To Save The Broken Heart: Dragons, Griffons and Centaurs, Oh My! (Dragons, Griffons, and Centaurs, Oh My!)

by Margaret Taylor

  “You have done this before I take it?”

  She patted his chest and reached for the small door. “A time or two.” Opening it, she slid back the hatch, exposing a bunk. “Now, come on you, time to rest.”

  He pushed off the side and bent his large frame through the opening. Stretching out on the surprisingly comfortable bed, he sighed and she climbed in after him.

  It wasn’t a tight fit for the both of them, but neither was there a lot of room. It was quite cozy actually, the first private haven he’d had in who knew how long.

  No, correct that, he knew exactly how long. Nearly 30 rotations…

  Reaching above his head, she pulled out a medkit and without comment lifted the loose shirt she’d given him when he’d come around back in Aydenton. Cutting away the bandages, she inspected the wound, her face pinching with sadness. “I am sorry.”

  He pillowed his head on a fist, letting her take care of him, yet again. “For?”

  She slathered the wound with medicine. “Everything.”

  He roamed a knuckle down her naked arm. She was wearing a tight tank top, which had done nothing for his sanity while they bounced along the waves. Neither did the form-fitting pants with all its numerous pockets. As they ticks passed, he’d wondered what secrets they might hold, or what weapons, then thought better of trying to find out.

  During their fight in Golbu, she’d proven more than capable of kicking his rear, even if it wasn’t an arranged ending.

  He could only imagine what she might be like on a true battlefield…

  That thought filled his lower half with blood, lifting it against the buttons of his breeches. Her eyes drifted to the bulge and she quirked an eyebrow, the blue in the orbs flashing brightly, just as they had back on the O’lu when she’d…helped him. Her nostrils flared and the red in her eyes overshadowed the blue.

  “You should not be,” he finally replied. “You saved my life.” It was the second time he’d said it and he meant it just as much now as he had then. “I have no way to repay that.”

  She cocked a half-smile at him. “You already did, Arin.”

  He didn’t think so. “And how did I do that?”

  She bandaged the wound, her fingers extraordinarily warm against his skin. “The only way I would ever be free of my service to the Chieftain was to kill you. That was the deal I made when I was sold to him.”

  Now was as good a time as any to get more information, so he asked. “How did that come about? The Phoenix’s rarely part with their property.”

  She put away the medkit and took a moment to kick off her boots. Tossing them back out the hatch, she pulled her legs up, wrapping her arms around them. It was defensive move that reminded him a bit of Lanni.

  He shut those thoughts out. He wouldn’t think of her, not now. He couldn’t. It still hurt and that wasn’t something he was truly ready to deal with, just yet.

  She huffed out a breath, drawing him back to the now. Something she was very good at for some reason.

  “My mother, as I said, was a slave to them. I was born in a roost and she did her best to raise me in the Orcish ways.” Her eyes went distant, sinking back to the past. “When I accidentally burned down a neighboring nest, my father sold me to the slavers as a trainee.”

  The slavers were the only ones allowed to leave the roosts in Gommel. Most of the time they searched the continent for any unsuspecting citizen they could steal and return to the firebirds as fresh workers. They were different races, most of them slaves themselves at one time or another that had earned their way up the ranks to the more prominent position.

  “One of them was a Kobaloi,” she continued. “He took me under his claw and taught me everything I know.”

  Well, that explained it.

  “You do not need to say more. I understand.”

  She blinked him into focus, eyes flashing hotly. “Do you?” She gulped, hard and the heat in her eyes dimmed back, replaced by fear with her next words. “Do you really Manus? Do you know the things I have done?”

  He softened his tone and cupped a hand around her neck. Rubbing a thumb under her jaw, he smiled. “I can guess.”

  Her throat bobbed against his finger and a tear leaked from her eye, her voice a raw croak. “I, I am evil, Arin.”

