The Thanaton Syndrome

Chapter Thirty Eight: Pt. 1

Blood rushed in his ears, silencing all other noises. He felt as though he moved in slow motion as he raced toward the boy, who stood bravely in front of those massive claws.

Seth burst in front of Zaccai pushing him back. He vaguely knew the boy had tripped and called out, but now his attention turned to the towering beast in front of him. The dragon's claws alone were five times as big as Seth. His dreadful face loomed so high up he could barely make it out.

The dragon looked down at him, and Seth nearly fainted under the gaze of those menacing, black eyes. They seemed to glare at him. He cursed inwardly.

The dragon roared, sending Seth to his knees in terror.

A shout came from behind him, and Peter stood by him, gripping a sword and looking up at the beast with hatred. He slammed the blade into the dragon's foot, drawing a moan from the creature. All that had done was make it angry, though.

It sped toward them, snapping at them with those enormous teeth. While it was near ground, Seth caught a glimpse of someone leaping onto its head. Zander.

"Go, Boy!" Peter shouted. "Get outta here!"

Seth didn't question him. He hurried Zaccai up, and raced to find cover. He found a bush, and ordered the boy to sit there.

"I told you we'd protect you!" He said. "Don't try to come out again."

Tears streamed down Zaccai's face. "You'll all die because of me! I can't-"

"You can! We've got this!"

"If anyone gets hurt because of me I'll be sick!"

Seth almost retorted but the words died in his throat. He knew that feeling. Hadn't the questers always pushed him out of the fight? Hadn't they always protected him and even died for him, while he sat nice and pretty on the sidelines?

Seth looked back to see all the questers fighting full force against the dragon. The younger boys, Miriam, and Jenna were trying to find cover, while also trying to be helpful. Seth knew it was no place for anyone so inexperienced. It pained him to see them all like that, and he didn't want anyone to get hurt, but it was in that moment he realized he couldn't protect them all. He looked back at Zaccai, and found himself nodding.

"Get a sword. But you fight. Alright? Don't give up. Fight!"

Zaccai nodded. "Thank you!" He drew a knife from his belt, and rushed into the battle. Seth winced as he watched. The kid would get ripped to shreds. He forced himself to look away, and studied only the dragon, mind racing to find ways to bring the thing down.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of blue. He cursed.

Seconds later, the arrows rained in, aiming for dragon and quester alike. Seth groaned, barely holding in his scream of frustration. What could they do? They could try to defeat the dragon, but the archers would only capture them after that. They could go after the archers, but the dragon would make that practically impossible. He grew incredibly weary as he surveyed the scene. Why in Alaisia did they have to have such a small group of questers left? Why did those awful archers need to show up now?

He caught sight of Jeremiah, standing in the middle of the clearing, eyes closed, his face a picture of perfect concentration. Seth glanced at the dragon. It didn't fight with nearly as much ferocity as it had before, but certainly wasn't yet under full control. If Jeremiah could somehow get control of the dragon...

An arrow whizzed past Jeremiah's head. Seth rushed to stand next to him, hoping to fend off anything that disturbed his concentration. He resisted the urge to run and help Lena, as she screamed, fighting with an arrow in her leg.

Seth found Jeremiah's strands of emotion, feeling determination, panic, and frustration all in one bundle. He grasped them, trying to calm Jeremiah down, but jerked away as he realized he'd only made Jeremiah more twitchy with his own shaky nerves. The boy groaned, falling to his knees, brow furrowed.

Taking a deep breath, Seth tried again, forcing himself to be calm. Jeremiah was clearly struggling. He grabbed the stands again, stroking them and breathing calm and peace into them. He felt Jeremiah calming down, his concentration intensifying. Seth continued feeding him, encouraging him, and adding to his strength. Just as he felt a rush of victory, pain shot up his arm and he broke from Jeremiah's mind.

Screaming, unable to bear the pain, he looked down in horror to find an arrow stuck through his arm. He gasped, grasping at it, just as the dragon roared in triumph above him. The ground shuddered as the dragon looked to the forest.

Following its gaze, Seth spotted Spencer in the trees. He saw the prince's mouth moving, screaming a retreat, but spots began to blur his vision.

He noticed the frantic rustling in the trees as the archers hurried away, dragon zeroing in on them. It seemed to move in slow motion, different colors tinting everything.

The scene faded, and everything went black.

~~~~~

Seth awoke to find John watching him. 

He groaned. "What happened?"

"You got shot," John said. "You lost quite a bit of blood, but I think you'll be okay. How do you feel?"

Seth lifted his arm, covered and stiff from bandages. He instinctively felt relieved he hadn't had to be awake when John removed the arrow, and then relieved again as he realized it wasn't his sword arm.

"It doesn't feel like much of anything at the moment," Seth said. "It feels numb."

John nodded. "I gave you some painkillers."

A thud sounded just behind them, and Seth jerked around, immediately filled with dread.

His heart dropped as he spotted the dragon behind him, growling and rumbling, shaking everything around them.

"I need a sword!" He yelled, whirling back to John and trying to stand up.

John pushed him back down. "No, you've lost too much blood, don't-"

"Don't leave me out again. I'm going to help." Seth gasped as the dizziness hit him, and fell right back to the ground.

"Jeremiah has the dragon under control," John said.

"What...?" Clutching his head, Seth looked back up to the creature, only now wondering why it hadn't started attacking them all. Now it only stood looking at him in curiosity, head tilted to the side.

His eyes wandered up to the dragon's shoulder, where Jeremiah made his way down. He walked with ease, as though the dragon's back were a staircase.

Reaching the ground, he beamed and made his way over to Seth. "How do you feel?" He asked.

"A...Amazed," Seth said. "You're controlling him?"

Jeremiah's face took on a rather proud look. "Yep. I've got to admit, he's a tough one, but you know, I can handle it."