Kyra raced through the snow, brushing back the thick branches in her way, the dragon’s cry still echoing in her ears, and burst into a clearing, when she suddenly stopped short. All of her anticipation could not prepare her for what she saw before her.
Her breath was taken away—not by the blizzard or the cold or the wind—but this time by the sight, unlike anything she’d seen in her life. She had heard the tales, night after night in her father’s chamber, the ancient legends of dragons, and had wondered if they were true. She had tried to imagine them in her mind’s eye, had stayed up many a sleepless night trying visualize, and yet still she could not believe it was true.
Not until now.
For before her, hardly twenty feet away, Kyra was stunned to find herself standing face to face with a real, breathing dragon. It was terrifying—yet magnificent. It screeched as it lay on its side, trying to get up but unable, one wing flapping and the other appearing to be broken. It was huge, massive, each of its scarlet-red scales the size of her. Krya noticed the dozens of flattened trees, and realized it must have fallen from the sky, creating this clearing. It lay on a steep snow bank, close to a gushing river.
As she stared, agape, Kyra tried to process the sight before her. A dragon. Here, in Escalon. In Volis, in the Wood of Thorns. It wasn’t possible. Dragons, she knew, lived on the other side of the world, and never in her life, or her father’s time, or her father’s father’s time, had one been spotted in Escalon—much less near Volis. It made no sense.
She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes, thinking it must be an illusion.
And yet there it was, shrieking again, digging its claws in the snow, stained red with its blood. It was definitely wounded. And it was definitely a dragon.
Kyra knew she should turn and flee, and a part of her wanted to; after all, this dragon could surely kill her with a single breath, much less a stroke of its claws. She had heard tales of the damage a dragon could do, of their hatred for mankind, of their ability to tear a person to shreds in the blink of an eye, or wipe out an entire village with a single breath.
But something within Kyra made her hold her ground. She did not know if it was courage or foolishness or her own desperation—or something deeper. For deep down, as crazy as it was, she felt a primal connection to this creature she could not understand.
It blinked, slowly, staring back at her with equal surprise and as it did, what terrified Kyra most were not its fangs or its claws or its size—but its eyes. They were huge, glowing yellow orbs, so fierce, so ancient, so soulful and they looked right into hers. The hair raised on her arms as she realized they were the exact eyes she had seen in her own reflection in the Lake of Dreams.
Kyra braced herself, expecting to be killed—but the dragon did not breathe fire. Instead, it just stared at her. It was bleeding, its blood running down the snow bank into the river, and it pained Kyra to see it. She wanted to help it, and even more so, she was obliged to. Every clan in the kingdom had an oath they lived by, a sacred family law they had to uphold, at the risk of bringing a curse on their family. Her family’s law, passed down for generations, was to never kill a wounded animal—indeed, it was the very insignia of her father’s house: a knight holding a wolf. Her family had taken it further over the generations, taking it upon themselves as a law to help any wounded animal they encountered.
As Kyra watched its labored breathing, gasping, her heart went out to it and she thought of her family’s obligation. She knew that to turn her back on it would bring a terrible curse upon her family, and she was determined to make it well again, whatever the risk.
As Kyra stood there, transfixed, unable to move, she realized she could not walk away for another reason: she felt a stronger connection to this beast than she had to any animal she had ever encountered, more so even than to Leo, who was like a brother to her. She felt as if she had just been reunited with a long-lost friend. She could sense the dragon’s tremendous power and pride and fierceness, and just being around it inspired her. It made her feel as if the world were so much bigger.
As Kyra stood at the edge of the clearing, debating what action to take, she was startled by the snap of a branch, followed by laughter—a cruel man’s laughter. As she watched, she was shocked to see a soldier, dressed in the scarlet armor and important furs of the Lord’s Men, saunter into the clearing, wielding a spear and standing over the dragon.
Kyra flinched as the soldier suddenly jabbed the dragon in its ribcage, making it shriek and curl up; she felt as if she had been stabbed herself. Clearly the soldier was taking advantage of this wounded beast, preparing to kill it but torturing it first. The thought pained Kyra to no end.
