Firedrake

by Bianca D'Arc

  “He iss not ourss to give.” The male gryphon stepped forward, his voice a little raspier than the female’s. “You were expected.” The male cocked his eagle-like head and looked at Mace and Krysta. “Though we thought it would be two, not three. Sstill, we will deal with you asss we were insstructed.”

  “By whom?” Drake asked, not backing down. It didn’t do to show any weakness in one’s first encounter with a gryphon. “Who took Prince Wil and why? Neither Draconia nor the prince have any disagreement with your kind. This act of aggression will not go unanswered.”

  The female bowed her feathered head in acknowledgement. “We are only messssengerss, but I can ssay that your prince will not be harmed. And he will be returned.”

  Jenet strode forward to stand behind Drake, her scales rippling with irritation.

  “I want him back right now, do you hear me?” She was shouting in a way Drake had never heard, truly upset. “You had no right to take him! No right!”

  “Calm down, little hen,” the male gryphon said almost disdainfully. “Your prince is ssafe.”

  Krysta watched the exchange with a strange mixture of awe, fascination and amusement. The dragons—Jenet especially—squared off with the gryphons. They were about equal in size and both species had sweeping wings, but where dragons sported a leather-like hide and glimmering scales, the gryphons had sleek wings of gleaming feathers the likes of which she had never seen.

  Jenet was clearly upset, facing down the gryphons and breathing smoke in her agitation. Even Nellin bristled as the gryphons replied to the dragon’s silent speech, though he sat back and simply observed the exchange for the most part. Krysta could only hear the gryphons’ side of the conversation, but it was enough to indicate Jenet was definitely giving the half-bird, half-cat creatures of myth a piece of her mind.

  Krysta took up a position beside Jenet, wanting to stand united with the dragons and men. One of the gryphons cocked its head at her, as if questioning her presence.

  “I wish I could hear what Nellin and Jenet are saying to you birds. I bet they’d make me proud.”

  The gryphon cocked his feathered head at her, his nimble tongue lolling while he clacked his beak. “Truly? It iss ssimple enough.”

  Krysta stood up straight as she felt the gryphon’s incredible magic reach out to her. One feathered wingtip brushed her face, and the last thing she heard before she collapsed was a roar of anger from the dragons before her head hit the sand.

  When Krysta woke moments later, there was a cacophony of sound in her head and her senses were scrambled.

  “You meddlesome bird. Now look what you’ve done!”

  “Will she be all right?”

  The first voice was gruff and angry. It sounded male, but like neither Mace nor Drake. The second was female and worried, if Krysta was any judge. Both were musical and rumbling, like the voice of a storm.

  “Stop shouting.” She sat up, holding her head with both hands as she struggled against the pain. “Please!”

  Strong arms supported her back, and she looked up to find Drake at her side. Searching for Mace, she found him confronting the gryphons, sword drawn. The gryphons didn’t look too worried, though they backed away just slightly, giving them space.

  “Did she bump her head? Check her head, Drake.” Jenet craned her long neck over Drake’s head, bringing her concerned, jeweled gaze into Krysta’s line of sight.

  Krysta tried to shrug him off as Drake ran his hand lightly over the back of her scalp. “Did Jenet just ask if I bumped my head?”

  Drake stilled, and all eyes turned to her. “How did you know?”

  “Ssilly humanss.” The male gryphon tossed his beak, ruffling the feathers around his neck.

  “She can hear us.” Nellin’s voice was low and gruff, his giant face swam into her line of vision as he craned his neck to look at her. “Can’t you?”

  “Stars! I can,” Krysta whispered, feeling Drake’s hands tighten on her shoulders. “But how?” She looked to the gryphon who’d touched her. “Why?”

  “It iss ssimple magic. Conssider it a gift to new friendss.” The male gryphon tossed his head again as the smaller female moved forward.

  “My mate hass a ssoft heart. We both like you, Kryssta. And your family.”

  “But more,” the male spoke once more, “you are our alliess now.”

