by Seth Eden
“It means he’s not dead. But that still doesn’t make me feel any better about this.” Samantha peered inside a closet for the fourth time, peering through the shadows and thick clouds of dark smoke to find any clue. Maybe she’d missed something last time, it wouldn’t hurt to check again, right?
“We’ll find him eventually. I’m sure Dominic will make that his top priority.”
As much as Samantha wanted to be comforted by that, there were still some things she couldn’t piece together. If this city was supposed to be so perfect, if this city was supposed to be safe, why were there no safeguards to prevent this kind of thing? Did these shifters really believe themselves beyond the scope of animosity and jealousy? That they were so evolved physically and psychologically, there was no longer the need to police themselves? If such measures had been in place, maybe those twins wouldn’t have-
A horrendous screech ripped her heart from her throat. She turned just in time to see Jen’s enormous form being pulled away by some unseen force.
Samantha sprinted back through the house in pursuit. She tripped and fell most of the way, ducking beneath slabs of hanging concrete until she was finally outside in the clean air again.
But that didn’t mean she was safe.
A wave of heat washed right over her head, so close that she was sure some of her hair was singed. The heat came with an unearthly scream of the kind she’d never heard of before. She ducked behind the nearest wall and looked up in time to see a brown dragon staring down her friend.
“Holy crap...”
On its eye ridge and across its scaly muzzle, there were long scars that interrupted the usual pattern of scales.
Him.
Even her words were lost on her with a mirrored scream from the other direction. It was Jen this time, belching fire in return. Her stream of hot fire splashed against the other’s side, licked at the membrane of his wings... all for nothing. A beat of his mighty wings outed the flames and he shook his head clear for another assault.
Samantha’s first instinct was to stare in awe. She thought Jen had been quite large, but this dragon was even larger and looked meaner too. Barbed wings were raised high over his back as he shook off the last licks of Jen’s flames. He looked like he was preparing to strike with an assault of his own-
When Samantha interposed herself between the two. She stood on top of the crumbling roof with her arms spread wide and her heart racing a mile a minute to catch up with whatever insane idea she had in her head.
“Where is Ethan?” she asked, a tear easily slipping down her cheek. She wished she didn’t cry, but everything was taking a toll on her and she wasn’t able to hold any of it back.
The brown, scarred dragon snorted and flared his nostrils, his eyes open in question. His gaze shifted from her to Jen and back again before he took a step back.
“I have no quarrel with you, woman. Now step aside. I have affairs I wish to deal with.”
But his sidestep was met with her own. Even with her short stature, Samantha was intent on keeping herself between the two dragons, if only because it was all she could think of to get her answers.
“I don’t care what business you have with Jen, but that’s not what I asked you. I asked you where Ethan is.”
His snort was accompanied by a chuckle this time, which then devolved into outright laughter. He was mocking her. Which only drew angrier tears down Samantha’s face.
But what could she do against a creature like him? Anything she could think of would only anger him more, and he would retaliate with a thousand times more than whatever she could bring to the fight. She had no chance of winning this one. Not by herself.
Once the dragon recovered, twin jets of fire escaped his nostrils and he shook his great head.
“So you are bonded to my brother. I can practically smell it on you now, in that place you two shared. He isn’t here, sweet princess, and I have no reason to tell you. Not after he stole everything from me.” He bared his massive teeth at her, daring her to make the first move.
Brother?! She had never heard Ethan speak of a brother. In fact, he’d never said very much about his family at all.
She would miss that chance to ask when another large object collided with his side and stole his smile, knocking him flat onto his side. Samantha leaped back, taking refuge behind a chunk of wall to save herself. A casual glance over her shoulder revealed a worried look on Jen’s face as Samantha scrambled away from the fight.
Standing over the brown dragon was a blue one, large and regal. Dominic. He must have caught wind of what had happened and made his way to here to see what he could do. He likely hadn’t expected that his own wife would be embroiled in a fight of her own.
Dominic and Jen circled the downed dragon, lips pulled back and teeth bared. Their eyes kept shifting back and forth between them as if they were having some kind of silent conversation that Samantha wasn’t privy to.
The brown dragon rolled back onto his feet and roared at the pair before taking off into the sky. Dominic was the first to give chase; Jen remained on the ground and glanced Samantha’s way. That pitying look she gave her made Samantha feel somewhat useless; this fight was bigger than she was, and she was honestly just getting in the way. Another innocent life that needed protecting.
“Run, Sam. You need to get out of here.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. The only problem was where to go. The shifter had said he had no issue with her, which likely meant he wouldn’t follow. But that wouldn’t give her any answers, would it, and running away felt like she was giving up on Ethan. That didn’t sit very well with her.
A large object collided with her back and sent her sprawling to the ground. She smacked the side of her face against the ground, which rattled her teeth. By the time she pushed herself upright, she could feel it starting to swell.
“I said to run!”
She turned to find Jen staring her down, backlit by a burst of flames. Jen had shoved herself into the path of the attack to keep Samantha safe, to give her the chance to run and stay alive so that she could be reunited with Ethan eventually.
Samantha wasn’t going to waste this second chance.
