I think so. She’s very powerful, so I can’t always be sure when she’s lying. But I’m going to find out.
“Mario,” she said, and caused another ripple of confusion amongst their guards. It took them a moment to realise she was addressing the camera. Given more time and a hell of a lot more energy, she might have had them all dancing jigs and make the audience laugh so hard they’d vote her favours for years to come.
Not even worth trying, with Serllia watching her with eyes that cut like glass, and jumping into her head to meet her thoughts head on.
“Speak, Claudia.” A hint of mirth tinged the controller’s voice. Maybe he’d looked up this Mario she cajoled him with on the interwebs and saw the funny side.
“I haven’t made my challenge yet.” She spread her arms, palms up.
“This female has nothing to offer here.” Serllia physically blocked her view of the camera with her superior height. “She’s merely an accessory. A part of my reward.”
Claudia dodged around her, aware Tharius had raised his hand to stop her. She knew exactly how to play this. It was a risk. If she got the wrong answer, it could all go straight to hell. But she felt that little sliver of doubt, a small wobble in Serllia’s voice, when the seer declared that Toren was dead.
He wasn’t dead at all.
“The audience want to hear it. Let her speak, Serllia.”
The rain was easing off at last, pinks and blues edging the grey clouds away to the west. A warrior from the war-band grunted, Veton slapped his baton against his palm. All this talk was making them restless, and their thoughts were all turning to one thing.
Fight the dragon. Win honours and rewards. That’s what they were here for. From the pictures bouncing around in their heads, two of the wyvern had been present at Toren’s arena fight. Claudia concentrated, seeing a dragon engaging three wyverns high over an arena. The crowd cheering. A dragon sensing victory and then falling prey to the wyvern’s duplicity. As he lay in the dirt, taunted by the wyvern enforcers, he still breathed.
“My challenge is a truth or dare.” They knew this game. She’d played it with them before.
“The audience vote you a dare.”
Damn, she wanted truth. But there were many ways to play this game.
“I dare Serllia to tell me the truth about the other blue. You wouldn’t lie to our beloved audience, now would you?”
Tharius opened his mouth to speak. She sensed his anger rising to boiling point. His fingers twitching with the urge to blow it all and strangle Serllia where she stood.
Worry not, I have control, Claudia. Will she speak the truth? She heard the catch in his voice. If she could give him this, he had one more thing to fight for. One more reason to stay alive.
She has no choice. The audience were there at your brother’s fight. They already know the answer.
“He made a deal and gave up his fire. Accepted a gelding collar in return for temporary freedom. That’s how much of a coward he was.”
“You lie.” Tharius’s bellow boomed like thunder around the empty settlement. “No brother of mine would relinquish their fire.”
“And all because he got between an Earth female’s legs. She led him by the nose. As does your female with you.” Serllia curled her lip back in a sneer.
Not going to plan. Claudia scrabbled to get a hold of Tharius’s raging mind. That little detail, she didn’t see.
Tharius, listen to me. She took his hand, trying to tangle her gaze with his. She put the wyvern in thrall and she’d do it to Tharius if it meant gaining his attention.
He did it for her as you’d do it for me. You would do it for me, wouldn’t you?
He stared at the ground for so long, she thought she’d lost him. Finally, he raised his gaze to hers.
You know I would. And then he enclosed her with his arm and held her close. Their escort turned to each other, muttering. The wyvern she’d humiliated dug his claws into her shoulder and dragged her away. It took six of them to restrain Tharius from going after her.
The camera spat out a crackling burst of static, calling for calm.
“Viewers have voted for a Chase. This is how we play. The wyvern will take Claudia and drop her in the pre-destined place. He will remain to guard her. After a suitable interval, all here will be released to the hunt.”
The wyvern’s claws tightened on Claudia’s shoulder and neck. He was already dragging her from the group. Dipping close, he whispered hot breath into her ear. “Don’t struggle, or I might accidentally drop you in flight. Have you ever had a wyvern, Claudia? Who knows what might happen between us before they find you.”
