Shared By The Dragon Clan Complete (21 page)

CHAPTER TWO

The moment Quraal touched Stacey, an
unspeakable sorrow ripped through Zane’s insides. He was as far away as either
of them believed, and yet he somehow knew when it happened. The connection they
held was so strong, that it was almost as though he was sharing her experience.
With his head against the wall, shivering; he closed his eyes and saw the
monster that was Quraal. If he hadn’t been so blinded with the unquenchable shame
of not being able to stop him, he might have been more conscious of the rage
his dragon was going through.

But still
Zane couldn’t let it happen. He couldn’t just let himself lie here, defeated,
crying. What sort of a dragon would he be then? This was his Stacey, the love
of his life, and she was counting on him.

So he wiped
his eyes. Stood up and made his way to the bars of his cell.

How he would
have liked to rip them from their sockets as though they were ordinary bars
made of steel. Even as his fingers touched them, he could feel the Mage’s
enchantment moving through the bars and inside him, draining his powers…

Zane let go.
He then focused on a figure that was emerging from the shadows.

“Narses…?”
Zane murmured.

He then
stepped back in surprise as the figure was revealed to be the Human Mage.

“What the
hell are you doing here?” Zane shouted.

The Mage
stopped. Smirked at him.

“I never
liked you,” the Mage said. “I’m glad you’re finally rotting where you belong.”

He continued
on his way.

“Hey,” Zane
shouted. “You’re the one who belongs in here! Not me!”

The Mage
stopped again. “Do not push me, Dragon. I can make your suffering ten times as
worse as it is now.” He turned his head slightly. “Apologize.”

“Apologize?”
Zane spluttered. “You come anywhere near me and roast your head clean off.”

“You think
your magic works down here?” the Mage laughed, walking over. “You are nothing
but a fragile mortal now. I can do anything I like to you. And there’ll be no
one to tell Narses otherwise.”

“You’re
working for him, aren’t you?” Zane challenged.

“Who?”

“The Dark
Dragon. Quraal.”

The Mage
flinched. He closed his eyes a moment and then began uttering a spell under his
breath.

Zane was
flung back into the opposite wall by a paralyzing force. He tried to get up
after his fall, but his arms and legs were completely immobile.

Satisfied he
was safe, the Mage unlocked the gate to the cell and stepped inside.

He stood over
Zane, grinning.

“The Dark
Dragon has your mistress in his clutches at this very moment. I can see you
already know this.”

Zane breathed
heavily, the fury raging within.

“Narses is
going to trade you for her in a few hours. So he can punish her for Evelyn’s
death. Little does he know, that
I
was the one who made her die.”

“You
monster,” Zane seethed. “You absolute fucking monster.”

“You should
be grateful to me. That I gave your brother a chance to end your family’s
shame. He would have even become King of Firebound Island. Of course now I
realize, there can be only one King.”

The Mage
turned away a moment and produced a stick of glowing chalk. He moved to the
opposite wall and began running the chalk along it.

“Very soon it
will all be over. Quraal will kill your girl before Narses gets his hands on
her. He’ll kill Narses as well, and then he’ll kill you. That’s right, Zane.
There’s only one person left to be King here. Me.”

The Mage
stepped away from the wall, his work completed. Zane saw that he had drawn a
large door. The chalk was still glowing against the wall.

“The thing
is, before you both die, I want you to hear what’s happening to her. I want you
to hear her screams.”

The Mage
murmured something under his breath and the wall inside the door’s outline
dissolved. It appeared to now project the inside of an apartment. Zane could
see a lounge room near a glass door leading out to a balcony. Further at the
back there was a kitchen.

Then he heard
it.

Stacey’s
terrified scream.

He went to
lunge forward, in a bid to break the Mage’s spell over him, but it was useless.

The Mage
laughed heartily.

“Enjoy the
show, Zane,” he said moving back towards the cell’s entrance. “I know how much
it must hurt you inside.”

And even
though the Mage was wise, and said he knew Zane’s hurt, the truth was…

No one but
Zane possibly could.

CHAPTER
THREE

The window of opportunity had passed.
No miracles today. Stacey lay on the bed helpless while next to her, her friend
was screaming as she was being raped. She didn’t want to look at what Quraal
was doing but he kept on slapping her face about so she had no choice.
Eventually it became too much. Tears didn’t do it justice. Imagining your heart
in the middle of a black lagoon, being eaten up by the water, wasn’t enough.
When you hurt someone this much, or someone that they love, it’s not just a
matter of the pain. It’s that you’re no longer who you were before. Tragedy
such as this becomes a part of your identity.

And now it
was Stacey’s turn.

Quraal left
Jasmine in a sobbing, yet still paralyzed mess, and proceeded to move onto her
body, the horror like nothing she’d ever before imagined. His face wasn’t even
beautiful anymore. It flickered. It changed. Back and forth through the dim
lighting of the room. She saw the corpse inside him – face with rotting black
goo, and fiery red eyes. And that was his true form. One of.

He said
nothing. He slapped his penis on top her belly, and then she felt its sticky
presence to move below her.

Stacey’s eyes
drifted towards the door.

Nothing.
Nothing.

Nothing –

“ZANE!!!”
Stacey screamed.

The door had
just burst open and there he was, her hero, standing in the middle of it
breathlessly.

Quraal’s
attention immediately shifted, and a look of mild panic jolted him.

Zane wielded
an enormous green bladed sword into the air.

Swoosh.
Swoosh.

