by Rinelle Grey
Karla’s hands left his back to cover her ears. Her knees loosened on his back, and Taurian gave his shoulders another shake.
Karla slid down off his back, and Taurian wasn’t sure if she had dismounted, or fallen. And he didn’t have time to find out. The dragon was bearing down on them, and he didn’t want to fight on the ground. Especially not near Karla.
He beat his wings strongly, and lifted into the air, swinging around just as the other dragon barrelled into him.
Subtle.
He needed to end this fight quickly. Before Karla was hurt.
Chapter 35
Karla ran backwards, away from the two tumbling dragons, her head still throbbing from whatever Taurian had done to put his voice inside her head. They didn’t actually crash into the cliff, more skimmed it for a dozen metres before lifting into the air again. She felt the wind of their wingbeats as they lifted, and the upward pressure caused all her hair to stand on end.
She craned her neck, shielding her eyes from the sun to try to keep her eyes on them. Damn Taurian for being so determined to fight instead of heading back to the car where they stood a chance of outrunning them.
The voice in her head had said this was Edtrima, not Ultrima, but Karla wasn’t convinced Taurian stood a better chance against the other dragon. He’d insisted he could beat Ultrima and look how that had gone.
Edtrima let out an ear splitting screech, flying at Taurian, his claws extended.
Karla flinched as they ripped into Taurian’s chest.
She covered her mouth with her hand, feeling faint at the thought of him being wounded again. Then adrenalin surged through her as Taurian scraped an even larger rent across the other dragon’s hide.
The memory of the fight at Ultrima’s lair yesterday was fresh in her mind. Taurian was at full health and strength at least, but if he was wrong, and he wasn’t stronger than Edtrima, there was no ute to charge in and save him here. High up on the cliff, there was nothing. Not even any trees for Karla to take shelter in. The area was swept bare by the wind for miles around.
Without Taurian, there was no way for her to get back down to where her father and the others waited, even supposing the dragon didn’t care about her after it defeated Taurian.
So Karla had more than one reason for hoping that Taurian fared better in this fight. She tried to judge how the fight was going, and it wasn’t encouraging. Edtrima seemed a little smaller than Ultrima.
But he was also faster.
The two dragons closed in again, silver and gold hides rippling in the sunlight. They were almost hugging with their front legs, while the back legs scratched at each other. They looked like two kangaroo bucks fighting.
How they managed to stay in the air at the same time, she couldn’t imagine. Even though their wings beat the air strongly, surely their furious scrabbling put their beat off a little.
They were so close together she couldn’t tell which dragon had the upper hand. Blood quickly covered both their bodies from a multitude of small scratches.
Karla could barely stand to look, but nor could she tear her eyes away. The fight was raw and violent—and terrifying. Her heart thudded in her chest, and her blood sang in her veins. She couldn’t help feeling invigorated by the show. She wanted to cheer Taurian on, to scream for him to kill the other dragon.
But the thought that he might actually kill him chilled her at the same time. It might be normal in his dragon world, but in her human world, killing each other just wasn’t right, and she couldn’t imagine ever accepting it except in self-defence.
But then again, this was self-defence. The scream Edtrima had given, and the way he had attacked without pause, and with such malice, showed her he had no intention of stopping to talk to Taurian. He wanted to kill him.
They spun in the air, silver and gold merging in the sunlight, hard to tell apart. Claws went every which way. They parted, and Taurian beat his wings swiftly, getting some distance from the other dragon. His eyes never left his enemy. His wing strokes were strong, and Karla could see no serious wounds, just a multitude of small scratches.
God, he was magnificent.
Edtrima’s wings beat with less certainty. Was he was weakening? Did Taurian have a chance to win this fight?
They closed in again with teeth bared. Edtrima went for Taurian’s wing, but Taurian turned just in time, teeth glancing off his shoulder. Taurian’s neck snaked around, and Karla held her breath as his jaws closed over Edtrima’s neck. This time, the other dragon’s screech was one of pain. He writhed in Taurian’s grip, and after only a few moments, they broke apart again.
Edtrima looked more wary now. He took his time circling, watching Taurian closely.
Taurian waited, his wings flapping slowly, watching the other dragon. What was he waiting for? Why didn’t he attack?
The silver dragon darted in, claws out, reaching for Taurian’s wings.
Karla winced as Edtrima’s claws raked across them, drawing blood. Her heart beat even faster. If Taurian couldn’t fly, he stood no chance.
Yet, it was the other dragon who screamed. Karla strained to see what had happened. Taking advantage of how close the silver dragon had had to come to reach him, Taurian had sunk his teeth into the other dragon’s wings.
He hung on, holding the weight of both of them for a few moments. A sharp crack split the air, and Karla felt like cheering.
The silver dragon plummeted to the ground.
Karla scurried back, even though she was already out of range. A thud reverberated through the rock as his body hit it.
Taurian landed beside him with a second thud, this one slightly gentler. Edtrima struggled to stand, his broken wing hanging useless at his side. Still his head snaked out, trying desperately to bite Taurian.
Taurian grabbed Edtrima’s wing with his front leg, and pushed him back to the ground, growling fiercely.
