Exile

by Victoria DeLuis

  “You found it.” Megan’s voice sounded in the doorway behind me.

  There was no point in trying to deny it. Whatever her plans, now seemed as good a time as any to face them.

  “I did.”

  Megan squealed and a look of glee sprung on her face. “I have to make a call,” she said, instantly pulling the phone from her pocket.

  “Of course, you do.”

  My pulse raced and I had to force myself from shouting at her, but Megan sensed something was off by the tone of my voice and the tenseness in my stance.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

  “I’m just wondering what the plan is, that’s all.” An icy chill ran down my spine, but I faced her with fire in my eyes while tossing the stone from one hand to the next. “I’m to keep hold of this, I take it? I mean, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? The stone needs to be found in my possession.”

  Megan froze for a second before recovering and snapping a picture of me with her phone.

  “Caught you.” She chuckled. “Now, be serious. I need to call in more guards to secure the area. This goblin friend of yours is bound to return, and when he does, he needs to be taught not to mess with dragon-kind.”

  Thunder rocked the house and I nodded to the closed shutters. “No-one could fly in this weather,” I said, knowing that it must have hampered Joe’s efforts to bring aid. “We’re better to sit things out. Wait to see if the goblin and his men return ourselves. That is unless there’s something else you need to do?”

  Megan gave an overdramatic sigh and shook her head. “Fine,” she said. “Have it your way. Anyone would think you didn’t trust me.”

  “Funny that.”

  “Whatever we’re doing, I’m not standing in this room arguing with you while we do it. There’s a fridge full of food in the kitchen, and I’m starving.” She moved to leave, and then hesitated before turning back. “Are you coming, or do you trust me to make a sandwich by myself?”

  I didn’t. We went downstairs, and true to her word, Megan went straight to fridge and made us both a sandwich and put the kettle on.

  I sat and polished off the ham and pickle sandwich in seconds. A dragon has a healthy appetite at the best of times and I’d only eaten a sausage muffin and a cheese toastie in the last two days. Megan handed me a cup of coffee to wash it down.

  She eyed me as I ate. I smiled and thanked her again for making the food.

  “You know,” she said, after a while. “I could get used to living like this. The peace of not turning around and practically bumping into another dragon with every step. It must be nice for you, living all alone.”

  I didn’t immediately respond. Megan had stated it as fact rather than a question. Besides, I was tired. More tired than I felt I had any right to be. The last few days had taken their toll, but I reassured myself whatever game Megan played would be over soon.

  She made a move towards me. I pulled back. She shrugged.

  “We were happy together once,” she said. “Couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves, remember?”

  I did remember. How many times had she made me coffee after a night spent on twisted sheets where our bodies fused together in unity? Too many to count. Though the memories were burned into my brain, I didn’t want to remember. It’s not that I regret the time spent with Megan, but I do regret thinking she loved me.

  How could I have been so stupid not to realise how many others she saw behind my back? The Silure Dragons are a tight-knit clan. I always believed everyone knew each other’s business, but Megan was smart. She knew how to keep secrets, and how to manipulate others to keep them with her. Megan never loved me.

  I sighed and rubbed at the smothering sensation thudding in my head. I’d fooled myself, too.

  My heart didn’t break when I discovered her betrayal. My feelings were never raw or damaged. We’d never had a real connection, only a physical one. I thought I loved her, but I was wrong. Alwyn looked favourably on our union, and just as Megan recognised me as her father’s preferred choice for her mate, so did I.

  We’d both played far too many games with each other.

  “What are we doing here?” I asked as confusion tugged at my mind. I was tired of playing.

  “Waiting,” Megan replied.

  I looked at her. My vision blurred and my head swam. I tried to stand, but my world went black around the edges. I fell back into the chair, which seemed to melt around me. Heat flushed my body. A metallic taste rose in my throat and I suppressed the urge to throw up.

