Arc 3, Chapter 40: Dragon Knight - Hearts in the Ink

  Boudica pressed her palms into the dirt and pushed. Her muscles burned as she forced herself up, chest heaving while she fought to bring her breath back under control.

  Sanguir’s golden eyes tracked her as she approached him. He lowered his massive head until it was level with hers. Boudica reached out and set her palm against the scales of his snout. Warmth radiated into her hand. "The binding took its toll on you as well."

  A low rumble rolled through Sanguir’s throat and vibrated into Boudica’s hand. She looked along his flanks. The glowing sigils had vanished, leaving behind patches of ashen gray on the red hide. "Rest when we return home. You've earned it."

  Sanguir’s eyes narrowed. His gaze shifted past her shoulder toward the shattered ruins of the chamber. Boudica turned. From the wreckage of obsidian, Alex and the others emerged.

  The group picked their way toward her across the broken ground. Marcus stepped over jagged obsidian with Kyle cradled against his chest, the young man motionless in his arms. Alex kept pace beside him. Behind, the two villagers guided Mira by the arms as she moved slowly over the rubble, her head turning from side to side.

  They stopped in front of Boudica.

  Moonlight hit the torn trail through the treeline. The white light reflected off the splintered oak trunks and the jagged obsidian chunks scattered across the uprooted dirt.

  The older villager stepped forward. He bowed his head. "Lady Boudica. You saved our lives. We owe you everything."

  The villager woman beside him clasped her hands together. "Thank you. Truly."

  Boudica inclined her head. Her gaze shifted to the space behind Marcus's shoulder.

  "Step out, little one. I know you're there—I won't bite."

  Marcus moved aside. Emma stepped out from his shadow. Long strands of wine-dark hair fell past her shoulders. She lifted her head. The light caught her eyes, revealing irises the color of dark garnet.

  Emma bowed so low her hair spilled forward. "I'm sorry. Thank you for saving us." The words came in a frantic, airless rush. "I tried to be brave, but I froze. Marcus got hurt, and Kyle—" She swallowed. "I did nothing." She straightened slightly, one hand lifting to touch the strands falling past her shoulder. "My hair. It wasn't this color before. And my eyes..." Her fingers trembled. "Something's wrong with me."

  Boudica stepped forward and pulled Emma upright, wrapping her arms around the girl's shoulders. "You stood your ground when it mattered. You're alive, and you're here with us. Nothing else counts right now."

  For a heartbeat, Emma leaned into the embrace, her forehead resting against Boudica's collarbone. Emma pulled back a fraction. Her pupils snapped side to side, then fixed on the empty air between them.

  "The panel," Emma whispered. Her voice was brittle. "The skill... Why is it showing now?"

  Emma went rigid in Boudica's arms.

  Boudica tightened her hold. "Emma?"

  Heat flared against Boudica's hands, searing through her grip on Emma's shoulders.

  Emma's palms struck Boudica's chest. The force sent Boudica stumbling, her boots skidding through the mud and broken obsidian.

  "Ahhhhhhhh!" A scream tore from Emma's throat as she folded in on herself.

  Fire blossomed across Emma's skin. The blaze raced up her arms and over her shoulders, a wall of orange heat that engulfed her body. Her hair flared into wires of molten light. The strands blazed with a blinding intensity, holding their shape against the roar.

  Her fingers clawed at her heart, nails scraping through fire until they bit into skin. Tears flooded her eyes and instantly vaporized, rising in thick white plumes that hissed off her cheeks.

  "Lady Boudica, I didn't mean to-" Emma's voice cracked as she looked around at the group. "What's happening to me? I can't stop it!" She choked on the words. "Please, everyone, forgive me!"

  She dropped to her knees. The wall of fire roared toward the canopy, lighting the underside of the leaves in a violent orange. Inside the inferno, Emma's skin remained pale and unscarred.

