“Oww!” Something sharp cut him. The outline of the gryphon quickly filled with blood. Haytham put his thumb in his mouth to ease the sting. The blood on the flute disappeared with a flash of light. Not knowing exactly what just happened, Haytham placed the flute in his shirt pocket. He’d worry about the instrument later. Right now he needed to find Candace.
Beckoning his air magic, he called up her scent. If lucky, he’d find out where she went. A yellow thread of scent trail glowed as it floated on the air and led to one of the openings on the left side of the canyon. Haytham hurried to the tunnel entrance. The light from the sun didn’t shine far into the passageway. He strode in, and before long complete darkness surrounded him. He called on the magic within and produced a small ball of glowing light. The first spell all witches learned in school.
He followed the yellow scent trail deeper and deeper into the tunnels. He came into a small cavern when the scent trail disappeared. Trying to spy where the thread might have gone, he kicked through something on the floor. Lowering the light he glanced at a pile of ashes. A small piece of pink cloth made him gasp. Candace...
He picked up the miniscule piece of fabric, his heart pounding, and brushed off the remaining ashes. Saying a quick spell under his breath, he sighed in relief when the yellow scent trail continued down the passageway. Candace was okay. He slipped the small piece of fabric into his pocket. Why she felt the need to burn her clothes worried him. He kept going, following his Destined One.
§
Hot breath blew across Candace’s neck and made her stiffen. She shuddered. Having a hulking dragon loom over you would make anyone nervous, Candace included, even if she was half dragon. She ran her sweaty palm down the leg of her servants uniform, a simple linen colored shirt and pants and carried the tray of food across the dining hall.
She glanced at her mother, who sat on a ledge in her gold dragon form.
“Thank goodness.” She sighed in relief.
Candace didn’t think any of the male dragons would try anything with her mother watching over her. Of course, she never thought her mother would make her a servant either.
Half of the dragons looked down on her for being half human. The others looked at her as a potential mate. There was a reason virgins used to be sacrificed to dragons.
“Mate ’em or eat ’em,” Candace muttered the favorite dragon slogan she found in one of the books her mother insisted she read.
Female dragons were so rare, that in order for their race to survive, dragons needed willing women. Something about the smell of a virgin was like candy to a dragon. Luckily, when the remaining dragons came to this dimension, the First Dragon realized that turning the women into servants was a better solution than eating them. Besides, it mollified the humans expected to sacrifice their children to them.
Dragon children were also rarely produced and only twenty percent could shift forms. Like all the dimensions, Hreghen followed the Destined Mate mandate. Not because they believed in love, but because children of those unions always possessed the ability to shift into dragon form.
So, if one of the dragons could make her Magic house tattoo take on color, they could force her to mate with them, or so they thought. Candace had already met her Destined One, Haytham, a fact only her mother and Zahrah knew. She sighed as she remembered his light blond hair and blue eyes, eyes that darkened while he gazed at her.
A sudden pinch on her bottom brought her back to the present. Working as a server at dinner was as bad as serving in a tavern. She hurried away from the tables and back to the kitchen to retrieve another platter of food. It took a lot to fill the stomach of a dragon.
Candace returned, carrying a platter of banhweh meat to the high table and placed it before the king in dragon form. He leaned down his large black triangular head and sniffed delicately at the offering. His eyes swirled before he bumped into the dish and her in the process, knocking her to the floor.
She knew he did it on purpose, but he was the king. Zahrah warned her not to react to anything a dragon might decide to do. She picked herself up. Luckily, the meat didn’t fall off the table and she bowed and backed away, hurrying back to the kitchen and the next course.
“Dammit, why did I listen to Aiden? I shouldn’t have come here. Now I’m treated like a servant or a pampered house pet,” Candace mumbled, running her hand over her face.
“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll treat you like a sweet piece of treasure. Just say the word.”
