When he got there, the first thing he would do was inspect every inch of her to assure himself she wasn’t injured. Then he’d kiss her soundly, right before killing her with his bare hands. Anger warred with fear. How could one small female get into―and cause―so much trouble with little or no effort on her part?
Chapter Thirty
The cave offered inadequate protection from the elements, and Briar shivered close to the huddled, shaking mass of black dragon. She wasn’t sure if she should be frightened of or feel sorry for the creature. Its pathetic, sniffling cries almost sounded like those of a baby.
Compassion won out over fear and, with a gentle hand, she stroked its back and whispered nonsense words of comfort. The dragon nuzzled closer to Briar, its scales scraping her tender skin but its hot breath warming her.
As the chill left her body, a question nagged her. Why had this dragon acted so strangely by racing toward Uthiel and Carnelian?
A commotion outside the cave gave her the answer. Carnelian’s head penetrated the waterfall and peered in for a brief second before disappearing once again.
Her frantic voice screamed into Briar’s mind. “Obsidian is injured! His wing is probably broken. He can not fly out by himself, and I can not get myself inside far enough to help him.”
The small black dragon wailed, the sound so heartbreaking it brought tears to Briar’s eyes. She now understood what the two dragons meant to each other. Mother and son.
“What should I do, Carnelian?”
While she waited for Carnelian to circle back around, she whispered to the black dragon, “Ah, Obsidian, you poor baby. I’m so sorry you’re hurt. Carnelian’s your mommy, isn’t she? You were just trying to get to her, weren’t you? You weren’t after Uthiel at all. You weren’t going to harm anyone. And here I spoiled everything by grabbing onto you. I’m so sorry.”
Carnelian’s head reappeared and her voice sounded more like a sob than actual words. “I don’t know what to do. Give me a few moments. I’ll think of something.”
Obsidian’s peridot-green eyes glowed with liquid heat, and he sniffed loudly as he laid his big head in Briar’s lap, covering her from breast to kneecaps. The added weight numbed her limbs, but Briar didn’t care as long as he was no longer crying. His breathing calmed as he popped a talon into his mouth and suckled noisily.
“Don’t you worry about a thing, little guy. Uthiel will get us out of here, you’ll see. He always knows what to do. He’s the bravest, wisest, greatest paladin ever.”
Carnelian screamed into her mind, “No, he hates me. He’ll kill my son!”
Briar took a deep breath. “I won’t let that happen, I swear.”
The young dragon blinked his eyes trustingly and snuggled closer. Briar smiled and wrapped an arm about his neck. “That’s right, just relax, little guy. You’ll see. Uthiel will be here soon.”
****
She simply must get to him. There was no other choice. Carnelian circled the small cave, looking for some other way, any way, to get deeper inside.
Obsidian. What would happen to her son if she failed? What would happen to the entire dragon race if he perished? The half-elf, half-human female would protect him, even with her own life if need be, of that Carnelian had no doubt, but would it be enough?
That didn’t change the fact he was injured and she couldn’t help him. Was be frightened? Was he cold and lonely without his mother? In dragon years, he was still such a baby. And there was no way the female could get them both safely out of the cave on her own.
With renewed determination, Carnelian once again plunged her head as far into the small opening as she could. The water temporarily blinded her. If only she could get her shoulders in, then she could call Obsidian to her and he could climb onto her back. She could fly him to safety.
But what of the half-elf, half-human, though? Could she simply leave the healer to fend for herself in a cave halfway down a waterfall? What if the paladin couldn’t get to her?
Two years ago she could’ve left the half-elf, half-human. But then, two years had proven to be a very long time and much had happened. She’d taken the life of a different female then, and it didn’t matter that it had been an accident and she’d been trying to protect her newly hatched dragling.
The taking of a human life went against dragonkind’s cardinal rule and code of ethics. This was the only unbreakable rule, passed from generation to generation since the time nogards walked Albrath, and she had broken it. The taking of human life was forbidden. For in the taking of human life lies the extinction of dragons.