  —

  Boudica stood fifteen paces from Emma, facing the wall of fire around the girl. Sanguir loomed behind her, his bulk blotting out the moonlight. Alex held position to her left, keeping his distance from the flames. Farther back among the broken trees, Mira stood still, then turned toward the sound of the roaring fire.

  The two villagers fled behind Emma toward the ruined chamber. They scrambled over broken obsidian until they reached the torn opening in the wall, pressing themselves against the shattered stone. Marcus followed them, carrying Kyle. He moved past the villagers and found a cedar growing near the shattered entrance. He lowered Kyle to the tree's base, settling the unconscious man upright.

  Boudica watched Marcus straighten beside Kyle. He turned and broke into a run, crossing the broken ground toward Emma.

  "Emma, I know you're scared. Look at me!" Marcus shouted.

  Emma's shoulders tightened. She remained facing Boudica, her back to Marcus. "Don't come closer, Marcus." The words came out strained. "Stay with Kyle. Keep him safe. I can't control what's happening. Please don't touch me."

  Marcus slowed to a halt. His fingers twitched, curling into fists and then flattening against his thighs as he stared at the scorched earth between him and Emma.

  Mira's voice rose over the crackle of the fire. "Emma, focus on what I'm saying. Only my words matter right now."

  The pillar of fire blazed higher, casting writhing shadows across the broken ground.

  *Mira's voice doesn't shake. Not even with that fire roaring. Something about her presence unsettles me.* Boudica pushed the thought aside. Her attention returned to Emma.

  Emma jerked her chin up. Her eyes roved through the orange haze of the inferno. "Mira, please help me."

  Mira waited.

  Then she took two steps forward. "Emma, I'm here with you. Your panel sync is failing. It's overwhelming you."

  Emma's fingers dug into the dirt. "It hurts, Mira. My chest feels like it's tearing apart."

  A breath passed.

  Mira listened, head angled as she tracked the sound of Emma's gasping breath.

  "Stop looking at the panel. Turn away. Hold onto my voice."

  Emma's head thrashed from side to side. Her eyes locked on the air in front of her. "The words won't go away. They're so bright I can't look away from them."

  Heat pulsed outward.

  Mira took another two steps forward.

  "Take air in through your nose. Count to four. Let it out slowly through your mouth."

  Emma's shoulders rose. She dragged in a sharp, shaking breath. "One... two... three... four..."

  Mira's hand rose.

  Her fingers curled and uncurled in a slow, steady beat against the empty air.

  "Out. Slow."

  Emma's ribcage sank. The next exhale came out longer, the wheeze in her chest settling into a steadier rhythm.

  Mira went still.

  Her voice dropped to a low vibration.

  "Close your eyes now. Push the heat down into the ground beneath you."

  Emma's shoulders trembled. "I don't know how."

  "You already do. Guide it the same way you guide your breath. The earth will take what you give it." Mira paused. "Now let the panel fade. It follows your will."

  The crackle thinned. Beyond the firelight, the forest fell silent.

  Heat bled from Emma's skin into the soil, and the flames around her dimmed to a soft orange shimmer.

  Emma covered her eyes. Her breath hitched once, then eased. She lowered her hands and blinked at the empty air. "It's fading. The light is dimming." She turned toward Mira. "Mira, it worked... It's gone."

  —

  Boudica kept her distance and studied Emma through the shimmer of heat. Fire wrapped the girl's forearms and hands. Heat rolled off her in waves, yet Emma's skin held steady beneath the flames.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  *Mira can guide her through it. But the fire answers only to Emma. That lesson has to sink in now, or it never will.*

  The moment stretched.

  "Emma!" Marcus shouted over the flames. Black shards scraped under his boots as he pushed closer to the fire's edge. "Talk to me! What's it feel like now?"

  "The pain stopped. I'm not hurting anymore." Emma turned her palms up, watching the fire move with her fingers. "But the fire is still here. I don't understand why."

  "Marcus." She stopped. "I'm sorry. I shut you out."

