“I—” I shake my head. I’m losing my bloody mind, that’s what’s wrong. I’m seeing things. As I stare at Anna now, I can see as plain as day that there is nothing moving in her eyes.
But there is something there I didn’t expect to find. Lady Anna’s eyes narrow on me for just a second before she drops her hand. The annoyance brewing in those golden eyes gives me pause. I’ve done nothing to draw her ire, and yet, I can tell she’s fuming just beneath her skin.
Before I can ask her about it, a mighty roar splits the night. My hands fly to my ears as I whirl around, searching for the source of the sound. Of course, there’s only one thing that can make a sound like that . . .
A dragon.
Against the dark sky, a large dragon with pink scales hovers. She beats her wings, roaring her fury again. Fire spews from her nostrils as she roars, rolling out of the large orifices like water over a cliff.
“I want what is mine, Vanir,” she bellows.
Dragons can talk? I blink staring up at the strange sight even as Anna draws the short sword from her hip behind me. The dragons in children’s stories can speak, but I’ve never heard that they can actually speak.
“Get behind me, Taryn,” Anna hisses, maneuvering herself in front of me as she raises her sword. The dragon’s head whips around searching the crowd for her target: my father.
I watch in horror as knights push through the crowd. Some of them circle my father and some come to form a line around me. I search the faces in the crowd for Mira. Dary can defend himself, but Mira has never so much as held a sword.
“She’s here for the crown,” I gasp hopelessly. I have no idea where it is or I’d give it back to end this, to stop whatever is about to happen. Nothing good can come from an angry dragon in Vanir.
Fire spews from the dragon’s snout, igniting the carnival stalls and people dart away from the flames. I turn in a circle, examining the devastation behind me. The fire reflecting in Anna’s eyes casts a cruel shadow on her face, highlighting her sharp features, making her look even more feral.
“Murderer!” My father’s familiar voice shouts over the roar of the panicked crowd. My eyes flash to him even as the knights around me push in closer, forming a solid wall of defense. Though, I’m not sure how that’s supposed to protect me from something than can fly.
An arrow flies toward the dragon. It bounces off her thick, scaly hide and she shakes her head, roaring her frustration. Her wings beat in slow motion, my heart pounding in my ears as she rains fire down on the celebration.
Screams echo all around me. I’m not sure if they’re screaming in fear or pain. I stumble backward, into the chest of a knight. My eyes squint, searching through the smoke for my father.
“Father!” I cry out, panicked.
The dragon’s head twists, her large eyes zeroing in on me. My eyes widen when she flies toward us, snarling her lip back. “A treasure was taken from me,” she hisses, spitting fire at a knight as he rushes toward her with his sword held high.
I wince as I watch Callum fall, his arm melting to his body as he screams.
“Your treasure is not here,” Anna growls, brandishing her sword as she, again, places herself between me and danger.
The dragon’s head rears back, her long neck curving as she surveys the new threat. Her snout parts with a roar that vibrates my very bones as she blasts fire at Lady Anna’s feet. Anna merely squares her shoulders, deepening her stance as she stares down the massive beast.
“Murderess,” the dragon hisses and my eyes widen.
Who have we murdered?
Anna steps around the flames, her eyes never leaving the raging beast focused on her. When Anna moves forward, I think for a moment she may actually be able to strike the dragon.
But the dragon only huffs smoke, flicking her tail and sending the northern woman flying across the ground as she lands in the grass. Her tail lashes back and forth behind her as she focuses on me. Several of the knights rush toward her. “Protect the princess!” they yell, slashing at her with their weapons.
I scramble toward a fallen knight, wrapping my hands around the hot metal handle of the sword he died holding. My heart pounds against my ribs as I dart toward the scurrying crowd.
She’s going to punish me to get back at my father.
She’s going to kill me.
That dragon is going to kill me, just like she killed my mother.
I shake the thoughts from my head as the sound of magic cracking in the air rings through the clearing.
“Witch,” the dragon roars and another surge of heat warms my back. I won’t look. I can’t. I have to get away from this place.
My fingers cling to the sword as I bump into someone. They quickly hurry away from me without a word. I can’t fault them. Everyone wants to survive this.
The sound of wings overhead draws my eye and I slide to a stop as the dragon drops down from below, cutting off my escape. She eyes me carefully, taking one step forward, then another.
For every step she takes toward me, I take one back, holding the sword in front of me. I’m no master swordsman, but I’ve been taught the basics. I know how to defend myself, for all the good that’ll do against a Gods damned dragon.
“Vanir, if you won’t return my most prized treasure, I shall take yours,” she roars, knocking down another line of men with her tail as they rush toward her.
I shake my head, looking around for something or someone that can help me. My eye’s fall on Dary and Mira as they scramble away from a piece of flaming fabric. The jubilee has fallen into chaos. People scurry toward the castle to seek shelter. The entire field is in flames. I can’t see my father or his knights through the smoke.
Anna lays unconscious—if not dead—somewhere nearby. The knights are making no headway against the beast.
All of a sudden, as if she’s become bored with this game, the rose colored dragon lifts into the air and flies toward me, her claws wrapping around my middle as she soars higher into the air. The huge digits dig into my ribs, bruising me, I’m sure, as we lift higher into the sky.
“Ungh,” I grunt, fighting against her hold. My grip on the sword tightens as I try to saw at the strange finger-like appendages wrapped around me. They may as be made of steel, themselves.
“Stop that nonsense unless you want to fall to your death,” the dragon snaps, her head hanging down staring at me for a moment before she turns her attention back to the sky.
“My daughter! Taryn!” my father screams below, his voice fading by with every beat of the dragon’s wings. “She’s taken my daughter now, too!” he bellows on the ground somewhere below.
“As if you care, you beast,” I screech, stabbing the end of the sword against the monstrous claws wrapped around me to no avail.
“So be it,” she sighs, and the claws begin to relax.
My stomach lurches into my throat as gravity catches hold, my arms flying out, scrabbling to grab on to something, anything. I watch as the sword plummets below us, the ground growing further and further away as she takes us higher into the clouds above. When her claws hold me securely again, I take a deep breath.
My heartbeat pounding in my ears nearly obscures the deep rumbling voice when she finally speaks again. “Now stop, Tiny Treasure. I’ve lost one piece of my hoard, I don’t plan to lose anymore.”