A drunken guy stumbled into the stool next to Rakan and started to babble about his problems. Rakan nodded every once in a while, deftly swapping his full glass with the guy’s nearly empty one. He never drank alcohol. And couldn’t understand why humans did. By the time he’d have to shift out of the bar in order to trail Kariaksuq, no one, not even the guy next to him, would notice it.
Rakan’s mind slid back to Anna. She was alone in her room and still wouldn’t speak to him or June. She had cut herself off from everyone. Pain had transformed her energy into a series of jagged spikes. He reached out to touch her, but she reacted with such anger that he pulled back.
Over the past week at school, he had manipulated the shield from afar so that it would trigger a warning in case a void-trail threatened her. Or so he hoped. He didn’t really have any way of testing it. Rakan growled, earning himself a thump on the back from his bar mate. After he dealt with Kariaksuq, he’d deal with Liv.
Rakan disentangled himself from the incoherent ramblings of the drunken guy and left the Driv. Kariaksuq was getting tired of playing with Ulf. She’d shift out of the apartment soon and he needed to clear his thoughts before attacking her. But the intense cobalt blue light that greeted him stopped him in his tracks. It was the color of June’s eyes. He ached to morph in a wild mass of coral-colored flames, merging his orange with her blue. But he couldn’t. The poison he carried ensured his isolation. Even if tried, he wouldn’t be able to give his rök to a Kairök.
Kariaksuq was leaving Ulf, who was too insanely thrilled to realize that he was still attached to his bed. Rakan gripped his three-pronged dragon knives. Finally. They’d fight. He transformed his human clothes into his black dragon pants. He was ready for her.
But instead of shifting, Kariaksuq walked slowly down the stairs. Rakan hissed. She was playing with him. She knew he was there, waiting for her. She walked out of the building in her honey-colored dragon dress, her hair half up and half down in the way that young female dragons did before their first mating. Her sweet scent of warm wood wafted gently in the near zero air. His blood throbbed in response and he snorted, trying to block her odor from filling him with blinding desire. But she was ripe, and he could take her. She glided over to where he was standing stiffly. She curtsied gracefully, leaning forward just enough so that he could see the fullness of her breasts as they pushed against her dress, jiggling playfully as if they wanted to be stroked. Rakan growled, forcing his eyes not to linger.
“Greetings, Rakan’dzor. I was wondering when you’d get the courage to show your face, instead of always trailing me like a puppy.” Her eyes ran over his naked chest, appraising the size of his pectorals and lingering on his rippled abdomen. “Since you aren’t really a puppy, are you?” She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She inhaled deeply. “Hm. You have the most enticing smell. Spice and… something wild.”
“What are you doing here?” Rakan said, ignoring his body’s response to hers.
Kariaksuq opened her eyes and smiled. “Trying to get you alone. I thought that would be clear?” She moved closer and let her fingertips wander down his abdomen. “Yttresken is too old to give me what I need.”
Rakan knocked her descending hand away from his pants. “Ulf seems happy enough to oblige.”
“Are you jealous? Of a mere human?” She turned, exposing her bare back that looked even more enticingly like bronze because of the contrast with the honey colored dress that clung to her hips. Slowly, Kariaksuq reached up and undid the rest of her hair. She shook the blue-black mass and Rakan gave an involuntary growl as it slithered across her back. “Catch me. If you can.” Her bare feet made no noise on the soft snow of mid April.
Rakan flew after her, his veins pumping with the excitement of the hunt. She shifted and popped back out on the glacier where Dvara had shown him the blue crevasse. They faced each other as her hair flickered in the night, reflecting the stars above.
“So, shall we fight first or after? Or don’t you know yet?”
Rakan lunged for her, spinning her under him in a strangle hold. But her knives were already out and she slashed deftly into his ribs. In spite of the pain, Rakan didn’t let go. He tightened his grip until she dropped her knives, and he kicked them away.
“Tell me what you’re doing here, or I’ll strangle you,” he said.
