I COULDN’T MOVE. I realized after a few seconds that it wasn’t coming from me. The Dragonian had made it impossible for me to come any closer. The hoody of my blazer had fallen over my head from the instant stop, and I heard a horrible screeching. At first, I thought it was Sammy transforming out of fear, but the sound didn’t come from her direction. His Sun-Blast swept low over our heads, and the Dragonian tossed the sword up to him.
Brian was the closest to the path that led to the volcano, and he morphed immediately. Everything happened so fast. When I looked again, Brian wasn’t in his spot anymore. Arianna recited a spell, but the Dragonian shouted something that sounded like a counter spell, and she fell motionless.
Lucian grunted next to me. I couldn’t see him, and when I tried to turn in his direction, my head felt as if it was going to explode.
Becky and George both stood in awkward frozen positions. They must have received the same spell that had me immobilized.
Blake charged toward the Dragonian. As his arm went for the Dragonian’s neck, he got blasted back ten paces.
I didn’t know if he was okay. It was all so unreal. I couldn’t believe any of this was happening.
Sammy couldn’t hold back any longer and transformed out of sheer fear. Vines and tree roots sprouted out of the ground, forming hands that grabbed her. They pulled her so tight that I thought she was going to burst in half. She squirmed and tried to wiggle herself out of them, but the more she tried, the thicker the roots became. I could hear a soft hum from the Dragonian, as he recited the words to his spells in rapid succession.
Sammy finally gave up and crashed to the ground. I looked around and noticed Tabitha had disappeared. She’d finally fled like the coward she was. Blake came dashing past me again. Soft hums came from him too, but he stuck to the plan and didn’t morph.
The Dragonian shouted a spell with his one arm stretched out in Blake’s direction. Blake fell hard, inches from me and Lucian. Our eyes met for one-second and he looked away in defeat. A chill ran up my spine and my stomach turned.
We are going to die.
The Dragonian started to laugh and crouched next to Blake menacingly. “You really think you could stop me, boy?”
Blake grunted.
I hoped the Dragonian wasn’t hurting him. It was hard for me to understand how strong magic was, and to be honest, it scared the living crap out of me.
“I’ll kill you one day,” Blake said through clenched teeth. “If it’s the last thing I do!”
The Dragonian laughed. He stopped and looked at Blake’s arm as he lifted Blake’s sleeve with his thumb and forefinger.
“My, my, my, how exciting,” the Dragonian said in a flat tone, but the laughter was real. It made my skin crawl. “The Rubicon tried to save the day. It doesn’t suit you, Blake Leaf.”
Blake growled again, and I could just imagine how defeated he must feel right now. There was nothing else he could have done.
“You’re so full of anger,” the Dragonian whispered to him. “I revel in the knowledge that deep down inside I know that you like it too.” Even though he spoke softly to Blake, I still was able to hear the last part. “You won’t kill me, boy. You want to know why? Because when you turn, you’ll be mine.” He laughed again, as if this was his favorite game. “Just think what we’ll be able to do together. No one will ever get in our way.”
“I’ll kill myself before that happens,” Blake roared like a lion being captured. Somewhere deep inside, I knew that Blake was fighting against that, while the Rubicon rejoiced.
“Wanna bet,” the Dragonian mocked him, and stood up from his crouching position. “However, you’ll hate me now because I’m going to kill all your friends one by one,” Goran spoke through the Dragonian. “We can’t have brave young teenagers running riot when I finally break free from that disgusting hellhole you love so much. Which one should I kill first?”
Blake cussed.
“Blake!” Lucian scolded through gritted teeth too.
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.” He counted us down one by one.
My heart thumped louder as he stopped in front of me.
Lucian roared like an insane person.
“Leave her alone, you freak!” Lucian didn’t appear to care anymore what he said. The Dragonian ignored Lucian and walked straight over to me. He never took his eyes from me once. I swallowed hard and imagined how a gazelle felt right before the predator’s kill. The only difference was that I had lost my ability to run.
My heart beat faster as he slithered nearer. Lucian was swearing worse than Blake, but the Dragonian didn’t pay him any attention. He stopped in front of me and took a deep sniff. He reminded me of the rainbow dragon.
“Not a dragon,” he said, and he slid my hoody off. His face froze. He just stared at me. He didn’t make one peep, but our eyes were locked. I could see Goran’s evil coiling from behind this man’s soft gray eyes. I didn’t know how long we stood there staring at each other. It was terrifying that he had so much mockery for Blake, but for me, he had none.
I was probably not worthy enough. Lucian was still ranting like a crazy beast.
The Dragonian’s face unfroze, and darkness transformed his eyes from gray to black. I didn’t think in a million years that he would do it, but when I felt the blade pushing into my stomach, I knew I wasn’t going to live long enough to apologize for bringing everyone into this mess.
His blade thrust more than once in my stomach, each time a different entrance, twisting through my flesh viciously. He held me tightly while the laughter coming from his lips told me he enjoyed every single thrust.
“No!” Lucian’s voice cried out the loudest, it didn’t even sound like him. My whole body felt as if it was on fire. The last stab he kept the blade in and whispered something into my ear. It wasn’t clear, and I only heard part of the words, like “woman” and “condolences.”
