The Danger with Allies

by Meagan Hurst

  Her reply covered fifty languages, took the better part of an hour, and would have offended most beings. It did not, however, offend the Dragon. He laughed, and it was only because she’d heard his laugh before that she was able to keep herself from cringing at the volume. He placed her on her feet and, before releasing her to stand on her own, supported her as she walked for about fifteen minutes. This time she managed it, and Nivaradros backed off to let her once again explore his room. He returned to his desk and frowned at the floor.

  A chair began to form. It was of stone and fire to match the rest of his room. Sitting in it with ease, he began to pick through a bundle of papers she hadn’t seen there when she had been here before; then again, last time she had been here he hadn’t been attempting to do anything else, so it made sense. When she didn’t investigate his room as much as he seemed to expect, he put his papers down and turned his attention back to her.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  “You asked to train with me next week,” she pointed out. “You must have planned this healing days ago, otherwise I would have been unable to train for a month at least.”

  He stared at her for a minute and then smiled as he inclined his head. “Good catch,” he told her. “Yes, I had planned to do this for some time. You hate being out of the action—don’t deny it,” he added as she opened her mouth to protest. “You do, and I have accepted that part of you.” His smile was soft and relaxed. “I have no intentions of keeping you from combat this time.”

  His words were reassuring, since the last time there had been a battle his idea had been to ship her off to her murdering, psychotic, and insanely powerful grandfather. Shivering as she recalled Midestol standing over her when she had collapsed after being struck by the first arrow, she pressed her lips together while she tried to regain control. He would not grant her something like that again. Next time she took an injury that severe, he would kill her. He had to.

  “Z?” Nivaradros was concerned, and she knew how much of a special hell that could become.

  “Just thinking,” was her lame reply. Moving her eyes to his room, she took in the fires that burned without interference, and then turned her attention back to him. “What else do you want from me?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Remember how before all of this occurred, you asked me this same question several times?” Nivaradros sighed. Since her memory was now flawless, he continued before she could answer. “My answer is similar; you will not like the answer, and I have no desire to make things complicated at this time. Currently I will settle for your health and a chance to spar with you for the next two weeks.” He approached her then and caught her chin before she realized it. “Patience comes hard to me, but this time I am more than willing to wait. Besides,” he added as he released her. “I am well acquainted with your reactions whenever someone so much as implies—Ah see? There you go now!” His eyes danced with amusement and their color could not have gotten any darker.

  Then again, she probably couldn’t have been any tenser. His lair had more give than she did at this point. Holding her breath, she waited for Nivaradros to continue, but the Dragon seemed to be finished. He wasn’t Shalion; so far, he hinted but he didn’t push, and the moment right after that proved to be the biggest relief. He was less than a foot from her, but his presence was lessened, and it made her feel like she had space.

  “Is that what he promised you?” she asked him. “The two months—what was supposed to happen, Nivaradros?”

  He ignored her question. “Would you be up to testing your coordination against Ilentio?” he wanted to know as his eyes followed her much steadier movements.

  “Yes—Wait, don’t change the subject!” she snapped when she realized his angle seconds after her interest was caught.

  Nivaradros exhaled smoke. “Z, it was supposed to be an extension of the bonding time I have had with you, nothing more. Your nameless annoyance thought that the longer I had you to myself the more trusting of me you would be. I agreed with his original thoughts, but times have changed enough that I feel it is unspeakably unwise for me to keep you here any longer.” His eyes shifted in shade. “Unless you would like to stay here for a longer period of time; he didn’t say you had to leave after all.”

  “He said—”

  “He implied you would want to leave immediately upon your recovery. It is, after all, your general reaction. Actually, I take that back; your normal reaction is to keep going while injured until you are either mostly dead or the current situation is resolved. It is a habit I hope you have broken, but I am not counting on it.” The Dragon’s words were teasing and his smile held not even a shadow of a threat. “The choice is yours.”

  “And your opinion?” she wanted to know.

  “I’d prefer to keep you here for personal reasons, but I am no fool. You’re needed on the field as soon as you are able to get there.” Nivaradros grimaced. “Hopefully you won’t get so wrapped up in the idea of winning the war that you forget to take time for yourself. I’ve seen what you put yourself through in the past. I’m hopeful your immortality will fix some of the issues, but I am not optimistic enough to believe it will fix all of them.”

  She was surprised by his answer. There wasn’t the slightest amount of falsehood hidden in his words. He wanted her on the field this time and he was only worried about her health. He said nothing about them—oh she wasn’t an idiot, there had to be some part of that he wasn’t speaking of—but his words were honest, and with his history, she was surprised he offered her so much so freely.

  “Let’s see how things are in two weeks,” was the only thing she managed to reply with. “If I feel I am not in solid enough condition to fight, I’ll allow you to talk me into remaining here longer. Is there anything you know that I should know?”

  “Several things, but I will ask that you put enough trust in me to let me decide when you need to know them.” Green eyes edged from forest to grass. “If you cannot I will tell you, but I am anxious about your reaction. You need to stay here for at least two weeks remember.”