“My ax, boy!” the soldier yelled.
A boy, perhaps thirteen, warily entered the clearing, leading a horse. He looked like a squire, and he seemed terrified as he approached, eyeing the dragon warily. He did as commanded and drew a long ax from the saddle and placed it in his master’s hand.
Kyra watched with a sense of dread as the soldier came closer, the blade glistening in the moonlight.
“I’d say this will make a fine trophy,” he said, clearly proud of himself. “They will sing songs of me for generations, this kill of all kills.”
“But you did not kill it!” the squire protested. “You discovered it wounded!”
The soldier turned and raised the blade to the boy’s throat threateningly.
“I killed it, boy, do you understand?”
The boy gulped, and slowly nodded.
The soldier turned back to the beast, raised his ax, and studied the dragon’s exposed neck. The dragon struggled to get away, to lift itself up, but it was helpless.
The dragon suddenly turned and looked directly at Kyra, as if remembering her, its yellow eyes aglow, and she could feel it pleading to her.
Kyra could hold herself back no longer.
“NO!” she cried.
Without thinking, Kyra ran into the clearing, rushing down the slope, slipping in the snow, Leo at her side. She did not stop to consider that confronting a Lord’s Man was a crime punishable by death, or that she was alone out here, exposed, that her actions could likely get her killed. She thought only of saving the dragon’s life, of protecting what was innocent.
As she rushed forward, she instinctively pulled the bow from her shoulder, placed an arrow, and aimed for the Lord’s Man.
The soldier looked truly stunned to see another person out here, in the middle of nowhere—much less a girl, and holding a bow at him. He stood holding his ax, frozen in midair, then slowly lowered it as he turned and faced her.
Kyra’s arms shook as she held the bowstring and aimed at the man’s chest, not wanting to fire if she didn’t have to. She had never killed a man before, and was not sure if she could.
“Lower your ax,” she commanded, trying to use her fiercest voice. She wished, at a time like this, that she possessed the deep, commanding voice of her father.
“And who commands me?” the man called back in a mocking voice, appearing amused.
“I am Kyra,” she called out, “daughter of Duncan, Commander of Volis.” She added the last bit with emphasis, hoping to scare him into backing down.
But he only grinned wider.
“An empty title,” he countered. “You are serfs to Pandesia, as the rest of Escalon. You answer to the Lord Governor—like everybody else.”
He looked her up and down and licked his lips, then took a threatening step toward her, clearly unafraid.
“Do you know the penalty for aiming a weapon at a Lord’s Man, girl? I could imprison you and your father and all of your people just for this.”
The dragon suddenly breathed hard, labored, gasping, and the soldier turned back and glanced at it, remembering. It was clearly trying to breathe fire, but unable to.
The soldier glanced back at Kyra.
“I have work to do!” he snapped at her, impatient. “This is your lucky day. Run off now, back to your father, and count your blessings I let you live. Now piss off!”
He turned his back on her derisively, ignoring her completely, as if she were harmless. He raised his ax again, took a step forward, and held it over the dragon’s throat.
Kyra felt herself flush with rage.
“I will not warn you again!” she called out, her voice lower this time, filled with meaning, surprising even her.
She drew her bow further back, and the soldier turned and looked at her, and this time he did not smile, as if realizing she were serious. Kyra was puzzled as she saw him look over her shoulder, as if watching something behind her. Just then she suddenly detected motion out of the corner of her eye—but it was too late.
Kyra felt herself slammed from the side. She went flying sideways and dropped her bow, its arrow shooting harmlessly up in the air, as a heavy body landed on top of her and tackled her down to the ground. She landed in snow so deep she could hardly breathe.
Disoriented, Kyra struggled her way back to the surface to find a soldier on top of her, pinning her down. She saw four of the Lord’s Men standing over her, and she realized: there had been more of them, hiding in the wood. How stupid of her, she realized, for assuming that solider was alone. These other men must have been lurking out there all that time. That’s why, she realized now, the first soldier had been so brazen, even with a bow trained on him.
