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  “Julianna, this is Stone and Ally. They’re my hunting partners and the ones we’ll be with today.”

  I looked up at the pair of them. Both were at least a head taller than Ash and you could tell right away that they were brothers, more than likely twins as they were so similar with chiseled jawlines and easy-going smiles. Curiously, one had hair so dark it was almost black and caramel-colored skin with eyes like chocolate. His brother was pale, with white-blond hair and eyes the color of the sky. It was as if they were negatives of each other

  “Hello,” I said shyly, holding out my hand to shake theirs. They both took my hand and kissed it in turn, causing me to blush and Ash to roll his eyes.

  “They both think they are God’s gift to women but don’t be fooled by their charms. They’re really a couple of idiots.” Ash grinned as he said this and I could tell that he was ribbing them.

  “At least we aren’t ugly, right, Ally?” retorted Stone, playfully punching Ash on the arm.

  “Yeah,” replied Ally, joining in the humor. “I don’t know what you see in him personally. I’ve seen prettier gorillas.”

  They sat on either side of me, dark-haired Stone to my right and Ally to my left. I was blushing so hard at both their words and their presence that I could probably have rivaled their dragon fire with the heat in my cheeks.

  Thoughts of flying through the air with these three, hunting for gazelle or some other food, had my nerves in tatters.

  “I don’t know how good I’ll be at hunting with you guys,” I said, bringing the conversation round to the day ahead, hoping the topic would stop my cheeks from burning.

  “Don't worry,” said Ash, standing in front of me with a plate of meat and bread that Lucy had just passed him. “We're not going to send you out to hunt before we train you. That’s why I’ve roped in the moron twins here in to help.

  “Oy!” said Ally, throwing a chunk of bread at Ash, which he ducked expertly. The bread fell into the fire to become toast.

  “Nice try!” said Ash, doing a comical jig on the spot. “Let’s hope you throw better than that in training!” Just then, another chunk of bread soared through the air, hitting him in the center of his forehead.

  “Bullseye!” Stone and Ally high-fived, causing me to giggle. Today was going to be much more fun than I had anticipated and the fears I’d harbored were beginning to melt away.

  Once breakfast was over, I was taken to another stone circle I’d not seen before. This one was much larger than the one with the campfire and had a white wooden wall at one side about fifteen feet long and six feet high. The circle looked a little like the training ground by my house although blackened stones and ash showed that they also practiced here in their dragon forms.

  “We’re going to start with hand-to-hand combat,” said Ash, showing me a flat rock to sit on. “I’ll let Ally and Stone go first just so you can see how we train.”

  “Yeah, and the fact that you are way too much of a chicken to go up against either of us,” said Stone with a grin.

  “Just fight, will you?” replied Ash, rolling his eyes once again.

  Watching the two fight was almost like being at a dance. The way they moved together was almost magical; it was obvious that they had been fighting like this since they were young. It was almost brutal in nature and yet, despite the magnificently wild and fierce way that they moved, neither really wanted to hurt the other.

  “Show offs,” muttered Ash beside me as Stone brought Ally toppling to the ground, straddling him to stop him from getting back up. As Stone’s hands flew into the air to mark himself a winner, I couldn’t help but clap, much to Ash’s annoyance.

  “I win. Do I get to fight the fair lady now?” asked Stone, pulling himself off of his brother and dusting himself down.

  “I’ll fight with Julianna. You guys can watch,” said Ash irritably. I couldn’t help but smile. I’d never had anyone be jealous over me before, but I could sense it in Ash now and it made me feel warm inside. Any fears of fighting were long gone as we took our positions in the center of the circle while Stone and Ally sat where we had on the edge. Instead, butterflies filled my stomach for a completely different reason. I’d watched how Stone and Ally had fought, the beautiful yet savage way in which their bodies had moved together, and now here I was about to do the same with Ash.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  He must have seen the trepidation in my face that had nothing to do with getting hurt. One of the brothers whistled to start the fight. I had been practicing for so long with a sword in my hand that I had no idea what to do without it. With no clue how to bring him down, I charged at him with none of the finesse I’d seen in Stone and Ally’s fighting. He ducked to the side, catching me on my arm as he did. With a maneuver so quick I barely saw it, he had me on my back in the charred dirt.

  “Round one to Ash,” I heard someone say as Ash grabbed my hand and pulled me back up.

  “Don’t just run at me. I’m bigger than you. Use that to your advantage,” whispered Ash as we faced each other again. That was all right for him to say but my heart was beating so loudly in my chest at the thought of being so close to him that I could barely concentrate. I also couldn’t see how being smaller would put me at any kind of advantage in combat.

  “Before you run at me, find my weakness.”

  I looked into his eyes, barely a foot away from me, and a strange intensity glowed back at me. Electricity flowed between us and I could hear him breathing as heavily as I was even though our first round had lasted mere moments. Then, without thinking I bridged the gap between us and kissed him. It was the quickest of pecks on the lips but it did the trick. I seized the moment of surprise, hooked my leg around his, and pushed his chest. He fell backward, landing flat on the ground to the brothers’ hollering and clapping.

