“It’s you that frightens her. We don’t have time for this dragon-bonding nonsense. Get control of yourself.” Enar stood, weight shifted to one side, hands loose at his sides. As if he was ready to fight.
Thoren? I’m all right. I’ll be fine. Zombie dust wears off in a couple of hours. Don’t worry about me. Just get me out of here.
Thoren looked down at Keara and back to Enar. Had he actually been about to change? What had he been thinking? That’s right. He hadn’t.
He threw back his head and took in the ceiling décor. Wooden beams, wooden slats. Calm thoughts.
“Are you ready?” Enar stood by the door, the fight gone out of him.
“The sooner we can get out of this place the better.”
“You can say that again,” Enar muttered, starting out the door.
Thoren beat his friend to the stairs, Enar’s breath on his neck. Long flickering shadows danced on the wall of the stairwell, elongated shapes leading the way to their owners. Thoren’s eyes followed their paths back to Jamie and the unknown male Draconi.
Jamie had freed the dragon, who now stood in the middle of the dungeon, trying to flap his wings. Little eddies of dust swirled when the wings touched the dirt floor. Jamie stood pressed against the cold, stone wall, eyes wide and shining, a grin splitting his face.
The sight of the Draconi brought Thoren to an abrupt halt, Enar plowing into him with a sharp exhale of breath. Did the dragon have the ability to transport out of the dungeon? Would his powers still work after being suppressed for so long by the titanium in his cell? If they didn’t, how would Thoren manage to transport a creature that large out of ten-foot thick walls? Dear Goddess, please let the male’s powers work.
“Will you be able to transport out of here?”
The Draconi blinked, disappearing only to reappear in another part of the dungeon.
Jamie’s mouth formed an “O.” “Wow!”
Apparently so. Point the way out and I will try.
There’s a door that leads directly outside. Through that tunnel to your left. Keara’s voice echoed in Thoren’s head.
He turned his head to the left, noting the tunnel. Striding that direction, he peered into the darkness, barely discerning light filtering in through the cracks in the door at the end of the narrow passage. Tightening his clutch on Keara, he counted the number of steps from the dungeon to the door.
“Ten steps from there to here.” He spoke over his shoulder as he unlocked the door and shoved it open enough for him to peer outside. “Looks like a stone’s throw to the woods. Think you can fly?”
Doubtful. This is the first time in twenty-four years I was able to stretch my wings. But it will do me good to try.
“Our camp isn’t far from here, about a mile due east. Can you locate it using our scent?”
The dragon stuck his snout against Jamie’s chest, inhaling deeply. Jamie giggled as the dragon’s hot breath nuzzled his torso. Yes.
“Good. Jamie, come to me.” Jamie held a hesitant hand up, placing it on the dragon’s snout and rubbing briskly before running to Thoren’s side. The Draconi chuckled.
Now if their luck would hold until they all made it back to the campsite. Enar strode down the narrow passageway, pushed past Thoren and shoved the door open, letting in a stream of light.
“All clear,” he said after looking around for sentinels.
Motioning with his hand, Enar beckoned Jamie closer.
“See that clump of trees?” He pointed. “Run toward them. Stop once you get to them. We’ll be behind you.”
Jamie took off at a sprint, disappearing into the trees. Thoren followed him, Keara clasped to his chest. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that Enar closed the door, joining them at the trees. Once they gathered in the woods, Thoren cast a spell to lock the door.
Can you hear me, friend? Thoren asked of the dragon.
I can.
Good. We’re outside the door. Can you make it through?
Silence greeted him broken by a loud thump. An indentation appeared in the grass before disappearing, replaced by a gust of wind generated by dragon’s wings. Invisible dragon’s wings. Squinting against the blue of the sky, Thoren made out the shimmering outline of the invisible Draconi flapping his wings, hovering in front of them.
Ah, friend, I am in your debt. Anything you ask, I will give, including my life.
A life debt. A solemn vow Thoren never expected to hear and yet could not deny.
