“What is it you and my father are after?” Her eyes were pleading, and her hand found him. A glance down and a lick of her lips were as tempting to him as anything ever had been. “You have to tell me now, I mean now that I am the queen of the New World. You are going to reclaim your throne from those Dragonites, aren’t you? Tell me what you and he are up to.”
“All in time, love.” Richard grinned and grabbed a handful of her hair. She didn’t even resist as he forced her head down.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Use your dragon tear, Silva’s calming voice spoke into Rikky’s frantic mind. I could possibly fight a way through, but not with you in here with me. It is up to you.
The longer Rikky was in the magical orb, the more panicked he became. He wasn’t sure if it was part of a spell, or if he was just that afraid of being closed in, but either way, he was terrified. He was so distraught he wasn’t thinking clearly, and now that he could see Aikira laid across the cavern floor like a broken doll, his heart was hammering in his chest, and he was glazed with sweat.
Close your eyesss and concentrate, child. Silva soothed. Draw on the dour and work usss a way out of thisss sshell.
Rikky tried, but every time he forced his worry away and began to taste the dour from his teardrop, he would think of how his feelings betrayed Jenka, or how those same feelings seemed just right when he was with Zahrellion. Or how he hadn’t been able to save Herald from Richard and his Nightshade. Every time he came close to finding that place, his mind rejected it.
It isn’t supposed to be like this, Silva said. The dour should overcome the effects of this spell with ease. Rikky, it is your fear, the fear inside you that is keeping us in here.
Just keep talking to me, Sil, Rikky managed. Just hearing your voice is good. Tell me a story.
Hmmm. I suppossse the distraction will do youss good. Silva resituated her bulk against the fully supporting magical walls of their spherical prison and began. There once was a rogue named Savvy who wanted to ride a unicorn ssso badly that he paid an enchantressss to make him look like a unicorn ssso he could get clossse enough.
What? What happened?
Well, Savvy ended up getting ridden. The enchantress made him a mare, and the unicorn he’d spied in the forest was hung like, well, like a horse.
Rikky was so shocked by his dragon’s brash tale that he laughed out loud.
Try seeking the dour now, Rikky. Silva’s voice was a little more commanding this time. Hurry, now, while I tell you another tale. This one is about a dragon named Cobalt who once snatched a whole ship full of treasure right from the sea.
I am coming your way, Silvastricanias, Clover told Silva in an ethereal voice that Rikky could hear. Save Cobalt’s tale for my ears, for I met the ghost of a dwarf once, who told me of the same happening, but I thought he was a raver.
It was good to know that the others knew their location so quickly, but Clover’s sending once again caused Rikky to lose concentration. Now, he couldn’t help but wonder how she knew his dragon’s real name and where they were.
Aikira is busted up bad, Rikky said. If I can get out of this shell we are spelled in, I can attend her, but right now I can’t even tell if she is still breathing.
So, she is here? Clover asked, her ethereal voice betraying both relief and anger at the same time. I am almost to the cavern you are in. Where is she? Is that wounded beast still in there? Tell me what is happening, for I’m closer than you could imagine.
It is, and it looks hungry, Rikky responded. He was feeling less shaky now that he knew help was on the way. It occurred to him that he may have been frightened as much by being separated wholly from the other Dragoneers as he was by being stuck in the not-so-roomy orb.
Its left hind leg is chained to a ring set in the floor, Rikky said. It can’t even take a full stride right now. I watched the wizards set another ring just like it. I think it is for Silva, but maybe not. There was another colossal here and a few more of the wizards, but most have gone with the weird-looking leader.
By the gods, no, Clover said. It is bad, Rikky. Can you see Aikira? I am here beside her, but invisible. I am going to take her to the dwarf’s fountain, for it is the only way I know to save someone this broken.
