Slowly she grew used to his gait. While riding dragon back was vastly different than horseback, the concept of moving with the body between her legs was the same. He continued his swift mode of travel until he came to a break in the trees. It wasn’t a large clearing, but there was enough space for her to build a fire in the center and the dragon still to have room to recline along the edge next to the fallen tree.
With a bit of disappointment, she realized this was the end of their journey, and she’d been enjoying the ride.
Oh well. She was hungry.
He lowered his head until it was only about three feet off the ground. She kicked her one leg over his neck and slid down. Dragon dismount completed in a somewhat elegant fashion, she walked the area and picked out a patch of rocky ground where she could build a cooking fire with a little effort.
The dragon paused to watch her for a moment.
“Don’t worry. I’ll stay here until you return. You have my word, Lord Dragon.” She gave the dragon a courtly little bow.
The dragon chuckled, steam rolling out of his mouth as he laughed. He was still chuckling as he vanished between the trees. She watched the spot where he’d been for a few minutes and then turned to prepare her cooking fire.
He’d be back. She was sure of it.
Chapter 5
Erika
HER TRUST IN THE DRAGON wasn’t misplaced. Less than a half-hour later, he returned with an alien buck in his jaws. Well, it looked like a deer, and it was male, so buck it was. If she wasn’t misreading the dragon, he was acting more than a little proud when he presented her with the deer.
“Nice job.” It was only natural to reach out and rub him in reward as if he was a loyal hunting hound.
The dragon didn’t take exception. In fact, he seemed to like the attention, leaning in for more of a scratch. She put her weight behind it and gave him a good rubbing. It was only then that she noticed something odd.
“I’m not feeding or radiating power. That’s a first.” She eyed the dragon. “You got something to do with that?”
The dragon didn’t answer, instead nudging the carcass of the deer.
“All right. You’re hungry too. Let me just cut myself a portion, and the rest of it is all yours.”
After she’d butchered the deer and taken the choicest cut—because really, she was certain he was just going to gulp the whole thing down—she brought her meat over to the cooking fire. The wood had burned down to beautiful coals, and she suspended the meat on twigs she’d already stripped of bark for the task.
By the time she turned back to the dragon, the buck was gone. Not a speck of it remained.
“Wow. Dragons aren’t picky eaters, are you?” Then she realized he was a fire elemental, so maybe everything was just fuel for him. “Could eating tree branches keep you alive, I wonder?”
The dragon looked at her and then the nearest tree. His serpentine head snaked out and powerful jaws snapped closed on a branch, severing it from the trunk. Three bites later, the branch was gone.
“Wow. Seriously, no need to eat wood if you have other preferences. I was just curious.”
She continued to talk to the dragon but fell silent after a while, tired of keeping up the one-sided conversation. The dragon seemed comfortable with the silence, and so too was she. As surreal as camping with a dragon should seem, it felt kind of natural. It was certainly much more relaxing than it would have been to sit across a fire from Gryton.
She stretched and wished she had a camp chair or something to lean against. Sitting cross-legged was never her favorite position, but it wasn’t like the dragon could magic up a chair, and she didn’t plan to rough it in the forest long enough to make one.
Eyeing the dragon, she smirked as an idea formed. While he might not be able to magic-up a chair, he might fill the same function. She adjusted the meat over the fire and then stood and stretched again.
Approaching the dragon in a leisurely fashion, she gave him a friendly smile. “Mind if I join you on this side of the fire?”
When he didn’t do anything more than tilt his head in her direction, she settled down next to his scale-covered belly and then scooted closer to use him as a backrest. She had a moment of doubt at the wisdom of her decision when he shifted, but he only curled the tip of his tail over her lap, rather like a warm, fleshy seatbelt.
She traced the pattern of fine scales under her fingers. Her hunch proved correct. He was a tactile creature and started to rumble in what she was pretty sure was happiness.
“You’re really rather sweet. Just between you and me, I have to admit to liking you more than Gryton.”
A deep rumbling emerged from his chest at her words. She looked away from the tail she was rubbing and turned her head to face his. His eyes were open, and his lips curled slightly at the corners. Was he smiling?
Yes, she was pretty sure that was a dragon smile. Wisps of steam escaped between his teeth, and she was reminded that he was also dangerous. But then so was Gryton. She hadn’t feared him, and she didn’t fear the dragon either.
Though she would like it if he would communicate with her in some way because they did need to have a conversation about their futures. She sensed the dragon could likely be more volatile than Gryton. Actually, the dragon’s earlier actions proved as much. Perhaps she could somehow convince both personalities to share time in control of the body. That would be the best of both worlds.
Gryton when they need strategy and cunning; the dragon when they needed to fight.
The dragon’s muzzle moved closer and brushed her in what was clearly a nuzzle of affection. She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Attempting to fend him off, she braced her hands against his muzzle and pushed for all she was worth, but it was like trying to move a concrete wall.
“Okay. You win.” She allowed the dragon to have his way. It wasn’t until a mellow warmth began to rise from her skin that she realized he was somehow stimulating her gift into releasing some stored-up magic.
