by G. Bailey
“Yes, but not far. Tired,” she replies, sending worry crashing into my head.
“I can drop the barrier for a second, I just need my orb to touch it. It will knock me out though, as it’s a lot of magic,” Melody explains. “It will also let the seer who made the barrier know where we are. They might look for us, which would be a good thing.”
“We will protect you after you destroy the barrier,” Dagan tells her, and I nod at her in confirmation.
“They are two doors away,” Thorne says, shutting the curtain quickly and stepping away.
“We go into the garden, and Isola you need to shift quickly. Everyone ready?” Darth commands us all, picking up a bag and walking to the fireplace. He picks up a small picture frame, kissing it once before sliding it into his bag.
“Sorry about this, man, but we need a quick escape,” Elias says, picking Korbin up by the waist and flinging him over his shoulder. “What the hell do you eat, you weigh a ton,” Elias groans.
“Asshole,” Korbin groggily replies as we walk to the back door. I go to step out when a hand stops me, and I look up to see it’s Thorne.
“Let me go first, we don’t know if anyone is out there,” he commands, like I should listen to his every word.
“That’s why I should go first,” I mutter, glaring at his back as he gently pushes past me and out of the door. I don’t wait as I follow him out, seeing a stone garden filled with stone ornaments of dragons, wings, and various other beautiful things. They all look handmade, and clearly someone put a lot of effort into making this garden as beautiful as it is.
“I’m going to break everything by shifting out here,” I say to no one in particular.
“I’d rather you break my wife’s statues than the guards break us. Get on with the shift, girl!” Darth barks out, and I nod sadly at him. I walk straight into the middle of the garden and close my eyes, letting my dragon take over. When I open my eyes, everything is sharper, and I look over to see everyone standing at the door. My dragon lowers herself down, crushing the statues as she does, and even my dragon seems to realise. Elias climbs up my wing first, followed by Dagan, Melody, Darth, and Thorne last.
“Over here!” I hear someone shout. My sensitive ears pick up the sound from what could be a good distance away, but regardless, they know we are here, and we can’t fight them like this.
“Fly straight up, close enough for Melody to touch the barrier, but don’t let yourself touch it. I don’t want you hurt,” I say to my dragon, and she bats her wings out, flying up in the air and knocking a stone wall over on her way up.
“Shoot her! Don’t let her fly away!” I hear a guard scream, and then dozens of arrows fly at us, hitting our right wing and making my dragon roar. She turns around, mid-flight.
“Freeze,” I hear her hiss, and I don’t disagree as she shoots a blast of ice at the guards, freezing them all on the spot while they try to reload their arrows. Two guards manage to escape, and I see them shifting moments before they fly up into the air, breathing out fire.
“Get to the barrier! We can’t fight them with the others on our backs!” I try to reason with her, and thankfully, she does as I ask, speeding away even when her wing hurts from the arrows that fall away in the wind. She gets close to the barrier, gliding in the air as streams of fire hit our tail from the dragons following us. My dragon turns her head back in time to see Melody place her orb against the barrier, holding it firmly in place as the orb flashes brightly. A white light blasts out, blinding us all for a moment, and then the barrier falls away in little blue sparks.
“Fly away! Now!” I plead with my dragon, and she flies off, straight into the woods. I hear her cry reverberate in my ears as the forest gets a little blurry, and the surrounding sounds seem to buzz against our ears. I know her wing is hurt, and she can’t last long, but those dragons must still be following us. The last thing I'm aware of before darkness claims me is my dragon plummeting, crashing into the forest, and the screams of our passengers as she falls.
Chapter Eight
Dagan
I brush the dirt and hair out of my face, jumping up off the ground as everything swirls for a moment, and I try to focus on what happened. Isola was flying one second, and then crashing the next. Something had to be wrong for her to fall like that. Thank god, we weren’t too high when she turned on her side and dropped us in the trees. I quickly scan my surroundings, knowing I need to find her and seeing no one else near me.