No. Rikky shook his head. He felt Silva’s ire rise as she noticed that his fear was suddenly gone. It had been replaced by determination. I can save her, if you get us out of this shell and lend me your dragon tear. Every time you jostle her body, the marrow leaks into her blood. She wouldn’t survive the--
Cover your eyes, boy. Clover wasted no time, Silvastricanias, curl tight around him.
There was commotion from down the cavern as the wizards sensed Clover using her dragon’s tear, then an orb of fire the size of a wagon wheel appeared. Rikky saw Clover’s outline shimmering from the heat, but he still couldn’t see her. Then she let out a roar and sent the infernal concoction right into the chained colossal’s side.
Rikky was enveloped by Silva’s wings then, and the concussion that followed left him reeling. He felt himself being jarred and jostled around; then he was drenched in dour magic. His pains melted away, and his mind became clear. He didn’t even pay attention to the battle Clover and his dragon were fighting around him as he hurried over to Aikira’s side and dove deep into her essence. All he knew was Clover’s huge dragon tear was in his hand and he wasn’t even sure how it got there. It was filling him to the brim with dour magic though, and he understood that if he didn’t hurry, Aikira would be dead or crippled.
CHAPTER NINTEEN
Jenka asked Crimzon to escort Golden back to the castle. The glittering yellow wyrm’s wing was twisted but workable. She could fly, if slowly, but there was no way she could defend herself if she was attacked while doing so. The wounds were bad enough that even she knew she had to be healed before she could go find her rider. She doubted Aikira was alive, for she’d seen her go tumbling into the trees and bramble as they crashed. Golden remembered doing everything she could just to keep from crushing her, and had managed to avoid it, but Aikira smacked one trunk, then another, and came to a tangle-limbed halt in the thorns just before that grimy little morsel of a wizard grabbed her.
She was hoping that Crystal or Crimzon would lend their dour in healing her once they were in the protective field of the castle, but they found that only Linux and some rangers were left there. Zahrellion had taken the children, even Pascal, on Crystal’s back and fled without telling anyone where they’d gone.
Golden, who doted over Pascal just like his mother did, was distraught at best. She was glad she didn’t have to tell the boy what had happened to his mother.
Linux offered to tend to the wounds, but Crimzon did the healing after he ate a pair of elks the rangers offered. Golden ate one, too, but only after her stretched tendons were healed.
Linux gave some orders to Captain Willian, and to Brawn. Then he climbed on Golden’s back and they were off, following Crimzon through the ever-darkening sky.
In the grottoes, battle was raging. Rikky chanced a glance and saw that Clover was no longer invisible, or at least the spell’s effect was fading, for he and the enemy seemed to be able to see her well enough. The handful of wizards hadn’t been expecting any sort of attack, and they were caught off guard.
Had they loosed their great creature, they could have kept him from healing Aikira, and probably trampled all of them, save for Silva. As it was, they were just now protecting themselves with spells. Rikky knew that if Clover had her teardrop, she could have ended the fight right then, but she didn’t, and he needed every bit of the energy it was emitting to stave off a Dragoneer’s death.
Aikira was far worse than Rikky had imagined a person could be and still be living. She was bleeding inside, and the frothy red stuff was hissing out of her mouth and a hole in her side, where one of her ribs had poked out through her flesh. Rikky was repairing that damage, using the power of his and Clover’s dragon tears in concert, but even if he finished, she would have
to be immobile until she woke up.
Silva was apparently blocking the wizards from being able to attack the area where Aikira was lying, which was very close to the colossal. The iron ring holding the creature in place was already canted halfway over. The creature was yanking and pulling at its tether and could possibly break free soon on its own. Rikky knew he had to hurry, and not just for Aikira’s sake. If that thing got loose unchecked, it would trample them all.
Using the two powerful sources of dour, Rikky patched the Outlander’s battered organs as best he could. He also tried to put the puzzle pieces of her broken limbs back together before fortifying them with the magic he was channeling. It wasn’t easy, but faith in his dragon’s and Clover’s abilities kept him steady at the task instead of worrying.
