Page 4 of Queen of Serpents and Shadows

“I’ve got him. You go,” Zarthan yelled.

I nodded, then shot into the sky. My people were being annihilated. Dragons were dropping from the sky, theirhuman forms hitting the water where, to my surprise, the creatures ignored them. But they weren’t splashing, they weren’t fighting for air.

We were being destroyed. One at a time, dragon by dragon; the fae were killing us off. Part of me wanted to rush back in and show the fae what dragons were made of. But that was pride, not leadership.

I made a sound I never thought I’d make. The call for retreat.

My warriors hesitated, some of them still fighting for their lives.

I roared again, then rose skyward so they could see me before making the final call.

Three times.

This was real. We were falling back.

The problem was, I knew we couldn’t fall back to our city.

I glanced to shore where Zarthan was loading my brother onto the back of the third dragon who’d joined us. Likely another healer, since he had a strap on his back to accommodate fallen warriors. No other dragon would allow anyone to ride them.

Hating myself, I retreated, flying away from my home. We’d regroup. This wasn’t over.

We reachedthe winter training camp just after sunset. It had been years since we’d utilized this space, but therewere still buildings and some basic supplies stocked for emergencies.

I didn’t have the list of the fallen yet, but I knew we’d lost too many good dragons.

Healers and anyone with basic healing skills quickly worked to clean wounds and tend to the injured.

I walked around the makeshift hospital, offering encouragement where I could and placing coins on the eyes of those who were gone.

“How is he?” I knelt next to my brother, who was still unconscious.

“He’ll recover,” Nissa said. She stood, and I noticed the blood staining her tunic.

“You’re injured. You need to get that taken care of.”

She lifted a brow. “I’ve been healing longer than you’ve been alive. I’m fine. And your brother is going to be just fine.”

“You’re too valuable to lose to pride.” I couldn’t help but stare at the bloody tunic.

She lifted it, revealing a small cut that was stitched neatly. “I told you, it’s under control.”

With a grunt, I nodded. “Alright.”

“I know you’re worried,” she said. “But as soon as he is healed enough to shift, he’ll recover completely.”

“What about the others?” I asked as I looked around.

She pressed her lips into a tight line. “We lost a lot. I’ve never seen anything like those other dragons before. We weren’t prepared for that.”

“I know.” I couldn’t say it out loud, but I knew if wedidn’t figure out how to eliminate whatever magic created those, we’d lose.

“We’ve faced worse odds,” she said, her tone full of false optimism.

“I’ve known you too long to think you actually believe that,” I replied.

She shrugged. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Sure.” I sighed, then walked away, leaving the injured behind.

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