Page 32 of Dragon Valley
I leaned back against him, allowing my head to rest on his shoulder and his torso to support me like a tree trunk. His chin dropped to my shoulder and rested there as he held me. Something changed between us in that moment. We weren’t pretending to be just friends anymore. I itched to ask what he was thinking but didn’t want to ruin this simple, sweet intimacy with words. It just felt so nice.
We watched the sun rise sitting together like that, staying close and leaning on each other all morning as Dusa carried us. Hours passed by like minutes. It was too soon when he jolted against me, his whole body stiffening.
“Look,” he said in a low whisper, pointing at the horizon. “Do you see that?”
I squinted and shielded my eyes. Structures no bigger than dots came into view, slowly growing bigger as we approached. The buildings of the next town with lots of small figures moving around them. And… fire?
“No.” I leaned forward on Dusa’s neck. “Oh no, please don’t tell me…”
“It’s being attacked right now!”
The urgency in Caden’s voice spurred the dragon on. With a vicious cry, she beat her wings to pick up speed. We held onto her spikes and each other as the wind rushed past our ears. She was going in hot— literally. I felt the fire building up in her dragon lungs.
“Fly low, girl, so I can jump off,” Caden said. Then to me, “You stay on her. Try to avoid torching buildings or civilians.”
“Wait, why are you jumping off?!” I demanded, suddenly feeling very unprepared for this situation.
“Because I have a sword and you have a dragon.”
Dusa’s belly was already skimming the treetops, which whizzed under us in a blur.
“She can’t slow down much,” I warned him. “You’ll break a leg if we keep going this fast.”
“I’ll be fine.”
The trees cleared out, giving way to flat open land and Dusa dipped even lower, hovering just above the ground. We could clearly see smoke, buildings, and people running around in the chaos. Some were on horseback and appeared to be corralling people on the ground.
And suddenly, hands released my waist.
“CADEN!” I screamed.
He dipped to the side and went tumbling, rolling a few times on the ground before springing to his feet and running straight toward the town, sword in hand.
Dusa roared and lurched up quickly to avoid crashing into the first houses. She ascended so abruptly I nearly slid off her back myself.
For a moment, all the action and chaos on the ground seemed to pause. Citizen and invader alike stopped what they did to look with wide eyes and open mouths at the sky. Dusa circled leisurely above the town and let out a small puff of flame. It was just enough of a distraction for Caden to come in swinging. He sliced through a man on horseback and quickly ran into the middle of the fray.
“Show off,” I muttered, patting Dusa’s neck. “Let’s help Caden light up some bad men.”
Her agreement came through with a strong sense of justice. We flew over the town determinately while Caden handled things on the ground. I watched him like a hawk from the sky, at first with concern. But the more I watched, the more I saw a side of him that both shocked and thrilled me.
He was absolutely ruthless. His cuts were clean, precise, and deadly. The sword became an extension of his body, which moved with speed and power I didn’t know he possessed. Yes, I knew he was strong and a good soldier, but he seemed to downplay what a flawless warrior he was.
Nobody touched him. I nearly screamed every time someone came up behind him, but then he would turn and slice through them as if he heard the footsteps from a mile away.
My warm, gentle Caden became a killing machine.
Piercing screams wrenched my attention away from him. A man on horseback grabbed a woman and pulled her onto his horse. She cried out in terror and squirmed to get away but he wrapped an arm around her throat. He rode out of town and made a break for the road.
I didn’t even have to tell Dusa. She followed him, the galloping horse under her shadow within second. He looked back once and pushed his horse harder but we kept up easily.
“Grab them with your claws!” I told her.
Dragon claws had nearly as much range of motion as human hands, only much larger and deadlier. She plucked both people off the horse as easily as a person picking up a rock. In midair, she tore the bandit away from the woman with her other claw and dropped him unceremoniously. No one would recognize his splattered remains on the ground.
She held the hysterical woman up to me, and I pulled her onto Dusa’s back with all my strength.
“Gods save me! Oh Gods!” she wailed.
