novelxo Chapter Chapter Sixteen
Two days later I ride into the city. My suit is freshly washed, as am I. I ride into Gunthra with my hood and mask removed. I keep my face exposed and hair down, making it clear I’m alive. The city holds bricked buildings and ground. The city is clean and in perfect order. Children play while members of the Wolves stare in hiding, eyes wide. Normal citizens just look me over since I’m in such a tight-fitting outfit. My goal is to get Moira’s attention.
Right when I get to the square, she comes out of the bar; her blonde hair following behind her as she shoves her way through the Wolves who have frozen in shock. I can spot her black eyes from here on top of her snow-white skin. “Kit!” She yells, racing for me.
I jump down and hug her when her arms are around my waist in no time. She’s shorter than me. She’s five four and a lot skinnier. She’s perfect for sneaking into places and snooping around, and assassinations since she can fit into any spot. She may appear innocent, but she is the most diabolical being you can meet. If she fixes her sights on you, and you stand against her, it’s like standing against a windstorm. She’ll destroy everything in her path and will not be seen while she’s at it.
Moira pulls back. “I thought you were lost. Where were you?”
I laugh as I put my arm around her waist. “Follow me inside and I’ll tell you.” Once we’re inside I tell Moira about my time away, but I refuse to give her the location. She’ll go after them; I know she will. Moira knows I’m protecting them, but she’s not pushing it. Not today anyway. I then proceeded to warn her about Rylarth and how I got Miny back.
When I am finished, she leans back and thinks about this. “Well, he has been up to something. I’ve had to have someone rescue royal families from him for a week now. Only Derrick is the first group that actually made it into the castle. I have figured out a way to lure Rylarth out of the castle, but it involves you.”
I sigh. “You already set the plan into action, haven’t you?”
She grins and nods. “Yes. How would you like to do one last job for me?”
I laugh. “It seems as if I have no choice. Since if I refuse, you’re going to persuade me by saying I owe it to my family. He’s the one that slit their throats. But before you go there just stop. You had me by asking for my help.”
Moira laughs. “Great. I already sent the wire to him telling him that we have you, and are willing to make a trade.”
I raise my eyebrow. “What are you bartering for?”
She laughs. “Money of course.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, I believe by now he’s figured out it was me who stole my horse back, stole Derrick and his men back from him, and killed three of his guards. All right from under his nose.” Money is no obstacle to a man who truly wants your blood.
Two days later I have my arms tied behind my back, a gag placed in my mouth. I’m in a new suit that looks identical to my old one; but my hair is pulled back and face completely exposed, making me easily identifiable. She has me on my knees, looking at the road so it appears that she is superior to me and that I’m submitting to her. Moira is wearing her Trix disguise. She’s wearing a coyote mask and their crest pinned to her chest. “Just relax Kit. Alright? Nothing will happen.”
I scoff and roll my eyes. How about she tries being the one that’s bound with a target on her head? That way I can be calm.
Rylarth and his bulbous belly are riding a white horse. He looks tired from carrying Rylarth’s fat ass. Rylarth has two people next to him. My eyes widen and nearly want to run when I recognize the Adversantem crest on the two next to him. They are wearing a clean white shirt and crisp pants. By the way, Rylarth is grinning, he’s involved.
“Moira.” I try to shout, but it comes out garbled.
“Shush!” She hisses and pushes me down when I try to stand.
“They’re going to kill me, woman!” I hiss at her, though she didn’t understand that either.
“I hear there is a price for this woman,” Moira calls. “I’m here to raise it.”
Rylarth chuckles, his other chin doing a jellied dance while he does. His voice comes out thick and low, creating ripples in his neck while he talks. “You’ll receive the price offered Trix. A thousand gold.” A thousand, really?
Moira shakes her head. “We have ears King Rylarth. We heard that she has also freed Derrick and his men from you, as well as stole back her stolen horse from you, without triggering an alert in your high-alert city.”
His eyes narrow. “Word travels fast in your world.”
“We know everything,” She hisses. “Five thousand gold or I slay her where she kneels. You won’t receive the payment for stolen goods if I do that. By the way you’re leering at her, I can guess that she’s already on your mind.”
Rylarth choked, taken back by the raised price change. The Adversantem on his right touches his shoulder and nods. Rylarth glares. “Fine.” He reaches into this saddlebag and tosses five huge bags of gold toward us. Rylarth orders his horse forward, but the Adversantem that had his hand on his shoulder reaches into his pocket to produce a knife. He stabs Rylarth in the back of the neck while the other Adversantem races for us. Saw that coming.
Moira screams while I break loose of my weak ties. I rip off the gag, “I told you. Run Moira!” I yell as a dragon roars; making the hidden horses run off. Moira remains still when she sees a black and red dragon soar above us. I steal her bow and push her into the bushes. I dive onto the road, avoiding the grabbing hand of the Adversantem. Staying low on my feet, I ready the bow and shoot the back of the head of the Adversantem. I fire again at a new target; killing the second one.
I place another arrow in the bow while I get out of a kneeling crouch, listening for the sound of the dragon. All I hear is fighting men; Derrick’s soldiers fighting Rylarth’s raiders.
There is a roar to my left. “Die Dracones!” a dark voice yells inside my head.
“Come out and I’ll try!” I yell back, searching the skies for it. If only there weren’t so many trees surrounding this road. “Come on you winged coward!” I yell, demanding it to show itself. My heart is pounding, and adrenaline flowing quickly through my system.
“Kit, are you alright?” Alienis asks in worry since he hears my thoughts. He knows I’m trying to track this dragon.
