Page 49 of Immortal Origins (Chronicles of the Immortal Trials #1)

S ix mages emerged out of the cover of the trees and joined the metal mage in circling around her and the dragon.

The beast roared furiously and shot its flames at one of the men closest to it, who skillfully blocked it with his own burnt orange flames.

The charge that surged through the air told Ambrose that every one of the strangers was a mage in their own right, though she had no way of knowing what type.

Metal. Fire.

At least two of them had shown their hand but how was she supposed to fight all of them? The power coursing around them was unmistakably intense as each of the mages showed no fear in the face of such a monstrous creature as the dragon next to her.

“Who are you?” she asked again through clenched teeth as a muscle ticked in her jaw. Her body was beginning to go into fatigue from the amount of adrenaline it had pumped into her all night. One thing after another. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could fight.

“I told you, that’s none of your concern,” the mage countered. Pulling a second dagger from his side, he bounced one in each hand. “Your only concern is to die.”

He flung the dagger in his left hand as Ambrose shifted her weight and it flew past her shoulder, slicing the top of her skin.

His movement so fast she only saw a blur of metal as she trusted her instincts and honed reflexes.

However, her heart jumped into her throat as the sting on her shoulder trickled blood.

The dagger embedded itself in the tree for only a moment before it went flying back to its owner .

“Kill the dragon,” he ordered the rest of them over his shoulder as he stared at her with murderous intensity. “I’ll take care of this one. That bounty is ours.”

How could she possibly have a bounty on her head? She was sanctioned by a First King to be there and was a Trial Champion. She could go where she pleased, she wasn’t committing any crimes.

“You have the wrong person.” She leveled a look on her attacker.

“White hair…” he taunted. “Amber eyes, early to mid twenties…and a servant mark that doesn’t look like a servant mark.” He pointed a dagger at her again, this time directly at the mark on her neck. “Sound familiar?”

“I’m a Trial Champion!” she demanded.

“I admit, that is a conflict, and though they gave us your description, they never did give a name.” He shrugged.

“Because you have the wrong person,” she finished for him.

Something lit up in his face. “I’d say that mark is a dead giveaway.

But to be honest, I don’t really care. Right person.

Wrong person. It doesn’t matter. Either way I’ll kill you and make it quick.

If you’re not the one we’re looking for then I’ll just dump your body at sea and watch the sea dragons pick you clean regardless.

No one will ever know the difference.” His eyes darkened.

“Though, something tells me I’ve found exactly who I’m looking for. ”

The dragon raged as the hunters closed in on it. The archer in the trees let arrow after arrow fly to keep it distracted while the others worked on trapping it. The roar that came from the creature was more of fury than pain as it pulled each one out of its body, spraying fire as it did so.

Ambrose realized why it hated her kind so much.

These men were vile.

“Protect the dragon! He must not fall!” Their plea filled her head the same time a dagger lodged itself into her arm. Searing pain shot down her fingers, up her arm and into her throat as she pulled it from its fleshy home.

“I’d pay attention if I were you,” the metal mage taunted her as he flung another dagger straight for her head. She ducked in time to miss it but the sting on her cheek told her just barely .

“Protect the dragon, he must not die!” the voices rang in her head and she tried to shake them from her mind.

How was she supposed to save herself and the dragon?

“How?” she asked. What did they expect her to do?

Metal bit her thigh as a dagger sank deep into her leg. The metal mage turned his hand and the dagger twisted inside of her.

White-hot pain shot through her entire body as she tried to pry the thing out of her leg, but she couldn’t no matter how hard she tried.

Her breathing tore at her lungs as sharp as the dagger in her leg.

Fury filled her body, her veins, every corner of her mind and her channels flexed the charge she held at bay.

The metal mage sucked in a breath and she knew he could feel her magick too.

He smiled as he curled his finger and the dagger ripped itself from her flesh and flew back into his hand.

“I see I have your attention now.” His lip curled up. “We were told to be careful of you. That you might be more powerful than we think, but you don’t seem too scary to me. Let’s see why they’re so afraid of you.”

