by Megan Linski
“At last.” I stare at him. “I call you because my village is in danger. German forces seek to steal my princess away and flatten the town.”
“That’s none of my concern.” Zirnitra puts his hands inside the sleeves of his robe. “Human affairs are dull to me.”
“I’m willing to offer you something in exchange for your help,” I say quickly. He’s probably just disappointed this deal involves something as simple as killing a horde of humans.
Zirnitra makes a sarcastic noise. “Please, girl. What could you offer that could tempt me to devour the Germans?”
“My hand.”
His eyes widen. Zirnitra licks his lips eagerly. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” I say, even though my insides are curling up on each other and my heart is screaming in protest. “If you agree to save Krakow and kill the Germans, I will marry you. I know that’s what you want. It’s the reason you chased me into the sea. You desire to obtain what Smok cannot have.”
“Hm.” Zirnitra taps his chin with a long finger, topped with a filthy fingernail. “I did regret taking your life the first time around, as you were such a beautiful girl. This seems a fair deal. You are very powerful now, and could be useful to me.”
Zirnitra’s eyes brighten. “Very well. I accept your offer.”
“Thank you,” I whisper. Part of me was hoping he’d say no.
But it’s okay. I’ve saved Wanda.
Zirnitra steps back. “I will come for you when the Germans arrive,” he says. “After I’ve slaughtered the horde and saved your precious city from destruction, we will leave Krakow together. Until then, my bride.”
Zirnitra transforms back into a dragon. He spreads his wings and takes flight. I watch him as he soars off into the distance and takes refuge over the hillside, to lie in wait for Prince Reinhold and his men.
The moment he has flown out of sight, I fall to my knees. A sob breaks through my chest, bubbles up my throat and rises through my mouth. A wail of grief and despair wrenches itself from my tongue. I put my head within my hands and bawl. Pure devastation rattles my bones right to the very core of me. I don’t believe I have a soul anymore. I let it go for a price.
I’ve sold myself into slavery again. A few precious days of freedom was all I was able to experience of my new life before I bound myself in chains once more.
Zirnitra is a god. He will not let me go. He will extend my life using magic, prevent me from dying so that I will serve him and be his slave forever. I have no hope of escape, not even through death.
I take out the seax. I look at it, then with a curse, throw it aside. I continue to weep until the night is dark and all seems lost.
When the dawn rises and I have no more tears left to cry, I stand and pick up my seax. I have a few more hours of precious freedom yet. I want to spend them with Wanda, before Zirnitra takes me from her. I put myself back together and begin the walk up the hill back to the fortress.
I merely hope my sacrifice is worth it.
I knock on the kitchen trap door. The cook answers.
“Fliss, what are you doing? We were about to close it up!” he hisses.
“Sorry,” I reply dully. “I was confused. I didn’t know where to go.” An excuse most would believe.
“Now isn’t the time for your foolishness,” he snaps as he lets me in. He puts a boar across the door, and starts hammering nails into it before he pauses. “What is that on your face, girl?”
“Nothing.” I smear my cheek against my sleeve. I push past him so I can get to the stairs and rejoin Wanda.
However, as I’m proceeding up them, I pause. I hear something. Something calling out in the distance.
Horns.
What time I have as a free woman is over. The Germans have arrived.
I scamper up the stairs. The guards placed at Wanda’s door move aside as I burst in.
“Fliss!” Wanda embraces me. Her eyes dart around from this way to that as the sound of the horns grows closer. “Oh, Fliss, I don’t like this.”
“It’s going to be all right, Wanda. They won’t get through.” Even as I say the words, I tremble.
“How do you know?” she asks. “Did your dragon agree to stop them?”
I almost tear up again at the thought of Smok. “Yes,” I lie. “He’ll be here soon. Don’t worry.”
Wanda and I sit on the bed and curl up against the back of the headboard. We sit in silence as hours pass, holding onto each other. The sounds of swords clashing and men dying permeate the thick wooden walls. Though I’m listening intently, I don’t hear a dragon’s roar, nor the telling sounds of his bulk upon the earth. Where is Zirnitra to protect us? He promised!
