Fated Magic (The Fated Saga Book 2)

by Sariah Skye

  I lifted my forehead expectantly at him. “What the hell was that?”

  He waved it off. “Part of my charm.” Surely he meant his charm as a former incubus demon.

  “You can speak Dragon?” Maxxus questioned him.

  He shrugged. “I can do whatever I need to help restore balance. In this instance, I needed to speak Dragon so I did. If I try to do it a week from now amongst the residents of Castle Danger, I won’t be able to. A perk of being a Loremaster, I guess. Or a curse?” he bobbed his head side to side, shaking the question off.

  “So what did she say?” Daniel asked, and I summarized the waitress’s words for him, just as she arrived back at our table with a large tray of mugs.

  “Nothing we don’t already know,” Kiarra said, with grim irritation as she tapped her fingers repeatedly on the wooden table top. Her drumming was the only noise amongst us for a moment as we sat in awkward silence before Daniel reached over and pushed his palm down over her fingers, shooting her a pointed, severe look. She just chuckled. “Sorry,” she said.

  The waitress arrived back, carrying a large tray and six mugs of ale. “There you are. We eating today or just the drinks?”

  “Food!” I spoke up rather abruptly, feeling a sudden rumble in the pit of my stomach. “Yes, we will be eating,” I finished more calmly, with a forced smile.

  She grinned at my exuberance. “Chef has a rack of ribs that will make you drool. And we have fresh potatoes from Green Knoll. Work for all of you?”

  The three dragons and I lifted our heads and exchanged wistful glances at each other at the name of Green Knoll: which was the specific village in which we lived. The three of us knew very well that my family grew a potato farm at the edge of our gardens; they well could have been from home. I was surprised to feel a twinge of homesickness thinking about our hometown, and the brief memory of me as a young drake with my grandparents both, gnawing on potato stalks as my grandmother pulled them up, one by one. I rarely ever thought of my home area as anything worth remembering; but perhaps with my newfound recalled memories brought to the surface an old fondness of home. Now, that I knew things weren’t nearly as bad as I recalled them to be.

  Feeling a might disgruntled at the idea of being robbed my memories, again I shook it off and nodded at the waitress. “Yes, that sounds great. Thank you.”

  She nodded slightly at us, spun on her heels off towards the kitchen, stopping at a table nearby to grab some empty mugs from the patrons nearby, promising to bring back refills soon.

  “Okay, what was that?” ever-observant Gabriel asked, looking between the three of us drakes.

  I leaned in and whispered softly into his ear—soft enough, I hoped no other dragons would hear us in the din and clamor, giving us away. “That’s our hometown.”

  Gabriel appeared surprised a moment, then sorrowful. He gave me a sympathetic half frown, reaching over and patting my hand resting on the table. I stole a glimpse at Maxxus across from me, who I expected to grunt or growl at the gesture, but he remained stoic, staring sharply at the tabletop below him.

  The table nearby that the waitress had paused at for refills spoke loudly, with stolen peeks over their shoulders at us.

  The table contained three dragons; one was a small female similar in stature as I but much thinner. Petite. I assumed by her scarlet robes she was a red dragon. Her companions were two males; the larger one who spoke boisterously with a bald head wore dark brown robes and the more reserved dragon was a yellow dragon; the mark on his bicep was fairly apparent under his short-sleeved pale gold robes.

  The small red dragon was the most curious and spoke inquisitively to her two companions: “What’s with the newbies?” She scoffed to them, glaring daggers at us.

  The brown dragon grunted and I craned my neck further in better hopes of hearing them. “It really should be mandatory for everyone to be in dragon form all the time while the throne is being threatened like this.”

  She nodded. “Right?” I saw Gabriel and Daniel give each other odd looks as the dragons continued their dragon-speak. “You never know where that freaky pink one is hiding.”

  Maxxus’ head flew up at the mention of “pink one”. His lower lip twitched as he struggled to keep the frown form his face.

  “Yeah but, come on… there’s handbills all about with her human form as well; I don’t think she’d be stupid enough to still be here. Pink dragons were known for their intelligence; she wouldn’t be that stupid,” the yellow dragon observed.

