AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Heartrender
My eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness of the chamber, and the smell of iron filled my nose. Argen and Autumn sucked in sharp breaths, and I glanced at them to see what had caught their avid attention. My eyes finally landed on something massive at the back of the chamber, taking deep, even breaths.
It was a creature of dull ebony and striking silver with scales comprised of armor plates. Forged from bleak darkness and perfectly folded metal, it had a tail of iron spikes and two similar horns on its head. It looked like a dragon but… made of dwarven metal and armor.
Argen shook his head and backed away a step with his ax raised. “An iron dragon! We canna kill an iron dragon!”
“This is pointless.” I hissed, grabbing Autumn’s arm as she clutched her bow. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” I tugged at Autumn, but she didn’t budge. “Autumn, move!”
Autumn stood rooted, staring at the creature that was waking up and lifting its mighty head of cogs and gears, similar to ones found in the dwarven civilization.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I didn’t mean for so much anger and panic to edge my voice, but fear for her safety trumped all propriety.
Autumn calmly glanced at me, slowly meeting my eyes. In hers was something deep, ancient, and powerful. It was startling and sent my heart racing.
“Not everything is about death, Sahlyn.” The voice wasn’t entirely her own.
My mouth slacked open. What the fuck was she talking about?
Then Autumn lowered her bow to the ground and gestured for us to back up.
“Don't you fucking dare—"
She smiled. The damn woman smiled. All glorious sunshine, her eyes alight with joy, and something I did not understand.
“Sometimeslifeis needed to lift a curse.”
What poetic bullshit was she spouting? Panic rose inside me. The fool woman was going to get herself killed, thinking she could talk to a damn iron dragon as she did her jay. I could see it in her eyes, her heart.
“Autumn—"
“Life, Sahlyn. Sometimes life, not death, is the answer. Love, not anger. Joy, not sorrow.”
My eyes darted to Argen, who had stopped twirling his mighty battle-ax, and he set it slowly to the dusty cave floor with a heaving breath. Argen’s eyes were wide and filled with wonder.
What the fuck was wrong with these two?
“Can you feel it?” Autumn whispered as the mighty creature stood with rumbling breaths and clanging armor scales.
I heaved a breath and didn’t lower my sword. The creature's eyes blazed like giant emeralds, riveted on Autumn.
“Feel what?” I hissed.
“The curse.”
“What fucking curse? What are you talking about?”
I was sick to death of curses. This was a giant iron dragon, not a curse. The dwarves had made iron dragons long ago to help haul gemstones and ore from the mines. Dogs, horses, and reindeer had progressed into iron dragons. Coal powered some others by cogs and mechanisms. They were incredible work. I’d seen the drawings and had always been intrigued. I recalled Bereille speaking of them. Had he known this one existed?
Damned to the Underworld, I hadn’t even known dwarves existed until mere days ago, so I was not the best judgment of what could and couldn’t be anymore. Nothing was impossible.
The iron dragon emitted a terrible puff of charred smoke from its nostrils.
Cursed. Was this beast cursed to these catacombs by someone? That seemed unlikely, but Underworld knows itwaspossible. More than likely, the thing got trapped down here and had settled in for the long run. They didn’t need to eat, did they?
Autumn stepped closer, and my heart flopped in my chest. What was she doing?
She slowly took another step.
