CHAPTER 6 #2
My parched lips crack as I try to open my mouth, my throat constricting as I try to force words out. “I… I need water, Florian.”
“You'll survive,” he snarls, his gaze fixed ahead on the open expanse of land around us. Never looking back towards me.
I tilt my head, swaying back and forth with each step I take. My vision blurs worse, making two of him appear before me. Or are there three now? I cannot tell.
Shit. This is sneaking up fast.
“I need water,” I repeat, desperation creeping into my voice. “I’m serious.”
In response, he lets out an annoyance grunt and yanks on the reins, bringing the horse to a sudden halt. I fall to my knees, feeling the small rocks dig into my skin from the impact as I let out a gasp of pain.
My head throbs. My heart beats forcefully throughout my body.
I am unsure if I’ll make it. I can’t keep going like this. I can’t keep walking… I can’t stay here.
Florian's irritated sigh cuts through the dry, dusty air as he dismounts in one fluid motion. A loud thud of his boots hitting the rocks creates a tension within my head. A steadily throbbing pain that won’t leave. Shit. This hurts. This burns.
The golden sun beats down mercilessly as I unsteadily glance up towards him, his wavy hair turning into a halo of fire around his fierce expression before my eyes. Or, I could be hallucinating. I cannot tell anymore.
“Get up,” he growls, each word laced with impatience. He’s bothered by me.
My limbs feel heavy and uncooperative as I struggle to push myself off the rocky ground. Shadows dance at the edges of my vision, threatening to completely go dark. Ignoring my weakness is becoming harder by the second.
“You're slowing us down,” Florian grunts, his jaw ticking.
My palms burn against the ground as I force myself up. I manage to rise on shaky legs, holding my arms out to try to steady myself. “I can't go on like this… and you know it. Are you trying to kill me out here?”
His amber eyes flicker with something unreadable for a brief moment before hardening again.
With a frustrated huff, he turns away from me and strides back to his horse.
From his gleaming, golden satchel, he pulls out a worn leather bag and hurls it in my direction.
My hands fumble to catch it, but it falls between my palms and thuds onto the ground at my feet.
My body trembles, straining to reach it.
“I don’t understand how she thinks you are the one.” He snatches it off the ground, pushing it against my chest before walking away.
“I don’t—” My mouth opens and closes, my tongue begging for moisture. “I don’t understand either.”
With my hands shaking uncontrollably, I carefully unscrew the cap from the bottle and eagerly gulp down the cool water, feeling it soothe my dry and scratchy throat with each swallow. I barely take in air, relishing in the refreshing feeling my body has been begging for.
Water has never tasted so good.
I grasp the leather bag tighter and tilt my head back, squeezing the last few drops of water onto my dry tongue.
“That was our only bag.” Prince Florian straightens out his saddle, adjusting it for our continued trip.
“Oh—” I clear my throat. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need it anyway.”
I trip over my feet as I walk up to him, letting him grab the bag from my hand and he tosses it back into his satchel. “How could you not need water out here in this heat?”
“As you heard the elder back there,” he pauses, avoiding my eyes, “I am from the Ice Nation.”
“Yeah. I don’t understand.” My eyes narrow.
“You never will.” He clears his throat before throwing one leg over his horse's body. He grabs the reins into his hands and adjusts his body in the seat.
“Make me understand!” I plead out. “If I have no way of getting home, back to Seattle, tell me your ways here. What is an Ice Nation? Why can’t you return?”
“Why the hell does it matter to you?” he snarls, looking down over his shoulder at me.
His hair catches a slight breeze, swaying across his face gently and catching me off guard. I go silent. He is right, it doesn’t matter. None of this matters to me, besides finding Tilly.
“You are going to make me walk still?” I toss my hands to the side.
“You lost my h—”
“I lost your damn horse. Get over it!” I shout at him, my mouth already drying out once more. “Put me on this horse with you, or I am walking back.”
He drops his head back, tilting his chin high as he closes his eyes. A deep sigh escapes his lip before he shakes his head. “You can’t go back.”
“I can. And I will. Unless you put me on your horse because I am not walking like this anymore.” My chest heaves. Not only is my body burning from the heat but my insides are raging with anger. “Are you actually taking me to this so-called Ice Nation, or are you trying to get me killed?”
“I told you beforehand, I cannot kill you. Or I will be...”
I roll my eyes, cutting him off. “Or you will be cursed. I know, I know. I heard you the first time.”
We glare at each other, our eyes lingering longer than they should before I clear my throat.
“I’ll walk.” I force a sarcastic smirk along my lips before walking ahead of him.
As I step, the ground beneath us rumbles like an earthquake, almost tossing my weak body over.
Dust soars in the sky ahead of us, like a tunnel of wind howling through the crust of this land.
The blue sky is slowly being replaced by rust and the rocks beneath my feet bounce along the ground, rattling uncontrollably.
“What… Florian? What is this?” My bottom lip drops as my eyes trace the ground around me.
“Get on the damn horse!” he orders, dropping his hand for me to grab ahold of.
“Oh…” My eyebrows lift high. “Now you want me to get on the horse?”
“Not now, Serene!” he hisses, his eyes widening. “Grab my hand, now!”
A thick cloud of dust and debris fills the air, obscuring the sun above and casting a red haze over everything.
I can feel every breath clogging my lungs as I desperately try to cover my mouth with my arm.
My eyes squint as everything around us blurs into a red glow.
But despite the hatred between us, I reach for his hand with a shaky grip.
With a firm tug, he pulls me up onto the horse with him and I cautiously wrap my arms around his sturdy frame, feeling his muscles tense under my touch.
