I sighed and rubbed at the smothering sensation thudding in my head. I’d fooled myself, too.
My heart didn’t break when I discovered her betrayal. My feelings were never raw or damaged. We’d never had a real connection, only a physical one. I thought I loved her, but I was wrong. Alwyn looked favourably on our union, and just as Megan recognised me as her father’s preferred choice for her mate, so did I.
We’d both played far too many games with each other.
“What are we doing here?” I asked as confusion tugged at my mind. I was tired of playing.
“Waiting,” Megan replied.
I looked at her. My vision blurred and my head swam. I tried to stand, but my world went black around the edges. I fell back into the chair, which seemed to melt around me. Heat flushed my body. A metallic taste rose in my throat and I suppressed the urge to throw up.
I stared down into the empty depths of my coffee cup.
“Wh… what… did you…”
“I’ll have that.” The words floated above my head. Megan took the cup from my hand and towered over me.
I slumped back in the chair. Snapdragon, I realised as darkness overtook me, and my mind fell into unconsciousness.
Chapter 9
I woke groggy to the feeling of something being tightened around my legs. A constant drumming impinged my ears. A dryness in my throat made it difficult to swallow. I tried to grasp on to a single thought in my head, but my concentration proved limited. One thought surfaced, forefront in my mind: Megan had drugged me.
What the hell had I been thinking? I believed Megan capable of a lot of things, but her drugging me had never crossed my mind.
The scent of damp wood and hay hung in air charged with ozone. A burst of light stabbed at my eyes. I blinked them into focus. Everything swirled in a haze around me until a bare bulb shone clearly in the ceiling. I guessed I was lying on the floor in one of the barns near the house, but couldn’t be sure. Part of me registered that I should be grateful Megan hadn’t finished with me. Humans used snapdragon in herbal medicines. Their physiology made it good for inflammation and ulcers, but to a dragon, a small amount could muddle their mind and render them unconscious. A large dose could kill.
The constant drumming continued, and I recognised the sound as coming from the rain as it pounded the tin roof. I was in one of the barns, and the storm still raged. I must have been out for only a short time, but long enough for Megan to... do what?
Had she made her call? Would others arrive as soon as the storm parted?
The sound of footsteps shuffled behind me. I tried to stand, but realised that my hands and feet were bound.
“Megan.” My voice came out a hollow rasp.
“I must admit,” she said. I followed the sound of her voice until I saw her by the doorway in the far reaches of my vision. “I knew you wouldn’t trust me. Not after our history together, but I’m surprised you put two and two together so quickly. You were never the smartest cookie in the barrel.” She chuckled and came over to tower above me. “Though still not terribly smart it seems.”
She kicked me in the ribs. I grunted in pain. “You know, we could have done this the easy way. I never wanted to hurt you. Not physically, anyway.”
A wave of panic washed over me. I struggled against my bindings. They were made of chains and not easy to break, but not impossible. A shift into dragon form would shatter them in a second. I built the image of the dragon I am within my mind, ready to take the form. It drifted from my grasp.
Megan kicked me again. “Keep still. I know what you’re doing and it won’t work. The full effects of the snapdragon won’t wear off for a while yet.”
I ignored her, closed my eyes, and exhaled slowly. I pictured my image again. My scales were red, turning to burnished bronze on the underside of my neck. Like Megan, I possessed a head crowned with a neck frill, but eight large spikes, not six circled its edge. Wings sprouted at my shoulders from a body as hard as a rock and as sturdy as an oak. From nose to tail, I stretched thirty feet long, but from wingtip to wingtip that reach rose to fifty feet. More spikes fanned like aggressive blooms from my feet and tail. I pictured all that I was, remembered the feel of wind fluttering against the membranes of my wings, the taste of the cool night air on my lips. I felt myself changing. It would work, it had to. I was almost there…
The image drifted from my mind, and I opened my eyes knowing I’d failed. Megan was right. The snapdragon wouldn’t let me change.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked, knowing both our plans had gone off track.
Megan sat crossed-legged a foot from my face. She smiled wickedly, but it was a front. Her eyes were unsure. She sighed. “That’s the million-dollar question,” she said. “You know, for a second there, you had me worried. I thought you might actually shift.”
“Yeah, well. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Time, you don’t have, but just in case, another small dose won’t hurt you.” She rose to her feet. “Don’t go anywhere,” she said and chuckled.
She stomped from the building. Whatever I was going to do, I had to do it now. Another dose of snapdragon would knock me out, and who knew what situation I’d wake to next time. If I did wake.
Using every ounce of strength, I could muster, I sat up and tugged in vain at the chains around my feet.
Damn it!
My muscles felt like jelly. And with the effects of the poison still coursing through my body, even sitting had knocked the wind out of me. The legs were a no go. It proved impossible to pry them apart, and with my hands chained at the wrist, I couldn’t get a grip to try and break them. That left me with the chain around my hands.
I remembered reading a tip on how to break free from zip ties. I’d never tried it myself, but theory stated that I needed to form my hands into fists, raise them as high as I could above my head, and bring them down sharply. While, at the same time, yanking my elbows apart and pressing my wrists firmly into my abdomen.
