Haunting Shadows (Book 2)

Chapter 66

Roxi lowered her voice to below a whisper when after Raphael suddenly appeared next to her. She was momentarily startled by his sudden appearance, and suddenly envied all sorcerers everywhere that could do that little trick. “I need you to get me onto his back before he notices.”

“What good will that do?” Raphael’s voice was slightly too loud, and Timophy almost turned around, but the two dancing males grabbed his attention once again. Especially now that the other two dragons decided to join in on the fun. Roxi was helping crazy people. She glared at Raphael like he was a few brain cells short of a full set. Surely he did not just question what good will it do for her to have access to the dragon’s head.

“Help now, questions later.”

Raphael nodded. His eyes flashed a brief red and suddenly she was in the air. The sensation wasn’t something she was used to. Roxi had flown before, countless times on Aska’s back, but never before had she been suspended in the air without anything to hold on to. It was slightly nerve racking, but when she remembered what she needed to do, all such thoughts disappeared from her mind. Raphael started moving her closer to the dragon, and she gestured to him where he needed to take her exactly.

She was so close. Just a little further.

But then Aspen got the upper hand on Eric, leaving the boy on the ground unconscious. Aspen saw what Raphael and Roxi were doing, and called on Timophy. Raphael lost his grip on Roxi and she fell on Timophy’s tail. His attention was sudden on his ‘master’.

He felt Roxi on his tail, though, and started swatting it around to try and get her off. She tightened her grip, but when it became obvious that her hands alone weren’t going to keep her on him, she dug on of the daggers into his hard flesh and held on for dear life. Timophy howled in pain and Roxi’s insides twisted. She didn’t want to be doing this to him anymore than he wanted to hurt them. Sometimes life was cruel like that, forcing good people into doing bad things all for the sake of necessity. But even when the evil was necessary, the actions could never fully be justified.

Aspen charged Raphael, but the sorcerer managed to duck out of his way and the dragon lord crashed into his dragon instead, causing Roxi and the dagger to move, sending more pain through Timophy. Roxi winced when he cried out again. She vowed to herself that she would not rest until she had found a way to sever the connection between the dragon and his lord. Timophy would be allowed freedom.

Raphael proceeded to occupy Aspen, giving Roxi a chance to continue her plan. She just needed to climb her way to Timophy’s head. From there, she can enact her plan. But the dragon was now alerted to her presence, and getting to his head was going to be a very difficult task. Especially now that the sorcerer who had been helping her was now otherwise indisposed.

Roxi tried to get a steady grip on the dragon’s scale, but each time just as she thought she did, her grip would loosen. Timophy was flailing around, trying everything in his power to get her off his back, and the dagger out of his skin, but both to no avail. Roxi spotted the other two dragons with the two men standing slightly to the side of them. They had stopped moving around like imbeciles, and it seemed like the male with the green eyes was moving toward Roxi. She studied him closely, and those inhumanly green eyes shifted and started to glow the most brilliant violet that Roxi had ever seen. Timophy stopped moving, and instead watched the sorcerer with his head tilted to the side.

Magic had no effect on dragons, Roxi knew this much, so then why did it seem like the sorcerer was hexing Timophy? The wind stirred around them, her hair flapping around her in angry tendrils. He appeared to be quite powerful, this sorcerer with ash brown hair. But Roxi would worry about it later. For now, whatever he was doing was providing a much needed distraction. Again. How did he seem to know exactly what to do to provide her with the help she needed? Roxi shook off this thought as the pulled the dagger out of Timophy’s back and rose to her feet quickly.