Page 2 of The Final Battle

A roar sounded in the distance, echoed by two others, giving me hope that they would be heading back in this direction. Sure enough, I could see Tahir, Jade’s red dragon, first with his vibrant scales being easier to see in the dark. The others were right behind him and proceeded to circle me, each looking to see if I had Cassarah with me.

“She went with Vasin back to the roost, he was wounded and she needed to check on him first,“ I hollered at them. “Gavin knows and is staying at the castle while we guard Cassarah.“

Cole, not even waiting for me to finish talking, sped off on his dragon with the rest quickly following. I couldn’t really blame them; Cassarah was our whole world, even before she officially claimed us as consorts. The moment that mark appeared on my forearm, giving me the title of Guardian, there was no turning back. Watching her grow into the queen she was becoming made me love her even more, being her consort just meant I could finally do something about it.

Shanshen didn’t linger, and chased after the others, soon overtaking them as he flew higher to pass them all, only to dive down when we reached the plateau where the roost entrance was. When he landed, dust billowed around us as he flared his wings to slow us down enough we didn’t crash.

“Oof, was it really necessary to make such an entrance?“ My dragon turned his one good silver eye at me, letting out a snort of smoke. “Alright then, seems you have quite the competitive streak in you now, doesn’t it.“ I chuckled as I slid off his back and rubbed his neck. In answer, I got what I would consider a smile of sorts as he bared his teeth at me bobbing his head.

Paxton, being the show off that he was, dropped out of the sky to land in a crouch beside me, popping back up with a grin. “Man, that move never gets old.“

Abbott walked up behind him and cuffed him on the back of the head. “Now is not the time to be acting like a child, we almost lost Cassarah tonight because we acted overconfident.“

“Fuck off would you, I know what happened tonight. I have the singed clothes to prove it,“ Paxton shot back. “Take the stick out of your ass and acknowledge the fact we now know the Lost King’s dragon is real and our plan worked... kind of.“

“You wouldn’t be acting that way if you saw what I did,“ I stated, crossing my arms, glaring at him. “That dragon is not something we can underestimate, he took tons of damage and shrugged it off. It wasn’t until Cassarah shot him in the eye that he decided to give up on the fight. Then the bastard vanished right before my eyes, poof, gone.“

Paxton narrowed his icy blue eyes at me. “What do you mean vanished?“

“How many other ways can something vanish?“ I challenged, not feeling up to dealing with his attitude. He’d been getting better, with Cassarah always putting him in his place, and learning to trust the rest of us more. Yet moments like this still happened and his stubbornness made him act like an asshole.

“Do we know if that is some sort of dragon magic or are we dealing with something else?“ Abbott asked, frowning.

Relaxing my arms, I motioned to the roost. “The one we need to ask is in there. Vasin is the only one who knows what any dragon could be capable of. Personally, I don’t think it was natural dragon magic, I think it has to do with whatever spell brought the thing back to life. Did you see the acid seeping out of it?“

“Fucking hurts, I’ll tell you that,“ Cole announced as he joined us, followed by Zan and Dayson. “Some of that shit landed on my arm, ate right through the clothes I was wearing, so I had to rip the sleeve off.“

Glancing around, I noticed we were missing one. “Where’s Jade?“

“Oh, you think that protective asshole was going to wait for us to go in?“ Dayson grumbled. “Nah, that man had his dragon fly right into the roost from the top.“

Dayson was right, Jade was obsessive when it came to Cassarah’s safety, even to the point of making her mad on several occasions. “Maybe if he’s had a moment with her all to himself, he’ll let the rest of us close enough to check on her.“

The men around me muttered their agreement as we headed in. I hoped that Vasin hadn’t taken any severe damage because I wasn’t sure we would have much time left after this stunt. The Lost King was gearing up for battle, but I’m afraid that now our time to prepare was gone and the element of surprise was lost.

Chapter two

Cassarah

As I stood in the cave that had been hollowed out by dragons centuries ago to be used as a roost, my body hummed with power. It felt like when you stood outside in a thunderstorm and you could feel the energy right before the lightning struck. My heart pounded in my chest as my mind wrapped around everything that just happened. I thought I was going to die, splattered on the rocks below the castle as I watched that twisted white dragon fighting with Vasin. Then in that split second, I chose to believe my life wasn’t going to end that way, and my Birthright burst from me creating wings. Wings!

I caught sight of Izel and his blue dragon coming for me but I wasn’t sure they would have made it if I didn’t have my magic save me. The world glowed in an electric blue haze from my wings, illuminating the battle.

“Cass, I need you!“ Vasin roared, fire shooting out of his mouth.

It didn’t seem to be doing much against Xotha though, and in seconds my wings responded to my need to protect my dragon. My bow materialized in my hand and I hit true, right into the black soulless eye of the creature that once had been a living dragon. Now here we are in the dimly lit roost, alive and safe... for now. Vasin was laid out on the sandy floor, shredded wings spread out, showing the damage from the fight. Tears threatened to spill over as I took in the sight of him but that wouldn’t help either of us.

“Don’t cry Cass, all will be well. The healer will be able to help, and in a few days I will be alright.“

Hearing Vasin sound as calm and assured as always moved me to action.

“I need the healer in here now!“ I commanded loudly, letting my voice echo off the walls.

An attendant, who’d been walking out of one of the tunnels, heard me and dropped what he was carrying to hurry off. In moments like this, I didn’t mind the fact that I had the power to halt everything to have my needs met first. Vasin was half of my soul and I couldn’t let him lay there in pain, that thought finally got my body moving and I walked right up to his head. There was a gaping wound on his snout so I ripped off a large section of my underskirt and pressed it to the wound.

“Xotha’s blood is poison, the healer will need to create some kind of antitoxin to combat it. I can feel it burning through my veins, trying to thin my blood so I bleed out faster.“ Vasin informed me.

“Please tell me we can save you,“ I sobbed, unable to keep the emotion out of my words. “If this plan I came up with ends up killing you, I will hate myself forever.“