by Riley Storm
The wall quietly slid down to reveal a passageway beyond.
“I love secret passageways,” Damien said excitedly, not hesitating to follow her inside.
Anna pushed on another stone on the inside, and the door slid up behind them. Although they weren’t completely safe, she did breathe a little easier now they were in the passages.
“Are you okay?” she asked as they walked, keeping her voice low. The small corridors tended to carry voices farther than intended.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you? You wandered through the hallways far enough to go underground in your building, and then near to the top of mine. You were ten doors down from my room, Damien. Don’t try and tell me that’s coincidence.”
The big dragon jerked in surprise. “Was I really?”
“Yes.” She hesitated before asking her next question but knew that she had to put it out there. To know the answer. “Were you looking for me?”
“No,” he said, too quickly and calmly to be a lie. “Sorry to disappoint, but I didn’t even know you were nearby. I got caught up in reliving the past, asking myself what-ifs about every situation we’ve been in since the start, and then I was just…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “I’m good now. Thank you.”
“How are you settling in?”
He shrugged. “I left. I had to. The young, they…they were asking questions. Wanting things I couldn’t provide.”
The weight of his voice betrayed him. There was something heavy that had hit him hard, she could tell. He was uncharacteristically quiet and reserved. Something was bothering him badly, but she doubted he was going to tell her what it was.
The floor began to slope downward, spiraling in a wide circle as they descended.
“There will be more of you soon,” she said, sensing despair closing in on him once more. “The Coven is organizing more patrols, sending out more teams to look for the others. To bring them in to safety.” She wanted to give him some good information, something to help improve his mood.
Damien snorted.
“What’s so funny about that?”
“Safety,” he said with mocking tone. “More like to keep us all in one convenient place if they decide we’re a threat after all.”
Anna stopped walking abruptly. Damien wasn’t ready and nearly bumped into her. She turned and stabbed a finger into his chest. “Do not stand there and pretend like you don’t know why the Coven is doing that. Or that your people wouldn’t do something very similar if this had happened in reverse. The arrogance doesn’t suit you.”
Damien rocked backward. “Sorry,” he said, subdued by her outburst. “I wasn’t really thinking. I know it’s not your fault. You didn’t deserve that.”
“No, I didn’t,” she agreed, starting to walk again. “Remember that. I could have ordered the patrol to blast you into oblivion like some of them wanted to. Instead, I brought you back here. I am not your enemy, Damien. You’d best remember that.”
“I will do better in the future,” he said, properly chastised now and acting like it.
“Besides,” she said, giving him a bone. “The Coven are generally good people. They can be a bit stuffy about rules and the like, but they aren’t assholes. I can’t see them doing anything to harm you or your people unless you give them reason to. If for no other reason than having you as allies makes them more powerful than their peers.”
Damien made a questioning noise. “Peers? What do you mean? I thought they were the rulers.”
“Of Winterspell, yes,” she said, remembering that he didn’t know anything about her world. “But Winterspell is just one of the magic schools around the world. There are others, some that are much, much older. The Covens that rule them have more power over the others through prestige, size of their schools, bloodlines. You name it. Winterspell is near the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak.”
“You mean it’s not that powerful.”
“Not in the grand scheme, no,” she agreed. “But if all of a sudden, we’re the only ones with dragon shifters as allies, then that would change the power dynamics a lot. Or so I assume.”
Damien was silent for a bit as they walked, the air growing cooler. They were well beneath the surface at this point, and after a bit of hesitation, Anna took them down a side hallway that she hoped would bring them up into the building currently housing the dragons. It had been a long time since she’d explored these parts of the tunnels and passageways that wound throughout the buildings, concealed from regular comers and goers.
“Can I ask you a question?” Damien said at last.
“Sure.”
“What does the Coven want us to be allies with them…against?” Damien sounded concerned, and more than a little suspicious.
“In our main purpose of existing of course.” She smiled, feeling like a teacher. “Winterspell isn’t up in the mountains for no reason. We’re here because the border between our world and the Abyss is thinnest here. Winterspell and its sister schools are all positioned like this, where the boundaries are easiest to fray, and where the creatures of the Abyss come forth easiest.”
“I see,” Damien said. “You…fight, these things?”
“Yes. To send them back to their home plane, the Abyss. All sorts of creatures. From goblins and trolls, orcs, ogres and vampires. To the faeries and all manner of magical beings. If there are legends about them, then they exist in the Abyss. From time to time they grow more powerful, or the borders weaken, and they emerge into our world. It’s the job of any Winterspellian to send them back before they get out among the rest of humanity.”
“That’s very brave of you,” he observed. “Have you fought any?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “I was part of a group on patrol two years ago on who came across a minor faery. I didn’t even get to cast a spell before the others attacked and sent it packing. That’s about all the combat I’ve seen. Until today, I guess,” she said quietly, remembering the fight at the portal.
“So, you’re not hiding away up here then?” he inquired. “But you’re here for a purpose?”
Anna shrugged helplessly. “No, I guess it’s a bit of both really.”
