Courage and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 9)

by Sloane Meyers

  “No!” she yelled, and started diving downward toward him, as fast as her broomstick would carry her. Shields be damned, she was going to rescue him. Someone had already broken through her shield, anyway, if they had managed to knock Grayson off. She knew he’d been attacked. There had been no mistaking the pain in his voice as he fell away from the broomstick, and, besides, he would never just fall off. Something had pushed him. Someone.

  Someone Saul had sent, no doubt.

  Zoe was flying so rapidly that she could hardly see. She kept her eyes trained on Grayson’s falling form, not daring to look away for even a second lest she lose sight of him. They had several thousand feet until the ground, still, but she wasn’t sure she’d be strong enough to pluck him out of thin air at the speed he was falling. She clenched her right fist, feeling the metal of her magic ring against her skin. She would hit him with a suspension spell that would hold him up in midair. Once he was no longer hurtling through the air, she’d pull him back onto the broomstick and release the spell.

  Zoe felt her stomach turn nervously. It had been a long time since she’d done a suspension spell, and she hoped she could do it correctly. But surely, if she could handle the Crepitus spell, she could manage a suspension spell. She took a deep breath and was about to utter the spell, when she saw a burst of green tearing through the shirt of Grayson’s military uniform. The green grew larger, and the rest of his clothes tore away as well. His backpack went hurtling toward the earth as his dragon emerged. The late afternoon sunlight caught his green scales and made them shimmer with hues of purple, blue, and even pink. His head became a large fearsome dragon head, his hands and feet became dragon hands and feet, ending in razor-sharp claws. A tail extended out from his huge dragon body, and then—wings. The wings were the last part of his dragon to emerge, and Grayson had fallen dangerously close to the ground by the time they did. But he was already flapping them before they had even fully finished growing out, and in a matter of seconds he had managed to stop his terrifying freefall toward the earth.

  He roared, and soared upward, his giant dragon head swinging back and forth as he looked for Zoe. She pulled into an abrupt stop, and took a moment to let her heart settle back into her chest. She’d been afraid for a moment that she was going to lose him, and the thought had filled her with a sense of dread so sharp that her physical body felt like it had been wounded.

  But no, he was fine. He was there, in dragon form, flying toward her as his powerful wings cut through the air. Zoe hovered in midair, watching him come, telling herself that everything was fine, even though she knew deep down that everything was not fine. Grayson might be alright, but everything was not fine.

  Saul’s soldiers had found them. But how? Their invisibility shields had been flawless. Zoe had been so careful about not flying too fast. And none of the Falcon Cross scouts had reported any suspicious activity from Saul’s camps, which were being watched every second of every day.

  Zoe didn’t have much time to ponder where things had gone wrong, though. As Grayson flew toward her, she saw a blur cutting across the sky to his left.

  “Grayson! On your left!” she shouted. She was already flying toward him, leaning into her broomstick. She was still too far away for her spells to do much good. Luckily, Grayson heard her and reacted before thinking. He swung his dragon head sharply to the left and let out a long stream of fire. The wizard that had been approaching him didn’t have time to dodge the flames, but she did have a magic shield up. The flames slowed her, but didn’t stop her completely. She veered sideways and threw an attack spell at Grayson. It bounced off his thick dragon hide as he turned to breathe another stream of fire at his attacker.

  Zoe continued to fly toward him, but she never made it. Before she could reach firing range, another of Saul’s wizards attacked her. Zoe pulled to an abrupt stop and returned his attack spell with one of her own. The wizard had a shield up, but not a very strong one. Zoe quickly adjusted her attack strategy and began beating back the wizard. Grayson was going to have to fend for himself, which was just fine. Now that he was in dragon form, he was more than capable of doing so.

