“The elk?” Knox asked, confused.
Bree nodded. “I saw how humanely you treated it, making sure it was calm before you quickly killed it and put it out of its misery. No one who was truly evil would have bothered with the elk’s feelings before killing it.”
Knox nodded slowly. Bree was right. He had seen evil shifters torture full animals just for the fun of it, a practice he found reviling. All life needed to be respected, even when taking a life was necessary.
“So now that you’ve decided to trust me, what is your news?” he asked.
Bree took a deep breath. When she spoke she was staring into the fire instead of looking at him.
“Are you familiar with an ancient artifact known as the dragon stone?” she asked.
Knox’s head immediately shot up, and he looked at Bree with a mixture of shock and suspicion. He knew the dragon stone well. It was the most powerful of the ancient artifacts. William had been kidnapped in the process of searching for the dragon stone. Knox had joined forces with a group of shifters in Texas to save William and stop a powerful evil shifter who was trying to steal the dragon stone. The dragon stone was now safely in the hands of the good shifters, fiercely guarded by a large force of shifter protectors.
“I know of it,” Knox said. “And apparently so do you. But the stone is under careful guard, and I can assure you it’s quite safe.”
Knox narrowed his eyes at Bree when he said this. How did she know about the stone, and why was she discussing it with him. Perhaps she was on some sort of underhanded mission to try to find out where the stone was. She didn’t look evil, but one could never be sure these days. He had to be careful what he said.
“The emerald dragon stone is safe,” Bree said. “But there are others. Three others, in fact, as far as I can tell. One of which, the sapphire dragon stone, has been found, and is in danger of falling into the wrong hands.”
Bree paused, giving Knox time to react. He looked at her as though she had lost her mind. What was this girl’s game? Was she trying to get information out of him about the dragon stone by pretending there was more than one dragon stone? He felt a cold chill of suspicion go through him. Something was off here.
“I can assure you that the shifters holding the dragon stone have researched the matter thoroughly and would be aware if there was another stone. And, I don’t mean to be rude, but what reason do I have to believe that you’re a wizard? Performing magic using a ring is not enough. Many ancient stones have magical powers, and anyone who found them would be able to use the stone to act like they had magical powers.”
Bree sighed, and Knox saw a shadow of frustration pass over her eyes.
“You have to trust me,” she said, her voice urgent. Knox saw with alarm that her eyes were filling with tears. He resisted the urge to roll his own eyes. How had his survival mission turned into sitting in the woods with a weepy girl? He didn’t believe her tears were real. With every passing moment, he was more and more convinced that she was a spy, sent to find information on the dragon stone by some evil shifter who wanted to steal the stone away. Of course, they would send a beautiful girl to do their work. They would think that a bachelor like Knox wouldn’t be able to resist her charms. But Knox had bigger things to worry about than women. He was the leader of a clan of dragons—a clan whose members were often the one thing keeping ancient artifacts from falling into the wrong hands. Apparently, they’d failed with at least one artifact. That ruby ring the girl had was powerful. Knox was well-versed in many types of ancient artifacts, but he had never seen or heard of anything like it. Still, he had to hand it to whoever had come up with the idea of trying to act like wizards still existed. That was a pretty clever move, but Knox wasn’t going to fall for it.
“I’m sorry,” Knox said, trying to keep his voice calm even though he was sure now that this girl was not here to help him. “Experience has taught me better than to trust people I don’t know. You’re welcome to share this meal with me, but after that I’ll need to get going, and continue on my own mission.”
Knox felt somewhat ashamed as he said this. His “mission” was only a training mission. He hadn’t done any real missions in quite some time, and he realized now that Noah was right. He needed to do more. His clan didn’t need him around every second, and he was growing hopelessly restless. He had not been trained to sit around at base camp all the time. He’d been trained to run straight toward danger. Of course, this girl had no way of knowing any of that. And the less she knew about him, the better.
“You’re being a fool,” she said. Knox was surprised to see flashes of anger in her eyes now. The tears had passed in a moment’s time, and now she was standing tall. “I can show you proof that the sapphire dragon stone exists, and that—”
But she never got to finish her sentence. A sudden, whirring sound filled the air, and Bree whipped around in a complete circle, her eyes widening as she grabbed her backpack and jumped toward where his pack of supplies lay on the ground.
“Shift!” she yelled at him. “Shift, now!”
Something in her voice told him that he didn’t have time to question why. He shifted into dragon form, his clothes tearing off his body in shreds as his body transformed. The gust of powerful wind caused by his shifting nearly put the fire out, but Bree didn’t seem to notice. She had her hand with the ruby ring on it extended straight from her body, and she was turning in slow circles now, watching her surroundings carefully as the buzzing sound grew louder.
Knox let his dragon go into chameleon mode, melting into the scenery as he tensed up, waiting to see what strange danger was approaching them.
Chapter Six
Bree had grabbed her backpack of supplies the moment she heard the telltale buzzing sound of the drones. Her supplies and Knox’s supplies were now both resting on the ground directly by her feet. She could only hope that she was still as good at her shield charm as she used to be.