“Isola!” I shout, and no one replies. Shit. A guard steps out from behind a tree, holding a sword, and smirking when he sees me. I quickly pull out my own sword, holding it at my side as I examine the guard. He is young and fairly small. I doubt he is trained well from the way he rushed out here rather than planning out his attack.
“Bring it on,” I say, wanting to get this out of the way. He rushes at me, lifting his sword behind his neck and slamming it down on mine, and I elbow his face when he lets his guard down for a second. I kick his stomach as he drops his sword in shock and falls on the floor. I pick up his sword, walking over and holding it against his neck.
“Don’t shift, don’t move. Now, you can run away and deal with the queen hunting you, or you die by my hand now,” I warn.
“I-I had no choice. The queen made my father join the dragon guard. She said she would kill my mother if he didn’t. I have four brothers, and we all got cursed with him,” he replies.
“I am truly sorry for that, but make your choice,” I honestly tell him.
“I will run,” he says dejectedly, his voice an echo as I watch his whole body glow red for a second, and then I see the pain in his eyes. His dragon knows the queen knows he has betrayed her. She will send guards to hunt him now. The curse always makes sure the ruler knows when they have been betrayed. Which means I need him to run and get as far away from Isola and me as possible.
“Run and don’t stop running,” I say, moving my sword away, and he runs into the forest, never looking back once.
“Watch out!” I hear Melody shout, and I look up just in time to see her jump down. I quickly move out the way as I put my sword back in its sheath and throw the other in a nearby bush.
“You okay?” I ask her, and she shakily nods. Bee flies down to us, following Melody.
“Isola?” Bee asks, searching for her in the trees and frowning.
“Bee, can you fly up and see if you can find anyone? If you notice any other dragons, don’t let them see you,” Melody asks her, and she nods, flying up the tree.
“Isola was hurt, we need to find her,” I state.
“Agreed. We need to find the others and get out of here. The guards will be searching for us,” Melody tells me what I already know. Thankfully, at least one of them isn't searching for us, and there were only two that shifted and followed us. That only leaves one guard, and I'm hopeful he won't find us. We wait silently until Bee flies down, sitting on Melody’s shoulder.
“That way,” Bee points to our left, where we can see nothing but more trees, and we have no choice but to trust her.
“Keep your eyes open,” I tell Melody, who nods, sliding a dagger out her pocket as I pull my sword out. We carefully step through the trees, our feet crunching on branches with every step, and I’m way too aware of how loud we are being. Any guards would be able to hear us with their sensitive hearing from their dragons. We trudge through the forest until we come to a clearing of smashed trees that leads to a little cliff, and I know Isola must have crashed here and skidded all the way down. I run out of the clearing, only seeing more trees at the bottom of the cliff.
“Damn, we will have to climb down,” I say, rubbing my jaw.
“Dagan!” I hear my name shouted, and I turn, freezing at the sight of a man I don’t know holding Isola in his arms. She is unconscious, her head hangs from one of his arms, but she doesn’t look dead, though blood drips down her right arm. It doesn’t look good, not with the three arrow marks I can see from here. The man keeps his eyes on me, and I s
ee that he is massive, with dark-red hair and red tattoos littered down his arms. I breathe a sigh of relief that she is alive, and step forward, only pausing when Melody stops me.
“Give her to us,” I demand.
“No,” the man says simply, a large grin spreading across his face as he looks down at Isola. The fucker.
“Enough. We didn’t come here to discuss anything, and we cannot stay long,” a woman says, stepping out of the shadows of the trees. About twenty other people follow out after her, all covered in weapons, and they aren’t dragon guards. I keep my eyes on the woman that spoke. The way she stands slightly in front of them all tells me all I need to know; she is the leader here. The woman has long black hair, tanned skin, and most of her face is hidden in her cloak. She lowers her cloak, showing me her black eyes and the black marks on her face.
Seer.
“Let the princess go,” I command, and she laughs.
