Dragon Tamer

My surprise felt like a slap to the face, and then I didn’t have any more time to wonder why Marco was acting this way.

I jumped out of the way. He ran straight past me, continuing his charge for Camden. But he was being stupid and growling at the five tonne dragon like it would make a difference.

“Move, Cam!” I screamed, rushing to my feet. The idiot braced himself for the impact, but I was only a bit faster than the hulking dragon and knocked him to the side. “Are you mad!”

Marco swung his neck around and snapped his jowls at us. Camden rolled us to the side and crouched over me, still snarling like a wild animal. His whole body trembled. I hoped it was in fear, because he would have completely lost his mind if he wasn’t terrified of the massive dragon trying to kill him. Marco barred his teeth at him, spit spraying us and the rocks on either side of us.

I shoved Camden off me and stood in front of the dragon. “That’s enough! Back off, Marco!”

His mouth split open, about to take me in whole. I dove underneath and bounded for his front leg, quickly climbing up it. I slammed my elbow into the pressure point in the joint between the leg and his torso. The dragon cried out and collapsed to the ground. “Run, Cam! I don’t know why, but he’s mad at you!”

Camden got to his feet staring up at the dragon in horror as he snapped at him, dragging his paralysed leg to get to him. “Kali. . . I can’t leave you with him like this.”

“GO! I’ll be fine.” Marco wasn’t trying to buck me off. He was completely fixated on making Camden his lunch.

To my relief, he finally started backing away, keeping his eyes on the dragon like how I taught him. While he made his way for the trail, I climbed into the saddle and grabbed my sword. With the hilt of the shortsword, I smacked it into the left front leg, rendering the dragon’s front legs paralysed. He whimpered and swung his head back and forth in frustration.

Camden ducked out of view down the hill. It appeared to be all what Marco needed to calm down. I slipped down his side and stood in front of the beast, arms crossed. He better know how unimpressed I was with his behaviour. “What was that, huh?”

The dragon dragged his head away from my disappointed glare.

“Nuh-huh, buddy, you don’t get to avoid this.” I moved in front of him again. “Cam has done nothing to you. You don’t get to flip out like that for no reason. Was it his eyes?” He curled his lip up at the mention of the only different thing I could think of. “Why? What’s wrong with his eyes?” He growled. “Hey, cut it. He’s not dangerous to us. Cam’s a friend.” He shook his head, apparently disagreeing with that statement. “Fine, be that way. If I release you, I want you to go straight home and send Elesor after us. If you go after Camden again, you won’t get any jerky and no breeding next year. Got it?” The dragon didn’t make any movements of protest, so I went around to his sides and hit his pressure points with the hilt of my sword. He stretched, shaking his body head-to-toe, then he took off.

Releasing a relieved breath, I followed the trail down the hill. The chilly breeze was suddenly welcomed; it cooled the sweat on my skin. I’d had dragons attack me before, but never one as gentle as Marco. Why would a small change in Camden’s appearance make him act like that? He hadn’t threatened me, and Marco had seen the other princes use fire magic to know that they were nothing to be afraid of.

I turned the corner that led out into the open fields of the valley. The mountains gave way, allowing the sun to shine down over the colourful meadows. It warmed me up instantly, so much so that I had to tie my jacket around my waist. Plum was on the other side of the extensive field. Without a dragon, we would be lucky if we got home before sundown. Thinking of the all harpies, manticore, and goblins that lived in this valley that would love an easy snack made the walk home seem a lot further away.

Try not to die until Elesor finds you.

Further down the trail, someone was slumped over and quaking something fierce. It dawned on me that there should only be one person out here. My heart stopped for one beat. Two beats. And then I ran.

Cam was on his hands and knees, shaking like a naked dog in the middle of winter. Sweat trickled down his neck, his entire shirt was drenched. There didn’t appear to be any visible injuries.

“Cam? What happened?”

He responded with a groan and collapsed.

“Cam!” I shook him to make sure he was awake. He moaned, rolling onto his back. His chest heaved, struggling to catch a breath. “Cam, tell me what happened? Did Marco attack you on his way home?”

“It. . . hurts,” he panted.

