Dragon's Fire

by Gwynn White

  Within minutes, Lukan would know the boys had gone.

  Chapter 24

  Instinctively, Tao moved forward to protect his sons.

  Dmitri grabbed his arm. “Not so fast. You know what we agreed.” He gestured to Meka and Grigor. “This problem is of their making. They must solve it. One way or another.”

  Tao knew that, but he still balked. “They have no experience in dealing with Lukan.”

  “Aye. But today they will either grow up—or they will fail.” Dmitri started to drag Tao away.

  “You won’t even let me watch?” Tao objected.

  Dmitri paused, his face as stern as Tao had ever seen it. “Glutton for punishment, are you, Tao Avanov?”

  Tao stared at Dmitri, painfully aware that the seer knew far more about what was to happen than he was letting on.

  Dmitri’s unflinching gaze confirmed that.

  It was unnerving.

  Without a mortal body that could react to release the tension, Tao snatched a look at his sons.

  As was his way, Meka had already stomped some distance from his brother. Grigor was beginning to scramble to his feet.

  A wolf called.

  Both boys ignored it. Why wouldn’t they, when the wolves in the moat were part of their daily lives?

  Only this cry hadn’t come from the moat.

  Tao turned agonized eyes on Dmitri. “They know so little of the dangers. They have been so sheltered. It is not fair that they—”

  “They are young men standing on the brink of the most dramatic moments this planet has witnessed in over four hundred years. They either get their heads out of the fish’s ass and grow up, or they fail. If they fail, Nicholas fails. Is that what you want?”

  Tao sighed. “Of course not.”

  Dmitri gestured deeper into the fourth dimension with a gleaming arm. “This way, please.”

  Tao shot a last look at his boys, not knowing when he would see them again.

  Grigor came up behind Meka, murder blazing in his eyes. Tao knew what would happen next. Far more aggressive than Meka, Grigor would attack. Meka would fight back, deepening the rift threatening to shatter their fragile brotherhood. And if anyone in Chenaya needed each other, it was his sons.

  Tao dug in his heels. “Dmitri, from the day I learned you inhabited my dog, I have trusted you. Implicitly. But I can’t act on trust anymore. I need to know that they will survive this.”

  Dmitri gave him a thin smile. “And you think I am surprised by your reaction?”

  Tao shook his head. “No, I guess not. You are a seer, after all.”

  “And yet, with your gentle nature, you wish to risk watching Lukan mete out punishment?”

  Tao smarted at the implied criticism. “I am not a child. I’m a grown man. Or at least I was when you stood back and let Lukan and Morass kill me.”

  No reaction from Dmitri.

  Tao folded his arms across his chest.

  Finally, the seer nodded. “Go after them. Watch. Learn what it takes to stand back and do nothing in the face of a small evil—”

  Anger surged through Tao. But finding no expression in his resurrected flesh, it flared out of him in an explosion of white light.

  “A small evil?” he raged. “How can you call murdering me a ‘small evil’? It allowed my son, my cub, to be stolen from me. I would have fought Lukan to the—”

  “Death?” Dmitri’s voice was flat, even. “Because that is what would have happened. And if it were to happen a thousand times over, I would still have stood mute and watched it.”

  The light blazing on Tao’s skin faded, doused. “You are a heartless bastard.”

  “Perhaps. Now go. The wolf approaches.”

  Tao reached out with his mind to find the animal. A nudge, and the wolf’s thoughts wriggled, as if making room for him in its head. Seen through the wolf’s eyes, the vivid colors of the surrounding forest muted until all Tao could discern were the palest yellows and blues in the trees and undergrowth. His nose twitched as a thousand smells rushed at him. But stronger than any of them was the distinct smell of human flesh.

  The wolf hunted his sons.

  Any minute now, it would break cover and leap upon his unsuspecting boys. Tao opened his mouth to scream a warning, but Dmitri’s hand clamped down hard over his face.

  “I said watch, not intervene.”

  Tao struggled, but the dead seer held him in an unbreakable grip.

  “I could find another to do your job, Tao. You will be dismissed to the Winds you worship. It will be a very long time before you see your boys again.”

  In other words, hell.