  She hated that. Hated it because he was asking her to trust him. Hated it because something was going on that she knew she was needed for. Hated it because he was right; she couldn’t leave yet. Exhaling in a short huff of frustration, she nodded. “When you feel I can accept it then,” she agreed.

  He bowed to her, and it was a bow, there was nothing superficial about it. “Thank you,” he told her when he rose. “You surprise me,” he added as he turned and strolled toward the door—before looking over his shoulder. “Are we heading out to work on regaining your condition?” he wanted to know with a raised brow. “If you would rather wait that is fine, but I feel it would be better to return to your room so if either the Mithane or Shalion wish to speak with you they can find you with ease.”

  “And not pester you?”

  “Well that would be ideal, but I fully plan on remaining by your side until you kick me out, so that may not be feasible.”

  She frowned at the words—trying to find a way to keep Nivaradros from being too hassled by his ‘guests,’ but she came up blank. Instead she followed him through several sets of halls until she recognized where they were. “Next time you decide to extend the lair, may I help?” she asked without thinking.

  Nivaradros halted in mid-step. Glancing over his shoulder at her, he raised a brow before she could take the words back. “You have an idea?” he wanted to know as he turned to face her. Crossing his arms in a relaxed manner, he stared at her, but without any emotion visible, which made it hard to judge his reaction.

  “Not at this minute, no,” she answered as she considered taking a step back. As it was always a bad idea with Dragons, she managed not to, but she was certain her eyes were a different color since Nivaradros abruptly took a step back.

  “I’m not angry,” he told her when the silence turned awkward, at least to her. She was never certain Dragons even had the word in their vocabulary or understood it. “And yes, of co
urse you can, this is your lair as much as mine now remember.”

  She raised a brow in response. It was as much hers as his in the way a waterfall was the same as a tidal wave. She didn’t, however, argue the point. He was trying to share his lair with her and she wanted to feel like it was hers as well. Instead she began to lead the way back to her quarters as Nivaradros fell in step beside her. His presence was a surprising comfort, and she wondered then if it would always be a comfort; she wasn’t sure she could get used to the idea. And yet, in a strange way, she already was. It baffled and concerned her. Glancing sidelong at Nivaradros, she pondered what she was willing to do with regard to him, to her, and in the end, to them.

  The last one was the most challenging. Shalion and the Mithane had been spot on with several things they had mentioned. Sighing, she continued to walk, passing her doors in the process. She felt Nivaradros’s surprise, but he neither questioned nor stopped her from continuing. Making her way with ease to the room he had created to be a mirror image of her training arena, she found her pace increased the closer she got to it. She was tired, yes, and she was weaker than she wanted to be, but she really needed to burn off something before the Dragon made a mistake that cost them both.

  The doors opened as she approached; the Dragon followed without comment when she headed inside. Lights awoke in a slow march as they continued and brought shadows that hadn’t been there to life while it chased others from the room. Grabbing a practice sword from the collection of weapons Nivaradros had assembled for her, she strolled to the center of the arena and stood on guard. Her eyes moved to the Dragon’s, and she found he hesitated before choosing a sword for himself and joining her in the center of the practice ring.

  “Are you up for this?” he asked her in a tone that managed to sooth away the irritation she had been feeling toward him.

  “I am,” she promised. “And if I collapse, you can carry me back to wherever you’d like me to be until I recover.”

  His expression soured, but he inclined his head and said nothing further, waiting for her to begin. Straightening with care as she felt muscles tighten the wrong way, she closed her eyes and felt the mood of the room before a smile escaped.

  “Ilentio, multiple combatants, level seventy-seven.” She felt the Dragon shift beside her—shift as though he wanted to protect her—and found herself tolerating the possessiveness of his action. He did not, however, follow up on his desire to shield her.

  The room was awash with magic as Ilentio responded to her request. Letting herself fall into a true battle mode despite her current location, Z moved to attack the first threat on her right, while she sensed Nivaradros moving to attack those who came from the left. It was odd to have someone alongside her in training. She had trained with others, but not in this fashion. It was a first, and her talent picked up a different feel than she had received from a comrade fighting with her in battle. It caught her a bit off guard, but she was too solid a fighter for it to do anything more than split her attention—and she was trained to split her attention.

  She found Nivaradros’s form and style complemented hers perfectly. She never had to correct him or change her movements to keep out of his way or to keep him from getting into hers. They completed that level and moved up to a second, and then a third, before she felt the exhaustion she had become used to experiencing. Starting to slow herself down, she let Nivaradros take more of the weight of the battle and moved to being more of his shield. When the final ‘attacker’ was defeated, she felt herself start to fall, and the Dragon made good on his promise; he caught her before the ground did.

  “Feel better?” she heard him ask as he began to walk toward the door.

  “I feel less interested in maiming you, yes, but I am not fond of being this tired,” she murmured as she yawned. She felt his laugh before she heard it, and his hold tightened comfortably as he continued to carry her.

