Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Katla jerked upright. She looked around the cave, trying to figure out what had woken her. The instant she realized Merrill wasn’t there, she jumped up and ran outside. She saw the torches through the trees and heard men’s laughter, but the scent of blood propelled her down the mountain at breakneck speed. Her foot slipped, and she slid down a good portion of the incline before regaining her feet.
She burst into the forest to see ten men. Then she spotted Merrill lying on the ground, bloodied and still. Her focus narrowed on him and then the men. Fury surged, exploding from her. She recognized the violence and savagery she wrought. And she welcomed it. Greeted it. Just as she had when she faced Villette and at the tower with Miena .
Katla screamed Merrill’s name and ran to him, sparks flying from her fingers to swirl rapidly around her before flashing outward—and straight through—three of the men, who immediately dropped dead.
The others circled, stepping over their fallen comrades. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a ball of dark energy with long, wispy tendrils that looked like elongated limbs. This was the invisible foe Merrill had told her about. It had been tracking them, just as he’d suspected. And he had faced it without her.
Katla drew in her wild, violent wrath. The sparks flared and grew more intense. She turned her magic on the entity when it came at her. It slammed into the sparks, pushing against them. They moved to make a shield in front of her, and for a heartbeat, she thought she might hold the being back. But it kept shoving until it began curving the shield inward and broke through, aiming for her head. She ducked just as it barreled over her, the force whipping her hair into her eyes. The malice the entity exuded turned her blood to ice.
She turned and saw the being swing around. The men moved closer, their blades drawn and aimed at her. Katla stood over Merrill . A great swell of magic shot from her, along with a blinding light.
When Katla blinked, the men and the entity were gone. She dropped her arms to her sides and looked out into the moon-drenched, U -shaped valley with the dark, sharply chiseled mountains rising on either side. Her shoulders drooped as relief cut through her. She looked down at Merrill and dropped to her knees beside him. The silvery beams of moonlight showed blood—so much blood. Too much.
Her heart dropped to her feet. Katla put a hand on his chest and felt it rise, but his breathing was slow and labored. What had they done to him? He was essentially immortal on his world. Surely , it would be the same on Zora . It had to be.
“ Merrill ,” she called softly. “ Wake up. Please .”
The roar cut through her like a blade. It sounded as if it were right behind her. She drew in a shaky, petrified breath and slowly raised her eyes, seeing dozens of dark dragon silhouettes flying around her. There was another roar, this one even closer. Katla was afraid to turn around. She glanced at Merrill , but he hadn’t woken. And she worried he might never move again.
A puff of heated breath came from behind her, ruffling her hair as it enveloped her. Magic instinctively filled her palms, but she clenched her fists tightly. She wouldn’t harm any more dragons. Not even to save herself. She hadn’t meant to come onto their land. She wasn’t even sure how she’d got from one place to another.
A low, ominous growl rumbled in her ears. Hot breath fanned around her. A dragon landed to her left, the impact shaking the ground. It shook its large head and snapped its wings against its body. Another came down in front of her. It left its wings out as it aggressively lowered its head to glare at her. Others remained in the sky, but they were all focused on her.
They had to know who Merrill was. All she could hope for was that they wouldn’t attack him. Then again, he wasn’t their focus. She was. The Kings may not have sought justice, but these dragons wanted it.
Katla glanced at Merrill and nervously licked her lips. She slowly got to her feet. “ I understand,” she told them. “ I’m trespassing. It was unintentional. I promise.”
All three growled angrily in response.
All right. So , they didn’t believe her. “ The invisible foe attacked. Merrill was hurt. I had to get us out.”
She never saw the tail coming at her. It bashed into her side and sent her tumbling through the air. She landed awkwardly on her back, the air knocked out of her. She struggled to take a breath as she rolled onto her side. Katla spotted the fury in the dragons’ eyes and knew this was about more than her crossing the border. They knew who she was, and they knew what she had done.
One of the dragons drew in a breath. She watched fire swirling behind its scales and knew she was about to die in a fiery blaze. Katla looked at her hands and the sparks there. She made fists and curled into a ball, covering her head with her arms.
Another roar came, this one long and deafening. It cut through the night, ringing out over the others. Her heart skipped a beat when the ground shook forcefully. The dragon moved closer. It was about to happen. She hoped the pain wasn’t too bad. She waited, but nothing came.
Katla peeked out from beneath her arm to see a large claw and orange scales. She lifted her head to find an enormous dragon standing over her, its wings outspread, almost as if protecting her. She looked where Merrill had been on the ground, but he was gone.
Her gaze lifted to the dragon’s long neck. She winced when he roared again. The dragons about to attack flew off, one by one until it was only her and Merrill . He didn’t budge, so she remained just as she was. Katla saw dragons flying around them but wasn’t sure if they were coming just to watch or to challenge Merrill .
Several tense moments passed before he eventually closed his wings and stepped back. She pushed up onto her hand and looked over her shoulder to get a better look at him. Unfortunately , Merrill had already returned to his human form. His bloodied clothes had been replaced by a beige shirt and dark trousers.
Their eyes met. There was a moment of hesitation before he walked toward her. “ Are you hurt?”
Katla shook her head and accepted his hand to regain her feet. “ You were the one bleeding and not moving.”
“ Why did you bring us here? It isna safe for you.”
“ It wasn’t on purpose, I assure you.”
