by Anna Logan
The warriors had anticipated her move. All but a couple put up their shields quickly enough to absorb the shock. Oh, barbsit tails. They would require more complicated tactics. She began an onslaught of lightning bolts, taking the time to aim each one at weak points. Keeping their shields up, they rushed her.
Rikky had broken out of the tent, one side of his face was red and swelling—they must have been resorting to a beating to try and subdue him. He was at Talea’s side as the Tarragon swarmed them. Her sword was in the shelter. Two electrical blades would have to do...though against these elite opponents and their energy-absorbing shields, she already knew they wouldn’t do. She used bolts as long as she could, taking down a few, before they were too close. With nothing to block their swords and little room for dodging, it was mere seconds before one of them thrust the pommel of his weapon into her stomach.
She fell, unable to breathe. Pain gripped her torso and squeezed all the air from her lungs.
Before she could recover, five men had dogpiled her. They used their knees to pin her legs, all of them working together to twist her arms behind her back and bind her hands in leather. She managed to hit one of them with an orb before they had her tied.
They pulled her up to her knees so she could see the scene unfold. Rikky was fighting valiantly...and losing. It wouldn’t be long before they had him down. Skyve had been brought out, kicking and squirming but unable to move for the ropes that bound him. Zoper still held Terindi down, having gloved her hands and holding her wrists fast. The girl looked absolutely infuriated, unlike her usual serenity.
Zoper smiled at Talea with that same disarming, genuine friendliness as before. “Sorry about this. No doubt a rude awakening. But like I said…” His smile faded some. “I really don’t have a choice in the matter.”
She did her best to glare at him. “Everyone has a choice. I chose not to kill your men last time.”
He didn’t have an answer for that. “Well,” he said at length, “we have to take you to Aydimor now.”
Talea flexed against the leather thongs. “You really think you can keep us contained all the way there? We’ll get away.”
“I suppose that’s possible, but I can’t use that as a reason to not attempt the endeavor.”
“Why are you doing this?” Terindi’s question, asked quietly, surprised her. The girl’s expression had softened, as she craned her neck to look back at her captor. “If you don’t want to...why?”
Zoper’s eyebrows furrowed with conflict. “I often do things I don’t want to. Comes down to obligation, I imagine.”
“Obligation is more important than what you know to be right?”
One of the other Tarragon started to say something, probably to inform his leader that he was being manipulated, but it was too late. Zoper’s attention was compromised, and Terindi took advantage of it. She slammed her elbow into his gut, grabbing his shoulder with her other hand to throw him over her head as she bent forward. Tearing off the gloves he’d put on her, Terindi put an expertly aimed lightning bolt into each of the men that advanced. As Zoper started to regain his balance, she hit him with a small beam. It made his knees buckle but he remained conscious, grimacing as he caught himself with his hands before he would have sprawled out.
Terindi threw a pumpkin-sized orb at Zoper’s head. At the last second, she created a beam to hold it in place, inches from his face.
“Well,” he gulped but managed to keep his voice steady, not moving an inch as he spoke, “I see I’ve been played as a fool.”
“I meant every word I said.” Her jaw was firm, her eyes gleaming. She looked fiercer than Talea had ever seen her.
“Okay.” He kept glancing at her, then the orb. Probably weighing the probability that she would actually kill him if he moved. “What now?”
“Your men let my friends go.”
When no one moved to obey, Terindi inched the orb closer to Zoper’s head. By his wince, he could feel the heat.
“Okay, okay!” The man that had tried to warn Zoper earlier lifted his hands. His voice was surprisingly high pitched. He approached Talea cautiously and untied her hands, then clambered back, perhaps expecting her to retaliate. While she untied her ankles, he began shooing the other Tarragon away from Rikky and Skyve, allowing Talea to untie each of them.
With all three of them freed, Terindi pointedly threw the orb into the ground just beside Zoper’s knee. She withdrew to stand beside Talea as they faced the dozens of Tarragon.
Talea addressed Zoper, who seemed rather unsure what to do. “Do you want to fight this out, or call it a tie?”
