Soulbound to a Dragon

by Kurtis Eckstein

  ‘I’m coming,’ he promised. Up until this point, he had remained silent to avoid distracting me. It was a good thing too, because apparently this wasn’t over yet.

  Unexpectedly, Risa slid to a halt as she rounded the corner leading to the hallway with large windows that connected to the Grand Foyer. She tried to jump back, but it was too late. A gunshot ricocheted through the hallway, the bullet hitting Risa in the shoulder.

  She fell to the ground instantly, gasping for breath.

  Chapter 23: Bound

  I sent my magic out automatically, attempting to ensnare whatever had shot her. I used all my mental prowess to bind four of them – the most I had ever attempted – but there were more running down the hallway. I fell down onto one knee from the effort, a little surprised I could even remain upright at all, even with Evie still on my back.

  “There are too many!” I cried out.

  ‘Then kill them!’ Alabast hissed.

  “I can’t do that!” I retorted out loud, prompting Tobias to look at me in confusion since I hadn’t given him time to say anything.

  ‘Then allow me!’ She sneered.

  “No!” I replied firmly. “I’ll do it.”

  But I didn’t get the chance to.

  Risa had crawled towards us to get out of sight, but then she took a moment to slam her fist onto the ground, sending out a wave of ice down the hallway. Within a matter of seconds, the men in my grasp were dead, as well as a few more who had been running down the hall, freeing me to stand up again. I set Evie down and rushed over to pull her the rest of the way out of sight.

  Risa was clutching her shoulder now, gasping for breath as blood gushed out from between her fingers. The bullet must have hit something major, because she was bleeding extremely fast.

  My sensitive ears could pick up on more men coming from the Grand Foyer, but they were approaching more cautiously now. I looked back at Mira’s limp form in her father’s arms. “Tobias! What should we do? She’s losing too much blood!”

  He grimaced, laying Mira down on the ground to come look for himself. “If Eli were here, he might be able to cauterize it with his fire magic to get the bleeding to stop until Mira wakes up.” He paused as he met my gaze. “We can try bandaging it, but this is bleeding too fast to be of much use.”

  Risa groaned at the same moment that I considered another solution. I quickly reached into my pocket, pulling out the black ring with the ruby. “I might be able to use this,” I realized, holding up my hand to put the large ring on my thumb.

  “No!” Evie unexpectedly cried out, taking a step towards me. “Those are extremely dangerous! It’s almost impossible for a mage to control! My uncle could only use it because he had a special glove that could control the flow of magic. If you put it on, it’ll just explode, rapidly sucking you dry.”

  I dropped my hands, the ring in my palm, feeling defeated. I was helpless – there was nothing I could do to help my friend.

  ‘Good riddance,’ Alabast chuckled.

  “Shut up!” I shouted, prompting Tobias to almost fall backwards in surprise. “If you’re not going to help, then keep your mouth shut!”

  ‘Foolish girl,’ she continued. ‘You know nothing of your ability.’

  “If you know something,” I snapped out loud, my voice filling with hatred, “then just spit it out, or else I swear I’ll find a way to retaliate against you.”

  Alabast was silent for a moment, evaluating the seriousness of my threat, before responding. ‘Enslave her,’ she replied simply, ‘and then funnel those men’s lifeforce into her.’

  I looked up at a confused Tobias, gawking at what she had just said. I then looked down at Risa’s pained expression, seeing her continued gasping for breath, the blood flowing through her fingers. Between the summoning ritual with Eli and experiencing what Alabast had done to Demetri, I was fairly certain I understood what I needed to do. But the price of saving her life was taking away her freedom again. I didn’t think my magic would be as absolute as it was with Eli, but I had no idea if I could release her from it afterwards.

  I shoved the fire ring back in my pocket and bent down to rest my head on Risa’s temple. She began whimpering, prompting me to place my hand over hers on her bleeding shoulder. “Risa, I think I might be able to help you,” I whispered, “but I need…” I took a deep breath. “I need to make you my slave to do so.”

