Deception (A Dragons Race to the Edge Fanfic)

Chapter 28

"That's enough!" Viggo intervened, as Krogan lifted his weapon to slash at you yet again. The battle felt extremely one-sided, with you completely defenseless and confined to the cage. Not to mention, your hands were still tied together! Luckily, you had managed to avoid any serious injuries, managing to quickly dodge the ax at the final second. But, you were still unable to get past Krogan. Your chances of escape were dwindling.

Krogan turned to Viggo, confused, and even Johann looked surprised.

"Injuring the girl won't incline her tell you anything."

"Oh, really?" Krogan retorted. "And you would know that how?"

"I did spend three and a half months in her company! These attempts will only increase her courage." Viggo replied forcefully.

'Was that a compliment?'

"We'll see about that!" Krogan retaliated, turning back towards you. As he did, you swept your left leg horizontally, slightly above the ground, delivering a low kick that knocked Krogan's legs out from under him, and sent him tumbling to the floor with a satisfying thud. Time was of the essence, as you quickly leapt over Krogan, who was now struggling to his feet. You could see the tunnel exit up ahead, and sprinted towards it.

"Not so fast!" Johann shouted, as he blocked your path. You might not have been a warrior quite on par with Astrid, but Johann was certainly no match for you, especially in close combat like this. Using your fists, which were still bound together by ropes, you punched with quick, sharp jabs, slipping past him before Krogan caught up with you. Viggo made no attempt to stop you, but instead bore a look of annoyance on his face, as you sprinted towards the tunnel.

You ran down the tunnel, hoping the darkness would somewhat conceal your path. You briefly halted, and used a jagged rock, jutting out from the wall of the tunnel, to cut through the ropes that bound your wrists together. The release of the pressure was a huge relief to your aching wrists. You could hear enraged voices echoing down the cavern behind you, and willed yourself to keep on running.

"I told you we should have brought guards, you fool!" Krogan sounded outraged.

"I'm not the one who opened the cell door!" Viggo responded fiercely.

"Stop wasting time, and get her!" Johann yelled. You carried on running, as Krogan's hurried bounds sounded down the tunnel in hot pursuit of you. You had no idea where you were going, but you had to keep moving. At that point the tunnel you were following forked, leaving two available tunnels ahead of you.

'Quick!' you thought to yourself, 'Pick one!' As your mind raced, you spotted something glistening in the dim light on the floor, in the middle of the two paths.

Your sword!

And there was something odd about it too. It seemed to have been positioned very precisely, and there was a piece of parchment attached to the hilt. The sword seemed to have been accurately positioned to point down one of the tunnels - the one to the right to be precise. Was it a trap? The increased volume of Krogan's footsteps from the tunnel behind you sparked you into action. Of course it was a trap! And you knew exactly who had pulled it off! Well, you were smarter now. You grabbed your sword in one hand, and a rock in another. You then threw the rock as powerfully as you could to the right, the direction your sword had been pointing. You, instead, ran down the left tunnel. The rock clattered and echoed down the right-hand tunnel, which you hoped Krogan would follow. Meanwhile, you proceeded to silently follow the other tunnel. After a few minutes of cautious running and avoiding potential traps, you soon reached a small cavern. To your surprise, you were met with an excited squawk.

"Amethyst?!" you couldn't help whispering with both delight and confusion. Amethyst seemed overjoyed to see you. She had clearly been anxiously waiting in the cavern for some time. There was no time to ask questions now. You saw a small crevasse in the roof of the cavern, as you mounted your dragon - your escape.

"Come on Amethyst," you urged breathlessly, "let's get out of here!" Amethyst quickly took to the air, and darted out of the cavern, into the dusk sky. The shouts of several hunters sounded from the island below.

"Keep going Amethyst!" you urged, not daring to look back. "Up!" you were desperately aware that you had to get out of the range of the dragon root arrows. You heard the dreaded sound of multiple arrows soaring through the sky, and gritted your teeth, as you flattened your body against Amethyst. Out of the corner of your eye, you glimpsed the arrows shooting past you, narrowly missing you, thanks to Amethyst's quick maneuvers. It was a narrow escape, but an escape nonetheless. You were extremely impressed at Amethyst's skillful dodges under such pressurized conditions (and the lousy aim of the hunters didn't hurt either!) Amethyst quickly camouflaged her scales with the dusk clouds, making a smooth and efficient escape from the island, that sent a wave of relief through your body.

The stillness of the sky was a sudden contrast to the rush of adrenaline and action you had recently experienced. Yet, your mind was still in turmoil. You wanted to get a good distance away from the island before landing so, for now, you were left to your thoughts as Amethyst sailed above the cloud cover. You pondered your sword once again. There was only one person who could have been responsible for that. It was a subtle clue that only someone who knew you well would know you would notice... and it had somehow led you to Amethyst.

You looked at the parchment neatly rolled up, and attached to the hilt of your sword. Your fingertips brushed over it, aching to open it up and read it. But, an unexpected gust of wind could potentially sweep it from your hands, and cast it into the ocean, losing it forever. Granted it seemed unlikely, but you were not prepared to take the risk. Instead, you resolved to read it once you and Amethyst landed for the night.

A/N: I just realized this book got 10, 000 reads! Wow!! Thank you so much to everyone reading this - it means a lot! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!