by Megan Derr
Anger and fear coiled through him at the thought of what might have happened to Ajith if he had not been there, had not called for help when the poison had felled Ajith and the others. Was the assassination attempt really about that terrible tragedy back home? He had thought the matter finished. It made no sense. Why attack Restuel? What did assassinating King Wyst have to do with Gormestia's exacting revenge on Tahjil?
"I see relations with Gormestia are not so peaceful after all. Not all news reaches us here in the Shide, but I feel that matter should have. You are not much for politics, are you, Najlah?"
Najlah gave a short growl.
"Gormestia and Restuel have been allies for a long time—two centuries, as I said. When Gormestia angered Tahjil and got what they deserved, instead of supporting them, Restuel turned on them and supported a bunch of demons. Gormestia took that as great an insult as you took their behavior."
The two did not even compare. Of course Restuel had not sided with Gormestia. If Gormestia had possessed any honor, they would have killed their own people or surrendered them to Tahjil for punishment. Instead they had defended them, acted like they had not committed the greatest of crimes.
"I agree," Barkus replied. "But Gormestia seeks to throw Restuel into upheaval, and I have no doubt now that the ultimate purpose of this plan is to somehow blame your people—perhaps even you and your brother directly—for the assassination. Killing Ranteth here would certainly mean he'd never be able to reveal that he had been cursed. That would also explain the golem, which is something Gormestia mages are good at. They skulk about the parts of the mountains that are not Shide practicing their spells and incantations. Come, we need to get out of here. I'll carry him; you lead us through the caves."
Najlah flicked his tongue out, tasting Barkus' skin briefly before pulling away to sniff out the best direction to take while Barkus got Ranteth settled. Shifting back to his true form, Najlah tasted the air again.
He froze when he smelled people and magic and fire. Before he could tell Barkus, the cave filled with blinding, burning light. Najlah closed his eyes, roaring in rage, spikes re-emerging. If they thought the light would do him harm, they only proved they still knew nothing about dragons. Letting out another roar, Najlah did what he was made to do: hunt, fight, kill.
Something to his left. Najlah whipped his tail around, arcing it up and growling in triumph when it connected and his foe shrieked in pain. He prowled toward the fallen man, tasting the air to examine him. A shifter, but he was already dying of the poison—if the holes Najlah's tail spikes had put in his stomach did not kill him first.
Either would take several minutes. Najlah tore out his throat instead, then turned his attention to the other three, opening his eyes when it seemed there would be no more bursts of light. The remaining attackers were focused on Ranteth and Barkus. He roared again, so loudly the cave shook and some of the hanging rocks high above seemed as though they would come crashing down. Najlah ran at the nearest of the figures, a female who threw some sort of purple-colored spell at him. He had a vague sense of stop, but the spell did not grab hold, simply slid away along his scales. He reached her and sank teeth into her leg, tearing out chunks of flesh and spitting them on the floor. When she collapsed, in too much pain to even scream properly, he closed his teeth over her throat and ended her as quickly as he had the first.
Najlah hissed as something sharp slipped past his scales and sank into flesh. His tail moved, struck, and he then whipped around and butted his head hard into the stupid human's gut, sending the attacker falling down right on Najlah's spikes. Sighing at the irritation, annoyed he had not thought that one through better, Najlah waited until Barkus finished off the remaining threat and then growled impatiently for help.
Barkus took in his dilemma and laughed. With a grunt and a couple of fumbling starts, he finally yanked the body off Najlah's spikes enough that Najlah was able to retract them. "You are just as nasty in a fight as your appearance promised. I am curious how brutal your homeland must be that something as artfully crafted for killing as you exists."
Najlah was not entirely certain how he was meant to take that, but he was a hornless brute and meant to be good at all those things, so he decided to take it as praise and rumbled his thanks.
"I never thought I would meet someone who could rival the Lukos," Barkus added.
That was definitely intended as praise. Najlah rubbed against him, thinking praising thoughts of his own. Barkus was certainly tougher than anyone else he knew. Najlah trusted his battle brothers in a fight, but even they did not compare to the Lukos.