“You have no authority here, Dagan Fire. Do not push me,” the woman says, and I let out a loud growl, my eyes never leaving Isola in that idiot’s hands. I’m going to kill him for touching her.
“We were looking for you,” Melody says, stepping in front of me with Bee on her shoulder. The woman’s eyes go straight to Bee, as do every other seer’s and dragon’s here. I’ve gotten used to seeing her, but for most, it is still a shock.
“It’s true. The light has returned,” the woman says, breathing out her words slowly like she can’t believe them.
“Do you support the dark?” Melody asks, and there is complete silence except for a few gasps of shock.
“No.” The one word answer comes from the woman, and she steps closer.
“We request safe travel, for all of us, and for you to give Isola a chance. My mother was your last leader, and Isola is my sister. Will you refuse me?” Melody asks, holding her head high as she glares at the woman. If Melody’s mother was the last leader, surely Melody should be the one leading them now?
“You side with the lost princess?” the woman asks, almost laughing.
“The princess is the one that should be queen, as she is who the light has chosen. Not everything is clear, but unless you plan to kill the last light today . . . you will help us,” Melody states.
“My name is Essna, the current leader of the seers, and I accept your request. We will take you all back, as prisoners, and wait for the princess to wake up. She may yet be the queen we need,” Essna says, and Melody bows, stepping back to my side as I rush past her.
“Let me hold the princess, and we need to find the others before we leave,” I say, seeing the smirk on the asshole’s lips as he holds her close to his chest. I’m going to knock that smile off his lips the first chance I get.
“No. She needs a healer, and yours is currently unconscious from the fall. We have taken the other dragon guards. The one is very ill, and the other put up a good fight. You will behave, or I will put you in the prison until you control your emotions,” Essna says.
“I’m sorry for this, but I know your stubborn ass will fight them,” Melody says from my l left as she quickly places her hand on my head, sending blinding white light flashing through my mind.
Chapter Nine
Isola
Isola. Isola. Make the deal, make the trade. Light must win, and darkness cannot fade. Make the deal, make the trade, but remember that balance must be gained . . . .
I groan as I wake up, hearing the echo of a female voice singing the song like a whisper in my ear, but when I open my eyes, the unfamiliar room is empty, and I’m just left feeling cold. I flinch when I try to use my arm to sit up, and I look down to see the white bandage covering my entire arm, stopping at my wrist and at the top of my shoulder. It’s spotted with my blood, but it’s not too painful. I frown as I realise I have no clothes on, terror filling me until I feel like I can’t breathe. I pull the brown sheets tighter around me, moving back on the bed and closing my eyes, trying to calm down.
I’m not on Earth. Michael is dead. I need to relax. I repeat the same words, time and time again until I can think a little more clearly. It comes back to me that I shifted and lost my clothes, but it doesn't stop the panic from rising again that anyone could have found me naked in the forest. Dagan. Elias. Korbin. Thorne. Home. Repeating those words in my head instead of thinking of anything else helps me breathe, helps me calm down. When I can finally open my eyes, I see I’ve frozen most of the sheet and the straw walls of the hut I’m in. Hut? I look around, seeing it’s a basic circle hut made out of straw that is tied at the top. A small firepit in the middle of the hut, the bed I'm on, and a dresser next to a fabric door are the only furnishings.
“What happened?” I ask my dragon, but say it out loud, figuring she'll be listening.
We fell. I do not know more. We must find mine, she hisses, and I feel her frustration and worry ramping up and blending with my own. She thinks she hurt them, and she knows my arm is not going to heal for a while, so I can’t shift. I’m torn from examining my dragon's emotions when the fabric door is pushed aside, and a woman walks in. The woman is wearing a brown cloak tied in the middle with a belt. Her brown hair is up in a bun, and she doesn’t look my way as she closes the fabric door behind her.
“Who are you?” I ask firmly, sliding off the bed and standing tall, even as I hold my blanket up with one hand. The woman bows her head, and her scent hits me. Human. “Am I on Earth?” The woman doesn’t answer my question, walking over to the dresser and opening the drawers. She pulls out a bundle of leather clothes and a cloak before coming over to me.