“Is that what you want, Rakan? To take me while I’m unconscious? Because you know as well as I do that killing me without reason is against the Code.”
“You’re trespassing on our territory. That’s reason enough.” He tightened his grip on her throat. “What has Yttresken sent you to do?”
Kariaksuq laughed harshly. “You don’t speak much with your mother do you? I’m officially here to protect Dvara for my Kairök.” She struggled to face him. “And frankly I’d rather have a different kind of full body contact.” Her hand slithered its way between his legs. “And so would you.”
Rakan jumped up and threw her across the ice. “No,” he hissed. Mentally, he fixed the bleeding gash in his side. If Yarlung had allowed her to come, he couldn’t kill her. Unless she was lying.
Kariaksuq pushed herself back up to standing and re-did her hair. “That’s a shame. Because your little human pet won’t be thinking of you anymore once Syral’kaan comes and takes an interest in her. No human has ever resisted him for very long. Or should I say, no human can resist him very long. Whether they want to or not.”
Rakan exploded into his dragon form and lunged for Kariaksuq. She morphed into her water dragon form and slithered into the ice. Her laughter echoed into the night. Rakan clawed at the ice, willing it to part. But he couldn’t move the mass fast enough to catch up with a water dragon who swam through the ice as if it was water. In a raging fury, Rakan felt his rök explode. It engulfed him in a shimmering warmth that melted the ice around him. Kariaksuq snapped around to face him, her honey-colored eyes wide with a mix of surprise and fear. She spun around and headed to the edge of a fine crevasse in the ice, near the blue cathedral that Dvara had shown him. She positioned herself so that Rakan would pass through it, disturbing the delicate balance of the ice above. And ruin the work of the High Master.
Rakan howled in rage. How could she think that he wouldn’t see the danger? He shifted through the shimmering crevasse, coming up below her. He sank his teeth into her tail. Deftly, he pulled her down through the ice as easily as if he were in the air. Knowing, instinctively that she wouldn’t be able to twist around and fight him off until after he had poisoned her. Kariaksuq flailed wildly, caught completely off guard. She hissed and tried to yank her tail out of his grasp, her short back legs kicking uselessly in the ice. In a wave of panic she abandoned the fight and shifted back to Yttresken.
Rakan’s jaws snapped shut on the emptiness where she had been, but he had felt his canines release a stream of poison into her blood. Not enough to kill her, but enough to make her think twice before coming back for more.
Rakan growled contentedly and twirled his long undulating body underneath him. And did a double-take. He shouldn’t have a long undulating body. He spread his claws as if to catch himself, but the ice flowed through him. Or maybe he flowed through the ice. Either way, he wasn’t tunneling. With a massive push of his tail he flung himself out of the glacier and into the air. Landing with an ungraceful thump on the glacier’s surface.
He looked back at his body. His legs were too short, his wings were… nonexistent.
He morphed back to his human form and stood frozen, looking at the ice below. The ice that he had swum through as if he were a water dragon. When he wasn’t. And yet he had seen the differences in the layers of ice as clearly as he could see the air currents when he was in the sky. But he wasn’t a water dragon. He couldn’t be. He had already morphed into an air dragon. And no dragon could take more than one form. It wasn’t possible.
Rakan inched back to where he had clawed at the glacier, running his hands over the huge gashes that his claws had left, and feeling wher
e he had parted the ice. There were no marks from when he had entered it.
Rakan fell to his knees, his heart resounding like a gong in the stillness of the night. No dragon could morph into two forms. Not even the High Masters.
Rakan clutched at the glacier, digging into its solidity as if it was his sanity. There had to be a reasonable explanation. He couldn’t morph into two forms. It simply wasn’t possible. He wasn’t a water dragon.
But his mother was. She must have taken control of his body and charged after Kariaksuq. Rakan sank his finger tips into the ice as if they were claws.
Eventually, he rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky. He searched for what was left of the Red Planet but didn’t find it. A bright green Northern Light rippled gently across the sky and he wished Anna was with him to watch it. But she wasn’t. And she wasn’t going to be. Rakan stood with a groan. The only thing that was sure was that he was going to have to find a way to remove the tattoos before his mother manipulated him again.
