“Thanks for the tip.” I didn’t feel like going into Zav’s hang-up about trusting elves—and half-elves.
“Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding.”
“I don’t think dragons do weddings. They just magically brand you so other dragons know you’re theirs.”
“You should insist on a wedding. Attended by his equally sexy brothers.”
“You’re hilarious, Willard.”
“I am. That’ll be on my tombstone.”
Another crack sounded, this time from down in the crevasse. Even though I didn’t think the dark elves would announce an attack by tinkering loudly with the ice, I checked the area with my senses, listening and straining them to their fullest.
I sensed something. Not from the crevasse itself, but somewhere on the other side of it.
“Get your weapons.” I rolled to my feet.
“Dark elves?”
“No, something else magical. I think it’s the frost giants coming from across the glacier.” I pointed beyond the crevasse, though I couldn’t see anything yet.
“How many?”
“All of them.”
Willard swore and bellowed, “Incoming!”
As the soldiers scrambled to grab their weapons and get into the shallow foxholes, I tapped my charm and tried to summon Sindari. It was still cold and unresponsive.
I’d never fought a single frost giant, much less six, and I didn’t have my most loyal ally at my side. This was not going to go well.
27
The frost giants, massive blue-gray-skinned creatures that stood more than twenty feet tall, came in two groups, thundering out of the night and toward our camp. The snow and fog shrouded them, but as they ran closer, they grew more distinct.
Unlike the rock golem, they were made of flesh and blood. That ought to make them more vulnerable, but their stout legs were as thick as cedars. They wore thick furs over sturdy chain mail, and they carried clubs the size of logs and shields bigger than doors. Some of them also carried slings. Their armor and clubs emanated magic, no doubt enchanted by their dark-elf allies. Or dark-elf masters, more likely.
“Regular bullets may not hurt them!” I called to the rest of the soldiers. “Use whatever magical weapons you’ve got.”
I dropped to my belly in a natural dip in the ice and aimed Fezzik at the two in the lead. The giants were coming from the other side of the crevasse, and I didn’t sense any dark elves around to levitate them, but with those long legs, they might be able to jump over the fifteen-foot gap.
“Not if I shoot you first,” I muttered.
“Any chance of negotiating with them?” Willard called from the shallow foxhole she’d claimed. She always wanted to negotiate. Maybe it was written up as standard operating procedure for the office.
One of the lead giants twirled his sling and loosed a projectile the size of a bowling ball. It slammed into a tent behind Willard, tearing it from its stakes and sending the material skidding across the glacier. That would have killed any one of us if it had struck human flesh.
“I don’t think so.” I shot at the slinger’s face, avoiding targets that his mail covered.
The soldiers also opened fire. Bullets slammed into the giants, many clinking against chain and being deflected, but others striking their bare arms and fur-clad legs. The ammunition from regular guns didn’t pierce their thick flesh, but Willard’s magical rifle was effective. Our rounds thudded into our targets. One of mine hit a giant in the eye, the orb bursting with a splash of gore.
Either impervious to the bullets, or magically compelled to ignore them, the two lead giants sprang across the crevasse as if it were a crack in a sidewalk. The four coming in the second group weren’t far behind.
I was on the verge of yelling an order to retreat—though there was nowhere to retreat to—when I sensed the auras of two dragons. Zondia—I groaned—and Zav—I mentally cheered.
The giant whose eye I’d shot out charged straight at me. I rolled to the side a second before his big foot slammed down into the depression I’d been firing from.
Scrambling to my feet, my injury sending pain lancing through my body, I rushed away from him until I could once again see his head from twenty feet below. I opened fire again. My bullets slammed into his ear and the side of his skull.
The giant roared and spun toward me. Willard, now behind him, also fired at his head. The hulking creature stomped toward me, the ground quivering under his pounding weight, and slammed his club downward.
Again, I dodged out of the way, my crampons letting me keep my footing on the slick glacier. The ground trembled once more as the club struck down, spraying snow and ice.
