by Anya Nowlan
“I sort of do,” Casey nodded, giving her a friendly squeeze of the shoulder. “Who was that guy with Shade, by the way? It looked like you knew him? He wasn’t from any dragon family I know…”
“He’s not a dragon. Just a slimy little toad,” Isobel all but growled.
The arena was beginning to clear of the clouds, revealing the swirling, flying forms of the five remaining dragons. There were six dragons at various points above the arena, guarding the proceedings and ready to call it if anyone got pushed out of the boundaries. The impression Isobel got was that they were there just as much to keep peace as they were to keep score.
She’d heard enough about the final challenge to understand that there were times when not all of the dragons could fly out of there with their lives, spirits and wings attached. Why they put themselves through something like that was still beyond Isobel. Though, truth be told, if someone gave her an opportunity right now to be locked in a cage with Joshua, armed with something sharp, she might just take them up on the offer.
“So you do know him?” Casey said gently.
“He’s my former fiancé. So yeah, you could say I’ve come across him.”
Isobel bit her lip, trying to reel in her irritation and the deep, sinking sense of betrayal. She wasn’t sure why Joshua would do something like this but it all made a lot more sense now. At first, she’d blamed Aeon for getting her mixed up in this, but she should have known that it couldn’t be that simple. That there was something a lot more sinister going on in the background.
Does he just want to hurt me? Is that it?
The fact that this seemed like the most likely reason for it all cut her like a knife. Isobel found herself wringing her wrists. It was a dumb habit she’d cultivated during the long, drawn-out process of preparing for the wedding.
Nothing she’d done or chosen for the ceremony had seemed to be right and she’d constantly felt like she wasn’t in control. Her mother and Joshua kept steamrolling any and all of her decisions. Now, she felt much the same.
She hated it.
Isobel steeled herself, forcing down the tears that she didn’t want to cry. Joshua wasn’t worth it. He didn’t deserve her tears or her heartache. But she did want to know why he’d done all of this.
Maybe I’ll have a chance to ask… If I can only get him alone for a moment…
The thought of being along with him made her skin pimple in disgusted goosebumps. The last thing she needed was to be stuck in an enclosed space with that wretch of a man. But the desire to know what was behind it all was stronger than the need to put as much distance between the two of them as she could manage.
“They’re ready to start!”
Casey’s voice was excited. Isobel leaned forward in her seat, trying to distinguish each of the dragons from one another.
The Goldplains dragon, the youngest of them, was the most distinct one. He glimmered like pure gold, yellow, orange and gold scales catching the sunlight. Then, there was the Greenmeadow dragon, who was a brilliant, emerald shade of green for the most part, with patches of mossier or lighter scales dotted over him as well.
But Isobel had heard enough chatter to know that these two were outsiders. Her real focus had to be on the trio of dark dragons, varying shades of grey and black making up all of their features.
The Ironbender dragon was pure, coal black, though his scales were shiny in the light and looked almost liquid at times. He looked like something out of a nightmare, foreboding, his eyes having a distinct shade of red to them that she wasn’t used to. He struck an imposing figure next to Shade, being bigger than the dusky grey dragon, and perhaps even larger than Aeon.
By the time the challenge began, the last whiff of cloud cover disappearing, Isobel was practically falling off the edge of her seat.
Please win, please win, please win… she chanted in her head.
When an answer came to her prayers, Isobel jumped a little.
I will.
Aeon’s voice was cool and collected, full of promise. He’d never called out to her in his dragon form before and Isobel hadn’t realized she had been focusing on him so intensely that he could hear her thoughts. If she’d had more calmness of mind to dish out at the moment, she may have been worried about what else he might have heard.
Right now, though? She was too busy blushing and hoping that he really would win.
One stolen glance at Joshua, sprawled out on his seat and sipping on a beer, made her cross her fingers all the more harder. If Shade won, she’d be in for a hell of a ride, and not in the good way, that much was obvious. But it wasn’t only because of this that she wanted Aeon to win.
