It was starting to look like Knox was her best chance to save herself and the wizards.
Chapter Seven
Taking time to eat the elk made Bree nervous. She knew with certainty that it would take at least a few hours for the wizards to get to where the drones had found her. They would need to get themselves organized, and there was no magic spell for teleporting. Depending on how far away they were, it might even be a full day before they got close to her location and started tracking her down in earnest. But that didn’t keep Bree from looking around with anxiety every time she heard the tiniest rustle of leaves or cracking of a twig. Her worst nightmare right now would be seeing one of the wizards.
But Bree had to admit that it felt good to have a hot meal on her stomach. She’d never eaten elk before, but she found the flavor similar to beef. She and Knox both stuffed themselves, eating quickly without much conversation. There would be time for talking later. Right now, they both wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Knox told her to keep watch while he cleaned up the fire and leftover elk after their meal. Bree got the feeling that he did this so that she would be out of the way more than because he wanted an actual guard. He worked so efficiently that she would have only gotten in the way.
Once everything was cleaned up, Knox told her his plan, and told her a little more about himself.
“I’m actually the leader of a clan of dragons that live further south in the Redwoods. We’re known as the Redwood Dragons. It would be a several day hike from here, but if I shift into a dragon and fly, it will only take a few hours. You can ride on my back and hold our backpacks.”
Bree’s eyes widened for more reasons than one. She wasn’t excited about the prospect of riding on the back of a dragon. It seemed a little dangerous, and, while she wasn’t necessarily afraid of heights, she wasn’t sure how she felt about riding high above the forest with nothing to hold onto but dragon wings. She was also surprised to find out that Knox was a clan leader. What was he doing out here in the middle of nowhere, far away from his clan? Shouldn’t a clan leader be with his clan members, leading them? But the biggest surprise to Bree was when Knox mentioned that his clan was the Redwood Dragons. Thanks to her research about the dragon stone, she knew that some dragons from a clan known as the Redwood Dragons had helped the shifters in Texas with recovering the emerald dragon stone. Was Knox speaking of the same clan? Hundreds of questions began swirling in Bree’s mind, but she realized that it would take a long time for him to answer all of them. Right now, the most important thing was to get away from here, and quickly. Hopefully, once they arrived to wherever in the Redwoods Knox’s clan lived, Bree would have time to ask questions. Besides, the sooner they flew away from here, the sooner her dragon flight would be over. Right now, she definitely just wanted to get that part over with. So she simply nodded at Knox, doing her best to look confident.
“Alright,” she said. “Sounds good. Let’s get going.”
“I’m going to take off my clothes before I shift, so that I don’t needlessly ruin another outfit,” Knox said. “I’m used to being naked in front of people because of shifting, but I noticed earlier that it made you uncomfortable. Feel free to turn around while I undress if that makes you feel less awkward.”
Bree felt her cheeks flushing bright red. So he had noticed her discomfort earlier. She nodded quickly and turned around, annoyed at how hot her face had become. Of course, for a shifter nakedness might be totally normal. But for a wizard, nakedness was something that only happened in the bedroom or the doctor’s office. And if Bree saw Knox naked, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from thinking about what it would be like to see him in a bedroom.
If Knox noticed her heated cheeks, he made no comment. She heard him shuffling around as he quickly undressed, and then stuffed his clothes into his backpack. A few moments later, a loud rush of wind indicated that he was shifting into dragon form. Bree turned around to see his dragon in front of her, large and powerful. The beast looked majestic, and fit in well with the majestic redwoods that towered overhead. Bree took a moment to appreciate its beauty, but then Knox’s dragon was snorting gently at her, gesturing toward his back and indicating that he wanted her to climb on. They needed to get moving.
