Dragon Tamer

Epilogue

And you'll never know.

I sighed at the depressing thought. I thought about him less often now, but when I did think about him, a wave of emotion hit me like a runaway wagon and seemed to throw the accumulated times I hadn't thought about him at me all at once. Like right now. We were in the middle of a field, discussing our game plan, but all I could think about was the ache in my heart.

Get over it.

I'm trying.

"Kali?" Casper called, snapping his fingers in front of me.

"Hmm?"

"Have you been paying attention?"

"Of course not," Giles teased, bumping my hip with his. "She's daydreaming about her boyfriend."

"I don't have a boyfriend, Giles," I grumbled.

He was quite adamant that instead of sulking alone by Tipping Point, I was in fact with a secret lover. Dad didn't find the joke very funny. Neither did I.

I sighed. "We've been over this. You're too fugly for any man to want to get through to get to me."

"You totally have a boyfriend."

"Lay off her, man," Tallinn snapped, the only one of my brothers who knew how I felt about Camden and that I was having a hard time trying to forget those feelings. "When she has a boyfriend, she'll tell us and risk whatever we might do to him-- including taking him up to the mines," he added for Giles' benefit.

Giles snapped his fingers, dancing on the balls of his feet excitedly. His eyes basically glowed like an afternoon fire. "Ooo, that's a good idea. Nothing says, 'hurt my sister and you'll spend the rest of your days paying for it,' quite like fire does. I like it."

"It involves fire, of course you like it." Tallinn rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Enough," Casper snapped, bringing everyone back to the task at hand. "We're entering Thorn's Forest, so pair up and keep your eyes sharp. There's a lot more than sheep-stealing griffins in there."

"Tallinn would know," Kaden jided.

Giles hissed theatrically. "And he goes below the belt!"

"How was I born last? You're all a bunch of children." Here we were about to step into a forest that had killed more people and dragons than anywhere else in the world-- that we were aware off--and my brothers bickered away like ten year olds.

"Someone has to be the baby, and that ain't me," Tallinn said, hopping to my side. "Partner?"

"Of course. We have to show our big brothers what we're made of."

Giles and Harry went first, while Casper and Kaden went in after Tallinn and I. Elesor paced around the other dragons, already anxiously awaiting our return. We only took a few steps inside when a thick layer of fog fell over us and I could no longer see the blue sky in the valley. The tree-like thorns twisted and snaked along the ground, waiting for the right moment to snare us in their traps.

I kept my shortsword at the ready, just in case. I'd thought I was maybe a little too tense, but then I saw that all my brothers had a weapon drawn, eyes snapping at anything that made a noise--including Giles when he squealed.

Following in his tracks, I soon discovered the cause of his squeal; we walked by something that smelt like the rankest pit of sulphur. Aside from Giles' noises, though, the forest was utterly silent. It was eerie beyond measure. There wasn't even a peep from a bird. Probably because they had been eaten or were smart enough to stay out of this forest.