Sadie's Shadow

by Julia Mills

  The words had barely crossed his lips before his captor swung the branding iron like a baseball bat firmly connecting with Orion’s ribs. Once again the sound of bones crushing filled the chamber immediately followed by the roar of pure agony as the Guardsman could no longer hold back his anguish.

  Flipping his mask off with such force it banged and clanged against the far wall before falling to the stone floor and breaking into several large pieces that glimmered in the still roaring firelight, the madman roared. Grabbing Orion’s face and squeezing it to the point of pain between his thumb and forefinger, the grotesque figure before him spat, “You lie, abomination!”

  As the freak held Orion’s face, his hand shaking with rage, spittle running down his skeletal chin, it felt as if the maniac’s cataract-clouded eyes were trying to bore a hole in the Guardsman’s skull as he added, “I was there. I saw what you winged lizards did to my family, my friends, everyone and everything I had ever known.”

  Orion could barely stand to look at his sallow skin as it slid from his skull like melting wax. His lips curled in the most unnatural of ways, making the maniac look as if he had a permanent scowl and showcasing his black and rotted teeth. If what the freak was saying was the truth, he had been alive for over a century and was showing every single second of it.

  Opening his mouth to retaliate, the Guardsman’s jaw snapped shut when the maniac flung the dragon’s head back against the stone wall and screeched, “I was there, dammit! I saw what you and your kind did to my people.” He slapped Orion so hard the Guardsman’s ears rang as he bellowed, “And you shall pay!”

  Grabbing Orion by the hair while shaking his already battered skull until the Shadow saw double, the maniac whispered, “I am Karura. I have only to drink your blood, eat your bones and that of your mate’s, and I shall live forever.”

  Karura let Orion’s head fall forward before adding with an evil chuckle, “Never fear, abomination, I found you when the monks had you and you know what happened to them. Before I am through with you, you will tell me where to find that pretty little female of yours. Of that you can be certain.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Orion, I swear to the Heavens I will skin you myself if you don’t answer me.”

  Sadie had been issuing threats and tracking the male dragon’s scent for nearly three hours in the complete darkness of the forest. Walking around in circles, finding little more than Orion’s footsteps in the erratic and chaotic trail she believed was at least partially false, the dragoness was just about to call upon her sisters when she stepped upon an especially soft pile of fallen leaves and broken branches.

  Using her enhanced senses, the princess inspected the debris and found a six-foot by four-foot rectangle of new grass hidden under the clippings. Scooping away the leaves to get a closer look at what someone obviously had tried to hide, Sadie used the blade of her knife to raise a corner. Catching a glimpse of something shiny, the dragoness kept peeling back the section of new grass until she revealed a steel trap door locked tight with not only a huge electronic silver combination lock, but also a bit of nasty magic.

  “And just what are you hiding under here?” she asked the darkness. “A dragon, maybe?”

  Sitting crossed legged beside the door, Sadie studied its hinges and the mechanism keeping it secure, because she had the strangest feeling that the mysticism she felt would stun not only her, but also her dragon. Pulling the jeweled dagger the Guardian had given to the dragoness before surrendering to the cancer ravaging her body, the princess studied the inscription on its blade, shining bright despite the darkness. Blessed by the holy, held by the loved, wielded by the faithful.

  Touching the pendant that hung around her neck and looking at the ring on her finger, she thought about that fateful day when she, a ten-year little girl, was playing behind the two-story home that housed the seven female shifters under the Guardian’s care. Sadie remembered the tall thin man, dressed completely in black except for his red plaid muffler, wearing a stove-pipe hat and carrying a small blue box with a jeweled lock.

  “Are you Princess Scathach Sorcha Ashford, Royal and Rightful Leader of the Mighty Ashford Dragons?” His voice was gravelly and breathy. His face pale and wrinkled.

  Standing tall, she rolled her shoulders back and answered as she’d been taught. “Yes, my good sir, I am. How may I or any of my clan be of assistance?”

