“I can’t just leave. This is our only chance!” I replied, but I was scared.
The Alpha howled and then gave a warning growl before taking a step toward me.
It was a warning. A warning I wasn’t about to ignore. I grabbed Ash’s hand and began to run through the forest with Spear and the others in front of me. In the dark, we became disoriented and pretty soon we were running somewhere I didn’t recognize. The path beneath us had disappeared, replaced by thick undergrowth which made running difficult. Behind me, I could hear the heavy, guttural breathing of the Alpha chasing us. In front, I saw Spear fall. His foot had caught in a branch that he’d not seen in the dark. It was too late. We couldn’t outrun the Alpha, even without one of us falling. We stopped and helped Spear to his feet as the Alpha crashed through the undergrowth toward us. He hadn’t turned into his wolf form, but he looked less human and more wolf-like as he came skidding to a stop just feet from us.
“He fell!” Ash said, hoping it would placate the wolf. “He’s injured. We’re doing what you asked. We were leaving. There is no need to hurt us.”
The wolf looked at Spear. There was blood pouring from a cut on Spear’s knee. It was a superficial scrape but it proved that Ash was telling the truth.
“I heard what you said to the human.”
“What?” asked Ash, genuinely confused.
“You told her that you will come back here later.” His face was contorted in anger. Why hadn’t we left when he first told us to? Oh, yeah, because I was an idiot who thought I could persuade him to tell me Morganna’s whereabouts. This was all my fault. I could draw my sword again but I knew it would be a fruitless exercise. He could overpower me in a second.
“You cannot come back here. I cannot let you. You have shown me that you will not cease hounding me until you are all dead.”
“We won’t come back. I give you my word. You’ve made it very plain that we are not welcome.”
It was a last-ditch attempt to calm him. It didn’t work. “Your word means nothing to me. I have no reason to believe you. The only way that you will stop is your own death and believe me, that can easily be arranged.”
He stepped closer and without thinking my hand tightened on my sword. I knew I couldn’t win a fight against him, but I’d be damned if I’d go down without trying. Another step closer and I pulled my sword from its sheath.
He grinned, but it was not the friendly grin from earlier. His teeth dripped with spittle and the corners of his eyes narrowed. “As I said before, either brave or foolish.” The Alpha stepped closer once again but I held my ground.
Not that I had any choice. The path behind me was blocked by Ash, Spear, and the others. Beyond them, the undergrowth was too thick to run through. I was trapped and he knew it. We all were.
Before he had the chance to leap at me, I dodged to the side. That way, while he was fighting me, the others could run around us and find their way back to the path. At least that was my plan. The Alpha followed me with his eyes. I was right. He was concentrating on only me. It wouldn’t give the others much time, but if they found the path pretty quickly and ran as fast as they could, they had a slim chance of escape. The longer I held the Alpha off, the more time it would buy them.
“Run!” I hissed under my breath to the others.
They didn’t move. I hadn’t counted on them wanting to stay and help me fight even though they must have known it was a fruitless task. None of them had brought weapons with them, thinking that in moments of danger, they were the best weapons. I knew how big and strong they were as dragons, but in their human forms, they were no match for the Alpha.
He growled again and pounced, his clothes ripping in mid-air as he turned into a monstrous wolf. His change surprised me. With the dragons, there was always the crunching of bones and the disgusting way their skin folded and stretched and grew with each shift. The Alpha had shifted effortlessly and had done it within the time it took from his feet leaving the ground to hitting it again. I rolled to the floor, getting out of his way in the nick of time. Getting to my feet quickly, I swung my sword at him, but he was just a hair’s breadth away from being struck. He swiped at my sword with his huge paws, almost knocking it out of my hand, but I held tight. Without my sword, I may as well lie down and wait to be eaten. As I thrust, he dodged, and when he lunged, I rolled out of the way, the two of us engaged in a dance that would only end in disaster. Form the corner of my eye, I could see the others scrabbling around in their bags. What were they doing? There were no weapons in there. Nothing that could hurt a giant wolf. They also weren’t running away as I had hoped.
