Donnovan pointed at a spot on the ground and yelled over the wind whipping through his hair. Draco nodded his great head and dove suddenly. A high-pitched scream tore from Donnovan, and he clung to Draco’s scaly neck.

The dragon seemed to be weakening quickly, as he had been weaving around in the air like a drunken sailor on shore. Donnovan gave the dragon maybe two or three hours tops if they didn’t stop and rest. He knew Draco’s wound was still bleeding through the giant leaves he’d used as bandages last time they stopped.

It had been an hour or so since they left the swamp, and now that he had his bearings, it would only be a few more hours before they reached the spot where his village should be. If the village wasn’t there, Kane would die.

They approached the land far too quickly, and Donnovan braced himself as the dragon came to a rough understanding with the ground. Draco let out a high-pitched yelp as he hit, something Donnovan never thought he’d hear from a dragon. Then again, it was Kane too, not just Draco. Who could say which made that noise?

***

Donnovan rolled off as Kane returned to his human form. The leaves they’d fashioned into bandages fell away, allowing the moss underneath to fall off too. Kane clutched at his legs, clamping his teeth down on a scream. Pain rolled through him. His whole body was bursting into flames as his dragon half and human half warred with the poison in his system.

“Can’t do this much longer.” He panted, collapsing to the ground.

“The village shouldn’t be more than a few hours from here. Can you fly that far, or do we need to walk?” Donnovan knelt next to his friend and began repacking the wound with moss.

“Can’t shift again…” He gasped. “Draco says… die.” He closed his eyes, heaving in short breaths in an attempt to get air into his lungs.

Donnovan gave him a curt nod. “We’ll walk then.” He hauled Kane to his feet. “You can lean on me. And if you can’t walk further, I’ll carry you. But I’m not leaving you.”

“May…have…to.” Kane bit into his lip, drawing blood as he clenched his teeth.

“No.” Donnovan grabbed Kane’s arm and pulled it over his shoulder. “I won’t leave you.” He growled.

Picking up all of the packs, he threw them over one shoulder and started to help Kane to move forward.

***

Donnovan stumbled into the clearing, an unconscious Kane slung over his shoulder. His eyes took in the crumbling houses that had once housed his people. The streets were empty, and no birds chattered in the foliage overhead.

Cracked pots lay strewn in the dusty road, and nothing stirred.

Donnovan set Kane onto the ground as gently as he could before he too collapsed to the dust. He lost it. Tears leaked down his cheeks and loud sobs wracked his frame. His people were gone, Kane was dying, and he couldn’t get to his father. He’d done nothing but fail on this mission, and he had no way of making it right now.

“I’m sorry. So sorry.” He closed his eyes and hung his head, digging his fingers into the thick dust on the road. Hot, large tears fell into the dirt, making wet patches on the road where he knelt and wept. “I failed you all.”

His heart clenched in his chest, and he held tightly to the pendant his mother had given him, trying to anchor himself in reality. The loss of everything he had left swept over him like an ocean wave, picking him up and covering him.

Hopelessness surged over him, and he shuddered, dragging in a breath. The overwhelming silence of the place only haunted him worse, and he bowed down in the dirt, burying his face in his arm. Just as a drowning man could make no sound, Donnovan could say nothing more as he lay there beside his friend, at the end of his rope and alone.

His soul filled with darkness and inside he was screaming out for help. Wailing for anyone to reach out and save them before it was too late. But no one came for them. Through tear-filled eyes, he stared at his friend’s prostrate form.

Kane’s eyelids fluttered as he regained consciousness an hour after he had passed out. He looked confused, and Donnovan watched him, unable to stop the silent flood of tears.

“Donnovan? Why are you crying? What is this place?” Kane grabbed Donnovan’s arm weakly.

All Donnovan could do was shake his head.

Kane lay there on the ground, watching Donnovan sob. “This is where they were supposed to be, isn’t it?”

Donnovan nodded, standing and turning away. With a croak, he finally managed a few words. “I’m sorry.”

“You did your best.” Kane whispered. “Leave me and try to get to your father.”

Donnovan turned to Kane, his dirty face streaked with white lines from his tears. “Don’t you get it?” He asked, voice hoarse. “I can’t get to my father. I needed the elders to do that!”

Kane sighed. “Just try. Think of him… and maybe you’ll be a-able to use the shadows to g-get to him… Worth a try. Perhaps your love… for him… can break the bridge no one else can.” Kane whispered.

“I don’t love him.”

“Did… once.” Kane coughed.

“I can’t find that again. He destroyed me.” Donnovan spat.

“Then…” Kane’s voice failed, but he tried again, forcing more strength and consistency into his voice. “Then let me die. And know you failed as a coward… because… you didn’t… try.” Kane’s eyes filled with tears as he turned his face away from Donnovan.

