Dragon Guard (Ever Witch Book 3)

by Kit Bladegrave

  “Before you order me to join her, I’m staying right here beside you until we’re through,” Everest stated firmly. She already had a knife in one hand and violet mist swirling around her hand, ready and waiting.

  “Fine, but you’re going through before me.”

  “The hell I am.”

  We both turned when a bright white flash lit up the surrounding woods… and figures crept closer.

  “Get them out of here,” I yelled.

  Everest threw up a shield as high and wide as she could. There was screaming, but then Charlette and Amelie were yelling for them to run and with each flash, more of my people made it to safety.

  The first few dragons charged forward, and I grabbed two knives from Everest’s side to meet the attack the second her shield fell.

  The attack inside the fortress had weakened her too, and it only took a few hits before the shield collapsed and they were on us.

  Everest dove to the right and I took one dragon head on, catching his sword with the knives and throwing it to the side. I punched him in the face twice then kicked him in the gut. He rolled to the side as another came at me, and then another.

  Everest fought close by, and I heard her grunts of pain, but when I looked, she stood, two knives in her hand and fighting just like I taught her.

  Two dragons were already dead at her feet, but more were still coming.

  A vial flew overhead and exploded in the trees. Dragons screamed in pain as Amelie threw another and another.

  Jared charged into the fight next, sword at the ready and the four of us held back the line for far longer than I thought possible.

  A flash behind us brightened the trees again, and Amelie yelled that everyone was through.

  “We need to go, now.”

  A shadow fell over us as Radnak’s massive form sank lower, crashing through the trees, but then he shifted and held up his hand to stop the attack.

  I kicked the downed dragon at my feet for good measure as the four of us fell back.

  “You sneaky little bastard,” he snarled at me. “All this time you were right under my nose.”

  “Guess you should’ve looked harder,” I snapped. “We’re leaving, and when we return, we’ll have an army.”

  “Oh, will you now? And what army would that be? I still hold sway over most of your clan if you’d forgotten already. And the other clans? They will never follow you.”

  I growled at him, gripping the knives in my hand, but even if I managed to land a blow, clan leaders were far harder to kill. He’d heal, eventually. I backed up another few steps, feeling the portal so close behind us. Our way out of this disaster before it got any worse.

  “You are not leaving. Any of you,” Radnak yelled and raised his hand. “Stop them.”

  Blood Moon Priests garbed in black and red robes pushed through the lines as Jared yelled at Amelie to go. As the priests raised their staves high overhead, the crystals at their points came to life, pulsing like living hearts.

  Their gazes focused on me, and I ordered Jared to go.

  Everest was the only one left, but before I could yell for her to dive through the portal, the priests aimed their staves my way.

  A burst of power was aimed straight for me, and I braced.

  But it never hit me.

  “Everest!”

  The attack meant for me never made it because she’d thrown herself in front of me. To save me.

  I heard her gasp, but the power didn’t seem to be doing anything to her.

  I frowned, reaching out to grab her arm, but a crackle of power shocked me, and I winced, not understanding what was happening.

  Radnak appeared just as confused as I was, and for a few seconds, we were all staring at Everest. Then, she curled in on herself, and the power was thrown back at the priests.

  The explosion threw us backward as Radnak and his men hit the trees.

  We landed right by the portal, and I scooped her up in my arms, not waiting for the ringing in my ears to stop.

  Radnak was still yelling, and just as we were about to go through, a small burst of red fire struck Everest right in the side.

  She screamed as the portal sealed behind us, and I fell into Jared and Amelie’s waiting arms.

  “What was that?” Jared demanded as I laid Everest on the concrete floor.

  “No idea. Everest? Damn it. Why did she do that?’

  “Do what?” Amelie demanded, falling to her knees beside us. “Was she hit?”

  Everest’s shirt was completely burned away on her right side, but somehow, there were no burns visible on her skin. Nothing at all to say she’d been hit.

  I saw that flame strike her, but it was like she shielded herself at the last second. I wasn’t about to question it as long as she was unharmed.

  “She’s breathing at least,” Amelie assured me as she pulled up Everest’s eyelids. “I think she’ll be fine, just blowback from the blast.”

  “The one she stepped in front of.” I held her hand as I leaned forward to rest my forehead on hers. What had she been thinking, throwing herself in front of me like that? I wanted her to wake up, so I could yell at her, again, for risking her life.

  “Where is everyone?” Jared asked.

  Amelie reassured me again that Everest would be fine before I let go of her hand and rose to my feet.

  This outpost was deep in the mountains and was set up almost identical to the Underground, minus the being underground part. I swore this was where Jenny would’ve brought everyone. This place was a stronghold and had been around from war times. No army had ever gotten inside.

  “The control room is down here,” I told Jared. “We can call around at other outposts. See where they might’ve gone…”

  The red light above the main bay doors leading to the outer lift lit up as a dinging echoed around us.

  Jared raised his sword, but when the doors parted, he lowered it immediately.

  Jenny and Preston, who had been talking heatedly on their way up, stopped short when they spotted me and the rest of the group.

  “Slade?” she whispered then ran towards me, Preston right behind her.