As she ran, a savage and painful yell pierced the air. The brown dragon had returned and took a swipe at Jen’s side. Mean claws raked against her scales and pierced through them, spilling blood on the ground. Jen turned to scream and release another breath of fire in his direction. But he was too quick and easily rolled out of the way of her assault.
Samantha willed her feet to move faster, urged them to get her out of there so that she could find safety. She could hear the crumbling of more structures, more people yelling as they, too, got pulled into a fight that wasn’t theirs.
The sounds of the fight grew more and more distant the farther she ran. The chaos of the situation, however, remained; the people she ran by were stopped and pointing up at the sky, muttering to each other about what was taking place. She didn’t care about their concerns or opinions, she just wanted to be as far away from this mess as possible.
Another great flap of wings and a subsequent breeze spun Samantha skyward, where she witnessed the dragons going at each other once more. Dominic was close on his tail, snapping at empty air every time he thought he was close enough. Hot spirals of fire then burst forth from his open mouth and bathed the brown’s dragon skin. He turned to do the same but it was obvious his injuries were starting to take a toll on him.
Samantha covered her ears and ducked into the nearest building. She couldn’t take any more of this. This wasn’t the kind of life she wanted for herself at all, not when yesterday had seemed so promising. This must all be some kind of mad dream, brought on by fever or some other illness. Any second, she was convinced she would wake in her bed to Ethan’s touch and the promise of a calming bath to make all of this go away.
And when that didn’t happen, she curled within herself and wept. She didn’t care who saw her and ignored the words of anyone and
everyone who happened to try and comfort her. Nothing was going to make any of this better. Nothing was going to bring her peaceful life back.
The ground shook once more beneath her, enough to rattle the windows just above her. Startled from her thoughts, she peered outside to see the fallen form of Jen. She was on her side, barely breathing, and Samantha swore she saw a slowly growing puddle beneath her.
Despite her fears and her desire to distance herself from everything as much as possible, her first instinct was to run to the fallen shifter - her friend - and pull her out of harm’s way. She didn’t care about Jen’s instructions to flee, that all of this was too big for her to deal with. She’d saved that woman back on Earth, and she wasn’t about to let her down here on Cendarth.
The scent of blood already filled the air as she tore herself from her hiding place and sprinted towards her. She didn’t know what she could do to help but being by her side and talking to her was better than nothing.
Before her very eyes, she witnessed Jen’s shifting process began. She didn’t know if it was out of necessity or a lack of concentration that returned her to her human form. Being smaller, however, would make it easier for Samantha to provide her with some amount of care.
“Breathe, I’m here. Everything’s alright.” She skidded to Jen’s side and eased Jen’s head into her lap.
Jen whimpered and tried to roll over to ease the pain, only to be met with another jolt of agony. The sound that escaped her wrenched at Samantha’s stomach. She knew that if she - or someone else - didn’t do something, Jen’s life was on the line.
“I... I don’t know what to do, tell me what to do,” she muttered quickly in her panic. It was strange to her own ears to hear herself sound so unsure of everything; an ironic change of roles, given how she and Jen had originally met. Things had gotten bigger than the both of them, however, so the panic came with the territory.
“Just stay here and talk with me. I just need to focus on healing...” Jen groaned back, her fingers pressing against her bloodied wound.
“Healing too, huh?” Samantha chuckled defensively at the situation; it was the only thing she could do to stop from crying. “How many more secrets you have kept under that belt of yours?”
“Lots more. Maybe... ugnh, maybe I’ll show them to you sometime... when I’m not bleeding across the sidewalk.”
Jen gave her a weak smile and allowed her eyes to close. Another note of panic lucked at Samantha’s chest but instinct stilled her hand. If she was healing herself, she likely needed all the energy and attention she had left to get the job done.
That left Samantha in silence, surrounded by destruction as the two dragons continued to go at it. And that left her mind to wonder: what did any of this have to do with Ethan? She’d gotten no straight answer nor had she found Ethan inside. It was as if he’d completely disappeared and that made her even more worried. To think that Ethan was a coward, that he’d run away and left this fight to someone else, that he hadn’t even left a word behind for her...
She quickly shook the thought from her head. She didn’t want to think like that; they’d spent enough time together to know each other pretty well. Turning tail and running didn’t seem like him. The best she could guess was that this shifter had done something to him, given Ethan a reason to not be around. Maybe even for her own safety. Of course, she was only guessing at this point but she wanted to keep her hopes up.
At least, for the few seconds before everything got a million times worse.
Dominic’s large and heavy blue body fell not too far from Samantha’s position, shaking the very ground beneath her. His weight left a crater behind, the smooth stone cracked beneath him. It rattled Samantha all the way down to her bones, so much so that it felt like they’d crumbled to powder inside her. She couldn’t move, frozen to the spot as she watched everything else play out. Jen was still unconscious too, and Samantha didn’t dare to move her.
The brown dragon came crashing down on top of Dominic to press a foot across his neck. The former wasn’t unscathed either; long, raw marks lined his side and there were charred sections missing from his wings. Dominic had definitely given him a run for his money.
