Of Dragon Warrens and Other Traps

by Shannon McGee

  It was smaller than the grown ones we had fought earlier in the week, but it was still much larger than the babies. The size of a large dog. If I had been standing next to it, it would have come up just past my hip. Its horns had only one small twist—not yet fully grown out but still sharp enough that I didn’t want to go anywhere near them. A stuttering hiss issued from an open mouth that brimmed with vicious-looking fangs.

  As we charged one by one across the plank, we heard an unmistakable sound—not echoes but answering hisses. There was no time to think about it or how thin the wooden bridge was. In a crouch, Aella was just barely keeping the one drake we could see off herself. Its long neck swayed back and forth as it sought a way around the weapon in order to strike her in the face and throat.

  I was the first to her side. With a snarl, I swung my torch at the drake. It reared backward, hissing and spitting. A droplet of that spit struck my cheek and burned there. During my distraction, Aella gained her footing.

  “Move!” Lawrence bellowed from behind me.

  I did, swinging around Aella in the tight quarters in order to plunge the torch into a nearby socket. With that done, I could heft my own spear, but before I could return to the fight behind me I caught sight of a second drake rounding the corner. I lowered my spear, grimacing.

  “We’ve got two now!” I hollered, stepping forward to keep the drakes from flanking us too tightly.

  “Three!” Victor called from somewhere behind me. I heard him grunt, and one of the monsters screeched.

  I didn’t dare look to see how that fight faired. The drake in front of me made a croaking noise, tilting its head from side to side. Its approach was slow now—deliberate. I let it come. I needed it within range of my spear if I was to kill it, and I wasn’t about to come closer to a blind corner if these things were rushing to the aid of their sibling.

  Its eyes were dark and glassy, catching the light of the torch and reflecting it back at me. It hissed, tongue flicking out, tasting the air. Without warning, it spat.

  I flung myself out of the way, hitting the wall hard, surging forward without pause to take my first slash. I missed, and it spat again, making me dodge again. This time the acid spray was so close to hitting me that I heard it sizzle as it began to eat away at the stone beside me. I swallowed hard. That stuff was no joke.

  “You want me, beastie? Come and get me,” I taunted. I jabbed at it with the spear. I was hoping to antagonize it into coming closer. The bait had worked too well. It leaped at me. As I had practiced a hundred times out in the practice yards, I struck out with my spear in an arc. The spear made contact with the tough skin of the drake, caught, and was promptly pulled from my hands. With a yelp of fear, I dove to the side.

  “Taryn?” Aella yelled the question, and I spared her a look long enough to discern that she and the two men were dealing with three drakes. One of them had her in its sights, and she clearly had her hands full. I held a hand out to stay her.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine! You deal with your own.” I called back, my voice cracking. I had a knife still, and I pulled it, lowering myself into a fighter’s stance.

  The drake was almost on me. Furious at being wounded, it attacked with new vigor. I feinted toward the open space to our right. When it snapped in that direction, I struck hard from the left, managing to cut through the thick muscle of its shoulder. The noise it made was grating and sharp.

  I had intended to spring backward before it realized its mistake. Not fast enough. The head whipped back around in time to clamp jaws onto my bicep. I screamed as its weight dragged me down. I thought I heard my name again, but I could barely hear anything through the roaring in my ears.

  On one knee, I beat the monstrous lizard across the face with a fist. It snarled deep in its throat and shook its head. Sweat broke out across my body as I swallowed another scream. I drove the knife home into its neck, and it released me only to clamp down once more. Almost blind with the pain, I stabbed again; it let go, but as I tried to pull back, it tightened its grip again. Blackness edged around my vision. It was weaker this time, I noted with grim satisfaction. I gritted my teeth.

  One more time, I thought, and stabbed.

  It lost the strength to hold onto me and collapsed to the ground. It was bleeding out through the neck, wheezing and sputtering, I stepped backward from it, no small amount of horror gripping my heart at the sight of it still trying to drag itself toward me through a puddle of its own blood. Skipping backward, I retrieved my spear from where it lay. I brought that down one final time, ending the young drake’s misery.