“Touch me, and Tharius will kill you.” She struggled to keep her face neutral, to let nothing show for Tharius. He needed that battle calm of his now. Not a mind clouded with the grief of losing her.
“I was to be given my shift back.” Tharius yelled at the camera. “That was the deal.”
“And have you burn all the other contenders? There’s no sport in that. You will hunt as you are. If you get away, you stay as you are. If you and your female are captured, then Serllia will release your shift at prime time, under controlled conditions.”
As the controller finished speaking, the wyvern lifted from the ground, Claudia grasped in its claws and dangling like a broken doll. An angular box took up point, leading them away over the settlement to the designated drop zone. Tharius called out her name.
Called and called until the sound faded to nothing and she and the wyvern were alone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tharius recognised Veton as the only military-trained male. A species he did not know, the green-skinned male moved with decisive calm while the others jittered with nervous energy. Were it not for the wyverns, guarding him with unnerving concentration, he would be free now and storming to Claudia’s aid.
Black rage clouded his vision. First, deal with the wyvern who took her. Then death to them all.
She’s strong. She will endure until I find her. Walking inside the cordon of guards, he trudged on, to the point designated by the eyes. Slow progress with the old seer leading the way. Her glamour did not fool him. Under that painted veneer of youth lurked a hag of ancient years, and a heart blacker than the stormiest night.
Join me, Tharius, and we will make such a team. We will establish our own camp, and the strongest will clamour to join us. Join me, if you wish your Earth woman to live to bear your child.
Serllia prattled on in his mind, her insistent chatter competing with the rainstorms sweeping in to soak the land and then blowing away to reveal the pink-blue sky he knew so well.
I will release your dragon to soar through the clouds, Tharius. Do you remember hanging on the air, weightless as a floating feather?
Serllia’s wet gown slapped against her legs, but she never turned to look at him. Only kept up her relentless taunts and promises, in turn enraging him, making his heart sink with dread, and then yearn with such wanting when she spoke of wings and flying and the beautiful might of his dragon.
A dragon that yearned to accept her gift of the shift, confident she would not win.
Tharius eyed her back, the dripping hanks of braided hair hiding a slender, female neck. One twist. He only had to get near her, lift his arm and…
Try it, dragon. Raising a hand, she motioned the increasingly twitchy escort to a halt. Their guard glanced suspiciously around the open plain of the Drael’ar valley, weapons raised, as if expecting the elite Draegon detachment itself to rise from their graves and attack.
“Calm down. We’re safer here than in that place.” Veton barked an order, tossing his head in the direction of the abandoned settlement. Tharius recognised the note of exasperation in his voice.
All to the good. He took in the familiar landscape of his home. Ravaged by the war, the nature nymphs had crept in during his absence, and started the process of rebirth. Ground scarred by fire and light-weapons now grew lush with grasses and blooms of blinding hues. He and his fr
iends ran through these plains as younglings, hiding in the long grasses, playing at soldiers.
We’ll make our camp here, dragon. His guard spread out, their faces raised to the watching eyes. A large box with many sides, flanked by orbs and angular boxes. Serllia shook her rattle at the eyes, showing off for the watchers beyond. If Claudia believed those invisible viewers there, then he would, too. Though it still made little sense to him, he’d give them their show and earn his rewards.
And win back his mate.
A flash of shame cut him to the bone. To lose her so soon, and she bearing his child.
To lose two mates, Tharius? What kind of protector does that make you? Serllia’s voice intruded, cruelly mocking.
He ached to attack, to twist that scrawny neck. Claudia would stay his hand and urge him to resist the bait. Not the way to win her back.
Cut out the hag’s chatter, and deal with the eye, instead.
“So, let the hunt begin,” he said to the boxes hovering above them. “Why do we wait?”
