WarMage: Undeniable (The Never Ending War Book 4)

by Martha Carr

  “No.”

  “I hope they got out okay. I can’t see if their houses was struck by the fire—”

  “Raven.” He said it so sharply that she stopped and looked at him with wide eyes.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can smell it.”

  “Smell what?” I only smell smoke.

  Leander lowered his head and scanned the burning dragon paddock. A low, terrifying growl of warning rose from his throat. “Hatred and fury.”

  Raven swallowed. “From the dragons?”

  “No. Something…else.”

  She stepped closer to reassure herself with her hand on his warm shoulder. “Do you think it’s the—”

  A high-pitched dragon’s scream ripped through the air, followed quickly by two more. The other beasts shrieked, bellowed, and called, but the single-voiced screams seared through all of it.

  “She needs help,” Leander muttered and curved his long neck to lower his head beside his shoulder.

  “Right.” Raven took a few steps back, ran toward him, and leapt. His boost up was as effortless as ever, and the red dragon was airborne before she’d had a chance to sit. What was left of the burning stables crumbled beneath a gust of wind that sprayed sparks and smoke in his wake.

  The young mage crouched low atop her dragon’s back, ready to steady herself with her hands against his neck if she had to. She stepped a little farther back with one foot to improve her balance and quickly scanned the chaos beneath them. We’re looking for a dragon who needs help. That might be all of them at this point.

  “There.” Leander dove and she did have to press her hands against his scaly hide to avoid being blown off his back.

  They landed at the other edge of the paddock and inside the fence, where a small, dirty-white female screamed repetitively. The toolshed on the other side of the fence had fallen on her and pinned down her splayed wing and most of her tail. What could knock a whole building down like this?

  She leapt from Leander’s back and raised her hands as she approached the terrified dragon slowly. “We’re here to help you out of here, okay?”

  The beast screamed again and bucked beneath the weight of the shed. In the flickering light of the fire, Raven saw the coiled wire that had wound around the dragon’s leg and now squeezed tighter and tighter the harder she struggled.

  “Stop kicking. That only makes it worse.” She took another cautious step forward. “We can get you out of here, but I need you to—”

  The young dragon screamed again and fought even harder to escape. A clan of Haverson dragons stampeded across the field behind Raven and Leander. They collided with each other and breathed their own bursts of fire in their confusion. That’s really not helping.

  “I’ll try to lift this…shed off you, okay?”

  The dragon stopped flailing for a moment and stared at Raven with wide silver eyes. Her sides heaved and nostrils flared as she snorted with each rapid breath. She opened her mouth again for another cry, but Leander stepped forward quickly and lowered his huge red head to hers until their muzzles almost touched.

  “Be still.” He snorted in her face, and the young dragon closed her eyes against his hot breath. Her head trembled at the end of her long, stretched-out neck, but she let him nudge her gently and finally found enough comfort to do as she was told.

  “Thank you.” Raven meant it for both dragons, and she stepped around the small white beast toward the crushed wing. The fallen building groaned and shuddered when she tried to lift the corner. “It’s too heavy. Leander, can you—”

  “Yes.” The second he stepped away from the trapped dragon, the smaller creature began to scream again.

  “Never mind!” she shouted. “Keep her still. I’ll find a way.”

  Leander knocked his head against the young female’s, his nudge both a comfort and a warning now. “Don’t make it worse.”

  She fell still, and Raven took a step back and reached toward the heavy beams that pinned the young dragon’s wing. “This might be a little loud. Ecflicto!”

  The brilliant white streak darted from her hand, impacted with the fallen debris, and shattered it into dozens of smaller fragments in an instant. Alessandra doubled up the magical armor on those dummies!

  The young female shrieked and lifted her wing free of the debris. It fluttered limply at her side as she kicked and struggled to escape from the wreckage.