“What does? You have to tell me what’s going on or I can’t help you.” He was so pale it was like looking at a wraith. His hair clung to the side of his face, a shade darker from all the sweat.

“Every. . .thing. Ah! Kali!” He curled up, more tremors racking his body. I’d never seen anyone move like this before; his flesh moved as if something was trying to dig its way out. It looked as painful as he said it was. Having no idea what else to do for him, I took his hand and squeezed it tight. All I could do was let him know that he wasn’t alone. He took my hand in both of his and pressed his forehead to it, taking deep breaths. The tremors seemed to have subsided a little bit.

“This may be an unreasonable question, but do you think you can move, Cam? We can’t stay here. Marco’s gone to get Elesor, but she won’t be here for a few hours. It’s hours of daylight we can’t afford to lose.”

Grunting, he rolled onto his knees and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. I rubbed his back, feeling his muscles roil under my touch; I kept it to myself. He had enough things to worry about, he didn’t need me adding something might be inside him to it. The healers could have a look at him when we got home. “Help me up,” he breathed.

I grabbed his elbow and pulled him up the best I could. Somehow, he felt much heavier than the last time I sparred with him but he clearly hadn’t gained any weight. It only added to my fear that he had become the victim of some sort of parasite.

I draped his arm over my shoulders, taking as much weight off him as my ribs could bear as we hobbled down the path. His sweat transfered over to my shirt, instantly soaking it. By Gods, he was boiling hot. It was a wonder he hadn’t dropped dead from the intense heat his body produced. It almost hurt to touch him.

“Lead the way, Kali,” he murmured in my ear. “The sun’s too bright for my eyes.”

“Don’t die on me, Cam, okay?” My brothers had been hurt before and sometimes we weren’t sure they were going to make it, but I’d never felt this scared for someone. At least with my brothers, there was someone around who knew what they were doing and the chances of them dying were very slim. Camden and I were on our own and I honestly didn’t know if he was going to make it. I didn’t even know what the scariest part was: it being my fault that he died because I was reckless, or being in a world without him. He had so much to offer and he had a truly kind heart under all his walls. He didn’t deserve to die. My heart ached at the thought of losing him.

He chuckled breathlessly. “You make it sound like you care whether I die or not.”

“Of course I care, you idiot. I’m not heartless--and believe it or not you’ve grown on me.”

He tilted his head towards me, eyes opening just enough to see me through his lashes. “Have I? I thought you were getting tired of me.”

“What would make you think that?” I asked, surprised he’d say something like that.

“You kept pushing me to do fire magic, I thought you were trying to get rid of me.”

“Is that why you didn’t want to do it?” It dawned on me that he was stalling because he wasn’t ready to leave.

He nodded, closing his eyes again. “I-I like it here. The people have grown on me.”

“Yeah, Amber and Cadence have really taken to you too,” I admitted miserably. Man, if they could see him draped over me like this they’d flip out and call me a whore, or whatever they felt like would get him away from me. Then again, if they saw him like this, they would know exactly what to do to help him. I was more useless than I was the night the manticore attacked the village.

You’re useless no matter what you do. The one thing I knew couldn’t save either of us right now. And now Cam’s going to die because of you.

“I wasn’t talking about Cadence and Amber,” he mumbled. And then his full weight landed on me. He slipped from my grasp and hit the ground hard.

“Cam!” I fell to my knees beside him and flipped him onto his back. His eyes were closed, his breaths shallow and ragged. I felt his pulse; it was beating at an alarming rate, I didn’t need to be a healer to know that. “Cam, wake up.” He remained unconscious, aside from the shivers that took over his body again. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If Tallinn was your guide this would have never happened. I wish I was stronger for you--or maybe became a healer like my mother.” I was a blathering idiot because I didn’t know what else to do. “Did I ever tell you about her? I never met her, but my brothers talk about her. She was beautiful and fierce. She was the dragons’ favourite healer. She could calm any dragon in pain. It’s how she met Dad; he was going to put down a dragon because she was too violent. My mother smacked him and talked the dragon down before he could hurt her. She healed the dragon. . . and the rest is history. Dad said he fell in love with her on the spot; he never met anyone so brave. He misses her so much. He’d never admit it, but I think he sometimes regrets having me. She’d still be alive if it weren’t for me. . . everyone would be better off if I never existed. You would too.” I didn’t know when I started to cry, but the next thing I knew my shoulders were shaking and my face was wet.

