Chapter 9
THE MONSTER STOOD at least twenty feet tall, the color of rotten grapes washed over its scales. Long claws scraped against the ice with a sickening sound that made Corin clamp her ears after getting out of the lake. A bloodred gem in the dragon’s chest flickered in the corner of her vision. Inside swirled a cloudy liquid, the familiar scent of iron wafting through the air. She tried to pinpoint where she remembered the smell, from but everything else was too foreign. The colossal creature flickered its forked tongue between its teeth, as if anticipating the taste of her flesh.
Instead of Corin’s direction, the dragon charged toward where Elly was draped over a tree and snatched the girl in its mouth. Her body dangled in the air, the collar of her shirt barely held within the monster’s bared teeth. She shrieked Corin’s name, and Corin could feel it then, the crack in her heart, like ice breaking apart the lake.
Corin chased after them by cutting into the snowy path, but with each flap of the dragon’s wings, gusts of wind pushed her backward. She dove to the ground to stay flat and grip mounds of snow for leverage. She wanted to scream for Elly, but her voice was too muffled by the snowstorm, her body as insignificant as an ant in a sheet of white.
No, Corin thought fiercely. She’d just found her sister. She would not lose her again. She sprinted forward and leapt off the slope, hurdling into the air at the same time the dragon took flight off the hill. Her body smashed against the monster’s tail. A pained gasp escaped her lungs as pain rippled across her abdomen. Her stubbornness had to override the pain as she forced her arms to wrap around the tail’s spikes and cling on tight.
The wind howled as they soared several feet above the trees. A fierce blizzard washed the world in white. Corin locked her elbows and crawled over the monster’s scales to get closer to Elly, who was still trapped in the dragon’s mouth. She grunted from the ice pellets raining on her face, pushing forward as if it didn’t feel like a hundred tiny daggers were stabbing into her skin. What she wasn’t prepared for was the creature circling around a jagged mountain, swiveling its back, and smashing her body against the rocks.
Sharp gravel tore through Corin’s skin. She screamed as she let go.
“No!”
She barely caught onto the end of the dragon’s wing, her body flailing in the snowstorm. A blast of wind turned over her torso. A sharp rock nested itself at her side, stuck like a knife. She felt like she was being split open. Even as she forced her legs to latch onto the dragon’s wing, her arms burned as she pulled up the rest of her weight.
The pain was too much. One of her hands slipped, and soon the other one would follow. She couldn’t let this be the end. She’d lost too much, and if she were to fall, she’d take everything down with her.
Her free hand pulled the rock from her side and plunged the jagged end into the dragon’s flesh. The stone punctured the monster’s wing like a stake. The dragon emitted a wounded screech and dove into the peak of a mountain. The world turned upside down as they toppled into the snow. Panic forced Corin to roll herself upright and locate Elly’s collapsed figure at the edge of the cliff.
“El!”
Her shout only caught the dragon’s attention as it whirled its head in Corin’s direction. The black slits of its eyes thinned as it stomped closer. She dove into the snow, frantically digging for another sharp rock to use. Her palm brushed against something hard as the snow uncovered a hilt instead.
She blinked in disbelief. The hilt was not the leather-skin grip of an old dagger, but a crescent-shaped pommel with a blade the length of her torso. Snow slipped off the steel, and its shiny reflection showed her own bewildered expression, a pair of widened black eyes that could not believe she’d stumbled across a warrior’s sword.
Both her hands attempted to lift the weapon, but the blade was so heavy it strained her arms. She swung with her full body weight and stumbled forward. The movement was slow and clumsy, giving plenty time for the dragon to rear its neck and dodge. The creature snapped its jaw forward and towered over her. She choked under its hot breaths, her skin burning from sparks that flickered from its mouth.
The bloodred gem on its chest glowed, and there it was again, the familiar scent of iron. Corin stared at the fork-shaped tongue that slithered over its teeth, the mouth that opened so wide she could have disappeared in one breath. She braced for the tear of flesh, the plunge of teeth.
Then a blur of white smacked the back of the dragon’s skull. The snowball was so tiny in comparison to the creature that it would have felt like nothing more than an itch on impact. The sphere slicked off the dragon’s torso and melted, the interruption turning into a measly puddle.
Corin spun around to the edge of the cliff, where Elly stood wide-eyed and shaking. Crumbs of snow stuck to her trembling hand, and Corin cursed her sister for doing something so stupid.
