Dragon's Fire

Nine

 Kayden 

    As soon as the arrows started flying past us, I knew. The bandits from before had caught sight of us. I thought my men had gotten them all but obviously I had been wrong. I felt Taryn fall off me as I dodged an arrow, when I looked down at her, her body had gone into survival mode and she finally transformed. 

    Her Dragon was black with red streaks in her wings and tail. She was so small compared to me. I wanted to tell her how proud I was of her for Transforming but we were under attack. After telling her to get somewhere safe I took off towards the direction of the arrows. 

    I surveyed the area and saw there’s almost one hundred men gathered around, all ready to fight me. Since my powers are control over water elements, using my ice breath will have little effect but I blow ice at them anyways. A few of them are smart enough to dodge the ice coming at them, a few others are unlucky enough to get scorched by the freezing cascade. 

    I fly overhead a few times trying to pick them off before I Transform and take them on in hand to hand combat. After I have destroyed their camp and plucked off a good number of bandits I decide to Transform. I jump at the remaining men and start at them with my dagger. I have trained extensively in hand to hand combat, I am one of the best in the kingdom.  One man comes at me and I sweep around him, stabbing him in the kidney. He clutches his side and drops to his knees. I move on to the next, killing bandit after bandit. They are still surrounding me but I can take them, most of them are hesitating, afraid to come at me. 

Kayden!! I hear Taryn shout in my mind. 

    I’m coming Taryn, hold on! I tell her as I break a bandit's neck with my bare hands, I’m starting to get tired. I should Transform and regain my strengths. I get a running start and jump into the air, my Dragon emerges and I fly high into the sky. I come back down and use my extremely large claws to rip apart a handful of men. 

    Kayden… Don’t come, it’s some kind of trap! Taryn says in my mind once more. She sounds scared and tired, which I cannot say I’m surprised by.. I’m surprised she’s still conscious, the first Transformation is hard on the body. I remember being out for an entire day after mine. 

I’m not abandoning you...I can take care of anything they throw my way… Don’t worry. I’m coming for you Taryn. 

    I can feel the temperature decreasing, nightfall is upon us. Within an hour it will be dark. I need to use that to my advantage, if I can get the drop on them then I can rescue Taryn without any additional bloodshed. I need to get her to safety. I feel a weighted rope tangle around my leg, I look down and see it, and the man holding the other end. I shake him off and he goes flying across the open field. 

    Once I have finished with the bandits in this area I fly high over the forest, looking for Taryn. I find her behind an old building in the middle of nowhere, due to my heightened senses I can see far ahead… further than the eyes of a normal man. I see her Dragon is tied down, laying on the ground. I resist the urge to dive down and sweep her up in my talons. I sweep around and find a place to land unnoticed. I Transform back and start my way back to the area I saw them. I make my way through the dark forest, the sun set twenty minutes ago but in these woods it gets dark extremely quickly. 

    I come up the side of the building and see her, she has transformed back to her human form and is naked. I remember how hard it was at first to envision your clothing on your body when Transforming back. I am not surprised she is naked, she is unconscious and she has a muzzle on her face along with magical binds. I see twelve men nearby, not paying attention to her. I slowly crawl near her, keeping low to the ground, I keep my distance though. I can't draw any attention to her, not yet. I don’t want them to attack her. 

Taryn.. Can you hear me?

    She doesn’t reply, I thought maybe her unconscious mind would hear me, but she is too exhausted. At least if she’s out of the way she won’t be hurt during the fight. 

I sneak around to the front of the building and see the men are gathered around a fire, playing cards. 

“What are we waiting for? Why don’t we just kill her?” One of the men ask

“We need to wait for the Dragon King to come. It’s time to end this and take back our land.. She is just a pawn. We lost once to him, we won’t make the same mistake again..” A large man, I assume the leader says. 

    I need to pick them off one by one. I unsheathe my dagger and get ready. I slowly creep towards the furthest man from the group. I clasp my hand over his mouth, preventing him from screaming. I use the dagger and cut his jugular in one smooth motion, pulling him into the bushes. I leave his body on the forest floor, making sure he is far enough away so he will go unnoticed. 

    I see a man get up from the fire and walk over to the edge of the clearing, he’s taking a piss. I make my way over to him, I have a good advantage staying in the tree line, the forest keeps me covered in darkness. I let him finish his business before I stab him in the neck, he starts to bleed out, grabbing at his neck in a panic. I drag him away like the last one and move on. 

Picking them off slowly takes more time than I’d like but I am not drawing any suspicion so it’s worth it. 

“Go check on her” I hear a man tell a skinny younger one. He has long hair pulled into a bun, he looks creepy as hell. I watch him as he walks over to Taryn. His eyes linger on her for a while before he speaks. 