  They hugged me and cursed me, stepping aside for Tank and Davis to tackle me next. I laughed with them in disbelief and motioned to those rescued from Radnak.

  “We have a lot to talk about,” I told Preston as he shook my hand again. “And I mean a lot.”

  “From your tone, I’d say it’s nothing good.”

  “No, I’m afraid it’s not,” Charlette announced as she stepped toward Preston.

  He glanced wide-eyed at me, then back at her. “You’re the clan leader of the Emeralds.”

  “Yes, and you have been harboring the Lost Heir,” she replied. “I would very much like a chance to talk all this through, but could you direct me to a phone? I need to call my husband and let him know I am in fact alive.”

  “I’ll take you, ma’am,” Davis said and led her away.

  I spotted Mahlia and Aiden. Amelie called them over, and they rushed to Everest’s side, Aiden picked her up as they moved her to the infirmary. I watched intently, starting to follow, but Preston grabbed my arm.

  “Go and be with her, but this does not get you out of telling me every detail of what occurred during your absence,” he said quietly. “And I mean every detail.”

  Never before had I pulled rank on Preston, but at that moment, I was tempted.

  Everest had been injured because she rushed in to save me and he was going to stand there and order me around?

  I growled in warning, and he pulled his hand back, lowering his head in respect before he hurried off to assist in getting the new refugees settled in as well as bringing up all the supplies from the Underground.

  Everything about my life was about to change.

  Everything.

  I stumbled towards the infirmary and found an empty bed beside Everest.

  Mahlia was still by her side and smiled warmly at me as I reached over for Everest’s h
and.

  I lay down, still holding her hand in mine, and closed my eyes, preparing for how the next few hours were going to go.

  FIFTEEN

  EVEREST

  This is your time, a voice whispered in my ear. You must be their strength, their protector. You must fight for us, fight and win as we could not.

  That voice, the same one I’d heard when we’d been going after Slade.

  And we found him, I knew we did. I heard him talking every so often, but my eyes were content remaining closed. He held my hand for a while, kissed my cheek. And even when he wasn’t close enough to touch, I’d hear his voice close by. We saved him and the clan leader of the Emeralds, along with all those other poor souls who were nearly sacrificed.

  You saved two clan leaders.

  How could I forget? I saw Slade shift before my eyes again into a dragon the size of Radnak and the coloring of him had been magnificent. So beautiful, it’d made me want to cry. When we’d been fleeing from Radnak, I’d had a suspicion of who he might be, but when Charlette told me, the truth sunk in, and I knew what I had to do. Slade was not just Slade.

  He was the rightful clan leader of the Shadowguards, and I had to keep him safe.

  I opened my eyes to the quiet of late night, or very early morning. I was in an infirmary, but something told me this wasn’t the Underground, though it looked identical.

  “Everest?”

  He was there, pulling me into his arms and kissing me with a sigh of relief.

  “I’m alright,” I promised, hugging him as close to me as I could. “I lived, see?”

  He sat beside me as he cupped my cheeks in his hand. “For the love of all that is holy, woman, do not do that again. Do you understand me? I can’t watch you throw yourself in front of me to take a hit. I won’t. And I forbid you to do it again. Understand? Never again. And technically you have to listen to me.”

  I smiled softly since he had a point.

  If he was this Lost Heir, then he was the clan leader of the Shadowguards, and I was of that clan. But, I knew I was placed here to keep him safe, something he would have to get used to.

  I ran my hand over his hair, amazed at how he looked exactly the same and at the same time, he didn’t. He was so much more, and those intense blue eyes watching me closely carried a weight that hadn’t been visible before. I thought back over that moment when I dove in front of him.

  I’d honestly expected it to kill me, but the necklace, it absorbed most of the attack, and the rest washed over me like a second skin. I couldn’t fully explain what caused it, but something told me this necklace was more than just a pretty trinket from back in the day. It had a purpose.

  “Slade, who are you?” I asked quietly.

  When his shoulders sagged, I thought he wasn’t going to tell me, but then he smiled and asked, “Will you look at me differently once you know the truth?”

  “Am I now?”

  “I have a feeling you already know since you decided my life is more important than yours.” He growled, but I shrugged, and that just made it worse.

  “You’re an important person.”

  “Not more so than you, or the next dragon.”

  “Yes, you are,” I stated, gripping his hands hard. “Slade, are you… are you the Shadowguard clan leader?”

  “Yes,” he answered tightly. “My real name is Alvaron Shahan and I’m the Lost Heir.”

  I said nothing for a few moments, letting it sink in that he was in a sense royalty amongst his kind. Our kind. A clan leader. Since I met him, I sensed there was something more to him, and now that the truth was out, it all fit. “All this time, you managed to stay hidden from Radnak? How is that possible?”

  “Magic and some very loyal dragons who gave their lives to keep my secret.” He sighed heavily, and I scooted closer. “The family who took me in, they’re the ones I tell stories about, my sister who was killed, and my parents. They risked their lives every day keeping me alive, and when I was rescued by the Light Guard, I told Jenny and Preston everything.”

