by Logan Jacobs
We took a break, and then kept going as hard as we could, but the jungle was getting really thick, and it was slowing us down considerably. Bush vines seemed to sprout from the ground and grow straight up without support, while the huge umbrella plants dropped buckets of water down on us every single time they were bumped.
George and Nixie navigated much easier than Mira and I did. The two dragons trampled the vegetation down the best they could to help assist us, but I still needed to use my sword as a scythe to clear a path. I’d brushed by numerous stinging nettle plants, and the parts of my arms that weren’t covered in scales were red and itchy as all hell.
How in the fuck had my daughter Lara Crofted this far?
By midday, I wasn’t just breathless and ravenous, I was covered in sweat and bugs and had no choice but to take a break in a clearing we’d just come to. Thankfully, there was a small but crystal-clear pool that looked cool enough to ease the irritation I was feeling from head to toe.
“Let’s stop for a break,” I called out to everyone. “My stomach is starting to digest itself, and I’m ready to rip my skin off my body.”
“Thank the goddess,” Mira groaned, “I am famished and really need to relieve myself.”
I noticed Nixie’s tongue was hanging out of her mouth in a pant, and I regretted pushing everyone so hard. My own fear was driving me, and I needed to think about the others in my party before they started dropping like flies. This couldn’t be easy for the young female dragon, either, since she was pregnant.
“I’m sorry, Nixie,” I said, “I should have been more considerate.”
Do not worry about me, darling one, she replied and pushed her snout against my shoulder. I know my limits, and they haven’t been pushed much at all. Ease your mind about that, you have enough to worry about.
“She’s right, Ben,” Mira said as she returned from peeing behind a nearby bush. “We all willingly came with you to find Marella and are well aware of what our bodies can take. Do not fret, we are far from collapsing.”
I was just about to thank them both for everything when a huge fucking boar came charging out of one of the bushes near the pond. I drew my sword to fight, but before I had much say in the matter, Nixie snatched the boar up effortlessly and snapped its back with one good head shake.
Just then, George entered the clearing with two more boars in his mouth and looked rather dumbfounded at his mate and her own catch.
I see now that I didn’t have to worry about one for you, he snorted.
Not when one of these delicious creatures offered itself up so willingly, Nixie laughed.
Dear ones, care for some? George asked me and Mira.
“You two go ahead,” I smiled, “we have provisions here, and I don’t want to take the time to mess with prepping and cooking all of that right now.”
Suit yourself, he replied before he carried his lunch over by his mate and dug in.
“How does bread, jerky, and some figs sound?” Mira came over with the bag that had the food in it and sat down next to me on a rock by the clear pool.
“Like heaven,” I said over the sound of my stomach growling.
We sat quietly for several minutes as we ate, and my mind wandered to where my daughter could possibly be and what would I do if I didn’t find her. Or if I did find her but she was dead or mortally injured. How would I survive that? How would I tell Talise and the other women? How could I tell them I had failed to protect the most vulnerable of us all?
“Stop it, Ben,” Mira scolded and drew me away from my dark musings. “Stop beating yourself up for things you have no control over and things that haven’t even happened. We will find her.”
“How do you know?” I muttered as I ran a hand through my hair. “How are you so sure?”
“I know inside me that nothing bad has happened to her,” the warrior assured me, “and if you would just calm down and look inside yourself, you will know, too.”
“That sounds like some hippie-witch bullshit, Mira,” I snapped, but then I immediately regretted it. “I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that. I’m frustrated and more scared than I have ever been, and I’m taking it out on you.”
“Ben, close your eyes,” Mira instructed as she placed a hand on my shoulder, “and for once, just listen to me without questioning everything.”
“Fine,” I relented, “I will close my eyes.”
“Now, clear your thoughts and breathe,” she said. “We are dragon-kin, you and I especially, and we have a literal connection to one another. Focus your thoughts on your dragon heart, the part that flared to life when you took the first piece of sea-glass George made into your body.”
I did as the warrior requested, and before long, I could see a light deep inside me that glowed the same copper color of both mine and George’s eyes. Drifting through the light were several smaller lights of various colors I quickly associated with my new family. There was a silver color for Nerissa, a soft gold color for Mira, a sapphire color for Arrick, and an aqua color for Talise. Among all of those and a few others was an amethyst light burning bright, and I knew it was my daughter. She was okay, and wherever she was, her light was shining very bright. It was amazing how much better this made me feel, this connection to not just my daughter but to everyone I loved, and I heard myself let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“Thank you, Mira,” I whispered as I opened my eyes again, “I now understand what you mean about knowing she is alive.”
“I’m glad I could help.” Mira smiled and took my hand. “I would be losing my mind if I didn’t have that connection.”
“Kind of like I was before you enlightened me,” I laughed.
“Kind of.” She grinned. “Now, let’s take a quick dip to wash off the sweat and itchiness. I just found some of Talise’s salve that will repel the bugs and ease the stinging. She must have stuck the jar in my bag and forgot to tell me.”