The end of Dominic’s tail lashed out and struck the brown dragon in the face. It caught him on the eye, snapping his head to one side in pain. A feral hiss escaped from between his teeth; Dominic took that moment to free himself with another strike. The whip-like tail crashed against the side of the brown dragon’s neck, forcing him to recoil further back.
Dominic’s shift was quick and uncoordinated as he rolled himself from under the other’s foot and back onto his feet. Or at least, tried to. He stumbled mid-step and fell once more. His entire right leg was covered in bruises as he continued to push himself towards the two.
The brown dragon quickly recovered and snapped the end of his spiky tail against the ground, not far from Dominic’s position. It crumbled the once-pristine ground and sent the concrete scattering. The blast sent Dominic flying back until he crashed into Jen and Samantha, sending all three of them sprawling across the ground.
“Why do you any of you protect him? Do you know the things he’s done?”
Slowly, as Samantha began to recover, she saw the brown dragon approaching, gradually growing smaller and smaller. Marvellous large dark grey eyes grew smaller and faded with intensity, tiny nubs of horns melted into his skull, and the wings retracted into his back. His strut on all fours became awkward as he righted himself onto two feet. Naked as day, a knife magically appeared in his hand as he continued his path towards her.
No, no, no, no, this couldn’t be happening, Samantha told herself. She couldn’t push herself away fast enough; the attack had left her body stunned, leaving her limbs an uncoordinated mess.
Soon, he was upon her and grabbed her by the back of her dress. Hauling her up to her feet, she was forced to look into those dark eyes of his once more. There, she saw no sign of the pleasantness she’d seen in them earlier that day. Instead, there was absolutely nothing. No anger to go with his scowl, no sign of remorse or apology. Just... emptiness.
Jen helped Dominic to sit up, who looked even worse than he did in his dragon form. One eye was swollen shut and blood ran from his hairline down the side of his face. The two cradled each other as they stared at the man holding Samantha hostage.
“Stand down... or I’ll have to call the entire battalion on you...” Dominic huffed weakly. If that was supposed to be some kind of threat, Samantha wasn’t impressed.
“I don’t think so, False King. You take one step closer, she dies.” He turned Samantha around and pressed the dagger to her throat to show he meant business. Dominic relented, of course, not wanting to risk the life of an innocent. And he had his injured wife to tend to as well.
“I’m no king, but you have my word.” Dominic held up his hands to show he meant what he said.
“Ha, that is what you’d want me to think, isn’t it? I’ve seen your shifter form. That says enough of who you truly are.”
“I don’t-” Dominic started to explain.
“Enough. Don’t follow me or the girl dies. Do we understand each other?”
“And what word can you give us that you won’t harm her anyway? Or worse?” Jen scowled up at the man, pulling Dominic even closer to her side.
“That honestly depends on you. Are we through here?”
Samantha couldn’t believe that any of this was happening, even as the man continued to pull her away from the pair, even as he shifted into his other form and snatched her up in his grasp. She wanted to scream, wanted to beat her fists against his scaly skin and demand to be let down. But he’d taken off at such speed that she was already way too high for any escape to be safe.
Still, the temptation remained. If he let her go, she could hit the ground and die. That would be better, wouldn’t it? Death instead of living as his prisoner.
There was still the troubling question of Ethan, still left unanswered. Death would be
an easy escape but there was no guarantee Ethan would be waiting for her if an afterlife existed. She knew she had to see this through, despite her gut instinct, to discover the truth in all of this.
4
Every moment she stole to look back, the smaller the city grew. There was no way she would ever be able to make it back there on foot, much less even find her way in the first place. Getting any kind of rescue wouldn’t be anything more than a lucky stone’s throw. And that left her feeling hopeless.
The trees grew taller and denser this far away from Cendarth. Animals screamed and flew out of the brown dragon’s path, not wanting to be made into a meal.
The air grew cooler and the sun was close to the horizon now, surrounding them in grey darkness. The smells out here were much different from the warm ones of the city; it was more earthy, cooler, and more natural. Like a planet untouched by man. From the looks of it this far from Cendarth, it didn’t look like anyone had.
By the time they landed, Samantha had cried herself dry. Her cheeks burned hot and her eyes ached from all the tears she’d shed. Her throat was parched too, and her nose was rubbed red and raw.
She collapsed to her knees once he placed her on the ground and began his shift. Smaller and smaller he grew, the brown shade of his scales growing lighter, the scales themselves becoming smoother until they were no more. Large wings retracted into his spine, and she swore she heard the dull sound of crunching bone beneath his grunts and groans. Arms and legs retwisted themselves, popping themselves back into place to force him upright, and the long muzzle with killing teeth shortened and smoothed out, the teeth becoming duller until she saw the man from the graveyard. His hat was long gone, as were the black and brown rags that he wore, leaving him quite naked before her.
“What... what do you want with me?” she managed through the gulps for air. Panic stole her heartbeat and spurred it on like a frantic racehorse aiming for first place.
After a few seconds of silence, she chanced a look at his face. Exactly the same. Empty. Devoid of emotion. His dark hair had come undone and was now plastered to his forehead and cheeks. His skin glistened with perspiration and was marred with several bruises and wounds.