  She coughed unexpectedly as she tried to speak. “Do it,” she replied.

  I pulled away slightly in surprise to get a better look at her. “Are you sure?” I asked seriously.

  “Riel,” she replied, coughing again. “I think I’m dying. Just do it.”

  I nodded, quickly wrapping a blue ethereal chain around her neck. Having never done this before, I simply did what I remembered from summoning Eli – demand the creature submit to my will. However, unlike with Eli, she didn’t resist. The chain immediately sank into her neck and a black tattoo exactly like mine formed on her throat. She screamed as the magic burned into her skin, sounding like she was choking as her shriek broke.

  Knowing I didn’t have time to waste, I ensnared one of the men getting ready to round the corner with a gun, mimicking what Alabast had done to Demetri. I could feel the elderfel spirit guiding me, showing me how to steal life and transfer it into myself, only to pass it on to someone enslaved by my magic.

  How had it come to this?

  Risa’s eyes popped open as the energy flowed down the ethereal chain connecting us. She looked confused for a moment, before looking up at me. Alabast used my laxed control over her to ensnare a few more of our enemies and suck them dry for herself while I held Risa’s gaze.

  Greedy little demon.

  “All better?” I wondered hesitantly.

  Risa rubbed her shoulder, before pulling her green blood-soaked shirt away from her body slightly to allow a piece of metal to clatter against the floor. She looked at me again with a bewildered expression, slowly sitting up and reaching for her throat to feel the tattoo. There was nothing to feel though. I knew from my own mark that it felt just like normal skin.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’ll try to find a way to release you. I promise.”

  After meeting my gaze again for a moment, she finally spoke up. “I trust you Riel. Slave or not, I feel free when I’m with you.”

  I nodded hesitantly, and then looked up at Tobias. “Well, let’s get out of here.”

  His expression was slightly baffled, but he recovered after a second. He cleared his throat and then scooped up Mira again.

  I met Evie’s gaze then, seeing that her orange eyes were wide. No doubt she was distressed by the conversation I had seemingly had with myself, never mind that I had just healed Risa from a fatal wound.

  “Ready?” I wondered.

  She inclined her chin slowly, before moving to climb onto my back again. Risa had gotten up and was already peaking around the corner, being more cautious this time. However, another gunshot fired off the moment she pulled back out of sight.

  She looked at me with a strained expression. “The hallway is full of men with guns,” she said with a grimace. “Even if I can reach them, there are more in the foyer to take their place.”

  I felt my shoulders slump, trying to rack my brain for ideas. I gasped, as I turned my head to look at Evie. “What about the shield ring?” I wondered, reaching in my pocket to pull out the four rings. “You said the fire one would explode with magic, but wouldn’t that be a good thing for this one?” I wondered, holding up the silver ring with the opal.

  Evie looked at it hesitantly before responding. “I don’t think that will stop bullets. Only magic attacks.”

  “Oh,” I replied, considering that. “What about the invisibility ring?” I wondered.

  She shrugged. “Maybe…”

  Risa walked over and picked out the silver ring with a diamond set in it. “This one, right?” She wondered.

  Evie and I both nodded at the same time.

 
Risa tried sliding it on her index finger, only to discover it was far too large. Really, all of them were too large for any of our fingers, including thumbs. “It doesn’t fit,” she grimaced.

  Unexpectedly, the metal band shrank in size, matching her finger, and Risa vanished right before our eyes.

  “Risa?” I hissed in surprise.

  “I’m right here,” she replied from the spot she had just been. “It really is sucking out my magic quickly though. It’s like my magic is a bucket of water, and this ring punctures a massive hole in it, allowing the water to flood out.”

  Suddenly, one of the men down the hallway called out. “Just give up!” He demanded. “We have all the exits blocked off! If you hope to get out of here alive, then surrender now!”

  Risa’s voice appeared from right beside me. The only reason I wasn’t surprised was because my sensitive ears picked up her movement, but Evie jumped when she spoke. “I better hurry. I’m trying to control the flow of magic pouring out of me, but it’s not working. I don’t think the ring needs this much power to work, but…” She sighed heavily. “Wish me luck.”