“Sounds damn good to me,” I groaned as I immediately stripped off my clothes and jumped right into the pool of water. It was much colder than I had anticipated, and I let out a scream underwater that scared a school of fish swimming nearby.
Soon, I was joined by Mira and two dragons, and the pool suddenly got much smaller. I would have given anything for it to be a lazy day where everything was right in the world and I could just explore the depths with my warrior and our dragons, but we had to get back to our search. So, I surfaced and climbed out of the water, followed by the others. Then I dried off with my shirt and tossed it to Mira to use. She then applied the odd smelling concoction to all of our exposed skin, and I immediately felt relief from the itching and irritation.
“What is that stuff made from?” I asked as I stared at the blue colored goop Mira was smearing on me. “Any idea?”
“Nope,” she said, “and I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Fair enough,” I laughed as I pulled my bag onto my shoulders and made sure my sword was in the right place and easily accessible. “Are we ready to go?”
The dragons immediately put their noses to work, picked back up on Marella’s scent, and led the way. About an hour into the trek, the ground started to incline, and our elevation slowly increased. This worked to slow us down some more, but there was nothing we could do but move on the best we could.
The climb proved treacherous in a few places, and Mira and I both had to be very careful of our footing. I couldn’t believe my tiny little girl had climbed this, and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why she did.
A few hours before dusk, we took another break in a clearing much higher up in elevation. We’d managed to leave most of the jungle behind and were now in a whole new terrain that was more mountain than anything. We’d even seen some new creatures that resembled mountain rams, though they’d cleared out quickly at the sight of the two formidable dragons.
I wished for the hundredth time we were up in these mountains for a different reason. I would have loved to see the dragons give chase a
fter those rams.
“Gods, this is amazing,” I breathed as I looked at my surroundings, “I can see the beach from here, and the air is so clear. I wonder if it ever snows up here.”
“Snow?” Mira asked as she took a seat on a nearby boulder. “What is snow?”
“It’s fluffy, frozen water that falls from the sky,” I told her. “It probably won’t get cold enough up here, but it’s a great thought.”
“This snow sounds very, well, cold,” she deadpanned.
“It is very cold,” I laughed, “but it’s also beautiful and a lot of fun. You can build snowmen with it, have snowball fights, go sliding down the mountain on it. Then you warm up by the fire with hot tea and soup.”
“Really?” she gasped
“It also makes for great snuggling,” I said as I wagged my eyebrows at her.
Mira laughed and pulled out a small snack for us while I went behind one of the nearby trees to take a piss. The temperature had dropped a good ten degrees or more since we’d started climbing out of the jungle, and I was forced to put my shirt back on to guard against the chill.
It was a damn good thing I did, too, because a giant paw suddenly reached down from the tree above me and tried to snatch me up.
“Fuck!” I shouted as I twisted away.
All the paw managed to grab was my shirt, but I managed to slip out of it before falling a few feet to the ground and unsheathing my sword. Then I looked up and was greeted by what I might call a giant mountain lion, if the thing wasn’t covered in gray reptilian scales instead of anything remotely resembling fur. It was like a tiger and one of the fucking Notre Dame gargoyles had a love child and dropped it on this mountain to wreak havoc.
And it was not happy its dinner had escaped.
I hauled ass into the clearing where Mira and the dragons were and could hear the beast tracking me from high in the trees.
“Watch out!” I yelled just as the mother fucker took a flying leap over my head and landed right in my path with his teeth bared.
I backed up a little and drew my sword in the hopes that it would protect me from this monstrosity. The bastard had to be eight feet long, not including its tail, and stood five feet tall with all its feet on the ground. Those scales also looked armored, and its teeth looked like they were at least four inches long.
This was not going to be an easy fight.
I braced myself for his pounce, but the beast just stood there staring me down as he paced back and forth. Out of nowhere, he let out this huge fucking roar that shook the ground, and I swore if I hadn’t just relieved myself, I would have pissed down my leg.
And if this wasn’t enough, countless roars from the trees above me answered the cry of their alpha. How many roars answered him? Two? Five? A dozen? I had no fucking idea.
It dawned on me that I was likely about to die right there in the jaws of this magnificent and terrifying beast.
But not without a fight, goddamn it.
I needed to save my daughter.
I couldn’t let the cat-dragon-lizard asshole push me into the grove of trees where his buddies were waiting, so I started flanking to my right toward the clearing where I last saw Mira and the dragons, who seemed to have disappeared. I watched every single move this predator made and knew when he realized I was intent on getting away from his gang hanging out in the trees. He let out another roar and tried to rush me, but I jumped away from him toward the open space across from where he was trying to corner me. Then I sprang quickly to my feet in time to see three more of the bastards jump from the tree to join their leader.
Did I really look so tasty?
I braced myself for an assault while I simultaneously tried to find weak spots on these beasts. The neck and underbelly were definitely the top places to try and land a blow with my sword.
One of the smaller and more eager beasts in the back seemed to decide he was tired of waiting and made a move to pounce. He was met midair by an arrow that flew over my shoulder, landed right between his eyes, and brought his attack to a sudden stop.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Mira with her bow still aimed, and the dragons were right beside her.
