The Dragon Games

The Amulet

He didn't say it like an insult. He said it like he was genuinely curious, like no one had ever reached such impressive heights before. Before I could work out a response, he walked away.

That night, the Windsors gathered around a bonfire, chatting as they roasted another deer, and their conversation that night could not have been more ill-timed. 

"It's good you stuck to your own intuition, Grace," one of the Windsors laughed. "Never in a million years did I imagine the raider would be stupid enough to meet Edmund Balthasar's challenge."

Another windsor raised their brows. "Stupid or suicidal?"

"Hey," a third said suddenly. "Do you reckon she's the raider called Crenshaw's Pet?"

That earned him a slap upside the head. "Of course she's Crenshaw's Pet, stupid! Who else would have such power? Who else is so blindly loyal?"

"Was it loyalty?" another Windsor said. "Or did she know that no other dragon would stoop so low as to bond with a raider? And last I heard, Crenshaw's Pet was dead, killed by the Sword Brethern."

"I heard Crenshaw's Pet is a man of thirty and some years," Tobias said.

Rick stuck out his tongue and curved his hands. Wherever Tobias was, Rick was never far behind, hanging on to his every word like gospel. Apparently, Tobias was the brains and brawns of the duo. "With a forked tongue and claws for hands."

"I heard –"

"It doesn't matter who she is," Grace cut in, slicing the skin off her deer leg in clean, orderly strips. "She will die soon enough."

I let their words wash over me, paying them no mind. I only had eyes for Elio. I hated when anyone had a bad word to say about Sammy, even more when they told a lie, and I had just told some of the worst lies imaginable. Guilt should be eating my alive right now, but I swallowed the feeling and steeled myself to go one step further.

After snuffing the bonfire, the Windsors fell asleep, all but the one on rotation. He checked my binds, then sat across the campsite to watch me. The Windsors were instructed to keep me within eyesight and out of hearing range, to prevent any possible colluding. Tonight the distance worked in my favor. As long as I kept my voice soft, the Windsor on guard had no idea I was talking to Elio.

"When you were a kid, where were you told you'd end up?" I whispered. "On the back of a dragon, flush with fame, fortune, and riches?"

Elio startled at my voice. We had never spoken much, even when we had shared a room, and now I was about to tell him the story of my life. And as much as I'd rather stick to lies, a lackluster performance would not fool Elio. To convince him that Sammy and I truly were enemies, every word I spoke must have some degree of truth – except the names of the parties involved.

"You know what I was told?" I whispered. "Off a bridge or in a brothel house. Sammy didn't just save my life; he gave me a purpose. He was the first person to make me feel I was worth anything. I just didn't realize he valued me for different reasons than I valued him. Not until he started pushing me down a darker path of crime than ever before."

As soon as Drax rose to power, I ran with three of my best friends to the harbor, to steal a ship and sail until we found Sammy. At least, that was the plan. In reality, we didn't make it past the beach.

"I tried leaving the raiders with a few friends, but I hadn't realized how powerful Rauuk was. How quickly he would pick up on our scents. And I never believed that Sammy would seriously harm me. My divine was too valuable of an investment." I held up my four-fingered hand to prove how wrong that belief was. "And then he turned to my friends."

I stared at the stars with a stormy expression and forgot I was trying to fool Elio, losing myself in the memory. The rising tide, the smoke, the fire in Drax's eyes, the fear in everyone else's. The whole time, I kept expecting Sammy to show up and save the day, like he had on so many nights before.

"It was my idea to run and my sloppy escape plan. Everything that went down that night was my fault, but my divine didn't hold a candle to Sammy's. After bringing his wrath on my friends, I basically sat back and waited for them to die." 

My mouth twisted into a scowl, and I dug my heel into the ground, burrowing into the dirt. "Like a coward."

"If you let them go, I'll never disobey you again," Elio said quietly. "But if you must kill someone, kill me. Let me die in their place."

A cool breeze swept across the night, chasing goosebumps up and down my skin. I whipped away from the stars to stare at Elio, my face stricken. "How do you know I said that?"

"You kept repeating the same words under the drakes' venom. I thought it was a nightmare."

I eased back down. "It was half a nightmare, half a memory. He killed two of my friends, then broke the third beyond repair." 

Steeling myself, I glanced at Elio. Overhearing me quote that night was a stroke of fortune, but would it be enough to sway him?

"Is there anyone Crenshaw cared for?"

"No," I said. "He wasn't attached to people. Everyone in his orbit had a purpose, and once they were no longer useful, they were dropped. Before the Sword Brethren captured me, I was one botched job away from Sammy killing me himself."

Elio stared at the mountains in the distance, his expression unreadable. "You want my help... but I can't help you unless you help yourself. Even after everything Crenshaw did, you still saved his dragon. You still do as he wishes."

"Of course. If I don't, he'll find me and repay my disobedience tenfold."

"No. That's not quite it. At least, that's not all of it." Elio's eyes dipped to my throat. "You're freakish about that locket. Polishing it every night, checking on it a hundred times a day like it's a baby. You got it from Crenshaw, didn't you?"

I paused, unsure if he already knew the answer and was trying to catch me in a lie. I played it safe and nodded.

"Part of you hates Crenshaw, but another part of you can't forget he saved you. You love that locket, don't you?"

His eyes bore into me, undressing me under the weight of his stare. I nodded again, not trusting myself to speak. Without breaking eye contact, Elio unclasped my locket and laid it between my feet. Then he handed me a rock the size of my fist.

"Break it," he said. "Prove you're more than his pet, that you can stand up for yourself. Make a move against Crenshaw that you can't take back."

"My hands are tied," I blurted out.

It was a weak excuse, and we both knew it. My hands were bound by the wrist; nothing blocked my fingers. I could easily grip the rock and raise it over the locket. Bile crawled up my throat as I did just that. 

For a brief moment, I wondered if this was all some elaborate joke, if Elio was pretending to buy my story, only to point and laugh when I broke my most prized possession. But he was not the type to show his cards for the sake of a petty jab. Elio didn't strike to embarrass or maim; he only struck to kill.

But still...

The locket was the only thing I had left of Sammy. Bloody hell. Bloody fucking hell. I squeezed my eyes shut and swung.