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The appearance of the mountain, although smaller compared to others, still felt large and brooding. The serrated and uneven rocks were daunting and obtrusive.
I was determined to find the egg.
“Damian and Belle, see anything?” I asked, my eyes peeled to each specific tree and boulder surrounding the areas, and the crevices between the rocks in the mountain.
“Nas2,” they both said as we swooped around the mountain. We spotted the men climbing up it: they were grabbing onto the jagged rocks, gaining momentum as they moved onward. They were strong and quick, making it to the peak of the mountain that held a flat ledge with more greenery, bushes, boulders, and trees.
“It has to be on the top,” I said, watching their confidence as they made their way up. Fear washed over me, the need to find the egg before the men surged through my veins. What if one of them were also Scalekind and able to see the egg? We had to find it, and we had to find it now.
Belle swooped as she made her way to the top of the island, perching down near a clump of trees filled in with boulders and green vines that draped around them, covering their exteriors.
The altitude was making me ill, the air feeling heavy, difficult to breathe in.
The sun sprinkled the sky with a ray of light that filtered through pastel colors of pink, orange, and a dim yellow. A wild breeze scraped across my face as my eyes desperately searched for any sign of the golden egg.
The vision of the greenery was overlooking the entire ocean and the forests in the distance. The wind was wilder, being higher up. My hair flipped from side to side, having a mind ofits own. The sun rose above the vast waters, warming my wind-stricken cheeks and arms.
“Aurelia! Raicena3!”Belle’s voice was loud and clear in the scaled language, telling me she saw the relic. I looked around, trying to find her.
Scanning my surroundings, I concentrated to see where the egg could be. What did it look like? Belle knew that it was here. The greenery peaked with bright colors, shining in the bright sun. Different shades of green from the plants and bushes overflowed the peak of the mountain, making it nearly impossible to find the egg with only a couple of glances. It could be anywhere.
I looked around to find where it could be. The summit of the island was bare, with jagged rocks and a few trees. I was confident that few would actually be able to see the egg that could so easily be spotted. A glint of gold caught my eye as I focused on a rock protruding from the ground, green moss of fronds hugging the outer layer. Something gold was embedded in one of the cracks.
The egg.
The surface of it was ancient, engraved with patterns, and etched with a deep gold color.
Belle's claws thudded against the ground, sending a plume of dirt swirling into the air as Damian and I swung down from her back.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” I rapidly spun to find a tall and slender man, a black cloak draped over his shoulders, across his body. His long purple nails, reaching out like small talons, brushed over the hood of his cape, unveiling the hood down from covering his silver hair fixated with purple streaks. He had a long scar that stretched over his face from the top of his forehead to the tip of his lip. His aura of power flowed over the space, suffocating all hope inside of me.
Three men loomed behind him, swords that glistened in the morning rays were clenched in their hands, their stances ready to attack if needed.
Who were these men? What did they want?
“Tybalt. Leave her alone,” Damian breathed heavily out, warning the men.
“You know these men, Damian?” I asked, my mouth agape. What did they want? How did they know that we were here?
“Damian, we had a deal,” Tybalt said.
“Damian, what is he talking about?” I managed to get out. His mouth was silent, his gaze distant. “Damian!” I shouted, trying to get hold of his attention.
“Tell her,” the man said with a growl. Damian’s eyes still glanced at the floor. He peeled them up, stealing a look at my face. His face looked sunken, disappointed. The man took note that Damian still wasn’t saying anything. He repeated his words, his voice louder and heavier in the air. “TELL HER!”
Tears formed in my eyes at the understanding that Damian was keeping something from me. He had been lying all along, and I just proved to be a naïve girl by letting him join me.
All the feelings that I had for him drained like the golden blood from my veins. Except this time he put the knife to my flesh himself.
“I made a deal with the sorcerer if I brought you…” his voice wavered and trailed off. He still couldn’t look me in the eyes, which was unlike him. “Which you knew, but… Trust me! I didn’t realize that he would still come. That he would follow us. I promise, Aurelia. I wasn’t going to do this to you!” Usually, he was full of force and stature, putting himself out there like he had all the strength in the world. But this time, he was different. There was genuine pain that melted in his words.
The man talking to Damian turned around, looking at the other men with him, and then it made sense. I saw the top of the skull tattoo on his back, peeking through his cloak.
It was the same one that Nana had.
Magic from the Old Religion.
“You were going to let them kill me?” I shouted, anger rising in my throat, realizing that this was the sorcerer he had contracted himself to. Flames started to bounce across my hands, flickering into the air, matching the sunrise behind me. “You brought them here?”
