Algardis Series Boxed Set

by Terah Edun

  As if the lizard creature sensed victory, only then did it go for the kill.

  Mae watched, as with an awful twist of its own head, the lizard creature snapped the neck of the one-horn with one brutal yank. She knew the battle had ended because the one-horn abruptly dropped to the ground and even voided its bowels in the process.

  After waiting a few seconds more, the lizard creature began to unfold its massive jaws from the creatures head and she got a first look at the glassy eyes and tongue hanging out of the one-horn’s jaw as its head flopped on the stone floor in defeat.

  Satisfied its prey was dead, the lizard creature unlocked its claws and took a few careful steps back.

  Then it tossed its head back and gave a scream of pure, undulated triumph.

  Mae licked her lips nervously and didn’t move. She wasn’t sure what the victor would do next.

  Would it slither back to wherever it had first come from?

  She hoped so.

  But her hopes and dreams didn’t matter, because the lizard creatures head snapped around to stare back up at the staircase and directly at her.

  As if it had heard her unvoiced thoughts and knew she was thinking about it.

  Mae trembled against the stone pillar holding her up.

  She didn’t bother trying to move. What would be the point?

  Her knee was injured, she was exhausted, and the lizard creature had already proved that it was faster than anything deserved to be.

  So if it wanted to snap her neck too, or more likely—swallow her whole—well she would just be a trembling mouse before its lightning fast strike.

  The lizard creature turned fully away from the body of the one-horn and put a single foot on the bottom of the third staircase. The one that led up to her. Sweat sprouted on her brow as Mae imagined a new way to die and this one was even more horrifying than all those previous.

  But something even more astonishing happened.

  She waited for the lizard creature to put a second foot on the stair and make its way up to her. She imagined it slithering up the staircase with the speed that its four legs and wings gave it.

  But that isn’t what happened. Instead the lizard creature began to transform.

  A wave of mist and magic overtook it’s form as the very air around it wavered.

  From the top of the stairs Mae watched with disbelieving eyes as it looked like a miniature storm coalesced around the lizard creature’s entire body. Riotous blue smoke appeared around its body in thick clouds as sizzling zaps of what seemed like energy rioted through them.

  She even heard the sounds of thunder.

  But it was only present for a minute. Maybe two.

  Then the smoke was dissipating.

  No, the smoke is contracting! Mae thought shocked.

  She watched as instead of disappearing the smoke seemed to be drawn inward as the presence it was coalesced around seemed to grow smaller in turn. By the end the smoke was barely a few feet wide and no more than six feet in height. Then like magic it was gone.

  In its place stood a human form that immediately began walking up the stairs.

  Mae didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to say.

  She just watched with wary, unbelieving eyes as each step drew the person closer.

  His back was straight and as he came within viewing distance, she could also see that his demeanor was aloof. Then there was no more studying his form because he had reached the very top of the landing and now stood over her while she crouched silent as a mouse before the snake that had transformed into something all too familiar to her.

  Rivan held out a hand silently to help her up.

  She studied it too.

  His fingers were normal. Normal length, normal nails, and no sign of scales.

  Although there was a slight tremble in the hand and as she looked up cautiously from his hand to his eyes, she saw a vulnerability in his gaze that she had never seen before.

  It was that emotion more than anything else, that made her first reaction to his presence, the one she chose.

  She took his hand.

  Hesitantly but she did it and something like gratitude flooded his face.

  She still hadn’t said anything, but Mae couldn’t bring herself to reject his touch not after he had done all that to save her.

  She let Rivan pull her up from her crouch at the bottom of her protective pillar and they both ignored how hard her body was shaking in fear. She was making an effort to act normal and so was he.

  As Rivan stood awkwardly in front of her unblinking, a thousand questions went through Mae’s mind. But only one simple word formulated on her lips when she spoke.

  “How?” Mae said with wide unblinking eyes.

  She didn’t want to miss a second of the next few moments.

  What if he called in the smoke to transform again? She wondered wildly.

  Would he? Would the lizard creature attack her?

  Was Rivan in control or was it something else?

  She couldn’t very well ask all the questions pouring through her mind so she settled on waiting for his response. Mae would have loved to say it was because she was imbued with patience at that moment. But truth be told, she was terrified.

  Too terrified of the young man she had tentatively viewed as a friend to ask him questions that could provoke anger.

  Questions like What are you?

  It was kind of hard to ask a question like that without it sounding rude after all, and she had no idea what kind of mindset he was in. He, or whatever he had transformed into, had just snapped the neck of an opponent after all. Mae did not want to be next.

  Swallowing nervously as an awkward silence descended between them, Mae wondered if she should repeat her question. But he had heard her, she was sure of it. How could he have not standing directly in front of her?

  For Rivan’s part, he seemed as nervous as she was albeit for different reasons. Terror running through her veins. Uncertainty within his.

  “You can relax you know,” he assured her. “I’m not going to eat you.”

  Mae flinched and lied, “I didn’t think you would.”

  Normally they would have laughed at that point but the tension was so thick it could have been sliced with a knife.