  Tao believed Dmitri ruthless enough to do just that. He stopped fighting. Dmitri released him.

  Tao took a moment to skewer the seer with his harshest glare and then faced his sons and their peril. Seconds away from punching Meka, Grigor skidded to a halt.

  “Coward,” Meka called over his shoulder.

  But Grigor didn’t reply. Face alert, every hair bristling, he studied the scrub where the wolf crouched. With little twilight in the forest to aid him, he saw nothing in the shadows. Yet he sensed something watching him. He licked his lips. “Meka. Wait.”

  “For what?” Meka hopped over a fallen log. “To hear you sniveling? No thanks. I’ve listened to you for sixteen years. There is nothing I haven’t heard—a thousand times over. So unless you want to apologize for driving Tao away, I have nothing to say to you. Ever.”

  Eyes still riveted to the spot where the wolf hid, Grigor backed up until his hands touched the silky bark of a silver birch. It wasn’t the biggest, sturdiest tree in the forest, but his shoulders hugging it gave him comfort.

  The tip of Meka’s fishing rod hooked in the leaves of an overhanging oak. He swore and stopped to untangle it.

  The wolf sprang.

  Meka’s face bleached, his eyes wide with terror. He screamed—and the wolf faltered.

  Meka used the reprieve to wrench his rod free. A snap, and the tip broke. Face a rictus of determination and fear, Meka lashed at the wolf with the surviving end. The rod caught the animal on the side of the face.

  The wolf yelped.

  The sound gave Meka courage.

  The wolf lunged forward to attack.

  Meka flailed his rod left and right across the wolf’s face and chest. The rod broke, but it didn’t matter, because the wolf turned and slunk off into the forest.

  Shaking, body streaming with sweat, Meka gaped after it. Finally, he looked down at the useless rod handle clenched in his fist. He shook his head, feeling a detached sense of regret; he had loved that rod. Still, being alive beat owning a fishing rod, easily replaced. That was one advantage of being a Chenayan prince; there was no shortage of fishing gear. He tossed it down into the ragged grass.

  “Where there’s one wolf, there could be more.”

  Meka turned to Grigor—and swore. Again. Grigor’s back was hard pressed to a tree.

  “And you couldn’t help?”

  “I—I froze. I’m sorry. Never done wolves before.” Grigor stepped forward, apology and regret lighting his face, even in the dark.

  But Meka couldn’t see it. And even if he had, after so many years with just Grigor for company, he had had enough of his brother. “Rot in hell, Grigor.”

  He was wise enough, however, to take Grigor’s advice. Wolves moved in packs and this one could, even now, be calling its mates. That meant getting off the ground until daybreak. He stomped to the closest tree and hauled himself up into the lower branches. Then he scrambled to the highest point.

  On the other side of the divide, Grigor followed suit.

  Soon both boys were safe in their respective trees.

  His heart a conflicted battleground, Tao sat on the ground between them—or at least in the equivalent space in the fourth dimension. Pride, first in Grigor for sensing the danger, and then in Meka for seeing it off, waged war with sorrow at their inability to work as a team. But it was dread that won the day: What wou
ld the morning bring when Lukan finally caught them?

  * * *

  Tao stretched. A pink sun kissed the treetops. The first notes of the dawn chorus of birds trilled. But as peaceful as the scene in the mortal world was, it did little to reflect the turmoil in the clearing where Tao’s boys sheltered.

  Neither boy had slept well. In fact, at one point, Grigor had almost fallen off his branch. It was only quick thinking that had stopped him plummeting to the ground, where a pack of wolves bayed and scratched at his tree. To prevent further mishap, he had tied himself to the trunk with his belt.

  Just before dawn, the animals had moved off to their den.

  Tao stood, ready to join his sons in the mortal world. Then his shoulders sagged. There was no point in telling them it was safe to come down; he could not risk interfering in their test. He crossed his arms and waited.

  But it was only a matter of time before they’d be caught, and Tao needed to make sure Lukan didn’t hurt them. He would do all in his power to keep his sons safe.

  Meka clambered down from his perch. Jaw set, he said nothing to his brother as he oriented himself for the return trip to the palace.