“Maximum audience percentage.” The eye spoke with an excitement it could not hide. “You’ve broken the dark web, dragon.”
“You expected less of the Draegon?” The dark web? What in the name of Dramis was that? Something momentous, obviously.
He flexed his muscles, ignoring the growling of his stomach demanding sustenance for the trials ahead. Let it protest. Hunger lent a warrior an edge, and he needed every advantage to secure Claudia’s safety.
You think you’ll find her alive, dragon? After the humiliation she inflicted on that wyvern? He is wise to her trickery now.
Though Serllia fed his greatest fears, Tharius filled his head with Claudia’s voice urging him to ignore the hag and her mind games. Serllia wanted her and the child as much as he did. Claudia had survived every trial on this moon. One as powerful as she would survive this.
If he didn’t believe that, he might as well give his all now in one last glorious fight he could not win.
“After the other blue’s performance, we have a record audience viewing this Chase. Make it a good one, and the rewards will follow.”
The moment the controller stopped talking, three of the guard spun on their heels and leapt into a run, back towards the settlement. So it had begun. The seer stayed in place, eyes closed, the rattle shivering lightly in her trembling hand. A craggy-faced wyvern dealt him another blow, sending him sprawling with a jarring thump, a whoosh of air forced from his lungs.
When he cracked open his eyes and looked about him, they’d all run off, most of them following the wyverns, figuring they’d know where their colleague might take the captive prize. Tharius watched the wyverns changing to half-shift as they ran, shifting fully to beast on liftoff, their wings casting racing shadows over the valley plain. He lay in the dirt, listening for clues.
Where would a wyvern go to hide?
I read the wyvern’s intent before he took the Earth woman. Did you, Dragon? Serllia loomed over him, her face a mess of white paint, pushed into straggling streaks by the rain. Tharius lay very still, though it went against every instinct, opening himself to the seer’s insistent probing. Dangerous, if he allowed her too much control, but only she knew the location.
“He thinks to pick my brain.” She addressed the camera with a sneer, shaking her rattle for effect. I’m not your little Claudia, dragon. Not so easy.
Two of the eyes hovered above him, watching him spar with the seer. The others tailed his opponents. He could get up, run now, and spend a day moving in the wrong direction. Or he could do what Claudia did. Listen and play the game.
What did the watchers want to see?
To see us together, dragon. Your dreams of bringing back your race will come to nothing, you must know that. Two cannot spawn a whole race unless you think to mate your brother with your own paramour.
She wanted him. Tharius pushed up on his arm, picking up on more than the taunting and jibes. Though it disgusted and amused him in equal measure, he sensed a thread of lust winding through the seer’s blood.
It is you who want me. She made a wiggling motion, the likes of which he’d last seen on a blushing maiden. In one sinuous movement, he rose from the ground, straightening to his full height, gifting her a mocking smile.
The effect on her surprised him. For a brief moment the seer’s thoughts turned liquid, and she leaned towards him, lust shining in her eyes. Then she hardened and laughed.
“Do you want me, dragon? Do you wish the viewers to see us couple, here, now?”
Tharius frowned, studying the lilt of her words. Time was racing on and he should be gone. But the seer needed dealing with first or she would be with him every step of the way.
What did you say? He grasped her arm. Gave her a shake and wondered whether to snap her neck now and take his chances out there. Someone would have seen a wyvern in full flight. He’d find Claudia.
And might be too late.
A zing of pain shot through his hand, making him roar in surprise. His fingers flew open and his arm snapped back. He grinned, covering the shock, giving the watchers a full view of his razor teeth. He was no stranger to pain.
The seer tried it again, but this time he was ready for her. Yanking her to him, a hand grasping her nape, he jammed his mouth to hers in a grinding mash of lips and teeth. Tasted his blood and hers. A token struggle and then she melted in his grasp, limp and loose and begging for more.
Is this what you want from me? He breathed in her essence, her thoughts, sifting and searching for clues to Claudia.