The dragon turned to Elly. An orange glow smoldered over the its stomach, the low hum of a growl shaking the ground. Heat radiated across its scales as flames scorched inside its body, swelling, bursting, until it exploded in a fiery ball.
“El, run!”
The scream that left Corin’s body strained in terror as she sprinted for the cliff’s edge to outrace the fire’s rolling tide. She jumped in front of Elly, one arm wrapped around her sister’s head for cover, the other thrusting the sword like a shield. Flames hit hard against the steel, licking her hands, the sting of burns biting into her skin.
She waited to be consumed by flames. Instead, the fire twisted around her sword. Steel gleamed as heat ricocheted and shot back at the dragon in a fiery whirl. Scales ignited in waves of bloody red. The creature screeched and recoiled, caught in its own fire. Its silhouette danced in a wall of vermilion before shrinking into a black figure. Her eyes strained to make sense of their silhouette, but the shadow keeled over the ledge of the cliff before plummeting down below.
The howling halted when the dragon hit the snow. A hard thud echoed throughout the mountains before the land returned to quiet.
Snow drifted softly to the ground with the blizzard stopped. Corin dropped her sword and fell to her knees. Relief washed over her like the sweat slicking her forehead. Her shaky breaths struggled to outpace her frantic heart, and she had to remind herself that, through some miracle, they were safe.
She’d done it. She’d protected Elly.
“Why?”
The question stunned her. She turned to Elly and took in the widened look in her sister’s eyes. Elly appeared genuinely confused, but surely, her sister was simply in shock. Elly barely caught her own breath as she continued.
“You didn’t have to save me. You could have run, and you would have been safe.”
Corin punched Elly’s arm, ignoring her sister’s yelp.
“That’s for asking stupid questions,” she snapped. “I’m always going to be there for you, whether you like it or not.”
Elly rubbed her arm with a grimace, then lowered her gaze to the snow, taking a sudden interest in her shoes. Corin knew the silence meant her sister was putting together the right words to say. She waited for a thank-you, even a childish dismissal. Instead, Elly finally met her eyes.
“I didn’t mean to be gone for so long. When I ran away, I knew it would be okay, because you would find me. You always do.”
Corin’s heart clenched. She wanted to run her fingers through Elly’s bristly hair and pull her into an embrace, so she could feel not only her warm skin, but the veins pulsing beneath it. Smoke hung off their lips, thick and white as the clouds that parted above them. Snowflakes drifted slowly, melting under their lashes. A full sun emerged from the sky and tingled their skin with warmth.
Then laughter echoed from the cliff, breaking their reverie. Corin grabbed Elly’s hand as a figure with green skin appeared from the edge of the rock. Black horns protruded from the cliffside like gnarled hooks as the figure grew taller, emerging into view. Their crimson lips twisted into a sharp smile with fangs jutting out. The cloak over their shoulders trailed behind like a black river. Their crooked fingers curled around a wooden staff where, at the top, a familiar bloodred amulet was embedded in the wood.
A raven soared through the sky and perched on top of the staff. His eyes were red and cloudy, matching the haze trapped inside the amulet.
“Bravo,” the horned figure said. “What a hero you are, flinging around a sword and defeating such a scary beast. Don’t you feel so special?”
Their words slithered like a snake, dripping with venom. Corin pulled Elly behind her and stepped forward. “Who are you?”
The stranger clicked their tongue, a fleshy pink organ in the shape of a fork. Their dark lashes fluttered, and Corin recognized the black slits in their pupils, like a cut that had been reopened.
“You don’t recognize me?” A twisted smile split the creature’s face. “I’m Malicine, the dragon you killed. Or, at least, you thought you did.”
Corin took in the stranger, towering at six feet tall, and familiarized their features. Dark purple scales ornamented their cape, and the black horns on their skull were the same as the ones that protruded from the dragon’s head. Even the jewel encrusted in their staff glowed the same way the amulet did from the creature’s scales, a strange fog swirling beneath the surface.
Corin grabbed her sword and charged ahead. Malicine pivoted as the blade swung, watching her stumble over the snow. Corin lunged for them again, but when they waved their staff, the sword froze into ice so bitingly cold it slipped from her hands. The frosted blade shattered into pieces.
“Enough fooling around. I swear, what is it with humans and big swords? You aren’t the first person I tricked into thinking they killed a dragon, you know.”
