Venom and Earth

by Turnbull, Jessica

  Aqueous approaches it carefully. As he does so, the water around the Wyrm’s mouth sloshes to the ground. Just as the Wyrm raises its head, the black dragon grabs its jaw and tears its sideways, breaking it clean off. The grey body slumps to the ground once more, its red eyes dulling as the life fades from it.

  My companion pants and turns to me, growling softly. Taking this as a sign that it’s safe, I run up to him and throw my arms around his neck, grateful for his presence.

  For a few seconds we stand there silently, enjoying the closeness of the hug, before I break the silence: “Okay, maybe I could use a little help if more Wyrms come,” I admit.

  My companion nods and licks my forehead, smearing blood on my face.

  “Ew, thanks. I think it’s time that we both had a bath.”

  At the prospect of a bath, my companion’s eyes light up and he wags his tail playfully.

  I’m glad to have him back with me.

  23

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Come on, school time!” one of Ray’s cronies announces, banging a metal rod against a wall to wake everyone up.

  Rocky sighs and rises to his feet groggily along with everyone else in his cabin. They all wear the same exhausted faces. Things have gone downhill since Hazel left. Ray and the Wyrms have taken over the camp and are now ruling under a Cindaraan regime. The adults are silenced by the Wyrms each time they speak up, so it seems as if nothing can be done.

  As he trudges after his schoolmates he struggles to stop the wave of regret washing over him. Maybe he should have gone with Hazel. Although she left weeks ago, he can still remember seeing her last as if it were yesterday. He deeply misses his sister, but at least he knows she’s okay. Several hunting parties have gone after her and the others, but they never return. The next party sent out finds their bodies and brings them back.

  I’m proud of you for holding your own, Hun.

  Cerberus lumbers towards him, her usually happy amber eyes now dull with defeat. The Wyrms see the dragons as vermin and punish them in every way possible, hoping that one day they can break them and turn them into slaves.

  “Morning,” he mutters, patting his companion on the back.

  She flinches when he accidentally brushes against the gash on her leg. He doesn’t know how she got it, but the Wyrms are at the top of his list.

  “Hey, Rocky.” Mason approaches him from behind with Fortune and smiles at him sadly. They’re all sick of what has happened to the camp. “Are you thinking that we should have gone with them again?”

  “Yes,” Rocky admits. “Maybe it would have been better if we all went.”

  “I don’t think we can all go now,” Mason sighs. “We made our beds and now we have to lie in them.”

  Rocky nods wordlessly. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t wish he could leave every day. But it’s too late now.

  “Oi, you two.” Sadie steps out of the line of ‘guards’ that watch people around the camp to approach Rocky and Mason. “Ray wants to see you.”

  “For what?” Rocky snaps.

  “Go find out,” she chuckles darkly. “He’s at the Cindaraans’ HQ.”

  “Where else would he be?” Mason groans.

  Sadie glares at her ex-boyfriend. “Go and see him, now.”

  Mason and Rocky look at each other helplessly before breaking away from the rest of the group in the direction of the Cindaraans’ headquarters.

  “Hopefully he hasn’t found the others,” Mason says.

  Rocky replies: “Of course he hasn’t; every Wyrm he sends after them comes back dead.”

  Mason smirks. “I’ve noticed. They’ve really grown up. I saw the last ones were nearly roasted. I guess Marco is still going strong.”

  “Yeah,” Rocky answers, not wanting to talk about Marco anymore. Despite everything, he still disliked him but respected him for going with Hazel.

  The two of them don’t have to enter the building as Ray and Winter step out, two Wyrms flanking them. The blond boy grins crazily as they stop in front of him. With each passing day he seems to become more insane. No-one knows what the Wyrms are doing to him but he’s almost lost his mind.

  “Ah, thank you for coming.”

  “Pleasure,” Rocky answers venomously.

  “I see you still have not learned to respect me.” Ray circles the two men, eyeing them suspiciously.

  “It’s hard when you’re turning everyone into zombies.”

