Deciding standing there worrying would not get anything done, Deanna slipped her feet into boots and hurried outside. A warm summer heat blast of air hit her.
Kle? She reached for the small dragon, only to sense him… cowering?
No. No. This couldn’t be the time. She hadn’t learned enough. Except, only one thing would send Kle cowering, and that’d be a much larger dragon—Loraj.
She stepped outside with her coronet, ready to face whatever came. Lifting the instrument to her lips, she played the first thing that came to mind, the song that always came at the start of horse races. Then, she played reverie, transitioning into Copeland inspired marching music. The clouds grew closer and a single dark shape flew ahead of them.
Loraj.
In person, he was massive, a huge storm-gunmetal-gray beast with a large horn sweeping back from the sides of his head. The spikes along his face gave him a fierce look, and he opened his mouth, teeth dripping with saliva, and roared loud enough to shake the trees. Deanna shook too.
“Show no fear,” she whispered to herself. Letting an animal know she was afraid would only be a death sentence for her, especially the large dragon. She let the music flow, her fingers moving of their own accord, as she on the spot composed a song in honor of her dragon. And Loraj was her dragon.
Though he scared her, a sense of belonging, that he was coming home to her, swelled within her. Yes, he was hers; he just may not realize it yet. She played louder.
Loraj stopped, rearing back in the air and hovering with great beats of his wings. Had the trees still had most of their branches and leaves, she suspected they have whipped her. He roared again. The hot blast of his breath rushed past her, bringing with it the scent of wood smoke. Bonfires and smores, she closed her eyes with a smile remembering scout camping trips and songs sung around the fire. She played again, this time the simple fingerings of those campfire songs. Had she stopped to think, she might have worried that they weren’t sophisticated enough for him. To her they were love and friendship, times that she wished would have lasted forever.
A softer, more curious roar, filled the air. Couldn’t Paula and Chet see the ginormous dragon over the battered forest? Couldn’t they hear and weren’t their cows stampeding? She half expected a truck to come flying up her driveway, wide-eyed mundanes tumbling out of it to ask what was that and if it was really a dragon.
Silence surrounded her. Quieter than a hawk Loraj swooped down. His wings stretched wide and his shadow reached her far before he did. Her heart sped and she glanced toward the cave. Keeping her shoulders square, she faced him.
He landed, tucking his wings alongside and whipping his tail around him to crack against the trunk of a tree. It shook, toppling over. Where are my children?
“They are safe in their cave. I can show you.” Deanna gestured to the path she’d taken every day since the tornado. “I’ve kept them safe.”
A low rumble emanated from him. Safe from what? His voice boomed in her mind, so loud as to be painful.
“We’ve had storms.”
You think my children cannot keep themselves safe from a storm. Do they not have a cave? He roared. Where is the other? The older woman who was here. She was my beloved’s caretaker.
“My grandmother passed away. I am her granddaughter. Leje has gone to the feeding grounds.” Talking to a dragon like this seemed strange, and yet, with the growing communication she’d had with Kle, it didn’t.
As if he sensed her thinking about him, Kle sped through the forest. She glimpsed his vibrant orange form as he dodged trees. He landed on her shoulder hard enough that she had to brace her knees against the impact.
I see you have bonded with one of my children. That is good. But are you strong enough to be their protector? He leaned forward, snaking his head down until his eye grew level with hers.
She stood strong, staring into the golden orb as large as her hand, if not larger. She longed to reach out, to touch his storm cloud colored scales. She didn’t out of worry of insulting him. Instead, she stood strong, shoulders square.
Are you ready for the test?
Deanna nodded. “I am.” Not really. She did not understand what the test would be like or how it’d unfold. She also had no choice.
Good.
Without warning, a thrust of energy, as if she’d walked into a wall, hit her head on. She stood still as it pummeled her and she realized that the energy rummaged around in her mind. At first she sought to shut away memories, not wanting him to see the precious reminders of her grandparents, of the way she hoarded books as a child, hiding in her room. So many things that should belong to her and her alone.
