Ivy's Dragon: Dragons of Telera (Book 7)

by Lisa Daniels

  Too late, Ruelle realized one cat had made it onto Kerric’s back with them, and the terrified tabby dug claws into her backside, until she prised it off and let the creature sit between her legs.

  The Wilderness unravelled beneath them in a myriad of greens, grays and browns, before they approached what looked like a rather ominous and dormant volcano. Kerric dived towards it, and she spotted a gateway in the center of the volcano, with two gargoyles flanking it.

  Landing in the volcano, the gargoyles turned their stone heads towards them. Kerric shapeshifted back into his human form, and the tabby cat landed beside them.

  “Been a while,” one of the gargoyles said, scratching his head. “Ten years since the last couple attempted the trial.” He sniffed at them, as did the other.

  “Good. No enchantments. Alright then. Off you go.” The lead gargoyle smiled, though it looked more like a grimace, and he bowed them through. The gateway sparkled into life, showing a humming blue portal, obscuring the other side.

  That’s like what the Dark Clan used to transport me a month ago!

  Ruelle examined the portal cautiously, though Kerric held no such concerns. He smiled blithely at Ruelle, took her hand, and tugged her towards the portal.

  The cat sat outside, tail swishing, and the gargoyles glared at the cat, until it chose to rub itself against one of their legs.

  “Awh… kitty,” one of the gargoyles said, picking it up and petting it.

  Striding through the portal felt like wading through a bowl of soup. The world around her turned blue and swishy, until they stepped into a large, arena like room, with a golden door on the other side.

  The arena glowed with a bright green light, giving an eerie, sickly feel to it.

  “Have you been here before?” Ruelle hissed, hand resting on her sword. Kerric kissed her forehead, rubbing her shoulder in comfort, before shaking his head.

  “Nope. Be prepared for anything.”

  Two figures materialized in the center. Both resembled humans at first glance, though both held soulless, black eyes on their stiff faces. A man and a woman. The woman, clad in black armor, with long, flowing white hair, strode towards Ruelle, before halting in front. A huge claymore hung on the woman’s back, heavier and larger than what any normal woman could wield. She unsheathed it with ease, holding the weapon in one hand.

  “I challenge you to a fight, Ruelle of the Hallow Kingdom.”

  The male halted in front of Kerric. His chestplate was almost twice as wide as his body, and his muscles bulged impressively. Black eyes stared from his helmeted face, the visor lifted to reveal a squashed nose and pale skin.

  “I challenge you to a fight, Kerric of the Lost Brood.”

  “How do they even know who we are?” Ruelle hissed.

  “They’re magical beings, Ruelle. How the fuck would I know?”

  She snorted, even as the women bowed, introducing herself as Arlain, and the man as Jacen.

  “May the best fighter win.”

  Arlain lashed out her claymore. Ruelle dodged to the side, and rolled to avoid another slash. She arrested her movement as Arlain jabbed forward, and jumped over the downward slash.

  In the same movement, Arlain closed the gap and slashed one handed with the impossibly huge weapon.

  I can’t block that! Ruelle backflipped away as the claymore scraped the ground where she’d been standing a second earlier. Kerric tanked Jacen’s hit, and she saw his elbow jar from the force. Jacen used a scimitar, rather than the huge monstrosity.

  Arlain wielded, though it clearly remained hard going to dodge the blows, since both opponents fought with deadly skill and impossible strength.

  Ruelle fought tooth and nail, trying to use her speed advantage, since even with Arlain’s speed, the weapon created drag as she swung it, giving Ruelle the time needed to avoid.

  Ruelle watched Arlain like a predator waiting for when the drag became too much, or she made an error in her movement. Ruell spotted it when Arlain stepped in too close, too fast. Ruelle leaped on her advantage, closing in on Arlain with a body tackle that sent the woman clasing to the ground. Ruelle got two blows to Arlain’s wrist, forcing her to let go of the heavy weapon, and a few more in the fighter’s face, before placing her blade near Arlain’s throat.

