Sword Bearer (Return of the Dragons 1)

The beautiful girl with perfect skin was beating at the door with her fists. She turned to me. “What is this? Some kind of cruel joke between you and Gerard? How do we get out of here?”

I looked around the room.

There was a little window a cat wouldn’t fit through. Not to mention that we were six stories up. There was the locked door. There were books, and bookshelves; there was burning incense, and tea. There was a tiny gap under the door to put my homework through — not that I would need it now. There was my chair and desk.

But there was no way out.

“Who are you, anyway?” I said. “Why are your ears pointy? What were you doing in Gerard’s shop?”

She shook her head violently. “We have no time for that now. He knows you, right?”

I nodded. “I bought spices in his shop. I think he knows my father as well, although I’m not sure my father likes him.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be telling her all this. All I knew about her was that she was young and beautiful, that she knew how to cast spells. And how to steal books.

And she smelled nice. With lips like strawberries.

And she was warm to the touch. With perfectly smooth brown skin. And pointy ears.

Obviously, I felt a need to trust her. Maybe just because she was beautiful, the first girl to ever hold my hand and kiss me. But I told myself it m

ust be more than that.

I was afraid it was all a trick. But like she said, we had no time. Gerard knew me, knew my father. He wouldn’t take long to figure out where we were, and when he found us...

She cursed under her breath, and I smiled.

“What?” she asked. “What’s so funny?”

I shook my head.

The truth was, nothing was funny. She was just really cute when she was angry.

We were both in danger. You didn’t have to be some high level wizard to feel the threat when Gerard had talked to me.

I had no idea what Gerard would do to this girl, but I knew he would thrash me, at the very least. My parents could complain all they wanted, but there was little you could do about a magician of Gerard’s level.

And my parents would probably beat me too.

“Who are you, anyway?” I asked the girl. “What’s going on?”

“You can call me Kara,” she said.

She smiled at me again. I stood there grinning like a big idiot with my green face. I wondered if she was going to kiss me again.

She shook her head like she had fished the thoughts right out of my head.

“We have to get out of here,” she said. “I took something from Gerard, something he stole from my people.” She paused, bit her lip. “After he got rid of my father, and my mother. And I don’t think this time, if he finds me, he will hesitate before getting rid of me. Or any witnesses.” She looked around. “Why are you locked in here, anyway?”

I shrugged. “It’s supposed to keep me safe and working. My parents say it increases magical concentration, frees the mind from distractions.”

“I guess it didn’t work this time,” she said, smiling again despite the danger we were in. “I’m a pretty big distraction, aren’t I?”

“You can say that again,” I said, with a grin. “But really, I wasn’t concentrated on anything. It was hard enough to forget about this clay mask.”

“But you felt me reach out for help.”

“I don’t know what happened,” I said, honestly.