“I like ties,” he said distractedly, slowly retreating to his celith. Reluctantly, the other Tarragon did likewise. After looking at the four of them again, almost seeming confused, Zoper put his helmet back on, gave a hand signal, and rode off with his men.
Talea’s lungs finally loosened. Her stomach still ached. “Is anyone hurt?”
Rikky gingerly rubbed his swollen cheek, appearing more offended than injured. Terindi and Skyve shook their heads.
“Then let’s pack up and get out of here.” She put a hand to her stomach, cringing. “If at all possible, I’d like to not run into them again until the Wardens get here.” Which shouldn’t be too much longer—they had sent word of having found the base five days ago, and the Wardens were supposed to be nearby.
No such luck.
They had been riding for three hours when Skyve hissed an alarm: “Dragons!”
An immediate, icy dread hit her like a cold blade in the chest. A little imagination, and she could feel dragon fire licking her back again.
Talea scanned the sky. Shadows passed over the thick canopy of the forest. She raised fist, signaling a halt. They waited, motionless. Maybe the dragons would fly over.
The shadows circled back to their position. A large, reptilian head poked through the foliage to consider them with bright yellow eyes. The head retreated, and the whole body started wriggling through the branches.
“Go!” She kicked Ember into a canter. Trying to gallop on the spongy ground, riddled with roots and underbrush, would surely end up in at least one celith with a broken leg. Hearing their movement, the dragon abandoned its effort to get through the trees and flew above them again. Its shadow went past them and out of sight. Could it not tell where they were?
Ember balked as the beast broke through the trees just ahead of them. It could barely fit—the trees were short and densely packed. Thrashing about, it took lunging strides toward them. Talea jerked the reins right, trying to go around it. With limited mobility, the dragon couldn’t turn well enough to stop her.
Another dragon crashed through the treetops directly above her. Branches and leaves rained down, pelleting her and Ember. The mare bolted. She would break a leg. Talea leaned back, tugging on the reins. Everything was drowned out by cracking timber and rustling foliage. And the dragon’s roar. Her spine tingled. A yelp escaped her lips even before giant claws closed around her body. Dimly, she heard another dragon break through to keep the other wards busy. The pressure from the claws increased, making her gasp. She grasped the pommel of the saddle, holding on desperately as the dragon beat its wings, lifting her up with it. Ember squealed. It was a tiny sound, compared to the chaos all around her.
“Rikky!” She clung to the pommel, the rest of her body a few feet above it. “Skyve!”
Someone called back. She couldn’t make it out. With another beat of its wings, the dragon pulled her higher. Her hands slipped, coming away with nothing but some leather under her fingernails.
The dragon burst out of the treetops, into the open sky above. After the din of falling trees and splintering wood, it was almost peaceful. Talea rotated as best she could to face upward. She put her palm against the scaled foot that held her and exerted a powerful pulse of electricity.
The beast squealed, not loosening its grip but shaking her violently. Everything blurred.
“Talea!”
Her sense
s cleared some. It was...it was Zoper. He was above her somewhere.
She looked up, to see him leaning over from the dragon’s back, looking at her like she was insane. “Do you want to fall fifty feet!?”
Fear made her voice higher than usual. “Put me down!”
“That would defeat the point!” He must have given his dragon a command, because it started lifting her higher. Probably to dissuade her from attempting to get away.
Behind them, a fourth dragon was squirming its way between trees to get below. Rikky, Skyve, and Terindi wouldn’t last long against three dragons. If they were snatched up the same way she was, and carried high enough to make an escape deadly...it would be over.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Talea put her hand to the cool scales again and gave a massive jolt.
Her senses faded briefly with the drain, dimming the dragon’s roar and Zoper’s shout. Those senses returned in time for terror to pull a scream from her lungs, just before she hit the first tree branch. Pain. Falling. She clawed at the next branch even as it produced a dull ache where it hit. Leaves and twigs scratched exposed skin mercilessly. Falling. Another branch. She couldn’t breathe. Pain.
For a split second, she knew she had hit the ground.
Then nothing.
“Talea. Wake up.”