I held onto my sword, remembering my training. I thought back to the morning of my eighteenth birthday when I’d practiced with Jasper. I’d beaten him hands down, earning respect from my father. It was a bittersweet memory now. My father’s respect meant nothing to me anymore, but at the time it had meant the whole world. I tried to remember how I’d beaten my brother. It had been my stealth. He’d not managed to hit my protective armor because I’d been too quick for him. It wasn’t much of a defense against a wolf twice my size, but it was all I had.
He lowered himself, growling, ready to leap. If I was too slow, I’d be pinned to the ground. As soon as I saw the muscles in his shoulders working to push himself up, I jumped onto a nearby fallen log and somersaulted right over him. He wasn’t as slow as Jasper had been. He saw what I was doing and tried to turn over in mid-air, hitting the ground on his back. If it winded him, he didn’t show it. He was back on his feet and ready to leap again in seconds, giving me no time to attack. I didn’t know why I was comparing him to Jasper. He was twice my brother’s size and speed. He jumped up, and as I saw his huge claws heading toward my face, I held the sword out in front of me with the hope he’d impale himself upon it. As if in slow motion, he swiped the sword to the side. In that moment, I knew I was a goner.
It was then his head jerked to the side. He landed on me, pushing my body to the ground. I was incapacitated under his enormous weight and yet, he was still. His head rested on my shoulder.
Ash and the others ran over and pushed his bulky frame away from me. He rolled off as though he were asleep.
“What happened?” I asked, genuinely confused. He was just beginning to come around, but by his groggy expression, he was startled.
“We all threw apples at him as hard as we could. I think Spear threw a canteen of water. One of them hit him in the temple. I think it knocked him out for a second.”
“Let’s go before he fully wakes,” said Spear, grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder.
The others grabbed their bags and followed suit, but it was too late. The Alpha was already back on all fours, blocking our route back to the path.
“I don’t suppose you have any more apples?” I joked, more out of fear than trying to be funny. It was pointless anyway. It was a lucky shot that had startled him. Doing it again would be a miracle.
The Alpha growled, saliva dripping from his bared teeth. He got down again, poised to leap at us. This time there was no one left to defend us.
Just before he leaped, there was another huge flash of purple light. It shocked the Alpha, who moved to the side just as a woman appeared from the light. A woman I recognized immediately. I’d stared at her picture enough times.
“Morganna!” I whispered.
“Who dares hurt one of my pack?” she shouted in fury.
I took a step forward. “It was me...”
Chapter Fourteen
Before Morganna had time to answer, more flashes of light lit up the trees and the surrounding area, like the fireworks we set off at the dragon-slaying parties. Out of the flashes appeared more Wolvren. There were perhaps forty of them, most of which were in their human form, although some were shifted into wolves like the Alpha. We were surrounded in every direction by the snarls and bared teeth of the Wolvren pack, with Morganna in the center.
I did my best to ignore the danger that was all around m
e—easier said than done. “I’m from Dronias. I came here to see you.”
Morganna held her arm out at her side as if to quell the angry mob behind her, or at least to keep them from attacking. Her expression changed from one of pure anger to intrigue, no doubt because of the company I was with. Proving me right, she spoke.
“A Slayer with dragons?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.”
“We came here to see you,” I repeated.
“I have no wish to speak with anyone from my village. Not since...well, not at all, and I especially have no desire to converse with dragons. They, as you are probably aware, are a Slayer’s natural enemy.”
“Not to mention the wolves’ natural enemy,” hissed the Alpha, who had changed back into his more human form and who had now taken his place at Morganna’s side.
“And yet, I wonder... What has happened that two such enemies would team up just to speak to me? The Slayers hate the dragons more than we do, Alpha. To see them together like this is truly exceptional.”