“They’ve broken through the gates!” someone downstairs yells.
His voice is cut off by silence. There’s the sound of heavy boots clomping up the steps, and a clashing of steel on the other side of the door.
Wanda looks at me. “This is the end.”
I can’t believe it. After everything I gave up, I wasn’t able to save her or Krakow. We’ve lost.
I clutch her fingers so tightly within mine, they go white. “Whatever happens, I’m going with you,” I say.
Wanda nods. It is then the door bursts open. The guards slump against the ground, dead. Larger men, one with the German symbol on their breastplates, step over their bodies and into the room. Leading the way is Prince Reinhold.
Wanda screams, and the Germans reach for her. I plant myself in their path, but they push me out of the way and onto the floor. Prince Reinhold grabs her forearm and pulls her forward. He slings her over his shoulder and turns to leave. Wanda pounds on him with her fists, but her puny hits are nothing against the brute force of the German prince.
“No!” I leap to my feet and pull the seax free. I go to stab Reinhold, but one of his soldiers punches me across the face.
I go spinning to the floor. My body slumps, and all feeling fades from consciousness as the world around me goes black.
When I finally come to, the battle outside hasn’t stopped, but the Germans who took Wanda are gone.
“Wanda!” I cry. I grab my seax, which is lying discarded on the floor, and leap over the dead bodies of the guards in the hallway to give chase.
All around me, men are fighting. They stab each other with spears and swords. When I reach the courtyard, I have to keep my head down as arrows are fired all around me. Some of them barely miss my head. They instead land in the chests of soldiers and knights beside me.
The corpses of the dead lie everywhere. My bare feet become soaked in blood as I weave around the skirmishes, looking for Wanda.
Finally, I spot her mane of long hair. Wanda is still on Prince Reinhold’s shoulder. She screams loudly as he carries her out of the gates of the fortress.
“Wanda, I’m coming!” I scream. I prepare to spring, but before I can a dark shadow looms overhead.
There are screams of terror unrelated to the battle, and the knights and soldiers stop fighting. Before I can see what’s going on, a large, scaly foot encloses around me.
Zirnitra has grabbed me. The dragon laughs. He uses his fiery breath to set several soldiers on fire. However, not all are Germans… some are our own soldiers. Zirnitra’s chuckles grow louder with the cries of the dying men around him.
“What are you doing?” I scream. “Put me down!”
“You are mine, child!” the dragon shouts. “It is my will to do with you as I please!”
“We had a deal!” I screech. “I would give myself to you if you defeated the German army!”
“I don’t make deals with humans,” Zirnitra cries. “And it just so happened I changed my mind. I am a god… I will take what I desire by force!”
I scream as loudly as I can, but it’s a foolish action. Zirnitra stomps throughout the square, killing as many people as he can for fun with me in his grasp. No one can help me now. Wanda has been captured by Reinhold, and I have been captured by Zirnitra. There’s no way for either of us t
o break free. We’ll be prisoners of foreign men, cut off from those who are our true loves, forever.
…No. Not without a fight. I’m not going this way. I’m still a freewoman. With a bit of wriggling I manage to slip an arm free… the one that’s holding tightly onto the seax.
I plunge the knife down deep into Zirnitra’s paw. He gives a roar of pain, and drops me. I make sure to keep a good grip on the blade and wrench it out from between his scales as I fall.
When I hit the ground, air whooshes out from me. I moan as I feel my body expand from the tight hold Zirnitra had on me.
Smoke funnels from Zirnitra’s nostrils. He growls. The rumble is enough to shake the ground beneath me.
“Someone needs to teach you manners,” he rumbles angrily. Digging his claws into the ground, Zirnitra lunges for me.
Yet something sails over my head, a blast of flame that devours Zirnitra’s face completely. Zirnitra groans. He stumbles backward, shaking the sparks out of his eyes. He flattens several soldiers behind him as he does so.
I’m not stupid enough to sit here and get crushed by Zirnitra’s giant feet. I clumsily get to my feet and run, so I’m at least out of the dragon’s reach. After I’m a good distance away on the other side of the square, behind Zirnitra, I look over my shoulder to see what stopped the dragon god. Complete and utter shock freezes me on the spot.
