Chapter Ten
Caridan
“She’s what?!” Targeg exclaimed as I told him the news.
My mind reeled at the news from the last hour. A life with Ariella seemed too good to be true, and that’s because it was. I had violated our forefathers’ wishes on too many occassions. Even if we’d found a way to run, now Meg would tell Brenem, and he would be after me faster than I could imagine.
In fact, I was surprised I’d made it this far without him on my tail.
I should have been elated to start a life with Ari. My child in the pit of her stomach brought me tremendous joy, and that was quickly replaced with sick, utter fear. I should have been happy, but I was only furious. Furious at her for being culpable, for building something with me and then simultaneously tearing it down, for pushing it – and furious at myself for being too weak to resist.
She’d stolen me from my world of misery, and then she’d signed the warrant for my death.
I found my way out towards the mines. As soldiers, we were sent down to the mines to assist researchers, as well as diggers. But, as of late, we were sent to protect it from other dragons. The mines were filled with Marraflowers, the same agent Ari had been working so hard to find. Though it was late, I’d asked Targeg to meet with me, desperate for someone to talk to.
The blue and yellow dragon dragged his hand along the gold stone of the mines behind us as we walked. His eyes were growing more and more distant the longer we explored.
“Here I thought you guys were staying free and clear of doing the dirty.”
I offered him a deadpan stare and flatly replied, “Surprise.”
My friend continued to look off into the distance, his expression caked with a dawning worry. I knew why.
Disobedience meant death in our culture. They would think nothing of killing me, especially now that Targeg was on his way to breathing fire. That thought in itself had me inwardly cursing Ari for being so studious with her time here on Udora.
“Damn that girl for being so useful,” Targeg breathed as though he could read my mind. “What are you going to do?”
I fell sullen, a sight that worried him. Targeg’s spines furled up, and a look of undue disgust settled on his face. “Caridan!” he lectured. He knew there was always an unspoken precaution only rumored of in hushed whispers amongst choosing’s gone awry: kill her. Get rid of her. The unspoken rule should a human mate start controlling a Weredragon, get herself into trouble, or start negatively affecting the Koth.
Targeg studied my expression and whipped his tail vigorously from side to side, a deep frown settling between his brows. “I could always say the child is mine,” he said. “Save you some grief.”
I thought on that, the very sentiment filling me with jealousy. My eyes traced his form, and I dismissed his offer. “They’d know you were lying.”
To my surprise, he nodded in agreement. “So, what, you’re going to kill her?” he asked with disgust, his knee bent and foot resting on the wall behind him. He crossed his arms and leaned into his new pose as he waited for my response. “You can’t do that, Car.”
I thought on it and blinked. The answer was easy, but I wished it wasn’t. “No, of course not,” I relented with a sigh.
“Then you’ve got a month to figure this out,” he said brashly and leaned away from the wall. Every three months, the humans would undergo tests to make sure their bodies were adjusting to life on Udora. Then they’d know she was with child. My child.
I let that thought sink in. She was everything I wanted. We’d fought relentlessly to get the other to admit emotional defeat; to admit we were intrigued by the thought of falling in love. She defeated me as much as I did her. That was how we ended up in this mess in the first place.
I told her I loved her, and then I disappeared. It was the worst mistake I ever could have made. Now, all I wanted to do was go back and make love to her and relish the thought of starting over with someone who made me feel as alive as she did.
“You could send her back to Earth,” Targeg suggested and then immediately corrected, “But they’d send her out with a physical and then they’d just find out anyway. Man!” He exhaled in frustration. “You really screwed it up this time, Car.”
“I’ve been through worse,” I said with a defeated smirk.
“She’s doing good work. They might let this one go. Hell, they love breeders anyway, right?”
“Not from me,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Say it’s Brenem’s… say he took advantage of her?” he shrugged and kicked the stones out from under his feet. We both watched as they ricocheted off the cave walls and trickled down a hole in the floor with a snapping echo. “Do you think her sister would back her up?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t know if Ari was even talking to her. Her honesty with me was questionable at best these last few weeks. I didn’t know what was true anymore.
“They’d probably worship it if they thought it was Brenem’s,” he continued.
“We’re not saying it’s Brenem’s!” I shouted. “We’re not saying it’s anyone’s, okay?!”