The humans never let the dragons forget it was they alone among the two-footed creatures inhabiting this world who were responsible for the extinction of the dragon’s only true predator, the nogard. A pact had been made. No human was to be harmed by a dragon for any reason. To do so meant the humans would not forgive and never forget. They would hunt unceasingly the dragon responsible. If they couldn’t find it, they would be within their rights to kill any who stood in their way, if need be, until all dragons, and the magic they brought to this world, ceased to exist.
Many dragons had already paid with their own blood for Carnelian’s mistake. Uthiel’s sword arm had made sure of that. Since only one male dragon hatched each century, and last century’s male hadn’t survived, the number of dragons now dying exceeded the number of successful hatchings.
It was time to finally make right the wrong of the past. Time for the killing to stop. Time for peace to once more reign. Otherwise, when Obsidian’s time was upon him, there would be no females for him to mate with. The race known as dragon would fade from the memory of man.
No, she could not haul Obsidian safely from the cave and leave behind the healer. The blood of another human being would not be on her talons. Especially not this human. She must get them both out.
The half-human, half-elf had, without even knowing it, bonded with Obsidian in that cave when she’d offered him comfort, stroking his scales, and patting his head.
His life was now as much hers as it was his own, and he was as bound to the healer as he was to his own race.
The future of dragons, humans, and magic was irrevocably intertwined.
Carnelian circled the cave, waiting and watching as the paladin who hated her―and whom she had no choice but to now trust―drew closer. She needed his help. And when this was over, she would gladly sacrifice what she must.
Maybe then, the paladin would no longer hate. Then, Obsidian and all dragonkind would live in peace.
Around and around she flew, just above the ledge.
****
Even though he had no doubt she’d been expecting him, when the water parted and Uthiel landed with a thud on the ground before her feet, Briar looked surprised. The dragling standing behind her looked even more startled as it cried out in fear.
Almost immediately, the big red dragon’s head popped into the mouth of the cave and emitted a mournful cry from its gaping, sharp-toothed mouth before its head popped back out.
Uthiel jumped in front of Briar, sword drawn, spinning back and forth between the two dragons.
“Uthiel, put down that sword. You’re frightening the baby.”
He stared at Briar. What the VoT is she talking about?
“Baby?”
Briar patted the black dragling. “Yes, this baby. The red dragon out there is its mother. Oh, Uthiel, isn’t he just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?”
Cute? She thought the scaly creature cute? Next thing you know, she’d be wanting to take the damn thing home as a pet.
Uthiel shook his head. “It’s a dragon, Briar. The only good dragon is a dead dragon. And it’s a she, not a he. Now step aside.”
Briar glared at him, and Uthiel sighed. Why couldn’t anything ever be easy when it came to this woman?
She stepped in front of the child dragon and held her arms wide. “You’ll not harm a single scale on his body, Uthiel Stoutheart. Do you hear me? How paladin-like would it be t
o hurt a child, especially a poor, innocent baby? Matter of fact, you’ll do just the opposite. You will get all three of us out of here this very instant.”
Uthiel opened his mouth to speak but no sound came forth. What could he possibly say to make this woman understand the danger she was in? Action was the only course.
He sheathed his sword, grasped Briar about her middle, and tugged hard on the rope still attached about his waist. Immediately they were being hefted up and outwards.
The dragling screeched and grabbed onto Briar. His talons ripped her from Uthiel’s arms and shredded the sleeve of her tunic.
Uthiel had no choice but to slash the rope in half with his sword or be dragged up without Briar.
He wanted to yell, he wanted to scream, and he wanted to shake some sense into her. What was it going to take to get through to Briar that this wasn’t some kind of game?
Uthiel gritted his teeth and advanced. “Now look what that…that…thing has done. How are we going to get back up the falls without the rope? I’m going to kill that dragon, Briar. I have no choice. Step aside.”
