Forged by Flames: Book 3 (Dragon's Breath Series)

by Susan Illene

  “I want some of those, too.” I pointed at the cigarettes. “Two packs.”

  She glanced down at the counter. “You got some rare items to trade, but they ain’t that rare.”

  “There is more coming,” Aidan said over my shoulder.

  Conrad came in a moment later with a medium-sized box filled with canned soup. He brushed past us to put it on the counter with our other offerings. “You can have this stuff too, but…” He paused to search around the store. “I want a Snickers candy bar, a pack of gum, and two energy drinks.”

  The woman rifled through the box. There were about twenty cans of beef and chicken noodle soup inside. They had to be worth something, though I had no idea what kind of shortages this town had. It could easily vary from location to location in a post-apocalyptic world.

  “Alright, ya’ll got yourselves a deal.” She handed me the cigarettes and map, then let Conrad grab his stuff. “Now I suggest you get goin’.”

  I eyed the coffee longingly, but decided it wasn’t worth staying longer. “Thanks.”

  We headed back outside and found a strange man talking to Phoebe and Danae in the middle of the parking lot near the gas pumps. Conrad hurried toward the truck, fully aware of the orb fragment he carried on him. Miles appeared to be checking under the hood of his vehicle—though he hadn’t mentioned anything was wrong with it—but he glanced up long enough to give me a brief shake of his head. Kade was nowhere to be found. His scent lingered in the air, though, which made me think he hadn’t gone far.

  Aidan made a growling sound as we approached the stranger, who had his attention on Phoebe. There was something about the tall man that bothered me. Maybe it was the black trench coat covering him from his neck to his ankles, or the spiked blue hair that stood straight up on top of his head. As we came around to face him, I decided his eyes stood out the most. They were the coldest ice blue I’d ever seen. I doubted he was much past his early thirties, but there was something ageless about him.

  “Sorcerer,” Aidan cursed under his breath.

  “I am Bacchus.” The stranger gave him an imperious look. “Who are you?”

  Phoebe sidestepped in front of us. “He’s my brother, Aidan, and next to him is…”

  “Slayer,” Bacchus interrupted, his gaze lighting on me. “I’ve never seen one who could tolerate the presence of dragons so well—even shifters.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Normally, I wouldn’t hide behind anyone in the face of danger, but Phoebe was the only one among us who had a way of deflecting magic. Not only could she shield herself against the worst of it—as I’d first thought—but she’d learned how to extend that protection a short distance. While the immunity might not be fool proof, it was close. As the sorcerer’s gaze stayed on me, Aidan let out a snarl and started to go around his sister. I grabbed his wrist and held it tightly. If not for my slayer strength, I couldn’t have pulled it off.

  “She can be surprisingly disciplined when she wants to be,” Phoebe answered, glancing back at Aidan and me with a warning in her eyes.

  Bacchus flashed a set of even, white teeth. “And yet she’s killed many in the short time since she began her career. I could use one such as her.”

  Aidan fought my hold. I had to wrap my arms around him to keep him from attacking the sorcerer. The magic emanating from Bacchus was so thick that it was a miracle we didn’t all choke on it. Alarms rang in my head, telling me that touching him would mean death. Aidan probably knew that as well, but his jealousy had overtaken common sense. The sorcerer had baited him on purpose and maybe some of that magic had filtered past Phoebe’s shield.

  “Look, we apologize for encroaching on your territory,” she said in a placating tone. “We promise to leave right now.”

  Bacchus dragged his gaze from me back to her. “You need not leave so quickly.”

  Says the spider to the fly attempting to leave its web.

  “No, we really do.” Phoebe waved at us to go.

  Danae stepped next to Aidan’s sister and spoke in a forceful tone, “You could put a lid on that, you know. No one likes a show off.”

  I grabbed Aidan and dragged him toward our truck. Conrad was already climbing into the driver’s seat, and Kade was coming from around the back of the store, moving slowly enough you almost didn’t notice him. As soon as we were all inside, Aidan’s uncle twisted toward us with a grave expression on his face. “Say nothing until we leave this place. There are eyes and ears everywhere.”

