The Dragon Lord

by E. G. Foley

  “My dear Geoffrey.” Ramona stared the old warlock fiercely in the eyes. “There is always hope.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Invisible Bonds

  “Isabelle.”

  When his familiar whisper crept into her mind, Izzy flicked her eyes open and sat up abruptly in the bed where she’d been trying in vain to relax.

  “Janos!” Her heart lifted.

  “What’s happened?” he asked. “I know you’re upset. I felt it so strongly that it woke me from my coffin. Do you need my help? I heard you’re in London—I can be there as soon as the sun goes down.”

  “No, no, that’s all right. I’m fine.” Touched by the ex-Guardian’s protectiveness, she smiled and lowered her head.

  Just hearing his voice at last—albeit silently, through their telepathic bond—made much of her fear for Aunt Ramona’s safety recede.

  She could feel him searching her, worried.

  “What is it, my dear?”

  “Oh, Janos—” She nearly broke down and told him everything, but then remembered Nixie had sworn them all to secrecy.

  Not that a promise to her friend could keep her darling vampire out of her head, especially now. The closer they grew, the better they could read each other.

  And so, it took only seconds for Janos to discover what she was halfheartedly trying to hide: namely, the fact that Aunt Ramona had gone off to a private meeting with the Dark Master.

  “Oh, no,” he whispered darkly. He was silent for a second, but thankfully, Janos was always calm and cool about calamity. “Well, goodness me. This is a bit of a pickle, to say the least.”

  “I know.” Izzy nodded anxiously and folded her legs beneath her as she sat on the mattress. “All we can do is wait until she returns.”

  “How could she do this? Meeting with Zolond alone? It’s madness.”

  “You can’t tell anyone!” Izzy warned him.

  Janos was quiet for a moment. “I don’t like secrets anymore, sweeting. You know that. Secrets are part of my old life.”

  “Well, she’s not entirely alone,” Izzy said. “Jake and my brother went after her.”

  At this news, Janos unleashed a mental string of soldierly words a young lady ought not to hear.

  “Sorry,” he muttered a moment later. “Of course they did.”

  “Don’t worry, they’re not going to do anything,” she told him with more confidence than she actually felt on the matter. “They’re just going to…keep an eye on her.”

  “Dearheart, this is Jake we’re talking about. I need to tell Sir Peter. Don’t you think? It’s the right thing to do. Er, isn’t it?”

  He was so cute when he was trying to be moral, Izzy thought, and her heart clenched. It was endearing how he was never quite sure of himself when it came to right and wrong. Well, she was sure enough for the both of them.

  “No, Janos. Not in this case. Trust me. This is one secret we both have to keep.”

  She could almost see him shaking his head, hands planted on his waist.

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Listen to me!” she insisted. “Aunt Ramona is the head of the Order now. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing, or the Elders wouldn’t have picked her. This is no time for people to start questioning her decisions. Besides, if you go blabbing, she’ll realize it was Nixie who told us, and then my friend could get in trouble.”

  “Yes, but this affects everyone. I mean… She’s your aunt, and I trust your judgment, Isabelle; I do. But for the record, I think this is a bad idea.”

  “So do I, but we’re not the head of the Order. Please, Janos. Keep it to yourself—just for a little while? For me?”

  She could feel him give way to a reluctant smile. “You know full well I’d capture the moon for you, Miss Bradford.”

  From a hundred miles away, Izzy’s cheeks warmed at his flirtation. Ridiculous vampire. He held her heart on a string like a helium balloon. She couldn’t stop smiling.

  “Go back to bed, you,” she chided softly. “It’s the middle of the daytime. I won’t have you turning to ashes on me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “But wait!” she said playfully, feeling so much better after talking to him.

  Janos came back to her awareness, smiling. “What now, pest?”

  She couldn’t help but pout a little. “Why were you quiet for so long? You scared me half to death! Why didn’t you let me know last night that you were alive?”

  “I was busy!” he said. “Ugly fellows with tusks needed killing, and then your aunt sent me on a spying mission.” He hesitated. “Merlin Hall’s a wreck, I’m afraid, and I’m sorry to say, the Old Father Yew is dead.”

