Chapter 5

-Xen-

I scoffed and put my hands on my hips. "That's no excuse. Surely you know why a Dragon would potentially be after you? Were you on the same job or something?" I thought that was the most likely reason, as it had happened to me already.

"He didn't leave a lot of room for talking, " Dag growled out. "Who taught you how to dress wounds?" He had his eyebrows furrowed as he squinted down at his stomach and my hands which were disinfecting the wound.

"Stone," I answered.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Of course, he did, you should've let Ash teach you."

We both shared a chuckle. Ash was good at ignoring wounds and finding other ways to treat them. Her version of Cauterizing was lifting a lighter to the wound.

"We have company," I whispered in his ear, nodding towards Eir. "So be careful what you say."

Dag's eyes widened when he saw Eir's coat and he leaped up, pushing me out of the way. "What are you doing here?" He had a knife in his right hand and my arm in his left. "Speak."

Eir shrugged her shoulders. "Ask Xen. It wasn't exactly on my own accord."

Dag didn't put the knife down, but his glare turned to me. "Why, oh why did you bring a reptile into the house?"

I had to use all my might to resist chuckling at his words. Eir's mouth had opened in protest, but it shut not long after. "She's my current mission. I wasn't instructed on how to take care of it, so I thought I'd try to make the most of the information she may have,"

This time, Eir did laugh. "Oh, so there'll be an interrogation? I'm excited for that to start."

I bit my lip and tried to pull my arm out of Dag's grasp. "I haven't done interrogation before. Ellsworth-"

"-Would kill you if he found out you brought a Dragon home," Dag interrupted. "You might evade all punishment if you just kill her now."

He was probably right, but I wasn't going to let him know that I thought that. "Don't you want to know what's in that safe? Why he hates the Dragons so much?"

"Of course not, that's not my place." Dag took a deep breath. "It's not your place either. We just have to do what we're told."

"Like some sort of servant?" I countered.

"No," Dag denied. His eyes lowered, but the knife didn't. "It's not our place to intrude on his personal life."

"Did you say Ellsworth?" Eir asked, stretching her neck to look at us.

"None of your business," Dag snapped.

"Shame, I would've loved to know who my father talks about constantly."

Eir had both of our attention.

"Your father?" Dag inquired and raised an eyebrow. He stalked closer to her, spinning his knife on his finger. I was surprised at how tough he was acting; his wound still wasn't properly taken care of.

"Yes, my father." Eir rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious?"

I stared at her, trying to figure out what she meant. She was the first Dragon that I had come across, so I didn't have anybody to compare her to. She was a very pretty woman, with crystal blue eyes and flawless pale skin. Her clothes were simple, apart from the dragon scale jacket. Her hair was long and white.

White hair, that was it. "Wait, but that doesn't make sense." I shifted from one foot to another. Dag turned his head to look at me. Eir had a satisfied glint in her wide eyes. "You can't be the leader, so you must be his daughter." I was fairly certain.

"Don't be silly, she can't- oh no she is," Dag said and ran a hand down his face. He backed up a few paces and patted my shoulder. "Congratulations, you kidnapped the daughter of the Dragon's leader."

I was speechless and mortified, maybe a little proud of myself too. I didn't want any of my pride to show. It wasn't something which was frowned upon, but it was pride due to kidnapping someone.

"Yes, congratulations. You won the lottery," Eir drawled. "Interrogate me now, then kill me. What are you waiting for?" Her stare was making me extremely uncomfortable. I felt like she could see every lie I had ever told. It made me shiver.

"Yeah, Xen." Dag turned to me. "Do whatever you planned to do. I'll watch." He shifted around me and sat back on the settee, resuming the treatment of his wounds. "Ash will be here in about twenty minutes."

"You called her?" I asked him, turning my back to Eir. It wasn't a sensible decision, but she was a little tied up right now. "Why?"

Dag glared at me and gave a sarcastic smile. "Because I wanted to make daisy chains with her. I was bleeding profusely and the door to a safe house was locked, why do you think I called her?"

I lifted my hands up in surrender, but a sigh from behind me caught my attention.

"Do you lot always communicate like this?" Eir asked. In any other situation, I would've thought that she was being sarcastic. However, genuine curiosity was thick in her voice. "Sarcasm and jokes?"

Dag didn't make any move to acknowledge her.

"Yeah?" I answered. "We've always joked like this. You don't?" I took one of the chairs away from the dining table and sat a few feet away from her.

She laughed bitterly. "If you were to joke in the Dragon's lair then you may as well take yourself to the dungeon to be eaten by dogs." Her expression had turned dark, just like it had when I first met her.

"There's actually dogs in the dungeon?" I asked distractedly. I had read in one of the files that Jain was fond of dogs and their vicious behaviour.

