Earth Born (The Earth Born Cycle Book 1)

by N. E. Conneely

  “Revolting. Truly revolting,” she muttered as she returned the box of potions to her trunk. A low buzz of magic and pure elven energy had already started to swarm her system. The potion wouldn’t bring her up to full strength, but it would get her most of the way there, and that would be an asset when she went back into the cave.

  She quickly checked the pockets of the backpack for the survival gear her father had insisted she always carry with her, ensuring that the fire starter, dry matches, emergency blanket, and assorted other things were still in the proper spots. With the majority of her packing complete, Shasta carried the pack out to the living room, setting it on a chair. The door to Cord’s room was closed, so if he had returned he was keeping to himself. She went into the kitchen, pulled the emergency charm out of the third drawer on the right, and set it on the kitchen counter. While she waited for him, she filled three canteens of water. She was clipping the last one to her pack when Cord’s bedroom door opened.

  “Oh, there you are.” He set his pack next to hers on the sofa. “Along with food, I asked for ropes, flashlights, and anything else that I thought would be handy while going through the cave. Hope that was okay.”

  The dragon on the roof exhaled with a whistling snore.

  “More than okay.” She watched as he carefully avoided looking at her while he filled his own canteens. If he was going to be that way, the rest of this conversation would be awkward. “As soon as I started packing, I realized I should’ve requested some supplies from them.”

  He capped the first canteen and started on the second. His hand froze in midair when he saw the charm. The dragon snored again.

  “I think that, according to our orders, we’re supposed to call the company about situations like this.” Shasta tried to sound matter-of-fact about it. “But we’re partners and I wasn’t gonna activate the charm without talking to you first.”

  He raised his head and looked at her, really looked at her. “Are we still partners?”

  This time the snore was more of a snort. Scales rubbed against stone as the dragon rearranged.

  “I don’t know, Cord.” Shasta leaned against the kitchen counter. “You said things, and I have things I need to say.”

  He cut in. “We don’t have time.”

  With a sigh, she looked down at the cold stone under her arms. Most of it was an even slate, but set into it were bits of quartz and other stones, all of which had been polished until they shimmered in the light that came in through the window. The stone had been pulled from the earth by dragons and dwarves and handcrafted into the countertop. It was older than most of the dragons here, and unless one of them managed to crush, it would not only outlast her long life but that of the dragon currently snoring on the roof as well.

  She patted the stone. “I thought we were solid. Months ago, we both made choices, and I didn’t want to talk about them. I wanted everything to stay the same, but instead I created a crack. You pried it wide open last night. If we want our foundation to be strong again, we need to talk—not now, but soon. From where I stand, we never stopped being partners, and I don’t plan on that changing. Will that do for now?”

  His lips were clamped shut, but he nodded. After a few deep breaths, he finally said, “Partners. And we’ll have that talk later.”

  One of the painful cramps in her heart eased. That had been as much as she’d dared to hope for out of this conversation. Shasta nodded and tried not to hope for too much more as her eyes drifted from the charm to his inscrutable face. “That only leaves one thing for us to decide now.”

  She couldn’t help looking at the charm again, and from the way Cord’s body shifted, neither could he. It didn’t look like much. It was a simple wooden disk with runes carved into the outer edges, but under the plain exterior was some powerful magic and powerful people who would answer its summons.

  “We should.” He drew out the words. “But if we call now, we’ll be late for the flight back to the caves.”

  A small smile started to grow into a full grin. “True, and we can call tonight if we still need help. We’ll be here, no one will be waiting on us, and we should have more information. We might not even need to do more than make a report.”

  “Oh, I agree.” He scooted the charm to the far end of the counter where it was well out of the way and could be forgotten about. “Besides, there really isn’t much to say. We’re simply teaching the dragons about some of the dangers they’ll face outside these lands and how to address similar problems.”

  She snorted. “Not sure my parents will buy that, but I do.”

  He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “It all depends on what we tell them.”

  Chuckling, she shook her head. She hoped he was the one to give the report. She certainly didn’t want to make that justification to her parents, at least not in person.

  “As delightful as I find your laugh, we need to hurry so we’re not late.” He hadn’t laughed, but his voice was lighter than it had been moments ago.

  “Finish filling up those canteens, and I’ll race you to the dining hall.” The teasing did exactly what she’d hoped and coaxed a smile out of him. Without replying, he turned around and got started.

  Shasta watched him with an aching heart. They were far from finished with the discussions they needed to have, including a much longer one about his dragon-to-dragon leap, but this was enough for now. This would get them through whatever was in that cave and tide them over until they could devote the necessary time to the conversation. She loved him, even when he was a boneheaded male, and before long he was going to hear her side of things.

  He capped the last canteen and quickly tucked three of them inside his pack with one clipped to the outside. Knowing where this was heading, Shasta snatched up her own gear, settled the straps over her shoulders, and strode to the door. Cord managed to get there one step ahead and pulled it open for her.

  She smiled up at him, stepped through, and without looking back took off. “Last one there has to tell my dad what we did!” That was a problem with a family business. When she had to fess up to doing something, she wasn’t just telling her boss but her mom and dad.