We will be so good together. Give yourself to me, dragon.
A battle raged in the seer’s mind, warning her of his subterfuge, another part of her desperate to sample a dragon and all his power. Tharius saw flashes of Serllia kissing her warlord, sucking his will. But he was no simple creature to be taken in so easily. He closed his fingers on her neck, pressing on the delicate bones. Another spark of pain flashed through him. He ignored it and pushed his face close to Serllia’s.
Tell me where she is.
Most likely in her afterlife by now, and your child with her. Serllia broke his grip, staggering back. She reached for her rattle. He stamped on it, snapping the shaft before she made contact. Her shriek of rage rang across the plain.
You think it’s this easy, dragon?
No, he did not. But he had seen inside her mind. Images that made no sense, but another look…
Erotic thoughts forged the mental connection, but though he tried, images of her wrinkled body only brought forth sour disgust. He wiped the taste of her from his lips and circled her as she knelt in the dirt, staring at her broken rattle.
What would Claudia do now? The seer must have put all her effort into masking Claudia’s location from him. He picked the answer easily from Serllia’s mind.
Claudia would throw the viewers a choice.
Well, so would he.
He stiffened the muscles of his hand to stop the twitching. Serllia sent him more than pain when she fended him off. That was a message, a small taste of her power. Undoubtedly, her great age lent her experience, and the seer was more powerful than Claudia. Only a fool would pretend otherwise.
I can hold you here, dragon, while that wyvern takes your Claudia and tears her insides to shreds.
He did not bother using precious energy to stop the silent cry of anguish at her words. He’d have preferred a physical fight, but as all Draegon warriors knew, the fight started in the head. Get the head in the right place, and all would follow.
The hag might destroy his body, but she didn’t scare him.
“Watchers,” he said, and imagined addressing his troops on the eve of a crucial battle. Every word must count towards his goal. “Would you have me fight this old hag, or do you wish to see a real battle between males? Press your buttons and grant me Claudia’s location. Then I will give you a spectacle worthy of this prime time.”
Tharius pulled down his tight shoulders, settling his features in his class
ic glare. He’d learn to laugh and smile when this was over. Now, he needed the old Tharius, who could make a green recruit piss his pants with one look.
“Calibrating audience response.” The eye, at least, understood his words. He was glad of that. The mental communication sapped energy he didn’t have to spare.
“I demand the right to hold him here a while longer.” Serllia slunk towards the eye, the remnants of her broken rattle clutched in one fist, hips swaying. “We haven’t had any fun yet. Wouldn’t you like to see him in thrall? Half dragon, half male, and dancing the Caluga to a tune of your choosing?”
“Calibrating audience response.” It was all they got, and now they waited. Claudia. Where was she? If she’d perished, surely he’d know? He should be out there, looking for her, but the hag would use her powers and deny him that. Fighting her wasted precious time.
“Claudia is at what you Draegon rather unimaginatively called the Mountain of Fire, or Fire Mountain. Whatever.” The voice spoke once more. “The wyverns have naturally already found her, but we’ve thrown a cordon around them for now. Three of the war-band are closing in. All plan to cheat their way to victory, and they’re all in cahoots. The viewers have voted that you leave now, and will meet the first six to arrive at the site in open challenge.”
Leave now, and you’ll never see your full dragon again. Only I can return you the full shift. It’s in my gift. Serllia itched to stop him. He read the intent in her mind. He also knew she’d never burn her advantages by disobeying an audience directive. And that she wanted kissing again.
He couldn’t resist touching fingers to his mouth to taunt a reaction from her. These games were foreign to a dragon who liked a straight-up fight, but he was learning. Serllia pressed her lips together so hard, they turned blue.
Swiping at the slick of sweat carving a line down the back of his neck, he had one more request from the eye before he left.
STONE DRAGON: A Prison Moon Series Romance Novel Page 22