Through his bond-link with Silva, he suddenly felt pain. She was taking wounds to protect him. The amount of power these few foreign wizards were throwing around was respectable, and now Silva was casting her own spells back at the area of cover where the magi were.
Rikky let the world slip back into his subconscious. Aikira still needed him, and Clover needed her teardrop. His only distraction came when he realized that Crimzon wasn’t there with Clover. The good news was that he managed to stop the bleeding inside Aikira. It was a small step, but an important one. Over the next few weeks, she would be swollen black and purple from head to toe with bruising. Rikky got most of the bone work correctly positioned and reinforced before the colossal finally pulled itself free. Not knowing what else to do, he cautiously picked Aikira up and cradled her limp form in his arms.
Where is Crimzon? Can you carry all three of us out? he asked Clover and Silva through the ethereal. Can you even fly out of here, Sil?
Doubtful onsss both counts, the pewter dragon returned as she shifted her position to better shield her rider and Aikira from the colossal.
I’m not leaving with you, Clover voiced. I’m going deeper into the cavern, and out another way, once you and she are clear. Me and Jenk have a surprise for these bastards.
One of the wizards braved himself out of hiding to gain line of sight for his spell. He threw a scarlet pulse of arcane force across the shaft, and a huge explosion of rock was blasted out of one of the cavern walls near where the colossal had just been.
Clover screamed.
Rikky was suddenly worried that she’d been shredded by flying debris.
Take her, Silva, Rikky ordered as he laid Aikira gingerly on the ground. Get her out of here.
In his whole life, Rikky had only cast a few attacking spells with his dragon tear, and those had been around the time of the Confliction, and maybe once when the Coven of Wisteria was on the rise, so he wasn’t ready for the deafening, and nearly blinding, swell of dour that surged through his body and into his casting. His blast was only intended to knock the creature back and deter it from pursuing Silva. Instead, the multiplied force of the two dragon tears slammed the colossal against the cavern wall hard enough to stun it, and shook the very earth deep into its core.
Rikky spared a quick look back through the dust-filled dimness to see that Silva had taken Aikira into her claw and was now easing down the shaft away from them. Then he was hop-stepping on his peg leg as fast as he could go toward Clover and the wizards. It wasn’t until he came to a stop beside the red-haired lady of legend, and fumbled her dragon tear out of his pocket, that he saw what the beast was doing. He only had time to grab hold of Clover’s belt pouch and yank her back with him before the colossal came stomping at them as if it had never been injured at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Clover ducked unnecessarily as a feeble yellow blast of wizard magic shot by a dozen feet off target. Then she felt herself being pulled away by the belt and didn’t fight it. She was feeling the fresh rush of dour magic coming from the teardrop Rikky put in her hand. It was no easy sensation to ignore. With her powerful prize back in her possession, though, she knew she could just turn herself and Rikky invisible, but she had a better idea. These spell-slinging bastards were about to pay for their folly. Aikira had just found a way into Clover’s heart, and now the girl was all but a ruin that Rikky might, or might not, be able to save.
Clover let loose her magic in a controlled fury. The very moment one of the wizards poked his head up to cast at them, she removed it. Then she sent a barrage of concussive energy bursts at the colossal. They were powerful enough to crumble part of the tunnel around the thing.
Come, Rikky, she called. Follow me.
She was glad Rikky didn’t have too bad of a time keeping up. She’d never seen him run on his peg leg before, and running is exactly what she was doing now, for the colossal was free of the carnage and now storming after them as fast as it could negotiate the rubble.
I can’t keep this pace long, Rikky responded. How far are we running?
Clover looked back and saw that the beast was already on Rikky’s arse. They still had a bit of distance between them and the area Jenka had piled over for his trap, but there was no way the colossal could go past that barrier. Clover had trouble just getting her bosom through when she’d come back in to set Rikky and Aikira free.