  I stared down into the empty depths of my coffee cup.

  “Wh... what... did you...”

  “I’ll have that.” The words floated above my head. Megan took the cup from my hand and towered over me.

  I slumped back in the chair. Snapdragon, I realised as darkness overtook me, and my mind fell into unconsciousness.

  Nine

  I woke groggy to the feeling of something being tightened around my legs. A constant drumming impinged my ears. A dryness in my throat made it difficult to swallow. I tried to grasp on to a single thought in my head, but my concentration proved limited. One thought surfaced, forefront in my mind: Megan had drugged me.

  What the hell had I been thinking? I believed Megan capable of a lot of things, but her drugging me had never crossed my mind.

  The scent of damp wood and hay hung in air charged with ozone. A burst of light stabbed at my eyes. I blinked them into focus. Everything swirled in a haze around me until a bare bulb shone clearly in the ceiling. I guessed I was lying on the floor in one of the barns near the house, but couldn’t be sure. Part of me registered that I should be grateful Megan hadn’t finished with me. Humans used snapdragon in herbal medicines. Their physiology made it good for inflammation and ulcers, but to a dragon, a small amount could muddle their mind and render them unconscious. A large dose could kill.

  The constant drumming continued, and I recognised the sound as coming from the rain as it pounded the tin roof. I was in one of the barns, and the storm still raged. I must have been out for only a short time, but long enough for Megan to... do what?

  Had she made her call? Would others arrive as soon as the storm parted?

  The sound of footsteps shuffled behind me. I tried to stand, but realised that my hands and feet were bound.

  “Megan.” My voice came out a hollow rasp.

  “I must admit,” she said. I followed the sound of her voice until I saw her by the doorway in the far reaches of my vision. “I knew you wouldn’t trust me. Not after our history together, but I’m surprised you put two and two together so quickly. You were never the smartest cookie in the barrel.” She chuckled and came over to tower above me. “Though still not terribly smart it seems.”

  She kicked me in the ribs. I grunted in pain. “You know, we could have done this the easy way. I never wanted to hurt you. Not physically, anyway.”

  A wave of panic washed over me. I struggled against my bindings. They were made of chains and not easy to break, but not impossible. A shift into dragon form would shatter them in a second. I built the image of the dragon I am within my mind, ready to take the form. It drifted from my grasp.

  Megan kicked me again. “Keep still. I know what you’re doing and it won’t work. The full effects of the snapdragon won’t wear off for a while yet.”

  I ignored her, closed my eyes, and exhaled slowly. I pictured my image again. My scales were red, turning to burnished bronze on the underside of my neck. Like Megan, I possessed a head crowned with a neck frill, but eight large spikes, not six circled its edge. Wings sprouted at my shoulders from a body as hard as a rock and as sturdy as an oak. From nose to tail, I stretched thirty feet long, but from wingtip to wingtip that reach rose to fifty feet. More spikes fanned like aggressive blooms from my feet and tail. I pictured all that I was, remembered the feel of wind fluttering against the membranes of my wings, the taste of the cool night air on my lips. I felt myself changing. It would work, it had to. I wa
s almost there...

  The image drifted from my mind, and I opened my eyes knowing I’d failed. Megan was right. The snapdragon wouldn’t let me change.

  “So, what do we do now?” I asked, knowing both our plans had gone off track.

  Megan sat crossed-legged a foot from my face. She smiled wickedly, but it was a front. Her eyes were unsure. She sighed. “That’s the million-dollar question,” she said. “You know, for a second there, you had me worried. I thought you might actually shift.”

  “Yeah, well. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “Time, you don’t have, but just in case, another small dose won’t hurt you.” She rose to her feet. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said and chuckled.

  She stomped from the building. Whatever I was going to do, I had to do it now. Another dose of snapdragon would knock me out, and who knew what situation I’d wake to next time. If I did wake.

  Using every ounce of strength, I could muster, I sat up and tugged in vain at the chains around my feet.

