by Tara West
“Halt in the name of the governance of the third realm!” Six third-realm witches—deputies, no doubt—were pointing their wands at her and the Firesbreath brothers.
When Hector Firesbreath foolishly stepped in front of her, puffing up his massive chest, she ducked around him, wildly waving her hands. “Stop!” she cried. “I’m Dame Doublewart. These dragons had nothing to do with the destruction of my school.”
The witches refused to lower their wands. A tall, handsome blond man, who looked suspiciously familiar, stepped forward. He aimed his wand directly at her chest. “Then tell them to shift back to human form.”
She didn’t like the gleam in his eye. “Please lower your wand,” she said tightly, doing her best to maintain her composure.
The gleam in his eye magnified, followed by a twitch above his lip. “I will do no such thing.”
Doris recognized him then, the witch who’d delivered the check on Nathaniel Goldenwand’s behalf and who’d also insisted Seraphina not serve detention. He was a deputy, too?
“Then you leave us no choice,” Hector bellowed.
Before she could stop him, he pushed her behind him and released his flame, fighting the bolts that flew from their wands with fire.
She ducked, casting a protective bubble around herself, and watched helplessly as dragons fought witches. A flash of red flew by, and a dragon roared, then wailed, the keening, high-pitched sound of injury. She watched in horror as Thaddeus stumbled and fell.
The bolts from the witches’ wands were too many, flying through the air like erratic balls of energy. Clutching her wand, Doris cast her protection bubble outward until it shrouded Bastian and Hector, with the exception of their jowls, which poured fire onto the witches. She couldn’t reach Thaddeus and doubted it would do any good if she could. She suspected he’d already perished.
It was forbidden to use the unbreakable curse, but one had shot out of a witch’s wand as a red bolt. Every wand manufactured had a special spell put on it, preventing the wand from releasing the hex. Parliament had even passed a law decreeing any witch using the curse would be sentenced to a slow and painful death.
Thaddeus didn’t stir. Doris’s chest seized with grief. No, not him. He’d been such a sweet boy.
These witches were playing dirty. She couldn’t let any more Firesbreaths die. Controlling the movement of the protective bubble, she pulled it back, and the dragons came back with it.
“We can’t hold them off forever,” she called to Hector. “I’m afraid they’ve already summoned reinforcements.”
Hector cast a glance at his supine brother. “I’m not leaving Thaddeus.”
“We have no choice,” she said sadly, the energy in her protective bubble wearing thin under the onslaught of attack.
When a red bolt bounced off the bubble, she fought a surge of panic. These “deputies” weren’t the law. They were lawbreakers!
When Hector and Bastian shared knowing looks, Doris knew they were about to make yet another stupid decision.
Hector broke through the bubble, blowing a stream of scorching blue fire as he galloped toward his inert brother. He snatched up Thaddeus in his talons, stumbling and then flailing in the air, crying out when he was struck by a blue bolt. He crashed into the trees and then flew low, dragging his poor brother across the treetops as a red bolt flew over his head.
“Hold on!” Bastian snatched her up in his jowls and tossed her on his back. She tried to cast a protective bubble around them, but they were moving too fast.
Bastian burst through the flames, striking the witches from behind and causing them to go on defense until his brothers were out of striking distance.
Doris flung bolts at the witches, forcing them back as Bastian jumped into the air, chasing after his brothers.
It didn’t take them long to catch up. Hector still struggled to keep his brother above the treetops.
“He’s too heavy!” Hector cried.
Doris gasped when she saw what appeared to be a flock of birds, all in a line, heading toward them. She didn’t need a magnifying spell to know they weren’t birds but an army of witches on broomsticks, heading straight for them.
“Drop him!” she commanded. “Or we’re all dead.”
“No!” Hector roared.
With a heavy heart, she pointed her wand at Thaddeus’s lifeless body. “Expediramos!”
Hector cried out as his brother fell from his talons and crashed to the ground.
Doris waved her wand and chanted, “Abscondo!” and Thaddeus was swallowed by a copse of leafy trees that concealed the dragon.