  Zoe focused all of her attention on the wizard in front of her. She kept her own protective shield strong while throwing out spell after spell. She let her invisibility shield go. There was no point in wasting magical energy on trying to stay invisible. Saul’s soldiers had obviously broken through the invisibility shield she’d had up. She moved rapidly across the sky, zigzagging back and forth to avoid the spells the enemy wizard was throwing at her, and throwing back several attack spells of her own. It didn’t take her very long to throw a knockout blow at her opponent. The wizard yelped in pain, and then fell off his broomstick, hurtling toward the earth.

  Zoe glanced quickly up at Grayson, and saw that he was holding his own quite well against the wizard he was fighting. He was slowly wearing down the other wizard, and as soon as he got through her magic shield he’d be able to quickly defeat her. Zoe made a split-second decision, and decided to chase after the wizard she’d just knocked down. If she could catch the wizard before he hit the ground and died a sudden, violent death, she might be able to get more information about how these wizards had found them, or how many more were out there. As far as she could see, there were only the two enemy wizards out here right now. It surprised her that they had attacked her on their own. They were using dark magic, yes. But they weren’t very good at it, and they didn’t seem to be well-trained fighters. The whole situation felt strange.

  Zoe dove after the falling wizard, leaning hard against her broomstick and picking up speed with each passing millisecond. Once she was within firing range, she pointed her ring at the wizard and shouted, “Magicae suspendo.” She wasn’t nervous about performing the spell, as she had been when she’d been trying to perform it on Grayson. Here, if she missed, she’d lose out on the chance to interrogate an enemy. That didn’t even come close to the pain it would have caused her to lose Grayson.

  She shouldn’t have worried about her ability to perform the spell. She executed it perfectly. One second, the enemy wizard was falling to his death. The next, he had come to an abrupt stop, hanging in midair. Zoe slowed her flight slightly, but not by much. She could already see him holding his magic ring out at the invisible bonds that suspended him, trying to break free from the spell she’d cast. It was a suicide effort, to be sure. If he broke the suspension spell, he would be falling to his death once again, with not enough time to perform a saving spell of his own. Zoe had just saved his life, but he didn’t want to be saved. He didn’t want to be captured alive.

  “Too bad, buddy,” Zoe said. She pointed her ring at him again and said “Magicae obstupefio.”

  The stunning spell froze him in place immediately. The only thing he could move now was his head and neck. Zoe could hear him yelling at her as she approached, but she couldn’t make out his words. No matter. Without the ability to move his hand, he couldn’t perform magic spells properly. He was highly unlikely to break free from the prison Zoe had cast around him.

  Zoe turned her attention back to Grayson, high above her. She looked just in time to see him finally break through the protective shield the other wizard had up. The enemy wizard was on fire a few moments later, as dragon breath consumed her. She went tumbling to the earth in a spectacular ball of flames. Grayson chased after her, and Zoe knew he was going to make sure that she was fully dead, and that she didn’t catch the whole goddamn forest on fire.

  Zoe turned her attention back to the frozen wizard.

  “You’re coming with me,” she said. She flew right up to the wizard, grabbed him by one of his feet, and started flying toward the ground, dragging the wizard behind her. The wizard screamed out a stream of curses at her, but Zoe didn’t care. He could curse all he wanted, but his words couldn’t hurt her now. And if she had her way, she was going to find out in another minute what this wizard’s deal was.

  She had just landed on the forest floor with a soft
thud when she heard the pounding of wings behind her. It was Grayson, coming in hot. He let out a roar as he landed, and the sound was not a happy one. For someone who had just escaped a brush with death, he didn’t seem as joyful as he should have been.

  “What’s wrong?” Zoe asked, looking up from the captured wizard.

  Grayson let out a grunt. He couldn’t talk in human form, so he shifted back into human form in a burst of powerful energy. He had barely regained his human head when he was shouting, his voice more agitated than Zoe had ever heard it.

  “There were three of them!”

  Zoe frowned and looked up at the sky. She didn’t see another wizard, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t one there. Some of these dark wizards were exceptionally skilled at invisibility spells. Still, she didn’t see why Grayson was quite so upset. If they had taken these two wizards individually, surely handling a third wizard together would be no problem. But Grayson was anything but calm right now.