“Tighter!” His large hands grip my small ones, fingers intertwining as he pulls my arms tighter around his waist. My fingers dig into the fabric of his shirt as I press closer to him.
My chest tightens upright against his broad back and I can feel the heat of his body radiating through his clothes as I press against him.
His head tilts towards me as his eyes hold my gaze. “Hold tight. Or you fall. Do you understand, Serene?”
My breath hitches, and I pull my body even closer to him.
Barely an inch of space is left between us.
My grip tightens, feeling the ridges of his muscles under my fingers shift as he turns the horse around.
The reins fly in the air as he yanks, hard.
His heel digs into the side of the horse and we take off.
However, the trembling of the ground beneath us only strengthens and follows us.
Swirls of dirt move behind us as if a moving tunnel is coming to eat us both.
The land trying to swallow us in.
“What is this!” I screech out, my eyes fixed on whatever the hell is following us. Between my strands of hair I see the ground rise and fall, pebbles tossing in the dusty air before falling to the rumbling ground just to be thrown once more.
“You really are clueless!” Instead of focusing on the land in front of us, to escape whatever is underneath the ground beneath us, his eyes lock onto mine.
They soften, his brows gently narrowing, and time slows down.
Just for a brief second before he looks over me, staring out into the dust storm behind us.
“It’s a sand dragon.” His voice drops to a deep growl. “They curse the lands here, preventing most people from passing through to get to the Ice Nation.”
“A what?!” My heart begins to race.
I tighten my grip around his waist as the horse beneath us whinnies in panic, sensing the presence of the sand dragons that now encircle us.
One. Two. Three… so many more. Their enormous bodies rumble under the ground, sand flying in the air as they move around us.
The air crackles with deep growls as these creatures surge from below, their scales glittering like shards of a rust obsidian under the harsh desert sun.
The sun is still reflecting off of their scales like tiny fire sparks dancing across the ground.
I can feel their hot breath on my skin as they swoop and dive around us with lethal grace.
Their massive mouths wide and open, ready to swallow us whole.
With a jolt, our horse rears up again, nearly unseating me this time.
“Florian!” I scream out, feeling my body slide back.
He yanks me upward with one fierce tug, holding my arm tightly around his waist, pinning me against him as one hand fights to steer the horse.
He steadies us before he guides the horse who heaves with exhaustion into a sharp turn to evade one of the dragon’s snapping jaws.
“What did I say!” he seethes. “I told you to hold on!”
“I’m trying my best!” I gasp as rocks fly in our direction, shielding my face with my arm as some hit us.
He grunts, steering the horse rapidly through the desert as if he knows exactly where to go so the sand dragons won’t kill us both.
But despite his outwardly calm demeanor, I can see tension colliding in every line of his body.
He flexes as he yanks the reins, a loud grunt escaping his lips as my head slams into his back.
A screech escapes my lips as my eyes squeeze shut. “Ouch! Watch it!”
“What the hell are you doing?” The words escape from his lips before he lets out another groan, yanking the reins to the right to avoid another beast. “Damn it, there are too many of them!”
“I’m holding on like you ordered me to!” I squeeze his massive frame tighter, my cheek pushing into his back muscles. “Don’t kill us!”
“What do you think I’m doing!”
“Trying not to kill us?!” My voice heightens as I see another one explode from the ground to the right of us, dust circling in the air as if a tornado has taken formation.
Rocks dart in every direction, some hurling directly at us.
One slices my cheek and I flinch with the pain as blood trickles down my cheek, but I never remove my hands from his stomach.
I squint, watching the majestic creatures twist and turn in the dusty air before diving back into the sandy depths like ghosts disappearing into shadows.
Some have long, sharp wings, see-through to be invisible when in the air, and some just have jagged spikes along their spines.The shimmering, golden, rust scales of the sand dragons blend seamlessly into the desert landscape, their natural camouflage keeping them hidden from view.
They blend… perfectly.
Their smart movements cause swirls of dust to rise more around us and obscure them from our view.
“I can’t see!” Florian grunts, our bodies shifting side to side as he yanks the reins more.
My eyes catch glimpses of their spiked tails rising and falling as they slither along the surface before swimming back underground. One whips its tail through the air before slamming it into the ground just inches away from me.
I hunch my body into Florian's back, peeking through my arm to watch the enormous beasts soar around us.
Their bodies slither like snakes, but fly like dragons before diving back into their natural habitat.
Fear creeps through me as I see one swivel across the rocks, headed our way, hundreds of daggers jabbed into its back.
“Florian!” I scream out. “One is coming fast!”
His boot hits the horse's side and it surges forward like a bolt of lightning.
He grips the reins tighter, veins bulging through his arms as his body shifts forward.
I feel the powerful muscles of the horse ripple beneath me as I stare behind us, watching multiple sand dragons ripple through the ground and soar behind us.
Their eyes glisten like lava in a volcano. I can sense their desire to kill us.
To destroy us.
But then they vanish, and a clear wall of cool mist comes into view, blocking the sand dragons from moving any further.
The chilly air hits me like ice. I gasp, my breath coming out like a cloud of smoke.
My bones shiver and ache, fear being replaced with pain.
Desert is replaced with ice, and snow kicks from behind us.
“They’re stopping!” I gasp heavily, trying to catch my breath. “Why aren’t they coming for us still?”
“The realm's protection.” He whips the reins, kicking the horse with force. “Each of our realms is protected with a barrier that protects it from the outside from other realms. The sand dragons know they will freeze to death if they come into the Ice Nation.”
“Will I freeze?” I say through chattering teeth.
“Not if I get you inside the castle walls in time. You’re safe with me.” He looks back at me, his eyes brighter than I have ever seen them against the icy background. “Now, we must face my father. The King of the Ice Nation.”