Tears of the Dragon

by Tears of the Dragon (NCP) (lit)

  Several times throughout the afternoon Khalia was tempted to call after him and demand that he slow down. She found she was reluctant to do so, however. Angry as she was, she merely bit her tongue and did her best to keep up, ignoring the fact that he was getting further and further ahead of her. By the time dusk began closing in around her, Khalia had become so tired she’d long since lost all awareness of anything except picking one foot up and putting it down again. It wasn’t until the first croak of some water creature snapped her out of her misery that she realized she couldn’t even hear Damien in front of her any more.

  Chapter Ten

  Khalia stopped abruptly, looking around in surprise, wondering if she’d taken a turn down some narrow stream when Damien went straight … or gone straight when he’d turned off. She was on the point of calling out to him when it occurred to her that predators, or assassins, might be closer to her than Damien was. Even if they weren’t, her cry could give away their position if anyone other than Damien was close enough to hear.

  Fear crept insidiously through her veins as she stood indecisively, jumping at each little sound, straining to hear some sound that would indicate Damien’s direction. Lifting her head, she strained to listen, struggled to hear something that would give her hope. Instead, as she stood frozen in the middle of the stream, realizing she was no longer even certain of which direction she’d come from, or which she’d been traveling in, she heard the distant splash of something really large hitting the water.

  Her heart leapt out of her chest and lodged itself in her throat as she looked wildly around, envisioning something like a giant snake, or an alligator swimming swiftly toward her.

  Stifling the urge to scream, she whirled and fled away from the sound, the need to stay silent and remain in the stream fixed so firmly in her mind that she fought the instinct to do either, or both, silently racing along the stream bed as fast as she could. Her heart felt as if it would burst, from both exhaustion and fear. An internal darkness, as dangerous as the oncoming night, threatened the edges of her vision. A fiery pain developed in her side that became harder and harder to ignore.

  Suddenly, someone, or something, seized her from behind. Gasping, she whirled and fought with what little remained of her flagging strength.

  "Cease! Sheashona!" He gave her a slight shake when she continued to fight his hold mindlessly.

  Finally, his voice filtered through the maze of terror that gripped her mind and Khalia went limp against him, too weak and shaken even to cling to him for support. He pulled her tightly against him, holding her until the tremors that shook her began to subside.

  "Heard something," she managed to gasp, uncertain now whether or not it had been Damien that she’d heard, but fearful that it hadn’t been and the threat was still there.

  Damien stiffened, suddenly alert as he glanced around them. Scooping her into his arms, he moved swiftly to the bank and emerged from the stream.

  A spark of anger flared, that he’d left her behind, but she was too weak and exhausted even to fan it and it died almost as quickly as it had flickered to life. Instead of subsiding, the tremors grew worse until her teeth were chattering. Even the warmth of Damien’s body failed to chase the chill away.

  Finally, he stopped. Khalia lifted her head with an effort and looked around. They were in a tiny clearing, she saw. Their packs lay beside a shelter of some sort, fashioned of branches and leaves.

  "I didn’t think it wise to build a fire, but perhaps I should build a small one—at least until you’re warm."

  Khalia shook her head, pulling away from him and struggling to be put down. She braced her knees as he slowly lowered her to the ground. "I’m just a little c-chilled," she managed to say with barely a stammer. "I was…." She broke off, swallowing against the sudden urge to cry like a baby in the aftermath. "I was just …," she tried again.

  She felt her face crumple when he hooked a finger beneath her chin and forced her to look up at him. "I was scared!" she wailed, giving up the effort to try to remain stoic. "I couldn’t see you anymore, and then I got turned around and I heard something and I didn’t know which way to run."

  He pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her until she’d regained control of her wayward emotions and the trembling had begun to subside.

  Khalia was grateful for it, and for the warmth that slowly seeped inside of her, replacing the chill. Finally, sniffing, she pushed against him. Almost reluctantly, he relaxed his grip on her and finally allowed his arms to drop as she stepped away from him. "I’m sorry," she mumbled. "Ordinarily, I’m not like this at all. I’m usually so … in control." But then, she wasn’t usually faced with the sort of things she’d had to face since she’d arrived here … not that that was an excuse. She should have been able to handle the little bumps in the road she’d encountered. It wasn’t as if her life had been smoothing sailing before all of this had happened.

  But then, Damien had introduced her to a whole range of emotions she’d never felt before.

  Still more than a little weak kneed, she half sat, half collapsed on the ground in front of the shelter. After staring at her for several moments, Damien grabbed up the pack that contained their food and sat down across from her. "You’re certain you don’t want a fire?" he asked slowly.

  She shook her head, then nodded a little jerkily. "No. I’m fine. Really."

  Opening the pack at last, he pulled out another bundle like the one he’d taken from it earlier. Khalia held out her hand to stop him when he would’ve torn it in half. "You eat it. I’m … actually, I’m not really hungry."

  He frowned. "You need the food for strength."

  She didn’t feel like arguing with him. "A small piece then."

