lime green and deep brown.

  Brody is all sea green. He doesn’t have any other color. All of their eyes are brighter and more vivid when they are in their dragon form.

  “Love, I know you love staring at us, but I need you to tell Isobel she needs to climb on Bruno, so we can go,” Kiernan says in my head. It’s still weird to me that he can do that. I nod my head, letting him know I heard him.

  I walk over to Isobel and Place my hand on her shoulder and point to Bruno. “He wants you to climb on, so we can fly over the mountain. If he uses his claws, you will end up like me.”

  I lift my shirt and hear Isobel gasp. My mom comes rushing over to me.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt.”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Look, it’s not even bleeding anymore.”

  I don’t give her time to examine it. If she knew how deep it is she would flip. I climb on Kiernan’s back and get between two of his spikes. I hold onto the spike in front of me.

>   I’m just glad the spikes that are close to his head aren’t sharp like the rest of them. These spikes are flimsy and are easy to hold on to. I guess that’s, so they can have passengers and they don’t get hurt. I watch as the other women get on the other dragons.

  I watch as Bruno flaps his wings and flies into the sky. Kiernan does the same thing. We take off after Bruno. If I knew flying was this fun, I would have asked to do it sooner.

  Once we were high enough, I let go and opened my arms wide and let the wind blow through me. I feel free, all the troubles in the world can’t bring me down right now. I’m excited. I can’t help but laugh and enjoy myself.

  I look around to the other women. Kira is doing the same thing as I am. Mom looks a little freaked out, she’s holding on for dear life. I wish she would relax and enjoy this. Isobel is looking forward. Sometimes she will stare at the ground. I wonder what she’s doing?

  “Love, what is Isobel doing?”

  “She is looking for the place she was talking about. She can’t feel the magic this high up. We are about to descend, so hold on.”

  As we get closer to the ground, I feel this heavy weight settle on my skin. We land at the safe place. That’s what it was⸻a place, not house or anything else. It was just a place in the middle of the forest. I can feel the magic here, It’s almost out of control. It makes me nervous to be here. What is she thinking bringing us here? Is she trying to get us killed by magic? The magic is so strong and so wild that I feel like crawling out of my own skin.

  I jump down from Kiernan’s back. “Why did you bring us here? Are you trying to kill us?”

  “This is the safest place I could think of. No one comes here. They think this placed is cursed or something. I know the magic feels wrong, but I come here all the time, and I have never seen another soul.”

  I look at our surroundings. “Is there any place for shelter? I don’t like being out in the open like this.”

  Isobel points behind me. “There’s a cave over there. I know it isn’t the best place, but I assure you, it’s safe.”

  I guess we’ll see if she’s telling the truth. I know my dad said to trust her, but it’s hard to do that right now.