Forgotten

by Victoria DeLuis

  The dragon-man tilted his head to look at me. “Trystan,” he said by way of introduction a moment later. “You are a powerful witch. It’s been a long time since I met another of your strength. But, I believe, you are a long way from your power source out here, and vastly outnumbered. Climb on my back, hold tight, and I’ll take you to safety.”

  “Climb on—”

  Before I had the chance to say more, Trystan moved away from us, shifted back into a dragon, and dipped his wing as though expecting us to climb on.

  I looked at Thomas, who just shrugged, held my hand, and pulled me onto the dragon with him.

  “What if this is all part of the trap?” I whispered to Thomas.

  He looked hesitant for a moment, but his positivity shone through. “If he’d have wanted us dead, he could have left us to be pummelled by the rock-storm. Do you sense any malevolence in him?”

  I glanced at the dragon, whose eye rolled impatiently as he listened to our conversation. “No,” I said. “But he sure is cocky.”

  Thomas grinned at the last words, knowing I’d raised my voice deliberately for Trystan to hear.

  “Come on,” Thomas said. “Let’s get out of here. Wherever he takes us is bound to be closer to trees than we are now, and you look like you could do with a boost.”

  “Charming. My own fiancé thinks I’m a mess.”

  Thomas smiled. “But always a hot mess,” he said.

  I pulled myself onto the dragon’s back and settled in the space behind his enormous wings. Thomas settled behind me.

  “Ooh, comfy,” he said, and I had to admit, the scales were tough but surprisingly spongy and nice and warm.

  Trystan stood tall. With one final glance back at us to make sure we were ready, he lifted his wings and flapped them in great gusting arcs. While a yelp of joy burst from Thomas’ mouth as we launched into the air, I held on for dear life. I began to relax when we soared above the clouds. A refreshing wind blew in my face. We drifted and dipped with the air currents. It felt as though we were floating on the sea. Although it was too dark to see anything other than the lights of civilisation below — as though viewing them from a plane at night — I sensed trees and relished their energy as it flooded my body. It felt like taking that first gasp of air after holding your breath underwater for too long. I almost cried, wondering, again how Mam had managed to cut herself off from her power for all those years.

  Hanging on as tight as I could, I used my magic to repair the minor damage caused to my ankle, and I peered into the darkness below. The ground was a patchwork of shadows crisscrossed by winding country lanes and hedgerows. We began to glide down towards a clearing in a large expanse of trees. The stress of the night had worn away and a sense of exhilaration washed over me. I didn’t know what the next few days would bring, but as I leaned back into Thomas, nestled behind me on the dragon, I knew we could face them. Being as cut off from my powers as I had been in the mountains had to be the worst ordeal we would face, and we were saved by a dragon. A dragon! I could scarcely believe it.

  We landed in the clearing, a field over from an old mansion house. The magnificent three-storey piece of Georgian architecture stood in perfect symmetry with numerous shuttered windows and a gabled porch supported by Palladian columns. Over-run with vines that coursed and knotted around the manor, gripping it like tentacles, the splendour of the building was undiminished. With the forest backdrop and the lack of any visible road leading to the building, it seemed almost a part of nature, and I felt instantly at home.

  We climbed from Trystan’s back and he shifted.

  “Is this your home?” I asked, focusing on the manor and not the naked man leading us to it.

  “It is.”

  “It’s beautiful. Have you lived here long?” The words spilled out of my mouth at a hundred miles per hour. I tried not to cringe. Once again, I was making a fool of myself — much to the amusement of Thomas by my side. It’s alright for him, he probably saw lots of naked men in gym changing rooms. I wasn’t a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d been with Thomas since I was sixteen, and he was the only completely naked man I’d ever needed or wanted to see.

  “I’ve lived here permanently for around seventy years,” Trystan said, “but Draig Manor has been a home of mine since it was built three hundred years ago.”

  “Draig Manor? Really, you called your home Dragon Manor?”

