1. Dexter-1
524 Words
1
Dexter
Screams echoed in the distance.
“Kill on sight.”
The words pounded into his head. Dexter’s eyes fluttered open. He stared at the sparkling ceiling of the cavern above him. The stone swayed as he pushed himself up off the cold floor just in time to see the Pendragon tearing around the corner.
“Emilia,” Dexter whispered, ignoring the pain slicing through the back of his head as he jerked around to see the chair behind him. She was gone. The stone bindings that had held her in place were shattered on the floor. The golden rope he had held in his hand lay on the ground, its color dull, the shimmer of magic gone.
He looked down at his hands. He had held the rope. There should be a mark on his palm. Emilia should he here.
A group of Dragons tore into the chamber, past the grand columns of ancient stone. The dragon tattoos that wrapped from their cheeks to their necks glistened with sweat. Something was wrong. Wrong enough to make the Dragon guards afraid.
“What’s happening?” Dexter shouted at them, but they ignored him as they ran through the exit on the far side of the cave.
Why would they run farther into the caverns? Someone had come from that direction.
Jacob.
Jacob had come from behind him while the Pendragon was performing the ceremony. Emilia must have gone with him.
Dexter scrambled to his feet, stumbling as the room swam in front of him.
“Emilia.” Dexter ran after the Dragons, deeper into the tunnels. He glanced up and down the hall. There were shouts coming from both directions.
“Emilia!” Dexter screamed.
A c***k echoed through the hall. For a moment, the ground shook before the sound of rock colliding with rock traveled toward him.
He had only an instant to shout, “Primurgo!” before the ceiling collapsed.
* * * *
“It’s been three weeks,” Dexter said, fighting to keep his voice level with every word. “If the Pendragon is too afraid to go after Emilia himself, let me go.”
“Do not ever think the Pendragon is afraid,” Mr. Wayland said. “The Pendragon is no coward. But Emilia is broken. She is tethered to the Evans boy. We would have to kill him to bring her back and half the Gray Clan to get to either of them. Do you have any idea how well the Mansion House is guarded? Isadora Gray is no fool. It would take a huge effort to even attempt to break through their shield spells.”
Dexter stared at his father. He was dismissing Emilia like she didn’t even matter. “Emilia is the Pendragon’s child. Surely it is worth some risk to rescue his daughter.”
“When a child is broken, what good are they to their parent? If a child cannot obey, cannot fulfill the simplest request, why would you risk even one loyal Dragon to save them?” Mr. Wayland turned to leave the stone room Dexter had been kept in since Emilia’s disappearance.
“She was taken, Father!” Dexter shouted, desperate to make his father stay and listen. “She didn’t choose Jacob.”
“I was not speaking of Emilia,” Mr. Wayland said, the shrieking of stone on stone nearly drowning out his words as the door scraped shut behind him.
- Writer