The sound sent shivers up Karla’s spine.
With a large sigh, the other dragon slumped to the ground, shifting and changing before Karla’s eyes. The naked human, his silver hair and blue eyes the only similarities to the dragon he had been was far less threatening.
So different to the dapper man she had played chess with in the library. Now he looked broken and bruised.
Taurian roared in triumph, his dragon form dwarfing the human. He bent over him, jaws open.
Was he going to…?
Not even waiting to find out, Karla leapt forwards. Not even considering any danger to herself, she grabbed Taurian’s foreleg. “Stop!”
He froze, staring at her, while the naked human cowered in front of him.
Karla looked at the man for a moment, cradling his broken arm, blood pouring out of the many wounds in his skin. Then she turned to Taurian. “You’ve beaten him. Let it go.”
Taurian growled, low in his throat. The sound caused every hair on Karla’s body to rise. His meaning was clear. He was angry enough to kill.
Karla didn’t back down, just stared at him. He might be fierce and powerful, but she was unafraid. He’d never hurt her.
“He may have beaten me, but he will never beat the Trima clan,” the silver dragon returned.
Karla stared at him. Seriously, did Edtrima have no brains?
Taurian lunged past her, going for the dragon, and he shrank back. Karla was tempted to let Taurian kill him. He had no remorse. He and the others of his clan had been hunting her and Taurian for days now. Why did she care if they lived or died?
But the fear flickering in the man’s eyes was real, despite his bravado.
She couldn’t stand by and watch. She could never forgive herself if she did.
Karla wrapped her arms around Taurian’s leg. “Don’t.”
He stared down at her, the annoyance in his eyes clear. Karla stared back, not backing down. He growled again, though more softly this time. A warning, not a threat.
Karla didn’t move, or shift her eyes from his.
She felt the muscles in his leg relax
before the breath escaped his dragon lips in a sigh.
He shook his leg slightly and Karla stared at him. But he was moving back. Away from the now human dragon. So she released his leg.
Slowly his scales disappeared. His frame contorted back into a human. Karla couldn’t help herself, she stared.
It was amazing that his body could do that. There were no similarities between his human and dragon forms, not in shape anyway. Yet his change from one to the other looked as though it was specifically designed that way.
Her eyes ranged over his naked form, too busy cataloguing his wounds to admire it. Bloody and ragged rents in his skin that would need stitches in a human. But no major arteries hit and no broken bones.
Taurian wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were on the dragon. “Get out of here, before my anger at Trima clan overcomes her reluctance to see you die.”
The man struggled to his feet, staring at Taurian sullenly. “Trima clan will defeat you. You may have beaten me, but you know you have no chance against Ultrima.”
Karla’s heart sank. Had she made a mistake? Would letting this man live mean he would just taunt her and Taurian for longer?
But having made the decision, Taurian apparently had no problems sticking to it. “Then Ultrima himself should have come, instead of sending a weakling like you to do his job.”
Karla frowned. He had a point. Why had Ultrima sent the weaker dragon? Surely he would have known that Taurian was strong enough to beat Edtrima? If he were determined to get rid of Taurian, he would have sent someone he knew would win. Or come himself. Taurian had been more injured than he had, he should have been well and truly healed by now. This didn’t add up with what she’d seen of the lightning dragon.
“He didn’t send you, did he?” she demanded.
The flash of anger in the other dragon’s eyes answered her question even before he spoke. “Ultrima may be weak in resolve, but his many years of experience mean he is the most powerful dragon around. Why he spares your life now is beyond me. But it will not last.”
“You came against Ultrima’s wishes?” Taurian demanded.
“I could see what needed to be done, what Ultrima wishes for in his heart, even if he insists we wait.”
“You mean Ultrima not only didn’t send you, he actually told you not to come?” Taurian’s voice was incredulous.
Karla could understand why. This news made no sense at all, but she had a strange feeling of déjà vu. Before she could figure out why, Edtrima spoke.
“I didn’t say that.”
“What did you say then?” Taurian demanded.
“Nothing.”
Taurian stepped forwards and dragged the man up by his arm. His broken arm. Just above the break, true, but the movement was enough to make the man cry out in pain. “Did Ultrima specifically tell you not to come?”
The man clutched at his arm, trying to cradle the broken bones. The sight was almost enough to make Karla step in again, but she hardened her heart. Knowing the answer could be the difference between life and death for her and Taurian in the future. She needed to know the answer.
“Your threats won’t make me talk.”
Taurian reached for the man’s arm, and despite her need to know, Karla couldn’t keep silent. “Don’t.” She put her hand on Taurian’s arm.
He growled at her. “Stay out of it, this is dragon business.”
He didn’t frighten her in the least. “Right now, I’m as much involved in this as you are,” she snapped.
“Not now that the Mesmer ritual is complete.” Taurian’s golden eyes flashed with fire. “I can take care of this without your help.”
The dismissive tone in his voice, so harsh and certain, sent a chill up her spine. What had gone wrong? He’d been so grateful for her help earlier, so happy that she had stuck around. Now this. Where had this anger come from? And did he mean it?
