Valley of the Dragons (Rule 9 Academy, #3)

by Rain, Elizabeth

  A sharp sting on my shoulder and I knew they had winged me, but I never slowed as I made the first trees of the woods. I took a panicked count to make sure we’d all made the slight cover the forest provided, but we never slowed and moved deeper, making for the second valley.

  I felt the wetness spread along my arm and glanced down as it dribbled off the tips of my fingers. I formed a fist and the magic crackled there, engulfing my clenched hand in an orange glow. The snap of breaking branches behind me had me whirling in time to see a shadowy figure bearing down and taking aim. I turned in a single motion and flung the fireball in his direction. In my mind I expanded that sphere and it grew. When it hit him he was instantly engulfed. Seconds later he was gone.

  I ran on, wiping my hand along my side as I went and glancing at my companions beside me. We weren’t far from the second valley and the cliffs overlooking it. I wasn’t sure what we were going to do when we got there. The Dragon shifters that could, would change then, using flight to move beyond the range of the guns and the humans that were shooting at them. But the rest of us, those that didn’t have that option. We were running into a trap.

  A sudden scream on my right and I watched as Sirris fell, a look of startled disbelief in her beautiful eyes as they caught mine. I swerved, but Thomas beat me, snatching her up and running faster, never missing a beat. Instead, I looked behind them both and swung my bow around to pick off the shooter who was taking aim at his broad back.

  They’d shot Sirris! I had no way of knowing how bad it was—we had no time to stop and find out.

  The cliffs loomed ahead and already I could hear the flapping of massive wings as several had changed and taken to the air. We made it to the edge and came to a screeching halt. I watched a smallish dragon drop from the cliffs in full flight and loft forward and up, gaining altitude, Just as I thought she might make it, I watched her shudder as she was hit and her wings slowed. In horror, I watched her plunge into the valley below.

  I turned to face our attackers. We’d eliminated at least a dozen of them between us, and still more came. And we were trapped, our backs facing the edge of the cliff. I took quick aim with my bow and took down two more. I was out of bolts. Dropping the bow, I called my magic, felt it blast along my arms and shiver at my fingertips. I grabbed the bag at my waist and palmed a star, looking for a target. As soon as I had one in sight, I sent that small disk flying, my eyes focusing on its spin and watching it flame in mid-flight. It hit with a dull thwack. I didn’t wait to see the results. Another one was already winging towards another target.

  Beside me, Thomas had laid Sirris down and pulled his knife. He moved to the cover of the trees and was systematically picking victims off as they tried to find an opening to end him. Nick’s staff was busy, his face strained and exhausted as he sent arc after blue arc of fire towards his attackers with one hand and used his other to weave a shield to deflect the bullets. But he was tiring, I could see he was seconds away from just becoming the next easy target. A glance in Fern’s direction and I knew as good as she was, she was also flagging. Using Magic had its limits and exhausted us. Niel stood at my side and I realized he hadn’t changed; his own hands heated with twin balls of fire where they were thrust in front of him. Like the rest of us, the strain was clear in his desperate eyes.

  “You need to go while we are here to cover you. Change and save yourself, Niel.”

  “No! I’m not leaving you!”

  I took another shot, the strain on my shoulder making me wince. “You have to Niel; live to fight another day. Don’t make our deaths meaningless.” He shot me a pained glance, filled with anguish and knowing. Niel sent both fireballs winging towards a target and without another word he turned towards the cliffs, scales racing along his hands and arms as he did. I had a fleeting glance as they moved over his neck and his features blurred and changed before I whipped my head around and took aim on the next target, already bearing down on Niel. I blasted him with a cry of rage. My fingers ached and burned as I weaved on my feet. I felt the moment Niel dipped over the lip of the valley, wings wide and pumping the air. The draft of air cooled the back of my neck where several bronze scales had emerged. I grit my teeth and went back to picking targets. Another sting along my thigh and I knew I’d been hit again. I looked up on a hiss of pain in time to see Thomas’ eyes flare wide with shock, a red stain blossoming over his chest as he fell.

