I will kill one of you. Zyryxa couldn’t comprehend the words. Didn’t want to. How could anyone be so needlessly cruel? It had to be a sick joke. Perhaps a scare tactic?
Coryza’s claws hit the ground. Zyryxa braced for the shockwave, gaining familiarity with it now. The icy gale of the dark dragon’s wingbeat blew the rest of them back, humans and drakes. Lexyn and Pelzyq fell to the ground, Dryxl, Maxilla, and Zyrxl’s claws raked the ice as they were pushed by the tremendous force. Zyryxa squatted, covering her eyes with her forearm and leaning into the blast, doing everything she could to hold her ground. Hatrox just stood there. Unmoving. Unrelenting. Unstoppable.
He shouted over the howling wind. “Run! Like you tried to run from me!”
The storm subsided, the dragon’s wings spreading out in their massive wingspan wide enough to block out the rising sun from the horizon line, casting them in darkness. In the center of the dragon’s shadow, Hatrox stood like an ice sculpture, sneering.
Zyryxa clenched her teeth, keeping the bitter words within. This was retribution. For daring to evade him when she joined Natazia’s brood. Vaztyma sending them to Riverwatch, her hesitation to divert them onto the rite, it became clear. Hatrox had always wanted her, since that day he first laid eyes on her in the Frostmelt. He’d demanded her from Vaztyma. Now he would kill Lexyn or Pelzyq to punish her for trying to avoid him.
Unless they could race dozens of miles on no sleep, across icy terrain, with all of them but her bearing minor wounds from a vicious night of battle, where a second qione or monsters rallied by Coryza would bar their path. It wasn’t just improbable; it was likely impossible. She contemplated fleeing him or trying to seek sanctuary with Vaztyma. Her gut rolled, nausea hitting her like an icy gale, cutting through her core. Would Vaztyma even protect her? Could she?
Hatrox’s sinister grin made her shake with fury. He spoke as if he was their best friend, the sarcasm layered on thick. “Don’t even think of running the wrong way. I will be there when the sun sets, no matter where you are.” He chuckled. “And don’t ever think of running to Vaztyma. She cannot protect you from me.” His gaze fell on her, sickly sweet. “You are mine now.”
Zyryxa’s hands closed into fists, she shook with rage.
He just smiled. His voice singsong and sweet, he said, “What are you waiting for? Run, run, run as fast as you can. Daylight fades and you’ll lose a man.” He set his eyes on Lexyn. “Or woman.”
They didn’t wait for him to climb Coryza. Zyryxa, Lexyn, and Pelzyq didn’t speak. They knew what was at stake, knew the score. But when you are trapped in a game you cannot win, all you can do is try to break it.
They mounted Zyrxl, Dryxl, and Maxilla, riding them as hard as they could until the drakes needed rest. Then they took to their feet, letting the drakes follow behind. Zyryxa never got back in Zyrxl’s saddle. When Pelzyq or Lexyn needed to rest, they rotated which of the drakes carried them. Zyryxa had to soothe Zyrxl the first time Pelzyq tried to mount her, but the coldscale sensed the desperation, made the exception, at least this once.
They didn’t stop for food. Zyryxa wasn’t even hungry. She felt sick. Not just from the exertion but from the dread. She stole glances at Lexyn and Pelzyq, shaking at the thought of either of them being pointlessly murdered. But she knew it wasn’t pointless. Hatrox didn’t do things without a reason. This was punishment and this was control. She felt him from here, pushing her forward, whispering in her ear that she belonged to him, how dare she try to deny her fate. This message was received, repeated in her mind as she dashed over lifeless tundra that stretched on in a flat plain for as far as the eye could see.
He said, “You will do great things for me or I will hurt you. If I don’t hurt you, I will hurt those you hold dear. And if I hurt those you hold dear, it is because you disappointed me.” Already she could visualize his mannerisms. He would lean toward her with that vicious smile as if he wanted to kiss her and instead tell her that all she had to do was be better. Then he’d lean back and tell her that it was the only way she’d become who she needed to be.
Qoryxa’s divine judgment fueled her. If Hatrox wanted to test her, she’d show him that nothing he did would stop her. She would be the best. She’d show that divinedamned sadist that she’d pass his impossible challenges. Neither Lexyn nor Pelzyq would die today. She raced across the landscape, leading the drakes and her brood north, northeast. Her stamina was unwavering as she left her old life miles behind. Zyryxa only halted to sip from her water skin, and even then, only when the others initiated it. If they were to fail, it wouldn’t be because she let them down.
