“Well, that’s nice.” Gissandra stared up to the sky, heart dropping as she saw an orange fleck descending. Harkrul’s body dissolved like Sastran’s, shrinking into the bones, which then flaked off like dust.
Ardemar followed her gaze and expression, and snapped open his visor. “Unfortunate that your dragon returns at this time.”
“Why don’t you just take the throne of Avelon?” Gissandra asked. She wanted to say something, anything to distract the prince. “You would make a brilliant tyrant. Why come here for a random princess who doesn’t want to be taken?”
“Tyrants and villains are always defeated, in the end,” Ardemar said softly. He took out another one of the black daggers. “My Fairy Godmother said that I was destined to become a monster, to make kingdoms fall.”
“At least she didn’t suggest that you be called Gissandra,” Giss muttered. She clicked her fingers. “Called it with the fairy curse, though.”
Kiraz, spotting the disappearing corpses of Harkrul and Sastran in the air, let out a howl of shock and fury. He landed on the stone, buffeting wind over Ardemar and Gissandra. Immediately, Gissandra stepped between Kiraz and Ardemar.
“Kiraz! Please don’t fight him. He has anti-dragon weapons. Heavens know where he got them. You can’t beat him. Just let me go.”
Kiraz examined Gissandra, standing in front, holding her arms up in desperation – and the corpses. Then, with a snarl, he shrunk into human form. A small ball of white fluff fluttered away from him as he did so.
“Then perhaps if I face him as a human, results may vary.”
Ardemar stared at Kiraz in sudden interest, the lazy expression in his eyes gone. “You can shapeshift? That’s new.” He clutched his dagger in one hand, sword in the other. Ignoring Gissandra, he prowled around her to face Kiraz, observing his red hair, set face and stocky limbs. She wished at that moment she had her sword and dagger strapped on, instead of them lying in her bed chambers.
“Some can.”
Kiraz examined Gissandra’s expression again, and the two corpses. He saw how horrified and frantic she looked. Growling, he sneered at Ardemar. “Tell me, human. Is there nothing that can be done to stop you? You have defeated two mighty dragons this day. By all rights, you can access the wealth and treasures they held. I’m sure those will be far more valuable than a princess.”
Ardemar hesitated. “And what would stop me from just slaughtering you all and taking everything, instead of cheap compromise?”
Kiraz moved one pace closer. “The possibility that the next fight may be your last. The possibility that if you wipe out the dragons here, you will incite vengeance from our kingdom, as you have slain a dragon lord.” Kiraz indicated Harkrul’s fallen body. “In short, the fate that awaits anyone who chooses the path of a villain.”
Harkrul was a dragon lord? Gissandra paused. How easily that lord had fallen, to a dark prince. With a stab of unease, she wondered if Ardemar was destined for a truly evil path. Not a prince would conquer a kingdom, but one capable of far worse.
Or, whether he was just seriously acting out because of his privilege. To think that he sent me letters!
The Black Rose prince pointed his sword imperiously at Kiraz. “Tell me then, dragon. What is normal protocol for your kind if a lord has fallen?”
Kiraz folded his arms. “The wealth of the lord goes to the one who defeated them. They also have the option to become a dragon lord themselves.”
“Hmm.” Ardemar tapped the end of his sword on the ground. “How does a human become a dragon lord? And what does it mean if they are one?”
Kiraz licked his lips, reluctant to tell the human. “It means… dragons that are in the former lord’s jurisdiction become yours to command. That would be close to several hundred dragons. As for becoming a dragon lord, you must prove that you are a dragon. Obviously that is tricky for a human.”
“Is it?” Ardemar pointed at Kiraz. “Because you seem to have shapeshifted just fine.”
That’s true. If a dragon can turn into a human, what’s to say humans can’t do the same back? Sweat beaded on Gissandra’s head. The implications of Count Ardemar adding dragon lord to his titles, and gaining dragons as allies… it didn’t bear thinking about.
“You don’t seriously plan to take over the kingdoms with an army of dragons, do you?”
Ardemar, at first surprised Gissandra had spoken, waved a dismissive hand at her. “Oh. Nothing of the sort. I have much grander plans than your small time dalliances.”
“You want to tell us these plans?”