There were too many reasons to count and admitting them all to herself was a herculean task she was not quite ready for yet.
When the dragons clashed together in the shallow pit, all of that was forgotten for a moment. The heat of their dragonfire warmed her body and their snarls filled the air.
The first dragon was lying limp on the ground no more than thirty seconds later and the spectators were on their feet, screaming. Isobel covered her mouth with her hand, watching the carnage unfold. The crowd was going wild and the twisting bodies of dragons and the wide, swooping arcs of dragonfire that burst way too close to the stands were keeping everybody more than busy.
So when a strong hand gripped Isobel’s shoulder and yanked her away from her box, almost no one noticed.
Aeon
Aeon was feeling all… warm inside. Which, in essence, was nothing new for a dragon, but this heat was different than what Aeon was used to. It felt sort of comforting and… nice.
Weird.
Shaking his powerful head, Aeon brought himself back to the moment. He had fallen into a flying pattern with the rest of the dragons around him, waiting for the beginning. It was hard to focus when thoughts of Isobel kept taking over his attention, claiming it all. When the last bit of clouds disappeared, he almost suffered for it.
The young Greenmeadow dragon made a beeline for him, trying to plow into him from slightly below and push him up and out of the arena. It was a decent enough plan, but Aeon managed to twist out of the way just in time, rolling under the dragon and pulling the same trick on him.
It looked almost like a wrestling move, effortless in a way, but made by two massive dragons, with swirls of dragonfire blazing around them. The Greenmeadow was gently tossed up and too high, his body bouncing out of the upper boundary of the arena. Before he could swoop back down, a guard had flown in to stop him, escorting the enraged young dragon out.
But Aeon had already forgotten about the emerald green dragon. Both Shade and the Ironbender dragon, Coal, had concentrated on the Goldplains dragon. The yellowish gold wave that the dragon could produce was lighting up the arena, slowing the actions of his enemies slightly, but not enough. When Aeon joined the mess, it was like a shark feeding frenzy.
Shade had grabbed the young dragon’s left wing and Coal the right one. Aeon plowed in from the top and between the three of them, they slammed the Goldplains dragon into the dirt hard. Aeon could hear bones crackling beneath him and he caught the moment when Shade twisted the Goldplains’ dragon’s wing up and then back, snapping it practically in half.
Unnecessary.
That familiar rage was starting to brim in Aeon again. They’d taken out the two weakest links and now the trio of black and gray dragons had taken to the air again, circling one another tentatively. Bursts of fire flew in every direction, but no one made the first move. They were roughly equal in strength and one wrong step could mean losing everything.
You know this fight is between you and I, Aeon, Shade’s voice slithered in his mind.
Aeon didn’t choose to answer, but when Shade took the dive towards Coal, Aeon had to join. He was right. This was between Shade and him and if they neglected Coal, they could both pay for it.
But the Ironbender dragon was not as easy of an opponent as the Greenmeadow and Goldplains had been. He anticipated Shade’s att
ack well, covering the area before him with a thick blanket of fire and then swooping down and to the right, slipping out from underneath Shade. Aeon couldn’t capture him in time.
By the time they had regrouped, the arena had begun shaking violently. The reddish brown walls of the natural valley were cracking and bending around them and Aeon could see what was about to happen as clear as day. Smoothly, he avoided the spikes that started shooting out of the cliffs, anticipating each just right and expending as little energy as he could.
Coal was using his powers to extract the metal from the very ground itself and create small, sharp as hell spears that burst out of the walls and ground. While Aeon could dodge them easily enough, though not so much as to get too close to Coal, Shade was not so lucky.
The screeches of pain coming from the grey dragon as the spikes ricocheted through his leathery wings and between those close-set scales was music to Aeon’s ears. He could only enjoy it for a second though, as Shade burst into action. He ignored the spikes, letting them fly around and hit him where he couldn’t dodge, but he flew across the arena in a wide arc.