And I will honor that vow until my death.
Thoren heard the beating of wings vibrating off the limbs of the trees, saw the leaves stir in the breeze.
I’ll meet you back at your campsite. Stretching my wings feels good. Guess I can fly after all.
See you soon, friend.
It didn’t take them long to return to the campsite, but to Thoren it felt like forever. The almost overwhelming desire to kill the one that hurt Keara mingled with self-talk aimed to convince him that what was happening was not really happening. He did not have a mate. Could not. His job came first. And yet, his emotions and lack of control over them left no doubt as to Keara’s importance.
The problem was his inability to want a change in his life.
Self-talk dug up a bunch of things he didn’t feel like dealing with. Better to dwell on his revenge of the one that kidnapped her. Changing into a rampaging dragon had more appeal than discovering why he’d rather have his job than a mate.
Better yet, how was he going to heal Keara? How did he get the drug to wear off faster?
He knelt, placing Keara on the ground, touching a hand to her slack cheek. How long until the effects of the drug were out of her system?
“Keara!” Lily ran to Keara, touching her friend lightly on the arm, peering into Keara’s vacant staring eyes. “Dear Goddess, what happened to her?”
“She’s been drugged and can’t move—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a loud roar ripped through the air, dragon’s song echoed off the hills. Suddenly the ground shook, grass flattening, as the invisible dragon landed with a thud, dropping his invisibility spell.
The wings might be a little underused. The dragon shook the grass off his scales, flinging it into the wall of the ward. Lily screamed, jumping behind Enar, who caught her, clamping a hand over her mouth.
“Shh, woman. It’s just, um...I didn’t catch your name?”
Good one, Thoren. Take a life debt and not bother to take the name of the giver. Thoren shook his head.
The dragon paused, as if he didn’t know his name. A quick breath, a twitch of his lip. Fafnir. And yours?
“Enar. And this is my woman, Lily.” Enar pulled Lily out from where she trembled behind him.
“My apologies, friend, for not asking earlier. I’m Thoren. The Halfling female is Keara, and you’ve already met Jamie.”
Fafnir waved a front limb to and fro, dismissing the apology before he shuffled to where Thoren knelt by Keara, staring into her flaccid face. His eye-ridges popped halfway up his forehead.
How did she get to Cautasia?
Hot breath streamed across Thoren’s arm. “Her father abandoned her mother before she was born. She’s lived in River’s Run her entire life.”
Fafnir took a step back, eyes wide, mouth slack. No.
“What’s surprising is no word got back to us. We heard about Jamie, but not her.”
The dragon shook his head, looking like someone informed him of his imminent death. Thoren understood how he felt. The whole situation shocked him too. A Halfling female, who...might be...his mate and a Halfling lad with brown hair instead of red. What else did he have to look forward to? Going through the Change in the middle of nowhere?
“It’s bizarre, I agree.”
Fafnir looked at Thoren, blinking...was that tears?
Thoren placed a hand on Fafnir’s forearm. “She’ll be all right.” He hoped. Either way Simon was going to die. Preferably slowly and painfully.
A small feat
her-like brush against Thoren’s hand jerked his eyes to Keara.
Praise the Goddess, the drug seemed to be wearing off.
Chapter 9
Keara concentrated, forcing all her energy into her hand until it twitched. Not much movement, but enough for Thoren to notice. Thank the Goddess he found her, that he cared enough to come after her. She had never felt more relieved in her life than when he walked through Lord Simon’s bedchamber door, deflected her knife throw and didn’t punish her for it.
And he heard her thoughts! How amazing was that? What a useful trick. Although now that she thought about it, totally chilling. If he knew what she wanted to say before she spoke, how much deeper into her mind could he delve? What secrets could he uncover? She shivered at the possibility.
Would he discover the secret she held from everyone? If he did, what would he do to her? Did Draconi have those powers? She needed to learn how to keep him from tunneling around in her mind, from reading thoughts best kept hidden. He might not like what he found and she had no place else to go but with him. As soon as the drug wore off, she’d ask how to erect mental barriers to keep him out.