  I couldn’t help but grin at the look of shock on his face as he stared up at me from the dusty ground.

  “You said to find your weakness,” I said coyly, holding my hand out to him to help him up as he had done with me.

  The smile that cracked his face was so wide that it finally sent the shivers down my spine and goosebumps up my arm which had been threatening for the last two minutes.

  It was only when Stone and Ally wolf-whistled that I realized exactly what I had done and my cheeks began to burn.

  “I think it’s about time we showed you how we train as dragons,” said Ash, still grinning. I couldn’t help but match his grin even though I felt like a loon for doing so.

  “Come on guys.” He motioned with his hand and Stone and Ally stood. They all walked over to the wooden wall I’d seen before and disappeared behind it. I could see the foreheads of Stone and Ally and just the top of Ash’s hair over the top. I was just about to follow to see what they were doing when someone flung a pair of trousers over the top, quickly followed by a sweater.

  It dawned on me that this was the place they undressed to change into dragons, so I instead returned to the flat rock that Stone and Ally had just vacated.

  Seconds later there was a huge roar and a blast of flame as one dragon took off into the sky. Judging by the black leathery skin, it could only be Stone. He was outstanding, long and graceful in the sky with a shimmer of green on his scales when the sun hit them at just the right angle.

  A pure white dragon followed and then finally the scarlet dragon I recognized as Ash. They flew in perfect formation, swooping and twirling in the sky, putting on an aerial show just for me, before flying back down to the circle and landing with effortless grace. I couldn’t believe I’d spent the whole night worrying about flying. Just watching them in the sky made me long to be up there with them. The sense of freedom they must feel would be breath-taking.

  This time, they didn’t fight in twos, but in a kind of free for all, each man—or dragon—for himself. Ash reared up, extending his claws and savagely laying into Stone who was snarling back at him, giving as much as he got. If I didn’t know that they were
friends and this was only training, I’d have been terrified at the beautiful savagery of it. Ally rose a couple of feet from the ground and rained fire down around them, causing Stone and Ash to break apart and fly after him.

  This time, there was no stunning formation flying; they were fighting. Fire filled the sky, bathing it in flashes of warm red and orange. Even though they were quite a way above me, I could still feel the heat of their breath as they blew fire at each other. One of the brothers caught Ash square on in a burst of flame. Fear coursed through me as I stood up, peering into the fiery sky. I had to use my hand to shield my eyes but I saw him fly through the fire as if it wasn’t there. I couldn’t keep my eyes from him and how elegantly he flew, shooting between the two brothers as they both directed another blast of fire at him, accidentally getting each other instead. My heart was in my mouth the whole time that they were in the air, fearing for their safety, and I was glad when they all landed unscathed.

  As they disappeared around the other side of the wall to dress, I realized that they were just like me, like us on the other side of the mountain. They ate together, lived together and trained together in perfect harmony. This new world was so similar to my old one and yet the two were like oil and water and could never mix. The time when I would have to choose between the two was drawing closer and with each passing moment, it was getting more and more difficult to know which decision I was going to make. If Ash had his way, I wouldn’t have to decide at all. Both sides would live in harmony, but it wasn’t just up to Ash.

  As he appeared, fully clothed and completely burnfree from the side of the wall, I ran to him, determination coursing through me.

  “We need to make this work!” I said, causing a look of confusion to appear on Ash’s face.

  “Make what work?”

  “This!” I said breathlessly, indicating first myself, then him. “Us. All of us. I want to help the dragons!”

  “You’re already doing just that by being here and letting them see you mean no harm.”

  “We have to tell my family the truth but I don’t know how. I don’t want to hurt them.”

  “I know you don’t. Neither do I. Come on, let’s go home.”

  I held his hand. Something had changed within me. Maybe it was the kiss or maybe it was watching him and his friends train, but when he said we were going home, I knew that that was what this place was beginning to feel like.

  Chapter Eleven

  Someone yelling woke me early from my slumber. I’d slept like a log compared to the previous night, and the fear-filled nightmares I’d experienced the night before had been replaced by much happier dreams. My heart was filled with wonder and even the commotion outside my window and the noisy awakening could not dampen my spirits.

  I dragged myself out of bed as the noise got louder. The night before, I’d asked Edeline if I could borrow some clothes and she’d graciously lent me some of hers. I pulled on a green summer dress which was only slightly too large for me and opened the balcony doors to see what was happening. Looking down to the campfire, I could see many of the dragons I’d already met, some in human form and some in dragon form, plus a few I didn’t recognize. They were definitely arguing but from this height, I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  I picked Ash out in the crowd. He was talking to one of the dragon men I’d seen around but not spoken to. When I saw the look on Ash’s face, I knew something bad was happening. The man he was with waved his arms animatedly and looked angry. Ash was trying unsuccessfully to placate him, but there was a sadness I’d not seen before on his face. Even at this distance, I could tell that he was upset.