She knew it would require a great deal of strength to hold the charm against the drones, so she was waiting until the last second to perform it. As the buzzing sound grew closer, she raised her hand with her magic ring above her head.
“Steady,” she whispered to herself. “Hold steady. Wait for the right moment.”
The buzzing was becoming unbearably loud. The drones were going to be here any second, but Bree waited a few more seconds, nearly waiting too long.
“Magicae arma,” she finally yelled, squeezing her eyes shut and concentrating as hard as she could. She saw sparks flying from her ring, and a moment later she had the same sort of blurred sensation you get when you open your eyes underwater.
She kept her ring hand high and steady, and she did her best not to think about anything except keeping the shield charm going. The energy from her ring would keep a wall around her and the backpacks, preventing the drones from stealing the packs. They would still be able to see her, but at least they could not take her supplies, which Bree was sure they had been instructed to do.
The drones whizzed around her, trying their best to poke their long, metal arms through the shield charm. They were probably only there for a total of five minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Bree. She was beginning to worry that she wasn’t going to be able to hold them off long enough, when, finally, they gave a few angry beeps and turned, whizzing away.
Bree held the shield charm a few more moments, and then let her ring hand weakly fall to her side.
“Arma terminantur,” she said. The shield charm, which had been fizzling out anyway, died completely. The forest became suddenly clear once again, and Bree felt as though she had surfaced from underneath the water of a swimming pool.
She looked around for Knox, but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he fled? He didn’t seem like the type to run away from danger. But she had seen him shift, as she had asked him to do. Not only had she been correct that he was a dragon, but his dragon was enormous. He was much too large to hide from her if he was anywhere close by. Unless he had shifted back
to human form already. Bree felt fear gripping her heart again. If he had shifted to human form before the drones left, then they were both in trouble.
But her fears were put to rest when, at that precise moment, a dragon suddenly appeared almost right in front of her. He had thick green skin with iridescent qualities. It gave off hints of pink, purple, and blue, depending on how the light hit it. He had two large wings, and a large dragon head, complete with thick, pointed horns. Bree gasped, as she realized that Knox had somehow managed to blend in with the tree trunks, leaves, and other foliage around them. In all her studies of shifters, she had never heard of any shifters blending into the background like that, except for the very rare chameleon shifters.
“How did you do that?” she asked Knox’s dragon. She saw the hint of a smile turning up his dragon lips, which also revealed the sharp dragon teeth lining his mouth. In the next instant a burst of power rushed across the forest. The elk, which was still roasting on the spit, shook from the energy of Knox’s shift, and the fire nearly blew out again.
Knox was in human form again, and he was completely naked. Bree averted her eyes, feeling instantly awkward. But even though she only saw his body for a split-second, it was long enough for her to see how impressive he was. Every muscle on his body was sculpted and defined, and he was unmistakably well endowed. Bree felt her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment, but Knox didn’t seem at all fazed by the fact that he was suddenly naked in front of her. She could hear him behind her, rummaging through the backpack. She assumed he was looking for clothes, but she didn’t dare to look.
“What were those things?” he asked. His voice had a serious, grave tone to it now.
Bree took a deep breath. “Wizard drones,” she said. She waited for him to make another obnoxious remark about how wizards didn’t exist, but he was silent. She finally dared to turn around. He was wearing a thick pair of hiking pants now, and a pair of replacement hiking boots. He still didn’t have a shirt on, and she could not help looking at him now. His chest was broad and strong, and his abs were formed into a perfect six pack. Bree unexpectedly felt her breath catch in her throat. She had noticed from the beginning that he was handsome, but seeing him standing only feet away from her without a shirt made her heart do all sorts of funny flip-flops in her chest. His eyes caught hers, and for one brief, intense moment, she thought she saw a flicker of desire in them. But the moment passed quickly, and he broke eye contact with her as he turned to rummage in his backpack for a shirt.
“Wizard drones?” he prompted.
She forced her mind away from his body, and back to the present crisis.
“Yes, wizard drones. They’re a mixture of technology and magic,” Bree said. “In times of peace, they’re used mostly as guard drones. They patrol the borders near Falcon Cross, the wizard town where I live, and keep a look out for any approaching humans. Usually, no one comes near us. But if someone did, we would take measures to ensure that no magic was used around them. Full humans discovering wizards is one of our greatest fears. It would not take very long at all for things to get messy.”
Knox let out a small bitter laugh. He did not have to explain to Bree how well he understood. She knew from her own studies of shifter history how much shifters themselves had been persecuted when humans discovered their existence.
“So I’m guessing that these drones were somehow programmed to look for you?” Knox said.
Bree nodded. “The drones can be programmed to hunt instead of just guarding. I thought that the Wizards might send them after me when I left, but I thought I had managed to get far enough away that the drones would not be able to find me. They have a limited range, and I thought I had escaped that range. Apparently I didn’t.”
“So why did you ask me to shift?” Knox asked. “Were you expecting them to attack me?”
Bree was encouraged by the fact that Knox didn’t seem to be questioning the existence of wizards anymore. For the moment, at least, he was giving her the benefit of the doubt.