“Geez, let go of your pride for two seconds to consider an alternative here, Caridan!”
I stared off into the darkness of the mine and became lost in my thoughts, incredulous to the situation I had found myself in. Maybe it was my pride holding me back. Maybe Targeg was right; the better man; the one for Ari all along.
“It’s mine,” I snapped finally. “It’s my problem.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
My ears perked up before I had a chance to respond and my gaze met my friends. A screech filled the hollow walls of the mines; it was a war cry we would know anywhere. It was Brenem.
I bit my lip and looked to the floor for just a moment before the piercing cry echoed through the cave once more. He was close. Targeg grabbed my arm, and I looked at him with all the sincerity I could muster. We both knew what was coming.
“I’m sorry,” I said suddenly, my dry words escaping me unwillingly. “That I’ve been so–”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, buddy boy! We’re not saying goodbye yet, alright? Let’s show this condescending rat dragon why he should learn to keep his big maw shut.” He raised his brow and grinned playfully. “Shall we?”
The steps out of the cave were slow and precise, like the pair of us had mapped out exactly how we would move to defend one another when this day inevitably came.
We approached a clearing in the mossy fields just outside the mines. Udora’s air became so cold at night it felt as though dew drops hit my skin. As we walked farther into the field, I could feel Targeg rushing up beside me. He looked at me, and I at him, then my eyes caught Brenem’s, and suddenly I knew: this was the end.
This was what it had all been building up to. The fight.
“I heard we have a little problem,” came the smug laughter from the red dragon. Upon closer inspection, I saw Ari in his arms, and I felt a sick repulsion run through my body like it was in a race against itself.
“Don’t!” Targeg yelled, but at once I felt my body change. My wings gusted at my side and by the time I reached Brenem I knew I had already shifted, the intense pain shocking its way through my body. The scales at my side lit up in anger as the red dragon held her limply in his hand; the same smug arrogance that lived by his smile never leaving his expression.
“Somebody’s made an awful mistake, Car. And I think it’s about time that somebody is held accountable, don’t you think?”
With those words, it was as if the whole world had stopped and at once he threw Ariella into the air without a second thought.
My eyes widened as I saw her dress billow behind her and I raced for her, catching her on my back. My chest heaved with heavy breaths as the fury overcame me. I wouldn’t wait for permission any longer.
“No need to tell you what I did with her sister!” he yelled.
I couldn’t fathom whether he was bluffing, but I had no doubt that he would kill that girl with no second thought – and he would do the same to Ari if I couldn’t stop him. That was his declaration of war against me, and I was more than ready.
“Targeg, grab her!” I demanded, and my friend quickly grabbed her away from me. “Take her somewhere safe.”
Still in his human form, Targeg scooped her up in his arms, and I watched as she gripped onto him like
She looked at me for the briefest moment, her eyes weighed down with weariness. “Caridan,” she said weakly and reached out for me.
From my shifted form, she looked so small, so fragile compared to how she looked in my bed. I looked to Brenem and then quickly back to Ariella, using my wings as a shield for the both of us. I bent my forearms down so I could kneel in front of her, my large stature still towering over her.
“I do love you,” I said firmly. “I’m sorry I was such a fool.”
Amidst it all, she gave me a smile. With a light roll of her eyes, she quipped, “Well, I always knew that.”
“That I love you, or that I’m a fool?”
She stared at me with a soft and sweet forgiveness and simply shrugged as she said, “Both.”
There was no more time to spare. I nodded in her direction and said, “I will make this right for us; I promise.”
With that, I raced for Brenem, who was flying up ahead. He changed his speeds consistently to make it difficult to catch him. And it was. When I felt I had reasonably caught up, I took a chance and bashed him with my wing, pushing as hard as I could to knock him back to the ground. His stony spines shot up like fields of molten rock, and he grinned at me.
“That the best you got, Caridan!?” he yelled and tilted his head back, using his full body weight as he smashed back hard with his enormous wing.
The force of it sent me flying back into the side of the mountain that held our precious mines. The rocks jabbed into me with no warning, and I let out an agonized cry as I pulled myself off of them. I could feel hot liquid escape my back legs as the rocks slid out of me.
The red dragon was larger than me, but I was ready to give him my fight.
