Backyard Dragons (12 page)

“I can’t fly.” He crawled to her side with his rear legs dragging across the ground behind him. Careful not to bite her, he used his teeth to pull her arm off two spikes.

Claire lay still and cursed at more pain. “Caius is a sadistic freak. Can you climb?”

Enion held his wing where she could see two jagged holes. “Why don’t we heal?”

“I don’t know.” She cringed and sat up. Everything hurt. She wanted to scream forever. “We have to get out and fight anyway. That’s what Knights do.”

The dragon nodded and reached up with one claw. He plunged it into the rock and pulled himself high enough to slam his other front claw into the wall. When he reached the highest point Claire had managed, he had to bash the spike tips away and lost his balance.

As she watched Enion dangle from one claw, flailing to catch the wall with the other, Claire thought about how she might do this. The best way forward usually seemed to be the obvious path, but this challenge had to have some other option.

Caius had made a point to tell her something she already knew the last time they’d been here: she and her sprite were partners. The dance lesson had hammered it home.

Staring up at the problem, Claire got an idea. “Enion, come back down.”

He obliged, stopping beside her. “We’re stuck.”

“No. If we climb up together, I can clear the spikes while you hold me up. Put your head on my back and catch me if I slip.”

Enion’s mouth cracked into a pained smile. “Yes! It’ll work.”

Claire mirrored him with a weak grin of her own. “I know it will.” She stepped onto the broken spikes and waited while Enion slammed his claws into the wall around her. He pressed his head against her back and they moved up together. She cleared the spikes, and he supported her weight until they reached the top of the pit. With his help, she dragged her body over the edge. He climbed up after.

“We did it!”

“Yeah.” Claire lay on her back, panting and gazing up at the impossibly blue sky. Silver flashes still glinted on top of the cliff, and she wondered how long Rondy could stand against Caius on his own. Though he might be at least as skilled as the First Knight, she’d watched Justin tire as he fought, and Rondy had to be at least three times his age.

“We have to get up there.”

Enion held up his torn wing again. “I still can’t fly.”

Rondy and Caius seemed so far away. It would take forever and a half to climb up there. Even if they somehow found stairs carved into the side, it would still take a long time. “We’ll never get there if we lie around here.” Claire rolled to her hands and knees, cursing the pain. More than anything, she wanted to get to Rondy’s side so he didn’t have to shoulder this burden for her. He’d been so patient and kind. He deserved so much better from her than falling off the side of a cliff and leaving him to die.

The idea of him dying because she couldn’t figure out how to overcome this obstacle made her more determined than ever to find a way. “We’re going to reach him in time to help.” She curled her hand into a fist and glared up at the precipice. “Enion, we’re going to get there.”

Enion smacked a claw on the broken ground. “Yes. We will.” He mantled his broken wings and sank into a crouch, ready to spring forward.

Before he could launch himself anywhere, Claire heard metal clang on metal behind her. The sound came from too close to be Rondy and Caius. When she whirled, though, she saw the two men facing off. Rondy and Caius each stood on pillars of rock, a wide gap between them. Rondy, encased in shining golden plate armor, flashed his long, thin blade through the air to clash with Caius’s shorter, broader sword.

Claire blinked, suddenly understanding this place better than she had a minute ago. She and Enion had crossed the distance somehow because they both demanded it happen. Like that one Knight told her, everything happened in the Palace—and in its heart—because she willed it to. If she wanted it hard enough, it would happen. Caius represented an opposing will, an obstacle of force intended to keep her from doing whatever she wanted without facing the gravity of it. Sometimes literally.

“Rondy needs us.” Adrenaline shot through her body, wiping away the worst of her pain. She ran for the battle. Her legs pumped with purpose, carrying her over fingers of jagged rock and around prickly shrubs. The ground trembled beneath her feet, and spikes of stone shot up, trying to catch her.

Enion loped beside her, his wings folded tight against his body. Ahead, the earth cracked and broke apart, forming a chasm. Instead of faltering or stopping, Claire kept running. She knew she’d be able to jump over it and reach the other side. Enion dropped behind her, and when she leaped, he grabbed her from behind and lent his power to the task. They flew through the air together, crossing the impossibly wide gap.

