Dragon's Heart

by LaVerne Thompson

  For a moment, the only sounds were inhaling or exhaling of air, and then both human and dragon sight were gone. The Stones began to glow softly, once again bathing the cavern in light and their sight returned. Everyone released their joined hands, but he didn’t let Maya go.

  He’s dead, Maya said, raising her head and looking at Draakar.

  No, was Sherri’s mental cry. I…I can still sense him.

  Draakar inclined his head to Sherri. You are correct, he is not dead yet, but his life energy is very weak. When the betrayer could not breach the barrier using Paul, he tried to kill him. If we don’t find him soon he will die.

  Why? Sherri asked. Why try to kill him? Why kill his wife? “It served no purpose,” she finished out loud.

  “That is what the betrayer does,” Draakar said. “He causes fear and confusion. The only thing he cares for is power and control. The Stones are a conduit for immense power. If he were able to control the Stones, he would be unstoppable. My father used the circle’s power to create the wards surrounding the Stones. He wanted to prevent the silver dragon’s entry. However, the betrayer will not stop trying to find a way past the wards.”

  Then he must be stopped, Dark One. He must be stopped.

  I couldn’t agree with you more, Maya. First we must find Paul, and then we will find the betrayer. The Stones, unfortunately, are not being helpful in locating either, so we are on our own.

  “If he tried to breach the wards, he must have left Paul somewhere on the mountain,” Maya said. “Maybe he’s also near.”

  “That’s true. Paul isn’t far, but his life energy is weak and I can’t get a specific location on him from here,” Draakar said. “The energy emitting from the wards interferes with Paul’s.”

  “Well, if Paul is somewhere nearby, I can help find him,” James spoke up. “I grew up in these mountains.”

  “Okay,” Draakar said. “Since the Stones won’t reveal his exact location to us, let’s track him the old-fashion way. James, you and I will go back to the inn and we’ll see if I can pick up a trace of Paul or the silver dragon from there.”

  “What about his wife?” Sherri inquired. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

  “It has been taken care of,” Draakar stated.

  “While you all are trying to track him from the inn,” Maya said, “the rest of us can search the area around here.”

  “Don’t go beyond the wards. The betrayer would not have been able to come any farther than the outer edge of the wards, so stay within its perimeter. Go in groups of three. Even together you still do not have enough experience and don’t control enough magicks to confront a silver dragon. If you see anything, call to me.”

  By your command, Dark Lord, Ian said.

  “Maya will lead one group; Sherri and Robert go with her. Ian will lead the second group; Cass and Darryl go with him. You all have a balance of power sufficient to hold off the betrayer, at least long enough for me to get to you.”

  “What should we do if we find Paul?” Maya asked.

  “Call me and I will come to you. Do not touch him or approach him. It could be a trap.”

  “What about if we find the betrayer?” Ian asked.

  “Join hands and form a protective circle with your shields and call to me. I will come. Do not attempt to confront him.”

  Be safe, Draakar sent to his brethren. One last thing: protect Maya first.

  No one has to protect me, Dark One. I protect myself.

  Draakar never bothered to respond. He and James were gone. Maya sighed and turned to the other brethren. “Let’s go.”

  She led the way out of the castle, and they walked together to the wrought iron gate at the end of the driveway. Once away from the castle, the air grew cooler. The sun, at least, shone. Suddenly, clouds moved in to cover the sunlight, and the day became overcast and colder. Everyone had changed earlier but they all stopped a moment to add jackets to their bodies. Even though they could regulate their body temperature and air around them to some degree, old habits died hard. Maya grinned when she noticed the colors they favored were also their dragons’ color.

  “Let’s go about a half mile from here,” Maya began. “That should be the very edge of the wards but still within its protection. From there we might be able see or sense something along the perimeter.”

  “How do you know we’ll still be within the perimeter?” Cass asked.

  Maya turned to her. “I can sense it.”

