The Witch's Tower, Tamara Grantham [best ereader for academics TXT] 📗

We ducked as the fire engulfed the room. Heat singed my skin as I rolled behind a pillar. The dragon’s enraged roar pierced the air. I glanced around the pillar to find the dragon had landed on a platform just outside the cavern. Sleek white scales covered its head and neck, though white feathers covered its large, lithe body.

Another burst of fire streamed from the dragon’s mouth. The dwarf cried out, then changed his form to a wolf, loping away as a trail of fire followed. I gripped my dagger, but what good could my blade be against a dragon of that size? Raj crouched near me, his sword held at the ready in one hand, his father’s dagger gripped in the other.

“Can you distract it while I attack?” he yelled over the noise.

“Yes, I think so.” I slung my bag off my shoulder and rifled through the contents, frantically searching for anything that would distract a dragon. I grabbed a vial of crushed Chimera scales and held it at the ready.

“Go when I tell you,” I said.

Raj nodded. The barrage of flames let up for a moment.

“Now,” I yelled.

He jumped from behind the pillar and raced toward the dragon. I did the same, unstopping the cork and flinging the powder in the dragon’s face. The dragon reared back, and Raj rushed at it with his sword, but the dragon whipped around and knocked him back with its tail.

Raj fell back, and I hurried to his side. Blood seeped from a gash in his head. Behind us, the dragon roared. Raj got to his feet, and we rushed behind another pillar as the fire trailed behind us.

Drekken also crouched behind the pillar, cradling his lute, his face pale.

“Drekken,” I yelled. “What are you doing? Play!”

“I-I can’t…”

“Play! Play now!”

“I can hardly move my fingers…”

“Buck up, man!” Raj yelled. “If you don’t play then we all die. Play!”

Drekken nodded, his fingers shaking as he strummed an ill-tuned chord. He played another, then softly picked a tune on the strings. The dragon roared again, though its voice grew more subdued as Drekken’s song continued.

I peeked around the pillar. The dragon shook its head as the music grew louder. Raj crept up on the creature, ready to impale its chest when bright light surrounded it. He fell back as the light blinded him.

I stood beside Raj as the dragon transformed from a beast to the form of a beautiful woman who collapsed to the ground. Breathing heavily, her gown of shimmering white fabric and feathers rose and fell with her inhalations.

Taking a guarded step forward, I tried to make sense of what I saw. The dragon was a shape changer?

Her light blonde hair looked silvery in the faint light as it fanned out around her shoulders and cascaded down her back.

“Ouch,” she said, rubbing her head.

Drekken still played his lute as he walked behind me and Raj. The wolf appeared from behind the pile of coins, his tail singed, but otherwise healthy.

“Who are you?” Raj demanded as he approached, his sword still held at the ready.

She sat up, and I was struck by her flawless skin and almond-shaped eyes. She looked ethereal—a true creature of magic. She narrowed her eyes at us, anger burning in her expression.

“Who am I? Who are you? Intruders? With that horrible music…” She rubbed her head again.

“Horrible?” Drekken said.

“Worse than horrible. Dreadful. Awful.”

Drekken continued playing. “I’ll have you know I’ve outplayed all the minstrels in every tavern of the western lands.”

“Ha! Is that something to brag about? In taverns. Were the others drunk?”

Raj took another step forward. “Who are you?” he repeated.

“No one of your concern,” she snapped back, then glanced at Drekken’s lute. “Though I might be persuaded to speak if he stops with that noise.”

“Will you try to kill us again if he stops?” I asked.

“I promise nothing.” After a pause, she added, “But I couldn’t transform into a dragon again anyway. I’m cursed to stay in this form until morning, so you might as well stop.”

“If you try to kill us again, he will play.”

“I won’t try to kill you again.” She crossed her arms. “I’m useless at slaughtering anyone in this form anyway.”

I looked at Drekken and nodded. He stopped playing, then took a step toward the woman on the ground.

“You’re a dark elf,” he said.

“Am I?” she asked sarcastically. “What gave it away?”

“I thought the shape changers were extinct.”

“They are. All except for me and one other.”

“How did you come to be here?” I asked.

“As I’ve said, that’s none of your business.” She got to her feet and straightened, facing us. An aura of magic radiated around her, persuading me to step away, but I stood tall. “My name is Odette Von Alarissa, reluctant protector of the caverns of Ice Crystal Mountains. You are intruders.”

“We thought we were prisoners. Although…” Drekken looked her up and down, his eyes lingering on her shapely frame, then he slung his lute over his shoulder and plastered on his charming smile. “To be honest, I think I could learn to live with being your prisoner. You’ll get no complaints from me so long as you stay in that form and not the other.”

She rolled her eyes, ignoring him. “You’re prisoners?”

“My aunts’ prisoners,” I clarified. “They sent us here.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Your aunts?”

“Gwynna and Neleia.”

“I see,” she said. “That’s a pity. I couldn’t imagine having them as relatives.”

“I deal with it.”

She walked around us, her bare feet quiet on the stone floor. “You should know I’m also their prisoner. It’s not a situation I’m fond of, especially since I despise the cold. I plan to escape as soon as I can.”

“Why did they imprison you?” Raj asked.

She smirked, and her eyes glittered as if she knew a secret. “That’s a long tale. I’ll have to save it for another time.”

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Too long. Many years. But the question is, why are you here?”

I filled her in on the story of Rapunzel and the shears—how High Sorcerer Varlocke would continue to ravage our world unless we got them and freed Rapunzel and saved Prince Merek.

“The witches would never give you the shears,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Even with the radish to trade. You’ve failed.”

“We haven’t failed yet,” I said.

She turned her sharp gaze on me. “Maybe. They allowed you to live, which they don’t do for anyone—especially for fools like you who choose to come to this gods-forsaken palace.”

“Can you help us?” Raj asked.

She eyed him. “Help you? I help no one. But perhaps we may come to an arrangement. I could aid you, but I have my price.”

“What’s your price?” I asked.

“I want you to help me escape.”

“If we do that, my aunts will kill us,” I said.

“They’ll also kill you for taking their precious shears. Either way, you’re doomed.”

She had a point.

“Do we have an agreement?” she asked.

I glanced at Raj. I half expected him to object, since we’d already helped two pitiful creatures already, but he didn’t speak up, so I took that as his answer.

“Very well,” I said. “We’ll do what we can, but only if you help us find the shears first.”

Her eyes glittered, and I didn’t like the look she gave us. “I give you my promise,” she said.

Could I trust her? I had a feeling she would help us if it meant she was freed of this place, but what