Phoenyx and Ezekiel let go of Blaise and jumped to their feet, prepared to defend themselves against the man on the rooftop across from them. However, they lowered their guard when they recognized the glowing green eyes behind his mask, and the mess of red hair on his head.
"Answer me," Kenric said in a low voice. It was more akin to a growl than a demand, and his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. In one swift motion, he leapt the distance between them, landing in front of them with a surprisingly soft thud.
Blaise inhaled a sharp breath, and a wave of pain went through his chest. He had never seen Kenric so angry.
He's in control. Calm down.
"We were just... exploring," Ezekiel lied, averting his gaze.
"Do I look like a fool?" he asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the three companions. "I specifically ordered you to stay in Draconia, and where do I find you? What did you think you were going to accomplish here?"
"Nothin'," Blaise answered, looking straight into Kenric's fierce eyes. He was afraid, but he knew he would be the only one who could try to lie to him—Kenric couldn't read his mind. Even if he tried, Zane would block him out. "We were just... tryin' to find someone."
Phoenyx cried out as Kenric grabbed Blaise roughly by the arm and hauled him to his feet. It was a side of Kenric they had never seen, and Blaise wished they hadn't been the ones to bring it out of him. Pain flooded his body as his heart pounded out of control.
"When you all joined the recruits, what did I tell you?"
"That hurts," Blaise said, trying to pry Kenric's hand off of him. "Stop!"
"What did I tell you? The Occultus Draconem is trying to fix the two kingdoms. You are not going to use it as a means to exact revenge or commit senseless acts of violence! We're trying to bring peace to Cadmus and Draconia, not start another war before the first one has even ended!"
"A'right, Ken. I think ya scared 'em enough, don't you."
Kenric released Blaise, and he fell back against Phoenyx. She wrapped her arms around him protectively as he lowered to his knees.
"You took your sweet time," Kenric said, turning around to face Theron with his arms crossed. His voice was back to the calm, cool tone that everyone was used to.
"Ah, ya don't gimme enough credit, man." Theron was perched on top of a high chimney, dressed in full Occultus Draconem gear, weapons and all. His glowing blue eyes illuminated the gold accents on his metal mask. "Ya think I was home all night gettin' wasted? I been trailin' 'em for hours."
"So, it was all an act?" Ezekiel glared at Kenric. "That wasn't funny!"
"Don't be such a baby, kid," Theron said, launching himself off the chimney. He landed next to Kenric, just a softly as his partner had. It was amazing, how light they both were on their feet, barely making a sound. "Yer lucky he ain't as angry as he was actin'. If it was me, I woulda knocked some sense into ya."
"You knew we were going to come here," Phoenyx questioned, "even after you told us not to?"
"Kid, just 'cause I talk funny don't mean my brain don't work."
"Hey," Kenric said, turning his attention to Blaise. He knelt down in front of him, his brow furrowed in concern. "Are you all right?"
Blaise didn't answer—he couldn't answer. Pain overwhelmed him, his heart beating wildly in his chest, and he doubled over. His breathing was labored and raspy, his whole body responding negatively to the way Kenric had grabbed hold of him.
He could feel his friends' hands on him, trying to keep him upright, but darkness clouded his vision, and sound slowly faded out, replaced by memories of the day he was taken away from Cadmus Orphanage.
Men in dark masks had come in the night, dragging every boy older than sixteen out of their beds. Blaise, being the eldest, had tried to protect them, fighting them off with little success. One of the men had grabbed Blaise by the arm, much like Kenric had just done. He had squeezed and twisted until his shoulder snapped, and Blaise screamed until—
Blaise!
Zane's powerful voice broke through Blaise's memories, and everything else came flooding back to him. A shudder of disgust ran across his skin at the sensation of Kenric's arm around him, but it was the only thing preventing him from falling off the roof. Everyone else stood around him, watching with wide eyes.
"Blaise, can you hear me?" Kenric asked, pushing him back into an upright position. His eyes were scanning him for some indication that he was all right.
Blaise closed his eyes and gulped. His mouth and throat were terribly dry, and he felt like such a fool. Why was he such a coward? If that was how he reacted to an ally's anger, how could he ever dream of facing any real danger? What would happen to him against an Enforcer, or King Agni? He swallowed hard, but coughed from the dryness.
"Blaise, come on. Answer me, please."
"I'm okay," he finally said, his voice hoarse and quiet, barely loud enough for Kenric to hear. He had to clear his throat to get a firmer grasp on his own voice. "I'm all right."
The entire group let out a unanimous sigh of relief, and Blaise thought he saw Phoenyx wiping away tears.
"Damn, kid, whatcha tryin' to do," Theron questioned, "give us all heart failure? We thought you was gonna faint, or worse."
