Chapter 44: Castle Infiltration

Alyssa

I woke up in a cell with my head on Gloria’s lap. “You’re finally awake,” Gloria sighed in relief.

“Ugh, I feel like I’ve been hit by a plane,” I put my hand on my forehead as my head pounded.

“It’s alright, you’re back with me,” Gloria said softly.

I opened my eyes, and everything felt like waking up from a daze. The room spun momentarily, and I started to feel quite nauseous, even though I had no idea when I had eaten. “It hurts,” I hardly got my words out. “Everywhere,”

It was like every nerve in my body was twitching, making every move I made hurt. I felt the ground beneath me shake and heard explosions coming from outside. “What’s going on, Gloria?”

“I don’t know dear, but it sounds like fighting,” Gloria said. Gloria then helped me sit up and placed my back on the wall. “What happened to you?”

“The fight, I fought a Behir, but Elijah called him Subject Zero. Apperently, they used to hunt dragons,” I said. The room was spinning as I talked.

“The Behirs are the original practitioners of Dragon Communion, and they taught humans how to use its power before Dragonkind and the Fairies wiped them out. To think Elijah brought back a member of an extinct species, Goddess, Eijah, what have you done?”

Thinking about Subject Zero and how I knocked him out, I couldn’t help but grin. “I won,” I laughed.

“You what? Don’t take it as an offense that I’m surprised. But well done,” Gloria smiled.

“Thanks, but I’m wondering if I had just given in if that would have hurt less than right now,” I said.

“Don’t think like that, you’re safe now, and that’s what matters,” Gloria said. Soon, the cell door opened, and Gloria stood up to meet who was visiting us.

“Get Alyssa up, Gloria, now!” Timothy said.

“She’s too weak to stand! Leave her alone!” Gloria stood in his way.

“Then I guess I’ll drag her out of here!” Tim approached Gloria.

“Don’t you dare!” Gloria growled. “You’ve done enough to her already!”

“Trust me, crown dragon, we are just getting started. Get out of my way!” Timothy threatened.

“Not going to happen!” Gloria said.

Timothy sighed. “Have it your way then!” Timothy quickly knocked out Gloria by bashing her head on the wall.

“No, GLORIA!” I shouted, but my head pounded harder.

“And they call her the Crown Dragon? The Moon Goddess chose poorly; such a waste. Stubborn bitch,” Tim laughed.

I wanted to fight back and defend Gloria, but my body didn’t listen. Timothy grabbed my arm and pulled me up. My legs barely helped me up, so Tim had to put his arm around my waist to drag me out of the cell.

Alexandria

“Alex! Alexandria, where are you?” I heard Megan yell my name.

“Do you need to yell?” I laughed softly.

“Alex! Are you alright?” Megan helped me get up on my feet

“I’ve been better. Are you hurt?” I asked.

“I think I’m fine,” Megan looked up through the crack we fell through. She doesn’t know how far we fell in, but I don’t know how we even survived in the first place. “Can you move?”

“I can stand; at least that’s something,” I said. But as soon as I took a step, I roared in pain and fell to the ground. “My left leg, I think it’s broken!”

“Let me take a look,” Megan said as she looked at my leg.

“You a doctor now?” I joked.

“You want to wait until the nearest doctor get’s here?” Megan looked at me with sarcasm. “Sit still,”

Megan carefully lifted my pants, trying to move them as little as possible. “Yep, it’s broken, alright,” Megan said.

“Are you sure?” I started to panic.

“I can clearly see the bone trying to break through your skin; you have a closed fracture, Alexandria; you’re lucky it’s not compound. And by the looks of it, it might become one soon,” Megan said.

“That’s just great,” I look around the cave. “How long do you think we’ve been here?” I asked.

I see Megan look at her watch, which, by some miracle, is not broken or fallen off.

“It’s been four hours,” Megan said. “Fuck, why didn’t you leave me? I told you to leave me behind,”

“Excuse me!” I scoffed at her.

“You wouldn’t be hurt if you had just left me!” Megan yelled.

“And you would either be stuck here or dead. No one get’s left behind, Megan!” I growled.

“Well, at least both wouldn’t be stuck here if you had listen to me,” Megan rolled her eyes. “You should have left me, Alexandria,”

“And you think I could have lived with myself if I had left you?” I said. “Look, we can’t waste our energy arguing, you have to reset my bone,”

“Alex! What?! I’m not a doctor,” Megan was stunned.