Hector dove for his brother, then pulled back mid-air, the branches below him swaying in the battering wind from his wings but not revealing Thaddeus’s hiding place.
“We will return for him!” she hollered above the din of their wings.
With an earth-shattering howl, Hector flew away from the witches on broomsticks, Doris and Thaddeus following closely. The dragons flew faster than any broomstick, and with a sigh of relief, she saw the line of witches and the charred remains of her home fade in the distance.
She faced forward once more as they climbed above the heavens, flying just below the mystical frost-covered clouds of the elven fourth realm. Only then did she surrender to tears, crying over the destruction of her beloved home and the souls that may have perished. She also cried for Thaddeus Firesbreath. His brothers did as well, howling and honking like dying phoenixes descending into ash. How her heart broke for them. As she mourned, she wondered what could have led to this moment.
Something made her suspect Nathaniel Goldenwand was behind the attack, not just because of his connection to the murderous deputy. Who else could override restrictions on a wand? She remembered how oddly he’d behaved at their one and only meeting, and the many times he’d called his granddaughter a whore. He could’ve paid her way into any of private school in the third realm, or even hire a private tutor, but he’d insisted she attend Doris’s school and that she not serve detention. It was as if he’d planned for his granddaughter to perish in the school attack. The thought made her stomach churn.
His strange behavior, coupled with his thirst for power, made her suspect he was far more evil than she’d ever imagined.
DRAQUE SPED AWAY, FLYING close to the ceiling of the cavern, shrouded by shadows. It was a maze, but he’d grown up here and knew the area like the back of his hand. He’d intentionally flown toward Master Eagleheart’s quarters, since most shifters were too frightened to get close to the griffin. There he knew he could get some peace, as long as Katherine didn’t discover his whereabouts.
He landed on a granite ledge and was so deep in remorseful thought about how he’d treated Serah, he almost didn’t hear footsteps echoing down the tunnel, followed by the occasional scrape of wood against stone. Still concealed by darkness, he peered over the ledge, his sharp dragon senses recognizing the sound of Master Eagleheart’s staff.
The hood of his cloak pulled low over his forehead, Master Eagleheart cast a surreptitious glance over his shoulder before tapping on a rock three times with his cane. A crack materialized in the wall, and he slipped through it.
How odd. The entrance to Master Eagleheart’s chamber was at the far end of the tunnel, and it was a door, not a secret entryway.
Without a second thought, he swooped down and edged through the crack before it closed. Pressing up against a damp wall, he waited until he heard the scraping of Master Eagleheart’s cane down the hall.
Keeping a good distance between them, he followed the sound of the cane down a winding staircase of damp stone, which was lit only by the occasional wall sconce. Draque had to rely on his dragon-touched eyes to see anything, for it seemed the farther they descended, the darker it became.
Eagleheart reached a landing, and Draque pulled back into an alcove as the mage wove his way through a maze of man-sized boulders that glowed an eerie red. He squinted, trying to count them and failing. There had to be at least a thousand�
��a veritable forest of stones bathing the underground cavern in a soft crimson glow. What were those things?
Master Eagleheart placed a palm on one of the stones. “How are my babies?”
Babies? They must be eggs. Great Goddess!
A creature that resembled a malformed griffin sidled up to Eagleheart, one side of his body drooping like it was made from melting wax. “They done growing, Master,” the creature answered in a nasal voice. “They ready for war.”
Uneasy and apprehensive, Draque’s dragon stirred. War? What war?
“Good, good,” Eagleheart touched another egg. “But you must not hatch them until I give the signal.”
“Rem know.” The creature bowed low. “Rem wait for Master’s whistle.”
Eagleheart patted the creature on the head. “Good boy.” He turned to the eggs and raised his staff. “Hello, my precious darlings,” he said aloud, his voice echoing across the cavern. “Don’t fret. Daddy will release you soon, then all five realms will know the might of the griffin.”