  Feeling shaky, I took stock. My right arm hung at my side, a useless mess. It ached with an unnatural cold that worried me, and it needed bound up before anything else. My cheek still hurt dully where the spray had caught me. I was pretty sure shock was keeping me from feeling the majority of the pain I was in, but it could have been worse. I turned so I could keep the corner in view while surveying the battle behind me. Leaning against the wall, I tore a few strips off the bottom of my tunic to tie tightly around the wound.

  Aella, Lawrence, and Victor were doing well enough that I would have only been in the way if I tried to join them. Unlike myself, they were entirely unharmed. They had kept hold of their weapons and were keeping their distance. They were also down to two monsters, and one of those was unable to use a front leg.

  Aella, who had always impressed me in training, was a whirlwind in battle. Her face was cold and intense, her spear a blur, nipping and cutting as she danced in and out of her opponent’s range. Like the drake I had fought, the one in front of her spat acid at her, but it could not seem to hit her.

  At last, in a complex move that left me blinking, she struck the drake in the temple with the butt of her spear, stunning it. Before it could recover, she had spun the weapon to drive it into the spine at the base of the monster’s neck with the force of all her strength. The thing went down like a rock, and she followed it, completing the move, before jerking her weapon free, her eyes already searching for her next fight.

  When she saw that the other wounded drake was all but disposed of, her attention shifted. I saw panic sweep across her face as she scanned the tunnel.

  “Taryn—!” She began and then she saw me in the shadows by the wall, and relief broke over her. She strode forward purposefully. When she reached me, she immediately began to inspect the damage. “You’re hurt.”

  “’S not so bad.” I gritted out. It was hard to decide which of the three of her I ought to focus on.

  Her eyes flicked from the gash, which the makeshift bandage had barely contained, to my face. Her lips quirked in a sardonic smirk that made her look like the commander, and an eyebrow pulled upward. “You really are a tough mercenary now, aren’t you?”

  “Learned from the best.”

  “When I heard you scream, Taryn I…” Some of my hair had got loose from my braids. It stuck to the sweat on my face. She pulled a glove off and smoothed it backward with a gentle hand. “I don’t know what I would have done—”

  Something slammed into Aella, knocking her to the ground. Locked together, each trying to gain the upper hand, she and a new drake rolled across the wet ground. It must have snuck around the corner when I wasn’t watching it. I cursed myself with all the new swears I had learned over the past year.

  My heart caught in my throat as, faster than I would have thought possible, their struggle brought them right before the edge of the pathway. Before I could think to move, they went over it, plunging into the solid brown of the water.

  I cried out in fury and fear. Clutching my wounded arm to my chest, I rushed forward after them, spear in hand. “Lawrence, Victor!” I called for help, but they were dealing with their own new set of beasts. Two more drakes had come from the shadows, not including the one that had taken Aella beneath the water.

  I knew they needed my help, but I couldn’t go to them. As this fresh fight rang out behind me, I kept my eyes on the water. Terror pounded thr
ough me, worse than when the drake had had me in its jaws. There was nothing I could do. If I stabbed downward, I was just as likely to hit Aella as I was the monster. If she didn’t come up soon, she would drown.

  The water churned with the movement happening underneath. I held my breath, waiting for them to surface. They had been under and impossibly long time. My lungs screamed for air.

  Aella burst upward in a flurry of flailing arms and thick brown water. The moment her eyes cleared enough to determine what direction she needed, she began making a desperate beeline for the edge. When she reached it, I used my good arm to grab the back of her tunic and haul her out. As she gasped and choked on the water that had got into her nose and throat, she continued to scoot backward on her bottom.

  “Still… alive…” she managed to get out as the monster in question came surging out in pursuit of her.

  “Hold on!” Victor had seen our peril. His voice boomed and echoed on the stone, and despite the fact that his own drake was not quite dead, he seemed determined to divest himself from his own fight to get to us.

