Page 2 of The Fire Dragon's Mate
But I’d rather be damned than stay on this ship a second longer.
They lowered the launch into the water while I sat there staring at my sword’s hilt glinting in the feeble sunlight. Rowing to shore reminded me of how weak I’d gotten during the voyage thanks to poor provisions and endless confinement. The climb up the mountain might kill me before I ever reached the dragon. I kept my gaze away from the ship and rowed until I bumped into land.
A light rain started as I stepped onto the black sand because of course it would rain. Feeling bleak, spiraling toward despair, and now wet through, I trudged away from the shoreline, wanting to disappear from view. When I could resist no longer, a glance back showed not a single face watching me. And why would they look? I was already dead to them.
I wanted to stop. To give up and sit down and let the days pass until I simply died where I sat. The people I fought for hated me. I’d come here thinking I would help us all, but now it was clear that my help wasn’t wanted. What purpose did I have? What was my reason for existing at all?
But then I thought of Phineas. He’d come here intending to save us as well. The men who had returned and even their ship had looked like they’d fought a massive fire-breathing dragon. They’d told tales of how brave Phineas had been by distracting the dragon so they could flee. How he’d died while telling them to run, giving his all with one final thrust of his sword at the beast that killed him.
I could do no less than he had done.
My people may not want my help, but they would have it regardless, and I would do my utmost to avenge my beloved brother as well. If I was going to die here, it would be with dignity and bravery.
Bag of explosives slung over my shoulder, I began trudging up toward the mountain. The semi-small island was split by a jagged mountain range with a lone peak stretching into the clouds. One side of the island was a half-moon bay, while the other side was a sheer cliff. Some said the sand, rocks, and mountain itself had been formed by lava. Others insisted the dragon had killed the island by burning to ash what had once been a lush forest. Either way, it was difficult terrain to travel over with no cover from the elements or way to hide my approach.
The rain stopped and started again, and the sun slowly set. I sat down to rest, shivering in the cold and weak from lack of food all day, only to startle when an explosion erupted from the shore. In disbelief, I watched as one bomb after another was lobbed at the sand and the men of the ship cheered with each explosion.
I rested my forehead on my knees and sighed.
“Well, that’s a new one.”
Thoroughly startled, I spun where I sat and nearly fell over as I tried to see who had spoken behind me.
“Are they truly wasting cannonballs?”
It was a man in some kind of cloak. Pale moonlight and the sudden burst of light from the explosions barely revealed him, but I could see his eyes reflecting gold and the darker outline of his hood above them. He seemed not to wear a shirt, but his lower half was bedecked in odd trousers that sparkled in that same fleeting light.
“Do you know?” he asked.
“Know what?”
“The cannonballs.” He gestured toward the shore as yet another bomb exploded.
“Oh. Yes, I suppose they’re wasting them. We were meant to use them to collapse the mountain on top of the dragon.”
“Interesting. And are you the prince they’ve put ashore for the dragon to devour this time?”
He wasn’t wrong, and I was about to tell him such, but he came closer and squatted. What I’d thought was a cloak with a hood parted and spread, lifting up and out to reveal that it was actually a set of dark leathery wings.
This strange man had wings.
Two
ALL IS NOT WELL
Iscrambled to my feet and tried to draw my sword, but my scabbard was as wet as everything else on me and I couldn’t free it.
“Need some help?”
Was he a demon? Some kind of dragon spawn? Whatever the case, I would not allow myself to be so easily slaughtered by a winged creature with a smart mouth.
I drew the dagger from the sheath on my leg and took a defensive stance. He stood as well, looking like he meant to wrestle me, and his white teeth gleamed in the moonlight.
“What are you?” I demanded.
He laughed, the sound oddly seductive. “Come now, little prince, can you not tell?”
“A demon?”