  Marcus stepped closer. "Don't. We walk through everything together. Always have."

  From Boudica's left, Alex picked his way across the churned ground toward Emma. Orange flames reached for his shoulders, yet ribbons of fire split against an invisible ward and faded before they could reach him. He stopped at the edge of the blaze and lowered himself into a crouch.

  "Emma." He leaned toward the heat. The fire's glare washed his face, lighting his features against the dark forest. "Tell me what you're feeling. Walk me through it."

  "I'm not in pain anymore." Emma looked up at him, arms wrapped around herself. Her breath came out thin. "But I'm cold. This chill won't go away."

  Seconds dragged.

  Alex turned toward Boudica. "Fire everywhere, and she's freezing. This..." He stopped.

  "But she's a hero." Boudica stepped closer, her gaze fixed on Emma.

  Silence hung between the words.

  Marcus shattered the quiet. "Wait—I'm getting that chill too."

  Mira's head tilted. Her fingers brushed her forearm. "I feel it too."

  The fire around Emma dwindled to a faint shimmer, then slipped away into the night.

  

  Alex reached Mira's side and rested his palm against her cheek. A soft glow throbbed from his hand.

  The light spilled between his fingers and seeped into Mira's skin. Her shoulders loosened as warmth spread across her cheek. She whispered, "Thank you."

  Marcus crossed to Mira's side. He stood there a moment. "You brought her back. I don't know what we'd have done without you." Mira nodded, a faint smile tugging at her mouth.

  Emma pushed herself up and stood. Her chin stayed tucked as she angled her head toward the burned ground near her boots.

  The moon's pale light pooled around Mira with Alex and Marcus beside her. Emma stayed back in the gloom of the uprooted trees. She kept her chin tucked so low that the shadows under her brow swallowed her eyes, leaving the top of her face lost to the dark.

  Boudica shifted her weight. Thick white plumes puffed from the group's lips and lingered in the freezing air.

  *The temperature is dropping. I see it in the mist, but why?*

  Marcus turned toward the collapsed chamber behind Emma. "I'll get Kyle and the villagers." He broke into a run over the splintered roots and black shards.

  Boudica drew a slow breath and turned her gaze toward the ruined entrance.

  *The ritual drained me more than I realized. We should leave this place.*

  A breath of wind stirred the canopy and hit Boudica's face.

  Mira tilted her head toward the distant treeline. "What about Ash? We never found him."

  "He's tougher than all of us. He'll be fine." Alex kicked a loose shard of obsidian into the muck.

  Mira's hand rose from her side and searched the air until her fingers snagged on Alex's sleeve. She traced the fabric down to his wrist, where her palm met the cold, bent edge of a metal guard. Emerald mana thickened over her hands, settling like a brace. "Your arm."

  "It's fine." Alex's head turned.

  His gaze dropped to the ends of Mira's hair. A bead of black oil clung to the strands near her scalp, thick and roping as it strained upward. Emerald light flared along the braid. It snapped at the corruption like a jaw, teeth of light tearing through the sludge until the stain shriveled and powdered into black grit.

  Mira's grip tightened.

  She fumbled with the leather fastenings. One buckle gave way with a sharp snap. She yanked the second strap until the hide tore. The mangled shell of the vambrace slipped from his arm and dropped into the mud with a hollow thud. Boudica watched Mira's palm skim the raw, bubbling skin along his forearm.

  Mira pulled a roll of white linen from her robe. "This needs wrapping."

  "You don't have to—" Alex drew his arm back a fraction.

  Mira kept her hand on his wrist. "Hold still."

  She pressed the end of the cloth against his skin and began to wind it up his arm. White bands overlapped and climbed toward his elbow. Her fingers marked each turn as the linen covered the raised red welts, one layer at a time.

  Mira stopped and tilted her head, ear angled toward Alex's chest. "Thank you. You caught that arrow. The one aimed at me."

  "Anyone would have done the same." Alex's head angled past Mira's hands to Emma, standing alone under the moonlight.

