Her brows drew together. “I can hardly smell the children here. Their scent is faint.”
“What does that mean?” I had heightened senses but nothing like a dragon. At the moment, all I could pick up was the acrid stench of burning grass where part of the battle took place on the ground.
“They are not in that building anymore.” Phoebe nodded at the one where we’d seen the children last.
I froze. “You mean they moved the kids?”
“Yes.”
Damn it all to hell. “Think you can find them?”
“We will see.” She picked up the pace to a slow jog, moving down the line of hangars. We passed several before she came to a sudden halt and waved me closer to her. “I believe they are in the structure up ahead, but I smell two other dragons there as well.”
Since she spoke in a low tone, I followed her example and whispered, “Matrika?”
“I do not know her scent, but we will find out soon enough.”
We crept alongside the building, heading toward the hangar where Phoebe had indicated the children would be. The sounds of battle about five hundred feet away made it difficult to listen for any other noises, but I thought I heard a huff and snort. Dragons made all sorts of strange noises when they were just standing around. I had noticed that when I was practicing getting near them without killing them.
Phoebe held up a hand, and we stopped just before going around the corner, then she lifted her index finger. I took a wild stab in the dark and figured she meant only one dragon sat outside. She handed me my blade, which she had kept in shiggara in case we ran into any shifters first. Then we leaped into view.
A giant green dragon sat before the closed hangar doors. It spotted us right away and charged toward us. Phoebe and I separated, silently agreeing to take the dragon from opposite sides.
The beast let out a snarl and went for the female shifter first, lashing out at her. She dodged the strike and slashed at the creature’s face with her sword. While Phoebe kept the dragon distracted, I leaped onto its back and straddled it. The beast bucked once, but it had to keep moving on its feet to dodge the shifter’s quick and painful strikes.
I brought my sword down, aiming for the vulnerable spot on the beast’s back. The weapon pushed through the scales and into the body. Partway through, the dragon growled and tried bucking me off again, but I squeezed with my thighs and held my position. The sword sunk deep. With a hard jerk, I brought it back and sliced into the heart. The dragon shuddered once and slumped beneath me, wheezing out its last breath.
“Good work.” Phoebe nodded.
“You too.”
We jogged over to the hangar, and she frowned at the large doors. “You understand these human constructions better than I do. How do we get inside?”
I thought about asking if she could burn her way through, but we had no way of knowing where Matrika or the children were located. It was too big of a risk to use that trick yet.
“There’s got to be a smaller entrance somewhere.” I ran my gaze around, not seeing one. “Let’s try the other side.”
As we rushed to find the door, my heart pounded in my chest. Killing the dragon had helped ease some of the tension I’d been feeling since I stopped fighting them as much these last few days. Aidan had said with each kill my battle lust would grow. I hadn’t understood what he meant at the time, still being new to the slayer business, but I was beginning to get it now.
We located a regular-sized door at the far end of the building. It was locked, so we kicked it until we busted the frame enough to pull it away. Then we paused, gazing into the darkness beyond. It was still bright enough outside we needed a moment for our eyes to adjust. I drew in deep breaths, smelling the fear of the children and the rage of the dragon inside. That told me all I needed to know. To hell with waiting for full night vision, I went racing inside.
Phoebe followed on my heels. “Bailey, to your left!”
I turned in that direction and almost came face-to-face with Matrika. It had seemed dark when I’d first entered, but now I spotted a hole in the roof that shed some light on this side of the building. If not for the setting sun, it might have been brighter.
The dragon stood in front of the children, who made soft sounds of distress behind her. She snorted, huffed, and puffed as her red eyes narrowed on us. Like a mother protecting her brood, she didn’t back down.
I breathed through my instant rage at seeing her and forced myself to calm down. One wrong move on my part and the children could get hurt. It would be easier if I could draw Matrika away from them.
Lifting my sword in a threatening manner, I met her gaze. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but I will get those children back to their parents.”