  “Be careful,” I replied, wishing I had enough magical prowess to go in her place. But she was the only one besides Eli who could really fight offensively.

  I felt her wrap her arms around me then, encompassing Evie too, before she rushed off to face the enemy alone.

  With the help of the invisibility ring, Risa was able to slip right past the men in the hallway and begin her assault with the enemies in the foyer. In the end, it only took her half a minute to kill all of them, partly because they had no idea what to shoot at.

  However, she wasn’t exaggerating when she said the ring was causing her magic to pour out of her. When I heard the last body drop, I immediately took off around the corner, only to see her collapse to her knees panting heavily. The man in front of her wasn’t even dead – her magic had run out just as she had thrust an icicle partly through his chest. He was already trying to get up to fight back.

  “Take the ring off!” I shouted at her, running as fast as I could. I had no idea if keeping it on while depleted of magic would harm her, but I definitely knew it wasn’t helping now. She was visible again.

  Risa complied immediately, dropping it with trembling hands. She was gasping for breath, and looked like she was about to pass out. Usually magic-use didn’t affect physical stamina to that extent, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Maybe it was because she used all of it so quickly?

  Apparently, Alabast felt extra helpful, or maybe she just wanted me to feed her more lives, because she answered my unspoken question.

  ‘The ring sucked out some of her lifeforce,’ Alabast retorted in my mind. ‘It wouldn’t usually do that, but she tried to keep using it even once her magic ran dry. You’ll need to give her more if you expect her to live longer than five years. Maybe ten if she’s lucky.’

  “Five years?!” I exclaimed out loud. I didn’t know if she was telling the truth, but I didn’t want to take the chance, even if it meant doing what I was hesitant to admit I was doing.

  I made a face as I wrapped the last man up in my magic, a blue ethereal chain appearing around his entire body, sinking in. At the same time, another ethereal chain appeared between Risa’s neck and my chest, the life energy flowing along the channel almost instantly.

  Risa looked up at me in shock as I approached, her body no longer trembling. I reached out tentatively to pull her to her feet. Neither of us had really had time to think about the implications of what I’d done to her, never mind talking about it. I didn’t know how she would really feel once this was all over. I just hoped she didn’t decide she hated me after all.

  Risa unexpectedly squeezed my hand, prompting me to look up at her standing in front of me. “I could never hate you,” she whispered. My eyes widened in surprise, realizing the connection was similar to the one I shared with Eli. It was weaker right now due to the proximity, but much the same. The main difference being that there was only one master, and I doubted the link was a strong – we were magicbound, not soulbound.

  “Are you alright?” Tobias unexpectedly asked.

  We both looked at him in surprise, thinking he was talking to Risa. But then we saw that Mira had woken up. She started groaning, clasping her head in her hands. “Yes. I just…” Unexpectedly, she took in a sharp breath, as if she had just remembered something. Her expression was instantly terrified. She began looking around frantically, before her eyes settled on me…no, before they settled on Evie.

  Mira screamed, squirming so violently that her father almost dropped her.

  “Honey, what’s wrong?!” He asked urgently.

  “M-Monster!” She shrieked, still squirming. Tobias finally set her down on her feet, but held onto her to keep her from running away.

  I felt Evie’s muscles lock up behind me. I glanced back at her, seeing that her orange eyes were strained, her brow furrowed with…concern. She looked worried, on Mira’s behalf.

  “I’m sorry,” Evie whispered, her voice almost inaudible.

  Tobias looked at the girl in disbelief.

  “Did she hurt you?” He asked Mira, still holding Evie’s gaze.

  Mira was trembling. It took her a moment to respond. “N-No,” she finally admitted. Her father looked down at her in surprise, before she clarified. “There’s a monster inside of her,” she explained with a shaky voice. “It attacked me.”

