Panting, I leaned into my sister to catch my breath. As I glanced up, I realized that only Cadmus and Ortrera were here. One person was missing.
“Where’s your warrior?”
Grimly, Ortrera pointed to a charred pile of remains not far from us and I gasped. There was nothing left of the brave female warrior except blackened ash.
“Good heavens. I’m sorry, sister.”
She nodded. “This game has lost its appeal, Harmonia.”
“Agreed. I believe I bit off more than I could chew.”
“Ladies, we’ll be fine,” Cadmus assured us calmly. As he spoke, he drew his sword from the sheath at his side. “Harmonia, do not go near that beast again.”
“I didn’t exactly have a choice!” I snapped. “It found me, I didn’t—“
“Either way,” Cadmus interrupted smoothly. “Stay out of harm’s way. Stay here with your sister. I have an idea.”
“You’re not doing anything without me,” Ortrera announced, pulling an arrow from her quiver. “I have a score to settle with this beast.”
“No.” Cadmus leveled a dark gaze at her. “I need you to stay with Harmonia and keep her safe for a moment. Please.”
Ortrera glanced at me and then sighed. “Fine.”
“I’ll be back in a moment.”
Cadmus crept stealthily around the rocks, keeping an eye out for the dragon. I couldn’t see the beast anymore, which caused the hair to rise on my neck. The dragon could appear at any moment and we would meet the same end as Ortrera’s warrior.
I gulped.
Cadmus crept up on the rocks and looked around, pausing for a moment to gain his bearings and then continued to scale the wall of stone. As soon as his back was turned, Ortrera grabbed her bow and leaped onto the rocks after him. I pulled at her arm in alarm.
“No! You need to wait here. You could put him into danger!”
I didn’t realize that my voice was so loud until it echoed on the rocks around us. Ortrera clamped her hand over my mouth, but it was too late. I felt the ground rumble as the dragon moved and then I saw the spines of his scales emerge over the rock wall. My stomach sunk like a lead weight. My words had brought the beast straight to us.
Cadmus spun and when he saw where the dragon was at in relation to us, his jaw clenched. He looked this way and that, trying to think of a way to help and then suddenly, he froze. He pulled his sword and in a flash, he had wedged it into the rocks of the wall beneath him, putting all of his weight on the handle.
What in the world was he doing?
And then the rocks began to break away and tumble down.
The large boulders rolled to the ground, filling the open walkway that would have allowed the dragon to get to me. Cadmus had prevented the dragon from reaching me. But in the process, the rocks that he had been balanced on so precariously had crashed down onto the ground, and Cadmus had gone with them. He was trapped with the dragon.
Chapter Seven
I shrieked and leaped to my feet, clawing at the jagged rocks.
Ortrera pulled at my hands.
“Stop it, Harmonia. You’re going to hurt yourself. We’ll get to him.”
She wasn’t moving fast enough and I grabbed her arm.
“Ortrera, you don’t understand. I have to save him. I have to. He…I…”
“This is the first time I’ve seen you speechless.” His voice came from above us.
Cadmus.
I gasped and looked up. He was perched on the top of the rock ledge, balanced carefully amid the newly piled rocks.
“I thought you fell in with the dragon!” I cried. “I thought you were going to die.”
He gave me a droll look as he began carefully climbing down toward us.
“You thought a dragon would kill me? Trust me, when I die, it will not be from a dragon.”
He scaled the remaining stones quickly and then leaped the rest of the way to the ground, standing in front of me.
“I’m sorry,” he told me seriously. “I interrupted what you were saying before. You have to save me because…why?”
His arrogance knew no bounds and my cheeks exploded into color.
“You know why,” I muttered.
“No, I don’t,” he argued. “I really don’t.”
As I was trying to decide what to say, Ortrera rolled her eyes in disgust.
“There’s no time to talk about it now. These rocks won’t contain the beast long. We should get back to the palace and bring father here. We can capture it after all.”
“Cadmus already captured it,” I pointed out. “And he saved our lives.”
Ortrera rolled her eyes again. “I don’t need anyone to save me,” she snapped. “I would have been just fine on my own.”
“But you weren’t on your own,” I answered. “Cadmus saved us so that you didn’t have to.”
I turned to him. “Thank you. I’m sorry my sister isn’t being very gracious. She’s not accustomed to being saved. But I’m grateful. Very, very grateful. Thank you for saving us.”
Cadmus smiled, a beatific smile that weakened my knees. “You’re most welcome,” he answered regally. “Anytime.”
I was taken aback by his incredible beauty and grace. Even though he was a man, he just seemed too beautiful to simply call him ‘handsome’. Ortrera rolled her eyes again, both at his words and at my thoughts, and I found myself wishing again that she’d be a little more polite. She shook her head at my thought.
“You’re polite enough for the both of us,” she told me as she strapped her knapsack onto her back. “I’m going back to the palace. Are you coming?”
“Of course,” I answered. “Cadmus?”
“I’m right behind you,” he replied.
We walked in silence for miles. Ortrera stormed ahead, anxious to report back to father. She moved so quickly that we lost sight of her after a few moments. Cadmus lagged behind with me. I buried myself in my thoughts, anxious to sort out my confusing emotions. It was still amazing to me how many strong emotions had passed through my heart over the past few weeks. It was almost disorienting.
After a couple of hours, Cadmus spoke.
“Are you angry?” he asked carefully, his eyes on the horizon.
I turned to him in surprise.
“Of course not. What would I be angry about?”
He looked at me. “Well, we weren’t able to bring back the dragon, so I thought you might be disappointed.”
I shook my head. “Of course not. You contained it so that we can go back and get it. And you saved my life- and that of my sister. My father is going to be very happy with you. As am I.”