  Thomas laughed. “I think you’re missing the more interesting points of what he just said.”

  I looked at him questioningly for a second, before realisation struck. “Seventy... three-hundred years. How old are you exactly?”

  “Exactly. Hard to say.” Trystan’s eyes mirrored Thomas’ as they both shone with amusement, and I could tell the two of them were going to hit it off like a house on fire. “Two thousand, give or take a hundred.”

  “Two thousand!” I really needed to control my mouth around this dragon-man, I was beginning to feel like a complete muppet.

  Thomas laughed.

  “How are you so calm and just accepting all this?” I asked.

  “Summer, about ten years ago, I was introduced to a world of magic. Where a witch — as beautiful as you are — talked to trees and fired magical orbs from her hands and fairy creatures create no end of havoc. I’ve learned to take things in stride. As incredibly awesome as a dragon is, it’s still just another crazy part of the world I’ve learned to deal with.”

  I had to admit, he had adapted rather well. I’d always admired how readily he’d accepted everything, and considered myself a person open to new experiences and strange occurrences as well. I just hadn’t realised until now that those strange occurrences went beyond the world of magic I’d grown up in.

  “Now,” Thomas said, clapping his hands together as we walked through the front door. “As this is your home, I presume you have some clothes to put on.”

  Trystan stopped and looked down at himself before noting my face, which I felt turning an interesting shade of beetroot.

  “Of course. The kitchen is down the hall. Last door on the right. Make yourselves at home while I get dressed.”

  Chapter Ten

  I stood at the large sash window and looked out at the surrounding forest. The first dappled rays of morning shone through the leaves to warm the earth and start a new day. A smile painted itself on my face. I’d sensed no malice in Trystan, plus he’d saved our lives, but nothing told me we could trust him more than the peace emanating from the trees around his home. If Trystan had been a disruptive or abusive person in any way, they would have shown me.

  “So, what are you doing in the area, and what kind of hell magic did you bring to my mountain?” Trystan asked as soon as he walked through the door.

  Without another word, he stomped to the sink and poured himself a glass of water. “Would you care for a drink while you explain?”

  I took a deep breath and decided to bite my tongue. Trystan may have believed we needed to provide some answers, but from where I stood, he did, too.

  “Tea would be great,” I said, holding my temper in check and smiling warmly.

  He motioned to a top cupboard. “There may be some in there, help yourself.”

  I bit my lip, searched through the cupboard, and found a packet of green tea wedged in the back. Dragon-man, life-saver, tree-non-disrupter he may be, but he was fast going down in my list of good guys. Who the hell shoves their tea in the back of a cupboard?

  “For starters,” I said, trying my best to keep a friendly tone in my voice. “Your mountain? Really? You may be two-thousand years old, but that doesn’t mean Black Mountain belongs to you.”

  “Wentwood.” Thomas coughed into his hand, but the word was unmistakable.

  I turned his own trick back on him and raised an eyebrow. I might not own Wentwood Forest, at least, not all of it, but that forest was mine and he knew it. Who the hell’s side was he on, anyway? We weren’t talking about me, we were talking about Trystan and his air of
superiority that was starting to grate on my nerves.

  “And secondly?” Trystan asked prompting me to continue.

  “Secondly, we were attacked by magical forces on your mountain and I want to know about your involvement in that attack.”

  “My involvement?” A low growl built in his chest and Thomas rose to stand between us.

  Trystan closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. “Is she always this... challenging?” he asked.

  “Yes, and I wouldn’t change her for the world.” Thomas smiled. “Maybe we should sit down, have a cup of tea, and see what we can do to answer each other’s questions.”

  Trystan scowled, but sat patiently at the kitchen table and waited for us to join him.

  “You go sit,” Thomas said, before kissing me on the forehead. “I’ll make the tea.”