The morning faded without a single word uttered from their lips. Thankfully, it also passed without event. Zyryxa rushed them northeast, aiming a direct line toward where she expected Riverwatch to be. Since this cut more north than their initial route, she dreaded their path would take them through another qione territory where the blizzard would slow them. No blizzard walls appeared on the barren expanse. Hope started to shine within her like the sun in the cloudless sky. No monsters barred their path. No ravines or hills slowed their pace. The only menace was the ever-present shadow in the sky flying at varying heights and distances, never leaving their sight, and they never leaving his.
But good fortune was fickle, especially when the game was rigged from the start. The landscape started to slope, forming ridges and ravines alike. Little shelves of ice where footing was more challenging greeted them as they left Nix Tezyk. Dense gelubor forests where beasts lurked in the crystalline white and blue trees, interspersed with evergreens as the climate warmed nearer to the sea. Rolling fields of viridix and colorful herbs masked treachery within their tall stalks. This was the Volqor that Zyryxa loved. This beautiful land of ice and snow unlike any other in the world continued to be a marvel even after traveling it for more than a year. But today it was an obstacle. They needed to make perfect time, with no margin for mistakes.
Coryza flew overhead, able to rouse the denizens of this land. It was only a matter of time now that they’d left behind the lands the monstrous dark blue behemoth had emptied in last night’s battle.
The first encounter lasted no more than a few heartbeats. Zyryxa cut down a great white bear, then slaughtered its half-grown cub with practiced ease. An easy triumph. But it felt like anything but a win.
Hatrox did everything for a reason. The message was plain to all three of them: This was just the beginning. They’d need to fight their way to Riverwatch. No heartbeats came easy after that, nor could hope outmatch the rising dread gnawing at every fiber of Zyryxa’s being. Each stride was another step closer to sunset and not close enough to Riverwatch.
The sun had already descended half to setting when Lexyn halted them.
“We can’t stop,” Zyryxa said, her breath coming hard, the cold filtering into her lungs.
“I know,” she said, dismounting Dryxl. She opened one of the saddlebags. “But we need all the help we can get. I have a draught that will flood us with energy and dull our pain, but the crash that comes after it will be brutal.”
Zyryxa felt her exhaustion looming as if it was on the other side of the ceiling and the roof was collapsing. Her whole body was sore and she didn’t know how much longer until she couldn’t hold the exhaustion up. Her legs were heavy, she was sweating so profusely that the cold was turning it to a layer of frost that burned her skin.
Pelzyq caught up, Zyrxl and Maxilla trailing behind him. She read that sad look in his eyes. He seemed on the verge of tears every time she glimpsed his face since the bear attack. He studied them both like they were the most precious gems.
Lexyn sipped the draught, making a sour face as she finished gulping.
Zyryxa didn’t spare time for hesitation. She seized the vial, took a heavy sip, and swallowed the viscous liquid thicker than molasses. The change was instant. She felt power flowing through her, jolting her forward. Her sore legs felt light, like they could damn near fly if she tried. She could run until the sun fell and rose again—or at least until the crash came.
She dashed to Pelzyq, waving the vile toward him with frenetic energy. He moved like a snow slug, taking it, those rheumy eyes lingering on the brown fluid, wasting vital moments.
“If we don’t make it by nightfall—”
“Stop,” Zyryxa said, tilting the vial toward his lips. “We’re going to make it.” Even her words came out jittery, slurring together in their haste to leave her mouth. “With time to spare.”
The tears started to run slowly down his face. “It has to be me.”
Zyryxa choked back tears of her own. She shook her head, the motions exaggerated by the tonic. “I’ll kill him before I let him touch either of you.”
Pelzyq shook his head now, lethargically. “No. You won’t.”
She refused to believe that, especially with this new vigor coursing through her like a wildfire evergreens. “Then I’ll volunteer myself.”
“He won’t let you.” Pelzyq looked at Lexyn. “I didn’t protect you before, but I will tonight. If it’s the last thing I do.”
Lexyn rubbed at her eyes, violently shaking her head. “Nobody is going to die. Now drink and let’s keep moving.”
Pelzyq swallowed the draught with a sigh. Then they returned to the race, his words chasing them across the landscape.
Hatrox’s monsters were not subtle. Stirred by the dragon, he pointed them in their direction and they moved as fast as they could without a care for stealth. It felt too easy. Zyryxa and Zyrxl in the lead and Lexyn’s arrows when she was close enough made easy work of the beasts. Zyryxa wanted to scream at the dragon in the distant sky, “Is that the best you can do!” But the need to maintain her pace kept her mouth sealed and her legs pumping.
