by Avril Sabine
“Make sure you stand directly behind me. Wayne and the other man who escaped are here,” Amber told Kade.
“We don’t have to stay here.”
“I’ll keep Martin between them and us.”
“What if there are others?”
“I don’t know.” She searched the area again. “There’s not many people around and none of them are staying still like those three are.” She continued to walk towards Martin who stood in the open.
“Anything goes wrong and I’m taking you out of here.”
Amber glanced towards him. He was already behind her. She spoke directly to him, worried they were getting close enough for Martin to hear the conversation. “Maybe you’d be better off taking Martin out of here. I’ll fly to Ronan. That’s only if we haven’t got anything out of him.”
“And if we have got something out of him?”
“I don’t know.” She fell silent as she stopped in front of Martin. “If your people shoot me, mine will shoot you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Wayne and his friend.”
“I haven’t seen Wayne in ages. Not since he attacked you.”
Amber slowly shook her head. “I know he’s been back to the headquarters. I’ve got surveillance footage of him, Stanley and another man entering the building.” She didn’t, but he wasn’t to know that. “Five days ago.” She noticed the flicker of unease in his eyes.
“What do you want?”
Amber stepped slightly to the left. “Ring Wayne and tell him not to move. You really don’t want to see what happens if you attack us.”
Martin stared at her a moment before he pulled out his phone and dialled a number.
She heard Wayne answer and ordered, “Put it on speaker.”
“Martin? You there?” Wayne asked when the phone was on speaker.
“Wayne, I want you and your friend to stay right where you are,” Amber said.
“Amber,” Wayne snarled.
Amber smiled. “Nice to speak to you too, Wayne. I’m sorry you weren’t happy with our accommodations.” She sensed him move. “Stay still. I know when you’re moving.”
“You will pay for this. And for Vikki,” Wayne warned.
“Tell your friend to stay still too. I know you’re both there.” She tracked the man as he moved rapidly away from Wayne. “Immediately, Wayne.”
“Get back here.” Wayne paused. “Jonah! Back here. She’s tracking us.”
Amber waited until they were next to each other. “Good. Now stay there until we’re finished.”
“Martin? What do you want?” Wayne asked.
“Stay there.” Martin disconnected the call, returning his phone to his pocket. “What do you want?”
Amber checked the area again before she spoke. “Why are you working for the Knight Mages?”
“I have only ever worked for the Knights.”
“Don’t give me that rubbish. There’s no one in this park but us. So quit with the lies.” The Golds flying above her technically weren’t in the park. They were above it. “Did you want to check me for listening devices? Is that the problem?”
“We want a pure Gold. Two million dollars if you can get us a pure Gold,” Martin said.
She couldn’t even imagine that kind of money. It was a ridiculous amount. As bad as offering to pay her weight in gold to an assassin. “You just finished telling me you don’t work for the Knight Mages and now you’re trying to buy a Gold for them.”
“You have no idea what the Knights really protect you against.”
“Hell Hounds.”
“Wayne said you knew about them, but you don’t really know what they are. You’ve never faced them. Knights have been protecting humans from them for centuries. Long before the Middle Ages.”
“Then why don’t all the Knights know about them?”
“Because some of them think we’d be better off facing them. We wouldn’t. They’re nearly impossible to kill. Even you wouldn’t be able to face one. They inspire terror. It’s like they exude it and those facing them can’t help feeling an overwhelming sense of terror and an urge to run. It’s nearly impossible to fight against that as well as actually fight the Hounds.”
Amber doubted even that would stop her. She’d been terrified plenty of times and still kept going. “So you’ve hidden your true reason for existence from the Knights.”
“No, not our true reason. It’s always been to protect humans. Always. That includes from dragons. But we also need dragons.”
“For the binding,” Amber said.
Martin nodded. “Where did you get your information from?”
“How did you hide all this from most of the Knights? And how do you recruit new Knight Mages?” She breathed in, smelling only dragon bone on him, not the slightly different scent that bone took on once someone became a Knight Mage. “And why aren’t you one? Aren’t you important enough?”
“Do you really think I’m about to tell you all our secrets?”
Amber smiled, mimicking Ronan’s smile. She nearly laughed at the wary look that came into Martin’s eyes. “You want me to give you our secrets. Answer one of mine and I’ll give you an answer too. How did you hide all this from the rest of the Knights?”
Martin stared at her for a moment. “You will tell me how you learned your information. Wayne and Jonah said they told you nothing. And I know Stanley knows nothing of importance.”
“I will. As soon as you answer my question.”
Again Martin stared at her before he finally spoke. “Knight Mages usually run headquarters. Including those of us who aren’t yet full Knight Mages. Sometimes others manage to become the High Protector, but usually we replace them with one of ours fairly quickly. We lost Queensland for a long time, but managed to take it back when Charles was kidnapped. Western Australia recently fell out of our hands, but we’ll get it back. We had thought maybe your grandfather would be worth recruiting, but those years of captivity obviously ruined him. And after all the effort we’d put into grooming him before he was caught. We’re also working on taking back New South Wales. The Knights usually follow orders blindly. They’ve sworn to follow their High Protector. Very few ask questions and those that do usually don’t last long.”