  “Help me find him!” he shouted. “I don’t know where my backpack went. It had the map to the dragon ruby in it. It was in code, but still. Codes can be broken.”

  Zoe felt her blood go cold as understanding swept over her. The third wizard had seen Grayson’s backpack fall and had abandoned the attack to chase the bag down. If the papers in Grayson’s bag got into the wrong hands, this whole mission could be derailed. Grayson was right—codes could be broken. Zoe and Grayson were about to lose the head start they’d had in the race for the dragon ruby.

  Zoe forgot about the wizard prisoner she’d taken and started running. Behind her, she could hear Grayson shifting back into dragon form. Less than a minute later, he was rising above her in the air, pounding his wings and roaring as he searched from up high for his backpack and the third wizard. Zoe had a sinking feeling in her stomach about this. They’d spent several long, long minutes fighting the other two wizards. That would have given a third wizard plenty of time to chase Grayson’s backpack down and run off with the information. He could be miles from here by now. But if he wasn’t…

  “Magicae clamo!” Zoe yelled, holding her magic ring high above her head. She waited a moment, praying the spell would work, praying the wizard was still close by. It was an ancient spell, one that required a great deal of power. One of the master wizards had taught it to her, saying he was one of the only people left in the world who could perform it properly. He’d been pleased with her efforts, and told her that with a little bit more practice she might too master the spell. Zoe hadn’t practiced since then, but she was practicing now—and praying it would work. She stood perfectly still and waited. To her immediate right, she heard the wizard she’d captured yelling out at the top of his lungs. But he was not the wizard she was looking for. Several seconds passed, and she was about to give up. Either she hadn’t managed to do the spell properly, or the wizard was far away by now. But then, she heard it. A scream far off to her left.

  She took off running again, heading in the direction the scream had come from as fast as her legs would carry her. Above her, she saw Grayson turning to fly in the direction of the scream. He’d heard it, too. He would beat her there. The best thing she could do was to help him locate the wizard by forcing the wizard to scream again. Zoe stopped running and once again raised her magic ring high above her head.

  “Magicae clamo,” Zoe yelled. Again, the captured wizard to her right screamed first. Then, a few seconds later, another scream came, from her left. Zoe kept repeating the spell, watching the sky above her as Grayson circled, searching for the source of the scream.

  Zoe was sweating from the effort of performing such a powerful spell over and over. But she would not stop until she knew that Grayson had found their enemy. The spell was on the very outer edges of what was considered acceptable magic. It forced any human being it hit to scream out at the top of their lungs, essentially drawing out their voice in full force against their will. Zoe had known that if she could do the spell correctly, and if their enemy was close enough, it would force him to reveal himself. It didn’t matter how strong of a protective or invisibility shield the enemy wizard had up. Nothing was a match for a properly executed Clamo spell.

  Zoe could feel herself growing weak, but she forced herself to continue. Reluctantly, she let the stunning and suspension spells she’d had on the first wizard end. She was risking an attack by him, and she was definitely losing her chance to interrogate him. But finding the third wizard, who might have Grayson’s backpack, was more important. Zoe gave the search effort her all. She could hear now that the wizard whom she’d just freed was running away from her. At least he was not going to attack, although it was a great loss that he’d be able to go warn the rest of Saul’s army that Zoe and Grayson were out here.

  Zoe couldn’t worry about that now. Concentrate on the Clamo spell, she told herself. She focused as much as she could, until finally, she saw Grayson stop circling and start to dive downward at full speed. She let herself relax, choking for air as she finally had a break from the strenuous undertaking that casting that spell had been. She knew that if Grayson was diving, it meant he’d found the wizard. She could rest for a moment.

  After a minute to regain her strength, she started walking toward where she had seen Grayson dive. She could hear him roaring now and then, and she figured he must be fighting the third wizard. Zoe wasn’t too worried. Grayson was a strong fighter, and probably didn’t need her help. Even if he did need her help, she was going to need a few more minutes to recover before she’d have enough energy to do anything useful in battle. She moved along as quickly as she could without overexerting herself, listening carefully to Grayson’s roars. If he sounded like he was truly in need of help, she’d make an effort to speed up, but right now he was beating his opponent soundly.