  It took Phoebe and Danae a couple of more minutes, but they somehow talked the sorcerer into letting us leave. The women headed for the RV hauler where Miles had already started the engine. We didn’t waste a moment before hightailing it out of there. I glanced back once to find Bacchus watching us from the gas station parking lot. Even at a block away, his cold eyes still felt like they pierced right through me.

  For the next few minutes, we rode in silence. Siloam Springs wasn’t huge, but it was one of those towns that sprawled out as it grew and it had more than a few recognizable chain stores and restaurants to fill it. Eventually, we entered the rural countryside again. Kade turned in his seat to look at us and frowned at his nephew. Aidan was still breathing heavily from fighting the urge to hop out of the truck and go after the sorcerer. I was still keeping a tight hold on his arm. Bacchus had really gotten to him—even more than expected.

  “I apologize for hiding while that…man was there. Just before he arrived I had a vision of him that told me I must avoid him at all costs,” Kade said, lips thinning. “He is the most powerful sorcerer I have ever encountered.”

  “Why didn’t you warn the rest of us?” I asked.

  Kade ran a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “There was no time. You were already inside, and I had to act quickly. The vision revealed to me that Bacchus was capable of discerning an individual’s abilities and weaknesses if he came close enough. Of all of us, it warned that I must not let him near me.”

  I supposed that made sense, considering his powers.

  “He knew about me right away—even with Phoebe trying to block us.” I expelled a breath. “And I could feel how strong his magic was.”

  Aidan’s voice came out raw, “He knew exactly how to provoke me.”

  Kade nodded. “While his reactions to you two were problematic, Bacchus never would have let us leave if he had a chance to read me. My vision told me he would discover I was a seer, and he’d choose to keep me for his own uses.”

  “You don’t think he could have overpowered us, do you?” I had wanted to avoid a fight with him, but mostly because it wasn’t worth it if we could simply leave. Not for a moment had I thought our group could lose a battle to one man—even a very strong sorcerer.

  Aidan’s uncle gave me a pitying look. “He wouldn’t have needed to overpower us. All it would have taken was him seeing that every one of us is willing to lay down our lives to protect the weak and innocent. He would have used that against us to get what he wanted.”

  I hadn’t looked at my traveling companions as a whole like that before, but Kade was right. The need to protect people brought us together, but it could also become our downfall. If Bacchus had figured it out, he could have used the citizens of that town to bring us to our knees.

  “As soon as we came out of the store and I saw that guy, I knew he was trouble,” Conrad said, keeping his eyes on the road. “I thought about shootin’ him, but then I remembered I had the orb piece in my pocket, so I stayed by the truck.”

  Kade gave him an approving look. “You did well. The guide in the cave must have chosen you to be protector for that reason.”

  Could Savion have known we’d run into trouble? How sentient, or even prophetic, could a mystical guy hiding in a cave for thousands of years be and still retain his sanity? Or maybe he had slept for all that time until we showed up. I supposed I could ask the next guide if one appeared there.

  I grabbed the new area map I’d picked up at the gas station and checked
it against the one Savion had given us, then stared closer. “That’s strange.”

  “What is it?” Aidan leaned closer to me. It didn’t take him long to notice the same problem. “Did the map change?”

  “Yeah, it did. This was more of a regional map before, but it’s like the whole thing zoomed in once we got close enough to the next fragment.” There had only been major landmarks before, but now smaller ones appeared and even roads. The designers might not have programmed state borders—maybe because they didn’t matter once dragons invaded—but they did somehow include stuff that didn’t exist until recently.

  “Was it like that before we stopped?” Kade asked.

  “No.” I shook my head. “It was all very generic with just a few terrain features and landmarks to guide us. If Savion hadn’t pointed at the precise spot we needed to go, we wouldn’t have even figured out the vicinity of the next fragment.”

