After settling into our joined room, I cleaned up in the washroom, pleased to find it had hot running water like Naomie’s bathhouse, and then went right off to sleep. I’d been sleeping on hard dirt or in caves the past week. This was my first real time in a soft bed, so when my head hit the pillow I was out.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop dreaming about the two yellow eyes glaring at me from within the hood.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, there was a loud banging at the door. My eyelids flew open as my heart hammered against the wall of my chest.
“Regina!” a deep male voice barked.
My vision was blurry with sleep, and with only the moonlight to light up the room, I could barely see as Regina bolted across the space and tore open the door.
“What is it?” Regina sounded as dazed as I felt.
“Get to the stables.” It was Nox. He peered into the room as I scrambled to sit up. “Nightfall’s army was spotted crossing the Great River. The king awaits your command.” The guard spoke quickly but confidently, and it was like frigid snow had been poured in my veins.
The Nightfall army crossed into Embergate?
That was… that was an act of war.
I stood, fully alert as all vestiges of sleep left me, and ran over to Kendal, who was still fast asleep. “Kendal, wake up.” I shook her and she moaned, peering up at me with bleary eyes.
“What’s going on?” Kendal’s sleepy voice pierced the room.
“The Nightfall queen’s army is… attacking?” I wasn’t actually sure, but why else would they breach our lands? “We need to leave with the king, now.”
“The king?” she shrieked.
Oh, right, she didn’t know. Oops.
“Get dressed. Now,” Regina ordered.
I slipped into my leather hunting suit and Kendal put on one of her casual day dresses. Within two minutes, we were downstairs and crossing the street, headed for the stables.
The king was there, hood pulled back, pacing the large open barn. When we reached him, Kendal fell into a deep curtsy. “Your Highness.”
He nodded at her and gave me a pinched expression before turning to Regina. “Advise me,” he commanded her.
Whoa, so Regina really was in charge of his army? That was so incredibly badass, and yet I had no time to dwell on it because my heart was ratcheting up higher each moment.
Regina nodded. “I suspect the Nightfall queen has heard of your search for a new wife. She knows you don’t have an heir. She will try to take you out.”
Assassination attempt?
Kendal swayed on her feet as if she were about to faint. I positioned myself closer to her just in case.
“I should breathe fire on all of them and burn them to a crisp,” he growled.
I smelled smoke. It was probably leaking from his mouth and nose but it was too dark to see.
“My king, you cannot. What the Nightfall army lacks in magic, they make up for in innovation. They will shoot you out of the sky with their metal projectiles. You know this.”
Chills rose up on my arms. I’d heard of the Nightfall queen’s inventions but had never seen one. Metal projectiles like arrows? Or something more sinister? A simple arrow couldn’t shoot the dragon king out of the sky, so I knew it had to be more.
King Valdren growled, low and haunting, and Regina stepped closer to him. “You know what you have to do.”
The flickering torch barely lit up his face and I saw determination in his gaze. “I will not leave you and the Drayken to fight my battles.”
Regina burst into laughter and the king stiffened. “That is precisely our job,” she told him, and then she pointed a finger at his chest. “My lord,” Regina growled, losing her temper with him, “you tasked me with protecting you and the women on this trip, and in turn I made you swear to my plan. Are you a man of your word or not?”
I loved seeing this side of her. She was so strong and fearless. I could only watch in envy.
A grunt of frustration left the king’s lips, then his eyes glowed yellow and sought me, piercing into my very soul.
Then he started to disrobe.
What the…?
First his metal shoulder spaulders came off and he handed them to Regina, then his breastplate. I stood in shock and fascination as he took off his black dragon leather top, exposing his abdomen.
I finally found my voice. “What… what are you doing?”
Regina took his offered clothes and looked back at me. “He’s flying you and Kendal back to Jade City, where they will raise the alarm of the invasion.”
Fly? She said fly. He was going to…
When I realized what was happening, my stomach tightened. The dragon king was going to shift into his animal form and fly!
Excitement and terror rushed through me in equal measure.
I followed her gaze just as the king dropped his trousers and Kendal went completely limp beside me, fainting. Rushing forward, I caught her in my arms before she hit the ground.
“My lord, you’re going to give these poor young village girls a heart attack,” Regina warned as he stood in nothing but his undergarment.
His perfectly tanned body was chiseled perfection. Skin draped over muscle without an ounce of fat. He had scars along his arms, both long slices that looked like they were from swords, and small puckers from arrows. My heart did feel like it was seizing in my chest, but I couldn’t look away. I’d never seen a fully naked man before.