“So, your people aren’t aware of what you can do?”
“Absolutely not,” she said, looking over her shoulder, wide-eyed. “Can you imagine what they would do if they found out we could use magic? They would hunt us down… experiment on us. It would be horrible. No, it’s just easier to hide from those who don’t understand us, who don’t understand what we can do.”
Damien’s hand patted her shoulder gently. “I’m sorry,” he said tentatively. “Nobody should have to hide, especially when they have gifts as wonderful as yours.”
She smiled. “I’m glad you think so, Damien.”
Halting, she pointed at a blank slate of wall and reached out to hover her hand over one stone in particular. “This will take you to your building. I’m not sure if it’s in your section or not. I’ve not come this way in years, but it’s far better than where I found you.”
Damien winced, but he also smiled widely. “Now I know where to find you, I suppose.”
“Why would you want to do that?” she asked, confused.
“You’re the only person I know here,” he said. “Sometimes it’s nice to talk to a familiar face. Especially one so…pretty.”
Anna’s throat clenched tight. What was she supposed to say to that? How should she respond?
Damien then swept forward and lifted her up into a hug. Anna instinctively put her arms around him as well, feeling his muscles under his clothing. Her feet cleared the floor and she felt herself break out in goosebumps.
Nobody would ever dare accuse Anna of being small, and she’d never really experienced such sheer masculine power as this. In Damien’s arms she felt small and, dare she say it, dainty. He just held her there as if she was nothing, and it was truly something else.
But the best part of all was the feeling of safety that washed over her
. A secureness in the knowledge that with him, she was protected. That the strength would never be used against her, but only to keep her safe.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and my people,” Damien whispered into her ear.
She could hear the emotions in his voice, a cascade of feelings she somehow knew wasn’t in his nature to naturally share.
Then he set her down, pressing the stone she’d indicated on the wall. A section of stone began to slide noiselessly downward, revealing the hallway beyond. Damien flashed her one last smile and prepared to step out.
“Wait,” she said at the last minute, reaching out to grab his arm.
“Yes?”
Anna bit her lip. What was she doing? Was she really planning to go through with this?
“Meet here tomorrow evening. Eleven.”
Then she stepped back as the hidden doorway slid closed. She stared at the blank wall for a long time before turning away, heading back the route she’d come.
What had come over her there at the end, telling Damien to come meet her again? A secret rendezvous? What was she, a sixteen-year-old city-girl sneaking out to meet her crush?
You’re just asking for trouble, Anna. Remember that.
Chapter Eleven
Damien
The next day brought Damien some hope.
He woke in the morning to the sound of children playing, and laughter outside his door. Popping his head out, he saw the younglings running up and down the hallway being chased by a student in the typical Winterspell garb, including cloak and shin-high black boots.
The shrieking giggles and innocent noises echoed up and down the hallway, bringing a warmth to his heart that he’d been sorely missing. Damien grinned and waved at the student to carry on after she paused upon seeing him.
Thank you, Anna, he thought to himself, grateful for the support the woman had shown to him and his people. They were fed, sheltered, and the children were playing. For the moment, there was little more to ask for than that.
Plus, he was going to get to see Anna later that night.
Her offer to meet up with him again in secret had struck Damien by surprise. But after how wonderful and warm she’d felt in his arms when he’d spontaneously hugged her goodbye, he wasn’t going to complain. There was something about this woman that had called to his dragon since the start and was now starting to make itself known to the rest of Damien.
“Excuse me, sir?”
Blinking rapidly, he realized that the student was no longer chasing the children around, but was now instead facing him, her face excited, happy even.
“Sorry,” he muttered by way of apology. “Was just lost in thought. What can I do for you?”
The children, he noted, were standing off to the side, bouncing up and down. What was with the excitement?
“I just thought you should know that I saw them coming in just now.”
Damien stared blankly.
“Through the window?” the student said, pointing behind her. “Over there.”
He walked over to take a look. Down below in the main courtyard was a sight for sore eyes. Just viewing it lifted his shoulders, alleviating some of the stress that he’d begun to pile upon himself as decisions loomed.
“Rokh,” he said quietly, watching the giant red dragon join one of his slightly smaller kin who had already landed.
There was no mistaking the massive red fire dragon. If the size alone didn’t give him away, the pair of horns jutting from the crown of his skull would do the trick. Rokh was the only fire dragon Damien knew of who had one snapped off halfway to the top, courtesy of a brutal fight with an Infected in the closing days of the war.
“I was going to let the children go down to say hello, if you thought that a good idea?”
Damien frowned. He wasn’t sure when the students of Winterspell had stepped in as caretakers to the dragon children, and he still didn’t know how he felt about it. They barely knew one another, and the remaining young were the best chance his race had to continue its existence. To trust their safety and wellbeing to these humans seemed risky.
“Not yet,” he said tersely, realizing that whether or not he approved of that, having them stay in the tower was infinitely better at the moment. “Things are bound to be…tense. Please, keep them occupied up here.”
