Legions of Bone: Dragon Rider Book 3

Chapter 28: Reunion

Oh my god, guys, I'm so excited for you all to read these chapters *wink wink* I was so excited that I posted four of them, lmao. I really hope you guys enjoyed these as much as I loved writing them And sorry if my writing and grammar are off in my notes, it's currently midnight and I'm ready to pass out. : )

Dagen

"Are you sure we want to meet her?" Topher asked as they weaved their way between a wall of jagged rocks. They were slick with last night's rain, the rocks above dripping water onto Dagen's face. Rays of grey light slipped between the rocks above, their only fresh source of air that didn't smell like an animal dying in someone's moldy, wet shoe.

"Yes," Dagen ground between his teeth. He blinked several hard times, trying to get rid of the tiny rock particles and dirt falling into his eyes. Behind him, Eoin gazed around, half of his body in the rock as he followed.

"I don't know about this," Topher said for the third time. "Maybe we should risk the Thrawlers on our own."

Dagen was not turning back. He traveled for six days, following Norah's bursts of darkness through cities and forests and grassy plains only to find the ruins left behind. Each time he'd left pissed and with a nasty twist in his stomach and a bitter taste on his tongue. They were always close. Coming in an hour after her or sometimes just a few minutes.

But this morning, while Dagen sat on a rock eating his breakfast in the hills, the darkness had slammed against his senses like a brick. It was such a wonderful and thrilling feeling; after all their days of tracking her, Norah came to them.

Dagen left his food still on the fire, grabbed his knives and cloak, and ran.

"If anything," Dagen snapped, inching between the rocks. "The loot will be worth it."

Norah always left whatever the creatures had collected. Sometimes it was bodies and strange sticks and plants. Other times it was weapons, gold, and trinkets that added up to lots and lots of coins for Dagen.

He never left with empty pockets.

"I don't know why you're so anxious to meet her," Topher muttered, mud and shards of rock spotted his worn face.

"I don't know why you're so afraid of her," Dagen retorted.

But he did.

Norah turned the creatures she fought into new versions of Hell; their flesh destroyed, their bones black as night. But they weren't the Silent Stalkers that he'd faced before. These ones didn't move. They remained frozen in place like toys that didn't have the batteries to work.

Dagen knew what she was doing. He saw the warning--the threat in leaving such twisted things behind.

Come after me and this is what happens.

In the beginning, creatures of scales and fur had stalked her, drawn to such dark power. But they'd taken to Topher's fear and left her alone. Eventually Dagen and Topher only needed to worry about the Silent Stalkers that followed.

Blood swept into his nose like a warm current.

The walls eased away and Dagen pushed faster, jaw clenched--determined. He'd be more than pissed if there was some back exit Norah slipped away in. He'd spent almost an entire week shitting in the woods just to find her.

The tunnel opened and Dagen filled the deepest parts of his lungs with air while unsheathing his daggers beneath his cloak.

Dagen was used to the destruction. To the smooth carvings in the rocks, some long like rope while others were like something giant had been slammed into it. He was used to the blood and the body parts scattered and black skeletons. But he wasn't used to the sparkling piles of money.