by Lisa Daniels
As if in response to her plea there was a burst of green light that lit up the area. Ailey sank back to the floor as she realized several things. The area was a large, open cavern that had obviously housed something truly terrifying. However, she couldn’t be certain what it was because there were two potential creatures down there with her that qualified as truly terrifying.
Another burst of green light and she could see that it was some kind of fire that burned everything around it. Unlike the fires she was accustomed to, there was no acrid smell. She couldn't see much without the fire, so she held her breath and waited for the fire to get a better view of her surroundings.
“Ash,” her voice was a little louder. A blast of green fire lit up the cavern, and she momentarily saw the two creatures. One was dark and scabbed-looking. Its tail was similar to a scorpion’s, but the head was more like a hideous dog. The other was a dragon. Ailey pressed herself against the wall as if trying to make herself smaller. Her hands pressed on her wound. “Ash. Ash, I’m sorry. Come on, we need to get out of here so I can properly apologize.”
The dragon roared and green fire shot from its mouth. The monster screeched and lashed out with its tail, striking the dragon’s neck. The dragon roared again, this time breathing fire in a large swath across the cavern. Flames leapt from the gnarled fur on the monster’s head, and it screeched again, retreating toward the back of the cavern. The dragon stomped its front feet and roared again, small fires starting all around it. With a quick turn, the dragon’s tail knocked the feet out from under the monster, causing it to stumble into the wall. The cavern shook.
Ailey whimpered and tried to stand again. “Please, Ash. We need to-” Her foot struck something, and she tumbled to the ground. Immediately, Ailey looked at what had tripped her, begging any god who was listening that it not be Ash. The makeshift torch rocked where it had fallen. Ailey’s eyes began to look everywhere around her. “Ash. Ash. Please answer me. Please. I’m not going to leave you down here.”
The dragon roared again and moved its front feet. Faster than her eye could understand, it leapt forward and grabbed the monster in its jaws. The thing began to shriek and squirm, its limbs flailing as its tail repeatedly struck the dragon. In the light of so many small fires, Ailey could see purplish blood streaming down its sides. The dragon roared again, its head tilted up, causing the monster to slide further into the sharp teeth. There was a loud crunching sound, and the monster suddenly went limp. The dragon spat the animal out and immediately breathed fire on it. The dragon stomped its front legs as it continually breathed fire on the monster.
“Come on, Ash. I'm sorry. I really am. I only wanted to keep you safe. It won’t mean anything if you die down here. None of it will mean anything. Please.”
The dragon turned and looked in her direction. Ailey moved backward a little, one hand pressing against her stomach, the other trying to push her up. “Ash, we need to leave now. Ash, where are you? I am not going to leave without you.”
The dragon moved faster toward her, but there was an obvious limp as it did.
“Ash,” her voice was as loud as she could make it. “I’m sorry, Ash. I wish…” Her voice trailed off as the dragon reached her and its eyes focused on her.
Suddenly, the dragon’s shape began to shift. Ailey was still as the large animal shrunk, then its limbs grew and its torso shrank. Faster than should have been possible, she found herself looking at a human form.
“I’m right here. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” Ailey felt arms wrap around her and lift her from the ground.
“Ash?” Her hand stretched out and touched the man. “Ash?”
He was moving rapidly, but it wasn’t a smooth motion.
“Ash,” Ailey’s voice was a little weaker as she put her head against his neck.
“It’s okay. I’m right here.” She was vaguely aware of him kissing her head. “I will get you out of here. Gods, this is my fault. This is all my fault.”
Shaking her head, Ailey clutched him. “No, I did this. I knew that it was wrong, I knew that it was a mistake, but I came down here anyway.”
“Shh. Don’t talk.” He moved faster and she could tell that they had made it up the slope away from the cavern. The movements were more pronounced, as if Ash was having trouble staying on his feet.
Afraid to do anything to distract him, Ailey remained quiet as he took them back to the lid where she had entered. The lid slammed open and he shot through the opening. He placed her gently on the ground, then pulled her hand off her stomach. “Oh gods, Ailey. Ailey. No, no, no, no.” He looked around, then he leaned down and pressed his hands against her side.
