I drag in deep breaths, my careening heart slamming against my ribs as I ease to my left, avoiding the bones as best I can. Once I’m clear of them, I simply stand and try to compose myself, to clear my thoughts and work on surviving. If nothing else, I have to get away from the dragon. Even if I have a sliver of a chance of surviving in Oblivion, that beats my zero chances if I stay in the dragon’s cave.
Though I’m turned around and unsure of which way to go, I decide creeping away from the piles of bones is the best route to take. Each time I take a step, I hold my breath and expect the dragon’s teeth or a stream of fire to come tearing out of the dark at me. But each time, I’m rewarded with nothing but the sound of my heart thumping, my tattered shoes brushing against the stone beneath me.
Slowly, the cave grows lighter around me. Looking up, I notice there are various shafts overhead, the rising sun filtering down through them and pushing back against the darkness. I move a bit faster now that I can see my footing. Doggedly heading toward what I think is the cave entrance, I’m cheered by more light flooding in. But where is the DragonKin? The sound of metal chimes again, and I freeze, my muscles refusing to function. I can’t tell where it’s coming from.
“H-hello?” I whisper into the darkness.
The darkness whispers back with my own voice, nothing more.
I force my legs to move. With stuttering steps, I make my way across the stone floor until I sense something ahead of me. Perhaps a wall? I can’t see anything, but the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Reaching out my hand, I ease forward.
When a great eye opens just ahead of me, the depths of green flecked with gold, I stumble backward so quickly I fall on my ass. My breath catches in my chest when the DragonKin shifts, that sound roaring again as coins cascade from beneath its enormous body as it moves toward me. They swamp around my body, surrounding me with gold and gems as the dragon leans down, its slitted eye focused on me.
A hot burst of steam shoots from its nostrils, and I wince back. It blinks slowly, the scar across its eye marring even the lid.
“Don’t eat me,” I blurt.
A slight huff of steam this time. In the darkness, I feel something behind me. When I look back, I see the monster’s tail silently sweeping toward me, barbs jutting from it. Some of them are thicker than my body, but then they narrow to viciously sharp points.
I hold my breath as it hovers only feet away from me. Caged in, I meet the creature’s eye again, the orb so large I could step into it.
“Is this it?” I whisper. My heart is hammering again, and not even the fatigue of the rough night can calm it. I’m going to die. Right here. Right now.
I close my eyes, not wanting to see the death blow coming from either the monster’s teeth or its tail. It’s probably better this way. I force myself to think about my mother, about how she’ll be taken care of with all the gold the DragonKin exchanged in the Bargain. She’ll be looked after. No more evil looks and whispered threats from the townsfolk. Our family name had become a curse, but with my death, she’ll get a new chance at life. That has to be enough for me.
Something tickles my cheek. I open my eyes just in time to see a forked green tongue disappearing behind a row of sharp teeth.
“D-did you just lick me?” I reach up and wipe at my face.
It blinks, its slitted pupil growing wider. Then it recedes, the mountain of treasure beneath it sliding into another avalanche of gold as it moves back into the shadows. Glancing behind me, Ifind the tail is gone, too, no longer waiting like an assassin at my back. Then it’s gone. As if it disappeared into the piles of coin.
More light floods in through the shafts overhead, highlighting the incalculable wealth the dragon has collected. I’ve never seen the likes of it. Back home, the nicest things I’d ever seen were in Lord Rayid’s castle. In fact, I thought I’d never see anything to match that sort of finery. I’d been wrong. Nothing in that castle could even begin to touch the pile of gold and priceless jewels that continues to well beyond my sight. If I could grab only a handful, I’d be able to provide for my mother and me for the rest of our lives.
Gold as far as I can see, but no DragonKin. Where is it? Buried under the treasure? I squint, desperate to see deeper into the cavern where the dragon went. All I find is the glint of more gold. Mounds of it as far as I can see.
Maybe it didn’t like the way I tasted? A snort of a laugh escapes me at the thought. The echo of it sobers me a bit, and I get cautiously to my feet. With the beast gone, I continue moving toward what I hope is the way out, though this time I change course and head away from the mountain of treasure.
The air grows chillier, my breath showing in plumes as I continue through the murky cave. More than a few times, I have to avoid dark spots on the gray stone ground—they aren’t simply black stone, but deep pits that would surely be the end of me if I were to fall into one.
Ahead, the light grows brighter even as the air seems to drop several degrees. I must be getting close to the cave opening. Why has the DragonKin let me get so far from where it dropped me? I’m not foolish enough to think it doesn’t know where I am. After all, this is its domain. Perhaps it doesn’t care if I escape. After all,Oblivion isn’t a friendly place for mortals. I’ve no illusions about surviving my time here, even if I do manage to escape.
What if it’s only playing with its food? Like Pouncer the alleycat did back home.
Weaving between fingers of stone that rise from the cave floor, I continue toward the light, walking as quickly as I can despite the growing ache in my feet and cold air that cuts through my thin dress.
When I finally see the cave entrance, I push myself to move faster, as if I’m trying to escape the maw of the DragonKin before its teeth snap closed on me forever. Hurrying out of the stone, I stop and glance around. The forest is ahead of me, glittering in frost beneath a cold winter sun.
If I head into the trees, maybe I’ll find some sort of shelter, maybe even a village. There has to be some way for me to—I yelp when an arm wraps around me and yanks me backwards. I’m crushed in a tight grip, the body at my back warm and impossibly hard.
A low growl in my ear sends fear shooting along my spine. “Dangerous out here, pet. Best come back inside.”
Chapter
Four
LARELLIN