  Izzy lowered her head, saddened. “We heard. But it’s more than that.” She hesitated, but she knew what she knew. “I felt you avoiding me. Why?”

  He was silent.

  “Janos?” she prompted when he was quiet too long.

  Empathically, she sensed him struggling to answer, which was strange, glib as he was. “What is it?”

  “I…I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me anymore.”

  Baffled, Izzy scanned the opulent bedchamber. “Why?”

  He sounded hesitant and unsure, very un-Janos-like. “I figured you’d probably seen me as I ran off into the battle last night.”

  “No,” she said slowly, then furrowed her brow as understanding dawned. “Hold on. You thought I would abandon you as a friend because I might’ve caught a glimpse of you in your vampire form?”

  “Er, yes.”

  “You cakehead!”

  “Well, it’s pretty horrible, darling,” he drawled. “More than fangs, you know. Let’s just say there are times that I’m glad I can’t see into a mirror.” She could feel his shrug. “I figured you had seen me and that you were revolted, and…I should leave you alone.”

  “Oh, Janos.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t blame you. Don’t deceive yourself about me, Isabelle. One turns into a-a nightmare version of oneself, to be frank.”

  “Well, don’t worry, I was too busy having a nosebleed to pay attention to much else,” she informed him. “Just being in the presence of so much fury strained my gift so badly that I actually had blood dripping out of my ear.”

  He fell absolutely silent, but she felt his wild surge of hunger at the mention of her blood.

  Abruptly, she remembered she was speaking to a vampire.

  “Um, never mind,” she said.

  “Right,” he answered in chagrin. “Sorry.”

  She winced with sympathy for her friend. “Not your fault.”

  “Oh, yes it is,” he said bitterly, but she felt him wrestle the savage impulse back under control within a few seconds.

  By his own choice, Janos never drank human blood. His favored source of blood was from the noble stag, but he made sure that his servants kept the animals alive, not draining them completely, but honoring their life force, leaving them strong enough to bound away into the forest again.

  “Anyway,” he said, “I’m sorry I worried you. It’s just—I could not bear for you ever to be frightened of me, Izzy. You’re my only true friend. If you gave up on me—”

  “That’s never going to happen! And it’s not true that I’m your only friend,” she assured him. “We all care about you—Jake and Dani and all of us. And, for my part, I could never be afraid of you, Janos. I know who you are on the inside. You are good, and I believe in you.”

  The emotions she sensed from him told her that if he had blood in his veins, he’d be blushing at her earnest words.

  “Are you sure you’re not a Light Being, Izzy?”

  She smiled, forgetting all about Aunt Ramona for the moment. “When will I see you? I was so scared you’d died in the battle that I just want to give you a hug.”

  “Pah, I rarely die in battles. Best bloody part of being undead.”

  She shook her head at his banter.

  “Stick sends his regards, by the way.”

 
Izzy’s smile soured. “That’s nice.”

  “He survived the battle, too. Which is really much more impressive than little ol’ me, considering he, for one, actually can die. I’m serious! Our boy Maddox fought like a hero last night. You should’ve seen him—”

  “Stop trying to foist me off on Stick, Janos Gregorian! You know you’re the only one who matters to me.”

  She instantly sensed how her declaration flustered him, and grinned. It was fun to turn the tables on the expert charmer sometimes.

  “And who’s being ridiculous now?” Janos said gently. “Goodbye, my sweet.”

  He always went away whenever she told him in so many words that she loved him. She knew full well that he cared for her, too, but he never said it back.

  He wouldn’t let himself.

  “Janos?” she said.

  “What now, Miss Bradford?” he asked, feigning annoyance.

  “How old is old enough?” she whispered boldly.

  “Ugh, go away, you pretty little pain in the neck! It’s the middle of the daytime, I killed about fifty Noxu last night, and I’m a bit tired, if you don’t mind.”

  She giggled into his mind. “Night-night.”

  “Wake me up at once if anything happens with your aunt. Otherwise, perhaps I’ll see you soon.”

  Then he was gone.

