The Dragon Mage Collection

by L J Andrews

Slowly, I slid further down Raffi’s spine, until I was resting at the neck of his tail. I tugged both jade swords from my back, keeping my eyes focused into the folds of blackness. Something was there—and it was coming fast.

  “Thane!” I shouted. The truth that something was coming came when I felt the burn of my armor harden around my arms and legs.

  We were so far apart I wasn’t sure if my father would hear me, but Raffi shuddered and roared loudly. The other warriors’ ears pricked, and I even saw Prince Ced glance over his shoulder. The prince wasn’t in his true form. He was tethered around the wrists by an energy bond from Gaia and rode on Amber with Rochelle watching his every move.

  Jade stood next to me, her body tense and her gaze narrowed into the night. She met my eye and I nodded, our connection breathing her intentions. Without hesitation, Jade leapt from Raffi’s back and shifted midair the same moment that, from the thick, black clouds, a fleet of snarling lindworms broke through the protections surrounding the warriors.

  A blast of molten fire shot toward Amber. It seemed, more than anything, the lindworms were after their traitorous prince. The enormous lindworm warrior, Magnus, leapt in front of Ced and blasted his own stream of fire to protect his prince while Rochelle used the amber stone to draw an energy shield around Amber.

  Ced was shouting at me from across the sky. Holding his wrists in the air. “Release me! Now!”

  My pulse rang in my head, and without waiting to explain to Raffi, I lunged into a free fall in the air. As I knew he would, Thane broke my fall. There was a connection between us, and fighting alongside my own father made it more powerful.

  I thudded onto his spine in a less than graceful landing, but quickly oriented and rushed along the ridges to where Gaia was standing by Thane’s head. I caught sight of Jade above with Sapphire, Ruby, and Onyx on her flanks. The lindworms were reeling back again to attack. One in particular seemed determined to obliterate Prince Ced. Though the warriors of Ced were to be the prisoners of the elementals, they raised their dark wings and surrounded Amber completely.

  Gaia gripped my arm before I leapt through the air again for Amber. “Let me release him,” she snapped. “Go with your father and send them away. That one—do you feel his power?” she gasped, pointing at the ravenous lindworm. “He is the head, cut him off.”

  Gaia balanced on Thane’s shoulder for a tense moment before leaping toward Amber. Ced held out his arms for Gaia but shouted at me. “My brother, Olc!” he screamed, pointing at the leader as Gaia steadied her footing and reached for the prince’s wrists. My attention drifted toward the lead lindworm. Ced’s brother was long, and he was one of the many dark dragons that had clawed back haunches and claws on the points of his wings. The second prince had two fangs jutting from his massive upper jaws, with bottom fangs that were serrated.

  There was a pained shriek from one of the warrior lindworms when Olc blazed the back of our army with crimson fire that looked more like blood than flames. I knew her as Laina—Jade had told me her story—this was the moment Laina had been dreading, when she would fight against her son. Olc snarled into the dark and seemed to care very little his mother was in our ranks.

  Thane responded by blasting a blinding ring of fire into the black night. Each elemental warrior turned and rushed through the stars behind us. I saw the royals hover over us, joining with the imprisoned lindworms as they took their attack from above. Ruby’s breath was white hot and scorched along a smaller serpent on the left flank, while Jade and Sapphire burst cerulean and indigo fire in their rage. I clung tight to Thane’s horns as we led the charge toward the fleet of Nag’s warriors. I didn’t see any mages—my first glance was to find Bron, but his energy was lost to me. For once, the dark High Priest might not be at this fight. I leaned off Thane’s shoulder, holding tight to his neck with one hand while my other gripped one of the jade blades in my hand as we rushed toward Olc.

  “Like last time,” I shouted, meeting Thane’s blue eye in the dark.

  His head shuddered and the way he looked at me I sensed he desperately wished to speak to me. With a shake of his head, I could gather he didn’t want to drop me on the back of Olc.

  “I need to touch him,” I shouted. “I’ll be alright. Cover me!”