She growled in answer.
“Phoebe,” I said, taking a quick glance at her where she stood next to me. “Think you can talk to her the dragon way?”
Aidan’s sister worked her jaw. “I can try.”
I knew when she started speaking telepathically because the dragon turned her gaze to the female shifter. There was no telling what Phoebe said, but Matrika’s response was a fierce snarl. Well, at least it was worth a shot.
“You know I almost killed you once. I will finish you this time if you don’t get out of my way,” I warned.
A young girl crept around the dragon, little ringlets of blond hair shining in the soft light. “Are you here to take me back to my mommy?”
I recognized her. “Yes, Lacy. Your mommy misses you very much, and she’s worried about you. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just hungry. She—” the girl pointed at Matrika, “gives us awful things to eat like burned meat and stuff.”
Just like Aidan could light a candle if he set his mind to it, he’d said dragons could cook their food if they liked it that way. It was just easier for them to blow destructive flames, rather than slightly cooler ones.
“You see, Matrika. They aren’t happy here. You have to let them go home to their human parents who know how to take care of them.” I wanted to resolve this peacefully for the children’s sake. They had been through enough without me killing a dragon in front of their eyes. While they appeared scared, that fear didn’t seem to be directed at Matrika. Rather, at the situation in general. There was a loud battle raging outside, and the sounds of it filtered into the hangar.
Phoebe glanced at me. “Matrika says the kids are hers now, and we can’t have them.”
Dammit. I gave Aidan’s sister an inquiring brow, and she nodded. We had no choice but to battle this out with the children here or not. While we waited with Earl and the others down the street, we’d run through a few strategies of attack, so we were prepared for almost anything.
I turned my gaze to the little girl, who still stood just beyond the dragon. “Lacy, I need you and the other kids to back away as far as you can, alright?”
“Are you going to kill her?” this came from a little boy who came within view.
“Just turn around and don’t watch.” God, how I hated being in this position. I had no way of knowing what Matrika had said or done since she’d taken the children. For all I knew, they had Stockholm syndrome. The two I’d seen so far appeared mostly clean with no obvious signs of injury. She might have given them crappy food, but she hadn’t hurt them.
Some of the children sniffled. Matrika glanced back at them and they quieted, moving farther away. I was surprised. She was actually getting them to cooperate and do what I asked. Then she turned her gaze back to me and growled, leaping forward.
Phoebe and I broke apart. This time, I took the dragon head on, slashing at Matrika and dodging her attempts to bite at my legs. As the dragon kept forcing me backward, Phoebe worked her way around toward the children. Matrika swatted her tail at the shifter, but Aidan’s sister leaped up in time to miss the strike. I sliced the green dragon’s nose, and she returned her attention to me. We took turns slashing at each other. Her talons gouged my upper left arm in almost
the same spot as she’d injured before, but then I returned the favor with a strike to one of her eyes, cutting right through it.
Meanwhile, Phoebe was blowing flames into the side of the building, making a hole for the children to escape. It took longer in her human form because she couldn’t billow the fire out as big as when she was a dragon. I was grateful for her resourcefulness. Aidan’s sister understood how much I didn’t want the little ones to see this fight, which I had made clear beforehand.
I cut Matrika’s paw when she lashed out at me again. She let out a strangled cry that sounded almost like a dog when it got hurt. I kicked her in the head next, doing all I could to delay the kill. The kids were watching, and several of them cried, calling her name. Damn the dragon for getting them attached to her.
Phoebe finished burning the hole, and she began guiding the children through it, careful to only touch them where their clothes covered their skin. As I angled Matrika to the side a little farther away, I caught a quick view of the rest of the kids. There were six more, making seven of them altogether. Lacy had been the only new addition.
Matrika and I continued battling it out, neither of us going for the killing blow. It was beginning to bother me that she wasn’t trying that hard to kill me. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought her heart wasn’t into it.