  “No!” I screamed, my eyes streaming with disbelief. Even before I could take a step in his direction, his brother Todd fell beside him, clutching his stomach in both hands.

  I moved in their direction when Nick jerked beside me, his eyes flying to meet mine with regret. In slow motion, I watched him tumble backwards over the cliff, his eyes never leaving mine as they faded.

  I screamed, the pain crippling my ability to function. Only Fern remained at my side. Her grey eyes clashed with mine, old and wise and filled with regret.

  “It’s your turn, Sadie. You need to fly.” Her hands were weaving the air frantically and I watched the gold ball she grew expand, threads of deepest green and orange weaving through the interior. “I have something for them Sadie, something fun, but you have to be away from me. We’re the only ones left.” My eyes moved along the ledge. She was right. Everyone else was dead or had taken to the skies to get away.

  I turned back in time to see a stray bullet hit Fern in the side. She grunted, taking the hit. I waited for her to crumple to the ground, but her eyes darkened to black. She turned back to face the woods. Kit had emerged, shimmering in and out of focus, her lips peeled back in a snarl as she leapt off Fern’s shoulder and moved like an invisible wraith along the ground. She attacked in a whirl of teeth and claws, taking the closest down and moving for another. They never saw her coming.

  And then the wind picked up and I watched a tornado of debris and dirt whirl into the air and attack the gunmen, causing their aim to falter as they tried to cover their faces and noses. The orb spinning in Fern’s hand grew and turned dark and angry, and suddenly I knew. Fern was making a bomb, and we were all at the center.

  “Go Sadie, go now. I don’t know how much longer I can hold it.”

  Still, I hesitated. “But what about you?”

  Eyes the color of smoke turned and met mine. “Ah Sadie, I’m already dead. Now Sadie, call your dragon!”

  And I did, pulling at what was inside of me, begging it to break free. The horror and the pain of loss fueled it. I felt my skin itch and crawl as the scales burst over my skin one by one, the rippling pain as my skin split and my bones seemed to pop and meld into something new. I opened my mouth on a long scream of agony as the change slammed into me and I felt myself tumbling backwards and into space. I was falling and my eyes opened to see the earth coming up to meet me too fast. Not enough time! I spread my wings wide, catching the air and pushing against it as I tried to slow my descent, I looked towards the pale mist of clouds high above my head and felt the lift as I began to rise, right before the explosion of pain...

  I sat up with a scream and a gasp of agony. My hands flailed in the dark and twisted in the sheets, ripping them apart as I struggled in their grip and tumbled out of bed. The lights went on and Sirris and Fern stared at me in horror.

  “Sadie, what the hell. It’s just a nightmare. You we’re dreaming.”

  I thought my heart was going to explode as it pounded way too fast inside my chest. I looked around me wildly as my mind played catch-up with reality. A freaking dream. None of it was real, my mind argued. I stared at my dear friends, remembering what had happened to them in that netherworld of my dream’s imagination. I wanted to snatch them to me and never let them go. My eyes teared up as I pulled myself together. Alive, they hadn’t died. My skin was slick and I knew I was drenched in sweat as I pushed the damp strands of hair away from my face.

  “It was no dream.” I snarled; my voice hoarse as I protested from where I crouched in the middle of the room. “That was a nightmare all the way.”

  S
irris suddenly gasped. I followed her eyes to the bed I’d just vacated in such a hurry. There was a complete outline where I’d been sleeping. I had scorched it into the sheets. My heart picked up speed once more as I leaned in closer, not missing the smell of brimstone that permeated the air. There was something else dotting the sheets. I picked one up and held it up to the light. A small bronze scale the size of a dime reflected the light and shimmered. They covered my bed.

  WE WERE GETTING BETTER. At least our shurikens were now hitting the mark, though the accompanying fire wasn’t there yet. I was able to call the fire when I held onto them, as was Niel, but neither of us could make them flame on contact. I could get them to light if I was holding them, but I sacrificed accuracy and yardage to do it. I wanted to be as good as Llyr Ryan. The advantage was in the distance. Shurikens flew a lot farther when they weren’t on fire. Calling the fire once they hit their targets made them even more deadly.