  “Oh no, you’re not settling that on me!” he yelled back.

  She could sense him behind her, gaining ground with every step. She dodged around a dragon and put on a burst of speed. Maybe, just maybe, they’d make it out of this not only better work partners but lovers, and wouldn’t that be grand.

  Chapter Twelve

  Shasta slapped her hand against the first post on the dining hall a fraction of a second before Cord reached it. “Ha! I win.” She panted.

  “Narzel take it,” Cord swore. “Elron is going to skin me alive after I tell him what we’ve done.”

  “Nope.” She sucked in a little more air. “That’s more Mom’s style. Dad’ll take you to the practice area and put you through the worst sword workout of your life. You’ll wish you were dead.”

  Cord lifted an eyebrow. “You are his only daughter.”

  With a grimace she reevaluated. “Fine. And after that, he’ll help Mom skin you alive.”

  “Sounds right,” Cord muttered. He glanced around, his eyebrows pulling together. “I see plenty of dragons but none that I would recognize as a party about to go hunt for a sorcerer.”

  Since most of the dragons were on the small side, she wasn’t going to disagree. Through the crowd she spotted Cornelia heading in their direction. Shasta nudged Cord. “I bet she knows where our group is waiting.”

  Cornelia smiled and motioned for them to join her. As soon as they were within earshot, she started talking. “If you follow me, Branstan is waiting for you in the back. Cord, I got the extra supplies Silas said you requested, including lanterns, rope, carabiners, and food. Don’t worry about putting the supplies in your packs. They’re attached to the back of Branstan’s double saddle.”

  Cornelia led them around the kitchen to the back of the dining hall. Sure enough, there was Branstan with another brownie care
fully clipping a huge pack to the back of the largest saddle she’d seen yet. The saddle was a little different than the others, with straps going around his chest and belly, two sculpted seats, as well as more straps coming off the passenger area. Shasta was surprised Branstan was willing to be their ride.

  Apparently satisfied, the brownie tending to Branstan hurried away. The dragon shook himself, a bit like a dog, and twisted his neck around to look at the equipment. He wiggled his butt a little and, apparently satisfied, started swinging his head back to the front. He spotted them and instead pivoted in their direction.

  “Where’s the rest of the group?” Cord asked.

  “I am the rest of the group. Others who want to go shouldn’t, others who should go are ill inclined. Besides, most of the adults are needed for patrols and watching over youngsters who are all too likely to attempt to sneak away.” He lowered his head so his great eyes were even with them. “The three of us will go.”

  Privately, Shasta liked the idea of the smaller group. It was fewer people to keep track of and fewer people to hustle away if something went wrong. She shot a quick look at Cord, who was frowning.

  “I suppose there’s a certain logic to that.” He hardly looked convinced. “It would be difficult to maneuver multiple dragons through the cave.”

  “Precisely.” Branstan bobbed his head. “If you can verify that all the supplies you need are in the pack, we can be off.”

  Shasta scrambled onto his back, opened the flap and dug around a little, pleased with the contents. She retrieved two sandwiches, then moved a canteen from her pack to the saddle and shoved her backpack inside the larger pack. “It all looks good. Thank you, Cornelia. Tell the others they did a fine job.”

  “I will.” She pursed her lips. “Good luck.” She turned and scurried away.

  Cord settled into the seat in front of her. “Is there room in there for my bag?”

  Shasta handed Cord the sandwiches in exchange for his backpack. She quickly shoved it on top of hers and refastened the clips on the saddlebag, then took her sandwich back. “What do I do with all the straps on the saddle?”

  “They will hold you through acrobatic flying, including inverting,” Branstan rumbled from under them.

  “Well, I rather hope it doesn’t come to that.” Looking at the mess of straps, she said a quick prayer because she wasn’t sure she was going to figure out where all the parts went.

  Branstan’s mouth gaped in a draconic grin. “Agreed, young one.”

  “I’ll help you.” Cord clipped his own water bottle to Branstan’s saddle and set down his sandwich before turning around to face her.

  “Thanks.” She held her sandwich out of the way as he got to work.

  Cord’s fingers moved quickly, maneuvering wide straps over the tops of her thighs and through the buckle. His hands were sure enough when they picked up the straps lying on each side of her hips and when he threaded one through a loop in the other, but he hesitated before tightening until it fit snugly around her waist.

  His fingers lightly brushed against the fabric of her jacket as he retreated. His throat worked as he swallowed. “You should see two more straps attached to the back of the saddle. They thread through loops on the back of the waist strap, go over your shoulders, and clip to the front of the saddle.” He pulled up the ones on the back of his portion of the saddle and mimed movement.

  She set the sandwich down and fumbled for the straps. Once she sorted them out, they were easy enough to properly adjust. “Got it.”

  Cord watched her for a moment before turning around and quickly attaching himself to his half of the saddle. He glanced over his shoulder. “Are you ready?”

  “Yep.” Shasta grabbed her sandwich. “I do have one question first. Branstan, are you planning on going upside down?”