The last child made it through the hole. Phoebe took a final glance back at me, and I silently willed her to follow the kids. Maybe she read the message in my eyes because she did as I wanted. Matrika caught my diverted attention and looked back. She let out a frustrated snarl when she saw the children were gone. Before I could go for the kill, she lifted into the air, escaping through the hole in the roof.
Oh, for crying out loud. I scowled at her escape hatch, then ran for the hole in the wall. Leaping through it, I found Phoebe and the children running away. She held one little girl who was wrapped in a camrium blanket she must have pulled from shiggara, and the other kids moved on their own ahead of her.
I glanced up at the sky. Matrika hovered a hundred feet overhead, gazing longingly at the children. She jerked her attention to me, and a look of resignation came over her eyes. She turned and flew away. Not toward the battle, but toward the north.
With that threat out of the way, I sheathed my sword and ran up to Phoebe and the kids, picking up a young boy who straggled behind. Together, we hurried south toward the main road leading to the airport. Just before we reached it, Conrad pulled up in the truck.
“Hurry!” he yelled, hopping out of the vehicle to help.
I pulled the back door open and slid the boy inside, then I took the girl from Phoebe and put her in there next. The rest of the kids climbed into the back of the truck with Conrad’s help. Sounds of the battle in the field nearby spurred us. The hundreds of dragons fighting over there couldn’t see us from this side of the building, but all it took was one of them coming overhead to blow our cover.
“Dear, Zorya,” Phoebe said, a look of horror coming over her face.
I followed her gaze, and my heart skipped a beat. At least fifty green dragons were coming from the north—fresh, new arrivals. The battle had been in the shifters’ favor before, but it wouldn’t anymore.
“Ah, shit,” Conrad cursed, forgetting about the children in the truck.
I could hardly yell at him for it now, especially since those were my thoughts exactly.
“I have to go fight with my toriq,” Phoebe said.
“No.” I shook my head. “We have to go to plan B.”
When she and Aidan had stopped by a couple of days ago to update me on the battle plans, I’d told them of an idea I had if the situation became dire. Conrad and I had gone back to the Thamaran nest and retrieved the eggs left behind after my father and I killed the parents. Phoebe had confirmed the baby dragons inside were still fine and would likely hatch in the next couple of weeks. They were currently in the trunk of the car Danae brought, carefully wrapped and cushioned. My initial instincts were to kill them before they were born, but I had decided to keep them alive just in case we needed them. Now I was glad I did.
“Drop the children off and get the eggs,” I ordered Conrad.
He rubbed his head. “I knew you were going to say that.”
“Go!”
He climbed into the truck and drove off, though not too fast since the kids were in the back. I watched him get away, making sure no dragons came along to attack. Thankfully, they were still too busy fighting over on the airfield.
“Phoebe,” I said, turning to her. “You have to track down Matrika and drag her scaly ass back here as a hostage—hurt her a little if necessary. The last I saw, she flew north heading away from the battle. If we’re lucky, we can work out a trade to make the Shadowan leave Norman if we don’t kill her and let her have the eggs.”
Aidan’s sister scowled. “Would you like me to grab the moon for you while I am out, too?”
She hadn’t been too hot on this idea when I first brought it up, and I’d had to revise it a little since things didn’t go quite like I expected. “Do you have any better ideas?”
From the way Aidan described it, the Shadowan loved Matrika. She was their only known weakness, though I still couldn’t understand why she held such a lofty position. Even when the rest of their clan went out to fight Aidan and the shifters, they still spared a guard for their little princess. If there was any chance we could broker a deal, this was the way.
“Fine. I’ll do it,” Phoebe said, then her gaze hardened. “But you’re going to go out there and kill some of those zishkat while I’m getting Matrika.”
I’d heard the term zishkat once before and asked Aidan what it meant. He said it was dragon dung.