  The red dragon snorted. “Not if she’s as power hungry as they say.”

  I dared to glance at Maxxus across from me, gauging his reaction. His face was expressionless; his palms face down on the table top. Besides the white knuckles you could hardly tell he was upset at all. We all remained quiet, though, continuing to eavesdrop on the conversation.

  The brown snorted. “I still don’t know how a Pink was able to grow to adulthood… this I don’t understand. Someone shoulda offed her the second she walked into the school yard.”

  Maxxus let out a low growl from the back of his throat. His palms were clenched into fists now. I reached over and placed my hands over his, giving him a look of warning and calm. He unclenched his fists only slightly, but a consistent rumble still escaped the back of his throat. He kept his mouth shut though, and it remained muffled, like a cat purring.

  “Killing adolescent drakes? Is this what we’ve come to?” The yellow dragon shook his head as the black-haired waitress set down a pile of ribs in front of them. He gave her a polite nod as she turned and walked away. The other two dug into the ribs, gnawing and gnashing at the flesh, but the yellow dragon sat there thoughtfully as his companions ate. “I have a hard time believing that someone is just born evil though…shouldn’t they be given a shot at life? See what they become before judging them?”

  The female took a large bite, chomping down loudly. I heard Gabriel next to me shudder and go “Ew” under his breath.

  “You really oughta watch what you’re saying; someone might think you’re a sympathizer.”

  “Yeah, everyone knows there’s just something wrong with them; they cannot be redeemed. Something about their color mutation; I don’t know. They’re just jacked up in the head, that’s why they don’t have magic,” the brown dragon said, pausing his eating to let out a large, effortless belch. Some humans would have been grossed out, and it was amusing watch Daniel cringe at the display of ‘barbarity’.

  “Shows what they know,” Gabriel muttered next to me under his breath. I elbowed him gently, fighting a smug smile.

  “I’ve heard they are sexual manipulators,” the red female speculated. “Makes sense if you ask me.”

  The brown male snickered. “Yes, explains how she got those other two on her side. They came from reputable families and they’re going to risk it all for what? Can’t imagine what ‘favors’ she promised them.”

  Maxxus stood upright, knocking the chair backward and slamming his hands on the tabletop so hard all our mugs shook; Daniel’s knocked over and pooled on the tabletop. Jaw clenched, Maxxus let out a loud growl.

  I could sense his anger pouring off of him like lava on Vesuvius. I tried to reach over the table at him, but Daniel—who was sitting next to him—grasped his arm and held it firmly. “Not now, man.”

  The three at the table next to us paused in their conversation to stare at Maxxus. The uncomfortable tension was interrupted by the waitress coming over with a handful of rags. She tossed them onto the middle of the table amidst the spilled ale threatening to drip onto our laps. “Everything okay?” she asked, staring pointedly at Maxxus.

  I laughed nervously. Daniel managed to pull a fuming Maxxus down into his seat, patting his back.

  “He’s just hungry,” Kiarra piped up, with a light-hearted laugh. “Watching them eat just put him in a tizzy.”

  Maxxus sat but was still fuming. I concentrated a calming wave over him… You do not want to kill anyone right now… you do not want to
kill anyone right now… you’re calming down.

  I sensed Maxxus ease. He looked up and force a smile at the waitress. “Yes. I am hungry. Apologies.”

  The waitress snickered. “It will be here soon.” She shook her head and mopped up the rest of the ale with the rags, tossing the soaked towels on a tray she was carrying before she trotted back off the to the kitchen.

  I hesitated to glance at the table next to us, who had already forgotten we were here and continued eating and I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t unusual for dragons to have aggressive outbursts so no one noticed, thankfully.

  I shot daggers across the table at Maxxus. “You need to calm down… this is all shit I’ve heard before.”

  Maxxus’s angry face softened, and he sighed. “Yeah… yeah, I know. It just doesn’t sit well.”

  “It doesn’t sit well with any of us, man,” Gabriel insisted. “But it’s all for the greater good, right?” he said wryly, raising his tankard up in a mock toast and taking a sip.