  She tried to think of things to overcome the new discomfort but it was hard to move past something that they hadn’t even addressed.

  Deciding to just meet it head on, Mae blurted out, “You didn’t answer my question...you know the one related to how you did what you did.”

  Rivan grimaced but he couldn’t discount what she had seen with her own eyes.

  He had transformed into something else.

  Something huge and frightening, even compared to the massive beast that was the one-horn.

  “My…transformation is both a complicated answer and a simple one,” Rivan replied shortly.

  “Let’s start with simple,” Mae said as she eyed him askance.

  “Well then,” Rivan said hesitantly. “It’s what I am.”

  “And what is that?” Mae asked just as nervously.

  Rivan dropped her hand and looked away. Carding his fingers through his hair nervously he said “Come on.”

  Then he began walking up the stairs.

  Mae huffed and followed him. She tried to disguise her limp but it was hard to conceal immediately going up a set of broad stairs. She felt like pins were being forced into her kneecap with every step and she couldn’t help the flinches in her gaze or the sharp hisses of pain on impact. There was no way to get some relief until she was at the top of the stairs and she could stop moving but they weren’t even halfway up before Rivan turned to her with a frown and pointed at her offending limb.

  “What happened to your knee?” Rivan asked in a highly displeased voice.

  “I twisted it again,” Mae snapped.

  “I just fixed it,” Rivan exclaimed horrified.

  “I’m sorry I was running for my life,” Mae said with a roll
of her eyes.

  “You could have done a better job on the running part,” he said as he knelt down right then and there.

  Mae stiffened and tried not to overreact. But she couldn’t help it. As Rivan reached out with presumably gentle fingers to probe her knee’s issues, all she could see was his hand growing larger with elongated fingers that eventually ended in talons. Those same talons would pit her knee cap like a summer fruit and then move on to the rest of her.

  He must have felt her hesitation in the air because even though he wasn’t looking up at her face he froze.

  Keeping his gaze carefully down and away from her own eyes, Rivan asked in a harsh voice, “If you would like me to leave it, I can.”

  She didn’t mistake his words for what they weren’t. It wasn’t a threat. She knew that because she could hear the undercurrent of hurt in his tone…and the words he wouldn’t say.

  “No,” Mae protested. “I just…needed a moment. I appreciate your help.”

  Then Rivan looked up at her face from where he knelt at her feet and his eyes were suspiciously shiny. She wasn’t sure if that was because of his nature or he was actually getting emotional.

  She preferred the latter but anything was possible after what she had just seen.

  “Are you really ready?” Rivan asked in a prompt.

  Mae nodded quickly.

  “Yeah, yeah it’s okay,” she managed to squeak out. “I need the aid.”

  “No kidding,” Rivan said with a snort. “You’re a walking klutz at this point.”

  “Just do it,” Mae said as a bit of stress leaked into her voice.

  She was encouraging him as much as she could, but she couldn’t get all the way over the fear racing through her mind and the longer he knelt there within striking distance, the worse it got. It was silly, she knew that. You would have thought he was preparing to decapitate her and not heal her, but it was hard to get over the visceral instinctive fear that rose up within her whenever she thought about what he had become.

  Even if he was doing his best to project a gentle demeanor at the moment.

  Still I have to try, Mae thought as she carefully kept her hands from trembling and put her faith in the human who knelt before her with the ability to carve her heart and her body in two.

  27

  Rivan did quick work and stood up with alacrity as soon as he healed her poor, abused knee.

  Once she was confident that everything was well, they started back up the staircase and this time there was a companionable silence between them. There was still tension but less fear.

  Feeling confidence build within her as they hit the top of the stairs, Mae looked over at Rivan and frowned.

  “What?” he asked with a biting tone—not even looking at her in response.

  How does he do that? She thought mildly impressed. He always seemed to know she needed to say something before she even said it.

  Trying not to let her fear overcome a relationship that had so painstakingly been built back together on trust, Mae sighed and spoke up.

  “Is this going to be a thing between us now?” Mae asked with a bit of a bite in her voice. “You avoiding my question and changing the subject with obvious intentions?”

  Rivan raised an eyebrow at her.

  “If it’d work?” he asked hopefully.

  “Nope,” Mae said—dashing his hopes.

  Rivan sighed and muttered something under his breath that she didn’t quite catch but she did hear ‘rude’ and ‘humans’ along with a string of unintelligible words.

  She didn’t let it bother her.

  He’d get around to answering her whether he liked it or not.

  Now that he was back to being the regular human she knew, an even more nervous version even, she was feeling a tad more confident.

  Rivan said, “I’ve mentioned before that I’m from the land across the sea that you insist on calling ‘the teardrop’.

  Mae nodded in affirmation.

  “Yes, you said it was called something…Sivalia?” she said positively—trying to be helpful and reassuring. It was clear he was still on edge about telling her everything.

  Or anything really, she thought with annoyance.

  Rivan gave her a horrified glance.

  “Sahalia,” he drawled as he put emphasis on his nation’s name.

