Awakened Dragon

by Harmony Raines

  “Leave.” Magnus’s voice sounded weaker but she was not willing to give up and admit defeat. But the wolf was too strong and a sob erupted from her throat.

  “I can’t leave you.” Her voice cracked as her fingers cramped up and she lost her grip on the wolf.

  “You have to.” Tired, his breath ragged, Magnus locked eyes with her. “Don’t die for me.”

  “What about Tiberius and Helena?” She sobbed as she realized the futility of her actions. The wolf was too big. Too strong.

  “You can't help them if you are dead.” He lifted his head for a moment, summoning his strength as he shouted. “I love you, Now go.”

  Ruby stumbled backward. What was she supposed to do? If this was a test, they wouldn't kill Magnus. Would they?

  Was he supposed to be willing to die for her? Or was she supposed to be willing to die for him?”

  She spun around and looked at the old bear shifter, who stood in the same spot, unmoved by the fight. “What do you want?” She ran to him her hands outstretched. “You want me to choose? My mate or my dragon? Life or death?” There was no choice. Without Magnus, there was no life. Her dragon would understand that. She wasn’t choosing Magnus over her dragon because they couldn't live without him, not now.

  Wearily, she turned around and searched the room for a weapon. All she saw were scrolls and books. Perhaps if she broke one of the bookcases up and made a stake. That would work, a stake through the heart didn't just work on vampires. But as she ran to the bookshelf, and lifted her leg, ready to kick it over, a shout rang out.

  “Enough!” The old bear had shifted back into his human form and stood with his hand raised, his voice a command that could not be ignored.

  The bear and two wolves released Magnus, who looked relatively unscathed, except for blood dripping from a wound on his forehead. Ruby rushed forward, and knelt beside him, pulling her mate into a sitting position. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded, touching his fingers to his forehead. “Nothing that won’t heal.”

  The bear and wolves stood together, shaking their heads and licking their wounds. “I don’t understand.” Ruby got up and pulled Magnus to his feet. Together they turned to face the old man. Tiberius and Helena appeared from behind the bookshelves. “You were watching the whole time?”

  Helena rushed to her side and took her hand. “I’m sorry, we couldn’t help you.”

  “Because it was a test.” Ruby’s face set firm as she took a step toward the old man. “Explain.”

  “Ruby, this is the head of the temple.” Tiberius’s voice held a warning, but she didn’t care.

  “Well, he needs a lesson in how to treat his guests.” Her fists were clenched at her sides, but as she stared at him, his face broke into a smile and then he laughed.

  “You might be right,” the old man said, coming down the stairs to stand before her. “I had my reasons.”

  “And what were those, old man?” Magnus asked, wiping the blood from a cut on his lip. Ruby longed to kiss his poor bruised face better. Right after she’d torn a strip off the head of the temple. Who did he think he was attacking them like that? Was he worried they were going to steal his books?

  Tiberius coughed and raised his eyebrows. “What do you have to do with this, Tiberius?” Ruby squared up to Alex’s dad, which inflamed Helena, who still held Ruby’s hand. A rush of warmth fed through her fingers where Helena gripped them as her temper rose.

  “You came to us for help,” Helena told Ruby. “Tiberius got you the help you needed.”

  “This is your way of helping?” Ruby asked scathingly. “Hiding while we got attacked?”

  “It was a test to see if your dragon mate is worthy,” the old man said, stepping down off the stairs to stand before Magnus.

  “And am I worthy?” Magnus asked, his voice strained.

  The man nodded. “You and your mate both passed the test.” He glanced across to Ruby. “I thought you were going to run out on him.”

  “Never,” Ruby replied hotly. “I was confused for a moment at the loss of my dragon. Then I realized that if I left and my dragon returned to me, we would die of a broken heart without Magnus. There was no choice.”

  “Textbook answer,” the old man said. “Now, let’s have a look at you, Magnus Dumas.”

  “Do you know me?” Magnus asked, his eyes fixed on the old man.

