Ambushed (The Brindle Dragon Book 4) Page 11

  Just like the other times, she felt him split the air with a keening sort of boom. The monsters all fell back, screeching and holding their ears, bursting in waves of black, viscous liquid.

  Arrows still flew from Dille and the others above, and she could hear the dragons roaring as they no doubt tore the sorcerer apart. They were doing it. They were turning the tide of battle.

  “That’s it, Fior. Don’t stop until they’re gone, okay? We’re gonna save everyone.”

  She allowed herself a breath, watching her little boy as he laid waste to what was supposed to be an army. She felt a strange sort of power bubbling through her, almost intoxicating in its virulence. Was that her connection to Fior, or was it something else? She didn’t know, but it made her feel like nothing could stop her.

  But then an arm wrapped around her throat and she was yanked backward.

  “Oh, my dear, you have been so very annoying tonight, you know that?”

  She recognized the voice of the sorcerer instantly and stiffened. She could smell blood on him, hopefully his own. How had he gotten free of the dragons?

  She tried to tilt her head up to look at the sky, but he held her fast, his mouth at her ear. She could almost feel the evil dripping from his words as he hissed them.

  “You really think you children can do anything to stop what is coming? You’re nothing. You’re barely dots on a map compared to the power that you try to stave off.”

  Eist rasped something, her throat tired of the abuse. The sorcerer let go just enough for her to drag in a breath.

  “What was that?”

  The little bit of space was all she needed. She took a quick step to the side while flipping her dagger around in her hand, driving it backward until she felt it bury itself in flesh.

  “I said this little dot still has a knife.”

  She pulled herself away from him and whirled, her hand already going for another blade. She tensed, sure she would have to attack again, but the man stumbled backward, her knife firmly in his middle.

  “You little… You…” he sputtered, stumbling back again. “You think you’ve done something here. That you’ve stopped the tide.”

  “I’ve stopped you,” she countered, taking a cautious step to follow him. “And that’s all I need right now.”

  “Stopped me?” he spat at her, an echo of her own defiance, but it splattered to the ground between them. “You’ve only slowed me down. The cage that’s holding us back is crumbling. Soon, you’ll be able to see the true glory and purpose that awaits us all.”

  One foot went into the pool, then another. A bolt of alarm swirled through Eist and she rushed forward to yank him out, but the liquid was already encasing his lower body, like it was trying to swallow him whole.

  “And what glory is that?” she asked desperately, wanting answers. Wanting to know why her. “Why turn people into beasts?”

  “You know why,” he gasped, falling to his knees. Less than a breath later, the dark tendrils covered him entirely then collapsed back into the pool like he had never been there at all. Eist knew that he wasn’t dead. Somehow, someway, he had escaped.

  She turned, a strange sort of silence washing over her good ear, and she noticed that the battle was over behind her, with all of her friends and their dragons regarding her wearily. Fior was the only one that seemed enthused, and he bounded up to her.

  This time, it was Eist who dropped to her knees, opening her arms to catch him in a teary embrace.

  “You did so good, my baby boy. You were amazing.” She peppered his head with kisses before she finally let him go to stand up. Looking to Athar, she gave him one of her shrugs. “Let’s go free the prisoners, shall we?”

  11

  Many Joyous Returns and a Dreaded One

  Eist was a bit numb as they walked down the path toward the academy. She was fairly certain she was going to be in trouble, but she was hoping that the fifty or so freed prisoners behind her would get her out of trouble.

  Night was almost falling, but that didn’t matter anymore. A lot of things didn’t matter anymore, and she was beginning to think almost all of those things had to do with the rules.

  Magic was real, and it could hurt just as much as it could help. And there were definitely forces organizing against the kingdom, wanting to bring death and chaos and whatever that pool was made out of that didn’t belong.

  The alarm bell rang twice and soon the gates were opening for them. Eist found herself rushed by healers and teachers who began to look over everyone, but it was none other than Elspeth who followed, with the beautiful and truly gargantuan white dragon behind her.

  “Eist of W’allenhaus,” she said loudly, making sure she was heard.

  “Yes,” the young woman answered, limping up to the older woman. Although her wounds had all been fairly superficial, their effect combined with her battle fatigue and the long walk home had her walking like she was injured all over again.

  “I have been told that you defied a direct order to return to the fold.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You deny it not?”

