He turned so abruptly that I stopped talking. “I think it’s time we’re honest with each other, Tanya.”
Uh oh. “I agree,” I managed to say.
“I’m the Chief Warlock, the keeper of the peace. I’m the strongest warlock in existence and have many abilities.”
“I knew all of that,” I whispered.
“One of my abilities is to see memories through tears and touch.”
Oh, goddess.
“I know exactly who you are and what you’ve endured in regards to your parents’ deaths and that you feel responsible for killing that boy despite having done it to protect your sister.”
“I shouldn’t have killed him so easily. I should have paid more attention to who it was. He was just trying to help us,” I whispered.
“You were protecting your family. There is no shame in that.”
“He was just a child, like us!” I yelled and then lowered my head.
He squeezed the hand he held and I felt warmth spread up my arm to my head and chest. “The only thing I could not see was in regards to the King. I need to see the encounters you’ve had with him.”
“Why?” I asked softly. I didn’t want to remember.
“I have to have all of the knowledge available when I face him.”
“How?”
“How what?”
“How do you see the memories?” I asked him to clarify.
“Do you have scars?” he asked me. I looked at him and noticed that his jaw was clenched, the muscles taut against his cheek.
“Yes.”
“I would need to touch them.”
“Will I see what you see?”
He sighed. “I’m not sure. You have some warlock blood in you, so it’s possible, but since you don’t have abilities you may not.”
“I might lash out at you if I am replaying them like my dreams,” I admitted sheepishly.
“I can protect myself, but I appreciate the warning.”
“What if you don’t like what you see?” I was terrified that he might leave me here.
He looked over at me and stared into my eyes a moment. “There is nothing in your past that will change how I see you now.”
“You can’t be certain of that.”
He nodded his head. “I am.”
“Well, if you want to do this, we should probably go back to our camp so the dragons don’t try to attack us while we are distracted.”
He stood up still holding my hand and said, “Good idea.”
“Are you afraid I’m going to run away again?” I asked him as we walked towards the forest.
He tilted his head to the side, reminding me of a bird. “No, why?”
I blushed and looked at the ground in front of us. “I thought you were holding my hand to keep me from running away.”
“No, I just like holding your hand.”
I had no response to that statement, especially since I enjoyed it as well. We arrived at the camp and I let go of his hand and reached for the hem of my shirt.
“What are you doing?” he asked me nervously.
“Taking my shirt off so that you can see my scars and touch them,” I reminded him. It was his idea after all.
His cheeks had two spots of read on the center of them. Was he blushing?! I took my shirt off before he could object further and he seemed relieved to see that I had a breast band on. I turned around and he hissed. “These are all from him?”
“From several different incidents,” I explained.
“Sit down on your bedroll,” he instructed. I obeyed and he sat down right behind me, his legs on either side of mine and ran a fingertip down one of the most puckered scars. “Tanya,” he whispered.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry for any pain this causes you.”
“I’m sorry you had to get involved in my messed-up life.”
“I’m not.”
I turned and looked at him in shock. “You’re not?”
He smirked. “No, not one bit.”
Before I knew what he was planning, he kissed me. It was a very good kiss and if I hadn’t been sitting, I would have had to when he finished. He finally pulled back and then placed his hand on top of my scars. I could feel his magic spread into them and then I was back at the palace, tied to a wooden pole with my shirt gone as the king whipped me.
I lost track of the memories that I saw as the pain from them spread into me like fire. It felt like my back was open and bleeding. I felt raw and tired. I felt naked and exposed. I felt helpless. I didn’t like feeling helpless.
A minute or two later I came back into myself fully and to reality. Luke was holding me back against his chest and stroking my hair. Oh, goddess, a girl could stay like this forever.
“Did you see it all?” I asked him.
“Yes. Judging from the screaming you did, you felt it again and saw it again too?”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
He turned his head and kissed my temple. “I won’t let him harm you ever again.”
“I won’t give him a reason to ever again.” Except disobeying his order to bring him a dragon’s head.
“Did you put a spell on me?” I asked him after another moment of silence.
“No,” he said sharply, and pushed me sideways so he could look at me. “Why?”
“The pain left almost immediately.”
“Oh, that’s because I healed your scars,” he said nonchalantly.
“What?”
He ran his fingertips down my back and instead of crossing puckered lines of scar tissue, his fingertips only touched smooth flat skin. “I healed the damage he had caused.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“I know, but you didn’t like the scars. They made you feel bad about yourself.”
“You’ve wasted a lot of magic energy on me,” I commented remorsefully.
He tilted my chin up with his bent finger and stared straight into my soul. “I’d spend all of my energy to please you.”
I shivered at the innuendo in his words and then kissed him because he deserved so much more than I could offer.
He kissed my back, turned me around to face him and then lay me down on my bedroll. He pulled back from our kiss and said, “If you’re doing this to try to repay me…”
I put my finger on his lips. “I’m doing this because I want to. I want you, Luke.”