I rushed forward to meet Brenem once more, and he took to the sky. I followed quickly behind him, glad for the opportunity to get off of my injured legs. I watched as Targeg haplessly set Ari down on the ground beneath us, and suddenly he was a dragon once more.
His yellow spines took form in his sharp, square snout. He bristled against his form and shook his wings out, racing toward us with vigor. He reached Brenem and slammed him in the side with his massive tail; dragging his spines against Brenem’s tough skin enough to finally make him bleed.
The red dragon cried out, and a deep shot of energy left his throat, crackling against the sky like lightning. His husky cries filled the air with terrifying alarm.
I could see Ikar overhead, fully shifted and perched on the top of one of the mines. He stood regally, his long white mane falling down into his beard. The white hair and scales made him appear icy under the dark sky. His eyes were unbearably blue as they watched me with intensity. I half expected to see the Koth emerge from behind him, watching and judging our battle and readying themselves to take my life from me. Instead, it was just the white dragon. He didn’t move, only watched with his head held high in the air.
Targeg dug his short, sharp fangs into Brenem’s shoulder and began to ravenously chomp at the dragon’s skin over and over again in an attempt to pull him back.
I joined in the fight and used my wings to push him back. I pounded them against him with force. The second time I whipped against him, he must have felt a burst of energy because he began tearing through my wings.
Clenching his nails into my back, he grabbed hold of the patagium and began ripping through it with his teeth. I could feel shock run through my body as I felt every bit rip away from my bones. The sound of it vibrated through my body and made me weak.
Finally, I managed to use my free wing to lurch forward, but he grabbed my back leg with his teeth.
I couldn’t see the damage done, but by Targeg’s reaction, I knew it was bad. My friend flinched at the sight and clamped his teeth down into Brenem’s back, and we both watched as the red dragon whipped his tail wildly in an attempt to get away from the two of us. I could hear Targeg’s rumbling growl as it vibrated and hissed. The sound was so deep and layered and unending; it was the first time I’d ever thought of the blue and yellow dragon as a wild beast.
Brenem careened backward, finally letting me go. I fell fast to the mossy ground below and felt the thundering boom of my body hit.
I heaved for breath and lay my head down on the cool greenery, somehow forgetting we were in the midst of battle. I could hear myself exhale with an alarming intensity. The haggard breaths resonated through my body and suddenly I couldn’t find the strength to get back up.
“Caridan!” Ari’s voice screeched across the field, and I closed my eyes in muted frustration. Not that I didn’t appreciate Targeg’s help and all… but he couldn’t have gotten her to safety, first?
Still lost in my breathing, I watched as Brenem took a stance in front of Ari across the field and spread his wings, a high pitched shriek of a roar overtaking the sky and leaving the rest of us temporarily deafened.
Brenem’s roar was always high-pitched, always echoed, and always reached a decibel that left your body trembling. He loved that about himself. Me? I couldn’t have found it more annoying.
Targeg swooped in from the right and clamped onto Brenem’s hard, stony neck with all his might and whipped him to the floor. Brenem slithered against the mossy ground, and Targeg jumped at attention, taking hold of the red dragon’s neck and throwing him across the field once again.
Targeg was the smaller of the dragons, but he was also one of the strongest.
The blood pooled beneath me and I tried to push myself up with my hind legs, but it was no use. I could feel the energy leaving my body as I tried to catch Targeg’s glance. Finally, I began scanning the fields for any sign of Ari, to no avail. I could only hope she’d made a run for it, but the feeling deep in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise.
The two dragons went hurtling down toward the stone once more. Each crack of skin to the cold ground below shook the earth with great force.
I watched as Brenem finally got the upper hand he'd been waiting for, biting Targeg in the side and shaking him from side to side within his grasp. My bones ached beneath me, a pain so deeply pulsing through me that my body seemed to creak and wail with every breath. Somehow, I managed to get up on my two front legs and rushed my wing as fast as I could to reach Targeg.
I grappled myself on top of Brenem's body and dug my claws through his tough skin. They slipped against his blood like water against leather. I struggled to maintain my grip on his arm as he pierced his sharp teeth into my friend.
I could see the blue dragon’s eyes go wide and then fall lifeless beneath my enemy, sending a rush of adrenaline through my core.
