The Dragon's Scale [COMPLETE]

18.1 || Pesty Problem

JOSH DID THE only thing anyone would do when falling to their death: he screamed.

Sand spread as far as the eye could see below him, and it grew closer and closer by the second. A fall from hundreds of feet up. He was going to die, and any thoughts of how to prevent it escaped with his cries.

Something slammed into his back, and then an arm wrapped around his chest. He shouted and squirmed, but a barked "Cut it out," startled the fight out of him.

Cale crushed Josh harder against his chest while Mara clung to his back.

"Brace yourselves," he said, extending a hand toward the ground.

Josh realized what was happening a second before a white blast shot from Cale's palm and slammed into the ground. The sudden slow jerked Josh forward. His ribs protested, and the wind rushed from his lungs. The beam sputtered in strength for a moment. With a pained growl, Cale forced it to grow larger until it continued to slow their descent.

Cale released his energy when they were about five feet from the ground. Josh's legs buckled when he tried to land, and he fell to his knees. Cale did the same, heaving for air as sweat ran down his paled face.

They almost died.

A presence brushed against Josh. It had been doing so for the past minute or so, but he had been too focused on getting through the portal to pay it attention. I'm okay, Boomer. I'm alive.

Never scare me like that again. I can't catch you when you're so far away, Boomer said. His words came through, but they sounded distant, almost like he was speaking to Josh through an old telephone. Where are you?

Great question—

"Are you guys alright?" Mara asked. She was the only one standing, glancing between Josh and Cale.

"Alright?" Cale repeated. He stood, a slight tremor in his voice. "Am I alright?" He spun on Mara. She flinched. "None of us are alright, Samara! What were you thinking going through a random portal? I expect as much from that idiot"—he jabbed a finger in Josh's direction—"but you are smarter than that."

"Hey, leave her alone!" Josh scrambled to his feet. Cale turned his penetrating scowl toward him. Josh glared back. "We have no way of knowing if we could have opened the portal again. This was our only chance to save Eli and Xander."

"And if that portal cannot be reopened, we are left in here, alone, in unknown territory with a dozen Shadow Knights. There is doing the right thing, and then there is being stupid."

"It isn't stupid to want Eli to at least have a chance of getting help," Josh snapped.

He was pretty tall, standing at an inch or two over six feet. It gavehim a height advantage over most people, including a small one over Cale. Joshhad never used that before, but now he stepped close to the other Paladin and peereddown at him.

The power play did nothing to quell Cale. If anything, it stroked the flame. "Because you are an expert at not being stupid, right? How did helping that woman on the island go? Or playing hero by instigating an abused kid? How about when your brother got kidnapped and instead of getting help, you—"

"Caleb, that's not—Josh!" she cried as Josh's fist met Cale's jaw.

Cale jerked back from the impact. He raised a hand to where a red mark spread across his cheek. "You punched me."

And he wanted to do it again, but Josh reeled in the urge. "Sorry. Thought I would manage to beat all of the utter crap out of you."

Cale's expression darkened. "You shouldn't have done that."