Chapter 9

Some time ago, Remis had lost track of the hours and both Percy and Merritt had gone silent. A nervous fluttering fear had grabbed a hold of them the first time they’d sworn they’d seen flapping wings in the distant sky. The looming idea of death had subsequently stolen whatever words they had left to speak.

Blisters were forming on the back of his ankles and each small toe. He cursed his new boots and contemplated taking them off entirely. Though that might be just as terrible. What if he stepped on a snake? Or if the highwaymen, whom they’d not seen any more of, reappeared and took the shoes right out of his hands? It was not worth the risk. So he gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore the pain.

Ahead of them, the dirt road was widening, a sign that he took to mean they were getting closer to Olden. When they finally got there, he was sure he could talk his way into getting them a room for the night and a decent meal for less than the amount he had left in his pocket.

The rhythm of their steps became the music which carried them forth through the woods. Only the occasional rustle of wildlife became the harmony to their song. Remis could hardly manage to even glance at his friends. He was not worth what his friends were willing to give and if he’d been in their shoes, he was certain he’d already be back at home by now with a bottle of liquor and a girl on his arm. He’d always been the lesser man when it came to their trio.

Percy stopped, clutching his book to his chest. Merritt and Remis stopped a step later. “What is that?” Percy asked.

Remis followed his friend”s gaze, goosebumps rising all along his shoulders and down his spine. The feel of his sword against his hip was no comfort as his imagination went wild. Up his attention rose to the treetops and past them into the sky. Stars winked back at him. Branches waved in the soft swell of the wind.

“What is what?” Merritt asked, also searching the sky for whatever Percy was staring so intently at.

Then they saw it as a wave of stars blinked out and a shape cut through the sky. If they hadn’t been staring so intently, they never would have been able to see it. Even the being that blotted out the stars was speckled with white in such a way that a passing glance would have never seen the difference between it and the night sky.

Not a single muscle in his body twitched as every part of him became paralyzed with fear. Even the wind died down and the trees around them stilled. Whatever wildlife they’d once heard was silent as the predator circled them.

It was significantly larger than he’d expected it to be. Even from a distance it looked as though the dragonis could swoop down and swallow him whole. In stories, the animals were double the size of a grown man. Not this dragonis, this one was likely four times, no, five times bigger.

Remis swore that he’d seen a dragonis before but had never seen one quite so large, though they’d always been much farther away. The monsters that attacked the city on occasion were spindly little things with long skinny necks, reptilian eyes, and thin bat-like wings.

“Dragonis,” Percy wheezed out the word. “What do we do?”

“Standing here waiting like a readied meal is not an option,” Remis started, “Run? The city can’t be too far ahead. If we get close enough, the watch should spot us and the dragonis should it come down to attack.”

“Run,” Merritt quickly agreed.

They shared only one last look before the men took off toward Olden. Dust rose around their stomping boots. Their surroundings became no more than a blur of images as the brush and trees reached out toward them trying to snag their clothes and slow them down. Pulling away from the slap of spindly twigs, they bumped against each other, eyes always looking up.

The dark spot that revealed the dragonis was never lost to them as the animal flew in steady arching circles, never drifting far enough to ease the worry nipping at their heels. Remis’ blisters were bleeding now, dampening his socks and pulsing in pain. It was easier to ignore their demanding aching with the rush of adrenaline that screamed at him to survive.

Live. Live. Live.His body chanted.

The Deadwoods were already thinning, the lights of the city calling them to hope, like beacons of safety. They’d taken the most direct path, or so Remis hoped with his memory of the map and the most traveled road. Even if they didn’t expect anyone to be sprinting into the city, especially on foot, someone had to be waiting for them. No respectable warlord would leave his city without a patrol watching for the dragonis at all hours of the season. It was that certainty that fueled them as they barreled toward Olden.

Air pillaged his lungs. Sweat collected underneath his cloak, the hood blown back from his face in their haste. The sword slapped against his thigh, useless for anything other than show at this point.

“Nearly there,” he gritted out through his teeth. He pushed himself harder, thankful for the training that allowed him the endurance. Percy was slowing though, his cheeks a brilliant shade of red, and his breaths a noisy reminder that he was not as well versed in anything this physical.

Merritt grabbed Percy’s arm, dragging him along. “Percy, drop the damn book, it”s heavy and slowing you down.”

“If I’m,” Percy sucked in a breath, “to die,” he breathed the words out, “then I’ll do so with my,” he wheezed, “book.” His friend slowed further.

Damn it. Percy was stubborn even in the face of death.