  We stood back nearly 200 yards. Niel tossed his for an accurate hit, almost dead of center. But there was no fire as hard as he tried to call it. Mine flamed before it hit and swung wide, just nicking the side of the tree. I gave a growl of frustration. We’d made a contest out of it between the two of us, but I think we were both losing.

  The rest of our class were spread out around the field. As Niel took a turn, I caught Nick’s scowl from several targets down, practicing with Sirris of all people. Sirris ability with fire was nonexistent without her staff, but her accuracy with the shurikens was improving. I caught Nick’s stare; his expression pensive. I bit my lip and my chin lifted, a small pang south of my heart making me wince.

  “Hey, Sadie. Your turn.” Niel repeated himself. I pulled my eyes away, giving Niel a slight smile as I turned back to the target and tried to concentrate. I had to try twice to call the fire, as before. My aim was off and the small disk went skittering through the grass, sparks making the dry grass smoke before it went out. Damn.

  I realized we weren’t alone and looked up to meet the speculative gaze of Franz Hobert, the camp director. I gave him a slight smile, but he didn’t return it. I started to say something, but he interrupted.

  “Again, Cross. Niel, you too. You both need to do better.” His voice sounded harsh and I looked closer. Did he seem off today? Like something was eating at him?

  I forgot about Nick and instead concentrated on the small weapon in my hands, tripping through my fingers until I grasped it between thumb and forefinger. I concentrated on the sharp edges, lining them up in my mind with the center of the target. I let loose and watched it fly end over end in a perfect arc. My smile widened. I was going to hit dead center.

  It was close, grazing the edge of the bullseye, but closer than I’d been before. It bounced off, catching fire as it ground a long narrow furrow in the dirt. I scowled. Niels flew, flaming before it was halfway there, and then losing height and burrowing in the dirt fifty feet from the target. He growled in frustration.

  “No, no, no! That’s not right. You’ve got to get control of your fire.” He complained, coming in and snatching two stars from Niel. With a quick flick of his wrist and gnarled fingers they were winging towards the target together, fanning out and hitting dead center. They burst into a ball of flames on contact with the center of the bulls-eye, only an inch apart.

  I gasped. I couldn’t figure out how he did that.

  He turned with a scowl towards Niel. “I’ve got this. I’m going to work with her for a bit Niel. Why don’t you take a bit of a break and hang back, go fill your water bottle or something?”

  I blinked in confusion at Niel’s rude dismissal. He seemed confused as well as he hesitated and then turned away to grab his water thermos from the grass where we’d flung them earlier. He headed off to the water station across the field.

  Franz Hobert turned back to me. He’d always seemed friendly enough when he’d spoken to me before. But today was different. Today he seemed angry, and I wasn’t so sure it wasn’t somehow directed at me.

  “Sir, is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?”

  He stared at me with an odd look on his face for several seconds. But he didn’t answer.

  “You need to get control of your fire, Sadie. A dragon’s first shift is no joke. You need to control your fire or there’s a better-than-average chance it will consume you. Pay attention, Sadie. Now, concentrate. Hold the fire back, it shouldn’t emerge until impact. That’s why you are missing.” He held up one star he’d nicked from Niel before he left. Shifting the small sharp star back and forth, catching the sunlight. It glimmered as he pulled back, talking as he did.

  “Line up the edges, feel that line of sight and put that sharp side where it ends, dead center of the target. The movement should be fluid and flow down from your shoulders and through to the snap in your wrists as you release it. Only as it’s already in motion, should you feel that spark. Center it in that star. Pull the fire when you hear it hit.” He demonstrated once more, his aim steady and true, the ball of flame as instantaneous as before.

  He turned to me. “Now you do it. Concentrate this time. We aren’t in kindergarten here.” He pushed.