  “No. But I have heard of you. Your name is written in the book of lost dragons.” He leaned forward and sniffed Magnus. “Your dragon is inside you. Deep inside you. He is still asleep, and cannot lift his head to breathe the free air.”

  “Can you help him?” Ruby asked, her voice softer now that she knew no one meant them any harm. “Can you free his dragon and his memories?”

  “Yes,” the old man answered simply. “If he wants them returned.”

  Magnus eyed the old man thoughtfully. “At what cost?”

  “To me or to you?” the old man asked, then answered, “Both must pay a price.”

  Magnus’s jaw tightened as he surveyed the man before him. “What is the cost to me?”

  “You have to part with some of your treasure.” The old man grinned, his teeth still surprisingly good for his age.

  “Done.”

  The old man’s grin widened. “A dragon who is not going to barter?”

  “Take it all if you want it. I need my memories, I need to know what happened to my sister.” His eyes flashed as his emotions welled inside him, threatening to spill out.

  “Your sister. Therein lies a mystery. Tiberius tells me she was not with you while you slept.” The old man nodded, while the shifters still surrounding them shuffled with agitation.

  “She died,” Magnus said bluntly.

  The old man shook his head. “No, no, no. She was very much alive when you both disappeared.”

  The color drained from Magnus’s face. “Are you certain?”

  “Yes. As certain as I can be. Your sister’s name is written alongside yours as lost. Not dead.”

  “But I saw someone stab her. There was a flash of memory and she was dead. Stabbed by a man I didn’t know.” His voice shook as he ground out the words. “I should have protected her.”

  “How do you know you didn’t?” the old man asked. “Half a memory is worse than none. Just like half a dragon shifter is useless if you want to fly.”

  “I am ready,” Magnus stated firmly.

  “You might not like who you are.” The old man watched for his reaction.

  “Who I was,” Magnus corrected him. “I know who I am now, and no matter what I may have done in my past, this is me.” He reached for Ruby and she went to him. “This is me.”

  “Very well.” The old man put his hands on Magnus’s head and closed his eyes. Ruby kept her questions to herself as the old man concentrated hard, his eyes screwed shut and his forehead beaded with sweat. She wanted this to be over, but she also wanted to know who had done this to Magnus.

  Magnus jolted backward. The old man moved with him, never letting go as he kept the pressure on Magnus’s head. Magnus groaned and his eyes flickered as if he were experiencing REM sleep. Her mate cried out, and Ruby lunged forward, but Tiberius grabbed her wrist and kept her back out of the way.

  “He needs to finish this, or Magnus’s memories will be scrambled.” Tiberius pulled her into his arms.

  “I’m so sorry we had to trick you, Ruby.” Helena held both her hands. “It was the only way we could get the head of the temple to agree to unlock Magnus’s memories and his dragon. He wanted proof that Magnus wasn’t a bad dragon. Many were put into Ancient Slumber to protect the world. He had to be certain he wasn’t about to unleash a terrible blight on humanity.”

  “I understand.” She fixed Helena with a haunted stare. “I do understand. And thank you. Both of you. This is Magnus’s best hope. I’m just scared of what he’ll remember.”

  “He has a good heart,” Helena said.

  “That’s not the part I’m worried about. It�
�s the memories themselves, of his mom, of his sister. We don’t know what happened to her. And we don’t know who did it, or why Magnus was put under the curse.” Ruby watched as the old man released Magnus and took a step back. “But we might be about to find out.”

  Magnus opened his eyes and stared blankly for a moment as if he didn’t know where he was. Then he turned, his attention fixed on Ruby. “I remember.”

  Ruby’s heart hammered in her chest. The past and the present were now integrated. Magnus was whole. His dragon realigned with him. But she could not celebrate yet. Not until he told them all he knew of the ancient curse that had put him to sleep, and who was responsible.

  Chapter Twenty – Magnus

  I remember. The words rattled around in his head, bouncing off the side of his skull along with various other images of his past life. For that was how he saw it. The past and his future with Ruby were two different things. It was as if he had been reincarnated, only instead of starting off as a baby, he’d been born a grown man.

