Dragon's Quest (Dragon Princes Book 1)

by Cyci Cade

  Chapter 4

  Kate

  Ten years later

  Kate ran among the trees. The creature screamed and spat fire. Kate crouched, putting her hands over her head; the fire burned some trees next to her. She ran again, fog covered the landscape; she couldn´t see the way, but she kept on running.

  With watery eyes, she looked for a shelter, some place to hide. The creature appeared on her side, making eye contact for a brief moment. Kate turned to the left and went around the back of the rocks. She was completely lost; she didn´t know the right way back to the village.

  Another dragon waited for her; it hissed and approached, its forked tongue flicked out, testing the air. Kate turned around, weary from fleeing; her legs ignored any command to continue. She gasped, felt dizzy and hopeless; a sharp pain in her left side forced her to slow down. A big shadow fell over her; she took a deep breath, her heart beat hard, the adrenaline making her legs move fast again.

  Close by, another dragon blocked the passage way. Surrounding her, three dragons approached; she smelled their putrefied breath. Kate fell on the ground and crawled, she tried to maintain a safe distance from the beasts but they came near slowly, delighting in her fear. She could swear they were enjoying the cat and mouse game. They weren´t in haste; she was in their claws without any chance of making her escape.

  Her heart thumped in her throat, her painful body twisted, her vision blurred, and she couldn´t breathe properly, this was how the hunted felt under a predators’ claws. One of them brushed its nose against her arm; her body lurched on the ground.

  She prepared her bow and arrow; with trembling hands she targeted its chest and released the arrow, her shot was weak, without power and lacking direction; Kate had lost the opportunity.

  It was too late, no one, nothing, could help her now; it was the end, she would become a dragon´s snack, that was her destiny, without glory, accomplishment, triumph, and… love. How could she think of love at that moment?

  The dragon´s rough tongue licked her face, enjoying the flavor of her taste.

  “Stay away from me!” Kate shouted desperately and covered her head.

  I don´t want to die. I cannot die.

  She waited for the worst, the most horrible outcome, nothing happened; a deathly silence fell over the forest. Kate opened one eye and peeped, a young man advanced toward them. The dragons squirmed, pushed each other; their tails fanned to the sides, their loud sounds similar to a terrible fight. They considered the man for a brief moment, then, instead of attacking him they moved away shaking the ground, making rocks crash down.

  Kate grinned eagerly at her rescuer, but when they looked at each other she knew that the man was more dangerous than the dragons. He was a wild hunter, someone so fierce and able to frighten the dragons, someone so handsome, so strong, so… capable of making her fall in love.

  Kate sat up and gasped. Always the same dream. Dragons, boys, she losing her life, falling in love…When would Kate stop having those obscure dreams? Were they a warning? Something was trying to show her that she couldn´t save Samantha; however, it was a waste of time because nothing could stop her, she was determined.

  Putting aside her scary dream, Kate put pancakes on the plate, covered them with chocolate, and ate them in big bites, then she sipped a glass of milk. She was ready for another day, to practice with Phillip in the forest. Soon she´d be capable of rescuing Samantha from the dragons´ claws. Maybe she should ask for Phillip’s help in this task, maybe not. He had his own rules, and to fight dragons to save a damsel in distress wasn´t one of them.

  After breakfast, she tied a knife to her belt, grabbed the bow and arrows and walked across the village to Phillip´s place thinking of where they´d go, the kind of activities… He had promised to teach her how to fight with hatchet and bare hands, but he had avoided these lessons, just one more of Phillip´s rules.

  “Hi, Phillip. What is going on?” She stopped near him; he worked on his father´s plantation. The sunlight made his blond hair and sweaty muscles shine when he raised his head.

  “Good morning, Kate. Why are you here so early?” He grinned and wiped his sweaty face.

  Kate put her hands on her hips. “Did you forget? You promised me we would practice today, and you need to teach me how to fight with bare hands, hatchet and so on.” She was angry, time ran on, every lost day was one day missed in Samantha´s life.

