Fifty Two
Alara
“Tell me now, Karag!” Rohan begins, walking over to him. “What have you done?”
“You think I didn’t know that I was lied to?” he shouts back. “I am no fool, boy, but you are!
“So you betray us? Again?!”
He knew of the plan, I realize. Not the one he was lied to about, but the real one.
How did he know?
But it doesn’t matter how, because Karag is opening Vali’s unlocked cage, pointing to us all. The red dragon is crawling out, growling and that’s when I notice… he hasn’t got a muzzle on him.
“Gods,” I breathe as Vali opens his mouth, an orange glow beginning in the back of his throat. With Karag at his side, he lets it out.
“Move!” Rohan shouts, backing up, grabbing any Blackscale member that he can reach, pushing them in front of him as fire pours out of Vali’s mouth.
The clans rush away, shouting and screaming but some are caught by the flames, still running, rolling on the ground.
“Oh Gods, Tofa, what do we do?”
The crowd is cheering while fire is burning people to death.
“Quickly,” she says, pulling on Beau’s now unconscious form. “Keep the pressure on, we’ll get him to the side.”
She drags Beau, and that’s when I notice the other Dragonbonds rushing to their own bonded, ripping the cages open as Vali stalks forward, continuing his assault.
My heart hammers in my chest as Kaldar, Adora, Calian and Dorkin move to the other cages, but there isn’t enough of them to open them all.
Adora jumps on Doren’s back, the muzzle is loose, like Halen wanted us to fight ourselves to death.
Getha is on Thorrad. Belsa, a Rivertail rider, is on Pali. Veny, a Greenhorn rider on Zendar. More and more riders that I helped get on dragonback are now mounting their dragons to kill each other instead of fighting Halen.
The plan was for nothing.
It’s all gone wrong. So, so wrong.
Tofa moves her hand over mine. “Help them, quickly Alara.”
“But…” I look down at Beau’s pale face.
“There’s no time, go!” she says, and I jump to my feet heading to the first cage as fast as I can.
My hands shake on Magnus’s cage as I undo the bolt, no lock in sight from the night before, or muzzle.
“Come,” I say, opening it up and then he’s out, charging into the fray. Vali continues his attack, the other Firehorn dragons now out of their cages too.
None have muzzles on… Halen wanted them to fight.
I reach Doren next, then Solia, and the siblings burst out with growls of violence.
Then I’m at Escor’s cage as Drogonah bursts out of his, the roar he lets loose vibrating the ground beneath my feet.
“It’s okay,” I say when he whines. “I’m here.”
I pull open his cage and he rushes out, teeth bared. In the next second, he’s colliding with a dragon twice his size just behind me.
“Escor!” I scream, panic rushing through me.
They all begin to fight.
Teeth, claws, fire.
Screams erupt from Dragorie, the crowd goes wild with glee.
This isn’t what we’re supposed to be doing.
We were supposed to be working together, to get out of here, but we have been made to fight each other because the king knew our plan.
How did he know our plan?
Vali breathes fire like lava at a Greenclaw, and the other dragon turns, a rider on its back rushing at Vali. But Vali snaps his jaw shut around its neck, teeth piercing through and the green dragon scratches at his chest before going limp. The rider fell off somewhere.
Dead.
Just like that.
Gods.
Drogonah roars as two jump him, and he turns, his large body knocking into another dragon, his claw stomping on a Dragorie and my legs go weak.
I hold on to the cage as I spot Rohan. The clans are fighting against each other once more, dragons against dragons.
Escor lets loose a pained whine, and my head snaps to it. A blue dragon has him pinned.
“Escor!” I scream.
What do I do, what do I do?
I look on the ground for a weapon, and pick up a bloodied spear, hoping to get the other dragon off, but there is no need.
Drogonah barrels over, ignoring the dragon clawing into his back and he rips the blue dragon off Escor, tearing his throat out and hovering over Escor as he gets to his feet, protecting him.
Escor moves under him, limping on one leg. Then after a moment, he bares his teeth and moves out from under Drogonah, jumping on his back and colliding with the red one that was biting him. They both tumble to the ground, snarling and growling.
Celeste runs past, barreling into a red dragon on Drogonah’s blind side, her white scales now bloodied and she roars in its face.
The Dragorie battle below them, some scorched, some torn in two, some with weapons still sticking out of them as they try to drag themselves across the ground.
It’s not supposed to be like this.
None of it is supposed to be like this.
I look back at Tofa who cradles Beau. Bellamy, Nora and the others with him now as they take a protective stance around them.
I head that way as two dragons take flight clumsily, the crowd screaming in fear as fire comes their way, burning them.
The king laughs, arms wide as he stands and looks down at us from his perch.
