How to Train your Mortals {A Kingdoms of Blood Novella}

Chapter 5

CLANG!

The fight was on, and the weapons had slammed into each other fiercely. Nishakar's crimson orbs stared into Darcia's good eye. He took this moment to smirk at her, holding his blade there for a moment. The shifter, of course, sneered threateningly back, suddenly jerking her hand back and stabbing the sword toward his shoulder. He yelped as a sizzling sound rushed through the air, his face twisting in pain as they forced him to fly back in a momentary retreat.

The shifter was relentless, however, as was Sam. Darcia pointed a claw forward, and Sam lunged at the faerie's leg, clamping down upon it and ripping him from the air. He gasped and fluttered his wings erratically, suddenly exploding into golden dust as everything went completely black. Darcia's blade was only out momentarily, however. She lit the sword by pressing the button on the center, raising it as a torch and searching for him.

"... Is that it?" she asked. She got her answer as several golden-tipped arrows flew toward her from the shadows. The spotlight without a source was on her again, and the crowd was treated to an arc of blood spurting out of Darcia's shoulder. This caused resounding gasps to ring out through the crowd. An arrow landed in Sam's leg, causing the dragon to let out an agitated roar. Darcia snarled, "I thought we weren't going to get extremely wounded?!" She reached over and pulled the arrow out of her shoulder, glaring toward Gaelira.

The faerie smiled at her, patient, as suddenly the wound knitted itself back together... mostly. There was a tiny gash that bled a tad, but nothing that truly inhibited the woman. Sighing, Darcia muttered, "No pain, no gain. Eh Sam?" The dragon had healed in the same way, though had shed a scale. Sam let out a snort and snapped her jaws, eager to find the damn faerie.

More arrows flew out from the sides, but this time, the serpentine dragon was prepared, and practically slithered through the air to avoid them. Darcia dodged a hit by jerking to the size, narrowly missing some piercing damage. A dark figure floated in the arena's corner, wings flapping behind them. Spotting the enemy, Darcia pointed a claw and tapped Sam on the jaw. With that, the dragon flew closer, letting out a series of growls.

The faerie expected them to come charging in, teeth gnashing and claws flexed, so stood his ground, ready to use the sword against Sam. However, Sam had a different plan. She wasn't about to deny the fire-breathing-dragon part of this story, and so reared her head back and let out a billow of flames toward him. Nishakar let out a groan of pain as the tips of his wings lit on fire, and he had to retreat toward the other corner of the arena, which gave him a disadvantage.

As he was fleeing, Sam took this opportunity to lunge, but this is exactly what he wanted. Suddenly, Nishakar whirled and flapped his wings, sending himself straight over the dragon's head. Darcia hadn't been expecting this, and suddenly she was hurtling to the ground! She wasn't alone, either–the Faerie had her by the throat, and seconds later she was slammed upon the ground.

The fall had been roughly two stories, but Darcia found her limbs did not hurt from the impact.... despite her hitting it so hard that she left an indent in the ground, with little cracks forming like veins. A look of confusion crossed in Darcia's brown eye as she stared up at Nishakar, concerned for one moment. All was silent as she flexed her claws, still held by the throat but pretending as though nothing was happening. She rolled her shoulders, adjusted her legs....

"How–"

"STORY TIME!" the fae man yelled, bringing his sword up and holding it up to her chest. "You will obey me, dragon rider! Do NOT count on your friend to save you, either!" he said in a sing-songy voice. He wasn't wrong, either. Golden rope had formed around Sam's arms and legs. Her wings were rendered useless as it tightened, and after a few mere seconds more, SLAM! she was grounded.