  “She’s right,” Ian added. “So can I. We’ll go this way.” Ian gestured toward the left. “And you guys can take the other direction.”

  “How will we know if either group finds anything?” Sherri asked.

  “We call Draakar and send to each other,” Maya responded.

  The groups separated and after they had been walking for a while, Maya’s senses became more attuned to the environment around her. The unnatural lack of sound caught her attention first. There were no animals or insects anywhere near them; not even a bird flew overhead. Even the trees made no sound or motion as the wind passed through their leaves. Yet she could feel a slight breeze against her face and could sense a current in the air. No doubt the ward surrounding and protecting the Circle of Stones.

  Without warning, she felt a break in the currents up ahead. It signaled the end of the wards but not the enchantment barring the mountain from the innocent, causing those wandering too close to turn away. Something lay at the edge the wards. Something the enchantment did not work on. Something seemingly familiar to her, yet it was not Paul.

  “I think I sense something just up ahead,” Sherri said, voicing Maya’s thoughts first.

  “I feel it, too,” Maya said.

  “Do you think we should call Lord Draakar?” Robert asked.

  “Not quite yet,” Maya replied. “As long as we stay within the perimeter of the wards… Let’s try to get a little closer to see what we’ve got.”

  They made their way through a cluster of trees to arrive in a small rocky clearing. Sitting on the ground with his blond head bowed to his chest, and his back resting against a large boulder, appeared to be a sleeping Paul. Remembering Draakar’s instructions, the group didn’t try to approach him.

  “Paul.” Sherri called to him from their vantage point several feet away, then sent, Are you all right?

  He gave no indication he heard her. “I think we should call to Draakar,” Maya stated and opened up her link to him. The moment Maya stepped into the clearing she knew not only had she been sensing Paul earlier, but she had picked up an echo of something else. Some kind of energy source with a familiar feel to it.

  Someone she knew? How could she know the betrayer? Maya shook her head. Impossible. She had not been alive when the brethren were betrayed. Ah, but I didn’t have to be, she thought. It’s probably just an ancestral memory.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Local law enforcement and emergency personal swarmed around the inn. Draakar and James stood in the lobby and saw an investigator approach the owners. Draakar made his way to the investigator and spoke to him. He wanted to make sure Paul would not be a suspect or subjected to questioning. He placed memories in the investigators minds they had notified Paul, and he suffered a nervous breakdown upon hearing of his wife’s death. He would remain at Akgon castle, a guest of Lord Draakar and available if needed. There would be no need.

  Head bowed, Draakar watched Paul’s wife’s body taken out on a gurney. The body would remain at the morgue until Paul contacted them. Her death would be attributed to natural causes. Draakar had already removed all evidence of her violent death.

  Unobserved by anyone, Draakar and James went up the stairs and entered Paul’s room. A residue remained of both the betrayer’s and Paul’s essence. They followed it as far as the road but couldn’t track them once outside.

  “I don’t get a sense of either one of them,” James said.

  Draakar called on the Stones to reinforce his powers and with their assistance, he had no trouble
following the tracks of chaotic magicks left by the betrayer.

  “I don’t sense Paul but I have the betrayer’s scent now,” Draakar said as he and James, moving swiftly, followed the trail up the mountain. It almost certainly never occurred to him to hide his passing more, Draakar sent to James. He had every reason to believe he was the last aware brethren left until he found Paul, an awakened dragon. He’s probably trying to use Paul’s magicks to enhance his own and break through the wards around the Stones.

  Ah, James sent back, the Stones barred him from the circle. Unworthy.

  Yes, if the Stones did not want him in the circle, no power on earth could get him in. My father bound the wards with the will of the Stones. But the betrayer, whether he knows that or not, would still ignore the ban against him and continue to try.

  They arrived at the clearing just as Maya sent out her call.

  I am here, my Lady.