  He tore off half and handed it to her. She studied it a long moment and finally divided it in half again and handed one portion back to him. He looked at it, but didn’t take it. She shrugged and acted as if she was going to toss it aside. Grabbing her wrist, he took the offering and, after giving her a reproachful glance, ate it.

  "I’m far more thirsty than hungry," she said around a small bite of food. "Which I suppose is silly considering we’ve waded water all day."

  Without a word, he produced a metal container and handed it to her. Twisting the lid off, she sniffed it, discovered it was water and drank several draughts before she set the container down between them and finished off the portion of food she’d taken. Brushing the crumbs from her hands, she picked up the container and took another couple of sips, then set it between them again.

  She’d almost decided he meant the container strictly for her use when he picked it up. Something fluttered in her stomach when she saw his lips curl around the neck of the container as hers had only moments before. The memory of the way his lips had felt on hers flooded her with remembered warmth. She looked away, studying the crude shelter. "I guess this means we sleep here?"

  He cleared his throat. When she glanced at him, she saw that he was twisting the lid back on the container, a frown pulling his brows together. "You need to rest."

  She wasn’t going to argue with him. She’d thought she was fit enough to handle most anything. She’d been accustomed to walking the ten blocks from her apartment to the museum regularly, taking a cab only when she stayed late or when the weather was inclement. Today had been a test of endurance, however, and she ached in places she hadn’t even known she had muscles. "You need to rest, too."

  "I’ll stand guard."

  She was suddenly angry. "And you’ll be useless to either of us if you mean to be so pig headed and refuse to rest."

  He sent her a startled glance and flushed. "I am a soldier. I am accustomed to forced marches."

  "In a pig’s eye! You fly! You don’t slog through swamps all day like today."

  A hint of amusement gleamed momentarily in his eyes before he resolutely extinguished it. "It’s not safe to fly. We’d be too easy to spot."

  "I’m not arguing the logic of walking," Khali
a said testily. "I’m not a fool, despite what you obviously think … never mind. Suit yourself … but you might want to consider that I can’t carry you … you big ox!"

  Turning her back on him, she crawled into the shelter and lay down with her back to the opening. To her surprise, it was actually quite comfortable. Damien had piled soft vegetation all over the ground beneath the shelter and undoubtedly taken the time to remove any hard objects. She sincerely hoped the leaves weren’t crawling with biting insects. It occurred to her after a moment that she hadn’t been bitten at all, despite the fact that they’d been traipsing through woods all day. Either this world had no biting insects—utopian dream!--or they were few and far between, and/or didn’t have a taste for her hide.

  She’d begun to drowse when Damien climbed into the shelter behind her. She shifted to give him more room as he struggled to settle in the small space, but resisted the urge to smile, uncertain of whether or not he might be able to see it.

  Naturally, it was black as pitch inside the tiny shelter, but she’d misjudged his dragon senses before. She knew now that, even when he appeared to be no more than human, as she was, he possessed senses that went beyond those of humans.

  When he finally settled, leaving as much distance between them as the shelter allowed, she turned over, lifted the arm he wasn’t laying on and placed it over her waist, then snuggled close to him.

  "Sheashona," he whispered hoarsely.

  "I’m cold," she responded plaintively.

  He released a long suffering sigh. "I will build a fire."

  "No. This is good."

  She heard him grind his teeth as she slipped an arm around his waist and worked one thigh between his legs. Yawning as his warmth slowly enveloped her, she relaxed and allowed sleep to overtake her.

  Light was filtering through the opening when Khalia woke as Damien carefully disentangled himself and climbed out of the shelter. Khalia sighed, reluctant to move, but the morning air was cool and her heat had escaped her clutches. She stretched and was immediately sorry as every muscle in her body protested with agony. Groaning, she crawled out and looked around. Damien was no where to be seen. Shrugging, she went a little way into the brush to relieve herself and then listened until she determined the direction of the stream.

  They were not far from it, but when she’d washed her face and hands and scrubbed her teeth the best she could with her finger she discovered that she wasn’t sure of which direction to take to get back to the clearing. "This is embarrassing," she muttered, plunking her hands on her hips and looking around. She hadn’t realized she had such a poor sense of direction. Of course, she’d never been in a situation like this. She’d spent her whole life in a city. She knew the city and even if by some wild chance she’d managed to get herself lost, she knew all she had to do was hail a cab. There were no cabs here, no street signs, no people to ask her way. She couldn’t even see the sun through the trees.

  Finally, she sat down again, pulled her boots off and dabbled her feet in the water.

  Damien, she knew, would come to look for her.

  He looked ready to breathe fire when he found her some fifteen minutes later. She sent him a look of surprise. Without a word, he grasped her arms and hauled her to her feet. "Do you have a death wish?" he growled.

  Khalia frowned, discovering it was still far too early for her to ignore this sort of provocation. "No," she said tightly.

  "Then don’t wander off!" he growled, shaking his finger under her nose as if she was naughty child.

  Khalia bit him. She hadn’t actually intended to do more than nip at him. She wasn’t even certain of where the impulse had come from. She just did it before she thought better of it, as if someone, or something, was controlling her.