  Still glowing, Isabelle glanced at the clock face. How long until she’d be with him again? She had never known anyone like him.

  Time suddenly moved too slow.

  CHAPTER 26

  Ice-Breaker

  Boris Badgerton’s hopes surged and so did his ego after his heroic victory in the bridge room. That foolish reptilian should’ve paid better attention to his duty, because now the creature was dead.

  With a bold leap from the air vent, Badgerton had landed squarely on the control panel. Without a moment’s hesitation, he had used his front paws to pull the containment levers, unlocking the massive doors to his co-conspirators’ rooms.

  The reptilian had roared and reached for him, but the monstrous creature was too late. The lifting of the physical doors had given Fionnula an opening to break Zolond’s magical seal. In no time at all, the sea-witch had freed her companions, and the four Dark Druids had come swarming out into the corridors to take back control of the castle-ship.

  It had been glorious!

  They’d battled Zolond’s reptilians throughout the Fortress, while, in the bridge room, the crew leaped on the one stationed there. Clearly, the men had chosen Wyvern’s side—and who could blame them, after the Dark Master had robbed the navigator of his mouth? While the reptilian thrashed, outnumbered on the bridge, chaos reigned throughout the onyx hallways.

  General Archeron Raige had killed the big one, Druk, striking the crocodile-headed warrior with multiple blasts from one of his fantastical guns. Then he’d spun around and fired repeatedly at the two stone gargoyles Zolond had conjured earlier to guard Wyvern’s cell. The pair had come screeching out of the basement and rampaged down the corridors, but the muscle-bound soldier kept firing until he’d turned both into a rain of pebbles.

  Fionnula Coralbroom, meanwhile, had flooded one of the hallways and transformed herself into a hideous Kraken to fight another reptilian, who had taken full crocodile form for their clash.

  A fourth changed himself into a dragon in the great hall, for all the good it did him. What use were his size, claws, foot-long teeth, or even his thrashing tail when the Red Queen could simply turn into a puff of smoke, whoosh up onto the back of his scaly neck, and plunge her darkling sword into the base of the beast’s skull, killing him instantly?

  In short, within half an hour, Wyvern’s allies had taken back control of the Black Fortress—and it was all because of him!

  Boris, Lord Badgerton: Dark Druid.

  He was so proud that he could’ve burst.

  And now, with the cooperation of the bridge crew, who kept a record of all past coordinates, the rescue of Wyvern was already underway.

  Standing on the edge of a crevasse that ran down the middle of an endless snowfield, the general lit another of his strange grenades off his cigar.

  Back in human form, Badgerton watched in alarm and covered his ears like the two ladies, waiting for the boom.

  Raige was in his element, sheer glee pouring off him.

  Badgerton was not at all sure about his comrade’s basic strategy.

  The general had said he wanted to stun the ice grendels, slow them down and confuse them, then charge in with a sudden, fierce attack.

  It sounded reckless to Badgerton. What if the shock waves from each thunderous blast of Raige’s magical bombs cracked the glacier under their feet? They could fall through the ice and end up trapped themselves.

  It wouldn’t take long to freeze to death out here in subzero temperatures, despite the enchanted winter gear that Fionnula had conjured for them to wear.

  The sea-witch, back in diva form, clearly thought she looked fetching in her white fur hat and white velvet gown, waves of long black hair tumbling down her back. She’d said she wanted to “look pretty for Nathan,” and, well, the truth was, she did.

  Still, he could not get the image of that squidy kraken thing she’d become while fighting the reptilian out of his mind.

  Frankly, he did not see why they had forced him to join them on this part of the mission in the first place. He was no warrior. Why could he not stay back in the Fortress with Duradel—where it was warm? Hadn’t he done enough for one day?

  And what were ice grendels, anyway?

  Well, whatever they were, they were clearly in chaos down there, courtesy of the general. Piercing screams, shrill and unearthly, echoed up from the depths of the ice cave.

  “Guess they’re not used to visitors,” Raige said with a grin as he pulled a grappling hook out of his duffel bag. He tested the knot securing the rope, then anchored the hook’s metal claws in the ice a few feet from the cliff.