“I thought you all didn’t want me getting into this fight.” I glanced down at my oversized t-shirt. The first time a dragon sent flames my way, the camrium clothes underneath would be exposed.
“This is an emergency.” She looked toward the sky where some of the red dragons were now fighting multiple opponents. “I’d rather get into trouble for associating with you than see more of my toriq dead.”
I pulled my sword out of its sheath. “Then you can count on me to help.”
“Take down as many as you can,” Phoebe said, then she began to shift.
Chapter 35
Aidan
Aidan stood on the ground, bloody and wounded from his last battle with a rather vicious opponent. Three dragons circled him, preparing to attack. He had lost track of his father about ten minutes ago. It worried him deeply, but he needed to deal with his current situation before he could locate Throm again. The pendragon had been wounded several times, and he was in no shape to fight anymore.
The beast directly in front of Aidan lashed out at him. He sidestepped to avoid it, bumping into another Shadowan. That one took advantage and leaped on top of him. Sharp talons dug into his sides. Aidan twisted and turned, trying to buck his attacker off, but the dragon just dug his claws deeper.
Then he heard a voice he hadn’t expected to hear. “Get off of him, you damn zishkat!”
The beast within him was elated to see the slayer, but Aidan was not so pleased. This wasn’t the time or the place for Bailey to be making an appearance. Not only would she have difficulty stopping once she began killing, but she would draw the notice of his toriq.
She cut her way through the third Shadowan, finishing him with a sword through his back. It was faster than he had ever seen Bailey kill a dragon before. There was a wild look in her eyes as she finished. She was in full slayer mode now, and her bloodlust was high. Bailey ran forward with her sword out and shoved the blade through the side of the beast on top of him, her aim surprisingly accurate. The dragon slumped, and Aidan shook him off.
He went for the final one before she could reach it. The Shadowan was so surprised to find a slayer in their midst that the beast had his eyes on her, rather than him. Aidan leaped forward and bit into the dragon’s throat, wasting no time crushing it. He fell dead
on the ground.
You should not be here, Aidan said telepathically, unsure if it would work with him speaking instead of his beast.
“You’re outnumbered, and your sister told me to help even the odds until she can carry out plan B,” Bailey hissed, careful of the other Taugud who fought nearby and might hear her.
Ah, plan B. He’d hoped they would not have to resort to that. It must mean Matrika was still alive somewhere, and Bailey wouldn’t be here unless she had successfully rescued the children. Though he was certain the Shadowan valued their princess, he didn’t know if it would be enough of a trade. He supposed they’d find out soon enough.
Very well, but take care not to kill my people, he said, grateful that he could at least communicate with her in dragon form. Aidan did not want to speculate too much on how that was possible. It meant there was a far deeper connection between them than he had yet acknowledged.
Bailey didn’t answer. Instead, she spun on her feet and attacked the first green dragon she could find. Aidan supposed that was answer enough, considering she had to move around one of his brethren to get to the Shadowan. Somehow, she had gained even greater control since he last tested her. She had said she would continue to work on it, but Bailey had achieved a greater level than he dared hope for.
Feeling a renewed surge of energy, Aidan sought out his own foe and attacked. One after another, he took green dragons down until it seemed all he saw was a sea of blood. Still bodies from both toriqan lay strewn across the earth—some dead and some dying. In his search for his father between bouts of fighting, he spotted Donar. His cousin was covered in wounds but still battling his enemies with a touch of crazed zeal. He also caught Falcon take down two opponents within moments of each other.
After killing what must have been the tenth dragon Aidan had faced, he ran into Bailey again. She was bloodier than before and wounded in several places, but still standing and fighting with a vengeance. He couldn’t have been prouder of her. Then the scene just beyond her caught his attention. Two green dragons tore into Throm as he attempted to fight them off, but he lacked the strength to do any real damage. The right side of his body gaped wide open, revealing his ribs, and one of his legs hung at an odd angle. If he were to survive, he would need a healer right away.
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