city of dragons 07 - fire and flood

by Val St. Crowe

  It turned out that it wasn’t.

  Within a few minutes, I had joined Naelen again, this time with coffee. We sat together on a couch that faced the window, and we watched as the sun rose above the water, staining it purple and pink and red.

  “So, you really think this plan is going to work?” said Naelen. “Clarke told me a little about this Green King guy, and about the water monsters you two fought when you were off saving Christmas or whatever, and it sounds pretty hairy.”

  “Yeah,” I said, “but I think we’re ready for it. When Lachlan and I use the blood bond that we have, we’re really powerful. Scary powerful. That’s going to help.”

  “She didn’t tell me about that,” said Naelen. “She’s not really speaking to me too much right now, actually.”

  I winced. “You met your mate.”

  “I did.” He took a drink of his coffee.

  We were quiet.

  Naelen gripped his coffee mug. “You, uh, left Alastair before he died, right? I remember it was this big scandal. My sister said you were the hero of the unmated younger set. There’s a theory among them that the mating bond is just bullshit, and that people make matches because it’s financially advantageous.”

  “I’ve heard this theory,” I snorted.

  “Yeah, I’ve never subscribed to it,” said Alastair. “Neither has my sister. We both saw firsthand what the mating bond did to my parents. Turned them stupid. They were obsessed with each other, and not in a good way.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry. Usually, the mating bond works out well for people.”

  “Are you crazy? It never works out well for anyone. It’s awful.”

  “Most dragons are happy,” I said. “Anyway, why was I a hero to the younger dragons again?”

  “Oh, because they all want to marry the people they chose for themselves, not wait around for a mystical bond to put them together with a complete stranger,” said Naelen. “You left your mate, and that made them think it was possible to break the bond.”

  “Ah.” I sipped at my coffee.

  He drained his mug and set it down on the end table next to the couch. “How’d you do it?”

  “I just left,” I said. “He was… Alastair hurt me.”

  “Yeah, I might have known that,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

  I chewed on my lip. “I didn’t break the bond when I left. We were still bonded. I still wanted him. I had to fight with myself whenever I saw him not to just…” I fumbled for a way to explain it that wasn’t crude.

  “Jump him?” said Naelen.

  I let out an embarrassed laugh. “Basically, yeah.”

  “Damn it,” he muttered.

  “What?” I said.

  “I was hoping there was a way to break the bond so that it didn’t affect me.”

  “There’s not. I’m sorry.” I peered into my coffee, feeling morose. “I’m sorry for Clarke too. I told her that she shouldn’t get involved with you. I told her you’d find your mate and leave her.”

  “I’m not leaving Clarke.” Naelen vaulted off the couch. There was steel in his voice. He strode over to the window and clenched his fists. “We’ve been through too much, and I can’t be without her.”

  “Naelen…” I took another sip of coffee. “You know that you have to leave her. You have a mate, and you’re drawn to your mate. It would be cruel to deny yourself that for no reason.”

  He twisted, glaring at me over his shoulder. “Not for no reason. I’m in love with Clarke.” He turned back to the window.

  “Yeah, but I mean… the bond.”

  He shook his head, not looking at me. “I thought you, of all people, would understand.”

  “Well, I don’t,” I said. “I mean, there are some things in life you just have to accept. You can’t change them, so you have to live with them. And the mating bond is one of those things.”

  “Is that how you live your life, Penny? You do a lot of accepting of your circumstances?”

  I licked my lips. Actually, no. It wasn’t. Hadn’t I just been thinking about the ways that Lachlan and I had defied destiny and how it had made us stronger? We’d taken the hard path, and we’d never accepted anything that we didn’t want to accept. I set down my coffee, got off the couch, and went to Naelen. “I’m sorry I said that,” I said in a quiet voice. “You’re right. You have to fight for the things you care about. If you want to fight the mating bond, then fight. But you’re going to have to be strong, because it won’t be easy.”

  “Nothing ever is, is it?” said Naelen.

  “I’m rooting for you,” I said. “I’m rooting for you both.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The next day went by without event. We watched the ocean all day long, but it seemed even quieter than usual. The waves that hit the shore seemed unusually calm.

  It was a hot, hot day, and there was a hot wind blowing across the beach.

  I went for a walk with Lachlan on the sand, and we stared out at the horizon, wondering when the Green King would strike. I was beginning to wonder if he even would. Maybe we had come here for nothing. It had seemed so clear, as if he’d been summoning us, but now that we had answered the call, he taunted us.

  We waited.

  I called Vivica and talked to Wyatt on the phone. Vivica wouldn’t tell us where she was and that was fine with us. If we didn’t know, the information couldn’t be gotten from us, not even by compulsion magic, if the Green King and his minions were strong enough to compel us. There was so much about their powers that we still didn’t know and still didn’t understand. We hoped we would be powerful enough to vanquish them.

  Wyatt cried when he heard my voice, and it broke my heart. He sobbed, and then he started making distinctive ma-ma sounds, and I knew he was crying for me. My little boy missed me, and I ached for him. I had never spent the night away from him, and this was more than one night in a row. It was awful.