  The woman coughed, smirking through bloody teeth. “I yield.”

  The fight had taken two minutes for Ruelle, which was about average fight time, since people tired, people made mistakes. It went on longer for Kerric and Jacen.

  “Can I assist Kerric?”

  “No. If you do, the door will remain shut,” Arlain said, coughing as she sat up. Her black eyes scoured Ruelle’s sleek form. “A worthy fighter. It’s not often you get a princess well trained in combat.”

  “Yeah, I was forced into it,” Ruelle said, shrugging. They continued making light conversation, until Jacen tripped up Kerric. However, the shapeshifter dragged Jacen down with him and slammed his sword into Jacen’s neck, impaling him. Kerric instantly jumped back, and Jacen pulled himself off the sword, the bloody wound healing up instantly. Jacen held up a finger, patting his throat with the other hand.

  “Sorry. I needed to let my voicebox heal. You win.”

  Ruelle’s jaw dropped. “Are you guys immortal?”

  “We are Guardians. Comes with the territory,” Jacen said, rubbing his throat. “Doesn’t mean it feels nice, though. Ugh. Well. Off you two go. Through the door.”

  Ruelle blinked. “What? This is all the Trial of Lovers is? A fight?”

  “Nope.” Arlain said. “Now go.”

  Kerric and Ruelle glanced at each other, confounded. Both of them went through the door. A woman with a serpent tail and snakes in her hair waited behind it, with gleaming yellow eyes.

  “Right. Second part,” she said, as if she’d been listening to the conversation outside.

  “There’s a second?” Kerric scratched at his stubble. The serpent lady smiled, her hissing snake hairs twisting up.

  “Yes. Right, you two need to go and kiss one another now. Show me that your love is genuine and heartfelt, and you get to pass to the next door.” She pointed to the golden door behind them. “Go on, then. Smooch.”

  Ruelle narrowed her eyes. Kerric shrugged, giving a boyish, oh well smile. “Come here, darling. Pucker up your lips for a ‘smooch.’”

  Sniggering, Ruelle embraced Kerric and placed her lips to his. Her heart pounded fast, and although some faint memories of the night they shared stirred in her heart, it was hard to get into the mood with the serpent lady glaring at them.

  Really forcing the act, Kerric and Ruelle grabbed at one another harder, crushing their bodies together and suctioning their lips to the point where neither of them had air left in their lungs. Ruelle ruffled his hair, before pulling away, gasping, and Kerric looked slightly dazed, possibly because of oxygen deprivation.

  “Well?” he demanded, out of breath.

  The serpent lady folded her arms as the snake hairs hissed at one another. “Eh, that was good enough. Off you go, then.”

  Both out of it, Kerric and Ruelle headed to the door, feeling more and more confused by the minute.

  The Trial of Lovers was nothing like either had expected.

  Through the third door, they saw a room full of stone statues. A trough of glistening water lay ahead, with a number of bejewelled artefacts, ranging from diamond studded chalices to manky, dirty wooden mugs.

  They passed the statues cautiously. Ruelle half expected them to spring to life and start attacking. Most statues looked human shaped, though their forms were indistinguishable from male or female.

  They halted at the water, and a small mouse sat on his rear legs to look at them.

  “Congratulations,” the mouse said. “Your reward is here. If you drink from the Water of Life, you will retain your youth forever more. If you have power, it will be enhanced. All you need to do is drink.” The mouse twitched his tiny whiskers. Displaying a smug grin.

  Immedi
ately, Kerric reached for a platinum chalice.

  “No! Wait!” Ruelle slapped his hand before he seized one. “Don’t be reckless. You think it’s a coincidence that all the statues are human shaped?”

  Kerric clenched his fingers, eyes wide. “Oh.”

  “Yes. I bet you my socks they’ve been cursed from the water. Don’t touch anything.”

  Ruelle picked up the mouse by his tail, though he merely glared at Ruelle for her treatment.

  “Are you lying to us, mouse?”