Bree picked up Knox’s large hiking backpack and swung it up onto the dragon’s back. Her own backpack was already tightly strapped onto her back. Knox’s dragon had bent low to the ground so that she could scramble up his back. She climbed up quickly, then lay low on her stomach so that she was flattened against the dragon’s back. She looped one of the straps from Knox’s backpack through one of her arms so that it wouldn’t fly away, and then she held on as tightly as she could to the scales on the dragon’s back. There was not a good place to grip, and she felt somewhat unsecured. But she had little choice. It was either ride his dragon out, or try to hike faster than the wizards who were hunting her down. She knew the wizards would eventually catch her, so she was grateful for the ride, no matter how scary it might be. At least Knox’s dragon was big enough that she had a large, stable surface to ride on.
Knox turned his big dragon head around to make sure she was holding on, and then he began flapping his giant wings. The leaves on the trees all around them quivered violently as the force of his wings sent turbulence through the nearby branches, and Bree’s heart began to pound as the dragon slowly began to rise. Once Knox was in the air, the ground fell away quickly. He maneuvered skillfully through the thick treetops, rising higher and higher until suddenly he broke free into clear blue sky. He kept rising until the treetops were small and looked like children’s toys. The air right near the trees had been turbulent and rough, but once Knox rose into the clouds like this, things were calm. It was almost peaceful, in fact.
Bree relaxed a bit now. As long as there were no sudden bursts of wind, she would be fine. Knox was moving his giant wings at a steady pace, and his body was perfectly straight and still. Bree began enjoying the ride. The world seemed to fall away, along with her worries. For a brief moment, she felt free. She let go of her fear of being found by her wizard clan, or, worse, of not capturing the dragon sapphire before it was too late to stop the forces of evil. Right here, nothing else mattered except the cool wind in her face, and the deep shades of green from the Redwoods below her.
They flew like this for almost two hours. Knox didn’t seem to be taking a straight path. He curved around a bit, following the forest, and Bree supposed that he was trying to stay away from populated areas. If full humans saw a dragon flying around, there was bound to be trouble.
Eventually, Bree could tell that they were descending. They slowly got lower and lower, until Knox was flying in downward circles straight toward the treetops. Bree clutched as tightly as she could to his back. She feared the moment that they would enter the trees again. There were so many branches that it wouldn’t be hard for her to be knocked off of his back only to go tumbling several hundred feet to the ground.
But Knox once again skillfully maneuvered his way through the trees. He seemed to know exactly where every branch and twig was located. Bree guessed that was because these were his stomping grounds. They must be near his clan’s home.
A few minutes later, he landed with a firm but graceful thud on a small open space on the forest floor. Bree realized that she had been holding her breath, and she let it out with a relieved sigh as she slid off of the dragon’s back, pulling Knox’s backpack with her. She could hardly believe it, but she had ridden on a dragon and survived.
Knox gently nudged her away with his dragon head, and she realized that he was preparing to shift back into human form. He wanted her to move back a bit so that she wouldn’t be knocked over by the force. She did so quickly, and soon a rush of powerful energy hit her. She looked away, knowing that he would be naked and once again feeling awkward. He came up to where she stood and took his backpack from her hand. She stared off into the distance, not knowing where to look to make things less awkward. He stepped aw
ay and she could hear him dressing once again. After a minute or two, she heard him walking back toward her, but she did not look in his direction until he reached out his hand and gently put his fingers on her chin, turning her face toward him.
His touch sent an unexpected shock of warmth through Bree’s body, and she felt her cheeks turning red, betraying her feelings once again. She forced herself to smile and meet those deep green eyes of his.
“You okay?” he asked. His voice was softer than it had been before. The concern in his tone made the warmth flooding through her body feel even hotter.
“I’m great,” she said. “You’re a very smooth flyer.”
He held her chin in his fingers for just a moment, searching her eyes with his own. Then he nodded and dropped his hand. Bree felt relieved. His touch did strange things to her heart, and she had too much on her mind already to be sorting through feelings of desire. And yet, even after he dropped his hand, it took a long time for the warmth in her body to subside. Something had changed between them, and they both knew it.