Alas, she didn’t give him enough credit. He lulled her into arrogance for when she crowned one hill, she saw the trap he’d laid out. A massive green wyrm closed in on them. The only way to avoid it was to cut south around another hill. Coryza was already in the sky to the southeast, baiting them to take the detour.
She wanted to cry. Instead, Zyryxa let out an agonizing roar. The wingless dragon’s breath was toxic and one strong whiff would immobilize, an extended one would kill. They couldn’t afford to carry one of their own, couldn’t risk their lives trying to rush through a battle with such a deadly foe. Yet, she knew running was what Hatrox wanted her to do. It was a trap, she knew he’d probably have something deadly waiting for them on the detour but they couldn’t risk a green wyrm. She felt like an animal in a maze, being prodded and poked at every corner, running into dead ends. If it were just any maze, it would have been manageable but this maze ended in Pelzyq or Lexyn’s death if she couldn’t lead them out in time. The sun was closer to setting than midday.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The rest of the group caught up, pausing for a brief sip of water. Pelzyq and Lexyn had both been dismounted since drinking the tonic, but they still lagged behind Zyryxa. The drakes hadn’t been given any potion and were even more sluggish. Dryxl and Maxilla who’d barely survived last night looked halfway dead. Zyrxl’s tongue wagged out of her mouth. It was a testament to their bonds that they didn’t abandon this death march.
She needed to decide and couldn’t contemplate away their light. Zyryxa led them south around the wyrm, hoping she could cut back after the wyrm overpursued. After all, Hatrox couldn’t redirect the wyrm if he was miles away in the opposite direction. Right? Perhaps if she cut the angle tight, she’d even be able to only head the wrong way for the space of this next hill.
Feeling clever, she dashed under the ridge, concealing herself from the green wyrm, her eyes on the next rise over the hill where she could pass the beast and they’d leave it in their rear. Hatrox loomed farther to the southeast, expecting her to take a much longer detour. Would he be upset that she outsmarted him or proud? It didn’t matter. She was proud of herself.
With a surge of confidence, she crested the next hill. The green wyrm was behind them and they’d be able to evade it if they kept their pace. But Zyryxa wasn’t more cunning than Hatrox. A white wyrm, if only half the size of the one she’d battled moons ago, awaited them over the rise. Lairing on the middle of a shelf between two fatal cliffs, the terrain gave her three options. The could keep going, fighting through the white wyrm and risk getting sandwiched by the pursuing green, backtrack to the green and get trapped by the white, or retract most of their steps and take the longer detour to the southeast. Feeling stupid and wroth, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
“We need to kill or get past the white wyrm before the green can reach us.”
Neither Lexyn or Pelzyq complained. They put their faith in her. She felt that responsibility ripping at her heart as the sun drifted to the sky’s edge, painting the horizon red as the sky shifted a darker blue.
“Lexyn, aim for the eyes.” Zyryxa ordered. “Pelzyq, attack from the left. I will take the right. Damage its limbs so that we can escape its mouth. We don’t need to kill it if we can get past it. If we’re lucky the white and the green will fight each other instead of pursue us. After that, I believe we will have a clear sprint to Riverwatch.”
This was it. Prevail here and they had a chance of winning the race.
The white wyrm charged toward them. Lexyn’s bowstring twanged, her arrows whooshed, whirling toward the wyrm. She hit both eyes before Zyryxa and Pelzyq engaged. Through the monster’s cries, Zyryxa and Pelzyq hacked at the beast’s forelegs with their axes. Zyryxa cut through scale, empowered by Qoryxa and the draught, hacking off a gigantic foot. Light blue blood sprayed from the wound. But Zyryxa learned from her mistakes. She rushed toward the hindleg, axe in hand, before the spray could freeze her.
Pelzyq wasn’t doing as well. The wyrm’s fangs lashed toward him, its claw swiping horizontally. He wouldn’t evade both. Pelzyq dodged the maw, exposing himself to the claw.
Maxilla intercepted the claws. She faithful drake went down hair, sliced clean through by the razor-sharp claws. The wyrm snapped its head toward Pelzyq, blindly exhaling frost. He withdrew toward the shelf’s edge, edging closer to death.
“Watch the edge, Pelzyq!”
He diverted away from the cliff, needing to go through the cold breath. Zyryxa, in desperation, ran toward the beast’s front. She sliced her axe into the monster’s chest, cracking the scales with several cuts, exposing the heart. The creature’s mouth blindly bit down at her. Zyryxa leapt aside, shouting out, “Lexyn! Heart!”
Zyryxa parried a claw, stumbling back several steps before, rolling toward the dismembered claw as the wyrm bit down at her. Lexyn’s arrows barraged the wyrm’s heart, filling it, shooting out a spray of blood. The beast kept madly swinging its teeth and claw, missing wildly in its blindness.
