The Dracons' Woman: Book 1 of the Soul-Linked Saga

by Laura Jo Phillips

  When he was finished, she reached up and traced a frown line with one finger. “Thank you so much for doing that,” she said. “You guys saved my life. We must be sure to thank Doc properly.”

  Garen smiled with relief. “We will, sharali,” he said. “That I promise.”

  Lariah smiled briefly, her mind already on another matter. “So, what next?” she asked.

  “We must inject you again within 24 hours, if we decide that is best,” Garen said.

  “What do you mean, if?” she asked. “I thought it was necessary to complete the process once begun.”

  “In women of our species, it is,” he said. “In human women, it is if the woman is ever to be able to bear our children.”

  “If the 24 hour time frame passes and you don’t do it, then it can never work, correct?” she asked.

  “Yes, that is correct,” Garen replied reluctantly. “Lariah, we were forced to take a terrible chance in order to save your life. It is not necessary to take any more chances. We do not have to complete the ritual.”

  “Garen, nothing bad happened,” she reminded him. “I know it was frightening for all of you, and that you would not have risked it if you’d had any other choice. But it worked exactly as it was supposed to, didn’t it?”

  “So far as we can tell it did, yes,” he agreed. “We have asked Riata to come and check you.”

  He looked at Trey. “How long before we can expect her?” he asked.

  “Luckily she is not still with the council,” Trey replied. “She had to return to this side of the world to attend to some personal business, so she should be here in about an hour.”

  “I will like seeing her again,” Lariah said. She yawned. “Excuse me, I guess I feel a little tired.”

  Garen frowned.

  “Guys,” she said, “I think that we should finish what was started.” She yawned again and her eye lids slipped down as though she were about to fall asleep. “I’m sorry, I think maybe I need to take a little nap.”

  “Lariah, do you feel alright?” Garen asked, unable to keep the urgency out of his voice. It made no sense to him that she should suddenly become so sleepy. She had been through a traumatic ordeal, yes, but to become so sleepy so quickly seemed strange to him.

  “I’m fine,” Lariah mumbled, her eyes closed and her voice so soft he could barely hear her. “I just need to sleep for a minute.”

  Garen checked her carefully but she had no fever, her breathing seemed normal, and her color was fine. He tried to wake her up, but after one sleepy moan and a slight flutter of her eyelids he got no response from her. By the time he accepted that she was not going to awaken, Trey and Val were already out of the tub and getting dressed.

  “I’ll go get Doc back here,” Trey said as Garen stepped out of the tub with Lariah in his arms. Val grabbed a towel and began drying Lariah.

  “Check on Riata’s progress,” Garen said.

  Trey nodded, adjusting his vox against his ear as he rushed out the door.

  Garen and Val finished drying Lariah, then Garen simply held her while Val searched frantically for the peach satin nightgown they all knew she favored. Garen watched quietly as Val tore through the closet, yanked open several drawers and scattered the contents about before roaring for Suly. He understood that it was Val’s way of expressing his frustration, fear, and worry.

  Suly came running with the garment in her hands, tears on her cheeks as she handed it to Val. Val immediately apologized and hugged the woman, but Suly assured him her tears were for Lariah and that she was not upset with him. Garen was again reminded that everyone who met Lariah loved her, and they were all worried about her.

  Once Lariah was clothed in her nightgown and tucked in bed, her hair combed and braided, Val and Garen just stood by the bed and stared at her, not knowing what else to do. They were both relieved when Trey returned with Doc.

  Doc examined Lariah for several minutes, then shook his head and frowned. “She is in a light coma,” he said finally. “I don’t know why, and I don’t know how to bring her out of it. She needs a Healer.”

  Garen nodded. “We have one on the way,” he said. “The best there is.”

  “I’m sorry to be so useless,” Doc said sadly as he gazed down at Lariah.

  Garen put his hand on Doc’s shoulder and squeezed. “You saved her life,” he said. “Whatever is happening now is something none of us know anything about. Our only hope is that Riata will be able to help us.”

