Chance Bride Of The Dragon Prince

Nine

In that old, untouched English forest, there is a pathway. A pathway that warps your senses. A pathway that leads to an old timey way of living. A pathway that leads to a little village, oppressed by the iron fist of whoever lives in the stone castle on the hill. A little civilisation hidden in the forest. A little civilisation that believe in fairy tales.

When you look at it, you would never know that for hundreds of years, there has been a village of people living there. You wouldn't see the signs. That's because you can't see where the world shifts. It's like you've stepped into another dimension. Maybe that is what you do.

When you walk through the forest, you'll find it, you'll find the world that lurks within a heavily polluted England. You'll find the world from which you cannot escape. You'll find bliss, heaven on earth. Also known as The Willow

~

I can hear them, I can hear it all; Darius choking coughing and spluttering while the women in the room are shrieking and crying. Who the hell knows what kind of noise Nezbit is making? Some sort of obvious yet wordless war cry. He's drawing attention to our location. I need to do something. I need to shut them up. I have to. I have to. Screw our plan. I need to get up there. It's vital.

I close my eyes and try and slow my heart rte. You need to be relaxed in order to glide through the air. I had to do it like I was a carrier pigeon between the villages. I was like the postal service and what I learned from approximately a year of delivering mail from pillar to post would have to be that in order to take off and glide, you need to have an empty mind.

Clear your mind Drayce. Just run and go? When the-

When the hell did I take off? Okay Drayce, lean to your left and drive into the chamber. One, Two. Three.

With a small thud, I roll onto the floor. I can sense something hurtling toward me. Holding my palm out flat, something hits my open hand. Is there meant to be a pool of metal dripping onto the rich velvet burgundy rug?

A horrified hybrid sound between a shriek and a gasp is released from a woman in the right corner of the room. This woman is familar to me, her hair is bonde and knotted into a bun at the top of her head. She doesn't look prepared to fight, but none of these women do. She uses another knife to push up her glasses...Holy- That's Fern! Kaida's chance bride! DID SHE REALLY JUST THROW A KNIFE AT MY HEAD?

I glare at my sister-in-law, I can feel Nezbit's flaming aura. His glare is searing through Fern's façade. A short but significant flash of sympathy burns in her eyes.

"Nope. She's ours now." I cock a brow, tuning around to see the two other women, one is holding onto Darius, eyes ablaze with bloodlust and the second has a restraining hand on Nezbit's shoulder; those must be my other sisters; Alice and Maria.

You can really tell which girl married each of my brothers. What great matches; Nezbit's bride, Alice has a sinister innocence about her. Yet she's brandishing a weapon and looks perfectly capable of disembowelling Fern. Not that Fern is truly hers to kill. If anybody will be able to get their way with Kaida's wide, it will be Maria, Darius' wife. Her rich earthy appearance compliments his nature in an almost picturesqye manner. They are just so well suited for one another. Darius, holding one hand to his neck, flexes his wrist, and there, in his palm, lays a staff of thorns which Maria graciously takes.

"We've got Fern. You guys take on Kaida. His army isn't as big as yours. Go! Go forth and snatch the crown from his cold fingers!"

"Go on my dear! We will dispose of this power hungry wench! " Alice nods.

"Keep my love safe, okay, Nezzie? " Maria says, voice as hard and strong as the armour on our bodies.

"Only if you take care of mine, Maria." Oh my god! Nezbit can feel love! He can care for people! He's not as sadistic, psychotic or sociopathic as we always made him out to be! Nezbit can care! And more importantly so, he does feel a moral obligation to protect Alice and keep her safe! Woah, that's one hell of a lot of growing up Nezbit's been doing behind closed doors.

I need to stop worrying about Prince Nezbit the Sadistic and start focusing on Darius; he's panting, holding his hands against his neck. What did Fern do? Stab his windpipe? I glare at her as my brothers' brides lunge at her. Nezbit has his helmet open so I can see his face. He's biting his lip with such power that he's breaking the skin and a small trickle of blood is running to his chin.

Standing around Nezbit, shielding him from any stray weaponry that Fern may throw at us, we press on, leaving the chamber that the wives would have spent a lot of their time in.

"We need to give him a chance to heal. Drayce, you are going to be a better shield for him than I. I'm going to get Cardelia, I'll bring her here."

"No, Nezbit. If we take her out of this battle now, then the army will lose its backbone. As much as I don't want her to die out there, I know that she's safer in a place where she can't be identified."

"Dray..ce...is...ri...ght..." Darius speaks out, muffling his voice by gritting his teeth.

"Shh..." Nezbit mutters, lifting off his own helmet, showing me his smiler once again. I flinch upon spotting the mark. "Here, Darey, take this. we'll swap. I'm sure that the runt here can make a few adjustments."

I nod my head, handling the helmet, letting my fingers alter the structure. Filling in the initial head hole, I can make the side with the prominent frill protect Darius' windpipe. Just one more alteration...

I press my fist into the helmet, opening up a hole for Darius' face.

"Take yours off, I need to adjust it so it'll fit Nezbit."

"Drayce...Nezzie..."

"You can be a sentimental fart once this is all done with. Let's just make these adjustments and jump back into the fray. The longer we're out of action, the more time Kaida has to look for us." Nezbit claps Darius on the shoulder. "Now is the time..."

"I know...I know..."