My hero is beneath the ruined gates of the fortress. His hand is filled with flame, an intense fire burning brightly in his eyes.
Smok.
Chapter Eighteen
Smok’s teeth are bared. From around him emits a dark smoke. It filters around his form, casting him in shadow. He’s still a man, but you can clearly see the dragon inside of him… the beast tormented, ready to attack.
All of the people in the square have parted the way, to stand back in awe at the appearance of this dragon prince.
Zirnitra pauses. He takes a few steps backward, then says, “I didn’t think you were foolish enough to return.”
Smok smiles, but it’s not a gesture of friendliness… it’s more of a smirk, cocky and dangerous.
And by the gods, how it sets me on fire.
“I had to come back for my dear girl,” Smok says. He casts his eyes at me. This time, he smiles genuinely. “Though you knew that, didn’t you? You heard her sing my song.”
My girl? Is that… me? I can’t believe it! It is me! I want to do a happy little dance on the spot, before Zirnitra roasts me alive and ruins my good mood.
Then I comprehend what Smok said. He did hear me call to him. He heard my song.
“Why didn’t you come sooner, dimwit?” I shriek. I stomp my foot on the ground. “It seriously took you this long to get here?”
“I’m sorry, Fliss, but I spent days looking for you,” Smok says firmly. “By the time I heard your song I was very far away. It took me some time to fly here, even at full speed. I promise I won’t dawdle next time.”
“Don’t let there be a next time!” I wave my arms up and down. “Do you realize what I had to do?”
“Listen, it wasn’t my fault you decided to walk off and—”
“Enough of this!” Zirnitra bellows. “This ridiculousness ends now!”
Zirnitra starts forward. He stampedes toward Smok, but Smok brings up his arms and a wall of fire rises around him. Zirnitra tries to bash through the fire shield, but he cannot; his brute strength isn’t a match for Smok’s magic.
Zirnitra recoils backward and sneers. Sparks fly out from the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, is it a magician’s fight you want, boy?” Zirnitra hisses, flashing out a forked tongue. “Then a magician’s fight you will receive.”
In a column of swirling smoke, Zirnitra changes. He transforms into a man and throws out his hands. From within them comes a stream of dark purple magic, tinged with smoke and lightning. It races quickly toward Smok’s heart.
“Smok, look out!” I cry.
Smok rolls out of the way. The magic column hits the wall behind him, which crumples. People scream and push each other to get out of the way as the wall crumbles. I cringe when it hits the ground.
Smok springs back onto his feet and holds out a hand. Red fire laces up his arm and then spirals toward Zirnitra. Zirnitra holds out his hand and Smok’s fire billows around him, as if the dragon god is encased within a shield that Smok cannot penetrate.
Zirnitra swings his arms around. From above comes a massive circle of smoke and ash. Zirnitra brings it downward, surrounding Smok completely. The circle closes in on Smok, closer and closer. It becomes smaller and smaller until he’s trapped within it, his arms tied to his sides like he’s bound by ropes made of embers. The smoke surrounds his face, concealing it from view.
“No!” I shout. I have to give him a fighting chance! Summoning a bout of courage (or insanity, depending on how you look at it) I charge at Zirnitra and launch myself on his back, pounding the side of his head with my fist.
“Agh!” Zirnitra yells. The spell breaks… Smok takes a needed gasp of breath. “Get off me, you infernal woman!”
Zirnitra throws me off violently. I tumble to the ground. My head smacks harshly against the stone. Dizzily, I force myself to sit up and refocus. My head hurts, but I must know what’s going on with the fight.
My attack gave Smok just enough time to get free. Smok blasts spell after spell at Zirnitra, but the dragon god can keep up. His purple lightning magic can easily resist Smok’s jets of fire.
Yet Smok hasn’t given up yet. There’s a fire in his eyes, a determination that I’ve never seen in him before. For the first time, he seems sure of what he’s doing. Confident. And dead set on winning.
