by Tamsin Baker
Lordip ran after her, exchanging many noises. Growls, light screaming, and finally a fiery roar from Nargoya, which seemed to be the end of the argument. Lordip dropped his head and walked back inside, curling up around the eggs to keep them warm.
“Looks like he lost that fight,” came the amused voice from behind her.
“Yes.”
Tattiena didn’t care who won and who lost. She wanted to know what was going on with her beautiful Dragon. She walked forward, uncaring what Nargoya would do to her. “Nargoya… what’s wrong?”
Her dragon looked around and then moved back towards the barn, nudging the brown riding saddle right off its stand. A clear sign she wanted it on.
“Okay…you want to be ridden?”
Perhaps Nargoya had some sort of cabin fever? Was she feeling unwell? Scared of what was to come? Either way, Tattiena was determined to support her beloved in any way she needed.
She bent and gathered the small saddle that had been sewed and stitched in repair since the battle. Nargoya huffed and puffed smoke at her, but she managed to slide the saddle onto her back and buckle it in. Even though she didn’t want to ride her dragon so far into her pregnancy, and indeed she had fear filled butterflies fluttering in her belly, she would do it. For Nargoya.
“I’ll just get a wrap,” she said, turning to head back into the barn for something warmer. It was freezing today, and the air in which Nargoya flew, would be even colder.
But before she could even step back into the warmth of the barn, her dragon crouched low and spread her wings out as though she was ready to fly. Fear coursed through Tattiena like a bolt of electricity and she rushed back outside.
“No!”
Nargoya flapped her beautiful wings once and launched up, flying up into the air faster than she ever had before. Tattiena bolted forward on legs that could barely move, the icy breeze wrapping around her like a freezing cold blanket and forcing her back into the warmth of the stable.
“Where’s she going?” Paneer asked her.
“As if I know!” she yelled back. Here heart raced in her chest and bile rose up into her throat. Panicked thoughts whirled around her head like a tornado.
Nargoya had never flown without her. Ever.
“Sorry,” Paneer said, stepping away.
Tattiena’s head began to pound and she forced herself to breathe. She heaved in several breaths, her chest aching with the strain. “What do you want me to say? That’s obviously what they were fighting over.”
She began to tremble and pace up and down the barn. “I can’t believe… Why would she…”
“What’s wrong?”
She turned on Paneer. Didn’t he know what this meant? “What’s wrong? Are you fucking kidding me? Nargoya has never gone for a fly by herself before. Never. She doesn’t like to be that far away from me, and to leave her eggs with so little time to go… I don’t know where she would go! Or who to! What… I…”
Tears burned in the back of her throat and her babe gave an all mighty kick, forcing her to stop and sit down.
Paneer stared out into the empty paddock and back to her. “Well, wherever she’s gone, we have to assume it’s for a very good reason.”
Tattiena could only nod and breathe, stroking her baby with rapid, soothing circles. Nargoya had been her friend and lifelong companion. There had to be a good reason for her to leave now.
There had to be.
Tattiena refused to believe her Dragon would abandon her unborn young, or her rider, at a time like this.
Leo’s arms ached as he carried the hay bales from one animal yard to the other.
“Th-thank you, my l-lord…” the townsman stammered.
Leo grunted, his ability to speak hindered. His heart pounded with the exertion of his work and his breath squeezed in and out of his lungs.
He headed off for the next lot of hay, because this plan was working. For the first time in months, his mind was at ease from its torment. The physical strain he was putting it through made any other thoughts impossible. He’d tried everything to forget Tattiena and the world he’d left behind in Gregorick, and so far, he hadn’t succeeded.
His stupid, stubborn pride forced him to stay where he was, in Davuno. His beautiful kingdom now felt like a prison of sorts. But no matter how bad the pain got, he would not go to her. If he did, he would try to change her mind, and then, what sort of man would he be? What sort of future king did Davuno have if a woman like Tattiena didn’t want him?
He powered through his days all right, but his nights were torturous. His dreams, simply terrible. They would make him re-live the battle where they were victorious and turn the tables on him. He’d die some nights, and Tattiena, all the others.
If he didn’t know better, he’d say his own subconscious was fighting against him, trying to force him back to the only woman he’d ever wanted.
He’d spoken to his father about her, one day.
“What’s wrong with you, Leo? You’ve been sulking around the city since you returned. Are you so out of favor?”
He’d decided to be honest with his father, hoping for some help in the matter. “I fell in love with a woman while I was in Gregorick, father.”
“And?”
What could he say? “And…I miss her. I wish for her to be here with me.”
“Is she a prospective bride? You will need to marry and produce the future heirs to the kingdom.”
Of course he did. It was all his father ever spoke of. Duty. Responsibility. It was the main reason he’d gone to Gregorick in the first place. For Davuno, but also for his father’s favor.
“She is… I would marry her if she agreed.”
His father scoffed. “If she agreed? What woman wouldn’t want to marry a prince?”
“She is the illegitimate of the King of Gregorick.” Among so many other things.
The king had sneered at that. “Then she is not princess material, son.”
