Page 38 of Ava’s Legacy of the Dragons (Of Dragons, Love, and Destiny #1)

Ava was pushed out of the hall before she understood what was happening. The mage's words kept echoing in her head: She was being taken to an arena where she would fight for her freedom. Was that meant literally?

"What's happening now?"

"Quiet!" She was flanked by the guards, two of them holding her arms tightly, leaving no chance for escape.

She stumbled along with them and was dragged through the high door out of the hall and through the corridor past the suits of armor until they reached the outside.

Icy wind cut into her face and tugged at her loose strands.

Her chestnut brown hair swirled in front of her eyes.

She had to shake her head to get a clear view while the guards mercilessly held her wrists.

As she let her gaze wander, she was startled. She found herself high up on a mountain, surrounded by a range whose peaks were covered with snow. The mages' castle had been built on a rocky slope. There was no city in sight. How many kilometers was she from her friends?

"Where are we?"

"In a place you will never escape from!"

The guard really knew how to be discouraging. They forced Ava down a staircase on the mountainside, and two more warriors stayed close behind them to eliminate any last possibility of escape.

Ava didn't need to look across the area to understand what their destination was. Elora had definitely meant arena literally.

The mountainside stretched to a plateau, and beyond that it went steeply downhill.

And on this plateau, an oval structure had been erected, its edges forming rows of seats and a large sandy area in the center.

There was a grandstand, meter-high poles, iron chains, and a cage that could have fit ten people crammed inside. But it was empty.

She froze, because "fighting for your freedom" took on a bitter taste. A taste of danger.

Mortal danger.

All the blood drained from her face. "What are you planning to do with me?"

The guards laughed maliciously and forced her down the steps.

For the first time, Ava was glad that she was being held, because she couldn't take her eyes off the battlefield.

She stumbled several times, and if the guards hadn't held her tightly in their midst, she would probably have broken all her bones.

Although that prospect had something going for it... Would broken bones prevent her from being brought into this arena and having to prove herself in combat?

"Who do I have to fight against?"

"You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?" The guard shook his head, snorting. "I advised you to treat her with respect. You wouldn't listen. This is what you get."

"As if playing the good little lamb would have done me any good!" She glared at him angrily. "Why are you doing this? Why are you so cruel?"

He gave a laugh that sounded bitter and disillusioned. "Us, cruel? Don't you know how the king deals with those gifted with magic? How he has them murdered without giving them a chance to show that there's good in them?"

"You're doing exactly the same thing to me right now!"

"We have no choice!"

"There's always a choice! You can't erase evil with evil! Or is your reign of terror supposed to follow the king's?"

He snorted dismissively. "Our plans are none of your business."

She shook her head in disbelief, but one thing comforted her. And it would give her a little boost to rub it in the guards' faces. "At least you didn't get the dragon egg."

The guard gave her an ugly grin, a merciless glimmer in his eyes. "Who says we were after it?"

She froze. She broke out in a cold sweat as the men pushed her on without mercy. Had Elora's goal from the beginning been to capture Ava and... kill her?

"What does the mage have against me?"

Ignoring her question, the guards brought her to the arena, then pushed her through a side door into a shadowy corridor until they reached a barred door. One of the guards unlocked it, another shoved Ava in, and they securely locked the door while Ava fell into the sand.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and looked around. She was standing in the cage she had seen from above. The one at the edge of the sandy competition area that had only one other exit: The path into the arena.

"Have fun." Laughing, the guards started their way back.

Ava jumped to the barred door and rattled it. "You can't do this!"

"How naive you are, Guardian." It sounded like he'd spat the last word on the ground. "We can do so much more."

Ava shook the bars and followed them with her eyes until they were out of sight.

When they had disappeared, she released her fingers from the ice-cold metal and turned to face the battlefield.

Only now did she feel the icy wind that blew unhindered through the bars and had already turned her hands to ice.

One thing was irrefutably clear: If she didn't soon get the opportunity to fight for her life, she would freeze to death.

The hours passed and Ava's lips turned blue. She kept moving to stay warm, turning round and round and jumping up and down. Her chances were bad enough; she didn't need to be frozen stiff on top of that. Nevertheless, her limbs were getting heavier.

If the mage wanted a spectacle, she would have to come soon, because otherwise there would be no fight for her to witness.

The waiting was surely meant to wear her down.

That's why she stayed on her feet, kept herself busy by staying warm, memorizing the layout of the arena, and looking for escape routes.

Eventually, she had seen everything multiple times—and eventually, she could no longer lift her legs.

If she didn't want to be completely exhausted by the time the fight started, she had to conserve her energy.

She ran to the grate, clutched the bars, and looked into the arena. She focused on what lay ahead, even though she didn't know the details, until after a while her thoughts began to drift.

The wind cut into her skin like thousands of needle pricks, her lips felt numb, and the cold gusts relentlessly drove tears into her eyes.

As soon as her eyes were full, they spilled over and slid down her cheeks, leaving warm trails that were instantly transformed into icy coldness by the frosty air.

Kilian was promised to the princess. He had no choice, he had to marry her. Otherwise he would seal the end of this world and the death of all dragons.

This recollection broke over her like an unexpected storm. They couldn't be together. And the little golden baby dragon was no longer safe with her. Thalara would take him away so that the king couldn't get his hands on him.

That meant he would be gone from Ava.

Two beings who had unexpectedly warmed her heart, whom she had only just met, would leave her.

Like back then.

Despair gripped her and she pushed against the bars. Heavens, she was locked all alone in a cage in the middle of an arena and was supposed to fight, even though she had never learned how. It was so cold. And she was completely alone.

She was seized by a deep anguish, one she hadn't known was inside her.

It joined up with the wound from her childhood and the thought of being abandoned by her parents to rage within her like a merciless warrior.

The emotions overwhelmed her, gripped her, and shook her as she banged her forehead against the bars and let her tears flow freely.

How was she supposed to survive this?

Tears dripped into the sand and seeped away beside her feet. She saw no point in holding them back anymore. It was hopeless anyway. She wouldn't escape the sorceress.

Footsteps sounded.

Startled, she turned around. Had the sorcerers just been waiting for her to lose her composure?

She quickly wiped her cheeks—she didn't want her opponents to know how low a point she was at—before raising her head.

But she couldn't see anyone. And there wasn't anyone coming down the dimly lit corridor or entering the arena.

Probably the wind had made the noise. Or her brain had played a trick on her to distract from her grief. Her self-pity. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and looked outside. Again she leaned against the bars, her head lowered.

"Psst."

She gave a start. She hadn't imagined that!

She turned around watchfully, for the wind seemed to carry the voice in all directions and obscure its point of origin.

"Behind the post."

Someone emerged from behind the wide pillar that was next to the cage door and that supported the ceiling in the gloomy corridor.

Someone she recognized immediately. Short black curls, dark clothes, and light eyes that stood in stark contrast to his somber appearance.

It was the guard who had brought her something to drink that morning.

The way he was sneaking up to her could only mean that no one knew about his visit.

Casually, she ran her hand over her eyelids to make sure no tears were glistening in her lashes. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what you said to Henc."

"Henc?"

"The one who brought you here."

Ava stiffened. "What do you mean?"

He fixed her with his light eyes, which were not only blue but also had a fine yellow shimmer to them.

"You should know that many of us abhor violence.

But if it weren't for sorcerers like Henc who are willing to defend us, we'd all be dead by now.

" With these words, he held out a cup to her.

The vessel was so warm that Ava recoiled before she was able to grasp it with her ice-cold hands.

"What is it?"

"Herbal tea."

"For me?"

He nodded, and she looked at him in disbelief.

"Drink."