“I’m out of arrows!”
Qoryxa’s flaming eyes!
Zyryxa seized her axe, feeling the need to save her friends. She assaulted the heart, the memory of the last time she did this sounding off like a warning. There was no other way though. It had to be done and it had to be her.
Layered in frost, Pelzyq shouted, drawing the beast’s attention as he swung his axe at a hind leg.
His distraction gave her the opening she needed. Zyryxa slammed the axe into its heart, keeping her distance, then ripped it free as she leapt back. The frigid blood splattered, but this time she didn’t get drenched. Zyryxa wiped a few drops from her face and rolled free before the wyrm collapsed atop her.
“Let’s fucking go!” she screamed, lungs burning from cold exertion, the draught still filling her with unyielding energy.
Lexyn shrieked.
Zyryxa spun, finding the green wyrm had closed the distance, emerging on the hilltop shelf. Pelzyq was cut off, white wyrm and ridge’s end between him and Lexyn. Dryxl and Lexyn were within a cloud of green. Lexyn stumbled forward, coughing and gasping as she emerged from the cloud, her consciousness fading in a series of twitches. Dryxl hacked, forcing himself forward until he collapsed with his head atop a dead Maxilla.
Zyryxa shook with a horrible, vindictive rage. She lost sense of time, the race receding behind her wrath. She rushed in, running along the edge of the toxic mist, Zyrxl following her. This monster would die.
The beast lowered its head, opened a mouth large enough to swallow Lexyn in one bite, and thumped across the hilltop toward its dinner. It never saw Zyryxa coming. Her axe tore through scale, sliced through dense neck muscle, and shattered bone. Poisonous green blood spilled from the wound, splattering Zyryxa and Zyrxl. The coldscale clawed at the wyrm’s eye, which was as big Zyryxa’s head while Zyryxa kept hacking through the wound, not caring about the poison spraying on her furs and face. She didn’t feel the sting of its acid corroding flesh, only the power of her anger as her axe severed the wyrm’s gigantic head.
The corrosive spray hit Zyrxl, and she cried out as she dashed to rub her wounds against the snow. Rage subsiding, Zyryxa rushed to do the same, rubbing her face against the fresh flakes, removing her poison-sodden furs and boots until she was down to her undergarments. She used whatever she could find to clear the poison from her face, then strapped her belt to her waist, leaving behind the torn and poison-riddled furs.
Even in her pain, in her worries for Lexyn, and most of all for the distance between them and Riverwatch and the fading light, she thought of what the poison might do to her face. Would it leave corrosive scars? The thought nauseated her. Her stomach, left untended all day, felt like a burning hole within her. She vomited, expelling whatever water and draught were left. A wave of exhaustion hammered into her, and her knees gave out beneath her, until she faceplanted the ice.
Her consciousness flickered, vision blurring. The light was fading, but she couldn’t focus her eyes. Strong arms lifted her from the ground. “I’ve got you,” Pelzyq said. “Here.” He set her in the Zyrxl’s saddle. Zyryxa forced her head up, fought to keep her eyes open. She was so tired it felt like holding herself up no less strenuous than lifting a wyrm.
Pelzyq nudged Dryxl with his boot. “Get up.”
The darkscale whined, leaving his head on his dead mate’s. Lexyn was unconscious on the ground beside the two drakes. Pelzyq ripped off her poisoned garments with his knife. He left behind her bow, her knife, her satchel. Everything but Lexyn herself and set her on his shoulder, carrying her in front of him.
High above, a dark blue shadow circled. She could feel Hatrox’s glee. He’d tricked her, trapped her, and won. Qoryxa’s flaming eyes! Zyryxa found a surge of energy, digging into the depths of her soul as if a body could be fueled by vindictive judgment alone. Gritting her teeth, Zyryxa bellowed, “We need to go, Dryxl!”
The darkscale just whined. Zyryxa understood. If she wasn’t so mad, she’d whine with him. He’d gone as far as he could physically, emotionally. The once-cowardly drake didn’t cower in fear, but wept in love, and collapsed in exhaustion from doing everything he could. Until he couldn’t. She understood. And was proud to have traveled beside him for all these moons.
“He’s not moving,” Pelzyq said. “I’ll carry her.”
Staring at the setting sun, Zyryxa nodded, and kicked Zyrxl into motion.
