Dragon Guard: Book 1: Prophecy of the Dragons

by E. J. Krause

  "Use your sword, son," the mouth said. "You won't hurt her. She has tough skin. That will get her to let go. And if you jab real hard, maybe you'll get lucky."

  That would be one way to get free. She was yelling now in her dragon grunts. Why didn't she just speak English? It wasn't like she didn't know how. They'd already talked a lot. Hadn't they? His thoughts were all swimmy. His sword hand tightened on the hilt, and he prepared to bring it up, but didn't he want her to go with him?

  In his confusion, he relaxed enough for her to gain the upper hand. She flung him back towards the wall that shouldn't exist. He braced himself, ready for impact, but instead sailed straight through the rock and landed in a heap on the other side. The wall was gone. Andi stood on the other side, concern spilling off her.

  "Ben? Ben, can you hear me?"

  He understood her again. She'd stopped speaking Dragon. He shook his head, and it felt as if he were stepping out of a thick fog into a bright spring afternoon. Somehow the thought she'd been speaking a different language seemed silly now. He was the one who caused the momentary rift.

  "Ben?"

  Her panic, more than her voice, reminded him to speak up. "Andi, it's okay. There is no wall. It's an illusion. Come on through. The map is right."

  She didn't hesitate, and when she was through, she rushed into his arms. "What happened? You were gone. Your mind was, anyway. Your eyes stared at me, but they weren't yours." She shook her head. "I don't know. Does that make sense?"

  "Sort of, I guess. I think the mouth cast some sort of spell on me. It was like there was no doubting whatever it said, and I couldn't understand anything you said. You were talking Dragon."

  "No, I wasn't." She let out a deep breath. "But that must've been what you heard. What do you mean about the mouth? It just kept repeating the same thing over and over. 'Paved over. Turn around and go left. That'll lead to the exit.'"

  "It said that the first time, but then it said all sorts of other things to get me to go the new way. It even tried to get me to stab you to let me go." He shuddered as he said it.

  She reached up and kissed his cheek. "I notice you didn't." She kept a straight face, but he heard the smile in her voice.

  "I thought about it. Not real hard, but it crossed my mind." He hugged her tight. "But I wouldn't hurt you. Not now, not ever."

  This time she kissed his lips, and he savored everything about her. With her blue scales, her lips weren't as soft as normal, but that didn't matter. And he meant what he said. No piece of magic could ever cause him to bring harm to her.

  He pulled out the map. "We're almost there." He looked around their current corridor. They had to follow it until it turned right, and that would lead them to the exit. But what horrors lay between here and there? His neck didn't tingle, but that didn't mean they were home free. They had to stay careful.

  Nothing attacked, nothing shot at them, nothing dropped from the ceiling, and the floor didn't give out. They rounded the final corner and found a solid wall where the map showed the exit. What differentiated this wall from any others were four arrows pointing in four directions: up, down, left, and right. It reminded Ben of the directional buttons on a video game controller.

  "Now what?" Andi said. She pushed on the bricks, and these were no illusions.

  Ben didn't say anything at first. At the bottom of the map were those strange arrows. Could they be …? No, that was silly. Why would that be in a demon realm? But …

  "Andi, I know what to do. Push the arrow I tell you to. It's like a video game cheat code."

  She turned back, ready to argue, but when she looked at him, she sighed and nodded.

  "Okay, good. Push the up arrow." She did, and it slid into the wall, popping back out when she let go. There were twelve arrows in all: up, right, up, left, left, right, down, up, down, up, left, right. He read each off to Andi, and she pushed the corresponding one. When she pushed the final right-pointing arrow, instead of popping back out, a grinding noise sounded from somewhere in the wall. The other three arrows also sunk inside, and each brick pivoted and slid away from the center, opening into a doorway. It led to a huge room, like the field of a gigantic football stadium, though instead of grass, the ground was covered with dirt.

  "Never bet against a boy and his video games," Andi said. "Look out in the center. What is that?"

  He followed her finger and saw a golden statue resting on a marble pedestal in the very middle of the coliseum's floor. "Maybe that's what we're supposed to bring back to Rico. It looks big, but not unwieldy."

