Rivals (Dragon Reign Book 1)

by Kit Bladegrave

  The plague spawn screeched again, and the ground trembled beneath my feet.

  “How do we kill it?” Forrest yelled as he raced on beside us.

  “Fire!” I called back.

  “Why didn’t you say so?” Forrest slid to a stop, and I almost sent Kate and me flying as I brought us to a sudden stop.

  “No! Not Dragon fire—you idiot!” I hollered as he shifted on the spot.

  “You said fire,” Kate panted as she tried to catch her breath.

  I shook my head. “It’s immune to dragon fire if the dumbass would’ve stopped for two seconds and listened to me!” I bellowed. “Did you hear that? Your fire won’t work!”

  “I don’t think he’s listening to you.”

  “I realize that.”

  I watched as Forrest finished shifting, placing himself between us and the plague spawn. It wouldn’t be able to kill him easily, but I was more worried about him getting infected somehow and then bringing it back to us. It wasn’t that easy to catch the plague, but I was guessing. I’d only been able to study small samples of the plague before I was banished from the demon world. The creature raced closer, and Forrest spread his wings wide, his chest glowing as the embers deep in his chest lit and made ready to fire.

  “That’s not going to work!” I yelled again, but he was either pointedly ignoring me, or just couldn’t hear me. I’m pretty sure it was the first option.

  “What’s going to happen if that thing gets him?” Kate asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I doubt it’ll be good.”

  “If his fire can’t kill it then what fire can?” she asked, eyes wide with fear.

  “Fire blessed with the potion I swiped from a witch.”

  She glared at me, and I shrugged.

  “Not from Mama Lucy, was it?”

  “No, no this came from a horrible old lady who was about to keel over and die. Not like she was going to use it anytime soon.”

  “Seriously?”

  “What? Desperate times, love.” I watched as the plague spawn reared back on its hind legs to challenge Forrest. I needed to get a torch, drop some of the potion on it, and then light the thing on fire, but right now, that seemed impossible. “We need to keep running.”

  “Maybe his fire will kill it,” she suggested as Forrest opened his mouth and let loose.

  I doubted it, but I held my breath and prayed she was right all the same.

  The gods, however, were not that kind.

  The fire overwhelmed the beast, and by all rights, it should’ve been nothing, but a pile of goo again. But when Forrest ran out of steam and closed his mouth, the plague spawn was still there.

  And now it was pissed off.

  It lunged towards Forrest, and he struggled to take off in the low hanging branches and trees so close together. His wings couldn’t extend, and the spawn latched onto his back, tearing into his scales.

  Kate moved before I even had a chance to. She took off with a yell, and no weapon.

  At least I didn’t think she had a weapon, but that girl’s hands were better than mine.

  I never felt her grab for the sword, but she wielded it now, high over her head as a growl tore from her mouth. I sensed she had no idea what she was doing, but her dragon instinct kicked in to save one of her own.

  Figures.

  And now I couldn’t just run away to leave Forrest to fend for himself. Cursing, I took off after her, not sure of my plan yet.

  The spawn had already torn away several scales by the time Kate reached it. She leaped into the air with inhuman strength and brought the sword slamming down on the spawn.

  It shrieked in rage and threw its body back, taking her with it to the ground. Forrest staggered forward, trying to shift back to his human form as I joined Kate in trying to keep the thing contained.

  I rushed towards it, but it opened its mouth and black ooze issued forth, spilling, bubbling like acid on the ground at my feet.

  “Don’t let it get on you!” I warned Kate as she found her feet. “Do you even know how to use a sword?”

  “Doesn’t matter does it!” she shot back. “Find a damned torch or something!”

  “Why is it,” I demanded hotly as I searched around for a branch that might not be infected, “that every single dragon I meet is bossy?”

  I found one on the ground, weathered and brittle, but no sign of the plague poisoning it. I tore a bit of fabric from my shirt, wrapped it around and dug in my pockets for flint.

