B00CGOH3US EBOK (47 page)

"So what do we do?"

"We should not tarry here. Dragons are very territorial. Human though I may appear, he will scent my presence as I scented his and come looking to defend it."

"But I thought we were still in your territory."

"Not any longer. I listened to what you said, that the challenges may not be within my domain. Now I may regret having left it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go. No offense, but one dragon in a lifetime is enough for me."

He pointed to a forest in the distance. "We had best seek the cover of the trees. 'Twould not be wise to be caught out in the open."

Baelin started walking and Jill had to do double-time to keep up with him. "Do you really think another dragon would come after us?"

"I would if it were me."

She stumbled and fell behind a few steps, the words driving home the knowledge that if the curse were not broken in two days he would return to being one.

Though it appeared close, it took them another hour or two of walking before they neared the safety of the trees. They stopped right at its edge, where the trees stood straight and tall, silent guardians of the creatures within. Could a rogue dragon be one of them?

Jill couldn't help but notice that Baelin had yet to let down his guard. "Are we out of the other dragon's territory yet?"

"Nay. If anything, we are deeper into it."

"
What?
Then why are we going this way?"

"A dragon's territory can span hundreds of leagues. The wind shifts, the dragon takes flight, the scent is lost." She watched his eyes sweep the landscape around them. "Now, 'tis stronger than before."

He did not have to bother telling her this was not a good thing.

The crunch of leaves and rustle of underbrush broke through the shadows of the forest. Baelin dropped his satchel to the ground, his sword hissing from his scabbard at the same time he shoved Jill behind him.

But it was no fire breathing dragon that bore down on them. Instead, a familiar white horse with a black-haired rider charged out of the trees.

"What are you doing here?" Baelin growled in warning without lowering his sword.

The steed reared, but Roderick managed to keep the animal under control. "I could ask the same of you, dragon." Then he acknowledged Jill's presence with a slight nod of his head. "And I see the fair Lady Jill is still in your company."

"And there she shall stay. Be on your way, slayer. I want no quarrel with you."

"But now that our paths have crossed again, my quarrel is again with you, dragon."

"Can't you just go away and leave us alone?" Jill said, hating the whine that crept into her voice. "Why don't you go find some other dragon to torment?"

"As a matter of fact, 'tis what I was about." Roderick's lip curled, the sneer marring his handsome face. "For two days, I believed I was hunting a different dragon. Imagine my surprise to find all this time it has been you."

"'Twas not I. We only entered these lands this morn."

Roderick shrugged and dismounted his horse, drawing his sword before his feet hit the ground. "Just the same. One dragon is as good as another, as long as it is a dead one."

"You gave us your word you would not come after us," Jill said.

"So I did. And I have kept it, my lady." Roderick kept his eyes trained on Baelin. "But I also warned you if our paths ever crossed again, I would see the dragon dead. I just did not expect to accomplish the feat so soon."

Jill couldn't believe the ease with which Roderick thought to kill Baelin. She didn't understand how he couldn't see the living, breathing human being standing before him. All he saw was a dragon, masquerading as a man.

"Are you ready to meet your fate, dragon?"

Baelin shoved Jill to the side and out of the way. "As ready as I hope you are to meet yours."

Jill couldn't stand by and watch this happen. Not again. She'd throw her body between them if it would keep them from killing each other.

She was just about to do just that when a small hand on her arm stopped her.

"Nay, my lady," young Owen said.

She hadn't even noticed him come out of the forest behind Roderick. "When the battle lust is upon them, 'tis best to stay out of the way."

"But we can't let them do this. One of them is going to get killed."

"Probably."

The clang of sword against sword rang across the open hills, hammering in her head and causing her heart to beat in frantic rhythm with each clash of steel.

"Stop it!" Jill shouted, but neither man paid her any attention.

She watched in dismay as the two knights battled to the death. She screamed at them, calling both of them every kind of stubborn fool, until her throat grew raw. Owen wrapped his skinny arms around her waist, half holding her back, half clinging to her as he watched the two men he admired most try to kill each other.

Jill opened her mouth to plead again for them to stop and an ear piercing shriek rent the air—but it wasn't hers.

Owen's pony reared, its eyes rolling back in a state of panic before it bolted into the trees. What had caused him to spook like that?

Then she noticed, beyond the clanging of steel and the grunting breaths of the battling knights, silence had descended around them. Not a bird sang in the trees, nor a creature stirred in the forest. The skin on her arms prickled and she listened, like every other creature in the forest, waiting. And then she heard it.

The
whoosh-whoosh
of giant wings beating on the wind.

She turned as the creature dove out of the clouds at them and found her voice once more.

"Dragon!"

Baelin and Roderick broke apart and dove on the ground as the creature plunged toward them, breathing fire and leaving a wave of scorched wind in its wake. As it landed nearby, Jill decided the pony had the right idea and she ran for the trees with Owen fast on her heels.

Roderick and Baelin had no such inclination. Abandoning the fight with each other, they turned as one on the greater foe. Baelin took the head, waving his sword before the elongated snout and blazing yellow eyes.

"Take Lady Jill to safety!" Baelin shouted at Roderick. "'Tis me the dragon wants."

"What, and let you have all the fun?" Roderick laughed. "I think not. 'Tis not often I have the chance to slay two dragons in one day."

"Methinks we need to slay this one first afore you attempt to take me on again."

"Methinks you are right."

Roderick lifted his shield and advanced on the dragon, moving behind the creature so it couldn't keep both knights in its sight at once.