“No.” Ardemar lunged at Kiraz, slashing his blade. The dragon leapt backwards, though the tip of the blade sliced through his tunic, leaving a bloody chest scratch. Kiraz at first attempted to fight back, fist smashing into the prince’s armor, bringing a knee up to slam uselessly against the metal. Despite Kiraz’s strength, he could do nothing against the armor and weapon, and had to curve out of the way of a fatal stab.
“Kiraz! Run! He’s too strong!”
The dragon hissed at the idea of an enemy stronger than himself, but obeyed. Gissandra fled to their cave, Kiraz in tow. A black dagger whizzed past where Kiraz hesitated for a split moment, thudding into the cave wall and dropping to the floor. They scampered past a startled Brendag, who was just coming out of one of the passageways, woven into the cave.
“What in the thousand kingdoms is going on?”
“Prince! Evil! Killed dragons! Here!” Gissandra blurted as they dashed past the kitchen.
Brendag saw the Black Rose prince fully encased in armor, barreling through, sword raised, and paled. “Oh my stars!”
“Do we actually have anywhere to go to?” Giss panted.
“The treasury, we can bar ourselves in there.”
“With that kind of password? You have got to be kidding me, Kiraz!” Gissandra yelled. She saw the dragon clutching his chest, and winced in fear and sympathy as blood pooled in his hand, dripped down his pants.
“Through the servant tunnels, then, dearies!” Brendag shuffled hurriedly back to the tunnels she had come out of. “Don’t mind the cobwebs!”
Without protest, Gissandra, panting hard, Kiraz cringing behind her in pain, joined Brendag in the tunnels, but not before she had hastily scooped up the lucky rabbit’s foot, lying on the kitchen counter, stuffing it into her bodice.
Gissandra had not used the tunnels as of yet. All she knew, from Brendag’s descriptions was that catacombs of narrow tunnels existed in the mountains, not yet hollowed out to dragon size. Brendag lived in a small hovel somewhere along them. Giss didn’t want to bump into any of the other dragon’s living spaces, especially as she knew Balon lived next cave along.
And I killed two of them just by screaming for help. She gritted her teeth, following Brendag into the darkness. The troll held aloft a lantern, illuminating the network of catacombs beyond them. “Everything’s a dead end, or connected to another cave, but maybe we can give him the slip, eh?”
“Where is Balon?” Kiraz gasped, as they squeezed through the gaps as fast as they could. The prince could be heard clattering behind them, following the light of Brendag’s lantern. Adrenaline coursed through Gissandra. She held tight onto Kiraz’s hand, helping pull him forward. “Is he dead?”
“No. He ran into his cave like a coward when the prince killed Sastan and Harkrul.”
“At least he’s alive,” Kiraz growled. “We’re passing his cave network now…”
Sure enough, they emerged out into a luscious room, with hanging blue drapes over most of the walls. Several pink sofas adorned random parts of the cavern space, and tiny glass bowls were placed side by side, filled with white liquid. On the other side lay another narrow, ominous looking tunnel. Around four cats bolted at the sight of the trio stumbling into the room.
Balon, curled around a cauldron, who had about five cats bouncing on his neck, turned to gape at them in horror.
“You!”
“I forgot to mention that Balon has recently ta
ken to hoarding cats instead, to replace his lost princess,” Brendag added. “On top of his normal five. I thought it was cute, so I didn’t say anything.”
At this point, Ardemar popped out of the tunnels in hot pursuit, halting at the strange sight that stretched before him.
At the appearance of the Black Rose prince, Balon screeched in terror, and, with the cats clinging onto his neck, stampeded out of the room, tail knocking aside a cauldron of dark purple liquid. The liquid sloshed over parts of furniture, and began spreading across the floor.
With a sigh of disgust, Ardemar side-stepped and threw a dagger at Brendag, who had been heading for the narrow gap with Kiraz and Gissandra. Brendag collapsed by the tunnel without a sound.
Gissandra didn’t see where the dagger had hit, but whimpered at the sight of the fallen troll. She and Kiraz immediately changed direction – without Brendag, they would be going through the tunnels blind. The only option left was to follow Balon.
“You should really stop running,” Ardemar said. “It’s only delaying the inevitable. You can of course, give me the princess. But I’ll kill you anyway.”
