by L J Andrews
“What does it mean?” she asked close to my ear. “Being a dragon mage? How does it make you different from other mages?”
I shrugged, my lips brushing along her cheek when I spoke. “We don’t really know. Not even Thane and Gaia. Thane believes I might be able to speak to you while in wyvern form if I learn to listen well enough. They’re pretty sure I can’t shift, or they believe it would have happened before now. I absorbed night energy—Gaia blocked it, but I took it and it didn’t hurt me. That might be something new.”
Jade tilted her head so she faced me. “What do you mean? You absorbed night energy?”
“When we found Gaia, I used it against the dark mages, and then against the prince.”
Jade’s brow furrowed, and she seemed to consider each word. “Bron uses night energy,” she finally said. “What if being able to absorb and use opposing energies makes you stronger than him?”
I smiled and pressed a kiss on the side of her head. “Then he better not show his face, I guess.”
Jade looked to the stars, her eyes distant for a long pause before she rested her head against me once more. “I hurt you, didn’t I?”
A ball of knots had been building in the back of my throat since seeing Jade for the first time. I was the happiest I’d been since watching her leave with the lindworms, but the ache I’d lived with was still there. “I was hurt, but only because I was afraid for you.” My arms wrapped tighter around her, and she nestled her head in the crook of my neck.
“I love you, Teagan,” she said slowly. “I feared you would think I didn’t care.”
“I know you left to keep us safe, I just wish you would have felt you could tell me what happened with Aldwin. I would have fought for you, Jade.”
“I know,” she said as soft as possible against the rush of wind. “That’s exactly why I did it. Teagan, every person involved with Nag has threatened you against me in the most terrible ways. Bron, Aldwin, Nag himself. They all know about you. I told you I feared my feelings for you would be dangerous, and this proves it. If I had a chance to protect you—I had to go.”
“We could have worked a solution together, though,” I countered. Jade’s golden hair had a few glimmers of silver beneath the moonlight, and it brought a radiance to her face that I loved. Brushing away a few pieces, I met her gaze with intensity. “Promise me you’ll never leave like that again. I feel the same as the other royals—give us a chance to be useful. To fight for what we believe in too. We work together—like we’ve always said, right?”
Jade’s eyes brimmed, but her lips pressed tight together. She nodded slowly and looked at me. “I couldn’t lose you. After hearing what happened with your parents, I know what Bron is capable of even more. I know what he’ll do to you to get back at her.”
“I know,” I said. “Thane and Gaia know, but we can’t keep running from this. We’ll always be running. Do you want to live behind enchantments for hundreds of years?”
Jade faced me, kneeling on Raffi’s spine with precise balance. She wasn’t afraid to fall, but still I steadied her slightly. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she spoke as soft as possible, her eyes locked on mine. “I will fight to live in peace with you, but don’t expect me to do it without fear for your life. I would give my own for yours, Teagan Ward.”
I smiled, brushing her hair whipping about her face from her eyes. “I know you would. You almost did. Maybe give me a turn to protect you.”
Jade scoffed and slowly pressed her mouth against mine. I placed my palms on the sides of her face, fearing if I let go the moment would end. Raffi growled when we touched too long. Jade laughed and slapped his scales before settling against me again.
“By the way,” she shouted after a few moments. “Why do you call them Thane and Gaia?”
I smirked and glanced to where Thane was soaring ahead of the warriors. “I guess I haven’t gotten used to the idea yet. Sometimes I’ll catch myself thinking ‘mom and dad,’ but it sounds so strange to me—I don’t really know. They don’t seem to mind.”
Jade tangled my fingers around her hand and sighed. “I’m sure you could call them anything and they wouldn’t complain. They seem so peaceful when you’re nearby.”
I didn’t respond. The back of my neck prickled in intensity, and I was glancing over my shoulder into the black satin sky.
“Teagan?” Jade pressed when I remained quiet. I gripped her shoulder. My unease must have shocked through her system because she whipped around, following my eyes. “What is it?”
Slowly, I slid further down Raffi’s spine, until I was resting at the neck of his tail. I tugged both jade swords from my back, keeping my eyes focused into the folds of blackness. Something was there—and it was coming fast.