  “Are you going to want to tempt fate by taking a bath?” Nivaradros wanted to know.

  The answer she wanted to give was yes—as out of condition as she was, she had ended up drenched in sweat by the time she had collapsed—but she knew she couldn’t even open her eyes much less keep herself from drowning.

  “I don’t have the energy,” she muttered.

  There was a careful and uneasy pause. “I could help there—if it would be alright with you…?”

  Thinking about it took too much energy. “Whatever works for you,” she mumbled.

  Another careful silence. “…so that is a yes to the bath and my aid, or a no?” Nivaradros pressed with a tone that told her she had used too much human language for him.

  “If you would like to, I won’t protest,” she clarified as she yawned again. “Just don’t expect me to be awake for it.”

  “For all I know you are sleep-talking with me right now. I know it’s possible. You spit out death threats while sleeping just fine—Why should this be any different?”

  She snorted and managed to shake her head. “I’m not sleeping yet,” she assured him. “I am headed that way, but I’m still awake.”

  “I’m grateful for small miracles,” the Dragon retorted. She felt him enter her rooms and marveled at the fact that each area of the Dragon’s home—well, her home now too—had such a different feel to it based on the magic Nivaradros had used to create it.

  She remembered getting wet. She remembered—in all honestly—everything that led up to getting wet. Nivaradros seemed to decide he wanted to see how exhausted she was; he had dropped her into the center of the bath, and then fetched her before she drowned when he realized she was too tired to be concerned enough to swim and sank under the water.

  “I am starting to believe you are not to be trusted with water,” the Dragon murmured above her at some point during the whole thing. “And I know you can be, I heard all about your little adventure with water in Xyrises.”

  Had she been more awake, she would have hit him. “That was hardly anything major—” she muttered.

  “Midestol sent one thousand mages to force the sea at Xyrises to rise in an attempt to drown its people and submerge it underwater, which means, in hindsight, all of the Alantaion lands were in danger. You managed to thwart that attack on your own. According to the Mithane, you forced the water—and everything it brought with it—to flow over and around the kingdom until the mages that sent it at you were dead.”

  “And your point would be?”

  “You manage to nearly drown yourself in baths.” His tone should have brought the heat of his fire with its dryness.

  She declined to try to explain that. Instead she focused on staying alert-ish since Nivaradros seemed to want to talk. Now of all times. Of course, she was too tired to get angry or attempt to injure him if he said the wrong thing, so there was a high possibility that he was curious just for that reason.

  “I’ll explain it to you later,” she told him as she yawned again.

  “I’ll hold you to it,” Nivaradros warned her as she felt herself being moved.

  The damn bed was warm—as always—and still too soft. The combination drew her closer still to sleep, but she shrugged it off for a little while longer. Forcing her eyes open, she met the calm green ones of the Dragon.

  “Thanks,” she murmured. He inclined his head at her words and moved as though he was leaving. Had she been able to make the effort to be concerned, she would have sat up in alarm. “Nivaradros?” she called as he did, in fact, begin to walk away.

  He paused and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Zimliya?”

  “You don’t have to leave.” She felt like an idiot, but the words were at least on the right path. He raised a brow and she saw his hesitation. “I’d prefer—if you wouldn’t mind—that you remained in the room.”

  Nivaradros chuckled and shook his head. “As you wish,” he teased. “I’ll remain here,” he added as he took a seat on a couch.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning yielded results Z was less than impressed with.
In a rush over the possibility of being able to train more readily, she ended up meeting the floor and told the floor, the Dragon, and anything or anyone else who could hear, how she felt about her brief weakness.

  “I thought I was supposed to be better,” she snarled when her language settled into one and the cursing faded.

  “You are, you just have to take it easy for a few days,” the Dragon said soothingly, which was difficult to accept since it just sounded wrong coming from Nivaradros. “Come on, let’s get something to eat and we can plan what needs to be done while we do so.” He half carried her over to the chair he deposited her into it, but once she was seated and began to eat, her attention was captured by what he began suggesting.

  He had good ideas, and when she added her own thoughts and opinions he didn’t dismiss her. They set out a thorough training regime that would deliver the maximum results in the shortest amount of time. Nivaradros made it clear he intended to train beside her in all aspects, and they therefore had to work out times that would not interfere with the promise he had made to Veilantras—the promise to contact various rulers and behave while speaking with them. After the way the Dragoness had treated the Dragon, Z wasn’t sure Veilantras’s demand was fair. After all, she had started the fight when she had come to visit, and if Crilyne was still spreading rumors… Nivaradros wasn’t going to be the one to create trouble with the other rulers.

  Once they finished breakfast—or more accurately she had eaten enough to please him—and had outlined their schedule, Z changed clothes and followed the Dragon back to the training courts. There he once again proved to be both a crucial part of the success in their training—granted Ilentio had altered the attacks to reflect the fact she now had a partner, but Nivaradros’s ability still contributed to their victories. They moved up twelve more levels before Nivaradros changed things up; he attacked her.