  Kate was having a stare down with the spawn, holding the sword like a baseball bat.

  “We have to work on your fighting skills,” I informed her.

  “Really, Craig? Can you just not right now?” Her yell turned into a yelp as the thing lunged forward. She swung the sword wildly, catching the spawn across its chest and it fell away, clawing at itself as if burned. “What’s it doing?”

  I honestly didn’t know.

  The chest of the thing smoked as if burned from the touch of the sword. It was forged in Broshen many, many centuries ago and I thought it was out of regular obsidian steel. But obsidian steel did not react like that.

  “Do it again!” I bellowed, still trying to light the torch.

  “Seriously—gah!” She yelled.

  I watched as the spawn stood to its full height, bearing down on her, but she was a trooper, I had to give her that. She swung that thing as though her life depended on, which it did really.

  She managed to catch it on one of its elongated arms, slashing right through it as if the thing didn’t have bones. The arm dropped to the ground, and the ooze dispersed. “That’s disgusting!”

  “Keep at it!” I cursed as the flint refused to catch.

  “Let me help.” Forrest limped towards me, looking pale and covered in sweat. He took the flint and expertly lit it in seconds. “Now what?”

  I removed the bottled potion from my other pocket and let a single drop fall on the flames. They billowed between us, turning bright green and I wasted no time rushing towards the spawn.

  It reached for Kate with its only arm, and she was ready to chop that one off next, when I shoved the torch clear into the spawn’s body.

  Its back arched and it whipped around, trying to catch me with its arm, but I dropped to the ground, leaving the torch embedded in its back. The flames covered in it seconds, filling it from the inside out, so the flames spurted from its jaws, yawning open in a scream that quickly died.

  It fell to its knees and then exploded.

  Bits of tree bark and black ooze covered us all, and the torch fell to the ground, still burning. I was quick to pick it up and hold it aloft; there was a chance we would need this flame again.

  “Everyone alright?” I asked.

  Kate wiped crap from her face with a disgusted look, but nodded. “All in one piece, somehow.”

  “Forrest?”

  I turned in time to see his eyes roll back in his head and he collapsed. We ran to his side, and I rested my hand on his forehead. He was clammy to the touch, but he shivered as he laid on the ground.

  I didn’t know what the spawn did to him, but it didn’t look good.

  “We have to get it out of him,” I muttered, turning him on his side and pulling up his shirt.

  Three drag marks ran down his back, all filled with a greyish pus.

  “So, it’s like a poison?” Kate asked, looking around the forest, but I doubted she would find any of her witch’s herbs here to help.

  “Yeah, but you’re not going to find help here.”

  “I don’t need medicine necessarily,” she whispered. “I just need something to get the poison out… and then seal the wounds. That fire of yours, would it work on him since he’s a dragon?”

  “Huh?”

  “I don’t know anything about dragons,” she muttered as she pressed and prodded around the three deep gashes. “Are they fireproof, or could that burn it out of him?”

  “His skin won’t burn, but the poison should burn out of him, I h
ope.”

  I glanced around, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. The fight made a commotion, and we hadn’t gone unnoticed. We couldn’t stay here for long.

  I was all for leaving Forrest for being an idiot and not listening to me when he had the chance, but clearly, Kate was not about to leave him behind. No matter how much she seemed to hate him. Well, she probably hated me, too to be fair.

  She took the torch from my hand as we rolled Forrest onto his stomach. “Hang on, this is going to suck,” she told him.

  I held his shoulders down and prayed to whatever gods would listen that he wouldn’t shift while we tried to save his life.

  Kate held her breath and pressed the torch right into the gash.

  Forrest screamed and thrashed, but his dragon remained contained. The poison bubbled and oozed, evaporating in the flames. When the first gash was clear, and the stench of burnt skin filled my nose, she nodded to me and moved onto the second gash.