Everything hurt.
“Come on.” It was Skyve’s voice. He gently shook her shoulder.
Her eyelids refused to budge. With Skyve pulling at her arm, she started to sit up. Pain flared like fire in her ribs. At her gasp, he stopped. Finally her eyes opened. Her head throbbed, her awareness clouding with each pulse of pain. Gradually, she could make out the situation—the Tarragon had them surrounded. Four dragons, and a hundred celithmen.
Nearest her and the other wards was Zoper beside his dragon, looking at her with what might have been sincere concern. “Is she okay?”
“What do you think?” Skyve’s dark eyes flashed. “You took her seventy feet up and dropped her. Let’s assume she’s not.”
“I didn’t…” Zoper’s distress actually made her feel bad for him. “I told her not to. I didn’t think she would do it.”
“Shut up.” Rikky had lost all the softness and charm that she usually saw. In its place was the Soldier—fierce, even brutal. “I could kill you in an instant and unless you give me a very compelling reason not to, I will.”
“I suspect that’s true.” Zoper fidgeted. “But if you kill me...my men will kill you. I’m sorry, but that’s the way of things. If you surrender, none of you will be hurt, and we’ll take care of Talea.”
“I wouldn’t surrender to you if—”
“Rikky.” Skyve whacked his arm. He looked to Talea, probably trying to assess if she could make the decision or if he had to. “You with us?”
She started to take a deep breath to regain the oxygen she’d lost. Excruciating pain throughout her chest and ribs stopped her. “Sorta,” was all she managed to whisper.
Zoper started to step closer. “She must have broken some ribs, possibly a concussion, we should—”
“I can figure that out without your help, thank you.” Skyve hardly seemed to be paying attention to Zoper. He began pressing different areas of her ribcage, until she caught her breath on a cry of pain. He gestured for Rikky and Terindi to come closer, perhaps for a private discussion. To Zoper he muttered, “Give us a moment, if you would.”
Any other enemy would laugh. Any other enemy would have taken advantage of their weakened position by now. Zoper just nodded.
Rikky and Terindi knelt beside them, Rikky taking Talea’s hand. “She can’t fight,” Skyve whispered, hopefully quietly enough that the Tarragon wouldn’t hear. “And the three of us alone can’t possibly win against both the men and the dragons. I say we surrender and get away later, before they get us to Aydimor.”
Rikky’s frustration was evident in his flared nostrils and red face. “Fine.”
Terindi nodded her agreement.
Talea thought she heard hoofbeats.
Skyve got up to deliver their verdict. She grabbed his ankle. “Wait...listen.”
Everyone, Tarragon included, stopped and tilted their heads, listening. The man with the high pitched voice spoke up. “I don’t hear nothing, what—”
“Ah-ah!” Zoper shushed him. “I hear it. Do we have a patrol around here? Those are celithmen. And,” he listened a few more seconds, “no more than a dozen.”
While the Tarragon shook their heads, Talea smiled. Finally.
Zoper must have noticed her expression. “I see. They’re your friends. Oh well, the more the merrier. How many should we be expecting?”
Rikky answered smugly. “Enough to kick your sorry—”
“Shh,” Zoper interrupted before he could finish with a profanity. “I’ve been working so hard to cure my men of their endless foul language and here you are exposing them to more of it!”
Talea almost laughed. It probably wouldn’t have done her burning ribs any favors.
As the hoofbeats drew nearer, the Tarragon took defensive positions, keeping the wards surrounded. Her gratification faded as she realized the Wardens wouldn’t be able to get to them without a fight, and that couldn’t end well. But then Yhkon appeared…in a tree.
She shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d always had a dramatic habit of jumping off his celith and into a tree when he couldn’t otherwise reach something. In full gear, with his hood and mask and landing in a perfect crouch, the dramatic effect was complete. She grinned. Until it made a scratch on her cheek hurt.
Despite the hood, she could tell Yhkon was looking at her. She probably wasn’t a reassuring sight, lying on her back and covered in cuts from the tree branches. “What did they—”
At Yhkon’s accusing tone, Zoper interjected. “She did it to herself. I told her not to and she did. Just saying.” He raised both hands in self-defense as Yhkon turned toward him.