  Phillip approached her, grinning. “Sorry, but I´m a little busy today, my father asked me to help him, it´s harvest time.” He shrugged. “I am afraid that I´ll be busy all the next week too because it´s almost summer´s end.”

  Kate lowered her head and mumbled, “Today is Samantha´s birthday. It is ten years since they took her, and I cannot delay her rescue; I cannot wait more. Do you understand how difficult all these years have been?” She cried and sniffed.

  Phillip hugged her. She nestled on his chest, trying to control her emotion. “You´ll never forget your sister, will you? It is beautiful, your desire to save her, but you need to think of your life, at least a little. If I asked you when your birthday is, you probably wouldn´t remember, but Sam´s birthday you keep in your mind.” Phillip squeezed her against his muscular chest. He never held her so tight.

  “Nobody understands. I must do this; it is my duty. I don´t know how to explain, but I´m positive, she is alive, waiting for me, and I won´t disappoint her.” She sobbed, tired of repeating this same explanation over and over.

  Deep inside, Phillip didn´t believe she planned to rescue Samantha; he thought she used this argument to learn how to fight or just kill time with him, her only friend.

  Phillip lifted her chin and gazed at her. “I won´t support the possibility of you getting hurt. You are so important…” He stroked her cheek. “I mean… we´ve known each other for a long time and…” He took a gulp of air. “I have feelings; my heart races uncontrollably when you are close, it´s hard to be apart from you one single day, and I must ask you if…”

  “Phillip, come here,” his father yelled.

  Phillip stepped away, his cheeks blushed. “We’ll talk later.” He ran to his father.

  Kate swallowed tightly, waved her hand, but Phillip had gone. She was almost happy, pleased with Phillip´s friendship. They grew up together although he was two years older.

  Why didn´t he ask? She could offer to assist him in his job, but… Sam, always Sam. Kate had to do something about her. While Sam was a prisoner of the Dragons´ Mountain, she wouldn´t be able to set her heart on another quest.

  She walked alone in the forest, dragging the bow on the ground; she realized that Phillip was right, she should think about her life and her parents. People knew her as the strangest girl in the village, considered her as crazy as a bedbug; some people avoided contact. People´s behavior didn´t matter to her, truly, Kate thought it was funny, but her parents were embarrassed. Things might be worse when Kate set free Samantha.

  She heard a noise, bushes shook near her; she put the arrow to the bowstring and tracked the noise, a deer browsed alone. Kate moved toward it, step-by-step, quietly, until her target stayed where she wanted. She placed her index finger above the arrow nock, the second and third fingers placed below it. She curled the fingers around the bowstring, pushed out with the bow arm to set the hand position and then raised both the bow arm and drawing arm together. She put her hand on her jaw; the bowstring touched her face. She sighted the target and loosened the bowstring; the arrow travelled fast and reached the deer´s flank.

  “Yeah!” Kate danced to celebrate her first hunt alone.

  The deer screamed and ran away from Kate. She tracked the hurt animal through the dense forest. It was hard to walk in that part of the woods; Kate wondered how a hurt deer was able to. She wouldn´t give up, it was a shame to lose a prey; the animal was in her hands and had gone, unacceptable.

  Kate staggered to the glade; the deer agonized on the ground. She approached, knelt beside it, and removed the arrow from its fl
ank; the deer screamed again. Kate´s heart thumped heavily and fast, afraid of the situation. Poor animal in distress. She took her knife, stabbed the deer´s heart, let her body fall on the ground, and cleaned the knife´s blade on the leaves.

  When she stood up, a gasping lioness gazed at her. She stepped back; the fierce animal drew near.

  “Don´t run!” she commanded herself. “It will track if you run.” She remembered Phillip´s lessons about wild animals.

  A snarl came from its mouth when the lioness trotted toward her. Kate put aside all considerations and ran quicker than her legs could go without looking back. Run. Run. Don´t stop running, she shouted mentally.

  Great hunter she was; she hated cats more than dragons. Thank God that the lioness only wanted to drive her away from the deer, it could corner her in seconds. Kate, the girl who fed the lions, she wouldn´t mention that shameful episode to anyone, even under torture.