* * *
“Mom,” Anna said, interrupting her mother’s cheerful dinner babble. It was starting to grate on her nerves with its inanity. “Can we talk?”
Ingrid put her fork down, her monologue forgotten. “Of course, honey.” Her hand floated midair before settling on the kitchen table near Anna’s arm.
Anna looked away from her mom’s expectant eyes, wondering how to start. “How would you feel if you discovered that someone you cared about was… lying to you?”
“Oh, honey, is that what happened with Pemba? I’m so sorry.”
“No.” Anna’s voice was sharper than she had intended. “It’s not about Pemba.” Anna looked away again. It could’ve been. She swallowed back her pain. “It’s about Ulf.”
“We’ve been through this, Anna,” Ingrid said, her voice like a brick wall. “I’m not even asking you to like him anymore. Just to accept him.”
“I know.” Anna played with the food on her plate. “And I know how much you care about him. But are you sure he feels the same way?”
Ingrid picked up her plate and put it on the counter with a clatter. She turned and crossed her arms, facing Anna. “Why do you dislike him so much?”
Anna took a deep breath. The list was too long. “He’s dating other people.”
Ingrid’s face flushed with anger. “Ulf just needs a little more freedom than most people. But he isn’t dating anyone else. They’re short-term flirts. They don’t mean anything.”
“Flirting? I saw him making out with—”
“—I don’t want to hear it.” Her mom’s voice was almost shrill. “And it isn’t any of your business.”
“It is when I see him making out with a girl before practice.” Especially when that girl was Kariaksuq.
Ingrid gripped the countertop behind her. “A girl from the team?”
“No. I don’t know the girl,” Anna lied, wanting to reassure her mom.
Ingrid turned to the sink and began scrubbing one of the pots vigorously. When she had finished, she turned back to face Anna, her eyes brimming with tears. “Why can’t you just let me be happy? Why are you trying to destroy the one relationship that has lasted since… since your father…”
“Mom,” Anna said quietly. “I don’t want you to get hurt. That’s all.”
“Ulf isn’t hurting me. You are.”
Anna stared back into her mother’s pleading eyes, at a loss for words. She couldn’t tell her about Kariaksuq, since she wasn’t even sure what Kariaksuq was or why she was with Ulf. But in her gut she knew it had to be linked to Dawa and her ‘fiancé’. And both Torsten and Kariaksuq would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, even if it meant hurting others.
And she wouldn’t let her mom get hurt.
Chapter 20
Building Bridges
RAKAN SAT SULLENLY IN THE WINDOW, watching the freshly fallen snow turn to slush as the early morning light went from cobalt to bright green to reddish yellow. The sun had come and he had had no problem resisting its call. There was nothing left to live for.
Dvara came into the living room and stretched lazily. “What are you doing up so early?” She gave him a piercing look. “Or did you never go to bed?”
Rakan didn’t answer. All he wanted was to crawl deep into the earth and curl up in its warmth. But even if he decided to give everything up, he couldn’t. He wasn’t a fire dragon. For a second he was jealous of Dvara. She could slither down into the molten earth and feel its heat, but he’d never be able to.
“It’s okay,” Dvara said, gently placing an arm on his shoulders. “Everything will be alright.”
But Rakan knew it wouldn’t. How could anything be alright when he had gone wild, tried to take Anna against her will, morphed into a water dragon and let Kariaksuq get away?
“You should go to school today. You haven’t been since the ski trip last week.”
“You haven’t been in even longer.”
Dvara dropped her arm. “That’s different. I’d go if I could. But I can’t.”
“You could if you wanted to,” Rakan said, even though he knew it wasn’t true.
Dvara’s energy smoldered. “Sometimes you really are an idiot.” She stormed back to her room and slammed the door.