“It’s okay, Ash. It’s okay. You are alright, so everything is okay.” She reached up and touched his face.
“It’s not okay.” He frowned at her. Ash stretched out a hand, and somehow he was holding a vine. Ailey watched as he sucked on the end. A small stream of water flowed from it, and he placed it over her side. Ailey expected to feel excruciating pain, but it felt more like she was standing under a small waterfall. She felt herself losing consciousness as Ash focused on her side. “Please, Ailey, please stay with me.”
A dull pain in her side woke Ailey. She opened her eyes and looked at a familiar ceiling. The medic tried to sit up, but her side wouldn’t allow for it. With a soft groan, she pushed herself into a sitting position.
“You are awake!” Ailey turned her head and saw Thelon standing up from her table.
“Where’s Ash?” She looked around and saw a prostrate form on a small bed in the corner of the room. She flung the covers way from herself, ignoring the pain that protested her actions. “Ash.”
“He’s not doing well. We’ve tried giving him the potion, but we can’t get it to stay down.”
“How long has he been like this?”
“About five hours.”
Ailey ignored the panic building in her thoughts. “Please bring me my bag.”
“Ailey, you need to rest-” He put a hand on her arm.
She shrugged him away. “Just bring me the bag, then leave.”
“You know I cannot-”
“He’s not human, Thelon. Ash is a shifter. None of the things you do are going to help him. I may have a solution, but I don’t want someone around second-guessing me.”
“You know I trust-”
Ailey turned and looked Thelon in the eyes. “Then please, bring me my bag and leave.”
“I protest this, but…” He picked up her bag and put it on a table beside Ash.
“Noted. And thank you.”
He simply nodded, then left.
Ailey pulled out the small case with the dagger. The blood on the blade was still wet. Thousands of questions went through her mind as she picked it up by the hilt, but she pushed them all to the side.
Ailey pulled Ash’s shirt out of the way and placed her hand against his chest. Her eyes noticed the dragon tattoo, and the way it seemed to smile at her from Ash’s smooth skin. Her mind pushed this aside. “Please, Ash, come back to me.”
Raising the dagger, she brought it down into Ash’s chest over his heart. His back arched, and a rattling filled his chest. Ailey held the dagger in place, the tears streaming from her eyes.
After what felt like forever, Ash’s body relaxed. Ailey removed one of her hands from the dagger and felt for his pulse. It was weak, but still there. Pulling the dagger out, she placed a clean cloth over the wound.
“Please, Ash.” She sank to her knees, and put her head on his chest. “Don’t leave me.”
Chapter 11
Admitting Defeat
Ailey felt a warm hand on her face. Opening her eyes, she brought her head up.
“Good morning.” Looking down at her were the purple and green eyes that she had spent the past few weeks dreaming about. But it was the smile that really caught her attention.
With a little squeal, Ailey threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. “You’re alive! You did
n’t leave me.”
“You are hurting yourself.” Ash’s strong arms pulled her up onto the bed. His hand gently pressed on her side. “You are going to open it if you aren’t more careful.”
“I don’t care.” She buried her head in his chest. “I don’t care. You came back.”
“You know, if you were going to miss me so much, you shouldn’t have drugged me and sent me away.”
Ailey sighed, “I thought it was best.”
“Anani stabs himself with a sword, you go roaming into the undercity of Melzi on your own, Cyprian jumps into a damn volcano, and you guys think I am at risk of doing stupid things.”
“It was a dagger,” she murmured into Ash’s neck.
A hand moved under her chin and forced her to look up at him. “When he was with you, he used a dagger. The next time I saw him it was a sword.”
“He’s just trying to save others.”
“And you were just trying to save others by going alone to hunt a monster. Without having any clue what it was. And without asking for help.”
“Yes. But it worked out in the end.”
“But when I try to save you guys, I’m the one who is stupid. You are both saving strangers. I’m taking care of the people I love because they refuse to take care of themselves. Please, explain how that makes me the stupid one. The person that needs to be protected from your schemes.”
Ailey laughed gently until her side hurt.
