by Sara Fields
She ran for cover in what looked to be the remnants of a small stone house, the wooden roof burnt halfway to a crisp. Fire hit the ground in waves as she ran and when she finally reached the door, she dove inside and pressed up against the wall, closing her eyes in fear as hot flames surrounded the hut. Outside, the dragons roared loudly and she shivered with fear.
This was insanity. The sounds of people dying and hurt tore at her heart and she squeezed her eyes shut tighter with a silent cry.
A soft noise made her jump and she opened her eyes in a flash, trying to look into the dark shadows of the dwelling she had sprinted into. It seemed like the shadows drifted on their own and she blinked a few times to clear her vision. As her sight adjusted to the dim light, small shapes began to appear in a faraway corner.
A small clicking sound filled the room, followed by a soft whine and her ear pricked toward the sound. Slowly, she moved closer and four little beady eyes turned in her direction, two blue and the other two bright red.
One beast moved toward her, followed by the other. When they wandered into a draft of light, she gasped. They were baby dragons. Small and about the size of a small dog, they were tiny compared to the large ones flying around in the sky outside. On the floor beside them were remnants of broken eggshells.
They were freshly hatched.
One was the color of rust, the other charcoal gray, just like Bruddis and Draego. Kneeling down, she sat down on the floor and watched them. They stared at her with curiosity and excitement, and most interestingly, zero fear.
Their talons scraped the floor, their limbs shakily moving in her direction.
She was still as they nudged her hand, still as they brushed against her thighs, and still as they climbed up into her lap, purring happily as if they’d just found their mother. Uneasily, she ran her fingers along their scales, finding them softer than the ones she felt on Bruddis when she had flown on his back. These younglings were vulnerable and with the battle raging outside, in serious danger if they were discovered.
It was eerie how much they both looked like Bruddis and Draego, only in a much smaller package. The same eyes, the same color, the same everything. They curled up in her lap and pressed their heads into her stomach and she couldn’t help but smile softly at their simple and trusting natures.
Coughing quietly, residual smoke still burning her lungs, she leant back against a nearby wall and closed her eyes, exhaustion reigning over her like a rockslide.
When she awoke, the world outside seemed strangely quiet and she shivered, realizing the temperature had dropped several degrees in the hours that had passed. The baby dragons had crawled a short distance away and were huddled together, still asleep. She crawled toward the door and looked outside through one of the cracks in what remained of the burnt wood.
There was ice and snow everywhere. Not far away, the ice dragon rested, a low snore rumbling and shaking the very ground beneath her. Quietly, she crept backwards, careful to not make a single sound. It was daylight and the sun peeked through the damaged roof, but it wasn’t enough to warm the room.
To her right side, she saw what looked like a woolen blanket. Picking it up, she curled it around her shoulders and shivered. It was so cold. The little rust-colored dragon picked up its head from his brother’s back and stared in her direction.
Again, the eerie feeling that she knew him popped back into her mind.
“Bruddis?” she whispered under her breath.
The dragon trilled quietly in her direction and she shushed him soundlessly under her breath. The gray creature raised his head next.
“Draego,” she sighed and the baby nodded once, in typical Draego fashion. Grinning, she shook her head. Maybe she was crazy for thinking of the brothers and thinking these tiny dragons were them. Maybe none of this was real and it was all a byproduct of the fire shaman’s magic. But then again, it could all be real. Pinching herself harshly, she whimpered slightly at the pain. Definitely not a dream then.
Her stomach growled dangerously loud.
Rising to her feet, blanket still secure around her shoulders, she padded through the house, looking for something to eat. A large standing wooden shelf had jars and cans stacked on it and she sighed happily when she recognized a few that looked like some sort of jam, others that looked like soup and canned fruits. There was even a semi-stale loaf of bread on a table beside it.
Tearing off a piece of bread, she opened a jar that looked like grape jelly and dipped the food right in. When she placed it on her tongue, she nearly moaned with delight as a salty chocolate flavor spread across her mouth. It was so much better than the grape flavor she had been expecting.
She ate her fill silently and when the dragons lifted their heads and looked in her direction, she hesitantly offered them a piece of bread, not knowing what they’d eat. The two creatures trilled happily and waddled over to her, taking the bread right from her fingers and chomping it up in a matter of seconds. It was actually pretty cute.
The day passed slowly, the beams of light slowly shifting across the floor as the sun passed overhead. Periodically, she heard the warring beasts outside roar and clash, and the three of them inside their little house were quiet. Even the babies seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation and were unnaturally silent for such young creatures.
Jada passed the time by exploring the rest of the house, finding more food, including some sort of meat jerky and a stash of dry red wine. Her throat still parched, she poured herself a small amount in the cleanest silver goblet she could find and sipped it slowly, knowing her tolerance would probably be low. There wasn’t any water to be found.
The delicious flavors of berries, apples, and grapes exploded on her tongue, along with a few other tastes she couldn’t recognize. She shrugged. This was an alien planet after all.