Rakan leaned against the cold window pane. The street went from a heavy white to a glistening black as people began their daily routines. He should go to school. Dvara was right. But he didn’t want to. The dark grey underbelly of the clouds hung low, and Rakan ached to throw himself into the sky. He wanted to pierce the clouds and feel the sun’s rays.
“Uh, Dvara?” he said, not daring to open her door. “I’m going to school.” He needed to warn June about his mother, even if it meant the poison would revert to its original state.
Dvara opened the door, her red dragon dress shimmering as if illuminated from within. “Then you should hurry up,” she said. “You’re late.” She sent him a wave of warmth.
He returned the gesture of peace. “Thanks.”
“Uh, Rakan?” she called out after him as he turned to go. “Don’t forget to get changed.”
Rakan turned and bowed playfully. “Don’t get into any trouble.”
She threw a pillow at him as he shifted out of their rooms and into the empty hallway in front of his classroom. Or rather the hallway that had been empty before the twins showed up, their arms crossed over their tattooed chests like two bodyguards flanking the classroom door. Rakan quickly created an electromagnetic shield, not wanting to know what Verje and Sverd intended to try.
“Interesting,” Verje said, touching the shield mentally. “Although not entirely effective.” Verje pried the shield open just enough to blast Rakan across the hall. “Be grateful that it came from me and not Sverd.”
“What was that for?” Rakan stood and dusted himself off. He needed to figure out how to block them from prying open the shield again. Fast.
“We want you to leave.” Sverd’s purple eyes flashed as he closed the distance between them. “Now.”
Rakan countered Sverd’s advance with a spinning back kick but Sverd moved nimbly to the side. Rakan growled with frustration at not having the satisfaction of feeling his foot land in Sverd’s gut. Even as they circled each other, Rakan kept the other twin in sight. It wouldn’t be beneath the twins to set up an attack from behind.
The door to the classroom opened and June came out. She quickly shut the door behind her. The air warped as she put up a sound barrier.
“What are you doing?” she snapped at all three of them. “Are you crazy?”
Sverd and Verje bowed to June. “It is Erling’s wish,” Verje said.
“To attack Pemba at school?” asked June incredulously.
“He only seeks to protect you,” answered Verje, still bent at the waist.
“I’m not a fragile doll that needs protection. I thought I made that clear the other day,” June said sharply. “Leave. Now.”
Sverd bowed and disappeared. But Verje hung back. “
Your life is worth more than the impetuous whims of a child. I ask to be allowed to stay.”
“It’s not necessary,” June snapped before adding more gently, “but thank you.”
Verje bowed. “May it be as you desire, my Lady.” He disappeared in a flash of purple light.
“I can’t believe I’m fighting Erling over you,” June said, throwing a hand in the air.
“I’m glad you did. I wasn’t looking forward to fighting them both at the same time.”
“Wimp.”
Rakan lunged for her but she twirled out of the way, laughing. She held up her hand. “Another time. We’re supposed to be in class.” She shook her finger at him. “You’ve been skipping all week.”
Rakan hung his head in mock guilt. “Sorry, my Lady.” Before he had even finished his sentence, June had slapped him as hard as she could.
Rakan put a hand to his cheek. “What was that for?”
“Don’t ever call me that.” June’s eyes sparkled with flecks of light, making Rakan recoil in revulsion.
“You didn’t have to slap me,” he said, doubt rippling through him. Not only were her eyes a bright blue-green, but they were halfway between a dragon’s slits and a void-trail’s nearly pupil-less orbs of light.
June looked away and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I didn’t mean to. I just… reacted.”
“What else do you ‘just react’ to? That way I’ll know to avoid it.”
“I said I’m sorry,” June said defensively, her anger beginning to bubble again.
“It’s okay.” Rakan spread his hands in a gesture of truce. “Thanks for coming out,” he added. “They weren’t too happy to see me.”
“No.” June walked over to the window and Rakan felt her struggle to control her waves of emotion. “They say it would have been better if you and your sister had been killed by the shield.” June turned and raised her chin, challenging Rakan to respond.
Dragon Fire Page 23