The dragon twisted and turned, lashing out with dagger-sharp teeth at one, a ball of flame at the other as each knight took turns drawing the beast's attention away from the other.

She shook her head. "Nothing like combining forces against a bigger bully to make two boys play nice again."

"It appears so, my lady," Owen replied. "If they succeed in defeating the dragon without one of them getting killed first, we shall see if the feeling lasts."

As she watched the dragon lunge at Baelin, its powerful jaws snapping, the muscles beneath the glistening scales bunching, she worried it was a pretty big 'if'.

In a flash, the dragon spun on its hind legs, its thick tail whipping out and catching Roderick in the side. The impact sent him flying through the air without the benefit of wings. He landed with a sickening thud thirty yards away in the tall field grass.

Baelin continued to battle the beast, dodging the fireballs tossed his way, using his wings to shield himself from the flames.

Roderick rose slowly on one arm, the other clutching at his side. Owen bolted from the cover of the trees before she could stop him, running to help his master. The flash of movement caught the dragon's eye and it turned, stalking after the fallen knight and the boy, now frozen in terror.

"Nay!" shouted Baelin. He spread his wings and took to the air, landing on the dragon's back. The beast craned its neck, turning to gnash its sharp teeth at its unwanted rider. Unable to hold on with only one hand, Baelin lost his sword. Jill watched as it tumbled end over end to stab into the ground at the dragon's feet.

With the dragon distracted, Roderick struggled to his feet and Owen helped him to the relative safety of the tress, leaving Baelin alone to battle the beast. The dragon twisted and turned, trying to dislodge him, an unholy sound erupting from its long, reptilian throat. Baelin released his hold and took to the sky before the raging beast could throw him. The dragon sprang into the air and gave chase, following him out over the rolling hills and up into the clouds.

Jill emerged from the cover of the trees and watched as Baelin led the dragon away from them. Would it catch him? Was Baelin fast enough in his human form to out-fly a full-blooded dragon?

She shielded her eyes with her hands, watching helplessly as Baelin became little more than a dark speck against the brilliant blue sky, the dragon a larger, more powerful form racing behind him.

Just as she thought she might lose them in the sun, the dragon banked, veering away from Baelin and abandoned the chase. Slicing through the air on crimson wings, the dragon focused deadly aim on a new target.

The dragon was coming for her now.

She turned and sprinted for the trees. Roderick emerged as she bolted past him, still clutching his side, his sword gripped firmly in his other hand.

"Run, my lady. Go deep into the forest where the dragon cannot easily follow."

But Jill didn't. She went only as far as the first stand of trees where Owen hid, wide-eyed and trembling.

Roderick did not follow. He stood in the open, injured and without a shield to protect him from the dragon's flame, a brazen challenge to the oncoming demon.

She couldn't leave him like that. She left the cover of the trees and ran back out on the field, searching desperately for the shield, but it was lost somewhere in the tall, concealing grass.

The dragon hissed fire, igniting a scorching path toward Roderick. He twisted sharply, dodging the flames, but it cost him dearly. He stumbled and fell. He tried to regain his feet, but groaned and collapsed back down on one knee.

Smoke curling from the beast's gaping maw, the dragon landed and crept toward him with single-minded intent, zeroing in for the kill.

Jill looked to the sky. Baelin was coming back, but he was still too far away. He'd never make it in time to save him.

"No!" she cried.

She spied Baelin's fallen sword sticking out of the ground, a lone silver cross standing tall in a waving sea of green. She ran and yanked it out of the soft ground with both hands and charged at the dragon.

"Don't you hurt him, you overgrown Gila monster."

She brought the sword down on the dragon's flank with all her strength, the shock of the impact reverberating up her arms to her shoulders. She might as well have been a fly pestering a rhinoceros for all the notice it took of her.

She felt panic swell in her as the creature continued to stalk Roderick. She swatted repeatedly at the dragon, trying to draw its attention away from the injured knight.

"Nay, my lady. Stay away. Save yourself," Roderick called to her as he struggled to regain his feet.

Jill ignored him and continued her attack. "Come on, you Everglade reject. I've seen tougher lizards in my backyard."

The dragon finally turned on her, its golden eyes glowing with predatory intent.

Jill held the sword with both hands in front of her as the dragon advanced. She backed up slowly, hoping to draw it into the woods where it would have trouble maneuvering. Praying, too, that Baelin would get here soon to finish what he started before the thing thought about incinerating her on the spot in a great ball of fire.

But it didn't spit fire at her. It stalked her like a cat corning a mouse. She knew if she dropped the sword and ran, it would catch her within seconds. But she couldn't fight it either. Baelin and Roderick had tried and barely scratched it.

Then she remembered something Roderick had told her. The heart. The weakest spot in the scales was over the dragon's heart.

And she remembered something else. The tale Baelin had told her of how he'd slain his first dragon.

Jill stopped retreating and stood still, willing the dragon to come closer. She gripped the sword with both hands, her palms sweating on the carved hilt, her heart pounding in her ears.

When the beast was almost upon her, she tucked and rolled, coming up on her back under the dragon's belly with the sword pointed upwards. The dragon hovered over her, its neck craning to see her, its teeth bared and nostrils flared.

Jill searched the dragon's underbelly, wondering where its heart would be. Then she saw it—a starburst shape of scales, slightly lighter than all the others.

Praying she had the strength to do it, she gripped the sword and shoved the blade hard into the dragon's chest.

Its yellow eyes widened in surprise and she heard a whimper, though she couldn't be sure if it came from her or the dragon.