CHAPTER FIVE
We woke up to the sound of crashing trees and men shouting and then dragon’s roaring. “What is going on?!” I asked as I leapt up and put my clothes on.
Luke grabbed my hand and said, “Stay here.”
“What?”
“Please,” he asked with fear.
“Okay.”
He kissed me and then ran in the direction of the terrible sounds we could hear. I stayed still for one moment and then took off after him. I couldn’t stay here while he was in possible danger.
I stopped at the edge of the trees and surveyed the scene before me. A troop of men were fighting with King and using fire. They were also managing to set the entire forest on fire. Luke yelled at the men, but they ignored him. His body glowed blue and then the sky darkened as rain clouds moved in. I stared at the strange weather and then at Luke. He was controlling the weather! The rain pounded down, dousing much of the flames and the men. The dragon flew up into the sky and roared loudly.
The men trudged towards the forest and Luke began walking towards me with a scowl on his face.
I thought King had been flying off, but his roar had called others to his aid. There were now three dragons circling overhead. I tried to yell at Luke and pointed up, but he didn’t understand what I was trying to say. I drew my sword and ran as fast as I could on the slippery mud. Curse him and his rain clouds! Luke’s eyes widened in shock as I ran at him and I felt my fear urging me on. There was a large green dragon heading straight for Luke while the other two headed towards the troop of men. I slipped, caught myself with one hand, and continued my r
un.
“Luke!” I screamed.
I wasn’t going to make it.
He had used all of his magic on me.
I was going to be the reason he died.
The dragon swooped down at him, talons poised to snatch him up. Luke turned and engulfed the dragon in a brief circle of flames. The dragon circled away with a screech of terror. I stopped running, hands on my knees as I panted from the exertion. I should have known he could protect himself.
Luke turned and looked at me with a smug smile, but it quickly slipped away into one of sheer panic. “Tanya!” he screamed my name and ran towards me.
What? I turned and saw the talons just as they latch onto my shoulders. One claw pierced each of my shoulders and I screamed my pain. King held me in his talons as he flew high up into the air. Lightning struck his left wing, but he only roared in pain and flew down into the valley. I grabbed each of his legs just in case he tried to drop me and tried not to vomit as we flew through the air.
He roared at his herd and they took to the skies with him, heading away from the valley.
“Tanya!” Luke screamed in the distance.
I couldn’t even turn to look at him. If I fell from this height, I was done for. I had to bide my time until he flew closer to the ground and then I could injure his leg to force him to drop me. We flew high over the valley, past mountains, over a large lake, and then to a hidden valley that had a fine layer of snow over it.
The dragons landed and walked one by one into the side of a hill. We flew down towards the ground and just before impact he flapped his wings hard to slow his descent and dropped me. I fell into a heap on the snow and grunted in pain. My shoulders were bleeding and my body was sore from being carried in such a manner.
I had to fight. I had to survive.
I stood up weakly, pulled my sword and faced King. He landed in front of me and studied me calmly. What was he thinking? How sophisticated were these things?
He took a step forward and I took one back. “What do you want?” I asked him angrily. “If you’re going to eat me just get it over with.”
He tilted his head to the side, much like a bird, and then walked towards me again. I raised my sword as high as I could and yelled at him.
He stopped his progression and roared back at me. Oh, I could play this game. I took a deep breath and then roared as long and as loud as I could at him. He looked perplexed. I bet he’d never had another animal yell back at him before.
He moved faster than I thought possible, grabbed my sword and wrenched it out of my hand with his mouth. I screamed in fear and leapt back, landing on my butt. I tried to scurry away, but he followed me and as I curled up into a ball, he grabbed me in his mouth and carried me inside the hill. I looked up at him and stared in awe and terror as a dragon carried me in its mouth without eating me. I was positioned right in an open space where no teeth grew.
What was he going to do? Was he going to feed me to the babies? I didn’t want to die by being eaten. I would rather take my own life than let them tear me apart.
The cave we were in was pitch black. How could he see? I would have run into a few walls by now if I had been walking. A light in the distance grew with each of his long strides and then we entered a room as bright as noon in the summer. Trees grew up to the ceiling, bushes covered the ground where grass didn’t and a river rushed through the center of the room we were in. Was this their roost?
He set me down next to the river and stepped back from me. I drank greedily from the rapidly moving river, the cold water soothed my parched throat and tasted amazing. It tasted even better than the water Luke had made for me.
Luke.
I had to get out of here, but how? Would they take me back tomorrow when they were supposed to return to the valley? Why did he take me in the first place?
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked him.
He nudged a small round object towards me. It rolled until it bumped against my boot. An orange. He was feeding me. What was he doing? This made no sense!
I picked it up tentatively and for a moment considered if it was poisoned until I looked back up at the dragon. I laughed out loud, the fear and ridiculousness of it all pushing me to my breaking point. I clutched my stomach as I laughed and the dragons all stopped to stare at me. I held up the orange to the dragon in a salute, peeled it back and took a bite. It was delicious! Possibly the juiciest orange I had ever eaten.