  “Can you tell us what happened?” Ruby asked gently, her hand resting on his arm as if he might break, her words gentle as if he were a child.

  He blinked, trying to focus on her face. But a stray memory floated past his eyes and he was drawn to it, like a moth to the flame. “Emilia.”

  “Do you remember what happened to her?” Ruby prompted.

  “Let him take his time,” the old man said. Ruby dragged her attention away from Magnus, she was about to tell him to mind his own business, until she saw him slumped against two men. The wolves had shifted back to their human forms and stood, one on either side, supporting him. He had been truthful when he said the process would exact a price from both of them.

  “I am able to speak.” Magnus’s voice didn’t feel like his own, it belonged to someone else. He coughed, and his gut wrenched, the fight with the bear and wolves had left him bruised and battered. His blood rushed through his veins, burning hot, and the sound of dry leathery wings brushed against this mind. His dragon wanted to come out to play and exact his revenge on all those who had wronged him. “Peregrine Manning.”

  “That’s who put you to sleep?” Ruby asked quickly, her hands resting one on each arm.

  “Yes. He took my memories and put me to sleep.” His brow creased as he pictured the scene. “He was in love with Emilia but was not her true mate. He said that if he could not have her, no one would.”

  Ruby’s eyes widened. “She’s asleep too?”

  He nodded once. “He paid a man to cast the Ancient Slumber spell on her. Knowing I would not stop until I found her, he cast it on me too. But Perry was scared I would wake up and remember, he added the memory spell.” He looked into Ruby’s beautiful face and lifted his hand to stroke her cheek. “I know where she is.”

  “Where?” Ruby asked, her fingers curling into his sweater as he got ready to run out of the temple. “Wait, you have to calm down.”

  “She is asleep, all alone.” Didn’t Ruby understand his sister was alone, unprotected now that her big brother was gone?

  “Take a deep breath.” Ruby looked into his face and breathed deeply before letting it out. “How do you intend to wake her?”

  Confusion hit Magnus square between the eyes. Ruby was right, he could find his sister, but unless they found her mate, she would remain in a deep sleep. “Can you help?”

  The old man nodded. “I need something that belongs to her. A lock of hair, a scale off her back.”

  “She is in dragon form.” He switched his attention to Ruby. “We need to leave now. We can be there and back again by nightfall.”

  “Wait a minute.” She pulled him back. Why was she trying to stop him? “We can’t fly back to Bear Creek in the light. We have to wait until it’s dark.”

  He was a mighty dragon, he could do as he pleased! The words brushed against his mind.

  Hello, old friend, he said to his dragon.

  We have been apart too long, now let us leave this place and wreak vengeance on all those who plot our doom.

  You do not remember, do you? Magnus asked his dragon.

  I remember we were betrayed! His dragon breathed fire, scorching flames meant to destroy their enemies.

  “Magnus. Come back to me.” Filled with urgency, Ruby’s voice filtered through his thoughts and pulled him back to the present, and his mate.

  “Sorry. There’s so much to piece together, it’s like a mosaic, all fragmented but somehow it all fits together and tells the story of my life.” He looked at the floor, focusing on calming breaths.

  “We should eat,” the old man said and the two men at his side led him back up the stone steps. “You need to regain your strength.”

  Ruby looked at Tiberius and asked, “Should we follow?”

  “Yes. Magnus should rest before he risks flying.” Tiberius followed the shifters with Helena at his side.

  “I think we can trust them,” Magnus assured her when he sensed her reservations.

  “Yeah, says the man who was attacked by two wolves and a bear.”

  I like her, his dragon told him, puffing smoke from his nostrils.

  So do I, Magnus replied. Very much. Although love was probably a more appropriate word. He loved Ruby as much as life itself.

  “Once Magnus has eaten we can see what this dragon of his looks like.” Helena’s excitement brimmed over, but Magnus couldn’t allow himself to share in it. Not when his sister had been so cruelly used. “Better than your human side I hope.”

  “Helena is right. You look terrible,” Ruby told him bluntly.