  Doc looked up sharply at that. “Riata?” he asked. Garen nodded. Doc let out a sigh of relief. “She is the best,” he agreed. “Whatever is happening here, she will be able to help if anyone can.”

  Doc picked up his black bag and patted Lariah’s hand, then turned to leave. “Let me know, will you?” he asked softly.

  “We will,” Val replied. “As soon as we can, and that’s a promise.”

  After Doc left, the three of them simply watched Lariah in silence for a long time. Finally Garen cleared his throat and looked at Trey. “Have you spoken to Faron?” he asked.

  “Just a little,” Trey replied. “He told me that Dav, Ric and some of the other guys are on the way to the main gate, looking for Pater.” Trey frowned. “He and Ban were putting the body in a stasis bag, and he warned me to stay away from it.”

  Garen absorbed that news with a frown of his own. “Did he tell you why?” he asked.

  Trey shook his head. “No, but if I didn’t know Faron better, I’d say he was worried, maybe even scared about something. Something to do with that body.”

  Faron could not remember a single time in his existence when he had been so worried. The urge to transform into his loboenca and howl his anguish and frustration into the heavens was almost too strong to resist. Instead, he paced restlessly back and forth across the porch that ran along the front of the house, glancing occasionally toward the road leading in from the main gate even though he knew the men he’d sent out hadn’t even reached their destination yet.

  The body of Frith Yanger had been enclosed in a stasis bag and removed to a corner of the large gardening shed near the house. Faron wanted it close enough that he could be certain nobody went near it, but far enough away that nobody had to look at it. As soon as Ban finished helping him bag the body and store it, Faron had sent him racing to catch up with Dav. Though it took a good hour to reach the main gate in a ground-car, Ban would get there in a fraction of the time in his loboenca form.

  As soon as he heard Billy begin speaking into his vox Faron spun around and hurried toward him. Faron nodded his thanks to Billy as he took the vox and slapped it onto his ear.

  “What?” he demanded.

  “Faron,” Dav responded, “We’re at the main gate. Pater is alive, but I think he’s in shock. He seems…disoriented.” Faron frowned at the hesitation in Dav’s voice.

  “Also, there is an abandoned ground-car outside the gate,” Dav continued, “I think it’s the one stolen from the spaceport. Hang on a minute,” Dav said. Faron heard his brother’s footsteps on the gravel as he walked.

  “Faron,” he said finally, his voice hushed, “Pater keeps mumbling the same thing over and over. He’s saying, snake, big snake, flew away.”

  Faron felt the blood freeze in his veins. For a long moment his mind was completely blank, he was so stunned. A Narrasti shape changer was one thing. He remembered from his studies as a youth that the adinare were able to change shape, but that they did not have much magical strength.

  But a sugea, a flying snake-like creature that was essentially a counterpart to the Jasani dracons, that was something different altogether. He had begun to have some very ugly suspicions, but not this. This was unthinkable.

  Faron rubbed his eyes with one hand. He heard Dav calling his name over the vox in his ear. He had to think. He took a deep breath and forced himself to focus.

  “Can you use your magic to calm Pater?” Faron asked. “I’d like it if he didn’t say anything else till he gets here.”

&nb
sp; “I’ll see what I can do,” Dav replied, then started to say something else, hesitated.

  “What else?” Faron asked, trying not to snap at his brother.

  “There is a scent on the outside of the gate and in the abandoned ground-car that makes my nose burn,” Dav told him, his voice more hushed than before. “I don’t know what it is Faron, but it makes my hackles rise.”

  Faron swore softly in the ancient tongue. Dav’s description matched what Faron had felt when he scented the markings on Frith Yanger, as well as Bearen’s description of the guard’s scent.

  “Make sure the ground-car is locked tight,” he told his brother. “I don’t want anyone to be able to get into it.”

  “Consider it done,” Dav replied. “Ban just arrived so I’ll get him to help me with Pater. Do you want us to come back with them?”

