The klaxon sounds, and I know within my soul that it"s over. The Dragon Duels are done.
And we"re still alive.
"Attention. Please return to the starting point," the man says.
"Do you think it"s safe to?" Joseph asks.
I shake my head. "No idea. But we can"t risk losing our pardons just because we"re scared," I point out.
He chuckles. "That"s one way of looking at it." He gets to his feet and dusts himself off before offering his hand to me.
I take it, enjoying the touch of his skin against mine, even if both of our hands are dry and chapped from the exposure.
We step out from under the dead dragon"s wing and into the sun. The fresh air hits my lungs, causing me to become light-headed. At some point in the past ten hours or so, I"ve gotten used to the stench of rotting meat, and now i