"Targeg!" I screamed and could feel a deep ember burning at the base of my throat. The fire cascaded through in my throat and I could feel the burning overtake my whole body as I began to glow and shake.
I took a stifled breath in and grabbed hold of Brenem, clawing my way into his flesh like a vice. I watched the terror in his eyes as I released a powerful explosion of fire down on his figure, incinerating his arrogance with a single burst. He may have been the red dragon, but I had the flames. I let the heat rain down on my enemy. His deep cry filled the sky and the embers crackled across his stony veneer and pulsed through his body.
With a single blast, the cries ceased, and Brenem went limp, his body blazing down like a comet as it fell from my grasp and shook the earth below us.
And then it was over.
The area fell deathly silent. All I could hear was the sound of my own breath and the fanning flames beneath me.
I struggled to lower myself with only one wing, and soon I too fell unceremoniously to the fields.
I heaved my breaths and moved my long neck so I could rest on a nearby outcropping of thick, dewy moss. I relished the cool on my skin and watched deadly as embers floated through the air like an explosion of fireworks.
The sparks never ceased drifting into the blackness.
I could feel my eyes rolling back then. I wanted to become human again, but I didn’t know if such a form could withstand my wounds. Without moving my head, I scanned the area and saw Targeg’s lifeless body nearby – a heap of beautiful glowing blue and yellow scales.
My throat clenched at the sight of him, and everything in me wanted to give up. And then I heard her voice.
“Caridan?”
My eyes opened, and I raised my head weakly, looking up at my beautiful choice. I weakly moved to nudge her body with my face, and she set her soft hands around my snout.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, erupting into a tortured sob and collapsing onto me.
“No,” I said with an unbidden laugh. “Think of how boring your life would be without me.”
“Sorry, did you say boring, or easy?” she joked through her tears.
A moment of silence ensued, and she raised her head from my body long enough to spot Targeg in the distance. She gave me a sad, defeated look, but said nothing. There was nothing either of us could say to take back his sacrifice, and so she nodded at me, and I moved my snout against her hand and let out a low hum.
Our moment was over just as quickly as it began when suddenly a great white figure approached. Ikar stepped over to us in human form, and for once, he didn’t seem so hateful.
“I made sure she was okay,” he said numbly, his hand weakly gesturing to Ariella.
His sight shifted to the field and the wildfire that was erupting around us now. The fire that was his friend. He stared into the distance with his long white mane wildly blowing behind him. His face was contorted with emotion as he stared down at me. As our eyes met, there seemed to be a peace that ensued.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, and he raised his hand in dismissal.
“We’ve all lost something today,” he said quietly, his eyes now cast over the field once more. He nodded slowly as if convincing himself of the truth behind his statement. “I believe it’s time we put this behind us now. All this; you and me. Shall we?”
I stared hard at him and gave a nod.
“Come on then,” he said sharply, his moment of reflection suddenly over and his tone back to that of a commander.
“Come on then… what?” I repeated.
“Your girl can be extremely convincing,” he said with a sigh.
“Yes, I’ve come to know this well.”
My sentiment was met with a bemused ‘Hm’ before his expression turned sour. “I’ve made a deal with Ariella. Her research for your life. I will hide you for as long as it takes to nurse you back to health, and Ariella will spend that time training my staff on her research.”
“What about amends?” I said quietly, barely audible.
Ikar glanced over my wounds and then back out at the field. “Two lie dead by your hand. Tell me, Caridan, what could possibly make up for that?”
“A gesture–”
“Would cost far more than what you are willing to give. You speak of punishment. Do you want to be thrown into the street for the mobs to do as they please?”
“I didn’t have something so… archaic in mind, but sure, punishment.”
He shook his head. “No, you want redemption. And that’s exactly what you’re going to get. I intend to clean up this mess you’ve made, Caridan, but you need to leave. Do you understand?”
I blinked in surprise and felt my throat tighten; my eyes glistened with moisture. I looked to Ariella and thought of a joke I could make about not being in the fittest form for travel. I thought about the kindness I was being shown. My second chance to make things right. To live the life I have always dreamed of with the woman I had come to adore.
There was so much I wanted to thank the white dragon for, but as my mind searched for words, I found there was nothing I could say except, “I understand.”