A Dragon's Heart (Book Three in the APK Trilogy)

Chapter 10 | Beast

ZALAS

"What do you mean you can't find it?" I snarled, nose to nose with Unabonan.

His white eyes narrowed as he glared back at me. It wasn't normally an expression that I saw on his face, and I knew that I was in a terrible mood but the rage simply wouldn't dissipate.

The black dragon is gone, but I can still track Anthemin.

I threw up my hands in frustration. "It can't just be gone!" I roared. "It was a giant fucking dragon for heaven's sake! You are supposed to know about these things Unabonan, I thought that Zarska was dead!" The words hissed out of my mouth, an accusation.

She is. Unabonan's eyes had narrowed a little further and a whisper of smoke curled out from his nostrils. Do you doubt my eyes as well as your own? We both watched her die.

I was pushing his patience, I could feel it and I turned my back on him before we really got into a fight, running my hands through my thick mane of hair and growling with frustration. "I don't understand!"

"Maybe, if we track the girl we will find an answer," Elika piped up, her blonde head popping up over the side of the saddle. She looked down at me with a small smile. "Remember the other dragon was originally in pursuit of her. Maybe it has continued to track her?"

I glared at her, feeling pissed off that I did not think of that myself. I tried to think of an alternative but what she had said was simply too relevant. "Fine," I snapped eventually. "Let us continue with the original plan, Unabonan, if you are still able to track Anthemin, we must follow after him at once."

Unabonan agreed. But first, he said, I must eat. I will be back later on. We will rest here for the night.

"Fine!" I retorted angrily. "Elika, get down here and help me with the saddle. The sooner he eats, the sooner we can leave."

The Air Sprite jumped nimbly off the giant dragons back, landing like a cat on the ground, her knives in hand. We undid the buckles that held the saddle in place and I lifted it off his back by manipulating the air around it, setting the whole thing gently down in the middle of the clearing.

"Go," I said sullenly. "This island isn't very large, so you might have to find other land or just go fishing. Whatever you do, make it fast.

Elika ran over to me as Unabonan's wings stretched out and with a colossal gust of wind he lifted himself into the sky, his thought words lingering in my head as he disappeared out of sight.

Be safe brother.

Be safe. I scoffed at his warning. I had been conscious when we had landed on this pitiful pile of earth, the island was tiny, there was no danger here. I knew that his warning lingered from the worry that he had felt as Elika had tried to revive me after pulling me out of the ocean, but it only served to fuel my rage.

That dragon ... he had come out of nowhere, so fast that I had not time to defend myself. The impact had been shattering, instantaneous. Suddenly I was conscious and suddenly I wasn't. I could have died if it wasn't for Elika, those moments could have been my last and I would never have known.

My hands balled into fists. Never before had I been bested. Never before had I had to rely on someone else's skill and quick thinking to save my life. I knew that I should be grateful but I felt nothing but bitterness.