“Thane!” I shouted. The truth that something was coming came when I felt the burn of my armor harden around my arms and legs.
We were so far apart I wasn’t sure if my father would hear me, but Raffi shuddered and roared loudly. The other warriors’ ears pricked, and I even saw Prince Ced glance over his shoulder. The prince wasn’t in his true form. He was tethered around the wrists by an energy bond from Gaia and rode on Amber with Rochelle watching his every move.
Jade stood next to me, her body tense and her gaze narrowed into the night. She met my eye and I nodded, our connection breathing her intentions. Without hesitation, Jade leapt from Raffi’s back and shifted midair the same moment that, from the thick, black clouds, a fleet of snarling lindworms broke through the protections surrounding the warriors.
A blast of molten fire shot toward Amber. It seemed, more than anything, the lindworms were after their traitorous prince. The enormous lindworm warrior, Magnus, leapt in front of Ced and blasted his own stream of fire to protect his prince while Rochelle used the amber stone to draw an energy shield around Amber.
Ced was shouting at me from across the sky. Holding his wrists in the air. “Release me! Now!”
My pulse rang in my head, and without waiting to explain to Raffi, I lunged into a free fall in the air. As I knew he would, Thane broke my fall. There was a connection between us, and fighting alongside my own father made it more powerful.
I thudded onto his spine in a less than graceful landing, but quickly oriented and rushed along the ridges to where Gaia was standing by Thane’s head. I caught sight of Jade above with Sapphire, Ruby, and Onyx on her flanks. The lindworms were reeling back again to attack. One in particular seemed determined to obliterate Prince Ced. Though the warriors of Ced were to be the prisoners of the elementals, they raised their dark wings and surrounded Amber completely.
Gaia gripped my arm before I leapt through the air again for Amber. “Let me release him,” she snapped. “Go with your father and send them away. That one—do you feel his power?” she gasped, pointing at the ravenous lindworm. “He is the head, cut him off.”
Gaia balanced on Thane’s shoulder for a tense moment before leaping toward Amber. Ced held out his arms for Gaia but shouted at me. “My brother, Olc!” he screamed, pointing at the leader as Gaia steadied her footing and reached for the prince’s wrists. My attention drifted toward the lead lindworm. Ced’s brother was long, and he was one of the many dark dragons that had clawed back haunches and claws on the points of his wings. The second prince had two fangs jutting from his massive upper jaws, with bottom fangs that were serrated.
There was a pained shriek from one of the warrior lindworms when Olc blazed the back of our army with crimson fire that looked more like blood than flames. I knew her as Laina—Jade had told me her story—this was the moment Laina had been dreading, when she would fight against her son. Olc snarled into the dark and seemed to care very little his mother was in our ranks.
Thane responded by blasting a blinding ring of fire into the black night. Each elemental warrior turned and rushed through the stars behind us. I saw the royals hover over us, joining with the imprisoned lindworms as they took their attack from above. Ruby’s breath was white hot and scorched along a s
maller serpent on the left flank, while Jade and Sapphire burst cerulean and indigo fire in their rage. I clung tight to Thane’s horns as we led the charge toward the fleet of Nag’s warriors. I didn’t see any mages—my first glance was to find Bron, but his energy was lost to me. For once, the dark High Priest might not be at this fight. I leaned off Thane’s shoulder, holding tight to his neck with one hand while my other gripped one of the jade blades in my hand as we rushed toward Olc.
“Like last time,” I shouted, meeting Thane’s blue eye in the dark.
His head shuddered and the way he looked at me I sensed he desperately wished to speak to me. With a shake of his head, I could gather he didn’t want to drop me on the back of Olc.
“I need to touch him,” I shouted. “I’ll be alright. Cover me!”
Thane bellowed when I leapt toward Olc. Lindworm roars sounded like shattering glass or screeching tires, not like the deep boom of the elementals. When I launched through the air, my ears bled from the fury of Olc’s army as they shrieked in the dark. Olc reared his head when I thudded along his back. His eyes were a sickly yellow with thin rivers of blood coursing toward jet black irises. Being a lindworm, Olc’s spine was more flexible, and he reeled like a whale might dive beneath the tide. Flattening onto my stomach, I clutched my blade but dug my nails as hard as I could into Olc’s sharp scales.