“Thanks,” I mumbled to the dragon around a bite.
He seemed pleased enough and wandered off to a large open spot where he curled up into a cat like position and closed his eyes. I ate my fruit and sat down right where I was. I had no idea if the other dragons would hurt me or not and I wasn’t entirely sure that King was going to still leave me alive. I ate the orange, drank some more water and stared at the holes in my shoulders. If I didn’t get back to Luke soon, I was likely to die from the wounds.
“Why take me?” I asked.
The dragon opened one eye, but didn’t bother to move.
“Why did you take me? I was just trying to protect my friend. And if you wanted to kill me, then why not just fly up high and drop me? Why did you bring me here and feed me? Do you even understand me?”
He roared loud and long and I watched in shock as all of the dragons curled up, the lights dimmed and they went to sleep. Where were the lights coming from? And how the hell could he control them?!
Since it was obvious that I wasn’t getting any answers I laid down too and tried to sleep despite the pain I was feeling. Stupid overgrown lizard.
I looked up at the ceiling and wondered what was going to happen to me tomorrow. Would the dragons return me to the valley? I heard a scuffle to my right. I turned my head and watched a baby dragon hobble towards me. Its nostrils flared and quivered as it drew in my scent. It sneezed and I bit my lip to keep from laughing so that I wouldn’t startle it.
It moved closer and lowered its head as it approached. Its eyes were wide and white with fear, reminding me of a horse. It took another step and another until it’s nose was right next to my face. It inhaled loudly and then snorted. I laughed and it leapt back.
“It’s alright,” I crooned to it. “I won’t harm you.”
It watched me completely still, looking more like a statue than a real dragon.
“Tch.”
It perked its head up and moved right up to my face, putting its nose against mine.
“Hello, baby dragon.”
Puff, puff. It smelled me over and over again like it couldn’t figure out what the smell was.
I reached up slowly and touched one of the horns on its head. Surprisingly it didn’t bolt away, but leaned into my touch. “It seems like you’ve been around humans before.”
“They have,” a new voice said from somewhere in the darkness.
The baby fled, its wings only letting it glide as it returned to its mother. I sat up and asked, “Who are you?”
“I think I should be asking you that. They’ve never brought another human back alive. What did you do to them? Are you a warlock?”
“No. I didn’t do anything. The leader grabbed me and brought me here.”
A large inhale through a human nose. “You’re injured.”
“Maybe.”
A man stepped out of the shadows and smiled at me. He was beautiful. It was rare to see men who were beautiful, but he was by far the most beautiful man I had ever seen. “I’m Marto.”
“What do you want?” I asked him.
“I mean you no harm, miss,” he said as he walked towards me. Even if I had wanted to fight him, I didn’t have the strength at the moment.
“Did you send them after me?” I asked him nervously. Maybe he was working with the king.
“Of course not.”
“Then why did they bring me here?”
He sat down in front of me and shrugged. “One cannot hope to understand the thoughts of a dragon. They are very complex beings and often make odd decisions and
have weird actions.”
“Will they take me back tomorrow?”
“Back?”
“To the valley they go to in the day.”
“Hm.”
“Well?”
“How badly are you injured?”
“He pierced each of my shoulders with his talons,” I admitted.
“Clumsy oaf. He must have been in a hurry to grab you.”
“I thought you said they hadn’t done this before.”
“Oh, I have seen them grab people before, but usually it’s to drop them and kill them. When he picks me up he makes sure not to hurt me.”
He reached forward and examined my shoulders. It seemed like he emitted his own light. Or perhaps I was delirious from blood loss.
“You live with them?” I asked as he cleaned out my wounds.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They’re my friends.”
“Are you insane?”
“Possibly.”
“Are you going to try to hurt me?”
“No.”
“Why stay with them instead of people?” I asked him. And why the hell was I so trusting of him when he was possibly insane.
“I have my reasons.”
“And they are…”
“I don’t know you, Tanya.
“How’d you know my name?” I asked sleepily, a yawn escaping.
“Go to sleep. We can talk more tomorrow.”
CHAPTER SIX
I woke up to something breathing in my face and licking it with a strange sticky tongue. “Ew,” I moaned as I pushed the nose away and sat up. My eyelids were extra heavy. I slowly I opened them and found the baby dragon sitting in front of me.
It made a weird growling sound and then nudged an apple towards me. “She’s worried about you and wants you to eat it,” Marto said from somewhere to my right.
The cavern was still dark so I couldn’t see him well. “Did you drug me?” I asked and ran my tongue over my teeth. My entire body felt odd.
“No, I did not drug you. How do your shoulders feel?”
I could hear him walking towards me now. I lifted my shoulders tentatively and realized with disbelief that they didn’t hurt. I lifted both arms, rotated them and then reached up and touched what used to be my injuries. “Healed? You’re a warlock?!”
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