  Evie unexpectedly interrupted her. “When she healed me, I think it required most of her magic, because she passed out.” She grimaced, speaking directly to Mira. “I didn’t attack you though…you wouldn’t be alive if I had.”

  They held each other’s gaze for a moment, before I interrupted. “We really need to get out of here,” I urged Mira and Tobias. “There might be more guards outside, and I’m worried about Landon and Theo.”

  That got their attention, both of them exchanging a glance with each other. Risa held up the diamond ring to give it back to me, so I twisted my hip towards her to allow my friend to slip it in my pocket. I could probably hold Evie on my back with one hand underneath her rear, especially considering she was so light, but her silk pajamas made holding onto her difficult.

  I then turned to head towards the front doors, seeing that they were cracked open. Eli was getting closer, but he was still too far away to be helpful right now. Risa quickly passed me up, before slowly pulling the door open more to peek outside. Once she determined that the coast was clear, she gave us all a nod and stepped out.

  However, I didn’t even make it to the front steps before I froze in my tracks. Theo was slumped up against the wagon wheel, the front of his shirt soaked with blood. And Landon was lying face down on the pavement, a pool of blood underneath him too.

  “Goddess,” Risa exclaimed next to me.

  Mira gasped when she saw. “No!” She screamed, rushing down the steps ahead of us. “No, no, no!”

  I quickly bolted after her, catching up before she made it to the bottom. I then set Evie back down on her feet as Mira ran straight for her brother. The horses were missing, the wagon tongue and yoke lying on the ground empty.

  Mira was already kneeling on the ground next to her brother, her hands held out over him as she tried to heal him. Tobias fell to his knees beside her, his posture shocked and defeated. I crouched down next to Theo to check to see if he was still alive.

  Barely.

  ‘Might as well take his life before it goes to waste,’ Alabast commented, amusement in her voice.

  “Shut up!” I snapped. Risa had just begun to crouch next to me, flinching when I yelled. I looked at her apologetically, before trying to wrack my brain. “Think Riella!” I chastised myself.

  ‘Your potion,’ Eli whispered, ‘the one your godmother gave you.’

  I gasped, my eyes widening in surprise. “Risa, get my bag!” I instructed. Instantly, the black tattoo on her neck glowed brightly as she bolted to her feet and turned to jump into the back of the wagon.
My eyes widened in shock, unable to comprehend what I’d just seen.

  Risa quickly handed me my bag prompting me to snap out of it. I began digging inside, searching for my godmother’s potion. “I’m sorry,” I whispered urgently, grasping a hold of it and pulling it out. I popped off the top and grabbed Theo’s chin.

  “For what?” Risa asked, reaching up to help me turn his head a little.

  I poured a little bit of the solution into his mouth, biting my lip. “I think I made you get my bag.”

  “I would have done it anyway,” she replied.

  “I’m still sorry,” I pressed, capping the potion again, hoping to see some life come back to him. As far as I knew, the potion didn’t actually have to be swallowed to work. Whether it stayed in his mouth, or even if it went in his lungs, it should still get absorbed and heal him. Assuming he wasn’t dead already.

  Unexpectedly, Theo lunged forward, almost knocking into me as he began coughing violently. Realizing it had worked, I quickly jumped up and ran over to Mira and Tobias.

  “It’s not working!” Mira was saying, despair in her voice. “Almost all my magic has been drained!”

  “Help me turn him over,” I replied urgently, holding up the rosy potion for them to see.

  Tobias immediately took action, grabbing his son roughly and flopping him on his back. I knelt down, and grabbed his jaw like I’d done to Theo. I poured a little and then capped it again, seeing that I only had barely one sip left. Hopefully no one else became fatally injured anytime soon, because I didn’t like the idea of having to enslave anyone else in order to save their life. I already felt guilty about Risa as it was. At least with Eli it was different – we were on equal ground. But with Risa, I could make her do whatever I wanted now.

  I gasped.

  Because that might mean Alabast might be able to control her too.

  ‘I wish,’ Alabast retorted with disdain. ‘I’d make that worgron filth kill herself in a heartbeat.’