At Regina’s words, he gave us his back and then the undergarment dropped.
Bless the Maker.
Seeing Drae Valdren’s bare butt cheeks sent a wave of heat through my body as my whole chest warmed.
Regina turned to face me and bowed her head lightly. “Please excuse the impropriety. It’s an emergency.”
I nodded, feeling like my heart was going to jump out of my chest and fall to the floor. I didn’t mind it. There was a thrill in seeing the king of Embergate naked, a thrill that I liked.
I was about to ask exactly how we would be flying out of here when the king let out a low groan and I steeled myself. My gaze flicked to his naked form as he fell to the fetal position on the ground.
I watched in wonder as the tan of his skin transformed into shiny black dragon scales. A gasp ripped from my throat as nubs started to protrude from his back, growing like vines on a tree.
“Faster, my king, I fear the Nightfall army is close,” Regina told him, pulling out her sword.
Faster? As if he could control such a thing?
I of course knew about his ability to transform into a dragon, the only one of us with dragon magic who could, but seeing it was another wonder altogether.
The black vine-like protrusions on his back grew into leathery wings as dizziness washed over me and I feared I too might faint as Kendal did. His body bulked and he got onto all fours, his hands turning to claws.
“I brought your saddle in case of such an incident.” Regina rushed into the stall which held our carriage and retrieved a giant black leather saddle with a basket on top. I was so overwhelmed with witnessing the magical transformation of man to dragon that I’d totally forgotten Kendal in my arms. She roused then, took one look at the dragon now standing in the stable with yellow glowing eyes and smoking nostrils, and went limp again.
Regina looked at Kendal, disappointed. “Weak nerves.”
I wanted to stick up for Kendal but she was right. She was squeamish and fainted at the slightest sight of blood.
I marveled at the king’s dragon form. Those who lived in Jade City must see him fly past all the time, but way out in Cinder Village we’d only heard of such a display of power. His dragon stood over ten feet tall, a hulking mass of muscle and scales. His tail flicked to the side and my gaze rested on the razor-sharp spikes at the tip.
I watched as Regina, and now two other Royal Guards, strapped a saddle onto the king’s back and then urged us forward.
It was a basket saddle with stirrups, and once lowered in I was able to let Kendal rest peacefully inside of the basket at my feet while I sat.
“In case he has to spin in the air,” Regina explained, strapping my waist in.
What the Hades did she just say? Fly upside down?
She belted Kendal in, who was still unconscious, and then patted the dragon king’s shoulder. “Fly fast. Send reinforcements.”
He looked at her and nodded and then started to walk out of the barn. I gripped the sides of the basket as I was tossed left and right. A dragon’s walk was way different than I expected, and Kendal woke up with the jostling. She stared up at me panicked.
“The king has shifted into a dragon and is flying us to Jade City,” I told her quickly so she didn’t freak out and faint again.
The poor thing just kept staring at me wide-eyed and nodded, her bottom lip shaking. Kendal had always been a bit fragile, mentally speaking. I believed some things were just too much for her.
‘Hold on. I’m taking off.’ The king’s voice boomed in my mind and my eyes flew open.
‘You… you can mindspeak?’ I mentally thought at him, unsure if he would respond.
‘I am the king of all dragon-folk. What good would I be in my dragon form if I could not communicate with my people?’ he responded, and then took flight.
A yelp ripped from both Kendal and me as he kicked off the ground, flapping his outspread wings. They snapped out so fast that a gust of wind surrounded my body, throwing my hair all over the place.
As he pumped higher above Gypsy Rock, I glanced down at Regina and the Royal Guard that had assembled on horseback. I’d never seen Embergate from this vantage point. The sun was just waking, and early shafts of orange glow emanated over the land. Off in the distance, if I squinted, I could see the thatched gates of Cinder Village.
It was incredible.
“I want to go down!” Kendal screamed, the terror evident in her high-pitched tone.
I wanted to go higher, I wanted to sprout wings myself and fly off into a distant land. I wanted more.
“Woooo!” I couldn’t help the shriek of joy that left my lungs as the king cut to the left and zoomed off towards Jade City at a blistering pace. I laughed as the cool morning air pressed against my skin and made my long blond hair whip around my face.
It was the most thrilling experience I’d ever had. I was about to scream out in joy again when I spotted the queen’s army in the distance and a stone sank in my gut. Hundreds of speckles of metal glinted in the rising sun, a harrowing fate for the day to come.