  He would never make it in time, I realized, taking stock of the situation. His drake wasn’t letting him get away so easily, and neither was Lawrence’s. On our end, Aella’s spear was lost somewhere in the water. I had mine, but it was all but useless in my left hand.

  Aella was hacking, still trying to get her breath back, even as she fumbled for her own knife. Feeling the futileness of it, I moved my body between the monster and its quarry. The drake hissed, its claws clicking as it came. Behind it, its long tail was swishing, roughly scraping across the floor.

  This was what I had trained for. It was not going to kill us. I wasn’t going to be Miguel, killed on his first hunt. I was not going to let this monster take me or any part of this new family from me, not when I’d just gotten it. So, they—so she— had kept one thing back from me. I’d figured it out, and we could do better from now on. No matter what though, this life was mine, and only I got to say when it was over.

  Using my left hand, I brought my spear up across my chest. I had not been thinking about the other weapon at my disposal, but it rose up within me as well. Unbidden, magic flowed down that arm and into the hand that gripped the spear.

  It was shockingly hot, like fire, and the digits of that hand spasmed and released my weapon. The spear clattered to the floor, but I paid it no mind. The magic demanded all of my attention.

  I flung my hand out, instinctually trying to distance it from my own body. The magic rushed almost gleefully onward, out of my hand and into the charging drake. Before I could even begin to try to control the energy flowing out from me, it had filled, and then overfilled, the monster’s form. The drake burst apart, splattering across the tunnel.

  I didn’t even feel it as some of those pieces struck me. Nor did I hear whatever it was that Aella was shouting in my ear. There was fire in my eyes. There was smoke in my nose. Then there was only darkness.

  I was on a pyre. My legs and feet were bound to a long, thick piece of wood. Idly, I wondered how many of these we had on hand and where the guards kept them. It was odd to think we had a stockpile of stakes saved up on the off chance that someone needed burned.

  To my right, William was using a torch to light the smaller pieces of kindling. He looked up and met my eyes with his own regretful ones. The wood began to crackle as the fire burned through the smaller pieces of fuel and then began to eat into the bigger logs. He shuddered and turned away from me. What did he see, I wondered? Not just a shepherd, that was for certain. A mage. A powerful sorcerer. Someone to be feared and respected.

  I was gagged in deference to that fear. A charm had also been placed around my neck. The mercenary Kaleb had given it to William. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew that it made my magic feel as though it rested just outside of my fingertips. Strange how used to its presence I had become in such a short amount of time. Without it, I felt half empty. It was no matter. Soon enough it would be back within my grasp.

  The fire was coming closer to me now. I could feel the heat through my boots. Still, I wasn’t afraid. I shut my eyes against the smoke that was beginning to thicken and sting. My master would not invest so much into my education only to let this ignorant horde kill me. He would come for me.

  Over the sound of the fire, I could just barely hear the crowd that had gathered. There was some muttering, as those who thought they had known me debated my ‘motives.’ Mostly a heavy sort of silence prevailed.

  I knew Beth was out there somewhere. I had seen her as they dragged me up to the platform. She had been supported on both sides by her mother and stepfather. I couldn’t imagine how much it had taken for her to drag herself out of bed in order to attend. I was flattered, in a way. The terror and hatred I had seen in her face as she gazed at me had been breathtaking. More was the pity that I hadn’t used her as I had initially intended. But I had gambled, and I had lost. That happened sometimes. Even Master Noland had said so. Eggs and omelets, after all. I knew better now. Next time I would not lose.

  Fire licked my ankles; it was more than hot through my breeches. I could smell my leg hair burning. My heart fluttered slightly. Ruthlessly, I shoved the fear aside. He would not let me burn. Think of something else.

  My twin. I had hoped to have her here with me when my master fetched me. It would have simplified things. However, neither she nor my parents seemed to be in attendance. I swallowed, and the smoke burned my throat. Where was she now? I had heard no word of her being caught. Yet, if they had not arrested her when I indicated that she had been involved in my plan—well, she would have been here, to say goodbye.