They landed on the edge. Claire’s knees buckled, and she tumbled forward. Enion slammed one claw into the cliff and thumped against it. He scrabbled and scraped with the others, unable to catch them on anything.

Claire groaned. On her hands and knees, she looked up. The two men dueled directly overhead now. She only needed to climb Caius’s pillar to reach him. Looking back, she saw Enion needed help to get himself over the edge and froze, unable to choose between him and Rondy. Worse, she had no weapon. Her dagger had been lost in the fall, and she hadn’t seen it since. The dragon might be her only way to harm Caius.

She scrambled back to Enion and saw him still scraping his claws against the chasm wall, unable to catch anything. With his size, she’d never haul him up. “I believe you can do this,” she told him.

“Too smooth.” Enion stopped struggling and met her gaze, determined fire burning in his eyes. “Go. Save Rondy.”

“I don’t have my dagger.”

“Find it.”

She thumped the ground with her fist. “All of this is for you.”

“No.” Enion’s mouth curled up and she thought he’d nuzzle her cheek if he could. “For
us
. Both. Go. Fix it.”

Angry and scared and determined, Claire nodded and rose to her feet. She watched Rondy hop off his pillar. Another finger of rock rose to meet his feet. Caius jumped to Rondy’s vacated pillar. They clashed swords again. Claire thought Rondy seemed tired. His shoulders drooped, and Caius’s attacks became more frenzied, pushing Rondy back step by step.

Claire knew her dagger had to be here. She ran forward. Flashes from Rondy and Caius’s duel distracted her, making her think she saw her dagger over and over. The two men fought above her, and Rondy finally jumped down beside her, one hand clutching his leg. Blood stained his armor in a dozen places, and he gasped for breath.

“I can’t hold out much longer, Claire. You have to help.”

Before she could answer, Caius jumped down. She shoved Rondy aside and faced Caius, her hands empty. “You don’t get to win.”

Caius smirked and punched her in the face. Claire staggered from the surprise blow, seeing stars, and wanted that arrogant jerk to trip over a rock so Rondy could get a good blow in. Clenching her fists, she trembled with a desperate desire for rocks to jump into his path and trip him. A spear of stone shot out of the ground in front of Caius, foiling his attack on Rondy without knocking him to the ground.

All three of them paused, seeming equally surprised by Claire’s small success. She recovered first. Rondy only needed an opening to finish this fight. Claire dropped her shoulder and charged Caius, knocking him back several steps.

Caius grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and raised his sword to plunge it through her heart. “Weak and stupid. Not worthy.”

“She’s worthy,” Rondy snarled. He threw himself into the fray, knocking them all to the ground. Rondy landed on top of Claire, his eyes wide with shock. He fell to the side before she saw Caius’s sword sticking out through his chest.

“No,” she whispered.

Blood dripped from the tip of the blade and landed on her arm. Rondy’s mouth moved with no sound coming out, then he went slack.

“The price for your arrogance and failure has been paid. Go.” Caius stood and planted his foot on Rondy’s back. His sword came out clean.

Claire stared. She’d thought she and Enion might die, but never really expected Rondy to. “You…you killed him. Why did you kill him?”

“The price for failure is death. It always has been.”

“But I did everything I could!” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “There’s nothing else I could have done!”

Caius raised an eyebrow. “Your best is not good enough, little girl. He sacrificed himself so you could live, a choice I respect. One day, should you survive long enough, you may be worthy of this boon, but not today. Go. Try not to get any other Knights killed.”

Though she couldn’t stop crying for the man who’d given up his life for her, Claire managed to stammer through her sobs. “I l-lost my d-dagger.”

“When you understand why and how, and can learn to find it, then you will be ready.” He turned and walked away from her.

Claire covered her face and wept. Enion’s tiny claw touched her cheek. Opening her eyes, she saw only pitch blackness. Rondy’s light had died with him. Or, she thought with wild hope fluttering in her heart, he’d left her here to go recover from the trauma. Without checking beside her, she lurched forward and pounded on the wall until it opened and light from the Thoroughfare flooded inside.

Rondy’s body lay slumped against the wall. She begged for Caius to have left him sleeping and not dead. A Knight passing by stopped in the archway, casting a shadow over them.

“What’s wrong?”