“Kali?” Camden rasped. His hand reached out blindly for me. I took his hand, thankful he was awake again. “Are you crying?”

“No.”

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.” I hastily wiped my eyes in case he opened his and saw I was lying. He didn’t need to know how upset I was at the thought of losing him. “Can you walk? We’re losing daylight.”

Face scrunched in agony, he rolled to his side then pulled himself up to his hands and knees. I grabbed his arm and helped him up to his feet. He leaned into me, head lolling on my shoulder. “What’s happening to me, Kali?”

With a grunt, I shifted his weight to take it off my ribs then half-dragged him down the trail. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out when we get back to Plum. You’ll be okay, Cam. I might not be much use, but there are people in the village who know what they’re doing.”

His nose brushed along my neck, breath hot on my skin. “You smell different, Kali,” he mentioned dazedly.

“Yeah, that’s sweat. I wouldn’t be smelling me, if I were you.” Like how I’d been gracefully ignoring how much he reeked and how wet he was and how sticky it was on my skin.

“No, it’s. . . lavender.”

“I use a lavender bar of soap in the bath.” I hid it in my room so my brothers didn’t use it up. It was the one girly thing I had to myself. I didn’t mind living in a house full of men, but they could do with smelling better than dirt--with their own soap.

“I’ve never smelt it before.” He sounded like he was accusing me of hiding my scent from him. He must be delirious.

Better than being in pain.

“Well, normally I don’t carry you across the valley,” I grunted, hobbling us around a large rock I couldn’t step over with him on top of me like this.

“I guess,” he mumbled. He took a deep breath and hummed in my ear. “You smell heavenly.”

“Thanks?” It was the strangest compliment I’d received, but I didn’t get too many, so I’ll take it.

He hummed again, this time with a hint of legarthy behind it. He started leaning into me again.

“Cam?” I shook him lightly, trying not to fall over. “Cam! Stay awake!”

“Hmm?” He lifted his head off my shoulder to look at me through his lashes. “What’s the matter?”

“If you fall asleep, I’m going to drop you.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t fall asleep.”

* * *

We spent hours dragging our feet on the trail, racing hopelessly against the sun. Whenever I looked up, it was a little bit closer to dipping behind the mountains. My anxiety rose as the shadows grew longer. At this rate, I would be too exhausted to fend off any creatures when they came for us at sundown. The only reprieve the sun going down offered was the temperature falling with it; it made the trek just a little bit easier.

Camden was constantly in and out of consciousness; whenever he passed out, I had to ease him down to the ground. It gave me the chance to catch my breath and stretch and regret not grabbing water from Marco’s saddle. When I looked back, the beginning of the trail was still in sight in the distance, gloomily reminding me we hadn’t covered as much ground as it felt like we had, but I kept pushing us to go as far as we could before Camden collapsed again; any distance was better than none. Elesor could get to us that much sooner. His condition neither improved or worsened, and I wasn’t sure if I should take solace in that, aside from being grateful he hadn’t died yet.

The sun’s yellow light shifted to orange, shadows blending together; the mountains’ shadows on the left loomed over us, casting a chilly air over my skin. For once, I was glad to have Camden’s hot, sweaty body draped over me; he, and the effort of lugging him down the trail, kept me comfortably warm.

And then the sun dipped behind a mountain. A purple hue lit the valley. We only had a few minutes before it went pitch black. I pulled Camden off the trail to the back of a large boulder, that way when the monsters came they could only come at us from one direction. I leaned him back against the rock, his head drooped and he moaned in his struggle to lift his head upright. “What are you doing, Kali?”

“Getting ready for a fight,” I answered, double checking the amount of Dragon Vain in my pouch. The explosive stones and my shortsword were the only weapons at my disposal. It should be enough for an hour or two, in which time Elesor will have hopefully arrived. If she took any longer. . . well, I would have to get crafty--or magically turn into a dragon and fly us out of here.