  Just then, Viola returned from her spying mission, materializing out of her smoke form across from the general.

  “They’re humanoid. Small but fast. Gray. I counted ten of them,” she reported the moment she stood solid once more. Hundreds of years old, the vampire queen hadn’t aged a day since perhaps the age of thirty; she was gorgeous and deadly and clad in a long black coat that hugged her figure, but her face was as white as the snowfield around them.

  It was a wonder that she could be out here at all, since it was daytime, Badgerton thought. Indeed, as the lieutenant had warned her when they’d arrived, Antarctica was the land of the midnight sun at this time of year.

  Undeterred, Viola had simply downed a vial of some special potion known only to herself, as the leader of the vampires. Whatever was in it, it allowed her to go out for a few hours in the daytime, she’d said.

  Even so, it was plain that she was uncomfortable. Behind the dark goggles that covered her eyes, she squinted at the harsh glare of the sun reflecting off the snow. It was already giving Badgerton a headache, as well, and he was used to daylight.

  “Ten, you say?” Raige looked disappointed as he tossed his loop of rope into the crevasse. “Pah. Too easy.”

  “They have weapons. They seem”—she frowned—“oddly advanced. They have a ship hidden down there, as well.”

  “Really? Hmm. Well, they won’t be escaping in it, trust me.” The general flashed a half-mad smile.

  “Did you see Nathan?” Fionnula asked the vampiress anxiously.

  She gave a grim nod. “He’s immobilized, tied down on some strange contraption. Looks to me like they’re doing experiments on him.”

  Fionnula winced. “Poor darling! We have to save him.”

  “That’s what we’re here for, if you’d quit flappin’ your gums. Now, let’s go,” Raige ordered, “while they’re still feeling the effects of my grenades!” With that, the super-soldier leaped backward off the edge of the cliff, the rope fast in his leather-gloved hands. He plummeted without hesitation into the twil
ight of the crevasse.

  Badgerton gulped, watching Raige descend. Then he gestured politely toward the cliff’s edge. “Er, ladies first.”

  Viola sent him a knowing look. “Raige’ll kill you if you turn tail.”

  He frowned. Was he that transparent?

  Then the vampire queen ran straight at the canyon. Viola jumped high but slowed in midair, brandishing her darkling blade and baring her fangs; amid a plume of whirling snowflakes, she floated downward with fearsome grace.

  Next, Fionnula sent him a dimpled smile of amusement. “Don’t worry, Boris. I never forget a favor, and you let us out.” Her rosy lips formed a cutesy kiss. “Follow me.”

  With a twirl of her wand and a soft hum of some enchanted melody, the sea-witch conjured a glistening staircase of ice into being. It grew ahead of her as she marched down the steps in her high-heeled red boots.

  Badgerton peered down at it, a bit dismayed to find that it left him no more excuses. He tugged at his waistcoat.

  “Right,” he said under his breath. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders and a twist of his neck, he changed himself into a badger; though it wasn’t the most impressive entrance a super-villain had ever made, it was the best he could do until he got his Proteus Power.

  The whole blasted point of all this, he mentally grumbled.

  In badger form, he dug his sharp claws into the ice like cleats to keep from sliding all the way down—or worse, off the edge of Fionnula’s frigid staircase.

  It wasn’t easy hopping down the slippery stairs headfirst, but he used his tail for balance and took his time. Unsure what awaited them at the bottom, he saw no need to hurry. If the other three were so eager to fight, let them have at it.

  The sounds of their clash had already erupted from the bottom of the narrow crevasse. He heard a burst of the general’s maniacal laughter and was rather terrified. What am I even doing here? These people are mad.

  But he couldn’t turn back now. As Viola had warned, Raige would kill him if he did not appear. So Badgerton kept hopping down the steps, one by one, to what he was half certain was his doom.

  The sheer cliffs of ice towered on both sides of the gorge like ominous tombstones. He was so cold he could barely feel his face, and the blasts and clamor from the fray that awaited him echoed and rebounded off the ice cavern that widened into a deep blue twilight before them.