The thought that he might caused a stab of fear, as though her heart was breaking. But she couldn’t think about that right now. She couldn’t let her feelings for him get in the way when they were in potential danger.
Either way, she needed his help to get down off this cliff. And they still had to find a way to stop Ultrima coming after them. “When this is done, you can do whatever you like, but until then, I’m as much a part of it as you are, whether you like it or not.”
Ignoring Taurian’s shocked expression, she turned to the human. “Now look, you can see he’s pretty angry. I don’t agree with him hurting or killing you, but if you don’t answer his questions, there’s going to be nothing more I can do to help you. Is it really worth dying to protect those answers?”
The man’s eyes were wide. She could almost see the decision flashing through his eyes. Then he sagged. “He told all the dragons to stay away,” he said sullenly.
“Why?” Taurian demanded.
“I don’t know. He didn’t say. Probably because he’s old and weak.”
So not only did the younger dragon disagree with Ultrima’s orders, he didn’t have much respect for his leader either. Maybe they could use that.
If Taurian was still speaking to her after this.
“Ultrima may be old, but he’s far from weak,” Taurian lectured. “I suggest you go home and learn some respect for your elders before they beat it into you.”
Was Taurian giving the other dragon advice? Karla was never going to understand him.
He released the human’s arm and the man slumped to the ground. Karla spared a thought for wondering how the dragon with the injured wing was going to make it home. It was a long way to Ultrima’s lair.
Taurian didn’t seem to care. He stepped away from the injured man and back towards the edge of the cliff, not even bothered by turning his attention away from a potential enemy. Karla wasn’t sure if that was impressive confidence, or stupidity.
She kept her eyes on Edtrima, so she didn’t miss the dirty look he shot Taurian. He made no attempt to go after him though, instead turning and slinking away down the gentler incline away from the cliff face. Once he was far enough away from them for Karla to feel confident he was leaving, she turned back to Taurian.
He didn’t even look at her. For the first time, Karla felt uncertain approaching him. Now that the danger was past, her heart ached. Had he meant the things he’d said? Did he really not care if she turned around and left?
What did she care? That was what she’d been waiting for, wasn’t it? For him not to need her any longer, so she could go back to her life. The life she’d fought so hard for.
The life that no longer seemed to be important at all.
That thought froze Karla. Had she lost who she was in her obsession with Taurian? Was the life she had made for herself so meaningless?
“They must be dead.”
Taurian’s voice was flat, emotionless.
Gut wrenching.
All thought of her own life fled. Karla couldn’t help herself. She stepped up to the edge of the cliff and put her hand on his arm. “You can’t know that.”
“If there was anyone down there, they would have heard this. They would have come out.”
His voice held no emotion at all, and yet, Karla could almost feel the waves of sorrow and loneliness echoing from him. She couldn’t make herself pull away, even after all he had said.
“Do you want to check, or just…” she trailed off. What would Taurian do if his family weren’t here?
Would he need her again?
How stupid was she, that she hoped he did?
Chapter 36
As Taurian jumped off the cliff, letting the air currents carry him down towards the cave entrance, Karla's weight on his back was almost an irritation. She didn't understand. How could she, she was human, not a dragon.
She hadn’t been there when Ultrima had flown into his lair with the other lightning dragons behind him, demanding his sister, Sarian, marry him. She hadn’t seen him proclaim himself prince of a new clan, and thus worthy to marry a princess. She hadn�
��t seen how many Rian clan dragons he had killed when they had refused.
She couldn't possibly understand how satisfying it would have felt to have a victory, any victory, over the Trima clan.
It could be the last victory Rian clan would ever have. He knew, even before he landed gently on the ledge outside his former home, what he would find. No sounds came from within the cave system. No laughing of baby dragons as they chased dragonflies, no mother dragons scolding, no elders arguing or playing bones.
Taurian waited for the pain to land, surely it would soon, folding its wings like a victorious dragon and spitting fire all over him. But all he felt was empty. Hollow.
He'd never expected to be the last of his clan. He'd never expected to have to deal with all this alone. He didn’t know how to.
Karla slid off his back, silent now, staring around the cave. “This is where you used to live? Your home?”
Taurian transformed into his human form, but his voice was too choked up to speak. He nodded.
There was no evidence at all of the dragons that had once lived here. The furs they had slept on were gone, as were the wooden bowls, carved by dragon claws. Even the sand had no claw prints. It was as if they had never been.
Karla turned around slowly, searching each corner of the cave. “What happened to them?”
Taurian could hear the doubt in her voice. Doubt that his family had even existed.
How had he ever thought she could understand? She was only human.
“Trima clan killed them.” Anger rose up in him, threatening to choke him, but it was better than the emptiness. At least he could feel it. “Just like I would have killed that Trima dragon if you hadn't stopped me. It wouldn't have even begun to make up for all they've done, but it would have been a start.”
Karla turned to him, putting her hand on his arm. Sympathy shone from her eyes. “I can’t even begin to imagine how hard that must be,” she said, her voice soft. “But would killing Edtrima really have helped any? Could it bring your family back? Could it even help you find out what happened to them?”