Now it was a fair fight.
While the gargoyle-cats were still trying to figure out what had just happened, I flew at the leader with my sword before he could react. He managed to move just enough to not take the full force of my blow, but I did deliver a deep gash to his front leg and chest that would definitely slow him down a good bit.
The beast let out another monstrous roar as a hot burst of blood sprayed out in an arch from the new wound on his chest. This did little to slow him down, though, and he let out a deep, murderous growl before making a move to attack me again.
I knew I had to let him get close enough to strike me if I was to put an end to him. I had no choice. So, I braced for the impact of his assault and turned so his claws raked my shoulder instead of slicing through the jugular vein in my neck. Then I followed through by burying my sword deep in his belly and let his momentum and gravity do most of the work for me.
Pain blindsided me as I watched his intestines and other organs spill out all over the ground, but I barely noticed the steam rising off the hot innards as my eyes blurred from the intense pain in my shoulder.
As the smell of blood permeated the air around me, another collective roar of this dead fellow’s brethren shook the ground we were standing on. I saw arrows flying from Mira’s bow as she was being backed into a corner by several beasts, and across from me, I watched as both George and Nixie fought off multiple beasts that just seemed to keep coming from out of nowhere.
I pushed the pain in my shoulder to the back of my mind and dove back into the fray, with my sword swinging and hot blood soaking my entire body.
I was beginning to believe it was pointless, though. We were outnumbered, and they weren’t showing any signs of giving in. Mira was almost out of arrows, and I could see wounds on George and Nixie both.
Something about seeing the ones I loved the most in mortal peril, and thinking about Marella being forever lost drove me to the brink of insanity. So, I reached down with my mind to the dragon heart deep in my chest and felt the power of all the people I’d sworn to love and protect.
And, in that moment, I refused to give in. I refused to die.
The pain from my shoulder faded into a distant memory as I gripped my sword in one hand and my spear in the other. Both were made of sea-glass gifted to me from my beloved dragon, and I could feel their power resonate through my body.
Then I went into what I could only describe as berserker mode.
I stood up tall and started slashing my way through the fray with reckless abandon. Thick blood soaked every inch of me as bestial heads flew, and screams of pain and terror surrounded me. There was no compassion left in me, no empathy. I had turned into a brutal killing machine hell bent on wiping out every single one of these mother fuckers.
The shrieking cry of a new beast managed to permeate my rage-filled thoughts and bring me back to reality. It was a sound I’d heard before, and I realized it was the same sound I’d heard the day the boar charged us outside of the jungle.
Great, we were really dead now.
As I gripped my weapons and braced myself for impact, I watched as large flying birds of some sort swooped down, scooped up the gargoyle-cats, and flung them off the mountain in rapid succession. I guess they were going to kill everything that disturbed their peace, so I took advantage of the moment to run over to where Mira and the dragons were staring up at the sky.
Mira was covered in blood and gore, and I couldn’t tell what was hers and what belonged to the beasts. We all watched as the birds cleared out the last of the predators and remained glued to our spots as the flying beasts finally landed in front of us. That was when my dragon sight finally processed what it was seeing.
Gryphons. Mother fucking gryphons.
Five of them to be exact. They had the white heads of American bald eagles and t
he golden bodies of lions, along with wings that easily had a wingspan of fifteen feet, since they were all the size of a large SUV. They stood there staring at us as we did the same with them, and it was like nobody dared move or disrupt the uneasy peace.
“Uh, I’m sorry I stole your lunch the other day,” I finally choked out when the silence became too much. “My bad.”
The gryphons just snorted and stamped the ground with their paws in response while Mira nervously snickered behind me.
“I am not sure what to do here,” I said for all to hear. “We don’t want a fight with you. The only reason we fought the other beasts was because they attacked us first.”
I felt like a damn idiot with my random rambling, but it seemed as long as I talked, the beasts were docile and nonthreatening. I even watched as one snapped at bugs in the air and seemed bored with his surroundings.
Just as I was about to start talking again, a warmth bloomed in my chest, and I heard the sweetest sound I’d ever heard.
“Daddy!” squealed a little voice from behind the gryphons.
“Marella?” I gasped as I rushed toward the voice, and I forgot all about the deadly gryphons standing in front of me.
“I’m here!” she said right before she appeared from behind the leg of one of the closest gryphons and ran straight into my arms.
“Oh, thank the gods,” I cried as I held her tight against me and was immediately surrounded by Mira and the dragons. “You scared us all so bad.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Marella mumbled into my chest, “but I had to come, he needed me.”
“Who needed you?” Mira growled.
I wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on in the conversation. The adrenaline from the fight was quickly wearing off, and the pain and severity of my shoulder wound was coming back full force. I tried to find my voice, but the world around me was starting to fade fast.
“I did, Mira,” said a deep, masculine voice, “I just didn’t know it.”
I looked up to see an older man standing there, but before I could say anything, the world turned upside down, and I blacked out.