  Damn it!

  My muscles felt like jelly. And with the effects of the poison still coursing through my body, even sitting had knocked the wind out of me. The legs were a no go. It proved impossible to pry them apart, and with my hands chained at the wrist, I couldn’t get a grip to try and break them. That left me with the chain around my hands.

  I remembered reading a tip on how to break free from zip ties. I’d never tried it myself, but theory stated that I needed to form my hands into fists, raise them as high as I could above my head, and bring them down sharply. While, at the same time, yanking my elbows apart and pressing my wrists firmly into my abdomen.

  I may be weak in my current state, but I needed to believe I still possessed more strength than the average human. If it could work on zip ties for them, it could work on iron chains for me.

  Not a problem.

  I took a deep breath, lifted my hands above my head. With a quick burst I ran through the motions, and... nothing. Zip, zero, nada!

  Apart from feeling I was lucky not to break my wrist, my attempt achieved little results.

  My heart raced as adrenaline kicked in, coursing like fire through my veins. I could do this.

  “Come on, Trystan,” I said to myself. “Take a deep breath and try again.”

  I closed my eyes and shut out thoughts on the limited time I had before Megan’s return. I breathed deeply. With each breath, I pictured my wrists as they would be in dragon form: powerful front legs the size of tree trunks. I may not be able to shift fully, but maybe I could utilise the strength of my inner dragon.

  I blew out a deep breath and raised my arms. One, two, three...

  The chain shattered and rattled to the floor. Without hesitation, I removed the accompanying chain from my legs, just as I heard the front door of the house slam.

  I gathered the chains loosely around my ankles and lay still. Being sure to shield the broken links from sight. Megan stomped into the barn, dripping water.

  “I hate wet clothes,” she said as she moved towards me, unaware I was free from my bindings.

  She edged closer. A few more steps...

  In a flurry of movement, I swooped her legs from underneath her and jumped to my feet. She hit the floor with a grunt, but a light-headedness caused by the sudden movement threatened my advantage.

  From her position on the ground, Megan kicked me in the shins and completed the leg motion in a circle that brought her to her feet. I staggered as my leg buckled, but managed to recover fast enough to avoid her next blow aimed at my head.

  Before she had time to strike again, I leapt forwards and barrelled her to the ground. She flipped me off, and we both jumped to our feet.

  “You always were a dirty fighter,” I said as we circled each other. “But I’m stronger and faster, you know that.” I spoke the words as a challenge, knowing that if she shifted form, I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of beating her. As it was, there was still some doubt. With the poison circling my veins, I wasn’t at my best.

  Megan chuckled again. “We’ll see about that.”

  She rushed me straight on, eyes blazing, and tried to smash my face with her fist. I grabbed her arm and spun her away, but she recovered and landed an almighty smack on my cheek with her other hand.

  I shook off the blow. Megan always had a wicked right. She landed another good punch before I managed to block her third.

  My taunt seemed to have worked. Pride in her own abilities prevented Megan from shifting. She wanted to beat me as a human and prove how much better she was.

  “You’re out of practice,” she said, hopping from one foot to the other. “Comes with not having a worthy opponent to spar with.”

  She swung again, but this time I had my arm ready to block the blow. I grabbed her fist and pushed it back into her own face.

  “Child,” she said, jumping back and raising her leg to kick me in the balls. I sidestepped, and her blow landed on my thigh instead.

  We backed away from each other, each taking in rasping breaths.

  “Tell me why,” I said. “Why now? Why try and frame me for stealing the stone?”

  Megan sneered. “You’re pathetic. Sitting year after year alone in your house.”

  “I’m touched you thought to check up on me.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “So what? You were jealous of my solitude and decided to end it? You have a funny way of showing you care.”

  “The only thing I care about is you socialising with humans again. Fighting in the war was one thing, but now you’re actually friends with them.”