  The man smiled, his watery-blue eyes sparkling with delight as he took her outstretched hand, kissed her tiny ruby ring, and nodded, “It is I, Gabriel Gustafson of the Guardians’ Guild who is here to be of service to you.” Standing back to his full height, Gabriel continued, “May I accompany you inside and speak with you in the presence of your Guardian?”

  This Guardian was the first she’d ever met with a name. All the others had always simply been called, Guardian. It intrigued Sadie, as well as did his easy demeanor and quick smile. Motioning as she turned, the princess smiled, “Yes, of course. Follow me.”

  Entering the house, she called for her Guardian before turning to Gabriel and offering, “Would you like some tea, Mr. Gustafson?”

  “No, but thank you very much, princess.” He followed her into the living room. “If we can just sit here and talk, that would be most accommodating.”

  Barely sitting down before her Guardian entered the room, Sadie sat tall with her hands folded across her lap and her ankles crossed, just as her mother had taught her. She waited until everyone was seated and then asked, “Now, Mr. Gustafson, what is it that you have for me?”

  She glanced at the box on his lap and waited patiently as he looked at her Guardian and then at her before beginning to speak. His voice was lower than it had been previously, his mouth downturned and his eyes no longer sparkling as he said, “It is with a heavy heart and immense sadness that I come here today to tell you that your mother and father, Elder and Lady Ashford, the Royal and Rightful Leaders of the Ashford Dragons, have been killed in battle.”

  Gabriel stood, placed the blue box on the couch next to her, and knelt before her with his head bowed. “Here are the belongings they have left to you, as well as their last decree that you, Princess Scathach Sorcha Ashford and your true fated mate, shall lead the Ashford Dragons and your descendants after you and theirs, after them, and so on until the end of time.”

  Standing, he then touched the top of her head and said in the language of dragon kin, “Beo fada, grá maith agus ag eitilt ard.”

  She felt the magic he was imparting to her, as she answered, “Thank you, Guardian. I will do my utmost to live as long as the Universe has need of me, love as well as my parents before me and their parents before them, and fly as high as the sky allows, with the sun to guide my path.”

  “You will make an excellent Leader, Sadie Ashford. You have the strength of your ancestors to see you through whatever life has planned. I look forward to witnessing your great deeds.”

  Shaking herself out of her memories, she chuckled sarcastically, “Oh, Gabriel, if you could only see me now.”

  Focusing on what she knew she had to do and having never taken the time to learn spells, Sadie began to use what the Guardian had called Thought Mysticism and pulled up an image of Orion. She saw him peacefully sleeping on his side, a slight smile gracing his perfect lips as the first rays of the sun had just started to break through the leaves of the trees overhead. It was awe-inspiring how the ruggedly handsome and immensely strong man could also be gentle and loving. Although he scared the living daylights out of her, the dragoness had to admit, at least to herself, that she truly did want to get to know him better.

  “So, that means I have to go and save his mangy butt.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip as she focused even harder on the thought of Orion. A warm, pure light shone in her heart. It moved slowly but steadily through her body to her soul, making every doubt and fear she had seem manageable. If Sadie knew anything, it was that accepting whatever life had to throw at her was just part of the game. She was
n’t ready to jump on board with the whole mating thing, but she knew if both she and Orion lived through whatever was about to happen, she would have to at least hear him out.

  Slowly sliding the Guardian’s blade across her palm, Sadie thought only of Orion, the night they had shared and that a world without him would simply be incomplete and lacking. Squeezing her fist, she watched as drops of her blood dripped onto the mechanized lock, popping and fizzing like drops of water on a hot griddle.

  Telling the dragon of her soul to hold back her healing power, Sadie slowly drew a line around the lock and across all three hinges in her life’s essence, watching as it literally ate holes in the metal, culminating in a loud pop and the door being flung several feet away. Looking into the darkness, thankful for her enhanced vision, she saw a metal staircase leading farther into the depths than even she could see.