  The roars continued, until Zoe had reached the small clearing where Grayson had found the wizard. She had to laugh. Grayson had the wizard pinned under his giant dragon arms. One arm held down the man’s chest, and the other kept the wizard from moving the arm to which his hand with his magic ring was attached. The wizard was desperately trying to fight Grayson with spells, but without being able to move his ringed hand, it was difficult for him to properly cast any spells.

  Grayson looked up when he heard Zoe approaching. He let out another roar, and Zoe realized that Grayson had continued to roar well after he’d pinned down this wizard. Grayson was angry. Furious, even. Smoke curled from his nostrils in circular wisps, and his eyes blazed a dark, swirling green.

  “Magicae obstupefio,” Zoe said, pointing her ring at the wizard, careful not to aim anywhere near Grayson’s dragon arm. Instantly, the wizard stopped struggling, frozen in place by Zoe’s stunning spell. Grayson grunted, then stepped backward and began to shift into human form once more. Zoe watched while he transformed, keeping one eye on the wizard as well. She wasn’t about to let this one get away, after she’d released her first prisoner in order to catch this guy.

  Zoe noticed that Grayson’s backpack was on the ground, the straps torn from where Grayson had shifted out of them. The rest of the backpack seemed to have escaped undamaged, but it was open, and the contents were strewn haphazardly around the clearing. Zoe hadn’t seen the mess before, because Grayson’s large dragon body had been blocking it. But now, she could clearly see the papers, clothes, food, and other supplies that had been thrown about in disorderly haste. Grayson was fully back in human form now, and was digging through the mess for some clothes to replace the ones he’d lost when he shifted.

  “When I found this bastard, he was taking photographs of all our mission files. I don’t know how many he had taken, or if he’d transmitted them to anyone yet. But it’s quite possible we’re screwed. We’ve definitely lost our element of secrecy.”

  Grayson’s voice dripped with anger, and he still had smoke coming from his nostrils even though he was in human form once more. Zoe felt her own stomach dropping. How had they been found? They’d been so careful. And were there more dark
wizards about?

  Zoe turned and stormed over to the dark wizard, standing right above his stiff form and pointing her magic ring in his face.

  “Are there more of you?” she yelled. “How many of you were chasing us? And how did you find us? I swear to god if you don’t tell me, I’ll use a Calor spell on you!”

  “Zoe,” Grayson said, his voice troubled. “We aren’t authorized to use torture spells.”

  What he said was true. His own voice didn’t sound that convinced though. Zoe knew he was just as eager as her to get the answers to the questions she’d asked. The Calor spell was a mild torture spell that made its victim unbearably hot. Zoe had never used it before, but she wasn’t above trying it out for the first time on this guy. She could feel her own blood boiling, and if she was going to be hot with rage because of this guy, she saw no reason not to make him hot with pain.

  But the wizard only laughed at her, shaking his head—the only part of his body he could move—in great amusement. “You don’t have to torture me for me to tell you how I found you. I’ll gladly tell you. You guys were idiots and walked around that campsite openly with a broomstick.”

  Zoe stepped back, bile rising in her throat. “But…there were no wizards or shifters at that campsite. I was sure of it.”

  The dark wizard laughed again. “Oh, no. There weren’t any wizards or shifters. But there were plenty of humans. And Saul has a lot of human spies on his payroll. He’s planted them all over the country, and is paying them exorbitant amounts of money to report any possible shifter or wizard activities. Someone walking around with a random broomstick is one of the things they’ve been trained to look for. My buddies and I were alerted to possible enemy activity in the area, and we worked hard all day searching for invisibility shields. Yours was hard to find but we finally managed to break through it. And ooooh boy. What a payoff for all our hard work. I don’t know what papers you’ve got in those bags there, but they look mighty important. Saul will be pleased that we intercepted you.”