Rivals (23 page)

Breathing had just been removed from her list of autonomic nerve functions. 

42

Ethan moved uncontrollably forward when he saw Cori was pinned. Belus’s hand shot out to block his forward movement. Ethan looked down at the red line he had almost crossed. Crossing it meant invalidating the test. He stepped back and came up on the other side of Danato. “What is he doing?”

Danato stood with his arms crossed, seemingly unfazed by the danger before them. “He’s suffocating her,” he stated as if it was an everyday occurrence.

“I thought the dragons were trained not to kill.”

Danato scoffed. “Try training a male dragon.”

“Will he kill her?” Ethan had already been shocked into worry when he found out that Cori was fighting a male dragon. He knew she wasn’t going to walk away unharmed, but the prospect of her actually dying was too much. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let that happen.

“If she doesn’t toss that shield and sword off soon enough, he will.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

Danato turned and gave him a grave look. “She knew what she was getting into.”

"She…” He stared blankly at the man who was always first in line to protect Cori. Danato stood there stern and silent, watching the fight like the rest of the spectators. Ethan paced back and forth, waiting for a reason to jump into the ring.

“If you enter the ring, her test will be voided,” Danato reminded him.

“I know. Maybe that’s for the best.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danato asked.

Ethan shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “That should be me in there, not her.”

“As I recall, you left us to go hunting.”

Cori somehow managed to free herself from the dragon’s grasp and the fight continued. Ethan took in a breath he hadn’t realized he needed.

Danato smiled, not taking his eyes off Cori.

“How can you stand there so calm?” Ethan seethed. “You act like she’s nothing to you.”

Danato’s smile faded and he turned to him. Anger ebbed in and then out of his eyes. “She is everything to me. As for my demeanor, it’s not calm, it is restrained. I am restrained because I have faith in her.”

“You think she’ll survive this?”

Danato looked him over as if he was a foreign object to him. “I think she’ll win this. Cori knew what she was up against today, and so did I. You don’t see me quaking in my boots, because I know she’ll win.”

It was Ethan’s turn to stare at the foreign object before him. Surely Danato was just being hopeful. He couldn’t possibly think she would win. Ethan knew how clever and determined Cori was, but this was an insane trial to bear. No amount of dumb luck was going to beat a dragon.

“You’re okay with that, aren’t you?” Danato asked.

“What?”

“If she wins, you are okay with not being my successor?” Ethan didn’t answer. “Are you okay with being a bounty hunter out there, while Cori is my apprentice in here?” Ethan still didn’t answer. He just turned back to watch the battle. His anxiety about Cori losing had waned. It was replaced with his angst about Cori winning. His chance to be warden was slipping away, right along with his chance to be with Cori.

43

Cori nicked the dragon between the toes with her sword and he released. She jumped up, feeling the familiar pain of broken ribs. Door number two was inching closer. She dodged several head pecks and claw slashes. She gripped her sword tight and swung blindly at the creature’s snarling mouth.

She knew she shouldn’t flail around. It was only going to tire her out, and do nothing to win the fight. However, she couldn’t resist at least getting a few swings in before she surrendered.

After a hard strike, she heard a
clink
followed by a scraping sound. She peeked around her shield and saw her sword tip skidding across the floor followed by the tip of the dragon’s tooth.

“Crap.” She looked at her impotent sword. The flat edge would do nothing to penetrate the dragon’s skin. 

The dragon roared, his eagle screech now sounding more like a deep throat squawk. He wasn’t pleased with the result of her floundering attack either.

The dragon bit down on her shield, bending it around her forearm. She stabbed at him with her sword, which was now a colossal butter knife. Desperate to get the beast to unclamp his hold on her, she jabbed the dull blade into his flaring nostril. She succeeded in her purpose. The creature released his bite. Unfortunately, he reared up fast enough to pull the sword with him.

With one perturbed snort the dragon propelled the weapon outside the boundary lines. Cori watched it go. She looked at her shield, which was now a metal taco. She looked back at the judges. She was hoping they would call the match a tie and let her walk away conscious. The judges tapped their wrists. The time was finally starting to run out.

She looked at the dragon. He was swaying back and forth, plotting his attack. She had no weapon and no defense. The beast wasn’t going to simply, sit patiently while the last two minutes counted down on the clock. 

She looked to Danato and Belus on the side lines. They were both stoic.

She looked to Ethan. His eyes were big and he was visibly anxious. He looked seconds from jumping in to save her.

She had to take door number three after all. She had so wanted to walk away with a stalemate, but instead she would have to throw her shield outside the boundary and surrender. As much as it pained her ego, she was pleased to have made it this far. She had the right to be in that room and no one could say otherwise.

She looked at Belus. She gave him a shrug. He gave her a nod. Permission. She had done her best, now it was time to walk away. Maybe not with her pride intact, but at least her head.

She gripped the flattened metal shield and tugged on it. She was still lashed to the thing on top of being encased by it. She eyed the dragon that was still swaying. He seemed to understand that she was attempting to surrender. She braced the edge on her thigh and tried to push it off. She hissed, feeling the sharp end where the metal had bent into a strict angle. It cut her thigh, adding to the tracks of blood that were dripping from her calves.

The dragon began to purr. At least that’s what it sounded like. She looked up at him. The understanding he had held for her impending surrender was gone. He now seemed agitated. He didn’t seem to like how long her surrender was taking.