Briar threw her arms around the young dragon’s neck. “You’ll do no such thing. I’m not leaving here without him.”
What the VoT am I going to do? Uthiel paced the small, unoccupied area in the cave. How was he going to convince Briar they had no choice but leave the stupid creature behind or kill it?
He cleared his throat. “I can’t get her out, she’s too big. Even if we still had rope, which we don’t, Sarco and Leeky would never be able to haul us up with the added weight of that…that dragon! And don’t for a minute forget that’s precisely what it is. She isn’t a pet, Briar. Even young dragons are dangerous. We have to leave her. We have no choice. Let her mother, if that’s what she really is, worry about getting her out.”
Tears pooled in Briar’s eyes, and Uthiel’s breath caught in his chest. Not the tears, for God Draka’s sake. Please, not the tears.
“He’s a baby, Uthiel, and he’s a he, not a she. His name is Obsidian. We can’t just leave him here. You know as well as I do, if his mother could’ve gotten him out on her own, she would have. She’s obviously too big to fit.”
Uthiel shook his head. “It can’t possibly be a he, Briar. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of all dragons are female. Male dragons are rarer than hair on a frog’s ass.” He scowled at the black creature who, admittedly, looked rather comical as it tried to hide behind slender Briar.
“Well, his mother says he’s her son, so that makes him male. What difference does it make? We all still need to get out of here.”
He loved her with all his heart and soul but the lass obviously didn’t know her dragons. “The difference is, my lady, if the dragling was a male, as a Paladin of Albrath, I’d be duty bound to rescue it. And the last thing I want to do today,” he snorted, “is save a dragon. Any dragon. So it’s female.”
Briar’s arms wrapped around his waist as she pressed her body firmly up against his, and Uthiel felt his reserve starting to slip.
“Oh, you silly paladin, you. I wouldn’t know one dragon from another, but even I can tell a boy from a girl.”
This time he looked, really looked.
Son of a fucking billy goat.
Even he couldn’t ignore the proof right before his eyes of Briar’s words. A weariness he’d rarely known in his life filled him to the brim.
The question was, though, how was he going to get them out of this mess?
****
Briar quickly positioned herself between Uthiel and Carnelian when the large dragon stuck her head inside the cave again.
“Healer, have the paladin toss you up behind my head. Obsidian will follow. Then the paladin himself can climb on and I will fly us out of here. If we work together, we can make it to safety.”
Briar bit her lip as she glanced back at Uthiel. He glared at Carnelian, his sword drawn.
Briar forced her mind to calm so she could try to reply by using―for the first time―the same thought transference process Carnelian did. “Perhaps you should tell him, Carnelian.”
The dragon shook her head and drops of water flew from one end of the cave to the other. “I can’t get into his mind. There is still too much anger in his heart.”
Briar took a deep breath. “All right. I’ll try.”
Carnelian nodded and disappeared from sight, calling, “I’ll be back. I can’t maintain this position for long.”
“Uthiel, I have a plan. Well, really, Carnelian has a plan.”
He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Briar cringed.
“‘Carnelian’? You’re naming the dragons now? Really, Briar, seriously?”
Briar seethed. Why did the man have to be so frigging irritating? “I didn’t name her, her mother did. And if you weren’t so closed minded, you’d know that. I met Carnelian in my dreams, but I didn’t know then she was a dragon. I certainly didn’t know she was the dragon you’ve been hunting,” she said, poking her finger at him. “But that isn’t the point. Uthiel, she has a plan to get us all out of here.”
Uthiel scoffed, “The only plan concerning that monster I’m interested in is my plan to drive a sword into her murdering heart.”
Stubborn, blind, overly proud, pig-headed paladin!
Briar stomped her foot. “There isn’t time for this, Uthiel. Think about it! Besides, she’ll be back in a minute. We need to be ready to go.”