“Yeah, I’ll just do that, then!” Kiraz dashed after Gissandra, who leapt over where the purple liquid crept. Kiraz did the same. The prince appeared to be out of daggers, so he instead chased after them, gaining ground as he splashed through the liquid. A dozen or so cats scattered out of the way, including ones trembling under the sofas.
Balon, in the next room bunched up in the corner, spat at them in fury. “No! Leave me alone!” Flames stuttered out of his mouth, before unleashing in a fiery stream. Gissandra dived to the side, hitting her hip bone hard and crying out. Kiraz took it without flinching – as did the prince approaching from behind.
“Go away! No! Leave us alone!” Balon trembled like the cats around him, panic erasing all sense of reason.
The only other way was back out through the living room, to where other caverns stretched beyond.
“I seriously thought you would have run outside, not to a dead end!” Gissandra spluttered, as she rolled and scrambled to stand up.
“Go away!” Balon screeched again, billowing more fire.
“Are dragons always this cowardly?” Ardemar walked into the flames, towards Kiraz. “You were interesting. I will enjoy harvesting the powers from your dead body.” He held up an object in his palm, hard to see through the inferno. Gissandra, back against cold stone, despaired.
Balon stopped breathing fire, coughing violently. Kiraz attempted to punch the prince, but his knuckles connected with good-fashioned steel. He rapidly shifted into a dragon, expanding in the space, which threw the prince off balance as he was shoved by the increase in body mass – but with one quick step, the prince stabbed Kiraz in his soft underbelly flesh, causing Kiraz to howl in pain. The prince twisted the blade, and Kiraz shifted again, pulling himself out of reach, but now displaying a wound in his guts. A fleck of white puffed behind him. Fear crystallized Gissandra’s veins. Recovering, she frantically scrabbled for something – and, finding nothing, resorted to one last desperate move, her heart stammering.
The Black Rose prince raised his blade to deliver the final blow. He huffed in surprise when Gissandra lunged onto his back, grabbing his sword hand from behind. Kiraz slumped to the floor, and she and the prince staggered backwards.
“Foolish girl, do you want to die as well?” The prince roughly elbowed Gissandra in the ribs, causing her to exclaim in pain, though she still clung to the sword arm for dear life.
Finally, the prince threw her off, and she landed nearby Kiraz.
“I’m sorry, princess…” he whispered. “I wish we could have had longer…”
“Me, too.” Tears built up behind Gissandra’s eyelids, but they did not spill.
Ardemar opened his mouth to speak.
“Meow.”
Giss stared into the murderous prince’s face, which had contorted in bafflement.
“Meow.”
He tried to speak, but all that came out was the meow sound. To Gissandra’s utter astonishment, even as she and Kiraz lay there, bleeding and broken, she witnessed the prince’s form shrink, and boil.
He disappeared in a clang of armor smacking the ground, along with the sword and various enchantments he had worn, and the malevolent black object tucked in his palm. Then, crawling from the full body chest-plate, came a tiny black kitten, with white petal paws.
“Meow,” it said.
Balon unpeeled himself from the corner, even as Giss blinked in disbelief.
Kiraz wheezed, blood seeping through his hand. “Balon. What in the thousand kingdoms was in that cauldron?”
The blue dragon crouched. “My cat potion. I was planning to turn all the rats in the caves into cats. I had no idea it affected humans.” Smoke simmered from his mouth.
Gissandra immediately snatched the tiny kitten. “No.”
Kiraz and Balon glared. “No?” Balon hissed. “This filthy creature killed two noble dragons. A third may die.”
“He’s a kitten. We don’t kill kittens.” She squashed the kitten tight against her chest. It made squeaking noises. “Can you save Kiraz or not?”
Balon, eyes bulging indignantly, examined Kiraz’s wound and growled. “Wait here. I have something.”
Balon strode out of the room, about eight cats trailing behind him. The black kitten continued mewing pitifully against Gissandra’s chest.
She placed one hand on Kiraz’s brow. “Is it bad?”
In response, Kiraz revealed his stomach. “It’s not too deep. But it damn well hurts.”
Relief scraped through her. A tiny bunny hopped past them, resembling the white ball of fluff that had peeled off Kiraz earlier.