  Three heads swung around. Behind them at the edge of the forest stood Draakar and James. Draakar approached the body on the ground. “Stay back.” He crouched down beside him, stretching his arms over Paul but did not touch him. Fingers spread wide, he passed his hands back and forth over Paul’s body. His audience watched green light shine from his palms over Paul. Draakar felt the presence of Ian and the other brethren as they approached the area. After a brief time, Draakar lowered his arms and gathered Paul into them. With a slight flexing of his jean clad thighs, he stood in one fluid movement, cradling Paul’s only slightly smaller frame as though he were a child.

  “Will he be all right?” Sherri asked coming nearer.

  “Yes. He needs rest now. Go back to the castle. I will take him to his room and join you soon.”

  “What happened to him?” Sherri asked.

  “The betrayer tried to steal his energy.”

  As the last syllable left his mouth, Draakar disappeared from the clearing with his burden.

  The remaining brethren turned to make their way back toward the castle, but Maya coming up the rear, felt a tingle crawling up her spine—not a pleasant sensation. They were being watched. She whipped around and glared at the very edge of the wards, expanding her dragon senses. There seemed to be something there, a shadow where there shouldn’t be one. Instinctively, she took a step in that direction. Then the sun, as suddenly as it had disappeared behind clouds earlier, burst forth, momentarily blinding her. When Maya again focused her eyes, the shadow had disappeared. She continued to stare at the spot. This time a chill invaded her bones.

  Ian glanced back, Maya no longer walked with them, so he stopped and turned around. She’d stood several feet behind them.

  What is it, my Lady? Is something wrong?

  They all stopped and turned to Maya.

  I’m not sure. For a moment I thought I saw a shadow but it’s gone now. Don’t worry about it. Come on let’s get back to the castle.

  The brethren waited until she walked between them and they formed a protective circle around her. Ian relayed what Maya sensed to Draakar and his strident command came back to them all, except for Maya, loud and clear.

  Protect your queen!

  They made their way back to the castle without incident, completely unaware of the menace following them with shining silver eyes until they were out of his sight.

  The form hidden in shadows watched from beyond the wards, silently raging. Everything had gone wrong. He couldn’t breach the barrier, and the awakened one had gotten away from him.

  The awakened still lived because he had been distracted. The ripple of power coming from the direction of the inn, a power with a signature that should not be there, made him hesitate. A Dark Lord. The knowledge caused the intruder to momentarily release his hold on the one the others called Paul. With a strength this Paul should not have possessed, the fool had lunged through the barrier where Arwan could not follow. Known by many other names over the decades, Arwan remained his true name, and this name suited him best. In the old tongue it meant, God of death. Soon, they would all learn to fear his name

  He’d returned to the inn in search of the power source and followed the trail back here. A Dark Lord on earth? The silver dragon raged. This should not have been yet somehow had come to be. As impossible as it seemed, he’d felt him. Then again, Arwan reconsidered, the Dark Lord would probably think it impossible for him to still exist as well. Yet, he did.

  Only this time, he would not be denied what should have been his all along. All of this paled to the fury rolling inside him, knowing the Dragon Lord could do what he could not—call the blood and awaken the dragon within. He had seen more than one awakened with his own eyes. Arwan had tried, but he never could call forth the dragon in others. He could not awaken the dormant magicks. He could only bind some of the weaker minded with a little brethren blood to him, although, one mind showed great potential.

  Most of all, his fury centered around the fact this Dragon Lord awakened Maya. His Dam! He’d found her first! With her he’d be able to call forth the dragon brethren. How dare the bastard get in his way! The Dragon Lord could be only one person, his weak brother’s whelp. All use of power carried a signature, part of the essence of the brethren wielding it. A dark dragon’s power being the most distinctive of all. It could only be Draakar.