  I sat opposite Trystan and waited for Thomas to join us. I didn’t trust myself not to blaze ahead with a million, possibly accusatory, questions. We were guests in Trystan’s house and he had saved our lives. Granted, I was still unsure of his involvement in the whole scenario, but something told me Trystan was as much a hothead as I could be at times. If we were to get answers, Thomas might be the better person to ask the questions.

  I thrummed my fingers on the table, becoming more and more agitated under the dragon-man’s gaze.

  He squinted and pursed his lips. “You’re very powerful for a witch,” he said after a moment. “You are not as human as you appear.”

  “I guess that makes two of us. The buzzard is clearly an illusion, but what are you? A dragon, a man, or something else entirely?”

  A handful of moments passed. I could hear the tumbleweed rolling past. Neither of us spoke. Instead, we played a staring contest until Thomas placed a cup of green tea in front of each of us and took the chair next to mine.

  “Drink up,” he said while giving me a look that translated his words to ‘calm the hell down’.

  “So,” Thomas said to Trystan. “Can you change into any form or just those of a human, dragon, and buzzard?” he asked.

  “I am a dragon. I possess only two true forms, one that presents my dragon form and another that appears human.”

  “The buzzard was just an illusion,” I added, as he had confirmed the assertion I’d made a second ago.

  “Yes.” He faced me, arms crossed. “Until now, I’ve never met anyone who could see it as an illusion. You did. How?”

  He said the words more like an accusation rather than a question. This was bull. We were off the mountain and I was surrounded by trees, we didn’t need to put up with his game of twenty questions, or the adversarial look on his face. I stood to leave, but Thomas placed his hand on my arm.

  “We don’t have anything to hide,” he said to Trystan. “But you have to look at things from our point of view. We were attacked by magical forces on the mountain. Yes, you came to our aid, but we don’t know you and can’t be a hundred percent certain you weren’t involved. We will happily—” I scoffed, but Thomas continued, “happily answer your questions if only you would also answer some of our own.”

  Trystan mulled Thomas’ words over in his mind. I could almost hear the cogs grinding as he thought.

  “I sensed a powerful build-up of magic on the mountain and came to investigate,” he said after a moment. “I saw the two of you walking away from the damaged car and felt the power emanating from the witch—”

  “Summer,” Thomas said as I bristled beside him. “Her name is Summer. It’s not terribly polite to refer to her as ‘the witch’.”

  Trystan glanced from Thomas to me, before bowing his head. “I apologise,” he said. “It was never my intention to cause offense, merely to state a fact. The only source of magic I found on the mountain came from Summer. I wanted to monitor your activities and see if any problems would arise. They did.”

  “They did, and we appreciate your coming to our rescue,” Thomas said.

  “I would not see you hurt.” Trystan sat forwards in his chair and leaned on the table with his elbows. Steely determination glinted in his eyes. “Now, who and what are you? How did you see through my illusion, and what trouble have you brought to my mountain?”

  I reluctantly explained that I was a Rune Witch and that my father was one of the fair folk. By omission I let him assume that was how I saw through his illusion, though in reality, I hadn’t. I’d simply known it was one. Thomas explained the purpose of our journey and our need to find Rhys Roberts. Although, we left out details of the curse, and neither Thomas nor I had any clue who attacked us.

  “It would be logical to assume that the same people who took your friend are also the ones who attacked you,” Trystan said.

  “Yes. Only Rhys isn’t our friend, we’ve never even met him.” I downed the final sip of my tea and stood. “Anyone else want a second cup?” I asked.

  Thomas nodded, but Trystan declined. “If you are not friends to this Rhys Roberts, then why are you trying to help him?”

  Thomas glanced at me for a second before answering. “We have our reasons, but even without them, Rhys’ wife believes he’s in danger. If we can help, we should.”

  Trystan smiled and, for the first time, the smile reached his eyes. He rose to his feet as though coming to a decision. A satisfied glint shone in his eyes. “Then I too shall help,” he said. “Where was the last place Rhys Roberts was seen?”