  Thane bellowed when I leapt toward Olc. Lindworm roars sounded like shattering glass or screeching tires, not like the deep boom of the elementals. When I launched through the air, my ears bled from the fury of Olc’s army as they shrieked in the dark. Olc reared his head when I thudded along his back. His eyes were a sickly yellow with thin rivers of blood coursing toward jet black irises. Being a lindworm, Olc’s spine was more flexible, and he reeled like a whale might dive beneath the tide. Flattening onto my stomach, I clutched my blade but dug my nails as hard as I could into Olc’s sharp scales.

  I’d come to recognize individual wyvern calls. Though I held on for my life, I heard Jade above me, blasting at Olc’s army, and Thane’s booming call shook my core. They were close, the heat of their pyre scorching the back of my neck as dragons fought against dragons. I closed my eyes tight, ripping my energy through my veins and breaking through the night power Olc was shooting at me.

  I’d absorbed night energy twice, but each time still burned in wretched pain. Shouting in agony, I held tighter, though I sensed the second prince was blasting me with debilitating power so I couldn’t slash my blades into his flesh.

  Olc screamed loud enough that I heard a pop in my ear. Finally, my energy surge cut through his scales. I watched his body burn where I pressed my palms, the glowing embers from the energy scorch shredding through the top layer of scales. Finding the strength to rise to my knees, I clasped tight to my swords and found my balance. Olc dove toward the earth, and the blast of wind against my chest toppled me backward. Scrambling desperately to grip, I caught hold of Olc’s hind joint. With great effort, I sheathed the blade for now and wrapped both arms around his leg.

  Thane dove after Olc, his panic and fury clear in each desperate slash of his claws. He scraped his front claws along the eye of one of Olc’s nearby warriors. The lindworm screamed, trying to back-pedal, but Thane only advanced. Jade came in from the side, her wide jaw clamping through the layers of scales on the retreating lindworm so Thane’s massive jaws could crush its throat.

  Olc rolled, so I was forced to crook my elbows around his haunch to keep from falling. The second prince shot a stream of dark pyre toward Thane, who dodged and let the dead lindworm warrior plummet from his jaws toward the ground.

  I clasped my palm around Olc’s hind leg and sent a raging blast of my energy through his scales. The prince raged and flung his serpent body again. To his dismay, I was sure, the movement helped me scramble onto his back.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I didn’t think, I just ran. Running along the slippery spine of a lindworm in flight wasn’t a minor thing. Clenching my teeth so desperately I thought they might crack, I took a final jump, wrapping my arms as best I could around Olc’s neck. The beast flayed wildly like a caged lion. Olc tried his best to snap his jaws at me, but I was too low beyond the reach of his fangs. I dangled from the lindworm’s neck like a jewel on a chain, and though I pounded as much of my power as possible, Olc’s night shield only came on stronger. I began absorbing his energy. The hateful wave sent my stomach turning. Although my power took on the night, I was weakening the more I absorbed.

  Releasing an agonizing cry, I fought to hang tight to the lindworm’s neck. Then, with a terrible tremor, a second dark dragon slammed his skull against Olc’s neck. My grip slipped, and I fell into oblivion.

  Tumbling through the sky, I flipped head over heels at least three times before I pounded against Thane’s wing. I grappled to hang on but slid down his ribs and off his body. My shoulder wrenched painfully when Thane’s front claws wrapped around my bicep. Clenching my jaw, I used my other arm to hook around his shoulder blade and pull myself safely onto his back. Jade had swooped below my father, preparing to catch me, and pulled b
ack when I positioned behind Thane’s wings.

  Glancing above, I watched the furious battle of two lindworms slashing deadly fangs, bloodied claws, and jagged wings at each other. I assumed the smaller of the two was Ced—at least, I hoped—though I still refused to trust the prince.

  My voice was haggard and my shoulder was on fire when I climbed Thane’s powerful neck to shout so he could hear me through the carnage. I winced, lugging my worthless arm behind me. Despite the armor around my shoulders, muscles, sinews, possibly bone had easily slipped out of place

  “We need to go underneath Olc,” I shouted.

  Thane breathed torrential fire, wasting no time trying to protest this time. I breathed in the thick smell of smoke and flames. Despite my injuries, I found new determined energy when I unsheathed one blade. Clutching my injured arm against my middle, I crouched low when Thane flew directly beneath the two lindworm princes.

