28. Jerrid #3
Panic clawed at the back of his throat as he tore down the hallway, wondering if they had somehow lost the prince on their hurried flight down the stairs.
Or—he hated to even think the thought—had the prince turned chicken when confronted with his worst nightmare and tried to hightail it back to Eroth?
He would never think such a thing about a fellow soldier…but he didn’t know this prince.
And he had every reason to distrust the elves. They had never cared about human lives before, so why would they start now?
He leaped over the shredded door and skidded outside into the cool night air. Surely the prince couldn’t have gotten far. He skimmed the campsite, the tattered tents, and the shadowy trunks of the trees beyond.
Had he already made it to the tree line? And if he had, how in the world did he think he would ever find his way back to Eroth on his own?
Even with his fire magic and even if he happened to have sight, which he did not, a person could stumble around for months if he didn’t know the secret pathways.
And Jerrid doubted a snobbish prince had ever bothered to learn the secret paths in the forest.
A shout tore through the stillness, shattering the silence like glass. The echoes tinkled around him like shards tumbling to the ground. Jerrid jogged away from the camp, around the side of the tower as Dragon honed his senses, guiding him in the right direction.
West of the keep, Dragon whispered. Hurry!
Jerrid skidded down a short embankment and toward the lone figure of the dark elf prince. He stood in the center of a small clearing, arms thrown wide, face lifted to the sky.
“Here I am, Curse!” Prince Haryk shouted, his voice deep and determined. “I’m the one you want! I’ve always been the one you want. Come and get me, why don’t you?”
Jerrid scoffed at the prince’s foolhardy plan. Why would the shadow even bother to listen to him after his last confrontation with the phoenix prince?
You’re the fool here, Dragon growled. It isn’t about that… This thing is a predator. It will grate on its nerves that the prey got away. It will come back for him. You need to watch…
But the shadow slithered through an upper window of the keep, swirling and spiraling like an airborne snake as it coiled down into the clearing. Deep, reverberating laughter rolled over them.
Jerrid ducked his head as the shadow surged past him, lashing out with its tail as it passed. He threw himself to the ground, rolling twice before coming back up into a low crouch.
The prince hadn’t moved, but he looked toward the shadow as if he could somehow see where it was coming from. His finely tuned hearing must be guiding him. Or perhaps it was his magic.
Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be enough to stand against the shadow. It coiled around the prince in wide circles, its bulk expanding with every swirling pass. With every second that ticked by, the monster grew larger.
If we don’t stop it now… Dragon began.
“There will be no stopping it.” Jerrid launched forward, toes digging into the mossy soil to give himself traction as he lunged.
Dragon roared in his ears, shaking free of his shackles as Jerrid threw open his mind, willingly embracing the change as it rippled over his skin, expanding bone and transforming flesh to scale.
For the first time in his life, it didn’t really hurt.
It felt more like coming home.
The shadow snarled as he reached them, snapping out its long tail. But Dragon spewed a mouthful of molten orange fire that caused the shadow to recoil and dissipate.
It didn’t disappear, however. The shadow eased away from the attack and gathered strength at a safer distance as it continued to grow.
“You’re all fools.” The monster’s words rolled over them, no longer whispers in their thoughts but words spoken on the air. “You never stood a chance against me.”
Prince Haryk flung a blue flaming ball of heat into the heart of the darkness. “I defeated you once. I’ll do it again!”
The shadow laughed, the sound so loud and grating that it rang in Dragon’s ears and set his jagged teeth on edge.
“I was trapped before, cursed to dwell in your mind because of your pitiful grandfather and his spells.”
This brought the prince up short, his hands cupped around another burst of blazing blue magic. “And now?”
“Now I am free and well fed. These humans are filled with so much fear, so much anger. I’ve had my fill of them, and now I will have my fill of you.”
Dragon spat another jet of flame toward the shadowy coils, but the monster merely dissipated and shifted its substance to a higher plane.
This wasn’t working. They were too small, their fire too weak. To the shadow, they were little more than a fly or a mosquito buzzing about the ears.
Dragon roared and charged again, determined his efforts wouldn’t be futile. But the monster coiled up into the sky and dove downward into the eye of its own spiraling storm, knocking Dragon sideways with the force of its wind as it aimed straight for the blind prince of Gelaira.
If they didn’t think of something fast, Prince Haryk would face his nightmare once and for all. He would be alone, unprotected, vulnerable.
And without him, they didn’t stand a chance.