  “And they thought it best to keep hiding your true identity,” I finished for him.

  “No, I ordered them to, as well as to treat me just like every other dragon. Never to come after me just because of who I was by blood. None of that matters unless we win this war.”

  “Makes sense, and now it seems you can come out of hiding. You can give everyone hope.”

  “How can I?” he asked hotly. “You see the state my clan is in, and all I’ve been doing is running and hiding. What kind of leader does that?”

  He pushed upward and ran a hand furiously down his face. He seemed to age ten years since admitting the truth, but it didn’t change how I felt about him, for the most part. I wanted to keep him alive and safe because I was pretty damned sure I loved him, but something inside me said it was more than that. He was important, all the clan leaders were, and I had to do whatever I could to keep them safe from Radnak’s grasp. That was my duty as a Descendant whether he liked it or not.

  I stood to go to him but sank right back down to the bed.

  Slade was at my side in a heartbeat, scowling at me.

  I waved him off. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You don’t even know what hit you,” he snapped.

  “Yeah well, better me than you.”

  His brow wrinkled even more. “That’s not funny, Everest, not even close.”

  “What? You’re a clan leader, and I’m just a Descendant who can’t get her shit together. You matter. You have an entire clan of people to rule.”

  “And what, you think that gives you the right to sacrifice yourself to save me?”

  I shrugged. “You’d do the same for me or any of your dragons. So yeah, I think it does.”

  “This is why I didn’t want you or anyone else knowing. I don’t need anyone else putting their lives at risk for mine.”

  “Slade, you do realize I went after you and nearly got myself killed before I knew who you really were, right?”

  His face didn’t change.

  I rolled my eyes. “Come on, we both know how we feel for one another. What would you have done if I’d been captured?”

  He bristled. “That’s completely different.”

  “Is it? Would you have let that attack hit me?”

  “No, but—”

  “But nothing, you stubborn ass dragon. I love you, alright? And I don’t care if you’re the king of all dragons, I’m not going to do nothing when you’re in trouble. Got it? Not going to happen, so pick something else to lecture me on.”

  He stared at me blankly before he leaned in and kissed me until my toes curled. “I love you, too, though you are a right pain in my ass.”

  “Deal with it.”

  He opened his mouth, that familiar look in his eyes saying a lecture was coming and I held up my finger to poke him. He closed his mouth then opened it again to say, “Your right hook is still sloppy as hell, but your knife work is looking pretty good. Especially liked how you stabbed Radnak in the arm.”

  “With two knives, too,” I added.

  “Yeah, I caught that part.”

  We merely stared at each other for a long while before he asked how I really felt and to be honest.

  I remembered that final attack by Radnak and swore I would’ve woken up to bandages and pain, but I told him honestly, I felt perfectly fine. Tired and worn out, but after another day of sleep, thought I’d be fine…

  Until I remembered what Jared and I had done to that dragon and I grimaced.

  “Everest? What is it?”

  “I, uh, I acted a bit out of character is all,” I whispered. “Did something I never thought I’d do.”

  “It can’t be that terrible.”

  I shrugged. “Depends on how you look at it I guess.”

  He waited patiently, those blue eyes holding no judgment even as I judged myself.

  “To find you, Jared and I… we captured and ah, and tortured a Black Diamond. And afterward, we… Ja
red…”

  “You killed him,” he said softly when I couldn’t find the words. “Everest, you did what you had to do to save me and so many others. Don’t beat yourself up over it. He would’ve done far worse to you.”

  “I know, but I feel like I opened up some dark door in my mind, you know?”

  He nodded. “More than you understand. Learning that you can inflict pain like that on another, kill them, it can be hard to deal with. But this is war, and we do things we never dreamed of doing. That does not make you a bad person.”

  The necklace warmed as if in agreement, and he tucked me in close against his chest, kissing the top of my head. “I didn’t want you to think less of me.”

  “I could never do that. No matter what happens moving forward, know that.”

  We stayed quiet for a few minutes, simply listening to each other breath and his heart beating steadily against my ear. Eventually, I asked him how the others were, and he told me all their wounds had been tended to, and they’d been busy the past few days speaking with Preston and Jenny, telling them all they could remember about the place they were kept inside the Fell Gates.

  I asked him also how he was healing, and he shrugged.

  “Slade, you’re covered in bruises. You sure you should be up walking around?”

  “I’m tougher than I look.”

  “So, I’m starting to realize. What happened to you out there?”

  A shadow passed over his face, and he drew me in close. “Enough to nearly break me, and that’s all you need to know. I’ll get over it.”

  I was tempted to push for more answers, but noticed some more injuries on his forearms, including the sigil burnt into his skin. He’d gotten up stiff, too and the few steps I’d seen him take had a slight limp. When he was ready, he would tell me, and until then, I’d do my best not to bug him too much about it.

  The events of the past few days left us all with issues. I’d tortured a dragon and watched Jared flat out kill him. Then I’d gone on and killed more in our escape. A shudder passed through me, and his arms tightened securely around me. I remembered what he said, but part of me still felt guilty for my actions, and I worried I’d find myself delving into that darkness again before we saw an end to this conflict.