Leo smiled, knowing the next piece of information would alter his father’s feelings on that one. “She is also the Dragon Master. Tattiena.”
His father’s face cracked, a strange grin lighting up his features. “Well, that changes things. Royal blood and a Dragon rider? She would be a huge asset to our city.”
“Yes.”
His father waved a huge hand in the air. “Then why do you not go get her?”
Leo shrugged, not wanting to admit failure, and yet needing to speak to someone. “She does not want me. She’d told me she will not leave Gregorick, nor move here to be with me.”
“Stupid woman.”
He had agreed with his father and thought that would be the end of the conversation. But as the months wore on, he had tried every trick there was to forget her. Including doing enough manual labor in a day to wear himself out to the point of exhaustion.
He went to pick up another hay bale, his back spasming up in a way that made him swallow the cry that rose. Perhaps that was enough for today?
He let his head drop and his mind wander to the woman who haunted his dreams. Maybe he should just give up the fight and go back to her? Couldn’t hurt, surely. Seeing her would probably set his mind at ease.
“That’s a Dragon!” someone yelled and screams of alarm surrounded him. Most of the people from his city had never seen a dragon before and would be scared of the unknown. Leo ran out from under the cover of the shelter, searching the sky for the beast everyone else was running away from.
Nargoya.
Her magnificent, purple tipped wings flapped with a powerful strength as she lowered herself down onto the ground a few meters in front of him.
“How did she find me?” he whispered, her eyes on him.
“My lord! Are you alright?” someone yelled out to him, and he turned around. The few men who weren’t cowering in fear, were standing, stretching their arms out to him as though he needed saving.
“I’m fine. I know this Dragon.”
He turned back and focused solely on the Dr
agon in front of him. A Dragon who’d never hurt him. Had gone into battle with him and got injured in the process.
“Nargoya. What is it?” He took a few steps closer to her as she shook herself as though upset.
She wore no rider. Which was very odd. Tattiena had said Nargoya did not fly without a her.
“Where’s Tattiena?”
Nargoya snorted smoke, a clear warning. His stomach dropped. Had she really flown all this way to hurt him?
A cry behind him and he looked over his shoulder, seeing some of the king’s guards creeping up behind them.
That’s what Nargoya was upset about.
He held up his hand to them. “No. Go back. Don’t come any closer.”
He turned back to the Dragon before him. Her chest rose and fell rapidly. She was scared. And rightly so.
She moved awkwardly and bumped him with her wing, almost knocking him over.
“What was that?”
She did it again, this time gently, and he had the strangest feeling that she wanted him to get on her back.
No way. Dragons didn’t do that. But there was no other reason he could think of for why she would be here. Unless… Cold snaked down his spine and he moved closer to the scaled beast.
“Hang on. Is Tattiena in trouble? Has something happened to her?”
Nargoya turned her head and stared into his eyes. There was a connection made the moment she did so. A fission of electricity pulsing through his spine.
“All right. Let’s go.” He turned and yelled out to the men behind him. “Tell my father I’ve gone to Gregorick. He will understand.”
He ducked under Nargoya’s purple tipped wing and put his hands on her scaly back. Woah. He blew out a long breath, grabbed the pommel, put his foot in the stirrup, and readied himself. How did Tattiena get on her from down here?
Just like riding a horse.
Nargoya lowered herself even more and he pulled himself up, his aching body screaming at him in pain as he swung his leg over her huge body and grabbed hard on the reins.
Oh, Goddess… Leo swallowed the cry that rose as Nargoya shifted her weight and squatted down. Holy mother… I’m really doing this.
He forced the fear from his mind and leaned further down, closer to her body, hugging her with thighs that trembled and took a deep breath. Nargoya’s wings went straight out and then she sprung up into the air.
Leo’s stomach plummeted as they soared up into the air. “Fuck.” He dropped the flimsy reins and grabbed a hold of the large saddle, gripping hard with his legs as she stretched her wings out wide and began soaring over Davuno.
She stayed low, probably for him. So, low he could hear people’s cries of disbelief as they soared over his kingdom.
His heart raced and pounded an erratic rhythm in his ears. Sweat covered his whole body, despite the beauty of the views before his eyes.
He swallowed hard as they cleared the walls of Davuno and started what would be a five-day horseback ride to Gregorick.
I think we’ll be a little faster than that.
Nargoya soared a little higher and the green trees became a blur.
Leo didn’t close his eyes, but instead focused on the back of Nargoya’s head. The shape of the diamond scales. The smoothness of the beautiful leather beneath his sweating palms.
Then they were flying over another great wall and she began to get closer to the ground again.
Were they at Gregorick already?
His heart jumped into his throat as Nargoya cleared the barn where she lived and landed down hard on the green grass, the thump ricocheting up Leo’s spine.
“Ow.”
He rolled off her back as soon as she slowed, falling to his knees on the ground.
He stared at the soft grass and considered kissing the earth of Limea in a token of thanks to be alive but decided that perhaps would look strange to anyone watching him.
A female cried behind him and he pushed himself to his feet, staggering over to the warmth of the Dragon stable.