  Mira continued her work. Three more loops brought the linen to the edge of the wound.

  She folded the end over and yanked the knot tight against his skin.

  Alex's head snapped back to Mira. He drew a breath. "Someone's after you. They took two shots."

  Boudica watched the slow beat at the side of Mira's neck as Mira tightened the last wrap around Alex's arm.

  "I know," Mira said.

  Alex tipped his head toward Sanguir behind Boudica. "They won't make a third attempt."

  "Their assassin is dead. Half a dozen people saw it happen, and Lady Boudica knows now. Whoever sent them just lost their window. If they come again, they come through a Dragon Knight. No one takes that fight."

  Mira's hands lingered on the white wrap for a heartbeat before dropping to her sides. "I'm fine."

  Dense shadows thickened around Alex and Mira's words, softening them into hush.

  Boudica turned, scanning the treeline.

  *The forest is listening.*

  Emma's chin drifted upward.

  Her head tilted back farther.

  The skin of her throat pulled tight until her windpipe stood out beneath it.

  The motion continued until the base of her skull pressed into the top of her spine.

  Dull snaps ran down her spine, each one deeper than the last.

  Her mouth parted a fraction wider.

  The gaps between the tree trunks were filled with ink. The shadows advanced across the shattered obsidian in a tightening circle, swallowing the jagged outlines of the forest until only a small, shrinking pocket of light remained around Boudica and the others.

  Gray masses gathered overhead. Boudica kept her body squared toward Emma and lifted her gaze as the formations thickened in stacked layers, blotting out the stars one by one. The moon's pale light dulled behind the advancing wall, then slipped to a thin, strained glow leaking through ragged seams in the cloud. Darkness settled over the torn forest and shattered obsidian, leaving only that faint silver to wash the ruin in dim outlines.

  A freezing wind tore through the uprooted oaks and swirled dust into the air.

  Alex's voice barely carried above the rising gale. "The temperature's plummeting. I can feel it cutting through my wards."

  The sound of a thousand tiny impacts echoed off the stones around Boudica and the others. Grit rained down from the gray formations above, bouncing off Boudica's armor and tangling in her hair. She brushed a hand across her shoulder and found coarse, white sand. Where the grains touched the black residue on her gauntlet, they hissed and smoked.

  Mira pressed a hand to her sternum. "I can't draw a full breath. The air feels solid."

  A pale pulse beat behind the gray cloud cover. Light swelled and fell inside the storm, briefly turning the clouds into hard-edged shapes.

  Then the sky tore open.

  A sound like a breaking mountain slammed into the forest.

  The earth bucked under Boudica's boots. The shock ran up her shins and rattled her teeth. Shards of obsidian jumped across the dirt, striking one another before dropping still. The tremor held for three long seconds, then eased.

  Shadows lifted from the ground at the roots of the trees. Thick, oily vapor seeped from the soil and wrapped around Boudica's ankles. It felt wet against her leather. It flowed into the craters left by Sanguir's weight, filling them until they shone like pools of ink. The fog climbed, swallowing broken stumps and creeping toward her knees.

  The clouds answered the earth. One boom rolled into the next without a pause. The crashes overlapped, each strike hitting before the last could fade, until the thunder became a single continuous roar that drowned out the wind and vibrated in the hollow of Boudica's chest.

  Boudica's fists clenched at her sides. Her breath caught, then she forced it out in a slow stream.

  *This is abyss corruption. The kind that clings to old battlefields and deep territory. But this is the surface. Why here? How?*

  

  Her gaze swept the wreckage for motion.

  *This corruption didn't manifest from nowhere. Something is coming. I need to find it before it finds us.*

  

  *Left.*

  Alex and Mira stood together among the broken trees, their figures half-swallowed by the dark vapor.

  *They haven't moved. Still holding position.*

  *Center. Emma.*

  The girl remained locked in place, head tilted back at that impossible angle.