  “Wait, wait! Slow down!” Raven raised her hands to get the dragon’s attention, but the screaming started again. “You’re still caught—woah!” The mage ducked beneath the quickly strengthening wing as it whipped through the air over her head. “Leander, don’t let her—”

  “Be still!” Leander roared and swung his powerful neck against the little female’s shoulders. He stepped closer and loomed over her to almost pin her beneath him.

  “Okay. Good.” Raven stepped lightly behind the dragon and bent toward the rear leg wound tightly in wire. Somewhere across the paddock, another burning building caved in and the dragons renewed their terrified uproar. I didn’t know dragons could lose their minds like this. It doesn’t matter if they are trained or wild.

  She found the thin wire quickly and grimaced. It had coiled so tightly that it pierced the tough scales. Dark rivulets of blood dribbled down the dragon’s leg. Raven sighed heavily and drew her dagger from her boot. It’s worth a try.

  The blade was useless until she remembered one of Connor Alby’s minor tricks. She lifted the dagger to her lips and muttered, “Acuite.”

  It flashed a silver light and the young mage lowered it to the wire again. She only had to saw back and forth twice before the wire snapped. “There! You got—”

  A dirty-white tail thumped against her shoulder and she tumbled back. Leander reared to check on her, and the young female screamed again as she scrabbled to find purchase in the grass. She leapt and darted forward to drag herself free from the rest of the debris before she stumbled across the field and right into a massive wall of smoke.

  “Did she hurt you?” The red dragon prodded the back of Raven’s shoulder with his snout.

  “Not really.” She eyed the magically sharpened dagger in her hand before she slid it into her boot. “It’s a good thing I had a tight grip.”

  “That dragon is a fool.”

  “That’s what happens when people let themselves freak out. And dragons. Come on, let’s see if anyone else needs help.”

  Leander gave her a boost onto his back again before he launched once more into the smoke-filled sky.

  Raven coughed and squinted through the heavy smoke. The heat of the fire below them rose on either side of her dragon. “I can’t see down here—” She coughed again.

  He responded to her thought by ascending in an effort to put more space between them and the destruction below for a better view.

  One more point for a mage’s connection with their familiar in case talking’s impossible.

  Leander made a wide turn around the far side of Haverson Ranch and she scanned the beasts that darted through the flames and the destroyed buildings. A group of dragons huddled below, looked at them, and screeched as they spread their wings and stumbled around in fear.

  They’re not looking at us. “Leander, I think we need to be really careful.”

  “They’re confusing us for what they thought they saw.”

  “Maybe. But it’s a good idea to—look out!”

  The massive black shadow barreled toward them out of the sky too quickly and came upon them too suddenly. Leander turned his head to look seconds before the huge being knocked him sideways. The red dragon roared and Raven gasped as she fell. Her hands flailed to catch his outstretched wing that was already too far out of reach.

  He screamed as he dove toward her but the entire sky—all the glittering stars and the columns of smoke that blotted them out—disappeared beneath that enormous black shadow. The young mage’s back thumped against something cold and firm. The impact threw her head back hard and p
ain burst through her skull. Her eyes fluttered, her vision went blurry, and the last thing she saw was more of the same glistening black shadow enclosing her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When Raven woke next, the only thing she was aware of was the agonizing pain that throbbed in her head. She groaned and tried to roll over, then took a sharp breath through her teeth. Moving makes it worse. Awesome. I’ll lie here for a while, then.

  She gave herself what felt like a few minutes and tried to steady her breathing. Don’t hyperventilate and pass out again, Raven. Just breathe. You’re obviously not dead.

  When she finally managed to open her eyes, she stared at a curved ceiling of stone. A large crevasse split the ceiling down the middle to expose the brightest stars still twinkling in the pre-dawn sky. In the next moment, the smell hit her.

  Ugh. It smells like rotten meat and smoke. Or maybe that last one’s only me.

  After a few more attempts, she finally pushed off the cold stone floor beneath her and blinked in the dim light. “Circum inlustro.”