Thinking about her day made her face ache, each painful throb of her inner cheek reminding her of how close she came to losing her life. The drug made her vision warble like steam rising from the river on a cold day. A dull pounding in her head joined the throb in her cheek, making her long for one of her brews. But first she had to move.
Concentrating, she made her hand twitch again, not much, but enough for him to notice.
Thoren’s eyes widened as his gaze darted from her hand to her face. Hope warred with fear in his green eyes and though his face remained passive, she felt his emotions crawl over her skin like the wind, light like feathers at first, turning into a blistering gust. She wondered if he realized she knew what he felt, knew his relief that the drug was wearing off.
Small fingertips pressed into her scalp, massaging lightly, easing away the burgeoning headache. Jamie’s small fingers stroked through her hair, while Thoren traced his fingers along her jaw. She became aware of someone next to her. Forcing her head to turn, she looked into blue eyes that crinkled at the corners.
“I think she’ll be fine,” Lily smiled at her, relief evident in her expression.
“You had us worried there for a moment.” Thoren’s hand fell to hers, clasping it tightly, the planes of his face still wavering in her vision.
She tried to smile, but it came out more as a grimace. Her voice had left her, since the drug still controlled her vocal chords. Forcing her lips to move, she mouthed thank-you to Thoren, knowing it didn’t adequately describe her feelings, but unable to force her lips around anything else.
“The sun is overhead. Do we stay or go?” Enar spoke from somewhere above and to her side.
Thoren’s black hair fell across his shoulder as he tilted his head to the sky. He looked back down at her and then up, presumably at Enar. “It would be better to get farther away from here, but she’s still weak. I’m not sure she should be moved.”
I don’t want to stay here. Can you still hear me? They’ll find us. If we stay here, we’ll be caught. Can you still hear me? Please say yes.
“Even I can hear you, female. Tone down the mental screams.” Enar moved into her line of vision, rubbing the side of his head.
“It is a little loud,” Thoren smiled at her, “but we’ll work on it. You just need to be taught.”
Fine. But we can’t stay here. They’ll find us.
“She has a point,” Enar said.
“What are you talking about?” Lily looked from one face to another, wrinkles creasing her forehead.
“You can’t hear her?” Enar sounded incredulous.
Lily’s jaw clenched. “She’s not speaking.”
“Draconi can mind-speak, Lily,” Thoren explained.
“Truthfully?”
“Yes. Keara is speaking to us, telling us to leave.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“True. But by the time she can move, it will be dark, and our campsite is warded from intruders. Only Draconi can get in and besides us, there aren’t any around.”
There was one working with Lord Simon. He offered Simon money to capture me. He said he needed me to get revenge on his enemies.
“What?” Thoren exploded, eyes popping wide, lips peeling off his teeth. Ripples crept beneath his skin and he shook, as if trying to cast them off.
“Who?” Enar knelt beside Thoren.
What did he look like?
I don’t know. He wore a cloak pulled over his head, but he had the Draconi mark and he said he needed me to get revenge on his enemies and that he needed to unlock my powers. I thought he was going to... She couldn’t finish. Thinking about what almost happened, what would have happened if Thoren hadn’t appeared, made her want to shudder.
“We move. Pack the campsite and make it quick.” Thoren stroked a stray piece of hair off her forehead.
“We can take him on. Finish this now,” Enar said.
“Not with the females and a boy. Even a warrior has to retreat at some time. Besides, we’ll be back.”
“And then they won’t get away.”
Thoren touched her arm. “I’ll be back. Lily, stay with her.”
As soon as Thoren, Enar and Jamie left, Lily grabbed Keara’s hand. “What happened to you?”
If she could twitch her hand, she could open her lips. Shame Lily didn’t have the ability to hear her mind-speak. “Gwrph.”
So much for talking.