  When he heard Lachlan talking, he screamed even more, and we had to hang up the phone because we were upsetting him.

  After we did, I cried on my own for a while. I felt awful.

  Evening came. We ordered in pizza to eat together. At dinner, we all talked and laughed together, but there was an undercurrent to everything we did, like electricity in the air. We were all on edge. We were waiting for the ocean to come for us, and we didn’t know when it would happen.

  When the sun went down, Connor woke up.

  He got some of the leftover pizza and went out on the deck behind the house to eat it. I followed him outside to join him. I was shutting the door when I saw Felicity behind me. We came out together.

  Connor was chewing. He raised his eyebrows at us. “Hey,” he said around his mouthful, and then swallowed. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, you missed absolutely nothing,” I said. “The whole day was pretty boring.”

  “Waiting around adds to the tension,” said Connor. “Lachlan told me about this poem once, something by Emily Dickens, I think.”

  “It’s Emily Dickinson,” said Felicity.

  “Whatever,” said Connor. “It’s got this line. I remember it exactly, because it was so perfect. ‘And now, uncertain of the length of this, that is between, it goads me, like the goblin bee that will not state its sting.’”

  “That sounds like something Lachlan would quote,” I said. “And then he’d relate it to the case we were on in some way that it would make whoever we were questioning spill all the goods.”

  “What did we do before Lachlan was around?” said Connor. “How did we manage without references to obscure bits of literature?”

  “Emily Dickinson is not obscure,” said Felicity. “She’s like the most famous woman poet ever.”

  Connor shrugged. “I never heard of her before Lachlan told me about her.”

  “Didn’t you go to high school?” said Felicity.

  “Sure,” said Connor. “But we never read poetry. I guess they figured gargoyles don’t need to know stuff like that.�
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  “Are you kidding me?” I said. “Gargoyles don’t get taught poetry?”

  Connor shrugged and shoved more pizza into his mouth.

  “They do so,” said Felicity. “He’s just a dumbass who never paid any attention.”

  “Hey,” said Connor, swallowing, “tell her to stop insulting me.”

  “Me?” I said. “Why am I the person who has to mediate between the two of you?”

  “Because you’re the only reason we tolerate each other,” said Felicity.

  “That’s not true,” I said. “I know you guys love each other, just as much as I love both of you. You’re my best friends. And the only way that I made it before Lachlan was because of you two. Hell, the only reason I make it now, even with Lachlan, is because of you two.”

  Connor slung an arm around me. “Thanks, Penny.”

  Felicity grabbed my arm on the other side and leaned against me.

  The three of us stood together on the deck, shoulder-to-shoulder, staring out at the surf.

  “We love you too,” said Felicity.

  “We do,” said Connor.

  “So,” I said, “after we kill the Green King, you guys want to do drinks? Girls’ night?”

  “Here?” said Felicity. “Are we staying another night after it’s all over?”

  “No, I was thinking we’d go out someplace,” I said.

  “I meant here as in Texas,” said Felicity.

  “Oh,” I said. “I assume we would. I don’t know how long Naelen rented this house for.”

  “We should probably invite everyone else to come celebrate with us,” said Connor.

  “Oh, but then it won’t be just the three of us,” I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.

  “It’ll always be just the three of us,” said Felicity.

  I smiled.

  “But we can bring other people along for drinks,” she said.

  “As long as we win, that is,” said Connor.

  “We will.” I gazed out at the ocean. “Come and get us, you dick. We’re waiting.” And then I held my breath, sure something would surge up out of the water, bathing us in a salty spray as it came for us.

  But the night was quiet.

  * * *

  “What did you say to Naelen?” said Clarke. She was standing up on the balcony on the third floor as I was making my way to my room. Lachlan was still awake downstairs with Naelen and Connor, but I was exhausted, and figured I should get my rest, especially since we didn’t know when the Green King was going to show up.

  I stopped in the doorway to the outside. “What do you mean?”

  “He said that he talked to you, and that he was going to find a way out of the mating bond,” she said. “What did you say to him? Is there a way?”

  “Not really,” I said. “But he’s determined. I can’t stand in his way.”

  She turned away from me, gripping the railing. “So, that means what? That he’s going to be with me, but be pining for her all the time? I don’t want that.”

  “It’s not like that, not exactly,” I said. “It’s very possible that if she’s out of sight, she’ll be out of mind.” I stepped out onto the balcony next to her.

  “What’s that?” she said.

  “Huh?” I said.

  She was pointing.

  I looked out over the water, in the direction she was pointing. Out behind the breakers, it looked as if a big wave was forming. The water was pulling up, up, up, like a mountain of water forming on the horizon. It was dark, and the moon above was a mere splinter. The dark water loomed against the dark sky.

  “Shit,” I said.

  “That’s them, isn’t it?” she said.

  I turned and pushed open the door to get back inside.

  Clarke was right on my heels.

  I rushed down the steps to the second floor, and then crossed the hallway to take the steps down to the first floor. “Guys, it’s happening!” I yelled.

  But when I got to the living room, I found the men standing at the windows, looking out at the wave, which was bigger now than it had been, and closer.