  My energy was bursting to attack. I had bits of Olc’s night energy lingering in my blood, but it only strengthened my grip on the blade. Ced slashed his jagged wing against Olc’s neck. His brother in turn locked his jaws on Ced’s shoulder. The younger prince sprayed Olc’s eyes with blinding fire until he was free. Olc swam through the clouds to attack an injured Ced again, but Thane darted straight up until the point of my blade was swallowed in the fleshy bottom of Olc’s body.

  I thrust the cutting edge deeper, Thane flying forward so my sword sawed across the lindworm’s insides. The battle silenced when Olc bellowed his shrieking, fatal cry. Ripping the blade from beneath him, buckets of black blood splattered over my head and along Thane’s powerful wings. Thane flew us away, Ced abandoned his screeching brother, and Olc hovered for several moments.

  Rancid, steamy blood lined my lips and splashed inside my nose, causing me to gag. Clutching to Thane’s neck, I turned away when a rush of hot wind blasted us as Olc shot one last desperate attempt at flames at our backs. Amber swooped into the wreckage, Gaia still on her back. They were followed by Ruby, with Athika, and Onyx with Donovan. The mages lifted their hands high. I felt their power bleeding against Olc’s warriors, blocking them from pursuing.

  As Thane took me further away, I saw the corpse of Olc fall beneath the dark, hazy clouds, each flip of his long body proof he was dead. The bleeding cry of Laina racked against my heart, but a comfort came also when a shock of power ripped through my blood. The mages had succeeded in protecting us. The battle was over.

  Chapter 11

  The Queen

  I watched Olc fall and soon followed the remaining royals and warriors fleeing into the distance. Teagan rolled onto his back, resting against Thane’s neck below me. He gasped, covered in rank blood from Olc. He glanced at the sky, and I flew into view, sensing he was looking for me.

  After a several long minutes, Thane shot to the ground, each warrior following close behind. Ced remained in wyvern form, but one wing wasn’t functioning properly.

  Shift, Ced, I hissed at the prince.

  I fear it will be worse if I do, he muttered. Even in my mind, I could hear his anguish.

  Sometimes injury takes a different form in our human bodies. Shift, I commanded again. I think you’re about to fall.

  Ced glanced at me before hovering over the top of Amber, where Gaia had taken a place with Rochelle behind her wings. The High Priestess saw Ced approaching and moved aside slightly when the prince shifted in the air and thudded along Amber’s back. I had to trust Gaia would treat the lindworm fairly—I’d sensed her heart; she was true. But then again, the lindworms had kept her a prisoner away from her son.

  Thane led us to a ledge tucked in a frosted forest. The air was at least twenty degrees cooler than where we’d reunited. Plodding along the ground, Thane gently dropped his shoulder so Teagan could slide off in a heap on the ground before shifting and kneeling next to his son. I changed forms before my feet touched the ground and rushed to Teagan’s side.

  Thane’s shoulders were coated in Olc’s blood, but I could still make out an angry scar that trailed down his neck to the center of his chest. There was certainly a tale behind the wound—it would not be easy to harm the lead warrior in such a brutal way. Thane didn’t seem to notice the blood while he held Teagan’s shoulder still. “It’s dislocated,” he said, his voice low and heavy.

  “Let me help,” I breathed, taking my place next to Teagan’s side. Thane scooted away and let me settle against Teagan’s shoulder. I winced feeling the muscles stretched and the ball completely dislodged from the socket.

  Teagan gasped in pain when I positioned his arm to settle into place. “Can’t you just touch it and fix it?” He meant the question sincerely, but he smiled through the thick coat of Olc’s insides.

  “I wish I could for all of it, but after this, it will be easy and painless,” I whispered and glanced up at Thane. “Can you hold him?”

  Thane smirked at Teagan and gently pressed on Teagan’s opposite shoulder. Teagan wrapped one hand around Thane’s forearm, bracing for what was to come. I sensed Gaia rushing behind me, but she didn’t stop what I was going to do. Instead, she knelt at my side, placing her hands on Teagan’s chest and filling him with comforting energy.

  As quickly as I could, I positioned his arm in place and shoved until the joint popped. Teagan shouted in pain, but when it was done, he flopped his head back on the damp ground and gasped until his pain eased. Gaia was faster at healing the shoulder than me, so I moved to Teagan’s head and brushed my fingers through his sticky hair.