  Kiarra put her hand over the rim of the mug before he could drink. “Um, you might want to be careful with that. It’s probably pretty strong for dragons. No telling what’d do to someone of a lesser tolerance,” she said, hinting. “Not like the stuff back in Castle Danger but still might be potent.”

  Gabriel smirked, and pushed the mug away. “Thanks for the reminder.”

  “Thank gods I’m not a lightweight,” Maxxus grumbled with a smirk, raising his to his lips. He took a long swig and slammed it down on the table. I opened my mouth to speak, but he raised his hand to stop me. “I know what you’re going to say—if I don’t, I’m liable to start punching out everyone in this tavern. This makes me feel a bit better.”

  “Guys! Shh!” Kiarra said, shaking her hand at us to get our attention. She nodded towards the table next to us.

  “I’ll tell you what though… I hope I come across that crazy dragon and her crazy friends. You hear she’s traveling maybe with humans now?” the male red dragon scoffed. “That is crazy!”

  “And what would you do if you found her? Rumor has it one of them is a sorcerer. He’ll probably knock you on your ass,” the yellow dragon kidded, taking a long drink of his own ale. I was beginning to like him.

  The brown dragon glared at him and snorted. “Enjoy my reward, that’s what I’d do.”

  “Good luck with that,” Gabriel muttered and we chuckled in reply, lightly.

  The group of three was a wealth of gossip, but offered nothing other than that. They assumed there were guards posted all around the villages and towns around our region, put there by the Court but no one trusted them. Apparently in the human world, I’d gained a handful of fetishes I was tempting dragons with to get my way; I had to bite my lip real hard at that one. That’s how I got everyone in the group—including Kiarra—on my side. Hence why no one trusted anyone from the Court right now; perhaps the guards were all just spies. I’d already taken over the Court and was plotting my maniacal ploy. Only, no one had any idea just what that might entail. Ridiculous.

  We ate our ribs and potatoes—Maxxus had three helpings and Daniel mused where it all went since Maxxus was so muscular and lithe—and headed out of town. We decided it was better to walk around the town than to continue through it as we’d stick out like sore thumbs not shifting and all. It would add a few more hours to our trek, but it wasn’t to be avoided.

  As soon as we were past the town limits, Gabriel caught up to me; I was leading the group. I had a new determination to get to Court and get this over with as soon as possible.

  He snickered. “I guess some things are the same no matter where you are,” he mused. “I guess even dragons like a good drama.”

  I snorted. “You got that right.”

  To the east of Morenden was a tall forest with looming redwood-like trees. They eclipsed any sun from reaching us, provided good cover and the ground was easier to trudge through, not having to beat down any limbs as we walked; just the occasional large mushroom or toadstool. We wouldn’t be spotted from ahead, and I knew the chances of coming across any other dragon was slim; most dragons didn’t like to enter these woods as they were inhabited with brownies. Besides the ones that resided in the gardens of my home, most steered clear of dragons and vice versa. The dragons didn’t want to be annoyed; the brownies didn’t want to get devoured. Not wanting to deal with them now, though, Maxxus took the opportunity to shift and send out a few warning growls, hopefully scaring off any tricksters nearby.

  “What's he doing?” Daniel asked me.

  “Oh, there's Brownies in the woods.” Not all of them were as cool as the ones that had helped us the other day. “Like little tiny gnomes or something. They like to play pranks if you offered them food, or clothing or something fun like that.”

  He snickered. “Awe, sounds cute.”

  “Are those what you encountered when you crossed over before?” Gabriel questioned.

  “Yes, but a different group. Some are kind of jackasses; we don't know about these ones,” I let out a little chuckle. “The ones that live near us I had them pull shit on my parents, because they suck. They chewed through their ceremonial robes and ate the portrait which hung in our main foyer. I laughed so hard when the brownies ate my father’s eyes out in the portrait—he had them repaired and I just sent the brownie back like, three weeks later. He never caught on, but always got angry. It was well worth a couple of my favorite Earth bands T-shirts and some chocolate cheesecake, that was for sure.”

  “Ha! That's great! I bet they had it coming, huh?” Gabriel said.

  “Damn right!”

