Unwilling to Succumb (The Dragon Lorde #2)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Serpent's Bite

An hour had passed since the departing sails of Leviathan had waved a farewell and we had made progress...I think.

Squinting out towards the horizon, spotting the round slopes of woodlands and the gleaming stretch of sand, coming forth from the sea like an enticing apple stringed above a horse.

Always there. Tempting, bringing excitement, but never reachable.

I was beginning to think the land was inching further from our grasps, further than the sun above our heads. 

Lorde Kaede sat across from me, a yellowed scroll splayed over his left leg, with his hand tactfully tracing the lines and squiggles upon it.

Leaning over his shoulder, shadowing the scroll with his lean frame, perched Lorde Alonso, who still had his turquoise tailcoat and trousers in perfect condition.

How, might I ask? Who bloody knows!

The last thing on my mind is this man's love for his clothes.

And where was I sitting in all of this?

Alone. In a corner. Demanded...more like threatened to keep silent, as the two men took liberty to discuss "The Plan."

A certain plan that seemed to have been mysteriously thought up of without my presence.....for quite a while.

Excuse me? I was the one who invited your bloody arses to come along, not the other way around!

Since there were no lurking eyes but our own in this desolated boat, I had let my dragons out to stretch their wings.

A few snapped at the wondering bugs passing by, while the rest lay curled on my shoulders and on top of my head, greedily soaking in the sun.

Lorde Alonso wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his arm, before asking. "There are two, every hundred and fifty feet, you say?"

"Three." Lorde Kaede corrected, immediately. "One uniform for each one of us."

I tossed a piece of bread into the air, near Eugene's bright orange snout, pretending obliviousness, when really, I was eavesdropping.

From what I understood, our boat lay nearly a few hundred feet away from where many massive and poisonous serpents swam.

Their plan...I scoffed irritably under my breath.

Their plan is to paddle directly around that area, skirting closely enough so that we will not be spotted from a more known entrance location to the island, but not enough to lose a couple limbs from a bloody snake.

Once we've made ourselves through, Kaede was to lead us to the location where there supposedly was a line of guards stationed around the entirety of the island. Exactly one hundred and fifty feet away from each other.

Then we are going to steal their clothes.

Eugene squealed, ecstatically, as he chewed and tore his piece of bread apart, while a red scaled face gloated behind him, growling hungrily from her bared teeth.

"Shula!" I warned, catching the sinister thoughts running through her mind.

Shula inched closer in the air, closer and closer, her scarlet scales practically steaming in rage.

Rolling my eyes, I tossed her a piece.

So oblivious to anything around her, the bread sailed past her scaled tail and disappeared over the side of the boat, without a wink of awareness in her yellowed eyes.

"Stubborn beastie." I mumbled crossly, as I leaned over the side of the boat, searching for the chunk of bread.

Ah, there!! I began reaching down, when something caught my attention. A narrow and dark shadow slowly moving towards our boat, my finger paused an inch away from the soggy lump.