“We can take the dragons and leave the girl if you wish?” Alpha, for it seemed that was his name as well as rank, took a step toward me. Behind me, I could feel the others pull in closer.
“No. Not yet. I need to find out what this has to do with me. If we kill them now, goodness only knows how many others will turn up. I want to speak to them.”
“Thank you!” I breathed a sigh of relief. It was obvious she didn’t really want us there, but I hoped that once she heard my story, I could persuade her to change her mind.
“Not here, though. You are too close to our village. No matter your reasons, I will never permit dragons into the village. It will violate the trust of every Wolvren here and I refuse to do that to them after they so graciously took me in. There is a clearing about three miles from here due west. If you follow that path and carry on in the same direction, you should get to it. You will know it once you see it. It is a large circle of grass where no trees grow. I do not have the magic to transport you there, so you will have to hike. I’ll meet you there and we will talk. You may also set up camp there, although do not misinterpret my generosity. It will be for one night only. After that, I will allow my fellow Wolvren to do what they will with you.”
“Thank you!” I said again. I was finally going to be able to find out the truth.
“Do not thank me. I’m doing this because I’m curious. Stick to the path. If you deviate from it I will know. If you come too close to our village to the north, I will know. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
With that, she and all the Wolvren disappeared in a haze of purple smoke. When the haze cleared, it was just the five of us again, standing in the middle of the silent forest.
“What do you make of all that?” asked one of the dragons.
“If she’s a Slayer, she’ll have grown up hating us,” replied Ash, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“And she hates me for what my father did to her.”
Spear began the short walk back to the path that Morganna had pointed out. “It is a good job you didn’t mention your father’s name. She might not have been so accommodating.”
“You call that accommodating?” replied the first dragon, following Spear.
“I think we need to be wary,” Ash said, following the others. “She’s curious. What is going to happen when we tell her everything?”
“She’s not going to be so curious anymore,” replied Spear over his shoulder.
“Exactly!”
I kept silent. I was sure they were both right, and yet a huge part of me idolized Morganna. I couldn’t believe that she’d do anything to hurt one of her own kind, despite the evidence to the contrary.
The trail was thick with undergrowth and was barely more than a path at all. We’d only walked for ten or so minutes when Spear asked to borrow my sword—not to defend himself, but to cut through the thicker parts of the undergrowth. I hated to part with it. My sword was part of who I was, but unless I wanted to take up the lead, I had no choice. I pulled it from its sheath and passed it over to him. I could hear the thwack, thwack, thwack as my sword cut through branches and bushes and had to admit, we sped up considerably from that point.
The journey still took a lot longer than expected and we were all exhausted and sweaty from hiking all day. When we finally got to the clearing, the sun was lower in the sky and thankfully, not so hot. A slight breeze swayed the leaves on the very tops of the trees but did not reach us at the bottom. The clearing itself was exactly as Morganna had told us: a large circle of grass surrounded by dense forest. What she had failed to mention were the beautiful flowers that skirted around it. Bluebells and dainty pink and white flowers that I didn’t know the name of. It was beautiful. There was no mistaking we were in the right place but had there been, Morganna sitting right in the center would leave us in no doubt.
She was alone, sitting on a large red rug which was covered in food.
“I thought you might be hungry,” she said as she saw us enter. As I took in the spread before me, my stomach gurgled. When was the last time I’d eaten? After the events of the past few hours, I couldn’t even remember.
We took a step forward toward her.
“Halt!”
Spear stopped and I walked right into the back of him.
“You will not bring your weapons in here. I am unarmed as you can see.”
I took the sword back from Spear. It felt good to finally get it back again. I placed it back in its sheath. “We were just using it to cut through the forest. The path was overgrown.”
“Nevertheless, come toward me slowly with the sword handle pointing in my direction. Just you.”
I could feel Ash stiffen beside me, but I knew she wouldn’t hurt me. How I knew, I wasn’t sure, but if this was what it took to speak to her, then so be it. I held onto the blade’s end safely through the sheath and passed it to her. She drew it quickly, leaving me standing there with just the sheath in my hand.