Barkus stroked his head, startling Najlah when he found the spot behind his ears that made Najlah feel like he'd been sitting in a fire bath for hours. He rumbled low in approval. Barkus paused briefly before he resume with a soft laugh. "Not so different from a wolf in the end. Come on, let's get moving. If we fell as far and deep as I fear, we have a great deal of walking to do."
Najlah growled and went off to find a path as he had been doing before they were attacked. He watched impatiently while Barkus went to each of the bodies and collected something, huffing when he finally joined Najlah with Ranteth in tow. "Sorry, I wanted proof that it was Gormestia we fought down here."
Politics. Najlah hissed and pressed on into the tunnel he had chosen.
How long they traveled, he did not know. They moved until exhaustion forced a halt, and then he or Barkus hunted some manner of food and they would rest until they were able to move again. They were so tired and hungry and worn by the end that Najlah was ready to eat the next moving thing he saw, no matter what it might be—even one of those nasty, crawling things that passed for spiders in Restuel. Fah. If it was not big enough to make a meal, it was no spider.
Thinking of food he would never be able to eat again was not going to improve his mood, however, so he tried to focus solely on getting out of the caves. He was just about to let his mood turn completely foul, long past caring, when he smelled sun and snow. Increasing his pace, he led them up a steep tunnel and spilled out into a drift that would have made him miserable at any other time.
"Finally," Barkus said with a groan. He carefully laid Ranteth down on a bit of rock mostly free of snow. "Thank you for leading us out, Naj."
Amused that Barkus was shortening his name the way Fayth was so fond of doing, Najlah rumbled at him and collapsed in the snow to rest a few minutes. He felt the ripple of magic but could not be bothered to open his eyes again. If Barkus wanted to keep moving, then he could drag Najlah right alongside Ranteth.
A sound like nothing he'd ever heard filled the air. He opened his eyes and watched Barkus howl so loud and long the entire mountain seemed to echo the refrain. It was majestic, beautiful, even more impressive than the fighting howl from the golem fight, and nothing at all like the whining, greedy howls of the dogs in the city. Najlah shivered as Barkus did it again. He prowled closer when Barkus did it a third time and flicked his tongue out, tasting Barkus on the wind, rubbed scales against fur as the howling finally died away.
Barkus gave a low, amused growl and nudged and rubbed back. Najlah wondered how far he could be pushed, how much he could bend. He flicked his tongue out again, tasted a faint thread of lust beneath exhaustion and hunger, mingling with the relief of being alive and free of the damnable caves. He nipped at Barkus playfully, hissed when he got a sharp bite in return.
Najlah bit him harder, but before Barkus could retaliate, answering howls filled the air. Barkus howled in reply, calling the Lukos to him. Najlah withdrew, a promise made for later, and went to examine Ranteth, for the first time allowing himself to be relieved and happy that Ranteth was not a traitor after all.
He was just prowling back over to Barkus when an earth-shaking roar filled the sky. Najlah's eyes popped open wide. What was Ajith doing on the mountain? He should still be resting after nearly dying of poison, and even discounting that, Korla was with child. Ajith should be with her! Horned brutes did not leave their bitc
hes unattended. Had Ajith lost his mind? Najlah reared back and roared as loudly as he could in reply—nothing at all like his brother's, but Ajith would hear it.
Another mountain-trembling roar followed, and shortly thereafter, his brother came into view, a great black brute with black and gray wings and two enormous, long, slightly curving horns ending in sharp points jutting from high on either side of his forehead. Ajith landed with a hard thud in the snow, shaking the trees around them so hard, he dislodged the snow covering them. His tongue flicked out, eyes whirling with angry purples and blues. He had barely folded his wings in when he started yelling. "Where in the frozen depths do you think you have been? It's been three days since anyone has heard from you! Korla is frantic, their Majesties have been most anxious, and I have been worried sick, you troublesome little sand grub! I did not let you go up into these mountains so you could get yourself lost!"
