Zarafa and the Higher Power

SNEAK PEEK FOR THE CRYSTAL DRAGON SERIES BOOK ONE: ZILFERIA

***You will notice when you begin Zilferia that the main series is written in first person present tense. When not written from Crystal’s perspective, I use third person present. The only book in the series (so far) written in past tense is this book, Zarafa and the Higher Power, because it takes place in the past. It’s Zarafa’s backstory. I understand that may be jarring to readers, so here’s my disclaimer. If you are someone who reads only third person past, Dragon Blood and my story in the anthology are written that way.***

When I come to, it’s still dark and I’m standing, tied to a tree. The only thing I can freely move is my head. A few yards away, I see both of our backpacks, half spilled onto the ground. One of the items in the pile is my glowing mini-sword. Ha! Idiots! Now as soon as I get free, I will be able to kill them all… But as much as I wiggle, I can’t get loose from my bonds. If anything, they seem to get tighter. Growling in frustration, I suddenly hear someone- or something- laugh at me. It’s a rough werewolf’s voice. My heart jumps in fear as if trying to escape from my chest and run away.

“Ha ha! Yes, the lovely lady is awake now,” the voice growls. “Now we can have fun with the boy, here!” I hear moaning and recognize it as Nathan’s. A spark suddenly jumps to life and catches on a pile of wood, causing a bonfire to suddenly erupt not far from me. I can feel the heat washing over me, but the best part is the light. Now I can see. …Although that may not be as great as I thought it would be.

I can now see the pack of werewolves around the fire, their fangs shining in the light of the fire. Two of them are holding a now conscious Nathan between them. Standing next to them and looking at me is the most prominent, toughest looking werewolf among them. I can only assume he’s the leader. He grins at me, hunger and lust raging in his eyes. I almost throw up.

Looking around at his pack, the leader grandly announces, “Tonight, we feast! And we will have this woman to be with us. Our fortunes have turned for the better!” He pauses to let the happy howls of the pack die down. “So, since we are sportsman-like werewolves,” he chuckles, “we will let the boy choose his demise- to become one of us, or to die.”

Nathan finally catches my eye. His face is filled with even more terror than I myself feel. Swallowing, he says as loud as his rasping voice can choke out, “I would rather die than become as hideous and disgusting as you!”

The leader laughs. “Very well, then. Our pack is large enough as it is. Far better for you to be food. But we will, of course, let you have a sporting chance before we eat you.” The two werewolves drop Nathan, and he falls to his knees in the dirt. Another one kicks my sword over to him. He looks at it, his eyes now finally gaining a spark of hope. “You will fight ten of my pack. If you can defeat them, you may leave. But you must fight them all at the same time- to the death.”

Nathan shakily rises to his feet, clutching the sword like his life depends on it. Which, it does. “…No. If I can fight twenty, then you will let both of us go.” The leader laughs. He figures it won’t matter- no one can take on twenty werewolves at one time. So, chuckling, he begins picking out the ones that will fight.

Once the twenty are picked, the rest of the pack back away and form a circle around them. I’m on the edge of the ring, able to see every detail of the fight about to ensue. Nathan wastes no time. Leaping forward, he cuts down three with very precise and powerful swipes before the rest can react. When they do, they jump into action and attack him one at a time. I immediately recognize the tactic. I shout to Nathan that they’re trying to wear him out and then they’ll strike at once, desperation causing my voice to crack. He doesn’t acknowledge me, so I can only hope that he heard me.

A wall of fur-covered muscles suddenly impedes my view. Craning back my neck, I see the leader of the werewolves, Wolf. He grins greedily at me, making me wish I could trade Nathan positions. “No helping,” he growls at me. “Not that it will matter. Knowing our strategy is one thing, avoiding it is another. He will die, and you will be mine! …Enjoy your front row seat to your boyfriend’s demise.” Laughing, he saunters away to a better spot to watch the fight.

