Page 13 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
“Then we need to go ahead and warn them,” I said, shuffling back and pushing myself to a crouch.
Leo pulled back as well, but he wore a look of confusion. “How?” he asked. “Berk is at least a day’s ride from here. We don’t know where the rest of the army is or how close they are to attacking the village.”
“We can find out,” I said with a broad smile.
I could tell by the curious look in Leo’s eyes and the excited smile that tried to take his mouth that he had some idea of what I was talking about. I gestured for him to follow me away from the line of the trees, moving as swiftly as I could in the undergrowth while still being quiet.
“I trust the men who stayed behind from the other village to do whatever they clearly have planned to escape from those fools,” I said once we reached a small clearing deep in the trees. “As for us, we have an entirely different means of escape at our disposal.”
“You don’t mean—” Leo started.
Before he could finish, I drew in a deep breath and felt the prickling of scales and the cracking of bones as my body transformed from human to dragon. The moment of transformation was always uncomfortable, but once it was complete and I stood on all fours in the smallest version of my dragon form, it felt good to stretch my wings.
Leo’s mouth had fallen open as I transformed, and he let out an exultant laugh as he looked up at me. “You’re magnificent!” he gasped, eyes wide.
All dragons were magnificent, but diamond dragons were some of the flashiest of our kind. My body shimmered with an iridescence that was almost white as the sunlight glinted off my scales. My face and form were a bit sharper and more angular than some of my brothers, but it had its advantages.
“Climb on,” I said, my voice lower and deeper, but with the same overall sound as before.
I lowered one shoulder and positioned my arm so that Leo could mount my back easily. My ferocious omega wasted no time in running to me and scrambling up untilhe sat astride my shoulders, leaning down to grip my neck tightly.
“Tovey and Selle have told me that riding a dragon is one of the most thrilling experiences of their lives. I know you won’t let me down,” he said.
I laughed, then with a powerful push, I leapt into the air.
As soon as I was above the trees, I exerted my magic to grow in size, to secure Leo to me so that he couldn’t fall off, and to cloak us so that we would appear like a cloud against the morning sky.
I should have come up with some way to muffle sound as well, because Leo whooped and laughed with joy as I soared far above the land.
“It’s incredible!” he shouted, shifting to the side so he could look down past my neck to the rolling fields, clusters of woods, and meandering streams below.
I couldn’t help but show off. Flying was such a thrilling, freeing thing. I turned circles in the air, speeding up at one point and diving closer to the ground at others just to show my mate how dexterous and swift I could be.
Leo loved every second of it. I could tell without even having a bond between us. He laughed and shouted, gripped my body tightly, leaning into it when I dove, and sitting straighter to feel the wind in his hair when I ascended again. I felt very much like he was the valiant warrior that he was, riding towards certain victory.
My joy and Leo’s sobered slightly when we spotted the army we’d been looking for stretched out across the land below us.
“They’re close to Berk,” Leo shouted, pointing at the hill where the front of the army had amassed. “It doesn’t look like the people of Berk know they’re coming.”
Leo was right. The hill concealed them from the view of the large village. I could see what were probably a few shepherd lads running from the hill toward the village as if to give warning, but it was still early, and I doubted the people would be ready before the army arrived.
“Lucky for them, they have a dragon and a prince on their side,” I said, pulling my body in tight so we could zoom toward the village.
We made it there just as the out of breath shepherds came within shouting distance of the edge of the village. Thanks to the concealment I’d conjured for me and my omega, once I transformed back into my human form, we looked like any other villagers who could have see the army from the hilltop.
“They’re coming!” one of the lads shouted as Leo and I joined the crowd forming near the edge of the village. “An entire army! They’re coming.”
“It looks like there could be five hundred men or more,” Leo added without hesitation. “Berk will need to mount some sort of defense against them. My father has plans to kidnap villagers and hold them hostage at work camps in order to force the rest of you to do his bidding.”
The confused and frightened murmurings of the villagers stopped and all eyes turned to Leo.
“It’s…it’s Prince Leo!” one of the ladies at the edge of the crowd called out.
“Your Highness,” a middle-aged alpha said, dropping quickly to one knee.
The rest of the villagers followed as word that Prince Leo had arrived among them began to spread.
“Stand, please,” Leo said, though it sounded more like an order. “There isn’t time for deference. We need to worktogether to make certain Berk can defend itself from my father’s army of mercenaries.”