  A small orb of soft yellow light bloomed at her fingertip and separated to float close by. She held her head with both hands and groaned again. “What a headache. Leander? Are you in here?”

  Her voice echoed repeatedly but she didn’t get a reply.

  Raven looked up and narrowed her eyes against the brightness of her light spell. Her gaze fell on the pile of bones a stone’s throw away and she swallowed thickly. “That explains the smell.”

  It hurt considerably to turn her head in any direction, but she forced herself through it to make a thorough study of her surroundings. A giant cave. Alone. With—oh, good, more piles of bones. What the hell?

  A small pressure tickled at the back of her mind like a memory she couldn’t quite grasp. It was followed by a fuzzy image of Leander’s pen at Fowler Academy, the field still dark in the gray-blue before dawn. Her heart raced again with a renewed anxiety, and she took more deep breaths. That’s coming from Leander. He has no idea where I am.

  She closed her eyes again and took more deep breaths. “Think positive, reassuring thoughts,” she whispered. “It’s kinda hard given the circumstances.”

  The anxious concern that didn’t belong to her faded and she sighed. “Maybe he felt me. Maybe not. But at least now I can think clearly.”

  The young mage gazed around the enormous stone cavern again and winced at the pain that seared through the back of her head when she looked at the sliver of sky through the crevasse in the ceiling. She touched the back of her head and sighed. “I’ll take a huge bump over blood any day.”

  Raven rolled her shoulders and groaned as she slipped the straps of her satchel off and set it gently beside her, careful not to move her head too much. It’s a good thing I don’t pack any sharp objects in there. Now what?

  Alessandra’s words from two days before spun through her mind. “It consumes large quantities of your stored magic. The longer the connection is open, the more it will take out of you.”

  “Right.” Raising her hands, Raven wiggled her fingers and tried to focus. “I’m gonna need serious brainpower for this. I only hope I didn’t hit my head too hard.” It took longer than she had hoped, but she managed to do the spell—not perfectly, but it would hopefully be enough.

  “Bella. Come on, Bella. Wake up. This is important.”

  The girl rolled over in bed and slapped her hand at nothing. “Huh?”

  “Yes! Wake up!”

  Frowning, the dark-haired mage propped herself on her elbow and blinked groggily. When her vision finally focused, she jerked away and almost fell over the edge of her bed. “Raven! What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, man. I’m so glad this worked. I’m not in your room, Bella. It’s the Full Appearance. I don’t think I can keep it open much longer so listen, okay?”

  Bella’s gaze traveled over the image of Raven’s face and half her torso floating in the air beside the bed. “It’s really clear this time.”

  “We can talk about that later. Right now, I think I’m in trouble.”

  “What? Where are you?” The girl shoved her tangled hair out of her face and straightened.

  “I…don’t know. A super creepy cave somewhere that smells like rotting meat. So—”

  “What the hell?”

  “Bella! I’m serious. Listen. When you get to school, make sure Leander’s okay. He’s there. I can’t reach out to him so I cast this to tell you. It looks like Alessandra had perfect timing with our training.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “After you tell Leander I’m still alive and that you talked to me? Go tell Headmaster Flynn and make sure you relay everything I tell you. I don’t know where I am on a map, but I’m in a huge cave so I assume the mountains. Probably. But there’s a giant crack in the ceiling, so I can at least see the sky.”

  “Can’t you climb out?” the girl asked.

  Raven glanced at the top of the cave the other mage couldn’t see. “Not from this one. I’m fine for now, but I don’t know how long that’ll last. I only hope I wasn’t brought here as someone’s mid-morning snack.”

  “What?”

  “There are piles of bones in here, Bella. Did you pay attention to the more important stuff I said?”

  The girl tossed her head and nodded. “Of course I paid attention. I’ll talk to Leander and then Headmaster Flynn. Got it.”

  “Good. I…” The image of her face started to shudder. “…next time…when they…”

  The Full Appearance spell winked out, and Bella sighed in frustration and stared at the opposite side of her room. “This was not the way I thought I’d start my week off. And it’s not even light out yet. Jeez.”