  Lifting his hand, he caught the bead on a knuckle and flung it away. “No, Haydn, you are not.” Rolling to his side, he dropped the hand to her foot, stroking the arch. “You have been forced to do bad things, but I have seen the real you. And the one that tended to me, saved me from a fate worse than death with her kindness, is far from evil.”

  Her legs relaxed and she toyed with the blanket between them. “Thank you. That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  He chuckled, low and deep, still stroking her foot. “You are welcome. I owe you much, but might I ask one more favor?”

  Her eyes came up, locking with his. “What is that?”

  A nervousness he didn’t know he could still feel rushed through his stomach but he asked anyway. “Would you allow me to hold you this darkfall?” She opened her mouth and he held up a hand to still her objection. “Nothing more. It has just been an age since I held a woman and, I…” He stammered like some fresh out of the Mating Pool youngling in his first cycle. “Please?”

  Her lips snapped closed and she nodded wordlessly. Her eyes flashed again but she said nothing, reaching back to undo the braid in her hair. She turned away and stretched out next to him, her head on the pillows.

  Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her back into his chest and spooned his legs to hers. Wrapping the other around her, he buried his nose in the sweet smelling tresses and sighed softly. He hadn’t been untruthful. It had been an age since he’d held a woman and she felt so damn good.

  Despite what she was, she softened as they relaxed. One of her hands stroked down his forearm and she began to hum. It was one of the tunes she’d sung on the O’lu and combined with the gentle rocking of the boat, it only served to help sleep on its way.

  And for the first time since the guard had told them about humans arriving in their Kingdom, Arin Manus got a peaceful nights rest…

  ***

  “Pardon the intrusion, Sire?”

  Draven looked up from the map toward the door of the conference room. A red-skinned Goblin stood there, his eyes darting nervously between him, the Queen, Fyris, Mithrin, Resa and Rhu’Tus as if any one of them would transform into their true selves and gulp him down for an early rotation snack. He tried to hide a smile. “Yes?”

  “Um, there is an Orc and a Chimera, at the gates. They are,” he paused as Rhu’Tus’ eyes pinched into a glare. “Um, requesting an audience.”

  He dropped the pen he’d been scribbling notes with and turned to Terra. “Who in the Nether Worlds? An Orc and a Chimera?”

  Terra shrugged and followed him out to the tunnel.

  Shifting from one form to the other was usually quite painful, but with her so close, it was instant these days. Scooping her into a claw, he leapt off the entrance and down toward the water. Circling, he spied the vessel anchored just inside the reefs. Several smaller ships surrounded it, Goblins at the rails with their weapons trained toward it. On the bow stood the Orc, her hands high and a bored expression on her face.

  “Will you just tell him Ar…”

  She didn’t get the rest out as several of the troops cocked their respective rifles. She rolled her eyes and tapped a booted foot on the deck.

  He spiraled closer just as Arin’s head cleared the small hatch next to the wheel.

  “Holy Dragoncrap on a cracker!”

  That was from Terra, who’d been doing a moderately passable job of curbing her language of late. Of course, Dragoncrap had the same effect and he chuckled, swooping down toward the speedboat. Dropping her gently to the deck, he shifted and almost bowled over his friend in a hug.

  “We heard tell you had perished!”

  Arin laughed and returned the greeting, pulling
back to smile widely. “Exaggerated, I promise you.”

  Terra squealed and launched herself against him when they parted, wrapping him in a fierce hug.

  Arin laughed again, gave her a strong squeeze and set her back a step. “My Queen. Glad to see you are well.”

  She moved to his side and he dropped an arm around her. “What happened? Where have you been?”

  He didn’t answer at first, but waved the Guards away and held out a hand to the Orc. “Your Majesty, if I might present Haydn Durel.”

  The Orc took his fingers and came around them to stand at his side. She smiled a bit then ducked her gaze to their feet. “Your Majesties.”

  He twisted a look between them.

  This was, interesting. She was no ordinary Orc though, so there had to be a plausible explanation. He turned to the Guards. “Tow the ship in. Have it fueled and ready.”

