The Dragon Games

Venom

We stared into the opaque waters that had swallowed our food, but no one bothered suggesting the divine. Without being able to see in the water, there was no way to use it, and like hell I would risk turning my blood black this early in Blood Fest.

So after catching our breathes, we dove back into the swamp. We were able to find Bianca's bag quickly and lift it from the swamp together. We scavenged some medical supplies and weapons, but the water had long ruined our food, turning it into mushy slop. 

Then we dove back in to find the two remaining bags, and the more I swam, the more exhaustion crept up on me. I was the first to quit the search and lay back on the grass. I only meant to catch my breath, but the warmth of the setting sun made my eyelids grow heavy.

The next thing I knew, someone was grabbing my shoulder, shaking me awake. Gordo, Bianca, and Elio squinted down at me, and for the life of me, I couldn't understand why they looked so worried. 

All was how it should be: the weather was nice, the birds were chirping, and I was lying in bed at the orphanage, maybe a little hungry, but that was to be expected. I didn't deserve as much food as the older kids. 

I was only six years old, after all.

"Are you alright, Raven?" Bianca said. "You look pale. Well, paler."

Gordo turned Elio and muttered something about a bite. I frowned, racking my head for what 'bite' he referred to. Suddenly, I remembered. "Of course I didn't," I slurred, pushing myself onto my feet. "You tell Miss Agnes I never bit Angelo. Never ever, not once, not one time."

I punctuated each point by stabbing a finger at Gordo's chest. Elio caught my arm mid-poke and twisted it around to reveal two pricks just above my wrist. 

Gordo swore under his breath. "Does anyone know an antidote?"

"Isn't there always a naturally occurring remedy in the marshes?" Bianca said. "Instructor Austen mentioned some mushrooms that mitigates the poisons' effects, but I can't remember its name."

Bianca and Gordo turned to Elio.

"Ah." Elio grimaced. "I wish I knew."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Gordo burst out. "You're the best student in her class! What's the point of knowing everything except the one thing we actually need?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Gordo. I can't think of anything."

Gordo grabbed Elio's collar, his eyes flashing. "Think harder."

"Hey!" Bianca snapped, shoving between them. "We need to stay united, now more than ever. Don't point fingers."

"I only have nine fingers," I said brightly. "Want to see?" 

I held my hands up high and counted each one. "One, five, five, five, twenty, eight, orange, seven, and nine."

Bianca's mouth dropped open at my missing digit. "Did the drakes do that?"

Gordo turned to Elio, his eyes wild. "Fix her!"

Bianca shoved Gordo back. "He doesn't know how!"

"I don't need fixing. I've never felt better," I said. 

At least, that was what I intended to say. Instead, a gooey string of words left my mouth, slurred and mashed together.

In a heartbeat, Bianca's anger turned into fear. She stared at me, her eyes wide. "Raven?"

The ground slipped out from under my feet, and I fell flat on my stomach. When I picked my head up, the time and location had changed. 

I was lying on a beach, and the moon burned bright overhead, painting the sand a bluish glow. The wind howled, scraping my clothes, and the ocean warred against the shore. Black waves rose ten feet high, crashing down like thunder.

Suddenly, a knee knocked into my shoulder. Two silhouettes barreled past me, sprinting down the length of the beach. The third stopped and offered me a hand up. It was too dark to make out their face, only the ram skull tattooed to their neck.

"What are you waiting for?" Their voice echoed over itself like they were speaking in a cave. "He's gaining on us!"

I reaching for their hand, only to pull back. Something at the back of my head nagged at me. Something was wrong, but I couldn't say what.

"I'm not leaving without you!" they screamed.

Their voice had such wild, animal-like fear that I didn't think. My instincts took over, and as soon as I clasped their hand, a gust of wind swept across the shore, knocking all four of us off our feet. We looked up just in time to see a shadow dart across the night sky. 

It engulfed the stars, snuffing them out like candles until everywhere I looked, there was darkness. I stretched my arms out ahead of me, hoping to find another person, but my hands slipped through the shadows like swimming through a sea of ghosts.

"Hey," I hissed. "Where are you?"

For a moment, there was nothing but the waves crashing against the shore. And then, a blood-curdling scream, more animal than human, cut through the darkness.

"Raven!"

I whipped around. A hundred yards away, a silhouette was on their knees, clawing at their throat. A breeze blew their hair back, revealing a thin and terrified face I knew better than my own. 

Chick. But he didn't look like the raider that had sold me out. He was younger than I remembered, like the orphan I had grown up with.

"Raven!" he screamed.

I broke into a blind sprint, guided by nothing but his face. Just as I threw my arms around Chick, his scream cut off with a ragged gasp, and I stumbled through a cloud of mist. Once again, I was alone in the darkness. 

But this time, the quiet didn't last long.

"One more time." 

His voice came from everyone and nowhere all at once. It started as a whisper, then built up with intensity, growing louder with each word. 

"Disappoint me one more time, and I will kill you. I don't care how far you run. I don't care how long it takes. I will hunt you to the ends of the earth if it is the last thing I do."

From the shadows, Drax emerged, his eyes crackling back, his hands wet with blood. Rage poured into my body. Screaming, I ran forward, brandishing my dagger. But before I could plunge it through his heart, a hand caught my wrist.

Suddenly, I was back in the woods, lying on my back as Gordo kneeled over my chest, breathing hard. His hair stuck out in wild spikes, and a fresh bruise bloomed across his left eye. With both hands, he gripped my wrist, stopping my dagger from reaching its final target. I wasn't swinging at Drax. 

I was swinging at my own throat.

"There was not another dragon attack, if that's what you're wondering," Gordo said with wild eyes, gesturing at our surroundings. 

Bianca was knocked on her ass a couple of yards away. Her chest heaved up and down, and four nail marks scraped across her cheek. Elio sat beside her, rubbing his bruised jaw. 

"This was all you."