Draque’s dragon let out a menacing, dark growl. What the ever-loving fuck? Draque suspected his fathers knew nothing of their mage’s eggs.
“Will griffin fight dragons, Master?” Rem asked.
Eagleheart rubbed his pointed chin. “If the kings do not relent, yes, but they would be fools to cross me.”
Relent? Holy flaming troll turds!
The creature looked at his master with the hungry eyes of a baby bird begging for food. “If they do cross Master?”
Eagleheart laughed. “Then my army will rip off their wings and shove them down their throats.”
Well, fuck. He had to alert his fathers, but not until he’d incinerated every last egg.
AS KATHERINE FLEW THROUGH the tunnels with Serah in her talons, Serah fought against her captor to no avail. The griffin bitch was strong, too strong. If only she could tear off the gag that restricted her siren tongue. Her compulsion spells didn’t always work, but her siren voice might stall Katherine long enough for her to escape.
They landed with a hard thud, and Serah tumbled out of Katherine’s talons. She cracked her head on the ground, and a sharp pain shot through her skull. Nausea rose as her head spun.
Great Goddess, save me! She couldn’t throw up with a gag in her mouth. She’d choke to death.
Rolling onto her side, her head whirled fiercely, like she was stuck on the merry-go-round from hell with no end in sight.
“I see the way you’re looking at me. Don’t judge me, you bitch,” Katherine hissed. “I’m not just doing this for me, but for the entire shifter race.”
With surprising strength, the griffin picked up Serah and tossed her over one shoulder, then took to the air, flying across the underground lakes. Serah couldn’t check her earrings to see if they’d come loose. She thought she could still feel them in her ears and prayed they wouldn’t fall out. It was an odd time to worry about jewelry, but the thought of losing them was almost as frightening as losing her life.
Her heart pounded double-time when they flew through a narrow opening and out into the open sky. She closed her eyes against the glare from the setting sun. She’d never survive the fall if the griffin dropped her, but she swooped down and deposited her beside a small boat tied up in a cove. Shifting back into human form, Katherine untied the boat, then dropped Serah in it. “Do not fear, little slut. I’m not killing you today. The last thing I need is your mates extracting your murder from my lips with a truth spell.”
Serah flopped in the hull like a fish out of water.
Katherine raised the sail. “I’m going to place an enchantment on the sail, and it will take you to Siren’s Cove. Your family can finish what they started.”
Her mother and grandmother had intended to sacrifice her, and they were most likely very upset with Serah for escaping her fate. They might be successful if given another chance.
She shifted into siren form. Though she was bound and gagged, her powerful tail still made a good weapon. She thrashed, trying to slap Katherine’s face.
Katherine lunged for her and wrapped a cord around her neck. “Immutatus!” she said, pointing her wand at Serah’s tail.
The tail instantly shifted back into human legs.
“Now you can’t shift,” Katherine sing-songed.
She gaped at the obsidian tau stone pressed against her chest. That stone, combined with the spell, trapped her siren inside her skin. As Katherine grinned nastily, her nose lengthening to a bird beak, she squawked, and Serah thought of the sharp contrast to Ladon’s sweet smile. She wept for him, for she doubted she’d ever see him or his brothers again.
Chapter Fourteen
Keeping the hoods drawn low, Kron and Vepar Firesbreath stood in the shadows of the Parliament Hall in their human forms, waiting for the assembly to call their emergency session to order. No witches knew of their presence, thanks to Vepar’s concealment spell. Nathaniel Goldenwand would speak to the assembly first, and Kron couldn’t wait to expose the deceitful mage.
The assembly hall was grand, a large round room built in the Guilded Age. No expense had been spared. Golden fae statues balanced the world in their slender hands and polished mahogany benches with padded cushions offered comfortable seating. The benches descended to a polished podium, where speakers could look at the assembly and easily measure their temperaments, and hear their jeers or applause.
Assembly members wore traditional powdered white wigs and long black robes, attire left over from the Renaissance. Preserving history was never foolish, though Kron did find grown witches parading in wigs with powdered rolls of bouffant hair to be comical.