  “Zombies? They are simply learning hard work! Thanks to the Wyrms, we all have greater opportunities in life.”

  “Is that all you wanted to talk to us about?” Mason crosses his arms and glares at one of the Wyrms.

  “No. I only wanted the Wyrms to see if you are ripe.”

  “Ripe?”

  The Wyrms shoot forward and coil themselves around Rocky and Mason, flicking their thin tongues over their bodies. Fortune and Cerberus growl, but are too afraid to intervene.

  “Not quite. Their powers are still growing,” one Wyrm finally says, slithering back over to Ray’s side.

  “Still a few more months, I’d say,” the other agrees.

  “What do they mean?” Mason demands.

  Ray’s mouth opens in a haunting laugh. “They mean that you are not quite ready.”

  “Ready for what?”

  “To be eaten.”

  Mason and Rocky take a few steps backwards, swapping frightened glances with each other. “Eaten?”

  “It’s the next stage in our evolution,” one Wyrm hisses. “It’s how we evolved in the first place. We convinced the scientists to create us, then they gave us children to eat.”

  “And we evolved from them. Just as we will evolve from eating you.”

  Rocky’s heart jumps into his throat at the thought of being eaten by those things. Now he really wished that he had left with Hazel.

  “Evolve how?” Rocky feels brave enough to take a threatening step forward.

  “Who knows? Maybe we will gain elements.”

  “Or maybe we will become too strong to defeat,” the other Wyrm chuckles.

  Bile rises in Rocky’s throat as the Wyrms eye him up hungrily.

  “You are dismissed.” Ray waves a hand at them and retreats back into the Headquarters, Winter and the Wyrms trotting behind him.

  24

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  We’ve been here for weeks now. There’s still no word from Draca about what he wants us to do, so we just sit here waiting for answers. Luckily we have Bluey to go out and get food for us, otherwise we would have starved a few weeks in. As if on cue, the red and blue dragon lands in the garden beside me, carrying a large shopping bag in his teeth. His eyes light up upon noticing me, and he puts his head in my lap for a cuddle.

  “Hey, I’m guessing you had another smooth flight?”

  Bluey yaps in agreement and lies down to get more comfortable. Content, I sigh and look up at the sky, surprisingly blue for a spring day. Thankfully the weather is getting warmer, so we don’t need Marco to create fires for us as much. Although we’ve made this place our temporary home, there’s no electricity or water, so we all rely heavily on each other. Aqueous and I fill up the baths to bathe in, Marco and Drea create fires to keep us warm, and Braith and Damayanti fill the fridge with ice to make our food last longer.

  Bluey lets out a contented sigh on my lap, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. A tap on my shoulder makes me jump, and Bluey flies upwards in shock. Thankfully it’s just Aqueous. The black dragon yaps something to Bluey, who cowers and picks up the shopping and trots inside, my companion’s blue eyes burning into his back.

  “Come on, don’t be jealous,” I coo, scratching his chin lovingly. “You know you’re still my number one.” My companion snorts in reply. “You can get cuddles whenever you want – whenever you’re not pretending to be a tough guy.”

  The black dragon rolls his eyes and settles down beside me, placing one of his feet over my hand and rubbing his cheek against mine. I must ha
ve dozed off because the next thing I know I’m being shaken violently awake.

  “Haze, we’ve got company!” Braith whispers urgently.

  “Wyrms?” I reply groggily.

  “Nope, protectors. I didn’t know they were around here.”

  My heart thumps wildly at the thought of those guys in suits; they were creepy and were not afraid to hurt others. The three of us sneak back into the house and join the others in the living room, who are forming a tight circle in the middle of the room.

  “Quick, come here!” Marco hisses, waving us over.

  The three of us squeeze beside Damayanti and watch the window in front of us fearfully. After weeks of battling the Wyrms we know their weaknesses, but a group of protectors could be too much for us to handle. We don’t even know what elements they are. No-one dares to breathe too loud as a shadow casts over the window. My heart leaps into my throat when a woman in a grey suit comes into view, her eyes landing on us.