I may be weak in my current state, but I needed to believe I still possessed more strength than the average human. If it could work on zip ties for them, it could work on iron chains for me.
Not a problem.
I took a deep breath, lifted my hands above my head. With a quick burst I ran through the motions, and… nothing. Zip, zero, nada!
Apart from feeling I was lucky not to break my wrist, my attempt achieved little results.
My heart raced as adrenaline kicked in, coursing like fire through my veins. I could do this.
“Come on, Trystan,” I said to myself. “Take a deep breath and try again.”
I closed my eyes and shut out thoughts on the limited time I had before Megan’s return. I breathed deeply. With each breath, I pictured my wrists as they would be in dragon form: powerful front legs the size of tree trunks. I may not be able to shift fully, but maybe I could utilise the strength of my inner dragon.
I blew out a deep breath and raised my arms. One, two, three…
The chain shattered and rattled to the floor. Without hesitation, I removed the accompanying chain from my legs, just as I heard the front door of the house slam.
I gathered the chains loosely around my ankles and lay still. Being sure to shield the broken links from sight. Megan stomped into the barn, dripping water.
“I hate wet clothes,” she said as she moved towards me, unaware I was free from my bindings.
She edged closer. A few more steps…
In a flurry of movement, I swooped her legs from underneath her and jumped to my feet. She hit the floor with a grunt, but a light-headedness caused by the sudden movement threatened my advantage.
From her position on the ground, Megan kicked me in the shins and completed the leg motion in a circle that brought her to her feet. I staggered as my leg buckled, but managed to recover fast enough to avoid her next blow aimed at my head.
Before she had time to strike again, I leapt forwards and barrelled her to the ground. She flipped
me off, and we both jumped to our feet.
“You always were a dirty fighter,” I said as we circled each other. “But I’m stronger and faster, you know that.” I spoke the words as a challenge, knowing that if she shifted form, I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of beating her. As it was, there was still some doubt. With the poison circling my veins, I wasn’t at my best.
Megan chuckled again. “We’ll see about that.”
She rushed me straight on, eyes blazing, and tried to smash my face with her fist. I grabbed her arm and spun her away, but she recovered and landed an almighty smack on my cheek with her other hand.
I shook off the blow. Megan always had a wicked right. She landed another good punch before I managed to block her third.
My taunt seemed to have worked. Pride in her own abilities prevented Megan from shifting. She wanted to beat me as a human and prove how much better she was.
“You’re out of practice,” she said, hopping from one foot to the other. “Comes with not having a worthy opponent to spar with.”
She swung again, but this time I had my arm ready to block the blow. I grabbed her fist and pushed it back into her own face.
“Child,” she said, jumping back and raising her leg to kick me in the balls. I sidestepped, and her blow landed on my thigh instead.
We backed away from each other, each taking in rasping breaths.
“Tell me why,” I said. “Why now? Why try and frame me for stealing the stone?”
Megan sneered. “You’re pathetic. Sitting year after year alone in your house.”
“I’m touched you thought to check up on me.”
“Don’t be.”
“So what? You were jealous of my solitude and decided to end it? You have a funny way of showing you care.”
“The only thing I care about is you socialising with humans again. Fighting in the war was one thing, but now you’re actually friends with them.”
Realisation struck me like another blow to the face. This was about Summer and Thomas, about me having friends again. Megan was content to watch me live in exile, but only if that was an exile from everyone.
“You arranged for the theft of the stone,” I said. “Revealed the existence of dragon-kind to Jones and his men because you were jealous I had friends.”
“Jealous!” She shook her head in disgust. “You defile our existence associating with them. Besides, I’m not the one who did those things, remember? As far as my father will know, you stole the stone and revealed our existence. He’ll flay you alive.”
“Your father’s a good soul. He’ll listen to the truth.”
“You may still be his favourite, getting everything you want, but do you really think he’d doubt the word of his own daughter?”
Booming thunder rolled through the sky. It rose again, only louder, vibrating through my chest, dangerous and threatening.
Megan froze.
My heart raced. That was no thunder.
I ran outside and peered into the gloom. The giant outline of a dragon came towards me. Rain streamed like a waterfall from his form. With a wingspan bigger than Jones’ house, Alwyn‘s eyes shone as cold as ice though the rain.
He landed, sending a spray of mud and water to coat us both. Then looked from me to his daughter without saying a word. Great chuffs of air billowed from his nostrils and sizzled the rain with its heat.
Two other dragons landed behind him.
“Father, thank goodness,” Megan said. “Trystan stole the serpent’s egg.”
Alwyn lowered his head to the ground and arched his wing. A figure shrouded in the torrential downpour shifted on his back, and slowly climbed to the ground.
“Bran,” Megan exclaimed, clearly flabbergasted.
I smiled. “It’s good to see you, Joe.”
He clutched my hand in his. “You, too.”
Summer and Thomas climbed from the other two dragons.
“You look like you’ve seen better days,” Summer said, noting the bruises I felt swelling on my face.
“I didn’t think you’d make it in this weather.”