I was concentrating too much on the mountain that was home to a blazing volcano. I could feel my sight slowly starting to disappear, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the mountain. In the sky soared my last bit of hope. Not for me, but for my friends. I saw a Sun-Blast diving with the speed of light.
He came so close I could see the yellow of his eyes and the vertical pupil inside a pair of dark red irises. He picked up me and the Dragonian with his talons, and with one jolt, I was free.
Lucian caught me, but the pain was so intense it almost made me feel numb.
“Fight, Elena,” he yelled as tears streamed down his face. It sounded as if he was speaking into a tin can. Becky pulled off her blazer and gave it to Lucian. His lips were moving, but this time there was no sound.
I could feel a thud, vibrating through the ground and saw Becky and Lucian jump. Becky disappeared. Lucian lifted me and carried me to safety. I drifted away into the deep darkness with the smell of his cologne lingering in my nose.
WHEN I OPENED MY EYES, I saw the same familiar fan spinning above me.
I’m still alive?
I felt as if I was going to lose my mind and wanted to get up, but my fragile body wouldn’t let me.
Constance was right by my bedside.
Is this for real? Am I alive? How can it be? Where are my friends? What happened?
My eyes must have told her I was freaking out.
“Relax, Elena,” Constance begged, while she fidgeted with the drip. I felt drowsy and everything faded out again.
When I opened my eyes the second time, I found Master Longwei right next to me, sleeping.
I’m alive.
I could tell it was dark by the dimmed lights and the silence around me. My throat was dry, and my restlessness must have woken him.
“Easy, Elena.”
“Water.” It came out as a hoarse whisper. He poured me a glass, and I took a few sips.
“How do you feel?”
“Like I got stabbed with a knife.”
He huffed and looked really pissed off. He had all the reason in the world to be. I bet if I wasn’t lying here, he would have morphed into his dragon form and fried my ass on the spot.
“Did you get that while picking a fight with the Sacred Cavern’s Keeper?” he asked, pointing to my wrist.
I frowned. Why is he asking me that? Doesn’t he know?
An alarm went off in my head, which shook my entire body. All I could think about was what could have possibly happened to my friends.
I can’t be the only survivor. I’ll never be able to live with the burden.
“What happened?” I tried to get up.
“Relax, the others are fine.”
“Swear!” I demanded.
“By my dragon’s oath, I promise you, they are fine. Now calm down.”
I nodded and lay back into the soft pillows. “Why don’t you know what happened then?”
“They took a vow of silence.” His tone indicated that he was frustrated, and the way he was grasping the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb confirmed it. He sounded tired too.
“What?” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Why?”
“They don’t want to talk until you’re awake.”
“How did I get here?”
He swallowed hard and closed his eyes.
“We’d just found out that the nine of you were missing. A couple of us were going to search for you when Cheng spotted Blake coming in really fast. He missed the entrance and crashed through one of the walls. Constance was scared that his heart was going to explode. There was so much blood. She wanted to treat him, and that’s when we found you, clutched between his front paws.”
I struggled to swallow. Blake saved my life.
“I never thought in a million years that Constance would be able to save you, Elena. You had lost a serious amount of blood, but here you are.”
“Is Blake—” I couldn’t say the word.
“He’s alright. He was down for two days, but now you would think that nothing serious ever happened.”
I couldn’t believe he’d actually carried me, flying so fast that his heart could have exploded.
“The other council members have been breathing down my neck asking me for answers, which I don’t have. King Helmut tried to force it out of Lucian, not to mention the way Sir Robert threatened Blake and Samantha. The only thing they did deliver was a new King of Lion weapon. The queen’s axes you had.” He frowned. “Cheng’s theory turned out to be more than just an overactive imagination. You can be glad that it carried some of King Albert’s blood, Elena, otherwise none of you would have been here. Now please, enlighten me on all the details. I think I’ve waited long enough.” He didn’t sound pissed off, but there was something in his tone that told me he was done waiting and playing stupid teenage games.
I shivered just thinking about having to relive what had happened.
“It’s my fault.”
“What is?” he asked with a softer tone.
“This mission. It was crazy, but for some reason I was more terrified of what would happen if the wall was destroyed.”
He took a huge breath.
“Cheng told me about the Sacred Cavern and the prize at the end when you finished.”
His head jolted up. “You went inside the cavern?” Disbelief mixed with shock was all over his face.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Elena, you’re telling me that you are the sixth person that made it out alive?”
I nodded again and didn’t understand why it was so hard for him to believe this. He always said the darker your mark, the more you will accomplish.
“I have the scar,” I said, unsure. I mean, he was an ancient, and he should know what the scar looked like.
“I didn’t think that you would have made it out alive. Do you know what could have happened if you didn’t?” He raised his voice again.
My lower lip quivered.
He sighed deeply.
I swallowed my tears and carried on. “I had to know where the sword was. The council didn’t make any progress, and at first, I was going to do it alone, but then Becky told Lucian and Lucian told Blake. It got out of hand, and where I was planning on a one-man mission, it became nine.”
“Which only eight returned back alive from.”
“What!” My heart skipped a few beats before it started to drum inside my ear.
“Brian…” He couldn’t finish his sentence and just shook his head.
