Page 123 of Mage of the Dragon Prince
“There are many other places we can go.”
“True.” Auslin hoped he’d be allowed to stay long enough to take another trip with Kitaro. It’d be nice to go on a journey for the fun of it and not because Auslin’s life hung in the balance of fate.
Chapter 63
Kitaro
After finishing dinner, Vanra sat back to look up at the white tree branches against the dark sky. The polar lights danced in the starry night, putting on an impressive show as blue-green streaks wavered in the sky. “The polar lights are even more beautiful than the stories say.”
It had been a few years since Kitaro had seen them himself. “Is this your first time seeing them in person?”
“Yeah, I’ve never been this far west before. My companion didn’t like going farther west than Zinnia and Odatam. He also hated the cold, so we never went north to Kunushi, Balsimi, or Tozoko.”
“That is a shame. Perhaps one day, I can take you to my mother’s family estate in Tozoko,” Kitaro said. “Borvik is a magnificent place, which also has polar lights in the right season.”
“I’d like that.” Vanra leaned against Kitaro with a happy sigh. “It’s so beautiful here.”
“Not nearly as beautiful as you.” Kitaro guided Vanra’s chin up to indulge in a sweet kiss. As their kisses grew heated, it made Kitaro hunger for so much more.
But Vanra stopped him. He looked around in confusion. “Did you hear that?”
Kitaro listened carefully, but the only thing he heard was the wind blowing through the trees. “There is nothing there.” Kitaro tried to kiss Vanra again.
Vanra stopped him. “It feels like something’s wrong. I?—”
Before he could finish, there was an ambush of twenty snake shifters surrounding them, all hissing threateningly.
Vanra and Kitaro were both on their feet to stand guard, with weapons in hand as they stood back-to-back.
Kitaro didn’t understand how he hadn’t been able to hear or smell such a large group of people. There was also no reason for snake shifters from Galinor in the south to be so far west. “We have no quarrel with you. Leave us in peace.”
“Yeah, we’re not doing that,” the head of the group mockingly taunted. “You should be grateful we allowed you to have a goodbye kiss before we kill you both.”
Silver bled into Kitaro’s eyes as his dragon came tothe surface. “This is your final warning to leave us in peace. Should you unwisely choose to attack us, none of you will walk away alive.”
“That’s awfully big talk from a pampered prince and a pathetic human,” the group leader sneered. “Attack!”
The snake shifters descended on them with a war cry. Kitaro fought them with his sword, using his dragon fire to take out as many of the men as he could. It was hard fighting when he was so worried about Vanra. He dared to spare a glance at the human, who was purifying any shifter he hit with his sword.
Kitaro’s dragon focused on killing as many of the snake shifters as possible. Vanra had been properly trained, so he could defend himself. Between the two of them, they killed every shifter until only the group leader remained.
He came hard at Kitaro in a vicious attack. “You’ll pay for your father’s transgressions against our people!”
“You will die before that happens,” Kitaro snarled. He used his dragon fire to drive the snake shifter back, then went on the offensive. The man was well trained, but Kitaro was better.
He was about to go in for the kill when Vanra shouted in pain. Kitaro’s heart stopped when he saw Vanra’s white shirt turning red at an alarmingly fast rate. The badly wounded shifter who had attacked the human was purified in an instant.
“Vanra!” Kitaro called out before blocking a hit from the snake shifter leader. Enraged that his ward had been injured, Kitaro decapitated the snake leader with his next hit before running over to Vanra.
The human collapsed to his knees, clutching his left side as he continued bleeding profusely.
Kitaro didn’t understand how Vanra could have been so severely wounded when his sword’s sheath was supposed to protect him. But he got his answer when he noticed the sheath off to the side, having been knocked out of Vanra’s hand mid-fight. He picked it up, then used his magic to take care of the rest of their things. Taking care not to jostle him, Kitaro gathered Vanra in his arms. Kitaro flew them to safety, not trusting that the snake shifters wouldn’t have reinforcements coming after them.
Kitaro spotted a cave with no sign of life inside. He guided them inside, using his dragon fire to light the space. When he tried to set Vanra down, the human collapsed with a pained groan. Kitaro used magic to get rid of Vanra’s shirt to see the damage.
Dark green poison was spreading through the human’s veins from where he had been slashed across the left side of his ribcage with a venom-laced sword. For the first time in his life, Kitaro felt genuine fear. He knelt on the floor to help Vanra sit up. “You must heal yourself, Vanra!”
But the mage could only groan as more of his blood poured out of him to puddle on the cave floor.The venom spread closer toward his heart. Kitaro had never felt so helpless. “Vanra! Heal yourself!”