“Now this is a battle worthy of the Enclave!” he shouts. “More, more, more!”
The gates open suddenly, and then guards are rushing in.
Hundreds of them.
And they waste no time as they begin to hunt for the Dragorie.
One goes down, two, three. The guards hit them full force, so now not only do we have other Dragorie to contend with, but the king’s guards.
I stumble forward, the smell of copper and burnt flesh in the air as Vali continues to burn another red dragon. Drogonah is fighting with two blue ones and I can’t see Escor. I can’t see Rohan.
A dragon lands not far from me, and I gasp as Doren collapses, wounds all over him, as a green dragon lands beside him and tears at his leg as he tries to get him off, weakly.
“Doren!” I shout. Where is Adora?
Doren growls, trying to get up but it’s like he can’t, and then the green dragon is at his neck, tearing into him.
“No!” I cry, chest heaving as he goes limp. “No!”
The green dragon stops, growling low and then he’s barreled into by Magnus. They fight, blood splashing everywhere.
A scream pierces the air.
Small.
Scared.
My head snaps toward the sound, my vision blurry as I watch Nora back up against the wall, Melle in her grip, Bellamy and Fiona trying to protect them.
They’ve gotten separated from the group somehow.
“No,” I say, stumbling forward.
“Stop it, we’re all supposed to work together, not kill each other!” I shout at the Firehorn clan members now getting closer.
I gasp for breath at the sudden violence I feel in my chest, the pain of it wrapping around me in a strangling hold.
Blaise goes down, crashing into the sand on a pained roar, his chest ripped to shreds by a blue dragon growling over him.
Agnar is next, one of his wings ripped and torn, half his jaw is missing.
I move blindly on weak legs, feeling it all, feeling everything that is happening.
The bloodlust.
Death.
We need to be safe.
I turn to Tofa. We need to move, but she’s on her feet now in front of Beau, two guards going for her.
“Tofa!” I shout as she swings an axe, impaling one guard, but the other grabs the axe and knocks her off balance.
They fall to the floor in a tangle of limbs, then he gets the upper hand, wrapping his hands around her throat, strangling her.
No, no.
I run as fast as I can, the distance between us seeming so vast.
Her hands claw at the man, but she’s weakening.
“Tofa!” I scream, when she starts to go limp, and then Calian is there.
He rips the man off Tofa, dragging him to the side and driving a blade in his stomach. Again and again.
Tofa turns to the side, coughing, and relief spears through me as I near them.
Calian turns to her, hands on her cheeks, worry etched across his bloodied face.
Tofa nods at whatever he says, her hand gripping his wrist.
Calian jolts, going still.
My eyes widen at the axe embedded into his back, and I watch Tofa’s face transform from relief to horror in an instant.
I look at the guard who threw it, and he’s smiling, walking toward them. He takes a few more steps before he’s knocked down by a clan member.
I run the remaining distance between us.
“No, no, no,” Tofa cries as Calian falls forward into her arms.
I crash to my knees when I reach them, hands shaking over the axe that’s still in his back. A pained cry releases from my throat.
“Calian, please,” Tofa cries desperately as she turns him on his side, his back to me now. Blood seeps from the wound, running like a river to the sand.
“Calian…” Tofa whimpers.
He coughs and lifts his bloodied hand up to her cheek.
“I wish I could have shown… shown you how much I love you,” he croaks and Tofa shakes her head, tears streaming down her face.
“You can, please.” She grips his hand against her cheek. “Just hold on and you can,” she cries. “You can show me.”
He shakes his head, blinking slowly. “You were al…always the most important thing to me.”
“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. I love you.”
He smiles, teeth bloodied as he gazes up at her, then his eyes flutter closed.
His hand falls from her cheek, and Tofa grabs it, shoulders shaking.
“No, please. No, no. Don’t leave me, don’t leave me!” she screams, desperately trying to rouse him, and I let my head drop forward, my body wracking with sobs.
Tofa screams, dropping her head to his, clawing at his chest, but it’s still.
Unmoving.
I feel like I can’t breathe. I feel like I’m being torn apart as her screams ring in my ears.
I get to my feet shakily, tears streaming down my face as I turn and hobble, looking for Rohan.
There is too much death.
So much death.
I need Rohan.
Where is Rohan?
Dragorie after Dragorie drop all around me, dragons crashing to the ground, their pained roars joining Tofa’s.
“Stop,” I sob, moving around dead bodies, or unmoving dragons. Their fearful eyes staring at me. “S-stop.” My teeth chatter, the agony in my chest heightening.
I spin in a circle, looking for Rohan, gasping for breath and clutching my chest like I can stop it from hurting.
I can’t breathe.
“Please…”
It hurts.
“Rohan.”