  Kate was deadly tired when she reached a lake. A tear slid down her cheek; she knelt on the edge, drank water, washed her face, and noticed a big-deep-bleeding-scratch on her left shoulder. She touched it carefully and then caught water in her cupped hand to clean the wound. Her arm stung and throbbed, she cried, trying to treat her lesion and stop it bleeding. Kate felt dizzy, weak, and incapable of making her way back home.

  She stopped when she saw two eyes blink in the lake and approach. Kate rubbed her eyes; it wasn´t a bad dream, a dragon emerged from the water in front of her. Kate´s feet pushed her away at the same time as she prepared an arrow.

  The green dragon showed its entire head, although he seemed more curious than furious. She released the bowstring without waiting to see what its intention was; the arrow reached the dragon´s nose. He yelled, released fog from his nostrils, sneezed, threw away the arrow and measured the wistful situation; a fool, defenseless, frightened girl tried to kill a powerful dragon using an arrow.

  She could swear that his expression was one of surprise, he didn´t expect to be hurt from an attack by a girl. The most curious thing was that he didn´t seem angry, of course not. An arrow would never harm so huge a creature that was arriving, coming close, approaching, and… Did he want to eat her? Don´t eat me, please!

  The dragon stayed nose to nose with her and sniffed Kate´s clothes, his long green-scaled body waved in a peculiar way drawing shapes in the water. She realized that his breath didn´t contain that putrefied smell like in her dreams, but it wasn´t good. His forked tongue tasted the atmosphere and her, a mix of cold and hot air exhaled by the dragon had a particular, unspeakable odor.

  His bleeding nose touched her wound, their eyes connected, narrowed and widened. Something big, strange, different, and painful happened. He sneezed again and shook his head in agony; the dragon submerged and disappeared in the water. That was the most incredible experience in her life.

  She stood up; the sunset was approaching, soon it would be night and Kate had a long journey back home. She dragged herself along; her tender shoulder was unusual, sore, and at the same time numb, paralyzed and heavy.

  Kate pleaded with God to keep her far away from other strange and dangerous creatures. A lioness and a dragon in the same afternoon was enough for one day, better for her existence to avoid them, although she knew that she would meet the dragon soon.

  Each noise in the middle of the forest put Kate on alert; she tried to handle the bow and arrow, but her left arm didn´t cooperate with her command. She grabbed the knife with a trembling hand and positioned it in front of herself. Kate felt warm, cold, and warm again; her limp body shook, her uncontrollable legs moving in an odd way.

  The night fell fast. Terrifying sounds came from wild animals, nocturnal hunter creatures and unknown animals all ambushed her, ready to lunge. Kate was almost giving up when she saw lights, torches to be exact. A familiar voice called her name. Phillip, he came for me.

  Her legs failed; she collapsed, but before she crashed on the soil, strong arms caught her.

  “Phillip,” Kate whispered and closed her eyes. She fell into a deep sleep; she fell in the same place she encountered the dragon every night.

  Chapter 5

  Liu

  The green dragon swam as fast as he was able to, his veins on fire, bulging and ready to burst. He had never felt such pain like it; his paws rubbed his nose´s injury, but it was impossible to stop the agony. A strange feeling skipped across his heart, and the girl´s face didn´t leave his mind.

  “Why did she attack me?” He wouldn´t harm her, he was just curious.

  In centuries, she was the first human to appear at the lake. What was going on? Who had hurt her? Did she think that he might injure her shoulder still more? The dragon was hunting and scared the young lady, that was a fact, but it didn´t explain so aggressive a reaction.

  Did she feel the same awkward emotion when their skins touched? Absolutely she did; he was able to feel her fear and pain, and even now, miles away, he recognized her suffering; she was in shock. Could she survive? Had the dragon condemned the girl? Her future was unknown. She walked a thin line that split life and death, and it was the dragon´s fault. How might he live knowing he killed an innocent girl? Definitely, he felt cursed.