  Realisation struck me like another blow to the face. This was about Summer and Thomas, about me having friends again. Megan was content to watch me live in exile, but only if that was an exile from everyone.

  “You arranged for the theft of the stone,” I said. “Revealed the existence of dragon-kind to Jones and his men because you were jealous I had friends.”

  “Jealous!” She shook her head in disgust. “You defile our existence associating with them. Besides, I’m not the one who did those things, remember? As far as my father will know, you stole the stone and revealed our existence. He’ll flay you alive.”

  “Your father’s a good soul. He’ll listen to the truth.”

  “You may still be his favourite, getting everything you want, but do you really think he’d doubt the word of his own daughter?”

  Booming thunder rolled through the sky. It rose again, only louder, vibrating through my chest, dangerous and threatening.

  Megan froze.

  My heart raced. That was no thunder.

  I ran outside and peered into the gloom. The giant outline of a dragon came towards me. Rain streamed like a waterfall from his form. With a wingspan bigger than Jones’ house, Alwyn‘s eyes shone as cold as ice though the rain.

  He landed, sending a spray of mud and water to coat us both. Then looked from me to his daughter without saying a word. Great chuffs of air billowed from his nostrils and sizzled the rain with its heat.

  Two other dragons landed behind him.

  “Father, thank goodness,” Megan said. “Trystan stole the serpent’s egg.”

  Alwyn lowered his head to the ground and arched his wing. A figure shrouded in the torrential downpour shifted on his back, and slowly climbed to the ground.

  “Bran,” Megan exclaimed, clearly flabbergasted.

  I smiled. “It’s good to see you, Joe.”

  He clutched my hand in his. “You, too.”

  Summer and Thomas climbed from the other two dragons.

  “You look like you’ve seen better days,” Summer said, noting the bruises I felt swelling on my face.

  “I didn’t think you’d make it in this weather.”

  “We’ve been here since before the rain started,” she said. An obvious note of frustration tinged her voice, and she gave Alwyn the side-eye. “Even though she poisoned you, someone wasn’t convinced you weren’t to blame until Megan all but confessed.�
��

  I turned to Alwyn, a dragon I respected above all others and fell to the ground. “Then you heard?” I asked, and wondered how such a thing was possible in the torrential downpour.

  “Summer used her magic to heighten the sound,” Thomas said. “We’ve been listening to you for hours.”

  For hours. My heart sank a little wondering what would have happened if Megan had drugged me again. How far would Alwyn have let things go?

  Megan looked at Summer and Thomas and screamed in rage. She charged, but Summer blasted her with an orb of magic that sent her skidding through the mud. I stifled a smile. She certainly wouldn’t like the feel of her wet clothes now. The dragons that moments before flanked her father, surrounded Megan.

  “I’m sorry this came to pass,” I said to Alwyn. “But please believe it was not of my doing.”

  “Lies,” Megan screamed. “It’s all your fault.”

  Unable to talk in dragon-form, Alwyn gave her a look that could stop an army, before nodding an acknowledgment to me.

  “You ready to go home?” Summer asked, smiling.

  I looked at Megan as she still pleaded with her father to listen.

  “Yes,” I said after a moment. “I most definitely am.”

  Ten

  Alwyn and his dragons took Megan home to face the dragon elders, who would decide her fate. Joe went back to Twmbarlwm. The council had rounded up Jones and his men before Megan and I arrived; seemed they didn’t take kindly to supernatural organised crime gangs.

  Me? I flew Summer and Thomas home and was persuaded to stop for another cup of tea before heading home myself.

  The storm had blown away as quickly as it came. Hot, clean air followed its path and warmed the day. At the cottage, Thomas offered me some joggers and a tee while he washed my clothes. I went straight to the shower to clean up. Stepping under the water could only be described as heaven. Warmth flooded my body and soothed away the bruises building on my flesh. A good night's sleep would see them healed. No more than a memory.