After taking a moment to remind myself that I was, in fact, still alive, I stood in the center of the clearing the dragon pair had made and called out for Zellar. To my disappointment, the forest absorbed most of my voice. Calling for him on the forest floor wasn't going to be enough.
Sighing, I climbed up the nearest tree. Its trunk was thicker than a dragon's neck, but thankfully it was much easier to climb. There were so many sturdy branches to pull myself up on and if I couldn't find one, there was a handy nook in the trunk for my feet and hands to use. I was covered in sweat from both my workout and from the heavy humidity by the time I got high enough to see over most of the trees. Settling on a branch, I cupped my mouth and called out to Zellar.
His cry echoed my own, somewhere nearby.
I twisted around until I saw him flying in the opposite direction. I called out to him once again, and he turned his course for me. I waved madly on the off chance he could already see me. When he got closer I yelled his name for good measure. He ducked into the clearing and waited for me to climb down the tree. Relieved to be near a familiar dragon, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Thank you for coming. I owe you two bags of jerky."
With such promises, he curled his tail around me and purred.
And then I remembered why we were here.
"Where's Camden?"
Zellar opened up his claws to reveal the prince laying limp in his grasp. I went over to check his pulse-
His hands flung out, grasping my shoulders and tossing me to the ground. He was on top of me in the next moment, fist aimed to punch my face in. His teeth were barred, eyes gold and wild, like I was staring into the eyes of a vicious beast, not the prince I had come to know and love.
"Cam!"
He froze then dropped his fist, much preferring to hold his ribs. With a moan, he dropped to his side beside me. "Sorry," he breathed, "I thought you were a dragon scavenger."
"I don't think they would handle you quite as nicely," I muttered while sitting up straight.
"Nice?" He cracked a laugh, the first joyous noise he'd made in over twenty-four hours. "Is that what you'd call how you've been handling me? Every time I wake up, I find a new bruise."
Those might have been from his fall off Zellar's back, but he didn't need to know that. Everything was under control. . . for now.
"You're not dead, so yeah, I'd consider that nice. How are you feeling--aside from the new bruises?" I scanned his lain out form and couldn't find any serious injuries; his skin was still flushed, sweat soaking through his cotton shirt.
He shifted his eyes from the canopy to me, green as the ocean. A light smile played on his lips, but his eyes couldn't hide the pain he was in; they didn't quite have that glimmer they usually had before all of this happened. I was just releived to see the wild Cam hadn't entirely taken him over. "How close are we to finding this cure of yours?"
"We'll be there sometime tomorrow--as long as nothing else interrupts us."
He brought his arm over his eyes and released a long breath. "Then I'm fine. I can manage one more day. Gods, I hate this," he muttered.
"I'm sorry, you must be in a lot of pain." I wished I could take it away for him, even if it meant taking it as my own. Sharing it had to be better than bearing it on his own. I longed for the days when he smiled and laughed and joked around with my brothers. I wanted him to be able to take a step and not be in pain. More than anything, I wanted to hug him and feel how I felt in his arms when he carried me home from the healing hut. I'd never felt like I belonged anywhere, but something felt so right about being held by him.
Not that he'd ever let you touch him like that. You seem to keep forgetting that he's going to leave and never come back once you've found him a dragon and trained him up.
He didn't even need much more training. All he needed was a dragon and then he'd go home.
Sighing to conceal the clench on my heart, I rolled to my feet. "We need to get moving. I don't know how far away those dragon scavengers are. Are you able to help me get you on the saddle or would you prefer to stay in Zellar's claws?"
"Saddle," he mumbled then grunted as he staggered to his feet. I caught his arm before he teetered too far. We had a method to get him into the saddle now, so this time it was easy to settle him onto the leather. He leaned forward with a grateful groan, and I leaned over him for the handles. The sweat of his back instantly dampened my shirt, but I was already sweaty from today's activities, I hardly noticed aside from the extreme heat.
"Let's go, Zellar."
~~~
We flew for a good couple hours, the ring of volcanoes falling within our sights. It was getting too dark for us to fly to the nearest one, so Zellar landed by a large grouping of trees, digging his claws into the biggest trunk. It was a miracle it didn't fall over from his weight.