Blaise started to respond, but froze as an arrow struck Theron.
Theron stumbled back, and Ezekiel had to pull him forward to prevent him from falling off the edge. He fell to his knees with a growl of pain, clutching where the arrow was stuck in his shoulder.
"Shit!"
"Don't try to pull it out," Kenric warned, his eyes darting around, trying to find where the arrow had come from. "You'll only make it worse."
Theron never listened, though. He cried out as he yanked the arrow free, causing blood to spray out and drip down his arm. Kenric's eyes widened with horror as Theron tossed the arrow aside.
"Theron!"
"Well, now," a sinister voice said, "it seems I've finally managed to track down the rebel leaders. I was wondering when you'd show up in Cadmus."
An Enforcer landed on the other end of the roof, an evil grin on his face. As he raised another arrow, the tip of it glimmered an unnatural shade of purple in the moonlight.
Oh, no... his arrows are poisoned.
Theron stood, clutching his bloody shoulder. His eyes were hard as he stared the man down, but couldn't seem to keep his focus as he swayed on his feet. He swallowed hard before he collapsed.
"Theron!"
"Don't move," the Enforcer demanded, fixing his arrow on Kenric before he could rush to Theron's aid. "Take one step towards him and you'll have an arrow through your eye."
The group outnumbered the Enforcer, but with Theron's life hanging in the balance, what could they do?
A tense silence fell over them, and Blaise could see Kenric's shoulders shaking. There were tears in his eyes while he was forced to just stand there, watching Theron's body convulse as the poison took hold of him.
Blaise inhaled a sharp breath, getting the overwhelming sensation that he was being watched. He looked all around, struggling to focus on the dark figures that surrounded them.
Kenric must have felt it too, because he inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled a burst of Dragonfire. It illuminated the metal masks of those who surrounded them. Enforcers with Occultus Draconem members, struggling in their grasp. All three of the squads that had been collecting information in Cadmus had been captured.
"Let them go," Kenric demanded. His voice was a deep, low growl, more terrifying than the fake anger he'd put on earlier. Blaise could see him flex his fists, but what could he do? He wouldn't really risk the lives of nine other people to help Theron, would he?
Seeing as Kenric had an arrow pointed at him, Blaise took it upon himself to go to Theron's side. An arrow narrowly missed him as he ran to his fallen leader.
What the hell are you doing? Stay where you are!
"Get away from him!" The Enforcer aimed another arrow at Kenric, but glared at Blaise.
"What's it matter if I just sit here with him?" Blaise asked, applying pressure to Theron's shoulder. "I ain't got no healin' powers or nothin'. I ain't even a Dragon."
"Did I ask what you had for powers?" The man turned his weapon on Blaise, who inhaled a sharp breath. "Step away, Draconem, unless you want to end up like him."
He doesn't know who you are. He doesn't know that you're immune to the poison. Unless he hits you somewhere vital, his arrows won't kill you.
"Go on and shoot me! I ain't movin'," Blaise told him, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
His courage faltered, however, when the Enforcer released his arrow. Phoenyx screamed as Blaise put up his arms to protect himself, closing his eyes tightly.
But no pain came. Instead, a loud clang echoed into the night.
Kenric landed hard on his back, and his mask tumbled across the roof. He'd gotten in the way to protect Blaise. He sat up with a groan, clutching the side of his face, and the Enforcer lowered his weapon with a sinister grin.
"It's been a long time, Ken."
"We've never met," Kenric hissed through his teeth. The arrow had struck his mask, causing the metal edge to cut into his skin, and blood ran down from the slice under his eye.
The Enforcer laughed, removing his own mask. Kenric's eyes went wide, but Blaise's narrowed.
It was the same Enforcer that had been responsible for Daemon's death. Blaise clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug painfully into his palms. He had a sick desire to rip the man's throat out.
"You know this guy, Kenric?"
"Yes," Kenric replied, keeping his gaze fixed on the Enforcer. "This is Soren. He's the one I told you about... the soldier addicted to Draíocht."
"Stirring up some old memories, Ken?" Soren laughed again. "How touching, but that's pretty personal. Our audience is a bit too big for that, don't you think?"
"No!"
Soren used two fingers to trace a line across his neck in one swift motion, and the Enforcers simultaneously turned their weapons on the Occultus Draconem. Screams of pain echoed throughout Cadmus before all the bodies were dumped off the roofs.
Blaise had to close his eyes, breathing hard. How could they be so ruthless? His stomach churned as he tried to focus on keeping Theron still, to stop the poison from spreading more quickly. Somewhere off to his left, Phoenyx was crying.