“You don’t mean that.” Donnovan’s voice cracked. “You don’t really mean that.”

“I… do.” Kane gasped, curling into a ball against the fever in his body.

“I’ll try.” Donnovan whispered. “But I don’t think I can do it.”

“You don’t need to… believe… I do.”

With a nod, Donnovan closed his eyes, allowing the tears to fall as he focused on his father. He focused on all the happy days they’d spent together before his father knew what they were. Summoning the shadows, he tried to cross to wherever his father was imprisoned.

The shadows immediately dispersed. He slammed his fist into the ground with a shout.

“Try…again.”

“It’s no use. I focused on him and all the good memories I have left. The shadows even deserted me.” Donnovan yelled. “Everyone deserts me.”

Kane stared at him.

“My father hates me and preferred banishment to being my father. My mother ran off without a real goodbye or an explanation. Ry’s been stolen by some freak. You’re dying.” Donnovan whispered. “Everyone I love leaves me.”

“Find your father, and I won’t die.” Kane murmured.

“Don’t you see? I’m a failure, Kane. I’m not a leader. I’m just a weak, broken boy who has been deserted by everyone I looked up to.”

“Well, take a… a step. Make… yourself something… m-more…” Kane moaned and clutched his legs to keep his hands away from his wound. “B-but it’ll b-be too… too late… soon.”

Donnovan shook his head. “How can you even believe in me after all these mistakes?”

“You… said it yourself.” Kane gasped. “E-everyone makes them. L-leaders just get less r-room for… them. Th-they have… have to fix it and… and keep going.”

Donnovan looked away for a moment, and then looked back again. “Fine.” Closing his eyes, he tried a different approach. The good memories seemed surreal to him against the terrible parting they’d had, and perhaps that was the problem. He needed something real to direct him. He went back to the moment when his father told him that Donnovan repelled him. The hurt, the anger, and the bitterness in his heart at the time all swelled to the surface again.

He called the shadows again. This time, they licked at his exposed scrapes and wounds eagerly. They embraced him, and when he opened his eyes, he was in a dark, forsaken land alone.

He looked around at the cracked, black earth beneath him. A mountain in the distance spewed ash and lava into the sky, providing a dim light along with the lightning that crackled in the sky. He had managed to get somewhere, but where?

“You.” Someone spat.

He whipped around to see his father standing behind him. “I hate you.” The first words of his mouth after years of never seeing his father were so full of bitterness that they surprised even Donnovan.

“You hate me? What about all the suffering you’ve caused me these last decades?”

“You broke my family into pieces, stole my childhood, and killed many people I loved dearly.” Donnovan growled. “I’ll kill you for what you did. Because of you, I’ve hidden my heart away from everyone, afraid to love because you hurt me so deeply.”

“You never loved me, and if you could kill me, you would’ve done it already. What do you want?”

“I came here for your help. I’m giving you one last chance to redeem yourself with me. Someone I love dearly is dying, and someone else very close to me is in trouble.”

“Boo-hoo. What do you want me to do about it?”

Tears of rage now dripped down Donnovan’s face as he squared off with his father in the dim red glow from the volcano. Thunder rumbled in the sky as rain began to fall from the sky. “You are the last being known to me who knows all there is to know about possession.”

“I told you long ago that I’d never share those secrets. It’s as evil a thing as you.”

“You are going to tell me, because if you don’t, a lot of good people are going to die!” Donnovan screamed.

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I swear that I will kill you, because I’m not going to save my friend or the woman I love if you don’t tell me. So I might as well take you down for causing all my suffering as a child.” Donnovan snapped. “At least I won’t fail at that.”

“If I do, what do I get?” His father stared at him.

“You get to leave this forsaken place and have a chance to start over. You can leave if you hate the people who’ve taken me in just as much as you hate me. Or you can stay under watch until we can be sure you’re trustworthy. But you better decide quickly.”

His father continued to stare at him in silence for a long while, rubbing his chin. “I’ll help.” His beady eyes narrowed as he peered at his son through his stringy, greasy hair. “But if you double cross me, I’ll kill you before you can retaliate.”

Donnovan didn’t respond. Instead, for the first time since the battle so long ago, he reached out and took his father’s blackened hand in his. Closing his eyes, he pulled them through the shadows and back to Kane.

***

When Donnovan came out of the shadows, Kane had passed out again and was shaking from fever. His eyes moved rapidly under his closed lids, and he was screaming in his sleep. His limbs jerked erratically, and Donnovan felt his heart fall as he realized that Kane was on death’s threshold.

“We need to go back to the dimension I came from now.” Donnovan yanked his father forward and grabbed Kane’s hand with a tight grip. Closing his eyes, he called the shadows to take them back to West Base, all the while praying that Kane would pull through.