When Uthiel crossed his arms across his chest, tilted his chin in that sanctimonious way that never failed to irritate her, and then had the audacity to glower before turning his back on her, Briar was so mad, she could spit. “Where did I ever get the idea you loved me? I thought it was your wish, even your duty as a paladin, to get us safely out of here. You remember those words, don’t you? Or are you no longer a rescuer of damsels in distress, either?”
Uthiel whipped his head around and glared. “Don’t use my code, my beliefs, or my feelings for you against me, Briar. If it means that much to you, I’ll try the demon dragon’s plan, but don’t think for a moment I’ll change my mind about what I mean to do. Before the sun sets this day, I’ll have my soul whole again, no matter whose mother that beast is.”
Carnelian’s head broke through the curtain of water and Briar quickly relayed the instructions to Uthiel and Obsidian.
Grabbing a still-reluctant Uthiel by the hand, Briar tugged him along as she ran toward Carnelian. Stopping beside the dragon’s huge head, she didn’t have to ask Uthiel to toss her up and onto the back of the creature’s neck. He’d done it so quickly she’d barely had time to register the fact she was now sitting upon Carnelian before Obsidian followed her, just as Carnelian had predicted.
He struggled unsuccessfully to climb onto his mother’s back, so Uthiel shoved on the baby dragon’s underbelly to heft him the last couple of inches. Obsidian landed with a plop in front of Briar and clung tightly to his mother’s neck.
Briar held her breath, waiting as—with what had to be the last of his own strength—Uthiel grabbed hold of a giant red scale and lifted himself up and behind her. His arms wrapped firmly around Briar’s waist.
“Hold on tight, Healer,” Carnelian’s voice whispered through Briar’s mind.
Briar wrapped her arms as far around the young dragling in front of her as she could, and held on for dear life.
An ear-piercing screech rent the air as Carnelian flew out of the cave. They ascended upward in a spiral, the spray of water from the falls like a heavy rain upon their faces.
With a bone-jarring thud, they landed once more on dry ground above the waterfall.
Not two feet away stood Sarco and Leeky, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. Both men dropped the rope they’d still been holding.
“What the bite of a pesky horsefly trying ta hump the rump of a shadowknight’s stallion would ya make of that? Best three-point landing I think I’ve ever seen.”
Chapter Thirty-One
With his sword drawn and ready, Uthiel braced himself
once more.
The huge red dragon knelt silently before him, waiting for the final, fatal strike to fall.
Sarco and Leeky stood off to the side, restraining a struggling Briar and the distraught dragling, preventing them both from interfering.
It took all of Uthiel’s concentration to block out Briar’s pleas and the whimpering of the young dragon. He couldn’t think of any way to make his love understand that even though he no longer wanted to do this, he had no choice. It really was the only way. He was doing this for her, for them, for their children and their future. The time for choices had come to an end.
All he had to do was plunge the sword deep between the scales of the heaving, exposed dragon chest before him and all of their problems would be over.
He wouldn’t have to wonder if he was healed. He’d be made whole again. He’d finally be able to put the past behind him, where the past belonged. A life with Briar could finally begin.
Still, Uthiel hesitated.
Something is not right here.
Why, if the red monster had meant to harm Deleny, had the dragon then helped them today? Had it just been for her child?
The day of Deleny’s death played over in his mind. Once more her sweet face and excited, melodic voice haunted him as they had rushed together up the mountainside. The field of dragons’ nests spread out before his mind’s eye. Uthiel sucked in a deep, painful breath at the memory.
He lifted his sword yet another inch higher and a fraction closer to the red beast. The dragling screamed.
Uthiel couldn’t force himself to strike. Not yet.
He chanced a quick glance at the dragon Briar called Obsidian. What if he’d been inside an egg close to where he and Deleny had been frolicking that day, or had been freshly hatched and sleeping in one of the other nearby nests? The mother dragon would have simply been trying to protect her child.
Wouldn’t Deleny―and certainly Briar, for that matter―have done the same thing if it had been her child she’d believed in danger?
The Academy Volume One Page 29