The winged form of a black dragon grew visible against the cloudy sky. Zav.
The side of the giant’s head looked like hamburger, but he hefted the club for another swing. Even though my bullets were hitting him, they weren’t doing enough. I was tempted to switch to Chopper, but what would I target? His knee? With my injuries, I doubted I could duplicate my earlier feat of climbing my enemy’s back. Just dodging the attacks had me panting with pain.
Two more giants made it to the crevasse and leaped over it. The back two paused, looking to the sky.
Shouts came from the camp—half of the tents now smashed—as the soldiers had to scatter. Like me, they were finding that their bullets weren’t strong enough to halt the giants, not easily.
My attacker was slower with his next swipe of the club. I backed away, firing again, aiming for his remaining good eye. If he couldn’t see, he wouldn’t be as much of a threat.
Zav swooped down, opened his great maw, and clamped onto the head of a frost giant stamping through the camp. His powerful wings flapped, and he lifted the twenty-foot-tall creature from the glacier.
I gaped, forgetting to shoot my target as this magnificent scene played out. Zav didn’t struggle as he toted the giant a hundred feet—he had to be using his magic to enhance how much he could lift—even though the giant fought back, pounding at Zav’s sides with his club. The blows were deflected inches from Zav’s black scales. His magical shield protected him as he whipped his neck to hurl the giant from his maw.
The creature dropped his club and flailed as he soared toward the crevasse. Zav’s neck whipped around in time for him to spew a gout of fire at our foe. The giant screamed as flames roasted him, even as he tumbled hundreds of feet. I didn’t check, but I doubted the dark elves were down there to slow his descent with a levitation spell.
Out over the glacier, the second dragon—Zondia—was now visible. She flew low toward the two giants that hadn’t leaped the crevasse. They turned and ran in the opposite direction, but she was faster. Like Zav, she poured flames from the depths of her throat, the brilliant yellow-orange lighting up the dark foggy air. The gout struck one of the giants in the butt, and he squawked and threw his club over his shoulder at her. It burst into flames before it reached her.
As their chase continued away from our camp, I lost sight of the two giants and Zondia and focused on the enemies on our side of the crevasse. The soldiers, some still in foxholes and some scattered across the glacier, hadn’t ceased firing. By now, all of the giants were riddled with bullets. I took careful aim at the eye of my personal nemesis—he kept stomping after me with that damn club—and pounded Fezzik’s rounds into his head.
Finally, through attrition or a good shot, the giant halted. He wobbled on his massive legs, then toppled like a redwood. Snow flew up on all sides.
The two most recent giants to cross the crevasse were using their slings to hurl projectiles at Zav. The head-sized boulders emanated magic. Enough to hurt a dragon?
Somehow, Zav sensed the attacks and twisted in the air to avoid them. He banked and arrowed at the two giants. One of them turned and ran for the crevasse. The hulking behemoth bellowed in his own language—a cry to be levitated down?
The ice at the edge crumbled, and he tumbled into the crevasse. Zav landed behind the last one alive on
our side.
“Hold fire!” Willard shouted.
Zav towered on his hind legs behind the giant, opened his maw, and snapped his jaws down, completely covering our foe’s head. The giant screamed, beating at Zav’s face with his club, but again, the weapon didn’t breach Zav’s magical barriers.
With a flick of his neck, Zav tore his foe’s head from his body and flung it into the crevasse. The body collapsed, limbs twitching a few times before growing still.
Willard swore, alarmed or impressed. I wasn’t sure which.
“That’s some boyfriend you’ve got, Thorvald,” she said.
Zav, his violet eyes glowing like torches in the fog, looked toward us, his gaze locking on mine. Even when he was in human form, I had trouble reading his expressions. I had no idea what he was thinking, but there seemed to be a question in his blazing eyes.
You will send me away? he asked telepathically.
What? No. I’m happy to see you.