  She kicked the blankets off and scurried around her room to get dressed and ready for the day.

  With her knapsack slung over her shoulder, she darted down the creaking staircase and ran into the kitchen.

  “Morning, sweetheart.” Betsy Chase shuffled into the room with a yawn. “You’re up early.”

  “I’ve only been out of bed for a few moments. I have to get to school early to finish a few projects.”

  Her grandmother turned toward her and studied her suspiciously. “You have last-minute schoolwork to finish on the first day of the week?”

  “Yeah, Grams. We’re coming up on our finals and I will pass those tests no matter what.” She removed the cloth covering the basket of rolls on the counter and took two. “So I gotta go. I’ll see you tonight.” She leaned closer to give to the old lady a quick kiss on the cheek before she turned to head toward the front of the house.

  “Are you sure you don’t want something more than a few rolls?”

  “I’m sure. Love you, Grams!” The girl raised a hand but didn’t turn.

  The front door opened and shut with a bang, and Betsy shook her head with a sleepy chuckle. “Even brilliant mages have to eat. That girl’s burning the candle at both ends, not that she’ll listen to anything I have to say about it.”

  Out front, Bella leapt off the porch and walked as fast as she could down the side road leading to Brighton’s town center. Wesley screeched, launched off the roof, and swooped toward her to flutter around her head.

  “I know. It’s important so I’m going, okay?” The young mage bit into the first roll and frowned. “I honestly never expected I’d be the one who has to save Raven Alby from…whatever she got herself into. This had better not be some kind of joke.”

  When the Fowler Academy grounds came into view, she was almost out of breath and her calves ached from walking so quickly. I should have run here.

  The sun had risen enough to illuminate the field beside the school, but she didn’t have to see anything to know that the agitated screeches that rose from beside the stables came from Leander. “Raven wasn’t kidding.”

  She broke into a run while Wesley dove and swooped ahead of her.

  Beside the dragon pen, Professor Worley stood in front of Leander in his night robe,
his hands raised cautiously as he tried to talk sense into the panicked dragon. “Leander, I can’t help either of you if you don’t tell me what happened.”

  “I don’t know!” The dragon roared again and lashed his tail against the wall of his enclosure with a metallic clang. “I don’t know where she is. We were together and then we weren’t.”

  “Where were you last?”

  “The fire. And the—” Leander shuffled back and screeched again, his yellow eyes wide and blazing. “Where is she?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to find out, Leander.” The professor took a step toward him. “I need you to calm and walk me through it so we can work together on this one.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm!” The dragon reared and vented a column of fire into the air.

  Worley ducked anyway, then caught sight of Bella Chase and Wesley hurrying toward them. “Stay back. This isn’t a good time—”

  “She’s okay!” The girl skidded to a halt in the grass and raised her hands automatically when the huge dragon turned to fix her with his intense gaze. “I talked to Raven. She’s—”

  “Where?” he roared. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know. She doesn’t know. But she—”

  Leander’s wings extended out to their full span and he charged forward. Bella threw herself out of the way, and Wesley fluttered around Leander’s face to catch his attention. “Raven!” the dragon bellowed and dug his claws deep into the earth.

  “She told me to talk to you first thing, Leander,” the girl shouted. He whirled again and snorted. Two plumes of dark, thick smoke burst from his nostrils. I can’t believe I’m doing this. “She cast a spell that let her talk to me. Raven’s in a cave somewhere. That’s all she knows. But she felt you and she saw that you’re here at Fowler. She wanted me to tell you she knows. You got through to her, okay? Raven’s all right. We’ll help you find her.”

  The dragon’s nostrils flared as he snorted again. His wings twitched before they settled slowly against his back and he lowered his head. “Raven said all that.”

  “Come on. I’m more than smart enough to not make this up.” She glanced at Wesley, who soared in tight circles over Leander’s head. The dragon’s calm now. We’re good.