  It had been difficult to decide to use her in the spell, but Master Noland had been right. Ultimately, using her would have worked far better than some random girl. It had been worth it to try. If she could have only grasped all that he knew, she might even have seen it for the honor that it was. To be in service of his greater purpose… But there had been no time. The mercenaries had changed everything.

  White hot pain snaked through my thoughts, and panic blanked my mind. I was burning. The fire had eaten through my breeches and was charring my boots. My eyes sprang open onto a wall of white smoke.

  Shocked, I screamed hoarsely as the fire raced up my leg. My body convulsed on its own, attempting to pull me away from the pain that was eating away at the bottom half of my body. There was nowhere to go. The ropes had been soaked in water, and they were as thick as my arms, besides. Pain lanced through the wounds in my shoulder as the movement pulled at them. Agony on top of agony.

  The fire was crawling up my chest now. Soon it would be over my head, enveloping me entirely. He wasn’t going to let me burn. He wasn’t going to let me burn. He was—

  The rope from which the charm hung burned through. The small token fell from my body; it bounced off a log that had yet to be consumed and rolled away from the pyre, into the wet grass beyond it. I wouldn’t have noticed it amidst the anguish, but my magic rushed back to me then. For a moment, elation struck me, but the feeling was quickly extinguished. There was too much pain. I could never grip the magic firmly enough wield it. Not now.

  Tears were rolling down my cheeks, little tracts of cool on skin that felt as though it was blistering. Which it probably was. I was more than certain that I could smell myself cooking. I was going to die. How could he let me die?

  Then, all at once the white heat of the fire was replaced with a feeling like ice. Though they still roared around me, the flames were no longer eating my flesh. I sobbed in as much surprise as desperate relief.

  Panting, I looked around me. To my eyes, a hazy darkness now shadowed the fire. With a sudden intensity, the flames billowed upward and around me, and I could no longer see the crowd outside of the wall of fire. They were confused. I heard them gasp and scream at the sudden ferocity of the flames.

  I smiled.

  Slowly, I became aware that my eyes were shut. My right arm felt too heavy and strangely sti
ff. With a strangled gasp I came fully awake. Attempting to push myself upward with limbs that were alarmingly weak, I grasped for my spear, panic making my heart race.

  “Easy! Easy girl!” the speaker took me firmly by the shoulder, pushing me back against a soft pillow.

  I was on a bed, I realized. My right arm was bound thickly in bandages, which accounted for its stiffness. The brightly lit room was the one Aella and I shared at the inn. The person who had told me to be easy was Belinda.

  “What happened?” I asked breathlessly. “We were in the sewers. There were drakes…”

  “Two days ago.”

  “Two days?”

  Belinda nodded. She was grabbing a mug off the small table that was set up beside her. She passed one hand over the top of it, and steam began to curl up from whatever was inside. She pressed the mug into my left hand. “Drink this.”

  I let the heat seep into my fingers, too stunned to do as I was told. “Aella… and Victor and Lawrence?”

  “They’re all fine. Drink what I’ve given you.”

  I did as I was bidden, only to blanch in disgust. “That’s awful!” Now that I was paying attention to it, I realized that the mug was emitting a pungent smell that matched the taste coating my mouth.

  Belinda smiled dryly. “It’s my own draft. Made to build your strength up.” With a groan, she pushed to her feet. “You stay here and finish that. You’ll be hungry once it kicks in, and I know a few people who will be glad to know that you’re awake.”

  When she had left, I took another timid sip of her brew. It was bitter and left an acrid aftertaste on the back of my tongue. Still, I found that the more I drank, the more I wanted to drink, and in short order, the mug was drained. My stomach gurgled loudly as hunger pains set in. They were as intense as if I hadn’t eaten in… a few days. I shook my head ruefully.

  Resting the empty mug on the bed beside me, I settled back against the pillow and tried to order my memories. We had been in the sewers, and we had split up. The drakes had swarmed us. I had killed two of them. My stomach growled again, and I pressed a hand to it.