  Faron thought a moment. “According to Bearen, that stolen ground-car stopped somewhere in town for a few hours. I want you and Ban to try to find out where.” Faron paused, then added, “If you lose the scent of the ground-car, try Frith’s sister’s café, the CoffeeSpot.”

  “I’ll contact you from town if we learn anything,” Dav said. He paused for a moment, then asked the question he was burning to know the answer to. “Any news on Lariah?”

  “She survived the attack, and Doc got the knife out of her,” he said. “Now they are trying to get her through the mating ritual.”

  He heard Dav’s indrawn breath, then a brief, softly whispered prayer.

  Faron closed his eyes. After a long silence, he cleared his throat. “Tell Ric to get back here as soon as he can with Pater,” he said. “Riata is on her way, and I’m sure she’ll be able to Heal him if he needs it.”

  “Will do,” Dav replied, then closed the connection.

  A soft knock on the door announced Riata’s arrival and all thoughts of Frith, Faron and the mysterious ground-car were set aside. Val opened the door and Riata hurried into the room, going straight to the side of the bed where Lariah lay. She raised her hands over Lariah’s still form and held them there for a long moment.

  “She is in a very deep sleep,” she said. “A light coma.” She raised a brow at Garen. “What has happened to her?” she asked.

  Garen rapidly explained the attack on Lariah, her injury and their subsequent injection of their serum to save her life. Riata lowered her hands and nodded at Garen.

  “That was a very wise decision,” she said. “Doc should be commended for thinking of it. I can sense the injury, though it is fully healed. She would not have survived until I arrived had you not done what you did.”

  One knot of worry inside Garen relaxed, though he wasn’t all that happy with himself about it. He had known when the decision was made to inject Lariah that it was their only chance of saving her, but it still helped that Riata confirmed it. He didn’t think he would have been able to live with himself if she had told him there was another way.

  “What is wrong with her now?” he asked, wincing at the harshness of his own words. Riata smiled, forgiving him at once.

  “I am not yet sure,” she said. “I need to examine her fully.” She lifted her hands again, holding them a bare inch above Lariah’s body, and ran them slowly from her head to her feet. Her eyes widened as she did so, and when she reached Lariah’s feet, she immediately began again, going even more slowly. Finally, she lowered her hands and frowned.

  “It is difficult to believe what I am seeing but…she is…changing.” Riata said hesitantly. “Her genetic code is changing,” she said. “It’s like its being…rewritten. What’s odd is that when I began examining her, the change was taking place at an extremely rapid rate. By the time I just finished it had begun to slow dramatically.”

  “What does it mean?” Garen asked.

  “I am not entirely certain,” Riata replied, still frowning. “But, it is troubling. It is clear to me that her genetic code is being rewritten to be Jasani. I am familiar enough with it that I recognize it easily even though it’s not yet complete. What concerns me is that her physical body is not Jasani.”

  Garen blanched, grasping the implications of what Riata had said immediately. “Can we stop it?” he asked desperately.

  Riata shook her head. “I do not know how,” she replied. “We can only wait and see what happens next.” Riata looked at the three men standing beside the bed, hope and fear etched into their faces. “I am sorry I do not have answers for you,” she said as gently as she could. “However, I know more about your people and your history now than I did before, and I believe this woman is meant to be your Arima. I know that you believe it also. If we are correct then what is happening now, is meant to happen. We can only watch, and attempt to help her should she need it.”

  Garen sighed, and nodded his head. He understood what Riata meant, and a part of him even agreed with it. As Lariah had once told him, so long as she remained human, she was only a potential Arima. The trouble was, that was enough for Garen. He would keep her as she was, forever a potential Arima rather than risk her life or health in this manner. But the choice had been taken from him. From all of them. And perhaps that had happened for a reason as well. Now, they could do nothing but wait.

  A few minutes later Riata checked her again. She kept her hands over Lariah for long moments, then gasped. “Her genetic code has been rewritten and at this time no further changes are occurring,” she said, speaking very quickly. “However, her bodily functions are slowing down. Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, everything. I can find no reason for it.” She looked up at Garen. “I think you must inject her again,” she said finally.