“She’s still passed out” He leans over her, touching her arm, I feel anger rise up inside me as I watch his hands on her. He slowly unties her and moves her body so that she is laying on her back now. His fingers sliding up her leg, onto her thigh. I can’t stand by and watch anymore when I see him hand his pants, trying to unbuckle his belt. I launched myself at him, my dagger aimed for his heart. He sees me coming for him at the last second and dodges me, making me miss his heart by inches, my dagger buries into his shoulder. He hisses in pain as he pulls away. 

He looks me over, knowing who I am. 

“I thought you’d be bigger” He snarls, smiling sickly at me.

We circle each other cautiously. 

“What’s going on over there?” 

“Nothing I can’t handle” The younger man snaps back. 

    He comes at me, I easily side step him and stab him in the thigh. He cries out, drawing attention from the others. He is distracted for a moment, I use it to throw my dagger and it is embedded into his skull. He drops instantly, I rush over and pull the dagger out. 

“I knew you’d come for her, it was only a matter of time” The older man says as he walks towards me. 

“We want our land back, we can do this the easy way or the hard way” He tells me. 

“Hmhm… Hard way” I say, swinging my dagger. There’s only six of them left. I can take them, no problem. The only one who looks like they would even remotely be a challenge is the older man, he looks like he’s seen some action before. 

“Get him” He orders his remaining me. Two of them come charging at me, their swords are heavy and awkward, whereas my dagger is light and easy to move. I drop to my knee and stab the first man in the gut, spinning on my knee and moving around the second man. I get back to my feet and grab him. I put my dagger to his neck and held him in a choke hold with my other arm. 

“What do you plan to do now? He means nothing to me, kill him and I’ll just send more” The old man says, shrugging as if this man's life means nothing to him. I am not going to play this game with him. I slice the man's neck and he stops struggling, dropping to the ground. I step over his body, ready for the next round. 

“Drop your dagger and get on your knees” I hear someone shout from behind me, from where Taryn was. I spin around and see a man holding her by the hair lifting her off the ground, her naked body is covered in dirt and she has cuts all over her. She is still unconscious, he has a blade to her throat. 

“Let her go.” I demand. 

“Drop your f*****g dagger!” He spits, his blade cutting Taryn’s skin as he puts more pressure. I look at Taryn and drop my dagger. I have no choice, I can’t see her get hurt. 

“Let her go!” I say again. 

    He looks at Taryn with disgust before tossing her forward, I run to catch her before she hits the ground. I remove my jacket and drape it over her as I lift her into my arms. 

“Ah what a shame.” One of them laughs 

“What is your plan now?” I ask as I hold Taryn close to my body. 

“Now we take you to Griffin.. In the morning” The older man says 

“Griffin? Is he the leader of your little group?” 

“Just go sit over there. No funny business. Remember you surrendered. I have no isse putting you in binds. But as a small sign of good faith I won’t.. Yet.. Don’t make me change my mind. Go sit.” He orders. I walk over to a tree and sit down, Taryn in my lap. 

“Taryn.. Can you hear me?” I ask gently, moving the hair out of her face. 

She moans lightly, nuzzling into my chest. 

Taryn.. I need your help.. I need you to try and use your powers.. Light everything up

Kai?

Yeah, It’s me.. I’m sorry I took so long to come for you… 

I’m scared… 

I know baby.. I know… but I’m here now. 

Can we go home now? I’m so tired. 

Soon .. I need you to help me first okay, then I promise I’ll take you home and you can sleep all you want. I’ll sleep with you, I won’t leave your side. Ever. I promise

Okay, I’ll try. 

“Whenever you're ready” I whisper in her ear. Her body is still unconscious, but her mind is awake. Even though she has not spoken out loud, I know she hears me now. 

    I feel her body start to heat up, slowly growing hotter by the minute. I use my own powers to counteract the effect she has on my body. Within minutes she has the area all around her on fire, spreading like the wildfire that it is. Then men try to put it out but it’s too strong and too hot for them to do anything. Men are on fire screaming and running towards the lake trying to save their lives. I see most of them are dead on the ground before they make it. The older man is set ablaze with no hope for survival. 

After ten short minutes they are all dead, Taryn’s body is very much on fire and her powers are flowing freely through her. 

“That’s good Taryn you can stop” I tell her as I walk us past all the destruction we have caused. 

    Her body starts to cool down until she is back to a normal temperature. I use my own power to spread water across the scorched area, putting out the remaining fire.  

“We are going home now” I whisper to her. I set her down extremely gently and Transform, picking her back up with care in my talons. I fly us back to the castle, back home.