Dragon Mark

by Kit Bladegrave

  “I want you to get out of here,” he ordered as he started to shift. “Do it, Everest.”

  “I am not leaving you.”

  He flashed those violet-blue eyes at me, but threw his head back with a roar, and transformed into the massive dragon he was. His wings unfurled and with one more furious glare down at me, he turned his attention to the skies and launched himself at the first Black Diamond who came at him. Their bodies clashed overhead, but in his true form, Slade was far larger, and he bit down hard on the dragon’s neck, its body tumbling as it fell to the ground, taking out several buildings with it.

  I cringed at the mess, knowing what this place meant to Slade, but Jenny yelled to me, and I spun around to see the Priests coming closer, staves in their hands, ready to fight. We’d discussed the potential of Priests showing up, but I’d hoped it would only be one or two. That would’ve been too easy.

  There were five that I could see, but something told me more were on the way. I held my hands out, drawing on my power as violet mist filled my palms. I thought of a shield, something to block their attacks, and the mist spread out around me as well as Jenny and Preston who’d fallen in beside me while the rest of our number focused on whittling down the Black Diamond forces.

  “Guess you left a good enough trail,” I muttered without turning to look at them, spreading the shield to cover the three of us as we continued to move down the street. “Think they brought enough bastards with them?”

  Jenny’s glare conveyed quite clearly that she shared my sentiment, but Preston only had eyes for the Priests. “This is what we wanted, remember? Give us a chance to even the playing field.”

  “Really? That’s what you’re going to go with?” Jenny glanced skyward as if praying for patience.

  “I’ve got the shields,” I said, completely confident for once in my abilities. “Go kick some ass.”

  I had no knives on me so if Jenny and Preston failed to kill the Priests and they came after me, the only defense I had was my magic. The necklace warmed again, and my confidence grew. I wasn’t alone at this moment. I had others with me, felt them boosting my power. A flush came over me, and I staggered forward a step at the sudden increase in firepower, but when the first Priest went after Jenny, the shield around her held strong, and she slashed him through with her blade before lunging after the next one.

  They could’ve shifted, but it was much harder to hold a shield that large on two targets. We’d been practicing, without Slade knowing of course, so I could ensure my ability to keep him protected if it came down to a fight between him and Radnak. I chanced a look toward the skies to see him tearing through the Black Diamond forces, venting some pent-up anger.

  On the ground near the square, the guards of the other clans fought those who had come charging down the alleys and side streets. This was not merely an ambush. Radnak had sent at least a hundred of his fighters to try and take us all out. Because we’d led them here and brought all the clan leaders together. The plan was working perfectly; a little too perfect in my opinion.

  But, just as Charlette assured us, the guards of the clans had joined the fight, and as long as no more Black Diamonds charged into the town, we’d push them back and win without too much loss of life on our side.

  I stared around, waiting for Radnak to appear and ready to curse this idea if he did. We hadn’t planned for him, but instead, another dragon was bashing his way through our forces.

  I recognized him from the Fell Gates, and guessed this was Nikolai, the one we wanted to draw out. He attacked viciously, and I watched him take down three of our men before his eyes shot up to the sky—and Slade.

  Nikolai shifted and threw himself into the clouds.

  That was also not part of the plan. We were supposed to be able to capture him as soon as he appeared. Too late now.

  “Slade,” I screamed, but there was no way he could hear me. “Damn it!”

  I zeroed in on him, sweat breaking out on my brow as I kept the shields around Jenny and Preston while several more Priests attacked. I had to get a shield around Slade, to stop him from being blindsided by Nikolai.

  “Come on, come on,” I whispered under my breath, even as my arms shook with the effort.

  The necklace grew hot, nearly burning me, but that wasn’t what made me cry out in pain.

  The mark on my side flared to life, and I screamed as it felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the ribs by thousands of needles.

  I fell to my knees, the shield around me faltered, but I pushed it outward to stay on Jenny and Preston. Even as my vision grew blurry and all sound was muffled, I kept my gaze locked on Slade, feeling my power pushing further… pushing…

  Nikolai was so close, jaws opened wide, ready to tear him apart.

  The moment he made contact, a bright violet explosion lit the dark storm clouds, and I collapsed to the ground, shaking uncontrollably, but I saw Nikolai thrown back.

  I grinned briefly as I watched Slade whip his body around and go after him before they disappeared into the clouds.

  Rain pattered the ground around me, the drops cold on my face.

  I lifted my head enough to see more Black Diamonds rushing into the town, but they barely a moment passed before they were turning tail and running.

  Quinto, Orella, and Charlette had all shifted and led their guards in a fresh assault as more dragons burst through the portal they’d come through.

  Seems our plan was working after all.

  I managed a grin before I hauled myself up to a sitting position, my arms limp at my sides and the town spinning madly around me.

  Jenny and Preston chased off the last few Priests before they turned their gazes toward the sky, waiting.

  Two competing roars thundered above us, drowning out the rumbling thunder as the rain pounded harder against the pavement.

  Lightning lit up the dark clouds, and two massive winged beasts were duking it out with each flash.