Wherever he flew, thick, almost palpable fog covered the arena. It was dark and foreboding and Aeon knew nothing good was about to happen next. Coal must have understood much the same, but it was too late. Though he was trying to construct a barrier of the metals between himself and Shade, it was no use.
The fog thickened and sprawled around Coal, seeking him out. It was like heavy chains were being tossed over his wings and body, constricting around him and weighing him down. When Aeon and Shade plowed into him together, the strong dragon could no longer move fast enough to get out of the way.
Ripping at the Ironbender with his powerful jaws, Aeon felt the painful heat of dragonfire on his face. It was Shade’s and his talons were trying to get a grip on Aeon’s back while Aeon himself was busy wrestling the Ironbender dragon to the ground. Growling, Aeon flapped his wings harder and the ground came just in time, flattening Coal against the jagged rocks of the edge of the arena.
He slumped down, the coils of fog still tight around him. When he fell limp, the fog disappeared from around him.
Aeon could vaguely hear the screams and cheers coming from the stands. This was the fight everybody had been anticipating, between the two most experienced and strongest dragons at the tournament. But Shade had the upper hand at the moment and Aeon didn’t enjoy that at all.
He snarled, taking both of them into a barrel roll through the length of the arena. Shade’s grip on him wasn’t strong enough to hold on and Aeon managed to rip himself free, though it left a long tear in his left wing as well. It was still damaged from the last challenge to begin with and Aeon could foresee the trouble it was going to cause him.
There was no time to focus on that, as ironic as that may have been for a time dragon.
The fog was beginning to wisp around Aeon as he took a breath, focusing on his surroundings. Shade’s hateful, burning eyes met his and Aeon barely got out of the way in time to avoid getting hit in the face by the plume of dragonfire. The heat was intense, the extent of his injuries becoming clear now that he could actually feel the scorch of his enemy’s fire so clearly.
It was a sure sign that his strength was not what he would have wished it to be, and Shade had plenty of desire to come out of this as the victor. That was something that Aeon could not allow to happen.
He closed his eyes for a moment, paying no heed to the thick bands of fog that were beginning to slither about him, trying to tear him down. As if in a dream, the world seemed to slow. The voices became more distant and every syllable of their yells was stretched out further. The fog kissed at him in an almost leisurely way, not quite managing to reach around him.
Aeon kept his eyes shut, finding focusing to be harder than he would have liked, trusting his other senses to lead him to his prey. The dragonfire scorched at the back of his throat, begging to be released. While he couldn’t quite stop time, he could bend it to his will, and that was exactly what he needed at the moment.
Shade could not react fast enough as Aeon came tumbling into him, covering him with a thick blanket of fire before Shade could match it with his own. Aeon went for the soft underbelly of his powerful opponent, latching onto it with both claws and teeth and flipping Shade over.
Like someone was fast-forwarding a video too fast, time caught up with the both of them. They went tumbling through the air at breakneck speeds, narrowly avoiding slamming into one of the cliff walls together. Aeon had to fight to maintain some sort of direction as Shade ripped at his wings, trying desperately to shake him off just as Aeon was attempting to slash through the softer scales covering his stomach.
She’ll never be yours, Aeon snarled.
Nor will she be yours, came Shade’s foreboding answer.
Though it shouldn’t have, it messed with Aeon’s concentration. He had to look to the stands to make sure Isobel was still there and his heart skipped a couple of beats when he saw that she wasn’t. Shade was more than happy to use that moment of distraction to his advantage.
Aeon’s breath was kicked from his lungs as Shade slammed his legs into his chest, sending both of them flipping backwards and tumbling over and over until they managed to stop. Thick slashes ran down Aeon’s front, blood dribbling along the gashes. Shade was attempting to tear right through his neck, to rip his throat straight out.
Aeon could not afford to be dazed.
Where is she?! he demanded, but no answer came.
