Emerald Dreams (The Dream Traveler Series)

by Nicole Knight

  Axel said that a dragon relies on its sight. Maybe he was going to try to take out its vision? That’s what I would do if I was battling a beast that was a hundred times larger than me.

  Axel started to scale the dragon’s neck, but couldn’t grab on. As a result, he kept sliding down towards the dragon’s tail. The dragon took a giant step to the right as he was sliding down. Axel slid onto the wing and off the side of the dragon. I heard the clash of his armor hitting the ground. I cringed at the sound.

  There is no way that didn’t hurt.

  Suddenly I felt a surge of adrenaline running through my body. I was in fight or flight mode, and before I could talk myself out of it, I picked up two big branches and started running towards the dragon.

  I didn’t know why I was doing it, or how I thought I could help. I couldn’t just sit and watch this dragon kill Axel. I don’t know where the courage came from; I only hoped it wouldn’t get me killed.

  “Over here, you large ugly reptile!” I shouted, trying to get its attention.

  What am I doing? I’m going to get us both killed.

  It was only a dream, but I didn’t want to wake up suddenly, thinking I had been murdered.

  Its head turned from Axel to me. I ran closer to it and took aim. I threw the branch in my right hand like a spear aiming at the dragon’s eye.

  “What are you doing? Get out of here!” I heard Axel shouting at me from the ground where he still laid.

  He was looking at me but still lying on his back. I could see him struggling to try to get up.

  I looked back just in time to see the dragon let out a little ball of fire. The branch ignited in the air and started falling right back in my direction.

  I jumped out of the way, falling back on my butt and hands. I watched the burning branch land where I was standing. I didn’t like these odds. Two people, one injured, versus a dragon.

  I heard the sound of metal clanking. Axel was trying to get up. The dragon noticed this as well and redirected its attention to him.

  I heard it take a big breath, and I heard a low rumbling sound. I threw the other stick, this time it just bounced off the side of the dragon’s head.

  It couldn’t have hurt it, but I knew it was agitated. It let out a snort, and steam rose out of its nose. It turned its head back to me. It took another deep breath.

  It was about to light me up like lighter fluid on a match. I took what I thought was my last breath and brought my arms up to cover my face. I waited for it, I made my last stand right there.

  I heard the fire leave the dragon’s mouth, I felt heat envelop me, but I wasn’t burning.

  Maybe death wasn’t painful? I didn’t know; I haven’t really died before.

  I continuously felt the heat, but I didn’t dare move my arms. I opened my eyes and looked around. There was a silvery cloud moving in swirling motions around me. This is why I wasn’t burnt to a crisp right now.

  What is it though? God, this place is weird.

  Then I felt something. It felt like the spring action of a trampoline. It felt like something small was bounced off my stomach. Next thing I knew, I saw part of the dragon’s flame bounce back at it.

  Did it bounce off this fog? That’d be neat.

  The dragon let out a loud high pitched scream; I desperately had to fight the urge to cover my ears.

  That was going to cause permanent hearing loss.

  I looked over to see what happened to Axel. He was standing to the side, out of the way of the flames. He had his hands covering his ears, and he looked like he was in pain, but his eyes were glued to me. I’m sure this all looks strange to him.

  What was he going to say about it? Would he think I was a freak and leave me here to find my own way? His face matched what I felt.

  Then suddenly, the flames stopped. The dragon was still screaming, it kept trying to reach its eyes. It was unsuccessful.

  I pulled my arms away from my face and looked desperately to Axel, I was giving him control of the situation.

  He mouthed silently to me, “don’t make a sound.”

  I nodded that I understood.

  I silently took my slippers off and tiptoed across the grass to him. When I was next to him, he grasped my hand and slowly started backing away from the dragon. He was careful not to let the pieces of his armor touch and make a noise.

  We slowly backed away from the struggling dragon. It was looking right at us but couldn’t see us. I felt terrible; I had blinded it, now it was suffering.

  When we were far enough away from the dragon, we took off running. We were heading in the direction of the giant trees. Axel was still holding my hand.

  When we could no longer see the dragon, we came to a halt and my hand was freed. Axel was hunched over, and his face was bunched up in pain.

  “What hurts? Maybe I can help,” I told him.

  “Help me take off my armor. I can feel blood running down my back.”

  I helped him lift the metal plate off his back and chest, and unstrapped the metal plates protecting his legs and arms.

  When he was armor free, I assessed his body looking for anything broken or bleeding. On his back I found a cut from the edge of his armor, it must have happened when he fell on his back. He had some bruising starting to show there as well as on his shoulders.

  What could I do to help him?

  I looked around. I spotted moss growing on a tree. I learned in a survival class that moss would work as a bandage.

  I walked over to the tree and picked as much as I could. I walked back to Axel and handed it to him. I touched his hand when passing it along. I felt a spark, it was different from when he grabbed my hand to run, I still felt its warmth, but I could swear I still felt the spark even moments after I touched his hand.

  He looked the moss over and then reached out and grabbed my hand back. He flattened by hand, and he placed the moss there.

