Page 12 of Blood Red Woes

Besides, what’s done is done. There’s nothing I can do to turn back time and save those people.

I’m maybe twenty feet out of the village when the sky crackles and pops. A loud boom fills the sky, like thunder even though the blue sky is clear. My legs stop, and I look up to the sky just in time to see it shift.

“Uh, what’s going on?” I ask.An uneasy feeling rises in my gut, an omen that, whatever this is, isn’t good. I want to be sick.

The blue sky gives way to dull darkness and gray, clouds that seem to twist and curl down to the ground. The wind picks up, whipping my hair back and forth, so strong it nearly knocks me off my feet.

I close my eyes and turn my head away, but I can’t escape the sudden storm. It licks at my face, practically burns my eyes and instantly dries my mouth. The air itself tastes wrong, like in the village, only twenty times worse.

“I don’t know, but if I would hazard a guess,” Rune says with growing urgency, “I’d say it’s not a good sign! I’d run if I were you, try to get out of this!”

The sky cracks again, so loud it’s damn near deafening. It sounds like it came directly behind me, so I lurch forward andpick up my pace. With how thick the storm is, I can’t see more than five feet in front of me. It’s like I’m walking blindly, hoping I’ll magically come to the end of this storm.

It’s not easy to go against the wind, but I think the wind is coming at me from every direction. There’s no escaping it.

“Pick. Up. The. Pace,” Rune hisses, the shining tattoo the only bit of light around. The storm is so dark it blocks out the sun, and the gray mist is more like a dense fog, so acidic it’s choking. I can hardly breathe, but I do as Rune suggested and start running blindly.

“Where did this come from?” I yell.

“I don’t know, but I think sticking around to find out would be a mistake!”

That is something we can both agree on, at least.

I sprint, frantically trying to find the end of the storm, but it’s like the damned thing keeps going, infinite. On and on and on. Fuck. I don’t want to die like this. If this is what got the village… no wonder no one could escape. This stuff is thick and nasty. If it can get worse, I don’t doubt that it could kill.

A deep, bone-chilling sound explodes above my head, but it’s different than the sounds of crackling thunder I heard before. This time it sounds like… like…

Like an animal. A growl. A growl so loud it overpowers the storm itself—and that means it must’ve come from something really freakingbig. Whatever it is, I don’t want to meet it, so I sprint faster. I run and run and run.

The growling sound rises over the storm again, only this time it’s in front of me, accompanied by the shaking of the ground. The tremor is so great I trip and stumble, falling to my knees.

Whatever it is must be less than ten feet in front of me. The gray storm has another shadow, this one in the shape of a great beast. I can’t see it, but given the general size of its silhouette, I’d say it’s at least the size of a building—and I don’t mean thetiny houses in that village. No, I mean a three-story building like on my college campus. Big enough to make me feel so immeasurably small.

Whatever it is, it growls, and through the storm, something lights up. Its chest. Orange and bright, it’s enough to light up the entire beast, and my heart skips a beat when I angle my head back and stare at its head.

Holy fuck. Holy fucking fuck. That’s a fuckingdragon.

They have dragons here? I’m fucked.

“Don’t just stand there,” Rune hisses. “Do something!”

The dragon’s head cocks toward me, and flickers of fire escape its semi-open mouth. I can’t see much of the dragon due to the thick storm around us, but I see enough. It’s big, it’s powerful, and it looks like it wants to eat me. Burn me to a crisp and eat me like a shish kabob, or maybe use me as a toothpick. Who could be sure?

I take a step back, frozen in fear. “What am I supposed to do? I’ve never faced a dragon before!” I try to look around, which is dumb, since the storm still rages and blocks my field of vision. The only thing I can see is the dragon—and that’s only because its chest radiates orange.

“Move!” Rune shouts that at me the same moment the dragon opens its mouth and unleashes a blast of fire.

Directly at me, I might add. The dragon breathes fireright at me.

Somehow I manage to roll away using acrobatic skills I didn’t know I possess. Maybe it’s something from Rune, because I can’t even do a somersault by myself. I dodge the fire, but I feel the heat.

Shit. What am I supposed to do? Fight a fucking dragon? I’m just a normal girl. A normal girl with no luck whatsoever. I can’t fight a freaking dragon.

I’m dead. I’m so dead.

I’m so amazed at the dodge roll I just performed that I stop moving, and Rune reminds me, “Staying still right now would be a mistake. You have power now, Rey. Use it. Fight the dragon.” My own personal cheerleader, a semi-grumpy ex-wizard who’s been stuck in a soul gem for who knows how many years.

I exhale, and as I do so a yellow bolt of energy appears before me, hovering. The added light helps me see in the storm a bit better. As the dragon readies another mouthful of flame, I launch the bolt toward its glowing chest. Don’t ask me how I do it. I just do. It’s like it’s a part of me now, this weird crackling magic.

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