Drakkon

Chapter Nine

The next week was spent painfully and uncomfortably. More than one occasion I was slapped by one of the men, and other times I was uncomfortable with my cramps and the various positions I would have to sit in for hours. The only comfort I had was in Atreus's promise of freeing me when the time was right. Although Atreus made sure the men kept their hands off of me for the better part of the journey—making excuses and telling them that they didn't have time to waste—he rarely kept his company around me and was mostly cold towards me. However, there were a few times when I caught his worried glance or angry one when the men would roughly handle me.

On the eight day of my capture, Akio had gotten into another argument with Atreus, but this time he didn't seem like he was going to back down.

"Why can't we touch her?" Akio growled angrily. "You keep telling us we don't have time, but I think we have plenty of time! Why can't we have her at nighttime when we're all resting? We have time then."

Atreus glared at him, his bright eyes narrowing. "You can't have the Dragon's whore; imagine what he'll do to us if we fail to kill him and he finds out we touched his woman? We'll be in worse condition and he'll torture us to no end."

Akio scoffed, the other men frowning. "You're talking as if we'd lose to him. You're talking like a loser."

"I'm logically thinking this through," he said coolly. "Sometimes, death is sweeter than what life has to offer, and if the Dragon is prolonging our life to fulfill his wrath, then I'd much prefer death."

"Your logic is as if we'd lose," Akio repeated angrily. "We haven't lost and we'll have her right now. The Dragon will die and we'll even rape her as he's dying, let him feel rage as he dies, you know?"

Some of the men chorused behind him in agreement, while I paled and felt sick.

Atreus narrowed his eyes at him.

"If you don't want to suffer the Dragon's wrath, then don't touch her," another one of the men said with a grin and a lecherous glance at me. "You can always just watch."

"I always thought people from Sanguis were wild and violent," Akio said. "Don't they like raping and whoring?"

Atreus quickly glanced at me before looking around at the other men, the gears in his head shifting as he analyzed all the people around him. Five of the men were huddled by the fire minding their own business, two were farther away taking relieving themselves, and the other eight were standing around the wagon. I wasn't dumb enough to realize that he was sizing everyone up, deciding on how he would kill them and get away with me.

"Look here, the people of Sanguis sleep with their sisters and moms and brothers, so why do you have a problem with the Dragon's whore?"

The men were laughing as they insulted him, all of them oblivious to the deaths Atreus was most likely plotting in his head.

Twisting my hand in the bindings, I frantically looked between Atreus and the rest of the men. He might've been strong and deadly, but he couldn't take on this many men by himself. The people of Sanguis were said to be one of the deadliest fighters, but that didn't mean they could take on a dozen people at once.

"Master Drakkon will be displeased if you touch her," Atreus said in a cold voice. Before the men could register his words, he pulled out the double swords strapped to his waist and swiftly slashed at the two men nearest him. Instantly, they dropped to the ground, clutching onto their arm and shoulder. He moved as quick as lightning and started fluidly dancing with his blade, the men around him erupting into cries and movements.

I scooted away from the wagon and watched in horror as more men closed in on Atreus. He was a good fighter, but there were far too many men around. The other five that were seated were alerted and were running this way. Thinking quickly, I slipped off the carriage and glanced around to see what I could do.