He glanced up. “ We can no’ remain.”
“ They know who I am.”
Merrill looked at her and nodded. “ They’re verra angry.”
“ They have every right.”
“ We can debate this later,” he said. “ We need to go.”
“ Which direction?”
“ It would take days for us to walk to the border.”
“ Days ?” she repeated in shock. How far had she taken them?
He looked at her oddly. “ We’ll have to fly out.”
She had mentioned flying before, but Katla had never expected him to take her up on the suggestion. If she needed a reason to leave quickly, all she had to do was look up at the others waiting to exact their justice. “ I never meant to come here. At least, I don’t think I did. Will you tell them that?”
“ It willna do any good.”
“ Maybe not, but I need them to know.”
He gave her a flat look. “ All right. I told them. Are you ready?”
“ I believe so.”
“ Once I shift, climb up my arm and settle at the base of my neck. Unless you’d rather I carry you in my hand.”
She wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the realm as he did. “ I’ll ride on your back.”
He hesitated. “ None of the dragons will harm you. I give you my word.”
After putting himself between her and the others, she had no doubt. He took several steps back. There was no warning. One moment, he stood there as a man. The next, a dragon towered over her.
Moonlight gleamed off his orange scales, making them look metallic in the light and black in the shadows. She stared into his large, umber-colored dragon eyes as they met hers. She hadn’t known his eyes would change color, but the dark, yellowish-brown was beautiful next to the orange. Yet , there was no denying that his sheer size was intimidating. Even more so than the three that had surrounded her a few minutes ago.
There wasn’t time for a long perusal, but she took as much in as she could as she walked forward. His skull was narrow, with several tendrils atop his head. A row of horns ran down the sides of his jaw. He had two thin slits for nostrils, with small tendrils on his chin. She nearly missed a step when she spotted the two massive teeth poking out from the sides of his mouth.
As she got closer, she saw that his underbelly was slightly lighter than the rest of him. He lay down. She did a double take at the size of his shiny, obsidian claws. They could easily cut her in two. It took her two tries to find a good place to set her foot so she could climb. His scales didn’t just look metallic, they felt it, too. But they weren’t cold. They were warm.
She climbed atop him to find the scales on the back of his body narrower. Small ones ran down his spine, which she grabbed to pull herself up. She followed the tendrils down his long tail and saw where it ended with a sharp tip.
Katla settled at the base of his neck as he’d told her and adjusted her coat. Then Merrill climbed to his feet. The action tilted her precariously to the side. She hastily reached for something, and her hand slid across his scales to latch onto a tendril once more. It was on the tip of her tongue to stop him as fear seized an icy hand around her heart. She recalled him standing over her, keeping the dragons away. Merrill wouldn’t fly with her unless he thought it would be safe.
That confidence lasted until he jumped into the air. She watched him spread his huge, leathery wings and take them higher. Then , she looked down. The ground began to spiral dizzily. She shut her eyes and leaned forward.
The wind was cold on her face. It sucked away her breath and lifted her braid to fly behind her. The wide legs of her split skirt were molded to her. The act of flying was as exhilarating as it was terrifying. She tried to open her eyes, but she got dizzy again the moment she looked down.
Katla looked forward to stare at the dark strip of horizon. As long as she did that, she didn’t get lightheaded. She lost sight of the horizon when he flew them through a cloud. She tried to grab some, but it vanished in her palm like mist. She looked up to the millions of stars above.
The rhythmic beat of Merrill’s wings became hypnotic. She relaxed, and when she did, she felt the movement of his body as he breathed. The wind thundered in her ears so loudly it silenced her thoughts. She was riding a dragon among the clouds. It was surreal. And utterly amazing. All the while, the rest of the world was silent. Almost as if it didn’t exist. She could pretend that her worries and problems had evaporated like the cloud in her palm. Because , up in the sky, there was freedom, unlike anything she had thought possible.
She felt wetness on her cheek, but the wind whipped it away before she could. Things were so clear and simple up here. If only they could be the same on the ground. But here, among the stars, she could let go of everything and just be. It was no wonder dragons and birds preferred the sky to the ground.
Merrill’s trajectory shifted downward as he began their descent. She spread her palm over his scales, deeply moved by this gift he had given her. And deliriously happy that he was alive. As beautiful as the night was, reality was descending upon her. And with it, the memory of the entity and the men who’d attacked Merrill .
She clung to the peace of flying until Merrill landed. Katla unwound her hand from the tendril and climbed down. No sooner had her feet touched the ground than he stood as a man before her, dark blue eyes watching her.
“ Your cheeks are red,” he murmured.
“ It was cold.”
His brows snapped together. “ Too cold?”
“ Never . It was…perfect. If I could take to the skies as you do, I would never come down.”
There was a hint of a smile on his lips. He glanced away. “ I need to know what happened tonight. There was someone else there besides the entity.”
“ Men . Ten warriors.”
He frowned again. “ Men ? Are you sure?”
“ I came upon them standing around your unconscious body. They tried to attack, and I retaliated. I took out three and then saw the entity.”
“ Did it attack?”
She nodded, remembering the way its malice felt. “ I fought back, but it went through my magic. The next thing I knew, we were in another place.”
“ That may have saved your life. Did you see what the warriors were wearing?”
“ Sleeveless tunics and armbands.”
He blew out a breath. “ I knew we hadna seen the last of the Orgate warriors.”