To Light the Dragon's Fire

by Margaret Taylor

  Mother spewed out a string of curses.

  Terra smiled at the colorful language and twisted a look toward the sky, watching the Dragon circle back around. Enon spun high into the air, the Harpy now clutched between his talons. He rolled on a wingtip and started back down, his sides expanding. She could hear the influx of air into his lungs and instinctively pushed Lanni back toward the cave, out of the line of fire.

  More molten hot magma spewed from his snout and along with the repeated blasts from the Harpy’s staff, the pair strafed across the remaining minions.

  Dismembered body parts burst into the air, most burning and the stench coated Terra’s nostrils again, trying to choke her. She coughed and wiped more tears from her eyes.

  The Unicorn’s weren’t to be swayed from whatever task they’d come to complete though.

  “Golix!” Mother shouted.

  The one that had gutted her and bound them all together with his magics, rushed forward, skidding to a halt at the mouth of the cave. He bent a foreleg to the ground and the red of his eyes glowed brightly. “Past and present, time and truth, show me the path, to all I seek…”

  His mother took up position behind him, the troops re-forming into several lines of defense. Harpy and Dragon came back into range and the battle continued with neither side really gaining any ground while Golix worked his spell…

  Terra launched forward, intent on interrupting whatever he was doing this time, but she passed right through his body, landing in the dirt beyond with an oomph. She flipped onto her back and kicked at his flank, but her foot too passed right though as if he wasn’t even there.

  Lanni, gods above love her, laughed and casually strolled over, holding out a hand. “Nice try Sis, but this has already occurred. We can’t affect it.”

  She picked up a handful of dirt and slung it at Golix, just for the hell of it before taking her sister’s hand. “Dammit! I was hoping…”

  Lanni patted her on the shoulder and led them off to the sidelines again. “I know.”

  They stood by passively after that, watching the rest of the Crone’s memory.

  The air around Golix crackled with energy. A small whirlwind spun through the dust under his hooves, growing larger until the top twisted over on itself and hung several feet in front of him. The surface formed into a mirror of sorts and the images it showed set Terra’s heart to racing, as did the strangely disembodied voice that spoke from within the spinning cloud.

  A Dragon King of great power…shall be the renewal…

  The image coalesced into a man and woman standing in a nursery. The female reached into a crib and lifted a male baby into her arms. The boy kicked his chubby little legs, waved his equally chubby little arms and smiled happily up at his parents.

  Of an age-old war…

  The image fast-forwarded to Draven as a grown man. He was standing on top of a mountain, his chiseled cheeks covered in a wealth of ancient scars. The wind shifted his grey-black hair off his shoulders and a glint of agony rolled through the red-orange of his haunted eyes. He shifted into his Dragon form, spread his wings and dug his talon laden feet into the stone. With a bellowing roar, he leapt into the sky and dove for the ground, strafing across an attacking horde of Centaurs.

  But bound with his Mate…he shall be the Salvation for all…

  The image shifted to that of the cave as an older Enon exited into the bright sunshine. He paced and Terra’s heart skipped with recognition as he moved aside and she saw her and Lanni on the day they’d arrived. In this version, though Draven landed next to Enon before he could take them into the city. He shifted into his humanoid form, strode forward with a confident smile and wrapped his arms around her.

  The other Terra laughed and melted into him without hesitation…

  “Well, that will never do,” Golix’s mother commented, breaking the spell.

  The whirlwind melted back into the ground and Golix rose to his hooves, nodding. “Agreed. We must go, Mother. Now.”

  And with that, Mother’s horn tip sparkled brightly, opening a portal in the distance. The pair galloped through without looking back, leaving the remaining troops behind. And seeing their leaders abandon them, they gave up quickly enough.

  “But, the damage was done,” The Crone’s soft voice echoed across her mind.

  The scene faded and they were back on Arin’s porch. The rain had let up, some, coming down in a light drizzle now. The Harpy gripped their hands and sagged back. Her eyes pinched closed and Lanni held her staff out.

  She took it in her gnarled fingers and they helped to ease her back into one of the chairs next to the house.

  Lanni was the first to speak. “I’m going to assume they did something to Enon and/or Draven later to interrupt the way that first meeting should have gone?” her twin asked quietly.

  “That they did.” The Harpy leaned her forehead against the aged and burnt wood, her eyes still closed in the aftermath of such a powerful spell. “They blocked off Draven’s instincts so he would not know when Terra arrived.”

  She flopped down in to another of the chairs, confusion foremost in her thoughts. “But, why? I’m nothing special.”

  The Crone’s hand let go of the staff and a claw tipped finger touched her temple. “You are more than special my child. You are Dragon Born.”

  Lanni sucked in a hiss of air, anger pulsing off her in a wave. “Figures!”

  The Crone’s other hand let go of the staff and reached for her twin, touching her hand. “As are you.”

  Once more they were drawn into the energy sizzling through the air. But this time, instead of being swept into a memory of the Crone’s, their own history awakened from deep within their blood…

  ***

  “Father! I love him! You cannot stop me! It is true love…”

  Lanni didn’t recognize the voice, but it beckoned to her in an odd sort of familiar way. She swept along the lights and sounds in her head, reemerging in a throne room she would have expected in this mythological place.