  She nodded and gazed in every direction. He did the same. Other than that idol, there was nothing worth looking at. Just dirt and walls. "Sense anything?"

  Ben closed his eyes and concentrated. "There's danger here, but nothing immediate."

  "Okay," Andi said, taking a deep breath. "I guess we should get to this, then."

  They stepped out onto the dirt, and nothing attacked. His tingles still warned to stay vigilant, but that was it. The area was lit as if by the sun, but there was no sky or ceiling above them, just emptiness. Now that they were out of the maze, the walls all vanished, too. Even the labyrinth's exit disappeared. The dirt went on as far as his eye could see in every direction.

  "This is spooky," Andi whispered.

  "Just keep going. We're safe enough at the moment. Maybe once we grab the statue, Rico will whisk us back to his realm."

  They reached the golden idol with no problems. It depicted some sort of ugly demon with four arms, two heads, and plenty of sharp claws and teeth. Despite its horrible, nightmare-inducing appearance, a genuine feeling of good radiated from it. What was this thing, and what demon did it represent? Ben thought back to the original clue Rico had given them. Did this have something to do with dreams?

  Andi reached for it, but hesitated and glanced at him. "Go ahead," he said. "Even when you reach for it, I still only feel the nagging warning."

  "Okay," she said. "But be ready for anything when I touch it."

  As soon as her hand made contact with the idol's gold skin, the pins and needles almost ripped Ben's head off. "Andi, move!" He jumped back, sword and shield ready, and watched her twist out of the way, transforming into a dragon as she did. They moved just in time. A giant claw swished through the air right where they'd been not seconds before. When Ben saw what the claw was attached to, he had a tough time breathing.

  The huge monster dwarfed even Andi in her dragon form. It was roughly humanoid in shape, with bulging muscles to go along with its razor-sharp claws. It didn't have scales like Andi, but the leathery skin looked as formidable. Would his sword even slice through? It also had a pair of membrane-covered wings that stretched out twice as far as it was tall. Its face reminded him of a cartoon bat, with long pointed ears, beady black eyes, and fangs that meant business. It looked like a vampire on steroids. If there was anywhere to run, Ben would have much preferred that option.

  Andi threw the first metaphorical punch in the fight as she spit a stream of acid at the beast, which struck its left wing. A howl of pain tore through the air, and the wing disintegrated down to its stalk. Instead of shrinking away, the demon turned towards her and charged. Since it couldn't fly because of its damaged wing, Andi evaded it by hovering high above.

  Ben took the opportunity and lunged at the beast, thrusting the tip of his blade into its calf. As he'd feared, the thick skin didn't give, and all he managed to gain was its attention. It looked down, let out a sulfurous scream, and kicked him. Luckily, his shield got in the way, or the thing's sharp toenails might have pierced his chest. As it was, he sailed through the air and landed hard on his back. The breath whooshed from his lungs.

  Andi let out a thunderous roar and dove at the demon's head. She smashed into the beast, momentarily knocking it off balance, but before she could do any real damage, it grabbed her and flung her aside. She regained her flying form and torpedoed into its chest, ripping into its flesh and tearing through the tough, leathery skin, drawing out moldy g
reen ichor. The beast again let out that inhuman howl and tried to pull her off. She flipped out of its reach and flew a safe distance away. She looked over to Ben, and he felt her concern, so he pulled himself to his feet and waved.

  "Andi!" he yelled. "Knock him down here!"

  The demon, drawn by his voice, turned on Ben and advanced. It was so big it wouldn't take long for it to get there. He braced himself and drew back his sword, ready to strike. If he concentrated on the blade, maybe it would slice through the thick skin. It was worth a shot.

  Andi readied another blast of acid. It exploded into the demon's back, and as it yelled out again, she blew past it, threw on the brakes, and slammed into its already injured chest. This time it didn't have a chance to catch its balance and tumbled to the dirt. Ben didn't miss his opportunity. He sprinted to its head, concentrated on his sword, and slashed through its thick neck. The blade slid through as if the demon was made of butter. It bucked a few times, and then went still, its life force gone. Ben backed up before any of the gross green blood got onto his shoes.