Prime Minister and majority leader, Sir Gais Goblingout, a member of the Optimate party, who stood more for lining his pockets than helping his fellow witch, called the meeting to order, despite the fact that several members of the assembly hadn’t taken their seats. Gais’s family name suited him perfectly, for his goblin heritage, and his rumored affection for ale, had saddled him with a quadruple chin, a distended gut, and hands and feet that looked like stuffed sausages. His voice was far more unflattering than his figure—so phlegmy, he could hardly speak without coughing up a prodigious amount of snot.
Luckily Kron didn’t have to listen to him for long, as he yielded the floor almost immediately to Nathaniel Goldenwand. Kron didn’t like how the assembly had quickly returned to their seats, appearing ready to hang on Nathaniel’s every word. Nathaniel unfolded himself from a chair behind the speaker’s podium, like a vampire waking from his coffin. Tall and lanky, almost skeletal, with oily dark hair and a thin moustache, he looked so villainous, it bordered ridiculous.
Holding out his hands like a martyr on the cross, he addressed Parliament. “Dear honorable council and fellow mages, I have come to you today with an urgent plea—and I will not deny it—a thirst for revenge. The Firesbreath kings have sought to harm us all by murdering our innocent children and kidnapping my granddaughter. Goddess knows what they are doing to my sweet Serah at this very moment.”
When Vepar let out a low growl, Kron settled a hand on his shoulder. Remain calm, brother, he said telepathically. We shall give him enough rope to hang himself.
The grumbles from the crowd were not reassuring. Kron even thought he heard a few mutter, “Eradicate the beasts.”
He was briefly afraid, then steeled his resolve. He was the mightiest shifter in all five realms. He would not be discouraged by a few prejudiced politicians who were probably on Goldenwand’s payroll.
“How can we be sure it was the dragon kings who did this?”
Kron scanned the attendees, searching for the one who’d spoken. It was Marcus Moonbeam, a somewhat eccentric member of the Demagogue Party, a noble one in principal but bumbling leaders had reduced them to a handful of instigators who were barely a threat to the ruling party and Goldenwand’s interests. Of average stature, and with an unremarkable face and skin the color of polished mahogany, Moonbeam more or less faded into the crowd. What separated
him from the rest was his temerity to defy the majority, even when his party remained suspiciously silent.
Goldenwand chuckled, leveling Moonbeam with a look that made the politician sink low in his chair. “Their four-toed prints were found in the cemetery beside the school.”
“They could’ve been made by the princes, who were students at that school,” Moonbeam squeaked.
Goldenwand gave the bumbling politician a long, dark look, one meant to silence him, no doubt. “No shifting is permitted at school,” he said. “Witnesses say they saw dragons fly toward the school moments before it was incinerated. Who else but a dragon has the power to burn down an entire edifice? There was nothing left but cinder and ash.” Goldenwand paused and wiped his dry eyes.
His show of grief was blatantly false, yet the assembly witches sniffled in commiseration. Just how stupid were they?
“A powerful mage could’ve done it,” Vepar called, then slunk back into the shadows.
Goldenwand looked around for the dissenting voice, his hawkish eyes scanning the hall and his mouth twisted in a knot.
“Look outside your doors!” he yelled, whipping out his wand and banging the podium. “There are dozens of heartbroken parents demanding swift justice against those responsible for murdering their children.”
Sir Gais Goblingout got to his feet, gazing at Goldenwand as if he controlled the very rotation of the sun. “What do you propose we do?”
“What we should’ve done years ago.” Goldenwand banged the wand again, the sound of wood striking wood ricocheting through the hall. “Raze The Grotto and annihilate every shifter living there.”
Vepar growled again, his yellow eyes lengthening to oblong slits.
Kron laid a steadying hand on his arm. Patience, brother. We will expose him soon.
We must act, Vepar snapped. Before they put a war resolution to a vote.
“Even while your granddaughter is their captive?” Moonbeam countered. “Don’t you think it’s best we speak to the dragon kings first?”