  It was wide, made of a greyish stone and tapestries like the ones in the halls of Draven’s office building covered the walls. She should know what the scenes woven into the fabric depicted but she couldn’t place any of them. Her eyes swung around, taking in the large, stone chair on a dais at one end and the dozen or so half-man, half-dragon guards ringing the room. Their armor was polished to a high shine and she looked away before it blinded her.

  Terra stood next to her and they watched the scene unfold.

  A young woman with long, fire-red hair stood at the base of the dais stairs, her face and silver eyes glittering with defiance. Her shoulders set in a firm line as she gazed up at an older, male with the same silver eyes and bright red hair.

  She swept an arm toward a young and handsome, human looking fellow with equally bright red hair. His feet were braced apart, arms crossed over a barrel of a chest and the hilt of a long sword stretched above the Tartan of blue-black covering his body.

  “I will not live without him,” she added. “You cannot make me.”

  Her father shot up from the throne, his own well-aged face and eyes as defiant as his daughters. “Yes, I can! Guards!”

  Six of the creatures pushed away from their posts around the room and descended toward the human.

  “Remove him!” The father ordered. “Send the beast back from whence he came!”

  “No!” the young woman bellowed in return.

  Before the guards could reach them, she shifted into her true self and wrapped the human up in a claw. With a cry that wanted to rip Lanni’s heart from her chest, the young woman turned for the end of the room and leapt through an open window.

  They followed the memory in another flash of light and sound, but not before hearing her father’s orders. “Call the Pegasus. Close all the Portals!”

  When the memory stopped again, they were in another part of Draven’s Kingdom and she recognized it from the map she’d seen in Arin’s history book. They were at the so
uthernmost border, an area the Ogre’s occupied in present day.

  The woman had shifted back into her humanoid form and they stood in front of another cave not unlike the one they’d entered this land through.

  The human had his arms wrapped around her, his chin resting on her forehead. “I will make ye happy, Decia,” he whispered. “Ye will want for naught with my Clan.”

  She nuzzled against his wide chest, her tears soaking into his Plaid. “I know. I do not fear living with humans, Torak.” She lifted her face from his chest, staring up into his eyes. “But I will miss my home. Can you understand that?”

  He bent and kissed her just under the ear. “I can lass, I can.” He pulled up and curled a hand around her cheek. “But we will make a new home, a new life. Ye will have a new family, with many a bairn to occupy your days and me to occupy yer nights…”

  Decia threw back her head and laughed. “Then let us be gone from this place.”

  They vanished into the cave and the memory faded, spiraling them back, yet again to Arin’s porch.

  Their names and faces tickled at her thoughts, pushing, nagging to be recognized. And when it happened, everything slammed into crystal clarity.

  “Terra!”

  Her twin blinked several times. “Yeah, that’s them alright.”

  “Grandma Diana…”

  “And Grandpa Tom…” Terra added without missing a beat.

  The Crone sighed softly and sagged heavily against her staff, clearly worn out from the evening’s events. “They live?” she asked in a low whisper.

  “Just outside Edinburgh, Scotland,” Terra said before she could.

  “They’re older, but yeah, it’s them.” She locked eyes with her sister. “But, why wouldn’t they tell us?”

  A throat cleared and a tired male voice rumbled across the air, answering before the Crone could. “To do so would violate the sacred oath they made to my Father…”

  ***

  “Sire?”

  Tyleios glanced up from the papers he was signing. One of Draven’s guardsmen stood in the doorway, looking more than a little nervous. “Yes?”

  “We, we…”

  He rolled his eyes. It’d been seven rotations since his appointment by the Council and they still walked around on tiptoes! “What, is, it!”

  The guard gulped audibly and dropped his eyes to the floor. “We found Advisor Manus.”

  It took all his years of bowing and scraping, nodding and smiling to keep his outright joy in check at that piece of news! Instead, he let out a sad sigh. “I see. And where is he?”

  The man’s red eyes lifted, looking a little tortured. “He was last seen in Roasu. He bought passage through their gate and is reported to have headed for Gahroon.”

  He mirrored the man’s sadness with his tone and gave the order. “Very well. Assemble two Roc Detachments and a formation of Guards. They leave at first light to retrieve the traitor…”

  The man said nothing, just closed the door behind him with a soft click.

  Tyleios opened the drawer with a mutter and pulled the security spell and communication stone free of the box. He waited until the office was secure and contacted his Master.

  “What?” Golix snapped.

  “Manus is in Gahroon,” he replied without preamble.

  “Are the women with him?”

  He blinked, stunned a bit. “Women?”

  Golix snorted, clearly annoyed that at least one part of his plan hadn’t gone perfectly. “Yes, bloody witch escaped!” he sneered. “Find them! Find them and kill them all. They are of no further use to us.”

  The stone went dark. He pinched the bridge of his nose, working on a new plan as quickly as that order settled in his thoughts. With troops on the way it would have to look like an accident…

  He couldn’t count on any of the guards to do it though and it would look much better if Manus was returned and stood trial for his crimes. In fact, it would cement his position. No one else would stand a chance against him in a general election if the Chimera was convicted of treason!