  I frowned, my lips drawing into a tight line. I tried to recall and copy everything he said and did. My accuracy was there. I watched it fly, straight as one of my arrows to embed itself dead center next to his on the target. At the last instant, my mind screamed for my fire. Instantly, my hand burst into flames. With an angry hiss, I doused it. A thin hiss of sparks danced in the air above my embedded star.

  He frowned. “Again. Do it again.” He ground out; jaw tight.

  The hour wound down as I tried again. Over and over with similar results until my eyes smarted and my fingers trembled trying to hold my star steady. My head pounded with the effort it took to draw and direct my magic.

  I didn’t get better. As the hour drew down, I got worse, and Franz Hobert seemed to get angrier.

  I tried to explain. “I have a year, don’t I? I’m just seventeen...” I started, voice wobbling.

  He charged back. “There’s no way of telling how much time you have. Chase what you are, own it. Time waits for no one and sometimes you just run out of it!” Something ragged passed through his eyes I couldn’t identify. “You can’t take your time, Sadie. Now, I need you to turn this around and focus...” his eyes darkened once more.

  “The star, not your hands. You already know how to do that. You’ve got to send it into the steel! You’ll never survive the change at this rate!”

  My hands shook and the star wobbled, bursting into fire as it flew wide of the target by a good foot. I swallowed, trembling. My eyes shot to his, flaming with ire.

  He opened his mouth to shout something more when another voice interjected and startled us both. Franz whirled with a snarl, flames smarting along his fingers and over the back of his hands.

  Nick was there, standing straight and proud and a little afraid. But determined too, and it reminded me that he was Lucas Seul’s son. “She’s had enough, sir. She can’t do any more.”

  “Who are you to question my authority?” he growled, eyes a flash of orange.

  Nick swallowed, but he didn’t back down. “I’m not questioning your authority. I’m questioning her ability to do any more today. Look at her.”

  Franz’s head turned to stare hard at me. I returned the look, though I struggled to see through the sweat-dampened slick of my hair. My breathing sawed heavily in and out as I tried to bring my heart rate back down to something approaching normal. I knew I was done in. Not that I appreciated Nick pointing that out.

  I waited for Franz Hobert to blast me with his hard words and criticism once more. Instead, I saw the instant realization slammed into him. Remorse followed. He sighed and closed his eyes, clenching his fingers into hard fists.

  His eyes opened on mine, regret reflecting at me as he turned to Nick. “You are your father’s son, Nick Seul. I’d wondered. But I would not make questioning my authority a habit.” He growled.

&
nbsp; He turned back to me and continued, “However, in this case maybe it was warranted. My apologies Sadie Cross if I was out of line.” He pursed his lips, as if he wanted to say something more but had changed his mind. He spun on his heels and left.

  Sirris caught my eye and flung a small towel in my direction. I caught it reflexively and used it to wipe at the fine sheen of dampness that glistened along my neck and over my forehead.

  I realized I was still the center of attention. I didn’t like it, not one bit. I stared hard at those around me, the chip on my shoulder growing heavy. “What? None of you got anything better to do then to stand around gawking at someone?” Under my heavy frown, eyes slid away and students moved off. Niel had returned along with Sirris and Fern. Thomas and his brother were in another class elsewhere.

  Llyr Ryan, the counselor in charge of our class, dismissed us shortly thereafter, his mouth drawn in thin lines of anger as he moved down the path ahead of us, in an apparent hurry to be somewhere else.

  Together I walked back with my friends. “What was that all about,” Sirris asked, as confused by what seemed like a direct attack on my person as I was.

  It bothered me too, seeming so out of character for the man I admired. “I don’t know. Did it seem like it was almost as if something else was going on?”

  “I thought so.” Nick admitted. “It was like he was obsessed with you mastering your dragon’s abilities.”

  Fern, as was typical, had remained quiet. She suddenly spoke up, drawing all our attention with her quiet words. “I think he looked scared, terrified in fact.”

  I couldn’t argue with her. I’d wondered that self-same thing myself. Unbidden came my dream from the night before. It had been so vivid and real. Did Franz Hobert know something we didn’t?

  CHAPTER SEVEN