She shoved against him. No. You will not take my memories.
I will not take your memories child. I am merely seeing if you are worthy. Another push of energy had her fingers closing around her coronet, her arm flexing as if to lift it to her lips. She lacked the spell knowledge to do anything directly. The Latin words escaped her, her childhood memories unable to hold on to them. But she knew that Loraj was doing more than seeing; he was living those memories.
And there, the image of her mother leaning over her, screaming at her because she’d found one book her grandmother had given her, came out of nowhere. Deanna stifled a cry. She’d tried to forget about that, tried to remember how hard her mother had worked for her, not the innumerable ways that she’d lose her temper over the smallest things. “You shouldn’t listen to the nonsense my mother feeds you. Magic isn’t real. If it were, do you think I’d have to work so hard?” The questions lashed with the suppressed pain and anger of a little girl who’d done nothing wrong had wanted to share something with her grandmother.
“Magic is real,” Deanna yelled back, only belatedly aware that she’d spoken aloud.
Of course it is. Loraj lifted his head. We are not alone. You bring someone else here? You bring someone close to my children? He snaked his head around.
A car door echoed in the silence.
“Deanna?” Khalid’s voice rang with fear. “Deanna?”
Chapter 13
“I’m okay,” Deanna called. “Stay right there.”
What is he doing here? The tone of the dragon’s voice made it apparent that he harbored some animosity toward Khalid.
“He’s helping me learn dragon magic.” Deanna glanced behind her. Khalid stood at the corner of the house, a distance from her. He shook his head, almost as if he didn’t want her to say anything about his work.
He’s helping you? Loraj’s voice deepened. You’re letting him near my children.
“I don’t understand. He’s taught me so much. I wanted to be trained enough for you. I didn’t want to be killed.”
Killed? You come from a long line of dragon mages. I remember you know, running around, hanging onto her skirts. She held you up to me, and I touched you, just like this. Loraj reached out one clawed finger to brush it ever so gently down the side of her cheek.
Deanna closed her eyes. She remembered now. Oh, she remembered the big scary dragon that her grandmother had told her she didn’t have to fear. “Someday he will be your friend,” she’d said, and Deanna had stared wide-eyed at him, thinking this must be like what the dinosaurs in her books must have looked like. She clasped his claw the way a baby might grab her mother’s finger, and the dragon—she swore she’d seen the dragon smile. Tears ran down her cheeks. When and how had she locked away such a beautiful memory? Just as she had all those years ago, she curled her hand around his obsidian black claw. The bonfire smell grew stronger and she wrapped herself in it, in him, in her dragon. He was what she’d been missing, the mentor she’d needed, the companion she’d longed for. “I need to understand.” Deanna released his claw. “Help me understand.”
Are you sure? What he failed to tell you is that my people have ancestral memories. We all share the same memory, the same connection. My mate shared how she comforted you during the storm, how you brought food for our children. I knew you were strong enough be
fore I’d even begun my journey back.
“Where were you?”
At the gathering of dragons. There is much I need to tell you. Much you need to learn.
Deanna glanced at Khalid who still hadn’t moved, then back at Loraj. “So you wouldn’t kill me if you didn’t mind me worthy? Why would he say that? Why would he tell me such a thing if it wasn’t true?” She turned back to Khalid. Betrayal sliced through her. She’d thought—she didn’t know what she thought because she suddenly realized just how little she knew him. She’d read an article about him, reached out to him, and what—brought him here and showed him her dragons. She wanted to learn more about them, and yet she hadn’t gone to the very source she’d had in her house, her grandmother’s books. A sense that she’d somehow betrayed her grandmother hurt more than anything Khalid might have done. She spun back to face Loraj. “You don’t like him do you? Why?”