  “They’re inside!”

  “Shit, we’ve gotta go upstairs!” Marco says.

  “Let’s go – if we get to the roof we can fly away from this mess,” Braith suggests.

  The dragons let us go first, eyeing up the door as more shadows pass over it. My companion is the last one up. Just as he reaches the last step the door is catapulted off its hinges. A lithe dark grey dragon enters, its green eyes immediately landing on us at the top of the stairs.

  “Go, quickly!” Braith screams.

  As we all rush into various rooms upstairs a fireball flies past Bluey’s head and lands on the carpet, igniting it. Drea roars and blasts a fireball back, but the dragon dodges easily and flies up the stairs. Its green eyes land on Aqueous and it lets out a guttural roar. Crashing downstairs signifies that more dragons are on their way up.

  “What do we do?” Braith whimpers, clinging to my side fearfully.

  The flames on the carpet lick our feet hungrily, only being stopped by Drea and Marco.

  “We’ve got to go,” Marco mutters through gritted teeth as the dragon gets closer.

  Braith’s back starts to glow a bright white and her eyes go wide. She raises her arms and shoots icicles at the dragon’s feet. With a chuckle it dodges and moves closer, its comrades soaring up the stairs to join it. The icicles grow and form an icy bear, which roars and swats at one dragon like a fly. Fear flickers over the dragons’ eyes as they look at the icy beast. Braith begins to pant uncontrollably, and I know with a sinking heart that she is starting to have a panic attack.

  “Defeat them, Braith!” I whisper into her ear. “Then we can go.”

  Now filled with determination, Braith waves her arms in sync with the bear as it attacks the dragons, swatting them and trampling over them. The dragons look confused as their elemental attacks seem to have little effect on the bear. Wood and plaster flies around the room in different directions as the bear collides with the walls.

  “We can’t keep this up,” Marco breathes. “I’m going to blow a hole in the side of the house so we can fly out of it, okay?”

  After a silent nod from me, he charges a fireball, and Drea does the same. They release it at the same time, which causes the house to rumble on impact. Once the dust has cleared, there is a hole big enough for us all to fly through. The building crumbles around the hole, starting to crack in various directions.

  “Hazel, get on Bluey,” Braith says through pants, clutching at her chest with one hand.

  I clamber onto the crimson dragon, who glances at Aqueous and gives him a brisk nod. Damayanti lowers her head through Braith’s legs and slides her companion on that way. Braith starts to succumb to the panic as the icy bear melts in front of the enemy dragons. We all dash out of the house one by one, taking to the air and soaring above the protectors’ heads. Aqueous sticks by Bluey’s side, making sure to keep one eye on me at all times.

  “They’re coming!” Marco shouts over the wind.

  Glancing behind me, I see the attacking dragons shoot out of the house like bullets and take to the air, gaining on us as if they were merely going out for a stroll.

  “What do we do?” I call back.

  “We’ve got to lose them!”

  “How?”

  My boyfriend looks defeated as he tries to come up with a plan, but doesn’t have long to think before a fireball whizzes past his head. With our companions busy flying, they can’t also concentrate on attacking. Whirling around on Bluey’s back, I shoot a funnel of water at the fire-breathing dragon, aiming for the wings.

  “Fly higher!” I call to Bluey.

  Bluey obeys and soars higher into the air. The air gets colder the higher we fly, until eventually small flakes of frost appear in my water. The dragon follows us up, screeching in fury. As it gets close enough to snap at Bluey’s tail, I shoot ice-cold water at its face. The dragon screams as its wings get too heavy to fly because of the mixture of water and low temperature. After a few seconds, the dragon drops out of the air, plummeting towards the ground with its legs swatting crazily. With that dragon down, Bluey drops back down to the others and Aqueous gives me an approving nod before concentrating on the air once more.

  “We’ve got two more left!” Marco shouts.

