Page 115 of Fear the Flames
I was stupid to think they might be happy to see me.
I was naive to think they might hold the same love for me as I do for them.
Another tail collides with the right side of my ribs, and I crumble again. I stay down for a few moments, and it takes far more effort to stand again.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, voice breaking on the last word. “But you can’t hate me more than I hate myself.” My body throbs, and every breath I inhale feels like someone’s stabbing me in the ribs. My head is dizzy from the smoke and pain, and I have the overwhelming urge to lay down and rip my corset off me. My hands shake at my sides, and I long to reach out to them, but their hitting has ceased, and I don’t want to spark their anger again.
Their heads inch closer. Serpent-like tails swish behind them as they twist in circles around me, lowly growling. They tower over me by at least six feet, and I feel helpless looking up at them. A sharp bang sounds behind me, and the black-eyed dragon lets out a screech so sharp that I raise my hands over my ears. The dragon notes my sudden movement and swipes its tail across the floor, taking my feet out from under me. The back of my head slams against the hard stone, and I fall flat on my back as the dragons peer down at me. The back of my head throbs painfully, the spots in my vision worsen, and the pain in my torso beats like a war drum. I push myself to my knees and watch flames gather in the back of a dragon’s throat. I pitifully throw one of my knives at the long column of their scaled skin, but it bounces off their natural armor.
“Elowen!” I hear Cayden bellow through my blurred state of mind. He shouts my name as if he’s cursing every inch that separates us. My senses are dulled. I turn my head just in time to see his tall figure clad in black rush into the dragon circle and throw himself on top of my body.
An arrow whizzes over his head, so close to him that it touches a few strands of his hair.
Cayden shielded me.
We land in a heap on the stone floor again, but he manages to soften the fall by placing a hand behind my head so I don’t hit it again. He turns to raise his sword at the dragon, with me underneath him, but a blazing orange fire floods over his head in the direction of where the arrow came from. I try to shove him off when he turns back to me, to force him to get away from the dragons, but he doesn’t budge. He tightens his hold on the back of my head and shoves my face into his neck, holding me to him as he lays his body fully on top of mine.
“I’ve got you, angel. I promise I’ve got you,” he murmurs.
“No!” I croak. I try to speak through my scratchy throat, to command him to get away from the dragons, but all I can manage to do is cough. He can’t die for me. This is suicide—he must know this! My body is weak from the lack of oxygen, and the more I fight, the tighter he presses me into him.
Cayden turns his head while keeping me pressed against him. “Things didn’t go as discreetly as we would have hoped,” he says. His heart is pounding so rapidly that I can feel it between both sets of our thick fighting gear. He releases his hold on me slightly, just enough for me to look at the door.
That should be my first instinct, but it’s not.
Instead, I look up at him. His angular cheekbones are highlighted by the flames that flow above us. His sharp jaw is clenched, and he looks toward the door with nothing short of a cold, unyielding promise of death. I notice the blood that trickles from a cut under his eye and the slight rip in his armor on his upper right arm, where I’m sure another cut is bleeding. He said he has never claimed to be a hero, but I don’t think he gives himself enough credit. I tear my eyes away from him, even though it’s the last thing I want to do, and look toward the door.
We’ve been discovered.
Thank the gods the other three got out of the castle before this.
The dragons blow their fire at whoever enters. The guards keep pushing forward, running into the room despite logic. They’re acting as my father’s obedient dogs, willingly running to their death. I hear orders being shouted beyond the door, and soon the castle will be surrounded.
We must get out of here now.
I peer around the room to try to find a different exit, but my eyes catch something entirely different. There’s something along the wall catching fire quickly. I squint my eyes, trying to make out what else Garrick kept in this chamber. It’s either something he didn’t want, or something he didn’t want anyone to see. Cayden briefly climbs off me and pulls something from his pocket. My neck further cranes in the direction of the mysterious object. I can make out a small girl with brown hair, five dragons, a crown…it’s the prophecy. Black smoke whirls in the chamber, but even through the billowing clouds, I notice there’s more to it.
I don’t know the whole prophecy.
I see an army, I see…I don’t know what I see. I try to crawl over to it, but Cayden hooks his finger through my belt loop and pulls me under him again, covering me. A large boom sounds from the wall by the windows and shakes the very floor we lie on.
The wall of windows shatters and crumbles to smithereens. Cayden continues to press me into him until the majority of the rumbling has ceased. Once it’s over, he gets to his feet while grabbing my hands and pulling me up after him. Cayden just set off a bomb.
“There’s more to the prophecy!” I force the words through my dry throat.
“I don’t give a damn about the prophecy!” he shouts back, pulling me toward the gaping hole he created. My gut keeps telling me to turn around; it might hold information that could help us. But I can’t use the information if I’m dead.
We’re going to have to jump into the Seren Mountains and trek through the Etril Forest. It’s the route we’ll to take back to Vareveth because we can’t get back through the door. I can picture Garrick’s soldiers lined up, waiting to enter the chamber. The castle is most likely being surrounded, and every inch of the town will be searched. There are no Imirath soldiers stationed in the mountains, considering it’s practically a death wish to live there, especially in these months.
One of the dragons exits the hole ahead of us, and I know the others will soon follow suit. My curiosity itches to turn back to the prophecy, even just for an extra peak, but there are too many stones littering the chamber floor. A trip right now could be detrimental to our escape. We don’t let go of each other’s hands as we jump from the castle, with the dragons flying upward, into one of the most dangerous places on the continent. Stones rain down around us as we fall through the air. I wobble on my bad leg when we land but take off in a sprint as soon as I regain balance. There’s nothing but trees and a soft dusting of snow in the forest beyond us. The wind whips down from the peaks that we’ll soon be climbing.
“Have you been carrying a bomb this entire time?” I inquire.
“Always the element of surprise, angel,” Cayden smiles over at me.
A sharp gust of icy air infiltrates my lungs as I let out a shocked laugh. “You’re insane!” I shriek, facing forward again.
“Admit it, you’re impressed.”