  Standing, she put her pack on her shoulder, the Guardian’s blade in the holster at her waist, and the sword she’d laid on the ground by her hip in the scabbard across her back. It felt strange not to take her bow but knew it was best to leave it in the tree. Where she was headed was going to require up-close-and-personal hand-to-hand combat.

  Taking a deep breath, she touched the pendant that hung between her breasts and looked at the ring on her finger. Thinking back to that blue box Gabriel Gustafson had given her all those years ago and the treasures of her parent’s favorite pieces of jewelry, she took her first step into the darkness, whispering, “Okay, Orion, since you won’t answer me, I’m coming to find you, then I’m going to kick your butt myself.”

  The farther she descended into the black, inky underground, the louder the sound of flowing water became, the cooler the air felt, and the stronger she could scent Orion’s blood. She had already masked her scent with the herbs the Guardian had taught her to use and also some that Pearl prepared after her recent trip to the Orient.

  Letting her enhanced senses loose, Sadie counted ten strong human heartbeats, one very sluggish one, and one that beat with the vigor of a dragon. As she stepped off the bottom step, the heel of her boot sank into the damp soil of the riverbed she’d been listening to. Looking around, she asked herself, “How have I lived here all these years and not known any of this existed? Either someone is good at hiding or my clan and myself have grown complacent.” Now irritated with herself, she huffed, “When I get out of here, I’m having Daphne and Pearl set up wards to cover the whole damned forest.”

  She watched the water careening toward a bed of rocks where it splashed up and over the stones creating white caps on its way to what she was sure was a waterfall of quite some height. Beautiful orange, white, and black scales of a school of koi fish glittered under the running stream as they gulped at the algae that floated along the edge of the brook. Watching the koi, Sadie was able to judge where the current of the water was the weakest and with three quick strides, crossed the stream and slid further into the lush greenery.

  Sufficiently hidden, she moved stealthily through the man-made jungle until the vegetation began to thin out and she could hear the voices of the men whose heartbeats she’d heard during her descent. Kneeling behind a fake rock that she knew was hiding something electronic from the buzzing she picked up with her sensitive hearing and the vibrations she felt under her knees, Sadie listened as four of the heartbeats moved closer to where she sat with two others about fifty feet behind them and another pair a hundred feet behind them. Pushing a bit farther, she found the last two much farther back but less than twenty feet from the sluggish heartbeat which was right next to Orion.

  “Guess the baddie has a bad heart,” she sighed under her breath. “Won’t be a problem for long.”

  Taking a deep breath, she kissed her mother’s ring and touched her father’s pendant before letting out the breath she’d just taken as the first guard’s foot touched down next to her knee. Almost quicker than even her own eye could track, Sadie sliced the tendons in the back of both his ankles and the ones of the guard behind him before rolling between their falling bodies, jumping to her feet, and stabbing the other two men in the heart who were turning toward her trying to grab their guns.

  Quickly hiding the dead bodies behind the fake rock, the dragoness waited next to them for the next two guards, disposing of them in quite the same fashion before jogging along the riverbank until she could see the guards outside a set of twelve-foot stainless steel double doors. Watching them standing there completely still, breathing so slowly it took her enhanced eyesight to see the rise and fall of their chests, Sadie zeroed in on their strong, steady heartbeats, glad to see she’d made as far as she had undetected.

  Creeping closer, she was just about to make her move when Orion’s voice burst through her mind, this time not in pain but in a tone that made her think about leaving him to suffer. “Sadie, please tell me you are not outside the door. Do you not have one iota of self-preservation anywhere in that beautiful head of yours?”

  Chapter Ten

  He could feel her anger, knew he had caused it, and figured maybe she had a right. He had opened his mouth and inserted both his size twelves before thinking it through, but in his defense, he’d been speaking out of fear and the overwhelming need to protect his mate. Karura wanted Sadie above all others and, dammit all, if she wasn’t playing right into his hands.