  Andi zipped down to him, transformed as she hit the ground, and was in his arms. "Are you okay? You hit the ground so hard when it kicked you."

  "I'm fine. It knocked the wind out of me, but no damage done. Are you okay?"

  "Yeah." She grinned. "Now that I know you are, that was kind of fun. Daddy told me stories of real dragon fights and drilled me in combat, but that was the first time I've ever let myself go. Even when we fought in the necromancer's realm, I held back so we could get to your parents." She chuckled. "Yeah, that was fun."

  Ben kissed her cheek. "You were magnificent."

  "Thanks. You, too. I can't wait until we can talk to each other in our heads. I can't wait until we're fully bound."

  She launched her lips to his and kissed him hard. Though he kissed back with gusto, butterflies invaded his stomach. With all his thoughts of how powerful he'd be when they were fully bound, he'd forgotten what it meant personally. For so long he'd dreaded the thought of being fully bound to her, but now he mostly welcomed it. That thought was almost as scary as when he wanted no part of it.

  As they broke apart, she smiled and rubbed his cheek before stealing another quick kiss. Okay, maybe 150 years like both their parents wanted was a bit too long, but he certainly didn't want it to be tomorrow. Rescuing her parents was priority number one. He glanced over at the gold idol, sure it was what Rico sent them after, and realized they were one step closer to saving them.

  *****

  The idol blinked them back to Rico's realm as soon as they both touched it. Rico didn't say anything, didn't even look at them, while he examined every square centimeter of the idol. Once he was done, he turned to them and grinned. Ben wasn't sure if he liked the smile or not.

  "Impressive. Yes, very impressive. I'd guessed you wouldn't make it back." He eyed Ben a little too close for comfort. "And you, here I thought you were the weak link, but no." He prodded Ben in the chest with his finger. If they didn't need the spell to rescue Andi's parents, he might have knocked the hand away. Rico sensed that and laughed. "That anger in you is what makes the prophecy cloudy."

  Andi stiffened next to him. Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "What does the prophecy say? How could Ben possibly turn evil?"

  Rico weighed his words before speaking. Ben almost fell over he was leaning in so close to hear every word. "The prophecy encompasses both of you, not just him. It doesn't say specifically which direction will ultimately prevail. That's the cloudy part. Those actions have yet to be determined."

  "By us or by fate?"

  Rico wagged his finger in front of his face. "Ah-ah-ah. You'll get no more free information from me."

  "Please. I … we need to know."

  Rico chuckled and waved his hand in front of them. "Save your parents. The spells are in place."

  Andi started to argue, but Ben nudged her. "Thank you," he said. Andi's annoyance at him for not pushing the issue was apparent, but he ignored it.

  "And thank you," Rico said, again examining the golden idol. "But remember, you now owe me two favors." With that, he snapped his fingers and Ben found himself back home in his own bed. The early morning light shone through the cracks in his blinds. Like before, he couldn't feel the spell, but this time he had faith it was in place.

  Chapter 27

  Cassie fought from screaming out, fought from telling Derian to step away from Lee. That's what he wanted. The best way to get through this was to stay quiet, stay calm. He wanted to see their pain, see their anger, see their desperation. If they didn't give it to him, he'd end this that much sooner. She didn't want to die – no, that was a lie; at this moment she did – but with her and Lee dead, it was more likely Derian would leave Andi alone, and dragons everywhere could band together to stop him.

  Pain laced off of Lee. While he bore it well, giving Derian no satisfaction, she had to battle that much harder to stay under control. Derian turned to her with an evil grin etched on his face. She hissed in a deep breath as she saw the burn marks on Lee's chest from the hateful magic.

  "Another millennium of this and I may consider us close to even for what you did to me. Of course, I have ways of evening the score a bit quicker."

  He reached out and touched Cassie's cheek with his fingertip, searing her skin. She grit her teeth and felt the finger slide all the way through into her mouth. She contemplated biting him, but he'd end up taking it out that much worse on her.