They had chosen, each in their own way, to trust each other. Bree had decided to believe that Knox was a good shifter, and she had trusted her life to him when she agreed to ride his dragon here. Knox, for his part, had trusted that there was truth in what Bree was telling him, and that she was not some sort of spy setting a trap for him. He had brought her to his clan’s home, and Bree knew that signaled a deep level of trust.
At first, his home was not easily seen through the thick forest. They had landed in a small clearing, barely big enough for one dragon to stand in. A crude path led away from the clearing. The path was not very well-worn, but it was still easy enough to see. Knox started walking down this path, and after about a three minute walk they came to a much larger clearing. The tree cover here was thin, although not entirely gone. Whoever had cleared the space here had taken care to leave as much of the forest canopy intact as possible, so that the clearing was still as hidden as possible from above. But the sunlight still came streaming through much brighter here than it did in other places.
Several cabins lined the edges of the clearing. Bree counted two rows of cabins—one row with five cabins and one with six cabins, for a total of eleven cabins. The cabins looked small, as though they couldn’t be much bigger than one room each. But they looked sturdy and well-made. In the open space between the rows of cabins was what looked like a common area. There was a large grill, and not far from that there was a fire pit, which was surrounded by long, thick logs that looked like they served as benches. A tall man was sitting on one of the log benches now, with his head bent over a book. He looked like he had been reading intently, but he looked up quickly when Knox and Bree entered the clearing. He smiled, but raised an eyebrow.
“Hey guys, the boss is back,” he yelled out. “And it looks like he brought company.”
Chapter Eight
Bree watched a smile break across Knox’s face as he waved to the man in the clearing.
“Afternoon, Vance,” Knox called out to him. Vance nodded respectfully as he stood. A few moments later, two heads poked out of one of the nearby cabins.
“Afternoon, Myles. Afternoon, Owen,” Knox said as he continued walking toward the fire pit in the center of the camp. “I think we need to have a little powwow.”
Bree saw all of the men looking from Knox to her and back again. They must not get many visitors, because they were looking at her as though she was an alien. She saw them exchange several meaningful glances with each other.
“I thought you were guarding the camp, Vance,” the one named Myles said. “Looks like you weren’t watching that well since you didn’t warn us the boss was coming in until he’d already landed.”
Vance shrugged, but looked slightly annoyed. “You told me to warn you if any unauthorized visitors showed up. I didn’t think the boss counted as an unauthorized visitor.”
Myles glared at Vance and looked like he was about to say something else, when Knox held up his hand and silenced them.
“Enough, boys,” he said. “We don’t have time for your usual quarreling. As you’ve noticed, I brought a visitor with me. A visitor who has news we might all be interested in hearing. This is Bree. We’ve been flying for several hours, and I’m sure she’s hungry just like I am. Let’s get some food going, and we’ll discuss things over dinner. Any word from the other boys? Is everyone doing alright?”
“Everyone’s good, and Noah’s on his way back from Portugal,” Myles said. “As for dinner, I was making a big pot of chili in my kitchen. That’s why Owen and I were hanging out in there. It should be just about done. If someone wants to start a fire out here, I’ll bring out the chili. Someone else can grab some beers.”
“I’ll take care of the fire,” Vance said, his eyes dancing. “Since we all know I’m the best at starting one.”
There was a roar of friendly protest, and the tension in the air seemed to dissipate as the men laughed and ribbed each other on.
“Can I help with anything?” Bree asked, looking at Knox uncertainly.
“No,” he said, smiling back at her. “Just find a seat by the fire pit and relax. You’ve had quite a day, and you need to rest. You’ll feel better once you have something to eat, and then you can explain more about who you are and what you know about the dragon stone.”
“Dragon stones, plural,” Bree corrected him, not wanting to seem obstinate but thinking it important that he realized the seriousness of the situation.
