Dragon Bride (SAMPLE)

Chapter Ten

Haunted howling of demented souls screeched through the castle as the dragons ran for their lives. Their skinless hands nipped at their cloth tails as they tried their hardest to escape them. Every candlelit hall grew dark and cold, and every standing soldier was trapped in a mystical sleep, completely unaware of the monsters that sought their souls. Kendria's heart slammed against her chest, bruising her bones as she struggled to stay ahead. These beings, whatever they were, were as quick as wind. She didn't want to know what would happen if they caught one of them.

"We can't keep running forever, Dragoness!" Andrea screamed.

"I know, but I don' know what to do right now!"

"We should fight back! Not run like cowards!" Alexander growled.

Kendria dared to look back just before they bent another corner. There were dozens of them, hissing at them with wide open jaws. They had teeth, sharp and jagged like broken swords, twitching eagerly as they closed in. As much as she'd like to take Alexander's suggestion, they weren't human. They weren't alive. They didn't have tangible bodies to throw punches. Could shadows even be burned? Doubtful. She couldn't harm what she couldn't touch.

The young woman shook her head. "Just focus on getting out of the castle. We can try something once we're away from everyone else!"

The last thing she wanted was for these wraith-like monsters to turn their attention to the humans. Especially since she didn't know how to protect them. Her only saving grace was that they weren't interested in anyone else but her and the dragons. Kendria was at least thankful for that.

In the frenzy of panic, they managed to burst from the castle's heavy, golden doors. The air outside bit at their skin as they sprinted into the open night; the icy embrace of the Moonlit sky dared to swallow them whole. Their breaths came in sharp, desperate gasp, but no matter how fast they ran, the shadows still lurk just beyond their sight. And now that they were out in the open, they seemed to multiply in numbers.

Dozens turned into hundreds. The creatures twisted, wretched, and stretched to bigger sizes in the open night. Someway or somehow, they got even faster and more brazen enough to finally reach the trio before they could run into the forest.

"Kendria!" the dragon shifters screamed.

She looked back; eyes widened with despair as the shadows grabbed them and hoisted them into the air. She turned to fight them, even though the knowledge of how was unknown, but before she could, a shadow came out from the ground and grabbed a fistful of her throat. Her feet wobbled as it hoisted her from the ground and flew into the sky. Kendria growled, punching and clawing at the figure, but her hands went right through its body, just as she originally thought.

The blackness of its featureless face distorted reality; the edges of the world blurred as it opened its mouth and sucked on her soul. It felt like a piece of her being was being plucked out of her body and sucked into a void. The air around her grew heavy the higher they went. Kendria couldn't scream anymore. Couldn't fight anymore. She could barely keep her eyes open. Her body felt weightless as more of the shadows overwhelmed her, surrounding her as they nearly reached the edge of the sky.

The dragon had never felt so cold before, not even when she fought the darkness in Hakan's soul. The hopelessness hardened her body, like ice freezing over a dying corpse. Her fate felt sealed in the cold, lost in the army of shadows, until her flickering gaze caught the moon, and she reached out to touch it.

'No, this isn't right.'

She took a long, desperate breath.

'I'm too cold... not right... not who I am... what I am.'