by KC Kingmaker
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He whirled in a full circle. “Don’t believe his lies, people!”
But the crowd was getting antsy now, glancing at one another.
I swiveled my head left and right as much as I could in my chains to gaze at the crowd. “You watch, Belfians: In a few days’ time, Levia’s body will magically appear in the Miran River running through this town, or in some other odd location. Does she deserve such resentment? For what, opening a shelter for battered women, to give them better lives? She’s one of you!”
“Silence, bastard! Your reptilian tongue won’t save you!” Garnu screamed, thrusting a finger at me.
“Then duel me,” I said.
The crowd had fallen silent. The licking flames of the torches and fires were louder than the murmurs.
“I’m no fool, dragon,” Garnu scoffed. “I know you are a capable warrior and I have some catching up to do in that regard.”
“Then use the dragonrune sword your bounty hunters recovered for you. I’ll let you use it. That should take away any advantage I might have, no?”
Some of the muttering bystanders began nodding.
It sounded fair.
“I’m sure all your people want to see what a true fire dragon you are. So show them!” I barked the last words. “Take the damn sword and strike me down! How can you expect to join the Summer House if you cannot even do that?”
Somehow, I had swayed the crowd. Or at least some of them. Their cheers didn’t sound as vehement; their bloodlust was transforming.
Chief Garnu backed up a step, fear flitting across his gaunt face. He turned to Rafe. “Captain, if you would do the honors of being my champion? I’m sure you would appreciate such a battle with your former kinsman?”
Rafe furrowed his brow, apparently considering the offer. Then the corner of his lip twitched in a smile—so fast I nearly missed it. “Nah,” he said with a shrug. “This is your spectacle and fight I’m afraid, Chief Garnu.” He bowed low.
Inwardly, I laughed, relishing the moment of Rafe betraying the loudmouthed chieftain.
“I’m giving you an opportunity to show everyone here how much you believe your vision,” I said to Garnu. He was sweating now, his pupils bouncing around in his wide eyes. “Talk is cheap, Vero, so why don’t you put your Scraps where your mouth is?”
His shoulders knotted.
“Yeah, Chief, fuck him up!” a man shouted. It excited the crowd again and they began hollering their support.
“Strike the lizard down!”
“You can do it, Chief Garnu! We believe in you!”
Garnu sucked in his thin lower lip. His head swiveled on his long neck as he surveyed his audience.
My lips curled into a grin, and when he saw it, all sense of self-control left his body like a phantom.
His eyes bulged with outrage. “Fine!” he shrieked above the din. “Give me the fucking sword, Rafe!”
The captain smirked, grabbed the white bag, and walked to the center of the circle where he presented it to Garnu.
The crowd hushed.
Rafe opened the bag, pulling it down until the dragonrune sword’s gleaming ruby pommel shone brightly for the awed crowd.
He presented the handle of the blade to the chieftain.
Sweat trickled down Garnu’s cheeks. He glanced at me one last time, just to see the same mad smile splitting my lips.
Then I winked at him.
With a sound of absolute loathing, Garnu clenched his eyes shut and reached for the blade’s handle, pulling the sword out in one swift motion.
He raised it high and stood stock-still with his eyes still closed . . .
And nothing happened.
His eyes opened, hesitant at first and then wide, glancing up the blade. He brought his big smile down to me, opened his mouth to speak—
And fire exploded from his mouth.
The flames began inward and muffled his bloodcurdling screech before it could even truly begin.
His hand sizzled on the handle, unable to release, welded to it. The blade lit up like a torch, sending tendrils of orange-red fire licking down Garnu’s arm until his entire body was engulfed.
Within seconds he was alight like a dry winter pine tree, his screams drowned out by the crackling flames.
His body quickly turned to cinders. The ash piled high as the sword clunked to the ground and sent a cloud of dust into the air, the blade once more a normal looking slab of cold steel.
The silence was absolute.
“You weren’t a fool, Garnu,” I announced with a rasp. “You were delusional. You puffed up your idea of your lineage for so long that you believed your own lie. That was your downfall. Not this sword.”
I inclined my head to the blade.
“Fuck this!” Rafe screamed, unsheathing his blade. “Kill the bastard!”
I clenched my jaw as a row of soldiers shot out from the audience line and innocent civilians cried out in fear.
Bedlam erupted and civilians scattered in a shove of bodies.
The soldiers rushed me.
My eyes glanced to the sword on the ground one last time as I flexed my arms behind my back and prepared to shift—
Then my throat constricted.
Amidst the chaotic upheaval of the dispersing crowd and the charging soldiers, Levia stood over the dragonrune sword, staring down at it.
Terror jolted through me.
“Leviathan! NO!”
33
Levia
I wasn’t sure what drew me to the blade on the ground, especially after witnessing the horrible fate of Chief Garnu going up in a blaze of glory. But something deep in my belly clawed to get out.
I had no weapon. Blythe had run off to retrieve our swords down the street. The cacophony of screaming people and shouting soldiers made me dizzy.
Through it all I heard Coalt’s hoarse scream, telling me to back away from the dragonrune sword.
