Dragon Born

Chapter 6

My legs burned as they carried me East. I had no idea how much forest was between me and the plains, but as long as I kept running, I would hit the plains and find my way back to Istle. Hopefully before nighttime.

“Oi!” Burt called after me, leaving Rin with the heart. One less scavenger to worry about.

He closed the gap quickly, his footfalls stomping through the foliage right behind me. I didn’t look back. I pushed my legs. Leapt over every branch. Ignored the burn in my lungs. I was not going to be caught by him.

The end of the forest came sooner than I expected. Suddenly, all of the trees and ferns that had been blocking my path fell away, giving way to the grassland I was familiar with. In the far distance, I could just make out the bell tower in Istle.

My heart lurched in my chest. Yes! I wasn’t as far away from Istle as I had thought. I could make it back in time before dark.

As long as Burt left me alone.

Fat chance.

With a final grunt, he pounced for me. We rolled. He made sure to land on top, pinning my bound hands above my head.

I screamed in frustration. So close!

“You bastard! Let me go!” I kicked and thrashed underneath. My knee jabbed his ribs.

Groaning, he instinctively reached for them, releasing me. I rolled onto my feet and found a rock then threw it at his head.

“Fuck! That’s it, bitch!”

He jumped to his feet and stalked towards me, blood dripping from the side of his face.

A shadow flew over us. Two shadows. On instinct, we looked up. Two dragons.

Burt moved first, drawing his sword. I was barely fast enough to dodge it. Moving so quickly put me off balance, my feet fumbled on the loose grass and I fell on my rump.
Sneering at me, he raised his sword-

Daemon landed behind him, the ground quaking against his strength. Burt stumbled. The dragon’s mouth engulfed him wholly, then he tossed his head back and shook until bits of Burt flew around the field. I shielded my face from the ghastly debris.

“Lyla? Lyla!”

A pair of hands shook me until I pulled my head out of the shelter of my arms. A pair of ocean eyes met mine, blazing and intense
All I could do was stare at Prince Quinnton. My brain struggled to process his presence. His sandy hair was tousled, undoubtedly from his flight here. Despite the state of his hair, he was quite handsome in his neatly pressed armour and polished boots; he looked dressed to impress, not to go on a rescue mission.

“You're. . . here. . .” I had expected the village guard to send out a party--if they even considered me worth a day’s search--not Dragon Princes.

“Of course I am.” His voice was terse, but there was only concern in his eyes. “Are you all right, Lyla?”

Am I all right? My first instinct was to tell him I was fine. Then reality sunk in and I thought more and more about the past twenty-four hours, the pain, the terror, what could have happened.

He must have seen it on my face and shook his head. “What a dumb question. You’re not okay. You’ve had a rough night. Let’s go home.”

Home. That sounded perfect. Silently, I nodded, hoping he knew how much I loved that idea.

Pulling out a knife, he freed my bound hands then stood up, lifting me up with him. His hand was warm and comforting in my grasp; he squeezed it, urging me towards the big blue dragon. “Lyla, this is Daemon.”