  I ran down the stairs calling for Edeline and Lucy, but the only one who answered was Firecracker who bounded up to me with a woof and a wagging tail.

  I patted her on the head absentmindedly.

  “Not now, girl. Do you know where your mistress is?”

  Firecracker responded with another bark.

  I patted her once again and left the house to find out what was going on, making sure she was safely shut inside. There were so many people that it was impossible to see what had happened, but I could see the man prodding Ash in the chest angrily by the side of the cliff. No one had noticed me; they were all consumed by whatever it was that had happened, so I took the opportunity to sidle along the edge of the cliff to better hear.

  When I was almost upon them, the angry man turned and saw me.

  “You!” he roared. His voice was so loud it was enough to make everyone else silent. “This is your fault!” He turned his attention away from Ash and walked toward me, his face set in an angry grimace.

  I couldn’t help but hold my breath as he approached with angry strides. I had no idea what I had done but whatever it was, I’d made this man extremely angry. I’d spent the whole evening in my bedroom alone so I couldn’t for the life of me think what it might be.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” he shouted. His face was incandescent with rage, and he was pointing his finger at me. I took a step back, hitting the base of the cliff. With the rock wall behind me, I was trapped. The man was one of those that had hugged me just a day ago. What could I possibly have done to evoke such anger in him within the last twelve hours? He prodded me in the same way I’d just watched him do to Ash.

  “Leave her alone, Bill. She had nothing to do with it and you know it.” Ash came up behind him and grabbed his arm, swinging him away from me. Bill pulled his other arm back as if to strike Ash, but he was too quick. Ash ducked and then spun, kicking Bill down into the dusty ground in much the same way I had done to him yesterday.

  “If you touch her again, you’ll get worse than that,” said Ash, his own anger evident.

  Bill turned and spat at the ground. “Just get her away from me and out of my sight.”

  “What’s happening?” I asked fearfully. Everyone was looking at us, some of them with the same anger Bill had displayed, others only looking upset. Lucy had tears in her eyes.

  “I’ll tell her,” said Ash to the others. To me, he simply said, “Follow me.”

  He took me back to the training ground where I had kissed him just a day ago. It had been the most wonderful day and yet here we were the next morning, and I knew that Ash was going to tell me something I didn’t want to hear.

  “What is it?” I looked into his pained eyes and held my breath.

  “Stone was killed last night.”

  My hand flew to my mouth in shock as I gasped at the news. I could barely take it in. He’d been so vibrant and full of life.

  “What happened?”

  “He decided to go out to the other side of the cliff. Julianna, he was killed by one of the men in your village. A slayer murdered him.”

  I could barely comprehend what he was telling me and yet he had no reason to lie. One of my friends had killed him. One of my family even. I didn’t need to ask what had become of his body. It would be taken into the village like all the others. The ones that were killed on special days, the first kills, were always taken to the village green where their body would be displayed whilst the village partied around it. It had never occurred to me to find out what happened to the bodies after that. Nor had I ever asked what had happened to the bodies of the dragons killed on the non-special days. They were probably left to rot somewhere on the outskirts of the village. Stone was dead and I didn’t even know where he would be buried. I had never felt so utterly dreadful in my whole life.

  I felt eyes bore into me and as I turned, my eyes met Ally’s as he stood by the campfire. The others had gone back to crying and arguing and hugging each other, all of them dealing with the news of Stone’s death differently, but Ally just stood there. He didn’t look angry, just sad and lost, like a man who had misplaced his shadow.

  I’d only met him the day before but he looked diminished without his dark-skinned twin next to him.

  There was nothing I could do to bring his brother back to him and nothing I could say that would make this
right, but as I looked at him, I tried to convey how sorry I was and how much my heart was breaking for him.

  Edeline appeared then, wrapping her arms around him, and his eye contact with me broke.

  I turned back to Ash and it was as if the dam inside me cracked. Tears fell onto the parched ground. Everything I had learned within the last few days had not prepared me for this moment. Even though I knew that my people had killed hundreds of dragons over the years, Stone’s death finally made it real. Ash’s arms circled around me as I cried. My body was wracked with quiet, anguished sobs. There was nothing I could do to make this better. My head filled with memories of easy-going Stone, how cute and how funny he had been. I couldn’t believe it was only yesterday we had all sat around this very stone ring and I’d watched him train with Ally and Ash.

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured almost inaudibly. My face was buried in his chest. His arms tightened around me, making me feel safe. A feeling I had no right to have.

  “Don’t apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “But Stone—”

  “Stone shouldn’t have even been on that side of the mountain. He knew the risks and chose to ignore them. We only go over there when we need to. Most of the time it’s only to keep a look out, and even then we try to keep as far away from the slayers as possible. He was a grown man, and the decision that cost him his life was ultimately his.”

  “You didn’t stay far away from me as possible,” I said, remembering just how close he’d flown to me the day I had first walked up the mountain.