In her explorations, she found a stack of paper and some pens, even a few books but they were in a language that she couldn’t understand. Instead, she drew on the paper, entertaining herself with vivid images of dragons and other mythical creatures.
It wasn’t long before it was time to sleep, the setting sun taking away what little light they had.
Days seemed to ebb and go as she sheltered in the small stone hut, surrounded by sounds of the never-ending battle outside. She sipped on wine casually and ate only when she was hungry, not wanting to go through her food stores too quickly.
She found herself growing attached to the little beasts and delighted in watching them grow larger day by day. Their growth rate was fast and she caught herself sadly wondering about the day where they would be too big to hide in their dwelling. When that day came to pass, she had no idea what they would do.
She could tell they watched her, ate less than they needed simply to keep her healthy and it warmed her heart. Occasionally, she would watch as they caught a small mouse or rat, eating them whole in a single swallow.
They were probably tasty for a dragon, she thought.
More and more, she thought about why she was here, what sort of trial she was supposed to pass in order to go back to her men, and what sort of test this could be. She racked her brain for possible answers and came up with nothing. The hut offered zero clues as to why she had been sent here in the first place.
Some days were hot and others were cold, depending on which dragons had captured the battlefield for that period of time. Used to constantly being quiet, she hardly spoke and instead communicated with her body, smiling when she was happy, frowning when she was sad. The young dragons followed suit and they grew closer because of it. She knew when they were happy or sad, hungry or bored and she did her best to keep them satisfied. At night, they all slept together, one on either side of her, keeping her close and she didn’t mind.
It was all rather nice. It was a simple life, if only a bit lonely.
One morning, Jada was looking sadly at the quickly emptying food shelf and she heard a loud boom outside. An ear-piercing roar echoed around them and she yelped at the sound.
The ground shook like an earthquake and her eyes tore to the door.
All at once, her world fell apart. The front wall of the house crumbled as one of the battling dragons skidded into it, coming to a stop some mere inches from where she stood by the shelf. The young dragons jumped up from their resting spot on the other side of the structure and growled softly, but she could tell that they were afraid.
They were all afraid.
Bruddis and Draego stared in her direction, begging her to come to them simply with their body language. They had grown to be the size of rather large dogs now, either one of them weighing much more than she, but they were no match for the fully grown dragons warring around them.
The massive dragon moved, lifting its dark sapphire-colored body. It shook off the rubble and swung its head in her direction. Its ice blue eyes connected with hers and the snarl that ensued chilled her to the bone. It was an ice dragon, similar to Draego, but full grown and very angry.
The blue dragon’s lips curled, steam rising from its nostrils in warning.
She stood very still and trembled as it looked in the opposite direction, having picked up on the presence of the babies she’d spent so much time with. Alarmingly, she saw his hackles rise immediately, the presence of two more males in his territory driving him wild with adrenaline and fury.
With a swing of his head, the ice dragon knocked down the rest of the walls, exposing them completely to the field of battle.
Crying out in alarm, she jumped as the other fire-breathing dragon landed on the ground beside them. He looked back and forth between Bruddis and Draego, the ice dragon, and herself, growling so loud it felt like the sound powered her heart.
Long necks rose up into the sky as they stared down at her, judging whether or not to kill her. Panicked, she glanced back at the baby dragons who were edging toward her side. They looked ready to attack at any second and she prayed they wouldn’t else they would all be dead within moments.
The fire and ice dragons stared at her, evil grins curling their lips up in a frightening scowl. It was almost like the warring dragons had banded together against them, an uneasy peace settling when a new enemy presented itself.
“Pick one to die, pretty woman,” a voice sounded in her head.
The fire dragon stared into her eyes and she had no question in her mind that he was the one that had spoken to her.
“What do you mean? Pick one?” she asked, her confusion and fear quickly growing overwhelming. How could she pick one of them to die? She loved them both with all her heart. Bruddis, so kind and warm and Draego, so serious and dark, how could she choose?
They were innocent. They didn’t deserve this.
The ice dragon slammed his foot into the ground, shaking the ground and the rubble around them enough to make her cry out in terror.
“Choose. The red one or the gray one. Make your choice, human,” the ice dragon roared and her heart beat wildly in her chest.
She couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t. What right did these dragons have to dictate who lived and who died? Her heart pounded in her chest, anger boiling rapidly to the surface, and every muscle in her body tensed with a fiery courage. They were monsters, battling it out over territory and she would die before she let them hurt the small dragons she’d grown so close to. Her dragons. Her men. They meant the world to her.
“No. I refuse. I won’t choose either one of them.”
“Then they both die,” the fire dragon laughed.
When they moved in the direction of Bruddis and Draego, she yelled out and threw herself toward them so that her body blocked their advance. Furious, the fire and ice dragons drew back their heads, steam and smoke rising from the nostrils as they roared with fury, their legs and claws slamming into the ground and shaking her entire world.
Time seemed to slow. They were going to kill her. She saw their stomachs glow, bright red and blue, building the fires meant to bring her to her death.
So, this was how it all ended, huh?
She failed. She was going to die.