It was easy enough for me to climb out of the saddle to find a branch to sleep on, but it was a bitch-and-a-half to carry (carefully drop) Camden onto the nearest branch below the saddle. With rope, I tied him to the trunk and the branch to keep him stable. I tied myself to a branch above him, not trusting myself to stay on the branch without help. Believe it or not, it was safer to sleep in the tree than it was on the forest floor.
"Hey, Kali?" Camden mumbled, halfway between sleep and consciousness. He'd been drifting in and out of sleep all day, only just able to stay awake enough to keep his hold on the saddle.
I peered over the side of my branch to see his shadow was already looking up at me. "Yeah?"
"Are you all right?"
I thought it was an odd question to ask, and it certainly wasn't the time to ask. Of course I wasn't all right. We were being hunted, even as we spoke, and there was still a very high chance Camden would die, by scavengers, his illness, or me because I was stupid enough to believe throwing him in a pit of lava would solve all of our problems. The most I could ask for at the moment was that I'd been allowed to ride in silence for a couple of hours, uninterrupted by wild dragons or scavengers.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked back. The last thing I needed was for him to worry or doubt me. His sole purpose should be to feel better.
"I. . ." I barely saw his frown in the darkness. "Something doesn't feel right. When I look at you or smell you. . . something inside me stirs. It hurts."
Wow. The very sight of me hurts him. Amber and Cadence had said some awful things to me over the years, and I had successfully brushed it off, not giving a fuck what they thought of me. But I cared how he thought of me.
"I'll do my best to hide my face from you, then, so you don't have to hurt as much. I can't do a lot about the smell, though. Sorry." Feeling thoroughly disheartened for any chance of him forgiving me, I settled back on my branch and tried not to think about what he said too much while I slept. "Good night, Prince."
"Wait. Kali?"
I kept my eyes shut, refusing to move an inch for him tonight. There was only so much a girl could take in one day, and after being thrown around on a dragon and chased by scavengers, I didn't have the room to tolerate anything else.
He sighed, agitated, knowing I didn't usually fall asleep that quickly. "Fine. Good night, Kali."
The morning didn't come soon enough. My mind plagued me all night, hardly letting me catch a wink of sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said last night, on top of everything Amber had ever said to me. . . it was finally getting to me. Her words hadn't bothered me before, but now that I might possibly be in love with a man who didn't feel the same way, it hurt. I finally saw all the flaws she blatantly pointed out to me for years. It was so obvious why Camden would never have feelings for me.
I never thought I would experience pain like this; invisible and deep yet just as real as any other injury a dragon had given me. It felt silly and hopeless to risk my life for someone who didn't love me, but I also couldn't bare a world where he didn't live. I had to save him, regardless of the pain it caused me.
Camden didn't wake up this time when I asked him to help me get him in the saddle. Of all the times, though, this was one of the better times for him to not wake up. Zellar climbed down the tree and plucked Camden off the branch, cradling him between his claws. I hopped into the saddle, hoping Camden wouldn't wake up until we reached the volcano so he wouldn't see I'd gone against his wishes and made him fly in Zellar's claws instead of the saddle.
Zellar had only beat his wings twice when a massive arrow came flying out of the forest and nearly clipped his wing.
Zellar grunted in surprise, swinging his head around to see where it had come from. The canopy was too thick, it could have come from anywhere-
Another arrow shot out, not too far from where we had been sleeping.
"Left, Zellar!" I screamed, clutching onto the saddle.
He banked, narrowly missing the second arrow.
"Get us out of here!"
With a snort of agreement, he made one powerful thrust of his wings after another until we were out of range. The calls of the dragon scavengers faded quickly.
I relaxed in the saddle, keeping my eyes on the forest below. How did they move so quickly in the forest? Sure, they had numbers, but there were several monsters that didn't care about numbers because they were so big or they had magic to aid them. It shouldn't be possible for them to catch up to us through all the terrain.
Another arrow flew out of the canopy, but it went nowhere near us. We were safe for now. For how long, though, I feared it wouldn't be long enough. We should be able to make it to the volcano without them hassling us, but how long would we be there for? Harry never said how long it would take for Cam to get better once we put him in the lava. Was it instant? Would it take hours, days? We would be sitting ducks until he healed, and if they could follow us this quickly and easily. . . it might be too late for us by the time Camden regained his strength.