Claire reached for Rondy, shaking her head and unable to manage words around her misery. When she nudged him, he offered no resistance. His head lolled to the side and he fell over.

The Knight swore and a bright white light flared in the small space. Only then did she realize who this Knight was: Djembe. “What happened?” He patted Rondy’s cheek, then checked his pulse. “He’s dead. What did you do?”

Clutching her knees, Claire wailed and couldn’t answer.

“What’s going on?” Another Knight stood in the doorway, peering inside. “Is that Rondy?”

“She killed him,” Djembe growled. He pulled Rondy’s body out, dragging him into the corridor.

“Look how upset she is. It must’ve been an accident.”

“Maybe.” Djembe grabbed Claire’s arm and hauled her out into the center of a growing circle of Knights. he yanked her locket out and curled his fingers around it. “Or maybe she’s going to kill us all from the inside, one by one.”

Chapter 18

Claire

“That sounds a little paranoid, mate.”

“Is that a dragon?”

“Give her a chance to calm down and explain.”

Claire couldn’t stop bawling. She wanted to tell them everything, but no matter how hard she tried, every word came out unintelligible, broken by hiccups and sobs. Enion tried to help, but none of the other Knights could understand him. Panic from Djembe’s grip on her locket made everything a thousand times worse.

The Knights parted as Elder Yun shuffled forward. “Don’t be hasty.” He gestured for everyone to calm down. “Either lock her up or let her leave while we investigate. Pick one and get on with it. Standing around here changes nothing.”

Djembe let go of the pendant. “Lock her up, then.”

Yun prodded Rondy’s body with his staff. “Violence didn’t kill him. On what grounds should we lock her up?”

Djembe grabbed Claire by the neck and held her up. “Look at her.”

Yun peered at her. “Yes, she looks like Iulia. What of it? I look like Lo Pan. That doesn’t make me an evil, immortal sorcerer.” He tapped men in the shins with his staff. “You, escort her back to her room. If she wants to leave the Palace, fine. You, find her mentor. You, set a watch on her door. When she’s ready to talk, bring her to me, and I’ll listen. Until then, we trust the judgment of the Palace Heart that she’s a Knight.”

Strong arms picked up Claire and carried her to her room. Someone set her on her feet in front of her door. She slipped inside and huddled in the corner, hugging her knees and sobbing. At least she had her dagger now, tucked into the waistband of her skirt once more.

Much later, when her tears subsided, she stayed curled in a ball, trying to understand what had happened.

It should have been enough. Between her and Rondy, Caius should have seen how much it mattered. She pulled her locket out of her shirt and rubbed it against her cheek. Why couldn’t he see how much danger the pendant put the Knights in? How did she lose her dagger there without losing it here, and what did Caius mean? Why did failing
have
to carry a penalty of death?

Enion stayed quiet, wrapped around her hand, while she pondered these questions. Finally, he let go and jumped down to stretch on the floor in front of her. The way he moved reminded her of a cat until he unfurled his wings as far as they could go.

Watching him made Claire think about moving. She straightened her legs and leaned against the wall. “None of that was fair.”

“No,” Enion said.

“How am I ever supposed to do any of that by myself?”

“With me.”

She sighed. “Yes, with you. I mean, how are you and I supposed to be better than you and I with Rondy?”

“What if…” Enion sat and curled his tail around his body. He hung his head. “What if Rondy was good enough?”

“Making it our fault he died.” Claire’s face felt tight and grubby and she had no more tears to shed for now. “I should’ve made him wait. We could’ve gone again, to get body armor or something. Going there a few more times first—” She covered her face with her hands. “He believed in me. It wasn’t enough.”

Enion pawed at the floor. “I’m hungry. We should eat.”

A fresh load of guilt dumped on her shoulders. They had to have been in the Palace for several hours now. Justin and Marie were probably worried about her. Justin definitely needed to know what had happened, especially with someone looking for him to talk about her. Leaving him to walk into that blind would make things worse.

“Yeah. I’m just gonna wash my face, then we’ll go home.” She got to her feet and used the bathroom. Staring at herself in the mirror, she wondered how close Justin was to Rondy. They seemed like friends, but she had no idea how well they knew each other. Justin might hate her for this. Maybe she should wait until he’d had a good night’s sleep before telling him.