  Forrest screamed briefly, then went completely limp. Good. He didn’t need to be awake for this. The third one was the worst and Kate had to touch the flame to it three times before the last drop of poison disappeared.

  “There, he’ll live, right?” she asked, checking his pulse at his neck.

  “We’ll have to wait and see.” I tore more of my shirt and used it to cover the open wounds the best I could for now.

  He would heal now that the poison wasn’t in his body, or that was the theory, at least. If it had stayed, he would’ve turned into one of those plague spawn eventually.

  I glanced at her. “Good thinking, by the way.”

  “Thanks, but I’m sure you would’ve done the same.”

  “You have a very high opinion of people you’ve just met.”

  We propped his limp body up so I could tie off the makeshift bandage and looked around. “We need to find shelter and quickly.”

  “Are you saying you would’ve left him to die?”

  “I’m saying where I come from, if you want to survive, you learn to make the hard choices. Come on,” I said and with her help, got Forrest to his feet, one arm draped over each of our shoulders.

  I took the torch back and let Kate carry the sword since it wasn’t as heavy for her.

  “Where are we headed?”

  I wasn’t an idiot. I heard the anger in her voice, but she could yell at me all she wanted once we weren’t out in the open any longer. Forrest wasn’t too heavy between the two of us, and we dragged him through the trees, heading higher up, judging by the increasing steepness of the ground.

  I did not want to drag Forrest’s dragon ass up a mountain, but thankfully, I spotted a darkened opening near the base.

  “Over there,” I said, motioning with my head. “We can keep an eye out easily from there.”

  “You sure nothing’s living in it?”

  “One way to find out.”

  Leaving her with Forrest a way back from the cave, I took the torch and quietly crept forward. It was deeper than I anticipated, but that was good.

  We could hide farther back, and nothing from the outside passing by would see us. The cave was empty, and I hurried back to get Kate and Forrest.

  We propped him the best we could in the back of the cave, lying him on his side so it wouldn’t hurt his weight. I gathered up a few sticks from outside, the few that weren’t tainted, and built a small fire.

  The air had grown colder, and Kate was shivering, holding her arms around herself as I started a fire, blowing on it so it would catch the kindling. Jeans and a t-shirt weren’t going to keep her warm enough. I shrugged out of my leather coat and held it out for her.

  “No, then you’ll be cold,” she argued.

  “If you took off your bracelet, your dragon would probably keep you warmer,” I told her, “but since we’re not ready to deal with that yet, take the damned coat.”

  “And what are you going to do?’

  “I’m half-demon. I don’t get cold as easily.”

  She took the coat and quickly slid her arms into the sleeves, sighing as she sank into its warmth from my body. “Thanks.”

  “Welcome.”

  We sat in awkward silence with Forrest’s heavy breathing the only other sound.

  “This sword of yours,” she asked, running her fingers over the blade, “you didn’t know what it was going to do?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “Why do you have it then?”

  I stoked the fire gently and wondered how much I should tell her. I didn’t know who she was, but to be fair, she had no idea any of this craziness existed until she saved my sorry ass. “I was going to trade it to some sorcerers for a very important artifact.”

  “And you what, forgot to make the trade?”

  “No, the trade was interrupted by demons trying to take me back to my father.” I stabbed the stick hard into the cave floor. “Ruddy bastards.”

  “It’s a good thing I guess, since the sword seems to hurt them. Think it could kill one?”

  “There’s a chance, but if you’re going to start walking around wielding a sword, it’d be a good idea if you knew how to use it.” I licked my lips and frowned. “We need to find water and food.”

  Kate lifted her head and sniffed the air.

  I watched her, amused by the confused look on her face that turned to excitement as she turned her head. “You said there was nothing else in this cave.”

  “There isn’t.”

  She jumped to her feet and sniffing the air before her, moved along the back wall. She pressed her hands against the stones, and they shifted. “There’s water, fresh water. I can hear it through the stones,” she whispered, pressing her ear against them.

