Mei giggled at us and said to James, “Aren't they cute?” He just looked uncomfortable and shrugged. Then all of us women shared a laugh at his expense.
We went over what we discovered. It seems that with each elemental dragon she killed, she would perform a ritual with the heart of the slain and chant a spell that was burned off the page. It would imbue the power of that dragon into the vessel, then she would consume the remains to add a few years to her lifespan.
If we were reading it right, if she could “tip the balance” of power, she could then enslave the magic to her own will. I shuddered. To me this meant that once she killed over half the dragons of a particular element, she would wield more power over that element than the Drakon and take control of it. It made sense to me. That is why the air element would not allow me to use it. It was enslaved and twisted by the evil magics of Morgan. The Drakon are sworn to protect the elements we use. The magic feels betrayed by us not keeping our promise.
Now I understood how Queen Alexandra fell to Morgan in battle. If she could not wield her primary element, she would have had to fall back on her secondary element. What was it? Water! Now, since there are so few water dragons, Morgan is going to try it again. But we have stopped her. She has killed five of my dragons, twelve water dragons remain, she can't tip the balance.
I sneered. Now we just need to hunt her down. Then a sudden realization hit me. I turned to Quinn. “That amulet! That contains the spirits of the Wind Clan dragons! The air elementals. She has their power! That is why I detected a hint of Drakon from her. That and she had consumed me water dragon's hearts. The amulet is somehow blocking me from sensing her. That is why I feel nothing but an empty hole in space around her.”
Shite. She had the power of the entire line of elementals. The heat in my blood from the excitement of the hunt chilled at this realization.
Quinn knew this too. She said over the speakers, “This is good information. You three are geek-tastic. It is late, almost ten, let's all get home and get a good night's sleep. The task force will come up with a plan now that we know what and who we are dealing with.” Then she turned to Mei and James and added, “We'll get you two situated in a safehouse until this is over. La Fay knows that Myra cares for you and that makes you targets.”
I hissed, “You'll be doin' no such thing. They can stay at our place in the spare bedroom.” I dared her to protest. We glared at each other, not breaking our gaze. I started sending waves of love across our blood-tie.
I'm proud to say that my lass broke first. She grinned and shook her head. “That's cheating Myra. You'll pay for that later.”
I grinned a toothy grin back at her. “I'll be lookin' forward to it.”
James deadpanned to Mei. “I guess we're staying at Myra's.” We all burst into laughter. It was a cathartic release of the tension of the day. Then we proceeded to our cars to start the random path back to our loft.
Chapter 9 – The Slaughter
Our caravan of vehicles pulled up to the loft and the building was all ready under watch and the pizzas Quinn had told the agents to order were already there. One large for Quinn, Mei, and James to share and two large for me. Quinn took them from an agent at the door as we filed into the freight elevator.
We all sat around our little kitchen table and partook of the pizza. I'm sure none of us was aware just how hungry we were after a long, eventful day. Quinn got up to get more coffee. She said, “Jackie's apartment was searched, but there was no sign of her or...” She stopped in mid-sentence and suddenly froze and almost faster than I could follow she had dropped her coffee and spun in a roundhouse kick. Her hands and feet were instantly covered in flaming granite before the cup hit the floor.
Her foot connected with the man's chest, who was just suddenly there, sending him flying into the wall. She was on him faster than you could blink. Raining a combination of blows that connected with a brilliant wall of light just short of the man. He was gasping for air as the power of his staff fed into the shield.
Mei was diving off her chair to aid Quinn and her hands were aflame, a large ball of burning fury gathering between them. James stood facing the confrontation with his arms awkwardly spread wide between me and the others, was he protectin' me? I was on my feet yelling at them, “Stop! It's Merlin!” Quinn hesitated in her assault and Mei looked over her shoulder at me as a flaming ball faded away, though her hands were still covered in elemental flame. I nodded at the ladies and then they seemed to relax a bit and allow their elemental manifestations to fade. Quinn was still tense and on guard.