“And you would be the one I saw l-last time, when she was nearly death and—”
Zoper wrinkled his nose. “There is something funny about the way you talk.”
She could almost hear Yhkon rolling his eyes.
“But!” Zoper put a hand to his chest. “My apologies, you asked for an introduction. I’m Zoper Veserron, nephew to the king and captain of the Tarragon, which are these fine gents you see before you.”
To her surprise, Yhkon played along. “Yhkon Tavker. Tell your uncle I send my b-best, he and I go a long way back.”
Zoper thought a moment. “Oh...oh!” He recoiled. “I do remember him talking about you…” He trailed off uncomfortably. Apparently, whatever he’d heard didn’t sit well. No wonder, if he’d heard that his uncle had killed Yhkon’s family and fiance.
Yhkon drew his sword. “You might have to write it down. If I kill you, it might put Kaydor and I even on at least one of several scores.”
Talea tried to sit up again, managing it with a groan. “Yhkon, he’s—”
Too late. Yhkon had already sprang from his perch at Zoper.
The idiot. She would have huffed if she weren’t in so much pain and she weren’t about to watch her friend and mentor get himself killed. There was no stopping the fight now. “Rikky, keep us clear! Terindi, clear a path for the rest of the Wardens!” She grabbed Skyve’s arm and leaned on him to get to her feet, dizziness making the ground spin. Yhkon and Zoper were dueling, Rikky was guarding her and Skyve while Terindi fought through the Tarragon to let the rest of the Wardens in. “Skyve, help me with the dragons.”
Just before Zoper’s dragon would have snapped Yhkon in half with its teeth in one bite, Talea put a beam of electricity into its chest, while Skyve put one into the next nearest dragon. Closing her eyes, she focused on all the energy simmering within and forced it out. It had been futile for her to stand up—she felt her knees hit the ground again within seconds, as her vision went black.
She woke up to Yhkon’s voice. “Hey, hey. You okay? Just need to know before I make a plan, here…”<
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What she wouldn’t give for her bed and ten hours of sleep. Her body felt as limp and useless as a ragdoll, and wracked with a variety of pains. At the top of the list was the pounding headache that made it hard to even open her eyes.
Yhkon was crouched beside her. The rest of the Wardens stood around them and the other wards. The Tarragon still had them surrounded, but with only two dragons still active. To her relief, Yhkon hadn’t already killed Zoper, though the Tarragon captain looked a little winded as spoke up. “Well. I am sorry Talea, you seem to do more than your fair share too often in these fights. How about—”
Yhkon was on his feet again, sword ready. Apparently, he’d disengaged to make sure she was alright...now that he knew she was, he was on the hunt again.
“Wait, wait…” She coughed a little, bringing a spasm of pain to her ribs. Grabbing Yhkon’s wrist before he advanced, she looked at Zoper. “Go. No more bloodshed today.”
“No.” Yhkon stepped forward, breaking her grip. “There will be more bloodshed. I’ll send your head back to Kaydor on a—”
“Such a pleasant fellow, your friend.” Zoper scrunched up his face. “Listen, scary sir, I like my head where it is. Maybe let’s do as the Captain of the San Quawr says…?”
Yhkon was livid, it was obvious even under his hood. “I s-speak for her, and you—”
“Yhkon!” Knowing she wouldn’t be able to stand, she simply stretched enough to kick his ankle. “You do not speak for me.” Steadying her hoarse voice as much as possible, she ignored Yhkon’s drilling stare and addressed Zoper. “Get out of here.”
One hesitant glance at Yhkon, and Zoper gave her a thumbs up, turning to his men and making a shooing motion.
“Um…?” Tarol vaguely pointed at them, moving closer to Yhkon and Talea. “We’re just…?”
Neither of them answered. So the Wardens stood by, awkwardly fidgeting, as the Tarragon swiftly made their retreat. Only when they were gone did Yhkon yank off his hood and mask and glare at her. “What the hell?”