  “Elsepth,” Fjorin said, stepping forward. “She saved my life. She saved all our lives.”

  The woman looked them over. “This is true?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Eist’s heart was racing like she was in battle again, and it was making her nauseous. Even with Fior curling around her feet in tight circles, she still wanted to grab her friends’ hands.

  “And tell me, how did a deaf third-year with a runt of a dragon manage to save so many?” Although her words were definitely not couched, her tone was incredibly polite. As if she was curious and not accusing.

  “To be honest, ma’am, it’s a very long story.”

  “As most are.” The woman nodded and stepped back. “I want all of these people taken care of and fed!” Then her gaze returned to Eist’s. “As for you, I would like to speak to you and your cadre of followers tomorrow, after you have had your rest.”

  “Talk about what?” Eist asked. If she was going to be punished, if she was going to be kicked out of the academy, she wanted to know it.

  But Elspeth just smiled. “Did anyone ever tell you that you are so very like your mother?” she murmured, patting the young girl’s cheek before walking off.

  Her dragon lingered a moment more, dipping her head down, down, down until it was level with Fior. Eist’s dragon stood on his hind legs, warbling something that she couldn’t understand, but the white dragon answered, her sound somewhere between a lilting sigh and a soft breeze. Fior gave a little wiggle, licking the alabaster dragon’s cheek, before she withdrew and followed her rider.

  “Huh,” Yacrist said, coming up alongside her. At least he knew not to try to hug her. Eist had a feeling it would be a long time before she was comfortable with anyone touching her from the back. “That was something.”

  “It certainly was,” Dille agreed. “Do you think she’s gonna chew you out more or less than we will for those crazy stunts you pulled?”

  “I don’t know.” Eist sighed and looked back at her friends. They were all clearly weary, teetering on the edge of collapsing right then and there. But they also looked happy that she was there with them, happy that they were all alive, and relieved to be back at the academy. “Would it make you guys go any easier on me if I reminded you that I am wounded?”

  “Yeah, and whose fault is that?” Ain said, walking past them. “Now I don’t know about you, but let’s get fed and checked up so all of you can explain to me what exactly we all experienced. No secrets, alright?”

  “No secrets,” Eist agreed. “But please, yes. Let’s eat first.”

  “Finally, an idea th-that isn’t insane,” Athar said as he also moved past her. Eist noticed he hesitated at her side, as if he wanted to touch her, to grab her hand maybe? But instead, he just kept walking, looking back to make sure she followed.

  Yacrist, however, had no such hesitance and gladly grabbed up her h
and to pull her toward food and rest. She had no doubt that he would want to fuss over her all over again. The advantage of being an archer was that he had stayed wound-free.

  People parted for them, and after a few moments, she thought she heard clapping. Pulling her focus back to the world, she saw that many of the people watching them enter were indeed applauding, cheers coming from their mouths as all of the escapees passed.

  Eist didn’t know what to say to that, it made her heart thunder and her gut twist, so she just ignored it. Her friends did as well, moving around the healers who were busy hauling those who were more injured than them to the healer’s hall.

  Eist smiled at that. For once, she wasn’t on a stretcher, clinging to life. She was actually fairly excited to have come out of a battle with so few scrapes, at least comparatively speaking. It made her feel like she was getting better. Stronger. That maybe someday she might actually be good enough to be a threat to people like the healer, or the man, or anyone else like them.

  Because she needed to be better. She was now more sure than ever that her feelings of apprehension weren’t just paranoia from everything she had been though. And also, that the teachers and dragon riders also had the same hunch but were denying it fervently. It wasn’t just that something was coming, there was some great and terrible danger lurking in wait.

  The Blight was trying to break back into the world, that much was obvious, and far too many of its tendrils had already broken loose.

  THANK YOU

  Thank you so much for reading Ambushed, the fourth book in the Brindle Dragon series. Eist and Fior are really starting to come into their own, but there are evil forces intent on ambushing their world.

  I really enjoy hearing what readers think so if you could leave a review for me on Amazon, that would be really cool.

  The next story in the Brindle Dragon series will be published soon. In the meantime, you might want to check out Oracle. It is the first book in the Dragon Oracle series which features a normal girl trying to live a normal life. The only problem is that she has visions of the future and finds herself mixed up with shape-shifting dragons.

  Get Oracle here:

  amazon.com/dp/B079KXS1SR/

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