  Well, Maya belonged to him. He had searched for her for hundreds of years from the time he first sensed her being, always getting closer to finding her. He had been aware each time she came into the world and each time she left it. But he could never find her at the right moment of her existence. This time, his timing had been perfect. Over the last couple of years, he’d carefully cultivated their relationship, and he’d planned to make her his mate. She was meant for him. He just needed a little more time to convince her to come to him willingly. For with her powers fueling his, no one would be able to stop him. Not even the Dark Dragon Lord.

  Unfortunately, as long as she remained within the protection of the wards, he couldn’t have her. He had to get Maya away from there. The Circle of Stones did not represent the only conduit of power, and Arwan had spent ages finding and collecting other sources. Though none were as powerful as the Stones. Still, with a little help from the humans he commanded they should enhance his powers enough to defeat the Dragon Lord. He just needed to lure Maya back to a place he could control. Where he held more power than the whelp. He knew just how to get her away from Draakar.

  After Arwan arrived at the airport, he took out his phone to call one of the men who over the years had helped him successfully get rid of any obstacle standing in his way. A favorite, because this man appeared different from the others he’d used in the past to do his bidding. Luck had nothing to do with finding this particular man while hunting for Maya. He didn’t believe in luck. He made his own.

  A few years ago, he’d been drawn into a bar he had never been to before. When he entered the place, psychic energy in the air had the fine hairs on his skin standing at attention. It was not the Dam he searched for but something not unlike the life energy brethren emitted, just different, weaker. Instinct told him the source of the lifeforce emanated from the brown-skinned man who sat by himself at the end of the bar. It took less than a second for Arwan to know before him stood a human of brethren origins. The first Arwan had encountered in hundreds of years who recognized his power and accepted him as master without mind manipulation.

  A week after meeting this man, he had found Maya. His Fate, and at long last, his time, his destiny were at hand, and nothing was going to stop him from taking his rightful place as Dragon Lord of all human kind.

  When the person Arwan called picked up, he didn’t bother with a greeting. No need. Isaiah Turner knew only one person called on this line. “I want you to do something for me that will require a light touch.”

  Isaiah’s background served Arwan well. After having spent years mastering the dark rhythms of the streets and preying on others, the brief time Isaiah spent in prison hadn’t changed his talents. Isaiah had proven his cunning to Arwan
many times in the past. Isaiah also feared no man, except him. Arwan knew Isaiah wasn’t really sure if his employer was human, nor did he care.

  “I’m listening.”

  The Dark Lord stood over a spot just beyond the wards. Stooping down he touched the soil. He picked up a little bit of dirt and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. His pupils dilated and his nostrils flared, emitting a small amount of red smoke. You stood here, betrayer, and watched us. You masked yourself well, but I have your scent now, and it will only be a matter of time before I find you and finish this once and for all.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “How’s he doing?” Sherri asked as she stepped into the spacious room decorated in shades of bronze and tans set aside for Paul. Maya understood what she asked but to her ears it sounded like ‘ows e dooeng.’ She found Sherri’s accent delightful.

  “He hasn’t moved,” Maya replied as she sat on an antique chair at Paul’s bedside. He still lay flat on his back, his eyes closed. The same way Draakar left him.

  “Why don’t you go get something to eat?” Sherri suggested. “Take a break. I’ll sit with him.”

  Maya glanced from Sherri to Paul. She nodded her head. “I’ve already had something, thank you, but I will take a break. Have you eaten?”

  “I’m not very hungry. If I need anything, I can always think it up,” Sherri said with a brief smile.

  Maya vacated the chair she sat in, and acting on impulse as Sherri passed by, she hugged her. Before she released her she whispered, He’s alive and with life there is always hope.

  Sherri turned quickly and stared at her. Saying nothing she sat in the empty chair. Maya paused at the opened door and glanced back over her shoulder, watching as Sherri pulled the chair closer to the bed and took Paul’s hand. A faint glow surrounded their joined hands and Paul moved. He didn’t regain consciousness but rolled onto his side to face Sherri and curled his knees up to his chest. Maya slowly closed the door on the pair, quietly backing away.