  “No,” the mouse squeaked, twirling in her hand. “You do have to use one of the containers to drink from. But only one of them’s good enough.”

  Ruelle dropped the mouse. “There’s hundreds!”

  The mouse did an approximation of a shrug. “Yes, well. Good luck.” He vanished into a hole before they could ask any more questions.

  “May as well pick one, then,” Kerric said.

  “If we touch the wrong one, I’m pretty sure we’ll be turned to stone,” Ruelle said, before adding, “I’ve heard of a trial like this before. It’s always the most unassuming container that’s the good one.”

  Kerric stared at a diamond chalice. His eyes filled with longing. “Are you sure…?”

  “You’re like millions of years older than me. You should be the one telling me this.”

  Kerric laughed, but followed Ruelle’s lead as she sifted through the collection of chalices. They continued scouring through the containers, with Ruelle trying to oust out the most insignificant and grimiest one possible. She debated between a stone one, a wooden mug, and something that looked suspiciously like a chipped wooden egg timer – and decided to go for the egg timer.

  It wasn’t the smallest by any means, but it was the smallest and least appealing object she saw. Squeezing her eyes shut, she grabbed it, waiting to be turned to stone. When nothing happened, she dipped the tiny cup in the water and drank it.

  Warm affection flooded through her as the water trickled into her body. Kerric waited a moment to see if she was about to turn, and when she didn’t, he took the cup as well and drank.

  “Congratulations!” The mouse squeaked, now poking out of his hole. “You’ve completed the Trial of Lovers. You can go home now.”

  Kerric glared. “Wait. Isn’t there supposed to be a legendary artefact here?”

  “You used a legendary artefact to drink from a legendary water source. Is that not enough?”

  “I’m nearly immortal anyway! What a useless gift!”

  “But she isn’t,” the mouse pointed out, twitching his whiskers towards Ruelle, before he disappeared back into his hole.

  Kerric flushed at that statement, abashed. They stood in silence, before he muttered, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about… that. What the reward meant for both of us.”

  “Don’t worry.”

  The Trial of Lovers completed, both of them stood there. The Water of Life invigorated them, igniting a new future in Ruelle’s brain. She held Kerric’s hand, gazing into his green eyes, inhaling his scent and ruffling his hair with her other palm.

  “Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Kerric,” Ruelle said softly. “Rather than having me be sold to some other dragon, who probably wouldn’t have put my skills to use.”

  “No worries.” He leaned to kiss her hand, eyes still fixed on hers. The noble bow he gave made her smile. “If you want, we can go on more Quests after this. If you’re up for it. If you want to stay.”

  Ruelle bit her lip, heart fluttering fast, creatures wriggling in her stomach. “If I stay, I want the potion gone from my system. I don’t want to stay because I’m forced to. I want to stay because my heart wishes it.”

  Her words struck a chord in him. He swallowed and nodded. “I’ll take it out of you. I’m sorry I… made you drink it.”

  “I understand. Just don’t do it again.” She leaned to his ear and whispered, “and I might just grow to like you a whole lot more.”

  His answering grin was radiant, as he walked with her past the gargoyles, who waited impassively. “Let’s go home, then,” he said, giving her one last hug.

  “Let’s,” she agreed.

  More fame and glory awaited them. More Quests. More time together. And more opportunities for Ruelle to put her skills to use.

  The End

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  Taja’s Dragon

  By: Lisa Daniels

  Chapter 1

  Nothing out of the Ordinary

  Taja pulled the bundled-up items to her chest and tried to speed up, despite the crowd around her. The market was always impossibly busy at this time of day, and the acting stable master knew it. Still, he had told her not to be late after giving her all of the chores. Hating that the real stable master had been needed at the noble’s country mansion for a few months to deliver two new foals and take care of them, Taja took comfort in the fact that it wouldn’t be much longer before he returned. She just had to hold out for another week or two and then everything would go back to normal.