  “Could you do it for me?” he asked. I could see the vulnerability in his eyes that the rest of him struggled to show.

  I could not say no to that.

  “Yeah, I don’t know how it will stay on, though. Oh, wait, I do.”

  I pulled his sword from his armor.

  “Whoa! What are you doing? Be careful,” he demanded.

  “It will be fine, you’ll see.”

  I used the edge of the sword to tear the bottom of my shirt. When I was done, I had a crop top, and he had a decent sized bandage. I set the sword back down, and Axel looked over the change to my outfit. He was appraising my body.

  I didn’t mind either. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been checking his out. I totally have.

  Aside from the distracting cuts and bruises, he was sculpted like a work of art. The sweat coating his skin did nothing but highlight the contours of the muscle in his back and arms.

  I can’t wait to get a look at the front.

  “We will need to get you another shirt shortly; we don’t want to attract any attention with you dressed like that. We need to lay low as possible. Showing your midriff in public is not approved of here,” he said.

  No bikinis here; got it.

  “Okay,” was my only response.

  I guess my pride and my self-esteem lowered a little from his response. It was hard to not let his comment get me down.

  Did he not like what he saw?

  I pressed the moss to the cut area on Axel’s back. He winced as the moss was laid on the wound. He winced again when I put more pressure on the moss. I pulled the scrap of my shirt up against the moss; then I reached around his torso to tie the ends in the front.

  It was an intimate moment. I’ve never touched a guy like this before, even though it was completely innocent. Axel must have thought so too; he cleared his throat and then stood suddenly.

  “What did you do back there? You lied to me! You told me that, you are not from this land, yet you used magic. What were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed,” he was practically shouting at me.

  Was I being
interrogated for trying to help? I was, screw him!

  “Um I distracted it to try to help you, and then when it came after me, I just took a deep breath and pulled my arms to cover my face."

  I took a breath to get my attitude under control.

  "I thought I was about to die. Next thing I knew, I felt the heat but wasn’t being burned. Was that magic? I didn’t know it even existed, how could I know I could use it?”

  I willed for him to believe me.

  I really had no clue about anything here.

  “There is no denying it, you have magic in you. No one else was around to help. You didn’t know you could use it?” he asked.

  Great, he still doesn't believe me.

  “I didn’t even know it existed,” I repeated.

  “This is starting to get truly strange. The closer we get to Wisdom, the more questions I have. We need to get to him soon. Let’s get going, I’m dying for answers.”

  “I am too,” I said weakly.

  “We need to get to Wisdom soon. Your magic could be out of control. You have no clue how to use it. The King has people who seek out those who yield magic and kill them, they could find us. Or you could accidentally hurt one of us.”

  That last part hurt the worst. I could see the fear in his eyes when he said that I could hurt us. My mood just took a nosedive.

  With my mind racing, I tried to string along a response. I could only get out more questions.

  “I could hurt one of us with it? People are tracking magic? Like directly to us?”

  This predicament was only getting worse. Maybe I should just wake myself up again.

  “Oh yes, it’s a large possibility,” he answered.

  Great, I am putting us in danger...

  I watched as Axel put his armor back on.

  “We should probably get going,” he said.

   Chapter Seven

  We started walking to what I assume is the Shadow Bridge. We weren’t moving very fast, and for once, I wasn’t the holdup.

  Axel was very sore. He walked with his back sort of hunched, and he was putting some of his weight on a stick he found. He looked like an old man with a bad back. It is going to take us much longer to get where we are going, which makes everything riskier.

  If I knew how to control my powers, we wouldn’t be at such high risk.

  Hell, I’m not sure I even have magic like Axel was saying. What if he was the one to put up the shield?

  I don’t know how to explain it. If I really did have control of magic, how am I supposed to learn how to use it?

  Why is everything becoming so complicated? Oh yeah, this is a dream. Calm yourself.

  We had walked maybe a few miles, and the first sun was starting to lower in the sky. According to Axel, we were only a mile, maybe two, away from the Shadow Bridge.

  I heard what sounded like horses running. Axel grabbed my hand and pulled me to a halt. We dropped down where we were. The tall grass fields we were walking through provided us cover as we lie belly-down on the ground.

  I was looking at Axel, and he at me. I could see the fear in his eyes. He didn’t have this look when he tried to face off with the dragon.

  What could put this fear in my knight’s eyes?

  My knight?

  That is a funny thought. I was referring to him as mine like we were dating or something. This is the second time today where he was vulnerable. I liked it, even though we were in danger both times. It made me feel that he and I weren’t so different.

  I hoped we wouldn’t be spotted from someone sitting on top of a horse. The grass wouldn’t provide us with much cover if they were walking over top of us. I didn’t feel like being stepped on by a half-ton animal either. I hoped they would stay far enough away.

  “Let’s head to the Shadow-bridge. We will ask those ugly creatures if the deserter has crossed,” we heard a voice say.

  “What if he has?” one of them asked.

  “Then we are to go after him under the King’s orders,” the first speaker answered.

  “If he hasn’t?” the other knight asked again.