Candace shuddered as Derog walked up to her. In his human form, except for the strange swirling eyes and small curved brown horns growing from his head, he looked like any other male from home. From the color of his horns, she assumed his dragon must be a similar mud-brown color. Dragons were large worms with big teeth. Derog was the worst of them.
However, she’d also learned they loved passionately and once a blood oath was given, their beasts would hold to it or die trying.
“Sorry, Derog. You know I’m not your Destined One.”
She purposely didn’t call him an honorific, waiting for him to fly into a rage like she saw him do with other servants. Instead, he smiled and ran his finger down her arm.
“True, but I wouldn’t mind teaching you the art of pleasing a man.” He leaned over and sniffed her. Candace shuddered again. Something about the smell of a virgin turned a dragon on. Every male she met liked to sniff her. It embarrassed her to say the least.
“I think I will give that pleasure to my Destined One. Thanks just the same.”
“Ah, Candace. I could make it so good for you, sweetheart. Plus, you would have a protector, and wouldn’t have to work as a servant anymore. I would take you into my household where I could guard you.”
Or you could send me after this stone you want. “I don’t suppose you would consider being my protector without the sex?”
“Nope.” Derog smiled, his gaze heated. “I have to get something from the bargain. Being a protector is hard work, someone might challenge me.” Derog pouted like a child. Candace wanted to roll her eyes.
Dragons always wanted something from the deal, preferably gold, but sex would do. She’d heard the servants whisper about Derog. He was the last person she wanted to serve.
“You know my mother won’t let me. I have to save myself for my Destined One.” Several other servants entered the kitchen at that moment and Derog pulled away.
Candace’s mother held a lot of clout in this dimension and no one wanted to cross her, openly at least. It was a good way to get fried. Candace hurried past Derog and picked up another platter.
When she turned to make her way back to the dining room, Derog was gone. She’d been here almost a month already. Somehow Candace needed to find a way to get a message to Aiden. She wanted to go home.
Chapter Six
Haytham followed the scent trail down the tunnels while wishing he had more light. He’d already backtracked once, and without the spell guiding him, feared he would be lost forever. The path suddenly slanted downward and the stones on the walls became damp.
A shout sounded, echoing up the tunnel. Then a scream. Clicking noises followed and then sounds of metal hitting stone. Haytham hurried forward drawing his sword. He turned a corner and blinked when he walked into a lit cavern. A large lake spread out before him. Several men tried to fight off a crab as large as a car. Others scrambled into boats filled with baskets, a lantern on each bow.
One man shouted orders to the others as he swung a torch at the monster. Haytham ran forward. The crab’s huge pincher claw closed around the man’s leg and he fell, dropping the torch.
Haytham swung the sword with all his might at the only discernable weak place in the crab’s armor, the eyestalks. The crab, now blinded, shrieked. Haytham swung again, this time at the leg attached to the claw. He pounded, over and over, as shell cracked, and the crab released the man’s leg.
As the other men ran forward to help their fallen companion, Haytham continued to jab at the confused crab. It sl
owly backed away from the lake.
“Hurry. Into the boat,” one of the men yelled.
Haytham made one last strike at the crab and then followed the men into the boat. He sheathed his sword and sat as two of the men picked up oars and started rowing.
“I owe you my life,” the wounded man said. His dark hair fell to his shoulders and black horns curved back from the sides of his head. Was this a legendary dragon?
Haytham leaned over to assess the wound. The claw had cut into the man’s leg, exposing the bone on one side.
“It looked like you could use the help,” Hay said. “I have a little bit of the healing gift if you will allow me.”
The man nodded, his eyes growing wide. “I am Andras of Enfys.”
“Haytham Luften.” He closed his eyes and gathered his magic before placing his hand over the injury. Heat radiated from his palms as energy transferred to the wound. When the heat dissipated, Haytham opened his eyes and found the wound sealed. The tissue, still swollen in places, showed purple bruises surrounding the area. At least now the injury wasn’t open to infection.