  “This is it,” said Naelen.

  Clarke clambered down the stairs with her bow and arrows.

  “Where’s Felicity?” I said. “Someone should wake up Felicity.”

  “Let me try something,” said Clarke. She pulled out a monocle, a little glass lens that fit against one eye, like one half of a pair of glasses. She put the monocle to her eye.

  “Isn’t that what Dasher gave you?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” she said. “But it doesn’t work on these things. I don’t see magical threads in the waves.”

  “Magical threads?” I said.

  She took the monocle away from her eye. “Maybe they’re different. Maybe they aren’t magic. I don’t know. Dasher gave me this to help against Cunningham, though. I don’t think it can help your quest.”

  “Just as well,” I said. “You guys remember the plan, right?”

  “Yeah, we got it,” said Naelen.

  Connor threw open the glass double doors that led to the deck. “Let’s do this thing.”

  Together, they all began to walk through the doors. They held their heads high, and they walked down the steps off the deck and onto the sand.

  But I didn’t go with them. Instead, I went upstairs to wake up Felicity.

  By the time she and I were back down at the door to the deck, all hell had broken loose.

  The wave crashed against the shore, and it was full of strange creatures with scales and flippers and tentacles and teeth.

  Naelen blew fire out at the wave. The fire sizzled against the water, going out immediately.

  Another wave swept in behind the first wave. It submerged the deck, and it swept everyone out to sea except Felicity and me.

  I could see Clarke floating in the water, clutching her bow. Lachlan was sending balls of fire out at sleek wet skin. Connor, with his hand out, was using his magic against the onslaught.

  Letting out an undulating cry, I took a running start and dove into the fray. Felicity came after me.

  The minute I was off the deck, I was smacked in the face by another wave. The water was black as midnight, thick and salty, and it was freezing cold, as if it had come from the icy poles of the earth. I sputtered, fighting to the surface and shaking wet hair out of my eyes.

  I couldn’t see anyone else at the moment.

  Stick to the plan, I told myself. Just hold your own. Nothing fancy.

  I blew out fire as I swam in a circle.

  Another wave crashed over my head, dousing my fire, covering my head.

  Once again, I fought to the surface.

  Overhead, I saw Lachlan’s dragons coming in. There were so many of them. I couldn’t count just how many, and they flew in several Vs, their jaws gaping, flames pouring out down onto the water.

  Tentacles reached up from the deep. They tightened around the dragons and tugged them down.

  The dragons breathed more fire.

  Some monsters shrieked and let go, and the dragons flew higher, out of reach. Other monsters held on tight and disappeared beneath the surface. Under the water, the dragons and monsters thrashed and fought. The white foam turned pink with the blood of dragons.

  We hung back. I treaded water, and the others only threw out defensive magic. Lachlan boiled the water in a circle around him, keeping the monsters at bay. We let the dragons do most of the work for a time. We could afford to sacrifice them. Besides, we needed the monsters to think that we’d thrown everything we could at them or the plan wouldn’t work.

  But eventually, the water was full of the bodies of floating, dead rogue dragons, and there were less than ten of them left in the sky. Lachlan was calling them down, forcing them to breathe fire, but the rogues were exhausted and we could tell.

  It was time. I breathed fire straight up into the air, the agreed-upon signal from earlier. They all knew what to do.

  Clarke and Naelen had retreated to the shor
e. They stood next to the deck, and Clarke pulled arrows out of her quiver. Three at once. She sent them off rapid fire at a red creature in the water. The creature had several rows of spire-like teeth, all different widths, but all very, very sharp.

  The arrows burrowed into the creature’s back. I knew Clarke well enough to know that she’d intended them to go somewhere that wasn’t lethal. If she wanted to put arrows in that thing’s eyeballs, they would have been there.

  I tensed, looking for Lachlan.

  He was standing in the middle of the water, waves coming up to his waist, and he was watching the dragons. I needed to be close to him in case we needed the whiteflame. I began to thrash through the water, trying to get to him as quickly as I possibly could.

  The red creature somehow spit the arrows out of its skin.

  But Clarke was already sending off three more arrows. And this time, she’d tried for something more deadly. Not the eyes, but the neck. The three arrows punched into the creature.

  It spit them back out again, and its skin closed over the hole.

  Naelen was right next to Clarke. He breathed out fire at the thing.

  The fire dissipated the moment it touched the creature’s wet skin.

  The creature advanced on the two of them.

  I cringed. I was two feet from Lachlan.

  As I moved through the water, I looked around for Felicity and Connor.

  Connor was to my left, diving under the waves, screaming at the top of his lungs, throwing himself at a green monster. It had tentacles with suction cups on them and two heads, both with needle-sharp teeth. Connor raised his hands and poured magic at the thing.

  It skidded back through the water, kicking up surf and droplets of water.

  To my left, Felicity was diverting fire from the dragons and using magic to send it at a black creature. It resembled a giant eel, but when it opened its mouth it had translucent fangs, like a snake. Its eyes were red.

  The creature turned to look at Felicity and changed direction, swimming right for her.