  “Then we will keep looking over every piece of land the light touches,” the leader commanded.

  We heard the horses’ hooves hitting the softened ground. They were riding away from us; I didn’t dare speak a word yet.

  I gave Axel a curious look and pointed to him. He understood my silent question and nodded.

  Axel was the deserter they were talking about. That worried me. It sounded like he was in a lot of trouble. Should I be afraid of him?

  When the horses were no longer near, we sat up. We didn’t see anyone else, but we still laid low for a while.

  “Why did you desert?” I asked him curiously.

  He introduced himself as a knight when we met.

  Did he lie to me? Despite the armor?

  “For you," he answered simply.

  There was no regret in his voice.

  "I’m taking you to Wisdom. I was expected back yesterday from an assignment; instead, I chose to escort you,” he told me.

  Oh no. He is in trouble for me. Why did he do that to himself? He kept surprising me with little acts of kindness. Now he was sacrificing his position as a knight to help me. But why? Why is it so important that I make it to Wisdom? Is Axel hiding something from me?

  “Don’t feel bad. I wanted out anyway,” he said.

  I just nodded. What else was there to say about it?

  “What do we do now? They are going to the Shadow Bridge,” he was thinking out loud.

  I thought out loud in response, “Who says we have to cross that bridge? Can’t we make our own bridge over?”

  “That might be possible if we have the right materials,” he said.

  A small piece of approval shone in his eyes before it was gone.

  “Do you have any trees that have trapped air in them, something lightweight?” I asked.

  “I’m sure we do somewhere. Is that what you think we should use?” he asked.

  “Yes, we can make a long raft that covers the whole width of the river, and we could cross that way. We can pull the makeshift raft up and hide it so that way we can get back if we need to.”

  “You really are the smartest person in your school, aren’t you? You weren’t making that up.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was a question or a statement, but I accepted the praise. He gave me a little smile that touched his eyes.

  “You have no idea.”

  I gave him a bigger smile back.

  “Wait, you thought I was making that up?” I asked teasingly.

  “Maybe,” he teased back.

  I stood up and gave Axel my hand to help him up. We started our search for lightweight wood that would float. It took hours to find enough wood to put together a long, very narrow raft.

  We carried as much of the wood as we could to a new spot along the Red River. We were three miles upriver of the shadow bridge, according to Axel.

  Together we pieced the wood into a raft. It was just barely long enough to stretch across the small river. It wasn’t anything close to a professionally built raft or bridge, but I felt it would do its job.

  Axel wasn’t lying when he said that the river ran red. It had very fast-moving waters. I could hear the loud water as it made contact with rocks and the riverbanks. I was nervous about crossing it, and Axel didn’t look too confident either.

  I took some long looking leaves and shredded them into strips. I took the pieces and braided them all together over and over. When I was done, I had two ropes, maybe ten feet long each.

  I found a rock and tied a part of the rope around it. The other end I also secured to the makeshift bridge. I dropped the rock, and it became an anchor in the water holding the raft in place. I shifted the bridge and brought the other end towards me. I tied the other rock to the center of the raft, dropped it in the water, and shifted the bridge back in place.

  Axel was staring at me, studying me. I didn’t know why. This
wasn’t anything that a high school student couldn’t engineer. It was as basic as you could get.

  “I’ll go first,” Axel said.

  He threw his stuff to the other side, the bag barely made it to the other bank.

  He looked good while doing it.

  He started crawling across the bridge. It wobbled and made me doubt my abilities. Would this really hold together long enough for us both to cross? The strong currents were pushing the bridge back and forth, but it wasn’t carried away with the water because of my anchors.

  He almost belly crawled across the bridge. He pushed his hands forward in front of his head, and he pulled himself along on his stomach while pushing with his feet. I could see his muscles moving, and it was physically affecting me.

  Down girl. Pay attention, so you don’t drown yourself when you cross...

  It took what was probably fifteen minutes of slow struggling, but Axel made it to the other side.

  Now, it was my turn... I don't think I will make it look that easy.

  I got on my hands and knees and started crawling. Everything was shaky, including me. The two ends were fighting to go different directions. This wasn’t good.

  I was halfway across when the piece of wood I placed my hand on broke off. I lifted my hand back up to try it set it somewhere new. The rouge piece of wood got carried away by the waters that were only getting rougher.

  I felt the bridge shift and looked in front and behind me. Pieces of wood were drifting away from the bridge. It was no longer holding together. Some of the ropes we had used to secure the wood together were starting to untangle.

  In a moment of panic, I looked up to Axel, who was on the other side, watching everything fall apart around me.

  “Lady Violet hurry, it is breaking apart!” he yelled at me.

  Many curse words came to my mind, but I only wasted breath on one...

  “Shit!” I screamed.

  I lifted my knee to keep going, and that is when the rest of the raft broke apart, and I was dropped into the cold blood water of the river.

  I tried to scream, but my mouth filled up with the red liquid. It tasted like copper. It was the same taste you get after you bite your lip, and it bleeds. This was real blood. I spit as much out as I could.