Page 31 of Guardian's Dilemma

I nearly laughed at the idea that aridirewas sitting there with a dragon behind him, hoping to shield the dragon.

While I was debating what to do, Glimmer had kept working behind me and I felt his hand wrap around my wrist tightly, right over the raw skin. He squeezed and I tensed my muscles to keep from shouting out but managed to stay quiet. Finally, his hand withdrew and took the silver shackle with him.

My magic surged through my body, filling me once again. I hadn’t realised how like being shut in a box it had been. I was buffeted by the power around me as I sensed it properly for the first time.

And it frightened me.

The dark, dragon-power that I could feel emanating from the team around me was… wrong. It wasn’t just the dragon’s power, it was their blood. Taking it and putting his hand in it was sending all of Leonard’s magic out into the world in a scarlet hue that chilled me to my very core.

Behind me, Glimmer’s voice was just as soft and I strained to hear it. “I’m going to create a distraction. You need to run.”

I might have argued about that, considering I didn’t think he stood much of a chance of getting out without help, but he added, “I’ll follow,” and I relented.

At this stage, all I needed to do was get out and think.

His presence withdrew and I still didn’t dare to look round at him in case I gave him away, so I didn’t see what he did exactly. All I knew was that one minute he was walking around the edge of the room and nobody knew he was there, and the next he walked into the middle of the room and the fourridireturned and flung their spells at him.

I took my chance and ran.

It wasn’t graceful, since my legs were uncooperative after being held in place for so long, but I made it through the archway and into the large room beyond. There, I floundered. I didn’t want to leave the vault. Not with Glimmer in there alone with theridire.

Just as I turned to go back, I saw Glimmer slide around the edge of the archway. He was clutching his belly and he’d gone a terrible grey colour. He gave a jerk of his head, indicating a corridor further ahead, and set off towards it. I hurried after him.

The part of me that had heard again and again the mantra ‘never trust a dragon’ was screaming at me to lash out at him and run. We were winding further into the vault, and I felt the slope of the passageway, so we were going deeper underground, too. I was literally letting a dragon trap me.

For some reason, I followed, though.

I stayed as near to Glimmer as I could get without actually touching him. I didn’t want to get that blood on me and, from the way he was holding himself, I didn’t think that he would appreciate my touch. He was hunched in on himself, his shoulders curled and his hands pressing at his stomach. There was blood smeared all over him and it was only then that it seemed significant that he was naked.

“Where are your clothes?”

“I left them.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t need them.”

Was it me or was his voice wavering? I moved closer and held out my hand, as though I’d catch him if he fainted.

“You wanted to be able to shift?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

His voice was definitely weaker. I’d always thought it was a good thing thatridirehunted in teams because we needed to overwhelm a dragon in order to kill it. I’d never considered that they’d be using the dragon’s blood, though. That turned the tide of power considerably. It almost felt as though theridirewere taunting the dragons, like a cat playing with a trapped mouse.

Behind me, I heard the footsteps of the others.

“Can you move any faster?” I asked.

“Can’t. Might lose them.”

“What do you mean?” Then it clicked. “You’re leading us into a trap.”

“Yes.”

I didn’t really react to that. I’d pretty much had my fill of shocks and that was one too many. It all failed to bother me.

“You pick them off from the edges,” I said.

---