That was new. She wasn’t aware she could just store it like a battery. Or that he, or perhaps others, could trigger her into releasing that stored up power. That could come in handy if some of the magic wielders needed to do a big fancy spell back on Earth.
The dragon’s two longest feelers brushed against her shoulders and up into her hair for a moment before brushing back down over her chest.
“You better not be getting fresh with me,” she said in jest, knowing he wasn’t. While she couldn’t read his thoughts like she could Gryton’s, she was beginning to pick up little bits of emotion that bled off the dragon.
He was familiarizing himself with her scent. Though she sensed there was more to it. They shared a soul link. Then something else occurred to her. What if he wanted the piece of his soul back?
That was a scary thought, but she calmed herself a moment later. If the dragon wanted the soul shard back, he’d had ample time to tear it out of her chest with those big claws of his.
No, this was something else. He wanted something else.
“You’re lonely, aren’t you? Gryton was too, though he’d die before admitting as much.” She reached up and stroked her fingers down the dragon’s muzzle. “You are unique in the universe. It’s only natural that you’d be lonely. I might not be anything as grand as you, but I’ll offer you the same deal I was going to offer Gryton if he was less of a prickly asshole. I’ll be your friend if you want.”
Her words seemed to please the dragon for he rumbled in that happy way and affectionately rubbed his nose against her chest.
“Easy! You’re going to break ribs.” The dragon understood and eased up. After a time, he pulled back and then just sat and watched the tiny flames that occasionally burst to life from the edges of the glowing coals.
That reminded Erika to attend to her meal. Now that the dragon wasn’t taking up all her senses, she took note of the divine smell of the juices cooking out of the meat and hitting the coals. She loved the smell of food cooking over o
pen flames. Heck, she just loved the smell of a campfire, the sight and sound of the flames.
She gently pushed the dragons tail aside and got up to turn the meat. She’d rescued it just in time. Before long, it was finished, and she was blowing on it to cool. After she ate her fill, the dragon led her to a stream to quench her thirst before they returned to the fire.
“So,” she asked him in a companionable tone, “how long do you plan to stay here? As much as I love camping, we have duties to perform. Besides, you can’t stay in dragon form forever. Eventually, you’ll have to allow Gryton to have his body back.”
The dragon jerked upright from where he’d been lazing next to the fire.
Shit. She’d hit a nerve with that last comment.
Turning his back to her, he flopped his butt back down on the ground and looked out into the forest, away from her. His tail was coiled, the tip shaking in warning like a rattlesnake about to strike.
Mentally questioning what she was about to do, she stood up and brushed the leaf litter off herself and then started toward the dragon. When she approached him from the side and caught the attention of the nearest eye, he suddenly shifted his butt, so he was fully facing away from her again.
She fought back a smirk, knowing she shouldn’t be laughing, but it was still hilarious. He was just so big and aloof looking, he reminded her of an angry cat butt-hurt over some insult.
“Hey, I’m sorry. It’s nothing about you lacking anything. I think you’re just about the most awesome thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.” To her surprise, she found the words were entirely true. “And if we didn’t have pressing matters that needed our attention, I would be more than happy for you to remain as you are and camp with you for the next month, but fate waits for no one.”
She placed a hand on the dragon’s side. He shifted again, turning away once more.
“Oh, alright. Let’s not ruin our new friendship over this. If you don’t want to return to the form you wore as Gryton, I understand. This is your true form, after all. I’ll never make you change what you are. Forgive me?”
The dragon stood ramrod straight for another ten seconds, then he relaxed his posture and curled his tail around her waist. With a little urging, she got him to sit next to the fire with her.
She patted his tail. “There, see? Forgiveness is easy, isn’t it?”
The dragon rumbled, though she didn’t know if it was agreement or disagreement.
Moved by some urge she didn’t truly understand, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the dragon’s cheek. The warmth and peace that flowed through her soul reminded her of what it had been like to hug her dog. She’d had to leave Baxter with her granddad when she’d joined up, and that had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done.
Sitting here with the dragon was a little like sitting next to a campfire back home, with her dog’s head in her lap and her horse grazing in a corral as her grandad sat across the fire and told stories of his youthful escapades.
“God, I miss them sometimes.”
The dragon lowered his muzzle, his tongue flicking out and tasting the single tear that rolled down her cheek.
At the touch, their soul-link flared full and a mellow warmth washed over her, and she felt loved. She didn’t know what the dragon thought at this moment, but she was pretty confident he was trying to tell her that she wasn’t alone.
She closed her eyes, her lids suddenly too heavy to keep open. Sleep was just rising up to snatch her when a voice rumbled in her mind. “You are mine and will never know loneliness again after we become one.”
She frowned in her sleep. The dragon meant the words to be comforting, but something in the tone sent a shiver down her spine and nightmares chased her in her dreams afterward.
Chapter 6
Vaspara
ONLY THE HARPY’S STRONG arm around her waist kept Vaspara on her feet. And even then, she stumbled more often than she walked under her own power. She hurt so much all she wanted was to crumple to the ground, but her will to live, to see Sorac and the draklings again—and Bervicta’s stubborn refusal to release her—were all too strong to willingly give in to death.
