Anjaleen sat atop Rhydian's great dragon back, clutching one of the sharp spikes protruding from the ebony scales. A magnificent fiery-red dragon flew beside them, dark blue eyes occasionally flicking in their direction.
Great trees that would normally tower over her in the forest looked small, and she could see the Mountain village in the distance. With every powerful wing beat, the two dragons and human were propelled further towards Anjaleen's family.
Anjaleen's honey blonde hair was tied up to prevent it from whipping around her face in the wind. She wore a riding outfit with an off-white riding shirt under a long black sleeved and long black pants. Over the shirt, a light brown vest lay comfortably over the black shirt and a belt held her pants up. Her original black riding boots dug into Rhydian's scales as they flew.
They landed in the meadow, and whilst Anjaleen and Rhydian knew their way, Aron did not. As she looked at the King, Anjaleen saw that his huge dragon head was pointed in the direction of the mountain they'd flown over, and he was sniffing deeply. He seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in and looked back at her and Rhydian, awaiting instructions.
With Rhydian's help, she slid off his back and landed in the soft ground. "I'll go on foot," sh announced, "and try to stop the execution before it happens. We did not hear from Lithius on how far it had already progressed, but judging by his words, I may have time to step in."
Rhydian growled menacingly at the thought of Anjaleen going in alone. She rolled her eyes, "You and King Aron, Rhydian, will wait be the trees, hiding from the guards, and if necessary, step out and assist. You both will no doubt help out in bringing my family to safety, but if we're going to do this, we have to do it right."
Aron hissed in approval while Rhydian reluctantly nodded his large head. Anjaleen smiled.
As Anjaleen reached the end of the forest, she darted towards the square, where all the people were. As she neared the place where King Buchanan first made his speech, she heard another one in session.
"-and because of Ajaleen Winiture's betrayal, we have no choice but to grant my son his last wish," Anjaleen grimaced at his next words, "punish the family of his unfaithful wife."
She rounded a corner and froze once she saw Derek. He stood atop the stage with his father, grinning manically at the crowd. White and still-red scars covered his face and any bare skin she was. His nose was bent at an odd angle and a chunk of his ear was missing. But that wasn't the only this missing, his whole arm, up to his elbow, was gone. It was replaced with a gleaming, metal sword. The blade was double-sided, thin, and lethal.
It was also positioned across her mother's neck.
Anjaleen sucked in a breath. The blade drew a long, neat like across her mother's throat and a small stream of bright red blood dripped onto her white shirt. It was a tiny cut, so she knew her mother was not bleeding out.
On the stage, in a tidy line, her mother, Jezabelle, and Nathaniel were tied up and on their knees. They were gagged and Nathaniel had a black eye forming and a swelling lip.
Anjaleen felt hot tears slide down her face. Her family shouldn't suffer for her actions! Determination flooded her veins and she leapt up, "Stop!" She screamed, "I'm here!"
As the eyes of Buchanan, Derek, her family, and the whole village turned on her, she felt like a stupid child who'd blurted out something that shouldn't have been said.
"Let go of my family, Derek," she spat, "You have no right!"
"No right?!" Derek exploded, every muscle in his body tensing, "No right?! I have every right, wife, every right! I chose you! I proposed to you! You should have married me!"
Derek was panting then, chest heaving and eyes dilated, "I could have given you EVERYTHING!"
"No!" She snarled, "You couldn't. You could not love me and I will not love you! You could never have given me happiness!"
Despite the situation, she caught pride shining in her older sister's eyes and that of her fiance's.
"Then your family will die!" Derek screamed across the square, stepping back from her mother, baring his teeth, and swinging his arm.
Her mother's head rolled off the stage.
Jezabelle screamed, but it was muffled. Nathaniel thrashed from where he kneeled, and Derek's eyes flashed with bloodlust, "Like that, Anjaleen?" He hollered.
Only then did she realize she was sobbing, screaming, cursing at the Prince of Etheria. Even King Buchanan looked shocked with the events that had just taken place.
Just as Derek prepared to decapitate Jezabelle, flames burst from the forest. Villagers scattered and fled, the Buchanan shouted and lunged behind the stage. The flames hit Derek square in the chest and he was flung away from Jezabelle, writhing in agony.
"No," he shrieked, "Not again!" Derek rolled around, slapping at the spreading flames until the were extinguished. He was panting as he staggered to his feet. Then he laughed. It was a hysterical, mad-man laugh as he pointed at the forest.
"Dragon," he cried, "Anjaleen's little pet!"
Rhydian roared and blew fire again. Anjaleen bolted from her spot and pulled herself onto the stage, thankful for Rhydian's distraction. She tore the gags from her sister and Nathaniel's mouth, and then got to work on cutting the ropes that bound her remaining family with her knife. They thanked her and smothered her with friendly kisses once they were free.
"Come on," she hissed, "we have to go!"
She had just stuffed her two escapees in a vacant cabin as the King's royal guard arrived. They hacked at Rhydian's rough scales with their swords, and arrows bounced off his chest. Rhydian roared in fury and swiped at the men with his paws. He did it light enough to not kill them, but hard enough to send them flying across the village and into buildings, successfully knocking them out.
King Aron burst from the trees to protect his only son, spewing dragonfire and swinging his tail. He roared and sent even the soldiers scrambling for cover.
"Oh, gods," Jezabelle breathed, "Dragons!"
Anjaleen nodded, "Yes, sister. They are here to help us."
Two pairs of eyes grew larger than the size of dinner plates. "Pardon?" Nathaniel choked, "Help us?"
"Yes." Anjaleen replied, "They are Shifters. Dragon Shifters. I know them both and they both agreed to help me save you."
Jezabelle smiled shakily, "U-unbelievable. My sister is friends with magical dragons."
"When you put it that way it sounds like a fairy tale,"Anjaleen replied dryly, "Come on! If you want to leave, we have to get out of this village."
Nathaniel looked down before nodding, "I don't have a family to go back to, anyways."
Anjaleen looked at him with confusion shining in her eyes.
"I'm an orphan." Nathaniel explained, "No family."
She looked at him with a small smile, "That's good, I guess?"
"Very," he replied, "Let's go already."
Anjaleen herded them out of the cabin and they sprinted to the forest. "We will meet the two dragons in the meadow once they can escape!" Anjaleen hollered back to them.
They both nodded at her and continued running. The jumped over logs and dodged low-hanging branches, dead-set on reaching their destination.
Just as Anjaleen pushed aside the willow tree's hanging limbs and stepped foot into the meadow, a figure slithered from behind the boulders.
It was a dragon. A huge, scarred, rusty red dragon that looked as if blood had dried on it's scales. Unlike any dragon she'd ever seen, this dragon had thin, needle-like teeth instead of the sharp, flesh-tearing fangs she was used to.
It had a feral, dragon-grin on it's face as it stalked towards them.
"Is this one of our dragon-helpers?" Jezabelle whispered fearfully.
"No," Anjaleen hissed, "It's not."
Then the dragon lunged.
A/N: Longer chapter! Yes! The longest I've ever written before! I'm so happy and proud of this story and I'm so glad I get to share this with you people! Read on, folks. I will be back!
~Alex