“Deanna, no. It’s all in the past. Everything I’ve done here, I’ve done out of a desire to help you. There are so few dragon mages in the world. If there was a chance, the slightest chance, that he would reject you, it would end badly for you.”
Loraj stalked forward. Did you not think by lying to her about what you’ve done that it would end badly for you? He opened his mouth.
“I didn’t lie.” Khalid said. “I assure you. I didn’t lie.”
Deanna realized both of them could hear the dragon and seized the opening. “Because you never told me. You said you were studying dragon species. Taking scales and testing DNA. It sounded harmless. It wasn’t, was it?” Deanna fell into line along Lora’s shoulder. She reached for him, needing the roughness of his scales beneath her hand to ground her. “You did something to the dragons.” She stopped and leaned against Loraj, knowing know that he’d never hurt her. One of his wings slid forward to cover her shoulders, as if he tucked her against him.
If you do not tell her, then I will.
“Please. She won’t understand.” Khalid dropped to his knees as Loraj, with Deanna pressed alongside him, still protected by one wing, crept forward, an apex predator staring down its prey.
“Won’t understand what, Khalid? What did you do?” She enunciated each word, drawing them out to make them expressly clear.
“You must understand. It was a long time ago. I don’t know the things I do now,” Khalid replied.
His deflections told her more than the words he wasn’t saying. Whatever he’d done it must have been bad. She looked up at Loraj. “Can you show me?”
The dragon nodded.
An image of a hatching ground, the sand white like a vacation beach, filled her mind. At first she thought she might look at a place like where sea turtles hatched, for the pieces of eggs, broken and shattered, strewn over the beach weren’t that large. She realized then she looked through a dragon’s eyes at three figures hunched over a nest. One of them, a much younger Khalid, put eggs into a bag. The other two kept watch.
“We got to go,” one said. They all turned, saw the dragon and fled.
The scene shifted. Another hatching ground, this one where the wind blew hot over the sands. A dragon lay dead on its side and the elements starting to take their toll. Deanna stifled a cry. A moment later she realized men worked on the other side, peeling scales from the desiccated corpse. Khalid, again.
The images faded. I won’t show you more. But he is a thief and now I realize he is a liar by omission. Our kind do not tolerate thieves or liars.
“What will you do?” Deanna asked. She glanced at Khalid. “And shouldn’t I know what he did, in his own words?”
Tell him. And then we will render punishment.
“We?” Deanna interjected. “Are there other dragons here?”
I carry the decision of the council.
“It wasn’t like that!” Khalid finally blurted out. “I know what you showed her, but I don’t do that anymore. I’ve changed. It was bad scientific practices. I can’t go back and make it right, but I am sorry. So very sorry for what happened.”
Your apologies will not repair the harm—
“But they will begin the healing process,” Deanna interrupted. She turned back to Khalid, wishing he’d do something other than stand there. The stricken look on his face was a punch to the gut. Almost as if he were waiting for the dragon to kill him, rendering judgment all on his own. “You’re right.” She stepped toward Loraj. “It won’t make things right. But it will start the healing process. I won’t let you hurt him. Because that will not fix anything either.”
Loraj swiveled his head to stare at her. And what will you do about it?
Deanna stepped back. “I won’t bond with you. I’ll wait until Kle is ready. It may be ten years, maybe longer. I don’t care. I will protect your children, but I will banish you from this place.”
You do not have the power, human.
Maybe not, but she refused to just let this happen having no say in it. A thought, words that seemed like some sacred vow rose in her mind.
“Deanna, wait!” Khalid said. “I’m not worth this. You don’t know what you’re doing?”
“Then somebody tell me!” She demanded. “You’re supposed to be teaching me. Did you know this would happen? Did you know Loraj would show up and be pissed at you?”
