Read The Endonshan Chronicles Book 1: DragonBond Page 17

Chapter 9

  “Raisa?” The voice grew more urgent. “Alita, answer me.”

  A hand gripped my shoulder, another pressed against my cheek. Sounds muddled through my ears in a chaotic mess. I felt cold and warm all at once. Rik’s face floated in front of my eyes.

  I blinked. “Rik.” My voice came out weak, croaking.

  He gently pulled me upright. He looked worried. More than that. Frightened. “What happened?”

  The warm subsided, then returned with a fresh blast. Someone ran past, screaming. I stared after them, trying to get a handle on my surroundings. There was some meaning, some comprehension evading my grasp.

  “Look at me,” Rik ordered, moving back into my line of sight. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  My throat was dry. Something was wrong. Something was missing. The swirling world finally began to settle back into order. The numbing roar in my hearing diminished.

  And then returned anew. Everything turned cold, as cold as the emptiness consuming me from the inside out. I knew that roar. No. I didn’t know it. I recognized it, but I no longer knew it. Axen.

  I gasped and looked around. Rik stood beside me, holding my arms, keeping me upright. Magra and Tarvia hovered on either side of him. Men and women rushed back and forth, shouting for water. Behind them, the forest burned.

  I broke free of Rik’s grip and bolted into the flames.

  Axen. It was like I’d been sawed in half. The deepest part of me had been brutally ripped away and discarded. And I couldn’t get it back. She felt the same confusion, emptiness, agony I felt. And without me there to guide her through the pain, she was dealing with it the only way she knew how.

  Another roar. The ground shook under my feet, nearly knocking me flat, but I kept running, struggling to breathe through choking smoke, dodging flaming branches as they relinquished their hold on their trees.

  I reached her as she raised her arms and slammed them into the ground once more, rattling the world before unleashing another torrent of flames. Her roar shredded what was left of my heart. I ran forward and jumped onto her hand. “Axen! Axen, listen to me,” I shouted as loudly as I could.

  She snorted and shook her hand, nearly knocking me off.

  She couldn’t understand me now. She didn’t even recognize me. She couldn’t. But I had to find a way to reach her. Some way to convince her to leave, to stop this destruction before she killed everyone.

  “Axen!” I screamed louder, clinging tighter, trying to force her attention on me.

  She roared and slammed her hand against the ground.

  The edges of her scales tore at my hands as I lost my grip. I tumbled over myself several times before regaining control of my direction, just in time to avoid rolling into a blazing fern.

  She waved her head back and forth, roaring and howling. It was like a stab through my chest. She was calling for me. Trying to find me.

  Tears blurred my vision. “Axen! Axen, I’m right here. You have to listen!”

  Her waving grew more wild, her roaring more anxious. She lowered her head to take a deep breath. I didn’t stop to think. I raced forward and leapt into the air, landing on her snout and clinging with all my might.

  Startled, she flicked her head upward, but I already had a solid grip. “Axen, look at me!” She shrieked and shot another blast of fire. I clenched my eyes as the flames rushed past me, threatening to sear my skin. I wouldn’t let go. I wouldn’t. She slammed her hands into the ground and shook her head again, wilder this time, trying to shake me loose.

  She didn’t know me. Couldn’t recognize me. I was just some random animal that had gotten stuck against her scales. “Axen!” I shouted again. I met her eyes, trying to find some spark of recognition there. “It’s me!”

  Her claws flew, snatched me off her snout. The tip of one stabbed into my side, drawing a scream of pain. I gasped for air as her fingers tightened around me.

  She glared at the tiny speck she’d pulled off her snout. All of her pain, all of her rage, all of her confusion channeled at a new target. She was going to kill me.

  I gripped her thumb. Rubbed the edge of her scales. “It’s okay.” I couldn’t manage more than a whisper. I kept my eyes locked with hers. At least my death would no longer mean hers. “It’s okay.”

  She drew in a deep breath. Her eyelid twitched with uncertainty. She hesitated, then unleashed her flames at the sky. Her eyes remained upward as she crouched to take to the air. I fell from her hand, forgotten. Wind washed over me as she sprang into the air and took flight, the last thing I was aware of before I hit the ground below.