"Yes, well-selected dogs." Eir kicked out her left food, not coming anywhere near me.

Either way, I scooted my chair back a little bit. "We're not allowed dogs, Ellsworth says we have enough animals in the house."

Dag said nothing but I could feel his eyes creating holes in the back of my head.

"I don't think I understand," Eir admitted. "Not sure if I care to either," she said quickly as my mouth started to open.

I huffed and crossed my arms. "Are we just going to wait in awkward silence until Ash comes?"

"Please," Dag answered. "Awkward silence is better than awkward conversation."

Eir smirked. "Now I want to talk even more. You have good interrogation strategy."

Dag groaned, which caused me to laugh.

"I know right?" I asked Eir rhetorically. "So, what happened to you?" I eyed her side. It wasn't in a creepy way, it was a concerned way. She was in a pretty bad way back in the alley.

"You haven't been kicked in the stomach before?" she asked with a condescending chuckle. "What do they teach you?"

"I'll take that suggestion on board," Dag interjected.

I turned around in my seat to glare at him. "I thought you didn't want to be a part of awkward conversation?"

He just shrugged and nestled in the settee more. "May as well, seeing as you're going to talk."

The door slammed open again and in walked Ash. "The party has arrived," she said whilst pointing a sword in our faces. "Did I miss the main event?" She casually strode towards Eir, freezing mid-step for a moment, before continuing. "We have a pretty one here."

"What was that?" I asked, pointing towards Ash's feet.

"What was what, dearest?" she asked with a sickly sweet smile. Her wide eyes told me to approach with caution.

"You froze, your steps froze." My eyes flickered from Ash to Eir. I turned to face Dag. "Did you see her step falter?"

Dag began to nod, but then quickly shook his head. "No, I didn't see anything."

"She recognises me," Eir stated smugly. "She's cleverer than the both of you."

Ash brushed some hair out of her eyes and pointed towards Eir with her sword. "See, I'm not disagreeing with that last part. But how could I ever recognise you?" Ash's back was turned to me, I couldn't see her face, but her tone seemed neutral.

"I'm tied up in an enemy's lair. You don't frighten me, Ashley." My eyes widened as Dag quickly grabbed Ash's wrist before she could bring her sword down.

"So, you two do know each other," I stated. "I'm assuming that's why Ellsworth didn't want you to know about any of this? And why you're so secretive?" I crossed my arms over my chest as Ash was brought to the settee.

Ash snorted. "No, I'm secretive in a house full of assassins and thieves for the good of my health. Wait, that's not technically sarcasm if it's true. See what you're doing? You're de-Ashing me." She crossed her legs and huffed, the sword still in her hand, despite Dag half-heartedly pulling at it.

It was my turn to snort. "Ash is losing her power of sarcasm, the world is ending."

Eir grinned. "You should've continued your training. Sarcasm is one of the greatest weapons someone like us can have."

Ash sent Eir a stare and raised the sword again. "I know, that's why I use it." She let go of the sword, causing Dag to stagger back a few paces.

"I'm the injured one here, careful." Dag ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'll let Xen pester you about your deep, dark past with the Dragons."

I opened my mouth in shock as he walked over to the bed and flopped onto it.

"You're the injured one, be careful," Ash recited. "We're not talking about my past with the Dragons. That can come later. I don't need to talk about it, and I don't want to." Ash stood up again and pointed to Eir with the tip of her sword again. "You can take my word for it, this is a bad idea."

"It's not like we intentionally kidnapped Jain's daughter," I argued. "We could just let her go back-"

"-no, you can't," Ash interrupted. "What's stopping her from telling her father where we are?"

I opened and closed my mouth a few times. I was completely lost. Regret started to bubble in my chest as I looked at the white-haired Dragon.

"You're my mission. I was sent to kill you." I walked closer to her, leaving a wide-eyed Ash behind. "Tell me why I haven't."

Eir looked up at me through her lashes. "Why ask me? This sounds like some soul-searching is in order." She inhaled deeply and tilted her head to the side. "Unless you are not willing to admit that you find me intriguing. That's the only explanation."

I searched her bright blue eyes for other answers, ones that she was too scared to tell me. I found none.

"What I wouldn't give for this to be easy," I seethed and looked to the ceiling in hopes my prayers would be answered.

"I could make it easy for you," Ash offered.

I turned and glared at her. "No," I replied. I had to figure out what I wanted to do now. I could easily go to Ellsworth and tell him I can't complete the job. He'd be disappointed, but it wouldn't cause me any more worries after doing so.

My prayers were not answered. Actually, it seems as though whatever deity exists had a grudge against me. As an arrow shot through the window, hitting Ash in the shoulder.