Free The Dragon's Eyes by Rain Oxford Page B

clawing at his neck.
    Afraid to make matters worse, I stood by in shock as
Dylan dropped to his knees. The iron pentagram he always wore slipped out of
his shirt and I could see the problem: The metal was glowing with heat.
Unfortunately, to keep it from burning his chest further, he grabbed it with
his bare hand. Abruptly, the rain ended.
    “Let go!” I yelled. He gasped and grunted and yelled
but his fingers stayed curled around the burning metal. I sat Sammy away from
the door and got out, closing the door behind me. It took longer than it should
have to wade through rushing, knee-high, freezing water. “Let go!” I repeated.
    “I can’t!” He fell back just as I reached him.
    I pried his fingers open and took the star. It was
hot, but despite being hot enough to melt, it did not burn my skin. And then it
vanished. The solid metal disappeared right from my hand.
    But Dylan didn’t get up. “My energy…” he gasped. “It
took my energy.”
    With my much more powerful friend down and the demon
closing in, I became desperate. As my adrenaline kicked in, I could feel my
fingers itch. I couldn’t risk looking, but I knew claws had replaced my nails.
I focused my fire, which was trickier when I was cold, and shot a perfectly
good orb of flames. Immune to the water, the fire struck his chest and spread
over his body. The creature went down and I thought we were safe.
    Then it got back up. Burning from the inside and now
the outside, the creature still advanced. I created an energy shield, not
electrically charged because of the water, but it didn’t even slow the creature
down.
    Dylan tried to sit up but ended up collapsing back
against me, holding onto consciousness by a thread. “Now would be a good time
to have Shinobu. Or Edward. Or anyone,” Dylan said weakly.
    I figured even my father would be of use right now.
    My father was a cruel ruler who only did what was
best for himself and never hesitated to put his servants at risk, but he never
put me at risk. For all his faults and even his hatred and disappointment for
me, he was protective of his only child. After all, I was supposed to be king
when he stepped down, and carry on his objectives. My father was not as
powerful as Dylan, but he was ruthless and knew his magic very well.
    Behind us, Vivian screamed.

Chapter 4
    Edward
     
    It may have been the cold that woke me, or the splitting headache. My
first response was to pull my blankets over me, but instead of soft covers, my
fingers found cold, wet stone. The gravity was slightly stronger than Duran’s.
Opening my eyes was painful, and it seemed my right eye was sticky with blood.
The room I was in was slightly blurred, but I could easily tell it was a cell.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were roughly cut dark red stone that was damp in
most areas and in front of me were bars, just slightly too narrow for me to
slip through. I was only wearing a loose, thin pair of light brown pants. I
felt around for nominal energy but the only energy to found was pulsing from
the walls too faintly to use; the stone must have been a type that absorbed
nominal energy. Even my stored supply was fading slowly. I slowly climbed to my
feet and pulled at the bars, but they didn’t bend nor break.
    Instead, my efforts attracted the guard’s attention.
The guard was a small creature of no more than four feet tall, though his wide
width made him look even shorter. He was bipedal and had relatively the same
shape as sentient beings, like sago and humans, but his skin was rough and dark
brown. He wore a dark green tunic with light brown pants and curl-toed, dark
brown boots. On his short fingers were sharp black claws. His arms were long
for his body and his shoulders and neck were broad. His chin and nose were very
flat while his head was round. Behind thin, blue lips bent in a permanent snarl
were small, sharp, stained teeth. His eyes were beady and black, showing
suspicion and frustration. Slightly higher than on a sago or