Because some arsehole just put a fucking spotlight on our location.
I don’t have enough breath left to scream. I drive my fingernails into the dragon’s wrist and feel him grunt. The monster’s jaw opens wide, revealing rows of spiny, needle-like teeth.
The dragon levels his blade between us and the monster and, suddenly, everything’s clear.
This creature is the dragon’s pair. It must be. It’s almost dragon-like, with its long sinuous body – and he’s using the bladelight to draw its attention.
They’re going to kill me together.
This is it. Grey shadows gather at the edges of my vision. If I wasn’t already under water my eyes would have swum with tears. My life might be a miserable, pathetic thing, but it’s mine. The only thing I’ve ever fought for and won.
The monster’s coils bunch behind it as it prepares to strike. Then the dragon draws me close. He presses his lips against mine and his voice thrums through me:
“Save yourself.”
Before I even realise that this is a kiss, he lets me go.
My legs kick. My arms pump, driving me up towards the surface. Every atom of my being is desperate to fulfil the dragon’s order.
To save myself.
I surface a few feet from the Dome and throw myself onto the ledge, gasping for breath as I haul myself up. There’s just enough room for me to fall on my side and cling there until the world stops spinning.
The water is churning. I stumble to my feet, keeping close against the side of the Dome. I can’t risk slipping off the ledge and back into the sea. I have to keep moving. I have to save myself.
My fingers find holds in the pitted wall. Part of me is amazed at how fast I’m moving. After everything that’s happened, shouldn’t I be in shock? There’s a layer of unreality to the speed and strength of my body as I climb the first few feet up the side of the Dome. I can’t shake the feeling that if I look down, I’ll see myself still huddled on the ledge, helpless and frozen with fear and exhaustion.
But I don’t look down. I can’t. I have to ignore whatever my brain is telling me. I have to save myself.
I have to—
Hang on.
I hesitate. What am I doing?
My eyes track downwards, over my shoulder to where the ocean is boiling with the ferocity of the battle raging beneath. The barest glimmer of light, flickering through the depths like lightning crackling between storm clouds, is all I can see of the dragon.
What is he doing?
I cling to the wall, thoughts battering together in my mind. I thought the dragon was here for me, to take me or to kill me, but now?
“What the hell is going on?” I whisper.
The dragon told me to save myself. And I can still feel the remnants of his command pulling at my limbs, even though I’ve snapped out of the compulsion. He told me to save myself… while he fights the
monster. Giving me time to run away.
That can’t be right.
But I can’t think of any other explanation for what’s happening.
The bladelight stops dancing through the water. Its light dims. The monster rears out of the water, bright red blood staining its teeth. I freeze, but it’s not looking at me. It has its prey already. It doesn’t so much as glance at me before diving back down to finish the job.
I scan the horizon desperately. The dragon’s pair must be here somewhere. I was wrong about the monster being his pair, but he can’t he alone. That’s not how dragons work.
But there’s no one. Nothing. Just the dragon, the sea monster… and me.
And, bobbing in the water at the edge of the Dome, my kayak, with my harpoon lashed to it.