Two of the men roughly dragged her to her feet, while the other two stepped in close. They were cruel-looking men, with boorish faces, unshaven, eager for bloodlust—or worse. One began to unbuckle his belt.
“A girl with a little bow, are you?” asked one, mocking.
“You should have stayed home in your daddy’s fort,” said another.
Barely had he finished speaking when there came a snarling noise—and Leo leapt through the snow, pouncing on one and pinning him down.
Another one of the men turned and kicked Leo, but Leo turned and bit his ankle, felling him. Leo went back and forth between the two soldiers, snarling and biting as they kicked him back.
The two other soldiers, though, stayed focused on Kyra, and with Leo tied up, she felt a wave of panic. Strangely enough, though, despite her circumstances, she realized she did not feel panic for herself but for the dragon. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the first soldier once again raise his ax high and turn and approach the beast, and she knew that in a moment, it would be dead.
Kyra reacted instinctively. As one of the soldiers momentarily loosened his grip on her arm, caught off guard by Leo, she reached behind her, drew the staff sheathed to her back, and brought it down on an angle with lightning speed. She struck one of them perfectly in the pressure point in his temple, felling him before he could react.
She then pulled back the staff, slid her grip all the way up so she could use it at close range and jabbed the other soldier on the bridge of the nose. He shrieked, gushing blood, and dropped to his knees.
Kyra knew this was her chance to finish these two men. They were now prone, and Leo had the other two pinned down and struggling.
But her heart was still with the dragon—it was all she could think of—and she knew there wasn’t time. So she instead ran for her bow, picked it up, placed an arrow, and with barely time to think, much less to aim, she prepared to fire. She had one shot, she knew, and it had to be true. It would be the first shot she had ever taken in action, in real battle, in the dark, in the blinding snow and wind, between trees and branches and with a target twenty yards off. It would be the first shot she had taken with her life at stake.
Kyra summoned all of her training, all of her long days and nights of shooting, everything she had within her, and forced herself to focus. She forced herself to become one with her weapon.
Kyra drew and released, and time slowed as she watched the arrow fly, hearing its whistle, unsure if it would hit. There were too many variables at play, from a gust of wind to the swaying branches to her frozen hands, to the movement of the soldier.
Kyra heard the satisfying thump of the arrow finding its mark, and she heard the soldier cry out. She watched his face in the moonlight, contorted in pain, and watched as he dropped the ax harmlessly at his side and collapsed, dead.
The dragon looked over at Kyra and their eyes met. Its huge yellow eyes, glowing even in the night, seemed to acknowledge what she had done, and in that moment she felt as if it knew she had saved it, and that they had just made a connection for life.
Kyra stood there in shock, hardly believing what she had done. Had she really just killed a man? And not just any man—but a Lord’s Man. She had broken Escalon’s sacred law. It was an act from which there was no return—an act which would spark a war and embroil all of her people. What had she done?
Yet somehow, she had no regrets, no doubts about what she had done. She felt as if she had stepped into destiny.
A searing pain on her jaw line snapped her out of it, as Kyra felt thick, calloused knuckles smash into her skin. Her world was filled with pain as she stumbled, punched in the face, and fell in the snow to her hands and knees, seeing stars, her world spinning. Before she could collect herself she felt a kick in the ribs, then felt a second soldier tackling her and pinning her face in the snow.
Kyra gasped for breath as a soldier jerked her to her feet. She stood there, facing the two men she had let live. Leo snarled, but he still struggled with the other two. One soldier bled from his nose and the other from his temple, and Kyra realized she should have killed them when she’d had the chance. She struggled with all her might to break free from their grip, but to no avail. She could see the look of death in their eyes.
One of them glanced back at his dead commander, then stepped in close and sneered.
“Congratulations,” he hissed. “By morning, your fort, your people, will be razed to the ground.”
He backhanded her, and her face filled with pain as she went stumbling back.