  Damien yelped, snatching his finger back and examining it.

  Khalia bit her lip, trying to subdue the urge to laugh.

  He glared at her in outrage.

  She managed to look repentant. "I’m sorry. I don’t know what made me do that. Here. Let me see."

  They fought a short tug of war over the abused appendage. Finally, Damien, apparently deciding his dignity had suffered enough, thrust the finger out for her to examine it.

  To her relief, she saw she hadn’t broken the skin. She supposed it was surprise more than anything else that had caused him to jerk his finger away, but, driven by her new resident demon, she leaned closer and kissed it. "Better," she asked, looking up at him innocently.

  He swallowed, his eyes darkening.

  It was all the inspiration her demon needed. Very deliberately, she lifted his finger and slipped it between her lips, sucking on it.

  The air rushed from his chest as if she’d rammed her fist into his solar plexus. Releasing his finger the moment he tugged at it, she turned and sat down, pulling her boots on. "I don’t suppose we could eat before we start?"

  Either he didn’t hear her or he chose to ignore her, leaping into the stream hard enough to splatter her thoroughly with water. She gasped as the cold water hit her, but resolutely refused to look up at him and allow him to see he’d succeeded in annoying her.

  He stalked away without a word, muttering under his breath.

  "What?" Khalia called.

  He stopped and turned slowly, frowning.

  "I thought you said something."

  His lips tightened. "The god’s willing we should reach our destination by the morrow," he growled and turned away once more.

  Khalia hurried after him, keeping pace with an effort. "Where are we going?"

  He threw her an irritated glance. "My brother’s holdings."

  "Do you have any sisters?"

  "No. Thank the gods, I do not."

  "Nasty," Khalia muttered.

  He slid a glance in her direction but refused to be baited.

  "Just the one brother?" Khalia persisted.

  "Two brothers, Nigel and Basil."

  "No one else?"

  "No."

  Khalia lapsed into silence, wondering if he really meant no one, or if there was a female, or females, somewhere that he wasn’t counting. Not that it mattered. He’d made it clear enough that he had no desire to give in to his attraction to her—and, when all was said and done, she was afraid it wasn’t a very powerful attraction to start with if he could ignore it so easily. The Lord only knew she’d done everything she could think of to break through his determined resistance.

  She supposed that was the problem, the well from whence her demons sprang. It wounded her ego that he was the first man she’d met in her life that had tempted her beyond reason, and she hadn’t been able to tempt him beyond reason.

  It wasn’t entirely her ego, however, and she knew it. Her feelings ran deeper than desires of the flesh. It hurt that he seemed to have no interest in her beyond seeing to it that she was installed as his damned queen.

  It occurred to her, too, that she felt strangely unlike herself. She wasn’t certain why, but it was almost as if she had a beast within her as he did and it had begun to control her instead of the other way around.

  Was it even remotely possible that what he’d said was true? Or was it something like wishful thinking on her part, that she’d stumbled upon her roots in a place she had never expected to find them?

  Sighing, she gave up the effort to keep pace with him and set her own pace, wondering how far they were now from the portal. She wouldn’t have wanted to stay in this place even if it hadn’t been for the fact that she’d found herself in the middle of some sort of political intrigue. She certainly had no desire to get herself killed over something she’d never wanted to begin with.

  Maybe his brother would be more reasonable? It was worth a try anyway. As accustomed as she was to being self-sufficient, she wasn’t a fool. She knew her limitations and it was obvious she wasn’t going to make it back to the portal without help. She might have had some chance of it if she’d managed to get out of the fortress Damien had taken her to. She knew it couldn’t have been far. Now, the
further they went, the more remote her chances became.

  The only bright spot that she could see was that she had the power to torment Damien almost as much as he annoyed her.

  When she glanced up, she saw that he was rapidly disappearing from sight. Shrugging, she ignored him, glancing at the forest on either side of the creek as flashes of color caught her eye. She hadn’t been in any condition to pay much attention to her surroundings the day before. In truth, she was a city girl through and through and not particularly drawn to nature anyway, but she discovered she was curious about this world.

  Trees and shrubs grew thickly, right down to the water line. She didn’t have a clue whether or not they looked anything like plants that might be found in similar areas of her own world, but she was fairly certain the color differed. All the leaves she could see were a bright green, varying from a shade more yellow than green to an almost teal color, but there were no true greens.

  The song of a bird caught her attention and she paused, studying the brush closely for a look at it. When she caught a glimpse of it at last, she felt a welling inside of her almost like … joy. It was a tiny thing, moving like quicksilver among the branches, but pausing now and then to trill out it’s lovely warble. It was green, which she supposed accounted for the difficulty in spotting it, beyond its size. It had a jaunty little cockade, though, of bright red, which curled over one of its bright blue eyes.

  "Is something amiss?"

  Khalia looked at Damien a little guiltily. "I stopped to rest a moment," she lied. "And I saw that little bird. What is it?"

  Frowning, Damien turned to follow the direction of her finger. He flushed and looked away. "I don’t see anything."