Khalid nodded. “I did. And I was hoping to find a time to tell you, to explain what happened. I can’t really. Bad science before we knew such things. I was young. You saw how young I was. It happened at least fifteen years ago. And yes, we broke open eggs, just one or two, to get specimens and samples. We took scales from dragons without their giving them freely and it caused them pain. Like snatching a clump of hair from your head. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was operating under senior scientists who said this was always how things had been done. They didn’t think—”
You didn’t think. You could have said no. They did not take your free will.
Khalid stared at Loraj for the first time since this happened. “You’re right. I could have said no. But I was afraid. And I let that fear rule me. I’m sure there’s no equivalent among dragons, but I was a Middle Eastern man in a very white discipline. If I wanted to continue to study, to learn, I had to stay quiet, no matter how much I wished it to be otherwise. No matter how much I thought we could work in a different manner.” He took a deep breath before continuing. ‘And since then I’ve had dragons gift me scales. The dragons in the Sahara. Some in my home country. I know I cannot make it up to you, but the work I’m doing is vital, especially if your son is going to the Academy and other dragons will follow.”
The Academy? What is this?
Apparently he didn’t know everything, and Deanna took hope in that. “The Musimagium have opened an academy. There are unicorns and Pegasus there now. Eklan believed that it was time for dragons to be known too and he left with Leje when she went to the feeding grounds. And Khalid is right. Dr. Bijan is right.” She used his full title, though that meant nothing to the dragon. “If dragons will emerge into the world, it’s imperative that humans know as much about them as possible. Because if something happens to you, it’ll be humans that have to heal it and make it right.”
And what will you and Kle do when you’re bonded? I know our bond is to be temporary. That you’re meant for my son. But it is also the tradition for the parents to mentor the young and it was said that I was to mentor you. I will not do so if he is here.
“I won’t be. Eklan asked me to go to the Academy.”
No! I won’t have you near my son! Loraj back quickly, then lifted his head. He drew air into his lungs.
“Deanna, watch out!” Khalid grabbed her and pulled her out of the way just as Loraj shot a huge jet of flame into the air.
“Hey, be careful. That’s my house.” Deanna yelled.
“Don’t. He’s in a mood.” Khalid said, drawing her even further out of the flame.
Deanna pulled away. “No. He’s being a bully, and I won’t have it. I may not have meet Leje until the storm, but I won’t have
her mate or whatever he is, act like this. I declare you under my protection.”
WHAT?!?!
The dragon’s voice screamed in their heads.
“You heard me.” Deanna stepped forward. “I believe Khalid has changed. I’ve seen him with the little dragons. He is under my protection and you will not harm either of us. I can protect your children. If you won’t behave, then you can go.”
If you are a true dragon mage, then tame this. Loraj whipped his head around and shot a jet of fire into the woods. Immediately broken trees and branches burst into flame. The ground sparked, dry leaves catching and burning. Thick black smoke rolled into the air.
Deanna coughed. She ran two steps toward the house, intending to dial 911. What would she tell them? That a dragon set her woods on fire. It seemed like a foolish answer; they wouldn’t believe her. Instead, she swiveled.
“No! This is mine!” She held out her hands, focusing a thousand times harder than she had on the tiny sparks that the little dragons had cast in the cave. Kle landed on her shoulder. Breathing deeply, she focused her will, like a wet blanket, over the forest, over each leaf, each blade of grass, each broken tree trunk and debris laying on the ground. She pressed down, smothering the fire. It hissed and sputtered, then died.
Chapter 14
The crunch of gravel under fast spinning tires alerted her that her neighbors probably saw the fire. “Now you did it,” she scolded Loraj while staring at the scorched, black expanse of the forest. The smell of burnt wood and smoke hung in the air. “My neighbors are coming. Kle, you better go to the cave.”
The orange dragon chirped and flew off.
Loraj bowed his head.
“We better go face the neighbors. Reassure them everything is okay. They must have been outside and seen the flames.” Deanna frowned and strode toward the front of the house. At the moment, she couldn't care less whether they saw Loraj, though there’d be fewer questions if they didn’t. She glanced behind her just as Chet jumped out of the truck.
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