  Krysta stood with Drake’s help, then moved out of his arms to face the gryphons. She held their gazes for a long moment. She realized what these amazing magical beings had given her and tears formed behind her eyes that she refused to let fall. Now was not the time for tears. Now was the time to forge new friendships that might see them through the tough times ahead. Krysta bowed low to each gryphon in turn, in the Jinn sign of respect, her gaze never leaving theirs.

  “You honor myself and my clan.” She fumbled for a moment, trying to recall the traditional words, modifying them with a smiling shake of her head to fit this amazing situation. “I’m not certain I can ever repay this honor. Your gift of friendship is beyond measure and I am in your debt.”

  “Sshe sspeakss well.” The female spoke as if to the male, but her words were clearly heard by all.

  “Sshe doess,” the male agreed, then nodded firmly. “Asss it wass foretold.”

  Krysta wondered at the gryphon’s words. She got the feeling these magical beings were operating under their own agenda and somehow, she and her little band of dragons and men fit in with their plans. She could only imagine what would come next.

  “I am Herorthor and this is my mate, Llydiss. We give you our namess and now you have ssome power over uss. Do not sshare them with otherss.”

  Krysta put one hand over her heart. “I will guard your names as a secret.”

  “Sshe iss good at keeping ssecretss,” the female, Llydiss, said with an amused feather ruffle. “You ssurprisse uss, Kryssta. We thought the sspymasster of the prophecy wass Drake.”

  “We don’t know what prophecy you speak of, Lady.” Drake came to stand next to her, and Mace was not far behind. He took up a position on her other side while the dragons stood behind them, united.

  “We can tell you only part, for now.” The gryphon began to recite:

  Sspy, bard, dragon’ss brother

  Comess on wing with another

  Sseekss the sstolen, asss iss hiss right

  Newly mate and newly knight

  When winged brethren finally meet

  On ssand, on sstone, on tired feet

  There to sseek the sstolen prince

  A wizard’ss ward they musst convince

  New friendss, a common foe

  Together they will go

  Toward the easst and rissing ssun

  Yet the quesst, jusst begun

  “The resst will be told by otherss when you reach the island. Asss we ssaid, we thought the sspy was Drake, but it could asss eassily be you, Kryssta. Then the ‘other’ would be you, Ssir Mace.” The female gryphon stretched her wings as if to fly, shifting backward to gain room.

  “But I’m no knight,” Drake objected, “newly mated or otherwise.”

  The gryphon clacked its beak as if in laughter, all but ignoring him. “Sstay tonight and learn to sspeak with your friendss, Kryssta. Bond asss you will need to. Tomorrow, sspeak our namess and we will come for you. Then we will go together to the island.” The male moved off to join his mate, also stretching his wings in preparation for flight.

  “Why can’t we go now? Tonight?” Krysta asked.

  “It iss not yet time. You musst bond fully to be protected from the magic of the island. Do that tonight. Or perisssh tomorrow.”

  With that final admonishment, the gryphons leaped into the air, their great leonine hindquarters propelling them into the sky as their eagle’s wings drew them higher. They were beautiful to watch, but their words were frustrating.

  Krysta turned to the men and dragons beside and behind her.

  “Well? What now?”

  Chapter Twelve

&
nbsp; Hearing the speech of dragons was a novel experience for Krysta. She had a hard time at first when the knights tried to teach her how to project her thoughts back to the dragons, but after an hour or so, she gained at least a rudimentary proficiency. Expertise would come with time, they all knew.

  The dragons enjoyed speaking with her, glad to finally be able to express themselves fully to the woman who had come to mean so much to both Mace and Drake in so short a time. Jenet was a little reserved, but Nellin surprised Krysta with his droll observations and wit. She found herself laughing often at Nellin’s wry humor as they prepared a quick dinner of fish the dragons speared with their talons in the shallows and made a crude camp for the night on the moonlit beach.

  The men gathered driftwood and the dragons provided the spark for a lovely fire. The dragons also settled down in a semi-circle around the campfire, allowing the humans to lean back against their warm bodies as they ate the fish and the crumbs of what was left in Mace’s pack.

  “Well, that’s the last of my provisions. We’ll have to forage from here on.” Mace closed the now empty pack and replaced it with his pile of gear, settling down next to Krysta as they leaned back against Nellin’s smooth hide.