Stumbling, she fell to her knees and cried out as her skin tore against the rock. She tried to move as quickly as she could and rise to her feet, using every single ounce of energy she could summon in that very moment. Spreading her arms wide, she blocked both Bruddis and Draego with her own body. They couldn’t die. She wouldn’t allow it.
“You’ll have to kill me to get through to them,” she screamed, her muscles quivering with a boiling mixture of anger, fear, and raw courage.
It was going to be okay. If this was how it was meant to end, so be it.
The beasts opened their lips wide, showcasing massive sharp teeth that dripped with saliva. They opened their mouth wide and she watched with horror as fire and ice hurtled in her direction.
Death.
She should be more afraid, shouldn’t she?
In her last few moments, she could only think about was how her tiny beasts would escape. At the last second, her life flashed before her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks. She should have done more with her life, should have fought back when she was branded as a murderer, should have gone to see her family after everything had happened.
Time seemed to slow as the dragons roared before her and the brothers cried out behind it. She watched as the icy blast and hot blaze raced toward her with a sense of detachment.
Fate was a cruel master. Biting her lip, she waited for death, for the darkness to take her. Closing her eyes, she embraced it.
Fire and ice curled around her skin and she screamed in agony. Moments seemed like hours before the blackness overtook her and her world faded into shadow.
It was all over.
Chapter Seven
Draego grumbled with his impatience.
She’d been gone for such a long time. It had seemed like hours that she’d been away from his arms and it drove him wild. The moment she had disappeared into the fire, he’d felt the loss of her presence and had yearned quietly for her return. With each passing second, he thought about going in to rescue her, of ignoring the fire shaman’s rule and at just taking her as a wife whatever the results of the trial were, and glared down at the flames curling around them.
He couldn’t do that, but he wanted to.
The moment her body came hurtling from the flames, Draego was ready to catch her.
Her body felt hot and cold in patches and he curled her close into his chest. She shook in his arms and he felt his guarded heart thaw just a bit more.
The fire shaman walked forward with a smile on her face. He couldn’t read her. He didn’t know if she was happy that Jada had failed the trial or that she passed. His future remained uncertain and it made him extremely uncomfortable.
He again thought of taking Jada as his wife, no matter what the shaman said.
Jada was a woman like no other. Her beautiful green eyes were full of passion, innocence he yearned to take, and a gentle, but feisty loving nature brewed up from her depths. He remembered how she had felt when he had taken her for the very first time, her tightness enveloping around his cock like she was made for him.
Her beautiful curves, the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled, her sounds of delight at riding on Bruddis’ back in his dragon form.
It had to be fated. She was his mate. He hugged her tighter to his chest.
He hoped with all his heart that she had passed the trials, that Draegiran tradition would allow him to take this woman as his, in his marriage bed as his wife. Until now, he’d held back, but he ached to have her as his completely, to have her wear his collar and submit to him, crawl for him, wait in his bed for him to take her as he pleased.
His dick hardened just thinking about it.
Licking his lips, he breathed in her scent: lavender, peaches, and roses. It was intoxicating. If they weren’t there in front of the shaman, he’d fuck her on the cold earthen floor of the cave. Bruddis curled his arms around the woman and kissed the top of her head. Draego watched with a warm feeling in his
heart.
They both watched the fire shaman cast her spell. Fire burned all around them as she closed the fire portals, one by one disappearing before their eyes as though they had never been there in the first place. The fires around them smoldered out to glowing embers, quickly fading into the rock beneath their feet. After a minute, the only fire left was the flames dancing around her feet and on the metal fans she carried in her hands.
She lifted her chin and Draego’s heart pounded in his chest.
It was time to find out if the fates had deemed Jada worthy to be their queen.
“Draego, Bruddis,” she began. “Jada Rivers has a pure heart, a sound mind, and will submit to you as your wife, body and soul. She passed the trial of the heart and chose the both of you over herself. She figured out the trial of the mind and found her way back to you without losing herself and she survived the trial of submission under your guidance. I deem her worthy of you, my princes,” she said with glee, dancing with fire before them. “She will be your fated wife.”
His heart seemed to stop, before he managed to find his voice again.
“Thank you for your guidance, honored shaman,” Draego said softly.
She smiled one last time before she disappeared in a shower of embers that glowed long after she was gone, drifting down to the rock floor of the cave. The three of them were finally alone together, with the woman fated to be their wife and he couldn’t be more thrilled about it. In fact, he ached to claim her as soon as possible, to sink his cock into her depths and ensure she would never forget his touch.
“Let’s go back to the castle,” Draego said gruffly and his brother nodded.
Bruddis picked up one of the torches and led them out of the cave. Draego followed without a word. Jada was quiet, huddled against his chest and he worried for her, wondered what she had gone through in that final trial when he or his brother hadn’t been there to protect her.
When they emerged out of the cave, the fading sunlight bathed them in its warm embrace. He and his brother easily shifted into their dragon forms. Carrying Jada’s oddly still body in his talons, Draego flew back to the castle, eager to take his woman back to his home.