“You kill them?” Amber demanded.
“Don’t sound so shocked. How many people have you killed now? Or other than Vikki has it only been dragons?” He paused. “You owe me an answer.”
“Charles said to capture Martin. Answer the question and then fly out of there at the same time as Kade takes Martin through the Void to my water garden,” Ronan said to Amber and Kade.
“Grab him at the next word he speaks after I answer him,” Amber told Kade before she spoke aloud. “One of my dragons found the information in an old book written by a dragon centuries ago.”
“Who-” Martin’s words were cut off by Kade grabbing him as Amber flew up into the air, her long sleeved shirt falling away from her to land on the ground.
As she headed for Ronan, she sensed Kade and Martin disappear into the Void while Wayne and Jonah ran across the park towards her. Ronan grabbed hold of her, taking her through the Void to arrive at his water garden, everyone else already there. The moment Ronan let her go, Amber became human again.
Kade and Chait held onto Martin who struggled to escape, threatening to kill them. Amos and Charles yelled at Martin, demanding to know who he’d had killed while Eliza threatened to slit his throat.
“Chait, put Martin in the room with Stanley. Remove any devices off him that might show his whereabouts,” Ronan ordered. “Anrai, help him.” He turned to Amber. “I need you to track Wayne and Jonah.”
Amber nodded.
Kade grabbed hold of her arm when she took a step towards Ronan. “Not without help.”
Ronan crossed the distance between him and Amber, taking hold of her other arm. “I’m not about to get her killed.”
“You’re not leaving us behind,” A
mos said, echoed by Charles and Eliza.
“I’m not planning to capture them on my own. We’re only going to follow them. When we find out where they’re going, then I’ll organise enough people to capture them,” Ronan said.
“Then you get us,” Amos said.
Ronan didn’t even bother looking towards Amos, he continued to hold Kade’s gaze until Kade let go of Amber’s arm.
“Be careful,” Kade said directly to Amber.
She didn’t know if he would’ve said more as Ronan took her through the Void to arrive under the tree her and Kade had appeared under earlier. She searched for Wayne and Jonah. “That way.” She pointed in their direction.
“How far?”
Amber shrugged, wishing he’d brought the referdex. “I don’t know, maybe half of one of those maps out of the referdex we used last time.”
Ronan took her through the Void, coming out in the shadows at the side of a derelict building. “Now where?”
Chapter Eighteen
As soon as Amber found them, she pointed in their direction. “That way. About three streets over.”
Ronan took them closer, jumping them across the city until Amber lost Wayne and Jonah. “I think they entered a house that I can’t search inside of.” She frowned, doing a slow circle as she checked out the area. Reaching towards Kade’s direction, she tried to figure out how far away Wayne and Jonah had been when they’d disappeared. “I think it’s the house they kept me in when they kidnapped me.”
“Take me to the house.”
“I can’t. I don’t know exactly where it is. But it’s at least four or five streets that way.” She pointed in the direction.
Ronan took her through the Void, bringing her out in an overgrown backyard. “Now where?”
Amber started searching the area, eventually finding a location she couldn’t search inside of. “Come on, this way. It’s not far.” She headed for the front yard, opening up the wooden gate to step onto the footpath.
“Stop running towards danger all the time.” Ronan grabbed her arm and took her into the Void, remaining in the street.
“I can’t sense the house from here.” She hated trying to force her way through the heavier air of the Void.
“Better than being out in the open. When we get closer to where you think it is, we’ll take shelter and I’ll bring you out of the Void.”
It took them nearly half an hour before they found the right house. Amber had also needed to reply to several text messages, reassuring Kade that she was okay and telling Charles they were still tracking Wayne and Jonah. Ronan left her behind the house, hidden against a garden shed near the back fence, while he returned to his water garden. He would need to bring the other Golds through the Void since it would be doubtful that they’d know the pathway to this exact location.
Amber peered around the edge of the shed, wishing she could search inside the house. Who knew how many others were in there with Wayne and Jonah. She felt a gun pressed against the back of her head at the same moment as she sensed Jonah and a Pliethin come out of the Void behind her.
“Inside,” Jonah ordered.
Amber walked towards the back door of the house. Where was Ronan? What was taking him so long? She tried to remain calm. Surely help wasn’t that far away. “What are you planning to do with me?”
“Shut up and walk.”
There was no way she wanted to step inside that house. Anything could be waiting for her on the other side of the door. She couldn’t help thinking of the chains in the room downstairs. That wasn’t going to happen. No way.
“Open the door.”
Mentally searching, she couldn’t find Kade, but hoped that someone was still at Ronan’s water garden. Reaching for the door, she changed into a goshawk, flying around Jonah to land behind him as a human. Sliding her arm around his chest, she plunged her fingers into the cage, touching the pliethin. Taking them to Ronan’s water garden, she struggled to hold onto Jonah when they arrived. It didn’t take him long to throw her off.