“Stop being foolish,” Remis wanted to yell but kept his voice low for fear of drawing the dragonis lower. “We have to get to the city before that thing eats us—” He lost his words as he looked up, frantically searching to find the dragonis above them, but the animal that had blocked out the sky was gone, and only the stars shone down, unaware of the startling terror shooting through the men below them.“It’s gone? Where did it go? Can you see it?”

Their steps slowed a fraction as they craned their necks to view between the stretch of branches.

“I don’t see it.” Merritt stopped, turning in a circle as Remis and Percy settled at his sides. Percy doubled over gasping for air and holding his side. “Maybe it found something better to eat than us?”

A tingling sensation raced across Remis’ skin before a tremble traveled down his spine and into his knees. He wiped his sweaty palms against his shirt, heart resounding in his ears.

No. He swallowed. Something watched them. He could feel its gaze on him, could sense the warning of it in the pulses of magic that drifted up from the earth and into his very soul. They weren’t alone.

“We need to keep moving. I don’t think it’s gone.” Remis rounded the group and put a hand on Percy’s back. “We need to run aga—”

Something cracked like lightning behind them. A torrent of branches began to break and rain down upon them as something crashed through the treetops. Remis caught the wicked glint of talons, the stretch of leathery wings, and glowing yellow eyes as the dragonis swooped above them, thundering out an echoing roar.

“RUN NOW!” Remis yelled against the might of its cry. Spittle rained down on them, a lashing of hot wet droplets and a torrent of wind as its body soared near enough to ruffle their hair.

Percy nearly tumbled over his own feet as Remis shoved him forward, only righting himself as Merritt took hold of his arm once more. Remis saw the dragonis in fleeting glances. He funneled all of his strength into moving as fast as he could go while making sure they didn’t lose Percy, who held onto his book with white knuckles.

The creature disappeared into the night, breaking through the canopy. More bits of bark and broken branches cascaded down around them, making the already beaten path much worse. Merritt stumbled once, grunted, and pulled Percy forward while Remis pushed him from the back. They’d all make it to the nearing city”s edge together or they simply wouldn’t make it all.

Those looming lights were a fraction closer, just a tad bit brighter and larger than they were moments before. Safety was a mile away, taunting them.

Another rumbling cry from the dragonis came from their right. Remis snapped his head to the side searching over the trees. Wind pulsed with the pump of the animal’s wings as it hovered above the woods. Smoke puffed from its nostrils and when it opened its mouth to reveal razor-sharp teeth, Remis caught sight of an orange light building in its throat. He’d hardly opened his mouth to warn his friends before a terrible heat was upon them.

Remis hissed and threw all his weight into his friends, launching them forward. Fire licked at his back. Despite the way his body curved forward, arching away, he could feel it scorching his skin. He screamed through tightly clenched teeth. When the heat faded, flames ate away at his cloak and he ripped at the buttons that secured it to his shoulders and flung the fabric off of him.

The dragon was playing with them, never getting quite close enough to snatch them up, but near enough to ignite their fear. He wondered, fleetingly, if the rush of adrenaline and terror somehow would make their bodies that much tastier when the dragonis finally decided to end the game.

Olden was waiting for them at the end of the road. They could see their goal clearly now as the last of the trees began to fade away at their sides.

We’re going to make it. We’re here.

They were all yelling now, screaming into the night, and waving frantically to warn the watch of what was coming, of what terrible beast was on their tail. Remis’ gaze bounced along the edge of the city. A flame cannon was poised next to the road aimlessly pointed toward the sky. Beyond that were a few dilapidated buildings and the start of the cobblestone roads. Not a single man or woman came to their call. Not even the ghosts or shadows stirred where the guard ought to be.

There were no watchmen at the city”s edge. No person to man the gun. No one to save them.

Shit, Remis thought as the clouds parted and moonlight poured down on them.

The dragonis’ shadow darkened their flailing forms. It grew as they ran the last few yards until they could feel the monster at their backs once more. There was nothing else to protect Remis if the animal would so choose to send its flames upon them again.

He told himself not to, scolded himself for even having the desperate want in the back of his head, but Remis looked over his shoulder. The long neck of the beast was stretched, reaching toward them, its eyes wide and watching with their sickening gold depths. It blinked with its inner eyelid and then again with the outer. The scent of smoke on its breath made the air smell bitter like singed hair. Two arms and two legs in total, each ending in inches of sharp claws. The nails clicked against each other as its hand-like appendage contracted and opened in anticipation. Its ashy scales rippled as it locked eyes with Remis. He surged forward, pushing Percy with renewed determination.