Yet I was compelled to help him before the soldiers could skewer him on their weapons.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
I bent down and swept the sword up, grabbing the hilt with both hands. If I was going to explode like a firework, I wasn’t going to half-ass it.
The sword ignited with curling flames.
But they didn’t singe me.
A vision abruptly played in my mind—it could have been minutes that passed, but no one was moving in front of me so I imagined it only took seconds to play out.
In my vision, I was staring across a long, ornate table at another man. He was gaunt and handsome, with naturally arched brows, sharp features, and long, snow-white hair. He wore an ice-blue robe and ate a king’s feast with his hands. Below me, I had my own king’s feast.
“I’m glad we could set aside our differences and come together like this,” the man said after I took a bite of something.
In my head, I grunted—or, rather, the man whose eyes I looked out from grunted. Because it wasn’t my voice.
But the voice was oddly familiar as it rang out from my mouth—decidedly male and also forceful, a bit raspy like granite.
“Glendriana would have been proud,” I said. “To see us unite.”
“When will you tell your people?” the gaunt man across from me asked.
“After this meal, I su-suppose.”
The gaunt man’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “Are you all right?”
I stood up, knocking over a golden goblet and spilling wine all over the table. My throat constricted and pain swam through my head. “T-Treachery,” I coughed, pointing a thick finger at him.
The gaunt man tilted his head and stood as well. “What are you talking about? I did n-n-nothing—”
He grabbed his chest and unknown fear widened his eyes. Then he wobbled in place, hardly able to stand.
We both looked down at our respective feasts, then back at each other.
Blood trickled down the man’s nostrils. I felt the same thing happe
ning to me, the warm, coppery taste on my lip.
The gaunt man sat down hard in his chair and slumped. I sagged back as well, my mind fading.
And a door behind me opened as everything went black—
My breath caught in my throat as the dream ended.
I dashed out into the town square without a second thought, wielding the fiery dragonrune sword high above my head.
Armed mercenaries turned to me with horror in their eyes, trying to lift their swords to parry my scorching attack.
My blade hissed as it sparked against theirs, then melted their steel like molten lava, cutting through and tearing deep gashes into two chests.
The soldiers fell back gurgling and I pushed on toward Coalt.
Captain Rafe ran at Coalt full sprint, even though my dragon shifter was still imprisoned by chains.
With a grating snap, the chains exploded from behind Coalt. His arms came up just as Rafe tackled him and ran his blade through Coalt’s lower abdomen.
My voice lilted as I tried to scream, watching Coalt fall backwards, skewered on Rafe’s weapon.
They both went tumbling.
Laser-focused, I lunged at the two dragon shifters, parrying a couple errant strikes from mercenaries as I entered the dangerous fray.
I couldn’t stab Rafe because he was on top of Coalt and I didn’t know if this sword would go through him like warm butter. Even if I’d wanted to, I didn’t get the chance.
Rafe seemed to sense my presence and rolled off Coalt, onto his back.
I raised my sword high and yelled, ready to bring it down and end him.
He kicked out viciously fast, smacking me in the stomach and knocking all the wind from my lungs.
I flew backward in surprise, the dragonrune sword flinging from my grasp.
Rafe launched himself to his feet.
I scooted back as Rafe advanced with a vicious twitch in his upper lip. He was weaponless—his sword still stuck in Coalt’s torso—but he didn’t look like he needed any weapons to kill me.
Through Rafe’s legs, I saw Coalt move, growling as he crawled on the ground toward me.
Rafe raised his heel to stomp me out—
As his foot came down, a blur of a small form hurtled into him from the side and knocked him off balance.
His heavy boot landed on asphalt next to my face.
I scurried up just as I heard Blythe screeching like a madwoman and swinging two swords wildly at the dragon shifter.
Captain Rafe backed up on his heels but was easily able to avoid Blythe’s undisciplined strikes—
He changed foot stances and then hopped forward on one foot. He belted Blythe in the stomach with a kick, just like he had me, and she went flying.
I rushed over to her as the captain knotted his fists and approached—
“Rafe!” a booming voice called behind him.
The captain froze, every inch of his body going taut.
He slowly turned.
Coalt limped toward him, staggering, and then raised his arm high. He was holding the dragonrune sword.
I gasped as the sword seemed to disappear into Coalt’s arm, vanishing into nothingness.
“Your fight’s with me, dammit,” Coalt croaked.
Then he was shifting, his muscles expanding and bones cracking.
Rafe lost all interest in me and Blythe, and we helped each other to our feet.
The captain matched Coalt’s transformation, and then the town square was becoming abruptly very cramped with two huge red dragons squeezing inside the open arena.
“Come on!” I urged Blythe, who simply gawked at the two dragons. I took one of the swords she held and hoisted her up under her arm.
Pandemonium still spread through the square as soldiers weren’t sure what to do.
Having seen their leader attacking me and Blythe, a few of the mercenaries descended upon us.
A huge gust of wind knocked me to the side, but it also saved my life because a mercenary had been inches from beheading me before the tornado blew into him, knocking him over.
I looked back to see Coalt and Rafe’s wings flapping as they circled one another, causing the windstorm.