  I turned, surprised at the sudden warmth in Trystan’s voice. “The last we heard he was staying in Ty Du Hotel near Llangadog.”

  “I can take you there. Although, I find it highly doubtful that Rhys is checked in.”

  “Why?” Thomas asked.

  “The hotel closed three weeks ago.”

  I started. Maybe Rhys and Leah were both trying to set us up after all. “You’re sure?” I asked.

  “I checked the internet and the hotel’s webpage before we set out,” Thomas added. “Plus, we were there when Rhys’ wife called to contact him. Hell, I called myself and made reservations.”

  “I’m pretty certain,” Trystan said, “the owner was moving away to live with his son in Cornwall. The hotel is on the market, but his health forced him to move before a new owner could be found. I read an article about his farewell party in the local community magazine.”

  “There was no mention of this online,” Thomas said.

  “It’s a local rag. They don’t have an online presence. Wait here, I’ll check. I may still have it.”

  With that, Trystan left us alone in the kitchen again.

  “If it’s closed, what do you want to do?” Thomas asked.

  “We still have to check it out.”

  “We do. Do you think Rhys and Leah set us up?”

  I sighed, placed our fresh cups of tea on the table and sat next to him. “I honestly don’t know. Logically, I believe they had to have.”

  “But?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “She seemed so genuine, and you checked her out for yourself.” Thomas always performed background checks on the people we deal with.

  “I did,” Thomas said. “They’ve been married for almost twenty years. Two kids and everything available points to a loving, happy family.”

  I rested my head on his shoulder. “But loving, happy families will often do anything to protect each other. Rhys is bound to the Tylwyth Teg and his daughter has problems of her own, even if she isn’t aware of them. I imagine there’s not a lot they wouldn’t do to protect one another.”

  “Even sell us down the river.”

  I thought of Rhys and the curse placed on my head. “It wouldn’t exactly be the first time,” I said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Trystan flew us over the mountains and villages towards the Ty Du Hotel. Sunlight seeped into each crevice, filling the day with light and warmth. I relished the wind on my face and wondered at the world coming to life below me. Early risers stepped from their houses to walk their dogs, go for a run, or travel to work. It was surreal watchi
ng everyone from above while sitting on the back of a dragon. Before he’d change form, Trystan assured us his glamour would be in place and would encompass both me and Thomas; those below would see only the buzzard he projected.

  Trystan found a field a fair distance from the hotel where we could land, and he could change into his human form and dress. His manner towards me and Thomas had changed. But despite the newfound warmth in his bearing, I still had the sense that he wasn’t used to being around people and liked to keep to himself.

  Our plan was to walk to the hotel and survey it from a distance for a short time. I must admit I wasn’t entirely sure about Trystan coming with us, but Thomas was clearly warming to him — maybe I was too, just a little — and he wanted to help. So I surprised myself by giving Thomas a look that suggested we keep an eye on him, and then letting the matter drop.

  The walk through the countryside took a good twenty minutes. Birds chirped, welcoming the new day, and the pearly rays of the sun warmed my cheeks. A small copse surrounded the hotel grounds, closing it away from prying eyes. But the concealment offered by the trees worked both ways. We entered the copse in secret and edged closer.

  “Freeze,” I whisper-shouted. Thomas and Trystan froze in an instant and crouched low to avoid being seen.

  I smiled at the symmetry of their movements. If we managed to come out of this unscathed and break the curse, I had no doubt the two would form a lasting friendship. A small part of me was jealous, but I also knew it would be good for Thomas to form other relationships, especially if... well, especially if I didn’t make it.

  I pushed the thought aside and drew on the power of the hazel tree. Trystan’s eyes flitted briefly to the blazing Coll symbol on my arm, but any questions he had remained unspoken.

  “What is it?” Thomas asked.

  “A Repel spell,” I confirmed and explained to Trystan the nature of the spell surrounding the hotel. If we were to step across its barrier, not only would the spell’s creator be alerted, but we would also face a powerful magical onslaught.