"Oh, shut up," Najlah snarled right back, spikes coming out as he got ready to argue in earnest if that was how his stupid, thick-headed brother wanted to be. "I lost my warming stone and woke up in a cave. We have been working our way out ever since. We found Ranteth, whom we think is not a traitor after all. I am also long out of the den, brother, so stop treating me like I am still a kit. Go back to fussing over your bitch and unborn kit and leave me to do the things I am made to do. Honestly, you horned brutes. It's nag and nag and—" He bellowed as Ajith's tail caught him full on the side, sending him deep into a snow drift.
Najlah roared, twisted up, and lunged, claws and spikes out, dodging his brother's arm to land behind him. He immediately turned and launched himself onto Ajith's back, sinking claws in past the heavy scales and growling smugly when Ajith roared in irritation. Craning forward, he bit high on Ajith's neck, right where he knew it would really hurt thanks to a scorpion sting Ajith had taken there as a kit.
Then Ajith did his nasty, evil twist-throw move that Najlah had not been able to comprehend in all his twenty-some years of trying, and Najlah snarled in annoyance as he slammed into a tree. He tumbled into a drift so deep it was thrice his height. Rumbling and growling, he climbed out of it and wiped melting snow from his face with the back of one paw. His tail lashed, striking the tree with heavy thuds, and he braced for the next round as Ajith came at him. "Mush-eating brat."
"By the time I am done with you, mush is all you'll be able to eat."
"Stop being a child, Ajith. I didn't mean to worry you. How was I to know we had been in the caves that long?" Ajith did not reply, simply ran at Najlah with horns down. Najlah managed to get out of the way but only barely. He climbed upon Ajith's back again, mindful of his wings but more than willing to bite and scratch everywhere else. "Kit! Mush-eater! Feather-head, I'll crunch you like I crunch their skulls, though it won't be much of a feast given your head is the emptiest thing in ten nests!"
"Grub. Get down right now, or I'll make you as tailless as you are hornless!" Ajith reached around and managed to grab Najlah. He threw Najlah back in the snow and planted a heavy paw on him. Nasty little cheat. "I may lack brains, but you have all the sense of a corpse-eater and you smell—" He stopped, then narrowed his eyes, growled thoughtfully. "You smell like wolf and lust." He turned his head to stare briefly at Barkus. "Him? You sneer and scoff at every suitable human and shifter in the palace, and you are making offers to a Lukos? Why am I even asking? Of course you would reject a hundred perfectly good offers and rumble at a feral wolf."
Najlah hissed in derision. "Why would I want a soft den dweller?"
"Who are you calling soft?" Ajith demanded, but the words were spoken in drawling rumbles. "Typical hornless, only interested in feeding, fighting, and fucking."
"You got the order wrong," Najlah said with a playful hiss. "Let me up, or my next feast is going to be your foot, and then I'll have to kill you for making me eat something so terrible-tasting."
Ajith snorted but let him up. He bent his ponderous head and nuzzled against Najlah's much smaller frame. "I am glad you are alive and well, little brother. Mother, sister, and Korla would have cried to hear of your death."
"I would never make them cry so," Najlah replied and nipped him affectionately before padding through the snow back to Barkus. He growled at him, butted against his side.
Barkus nipped him much the way Ajith had, and it was nice—so very nice—that he didn’t smell of fear, that he seemed to understand.
The wolves arrived a few minutes later, barking and yipping happily as they attacked Barkus in a chaotic, joyous rush, piling atop him in the snow and taking turns ensuring he was well, silently communicating all that had transpired while they were apart. Najlah caught snatches and hints of it, but it became immediately clear that the thoughts and feelings Barkus had given him had been slowed down, carefully controlled, because he could not entirely follow the crazy, whirling flood of thought and emotion between the seven wolves.
He turned back to Ajith. "Where is Fayth?"
"He was badly wounded by the golem. He's recovering at the castle, along with nearly all of your battle brothers. The others are prowling about for Ranteth. What is it you said about him not being a traitor after all? That would be nice. I was sad that he would have to be killed and eaten."
Najlah explained all that he and Barkus had learned—well, largely surmised—and when he finished, Ajith rumbled in agreement. "So what do we do now?"