  “I like to be prepared.” With that, Branstan bounded forward and leaped into the air. Shasta held on to her sandwich with one hand and the loop on the front of her part of the saddle with the other. “You and my dad would get along really well,” she muttered.

  Cord shifted around to look at her. “What was that?”

  “Nothing,” she yelled. To demonstrate how unimportant it had been, she quickly pulled the wrapper off her sandwich and took a bite.

  Sadly, the sandwich didn’t last very long, leaving her little to do but stare at the back of Cord’s head. It wouldn’t have been so bad except it made her think of their conversation and all the things she wanted to tell him. Since this was not the time and definitely not the appropriate place, she closed her eyes and did her very best to nap. The nap was a success, and next thing she knew there was a bump and Branstan was landing outside the cave. Luckily, between the energy-boosting potion and the nap, she was close to full power again. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt a slight tingle in the earth, but it was more of a welcome thing than a warning of danger.

  While Shasta unsaddled Branstan, Cord rearranged the packs so that they only carried in the most pertinent supplies and then stashed the rest of the gear next to the mouth of the cave. The three of them found themselves standing in front of the cave as if it were going to come to them.

  Shasta edged forward. “We have to go in.”

  “I know,” Cord said.

  Behind him, Branstan nodded.

  She blinked a few times as she tried to process. “I don’t understand.”

  Branstan swung his head around to look at her. “Are you really so eager to return? Do you not fear what may be in there now that was not before?”

  She’d had this conversation before, years ago with Cord and her parents. They’d wanted to know why she’d stayed in that horrible house. For years she’d been giving all of them the same answer, but it had yet to satisfy them. “It isn’t in me to run away.”

  Branstan tilted his head to the side. “You do not feel fear?”

  The earth was firm under her feet, the wind a gentle push against her back. She didn’t know how to explain the unexplainable, but yet again she gave it a try. “The better way of saying it is that I have a surplus of courage.”

  “I think time has taught both myself and Branstan the merits of caution,” Cord said carefully.

  “I’ve not found them to be mutually exclusive.” She tightened the straps on her backpack. “And, in this case, we all agreed speed was our ally. I see no reason to stand here and slowly lose that advantage.”

  Rather than waiting for whatever rebuttal the men could come up with, Shasta transferred a flashlight to her left hand, summoned her sword with a twist of her right wrist, and strode forward. Branstan and Cord followed.

  There wasn’t much to see at the beginning of the cave. However, a few turns in, where the outside light fully faded away, the flashlight showed her uneven portions of the path. She even found a rock she’d tripped over last time she’d entered the cave. They proceeded forward as quietly as Branstan could manage, with Cord holding the rear position since their adversary liked to target the dragons.

  Branstan hissed when they wormed their way past the piles of orange-brown scales.

  Shasta paused next to a pile almost as tall as her. “Can you tell if they’re from Ophelia?”

  He whistled as softly as a dragon could, but Shasta and Cord both winced at the pitch and frequency of the sound. It would carry well into the cave, warning the occupants of their imminent arrival.

  The scales briefly flared a bright orange before returning to the brown state they’d been.

  “They were hers.”

  Having seen the vats of blood and pile of bones, Shasta didn’t argue with the phrasing. She’d already decided Ophelia was dead, and as far she could tell, this was further evidence to support her conclusion.

  “Better keep moving,” Cord said from behind Branstan. “We can always reexamine things on the way out.”

  “Got it.” Shasta turned away from the mounds of scales. As petty as it was, she was grateful neither Branstan nor Cord could see her expression. If
she were placing bets on where traps would be, this next section of cave was it. It was where the traps had been last time. People, even crazy dragon-abducting people, tended to be creatures of habit.

  With her sword held tightly in her right hand and the flashlight in her left, she took a deep breath and headed forward. She rounded the corner, expecting to see a light at the far end of this section of corridor.

  There was no light.

  Instead of taking time to debate the difference, Shasta swept her flashlight across the ground and moved forward. It was only a few steps to the pit of spikes. Luckily, nothing had changed since the last time she’d been through here and there was still a nice path to the left of the pit. She reached out to the earth, hoping to get some type of useful response, but it was as inert as it had been before. Magically she wasn’t getting anything either, which meant the person was better at hiding magic than she was at sensing it, or there was simply nothing to be found on that little strip of ground. Shasta really hoped it was that last option because she didn’t want to tumble and get impaled. She dismissed her sword, figuring some type of spell that would push her into the stakes was the most likely option, and she didn’t need one more sharp object to fall on.

  Taking a deep breath, she placed one foot on the narrow strip of earth. Nothing happened. She took a step forward and then another. So far this section was exactly what it appeared to be. She kept going until she was on the other side of the pit. Shasta shuffled a couple of feet forward and to the center of the corridor before summoning her sword. Perhaps to someone else, the absence of offensive spells would be comforting, but to her mind it simply meant that she wasn’t spotting the spells or something more sinister was afoot, though she wasn’t really sure how it could get more sinister than kidnapping dragons and using them to fuel blood magic.