There was no time to struggle through now, though, so she stopped and spun and let loose another series of concussive blasts. The colossal stumbled from a direct impact and faltered in its step. It came at them falling and skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust only a few feet behind Rikky. The boy would never know how close he had come to being the flattest man in the realm.
Clover took Rikky’s side when he caught up to her position and was relieved that the remaining wizards didn’t appear to be pursuing them. She had only killed one of them, and hopefully the colossal. She wanted to kill them all, but one would have to be enough for now.
The opening was there in the distance, barely visible in the thin light of the deeper cavern. Since there was no one chasing them anymore, Clover slowed their pace and started watching behind them as much as in front.
“Where are we going?” Rikky asked.
“Look.” Clover pointed at a spot that was darker than the rest of the walls.
Rikky looked at the wrong area and then back at her and shrugged.
“Just follow me.”
To King Richard’s great surprise, when the time came to climb out of the covered litter in which six men were carrying King Chad, the man did just that. He emerged wearing an immaculately kept set of gauntlets and shin guards that were dulled silver, chased with brass or copper. The designs matched his girdle and shoulder caps perfectly. Under those, the pink-skinned king wore a suit of chainmail with links so fine it was baffling. Richard remembered his armor and decided that, once he had a dragon, he would go retrieve the suit from the vault on King’s Isle, where he’d left it.
“I see you’ve worn that armor before. The slash across the back plate looks like it hurt.” Richard smiled when he spoke.
“It did.” King Chad nodded and was about to start into the story but Richard just kept talking.
“You’ll soon find that there isn’t much need for wearing armor like that when dealing with dragons. They will chew you up, armor and all, and then spit out a crumpled ball of metal. I’ve seen it happen.”
“It isn’t to protect me from the dragons, man.” King Chad grinned even wider than he already was. “I wear this stuff to strike fear in my enemies, and more importantly, to protect me from the unseen archer, or the crafty bladesman.” His look turned cold, and his face grew splotchy and agitated. “I got that slash while dispatching two of Mala-Kar’s best assassins. I didn’t see the third one come at me from behind, but Baru’s brother did. Had I not been wearing this getup that day, I would be dead or maimed.”
“What happened to Karid?” Richard knew his name from conversations he’d had with Baru.
“He took the poisoned shaft meant for me, and died a hero's death!”
Richard decided he had better be careful from now on. The king wasn’t nearly as soft as he had thought though
, and the man had a mean streak, he was sure. Collaring a dragon would be treacherous work on its own. Only after he had done so would he begin to make a real plan. Some things were just a lot easier to do from a dragon’s back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Jenka was certain Zahrellion had taken the children deep into the Orich Mountains. Her dragon supposedly had a lair in some icy valley that no man could manage by ordinary means. Jenka could feel his son’s blood in the distant north, and he could feel Amelia’s whole essence, or at least the alien part of it he seemed to be connected to now. Knowing their mother and Crystal the way he did, he had little to worry about. If he did worry, though, he could seek out Amelia’s familiarity and observe them through her young mind.
Jenka knew that Clover and Rikky were nearing the end of the tunnel they were traversing. He also knew that Golden was carrying Linux to the flats out by Swineherd’s pig farm, where they were all about to gather. He listened to everything the Dragoneers and Clover said across the ethereal, and sometimes their thoughts, too. He would be there to make the final plan with them, but he had something of the utmost importance to do first.
Jenka and Jade went into hyper-flight and caught up to Silva in a matter of moments. They followed the pewter-colored wyrm all the way to Clover’s castle and then dismounted. Jenka immediately sent Silva back to find Rikky and the others. He then carried Aikira down to her apartment. Jenka closed the door to her room behind them. He knew he was no healer, not like Rikky was, but he also knew he was easily ten times as powerful as the rest of the Dragoneers and their dragon tears combined. The plethora of anatomical knowledge he’d gained from the alien shapeshifter came to him naturally, and he channeled all of his dour into healing her.
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