Crown of horns

Chapter twenty

Opaskai

"no!" I shout slapping the stone. My king slid under the gate before it closed but I have yet to find an exit.

"He is in there somewhere. Prepare yourselves."

I crouch, watching the murky shadow of soldiers passing through the stone prison. I can not shift, my own scales betray me. I am grounded until I can escape.

This mean my king and Alys are alone, unprotected. With Rendroktheil chasing Alys, any forces will have no command to follow.

I need the chance to slide free, I'm a spy. I can hide in plain sight. A master of it.

I creep along the ground, keeping my feet from dragging along the dirt. Slow enough to keep the smoke from churning around me.

"Anyone see him?" One man whispers. "Keep your voice down! He could be anywhere. Shifty creatures dragons are." Another warns.

I rise quickly snatching one man around the head and with a slit second movement snap his neck. Then silently drag him deeper into the smoke to improve my own armor. Before a single man can notice their missing Comrade I have joined their ranks. Blending as easily as I can.

"Do you think they got away with the traitor?" I mimic a lower voice. It comes out breathy and quiet.

"Not a chance. We've got the perimeter. The traitor is in the castle. We caught the other man. Now we need the beast."

My blood boils, Alys is alone, my king is captured?! Heart hammering I draw the blade I stole.

"I am afraid you have angered the "beast",  would you like to rephrase that statement before or after I cut you to ribbon?"

The man turns drawing his blade in surprise.

"You? The beast." His eyes grow wide before freezing with rage.
"Trickster! Beast! Get him." The man commands.

I parry the first blow, then take the mans blade and by the hilt and rip it from his grip. With my own blade I knock the mans legs out from under him swinging the blades to crisscross the next blow. Arms extended over my head I get in the other mans face, he growls, barring his yellowed teeth at me. Slit drips into his subbed brown and gray beard.

"Careful dragon, you may be a trickster but I mastered the blade as a boy." He he spits. I push harder on his sword arm, dragging him in lower to the ground, his sword locks with my own, steel whines.

A wicked smile drives the fire in his eyes. "The Queen will use your head as a decoration dragon, your hide will be my carpet."

Steel pierces my flesh, driving up at towards my heart. I gasp leaves my chapped lips as I stagger, releasing the blades and allowing them to drop to the ground. My fingers rip and tug on the armor, ripping it over my head. Across my chest, a strange numb feeling spreads.

"Coated in the venom of a ice saber. Found only in the north. You're blood will begin to freeze, paralyzing you before eventually stopping your heart Dragon. The process is slow, it can't take days but slowly you will freeze. I've heard it's agonizing. You'll have to tell me."

I can't feel my stomach, my hands still running along the blade do not become sticky with blood.

Alys, my king. It was an honor.

Falling to my knees the man levels the blade with my throat.

"Thank you for the honor dragon."

"Not today." A blade sinks in to the mans neck, blood spurts from the wound spraying the ground.

Rendroktheil. My king. He is what the mortals could see as the personification of death in wind. He spun, blade sailing through armor, piercing flesh. Igniting a song of pain and agony.

He shoves the last guard to the ground the blade cries as the mans throat is slit and he chokes in his own blood.

"Opaskai. Come, we must hurry." Rendroktheil holds out a hand towards me. I weakly gaze up at him, my lips feel large and numb.

"Ice... saber venom." I stammer. Rendroktheil crouches examining the wound between my ribs. He rubs the blood between his fingers, eyes pure red as he examines it.

"Amicus meus. My friend. This will not kill you. As we speak your blood fights it. Come Alys needs us." He stands pulling me to my feet by my arm and wraps it over his shoulders.

He begins to drag me along beside him, I shuffle, attempting to put my feet under me to assist the slow process through the smoke.

"Alys..." Where is Alys? the guard lied about my king. did he lie about her? Is she safe? Is she hurt?

"Alys has made it into the keep. We will meet her there. For now, we must hurry." Rendroktheil explains as we reach the gate. It has been pried open by a blade, warping under the pressure it trembles. Rendroktheil lays me to the ground and pushes me underneath. The large iron stakes scrape my flesh.

Rendroktheil slides underneath after, as he pulls his other foot from underneath the blade snaps, both ends sailing through the air with deadly force. The gate crashes to the ground with a loud crash, sending dust into the air.

I cough swatting the dust away.

Rendroktheil dusts away the soot and ash. He bends down helping me to my feet.

"Someone will have heard, quickly."