Chapter Fifty-Six

Poppy

The next morning I went for a walk around the kingdom with Selena. Daegal was with the warriors attempting to get stakes ready to kill Kelli when she showed up.

I let myself relax into the gentle breeze while ignoring the pain in my lower back. Who knew a baby would hurt your back so badly?

Selena stopped at a bench positioned near the forest. “Take a seat, Poppy. You’re not supposed to be on your feet for so long.”

I avoided the eye roll I wanted to give her and adjusted the long, stretchy summer dress I was wearing. It was one of the only things I had in my closet that fit since Selena couldn’t afford a trip to Earth being Kelli was so close.

“One of the dragons said he would make me a crib by hand. Daegal asked him yesterday afternoon.”

Selena smiled. “That’s nice of him. It won’t be as fancy as something from Earth.”

“I don’t care about fancy. You should have seen my apartment before I was pulled into this realm.”

Selena laughed and then turned serious. “Do you miss Earth? You’ve been through a lot here. Do you wish Daegal wouldn’t have pulled you through?”

I had thought about that several times over the last few weeks. If I was on Earth, I would still be writing, which was my passion. However, I wouldn’t know Daegal. This was where God wanted me. I was positively sure of it.

Rain or shine. I was here because of fate.

“I’m where I’m supposed to be,” I said.

Selena did not pry. It was one thing about her that I enjoyed. Her silence made it easy to be around at times. Especially, the tough times when I just wanted to sit in my self-pity.

“I think we should get you back for lunch,” she said, standing up after a few minutes.

I stood to my feet, my ankles were more swollen than the day before, and I sighed. “This baby got heavy, quickly. I reached down and pulled up on the bottom of my stomach for relief.

My walk was beginning to waddle and it made me laugh.

Selena stopped after several minutes on our path and put her arm out in front of me. I stopped with her, thinking I would feel the ground shake like Daegal, but I didn’t.

“I don’t feel anything,” I whispered.

She dropped her arm. “It’s probably my imagination.”

We continued down the path, growing closer to the front steps of the castle. I listened to the sound of dragon wings in the sky, and the warriors pushing down trees to use to make stakes.

I couldn’t imagine how many they would make out of one tree. How many did they think we'd need?

We made it closer when Selena stopped again, only this time she turned to face the forest we’d just walked from. “I hear something,” she whispered.

I looked over my shoulder at the silent path we’d just walked down. It was to the left of the castle and was only half a mile long. “I don’t hear anything,” I mumbled, but that didn’t mean much.

Selena searched the tree line for something I couldn’t see and sighed again. “Maybe I’m going crazy. I keep feeling like she’s going to show up in front of us.”

She turned again, but this time, I heard it.

A low growl. I stopped and followed her line of sight behind me. The beast walked on all fours like a dog. He looked thin with grayish fur and red eyes. It looked like a deranged dog from a child’s nightmare.

“What is that?’ I asked.

“A hellhound,” she whispered. “Stay behind me.”

She did not have to ask me twice. I maneuvered behind her as she backtracked toward the castle. There weren’t too many dragons out and about because of the circumstances, so we were the only two on this side of the courtyard.

The hellhound crouched when he walked like a lion on his prey, which was fitting since I imagined we were his prey.

Then another walked out of the woods, and then another.

My heartbeat thumped in my chest, so hard I couldn’t hear anything else around us. Selena continued to back up toward the front door.

But I had a feeling if I ran, they’d catch me in two hops with those long legs. “Don’t run,” she whispered. “They’re prewired to chase you.”

“Good to know, because I was about to do just that.”

We continued to walk backward and I noticed the side of the castle from the side of my eye. We were almost there.

They must have sensed my excitement because the one in front jumped toward us. A shriek slipped from me, as Selena hit it in the chest with a beam of light.

It fell to the ground, but immediately got back up as if she hadn’t blasted it in his chest. Selena began to toss energy like baseballs at the hellhounds. They took the hit like I imagined a lion would, and continued toward us.

I cradled my belly in my palm when I felt the wind pick up and two dragons landed on either side of us.

The hellhounds didn’t sense them as a threat, and I didn’t appreciate their brazenness. The dragons hit them with a stream of fire until they all three fell to the floor and withered into ash.

I sighed heavily and Selena turned to thank the dragons. "Thank you," she said.

“That was close,” I whispered.

“We’re okay,” she said. "We're fine."

She seemed to be telling herself and not me. She walked me toward the front porch and then I heard it again.

Only this time, it was the sound of thunderous feet fleeing toward us. I looked over at the nearest hill and the horses were running for their lives.

What topped the hill stalled my heart.

Thousands of hellhounds.

One of the two dragons picked me up in his arms and carried me to the front door. “Get to the top floor now.”

Selena slid into the crack of the door as I shut it, and ushered me up the stairs. “Third floor,” she said. “Last bedroom.

I hurried upward, my toe caught on one of the stairs and I caught myself on my palms. “What’s going on?” Melinda yelled from the kitchen.

“Hellhounds,” Selena yelled, helping me up. “Get up high.”

A pot clanked against the tile and Melinda rushed through the swinging door toward us. We climbed the second set of stairs and I heard something hit the castle door.

Fear laced my spine.

They were coming for me.

Growls and howls of pain sounded from the courtyard. It wasn’t until we made it to the last room, and Selena opened up the window that we realized the reality of it.

There were more hellhounds than dragons. They jumped up with attempts to bite the dragons’ feet and were sprayed with fire.

The entire field was one big blur of gray and black. They were everywhere. “What if they get inside?” I asked.

Selena looked at Melinda and they began to shove furniture in front of the door. So much so that we were trapped in the corner by the opened window by the time they finished. “We’ll be fine,” Melinda said, rubbing my back.

The thundering sound of wings neared the window, and Daegal flew in front of it. I met his emerald gaze that was full of fury with my fearful one.

“You’re going to be okay,” he said.

He shot forward and began to spray the hellhounds with fire. They were dying, but it seemed like more and more showed up in their place.

Kelli was hell-bent on ruining Daegal’s kingdom.

I wasn’t sure she’d ever stop with the madness until someone drove a stake through her heart. For a brief moment, I wished I was a dragon, so it could be me who did it.