  "I love how you two heal just fast enough to keep me from inflicting permanent injuries, but not so quick that I can't see and enjoy my handiwork. If you didn't have that tiny bit of healing magic, you'd be dead right now, and if you had too much, this wouldn't be nearly as satisfying. Of course, I'd keep it up, but it wouldn't be the same." He chuckled. It took all of Cassie's self control not to spit in his face.

  He walked back over to Lee and sliced his chest open. He did it without preamble, and it caught her off-guard. She let out a gasp at his pain, and Derian smiled back at her. "Lucky for you two, I don't plan on keeping this up for hundreds of years. I've absorbed about as much of the demon's power as my body can ever dream of possessing. I now must separate my demon and mortal beings. That was one fact I hadn't considered when I took control of the demon. His essence cannot leave this realm, and I can't be the one to sever it. I'd allow one of you to have the honor, but somehow I doubt either of you would lift a finger against me to do it."

  Derian put his palm on Lee's upper leg, and a blast of energy popped against him, causing Lee to let out a screech. Cassie couldn't hold back a yell of her own at her mate's pain. No doubt the bone had snapped in half.

  "That's the scream I've been waiting for. It'll mend back better than ever. If we're still playing this game, maybe I'll break it again." He turned to Cassie and a bolt of lightning shot from his fingertips into her chest. It burned her, and her breathing labored, no doubt the result of singed lungs.

  "We all know where this is going, don't we? As I speak, my minions are out hunting down your precious daughter. Once she's back here, I'll force you to watch me give her this same treatment."

  "You won't touch Alexandria," Lee choked out through his haze of pain. Derian whirled around and smacked his face, an explosion of energy erupting at the point of impact.

  "It's not your place to talk, Leon. You're here to endure whatever I throw your way. You've earned every inch of beating I give you, Cassandra, and whoever else I choose."

  Lee spit out gobs of blood and teeth. Cassie broke down. Between watching him bear the brunt of Derian's torture, to hearing Andi, their beloved Alexandria, was next, and knowing Ben likely would not survive the abduction, she couldn't take any more. Tears spilled down her cheeks to the dusty earth, where they mixed with her blood.

  "When I tire of hurting her," Derian continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "I'll transform her into one of my minions. How much power will a zombie dragon wield? Or a vampire dragon? The possibilities will be inte
resting to ponder. When I've changed her, she'll have the honor of disposing of you two. I haven't yet decided whether to raise you as undead beings or not. I suppose we'll wait and see how your darling daughter turns out."

  This time both she and Lee struggled against their unseen shackles to get to the evil necromancer, but they couldn't break free. Derian pushed out his arms, throwing them both violently back against the stone wall. Cassie longed to black out, to lose herself to the sweet nothingness of unconsciousness, but that wasn't to be in this realm.

  *****

  "We're trusting you both," Mom said.

  "We'll be good, Mrs. Phillips," Andi said. "We promise."

  "Okay," Mom said, though Ben could tell from her tone of voice she still wasn't sure. She and Dad needed this night out, though, they all knew it. They hadn't been out on a "date" in years.

  Dad pulled Ben aside and spoke in a low voice. "I know we haven't had that talk yet, but I'm guessing you pretty much know all that stuff by now."

  "What talk?" Oh, wait … gross! This wasn't happening right now, was it?

  Dad blushed and stammered something about "that talk." Oh, god, no. He sensed Andi's silent laughter, but was glad she also felt embarrassed for him. At least she didn't have to hear it, just get the horrible second-hand sensations.

  Before Dad could go any further, killing him with embarrassment in the process, he interrupted. "Dad, I swear we're only going to research how to save Andi's parents. Nothing else."

  That got Dad to stand up a bit straighter and smile at Mom. "Okay then. I, uh, we just want you two to be careful is all."

  Ben groaned inside. "We're fine, I promise. Go, go, go." He nudged first Dad, then Mom, towards the door. "You're going to be late for your dinner and movie."

  His parents let themselves be herded out. "We won't be too late," Mom called back.

  He and Andi watched until they'd driven away. Only then did Ben let out a loud moan. "Oh, man, that was painful."