Are you? Excellent. Zav sprang into the air and flew across the crevasse. I will help my sister defeat the last two giants.
Defeat or rip the heads off?
Usually, Zav arrested miscreants for punishment and rehabilitation, but maybe the giants weren’t on his list of criminals. Or maybe, in the eyes of dragons, they didn’t count as intelligent species and fall under the same laws.
Whatever satisfies my predatory urges. These giants were attempting to slay you. This is not permissible. He glanced back as he flew off into the fog, piercing me with that glowing violet gaze. I shivered a little. Maybe he put aside his laws when it came to protecting me.
“What was that look about?” Willard sounded like she couldn’t tell if it had been good or bad.
“Zav was explaining his predatory urges to me.”
“Hopefully, to be demonstrated only on giants and dark elves and not humans, right?”
“I believe that’s his intent.” I realized it was the first time Willard had seen Zav in battle. After watching him rip a giant’s head off, it would be hard to see him as anything other than the incredible force of nature and dealer of death that he was. “Do you still think I should get him in bed?”
“Not in that form.”
“No, I think that’s illegal in this country.”
“He’d also crush your bed.”
“This is true. You should see what he does to deck chairs.”
Banderas trotted up. “What now, Colonel?”
“Have everyone hold steady until we’re sure they’re all dead.” Willard looked at me. “Can you tell if the dark elves have crept out of their lair?”
“I don’t think they have.” I didn’t sense anything magical and living at the bottom of the crevasse. “Also, the flaming giant that Zav dropped down there is dead. Along with the one that fell after it.” I would have sensed them if they had survived.
“I don’t suppose he would care to come back and move that one out of our camp?” Willard pointed her rifle at the headless giant next to a flattened tent.
“I can ask when he comes back.”
Which, my senses told me, would be soon. Zondia and Zav were both heading this way, flying side by side. What would she say when they arrived? She’d helped with the giants, but could we trust her? I didn’t know. When I thought of her showing up at Thad’s house to question Amber, it made me clench my teeth—and my weapon.
I walked out of what was left of the camp, assuming I was in charge of liaising with the dragons.
Zondia landed on the far side of the crevasse, her lilac scales barely discernible in the foggy night. She glanced my way, then turned her back and gazed out at the glacier. Did that mean she was irritated with me and wouldn’t help further? Or was she assigning herself a guard position in case more threats showed up?
Zav landed ten feet in front of me, his back to Zondia and the crevasse, his eyes glowing a little less fiercely now that the battle was over. He spread his wings, his muscled chest thrust out, as if to show off his magnificence. As usual, he radiated power that made me want to gaze enraptured at him and do whatever he wished. Judging by the soldiers gaping at him, they felt similarly.
Willard says I can’t sleep with you in that form, I thought.
He pulled in his wings and lowered his neck and head to gaze levelly into my eyes. She is correct. I do not feel sexual urges in this form, nor is dragon genitalia compatible with human genitalia.
I figured. Why don’t you change into your human form so I can give you a hug?
Are these men with weapons your allies? They are considering me with wariness and wondering if they will have to battle me.
If I hug you, they’ll figure out that you’re not an enemy. I glanced toward Zondia’s shadowy form, wondering if she was listening in on our telepathic conversation.
Zav transformed immediately and strode toward me, the hem of his black robe stirring the fresh powdery snow. His eyes continued to glow softly, the same striking violet as when he was a dragon. A hint of humor gleamed in them. What will they think if you kiss me?
Is that a good idea with your sister watching?
Yes.
Really? Had something changed drastically?
No.
Zav flashed that grin that would have melted any girl’s heart and wrapped his arms around me, lips brushing my cheek, one of the few spots where I had skin exposed.
I would have preferred having him nuzzling my neck, but Zondia looked over her shoulder, and I hesitated to even return the hug with too much enthusiasm.
Zav grasped the back of my head lightly, turning my face toward his, a tingle of warm magic flowing from his fingers. That was amazing, especially here in the cold with snow spitting on my face, and I had to resist the urge to lean into his hand and thump my leg like my mother’s golden retriever.
