Chapter Thirty-Four
Valora
He was there. Dracul had come for me. I stared at him in disbelief, my traitor heart pounding at the sight of him. I did not care that he was dirty or covered in blood—all that I cared about at this moment was that he was there. I pushed all the thoughts that Borthen had left with me deep into the recesses of my mind. I just needed to focus on Dracul. Now that he was there, everything would be fine.
I rushed to him, holding him as tightly as I could, sobs breaking from me. My captivity with Borthen had been short, but torturous. Seeing Dracul there, unharmed and well, was enough to break me. I sobbed into his neck, my hands scrambling to clutch him to me. His arms encircled me, as well, holding me just as tightly as I held him, giving me much needed relief. He murmured sweet, tender words to me, but I could not hear them over the rushing sound in my ears.
Eventually, I could make out his words. “I need to get you out of here,” he said over and over again. “We need to go, Lora.”
Wordlessly, I nodded and I felt him pick me up, moving towards the edge of the dome’s floor.
“Hold on tight,” he said before transforming into a dragon, holding me securely in his claws as he navigated us downwards. To my surprise, he had two Lords with him—Lord Firenze and Lord Fangburn. In the hallways, I could hear fighting going on, lots of screaming.
“Well done,” Lord Fangburn said, beaming at me as we landed.
I turned away, tucking my head into Lord Dracul’s chest as he still held me with one claw.
“What do we do now?”
“We find Borthen and end him,” Dracul said stiffly, his grip on me tightening.
“No need, Dracul. I’m already here.” Borthen’s voice came from behind us.
I squeezed my eyes shut at his honeyed voice.
“I see you’ve found your Maiden.”
“What was the point of this, Borthen?” Dracul asked. I could feel him shaking in anger. “Your forces were a mere distraction. You never stood a chance.”
“You and I duel, one on one,” Borthen hissed. “I want my revenge for what you stole from me.”
“I didn’t take anything that wasn’t already rightfully mine,” Dracul said. He set me down, pushing me towards Lord Firenze, who stood in front of me protectively. “But I will grant you this one last request. Before you die.”
The two dragons circled each other in the large cavern. I figured the domes would cause problems logistically and watched with growing apprehension.
“Lord Dracul is an excellent fighter,” Lord Fangburn said quietly to me, and I looked at him in surprise. He was trying to comfort me.
Borthen struck first, launching with his jaws in an attempt to bite Dracul, who took to the air to get away. The bronze dragon swiftly followed, and the two began a deadly dance of claws, jaws, and fire. Dracul singed Borthen’s shoulder before getting slammed into one of the domes by Borthen’s tail, collapsing it from the force.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Borthen crowed before letting out a fireball of his own, Dracul just barely able to dodge it. “You can’t be fully healed just yet. You’re slower than you usually are.”
Though I had never seen Dracul fight before, from what I had seen of his flying, Borthen was right. He moved a tad slower than the bronze dragon, and I watched as Dracul continued to take blow after blow, rivulets of blood steadily streaming down his body. But he did not give up and managed to seriously injure Borthen, taking a chunk out of his leg and chest.
After several minutes, both were winded, breathing heavily while resting briefly on different domes. Borthen decided to use this time to gloat more.
“Loyalty does not run strong within your clan, Dracul,” he sneered. “I have been kept abreast of your activities. Your Dragon Maiden there has made enemies for herself.” My stomach dropped at his words. “You should have chosen more wisely instead of picking an outsider like her. Her enemies have become your enemies.”
Dracul let out several short bursts of fire, catching Borthen off guard, but he still managed to dodge at the last second.
“Who has been spying for you?” Dracul hissed, anger lacing his tone.
Borthen let out another laugh. “Come here and force the answer out of me,” he taunted.
A look of surprise crossed his face when Dracul immediately launched himself towards the other dragon, sinking his claws deep into his flesh. Dracul threw his whole body at him, sending them off the dome. They both plummeted towards the ground, Dracul angling their bodies so Borthen would take the brunt of the fall. My mouth opened in a silent scream as they landed with a giant crash. Debris from the impact flew towards us, but both Lord Firenze and Lord Fangburn used their bodies to protect me from the blast.
When the dust cleared, we saw Dracul slumped to the side of the cave and Borthen lying on the ground coughing up blood.
With much effort, Dracul dragged himself over to Borthen, putting a claw to his throat. “Tell me who was spying for you,” he said. “And I may give you an easy death.”
Borthen laughed, a gurgling sound as he coughed up more blood. “You might want to check with your friend over there,” he said, gesturing to the three of us.
Dracul looked up, his gaze hard before swiping his claw, ending Borthen’s struggling. Once he knew Borthen was done for, he stalked towards us, scooping me up in a claw once more. “Firenze, what has your Maiden been up to?” he asked in a low voice. “Have you been keeping an eye on her?”
My gaze shifted between Dracul and Lord Firenze, my mind trying to keep up with the conclusion Dracul had drawn based on Borthen’s ambiguous hints. Surely, he could not mean that Vimery had been handing secrets over to Borthen?
Lord Firenze bowed his head. “I’m afraid I have not been able to keep as close an eye on her as I usually would,” he said. “I’ve been too busy, but when we return, I will make sure to interrogate her thoroughly. A weak link in our forces will not be tolerated.”
“See that you do.” Dracul nodded. He limped along before I held a hand to his chest and he looked at me.
“I can walk,” I said softly. “You’re injured. Because of me.”
He shook his head, clutching me more tightly to him. “I’m never letting go of you again, Lora,” he said.
We entered one of the main hallways where fighting was still going on. I heard the sound of screaming and could smell the blood, not to mention the bodies that littered the hallway.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“We’re wiping out the entire clan,” Dracul said grimly. “Anyone aligned with Borthen is being executed.”
The expression on his face scared me and I felt dread deep in my stomach. Right now, he was acting just like Borthen—punishing others for one person’s mistakes. I had to struggle against the urge to vomit.
“No, Dracul,” I said. “You can’t do that.”
He looked at me, his eyes stony. “They must pay the price of their allegiance to him,” he said.
“Dracul,” I snapped.
His eyes cleared suddenly, as if he finally could see me without the bloody haze he had settled into.
“You can’t do this. You’d be no better than him,” I said. “Show mercy to those who would bow to you, to those who would show remorse. Do better.”
After a tense moment where I thought he would not listen, he nodded. “Call the others off,” he directed to Lord Firenze and Lord Fangburn. “If there are those who would plead for mercy, show them mercy. Anyone who fights must be killed. Is that understood?”
The two nodded before going to relay his orders.
Dracul turned back to me. “Is that sufficient?” he asked.
Silently, I nodded, at a loss for words. Never before had I seen him act this cruelly and callously. The dragon holding me was not one that I had seen before. Thinking back on what Borthen said, I wondered if I had ever really known him at all. I knew that Dracul could be strict with others, but never had I seen a cruel side to him. Shamelessly slaughtering innocents without a care was not the dragon I had come to know.
“We should go home now,” he said, carefully placing me on his back before giving further instructions to a messenger that whoever was spared was to be brought to the Shadowvale Mountains to swear their allegiance. After everyone returned, there was to be a feast to celebrate our victory.
Then, at long last, he took to the skies and we flew back home together. Never before had I felt so lonely and lost.