“They didn’t wait for us,” Aska commented gravely. Roxi gazed downward and saw Timophy sending a figure flying through the air and it crashing into another figure. Timophy turned, and his attention focused on a group of three figures, that as Aska flew closer, were revealed to be three men. The dragon drew a large breath, getting reading to blast the figures with fire.
“We have to stop him!” Roxi yelled, but Aska hesitated.
“Roxi, before we interfere, you need to ask yourself if you truly want to do this. Once we decide to join the sorcerers and go against your father and the rest of our kind that have decided to side with the queen, there is no going back. Your father will retaliate, and your relationship is already fragile as it is.”
Aska had a point. Roxi’s relationship with her father had never been a very close or loving one, and over the years they only grew further apart. Roxi had thought when she first discovered that she was chosen to be a dragon lord also, that it would bond them. Finally they had something in common. But it seemed as if her sharing in that part of her father’s life only served to drive a deeper wedge between the two of them. Nothing was going to save their relationship now, and Roxi would much rather prevent a massacre than leave a chance for father-daughter bonding.
When Roxi looked down again she cursed. Timophy had already blasted the three men. She balled her hands into fists. “I am sure. We need to help them! Those who are still alive!”
Aska nodded and dove down. She blasted Timophy with fire as Roxi jumped from her back. She landed right in front of her father in a crouch, and pulled two daggers from their hilts. “Call off your dragon, father,” she said, angling the daggers to him. A wale sounded behind her, and she whipped her head around to make sure Aska was okay, careful to keep her daggers pointed at her father.
Timophy and Aska were locked in a deadly stare, but Roxi was unable to tell from which dragon the wale had come from.
“Roxanna! What are you doing?” Aspen yelled, moving toward her. She spun her daggers, and twirled on her own feet as Aspen tried to disarm her. She ended up behind him, the dagger at his throat. Aspen should’ve known better than to try and fight his daughter. He was untrained, always relying on Timophy to do his dirty work, while Roxi was very well trained in the martial arts. That, and he daggers were enchanted and could do real harm to even dragon lords who were otherwise invincible as long as their dragons were still alive.
“I’m doing what I believe is right, and killing these people are not what is right!”
Aspen struggled in her arms, but was careful not to let the blades pierce his skin. It would indispose him for at least a couple of days.
Timophy regarded Aska sadly. “I do not want to fight you, little one. Please, do not make me hurt you.” Roxi could hear the pain in the older dragon’s voice and her hatred for her father grew more intense. A storm was brewing inside her, and it was only a matter of time before it hit. She had never approved of the way her father treated his companion. Dragons were supposed to be gentle, loving creatures, but he father had gone and made Timophy a killing machine. She knew Timophy didn’t want to do any of this. He didn’t want to do her father’s bidding, but he had no choice. If there was a way for her to set him free of Aspen, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it.
“I cannot allow you to hurt these people,” Aska replied. “And I cannot believe that you would be willing to do so.”
One of the men who had been blasted with fire just mere minutes ago approached Roxi. She couldn’t believe that he was still standing. The sorcerers must have been more powerful than she thought if they were able to survive this long against a dragon as old and powerful as Timophy.
The man had unruly black hair, and piercing midnight blue eyes. Roxi couldn’t help but be slightly curious about them. “Who are you, and why do you appear to be helping us?” he asked, his voice dangerously low. Did he think he was threatening? Was that what he was going for? Roxi almost laughed.
“I don’t ‘appear’ to be helping you. I am helping you. Sorta,” she said, gesturing with her free dagger.
Another male stepped in beside the dark-haired one. “Why? You are also a dragon lord. Aren’t you supposed to kill us?”
“Yes. I am.” Aspen groaned and took advantage of Roxi’s momentary distraction. He managed to get the dagger away from his throat and knock it out of her hand completely. He grabbed her other arm before she could recover and bent her arm behind her at an unnatural angle.
“Kill them!” Aspen yelled at Timophy. Roxi clenched her jaw when the dragon noticeable stiffened.
“You do not have to listen to him!” Aska argued.
“He is my master, I must.” His tone was grave and tears sparkled in his eyes when he looked back at Aska. “You are like a daughter to me. I do not want to hurt you. Please, do not get in my way.”
YOU ARE READING
Haunting Shadows (Book 2)
Fantasy"What if my sins are all I've become? Will you still love me if the Andreas you once knew is too far gone to ever get back?" Lana had survived burning on the stake, but at what cost? Every time she closes her eyes, she revisits the horror of burning...