“My thanks. You probably saved the leg,” Andras said. “What brings you to Hreghen? You are not from this world.”
“I’m looking for a girl,” Haytham smiled. “My Destined One.”
“Ah. She wouldn’t have red hair and porcelain skin, would she?”
“You’ve seen her.”
“Yes, she should have made it to Zaltana weeks ago. I was surprised that her Destined One would send her to Hreghen.”
“I didn’t send her,” Haytham said, shaking his head. “Her brother did. I’m trying to get her back. Do the dragons follow the Destined One mandates?”
“Yes, and you should be able to claim her once you reach the palace.” Andras sighed. “This morning I rejoiced at finishing our tasks early. Now, I’ve been injured and am forced to return to the city. At least the king will be happy at our harvest.” Andras motioned at the baskets.
Haytham lifted a small crab from one. “I see the mother crab had reason to be angry.”
Andras shrugged. “It is what it is. We also harvest fruit from Glaw forest. Another delicacy for the court. You are welcome to join us on our journey back to Zaltana. I would be honored to have a man like you on my team.”
“I would like that.”
Haytham glanced around him. Candace’s scent trail flowed ahead of them. The small fleet of boats lit up the cavern, the glow from the lanterns bouncing off the water. Still, he couldn’t see the other side of the lake.
“How did Candace find her way?”
Andras smiled. “The Lady Cressida sent Zahrah, her chamberlain, to fetch her daughter from the portal.”
“Zahrah sounds like a woman’s name.”
“Zahrah is extremely capable.”
The way his new friend said the guide’s name gave Haytham pause. It sounded like the man spoke of someone important to him. At least Candace hadn’t been left alone to fight giant crabs. What other dangers inhabited this world?
“Are you a dragon? I hope I’m not being rude. The horns?”
Andras’s eyes became sad. “Yes, the males of dragon kind sport horns. No, I cannot make the change, but I am the son of the king and am happy to serve as his Captain of the Guard.”
“Change?” Haytham asked confused.
“Into dragon form. It was a huge disappointment, not just to me, but also to my father. Only a dragon can rule, so on my sixteenth birthday my status changed from prince to servant.”
“Servant? That seems harsh.”
“The dragons rule this land and have since the First Dragon appeared with his flight. The humans are servants to the king.”
“So Candace would be her mother’s servant?”
“Yes. I’m sure her mother is treating her well,” Andras said, quickly. “Cressida was despondent when she came back from Earth. I believe she missed her children, though her mother had just died. She took her place as head of household and joined the king’s council.”
“How many dragons are there?”
“Not that many actually. It is hard for them to produce offspring. There are only two female dragons that I know about on the whole planet. Cressida being here on the northern continent and another queen of the southern continent.”
“So Cressida is Queen?”
“No. She was expected to marry my father upon his ascension to the throne, instead she left for Earth. My father hasn’t taken a mate, though he produced me after one of the virgin dances. My mother died in childbirth, so I never knew her, though my father said she was a beautiful woman with a sweetness about her he couldn’t ignore.”
“Virgin dances? I see I have a lot to learn about your people.”
Andras laughed. “I suppose so. I, too, would like to learn of Earth, the original home of the dragons. We can discuss the differences while we travel to the city.”
Haytham smiled and nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.” Knowledge was power and Hay still needed to figure out how to get Candace and escape back to Earth.
§
The palace was quiet as most of its inhabitants slept the night away. Candace sighed and closed the book about Destined Ones. She really wanted to help Zahrah and Andras. They deserved a life together. She rolled over on the four-poster bed in the room her mother assigned to her and placed the volume on the ornate nightstand. She fingered the sheets a moment, enjoying the softness, and realized the cloth was softer than the servant uniform she now wore day in and day out.
Frustrated, she pounded her pillow. Servants had no rights. Their entire existence determined on which dragon was their master. Candace was one of the lucky ones because her mother didn’t ask a lot of her. Some dragons, like Derog, treated servants like an insect under his boot. She sighed.