The other soldier grabbed her firmly and pushed his dagger to her throat, while the other reached for his belt buckle.
“Before you die, you’re going to remember us,” he said. “It will be the last memory of your short life.”
Kyra heard a whining and looked over her shoulder to see one of the soldiers stab Leo. She winced as if she herself had been stabbed, though Leo, fearless, turned and sunk his teeth into the soldier’s wrist.
Kyra felt the blade at her throat, and she knew she was on her own. Yet instead of fear, she felt liberated. She felt her anger, her desire for vengeance against the Lord’s Men, well up inside her. In this man, she had the perfect target. She might go down, but she would not do down without a fight.
She waited until the last moment as the soldier stepped closer, grabbing at her clothes—then she planted one foot, leaned back, and used her great flexibility to kick straight up, with all her might.
Kyra felt her foot connect between the man’s legs with a great force and as she watched him cry out and drop to his knees, knowing it was a perfect blow. At the same moment, Leo shook off his attackers and turned and lunged for the man she felled, pouncing and sinking his fangs into his throat.
She turned to face the other soldier, the last one standing, and he drew a sword and faced her. Kyra picked up her staff from the snow and faced off with him—and he laughed.
“A staff against a sword,” he mocked. “Better to give up now—your death won’t be so painful.”
He charged and swung at her, and as he did, Kyra’s instincts took over; she imagined herself back in the training ground. As he swung, she dodged left and right, using her speed to her advantage. The soldier was big and strong and he wielded a heavy sword—yet she was light and unencumbered, and as he came down with a particularly fierce blow meant to chop her in half, she sidestepped and left him off balance; she swung around with her staff and cracked him on the back of his wrist and he dropped his sword, losing it in the snow.
He looked back at her, shocked, then sneered and charged her with his bare hands, as if to tackle her. Kyra waited, then at the last moment crouched low and brought the tip of her staff straight up, connecting with his chin. The blow snapped his neck back and sent him landing flat on his back, unmoving. Leo pounced on him and sank his fangs into his throat, making sure he was dead.
Kyra, assuming all her attackers were dead, was confused to hear movement behind her. She turned to see one of the two soldiers Leo had attacked somehow back on his feet, limping to his horse, drawing a sword from its saddle. The soldier rushed Leo, who still had his fangs in the other soldier’s throat, his back to him.
Kyra’s heart slammed in her chest; she was too far away to reach him in time.
“LEO!” she cried out.
But Leo, too busy snarling, did not realize.
Kyra knew she had to take drastic action or else watch Leo be killed before her eyes. Her bow was still in the snow, too far away from her.
She thought quick. She raised her staff and broke it over her knee and it broke in two. She took one of the halves, its tip jagged, took aim, leaned back and hurled it like a spear.
It whistled through the air and she prayed it find its target.
Kyra breathed with relief as she watched it pierce the soldier’s throat right before he reached Leo. The man stumbled and fell at Leo’s feet, dead.
Kyra stood there in the silence, breathing hard, seeing the carnage all around her, the five Lord’s Men sprawled out in the snow, staining it red, and she could hardly believe what she had done. But before she could finish processing it, she suddenly detected motion out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see the squire, running for his horse.
“Wait!” Kyra called out.
She knew she had to stop him. If he made it back to the Lord Governor he would tell them what had happened. They would know it was she who had done this, and her father and her people would be killed.
Kyra picked up her bow, took aim, and waited until she had a good shot. Finally, the boy broke into the clearing, and as the clouds opened and the moon shone down, she had her chance.
But she could not take the shot. The boy had not done anything, after all, and something within her just could not kill an innocent boy.
Kyra lowered her bow with shaking hands and watched him ride off, feeling sick, knowing it would be her death sentence. Surely, a war would come for this.
With the squire on the run, Kyra knew her time was short. She should run back through the wood, for her father’s fort, and alert them all as to what had happened. They would need time to prepare for war, to seal the fort—or to flee for their lives. She felt a terrible sense of guilt, yet also, of duty.
