Through Tears and Bloodshed

Eight||Anger Gets You Killed

A fleeting moment of peace washed over me as my eyes searched him up and down, claw to tail, wing to maw. I hated myself for it, but I was beginning to forget his appearance. The way his horns curved behind his head, the old scar on his leg, how his scales glistened in the sun, or how his blue eyes would watch me when he thought I was unaware.

Open your eyes. I pleaded desperately, bringing my hands up to grasp the bars my dragon was trapped behind. He remained still, unmoving, immobile. I couldn't bear to see him look so dead. But I knew he wasn't. He was under an unknown spell at the hands of the Kellso's dark magic.

"I want you always to remember that your dragon's death was because of your insufferable stubbornness," Alydar goaded behind me. His hand pushed my face harsher against the metal bars, but I didn't allow his attempts to get under my skin to deter me from my reunion with my dragon.

My knuckles turned white from squeezing the metal bars, and soon my hands became numb with a burning ferocity. As I drew a wheezing breath, gurgling bubbled from deep within my chest. Even though my battered body struggled with old and new pain, my tormented mind screamed at me with the voices from my past, and my tattered soul wept as the bond between soulbonds slipped between the cracks, I was still able to find a sense of tranquillity wash over me like a cool glass of water hydrating my parched throat.

Maybe I could let go. Put myself to rest. We could remain in this cave for eternity, alone but with each other.

No, Navidean. This is not how our story ends.

I am the Valairex rider. My fingers gripped the metal bars tightly as I glared in front of me, determination flooding through my body. I will not give up so easily.

Alydar's head was behind mine as he spoke of the torture he would inflict on my dragon. Big mistake. Shooting my head back with a mighty force, I slammed my head into his nose, hearing a satisfying crunch as he dropped his grip from my arms. I spun around, having little time to enjoy the black blood dripping between his fingers as my fist connected with the side of his face. I was weak, but that didn't stop the newfound adrenaline coursing through my veins from his previous words.

"You will not," I said as my other fist came slamming down onto his eye, "touch my dragon." Fist after fist wailed on Alydar's face. I didn't give him a chance to recover between my hits. Fueled by rage and pent-up aggression, I fought him mercilessly.

Black claws replaced my dirty fingernails, and I used them to my advantage. I sliced into Alydar's skin, leaving long slashes on the side of his face, barely missing where his eye was.

The fighting lasted only for so long as he jutted out an arm to deflect my oncoming blow, throwing me into the metal bars behind me. The breath was knocked from my lungs for a couple of seconds, and I stared at him as I wheezed out a fitful cough. My chest heaved as bloody drool trickled from the side of my mouth, but I revelled in the fact I drew blood on the monster in front of me.

Bloody hands wrapped around my throat, squeezing tightly. Soulless, black eyes stared into mine with a raging fury. He was unhinged.

"You really," Alydar strained as he squeezed my neck tighter, causing the world around me to distort, "don't know when to quit."

My mouth hung open like a fish out of water as I clawed at his hands. He didn't release me, even when blood trickled down from the fresh cuts I left on his skin. My head felt heavy and light at the same time. My brain pounded at my skull, demanding air from my lungs, but it was left with nothing as the edges of my vision turned black. My body felt cold, colder than it had ever felt before. Tingling sensations starting in my fingertips and toes grew more intense as the feeling travelled throughout my body.