Unshackling the King (The Dragon Lorde #1)

Chapter Eighteen: Caught in the shadows

Goal- 15 votes!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Where were you." Kaede demanded, his voice an icy chill. Emoriah pulled her cloak tightly around her thin figure hoping it would protect her from being hit by his force. "I was exploring."

"Indeed? Well, I received what we came for." He said disdainfully, lifting a bulky package tied to his waist. Emoriah pursed her lips, as anger flowed in her veins. Maybe if he waited for her she wouldn't have gotten lost. It was his fault she got lost anyway. She didn't know this town and she wasn't the bodyguard. And maybe if he wasn't such a pig-headed, fopdoodle.

Kaede paused her thoughts, as he leaned towards her ear. "I'm stopping you right there. Your vocabulary may have approved from a five year to a ten-year-old. But such nicknames as Mr. Coldface and fopdoodle will not be appreciated." He cocked his head to the right, so the moon could shine brightly against his cold set of eyes.

"Especially not by me. But, if you want to be a child and explore. Then by all means explore. But I'm your bodyguard, not the other way around. Do" Emoriah never heard the end of his prideful speech of who was boss. As a cold clammy hand gripped her ankle and pulled.

Emoriah hit the ground hard from the violent tug of her ankle. Pain shot up her knees and hands then quickly to her mouth, as she bit her cheek from the jarring impact of her fall. She spat the warm blood from her lips and turned her head towards her attacker. The man or creature. Whatever it was gripped her ankle tightly with its hands. Long sharp nails protruded from them slicing at the delicate skin around her ankle. She raised her free foot away and aimed a kick at its head. But the creature caught it quickly and enslaved it with the other.

Rough stones from the cobble street cut her hands and face, as she was dragged away from Kaede. Emoriah looked back watching, as Kaede pulled a sword from his cloak. A shadow suddenly appeared behind him. Graceful and silent it stalked after Kaede running from one dark spot to another. It was the same creature that captured her. A creature made from shadows itself.

Emoriah opened her mouth to announce that there was one stalking him, but Kaede was already two steps ahead of her. He stepped to the side and swung his sword at the creature's monstrous head beheading him, as the head hit the ground with a sickening splat four more grew from the shadows.

A familiar icy voice entered her mind, as more and more of the ghastly creatures emerged. "It seems I'll be a bit occupied. An Ogon has one known weak spot their eyes. Hit them there. Do you understand?"

Surprise ratcheted around her brain, as she recalled how she thought Kaede spoke to her when they first met. Maybe it really did happen. Emoriah scoffed and flipped her gaze back to her attacker. Or maybe she was going crazy. By then the creature had stopped dragging her across the sharp rocks and lifted one hand to scratch an itch on his nose with one bloodstained nail. Hot blood trickled from her ankles coloring the ends of her dress, as she tried to get her feet free. Blast! Come on, he's only using one hand. Almost. Got it!

Once her feet were free she didn't waste any time, before opening her cloak to unleash her little beasts. Asita was the first to zip out from the cloak. Her wings moving silently, as she glided over to the Ogon. A deep hiss erupted from the creature's mouth revealing hundreds of razors edged teeth, as it squatted down on its hind legs. The creature's neck quivered before opening his dark eyelids. Emoriah felt a cold shuddering fear as they examined her, before bringing it's gaze up.

The Ogon looked like a true demon now. A demon from the shadows. She watched as the creature raised his head and observed her dragons with its ashy red eyes. She waited a couple of moments before spreading her trembling fingers around the stone ground for a sharp rock. Finally finding one behind her, she clasped it into her palm and crawled over to a wooden barrel to hide. The dragons were a perfect distraction. They floated and glided their way over its head. Teasing every so often by dropping a few feet, then flitting away just before the creature could snatch them from the air.