Page 48 of Red Fire
Creed pulls down another small tree using his bare hands. He grunts with the effort, sweat beading on his brow. He carries the tree to the side of the open field, where I am standing, tossing it on the ground with the others. It looks like Creed is building a rudimentary structure made from logs, vines, and branches.
I’ve been watching him work for ten minutes now; something is niggling at me, but I don’t know what it is. My subconscious is trying to tell me something.
I give up trying to figure it out, watching Creed lift another log. He refuses to stop or to talk. Not far from us are sixty-odd dragon shifter males. Most are in human form, but not all of them. All of their eyes are on us…on me, and it’s disconcerting. All except for a small group. I recognize the one dragon. Pyro, I think Creed called him. They are sitting and talking together quietly, away from the commotion. He seemed…normal, for lack of a better word.
Creed grunts as he starts to pick up another log.
“Let me help,” I offer, getting annoyed.
He shakes his head, dropping the log at his feet. “You stand right there where I can see you. This won’t take long. There isn’t much you can do, anyway.”
“Why do we even need a shelter?” I whisper. “The fight is happening today.” I look at my watch. “In two and a half hours, give or take a few minutes. Is a shelter really necessary? You need rest and food and—”
Creed walks over to me. He’s so tall I have to crane my neck to maintain eye contact. He looks angry. “It’s still my job to take care of you, not the other way around.”
I realize that he isn’t angry; he’s worried. This whole thing is far from over. In fact, it’s safe to say that it has only just begun.
A commotion draws my attention back to the group of shifters. Two dragons are fighting over a carcass. It looks like a large deer. It’s all bloodied up. They fight viciously for about ten seconds before one backs off. The dragon stalks to his carcass; he stands over it and snarls at the others before there is a crunch of bone as he starts eating. Another fight breaks out further back on the field.
Nope, it’s far from over.
“It still isn’t safe for you here,” Creed whispers to me.
“There are rules to these games. The winner gets me,” I say. “Surely, no one will try anything until then?” I know I’m wrong even as I say the words. I had hoped.
“Not all of these males are very good at following rules. Some of these shifters are ruled by their dragon side more than their human one. They don’t give a shit about rules or about a death penalty. They’ll take their chances. Most of us are out here because we did something we—”
“Don’t put yourself in that category. You’re nothing like most of these guys,” I say under my breath.
“Sure.” He nods. I can see that he doesn’t agree, but I let it go. “The final bout will take place tomorrow, which means we have to spend a night out here. I want to get a structure up before then.”
I think it would give a false sense of security, but I nod once anyway and then pick up a branch from a grove of trees not far from where we are standing.
“What are you doing?” Creed asks.
“Helping,” I tell him. “It isn’t just you against the world. I’m in this, too. We need to work together.”
He keeps his brown eyes on me for a few long moments and then nods. “Together.”
“Yes, together. I’m sorry I got you into this. And I’m sorry I—”
“You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“Thank you, Creed.” I walk up to him and put my arms around him, hugging him. He doesn’t hug me back. His whole body radiates stress and tension. I feel him tense.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he rasps, peeling my arms off.
“I do. I thought you had died, I—”
“We’ll talk later,” he growls, his eyes on the shifters closest to us.
“Okay…fine.” I look back and many of the men have stopped what they are doing. They’re watching us. I get this cold shiver which races up my spine.
Crap!
I go to find another branch, pulling it to where Creed has started to build the structure. We work in silence for the next half an hour. Creed does most of the work, but I help where I can, helping to tie logs in place with pieces of vine, and dragging the branches to the sides to close up all the holes.
I dust off my hands, feeling proud of what we have achieved. I think I get what Creed was trying to tell me about making something out of nothing.