There are things I must discuss with you, he spoke into my mind, but first, I will show you that I am pleased you still wear my mark.
Your magical mark?
Yes. The mark that shows all with magical blood that you are mine. There wasn’t any humor in his eyes now. He was utterly serious.
I didn’t know removing it was an option. I’ve tried loofahs…
You will not remove it. He brought his lips to mine, fiercely demanding as his power wrapped around me, flowing over me and waking up every nerve in my body. Before I could think to object to this talk of being his, or remind him that he’d said back in my Jeep that he meant to free me from his claim, I found myself returning the kiss. I lifted my hands to push through his short hair and lean into him. My injuries twinged at the contact, but I barely noticed. The electricity crackling around us felt too good for me to be bothered by minor discomforts. I would have forgotten all about our enemies, about the camp, and about the soldiers gaping at us, but someone coughed and spoke.
“Is that allowed on a mission, ma’am?”
“I’m going to allow thirty more seconds,” came Willard’s dry response. “The dragon did help us. He should be rewarded.”
I knew I should be embarrassed—or at least professional—and pull back, but it was hard. Both because my body longed for this after the day of abuse—after a lifetime of abuse—and because I’d missed him. When I’d thought he might never come back, I’d berated myself for that impulsive choice. I didn’t know why he’d returned, but I gripped him tighter, so he would know I wanted him to stay, no matter what I might say in some fit of anger in the future.
The tighter grip caused another twinge to my lower back, this one surprising me, and I didn’t quite manage to keep from flinching in pain.
Zav drew back, and I was disappointed that I’d let a little injury stop a good kiss. All right, an amazing kiss. I wouldn’t admit it to him—dragon egos were already gargantuan—but all that magic was nothing to scoff at, especially when it woke up nerves that human hands alone couldn’t have roused.
You are injured. His eyes narrowed with concern that touched me, though his eyebrow quirked upward as he added, Aga
in.
Yes. A golem fell on me.
Had I been there, I could have prevented this. He must have been able to scan my body with his magic, for he slipped his hand into my jacket and around to my backside, resting it precisely above the internal injury.
I believe you. But I unwisely told my strongest ally to get off my planet.
You agree this was unwise?
Yes.
Good. You are correct. Healing warmth flowed into my body, and I couldn’t manage to issue a snarky comeback. A few strands curled up to my shoulders, soothing the bruises I’d received crashing against the wall of ice. Even my headache faded, replaced by a feeling of energy and almost euphoria.
You are an excellent ally, Zav.
Yes. Why has it taken you so long to realize this?
Well, you did try to kill me when we first met.
I did not. I was merely expressing my disgruntlement.
Uh huh. Look me in the eye and tell me you weren’t contemplating killing me.
He did look me in the eye, but he paused before admitting, I was having a bad month. And I believed you were a villain.
What changed your mind? I wondered at what moment he’d decided I was okay. After I’d risked myself to help him in the first dark-elf lair and retrieved his precious dragon artifact?
I still believe your methods are vigilante at best and possibly criminal, but now that I have claimed you as my mate, it is my duty to instruct you in better behavior.
Oh, that’ll be fun.
His expression grew a little smug as he touched the side of my face and said, I will ensure that your compliance and good behavior are rewarded by pleasure.
This time, snarky words leaped right to my tongue, but another tendril of magic flowed from his fingers, a hint of the pleasure he could deliver, and I almost forgot my objections. But not quite.
I stepped back, clasping his hands so he couldn’t ooze any more magic into me, no matter how good it felt. I’m not a recalcitrant hound to be trained with treats. Maybe you’re the one who needs to learn good behavior. You don’t exactly get Earth customs. If you fit in adequately, and treat me like an equal instead of some object that you now believe you own, I’ll reward you.
Elven Doom (Death Before Dragons Book 4) Page 22