Merlin seemed to sigh in relief and he bowed his head to them and said with that archaic English accent, “My ladies, it was not my intention to cause duress. I offer my deepest apologies.”
Quinn almost hissed, “What were you doing sneaking into our home, and where the hell did you come from?”
He let the power of his staff fade and replied, “I felt there was no time for traditional pleasantries, Morgan is on the move. We must make haste if we are to stop her before she completes her quest.” Then he tilted his head at Quinn. “It is impressive that you were able to detect me before I made my presence known.” Then he looked at me. “Queen Myra, you surround thyself with fitting champions.” He looked around then his look of amazement faltered a bit when he looked at James.
James just said in his quiet almost monotone voice, “Hey, that hurts.” Mei cut back a snort and I tried hard not to smile.
I scowled at Merlin. “The common courtesy of knockin' at our door would have saved all this drama, ya know.” He inclined his head in apology. Then I shook my head at the wizard with a small grin on my face. How could you be harboring a mad for the man? He's fecking Merlin after all!
I sighed and said, “Merlin of Avalon, these are me friends, Doctors Mei and James Reid. And you got up close and personal with the love of me life, Quinn, there.”
He inclined his head to each person in turn then he tilted his head at both Quinn and Mei. He smiled and spoke quietly to nobody in particular, “Fire elementals... in all of the time there have ever been seven, and always women. The last were thought lost with Queen Caragh and one of her reborn elementals, but in this new time they number three!” But then he squinted at Quinn and then whirled to look at me. “A... a blood-tie? But thou are both women.”
I almost laughed at that. Well fine, shut yer trap, I giggled a bit. Then I said, “Time marches on and the human race is evolvin' Merlin. Archaic notions of sexuality are evolvin' too.”
He bowed in capitulation and said, “I have much to learn of this new world I find myself in. I beg thy forgiveness if I seemed in judgment my lady. I mean, Myra.”
Quinn seemed frustrated at all the talking and interrupted, “You said la Fay was on the move. You know where she is?”
He nodded once. “I can sense her darkness though it is shrouded by something.”
I furrowed my brow. “She has an amulet that I believe enslaves air elemental magic.”
He winced. “From the Drakon hearts.” He looked strained and saddened as he continued. “It is no wonder then, she is shrouding herself with that stolen power. We must not allow her to do the same with the other elements. What is the number of thy water dragons?”
We showed him to the table and Mei poured him some coffee and put a paper plate in front of him and put a slice of pizza on it. I said almost sadly, “Only twelve of me water dragons live. We need to find Morgan before she can murder anyone else.”
Merlin sniffed at the pizza slice then took a tentative bite. Then he started wolfing it down like he hadn't eaten in centuries. He said, “Call to them Myra. We need to keep them safe until such time that I can deal with Morgan.”
I grabbed my mobile wondering if I had all of their numbers, and he shook his head in exasperation. “No. With thy Queen's call. Your clan will answer.”
This was what Caragh had said to me once. “Call to the others when in need and they will come. Thou art their queen. There are none as n
oble as Dragons of the Eire.”
I shook my head. “But I got no feckin' clue how. Caragh said the same th...” Then I screamed in pain as I fell to the floor grasping at my heart. I gasped out, “No! Not another one!” Flames were slowly enveloping me as I stood before Quinn could reach me. I was almost sobbing. “She's killed another.” I was scrambling and half tripping as I ran for the stairs to the roof. I heard everyone running behind me. Merlin and Quinn were pleading with me to stop.
Almost instantly after I made it to the roof my dragon form burst forth and I was leaping off the roof and flapping my mighty wings. I felt a familiar weight land between my shoulder blades. Quinn was stroking my neck and pleading, “Myra. You need to calm down. Don't go rushing into things.”
I was sobbing as I gained altitude with mighty strokes of my flaming wings. “She's killing me dragons.” I pleaded, my voice rumbling.