  I shoved my shoulder against them, and they shifted more. “Ready?”

  She nodded, and together we pushed against the stones. They ground together, groaning at being moved, but slowly they gave way and tumbled backward.

  Shimmering light from outside reflected on the walls, bouncing off the shallow pool and stream of water running into the cave. It seemed to end at the pool, but it had to lead somewhere.

  Kate rushed to the rim and bent down to drink it, but I stopped her. “What?”

  “Just hold on.” I hurried back to grab the torch, the flame still burning, and returned. “Just in case.” I shoved the torch into the pool, but no black ooze appeared. All it did was put the torch out. “Have at it.”

  She scooped the water in her hands and drank. I did the same and once I had my fill, told her to find a flask in my coat. She unscrewed the top and took a whiff. “What is that?”

  “Very strong demon brew. I don’t recommend drinking it. Dump it out and fill it with water. Won’t hold much, but I’ll see if I can fashion a carrier out of something.”

  She filled the flask and carried it back to Forrest.

  I heard her coaxing him to drink at least a little as I wandered the chamber. Moss grew along the wall near where the water flowed in from, along with a few mushrooms, but nothing else. No etchings or carvings, nothing that could aid us on our journey back to any realm that wasn’t this one.

  I took another long drink and returned to the other part of the cave to find Kate hunched over.

  “Kate?”

  I worried we didn’t get all the plague from Forrest, and she was infected, but when I circled around her, I saw the shard of glass in her palm.

  Her eyes narrowed on it as her finger traced the pattern.

  “Where did you get this?” she asked, in a voice that was not hers.

  “I took it from the sorcerers,” I replied quietly. “Do you know what it is?”

  Her hand closed over it in a tight fist until blood seeped from her hand. “Stole it from us, took it, and destroyed it! Then the shadow came… the shadow will destroy us all.”

  I blinked and tried to reach for her bleeding hand, but she yanked it back with a growl.

  “Kate, look at me,” I said, trying not to show how freaked out she made me
. “Give me the shard.”

  She opened her mouth, baring fangs that had not been there before.

  “Kate, give me the shard, right now.”

  But she wouldn’t give it up. She snarled at me, swiping with her free hand and I saw the talons extending from her fingertips. Whatever that bracelet did to contain the dragon, it wasn’t working very well anymore.

  I backed off, and she turned her back on me.

  “Sorry,” I whispered, picked up the sword, and whacked her over the head with the hilt.

  She grunted and collapsed to the cave floor. The shard slipped from her hand, and I scooped it up to keep it safe with me.

  “You can kick my ass when you’re normal again.”

  I stared around the cave at Forrest, still unconscious, and Kate.

  How did I always find myself in these shitty situations?

  13

  Forrest

  My back burned as I tried to move, skin tugging as it tried to heal.

  “Be careful moving around,” Craig warned, and I opened my eyes to see him coming towards me, holding out a flask. “Water, drink. It’ll help.”

  I took it, not ready to argue with my mouth so parched, I was surprised my tongue was still whole. “Thanks,” I gasped, and he nodded as he helped me sit upright. “What happened?”

  “Aside from you almost dying because you didn’t listen to me? A lot.”

  I frowned, but followed his gaze to see Kate with her hands bound along with her feet, unconscious from the look of it, but close to the fire to keep her warm. “What are you doing?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Obviously.” I tried to reach around to feel the wounds. “You… you both saved my life?”

  “You can thank Kate for that, I was going to leave you.”

  Reluctantly, I held out a hand. “Thank you, I owe you a debt.”

  “How about you just forget about this bounty on my head? We have bigger problems, you know, the killer plague and all?”

  I wanted to deny what I saw, but that… that monster, it was real, and it had come for me. Nearly killed me. How was it no one else believed Craig? If this was already spreading through the demon world, it wouldn’t be long before it reached the others, if it wasn’t there already.