“Why did you attack us?” Elly demanded.
The black slits of Malicine’s eyes thinned as they studied Elly. Veiled thoughts passed behind their face like shadows. They exchanged glances with their raven in shared scrutiny.
“Your sister wanted to protect you and feel like a hero. I was merely playing along with her whims.”
“How would you know anything about what I want?” Corin snapped.
Malicine’s cape spun in the wind as they stepped to the edge of the cliff. Their arms gestured toward an endless stretch of white, where infinite rows of saw-toothed trees surrounded chalky mountains in the distance.
“Because this is the dreamworld, where your subconscious desires come to life.”
A snowflake drifted to their face. They held up their finger, the sharp tip of their nail barely grazing the crystal before the jewel in their staff glowed. The crystal froze in mid-motion. Even the snow falling around them stopped, suspended in the air. Birds stilled in the sky like puppets dangling from invisible strings. Then, in a fraction of a second, the snowflakes hardened into floating icicles. Malicine pointed their finger, sending shards to Corin and Elly’s faces like flying daggers.
Corin covered Elly with her back and flinched. But a moment passed, and she didn’t feel the cold stab through flesh. She looked up and sucked in a breath, refusing to blink. The crystals hung in the air, a width of a needle away from pricking her eyes.
“Now it’s my turn for questions,” Malicine said. “Who are you and what hole did you crawl out of?”
Corin still held her breath, afraid that if her head moved forward, she would slice an eyeball against the ice. She hissed her answer through gritted teeth.
“I’m Corin. This is Elly. We come from the kingdom of Gyldan.”
Malicine cocked an eyebrow, as if she’d misspoken. The crystals melted and hit Corin’s face with freezing water. She reeled back, spitting out ice.
“You came from the most prosperous kingdom in the human world, and you look like that?”
Annoyance slipped through Corin’s chattering teeth. “It’s not prosperous. It’s a rotten place filled with soldiers who’d kill any child if it meant claiming a piece of land.”
“That’s not the Gyldan that I remember.”
“Well, whatever you remember, that’s not where we’re from.”
Despite the bitterness in Corin’s response, Malicine’s expression shifted into contemplation. They stroked their jaw in thought before their gaze locked onto Elly like a target.
“You, child. Tell me the truth.”
Elly froze in place, paling under Malicine’s stare. She opened her mouth to speak until Corin jutted her arm between the two. “Stay away from—”
Sharp nails carved into Corin’s throat as Malicine hoisted her body up like a rag doll. She choked under their grip, boots dangling in the air. Impatience made the green of Malicine’s eyes bubble like acid.
“I wasn’t talking to you. You have a liar’s spirit. I can see it in you. But children do not lie.” They looked down at Elly. “You, little one, may be the closest thing your sister has to honesty.”
Elly’s throat bobbed, but she did not tremble. Instead, she straightened her back, lifting her chin as she looked Malicine in the eye.
“Let Corin go, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
Malicine tossed Corin into the snow as easily as swatting a fly. She gasped for air, kneeling over the ice while Elly rushed to her side to hold her.
“Aw. What a protective pair of sisters you are.” Malicine hardly sounded touched. “I’ll take your deal, child. You’ll come with me to my castle and explain how you arrived from Gyldan. Then I’ll decide what to do with you.”
Elly agreed at the same time Corin said no. Malicine smiled, as if catching Corin in a lie.
Corin hissed to her sister, “That monster’s going to kill us.”
“Trust me,” Malicine said, “if I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead the second you landed here.”
Elly didn’t look at either of them. Instead, her gaze drifted to the mountains, the fresh fall of snow, the bright-red cardinals that chirped from white-coated trees. A quiet solitude that brought peace, unlike the hollow cold of Gyldan that strangled its people with frost. She glanced down at her worn-out shoes, the dirtied rubber soles nearly falling off, how out of place they looked in the clean sheets of white.
“Is it much of a life if it feels like we’re already dead?”
An answer lodged in Corin’s throat. She wanted to say yes, that there was more to their lives beyond this, that they had suffered for a reason. But nothing came from her lips. They both knew it would have been a lie. The truth, one that she’d learned time and time again, was that sometimes people suffered and died and there was no good reason for any of it.
Jaw tight, Corin nodded while silently cursing the illusion of choice. Malicine waved her staff to take them away. Above, cardinals scattered across the blue sky, wings beating with freedom once denied to them in another world.