Led by his emotions instead of his head, Kenric let out a cry of rage and rushed at Soren, who appeared unfazed. He blocked and dodged almost all of Kenric's attacks. He really only got one good hit in, his dagger cutting Soren across the cheek before he kicked him in the stomach, knocking Kenric onto his back again.
Soren's boots thumped loudly as he stalked towards where Blaise knelt beside Theron, and he made sure to stomp hard on the center of Kenric's chest along the way. A sickening crunch filled the air, followed by Kenric's pained screaming.
Blaise didn't take his eyes off of Soren, but he wondered what the hell Phoenyx and Ezekiel were doing. Couldn't they find some way to intervene? He put his arm protectively across Theron as Soren approached them.
"Stay away from him!"
"I have no interest in him. He'll be dead soon anyway," Soren said, and he grabbed Blaise by the front of his shirt and tore his mask off. "I remember you... Experiment Number Seven."
"That ain't my name. Get off me!" Blaise tried to pull Soren's hand off, but he had an iron grip. He dragged Blaise away from Theron, towards the edge of the roof. "Lemme go!"
Blaise started to panic, his heart pounding and his chest aching while he struggled to free himself from Soren's grasp. Looking around desperately for some chance of escape, the arrow that had hit Kenric's mask caught his eye. He struggled to grab it, and when he finally got a hold, he stabbed the Enforcer in the arm, twisting and pushing as hard as he could.
Soren cried out and dropped Blaise, who scrambled away from the edge of the roof, back to where Theron lay. Theron wasn't moving at all, and Blaise feared the worst. A wave of relief rushed over him when he saw that Theron was still breathing.
He shot a glare over at Phoenyx and Ezekiel, annoyed that they weren't trying to help. But they weren't even paying attention—Phoenyx was sobbing, complete distraught, and who would protect her if Ezekiel left her side?
Kenric and Theron were right... they weren't ready for Cadmus. And now, they were going to die because of it.
"You stupid brat!"
Soren tore the arrow out of his arm, then used his uninjured one to dig something out of his pocket. It was a syringe filled with a glowing yellow liquid, as bright as candlelight.
Blaise cringed as he watched the Enforcer pry the cap off with his teeth, then jam the needle directly into his wound. He had hoped to kill Soren with his own poison, but the man let out a long breath, then turned his attention back to Blaise.
He looked even calmer than before, instead of writhing on the ground, suffering like Theron.
It must be the antidote to their poison.
"What a pathetic excuse for a rebellion," Soren said with a laugh, looking around at the group. "And to think, this is what has been giving my men so much trouble lately. What a joke!"
Blaise hated to admit it, but he was right. They were pathetic. Phoenyx was still sobbing on the other end of the roof while Ezekiel tried to comfort her, Theron was on the brink of death, and Kenric lay on his back, unconscious and struggling to breathe. How could they take back an entire kingdom when five of them couldn't even take on one Enforcer?
"How 'bout a deal?" Blaise asked, and Soren's eyes widened with curiosity. "But, you gotta promise that you ain't gonna hurt no one else here."
"Oh? And what do I get in return."
"Me and the Dragon Prince."
Soren laughed then. It was a deep, throaty laugh that sent a chill crawling up Blaise's spin. What was so funny? They wanted the Dragon Prince so badly, so, Blaise would hand him over.
Have you completely lost your mind? What do you think you're doing?
"You gotta promise that you ain't gonna hurt no one else here," he repeated. "Let 'em go, give Theron that antidote of yours, and you can have me and Zane, just like Agni's been wantin'. Do what you wanna with me, but leave the rest of 'em out of it. Deal?"
Blaise, you can't do this!
Blaise could feel Zane trying to take control, but his own will to protect his friends was stronger than Zane's will to protect himself.
"And what about your friends? You think they'd let you do this if they could stand and fight right now?"
"I ain't gonna let no one else die. 'Specially not 'cause of me."
"Do you really think this wise, boy?" Soren asked. The shadows cast on his face from the moonlight only made him look even more sinister.
This isn't wise! If you do this, Draconia doesn't have a chance, and this war will never end. Not until they kill off the rest of the Dragons!
"We got a deal or not, man?" Blaise stood, stepping over Theron and reaching out to shake Soren's hand. Soren looked around the group, then nodded.
"Very well," he said, shaking Blaise's hand. "There's just one thing..."
Tightening his grip on Blaise's arm, he yanked him forward, towards him. Blaise screamed as he was run through with Soren's blade. The only thing that kept him on his feet was the Enforcer's grip. Soren leaned in with a twisted grin on his face.
"I don't need you alive," he said, pushing his blade deeper, and Blaise gagged, spitting up blood. "I need the Dragon Prince dead."