  Damayanti backflips so she is behind one of them and shoots an icy beam at its wings. The wings quickly freeze over and the dragon plummets like its teammate, shooting balls of light into the sky indiscriminately. Luckily for us, one ball hits its comrade, who becomes blinded by the fierce light and is forced to return to the land, roaring in fury.

  “Where do we go now?” I call out to Marco.

  “I dunno. I guess we’ll put some distance between us and them before landing!”

  * * *

  “I think we should talk to Draca,” Braith suggests, still panting slightly from her panic attack.

  After the fight we decided to go back into the forest. They would have a hard time trying to find us amid the dense foliage.

  “What can Draca do, though?” Marco snorts. “He doesn’t tell you anything.”

  “Well, he’ll have to now!” Braith snaps.

  With a sigh, I say: “Braith’s right. We at least have to try, see what he says.”

  My boyfriend kicks the ground out of frustration but nods silently. He doesn’t like us seeing Draca, but it might be our only hope.

  “Okay, let’s go to sleep and make him come to us,” Braith yawns, curling up into the belly of her companion.

  Aqueous nudges me to do the same, but not before Marco crawls towards me and gives me a light kiss. “Be careful.”

  “I will; I’ve done this before, you know.”

  “I know – I don’t like it, that’s all.”

  “Unfortunately, that’s what I get for being chosen by Draca.”

  “I wish I could do all this for you.”

  “You wouldn’t last two seconds in my position; you’re a pussy.”

  He chuckles quietly and kisses me once more before retreating back to his companion, who is glaring at me with her pink eyes. Ignoring her gaze, I lay my head on my companion’s stomach and listen to his gentle heartbeat to get me to sleep. He nuzzles my forehead softly and licks my cheek. The next thing I know, everything goes dark.

  * * *

  “He listened, Mari!” Braith shakes me vigorously in the snow, excited to see the amber dragon once more.

  “I got that,” I answer, rubbing my arms in an attempt to keep warm.

  The two of us trudge towards the cave, where Draca is waiting for us just inside. For the first time, he looks uneasy, as if he didn’t want to see us this time. As we approach he creates a small fire in his claw, allowing us to warm up with it.

  “Draca! Thank you for seeing us; it’s important.”

  The large dragon sighs. “I know. And it’s time for me to tell you what you have to do next.”

  “You have a plan?” Braith asks.

  “I knew as soon as you were driven from your home that it was time you saw what you needed to see. The
laboratory where I and the Wyrms were made. It’s time you know why you have your markings.”

  “But you said you had chosen us,” I say. I warm my hands on the fire, but still shiver. “Did you not choose us?”

  “That’s only half the truth. I handpicked every one of you, but it’s time that you see the other half of the story.”

  “Why don’t you just tell us?” Braith asks, irritated by how vague Draca is being.

  “Because it would make more sense for you to see. You need to go to the laboratory a hundred miles from here. I would help you but I don’t want to be spotted. The building is underground, but you will know when you are there because you will see a large ditch that has a tunnel that leads to the lab.”

  “Which way do we go?”

  “Northwest. In the direction of the city but keep going past it.” The large dragon bows his head to Braith, his eyes glinting with pride.

  “We’ll do it,” Braith announces.

  “Wait, I want some answers,” I say.

  Draca’s eyes seem to blaze with anger for a second, but it disappears before I can identify it. “Go on, Marine.”

  “Why are we going to the lab now and not earlier?”

  “Because it wasn’t necessary earlier.”

  “It doesn’t seem necessary now either. You admitted that you didn’t want us to go. It’s only dumb luck that we were chased away so we could see it.”

  Draca lowers his head on the ground in front of me, eyeing me carefully. “You need to trust me, Marine.”

  “But you’re not telling us the whole story!”

  “I don’t need to; you need to do this!”

  “Why?”

  “Enough! Go, now!”

  Braith screams as Draca’s spiked tail whizzes into our bodies, sending us crashing into the stone wall. Everything goes black once more.

  * * *

  Searing pain shoots up and down my left side as my eyes flicker open. With a groan, I find myself unable to stand up without more hot pain pulsing through my arm.