“We don’t have the time to wait for a doctor, or if they can get here anyway. I already feel a tingling sensation in my leg, and everyone knows that’s not a good sign. You have to reset my bone before my dragon healing kick in and heals the bone wrong, then I’ll really be fucked,” I explained.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Alright, no time to lose, I’m going to push it back into place,” Megan said nervously. “What if I get this wrong?”

“I might end up dead or with a permanent limp, no biggie,” I shrugged as Megan glared at me, not thinking what I said was funny. “Sorry, wrong time to joke, but jokes are all I have left to keep myself from freaking out,”

“If you weren’t already wounded, I’d consider killing you right now,” Megan huffed. “So do you want me to tell you when I’m goning to do it?”

“No, or yes? Maybe count to three?” I breathed. Before I had decided, Megan pushed on my leg with all her strength until she felt my bone was in its proper place. I started screaming my lungs out as I grabbed my leg. “GODDESS FUCKING DAMMIT!” I cried out from the pain.

“Thank you Megan,” I breathed out weakly.

“And thank you for trying to save me back at the bridge,” Megan smiled.

“Anything for a close friend. Now, how about we look for a way out of here?” I said.

“Yeah, I almost forgot that we are trapped here. With your leg, there’s no chance for us to climb and it’s too narrow for us to shift. Any idea, Alex?” Megan said.

“What’s over there?” I pointed to a dark area.

“I’ll go and check; wait here,” Megan stuck her tongue out.

“I’m laughing,” I rolled my eyes as Megan went to check out what I pointed to her. “Find anything?”

“It’s a path, Alex, but I have no idea where it leads,” Megan’s voice echoed. “I might lead to a dead end,”

“Well let’s get moving, it’s better then freezing to death in this frozen graveyard,” I said.

“Good point. Are you strong enough to stand up?” Megan asked.

“One way to find out,” I carefully lifted myself with Megan’s help. Since I couldn’t put any weight on my injured leg, Megan tried to support me as much as she could.

“Thank the goddess you’re a women, you look heavy but you’re surprisingly light,” Megan said.

“Trying to charm me, Megan. I’m in excellent physical condition,” I laughed.

“Alright, let’s go and take this slow,” Megan said, and I nodded.

Vincent

Elizabeth and her army caught Sozin’s men off guard. The castle was already surrounded by the time most of them were in the air. I hope Elizabeth and her men can buy me enough time to get Alyssa out. Jacob, Bao, and I carefully moved through the maze of hallways. Before every corner, we made sure we were safe, and to ensure that we didn’t waste any time accidentally checking rooms twice, we made a small mark on each door we had already checked.

“These rooms are empy as well,” Jacob said.

“And so are the ones over here,” Bao added.

“All these halls look the same,” I scoffed. “Damn it, where are you?”

We searched and searched until I opened the door and found Gloria. “Guys, in here!” I called out to Jacob and Bao. “It’s Crown Dragon Gloria!”

“Is she alive?” Bao said.

“She is, Gloria, can you hear me?” I said.

“Vincent? I’m so sorry,” Gloria said as she sat up and saw Bao and Jacob. “Jacob, Bao? What are you boys doing here? How did you find this place?”

“We’ve been walking in the jungle for days looking for this place. How are you alive?” I asked. “I thought they killed everyone that fought back in Bermuda,”

“I had leverage being a Shadow Dragon; to Sozin, I was an excellent test subject,” Gloria explained. “Did you find Alyssa, your mate?”

“You’ve seen her?” I said and smiled. “Where is she?”

“Alyssa was in this cell not too long ago, or I don’t know how long since I was knocked out, a boy came to get her. I’m not sure what his name was, but he had blong hair and seemed to know Alyssa,”

“Timothy,” I growled.

“You have to find her! She’s still weak from the fight,” Gloria said.

“Do you know where Tim was taking her?” I asked.

“No idea, but it seemed urgent,” Gloria said.

“They must have gotten Alyssa when the fighting started; they might use her as leverage to keep you at bay. Sozin has to know by now that you are mated to her,” Jacob said.

“I’m going to find her,” I said. “You two get the Crown Dragon to safety.

“Vincent, wait. You should know something about the man leading the warriors of Sozin. He’s Alyssa’s father,” Gloria said.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard Gloria say that. Everything that was happening, everything that had happened to Alyssa, was all coming from the man who was supposed to be Alyssa’s father. “Get Gloria out of here now!” I ran out of the cell.

“Be careful!” Jacob yelled out.