“Fine for now.” I let him know in my head. I grin and fire the arrow when I see the dragon. My arrow lands in its neck. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a dragon to kill.” I drop to the ground, avoiding its grabbing claw. Quickly, I reach up and grab one of its claws. It lifts me off the ground, nearly yanking my shoulder out of its socket.
The dragon roars while I hold on to its claw. It tries to hit me with its tail. I let go of the claw and drop onto its tail, doing my best not to look at the ground. I start climbing the tail, working my way up. Wind beats furiously at me while I work my way forward. The dragon starts doing barrel rolls. I scream with fear and delight in my system while I try to hold on. The dragon flies over the battle that is taking place below. I can see Derrick looking up, but he still looks like a dot at this height. I squeeze my eyes shut while I banish the image of me falling at this height.
“Come on Kit,” I say to myself. I take two knives from my thigh. I stick them in the dragon’s hide, making him roar. I put them in downward angles, so I’ll have less of a chance of sliding out. I slowly work my way up while he tries to shake me off.
It’s about five minutes later when I reach its head. Its skull is too thick to fully penetrate it and reach his brain, but I can still blind him. Slowly, I take my numb hand and count calmly to myself. I remove one of the blades from the dragon’s head and stab it into its eyes. It screams in pain and tries to shake me. I hold on tight while blood pours from the dragon’s eye. I can’t pull out the knife, it’s stuck in his eye.
“Well, he’s going to kill me either way,” I mutter to myself when I find myself lacking a better idea at this point. I pull the knife I had been using to hold on out of his skull and stab it into his final eye, right into the center of it. He roars in pain, pulling his head back. My hand remains around the knife as it comes out of the dragon’s eye as I fall away from him; finally shaken off by the dragon. I see a curtain of black before me. Quickly I stick the knife in it, sliding down it while the knife cuts it, severing veins and creating a huge hole in its wing.
I start falling to the ground, knowing full well that there is nothing going to be able to catch me at this point. I turn myself around, so I can face the ground, and see if I can figure a way out of this. I see a dark circle growing over me, completely obliterating my shadow. I look up and see the red and black dragon picking up pace as he falls to the ground. Well, I’m screwed.
The dragon is falling faster than me, but he’s slightly behind me. It is then that I get an idea. I turn on my side and curl into a ball, avoiding the dragon and its wing completely. I stick the knife into the dragon’s side again and pull myself into his side. I use the fall to help me as I pull my body from the dragon to move further up it. I yank the knife out and stab quickly into the dragon’s side, only this time a little farther up. When the trees are close enough that I can make out individual branches, I know I’ve run out of time to find a more obscure place and curl into a ball around the dragon’s side.
The dragon gives an anguished howl as screams of terror sound below me. Splitting bark flies past me as he drops on top of the dense forest, breaking several thick trees. I feel us jerk to a stop. When he stops, I start sliding down from my hiding place but am stopped by something thick. I don’t care to see what it is at the moment; all I can comprehend is that I’m alive.
I can feel Alienis searching my mind, though for me at the moment it is completely blank. “Katarina!” Alienis yells in my head when I do not answer.
“I’m here,” I assure him, “but I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“What’s the good news?”
“I’m alive.” I sigh as I come out of my ball. I look and see I have landed on the wing, but a tree sticking through it is propped against my back, keeping me up. Trees are sticking through the dragon, a nice thick one clearing its middle. Well, he’s dead.
“The bad news?” Alienis demands.
I look down below me to see how far up I am. I see dots running on the ground. I pull back, trying to calm myself. “I’m still afraid of heights.” How do I get out of this one?
“Kit?” Moira calls, running around through the wreckage, trying to see if I was counted with the dead.
“Try higher up!” I yell down, refusing to look down. On the bright side of this, other than being alive, I’m on top of the dragon this time.
Moira screams when she realizes what is above her and why everyone has stopped talking. “What are you doing up there?”
“I thought I’d take a break!” I snap. “What do you think I’m doing up here?”
“Well come down here!”
“You do realize who you’re talking to right?” I am still trying to figure out what was going through my head when I decided to go for a ride. Maybe I’m only scared of heights when I have to go down. I facepalm at that idea. I need help.
“Just do it, you coward.”
“Excuse me?” I demand, a little annoyed. “Who is the one that just killed a dragon here? Which one of us is stuck on its damn corpse? I’m not a coward.”
“You’re not scared of fighting dragons, but if there is a possibility of a fall Dawn help you,” Moira yells up. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“I will hurt you, woman!” I shout down to her, though she’s got a point. Maybe I’m just incredibly irrational. Or since I’m up here, a complete moron. However, I’m still on the question on how to get down.
“Kit!” She yells at me. “Get down here.”
“I’m working on it!” I yell down to her, standing up on some very faulty ground. If I’m standing on something that has a tree as its killer, chances are I made a wrong turn somewhere along the way.
It’s a long haul, but I managed to wedge myself through the skin of the dragon’s wing and the tree and begin my way down. When I get onto the ground, I have every man and woman’s attention. I feel as if I have a horn growing out of my ass by the way they are looking at me. I look at Moira. “And I’m down.”
She starts laughing. “I could kill you or kiss you right now.”
“Well, I hope it’s the latter,” I say with a grin. “Did you hide your gold?”
She rolls her eyes. “Yes, while you were fighting a dragon, I was hoarding away gold.” She pushes me playfully. “I was getting the horses back and helping out down here.”
I laugh. “Silly question. Now that Rylarth is out of the way, I’m going to take a break for a bit.” Maybe I’ll go kill Trayvon.