Zirnitra casts yet another lightning bolt at Smok, but he waves it away. At that point, Smok changes. He morphs into a dragon and circles Zirnitra, braying a challenge.
Zirnitra changes again, and both dragons charge. The sound they make as the behemoths collide together hurts my ears. They rise up in the air and paw at each other. Zirnitra attempts to claw out Smok’s innards through his soft underbelly scales, but Smok uses his tail to bat the hits away.
Smok bites down on Zirnitra’s shoulders. Although the dragon god cries out in pain, he doesn’t give in.
There’s hardly any room for both of them in this tiny square. I take after the soldiers and run for cover against the walls of the fortress. The two warring dragons pay no mind to those who are foolish enough to be caught in their path. Quite a few people who dare to stand too close are squished or impaled by a wayward spike.
Men have no business in the affairs of dragons.
Zirnitra rises up on his hind legs to deliver a devastating blow, but Smok has a plan. While Zirnitra is balancing, Smok lunges forward. He clamps his jaws down on Zirnitra’s neck, his claws digging into the god’s stomach.
Using brute force, Smok throws Zirnitra across the courtyard and into the main building. It crushes to little more than a collection of broken wood underneath Zirnitra’s weight.
Stunned, Zirnitra has no time to react. Smok strides forward and snaps Zirnitra’s neck up in his jaws. He bites down as hard as he can, and blood begins to stream out from the puncture wounds in Zirnitra’s neck. Zirnitra screams, but Smok doesn’t let go. Only digs his teeth in harder.
“What are you going to do?” Zirnitra chuckles, but the sound is mired with pain. “You cannot kill a god.”
Smok twists his head, until Zirnitra’s neck is forced into a complicated position. Zirnitra moans. With the god’s head still in his mouth, Smok mumbles, “No. But I can cause you unimaginable pain until you wish you were dead.”
The god’s eyes widen. Zirnitra uses his tail to bash Smok’s head, and by shock, my dragon stumbles backward. A coward, Zirnitra slithers out of his reach. Shrieking, Zirnitra gambles away, spreading his wings and taking to the sky. Shouts of rage and defeat follow him all the way, until he disappears into the red skyline.
Smok stands tall as he watches him go. He gives a satisfied h
mph before spreading his wings and roaring once more, a victory cry.
The dragon stops roaring, and turns back to look at me. His eyes are surprisingly human. Not beastly.
A soft veil of smoke rises around the dragon. Then he changes, from monster to man. The same Smok I know and love is here. He came back for me.
He opens his arms wide and I run into them. My head falls naturally against his chest as he holds me tight. By the gods, how I missed him.
“Oh, Smok,” I say. “I was so worried you were gone forever.”
“I could never leave you,” he says quietly. “I had been searching for you for days. I believed you left, or were captured. I feared the worst.”
“I was captured by Germans, but I escaped,” I tell him. “A siren helped me. It’s true, Smok. I do have siren blood.”
“I figured as much when I heard your song from so far away. It caused me to rush to you as soon as I could.”
He bends down to whisper in my ear. “Although I have to say that it betrayed your true intentions. The danger wasn’t the only reason I hurried back.”
I blush. Quickly, I try to change the subject. “You did it, Smok. You finally defeated Zirnitra,” I stutter. “How did you do it?”
“I was fighting for all the wrong reasons before,” Smok says. “This time, I fought for you.”
Smok leans down to kiss me. I kiss him back, enjoying the tender, passionate sensation that flows between us. So this is what happy endings feel like. Every part of this journey was worth it.
We break apart when a scream interrupts our kiss. I whirl around. Typical of me, to think we’ve won when it’s not over yet. Though the fighting hasn’t resumed, Prince Reinhold has still got his hands on Wanda. She’s trying to get away, but he won’t let her.
“Fliss!” Wanda screams. She digs her heels in the ground as Prince Reinhold yanks on her arms, dragging her toward a horse. “Help me!”
“Hold on, Wanda!” I grab my seax, but Smok takes hold of my wrist.
“No, Fliss. Allow me,” he says. He takes a deep breath. Smok strides forward, and transforms into a dragon. The footsteps he takes are loud and crushing.