  One of them waved and he jumped off the bow, transforming mid-air. Scooping everyone up in a claw, he returned to his Grandparentals home.

  “And that is when we came here,” Arin finished a full tick later.

  They’d eaten, both Arin and Haydn digging into the fare like their guts hadn’t seen a good meal in rotations. Afterward they’d moved into the living area where his best friend regaled them with his own adventures since they’d parted company in Gahroon.

  Now he sat with his arm stretched along the couch and around the Orc’s shoulders and the looks he’d given her were not lost on him. Clearly his oldest and dearest friend was trying to move on with his life and he would allow that. He had too. If he didn’t, Arin would wallow in it and that was never good. He’d wallowed when he and Phara decided there was no way they could make a go of it and he’d started to sink back into that same state after Lanni’s death.

  He thought, briefly about pulling him off to the side and telling Lanni might still be alive, but knowing Arin, he’d do something foolish and rush off to try and save her. And from the paleness of his skin, the deep bags under his eyes and the sunken look to his cheeks, the poor man was in no shape for such foolishness.

  Not that he didn’t want to save Lanni too, she was family, but there was a much larger picture to keep in mind.

  Sometimes being King had its drawbacks.

  Maybe by the time he had to fess up, the Orc would have saved Arin’s broken heart and mended the cracks in his soul enough that his old friend would be able to forgive him this one white lie.

  Either way, it was a matter for later.

  “I am glad you made it. I could use your expertise,” he finally said.

  Arin’s golden eyebrow rose. “Oh?”

  He opened his mouth to bring his War Advisor up to speed from their end when the door burst inward.

  Yet another Goblin stood there, panting heavily. “Sire, you must turn on the news.”

  “Oh good Gods above, what now?”

  This from Terra, who sat forward and plucked the remote stone off the coffee table. Pressing the correct combination, the hidden speakers crackled and the air filled with a Harpy’s voice he recognized as one of the anchors from the Brak’ian networks.

  “This is Maxiu Shulam. To anyone hearing this, Bra’ka has fallen. We are under siege at this very hour by an unknown number of troops and the city has been cut off by an immense shield…”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “No, no, it is a good plan.”

  “But you do not like it?”

  Terra heard Arin’s snort as she came around the corner.

  “I did not say that.”

  “You did not need too. I can see it on your face.”

  She rolled her eyes. Draven and Arin had been at it for the last several hours, trying to come up with a decent plan of attack in the wake of the news broadcast. The moment the message ended, they had headed down the hallway for the impromptu conference room. Boxes and containers had been pushed back to the walls and a long table had been put together out of several smaller ones.

  It was here that she and Haydn found the pair, still bent over a rough, hand-drawn map of the Capitol and its surrounding terrain.

  She exchanged a look with her new friend as the argument continued and interrupted by shoving a tray of food into Draven’s hands. “Boys. Now, just calm down. Why don’t you two go eat and let the women folk have a look, yes?”

  He took it, stiffened his shoulders and went all Alpha male on her. “We can come up with something. But thank you for the offer.”

  She didn’t hold the attitude against him. This was his home and he was fighting for it. She got it. Still, they weren’t getting anywhere, just bantering plans back and forth with no real resolution in sight.

  It was the reason she and Haydn had decided to take matters in hand.

  She sent another look toward the Orc and patted his chest, smiling sweetly. “I’m sure you can dear, but you and Arin have been arguing for hours.” She gave him a gentle shove. “Go on. You need to contact the others anyway, right? What’s the harm in taking a break? Fresh perspective and all that?”

  He shook his head, mumbled something in his native language and left the room.

  She was really going to have to learn Dragon.

  Arin shrugged and followed, continuing the argument until their voices faded.

  She waved the other woman forward. “Thought they’d never leave.”

  Haydn laughed and swept an arm across the knick knacks the men had been using to indicate the troops. Her blue-red eyes gazed over the map. “So, what do we know?”