  We walked for another hour or so before the trees grew denser and we figured we were in the middle of the woods. The sun was low in the sky now and I could tell by Gabriel’s panting that the humans were becoming tired, bodies working overtime to keep warm.

  Amidst a circle of large mushrooms, we dumped our packs in a heap and Gabriel was the first to fling himself down on the pile with a long groan.

  “Oh my god my feet hurt!” he whined. “I haven’t walked this much in…”

  “Ever?” Daniel offered, batting his eyes at his brother in mock innocence.

  Gabriel grunted and instead of speaking, raised his hand up behind him and flicked him off for the second time today. In mischievous fashion Daniel pretended to blow his brother an air kiss. “Oh, I love you too, darlin’!”

  “Well, this should be a good spot to camp,” Finnian said, nodding with approval as he scanned the area. The circle of mushrooms was only about five feet around, and thin tree trunks stretched up all around but we sat around them. Finnian pulled out a handful of stones from inside his pack and began putting them in strategic places around the perimeter. Ward stones, he called them, enchanted by none other than Esmè to provide protection from magic and from being seen by anyone who might come by—doubtful as it was.

  “Just as well, it’s starting to get cold,” Daniel said, plopping himself down on a pile of leaf litter near his brother. He opened his pack and pulled out a bottle of water, taking a long drink. He nudged his brother. “Come on, fire boy. Make some fire for us.”

  Gabriel complained unintelligibly and slowly tried to sit upright, his body protesting at his movement.

  “Wait,” I said. “Let me try.”

  Kiarra, who’d been gathering up some sticks and dry leaves and stones, set them down in the middle of our warded area—which was more like an oval by the time Finnian had finished spelling it. “Go for it.”

  Feeling giddy I knelt besides the firewood and held my palms down over the dry wood. I willed a spark from my hands, and I felt that telltale feeling of my wings trying to escape their fabric prison. They stretched out and down, shielding me from the elements around—although the wind was still, it must have been instinct.

  “That is just so cool,” Gabriel admired from his plopped position nearby. Lazily he turned his head without moving the rest of his body to watch.

  I turned and grinned at him
momentarily before turning to the firewood. I clapped my hands together and spread them over where I wanted the fire. I felt my palms heat briefly, and a small fireball shot from them into the dry kindling. To help it take, I exhaled and pulled in the air around me, spinning my hand slowly and making the air into a small gust of sparkly wind, I tossed it gently on the spawning fire. It helped fuel the spark and after a few moments the fire grew taller. Kiarra cheered, and placed the rocks around the perimeter of the fire to keep it contained. I sat back on my rump triumphantly, moving my wings to the side so I could sit comfortably, and not directly on them.

  “Nice,” Maxxus joined me next to the fire, nudging me with his shoulder playfully. “You’ve really come far. That looked effortless; like you’d been doing it all your life.”

  I gave a half smile. “Well, I should have been doing it all my life,” I mumbled lowly.

  “Well, at least you’ll be doing it for the rest of your life, right?” Maxxus said optimistically.

  “Unless someone erases my memories again,” I grumbled begrudgingly.

  Maxxus sighed. “I won’t let that happen.”

  I smiled at him warmly. “Thanks,” I said, my statement trailed off into silence. Everyone rummaged through our packs for water or a blanket. The din was broken by a loud snore coming from Gabriel’s vicinity. I snickered.

  “That looks uncomfortable,” I said, with a laugh. “Crap, how much did he have to drink last night?” I drilled his brother who whistled nonchalantly.

  “Not much, but it was the spelled whiskey from Castle Danger and the portal crap I think just did him in,” Daniel explained sheepishly.

  I shook my head. “Why’d you let him do that, knowing what we were doing today?” I clicked my tongue and leaned over, pulling the blanket from Gabriel’s pack—how a large blanket sized comfortably for two people fit in that small pack I did not understand. Must have been more enchanto-sacks from Finnian. The Loremaster just grinned impishly as I stretched it out and draped it over Gabriel’s sleeping form. I leaned over and carefully pried his glasses from his face and handed them to Daniel, who put them in his inside leather jacket pocket for safe keeping.