  “I think it’s that way.” Grigor landed lightly on the ground and pointed toward the east.

  Meka started walking in that direction, clearly in agreement.

  Tao allowed a smile. They had both assessed the direction correctly—even if Meka hadn’t said a word to his brother yet.

  Grigor fell into step next to Meka. “Lukan is going to kill us.”

  Meka walked on, weaving between the trees.

  Grigor shook his head, but all strength to him, he reined in his mounting anger at his brother’s silence. “We need to come up with a plan. Something we can both agree on to explain our absence.”

  Meka started whistling. Tuneless, it irritated Tao almost as much as it did Grigor.

  Grigor swore. “This isn’t the time to be annoying.”

  “If you hadn’t driven Tao away, we wouldn’t need a plan. And I’m still angry with you about that wolf.”

  “Get over it. We have more important things to worry about now.”

  Meka skidded to a stop. “’Get over it!’ Is that it? All you can say? If leaving me alone to defend myself against a wolf wasn’t bad enough, you had to drive Tao away. He was the best thing that ever happened to us. But you couldn’t see that. You couldn’t just shut up and go with it.”

  “No, I couldn’t. I’m not like you. I need answers to make sense of this stupid life. You—”

  “Accepted long ago that life is a pile of crap. The best I can do is look for the tiny bits of good in every mindless day of my pointless existence. Until he came along, that was working to catch the biggest fish possible. How do you expect me to go back to that now? Back to the lake? Back to the cage?”

  Grigor sighed. “I have the same problem. The cage awaits me, too.” A mulish cast settled on his features. “But that doesn’t mean we go through life blindly. Fishing fuels your life. Getting answers to questions gives me purpose.”

  “Well, then we’re both equally screwed.” Meka stomped off toward the palace.

  Tao hoped Grigor would take the lead and suggest a plan to his brother, but he didn’t. Initiating plans was Meka’s preserve. Grigor’s strength lay in working out the implementation. If his sons could just learn to work together, they would be a formidable team.

  But clearly, today wasn’t that day.

  They walked in silence. Both boys’ minds churned. Meka schemed about how he could be rid of his brother, while Grigor fretted on what he would say to Lukan when they met.

  Both boys stumbled to a stop.

  People, quite a few given the crashing through the undergrowth, were headed their way. Despite everything, they turned to each other, their eyes wide with panic.

  “This is it,” Grigor muttered. “The other end of the stick.”

  A guardsman stepped out from behind a tree. He dipped a bow and then shouted, “Over here! I’ve found them.”

  Within seconds, a swarm of soldiers surrounded them. Amid the many heartbeats, Meka’s and Grigor’s galloped the hardest. But they kept their faces expressionless. Heads held high, like royal prisoners headed for execution, they moved through the forest toward the palace. Tao’s heart burst with pride for his sons.

  Still, the walk passed too quickly, and the palace was upon them.

  Once in the entrance hall, the guardsmen peeled away, leaving two of their number to accompany Meka and Grigor. They led the boys to Lukan’s office.

  A rap on the door, and Lukan’s voice rang out. “Enter.”

  Tao sucked in a breath, pure reflex given that he didn’t need to breathe.

  Grigor straightened his back. A shutter of indifference dropped over Meka. Tao sensed the itch in Meka’s shoulders to shrug.

  And then both boys were ushered into Lukan’s office.

  Their eyes flickered across the silk-covered walls and heavy leather-and-wood furniture, confirming what Tao already knew: They had never been in this space before. They bowed to Lukan, who waited in the center of the room.

  Orange and red sparks fired off Lukan, something Tao knew none of the living would observe. His brother was angrier than Tao had ever seen him. The thin scar on Lukan’s cheek throbbed. It was the only clue the living would see to indicate Lukan’s rage beneath his icy calm.

  Felix sat on one of the sofas, his face a rare picture of fury. Clearly, the Lord of the Household was not happy with the escape attempt. Tao knew from Dmitri that Felix had undisclosed plans for his sons. Despite Dmitri’s assurance that Felix was an ally, that worried Tao almost as much as Lukan’s anger.

  But worse still, Morass stood next to Lukan with his hands behind his back. Since the last time Tao had seen him, Morass had acquired an eye patch. But there was no time to wonder what had befallen the oaf.