Several things clicked into place. “Is that a werebunny?” Gissandra asked. Kiraz, slightly dazed, followed Gissandra’s finger to the bunny that hopped away from them.
“Yes.”
“Well. At least we now know where they come from. Also, this itches.” Gissandra took out the lucky rabbit’s foot.
Kiraz shook his head, and sighed.
Chapter Six: Gissandra’s Evening Date
Several weeks had passed since Count Ardemar’s attempt to “rescue” Gissandra. Balon was still as grumpy as ever, but he allowed Gissandra into his cave to play with the cats whenever she got bored. Brendag lived from the thrown dagger – it was only fatal to the touch for dragons. As for Kiraz – Balon’s healing tonic helped him survive the worst of his injuries, with the astute promise that Kiraz and Gissandra never told anyone else about his cowardice. Giss promised, but not without some ill-concealed laughter, and bullying him to teach her on how to make the cat potion.
Ardemar, still an adorable ball of fur, nestled up in Gissandra’s lap, having just been fed some milk and small chunks of fish. Ardemar the kitten certainly possessed a better temperament than Ardemar the Black Rose prince. She wondered how news was being taken in the kingdoms, when the prince failed to return.
Something had happened, since the pool of knights battling to the top of the mountain to rescue her had all but dried up, following Ardemar’s “defeat.”
“Who would have thought? All it took was a sadistically evil and powerful prince to stop the others from trying. Isn’t that right?” Gissandra cooed, tickling the sleepy kitten under his chin.
Also running around the chambers were several little werebunnies, whom Gissandra had not yet let out. She wanted to test her theory with Kiraz, that each time he transformed from a dragon into a human, a werebunny popped into existence. It explained why werebunnies seemed to like dragons so much, and why Kiraz associated with them, even going so far to be a Godfather to a flock of the creatures.
Gissandra grinned as Kiraz entered the chambers, wearing a very respectable suit, complete with an elasticated bow-tie, with a tweed threaded jacket and pants. Gissandra petted Ardemar’s head, and the kitten purred with the contact.
“Brendag recommended the bow-tie,” Kiraz said, clearly unco
mfortable with it. He stopped to examine Gissandra from head to toe. Garbed in a shrouded orange dress, with her hair tied back, Gissandra looked the closest to her heritage that she ever had in months. White gloves lay on the side, taken off so she could pet the kitten. “It seems a shame to wear these, as they’re too fine for everyday use.”
“It’s no shame. I’ve only ever seen you in scruffy rags, or without anything. It makes a change to see you look like, well… a prince.” Gissandra beamed, feasting upon the sight of the immaculately dressed and groomed Kiraz. “If you weren’t actually a dragon, my parents would be swooning over this. My sisters would probably gouge out my eyes and defile my face so you chose them instead.”
“Wow. They sound delightful.”
Gissandra placed Ardemar on the chair, taking care to not wake him up, put on her elbow length gloves, before holding out her arm to Kiraz. He interweaved his arm with hers, taking a deep, nervous breath. Although his body language showed how out of place he felt with the clothes, he relaxed better once they both strode forwards to the kitchen area, and to the cave entrance. Outside, dusk settled upon their world, leaving a blanket of stars in the dark sky. A soft breeze ruffled through the clearing, smooth and coated with specks of dust and ash. Two werebunnies escaped from the open door, bouncing off towards the mountain path.
“They always leave.” Gissandra frowned sadly.
“They must go to their people.” Kiraz struck an overdramatic pose. “To the magical werebunny land.”
“Idiot.” She cuffed him on his head. “So where are we going? What surprise do you have lined up?”
Kiraz kissed her on the forehead, and gestured over to a distant mountain. “Over there. There’s a nice spot there that is unburnt. We’re also highly unlikely to be disturbed.”
Gissandra grinned evilly. “That’s good. We might be causing a fair bit of disturbance.”
Kiraz moved away from her, bursting into dragon form. “Ride me.”
“Oh. Gladly.” Giss waited until Kiraz bowed his frilled head towards her, and she eased her way onto it. As she settled more comfortably behind the frill, she found a rather pleasant sensation between her thighs, if she discreetly rocked forwards, with the flimsy material that protected her from being naked.
Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance Page 74