  Her blonde hair shone like sunshine, a few stray strands dangling beside her face as the young woman pressed forward. It would be her twenty-first birthday soon, but she had no expectations. The stable master was the only person in her life that actually seemed to care about what happened to her, and he would not be back in time. Not that she wanted to celebrate. The stable master had been like the father she had never known, so she just wanted him to come back so the nightmare that had been her job without him would end. One of the other stable hands had taken to harassing her in the stable master’s absence, and the acting master wasn’t about to do anything to stop the boy. Taja had plenty of experience keeping boys like that away, but it was wearing on her. That and her mother’s steady decline into the bottle. Taja didn’t feel sorry for herself. She just needed that one ray of sunshine back that had made life worth living.

  Taja was not a tall woman, just barely over five feet tall. The first impression people had of her was that she resembled a large doll. Despite working outside, her skin was pale and soft. Her large brown eyes were surrounded by thick lashes that combined with her unnaturally yellow hair, hinting that she was perhaps not fully human. The perfect symmetry of her dainty features was striking, and it had gotten her into plenty of trouble when she was young. It was only after she met the stable master that Taja had calmed down and started trying to make a better life for herself. That had been three years ago. Until that point, she had been a complete mess, sleeping with any boy who would give her gifts and expensive items. Her mother had used her daughter as much as possible, turning expensive gifts into high debts with many of the taverns. The stable master had given the young woman something worth living for outside of her different types of abuse.

  It was times like these as she was darting through the crowds that Taja was really thankful for being so small. She was able to more easily slip through spaces between people.

  Still not fast enough. I’m going to be late. Her mind was already calculating her distance and current rate of speed. Moving her legs a little faster, she shifted to the outside of the crowd. It was risky, particularly since she would be moving so close to the carriages and horses, but it was the only way she was going to get through the crowd in time.

  As soon as she reached the outside of the crowd, Taja’s speed more than doubled. With a grin on her face, the young woman hurried past the throng.

  Without warning, one of the people moving in the opposite direction stepped into her. He had been trying to step out of the way of a noble lady, and did not notice the young woman trying to get by on the other side.

  Taja lost her balance, and fell. Instinctively, her arms tightened arou
nd the things she had brought, trying to keep them from spilling all over the road. Scrambling to get up without dropping anything, Taja looked up. A horse was making its way quickly right toward her.

  With a little gasp, the stable hand tried to crawl out of the way without getting the things dirty.

  “Seriously? Is that stuff more important than your life?” The voice was unfamiliar, but warm. The accent was light, but it was obvious that the owner of that voice was not from the area. And he was clearly male. Taja felt a pair of hands on her waist and she was suddenly lifted off of the ground. Clutching the items to her chest, she couldn’t believe that someone had stopped to help her. Her mind registered the miracle as a warm and firm body pressed against hers. The sound of the horse’s hoofs rumbled past her as she tried to fully comprehend what had just happened.

  As soon as the horse was past, she heard the rider calling it to stop. The warmth moved away from her body as she tried to get a hold of herself.

  An angry voice was so close to her, and Taja knew it was the rider. “Do you know what you almost did to my horse?”

  Taja turned to look, to apologize, but someone else spoke first. “Are you a fool or an idiot? Oh, yes, I see, you are one of the noble. A bit of both, then.”

  Taja’s eyes went wide as she turned to look at the man who had pulled her from the ground. Her gaze went back to the noble, and his expression read the way she felt. Neither of them had heard a noble insulted so publically before. Her head turned and she saw the people in the crowd starting to watch them.

  The noble had found his voice. “How dare you insult me!”

  “Ah, you make it all too easy. A woman is knocked into the street, and you yell at her for what, exactly? Being in danger? Blaming the victim is easy, but it is also very clear who the villain is in these cases.” He tilted his head to the side. Taja couldn’t see his features very well, but his stance suggested that the man was accustomed to power. He was not tall for a man, but standing this close to him she could tell he was about 5 foot 8 or 5 foot 9. His body was not bulky, but remembering what he had felt like as he held her, she knew that the man was muscular. Sinewy, her mind supplied.