  A burst of shadowy flames tore through the storm, and a few seconds later, a dragon screamed as it rolled over itself and slammed into the earth, shaking the very ground beneath the town.

  Its body took out the whole side of a street before it shifted and was Nikolai again. He was bloodied and attempted to get up, but Slade was landing on the street, and the rest of the leaders moved in to flank him.

  “Be better if you stayed down,” Slade growled in warning.

  Nikolai cackled, spitting at his feet. “There’s nothing you can do to me that’ll make me talk.”

  “We’ll just have to see now, won’t we?”

  As Slade reached down to yank Nikolai to his feet, hands reached out to pull me to mine.

  “Everest?” Jenny asked. “We need to get you back to base.”

  “I’m good, just a little weak is all,” I said, but when I went to step, I collapsed against her. “Crap, maybe weak isn’t the right word.”

  “Drained is more like it. You pushed yourself too hard.”

  “I had to. Nikolai was going to hurt him,” I murmured, fighting to keep my eyes open.

  This wasn’t just a drain on the power I used. That damned mark at my side was sucking the life from me. I felt it, like a parasite, and didn’t argue when she called out to get the wounded back to base and let the leaders have their discussion.

  Slade’s eyes met mine for a brief moment, but it was long enough for me to know I was in some deep trouble with him. But then Orella was talking to him, and he turned his back to me.

  At the moment, that was just fine. The less contact with him the better, at least until I could figure out a way to get rid of this mark.

  I was escorted to the portal for our base by Jenny and helped through by another dragon. The second I stepped into the light, Amelie was there to put my arm around her shoulders and steady me.

  “What happened?” she demanded. “Jared?”

  “Jared’s fine,” I assured her, remembering him talking with Aiden after the fight. “Might have a black eye, but he
’s fine.”

  “And? The few that came through already said it worked.”

  I shrugged. “They’d be right.”

  “Slade pissed?”

  I managed a laugh until it hurt too much to do it. “Yeah, but not nearly as much as he will be when he realizes we set up everything to capture Nikolai and not just the simple matter of capturing a Black Diamond without him. Gah,” I gasped when my side bumped hers as she helped me to my cot.

  “Are you injured?” she asked and started to reach, but I stopped her hands.

  “No, just bruised is all. Took a few hits,” I lied. “I’ll be fine after I get some rest. Go help the others, huh?”

  She seemed uncertain, but then another witched called out to her, and after promising she’d be back to check on me, she rushed away to go help another wounded dragon coming down the short hall that led to the portal.

  I let my head fall back to my pillow and shut my eyes against the weird numbing sensation flooding my body. Each breath only made the pain in my side worse, but I stopped myself every time from reaching up and holding my side. I begged for sleep to come, but after a few more minutes, my eyes opened wide, and I swung my legs around, managed to stand upright, and stumbled to the bathrooms.

  It was empty when I got there and biting my cheek, so I wouldn’t cry out in pain, I lifted my shirt to stare at the angry burn.

  “Shit,” I breathed, not even able to get near it with my hand before it flared in pain so bad I doubled over, falling into the sink.

  This mark was made to drain Slade completely of his strength, and instead, it was doing that to me. Except I wasn’t a clan leader. I was a Descendant, and I couldn’t figure out if that made this worse or better. Probably worse.

  Clan leaders were far harder to kill, which explained why Slade had been able to survive such grievous wounds and healed much faster than everyone else.

  My breathing ragged, I looked at the burn again and swore I heard chanting through my head until it was drowned out by several sets of boots headed my way. Quickly, I dropped my shirt and acted like I was washing off my hands and my face. I smiled at the three witches who came in then ducked out. I wandered around the base, keeping as far away from everyone else as I could.

  There was a spot Slade liked to go, a small outlook over the inner main chamber of the base. I went there now, just wanting to be alone.

  With my back to the wall, I slid down and stared at every Shadowguard or witch and warlock who came through the portal, waiting for the moment a specific pair of blue eyes would appear, searching for me.

  Probably ready to rip me a new one.

  And no, no I couldn’t blame him at all.

  Four

  Slade

  Preston finally gagged Nikolai to shut him up, and when that didn’t stop his never-ending tirade of curses against us, I spun around and kicked him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

  Preston sneered as he let the dragon fall to the pavement.

  “Feel better?” he asked.

  I glowered at him. “Do I look like I feel better? You, both of you, are going to tell me the truth right now.”

  “We have more important matters to discuss first.” He nodded behind me, and I turned to see Orella, Charlette, and Quinto waiting for me to join them. “Take care of clan leader business, and then you can yell at me all you want.”

  “Oh, I will be,” I promised and stormed over to the others. “Believe us now?”

  Quinto nodded absently, staring around at his few dead, and the many more dead Black Diamonds and Priests. “All this time, how did we not know?”

  “You didn’t want to know,” I said. “No one did.”

  “Now we do,” Orella stated. “And you have the Hollow Well’s support, whatever you need.”

  “And the Emeralds, but you already knew that,” Charlette told me next.

  Quinto licked his lips nervously, and I held my breath, waiting for him to announce he was taking his dragons and going right back home.