  “Feel better?” Gaia smirked.

  Teagan nodded and shrugged his shoulder a few times. “Yes, a lot.”

  “There are more that are injured, I could use both of you to help me tend to wounds. Athika and Rochelle are already helping,” Gaia said, looking to both Teagan and me.

  We followed close behind, splitting off when we found those who might need our help. Amber was sitting by Ced and Magnus. The lindworm warrior was unharmed, but Ced’s shoulder was bloodied and seemed to be burning from the inside out. Ced’s forehead was beading in sweat when I reached his side. Rochelle pressed her hand against his shoulder, and I quickly joined her.

  “Ah, Jade, your touch hurts,” Ced muttered. His voice was weak and dripping with agony.

  “Well, your wound isn’t easy to fix. You have a lot of elemental energy rushing you right now, so just grit your teeth and hold on,” I grumbled, digging my fingers in his thrashed skin to heal whatever was injured inside.

  Ced chuckled, though it turned into a coughing spell. “I feel like that is Jade’s way of telling me I’m a weakling,” he said to Magnus.

  The warrior scoffed, but I thought I saw a smile beneath his wiry beard.

  Ced took a long time, with great effort from Rochelle and me. An elemental mage joined in when Rochelle had to rest on her knees. With the added help, finally the prince’s skin closed, and he was left with angry webbing along his shoulder, but he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Thank you,” he said to all of us. Rochelle smiled, but the third mage huffed and stomped away.

  “It will take time, Ced,” Amber offered when he slumped back against the ground.

  “Yes, I suppose it will.”

  There was a heaviness in his words, and I suppose my people didn’t realize Ced had just aided in the death of his brother and more of his people. I’d learned quickly that any wyvern deaths caused Prince Ced an infectious remorse in his soul, as though each one were his fault.

  Close to Ced I saw Laina. The woman was huddled in a tight ball. In between her shoulders she was bleeding, but the way her body heaved, I knew she was hurting in more ways than just the open wound.

  “Laina,” I whispered, kneeling at her side. “You’re injured. I am going to try and heal you.” My energy was fading. First, the battle, now healing when I wasn’t a mage. I’d always been grateful for my ability to heal, but tonight it didn’t seem quite enough.

  “Just let me suffer,” she gasped.

  “Laina,
why would you say such a thing?”

  “What sort of mother fights against her son only to watch him die?” she sobbed.

  “Laina, I’m so sorry you lost Olc,” I whispered, though inside I felt she lost her son the moment he left her for Nag. Without waiting for an invitation, I placed my hands along her shoulders and soothed the bleeding first, before her skin tugged together.

  I glanced over my shoulder and startled a bit when Teagan stood behind me. His face was contorted in pain, though I didn’t think it was from his injury. His eyes were locked on Laina—he was still covered in her son’s blood.

  Laina rolled over, as though sensing his presence. Her eyes were filled with such grief, even my heart began to mourn for the loss of the fallen lindworm prince. I feared she might lash against Teagan, or in his rage, Teagan might say something crass about Olc.

  I should have had more faith in both of them.

  Laina covered her face, and though I knew Teagan despised lindworms, he knelt down, his hand resting on her shoulder. “I’m sorry for…what…part I played tonight.”

  “You would say that to me?” she gasped. “A lindworm? The mother of the man who tried to slaughter those you love. Why?”

  He furrowed his brow, but only inched closer. “Because I know what it feels like to lose everything you care about too. I wish it could have been different. I just thought you should know.”

  Teagan brushed his hand over my shoulder when he stood, but didn’t say anything more. Laina eyed him with disbelief as he left.

  “I thought…” She shook her head and stared at the ground.

  “What?” I encouraged.

  Her glassy eyes met mine, and for a brief moment, she sat a little taller. “As Olc’s mother, I was so sure…I would pay for his crimes against your people. It is Nag’s way, as you know—punish the entire family. I never thought I’d get…sympathy, let alone an apology, from his killer.”

  I smiled and brushed her long hair from her shoulders, glancing at Teagan, who was speaking with Sapphire now. “Well, there is more good in our race than what you know from Nag, Laina. And I would daresay you’ve never met someone quite like Teagan Ward. I think he will surprise you in more ways than tonight.”