I’d come to recognize individual wyvern calls. Though I held on for my life, I heard Jade above me, blasting at Olc’s army, and Thane’s booming call shook my core. They were close, the heat of their pyre scorching the back of my neck as dragons fought against dragons. I closed my eyes tight, ripping my energy through my veins and breaking through the night power Olc was shooting at me.
I’d absorbed night energy twice, but each time still burned in wretched pain. Shouting in agony, I held tighter, though I sensed the second prince was blasting me with debilitating power so I couldn’t slash my blades into his flesh.
Olc screamed loud enough that I heard a pop in my ear. Finally, my energy surge cut through his scales. I watched his body burn where I pressed my palms, the glowing embers from the energy scorch shredding through the top layer of scales. Finding the strength to rise to my knees, I clasped tight to my swords and found my balance. Olc dove toward the earth, and the blast of wind against my chest toppled me backward. Scrambling desperately to grip, I caught hold of Olc’s hind joint. With great effort, I sheathed the blade for now and wrapped both arms around his leg.
Thane dove after Olc, his panic and fury clear in each desperate slash of his claws. He scraped his front claws along the eye of one of Olc’s nearby warriors. The lindworm screamed, trying to back-pedal, but Thane only advanced. Jade came in from the side, her wide jaw clamping through the layers of scales on the retreating lindworm so Thane’s massive jaws could crush its throat.
Olc rolled, so I was forced to crook my elbows around his haunch to keep from falling. The second prince shot a stream of dark pyre toward Thane, who dodged and let the dead lindworm warrior plummet from his jaws toward the ground.
I clasped my palm around Olc’s hind leg and sent a raging blast of my energy through his scales. The prince raged and flung his serpent body again. To his dismay, I was sure, the movement helped me scramble onto his back.
Drawing in a deep breath, I didn’t think, I just ran. Running along the slippery spine of a lindworm in flight wasn’t a minor thing. Clenching my teeth so desperately I thought they might crack, I took a final jump, wrapping my arms as best I could around Olc’s neck. The beast flayed wildly like a caged lion. Olc tried his best to snap his jaws at me, but I was too low beyond the reach of his fangs. I dangled from the lindworm’s neck like a jewel on a chain, and though I pounded as much of my power as possible, Olc’s night shield only came on stronger. I began absorbing his energy. The hateful wave sent my stomach turning. Although my power took on the night, I was weakening the more I absorbed.
Releasing an agonizing cry, I fought to hang tight to the lindworm’s neck. Then, with a terrible tremor, a second dark dragon slammed his skull against Olc’s neck. My grip slipped, and I fell into oblivion.
Tumbling through the sky, I flipped head over heels at least three times before I pounded against Thane’s wing. I grappled to hang on but slid down his ribs and off his body. My shoulder wrenched painfully when Thane’s front claws wrapped around my bicep. Clenching my jaw, I used my other arm to hook around his shoulder blade and pull myself safely onto his back. Jade had swooped below my father, preparing to catch me, and pulled back when I positioned behind Thane’s wings.
Glancing above, I watched the furious battle of two lindworms slashing deadly fangs, bloodied claws, and jagged wings at each other. I assumed the smaller of the two was Ced—at least, I hoped—though I still refused to trust the prince.
My voice was haggard and my shoulder was on fire when I climbed Thane’s powerful neck to shout so he could hear me through the carnage. I winced, lugging my worthless arm behind me. Despite the armor around my shoulders, muscles, sinews, possibly bone had easily slipped out of place
“We need to go underneath Olc,” I shouted.
Thane breathed torrential fire, wasting no time trying to protest this time. I breathed in the thick smell of smoke and flames. Despite my injuries, I found new determined energy when I unsheathed one blade. Clutching my injured arm against my middle, I crouched low when Thane flew directly beneath the two lindworm princes.