  Garen’s first instinct was to refuse. Injecting Lariah had caused all of this to begin with. How could doing it again be of any help?

  But the expression on Riata’s face gave him pause. “She is going to die if something isn’t done,” she said firmly, “I cannot fix this. Her genetic code does not match her current physical state, and she will not long survive in this condition. The only option I can think of is to continue the process which has already been begun.”

  Garen ran everything that had happened, everything that Riata had said through his mind at lightening speed. He reluctantly came to the same conclusion as Riata. “Very well,” he said finally.

  “Hurry,” Riata urged. “I do not think that she has much time.”

  Trey, Val and Garen quickly took their places and, taking a brief moment to extend their mating fangs, they once again bit into her, letting their instincts guide them as before. When they withdrew they immediately shifted aside so that Riata could get close to Lariah.

  Riata raised her hands over Lariah and the three brothers hardly dared breathe as they waited silently. Finally Riata smiled. “It is working,” she said, letting her own breath out in a relieved sigh. “Her bodily functions are returning to normal.”

  Suddenly, Lariah’s body arched sharply, then fell back onto the bed, followed by a long, drawn out moan of pain that they all knew would have been a scream had her larynx been capable of producing one. Garen swore as he immediately reached for her, then hesitated, not knowing what to do.

  Riata frowned, her hands still over Lariah. “Her body is changing, her organs reshaping…I have never seen such,” Riata whispered. Her purple eyes sharpened and she pinned Garen with a stern stare. “This is going to be extremely painful for her,” she said. “There is no getting around that. You must make sure she stays asleep. It is the only thing that will help her. Do it now. She is awakening and this is pain she need not bear.”

  Garen immediately sent his magic into Lariah, Trey and Val joining him at once. They all focused on nudging her gently to sleep, but it wasn’t working. Finally Garen brought his will to bear and ordered her to sleep, pushing hard with his magic. They all felt her slip away even as her body began contorting again.

  After Faron finished speaking with Dav, he returned the vox to Billy and resumed his pacing, trying to come to another decision. Finally he spun on his heel an
d stepped up onto the porch.

  “Billy, keep an eye on that shed. Don’t let anyone go into it,” he told the young man. Billy nodded his head emphatically. “Yes sir, don’t you worry, nobody will get near it.”

  Faron patted the young man on the shoulder and entered the house. He stepped into the vacant living room, crossed it quickly, and entered Garen’s study. Normally he would have used the vid screen in the living room rather than invade the Dracons’ study uninvited, but his acute hearing caught the murmur of voices behind the closed bedroom door. As much as he wanted to know how Lariah and his Princes were faring, he would never deliberately eavesdrop on them.

  He closed the study door behind him, stepped around Garen’s desk, and activated the vid screen. A few minutes later a council aid bowed to him on the screen.

  “I greet you, Faron Lobo,” the aid said.

  “I greet you, Talus Gryphon,” Faron replied. “I am invoking my status as Prime Guardian of the Royal Princes of Jasan,” he said formally.

  Talus’s eyes widened, but Faron continued as though he hadn’t noticed. He had no time for chit chat. “I request that you summon Eldar Hamat at all speed.”

  “At once,” Talus replied. Faron was relieved to see the young aid turn and hurry quickly away. He was back moments later, panting from his run. “Eldar Hamat will patch in from his quarters, Prime Guardian,” Talus told him. The young male reached out to switch the call to Eldar Hamat’s quarters, and paused a moment. He looked directly into the screen and raised his left fist to his right shoulder. “Sharp eyes, Brother Warrior,” he said solemnly.

  Faron immediately returned the gesture. “Brave heart, Brother Warrior,” he replied, completing the age-old ritual.

  Moments later an image of Eldar Hamat appeared on Faron’s vid screen. Faron had to bite back his sigh of relief as Eldar Hamat bowed formally. “Prime Guardian, how may I be of assistance?” he asked.