  She picked up a pen and drew a wide circle around the boxes they’d sketched out to indicate the city itself. “From the message, some sort of barrier has been put up. I listened to it several times but it’s automated and didn’t have too many details. Did you find anything?”

  Haydn shook her head slowly, eyes narrowing. “Not so much. The Blacknet is full of chatter but nothing really helpful. I did see a brief blip that the occupying force is made up mostly of Orcs, Griffons, Centaurs and Ogre’s. It estimated several thousand at least.”

  She tapped her chin. “That will present a problem. Mithrin said there are approximately 30 flying ships.”

  Haydn’s long braid slipped over her shoulder and pooled on the table as she leaned over it. Picking up several of the trinkets, she placed three at various spots. “There’s natural cover here, here and here. If we put the Rails at these points, triangulate their fire, they’ll have to divide their forces to deal with it.”

  She liked that idea and added several crystalline figurines they’d procured from Resa’s shelves to indicate the Dragons on their side. “And if we put troops with them, at least two per, that should help keep the enemy at bay so they can do damage.”

  Haydn’s head bobbed in agreement. “The way I see it, we will need to take down the ships first. According to the Naiad, they were fitted with heavy artillery yes?”

  She nodded, dropping a handful of objects over the city. “He saw a number of large caliber cannons that, according to him, would have no problem penetrating scale.”

  The Orc pushed back from the table, crossing her arms. “That is what I feared. This Unicorn is no fool. He will sacrifice the ground troops without qualm but would be upset to lose any part of the armada.”

  “I agree. We should concentrate on taking those out with the Rails first and foremost. I have a feeling they will be the only thing that can.”

  Haydn paced around the table, her eyes sweeping across the map over and over. “We need to know more about this shield,” she said, tapping the line around Bra’ka. “What is its power source? Does it do anything?”

  She leaned on her fists. “From my dealings with Golix and his penchant for blood magic, I would say yes.” She took a heartbeat to relate what they’d already been through and what it took to finally break the first spell he cast.

  Haydn patted her arm. “I am sorry for your loss.”

  She swiped at a tear before it could fall. She hadn’t dealt with Lanni’s death ye
t, not really but had managed to put up a brave front since they’d left Gahroon. Hearing commiseration from a perfect stranger though, brought it all back. “Thank you.”

  She drew in a shaky breath, swiped at a few more tears and cleared her throat. “Anyway, I would guess he’s probably using it to keep us out, in some way.”

  Haydn gave her shoulder another squeeze. “Yes, Unicorns are tricky like that.”

  She snorted. “And Golix is one of the worst.”

  “That he is. However, if we can take out the shield, it might help.”

  She couldn’t agree more, but without information, she had no idea how to do it. “I don’t have an inside source. Unfortunately, everyone I know is right here.”

  “I do. If my contacts in the city survived, they might be able to give us more intel on the matter.”

  “Good. See what you can find. We may need to send some people in.”

  Haydn nodded slowly. “The only other problem I foresee, is drawing the fleet out from behind the barrier, if we cannot down it.” She sighed softly. “What others were you talking about?”

  She paced along one side of the table. “Aside from the 40 Dragons we’ve heard back from so far, we have most of the Chimera warriors from the 1st and 2nd Prides and a handful of Pegasus on our side.”

  Haydn ran a hand along the back of her neck. “That is not much against an invading horde and a fleet of airships.”

  “No, it’s not. Draven is contacting the Pixie’s, some Gnolls and the Leprechauns but my understanding is they are not much for fighting.”

  “They are not. Pixie’s maybe, they are crafty little devils that love tearing up machinery from the inside. Blasted annoying they are. Gnolls and Leprechauns have a decent understanding of magic but do not like to get involved.”

  An idea sparked and she smiled, heading back to the main living room where Draven was currently on the line with the aforementioned Leprechauns. And deep in the middle of heated argument with their current leader.