  Orion was just about to explain himself when his mate’s normally sultry, now surly, voice growled, “I could ask you the same thing, but from the smell of your blood decorating every inch of whatever little piece of hell you discovered, I already know the answer is a resounding no. So, keep your mouth shut and let me rescue you. We can debate the finer points of my plan later.”

  Had silver not been eating away at his flesh and a madman planning to drink not only his blood and eat his bones but those of his lovely Sadie as well, Orion might have laughed out loud at his mate’s sass and courage. However, he wanted her out of the immediate vicinity as fast as her feet would carry her. “Sadie,” he barked. “You have to go. You don’t understand. This bastard is not easy to kill and you are the one he wants. I am just the bait.”

  There was no response. Absolutely nothing….just dead air.

  He could feel her. Knew she was there. Was sure she had heard him, but also felt her resentment at his words and her incredible determination to do whatever it took to free him and kill the man responsible for his suffering. He applauded her resolve, was hopeful that she was finally accepting him as her mate, was thrilled that she cared enough to come for him, but the fact remained that he needed her to leave…had to know that she was safe.

  “Sadie…Sadie, answer me.”

  “I’m a little busy here,” she ground out through gritted teeth just as Orion heard two bodies hit the floor outside the massive door to his right, one right after another like dominoes.

  “I guess…”

  The Guardsman’s words were cut off as Sadie burst through the huge steel doors sword swinging at precisely the same second Karura jammed the thickest needle Orion had ever seen into his jugular and began drinking the dragon’s blood as it poured from the attached tubing. Struggling against his bonds while watching the greatest enemy he had ever faced literally healing and growing stronger before his eyes, the Guardsman felt as helpless as a small child.

  Raising his head, Karura now looked almost human as he licked Orion’s bright red blood from his shriveled, scarred lips. The stench of the bastard’s breath, now tinged with the sweet, coppery scent of the dragon’s life essence, stung the Guardsman’s nose as the demented creature screamed, “Guards! Guards! Take the female! Kill the male, if you have to, but she,” he pointed right at Sadie, “is not to be harmed.”

  Karura’s minions, dressed in white from head-to-toe with only their eyes showing, poured in from an overhead door at the rear of the cavern Orion hadn’t seen until just that moment. His eyes searched the sea of snowy enemies until they landed on his beautiful mate, taking on all opponents, stopping at nothing to arise the victor a
nd save not only the day, but his sorry dragon ass.

  His Sadie was poetry in motion. The raw power contained in every strike of her sword and slash of her jeweled dagger was like a perfectly choreographed ballet. She swung and kicked, spun and sliced her way through all comers, decorating their milky uniforms with blood and gore, creating an impressionistic masterpiece like she was the artist and they her blank canvas.

  Never, in all the battles, in all his years as a Guardsman, had Orion witnessed anything like his dragoness protecting what was hers. Watching the last of the guards fall to the stony floor, both man and dragon had just let out the breath they had been holding when the sound of clanking armor and movement out of the corner of Orion’s eye drew their attention.

  Screaming, “Sadie!” directly into her mind as Orion took in Karura marching into the chamber covered in the gleaming gold-plated Japanese samurai style armor, the dragon knew his heart skipped at least two beats. A mask reminiscent of the first, still birdlike but more ornate, with two ivory horns carved to dangerous points on either side of the attached helmet and a row of thin metal spikes bisecting his skull and ending at his chainmail neckpiece, was just the beginning. Searching for any weaknesses, Orion could see his mate doing the same thing in her mind.

  Either stress, fear, pain, pride in his beautiful dragoness, or some combination thereof, had forced the missing pieces of the bond growing between he and Sadie into place. Not only could he speak directly into her mind, but now he could feel what she was feeling, hear what she was thinking, see what she saw, and recognize the light in her soul as the affection she had for him taking hold and growing stronger with every beat of her heart.

  Although thrilled to know she was coming to care for him, Orion forced those feelings to the side as he instructed, “Aim for under the arm plates. The lungs or the arteries on the underside of his arms will incapacitate him almost immediately.”