  *Why isn't she moving? What is she seeing?*

  *Right.*

  Broken stumps and scattered black shards vanished into the miasma. The fog swallowed everything beyond twenty paces.

  *Nothing. Only ruin and shadow.*

  Boudica pivoted on her heel. Her back turned to Emma as she faced Sanguir. Her boots sank into the wet grit as she faced him.

  Sanguir filled the wreckage ahead, a mountain of clotted-blood scales dusted by falling sand while oil-black mist coiled around his legs.

  "Sanguir. Battle stance." She commanded.

  The dragon rose. His massive shoulders rolled as his forelegs straightened, lifting his chest clear of the muck. His neck arched back. His jaws unhinged, revealing rows of dagger-sharp teeth. A roar tore from his throat, a primal shriek that rattled the marrow in Boudica’s bones. Golden fire ignited under his scales. The light surged from his heart, racing along his flanks and wings until he blazed like a second sun in the gloom.

  Sanguir's head locked. His golden eyes fixed on the space past her shoulder.

  Boudica's chest tightened. "What is it, old friend?"

  Heat flooded around her boots and surged up her legs. Sanguir's light rose from the ground, a golden sheath climbing her thighs and wrapping her waist.

  "Sanguir?"

  The air behind her spine suddenly compressed into a wall of force. A pressure wave slammed into her shoulder blades and drove her forward, snapping her cloak against her cheeks. Before Boudica could recover, an invisible weight dropped onto her shoulders. Pressure ground into her vertebrae and drove her knees toward the muck, folding her torso low as the energy tried to pin her to the soil.

  Boudica dug her heels into the muck. She twisted her torso against the crushing weight, her muscles straining as she wrenched her waist around to face the source of the pressure.

  A fist blotted out the world.

  It filled the horizon and swallowed the treeline from sight. Knuckles the size of boulders rushed toward her. Black tar writhed over the flesh, and oily miasma coiled around its monstrous forearm in thick, roping strands.

  Boudica's heartbeat surged. Her heart slammed against her ribs, the pulses coming so fast they blurred into a heavy, continuous vibration.

  Her arms shot up. She crossed her forearms over her face.

  A wall of light swept across her vision. Sanguir's wing swept in and pulled her tight against his chest, sealing her inside a fortress of gold.

  *No, Sanguir.*

  The world detonated.

  The impact hammered through Sanguir's scales and into her bones. The ground vanished. Her stomach dropped as Sanguir shoved backward. The world spun. Sanguir's body pressed tight around her, muscle and scales sealing her in. The sound of wood shattering erupted in every direction, blows slamming into Sanguir's body as trees shattered against him. Each hit thundered through his frame and into Boudica's ribs and skull.

  Their momentum broke.

  Sanguir's bulk struck the forest floor. The golden wing buckled and whipped outward as his body rolled, and Boudica's shelter tore away with it.

  The jolt traveled through the dragon's scales and rattled the marrow in Boudica's bones. The roll tore her from Sanguir's side. Her shoulder struck the muck once, and her body skipped back into the air.

  A jagged boulder rose in her path.

  Her back hit its face with a sound like a sledge on a stone slab. Sanguir's mana flared across her armor, the golden light driving deep into the rock. The stone burst into a spray of grit and shards as the energy forced its way through the stone. The blow drove through her spine, and the last of the light dissolved as she tumbled into the mud on the far side.

  Her movement came to a halt.

  A warm trickle ran down her temple. It gathered at her lashes and spilled into her eye, drowning her vision in red. Dirt coated her tongue. Grit scraped between her molars, and the bitter taste of copper filled her mouth.

  Boudica tried to blink it clear.

  A heavy breath sounded nearby. A mass of scales shifted in the haze, the dragon's weight carving a deep furrow into the mud. Sanguir's groan vibrated through the earth and into her cheek.

  The broken trees wavered. Their jagged outlines ran together in her failing sight until the forest became a single dark smear that swallowed the world.