  The dragon swam fast to rise, he had trouble in fluttering his wings and flying toward his mother, his cave. All at once, he felt dizzy, unusual, and powerless; he lost his sense of direction to fly, to control his body became an impossible task. The wings refused to keep fluttering, his body jolted and twisted in a scary way and he lost altitude. He was plummeting without emergency brakes or parachutes.

  He watched the trees growing fast as they came closer; the crash was inevitable even with his paws pushing him ahead, trying to gain distance and altitude. It was hard to fly, control his body and think at the same time with the girl´s feelings shouting inside his head. Her voice was so vivid, clear, bright… Through her eyes he could see torches, people approaching, he felt her muscles trembling, and she was weakening. As her eyes closed, the dragon´s eyes did the same. He was in a spiral motion, a free fall, incapable of reacting, almost unaware. He´d crash and nobody would catch him or cushion his fall.

  The distance to the ground lessened; he heard only the first thump when the branch punched his body and threw him to another branch and another, and another… his wings hurt seriously, maybe they were broken; he yelled with such pain. Even with the tough leather of a skin covering his body, the damage was deep and serious. He couldn´t do anything to reduce it.

  The rumble could be heard miles away when he reached the ground, all the air in his lungs disappeared; he collapsed. The dragon twisted violently, he was sore, tortured by the broken bones, his lungs appeared glued in his back. He gasped for air once, twice, three times... This didn´t make any sense, a dragon wasn´t a fragile creature; on the contrary, they were made to shrug off great trauma, they were warriors created to defend the oppressed ones, but he wasn´t a common dragon, his condition was special, maybe temporally, maybe not.

  It didn´t matter because he´d die lost in the forest with no proper care. Who on earth or of good mind might help a freak dragon? Nobody, end of question. He´d perish alone in that jungle like any careless wild animal far apart from its pack, devoid of hope, future, and aid. He thought of the girl, searched for her in his mind and heart, finding only darkness. That new strange connection was broken and his vision became as dark as his future.

  The sunlight hurt the dragon´s eyes; he blinked several times until feeling comfortable enough to keep them open. He had repelled the cold and the dangers of the night in the forest, a victory because a harmed animal unable to protect itself against predators was an easy prey, but he knew he needed to go, to move far away from that place.

  The dragon looked at his body, considered the damages and then got up as fast as he could. Staying there wasn´t an option; he limped to an open passage way through the trees, dragging his broken left wing. Dragons’ weren´t created to travel in forests; the wings weren´t designed for that,
the dragons´ place was in the sky. He had never considered how hard it was to walk in the jungle or to make long terrestrial trips. His long, clumsy, and heavy body left a track of destruction where he stepped.

  A strange noise alerted him. Coyotes were chasing him; they always hunted in groups. Wait a minute. Weren’t they nocturnal? What were they doing active in daylight hours? His track of blood left behind invited all kind of species to hunt. The most incredible thing was that the prey was a big, full-size, immense, and defenseless dragon.

  Coyotes adapted their hunting techniques according to their prey. They slowly trailed through the grass and used their acute sense of smell to track down the prey to hunt small animals. Hunting large animals, in the dragon´s case, they worked in teams, took turns attracting and pursuing the animal to exhaustion, attacked from the rear or the flanks or bit the throat just below the jaw resulting in blood loss, suffocation, or death of their prey. They were persistent hunters, one hunt could last almost a day.

  He snorted. “What a terrible day!”

  They surrounded the dragon, snarling. Their white, sharp, shiny teeth appeared ready to attack and tear the flesh, ready to skin the dragon alive. They moved around, waiting for the right moment to kill him. They were patient, good strategists, and each animal had its role in the hunt. They knew exactly what to do and the best time to attack.

  The green dragon took a deep breath and held it in; he gazed at the predators and moved according to the coyotes movements. They all attacked at the same time, one bit his tail, one his legs, and another one tried to catch his throat. The dragon shouted, letting all the air trapped in his lungs out, but nothing more than just a frightening noise and fog left his mouth.

  The dragon shook his head, the coyote slid from his body to the ground. He fanned his tail violently, the animal hit the trunk with a yelp; he took another deep breath and tried to blast fire on them, no fire. His last defense didn´t work.