“It’s not dark out, though,” Camden grumbled dazedly. His eyes were barely open to see what time of day it was, but anyone who could see would know night was nearly on us. Standing only a few feet away from him, the darkness induced shivers along my flesh. My instincts told me to light a fire to stay warm, but I didn’t want to draw any attention to us. My hope was that there was enough prey out tonight that the creatures wouldn’t pay any mind to us and we would be up in the sky before they noticed us. At least a hundred feet above, we only really had to worry about harpies. Manticore wouldn’t go near an adult dragon, even when she was by herself.

I knew the last of the sun had dipped below the horizon when a thick, velvet darkness folded over my eyes.

Licking the last of my sweat off my lips, I reached down for my hip where the trusty pouch of Dragon Vain rested. It was best to familiarize myself with its location now, rather than fumbling for it in a fight. Soon my eyes would adjust and I could make out shadows, but unfortunately, if my enemy was slick, I wouldn’t be able to see them until it was too late.

“Kali?” Camden whispered. He seemed to have perked up a little amist my silence. “What’s going on?”

“I told you, it’s night time. I’m standing guard.”

“I can hear your teeth chattering. You’re cold.”

“Better cold than being eaten alive,” I hissed, straining to hear anything but Camden’s voice behind me. There was a possibility nothing was near us and standing guard was pointless and the only thing I should worry about was freezing to death. . . . or something could be stalking us right now and if I wanted us to survive, I had to be vigilant.

“Come here,” Camden ordered. “I can’t stand watching you shiver like that.”

“I thought you of all people would understand how important my job is right now, Cam. Unless you’re well enough to help me in a fight, you stay there and I’ll stay here.”

“If I can hear your teeth chattering, so can the goblins across the field.” The exhausted nature of his tone caught my attention first--he was trying to act normal, undoubtedly so I would give in to his demands--but then his words sunk in.

“You can hear goblins across the field?”

“I can see them. You can’t?”

“No, I’m pretty blind right now. Stop talking so I can hear what’s going on.”

“I’ll stop talking if you sit beside me and warm up.” I would have never guessed he was a heaping pile of sweat and tremors an hour ago with that princely, authoritative but slightly mischievous tone.

“You can see the goblins?” I didn’t know how he could see them, but if he could then at least I would have some warning before they attacked.

“I’ll tell you if they get close,” he promised.

Relenting, I backed up until I hit the boulder then slid down to the ground, my sword laying at my side, ready to be picked up at a moment’s notice.

It wasn’t hard to tell where Camden was; his body was hot, the heat radiating off him like a medium-sized fire. He didn’t have to put his arm over my shoulders to keep me warm, but there was something comforting about sitting in the dark in someone’s arms, knowing that, despite how alone I felt, I wasn’t. However, I resisted the urge to snuggle into his side and wrap my arms around him. I doubted he had that in mind when he invited me over.

“How are you feeling?” I asked him to distract myself.

“Awful. I honestly don’t know how I’m awake right now. I’m so exhausted and everything bloody hurts. It’s like growing pains--exploded.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’m glad you’re awake. I-I don’t want to be alone right now.” It was horribly selfish; sleeping was probably the only escape he had from the pain.

He found my hand in my lap in the darkness and squeezed. “That’s why I’m fighting every compulsion I have to sleep. . . .” Abruptly, his hand tore out of my grasp; he curled his knees to his chest, groaning like a wounded animal. Any other time I would have felt more sympathetic, but he wasn’t rolling in agony quietly and I was pretty sure a goblin could pick up on it.

“Cam? I hate to tell you this, I know you’re hurting, but shut up. The goblins will hear you.”

Because the universe hated me, he cried out, throwing himself forward onto his hands and knees. He roared, sounding more like a manticore than a human, and heaved violently.

“Fuck.” If they hadn’t heard him before, the goblins definitely heard him then. “Sorry, Cam.”

In a last ditch effort to conceal our position, I gripped my sword tight--then slammed the hilt down on his temple. He collapsed instantly. I dragged him back to the boulder then stood over him, sword at the ready.

For a moment there was only the sound of the wind against the grasses in the field. It was cool, sending a shudder up my spine, but oddly refreshing. And then an awful stench wafted into my nose.

Seconds later, the scent became the sounds of various shrieks and screeches made of my nightmares.

They’d found us.