M O R G A N

I couldn't believe Erik's stupidity. I stood over his broken body in a complete state of panic. I had no idea if he was alive or dead. My heart was breaking inside my chest. If he is alive, then I would kill him as soon as he woke up - but if he is dead, then I would curl up next to him and die.

I pressed my trembling fingers against his bloody neck in search of a pulse. I held my breath and then began to sob when I felt a weak, thready pulse. He was alive, but barely.

I balled my fists up and pounded the snow next to him.

"I'm going to fucking kill you when we get through this," I cried.

"Jesus," Rupert gasped from behind me, "Look at his poor wings - they are all bent and mangled."

"What are we going to do?" asked Poppy.

"I don't know - it's not like we can call an ambulance or take him to a doctor. Healthcare here is still in the dark ages," I said.

I didn't want to say it out loud, but I wasn't even sure that modern medicine could fix these injuries.

I glanced over my shoulder at sledge tracks that ran down the mountain. I imagined the goblin horde examining the tracks and wondered how long it would take them to follow the tracks down the mountain.

"We need to get out of here," I said softly.

"I agree, but we have no idea which direction the Summer Fort is," Rupert said.

"Let's pick a direction and keep walking until we hit a road or come across a sign," Poppy suggested.

"What choice do we have?" I sighed.

We strapped Erik to a piece of the wreckage we could use as a sledge. We then salvaged what little food and supplies we could from the wreckage before setting off.

The forest loomed before us, dark and unfriendly. I didn't want to dwell on what might possibly live in these woods - goblins, trolls, wolves, or worse. We moved quickly, taking turns to pull Erik.

It was dangerous - the sledge left tracks that would make it easy for anyone to find us. I prayed for snow to fall and cover our tracks. If the snow started to fall, then we could take a proper break - but without fresh snow to hide our tracks, we had to keep pushing forward.

Erik lay strapped to the board, grey and silent. I occasionally pressed my palm against his face to check he was warm. As the day wore on, I couldn't help but feel guilty for what happened. Maybe if I had woken him up earlier, then we would have missed the goblin raiding party.

The forest floor started to slope upwards as we reached the foot of another mountain. We decided to skirt around the bottom of the mountain instead of heading upwards. Lugging Erik's unconscious ass up the side of the mountain wasn't an option.

Snow started to fall as the sun began to sink behind the mountain. The temperature started to plummet, and the darkness made it impossible to see.

"We need to find shelter," I said, turning around and seeing nothing but trees. "Perhaps, if we keep heading in this direction, we'll find something."

I was optimistic, but deep down I knew we were facing miles and miles of endless forest. We continued walking and soon found the forest becomer more dense and wild. Branches and prickly undergrowth scratched at our skin as we tried to move forward.

"Maybe we should go back," Poppy whined.

"The forest will thin out soon," I said cheerfully, trying to keep spirits up.

"This place looks pretty desolate," Rupert added.

A twig to the side of me snapped, and I felt the cold metal edge of knife pressed against my throat.

"Don't move," a low male voice growled.

I froze and swallowed hard. To the right of me stood a dark figure wearing a heavy woolen cloak. He lifted his hand and made a signal. Suddenly, the trees around us started to rustle as half a dozen men and women appeared carrying torches.

I was happy they weren't goblins - but I wasn't sure if they were vampires.

One of the women drew close to Erik, and I completely forgot about the knife pressed to my throat. They waved the torch in front of him and made a gasping sound.

"Is that?" she whispered.

I stepped in front of her and said, "Don't touch him - he's injured."

"That's our bloody King. What are you doing with him?" She demanded.

I blinked, confused by her question. What did she mean our King?

I looked at her again and noticed the pair of dragon wings carefully concealed beneath her heavy cloak. Holy shit - they were dragons. These were Erik's people who were being hunted by the goblins. Relief washed over me. Surely, these dragons would help us.

I started to explain what had happened.

"We were travelling with him when we run into a goblin raiding party - " my words died on my lips as the woman withdrew a long sword from beneath her cloak.

Her eyes narrowed on me and she pointed the tip of the blade over my heart.

"Am I the only one who finds it odd that our King who has been missing for years, has suddenly turned up in the company of two vampires," she asked, looking towards Poppy.

Poppy scowled at the woman.

"I'm not really a vampire," she said cheerfully. "I'm a dragon like you."

"An unlikely story," the woman replied sourly.

She looked across to the man standing behind me with a knife at my throat. "General, I believe these are vampire spies who have captured and tortured our King. They are most likely travelling to the Summer Fort to deliver our King to the Mad Prince."

The General rubbed his chin thoughtfully and nodded in agreement.

"I believe so, Captain. We will take the King back to our camp to see the healer," he said.

"What should we do with these vampire spies?" the Captain asked.

"We will take them back to camp as well and burn them at the stake. The people could do with a good execution to lift their morale," the General replied.

The blood drained from my face. Oh shit, they were seriously planning to burn us at the stake. I gazed down at Erik. He needed to wake up now and stop this.

"Erik," I called out to him. "Tell these nice dragons that we are your friends."

The Captain scowled at me and then snapped her fingers. Two men lunged at Poppy, grabbing her roughly and pushing her to the ground. She screamed for help, which sent Rupert into a frenzy. He ran at the men, jumping on top of them and clawing at their backs.

I tried to step around the Captain to help Rupert, but she stood in my way with a smarmy smirk on her face.

"Erik will fucking kill you when he wakes up," I snapped.

"I doubt it," she replied dismissively.

The Captain removed her leather gloves and knelt down in front of Erik. She gently framed his unconscious face with her hands, and tenderly swept her thumb over his cheek.

I stepped forward, fury burning through me. How dare she touch my mate. But before I could reach her, the General's hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of my hair. I yelped in pain as he roughy yanked me by my hair back to his side.

"Where do you think you are going?" he growled into my ear.

I swallowed hard. I had to do something quick.

Three men dragged Rupert away from Poppy. He fought wildly to get back to her, his wings flapping angrily. Poppy lay still on the ground, looking up at me with fear in her eyes.

"The poor bastard has been enthralled by the vampire whore," the Captain said about Rupert. "Don't worry, lad. Once the vampire bitch is dead, you'll be free of her magic."

"Don't you dare touch her," I said in low threatening voice.

The Captain arched her eyebrow.

"Or what will you do?" she asked.

I stretched my hand out and pointed it towards the men who were on top of Poppy. Bright blue flames erupted from my fingertips, engulfing my entire hand in spirit fire.

A collective gasp tore through the dragons, followed by panicked mutterings.

"That's fox flame," one man muttered, cowering away from me in fear.

The Captain's smirk disappeared and was replaced with a panicked expression. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the blue flames coming from my hand.

"That bitch is the Fox," the Captain said to General. "Don't let her burn me! DO SOMETHING!"

The General let out a string of curses behind me. He dropped the knife from my throat and panicked. The Captain continued to scream at him - and so did everyone else.

I flipped around to face him. Rage burned through me. I wanted to hurt him. The blue flames in my hand grew bigger and I reached for him. The General moved quickly. He raised his knife and struck me against the head with the blunt hilt.

I collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness instantly.