My energy was bursting to attack. I had bits of Olc’s night energy lingering in my blood, but it only strengthened my grip on the blade. Ced slashed his jagged wing against Olc’s neck. His brother in turn locked his jaws on Ced’s shoulder. The younger prince sprayed Olc’s eyes with blinding fire until he was free. Olc swam through the clouds to attack an injured Ced again, but Thane darted straight up until the point of my blade was swallowed in the fleshy bottom of Olc’s body.
I thrust the cutting edge deeper, Thane flying forward so my sword sawed across the lindworm’s insides. The battle silenced when Olc bellowed his shrieking, fatal cry. Ripping the blade from beneath him, buckets of black blood splattered over my head and along Thane’s powerful wings. Thane flew us away, Ced abandoned his screeching brother, and Olc hovered for several moments.
Rancid, steamy blood lined my lips and splashed inside my nose, causing me to gag. Clutching to Thane’s neck, I turned away when a rush of hot wind blasted us as Olc shot one last desperate attempt at flames at our backs. Amber swooped into the wreckage, Gaia still on her back. They were followed by Ruby, with Athika, and Onyx with Donovan. The mages lifted their hands high. I felt their power bleeding against Olc’s warriors, blocking them from pursuing.
As Thane took me further away, I saw the corpse of Olc fall beneath the dark, hazy clouds, each flip of his long body proof he was dead. The bleeding cry of Laina racked against my heart, but a comfort came also when a shock of power ripped through my blood. The mages had succeeded in protecting us. The battle was over.
Chapter 11
The Queen
I watched Olc fall and soon followed the remaining royals and warriors fleeing into the distance. Teagan rolled onto his back, resting against Thane’s neck below me. He gasped, covered in rank blood from Olc. He glanced at the sky, and I flew into view, sensing he was looking for me.
After a several long minutes, Thane shot to the ground, each warrior following close behind. Ced remained in wyvern form, but one wing wasn’t functioning properly.
Shift, Ced, I hissed at the prince.
I fear it will be worse if I do, he muttered. Even in my mind, I could hear his anguish.
Sometimes injury takes a different form in our human bodies. Shift, I commanded again. I think you’re about to fall.
Ced glanced at me before hovering over the top of Amber, where Gaia had taken a place with Rochelle behind her wings. The High Priestess saw Ced approaching and moved aside slightly when the prince shifted in the air and thudded along Amber’s back. I had to trust
Gaia would treat the lindworm fairly—I’d sensed her heart; she was true. But then again, the lindworms had kept her a prisoner away from her son.
Thane led us to a ledge tucked in a frosted forest. The air was at least twenty degrees cooler than where we’d reunited. Plodding along the ground, Thane gently dropped his shoulder so Teagan could slide off in a heap on the ground before shifting and kneeling next to his son. I changed forms before my feet touched the ground and rushed to Teagan’s side.
Thane’s shoulders were coated in Olc’s blood, but I could still make out an angry scar that trailed down his neck to the center of his chest. There was certainly a tale behind the wound—it would not be easy to harm the lead warrior in such a brutal way. Thane didn’t seem to notice the blood while he held Teagan’s shoulder still. “It’s dislocated,” he said, his voice low and heavy.
“Let me help,” I breathed, taking my place next to Teagan’s side. Thane scooted away and let me settle against Teagan’s shoulder. I winced feeling the muscles stretched and the ball completely dislodged from the socket.
Teagan gasped in pain when I positioned his arm to settle into place. “Can’t you just touch it and fix it?” He meant the question sincerely, but he smiled through the thick coat of Olc’s insides.
“I wish I could for all of it, but after this, it will be easy and painless,” I whispered and glanced up at Thane. “Can you hold him?”
Thane smirked at Teagan and gently pressed on Teagan’s opposite shoulder. Teagan wrapped one hand around Thane’s forearm, bracing for what was to come. I sensed Gaia rushing behind me, but she didn’t stop what I was going to do. Instead, she knelt at my side, placing her hands on Teagan’s chest and filling him with comforting energy.
As quickly as I could, I positioned his arm in place and shoved until the joint popped. Teagan shouted in pain, but when it was done, he flopped his head back on the damp ground and gasped until his pain eased. Gaia was faster at healing the shoulder than me, so I moved to Teagan’s head and brushed my fingers through his sticky hair.