There are only twelve werewolves left, but I can see that Nathan is about to drop. He’s lost a lot of blood. Thinking quickly, I cause a large gust of wind to blow burning embers onto the wolves, the flames licking at their fur. Howling, half of them concentrate on putting out the flames, making them easy targets for Nathan. Six left. He starts slowly backing away from them- towards me. I swallow the fear rising in my throat and try to trust him. I desperately hope he can win. While backing toward me, he stumbles, and I scream as a werewolf leaps at him. Luckily, he kills it, but I can see that he’s exhausted. Then I look down and see the hilt of a sword lying at my feet. It looks just like the sword Nathan is using. What? How… oh. Nathan must have kicked it over to me while he was fighting… it must have been when he stumbled. Good thing they dumped out our backpacks. But what does he expect me to be able to do? I’m tied up and can’t get loose…

Nathan is now very close to me- bringing ravenous werewolves with him. As I watch, Nathan suddenly spins on his heel and swings the sword. It severs the ropes around my arms, freeing them. He then continues to fight the werewolves, finishing the spin with fluid movements. Wolf hasn’t noticed that anything happened yet. Leaning down, I scoop up the sword and slice through the ropes around my legs. I’m free! Jumping forward and using the element of surprise, I help Nathan kill the other six. Swinging around, though, I unexpectedly come face-to-face with Wolf. Gasping, I back up a step and stand back to back with Nathan as the rest of the pack closes in, completely encircling us.

His voice calm and cool, Nathan says, “There. I killed them all. Now let us go, or we’ll be forced to kill the rest of you as well.”

Wolf growls angrily, taking a menacing step towards us. I force myself not to move. “I don’t think so.” He smiles; a gruesome thing with yellow fangs. “You see, we never let our prisoners go, regardless of what we tell them. Not to mention that you cheated. But we see that the girl is too much trouble, plus you alone will hardly fill our bellies tonight. So we will kill and eat you first, letting her watch, as we always do. But then we will eat her alive.”

I almost pass out from the overwhelming fear rising in me, but I force it down and think. What Gifts might be able to help me here? Ugh, I don’t even remember all of them… my brain just isn’t functioning… Most of them probably wouldn’t do the trick, not with how many of them there are in the first place. I then remember that Charm is a Gift, and it seems to me to be the least likely to cause terrible backlash if it fails, so I give it a shot. Ironically, it’s easier than trying to Charm Vlad.

Lowering my sword, I step forward and smile winningly, trying my best to be like Jake. Nathan notices. “What are you doing?” he hisses.

I ignore him. Batting my eyelashes and lowering my head submissively, I whisper to Wolf charmingly, “Are you sure you want to eat me? Just think of what you would be doing. Don’t you want me to stay here, with you?” My soft, calming voice causes Wolf to visually relax, the tension going out of his muscles. He grins like an idiot and starts nodding. One of the other werewolves steps up to him.

“Yeah, I want that girl! Let’s just eat the boy!” But his angers Wolf- he wants me for himself. The thought almost makes me throw up, but I hold it back. That would certainly ruin the Charm I somehow have been able to create. The jealous pack leader pounces on the other werewolf and cuts his throat with one swipe of his mighty claws.

Looking around at the rest of the pack, his claws and hand-paw covered in blood, he growls, “Anyone else want her? She’s mine!” A fight then ensues, and Nathan and I are able to sneak away, avoiding attention. We grab our backpacks, scooping as much as we can back into them, and begin running. We run for about a mile before we stop to breathe. Once we stop panting, Nathan looks at me and starts laughing. I join in as well, the sweet relief of not getting killed and eaten by those things making me giddy.

“That was brilliant!” Nathan gasps, sitting on a rock. I sit next to him, still laughing lightly. “I had no idea what you were doing at first, but holy cow it worked! You almost had me fighting for you too! I didn’t even think of trying to use a Gift- I was too panicked! I didn’t know you had the Charming Gift! That’s amazing!”

“I don’t- well, it’s not my actual Gift,” I explain. “I just tried it and hoped it would work. I almost threw up, though, so I can’t believe they bought it!” We laugh for another moment before continuing into the forest. To cover our scent and move faster, we both shapeshift into panthers and run through the woods, our backpacks held in our jaws. We go until we’re too exhausted and have to change back, then collapse just as the sun starts to rise.

Zilferia is FREE in KU, and only $0.99 to buy!

Find out what happens next!