"We get everyone home, we wait for Ranteth to heal up well enough to tell us what happened, and then we handle matters diplomatically."
"I think I preferred it when they thought us demons and we were allowed to eat them."
Ajith looked past Najlah, his eyes swirling a smirking yellow. "No, you don't. If you were home, you'd already have been mated to another hunter because Mother would have finally lost all patience with your fussiness and addressed the matter for you."
Najlah hissed and nipped because he really hated when Ajith was right, and he was right all the damned time.
"The wolf is impressive, I'll give you that. I can only imagine how much His Majesty will love you if you somehow manage to get the Lukos to cooperate more often and perhaps act like real citizens of the kingdom."
"I'm not interested in your stupid politics or in helping anyone make nice with anyone else. I want fire—you left that out of your mocking litany: Fire, fucking, fighting, feeding."
"I think the order is still wrong."
"Go eat a spotted lizard."
Ajith's eyes swirled yellow. Najlah hit him and then slithered out of range of retaliation. He prowled back over to the wolves, growing impatiently, eager to be home where he could find food and rest. Shoving through them, he drew up to Barkus and growled loudly.
Barkus nipped at him, and Najlah felt a sense of Yes, home along with a strange sort of longing—something like homesickness but not quite. Like… homesickness for a place never seen. Was that possible?
He growled again, shaking his head, and nipped Barkus in return. He caught a sense of seven days, and then Barkus was surrounded by his fellow wolves once more.
Najlah returned to Ajith and climbed onto his back because he was not walking down the mountain. Ajith looked at him, amusement turning his eyes green, then called a warning. Najlah braced himself, growled for the wolves to back away, and then Ajith launched himself into the air, snow going up in a flurry from the force. When Ajith was certain of his wings, he flew down and gently scooped Ranteth up in his paws. Then they were gone, rushing through the wind and the clouds, finally headed back toward the palace that Najlah had come to regard as home.
*~*~*
Najlah was in his room, curled up in the enormous hearth, when the pack bond at the back of his mind seemed to ripple, stir. He rumbled and resettled himself, but did not move from the warm fire, annoyed that eleven days had passed when he'd been promised seven.
An hour or so later he heard his door open and close but still did not move. The flames were wonderfully hot, and the world beyond was cold and wet and awful.
&n
bsp; A soft, inquisitive bark jerked him from his doze, and he lifted his head from the flames to stare at the black wolf that loomed close. Najlah growled and uncoiled then crept out of the flames. He snapped his teeth at Barkus and thumped his tail hard against the stone tiles. Barkus woofed at him, stepping in close enough to nuzzle his cheek.
Najlah rumbled, flicked his tongue out to taste. The knot of dissatisfaction and angry restlessness that had plagued him for days eased as the scent and flavor of Barkus settled over him. Strange to miss so acutely someone who was not family.
Barkus stepped back and shifted. Najlah growled in amusement that he was wearing no clothes when shifter magic was plenty capable of managing them. He hissed and pushed his thoughts to Barkus.
"You know you approve. Come play, dragon."
Najlah replied with a quick, sharp turn, his tail sweeping Barkus' feet out from under him, sending him sprawling backwards onto the soft rug just beyond the stones of the fireplace. Najlah prowled toward him as Barkus started to sit up, shifting smoothly as he reached him. He settled across Barkus' lap, pushing him back down on the rug.
Impressions of heat and hunger filled his mind, coiled through him with a burn even sweeter than that of fire. Barkus' calloused hands smoothed along his skin and scales, curiosity blending into the lust in Najlah's mind. He growled softly and bent down, forked tongue flicking out to taste Barkus' skin. Barkus made a growly noise of his own as he cupped a hand around the back of Najlah's head, pulling him close enough to kiss.
Human tongues felt so strange, shorter and solid, and the teeth were shockingly blunt. One thing to see, another to feel them. No wonder they had to soften and cook all their food—their teeth were useless for real eating. Najlah drew back and put his own teeth to work, dragging them along the smooth, warm skin of Barkus' body, captivated by the contrast to his own scales.