Their vicious fangs snapped out on long, scaled necks.
I went back-to-back with Blythe and we prepared to face off with the mercenaries.
Then the dragons took to the sky in a blinding flash and everyone’s focus craned to them—
I lashed out at the nearest distracted mercenary and eviscerated him. When he stared back down with a furrowed brow, his insides were spilling on the ground in front of him.
Two mercenaries charged me. I circled them with Blythe at my side, using my sword to parry and riposte as Coalt had taught me.
Town guards were swarming into the chaos, but I wasn’t sure whose side they’d be on.
“Everyone, weapons down!” one guard yelled, but no one listened.
A mercenary I hadn’t seen struck me across the side and I spun with a flick of my wrist, taking his arm off at the elbow. He went down in a gush of blood and screams.
Blythe wailed as she fought—or was that crying? Either way, she wasn’t as used to such violent face-to-face combat as I was, and yet she fared marvelously since we had each other’s backs.
Overhead, the snapping jaws of two dragons clapped the wind with sonic booms. Coalt and Rafe nipped at each other as their great bodies swirled in the sky and circled, neither committing to anything too serious yet.
A sword came for Blythe’s side and I smacked it away. I punched the mercenary in the face with my free hand, cracking my knuckles and breaking the cartilage in his nose.
He stumbled back and I advanced, spearing him through the chest.
We found a moment of respite from our attackers. Blythe and I crouched low, sweat covering our faces—plus some blood I hoped wasn’t ours.
“Come on!” she urged, tugging on my shoulder.
I resisted for a moment, eyes scanning the sky. The shadowy, serpentine shape of the red dragons twisting together was breathtaking, and I didn’t even know who was who anymore.
“Levy, we have to go!” Blythe screamed.
“B-But Coalt!”
“He can handle himself!”
With tears at my eyes, I choked back a wail and nodded.
“We can do nothing for him right now!”
I kept nodding deliriously, my mind wandering.
We escaped from the fray by squeezing through the arms of town guards facing off against the mercenaries.
As we made our way up the street, I caught sight of the dragons in the sky. They breathed lances of fire at one another, lighting up the very clouds like a living painting of a firestorm.
My mind suddenly screamed, rewinding: Yes—the refuge! By the gods!
I had to make sure the women were safe. Blythe was totally right.
My heart stuttered, my muscles ached, and little burning sensations shot through my body from the cuts I’d taken, but at least I felt totally intact. Or maybe that was the adrenaline talking.
We reached the end of a street and turned up another. It gave me a magnificent view of the aerial battle.
The dragons had embraced, latching together by their talons. One of them was clearly winning, raking those dagger-like nails over a long, scaled neck. The ruby scales exploded with a darker shade of red blood.
The winning dragon coiled its tail and then slapped it at the wounded dragon. The wounded one squealed and released its hold on its attacker, pushing to get away from that vicious spiked tail.
But with its focus on the tail—
A neck snapped out like a cobra and caught the distracted dragon by the neck. Vicious fangs sank into its throat, digging deep.
The wounded dragon’s squeal turned into a strangled sound as it lost the power of its wings and started to plummet from the sky at an alarming velocity, made worse from the weight of the other dragon sinking down with it.
I slapped a hand over my mouth to avoid gaspin
g in shock as they plunged toward the ground like a comet.
An earth-shattering explosion of dust and grime marked their crash landing, somewhere amidst the town square.
All of Belfue shook from the boom.
A great, triumphant roar pierced the sky and echoed through every street and alleyway.
Someone was claiming their victory, but I wasn’t sure who—
“Levy!” Blythe cried out.
I whipped around to see the refuge about thirty paces away.
But someone stood in front of our shelter, another strange man I’d never seen before. And this guy was fucking huge—even bigger than Coalt.
I crouched into a fighter’s stance and locked my sword with both hands, moving to stand in front of Blythe.
“Who the fuck is that?!” Blythe shrieked.
I gulped. “No fucking idea, Bly, but I’m getting real tired of these assholes showing up out of the woodwork.”
I tried to act tough as I approached, but inside my stomach had twisted into a tight knot and my mind was screaming: Not a-fucking-gain!
34
Levia
As I approached, I realized how truly massive the man before me was. He made my sword feel like a needle in my hands.
He was brawny like Coalt, but also mountainously tall. His head was shaved. He had caramel dark skin and wore a strange blend of fabrics that made him look tribal.
Even with my heart pounding in fear, I had to get past him to make sure the girls were okay.
But as I drew nearer, my racing heart abruptly slowed. I couldn’t explain why, but a soothing sensation settled in my belly and I stood a bit taller, a bit less-defensively.
A familiar, blossoming feeling surged inside me like a physical thing, trying to force me forward.
I could hardly resist it.
Blythe seemed to notice my change in body language. “L-Levy . . . what the fuck is going on?” she asked with concern tingeing her voice.
A blank expression came over me and I tilted my head at the man. Ever so slightly, I lowered my sword—
“Leviathan!” a voice cried from behind. It abruptly snapped me back to my senses.
I spun to see a very naked, eye-popping Coalt running down the street toward us.