But a body, even a half-demon body, could only be pushed so far.
“I need to rest.”
“No. You rest, you die. If we don’t get you to Sorac before the sun sets, you probably won’t live to see another one.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“Maybe. But those times Sorac was there to make sure you fed and grew strong once more.” The harpy chuckled, managing to find humor even in this. “Sorac was a good nursemaid. Did you ever notice how swiftly handsome males presented themselves outside the healer’s quarters anytime you were hurt?”
Vaspara tried to focus on her friend’s words. “I was their captain. I treated them well. They were loyal.”
“Yes. And did you know they’d fight for the privilege of having you feed on them? The biggest, most muscle-bound troll would have won if Sorac hadn’t stepped in and selected your feeding partners the times you were too delirious with pain and hunger to be able to choose your own male.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“He always selected the prettiest, the most intelligent, and the most skilled of lovers. Heck if I know how he picked the best ones.”
“And how would you know they were the best lovers?” Vaspara managed to give Bervicta a broken half-grin. The other half of her mouth was twisted, puffy, and refused to move.
The harpy cleared her throat. “I may have sampled a few of them at a later date to see the reason Sorac had picked them for you. I never knew why he’d didn’t choose the worst lovers to increase the likelihood you’d pick him instead, but he never did.”
“Sorac is too honorable to act in a deceitful way.”
“Yes. But still. Picking out superb lovers for the woman he loved—that’s love in its most devoted form. Can you imagine doing the same—picking females to sleep in your beloved’s bed?”
“I would have done the same for him no matter how much it hurt.”
“See. My point. True love. You both caught the disease.”
Vaspara didn’t deny her friend’s words. She just hoped she lived long enough to see Sorac again so she could tell him she loved him one last time. Because even if she saw Sorac again, the Battle Goddess would never allow them to come together as lovers. And Vaspara doubted if the demigoddess would allow the djinn to share power with her.
Vaspara had outlived her usefulness, and while she carried news of a Null with her, she doubted if even that would be enough to sway the Battle Goddess into allowing her to live.
She was jolted out of her thoughts by an ear throbbing roar. It came a second time before the first was finished echoing through the mountain valley they were traversing. Vaspara looked up, but her vision swam and black crept in from the edges. She couldn’t see anything, but she knew that roar. She’d heard it on the battlefield enough times.
“Sorac!” But it couldn’t be. They weren’t close enough to the fortress to hear him.
She breathed through her mouth, deep calming breaths, and slowly her vision cleared somewhat. It was still blurry, but she could make out shapes. And a sizeable dark form was racing through the sky toward her location. “That’s not possible.”
The harpy gave Vaspara a squeeze. “I called to Sorac along a private link as soon as we crossed the portal from the Mortal Realm. All the captains have the power to command him, but I also shouted at the others to allow him to come to us, that we carried valuable information about a newly discovered Null.”
“The Battle Goddess will be enraged that you called Sorac to aid me.”
“I didn’t call him to aid you. I called him to aid me getting valuable information to the Battle Goddess before you die. If you die, your memories die with you, and our goddess will not know how powerful this Null is or even have a description of her. So, you see? Calling Sorac is entirely to make me look better in our demigoddess’s eyes.”<
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“You’re a terrible liar.” Vaspara started to laugh and then gasped in pain. “Goddess, don’t make me laugh.”
But then there was no more time for banter. Sorac was there, spreading his mighty wings wide to slow himself enough that he could scoop them up in his claws. Vaspara screamed at the slight impact, and her beloved firedrake echoed her pain with anguish of his own.
“I’m so sorry, my beloved,” he said, worry for her making his voice shake and slur some of the words.
“It’s all right. You’re here.” I can die now if the Divine Ones have decided my time is over.
“Don’t you dare!” Sorac roared as he beat his wings, rising into the sky faster than she’d ever seen him climb. He arrowed straight up for thirty powerful sweeps of his mighty wings, then he leveled out and raced toward the fortress city.
Cradled in his clawed hands, she felt safe and loved. She drifted away then only to be drawn back by the firedrake’s anguished cries and Bervicta’s shouted words telling her that if she died, the harpy would curse her. Underlaying the harsh words was a plea to live for her close friend.
She continued to drift, her senses dulling further until only her hearing remained.
“She’s a mess,” the Battle Goddess commented. “You say Gryton and a Null did this?”
“Yes.” Bervicta’s one-word answer was clipped.
“The mission wasn’t a complete failure then. If you and she hadn’t made it back, we never would have known about this new dangerous complication.” The Battle Goddess paused. “Did she happen to mention anything about the Null? Strength? Species? Even gender?”
“Nothing beyond mentioning the Null was female, my Goddess. There wasn’t time, and then by the time Sorac reached us, it was too late. She’d lost consciousness. If she dies, we’ll never learn the identity of this new threat. The Null could be any female member of the Light’s army, and we’d never know until too late.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 183