“Sorry. I should have known. I’m so glad you’re back. I was worried about you.” Lily squeezed Keara’s hand.
Energy to hand, energy to hand. Instead of twitching, her hand returned Lily’s squeeze. Finally. The effects of the zombie dust were wearing thin.
Lily grinned. Jamie flopped beside her, out of breath, bouncing up and down.
“Guess what, guess what, guess what?”
“What?”
What? Jamie had a lot of explaining to do. Starting with an apology for wandering off in the middle of the night.
“They’re going to let us ride Fafnir! It’s apparently not done, and a big deal, but Fafnir insisted and we get to ride! Isn’t that grand!”
“Ride? On that, that, creature?” Lily’s voice rose.
“He’s a dragon. Same as me. One day I can turn like that. That’s grand, huh?”
Lily’s face turned paler than normal. “Sure. Great. How are we supposed to stay on a...dragon?
“Duh. Hold on, silly. How’re you doing Keara?”
Better. If I concentrate, I can move my hand.
We’ll come back and kill them, you know.
You’ll do nothing of the sort! And why did you wander off in the middle of the night when we were being chased?
“Are you two talking again? That’s rude to do that in front of me, you know.”
“You’re right. I think I’m needed over there.” Jamie leapt to his feet and ran off.
We’re not done, buddy.
Uh-huh.
Boys.
She’d deal with him later. When she felt better. Thank the Goddess they were leaving. Hopefully Simon and the hooded Draconi wouldn’t bother following them. She shuddered, remembering their touches, what they wanted to do to her, the fear she felt lying bound and helpless.
The way Thoren strode in and saved her.
And said nothing about how stupid it was for her to chase after Jamie on her own.
Too bad Thoren didn’t see her as his wife. Didn’t see her as anything but an obligation.
“I’m a little scared about riding on the dragon.”
Moving her eyes to focus on Lily’s face didn’t take much of an effort. Cranking her lips into a semblance of a smile did.
She didn’t mind the dragon. He belonged to her race, her people. How apropos that he would be carrying her to them. If only Thoren would ride with them, then she could go about convincing him to notice her.
/> Did she want him to notice her?
Yes, yes she did.
How did one go about getting a man to take notice? Relationships with the opposite sex were not her thing.
But challenges? Her entire life had been a challenge. Living with her grandmother, the entire town—with the exception of Lily—fearing her, learning herb lore.
She liked a good challenge, especially when it came coupled with learning something new. According to her customs, he was her husband. And it was up to her to convince him of it.
Chapter 10
Flying, it’s a good two days, day and a half if you push it, to get back home, Fafnir said as they strode away from the campsite.
The Council forbids us to turn while outside of Draconia.
You work for the Council?
I do. Thoren couldn’t help the pride lacing his words.
Doesn’t the Council allow for outstanding circumstances? Like a drugged Halfling with a rogue Draconi and crazed nobleman on her trail?
Did it? Thoren looked at Enar who shrugged. Enar didn’t care as much about the Council as Thoren did. Who was he fooling? Enar hated the Council. But one of them should know all the rules and as he never needed to use the extenuating circumstances allowances, he forgot them. Looked like Enar had too.
His inner beast twisted, begging to be set free, to fly, to protect Keara. By the Goddess, but he was tired of feeling split in half—the rational side and the completely crazed one.
Although at the moment, he wasn’t sure which was which.
Fafnir had a point. Keara was ill. The drug’s effects lessened as the moments ticked by, but he worried about long-term side effects.
Everything about her worried him. The fact that Fafnir carried her instead of him. The pallor of her skin. Her feeble attempts to move.
Protect and save.
If he was punished, so be it.
You’re right. We can fly until sundown and then make camp.
“Good call. The quicker we get there, the quicker we can return and put an end to this.”
Thoren nodded to Enar, wondering for the umpteenth time how a Watcher understood mind-speak. As far as he knew, Enar was the only Watcher with that ability but maybe others had it and kept it hidden. More thoughts for another day.
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