“Not exactly,” she said. “The drones can defend themselves, but they aren’t really weapons. They serve more as information gatherers. They are sophisticated pieces of equipment, aided by magic spells, that can “see” humans, even when the human is using an invisibility spell.”
“Ah, so they’re useful for finding rogue wizards,” Knox said.
“Yup,” Bree said. “But they have their limits. They can only see humans, not animals. They are programmed this way because if they were distracted by every animal that crossed their path, they would send a lot of false alarms back to Falcon Cross that we were in danger of being ‘invaded.’ This limitation means that a shifter who is in human form would be detected, but a shifter in animal form would essentially go unseen by the drones. So as long as you were in dragon form, you were invisible to them.”
Knox narrowed his eyes. “That doesn’t make sense to me. If wizards do still exist, wouldn’t they be concerned about shifters attacking them? After all, there’s so much bad blood between shifters and wizards due to the old wars.”
Bree shrugged. “Wizards have been very careful to keep their existence hidden from shifters. As long as shifters think we don’t exist anymore, we don’t have to worry about them attacking us. So the wizard council has been perfectly happy with drones that only see humans.”
Knox furrowed his brow, trying to take in everything Bree was telling him. “But if they don’t attack, why did they look like they were attacking you? It looked like you had some sort of magic shield up against them that they were trying to penetrate.”
Bree nodded. “I was trying to keep them from taking my backpack. And yours, too. They would have taken them both, if they could have. The wizards know that if they can take away my supplies, I’ll be forced out of hiding sooner. The drones wouldn’t have realized that your backpack didn’t belong to me.”
“But you held them off,” Knox said slowly. “So they didn’t have anything to take back to the wizards.”
“Well, they didn’t have my supplies to take back,” Bree said with a sigh. “But I’m sure they transmitted my picture and exact coordinates back to the wizards, confirming that I’m alive and out here. It won’t be long before they send out actual wizards to track me down. Then I’ll really be in trouble. If they catch me, my days as a wizard are over. Worse, no one believes me that the sapphire dragon stone exists and is in danger of falling into the wrong hands. I presented all of my research to the Wizard High Council, and they did not agree with my assessment of the situation.”
“So you just ran away?” Knox asked, looking doubtfully at her. “Assuming that wizards do exist, and their high council disagrees with you, do you really think you know better than them? No offense, but usually high councils are old and wise. You look a little young to be disagreeing with them.”
Bree chewed her lower lip for a minute, trying to think of how to respond. Part of her wished that she could just tell Knox off, if he wasn’t interested in believing her. She was so tired of being judged for her age. But she needed his help. She needed him to believe her, and his defenses seemed to be wearing down a bit after the drone attack.
“I know it sounds a bit crazy for a young wizard to think she knows better than a high council. But if the high council looked at the research I’ve done with open eyes, I think they would believe me. The problem is that they won’t look at anything I’ve done that closely since, as you’ve already pointed out, I’m quite a bit younger than they are. They think I’m just being overdramatic on one of my first work assignments. And they think that telling shifters about wizards would bring ruin to the wizards. They are not only old, they are steeped in ancient traditions and stories, and they refuse to see the world with new eyes.”
Knox did not say anything in response to this. Instead, he stared at Bree as though he was trying to see right through her. He still looked doubtful, but something about the drones seemed to have softened him.
“Please trust me,” Bree said
softly, looking up at him with the most earnest expression she could manage. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but the fate of the wizards and the shifters alike depends on our working together. I don’t know who you are, or what you yourself are doing out here in this forest, but something tells me that I met you for a reason. Something tells me that you are strong enough and powerful enough to help me.”
Knox continued staring at her for what felt like an eternity. Finally, he broke his gaze to glance over at the elk, which was still nicely roasting over the crackling fire.
“If what you say is true, I might be able to help you,” he said. “But I must warn you that if it’s not, and I find out you are trying to deceive me for some evil purpose, I will have no mercy on you.”
Bree shuddered slightly under the intensity of Knox’s gaze, even though she had nothing to hide. She had never had anyone look at her so severely, not even the wizards of the high council when she suggested joining forces with the shifters.
“I’m telling you the truth,” she said, hoping that her voice sounded convincing.
Knox looked back at her again. “I want to hear more about this sapphire dragon stone. And I think my clan will want to hear, too. But we need to get out of here. If it’s true those drones are reporting your coordinates, we need to get you far, far away. How long do you think it will be before the wizards could get here?”
“A couple hours, at least,” Bree said. “It will take them some time to get organized. But they’ll definitely be hot on my trail by the end of the day.”
To Bree’s surprise, Knox smiled. “Good. That means we have time to eat this elk. Let’s enjoy a hot meal, and then I’ll get you out of here and to the safest place I know. We can talk more there.”
Bree felt a rush of relief go through her. He wasn’t promising her much—mostly just that he would hear her out. But that was a start. And if he knew how to get her somewhere that would be safe from the wizards who were hunting her down, she was willing to go with him.
Defiance and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 1) Page 5