Darkness crept into the edge of Blaise's vision, and his screams filled the air again when Soren pulled his blade out, letting Blaise drop at his feet. He wiped his sword clean while Blaise writhed on the ground, choking on his own blood.
Even with no one to stop him from abandoning them, Soren kept his word. He took another syringe from his pocket and went to Theron's side. He plunged the needle into Theron's injured shoulder, and pocketed the empty syringe. He couldn't risk the Occultus Draconem getting a hold of the antidote.
"Well, I'd love to stay and watch you squirm as you die," Soren said, wiping Theron's blood off his hands, "but I have other matters to attend to, such as deciding the fate of the rest of Draconia and the rebels."
The only sound was Blaise's gasping and choking after Soren ran off.
When Kenric came to, he managed to force himself to his feet with a groan. He used his healing power on himself, trying to at least ease the pain in his chest so he could breathe. He would need stronger magic to fix his broken bones, but what he had would suffice for the moment—there were more urgent things to concern himself with.
His eyes and throat burned as he looked over at Theron. He was still alive, but the skin around the wound was already black, the purple vein-like marks etched in his skin... tell-tale signs of his inevitable death. Kenric held back a sob and turned his attention to Blaise—there was nothing he could do for Theron.
He pressed his hands to the wound in Blaise's torso. Usually, he would be concerned about how much healing magic to give him, but Blaise wasn't going to live through the night if he couldn't stop the bleeding. At least he was immune to the Enforcers' poison. His hands glowed brightly and he applied more pressure to the wound, and Blaise cried out, coughing up more blood. Kenric feared that Blaise's body might not have enough strength in it to heal.
"Is he going to die?" Phoenyx asked, her eyes red and puffy from crying so much. Ezekiel held her under her arm to keep her upright, and Kenric just sighed.
Why hadn't they just listened to him? They never should have come to Cadmus. He should have stopped them, put them under guard... anything to keep them in Draconia.
"I don't know," Kenric said quietly, and she started to cry again. He couldn't worry about her, though—she wasn't the one who was dying. He focused all his energy into healing Blaise, but it just didn't seem to be enough. It was draining him quickly, and he struggled to keep his magic flowing.
"Nixie, you've got to help," Ezekiel said, kneeling beside Blaise with her. Her hands were shaking as he placed them on top of Kenric's, and she cried harder. "Please. If you don't help him, Blaise is gonna die."
"Ezekiel is right," Kenric told her. He hated to admit it, but he needed help. "Can you help me, Phoenyx?"
It took her a moment, but she finally stopped crying. She took a deep breath and nodded. With an encouraging nudge from Ezekiel, she and Kenric went to work.
With both of them using their power, they had to squint against the bright glow of their hands. Blaise's chest shuddered, and he coughed up blood once more before his whole body relaxed, breathing easier. When they pulled their hands away, the wound was still there, but the bleeding had finally stopped. Kenric let out a long sigh of relief.
"We closed the wound, but his life is still in danger. We need to get him and Theron to a hospital."
"Where are we gonna go?" Ezekiel questioned, his eyes darting back and forth. Kenric could sense his fear that Soren and the Enforcers would return to finish them off. "Cadmus won't heal any Dragons—they'll just hand us back to the Enforcers. And what about the others ones who—"
"Castle Draconia isn't the only safe place for Dragons."
"What are you talking about? The closest kingdom to here is Urbem Mortis, and we might as well just kill ourselves now if you think we'd be safe going there."
"I'm not talking about Urbem Mortis. The border of Anzino is only a few miles east from here."
"How is Anzino going to help us? Last I heard, the only mages left there are members of the royal family."
"Well, then," Kenric said, rubbing his chest with a pained grimace on his face, "we'll have to pay the king a visit."
"What about the others?" Phoenyx asked, her eyes filling with tears again. "And what about Draconia?"
Kenric took a deep breath and closed his eyes. There were so many things he had to do... so many places he needed to be. But there was precious little time, and he had to decide.
"Theron and Blaise are our priority," he said. "Draconia has plenty of squads protecting the borders, so they'll be fine without us. There's nothing we can do for the others."
Tears burned Kenric's eyes at the thought of leaving his soldiers just lying dead in Cadmus. They were his friends... people he had known for a long time, some even from childhood. Their deaths weighed heavy on his shoulders, the guilt almost crippling. The only thing he could do was think about something else. As it was, they were already going to haunt him for the rest of his life, like everyone else who had died before them.
Kenric pocketed his and Blaise's masks before they headed for Anzino. He needed it in order to keep up his façade as a strong leader. At the moment, he felt weak and useless. Looking down at his dirty hands, Kenric knew he would have much more than just Blaise's blood on them if the Dragon Prince died.
How had everything gone so wrong?