“Shit,” she slurred, taking a few steps back. That was a mistake.

The dragon spotted the subtle moved and lunged. It didn’t matter that the movement was backwards; it was movement. The game was on again as far as he was concerned.

She leapt out of his way. Little had changed between this moment and the last. She was still injured. She was still tired. However, she was now renewed by her fear of death.

She had no sword to attack with. She had no shield to block the fire. She couldn’t remove the damned thing to throw it away. She still had a minute left on the clock. She was already knocking on door number two.

She ran and slid around the back of the dragon. It was dangerous, but his fire was her biggest concern. She would rather be pummeled than burned.

She tripped over the whipping tail and landed on her back. The dragon turned to get her back in his sights.

She felt pressure release on her arm. It wasn’t much, but maybe just enough to get it off. She tugged on the shield. It moved two inches and caught on something. By the searing pain in her forearm, she guessed it was caught on her skin.  

The dragon screeched again. What he had found so offensive this time, she couldn’t have guessed, but his mouth parted.

She could smell the petroleum on his breath.

She put her feet up on the shield and pushed. She felt the metal give, along with the pain of it scraping down her arm as it did.

She gripped the freed shield tight and jumped up. His head tipped back and his mouth opened wide. Surrendering her shield at this point was useless. The dragon wouldn’t see her part with it and she would be Kentucky fried before he could comprehend she was weaponless.

Her best chance was to huddle behind the half shield, take door number two, and hope that she could survive her injuries.

In the hollow of his palate, Cori could see the reflected glow of the orange ember that was igniting in his throat. She looked down at the shield and changed her mind. She decided on a different tactic: misdirection.

She crouched, swinging the shield back and forward. She released it, hurling it toward the dragon’s mouth. Even as she let it go, she ran away. She only needed a few more seconds to avoid his flame-throwing breath.

The taco shield hurtled into the dragon’s mouth. With the sound like a shovel hitting dirt, it stuck in the dragon’s palate. Out of the corner of her eye, as she passed, she saw the flicker of fire lap up into the dragon’s mouth and fall back. The throat darkened as the ember within extinguished.

The dragon froze. Cori stopped behind him and waited for him to retaliate.

His head turned. She put her hands up and waved them. She even turned slightly to show off her back. She still had twenty seconds left on the clock, he had to acknowledge her surrender this time, or she was dead.

The dragon let out a sorrowful moan. His eyes clenched shut and he lay down submissively on the floor. Cori’s face softened as the creature continued to moan in agony about the shield taco poking him in the roof of his mouth.

The audience cheered and swarmed around her. The torrent of congratulations seemed out of place to her. She didn’t entirely grasp what she had done. The
Star Trek
emissary judges surrounded her and started to read a prepared document that no doubt was a beautiful inauguration, but Cori couldn’t hear most of it.

Despite her bruised ribs, random people were slapping her back, chucking her shoulder, and a few women even hugged her. She must have unwittingly just nominated herself as the new poster child for feminists everywhere.

She looked between heads at the sidelines. Belus was giving her a two fisted cheer like his favorite sports team had just won a big, fat, ugly trophy. She had never seen so much enthusiasm from him.

Danato was beaming at her. His smile was ear to ear. She was too far away to tell, but it almost seemed like his eyes were tearing up. Pride looked as good on him as his black sweater vest.

On the other side of Danato was Ethan. He didn’t exude the same joy as everyone in the room. He was smiling, but his eyes told her his lips were lying. The smile on her face started to settle into a frown.

She started to realize what she had done. The shield had stuck in the roof of the mouth. That was all it took. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t her sword.

She had won.

Cori lost sight of everyone and everything around her. She was the new successor. Ethan didn’t need to come back. She was all alone with her victory.

Cori felt sick again. The day’s events were already too much, but the people crowding around her made her feel claustrophobic. The emotions clogged in her throat, making it hard to swallow, were adding to her smothered feeling.

She wanted out. She wanted away. She wanted no part of her brilliant triumph.

44

Ethan watched as Cori’s dumbfounded smile shrank away. Her face cringed and her cheeks filled with tears. She pushed through the crowd gruffly and ran out of the gym.

Ethan looked to Danato. “What just happened there? Is she alright?”

“Of course she’s alright, she just won the prize. Couldn’t you see how happy she was?”

Ethan’s brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend what level of sarcasm Danato was on. “What is your game here?”

“This is what she wanted: to win. This is what you wanted: for her to take over your job, so you could go hunt. Can’t you feel how happy you both are, Ethan?”

“I’m not happy. She’s not happy.”

“I don’t understand.” Danato’s sarcasm melded with anger. “You want something different than this outcome?” Ethan frantically searched for the answer. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. What do you want, Ethan? Speak!”

“I want her!” Ethan blurted out.

“And she wants you. If one of you would damn well say it, we could at least move on to the next issue.”

Ethan looked Danato up and down. “Where were you yesterday, Captain Late? She already tested. She won. We can’t be together now anyway.”

“First of all, I refuse to babysit both of you in your emotional chess match. Figure it out for yourselves. Second, I wasn’t going to do anything to stop her from competing with that dragon, because that…” Danato pointed at the downed dragon, “…was beautiful. And third, who said you couldn’t compete against her? Until you left to go hunt, you were both going to compete anyway.”

Ethan’s mouth dropped. “I can still fight the dragon. If I beat the dragon in less time, I can take her spot.”