  “If the gryphons are to be believed, we’ll be at their island tomorrow. Maybe we can resupply there for the trip home.” Krysta tried to look on the bright side, but deep inside she harbored reservations. Thy gryphons’ rhyming prophecy had lain heavy on her mind all day.

  “I can’t believe it’ll be just that easy,” Drake said from her other side. He tossed a twig into the fire and the expression on his handsome face was fierce. “They had to have a reason to take Wil all this way. I can’t see them just letting him go because we flew down and asked nicely.”

  “I don’t like that gryphons are involved. They’re altogether too magical for my comfort,” Mace grumbled as he got more comfortable against Nellin’s warm flank.

  “They are powerful, but the few I’ve dealt with in the past have been entirely honorable,” Drake said. “If the gryphons I knew are anything to judge by, I’d say we have less to fear from gryphons than we do from whoever lives on that island.”

  “Do you think it really could be a wizard?” Krysta’s voice was small in the darkening night. Wizards were to be feared. They’d been banished from this realm for a reason. Some of them were downright evil and the stories of ancient days told of great wars between the evil ones who wanted to enslave all creatures in this realm and the few who wanted to let the world evolve on its own.

  “I don’t know. But there are still some in this world who have wizard blood. The royal house of Draconia, the Black Dragon Clan and the Doge of Helios, for example.” Drake tossed another twig to the flames. “That’s why gryphons serve in her court, I suspect. Magic seeks its own kind. Whoever we find on that island, they will have powerful magic, indeed. Of that I have no doubt.”

  “We can protect you,” Nellin said softly from behind them. “That’s what the gryphons meant when they talked about our bond. Dragons are mostly impervious to magic, since we are creatures of magic ourselves. Mace’s bond with me will protect him from whatever awaits us tomorrow.”

  Jenet shifted her head on the cold sand to look at them. “I believe it’s why they gave you the gift of speech with our kind, Krysta. With that pathway now open, we can bond with you as we do with our knights. Our protection will extend to you.”

  “But—”

  Jenet sighed smokily. “Don’t fight it, Krysta. It is as the Mother of All wills it. You will bond with our knights and with us. I don’t know why you humans must fight the will of the Mother at every turn.” Jenet shot a despairing glance at Drake. “And now I’m sure you will make some argument about how you’re not good enough to bond with me, though it’s what we’ve both wanted deep in our hearts since the moment I hatched. Go ahead, Drake. Do your worst. But the fact remains. If you do not bond with me, you doom our mission. I would rather have had you willing, but at this point, my pride is in tatters. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”

  “Sweetheart,” Drake’s voice was as soft as Krysta had ever heard it.

  Drake got up and went to the dragon, his long legs carrying him to Jenet’s side. He tugged her sinuous neck into a loving embrace. Drake kissed the ridges of Jenet’s eyes as tenderly as a lover and Krysta had to look away, lest the love she read in his every move stir her to tears.

  “Never think that I’m not willing to bind my life to yours. I love you more than anything in the world, Jenet. I always have and I always will.” Drake didn’t care if his words carried. They should all know how much he loved this dragon who was his closest friend in all the universe. “I’m a stubborn ass.”

  He moved back and stared into Jenet’s faceted eyes.

  “I won’t argue that point.” Hope glittered in the depths of her miraculous gaze and Drake felt his spirits rise.

  “Can you ever forgive me?”

  “Are you willing to be my knight and all that entails for the rest of your days?”

  His little girl was tough, but he loved her that way. Drake nodded solemnly and bowed his head, answering her in his mind as he knew it must be. He projected his thoughts to all present, knowing they needed to be witnesses to this most momentous of occasions.

  “I don’t deserve you or your forgiveness for my many transgressions, but I love you, Jenet, my sister of the skies. I will be your knight and I will work the rest of my life to be worthy of you.”

  Nellin trumpeted his joy, his movements dislodging Mace and Krysta, who stood and came to Drake’s side.

  “Does this mean what I think it does?” Krysta asked breathlessly.

  He pulled her close and kissed her while Mace laughed. “We’ve just witnessed the making of a knight. And about damn time too.”