  “I feel it,” he replied, rubbing his jaw. His dragon wasn’t happy, he wanted to fly. Now. For centuries he had been trussed up inside Magnus’s head and now he wanted out. He needed to stretch his wings and fly high above the mountains, and then dive down on his adversaries and tear them to shreds.

  They are all gone, Magnus informed his dragon as they followed the old man and his shifter bodyguards.

  All gone? His dragon questioned.

  Yes, we have slept for so long they are dust and ash. All except Emilia, we must focus on her. She needs us.

  His dragon swished his tail like an angry cat. We cannot have our revenge?

  No.

  “Please, sit and eat,” the old man invited them to sit at his table and Magnus obliged, even though it took all his strength to keep his dragon in check.

  “You said you could wake Emilia?” Ruby asked as she helped herself to fresh fruit and bread, washed down with some kind of tea. “Would her necklace do? We found it with Magnus’s treasure.” She turned to him and nudged him. “Do you have it?”

  He retrieved it from his pocket and handed it to the old man. “This was Emi’s.”

  The old man took it wearily from Magnus and turned it over in his hand. “As pretty as it is, this is not a part of her. I need something organic. Not a possession.”

  “Do you know exactly where she is?” Ruby asked Magnus. “We can go to her, grab something and come back. I can do the round trip tonight if we leave early.”

  “I know where she is.” Magnus reached into his pocket and took out the luminescent scale. “But we have something that belongs to her.” He opened his hand and showed the old man. “This does not belong to me.”

  “Are you sure?” Ruby asked.

  “Yes, I am darker in color. As you will see when I shift.” He studied the old man’s face. “Can you do it?”

  The old man nodded. “Return tonight just before you leave. The magic needs the moon’s rays. Once the moon shines down on us, the spell will be ready, and you can return home and wake your sister.”

  “Thank you,” Magnus said. “And what about payment? For everything you have done for me and my family.”

  The old man smiled. “You will pay me what you believe I deserve.”

  Magnus raised a chuckle, feeling much better after the food and tea. “My treasure hoard is not that big. The help you have given me is beyond price.”

  �
��Then bring the item you value the most,” the old man said under the watchful eyes of his helpers, who were devoted to the old man. They must be some kind of cult of the dragon.

  “You hold the thing most precious to me.” Magnus inclined his head.

  “This?” the old man held up the pendant.

  “Yes, it belonged to my mother. When she died it passed to my sister, who swore she would never take it off.” He tilted his head, remembering the scene vividly. “Peregrine Manning took it from her. He put my sister to sleep and kept it as a memento along with a scale. This scale.” The memory was clearer now, the details coming into focus. “But I happened upon him after the deed was done. He was walking back down the mountainside with the villain who cast the spell. I confronted him demanding to know where Emilia was. He said she had fallen and that he would show me where she lay dead.”

  “Magnus, I’m so sorry.” Ruby reached out for his hand and he turned his troubled face to hers.

  “I thought she was dead. That memory became jumbled up with the man who stabbed Emilia, I believe it was because the brigand's actions set this whole chain of events in motion.” His hand gripped Ruby’s, he wanted to hold onto her and never let go.

  “I don’t understand, what does Emilia getting stabbed have to do with Peregrine Manning?” Ruby asked quietly.

  Magnus sat still for a moment, composing his thoughts. “We were at the cottage, Emilia was picking strawberries to take into town and sell. A man came. A bad man. He tried to grab Emilia, but she fought him off, she was strong. I heard her scream and ran to the cottage, I tried to chase him away, but he pulled a knife and stabbed Emilia. There was so much blood.” His hands trembled as he remembered the sight of her blood. Dark red against the vibrant red of the strawberries.

  “But she didn’t die?” Ruby prompted as he drifted away with his clouded thoughts.

  He shook his head. “No. I called for help. Peregrine Manning was riding by, he picked Emilia up, placed her on his horse and took her to his mansion. There he called a doctor who treated her wounds. But she could not be moved for several weeks. During that time, he fell in love with Emilia. It was then that I painted his portrait, as a thank you for helping us. I had no money to repay him, you see.”