Thick fog was clouding Aeon’s eyes and nose, making it hard to breathe. He could taste copper in his mouth and he wasn’t sure whether it was from his own wounds or that he had now given up complete control to the dragon. Nothing but primal strength and rage remained.
The shackles of smoke tightened around him with each second, those being drawn out ridiculously long as both dragons were using the full force of their powers against one another. But being so closely entangled, they couldn’t use their capabilities against the other without catching some collateral damage on the way.
The ropes of fog that squeezed Aeon tortured Shade just the same and the way that Aeon was using time to his advantage worked against him as well, with the tightening ropes inflicting more damage. They were an almost unsolvable mess of fire, fog, scales, blood and jaws as they came crashing into a wall of the arena, wildly ripping at one another.
The world went black around Aeon and he didn’t know up from down, wrong from right. All he knew was that he needed to get to Isobel and to do so, he needed to go through Shade. Deaf and blind to the world, he attacked whenever he could, ripping and shredding, breaking and tearing. When he finally felt solid ground beneath his feet, his stomach dropped.
I can’t lose…
Blinking, he cleared his vision and slowly, the sounds of the world returned to him. He was standing on top of Shade’s limp body, mangled beyond recognition, the dusky grey scales marred crimson. Aeon was panting, his wings drooped, his tail broken, and pools of blood seeping into the rocks from countless wounds.
But he’d won.
Time slowly slithered back into its natural flow and guards came rushing down to Aeon. Blankly, he stepped off of Shade, not bothering to check whether his opponent was still alive. Frankly, he didn’t care.
Raising his maw up higher, he huffed at the air, trying to catch a whiff of Isobel. All his body wanted to do was to collapse right next to Shade, but he couldn’t. Not before he had Isobel back.
Not before he had his mate back.
Isobel
Questions like “Where are you taking me?” and “What’s the meaning of this?” sounded so trite at this point that Isobel didn’t even bother asking them. Instead, she took to the easier option – trying to kick Flite in his stern, smug face and inflict some pain.
Considering his size and the fact that he was a dragon shifter, she might as well have been trying to carve a tunnel through a mountain armed with nothing more than a wooden spoon.
&nb
sp; “Flite, you need to stop this,” she snarled as he shoved her into the back of a large black Suburban, sliding in after her.
“Don’t fight, honey. This is all for your own good.”
The voice stilled her. Isobel went rigid in the back seat of the SUV as Joshua leaned over the front seat, giving her a pearly white smile. He looked nervous, obviously trying to hide his anxiousness behind a dazzling smile that had deceived Isobel for one too many years. It was as fake as his tan was.
“Like hell it is. You haven’t done a damn thing for me since the first time we went out,” she hissed, pulling on the door handle and finding it locked.
Flite slid in next to her and Joshua revved the engine, taking off with gravel flying behind them. Isobel flipped around in the seat, trying to see what was going on at the pit. But they were already too far and she couldn’t see into it anyway.
All she saw were plumes of fog and sudden eruptions of flame, making it look like the mouth of hell had opened up and the curious spectators on the stands were staring right into it.
At first, she’d thought Flite was moving her somewhere else because of another dumb ceremony or something like that. When he jostled her off the stands completely, it became clear that his intentions were far from honorable.
Originally, he had been one of her guards, but had been relieved of the task since he took part in the tournament. Since he dropped out after the first challenge – and he was obviously not too pleased about his early exit – Isobel had assumed he’d been assigned to the task of guarding her again, as he hadn’t been too far from her since that first challenge.
Evidently, Grale had thought the same, because he had not moved to stop them. Now, though, it was more than clear that protecting her was the last thing on Flite’s mind.
As the SUV peeled off, she saw Grale coming down the stands at breakneck speed, flinging himself over the railing. He stopped as he saw that the SUV had already taken off and for a moment, Isobel thought he’d shift and come pluck the vehicle from the ground like it was a speck of dust and carry it back.