“Tattiena.” He leaned against one of the walls, his legs barely able to keep him standing. Wow. What a rush.
Nargoya stalked past him, puffed a lot of smoke at Tattiena, then walked over to another Dragon.
“Who’s that?” he asked as he stared at a much larger Dragon who stood up and exposed a group of three bright purple eggs. Nargoya stepped over the eggs, then dropped down, curling her tail up and around her head, much like a feline would. Leo shook himself. This was all too weird. Dream like.
He turned back to the woman in a beautiful red dress and stared. Reality sunk in like a falling rock. Hard. Sharp. And painful.
“What the hell is that?”
8
Tattiena swallowed hard and pulled her wrap tighter around her body.
“Leo. What are you doing here?”
Her question sounded stupid, even to her. It was pretty obvious to everyone that Nargoya had brought him to her, but why?
His body language changed to one who was exhausted and relaxed, holding up the wall of the barn. To one on fire. Leo pushed himself to his feet, narrowed his gaze and stormed over to her, is hands bunched into angry fists.
“Your Dragon came and got me. My question is. What the hell…is that.” He pointed a finger at her belly, not touching her, yet his hand shook with… what she assumed was rage.
“Ah…” Her mind raced with the possibilities. To lie to him could spell trouble for everyone.
“Tattiena.” He growled at her, his tone low and dangerous. “Open your wrap. Now.”
She did as he asked, unable to think up a decent response. If she’d known he was coming, she might have been able to put something together. But her traitorous Dragon had turned the tables on them all.
She let her arms fall and the warm material hang to the sides of her hugely rounded belly. Leo’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”
She opened her mouth to spit something at him, anger rising in her belly at his attitude, only to be cut off by him again.
“And don’t even bother lying. I know that baby’s mine. There is no way Nargoya would come and get me if it wasn’t. She’s obviously got much more sense than you do.”
Angry, hot tears gathered in Tattiena’s eyes and she looked away, unable to deal with all of the emotions flying through the room. She wasn’t coping with her own feelings of shame and insecurity, she didn’t need Leo’s as well.
“I’m going to check on Nargoya.” She wrapped herself tighter with her cloak and moved over to where her Dragon sat on her eggs.
“My beautiful friend…” she whispered, extending her hand to touch her beloved Dragon.
Nargoya swished her tail and lifted her head, a satisfied look in her eyes.
“Why did you bring him here?” she asked gently, running her hand along the Dragon ’s snout and looking deep into her Dragons eyes.
Of course, she couldn’t reply, but the Dragon dropped her head and nudged at Tattiena’s swollen belly.
Emotion clogged Tattiena’s throat and she simply couldn’t speak. Was the baby really the reason Nargoya wanted Leo around? How did that make sense? They had both grown up parent-less, and they were doing fine all by themselves.
Paneer stepped up towards her, his face drawn taught with worry. “Should I call the guard?” Paneer had not ventured too far into the city, but he had become friends with some of the king’s guard, and the king himself had been very flattered that another Dragon rider wanted to stay within his city.
“No. I’m alright.”
Stomping behind her called her attention and she turned around to face Leo once again.
“And who the hell is this?” he demanded, gesturing towards the large, older Dragon rider beside her.
Paneer bowed deeply to Leo. The contrast of calm to rage was as different as fire and ice.
“I am Paneer. Dragon rider of Lordip. The sire of Nargoya’s young.”
Leo stumbled back. “Does that mean you’re meant to be Tattiena’s mate then? Is this some sort of twisted joke?”
Tattiena rushed forward, hands outstretched. She couldn’t have Leo thinking such a thing.
“No. No. It’s not like that.”
Leo’s eyes were wild and he turned and marched off towards the castle.
Tattiena let her shoulders fall, a weakness she’d never felt before creeping through her strong body. “Fuck. What am I meant to do now?” She’s spoken aloud, forgetting someone human was actually listening.
“You could try talking to him. He obviously cares for you very much.”
Yes, I can see that. Now. She’d assumed the affection between them would die. Or at least, Leo’s feeling for her would. He’d had months without her. Surely, he would have moved on by now?
When she didn’t respond, Paneer continued, “He is the baby’s father then?”
“Yes,” she answered, staring after Leo’s retreating figure. He’d be at the castle doors soon, and then where would he go? To her father?
Fear rippled through her. If her father learnt of her baby’s parentage…would he try to make them marry? “Oh… I need to go.”
She started running or moving as fast she could considering the weight of her belly.
“Good luck!” she heard Paneer yell out to her, and she was glad he was there in the case that the eggs hatched and the Dragons needed help.
She made it to the castle, slowing down to catch her breath, her big belly a major encumbrance to her movement.
Thankfully, there had not been any new attacks since the original battle with the barbarians. She’d hate to sit back and watch as her city fell and be unable to fight.
Tattiena blew out a breath and swallowed hard, willing her racing heart to slow down so she could think. “Almost there,” she said to herself, rubbing her big belly.
She pushed open the door and moved through the long hallway, listening for the sound of Leo’s voice. She heard it. That deep rumbling that made her inner thighs tremble.
He was in the main hall with the king. Her father.