  The seer had been right: Lukan intended to mete out punishment today.

  Tao’s chest ached, inspired by the man—men—who had murdered him. He longed to lash out at them all. Invisible as he was, he could inflict real damage. Kill them, even. Yet, although he craved revenge, he knew that wasn’t why Dmitri had called him to this task.

  To calm his tension, Tao forced himself to focus on his sons.

  Meka ignored the living Lukan, fixing his eyes on a huge portrait of the emperor in his coronation robes hanging next to Lukan’s enormous desk.

  Grigor looked at a boar’s head mounted on the wall a little above Lukan.

  Lukan spoke. “Crown Prince Grigor and Prince Meka, the key to the gate.” He held out his hand expectantly.

  Meka glanced over at Lukan. Although the key to the cage was in his pocket, he made no move to fish it out. Grigor kept still as a statue.

  “I see,” Lukan said. “Is it possible then that someone let you through the gate?”

  Tao stiffened. So did both of his boys.

  Did Lukan know about him? He reached out to read Lukan’s mind, but found the way blocked. He cursed, guessing Dmitri had thwarted him.

  When neither boy answered, Lukan snapped, “Crown Prince Grigor! I asked a question.”

  Grigor opened his mouth to answer, but Meka stepped in front of him.

  The last thing Tao expected, his eyebrows shot up.

  But it was crystal clear from Meka’s icy thoughts that, while he could fight with his brother as much as he wanted to, no one else was allowed to threaten his twin. Meka didn’t like Lukan’s tone or Morass’s quiet malevolence—and it showed. Face hard, he held out the key.

  “No one let us out of the cage, sire.” Meka winced, knowing full well Lukan didn’t approve of the word cage. “I mean the lake. I stole a key. It was all my idea.”

  Lukan took the key and rubbed it against his chin. “So, Prince Meka, you claim that you and you alone are responsible for this truancy?”

  Heart beating like a hummingbird’s wings, Meka stood tall. “Yes, sire. I—I didn’t want to go alone, so I asked
Grigor to come with me. He didn’t want to, but I—”

  His voice faltered. As much as he wanted to protect his twin, Lukan would never believe he had forced his brother to leave the cage, sneak across the drawbridge, and walk miles into the forest for an overnight fishing trip. Not even Meka had that much persuasive power.

  Lukan nodded. “Hmm . . .” He gestured to Grigor. The dark-haired boy had already stepped out from his brother’s shadow. “He forced you, did he?”

  Grigor’s voice caught, but he cleared his throat. “I wanted to fish in the forest.”

  Lukan’s eyes narrowed. “I wanted to fish in the forest, sire!”

  Grigor licked his lips. “That’s what I just said.”

  Felix scowled at Grigor. But that was nothing compared to the fiery sparks flying off Lukan. Tao knew Grigor was trying the emperor’s patience.

  “And whom do you meet there, Crown Prince?” Lukan asked.

  Grigor’s confidence faltered. The last thing he wanted was to mention Tao. In Grigor’s mind, to do so would incite a search party. Tao would be found and executed, and as suspicious as Grigor was of Tao after the meeting with Bird, he could not bear that. “M-meet, sire?”

  “Yes. Meet. I know you are not alone in the forest. Who do you see there?”

  “Um . . .” Grigor shot a look at Meka.

  A tiny smile quirked the corner of Meka’s mouth. “Each other. We see each other in the forest. Sire.”

  Felix’s eyes narrowed as he studied Meka, and Tao longed to know what he was thinking.

  After a moment’s pause, Lukan nodded.

  But Tao wasn’t fooled by his brother’s apparent calm. So much anger sparked off Lukan, if humans could spontaneously ignite, he was in danger of doing just that.

  “Crown Prince Grigor, does the name Dmitri mean anything in your little world?”

  Grigor looked so blank, so gormless, that even Lukan must have believed that the boy had never heard the name.

  Tao heaved a sigh of relief at Dmitri’s wisdom in holding back mention of the curse. It eased some of his anger at the seer.

  Lukan changed tack. “Crown Prince, the falconry books you have been reading. Where do they come from?”