E R I K

The hunt for a meal has been long and difficult. The deer were few in number thanks to the increasing goblin population. Seeing the destruction they had wreaked on my once-beautiful Kingdom pained me.

Poppy prepared the deer we had caught while Morgan and Rupert slept. I had tried to sleep but found it impossible. The cottage stank of goblins, and my inner dragon struggled to relax. I had to protect Morgan and get her back to the village's safety.

Eventually, I grew tired of trying to sleep, so I got up and sat next to the fire.

Poppy was close by, butchering the deer we had caught. She was working on a shoulder, slicing meat into thin strips and drying them over the fire.

"I saw this in a survival show," she smiled, trying to start up a conversation. "We can dry the meat out like a jerky snack."

I grunted wearily, too tired to make conversation.

"I've made some stew for Rupert and Morgan. I call it Poppy's snow deer stew. It has two ingredients - snow and deer," Poppy said, hanging a strip of bloody meat over the fire.

She stares down at the blood on her fingers and licks her lips. She closed her eyes and sucked the blood off her fingers, and hummed in delight.

"Fresh blood tastes so much better than old blood," Poppy tells me, lowering her voice. "Don't tell Rupert, but the blood he brought me was lumpy."

"Unfortunately, you will be dining on lumpy blood for the next few days. The blasted goblins have all but hunted the deer into extinction in the mountains. Thank the gods that my father and brothers are not here to see this. Their hearts would break if they saw what has become of our lands," I replied.

"We'll get the lands back once Morgan speaks to Ebony," Poppy smiles confidently.

"You seriously can't think it's that simple?" I ask.

Poppy tilts her head at my reply, and for a brief second, I swear her eyes narrow on me.

"I should hope so, considering we are travelling to the Summer Fort - right?" She asked. His bright blue eyes, seemingly innocent and sweet, bored into me.

I looked away and mumbled, "Yes - of course."

"Good, because this might be the only chance of making peace between the vampires and the dragons. Without this peace, the remaining dragons left in the mountains won't have a hope in hell," she said.

Her words puzzle me. They seem innocent enough, but deep down, it feels like a silent accusation - as if she knows I'm leading them to the wrong portal.

Guilt twists and turns inside me. Morgan might never forgive me for taking her back to the village...

I stand up and fake a yawn.

"Perhaps I will try and get some sleep," I say.

Poppy flashes me a smile that doesn't quite touch her eyes. "You should. I'll keep watch while you sleep."

I thank her and head back to my makeshift bedroll next to Morgan.

She burrows into my side as I lay beside Morgan, seeking warmth. I shrug off my shirt, and she presses her freezing hands against my skin. I frown and pull the blankets around her shoulders. I hated that she suffered so badly in the cold.

"My nice hot wheat bag," she murmured into my chest.

I closed my eyes, breathed in her scent and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up in a bright, sunlit room. I saw Rupert and Morgan sitting by the fire, eating Poppy's snow deer stew.

Poppy was perched on a stool in the darkest corner of the room. Dressed from head to toe in black, she looked like an ominous spectre lurking in the shadows.

I rubbed my eyes and noticed the bedrolls, except for the one I was sleeping on, and deer meat were missing.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Morgan said cheerfully.

"We have overslept massively - we should have left well before dawn," I said.

"Relax, Poppy found something that will make our journey a breeze," Morgan said.

"What did she find?" I asked.

Poppy rose from her chair like a Victorian ghost and beckoned me to follow her outside. To my surprise, a large sledge was sitting on top of the snow.

"How did you find a sledge?" I asked in amazement.

Poppy pointed her long black sleeve towards a large hole in the snow.

"I found it last night when I went outside to collect snow for cooking. It was buried deep in snow, but I managed to dig it out," she explained. "I thought we could take turns to pull it."

"Yes, that would be an excellent idea, we could - " I paused as something in the distance caught my attention. I stepped away from the sledge and squinted into the distance. A black swarm of creatures were heading towards us, fast.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. I returned to the house and yelled at Poppy to get onto the sledge.

"What is it?" She called back to me.

"It's a goblin raiding party," I yelled.

I ran back to the cottage and flung open the door. Morgan and Rupert had finished their stew and were in mid-conversation.

"We need to go - now," I said.

"What's wrong?" Morgan asked.

"A goblin raiding party is coming our way. We need to get out of here now," I explained, helping Morgan.

I took her arm and led her outside to the sledge. Rupert followed us close behind. The goblin raiding party was moving fast. There must have been a couple hundred starving goblins running towards us.

"Maybe we should fight?" Rupert suggested.

"There are too many - we would be overrun before we could kill half of them," I said.

We both got behind the sledge and pushed hard. The sledge lurched forward awkwardly.

"Push harder," I yelled at Rupert.

The sledge slowly started to pick up speed, but it was still too slow. We needed to do something drastic. Ahead of us was the mountain trail, but to the left was a steep slope descending down the side of the mountain into thick white fog.

"We need to head down the mountain," I yelled, steering the sledge off the trail.

"Are you crazy," Rupert yelled.

"This will work - I used to do this all the time with my brothers," I said with false confidence. "Get on top of the sledge with the girls and hold on."

Behind me, I could hear the angry jeers of goblins raiders in search of meat. I ran harder, pushing towards the sudden drop.

"Hold on!" I yelled and jumped onto the back of the sledge.

The nose of the sledge hovered over the drop for a split second. Rupert and Poppy started to scream just as the nose dropped and the sledge whooshed down the mountain.

Freezing cold air blasted us as the sledge hurtled down the slope. I unfurled my wings and used them as a windbreaker to slow us down. The sledge was still moving fast, but I felt in control.

The fog at the bottom of the mountain swallowed us up, and the steepness of the slope lessened. The goblins were now far behind us and, thankfully, out of view.

The sledge continued to travel at a steady pace. I straightened up and checked on Morgan, Poppy and Rupert. They were all huddled together in a state of shock.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked.

"I think so," Rupert said weakly.

"I can't see anything in this fog. We should slow down," Morgan complained, clinging to the edge of her seat.

"Relax - I have this handled," I replied.

Morgan shook her head and said, "We are going too fast, and we can't see what is in front of us."

"You should trust in your mate more, my beloved flame. I know what is best for us," I replied smugly.

A flash of irritation crossed her face, and her eyes darted between me and the thick fog in front of us.

"Please. Slow down, Erik," she begged.

"Stop fussing, it will be fine, you are -" My words died in my mouth as we suddenly passed a tree on our left.

The fog started to lift, and we passed more trees as it did.

"Oh shit," Rupert yelled.

I faced forward and saw the sledge heading straight towards an enormous tree's trunk. I spread out my wings and tried to slow the sledge down.

Panic slammed hard into my chest. It was no good. There was no way I could stop the sledge in time. We were going to smash into the tree.

"Jump!" I yelled.

Rupert and Poppy jumped, but Morgan sat in her seat frozen. Her gaze was fixated on the tree in front of us. I yelled at her again, but she still didn't move.

I leapt on top of the sledge and gently pulled Morgan up.

"I'm sorry, I should have listened," I told her, my heart filled with regret.

I picked her up and tossed her off the sledge into the fresh powdered snow.

I went to jump after her, but it was too late.

The sledge slammed into the tree.

I went flying forward into the tree trunk and everything went black.