  Neither-born or not, he had the backing of the people. And the only way to destroy their faith was to prove the abomination was the culprit of their beloved leader’s death.

  The humans would have to go though. They could not return to the city. He’d barely managed to keep their existence a secret and the fact that they hadn’t been reference by the guard was a good thing! They were keeping a low profile and that would play in his favor.

  He was pondering his options when an answer presented itself with another knock on the door. He took down the spell, putting away the parchment and stone quickly. Rising, he answered it himself, hiding a smile from the Harpy on the other side. “Doctor Ranji, a pleasure as always. Do, come in…”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Terra whipped around, her heart a solid lump in her throat. She swallowed, once, twice and stood. Forcing her feet to take the four or five steps necessary, she moved to the end of the porch. “You’re,” she gulped against the knot in her larynx. “You’re alive.”

  Draven’s molten eyes caught the light pouring through Arin’s windows and glowed with desperation. His Adam’s apple bobbed, his own voice a mere croak. “So are you.”

  He looked like hell, far worse than she had when Lanni rescued her. His left arm was pressed tightly to his side by a heavy sling and his right sported a brace from the elbow down. He leaned against one of the pillars, weight on his right leg and his left was bent, a white cast encasing his calf and foot. One side of his face had burns, cuts and scratches but he was still the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen in her life.

  “I’d, hug you,” she managed around the lump. “But I, don’t want to hurt you.”

  He chuckled and slowly reached out with his good hand, the tips of his fingers wrapping into her shirt to pull her closer. “I will survive.”

  She took that final step and folded against his chest. His arm wrapped around her neck and he leaned his cheek on top of her head.

  “By the Gods, I thought I lost you,” he whispered fiercely.

  She slipped her arms carefully around his waist, tears doubling the size of the rock in her throat. She forced it down and drew his scent deep into her lungs. Fire, sulfur and dust settled in her thoughts and she sighed. “You saved me,” she admitted.

  He kissed her hair. “I know, Kyleri. You saved me.”

  Arin’s voice drifted over the rain plunking against the roof. “Does this mean you no longer want to kill her twin?”

  Draven’s chuckle rumbled under her ear. “Oh, no, I still wish to tear her head off, but it is easier to control now.”

  She heard the rustle of clothing followed by Lanni’s angry hiss. “Well fuck you too!”

  Arin sighed as her sister stomped off the porch. “I will get her.”

  She turned to offer the same, but the Crone perked up, snagging the Chimera around the wrist. “Nay, leave her be.”

  Arin’s hand clenched into a fist but he spun and went back into the house, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the windows.

  She gave the ancient Harpy a critical glare. “Why did you stop him? He loves her.”

  “Aye that he does. And she him, but it will only make things worse. Tis best they stay apart.”

  Draven’s next question didn’t surprise her, but the answer did. “Is there a way to undo this?”

  The Harpy’s response was leaden and full of dark things yet to come. “Aye, but it will nay be easy, nor for the faint of heart.”

  Draven pushed off the pillar and with her help, hopped across the porch to sit next to the old woman. “Speak plain and all of it. No more mysteries or memories. What must be done…”

  Before she could reply, the door opened again and Arin, with Thonu across his back, thumped off into the night. “I will be in the tavern,” he tossed back over his shoulder.

  Draven dropped his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And be quick about it, before he gets dru
nk and kills someone…”

  ***

  Arin stormed across the wide plateau and over the bridge to the next one. Most of the houses were dark this time of night, his fellow Pride members sleeping peacefully, but the Tavern would be going full tilt.

  It always was.

  Whether filled with mine workers after the late shift, or swordsmiths wanting to cool off from the heat of their forges, someone was always there to drink with. And he planned on drinking!

  A lot!

  How dare the Crone Mother interfere! He should be there for Lanni, if in no other way than a friend. But no, the busybody had to butt in and keep them apart.

  Flagnok!

  She was right though. It was for the best. It didn’t help his current mood but facts were facts…

  Two more plateaus later, he kicked open the door. Every eye in the place turned as it thunked back against the wall, but he could care less. He scowled at the patrons, making for the long wooden bar top stretching across the far side of the room.

  No one blocked his path and he slammed a hand down to get the tender’s attention.

  Grey eyes swung his way and the head on the left nodded in acknowledgment. “What’ll it be tonight?”

  And he ordered the one, sure fire thing that would either knock him on his horse’s ass, or send him into a mind-numbing hallucination. Either of which was fine with him! Anything was better than the gut-wrenching agony spiraling his thoughts into way too many dark places. “Give me Scorpion’s Blood.”

  ***

  “Tis not an easy task,” The Crone began. “The spell binds not only by blood, but with fire and heart.”

  Terra could hear Draven’s teeth grinding and she touched the nape of his neck, hoping to calm him somewhat. The tension in his shoulders eased and she smiled a bit. “What do we need to do?” she asked when the Harpy paused.

  “You will need to gather all the key ingredients first. After that, you will need a place of great power to cast the counter spell.”