The student nodded, but she couldn’t conceal the confused expression on her face. Unfortunately for her, however, Damien didn’t have the time to explain everything to her. He had to get to the courtyard, and fast. Before things went sideways. Rokh wasn’t exactly the most patient of dragons.
Racing through the hallway, he slowed only slightly as both Altair and Rane peaked out of their respective rooms. “Come on, hurry!” he shouted, waving at them to join him.
The storm dragons didn’t hesitate. They took off after him, the trio pounding along the stone, down stairways and out into the open air. Normally, Damien would spend some time simply appreciating the flow of air over his face or the beat of the sun’s rays, but he could tell there was no time to dawdle. Things were already on edge.
The two red dragons were both looking around left and right as crowds gathered, stamping their feet uneasily. A quartet of witches—a new term Damien had learned that the magic users preferred to be called—was busy shouting at them, haranguing the dragons and trying to get them to do something.
Smoke curled up around Rokh’s nostrils. Not a good sign.
“Rokh!” Damien shouted, trying to distract everyone, to pull the attention onto himself. “Rokh is that you?”
Big mistake.
The giant red dragon reared up, wings spread wide. “What is this? Have you already imprisoned one of my people? You will let him go already, or I will burn this entire place down around you!”
“I would like to see you try that,” one of the witches snapped, brandishing a little wooden stick at the mighty dragon. “You might not wish you had.”
Damien skidded to a halt. What the hell was going on here? “Rokh. It’s me. Damien. I’m not a prisoner. These witches have agreed to give us sanctuary. We aren’t enemies.”
The big red lowered himself back to all fours. “That’s what they said,” he rumbled, pointing with a wingtip to the sky.
Craning his neck, Damien spied more of his people in the air. A handful more dragons, with figures on their backs.
“But when I landed, this one here began snapping orders at me. Telling me to do this, to do that, and that there’d be trouble if I did not obey her orders.”
Damien sighed as he recognized Master Loiner as the witch in question. A quick glance confirmed his suspicion that Initiate Bowen was one of the others in the quartet.
“Master Loiner?” he inquired, trying desperately to keep the situation calm.
“He is to return to his human form at once! All of you are confined to levels five through seven and are not to leave without express permission. Did the Coven grant you permission to come down here?” the master snapped.
“I’m pretty positive we were never barred from going outside, Master Loiner,” he said calmly. “Nor are we not allowed to go elsewhere. Given, for instance, that the kitchens are on the second floor. Are we to starve then?”
Master Loiner trembled with fury, but she couldn’t refute his point and they both knew it. “Get him inside. He is causing a nuisance!” She waved her wand at Rokh.
“A nuisance?” the massive dragon rumbled, crimson scales glittering in the sunlight. “I’ll show you a nuisance.”
“Rokh.” Damien’s voice cracked across the courtyard. He’d never spoken to the mighty red like that before, but he wasn’t going to let the thin-tempered flame dragon ruin the peaceful accords he’d luckily managed to establish for them here.
“Oh, very well.”
Smoke billowed and the dragon shrank. When it cleared, Rokh was standing there.
Ah shit.
He was also very naked.
“Excuse me!” Master Loiner shriek
ed and waved her wand at Rokh.
Magic spat from the tip before any of the dragons could react. A glob of black draped itself over Rokh’s body from shoulders to feet, obscuring his nudity from sight.
“This is a place of study, not a harlot house. I will not have such displays of vulgarity here. I will not!”
Damien thought about asking when it was that she’d become the one in charge but refrained from going down that particular path just yet.
“What is wrong with her?” Rokh asked, looking down at himself, trying to peel the magic away. His fingers kept sliding through the material, unable to grasp it. Which, given that it was a spell, not real clothing, made perfect sense. “What is this?”
“It’s called magic,” Damien said. “They have powers similar to us. Like how they ride the winds the way I can. But they have more. They aren’t locked to an element.”
Rokh lifted an eyebrow. “Fascinating.”
“Indeed. There is a lot about them that is…fascinating,” Damien agreed, trying hard to hide his smile as he thought of Anna. “And I promise you, most of them are not like this one.”
“Really? Because I’m not getting a lot of welcoming feelings from the others,” Rokh said under his breath. “What kind of place is this that you’ve found, Damien?”
“That’s a very good question,” he answered. “Let’s get everyone inside.”
By now, a line of witches had formed, making a cordon of the part of the courtyard designated the landing zone. As Rokh had said, none of them looked like they were feeling particularly inviting toward the next group of dragons. Damien glanced around him at the lines. Only the way back to their building was free.
“Did they not tell you that clothing would be necessary upon shifting?” he asked, deciding to just go without issue.
Rokh shook his head. “No. They just said you were with them, and that they would show us where to go.”
“You trusted them.” Damien was surprised by that. Rokh didn’t strike him as the sort to trust someone without good reason.
“I asked enough questions to ensure they were telling the truth,” Rokh said quietly. “Besides, the young needed out of the storm. The cold was getting to most of them despite our efforts. There was no food, nothing.”