  “It must have been a failsafe in case we lost the map,” he concluded.

  Aidan grunted. “And now that we are past the danger and near the next location, it is giving us more information.”

  I checked the magic map against the modern one. “Looks like we only have about twenty miles left to go.”

  A good thing too, since the sun was about to set.

  Chapter 21

  Bailey

  We had to pass through the sleepy town of Noel, Missouri before reaching our destination. Most of the homes and buildings still stood, but I didn’t catch any signs of life this time. Considering darkness was falling, I supposed that wasn’t all that surprising. There could very well have been plenty of people still occupying the town who stayed hidden at the hour we went through. As the setting sun colored the sky orange and red, we caught sight of two dragons flying far in the distance. Everyone in the vehicle—except Conrad—could feel the next fragment getting close. Over the radio, we urged Miles to finish the journey.

  It turned out the fragment was located inside a place called Bluff Dweller’s Cavern. We had to follow a two-lane country highway to get to it and pull into a small tourist parking area across from a tiny pond. I got out of the truck, taking in our surroundings and noting the dragons had flown out of sight. From my vantage point, I spotted a couple of older stone houses and outbuildings—none appearing occupied—on my side of the highway spaced apart by vast, open fields. Another house sat on the other side of the road that looked like it had been built in the last decade or so. No lights were on in it either, but a white SUV was parked in front of the garage. On either side of the small valley where we were located, there were hills covered in dense forests of trees. They blocked my last glimpse of the sun as it set.

  I took a moment to stretch my legs before joining the others who’d gathered around to study the row of rock steps on the side of the hill. We were tired, but we still had a mission to do and limited time to finish it. The sorcerer back in Arkansas might be able to track us if Xanath’s spell wore off too soon.

  “Do we make camp or go in now?” I asked.

  Kade rubbed his chin. “We have no idea how long this may take, or how far our next destination may be. I would suggest going in now.”

  Danae sighed. “I agree. It’s only 6 p.m. and even if we finish a little late, we can sleep after that.”

  “I guess I’m game,” Conrad said.

  Though I’d certainly had more strenuous days than this in the physical sense, I was already feeling exhausted. Spending the whole day in a hyper state of vigilance and fighting a dragon had worn me down. Still, I agreed with the others. We couldn’t afford to waste another minute. I glanced at Aidan, who stared back at me. He was being generous enough to wait for my vote before giving his own preference. Little things like that made it even harder to resist him.

  First, though, we needed to consider what we were getting into. “Anyone know anything about this place?”

  “Nope.” Danae shook her head. “But considering there’s a sign for the cavern entrance, I’m guessing the cave is bigger than the last one we visited.”

  Miles nodded. “I agree. You all might want to take some supplies with you for this one.”

  We moved to the back of the trucks and stuffed two spare packs with food, water, and flashlights. As a precaution, I added a first-aid kit and a couple of emergency blankets in case we got stuck in there for a while. Small spaces didn’t bother me much, but I sincerely hoped the cave was stable. It might have been a tourist spot before—meaning it couldn’t have been too dangerous—but who knew what might have happened to it during D-day. This area may have been hit with earthquakes just like Oklahoma.

  Once we were satisfied we had everything we might need, and we’d had an opportunity to answer nature’s call, we made the trek up the stone steps. At the top, we reached a narrow stretch of flat area with a museum down to the left and a ticket office to the right. Spaced about a hundred or so feet apart were two separate entryways into the cave.

  “Which one do we take?” I asked. Though I could sense the fragment somewhere inside, I couldn’t get a precise lock on it to know where we should start.

  Aidan pointed at the one by the ticket office closest to us. “Let’s try that one.”

  We reached the doors and found them locked. It took Aidan and I pulling together to break them open. As soon as we did, a rush of warmer air hit us. Until then, I hadn’t realized it was that cold outside despite the fact everyone else wore jackets. Only I had chosen to forgo putting one on because the chill didn’t seem to bother me as much.

  I frowned. “Are caves supposed to be this warm?”