  “Right, that’s what I said,” Mae replied with self-assurance.

  Rivan winced and pinched a brow.

  “What are they teaching humans these days?” he asked under his breath.

  Mae put her hands on her waist as she immediately jumped on him, “And that’s another thing!”

  “What?” Rivan asked in exasperation.

  “You keep referring to me in an almost derogatory tone as human?” Mae complained. “I’m tired of your snide comments. You’re no better than I am.”

  “Actually I am,” Rivan said with complete confidence.

  Ah, there’s the aloof ingrate that I know so well, Mae thought dryly.

  It was actually reassuring to see his regular personality emerge and Mae decided to make a point of prodding him, physically if she needed to, to bring the person she had grown used to back. He might have been a bit irritable but she understood that person. She didn’t connect as well with a powerful mage who was watching every word as if the wrong one could break off whatever bond that had grown between them in a single second.

  Pinching him in the arm to make a point, she waited until he stepped away and glared at her. He didn’t admit to feeling the pain vocally but by the way he rubbed his shoulder sorely he’d felt it.

  “I take it that hurt?” Mae said with her nose in the air.

  “Of course it did,” he snapped. “You meant it to!”

  “That is my point,” she said shaking a finger. “You’re human, so am I. I hurt and I bleed. So do you.”

  Rivan stopped moving abruptly as something like astonishment came over his face.

  “I’m from Sahalia,” he repeated as if they hadn’t already discussed that fact.

  “Yes, I know,” Mae said puzzled.

  “Mother of gods you humans really have become imbeciles over the last century or so, haven’t you?” Rivan griped aghast.

  Mae fumed. “There you go again as if you aren’t human yourself—”

  He interrupted before she could continue her tirade.

  “I’m not human!” Rivan shouted in a voice so loud that she actually took an astonished step back.

  “No need to yell,” Mae admonished before she really processed what he’d said.

  Then she took a moment to look at him in surprise.

  “Wait…you’re not?” she asked truly overcome.

  Rivan looked at her askance.

  “It’s clear you have no idea what Sahalia is,” he said with stiffness that made it clear that was a highly appalling deficit. “But you just saw see me transform into another living being. Surely that gave you a clue?”

  “Well, no, not really,” Mae said flummoxed. “I thought that was something all supremely powerful mages were capable of.”

  “Here’s a secret,” Rivan said flatly. “They aren’t.”

  Mae leaned away not liking his expression at that moment.

  Chewing on her lip Mae had to ask, “Well, if you aren’t human what are you? And please don’t shout ‘Sahalia’ at me again as if that means something on this side of the world!”

  “It means something to anyone who’s been more than a mile away from their village,” Rivan muttered.

  “Well, I’m sorry I haven’t traveled the kingdom enough for you,” Mae said while throwing her hands up in frustration. “Now please actually declare what you are or shut up complaining about it.”

  The affront that crossed Rivan’s face was comical to witness.

  But he did answer her then—whether out of sheer disbelief or acquiescence it was unclear.

  “I’m a dragon,” Rivan said snidely.

  “A dragon,” Mae said slowly. “
You’re sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure!” Rivan replied quickly. “I think I’d know what I was born as.”

  “Okay, okay,” Mae said hastily. “Don’t have a panic attack. Its just that I thought those were fairytales from grimoires to scare children to sleep.”

  Rivan glared at her.

  “Well, I’m real,” he said in a highly offended tone.

  “I can see that,” Mae said hastily as she added in a cautious voice. “So…is this as big as you get?”

  Rivan stared at her for a moment before he spoke in a deliberately slow and steady voice.

  “What does that mean?” he asked her after another long moment.

  “Well, I mean the fairytales said your people would be…bigger,” Mae replied in a bemused voice as she looked him over.

  Rivan’s jaw dropped as he stared at her.

  “You can’t be serious?” he spluttered.

  She shrugged.

  She wasn’t joking. Mostly. What she had heard was the only reference point she had. To have a real live dragon living and breathing in front of her was a bit much to take in.

  He rubbed an irritated hand over his face.

  “Alright, clearly this isn’t working,” Rivan said in a tone that stated he was ready to strangle a cat…and soon.

  Mae crossed her arms defensively.

  “I’m trying here,” she said. “I took your belief that you’re a dragon at face value, didn’t I?”

  He dropped his hand that was covering his eyes and looked at her incredulously.

  “It’s not a belief,” Rivan stated emphatically. “It’s my life.”

  Mae nodded quickly. “And I believe you.”

  “Then why did you just say that like you’re humoring a child with cheeks stuffed with stolen sweets insisting they hadn’t seen where they’d gone?” Rivan asked in complete disbelief.

  “I mean,” Mae said pausing awkwardly as she pursed her lips. “It is a bit far-fetched.”

  “You just watched me annihilate a one-horn and transfigure back from creature to human form,” Rivan said incredulously. “But believing in my background is hard?”

  Mae gave him a grimace.

  “It’s just a bit much to take in okay,” she said in a small voice.

  He sighed in irritation as he began to pace back-and-forth in front of the door.