Pain tore through Remis” shoulder, a black talon emerging inches under his collarbone. Red bloomed around the claw, staining his white shirt as three more talons clutched his shoulder. A cry of desperation ripped out of his throat, achy and raw. His pursuit of safety was suddenly halted by the dragonis’ grip. He clawed at the hand that held him only to be lifted from the ground.

“Remis!” Merritt yelled watching in horror as Remis was pulled upward several yards.

Remis kicked his feet but the pain in his shoulder was a tearing one and his vision began to darken on the edges. There was a lightness to his head and his stomach was already twisting tight to release its contents. He gripped the animal’s leg, digging into it with his own well-filed nails, only to find that no matter the pressure he couldn’t pierce its scales.

“Watch out!” It was Percy who yelled this time.

Though Remis tried his best to watch for the snap of the dragonis’ teeth, he let his gaze scan the skies briefly before he realized the threat Percy was referring to was coming from the ground. Fire roared to life at the end of the mage-made cannon meant to replicate the flames of a Bold Wing. It blasted through the air missing him by less than a foot. The heat of it hit Remis’ face as though he’d just stepped out on the hottest day of summer and the sun was beating down upon him.

The dragonis swerved out of the fire. Those flames left no mark upon the shining matte scales of its face but the animal hissed and lifted Remis another foot higher. He swore as he felt more muscles tear, his arm threatening to go limp as a tingling numbness shot into his fingers.

Merritt yelled as he pushed his body weight into the cannon. Fire swirled around Remis and he shrieked as it came close to his dangling legs. His muscles strained then burned as he tried to pull himself up, tucking his legs against him. Percy’s shouting was unrecognizable to Remis as his friends called out to him, all while they pointed the flames dangerously close to his head.

Fire surrounded the dragonis but never truly scorched it. The flames danced away from its scales, but when they surged toward its wings the animal pushed itself back somehow managing to get Remis closer to the ground, though it was still a considerable distance for one to fall.

He sucked in a breath, the hot air scalding his lungs. In one jerking movement, Remis yanked himself forward. The talons on his shoulder pricked into his skin drawing fresh blood, and his shoulder screamed in protest as the back claw was freed from his flesh. What pressure the front claws had on him was not enough to hold him.

Remis plummeted to the ground. The grass and dirt raced toward him faster than he could angle to catch himself in a manner that might prevent injury. He hit the ground on the side that didn’t have a gaping wound, but the impact knocked the air from his lungs, and for a moment the world danced around him. Trees blurred together, the stars twisted in and out of their constellations, and the dragon was a hazy shadow surrounded by flames. His vision split and then came rushing back to one image.

When he sucked in a breath it was exhaled with a groan. In all his years of training, he’d never been injured. Not like this, not in such a way that his entire body trembled with the pain and his head swam. Still, his mind screamed at him.

Get up. Get up. Get up.

Run, Remis, run.

Willing his body to move didn’t even so much as make his muscles twitch. Even when the dragonis came startlingly close again before Merritt was swinging the flames between them. And he couldn’t move. His cowardly body froze and stiffened on the frost-covered ground. Blood oozed warmth while the sweat that coated his body was cold as the night air with only the fire-throwing weapon to heat the space around him.

Finally, his vision stopped dancing. His next inhale was considerably more manageable. He winced as he sat himself up. Then hands were tucking themselves under his arms and Percy was dragging him toward the city. His heels gouged the ground, collecting dirt and grass on the backside of his boots. Percy stopped only when they were both safely behind Merritt and the jostling movement poured fresh blood out of Remis’ shoulder.

The dragonis roared and moved left then right and up and down trying to get out of range of the flames. Even when it did, the moment it leapt forward Merritt was on it again. Perspiration was shining on his brow and his cloak was thrown back to reveal the strain of his muscles as he angled the weapon.

With a roar that rattled the cracked windows of the buildings at their backs, the dragonis fed the flames with the wild wind it batted into them from the expanse of its wings. Its tail flicked behind it in an agitated but lazy motion reminiscent of a cat before it returned to the unreachable sky and flew out of sight.

The fire cannon clicked off and the cold of winter returned. All three men stared up at the sky, panting.

“Is that it? Is it gone?” Percy asked, eyes panning the sky.

Remis’ mind wasn’t ready to turn off the full thrum of adrenaline despite the slow creeping understanding that the monster was truly gone. He touched a hand to the place where the talon had pierced him and pulled his hands away to inspect the blood. It ran a brilliant crimson color down his fingertips. He smiled slightly to himself, hoping that was enough. He’d always heard that life’s blood, the kind that made death a certainty, was so dark it nearly looked black. So perhaps, even after being nearly taken by the dragonis, he might live to tell the tale. And have a gnarly scar to prove it.