She landed on the ground, jumping to her feet as Isaac and Eliza attacked him. Reaching for the chain, she yanked the Pliethin from him as he reached for it. Next she grabbed Jonah’s gun, which had landed on the ground, pointing it at him. “Stop.”
“You’re a kid. I doubt you’ve got it in you to pull the trigger.”
Ronan stepped out of the Void, glancing towards Amber. “Can’t you ever follow orders?” He turned towards Jonah. “And she certainly has it in her to pull the trigger. Don’t let her age fool you. She’s every inch a warrior.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Jonah said.
Ronan chuckled, grabbing hold of Jonah and pulling him away from Isaac and Eliza before he disappeared into the Void. She lowered the gun, sensing Ronan come out near the room Stanley was kept in, just as her phone rang. Seeing it was Kade, she answered. “I’m safe.”
“Where are you?”
“Ronan’s house. ”
Kade came out of the Void not far from her, hanging up his phone. “What did you think you were doing?” He gestured towards the Pliethin. “Where did you get that from?”
“Jonah. And I didn’t exactly plan to come here. It just happened. Well, I chose this place, but I hadn’t planned on coming here.”
Ronan returned to the water garden. “What did you think you were doing taking on Jonah on your own?”
“Don’t you start too. Jonah came out of the Void and held a gun on me,” Amber said.
“Where’s Amos?” Eliza demanded.
“Trying to kill Wayne while Chait is trying to stop him,” Kade said.
“You could have flown out of there,” Ronan said to Amber.
She looked around at everyone. Eliza was trying to order Kade to fetch Amos, Ronan glared at her and Isaac slowly shook his head. With how hungry she was getting, it had to be after lunch and she wanted to eat sooner rather than later. “I’ll get Amos.” Before anyone could argue, she dropped the gun onto the ground and plunged her fingers into the cage, stepping into the Void. She pulled the pathway to her that would take her back to Wayne’s house. The back door was open and the sounds of arguing voices drifted out into the yard.
Kade and Ronan appeared beside her. She stared to move forward, but Ronan grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him. “I don’t want you travelling through the Void by yourself until you know what you’re doing.”
“I can find my way to your place so I must know what I’m doing.” Not that she’d really known if she could manage it on her own, but it had been better than being attacked by Jonah or letting him escape.
Ronan continued to hold Amber’s gaze. “Kade, take Amos back to my place. Tell Chait to take Wayne. Then return for Charles and Helen.”
“Amber? Will you be okay?” Kade asked her.
“Yeah. Take Amos back to his sister. It might stop her complaining.” Although she doubted it. Eliza was sure to find some other problem and blame it on her.
When they were alone, Ronan demanded, “Why do you have to always try and get yourself killed?”
Amber pulled away from his grip. “I don’t try and I wasn’t even close to getting killed this time.”
“Someone had a gun on you. And you don’t think that’s close to getting killed?”
Her anger faded and she grinned. “Nope. Guess that makes me as crazy as you.”
“There isn’t always going to be someone there to save you.”
She raised her chin, her grin replaced by a glare. “I didn’t need anyone to save me. I had it all under control. I even captured Jonah for us.”
Ronan held her gaze for several minutes before he spoke. “Flinn isn’t welcome at the warehouse tonight.”
“Why not?”
“The less people there to ask awkward questions, the better.” He held out his hand. “Do you need help returning to my place?”
She shook her head and pushed her fingers into the cage, taking a step away from him and into the Void. It was becomi
ng easier to enter it, as well as finding the pathways. She came out of the Void in front of Kade, trying to tune out Eliza arguing with Charles. “What’s going on,” she asked Kade.
“Isaac recorded the conversation you had with Martin and Charles wants a copy. Eliza doesn’t want to part with theirs and said that Charles should have thought about recording it himself,” Kade said.
Amber faced Isaac. “Send a copy of it to both Charles and myself. I’ll send you my email address.”
“What do you need it for?” Charles demanded.
“What do you need it for?” Amber asked him.
“He wants his old position back,” Eliza said. “He doesn’t care about who Martin’s killed, all he cares about is being High Protector.”
“No, I care about not letting anyone else from the Knight Mages take over the Queensland Headquarters.”
Amber bit back a sigh as she wondered where Ronan was. He’d probably been sensible enough to stay in the Void rather than come out and deal with this argument. “I got the confession out of Martin. Send me a copy. And send one to my grandfather because we don’t know which of the Knights are with the Knight Mages.”
Eliza pointed towards Amber. “You could smell which ones are Knight Mages. Don’t you reckon you can smell dragon bone on Knights?”
“Martin isn’t a Knight Mage. He only works for them. Who’s to say the others that work for them are. Only Jonah is one,” Amber said.
Ronan came out of the Void with several Golds. “Time for you all to go. I’ve got things to organise for tonight.”
Before they could argue, Charles and Helen were taken into the Void. Isaac grabbed hold of his brother so he couldn’t be moved. “Wait.”
“What now?” Ronan demanded.
“I’ve thought about your suggestion.” Isaac glanced at each of the Golds before continuing the conversation mentally. “I want to learn the skills of a Gold dragon.”