“We’ve been here since before the rain started,” she said. An obvious note of frustration tinged her voice, and she gave Alwyn the side-eye. “Even though she poisoned you, someone wasn’t convinced you weren’t to blame until Megan all but confessed.”
I turned to Alwyn, a dragon I respected above all others and fell to the ground. “Then you heard?” I asked, and wondered how such a thing was possible in the torrential downpour.
“Summer used her magic to heighten the sound,” Thomas said. “We’ve been listening to you for hours.”
For hours. My heart sank a little wondering what would have happened if Megan had drugged me again. How far would Alwyn have let things go?
Megan looked at Summer and Thomas and screamed in rage. She charged, but Summer blasted her with an orb of magic that sent her skidding through the mud. I stifled a smile. She certainly wouldn’t like the feel of her wet clothes now. The dragons that moments before flanked her father, surrounded Megan.
“I’m sorry this came to pass,” I said to Alwyn. “But please believe it was not of my doing.”
“Lies,” Megan screamed. “It’s all your fault.”
Unable to talk in dragon-form, Alwyn gave her a look that could stop an army, before nodding an acknowledgment to me.
“You ready to go home?” Summer asked, smiling.
I looked at Megan as she still pleaded with her father to listen.
“Yes,” I said after a moment. “I most definitely am.”
Chapter 10
Alwyn and his dragons took Megan home to face the dragon elders, who would decide her fate. Joe went back to Twmbarlwm. The council had rounded up Jones and his men before Megan and I arrived; seemed they didn’t take kindly to supernatural organised crime gangs.
Me? I flew Summer and Thomas home and was persuaded to stop for another cup of tea before heading home myself.
The storm had blown away as quickly as it came. Hot, clean air followed its path and warmed the day. At the cottage, Thomas offered me some joggers and a tee while he washed my clothes. I went straight to the shower to clean up. Stepping under the water could only be described as heaven. Warmth flooded my body and soothed away the bruises building on my flesh. A good night's sleep would see them healed. No more than a memory.
As I watched the mud sluice off my skin and down the drain, I thought about Megan and all she’d said. Alwyn had always been like a father to me, guiding me when my own parents had died. In many ways, he’d raised me, and I valued his praise and thoughts above all others. When he’d given me the option to remain silent and follow the rules as laid down by the dragon elders or leave, his words had hit me like a blow to the chest. He turned his back on me and I walked away.
Was I Alwyn’s favourite? Had he given me everything I wanted? I thought to all the times as a youngster I’d stood by his side, thought of how he’d trained me to fight, how to think.
I blew out a deep breath and shook my head. It seemed I hadn’t been thinking at all for the last eighty years.
I stepped from the shower and dressed before returning to Summer and Thomas in the kitchen. Thomas poured a brew, and we sat, once again, at the kitchen table where Summer asked how I’d figured out Megan wanted to frame me.
“Nothing seemed right from the start. At first, I’d assumed the dragons were still shut off from technology. That was the only reason they’d need my help.”
“But,” Thomas prompted, laying a full cup and a plate of Welsh cakes on the table in front of me.
“But the mansion has security cameras. Megan had gathered evidence on a flash drive, and she had a mobile phone. They might be small things, but I guess they made me suspicious from the start. That and Megan asking for help in the first place.” I scoffed and left out Megan’s past betrayals. “Trust me, Megan doesn’t ask for anything. She takes. Plus, there was magical involvement with the theft, why leave that out? Any dr
agon would have sensed the residual trace of Marc’s magic.”
I didn’t mention her motive for wanting to frame me. Thomas and Summer had heard what she said at the Jones house, and I didn’t want them shouldering any blame for being my friends.
“What will they do to her?” Thomas asked.
“Not a lot. Her actions were deplorable, but she didn’t hurt anyone.”
I winced as Summer touched the bruise on my face. “I beg to differ,” she said.
“You know what I mean. She lied, gave away not only the fact that dragons exist but also the location of their base. My guess? She’ll be stripped of command and rank within the tribal guardians.”
“That’s it?”
“It will be a great stain on her honour. One she may never shake.”
Summer nodded and sipped her tea. “Where does this leave you?”
The answer came not five minutes later when the house shook as though a great weight had landed outside. I placed my hand on Summer’s arm to stop her from running to look. She laughed and waited not so patiently for a knock at the door.
I wanted nothing more than a hot bath and a good night’s sleep, but a summons to a chamber meeting of the dragon court could not be ignored.
I descended into the elder chamber, and stood in the centre of the circle, flanked by Alwyn and the other rulers of the clan I once called family. A shiver ran up my back as I stepped forwards to hear their judgement.
“I am sorry,” I said again. “For the problems I--”
Alwyn held his hand up to silence me. “No,” he said. “It is we who are sorry. Although we stand by our decision to stay out of human wars, it may be time to find those we can work with for the better of humans and dragon alike. Especially, as our existence is now known to others.” He eyes narrowed. “You told the Rune Witch and her companion of your true nature?”
Summer had seen through my glamour, but there was no point arguing semantics. “I did,” I said.
“The giant, Joe, too?”
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