Candace didn’t know anything more about Destined Ones in Hreghen than she knew before. Yes, the dragons recognized the Destined One mandate, but except for that, the book didn’t say whether they would allow Zahrah and Andras to be together after the ceremony took place.
Engyl stirred in his cage and Candace immediately quieted. She didn’t want to wake her familiar. Some of his color had faded from his feathers from being caged. Candace couldn’t talk her mother out of insisting the bird be restrained. At least, she’d learned what constituted a proper diet for a phoenix from the book she checked out at the library. She should take him to the ledge next to her mother’s apartment and free him. She’d tried when they first arrived, but he refused to leave her.
In a way, she was grateful. Engyl might be a bird, but he listened carefully and seemed to understand her concerns about the dragons, going home, and her Destined One. She always had to tiptoe around things when she spoke to her mother and even sometimes to Zahrah who was fiercely loyal to Cressida, though Candace thought of her as a friend.
She had the morning off from chores tomorrow and planned to devote most of it to her familiar. Engyl needed to at least fly, even if he insisted on returning.
§
Haytham adjusted the straps of the two baskets of crabs he carried on his back. He’d willingly taken on whatever chore needed doing, and already Andras’s people considered him a friend.
The group had spent last night in a cavern. Hay tried to share what little food he had brought, but Andras declined, saying they owed him for his quick attack of the sand crab.
Instead, several men set a pot to cooking over a fire and they ate some of their catch. Haytham now understood the attraction to the delicacy. The crabs tasted sweet and succulent. They also shared a bottle of suchi wine in celebration of their task being complete. One bottle of the potent alcohol was enough for all to have a swallow. With his stomach full and his mind mellowed with wine, Haytham slept well, even on the sand-covered rock floor.
The group walked out of the tunnels, Haytham following Andras. He blinked and looked around in amazement.
“Wow. This is spectacular.” Huge trees rose into the air. Colorfu
l plants and shrubs, their bright colored leaves of red, green, and purple caught the eye. There was even a tree with blue bark.
Andras chuckled. “Glaw forest, glad you like it. Many of the creatures are dangerous. So, stay close.” The rest of the group exited the tunnel behind them.
So many different animal sounds filled the air, birds calling, insects buzzing, and other noises Hay didn’t recognize. The roar of a loud cat suddenly came from their right. Haytham pulled the sword on his belt and lifted the blade as a huge black and gold-stripped cat landed upon him and Andras. The weight of the animal took them to the ground. Haytham’s sword pierced the animal’s heart. The others ran forward ready to do battle. The cat lay still. They lifted the heavy beast off the two men.
“You must be blessed by the First Dragon. No one could have made that strike, and yet…” Andras sat up and looked at him in amazement.
Haytham stood and offered his hand to help Andras rise.
“That’s twice I’ve saved your life. Maybe I’m your guardian angel.”
“Guardian, yes, angel… I don’t think so.” Andras chuckled as he rose. He winced as he got his balance.
“When we reach camp, I will do more healing on your leg. We can’t have your movement hampered by your injury.”
Andras nodded, his gaze turning serious. “Thank you, my friend. We should find the suchi fruit retrieval team not far from here along with our mounts and weapons. Next time we go into the tunnels, I will have my sword at my side.”
“Good idea.” Haytham patted Andras on the shoulder. He really liked the man and found the king’s son to be fair, honest, and loyal, in spite of the fact that dragon law turned him from a prince into a servant. Good qualities Haytham tried to exemplify. He pulled his sword from the cat. A pretty creature, he was sorry he was forced to kill it.
One of the men skinned the cat as the others gathered their things. Haytham retrieved his spilled baskets, scooping the baby crabs inside. His nose wrinkled at the oily smell of the creatures. When finished, he wiped his hands down his pants. Maybe he should have brought a change of clothes. Andras mentioned they still had three days of travel to reach the city. Three days before he could claim his Destined One.
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