“Right, stones,” he said, his tone neutral. Bree couldn’t tell whether he was just humoring her or whether he was actually starting to believe her story about the multiple stones. Either way, he didn’t give her a chance to say anything further right then. He shooed her toward the fire pit, and then followed Myles and Owen back to Myles’ cabin.
Vance started kindling a fire in the pit, but he did not say anything to Bree. In fact, he avoided eye contact with her as much as possible, and he seemed extremely uncomfortable being left alone with her. Bree got the feeling that there were no other women in the clan, and that any visitors who did come by here were never women.
Thankfully, Vance and Bree were only alone with their awkward silence for a few minutes. Soon, Knox, Myles, and Owen were returning. Knox was carrying a twelve pack of beers in each hand, Myles had on potholders and was carrying a giant soup pot, and Owen was balancing a stack of bowls and spoons. On top of the bowls and spoons was what looked like a loaf of fresh bread and some butter.
Myles set the pot down, and grabbed a soup ladle he had hung from one of the handles. He took a bowl from Owen and scooped out a generous portion, then handed the bowl to Bree.
“Here you go,” he said, sounding proud and shy all at the same time. “Best bowl of chili you’ll ever taste, if I do say so myself. Knox cracked open a beer and handed it to Bree, and then Owen gave her a slice of buttered, crusty bread. Bree’s mouth watered, and she realized then just how hungry she was. The meal of elk had been good, but that had been hours ago, and flying had made her surprisingly hungry even though she hadn’t been the one doing the work. She dipped her bread into the steaming hot chili and then bit off a piece.
Myles was right. It was the best damn chili she’d ever tasted. Soon, everyone was sitting around the fire with chili, bread, and beer. Knox took a few bites to ward off his hunger, but he didn’t wait long before he started speaking.
“Everyone, as I’ve already told you, this is Bree. I met her in the Redwoods during my survival mission, and you’ll be hearing her story soon. But first, Bree, please allow me to formally introduce everyone. Right here to my right is Myles. This over here is Vance. And that’s Owen over on the other side of Vance.”
Each of the men nodded politely at Bree as their names were called. They looked at her curiously, but did not ask questions. They were respectfully waiting for their leader, Knox, to explain things.
“This is not even half of my crew of dragons,” Knox was saying. “There are six
others who are off on missions right now. We are, as I’ve told you, known as the Redwood Dragons. We’re a small clan, but mighty. We’ve been trained since boyhood in the art of ancient dragon fighting. We are a brotherhood of orphans, found and trained by the last of the great Redwood Dragons who had been charged with guarding ancient artifacts.”
Knox paused, and Bree felt her heart starting to pound. This all sounded very familiar, and she was beginning to realize exactly who Knox was. She had heard of him when she heard the story of the emerald dragon stone. How was it possible she had been lucky enough to find the one shifter who best understood the dragon stones and their importance? It had to have been fate. Bree felt truly hopeful for the first time in a while.
“Our lives are dedicated to guarding ancient artifacts as well as finding artifacts that have gone missing and are in danger of falling into the wrong hands. As I’m sure you know, since you know of the dragon stone, an artifact with supernatural power that falls into the wrong hands can be disastrous for all—humans, shifters, and wizards alike.”
Bree saw Knox’s men shoot him confused looks when he said the word wizard. She also saw Knox glancing down at her magic ring when he spoke of ancient artifacts, and she quietly turned her hand so that it was difficult for Knox to see the ring. He clearly still thought that ring itself was some ancient artifact and not simply a wizard’s magic ring.
“Many of our dragons are off on missions to recover artifacts right now. One of the biggest missions we’ve ever been involved in, a mission I think you know well, was to recover the dragon stone. Or, one of the dragon stones, as you say.”
Now Knox’s men really looked confused. Vance, who seemed to be a bit hot blooded, could not keep himself from commenting at this point.
Defiance and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 1) Page 6