Quinn kept stroking my dragon neck and sending calming waves through our soul bond as I angled a dive in the direction I felt the last murder from. She said, “You'll fly right into a trap. That's exactly what Morgan wants love. We need to call for tactical support and go back to bring Merlin with us. He seemed confident he could face la Fay.”
I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself, all I wanted was to go on the hunt. I knew she was right, but... my dragons were dying. I knew this is how a mother must feel, losing a child. I forced myself to calm as I swooped back up into the sky and landed on Dragon Spire, the tower that Denver had constructed for me to perch on the tallest building in the city. I spread my wings wide and I screamed, venting all my pain, all my heartache, all my fury. It came out as a huge roar that shook the building and the streets below. I raised my dragon head to the sky and roared again, sending a column of fire up into the clouds, lighting the sky.
I started sobbing as Quinn soothed me. Then I curled my head around and nuzzled her then nodded once. She nodded back with tears in her eyes and I just let go of the spire. We fell half way to the ground then I unfurled my wings and soared back into the sky. We got back to our place and Mei, James, Merlin, and my protection detail with their weapons trained on Merlin, were all on the roof. I flew past as Quinn shouted to the agents, “He's a friendly!”
They were hesitantly lowering their weapons as I circled in for a landing between them and Merlin when I arched my back and screamed in pain when I felt as if my heart were ripped out again! We plummeted two hundred feet to the street below and I plowed into the neighboring warehouse building, crumbling one wall and crushing a service truck. Quinn was rolling off of my back as my dragon form faded. Leaving me screaming in agony with the realization I had just lost another one.
I was breathlessly whispering, “Two... two.” As Quinn engulfed me into a tight hug. I buried my face in her shirt and inhaled the scent of safety, the scent that calmed me, as I cried deeply. I pointed at the other end of town from where I felt the first one. How was she getting around so fast?
Quinn helped me to my feet, my legs felt rubbery and I swayed. I knew I was going into shock since I couldn't feel them. My emotions were everywhere and hurt more than any physical pain I could imagine. I was thinking of Queen Alexandra and how she must have felt. There were over five dozen air elementals in her clan and she felt each of their murders.
I realized we were in the elevator now going up. There were sirens converging from all directions. I glanced out the windows through the freight elevator's cage. There was lightning on the other side of town.
Mei and James were already back in our loft and were helping Quinn support me and bring me to the couch. My protection detail was standing near Merlin. We heard explosions in the distance and the warbling roar of a water dragon. Quinn was shouting for a status report. I saw the sky light up through the skylight as huge torrents of lightning came down. The ground shook and I screamed again, clawing at my chest. There was the flickering light of flames in my vision and I screamed until no sound came from my lips and darkness claimed me.
Chapter 10 – Valiant
I sat on a mountaintop looking at the meadow below. I looked to the sky as a cool breeze rustled through my mass of red curls on my head. A beautiful dragon of yellow and blue flames drifted through the air. It spiraled down and dissolved as Caragh landed softly and gracefully near me. She padded softly over and sat down next to me, our feet dangling over the ridge.
I leaned my head to rest on her shoulder. “She's killing me dragons,” I whispered so the pain wouldn't cause my voice to shake.
Caragh was nodding and shushing me gently and lovingly. “I know child. You have the strength to free Alexandra. Then not even Morgan can stand against two queens.”
I sat up and moved my head back so I could look at her in disbelief. “But Alexandra is dead.”
Caragh stood up with a sad smile for me and said, “Morgan's ego is her downfall, she binds her greatest enemies to objects to suffer a life of never ending death. Alexandra yet lives.”
I asked, “How do I free her?”
She smiled sweetly at me, her red hair billowing out behind her in the wind. “You will know what to do when the time comes Queen Myra of the Eire.” Then she jumped off the ridge calling back, “Fly with me child.”
I dove off the cliff and followed her. Half way to the ground our dragons bloomed. We arced up into the sky leaving twin trails of flame. Things faded as I heard and felt my love calling me, “Myra? Myra, come on you stubborn, hot-headed Irish woman! Come back to us love.”