  Mace pounded Drake on the back and congratulated Jenet too, his eyes bright with what Drake suspected were tears. Drake knew there were tears of joy running down his own cheeks, but he didn’t care. The moment was too special.

  “Brace yourself now,” Jenet warned, a split-second before the rush of her power hit him like a wave, cresting and breaking over him, reshaping his very soul. He felt the pathways that had always joined them snap into place even more firmly and blow wide open. He didn’t know for a moment where she began and he ended, so close was the bond between the dragon and himself.

  Drake would have dropped to his knees if Mace and Krysta hadn’t been there to prop him up. He was stunned by the well of power within the dragon, now shared with him in that blinding moment of revelation. He had only a glimpse of her vast strength and it humbled him. It was something he would remember all his life.

  “Drake?” Krysta asked, concern in her lovely gray eyes.

  “I’m all right. But I think I know a little bit about how you felt earlier when the gryphon’s magic bowled you over. Damn, baby!” He turned to Jenet and hugged her with the arm that wasn’t still holding Krysta. “You pack a wallop.”

  They all laughed then, joy bubbling over as the three humans hugged, surrounded and embraced by the dragons’ twining necks.

  “Now comes the hard part,” Krysta said as their exuberance died down a bit. “How exactly do we all bond and what does it mean?”

  “That’s really the easy part, my dear.” Drake wiggled his eyebrows. “And the most fun. If you’re willing.”

  “You mean—?”

  Mace wrapped an arm around her waist. “The dragons will seal their troth. They will take to the air in a mating flight, bonding them—and us—fully, as we join them, by joining with you. Both of us, at the same time, will make you our mate.”

  “You want to marry me? Both of you?”

  Krysta’s breath caught in her throat.

  “I know most women prefer to have the full ceremony, surrounded by friends and family, but I regret we haven’t the option. If you bond with us now, we can always have a party later, when we return home, if you wish it.” Mace was so serious, so earnest,
she reached up to kiss him.

  “You’re forgetting, I’m Jinn. My family will give you a party whether you want one or not.”

  Drake joined in her laughter. “She’s right about that. The Jinn will throw a party on any excuse.”

  “Then we can marry now, among ourselves, and seal our bonds.” Mace was still serious, but that was his way. “I could not love you any more if we had a hundred witnesses to our vows.”

  “You love me?” Her heart nearly melted at the tenderness in the fierce knight’s eyes.

  Mace dropped to one knee before her. “That I do. Forgive me, but I didn’t have the courage to tell you before. My heart is yours, Krysta, if you’ll have it. For the rest of my days.”

  “Oh, Mace!” She reached down and kissed him, tears of joy mingling between their lips.

  When she drew back, Drake was there, his expression sheepish. “I know it’s sudden, and a giant step to take when we’ve never even been intimate—”

  “You haven’t?” Mace interrupted with a cocky grin.

  Drake looked over at him, annoyed as Mace got to his feet. “No, we haven’t. Not that it’s any business of yours.”

  “Hot damn! I finally came first at something.”

  “Hey!” Krysta objected, but laughingly, at being a point of contention and competition between the two men.

  “No disrespect intended, my dear.” Mace was quick to assure her, though the grin hadn’t left his face. “It’s just such a novel experience.”

  “Would you shut up, please?” Drake shot Mace a pained look. “I’m trying to propose here.”

  “What do you know? I beat you to that as well. My luck is looking up!” Mace shied away from the fist thrown negligently in his direction and wisely closed his mouth though his lips still curved in a wide smile.

  Drake dropped to one knee, holding Krysta’s hand in his. “I’m terrible at this,” he muttered, “as I am at so many other things.” The earnest look in his eyes sent a pang through her. “But in order to have Mace, it looks like you have to accept me as well. I want you to know that I’ve wanted you since the moment I first saw you. I’ve respected your skills and your heart, your compassion and your courage, for as long as I’ve known you. I’ll honor you and cherish you—if you’ll let me—and love you with all my heart. I don’t know when it happened or how, but I do love you, Krysta. You’ve taken a place in my heart I never thought to have filled. I only hope you can find some room in yours for me, now that we’re forced by circumstance to join.”