As they traveled, Zyryxa felt at the burns on her cheeks, dreading the pockmarks she’d find. She longed to stare at her reflection, to ease her mind, but she could neither bring herself to pause them or to face her face. She tried to focus on the race, the sun now starting to fall over the edge of the world. But sitting in the saddle left her exposed to her darkest thoughts. Pelzyq did his best to carry Lexyn and keep the pace, but he was only one man—if the best one Zyryxa knew.
She tried to ease his struggles, leaping from the saddle and forcing her legs to carry her toward the Everice and the sea. Pelzyq refused to share his burdens until Zyryxa forced Lexyn from his arms and set her on Zyrxl.
As they raced to the end, Lexyn reawakened, mumbling atop Zyrxl. The drake slumped, its pace falling behind Zyryxa and Pelzyq.
“Can you run?” Zyryxa asked.
Lexyn rolled off Zyrxl, stumbling several steps before hitting the ground on hands and knees. She tried to rise again, straining, her lean muscles exposed to the cold with naught but her undergarments for cover. Crying, Lexyn shook her head.
Zyrxl collapsed. The coldscale fell on her side, tongue out of her mouth. She’d go no further. In the distance, Zyryxa saw the sea. They hadn’t crossed the Everice. Riverwatch needed to be close. She had to find a way to carry Lexyn to the end. The sun was more behind the horizon than above. Zyryxa heaved, trying to lift Lexyn but her arms gave out and she spilled her back to the ground.
Shaking with fury, she reached again but Pelzyq set his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll do it.”
He hefted Lexyn up, his legs wobbling beneath him and carried her over his shoulder. “I’ve got you, love.”
None of them said what they all believed was true. It wouldn’t matter.
“Come on,” Zyryxa said. “We have to be close.”
For once this day, she was right. Just past the next set of forest, the fortress emerged into sight. Sturdy stone walls, dark against the white snow and light ocean.
Pelzyq groaned with every step but they picked up speed as they went downhill toward the end. Zyryxa thought of sliding down the slope, but was afraid her legs wouldn’t support her again if she eased up. Tumbling forward, she kept her balance on a slippery sheet of ice. Pelzyq slid over it, shielding Lexyn as he slipped to the ground.
Zyryxa limped toward them, offered her hand, pulled Pelzyq up. Lexyn struggled to her feet, her legs buckling but not giving way. Together, the three of them slumped toward the gateway. The sun was almost entirely gone, with just the top of it showing against the horizon.
We’re going to make it. Too tired to speak, Zyryxa forced herself to keep moving, keep believing. It wasn’t for nothing.
Coryza landed within the walls. They kept moving, kept going. There would be time for rest soon. She just needed to push a little more.
Zyryxa slammed into to gate, forcing it open. She stumbled into Riverwatch, finding a garrison equally male and female, fit with everything you’d expect. Two large barracks built of stone that wouldn’t burn if a fire dragon lit them, stations for various camp functions: a mess hall, an infirmary, several smithing stations, stables for drakes and other mounts. Yet none of that mattered now. She barely registered the dozens of eyes on her, even though she was almost nude and her usually perfect face damaged by the green wyrm’s poison.
All that mattered was the two warriors, a brother and a sister, stumbling into the fort behind her, the knight awaiting them, and the final few moments of the day before the sun faded behind the horizon.
“We did it,” Lexyn said, collapsing to her knees.
Pelzyq bent over, laughed. He pointed up at the last moments of light. “Just in time.”
Zyryxa smiled at Hatrox, bearing her teeth in triumph. The smiled faded with the last ray of light in the western sky, when Hatrox shook his head, tut-tutting at them. “Time is up. You lost.”
“This is all of us!” Zyryxa shouted, waving her arms at Pelzyq and Lexyn.
His smirk could’ve made her erupt like a volcano, had she any energy left to give. “No. Its barely half of what I asked for. Where, I might ask, are my drakes? I recall three. I see none.”
“No,” Zyryxa said, shaking, her muscles so weak she just wanted to lie down and sleep for days. “You didn’t ask for drakes, and you know it. We made it to Riverwatch before sunset. We fought through your beasts, killed two wyrms, ran for close to a hundred miles. In one day. On no sleep. Because you made us fight all night! We are here! We won!”
His face was placid as he basked in her tears. “Gather your drakes. Ride to Riverwatch. If all of you do not arrive by sunset, I will kill one of you.” He gestured toward them. “Where. Are. My. Drakes?” He spun toward his swarm. “I don’t see them! Does anyone else?”
The Riverwatch garrison was silent, save for one woman who volunteered a loud, “No, Knight Hatrox.”
He twisted back toward Zyryxa, drew a handaxe. He enunciated each word slowly, imprinting them into Zyryxa’s mind. “So, which one of you is it going to be?”