“Get the fuck
off my Blossom,” Zane shouted.

Quraal
growled angrily, and jumped off the bed. His hand extended itself, and a
glowing red sword zoomed out of the closet and into his hand.

“That’s it,”
Zane said. “COME ON!!!”

CHAPTER FOUR

Zane’s sudden appearance to rescue
Stacey, may have seemed like a miracle to her, but a miracle it was not. The
gratitude could be attributed to the very cunning and observant, Master Narses.
While his initial reaction had been to blame Stacey for his daughter Evelyn’s
death, and launched into full combat with Zane who stood to protect her, Narses
had not been able to strike Zane down after the fight. Zane had knelt before
him, groveling, and weak. The eyes of the Dragon Guards were on Narses, and it
was expected Zane would die then.

But, as he later
explained to Zane, he had doubts about what had occurred that morning in the
Palace. It was only a short time later that the Human Mage had made his
presence known, and requested to be reinstated as the King’s advisor. Narses
agreed, but only so he could spy on the Mage to see whether or not he could be
trusted.

After the
Mage’s confessions to Zane as he lay paralyzed at the corner of the cell, Zane
was not yet aware that Master Narses had been watching the entire interaction
unfold from the shadows of the opposite cell. He could hear both Stacey and her
friend screaming from the portal the Mage had created in the wall, and thought
that they were both done for. There was nothing he could do.

But then as
the Mage turned to leave the cell, he encountered a problem.

“Master
Narses,” he gasped. “What brings you –”

Master Narses
sent a blast of energy which sent the Mage crashing back up against the wall.
He cast another spell to relieve Zane of his paralysis.

Zane stood up
and pointed to the portal. “Quraal is through there.”

Narses
produced a long green sword and handed it to Zane. Then he withdrew a gold
sword of his own.

“Let’s end
this,” Narses said.

CHAPTER FIVE

Quraal roared an unearthly battle cry
and then advanced towards Zane, fiercely swinging his red sword through the
air. It soon clashed with Zane’s and they pushed off each other before
attacking again. This time Quraal somehow managed to fling Zane across the room
till he hit the back wall near the bathroom and the bed Stacey and Jasmine were
still trapped on.

Grinning,
Quraal tipped his sword and then jumped over to lunge at Zane again. Before
Stacey even realized there was another presence in the room, Quraal was knocked
to the side before he reached Zane, tackled by Master Narses. Narses then
sliced Quraal’s chest open with his sword, but his second attack was blocked.
Quraal rolled across the room and made for the exit.

Narses
quickly chased after him.

“Help,”
Stacey called to Zane who was rushing over to the bed. “It’s the necklaces. We
can’t move.”

Zane ripped
the necklaces from both Stacey and Jasmine.

Stacey
immediately put her arms around Zane’s chest, and squeezed him tight, while
Jasmine scooped up her clothes and locked herself in the bathroom.

“Am I too
late?” Zane murmured. “Did he…?”

“Too late for
Jasmine,” Stacey whispered. “But I’m okay.”

“I’m so sorry
I wasn’t able to get here sooner,” Zane said.

“But you’re
here now. You saved our lives.”

Zane removed
her arms from him. “You have to stay here.”

“No!” Stacey
shouted, sobbing. “I’m never losing you again!”

“I have to
help Narses,” Zane insisted. “Quraal must be destroyed.”

He offered
her a kiss on her forehead and an anguished parting smile.

Stacey’s
blood boiled and her heart broke in two. What an agony it would be, to lose him
all over again…

CHAPTER SIX

Even with Zane’s assistance to
defeating Quraal, the fight would not be over quickly. As Stacey dressed
herself as quickly as she could, she continued to hear the battled screams and
shouts of all three men as they engaged in combat. Windows crashed, walls
shook, furniture and appliances were thrown this way and that. Once dressed,
Stacey turned to the bathroom and knocked on it.

“Jasmine?”
Stacey called. “Are you okay?”

“Go away,”
came Jasmine’s muffled voice.

“Come on,
babe,” Stacey said earnestly. “It’s me. There’s no one else here.”

“I’m not
coming out till it’s over.”

Stacey
cringed. Bit her teeth together. Hesitated.

“Let’s go now
while they’re busy with each other,” she said.

After a
moment she heard the sound of the door being unlocked. Jasmine peered at her
through the crack. Her face was wet from the tears.

“I’m so sorry,”
Stacey whispered. She put her arms out to Jasmine.

Jasmine
allowed her to. She sobbed as Stacey patted her back, comforting her.

“It’s okay,”
Jasmine said after a moment. “Not the worst guy I’ve been with.”

Stacey
laughed, even though the joke wasn’t really funny. She stepped back and took
Jasmine’s hand. “Let’s make a break for it.”

Jasmine
nodded solemnly.

The girls
then ran to the doorway and peered out into the hall. Suddenly the wall just
ahead of them exploded with a  burst of fire.

Both Stacey
and Jasmine screamed.

This was
followed by an enormous earthquake like crash as the roof caved in under the
pressure of a gigantic force pressing up through it. Stacey and Jasmine dived
into the bedroom again, barely missing large slabs of concrete and debris that
were about to fall on them.

Stacey heard
the sound of more crashing on the other end of the apartment, and the
unbearably high pitched screeches of a dragon.

“ZANE!”
Stacey screamed. “ZANE HELP US!”

Then the roof
above them started form a series of cracks.

Jasmine and
Stacey held each other in terror, and shortly afterward, everything turned to
black.