“So you are indeed a Slayer,” she said, taking in the detailing on the sword.
“Yes.”
“And you come from my village?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.” She placed the sword on the ground behind her. It made me nervous, having it out of reach, but she was not armed as far as I could see. “Come over then. There is enough food for all of us.” She beckoned the dragons over, and one by one, we found a place to sit on the rug. Morganna arched her brow as Ash sat right next to me and took my hand, and yet she made no mention of it.
The food was amazing, and yet all of it came from the forest. There were berries of all kinds, big bowls of fruit and nuts, and even a plate of torn up meat. As the whole forest had seemed completely devoid of any wildlife, I couldn’t imagine what kind of meat it was, and yet the dragons didn’t seem to mind. They took big handfuls and guzzled it down.
I filled my plate with berries and nuts and picked at them as I took a good look at my hero. She was slightly older than the woman I’d looked up to in the painting, but she had aged remarkably well. The painting was at least fifteen years old and yet she looked only five or so years older. She was probably a similar age to my own mother and yet there was not a hint of grey in her long dark hair and her face was remarkably wrinkle-free. She looked closer to my age and yet she had an air about her of having seen everything. A worldliness.
“I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time,” I said, feeling slightly ridiculous.
She laughed. “I didn’t realize I had any of those left and certainly not from Dronias. It was made very clear to me that I was not wanted there.
“Not by the people. The people still love your memory.”
“My memory?”
“Many of the people in Dronias believe you are dead.”
“While it is true that I have been keeping a very low profile these many years, I don’t understand why anyone would think I was dead.”
“Becau
se my father told them you were. He told us all. He said a dragon killed you.”
“A dragon?” she roared. “A mere dragon could not kill the mighty Morganna. Am I not known as the most fearless dragon Slayer of all time?”
“Remember who you are among!” growled Spear.
“Sorry, I forgot,” she said, but we all knew she was perfectly aware of her company. She began to study my face, making me nervous. “Your father... Your father couldn’t be Rocco, could he? Yes. I see the familiarity.” She answered her own question. “If I lived to be a hundred and two, I would never have expected Rocco’s daughter to come to speak to me and much less to be in the company of dragons.”
“My name is Julianna. The reason I am with the dragons is the same reason I want to speak to you.”
“Color me intrigued. A Slayer and a dragon together. What could possibly have happened to have this occur?”
“It probably won’t surprise you that it all starts with my father...”
I told her everything, right from the day I woke up on my eighteenth birthday. I told her about how I’d met Ash and the circumstances in which I’d gotten to know the rest of the dragons. I told her about the Goblins and the souls of the dragons being captured thanks to the Goblin magic within all swords. Her eyes became wider as I spoke, leaving no detail out. I ended my story with how we had decided to come find her.
“Well, that’s quite a story and not one I was expecting. Not that I knew what to expect, but you have floored me. I knew some of what was going on, I’m not going to lie to you. I know what the Goblin swords do. I know they collect souls. I didn’t know that it leaves the dragon still alive.”
“It’s barbaric. My father knew.”
“It seems that your father and I are more similar than I thought. While I admit to not knowing about the dragons still being alive, I have killed many, or at least I thought I had.”
“Murdering us is no better than capturing our souls,” growled Spear.
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’m not going to ask forgiveness for my actions but I will admit you have given me a lot to think about. In my past, I reveled in the killing of dragons. It was my calling and I was very good at it. In my older years, I realized that it held no fun for me anymore. Your father actually did me a favor. I needed a way out anyway. Him telling people I’d died was probably the main reason that no one came looking for me, and the reason I’ve been able to live here in peace for so many years. Dragon-slaying is in my past, but it also surrounds my present. The Wolvren have protected me and taken me into their pack. Much like the Slayers, they are enemies of the dragons. I do not kill dragons anymore, but I have given the Wolvren the skills to do it themselves.”
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