He threw two daggers at her at the same time, the sharp whistle of finely crafted blades sang through the air as she caught them both in her hands. Chest heaving, she pulled herself to her feet and this time, when his daggers returned, it was from her throwing them at his head.

He easily deflected them as they returned back to his hand like they were attached. She missed, but the message was clear.

She was also out for blood.

Her head swam, likely from how much blood she’d lost that night. She hadn’t had a moment for her body to rest and fought the nausea that came over her in waves. She smacked herself in the face a couple times and told her eyes to focus!

She needed time to think.

Reaching her hands into the dark she called the darkness once more and coaxed it to cover her as she disappeared in the night. Shadows crawled from the forest and wrapped her in a blanket of night as she ducked behind the nearest tree and fled behind a few more to get some distance.

With precious moments to spare, she used the cover the shadows gave her to pry a smaller branch from one of the trees that was strong but pliable.

Luckily the trees offered such bendable branches because she wasn’t strong enough to rip her leathers for a tourniquet.

She wrapped it around her thigh as blood seeped into the ground and tied it as tightly as she could.

Biting down against the pain, she managed to get it tight enough that the bleeding almost stopped. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do.

“You can’t hide from me,” the man hissed as his footsteps approached, his shadow illuminated by bursts of dragon fire. “I know every inch of this forest better than anyone.”

Who is he? She thought furiously.

He said they’d hunted dragons before, so he must be one of the ones that hunt for dragon leather. But somehow he believed there was a bounty on her head? Had he come all the way from Nethyr to hunt her?

Whoever he was, he was incredibly dangerous.

“Who says I’m hiding?” With a small spark of Magick she carried her voice to each of the trees surrounding them so it echoed through the night. She slowly stepped between the trees letting the sound ring through the air like a bell.

“That’s a nice little trick you’ve got there.” The mage swung his arms around in a circle, daggers gleaming on his hips.

She peeked her head around the large trunk just quick enough to see him turned in the opposite direction as the rest of his men worked to fasten a chain around the subdued dragon’s mouth.

The mage raised his hand and the chains wrapped themselves tightly around its jaws as it cried out in fury and pain.

“Only a coward would hide from a fight.” He spun on his heel and threw a dagger in—what he thought was—her direction a few feet to her right. “Are you a coward?”

Good. He didn’t know where she was.

Yet.

“What kind of fighter brings six men to fight his battles?” she taunted as her voice carried with the wind.

“A smart one.” He grinned and threw another dagger, this one way too far to the left.

She threw herself behind another tree, leg dragging behind her. She willed her body to do it again, circling the men the way they had tried to circle her. Using the wind to carry her sounds and confuse them.

“What kind of man hunts dragons for their skin ?” she spat with distaste.

His grin flashed his golden canine. “A rich one.”

“Or a dishonorable one,” the wind whispered to him from her lips.

“A little ironic and hypocritical considering what you’re wearing on your body right now. It’s a fine set. Armored dragons are very hard to kill, and you wear the trophy as you scold me and my men.”

Blood rushed up her neck and flushed her cheeks.

She didn’t know.

She always assumed dragon leather was obtained from dragons who were already dead. It never occurred to her that people would actually go into the woods and hunt live dragons. It wasn’t uncommon for those who harvested dragon leather to die or go missing. Now, she knew why.

They were killing dragons.

That was pure insanity.

Or a death wish.

The dragon huffed furiously, its stomach glowing with light as it tried to melt the chains wrapped around its snout.

It swiped its giant claws at them as the six closed in, looking for the opportunity for a killing strike.

Its tail swung like a jagged sword, the spikes ready to cut down anyone they made contact with.

It connected with one of the mages, sending him flying, eyes wide, into the trunk of a tree where he shouted and didn’t get up again.

Whatever chains they used must have been incredibly strong because its fire did nothing to weaken them.

Giant wings beat the air, the force of it knocking the rest of them to the ground as the men quickly tried to get back on their feet.

The dragon raised a sharp hand, clawing at one of the advancing men as its talon ripped his abdomen open and the archer sent another arrow sinking into the base of its back where it met its wing .

If she didn’t do something, they were going to kill the dragon.

Two more arrows sank into the dragon’s wings and Ambrose knew who she’d have to take out first.