Kendal whimpered, her face pressed down into the floor of the basket as she curled into a ball at my feet and held on for dear life. I reached down and patted her back, trying to reassure her as my mind chewed on the sight of the queen’s army.
How long would it take us to get to Jade City by flight? Would the king be able to rouse an army in time? Surely not if they needed to make it all the way from Jade City to Gypsy Rock on only horseback.
My eyebrows drew together as I noticed a group of large birds coming closer to us. They were flying above the army, but what concerned me was that the birds’ wings glinted in the sunlight much like the men below.
Metal?
The king veered left towards Jade City and I craned my neck to follow the birds.
Something isn’t right.
As they neared, I realized how large they were.
‘Your Highness…’ I turned forward again, trying to mentally communicate with him, unsure how to initiate the process, but merely thought something and then pushed it at him.
‘What is it?’ he asked, flying us faster and harder than before.
I peered behind us again, not sure that my suspicion was correct. ‘You see those half dozen birds behind us?’ I asked him.
He craned his large dragon head quickly over one shoulder and then nodded before facing forward again.
‘Yes.’ He sounded distracted, as if my chatter was taking his concentration.
I pulled my hunting knife from the sheath at my thigh, hoping I wouldn’t spook Kendal, whose face was still buried in her hands at my feet. ‘They aren’t birds.’ I tried to sound calm, but even in my own head I could hear the terror in my mental voice.
His head whipped back again. His nostrils started to smoke as he squinted, his eyes taking in the human arms and legs dangling from the “birds.”
‘Another one of the Nightfall queen’s inventions. A flying contraption for a human?’ He sounded bewildered.
My heart hammered in my chest as I peered behind me once more. The men were gaining on us, and they indeed had metal wings attached to their backs with leather straps, but it left their arms and legs free to dangle, and right now, in each man’s right hand was a sleek metal sword.
‘They carry swords!’ I advised the king, and looked closer at one of the other bird men.
‘Hades!’ the king cursed, pushing even faster as his wings cut through the air with ease. ‘I hate to ask this of a lady but… can you fight? You said you hunted, right?’
A lady? I wasn’t a lady. Not really. Not delicate and easily spooked like Kendal was.
‘Yes,’ I growled. ‘My knife is already out.’
‘Look down at your feet. There are two stirrups. Slip your feet into those and unbuckle your waistbelt so that you can stand up.’
Stand up without a waistbelt? Was he insane? My hands shook with nerves, just like they did before a kill, and I wished I had my bow. It was back in the trunk on the carriage at Gypsy Rock.
“Arwen, what’s happening?” Kendal whimpered. She peered behind us and then let out a shriek of terror.
“Just lie down and cover your head,” I ordered her as I slipped my boot into the tight straps sewn into the harness, spreading my legs wide so that Kendal was between them. There was a ratchet type of strap that I used to tighten it until my foot felt positively squished. Better to be too tight than too loose. I unbuckled my waistbelt and then tried to stand.
It took me two tries, but I finally did it, unprepared for the wind trying to knock me back again.
‘I’m standing,’ I told the king.
‘Good. Now crouch down and grab my sword from the saddlebag to your right.’
His sword? The dragon king wanted me to take his sword?
‘Umm, I’m not sure—’
‘That’s an order. Take my sword now!’ he barked into my head and I jumped, quickly crouching to flip open the clasp that held the flap of the saddlebag shut. When I reached in and came out with the sword, I could barely heft it with one hand. I had to re-sheath my own knife so I could hold the king’s blade with two hands. When I held it more confidently, I stared in awe at its beauty. It was covered with more rubies and jadestones than I could ever imagine would fit in the hilt of a sword.
‘Got it.’
‘Good. Now stab anything that tries to drop on my back. I’ll take care of everything else.’
His words didn’t feel real. Was he serious? Prepare to… stab a man? I mean, I had pulled out my blade for self-defense, but now that I was confronted with the idea of killing a man I felt sick. Elkin, rabbitin, cougarin, ratin, I’d kill any animal that walked, but a man? I’d never killed a man before. I’d never killed anything that wasn’t going to feed my family.
The king started to turn, veering to the right, and I realized he was going to attack them head on.
‘Your Highness, I’ve never killed a man. Only animals. Only for food.’ My chest heaved as I fought for breath.
‘Then pretend they’re animals. It feels the same,’ came his reply.
Before I could dwell on it any longer, the fight was upon us.