Yet Kyra could go nowhere. Instead, she stood there and watched, mesmerized, as the dragon flapped its good wing and stared back at her. She felt she had to be by its side.
Kyra hiked quickly through the snow, down the bank, toward the gushing river, until she stood before the dragon. It lifted its neck just a bit and stared at her, their eyes meeting, and the dragon stared back at her with an inscrutable expression. In its look Kyra thought she spotted gratitude—yet also, fury. She did not understand.
Kyra stepped closer, Leo snarling beside her, until she stood but a few feet away. Her breath caught in her throat. She could hardly believe she was standing so close to such a magnificent creature. She knew how dangerous this was, knew this dragon could kill her at any moment if it chose.
Kyra slowly lifted her hand, even as the dragon appeared to be frowning and, heart pounding with fear, reached out and touched its scales. Its skin was so rough, so thick, so primordial—it was like touching the beginning of time. Her hand trembled as her fingertips stroked it, and not from the cold.
Its presence here was such a mystery, and her mind raced with a million questions.
“What hurt you?” Kyra asked, stroking its scales. “What are you doing on this side of the world?”
There came a sound like a growling from deep within its throat, and Kyra withdrew her hand, afraid. She could not read this beast, and even though she had just saved its life, Kyra suddenly felt it was a very bad idea to be so close to it.
The dragon looked at Kyra and slowly raised a sharpened claw until it touched Kyra’s throat. Kyra stood there, frozen, terrified, wondering whether it would slice her throat.
Something flashed in its eyes and it seemed to change its mind. It withdrew its claw and then, to her surprise, in one quick motion slashed down.
Kyra felt a searing pain on her face and she cried out as the claw grazed her cheek, drawing blood. It was just a scratch, but it was enough, Kyra knew, to leave her with a scar.
Kyra reached up and touched the wound, saw the fresh blood in her hands, and felt a deep sense of betrayal and confusion. She looked back into the dragon’s glowing yellow eyes, filled with defiance, and she was at a loss to understand this creature. Did it hate her? Had she made a mistake to save its life? Why had it only scratched her when it could have killed her?
“Who are you?” she asked softly, afraid.
She heard a voice, an ancient voice, rumbling in her mind’s eye:
Theos.
She was shocked. She was sure it was the dragon’s voice.
Kyra waited, hoping it would tell her more—but then suddenly, without warning, Theos shattered the silence by shrieking, rearing its head, and struggling to get away from her. It flopped and spun wildly, trying desperately to lift off.
Kyra could not understand why.
“Wait!” Kyra cried out. “You are wounded! Let me help you!”
It pained her to see him flopping so much, blood dripping from its wound, unable to get one wing to work. He was so massive that each flop raised a great cloud of snow, shaking the ground, making the earth rumble and shattering the stillness of this snowy night. He tried so hard to lift off into the air, but could not.
“Where is it you want to go?” Kyra called out.
Theos flopped again and this time he rolled down the steep, snowy bank, rolling, again and again, out of control, unable to stop itself. He rolled right for the gushing rapids.
Kyra watched with horror, helpless, as the dragon splashed into the raging waters of the river below.
“NO!” she cried out, rushing forward.
But there was nothing she could do. The great rapids carried Theos, flailing, screeching, downriver, winding through the forest, around a bend and out of sight.
Kyra watched him disappear and as she did, her heart broke inside her. She had sacrificed everything, her life, the destiny of her people, to save this creature—and now he was gone. What had it all been for? Had any of it even been real?
Kyra turned and looked out and saw the five dead men, still lying in the snow, saw Leo, wounded, beside her; she reached up and felt the sting on her cheek, saw the blood—and knew it had all been very real. She had survived an encounter with a dragon. She had killed five of the Lord’s Men.
After tonight, she knew, her life would never be the same again.
Kyra noticed the horse’s trail, winding into the wood, and she remembered the boy, riding to alert his people. She knew the Lord’s Men would be coming for her people.
Kyra turned and sprinted into the wood, Leo at her side, determined to make it back to Volis, to alert her father and all her people—if it were not already too late.