Feeling more motivated to reach a volcano in decent time, Zellar kept his pace up, weaving between the taller trees much easier now that it was only me in the saddle. The volcanoes grew larger and darker the closer we got. The dark clouds I'd mistaken as ash hovered over the volcanoes, rumbling more frequently, but still with no signs of lightning threatening to strike us.
Zellar picked a volcano that looked like the lava had exploded out of the side rather than the top. A massive hole stood out halfway up the volcano, looking as if someone had thrown the biggest piece of Dragon Vain they could find to make a shortcut to the lava within. The entrance glowed a vibrant orange, enticing us to enter--either that or it was a warning for us to go away. The heat increased, the air heavy. There was no wind for Zellar to ride on, so he landed at the base, placing Camden gently down a few feet away before landing.
I slipped out of my jacket, already overwhelmed by the insane heat the volcano produced. If it was like this at the base. . . what was it like inside?
Camden was too heavy at this point for me to carry him up the slope, especially with the loose ashen dirt slipping under every step I took, so Zellar helped me the best he could to drape Camden over his back. He moaned, a violent shudder running down his spine.
I wiped his damp hair out of his face; it had dulled to the colour of the dirt between my boots, as wet as my back. "Everything's going to be all right, Cam. We're almost there. You can take a nice bath in some lava and then you'll feel as if none of this happened."
At least, I hoped so. In my mind, there were two ways how this could go: the lava would kill him or completely cure him of his illness. Either way, Camden wouldn't be sick anymore.
We began the climb.
Zellar had a much easier time at it than I did, though I saw the strain on his back having Camden on him. It would be too much if I rode on him while he hiked up the steep slope.
My whole body was utterly drenched halfway up to the entrance. I stripped off all my weapons except my shortsword and whip. I was tempted to take my armour off, but with the dragon scavengers not too far behind us, I didn't want to risk losing what little protection I had against them.
Every so often, I peered over my shoulder to see if I could find them in the tree line. So far they hadn't shown themselves, but it was only a matter of time if they moved as quickly as I thought they did. We'd only been hiking for two hours and the flight here hadn't been any longer. . . .
Zellar grunted, catching my attention. I followed his gaze upward, to the entrance. It was only a few feet away, the heat blasting out of it scorching my skin. Every step closer, the burn worsened until my skin started blistering. We were just outside the entrance. A river of lava glowed and bubbled down the short incline.
We're here.
Zellar took a step into the cave-
Shouting roared up from behind us. It was the dragon scavengers. They had left the treeline and were pointing at Zellar. They cheered, kicking their horses to run up the slope. The silt was too slippery for them though, and the horses fell and rolled down the incline. More frustrated orders were barked. After whipping the horses didn't motivate them enough to stay upright, their leader ordered his men to hike the volcano on foot.
"Zellar, go! Take Camden to the lava. It's too hot for me in there, anyway. I'll distract them. Once Camden is better, take him home."
I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth. They broke my promise to Dad and to myself that we'd all come back alive. Up until now it seemed like a plausible outcome. But the dragon scavengers were here and I couldn't live with myself if they got their hands on Zellar or put Camden up for ransom.
The dragon stared at me.
"Go," I commanded, thrusting a finger at the lava river. "Leave me, Zellar. Don't ever come back for me. It's what they want. You can't let them catch you or Cam, you hear me? Look after him."
Black smoke puffed out of his nostrils as he glared at me.
I went on, ignoring his ire, "Destroy the entrance once you've passed through so they can't come after you. Please, do this for me, Zellar." Damn it, despite how hard I tried to fight, the tears came anyway. I was scared out of my mind, terrified for what was to come for Cam and Zellar, and for what would happen to me if the scavengers caught me. "Thank you for everything, Zellar. Goodbye."
He pressed his muzzle into my chest, expelling white smoke from his nostrils. Reluctantly, he moved away, eyes sad as he regressed into the cave.
I stepped back, giving the dragon enough space for him to swing his tail and bash the cave walls. The ceiling caved in, creating a wall of impenetrable rock.
A wave of relief hit me. They were safe. The dragon scavengers couldn't get to them and Camden could take all the time he needed to get better.
The relief was short lived, however. The scavengers cried out in anger as they watched the entrance collapse. Their leader pointed at me. He wore an eyepatch over his left eye, a deep scar running from his hairline, through his patch, and down to his jaw. His lips curled back into a vicious snarl at the sight of his prize vanishing behind all those boulders.
"Bring her to me!"
I ran.