  “It would appear that I was wrong,” he finally announced, and then held out his hand for mine. “I ask your apology. It would seem we all have been deceived and Orella is right. We’ve carried on a tradition of death far too long.”

  I took his hand, gripping it hard. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that,” I said sincerely. “The Shadowguards only want peace and to end Radnak’s reign of terror.”

  “And now you will have both.” Quinto’s words came out stronger, and he nodded. “Right then, so now, we need to establish a joint camp. What about this town? Can it be made safe against any more attacks?”

  “We lowered the wards to allow you to create a portal here. Otherwise, this place has some of the best fortifications against Radnak.”

  “Then I say we use it,” Orella agreed. “I shall bring our forces here immediately.”

  “And we have one other matter to deal with,” Charlette said, holding up her hand. “The Council.”

  Quinto huffed. “You want to ask their permission?”

  “Oh no, I want to hold them accountable,” she said. “I want them to admit the truth and either accept it or be disbanded. I think it’s well past time for a change.”

  This moment in time should’ve felt better, like we were making progress. That for once we’d wound up with the upper hand against Radnak. We’d captured Nikolai, and the other clans were well on their way to joining the fight. With their armies, we stood a fighting chance at beating Radnak for good and destroying the Priests. I should’ve been elated, celebrating.

  Instead, all I could think of was how much Everest hid from me, as did Jenny and Preston. People I trusted. They felt the need to lie to me now all because of who I was.

  “I’m going to send Aiden over to help get plans laid out for creating an encampment here,” I told the leaders. “Once it’s established, I’ll join you with what small fighting force I have.”

  “And the Descendant?” Orella asked curiously. “What is she to you?”

  “Right now, she’s a pain in my ass,” I growled, and turned away before she could ask anything else. “Preston, hand our prisoner over to a few trusted dragons and have him thrown in a cell back at the base.”

  He whistled and called for two dragons. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah, you and Jenny are going to come with me, right now, and tell me exactly what’s been going on behind my back and I mean everything.”

  “We did it—”

  “If you tell me again you neglected to tell me something for my own good one more time, you and I are going to find ourselves sparring. And I won’t be going easy on you,” I snapped.

  His eyes narrowed, but he bowed his head and said he would go find Jenny.

  This was the main reason I kept my identity to myself. I was a fighter, and I belonged on the front lines of the planning and the battles, but the second anyone learned who I was, their whole demeanor changed. I watched as Nikolai was dragged away toward the portal. I had a punching bag to take out some pent-up anger on at least.

  I’d finally get a bit of revenge that was long overdue. That bastard had so much blood on his hands, he needed to be killed several times over before we’d even be close to making up for it.

  “Slade?”

  I blew out a breath, rubbing my forehead as I motioned for Jenny and Preston to follow me away from everyone else. When I faced them both, I crossed my arms and glared. “Explain.”

  “Before we say anything,” Preston started, “it was my plan.”

  “Don’t care who came up with it. Just tell me. Everything.”

  They exchanged a worried look, and for the first time since meeting them, I felt like the older one scolding the young, careless fighter who kept going off into danger half-cocked. This was what it felt like to be them, annoyed that the people who were supposed to take orders didn’t listen as well as they should. Or neglected to share certain details.

  “We knew,” Preston said slowly, “if
we were to convince the clan leaders of anything, we would need proof. So… we went to the encampment and captured a Black Diamond.”

  It sounded simple enough, but Jenny was fidgety. She was never fidgety.

  “What else?” I demanded, wondering how long I’d manage to hold onto my temper.

  “We may have left a trail for them to follow us,” he went on.

  I growled without even thinking about it.

  He continued, “hoping we could draw out one of Radnak’s top commanders. Nikolai. We figured he would learn that all the leaders were gathered here, and he wouldn’t be able to resist showing up.”

  I swore I hadn’t heard him right, but neither of them said anything else.

  “You… you purposely drew the enemy here to attack?”

  They nodded.

  I clenched my jaw as I stalked away from them, then back again. “And Everest, she knew about this? The whole time?”

  “Don’t take it out on her,” Jenny snapped. “We told her to keep it quiet.”

  “Do you have any idea how wrong this could’ve gone? What if Radnak showed up instead. What if Quinto and Orella had never come? We would’ve been outnumbered and lost everyone. You understand that, right?”

  “Don’t you dare stand there and yell at us about understanding,” Jenny shouted, looking ready to deck me. “We’re losing this war, Slade, we’ve been losing since the beginning, and if we’re ever going to stand a chance at finally pushing back, these are the extreme risks I’m willing to take.”

  “That is not your call to make.”

  “The hell it isn’t. I’m a Shadowguard who’s been fighting in this war since I could hold a sword,” she bellowed, even as Preston reached out to try and reign her back. She pulled out of his grasp and shoved me hard. “You might be the damned clan leader, but you are not a true leader, not yet. We did what we thought was best.”

  The words were like a slap in the face, and I backed away from her before I did something I’d regret.

  She blinked furiously, and then her face fell as she hung her head. “Slade, I… I’m sorry.”