“Oh, and now you laugh.” Ash sighed. “I swear you old people just don’t have any clue about how the world works, do you.”
“Reprimand me all you want, I’ve earned it.”
Ash pursed his lips, fighting back a smile. Finally, he gave up and shook his head. Wrapping his arms around her, the shifter kissed her on the top of the head. Ailey nestled against his body, enjoying the feel of his skin on hers. While she wanted more, neither of them was in good enough condition to do more than hold each other.
“At least we can do this much, though, huh?”
She curled up into him. “Are you reading my mind?”
“Just your body language. Your heart sped up, and it was impossible to miss.”
Ailey giggled, “You are going to become impossible to trick if you keep this up.”
“I have a few amazing teachers who fail to see the irony in their lessons.” He kissed her head.
Rubbing her forehead against his chest, Ailey smiled. “I will try to do better in the future. Obviously getting rid of you doesn’t work. I’ve tried it twice now, and the fallout has been unreal. In the future, I think it will be easiest to keep you by my side.”
Ash chuckled, “Maybe you won’t get any more of these.” She felt him draw his finger along an old scar on her stomach.
“That one should have been fatal, but my mentor kept my insides in place and fixed it before I was dead for too long.”
“And yet you try to go it alone.”
“That happened on a battlefield. It’s impossible to be alone, they kind of insist on having a lot of medics there.”
Ash scooted down a little so that his head was level with her breast. She lay on her side, looking down into his face. He smiled up at her. “You tried to take on a Keukegn. Alone. I hope you noticed how much trouble I had with it.”
Ailey’s eyes moved to the dragon tattoo. Her hand reached out and touched it. “A dragon shifter. That’s insane.”
He laughed in response.
“I know next to nothing about rarer creatures.”
“Obviously.” He smirked at her.
She responded by kissing his forehead. “So there are different types of dragon shifters?”
“Yes.” He smiled at her.
“And you are a rare kind?”
His smile faded. “So I’ve heard. Can we please not rehash your conversation with Anani?”
“I will wait until you are ready.”
“Thank you.”
Ailey wiggled a little bit so that her face was even with Ash’s. “May I ask one more question?”
“Other than that one?”
“Are you-” She caught herself, “Always so exacting?”
He rubbed a hand on her thigh. “It’s one way to prove that I’m not as foolish as you guys believe.”
“Or a way to sound like you are trying to prove you should be taken seriously.”
“No more words for you.” He pressed his lips against hers before she could respond.
When he pulled back, she kissed his nose. “You aren’t always going to win that way.”
“Well, I’ll give you a couple of days, then I have a guaranteed way to win.”
Ailey giggled as he kissed her neck. “You are incorrigible.”
“And?”
“Handsome.”
He kissed her eye. “And?”
“Intelligent.”
He kissed her other eye. “And?”
She giggled, then kissed his chin. “And I love you.”
Ash pulled back a little and looked down at her. “Let’s not get carried away. I mean, I barely know you.”
“Now you are being…”
“Rational?”
“Stubborn.”
“I hear that’s what women want.”
“You need to find a better source. That one is wide of the mark.”
“Is she? I will make sure to let her know.” He wrapped an arm around Ailey’s back and pulled her to him. “Now, no more talking. You need to rest.”
There was a minute or two of quiet before she murmured into his chest. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“You’ll need to be more specific.”
“The notes that helped me find the right cure.”
“You were knowingly drinking poison. And for every advance you made, you doubled the dose of poison. I wasn’t about to watch you kill yourself.”
“You were here the whole time.”
“Not the whole time. Other stuff happened. I mean, you drugged me. I thought that was the end of it, until I had a long talk with a friend.”
“I will need to thank him.”
“Her.”
“I will need to thank her once I finish being jealous that she had a long talk with you while I was here.”
“I could have been here the whole time.”
“Keep it up. I will still love you.”
Ash smiled at her, then gave her a gentle kiss. “I love you, too. Now rest.”
Ailey nestled into him. After a while she felt his gentle breathing. With a little laugh, she kissed him, then allowed herself to drift off to sleep, knowing that things would finally be alright when she woke.
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.