I opened my eyes to see the prettiest sight. Me woman with that loving smile she reserves only for me. Memories came rushing back in and I stood up quickly blurting, “Me dragons!” Both Myra and Mei put their hands on me and gently forced me back down onto the couch.
Tears were threatening and Quinn engulfed me in a warm hug as Mei shushed me and ran her hand through my curls. I took two deep cleansing breaths and put on a determined face and pulled away. I locked eyes with my protector. “Tell me.”
I noticed sunlight streaming through the windows and skylight. It was daytime? How long was I out?
She sucked in a breath and then said, “Four.” I covered my mouth to stop my pained cry from coming out.
“Me lord,” I squeaked.
She continued. “Morgan and about fifty griffons and gargoyles hit four of the youngest dragons. Killing their protection details and then battling the dragons one after another. She seems to be able to travel faster than any creature we know of since each attack was minutes apart at the farthest reaches of the city from our location.”
This made me look up. Farthest from our location? Was Morgan... afraid of me? And there were only seven water Drakon left in the city proper, the remainder are in Boulder and Steamboat Springs. But two of the Denver dragons live close by.
I asked another question swirling in my thoughts that were deadened by the emotional turmoil in my soul. “Why did she go after so many so quickly, why risk it? Why up her timetable?”
Quinn almost answered, but Merlin's voice chimed in from behind me. I looked back to see him sitting at my kitchen table with a couple agents. I looked around as he spoke and almost gasped, there had to be thirty agents in me loft! “Young Mei shared that thou possessed her tomes and that she tried to destroy them. She may believe you have discovered her binding spells and believes she needs to move quickly. These four unfortunate dragons were targets of convenience. She has the balance of the number of dragon hearts she possesses to the number of remaining water elementals. She will now be able to call upon water magic to help her kill the remaining water dragons so she can enslave the magic.”
I blinked twice. “But she's wrong, we're at parity.”
This caused Merlin to tilt his head in question, his eyes widening a little in surprise. I clarified, “La Fay is thinkin' that there were only eighteen water elementals includin' me so far. There were nineteen. Twenty if Alexandra still lives.” Mei's eyes widened as she understood.
I looked at my soul bond. “Love?”
/>
Quinn grinned in realization and she flicked her arms and they were covered with undulating gloves of water. Then the magic faded as Merlin smiled a predatory grin. He said, “The blood-tie!” Then he looked at me and then bowed low at me, averting his eyes to the floor as he said in a regal tone, “Fire... earth... AND water? Queen Myra of the Eire, thou indeed are the descendant of Queen Caragh. Drakon Primitus. The only elemental to use all elements!” Then his eyes snapped to mine then over to Quinn's. “Doest Morgan know this? If not, then this may verily well be the weapon we need to defeat her. Most Queens only wield two elements.”
Quinn snapped back in a hard voice, “Myra isn't going anywhere near that psychotic bitch!”
But then Mei said, “But with Quinn, that's only nineteen. She still made parity.”
Now it was my turn to show a predatory grin and I said, “No, twenty counting Queen Alexandra.”
Merlin took a quick step toward me and I swear he gasped then blurted, “But Alexandra was defeated.”
I looked at him sadly because I knew he knew the answer. It must have been torture for him all these centuries. I said with compassion filling my words, “But Morgan doesn't just kill her greatest enemies does she?”
I saw the pain and anger and the hurt of a savaged soul in his eyes. He looked down and whispered, “No, she doesn't” Then he drew himself up with a determined look. “How do you know this to be true?”
I smiled a little. “Caragh told me in a vision while I was out. She told me that I could free Alexandra.”
He quickly asked, “How?”
I shrugged. “She can never answer me plainly, it is always cryptic with her. She is so frustratin' sometimes. But she said I'd know what to do when the time comes.”
The wizard nodded like it was sage advice. “Then we must trust in Caragh the first Drakon Primitus.”
I closed my eyes then fought off tears at what was to come and begged Quinn quietly, “Tell me.”
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