The Dragon Blood Guardian *COMPLETED*

Fair Trade

"Where are the others?" asked Vincent as he looked to Darla's two companions. One I recognized as Silas, the other was a young fellow who was just barely a man, without a sign of hair upon his pock marked chin. They both looked to Darla for an answer, but she bit her lip and bowed her head to the floor.

"We'd taken most of the herd to the watering hole. They were getting restless with the barge grounded while we waited for you and we'd heard that Cari's gang was there freshening up, and well it wasn't just the dragons that were getting bored, so a bunch of us went out there to catch up." She shook her head and I could see her reliving her decisions, wondering if she could have seen what was to come. I thought to console her, but I knew she wouldn't take it, so I simply sat back and listened.

"When we got back," she paused, biting her lip before continuing, "it was surrounded by scorched earth and the barge was still smoldering from the vicious flames that took it." She then nodded to the ragged youth, whose loose fitting clothes were tarnished with ash, "Whistle reckons it'd been like that for a couple hours." Then her voice got real low. "We can't even tell who some of the corpses are."

"How many?" asked Vincent.

"Five," she answered through stiff lips. "Whistle, Xena, and Pandi managed to survive the fight, but only Whistle can walk right now. The others are in a rough spot, but they'll get by. There was only four of us that went to the watering hole with the dragons. They must have been waiting for us to do that because there's no way they could have taken us if the whole herd was there." Darla slammed her fist on the table.

"How many of the herd?" asked her captain, his voice level and soft.

"We left three behind. They put up a fight, there's no doubt and those mages weren't so powerful as to be able to take on a full grown dragon. But they did manage to stun them and Pandi's was wounded pretty bad. We got all of them though. They just don't all have riders now."

"What of Reggie and the others that were with Vincent at the lounge?" I asked, popping up from my seat and drawing close to the bars. "I didn't see them come in with the wounded."

"What do you care?" snapped the dragon rider.

"Answer her Darla," commanded Vincent. "I'd like to know as well. They weren't looking too good when we last saw them."

"They'd been paralyzed apparently," she answered upon her leader's order, though she still glared at me with a vicious curl in her lip. "Shocked, Reggie said. He said the pain near killed him, but the paralysis actually helped numb it. He's doing better than the others. More meat on him I guess, makes it hard for lightning to zap you.

"Anyway, he came to when the Ravens were pulling bodies out of the lounge. He heard from them that you'd been taken to the barracks and so he gathered up the others and went to find your dragons. The mages didn't touch them, they were all waiting on the edge of town like they were suppose to. Reggie strapped everyone to his dragon and flew them, and the rest of the dragons, over to the barge. We'd long since found it smoking when he arrived. He told us where to find you and stayed with everyone back at the wreck since he still has trouble moving."

"All right," said Vincent as he took a breath, "I may not have much time left, but I'm going to do what I can while I can." He tried to sit up, but immediately fell back down with a cry of pain on his lips.

"I brought Whistle and Silas to carry you," said Darla with a bit of panic pulling at her words. "Don't you move unless you need to."

"I couldn't even if I needed to," groaned Vincent. "But, before you shatter my dignity by carrying me out of here like meat heading to the butcher, get Adelaide out of the cell."

"The Ravens won't like that," replied Darla. "They're going to be mad enough about me hitting the doctor."

"Silas toss five gold in his lap, that'll be a worthy trade."

"That he didn't agree to," added Darla. Still, she didn't stop Silas from doing as he was told.

"As for Adelaide, they wrongfully imprisoned her, so her release is already fair trade."

"What are we supposed to do with her?" Again a sneer of displeasure marred her painted face, but she didn't move a hair to stop Whistle from pulling some tools from his pocket and starting work on my lock.

"You don't have to do anything with me," I answered before Vincent could even form the words on his tongue. "But I can do something for you."

It didn't take long for Whistle to pop the latch and swing the cell door open. I gave him a nod of gratitude as I stepped out into freedom.

"Oh?" asked Vincent. As I drew closer, I saw that the color in his cheeks was once again slipping away and sweat dewed along his dark hairline. He continued to smile as if the strain of the wound was nothing but a simple sore. Yet, his pale lips shook and could not hold a steady grin.

"You aren't going to make it Vincent, not with Zinya's anti-magic laws. Lend me your dragon and I can take you to a shrine where light mages can heal you."

"You don't know that," exclaimed Darla, but Vincent raised a wary hand and her emotions were bottled up behind her puckered ruby lips.

"And what of your princess?" he asked. "What of the mages?"

"They're across the sea in the Sadorn mountain range. I'm actually quite familiar with the range since Drackenridge royalty lives there."

"Oh?" His brow raised with interest and even Darla looked intrigued by this information.

"Cecily's aunts, twin sisters sworn to the shrine. They are renowned healers and can save your life."

"There's good surgeons here," said Darla, her voice low and her eyes dark with suspicion. "We just need to get you to the hospital now that you've stabilized."

"I'm not stabilized Darla," he said with a sigh, turning his tired eyes from me and towards his enthusiastic inferior. "I'm dying. I've lost too much blood."

"They can help you build up your blood again," I added with enough fervor to tear Darla's questioning eyes from his to mine. "I'll take you there, just let me use your dragon so I can scout the mountains for the mages."

"Ah, and there's the catch!" said Darla with a clap of her hands. "She wants to steal our dragons."

"I don't want to steal anything, just borrow. It would be a fair trade for the jewels you took from me." I looked down at Vincent who was rapidly deteriorating.

"We can find the shrine ourselves and fly him there," Darla continued, gesturing for her companions to remove Vincent from the table. "We don't need you for that."

"No, you don't need me, but I can make the trip a lot quicker and get you in to see the priestesses a lot faster."

"We..."

"Darla," shouted Vincent, or at least as close to a shout as he could muster. "Take me and Adelaide to Cornyx. I'll fly with her to the shrine and you will remain here and lead the gang while Reggie heals. He'll need you by his side once he can take lead."

"I...yes boss." She bowed her head and then popped it towards the door, commanding the others to lead him out. For a moment the two of us stood there, uncertain who would be the last to leave.

After a minute, Iheaded for the door, leaving my back open and free should she feel the need tostab it.

***

If you're enjoying the book, please consider supporting the author by purchasing it on sylviangould.com or Amazon. You'll also get an exclusive extended epilogue!

ePub and PDF version: sylviangould.com/store/the-dragon-blood-guardian-epub-amp-pdf

Kindle version: amazon.com/dp/B07P6YPYNK

Paperback version: amazon.com/dp/1798411156