"My name is Jenny. I am human, but you are not on Earth. I fell into Dragca twenty years ago after running away from my family. I serve the seers, and in return, the seers keep me alive. I was sent to help you get dressed, as our leader wishes to meet you,” she says and finally looks up at me, her harsh eyes meeting mine.
“Where are my dragon guards? My sister?” I demand.
“I cannot give you the answers you want, but I can only suggest that letting me help you get dressed and meeting our leader might get you the answers you need, princess,” she answers, but her voice is still hard and cold. There is nothing warm about her, and I wonder if that’s why she was sent to me, because she can’t be swayed.
“Fine,” I mutter, moving aside, so she can place the clothes on the bed.
“I will be over here if you need help. Your arm should not be moved much. The healer said you would need help getting dressed,” she says.
“I don’t need help, but thank you,” I reply, because one way or the other, I’m getting myself dressed on my own. Jenny sharply looks away and walks over to the dresser, facing the wall. I drop the blanket, picking up the leather tank top and sliding it over one arm, before carefully putting my injured arm though the hole. I bite my lip as I pull the tight tank top down over my head and down my body. It stops just under my boobs, holding them up like a sports bra instead of a shirt because it’s so tight. They must have been made for someone a lot smaller. I sit down on the bed, pulling the tight leather trousers on, that resemble three quarter lengths by the time I get them up and then click the cloak around my neck.
“Let me sort that hair of yours out. No princess should see anyone with that rat’s nest of hair. I washed your hair when you were sleeping, and washed you down, if you wondered why you are clean. You smelt bad, and I found more dirt in your hair than actual hair,” Jenny says in disgust, but it makes me laugh in relief that it was her that looked after me and no one else. I look up to see her holding a chair out with a hairbrush in her hand. I smile, walking over, and sitting down.
“Thank you,” I say, and flinch as she roughly brushes my hair. I guess it was messy. It takes twenty minutes for her to brush it all, and she plaits the top of my hair, so it falls into a long plait down my back in the middle of the waves of blonde curly hair.
“Now, that’s much better,” Jenny claps, and I stand up, my long hair falling to my waist, and smooth down my cloak. “There is a mir
ror over there.” I follow Jenny’s pointed finger to where there is a full-length mirror hanging on the wall. I stare at myself for a second, noting how much older and worried I look. I don’t look confident. I look scared, and my blue eyes seem to show my every emotion. Melody is right. I need to hide my emotions better if I want to make it through this. I steel my gaze, lift my head up, and straighten my back. I am Isola Dragice. This is my world, and I will not be a frightened little girl anymore.
Chapter Ten
Isola
I’m blinded by the sunlight for only a moment as I step outside the hut and smell the scents of multiple dragons and seers, all of them unfamiliar. There are five huts on each side of a white stone path that has lanterns on wood sticks following along each side. Jenny walks down the path, and I follow just behind her, glancing around, taking stock of my surroundings to get an idea of where I am. There isn’t much to see, other than woods and the sun shining high in the sky. We could be in any forest, and unfortunately, Dragca is full of them. I don’t have any more time to look as I notice Jenny is nearly out of my sight, and I jog to catch up with her. The path winds around more huts until I can see a massive crowd of people gathered around something.
The people turn one by one to stare at me, some lowering their heads in respect, but many just stare blankly. I spot some seers, some dragons, and even catch the scents of a few humans in the crowd. As we get to the people, they part to make a small path through them, but I feel the eyes of so many of them on me, judging me. I keep my eyes forward and my head high as we walk into the clearing. I see a woman sitting on a wooden chair, one that almost resembles a throne. She has long black hair, seer marks on her forehead that are similar to Melody’s, and a very serious expression. Next to her, are two sets of seers in cloaks, each holding long sceptres with orbs on top in front of them. I skim the crowd, searching for any of my dragon guards or my sister, but not seeing them.