  “Yeah.” Conrad nodded. “Most of them stay about fifty-five to sixty degrees all year.”

  “How do you know that?” Danae asked, surprised.

  He shrugged. “My folks were in the military. Whenever I stayed with them, they tried to take me to do stuff and be a family and shit.”

  Conrad didn’t talk about his past often, but he never ceased to amaze me at what he revealed. We flipped on our flashlights and headed inside. Kade and Miles watched us, staying by the doors. They’d go back and keep an eye on the vehicles once we left their sight. I shifted my light around to get a sense of the cavern, which was large enough that we didn’t need to squeeze together tightly or worry about ducking our heads. As we went farther in, the ceiling opened even more and we found ourselves in a dome-like room. I spied hundreds of soda straws and stalactites coming down from the ceiling, formed by thousands of years worth of water dripping down—as Conrad informed us. They appeared like sharp icicles that could pierce a person if they dropped. We didn’t have trouble with slipping on the floor despite the moisture in the cave. At some point, gravel had been added to the path.

  In the dome room, I found there was more than one direction we could go. “Which way?”

  “Uhh.” Conrad moved his flashlight from one tunnel to the next.

  “That way,” Aidan said, pointing directly in front of us.

  I’d considered the one with the stairs and railing, but my sense of direction was failing me inside the big, dark cavern. All I could think about was the tons of rock over and around me. Just because it appeared stable for the moment, didn’t mean it was.

  We moved forward. Our flashlights could only penetrate so much of the darkness and there were lots of nooks and crannies due to water carving the place, rather than man. It wasn’t neat and tidy. Nature tended to make her creations like works of art that you could spend hours studying if you had the time.

  Aidan led the way through the narrow tunnel. We couldn’t all stand abreast anymore, so we moved in a single-file line. My shoulder brushed up against the limestone more than once. Conrad hissed at me, saying it could damage the stone. Since when had he become such a nature lover?

  The cavern widened a little and Aidan stopped in his tracks, causing me to bump into him. He glanced over his shoulder. “There is a strange glow ahead.”

  I peered around him. He was right. A little ways down the path, a soft ligh
t broke the darkness.

  Phoebe, who had taken the rear of our line, gestured at us. “Keep going. I feel like that is where we are supposed to be.”

  “Agreed,” Aidan said, though like me, he didn’t appear all that excited about it. Maybe the tight confines of the cave were getting to him, too.

  We slowly inched forward and the light continued to glow brighter until we each turned our flashlights off. The shape of a person began to take form. I squinted and decided it was feminine. After a few more feet, my initial suspicion proved right. A woman with thick, black hair falling to her waist, tan skin, and square features watched us approach. I was guessing she might be Native American by her appearance. She didn’t speak, but she lifted the palm of her hand toward us, and we stopped. Then she pointed toward the ceiling.

  We turned our gazes upward, and the roof of the cave began to reshape itself. The stalactites disappeared, taken over by something that looked like a puddle of still water. It was silver and calm at first, but soon images began to form. The rest of the cave fell into darkness so that we couldn’t see anything except the scene that began to play out before us.

  A grungy-looking man with a spear in one hand and a bloody sack in the other walked through a thick patch of woods. I couldn’t be certain, but I thought he might be in his late-twenties or early thirties. He had dark-blond curly hair, matted and stuck to his neck. His hands were caked with dirt and blood from hunting—maybe for his next meal? He walked with assured grace, hardly making a sound with his footsteps. This was an area he knew well, and he’d likely passed through it a hundred times.

  He broke through the woods to a clearing where the sun shone brightly, and horror filled his gaze. Like a camera shifting position, the scene angle went from focusing on the man’s face to coming behind him so we could see the same view. In the valley below, a village with thatched roofs sat nestled next to a small river. Several dark gray dragons were attacking it, burning and destroying everything in the place. My vision colored red, and I had a desperate urge to jump in there and fight every last one of them. This was what I was born for—protecting people from dying in such a terrifying manner.