To Light the Dragon's Fire

by Margaret Taylor

  Chapter Six

  Draven couldn’t have been more shocked than he was in that moment. Most of the women he’d dealt with in his long life would be a crumbling, bawling mess of tears. They would expect him to save them, to break the bonds left by Golix and his minions and free her with one yank.

  And it wasn’t for lack of trying on his part either. Since he’d awakened, truthfully only a few minutes before he’d called out to her, he’d tried. But whatever magics had captured them, was also in the metal surrounding his skin and unbreakable, despite his efforts.

  But Terra was vastly different. Instead of curling up to bemoan their plight, she was actually working to free them.

  And being successful at it too, he noted when the cuff on her left wrist parted on a snick. Without comment, she set to work on the right, which popped open much faster. Completely unfettered, she rose and moved across the cell to kneel next to him. Her eyes roamed over his own bonds and she nodded once, grinning as she set to work.

  Her face formed into a frown and her tongue rested in one corner of her mouth. The gesture was endearing and entrancing and he longed to kiss that corner, feel that tongue in his mouth instead.

  Despite their current circumstances and the very real danger of their predicament, his lower body filled with heat and his blood threatened to boil thought his skin. Her hair shifted, brushing his inner arm and he closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath to stave off the impulses consuming his thoughts.

  It wasn’t working and he asked a question to distract himself. “Where did you learn this skill?”

  She chuckled softly. “I had a strange childhood.”

  The cuff on his wrist snapped open and he lowered his arm, grateful when the blood rushed to his fingertips. He flexed his hand, sighing. “You will have to explain that.”

  “Later,” she said, opening the other cuff within seconds of the first.

  He lowered his other arm, continuing to work the blood back through his body.

  She bent, pushing his arm out of the way to get to the lock at his waist. Like his wrists, this too popped open under her competent ministrations. She moved to his feet and the cuffs there followed the way of the rest.

  Sitting back, she pushed the fire-red tresses off her face. “Better?”

  He stood and stretched, cracking his neck and back. “Yes.” He turned to face her and standing so close was an aphrodisiac he didn’t need. “Thank you.”

  She tilted her head, eyebrows dipping together. “For?”

  He curled a hand around her cheek, roaming a thumb along her smooth skin and doing his best to ignore the blaze of fire in the digit. “Not being a wailing mass of damsel,” he admitted in a low voice.

  She looked up, shifting her cheek away from his palm but he caught the blush that crept up her neck. “You’re welcome. We’re not out of the woods yet though,” she added, pointing toward the rim of the pit they’d been left in.

  He followed her gaze and worry settled in his stomach. It was at least 6 levels from where they stood to the top. “Agreed.”

  Her gaze dropped back to his and he could see the disbelief in the silver of her eyes. “Can you, you know, fly us out of here or something?”

  He smiled, stamping down on the hard rock forming in his gut. “Whatever they used on us earlier, has muted what I am.” He shuddered and paced away, grappling with the stones of their prison. “We could try climbing out.”

  She joined him at the wall and tilted her head, an assessing look on her face. She tested the slick surface before reaching as high as she could. Her fingers curled inward and she lifted a foot, booted toes scraping against the rocks. She seemed to find a bit of purchase and pushed upward, reaching higher with the other hand. Her first slipped though and she dropped the few inches she’d gained with a thud. “Well shit.”

  He tried, mimicking her actions and didn’t get much further. “Flagnok!”

  She chuckled. “I’m going to guess that means shit too?”

  The walls were starting to close in, quickly and he shuddered a second time, pacing away. “Yes, something like that.”

  He prowled the small pit, which wasn’t much bigger than one of his dungeon cells, seeking anything that would aid them in climbing out. Other than the chains that had been used to bind them in place, there was nothing but dirt and stone. Circling the area, he tried to hide the growl, keep it in his chest, but it echoed off the walls.

  She moved in front of him, halting him mid-stride. Staring up into his eyes, hers roamed his features. “You ok?”

  He made to step around her, hating that she might see this cursed weakness of his, but she blocked his path again. He gulped, hard unable to hide the shiver that skittered the length of his body. “I do not like tight spaces.”

  She gently pried his arms apart and grasped his hands. “Easy, easy now,” she crooned in a soft, melodic voice. “We’ll be ok. Focus on me, listen to my voice, that’s right, you’re fine Draven, just hear my words and everything will be fine…”

  She kept up a steady stream of chatter until the moment passed. The walls were still there, pressing in, but listening to her low tone helped him forget, if only for a moment. He held tight to her fingers, praying to their Gods he didn’t crush them and closed his eyes.

  “That’s right, you’re ok. They won’t hurt you, I promise. I won’t let them.”

  He laughed a bit. Talking about the walls as if they were animate objects was a bit much. He opened his eyes, staring down into hers. “You amaze me.”

  She nibbled on her lower lip, ducking her face to the side and breaking their gaze. “Yeah, well, when your sister is claustrophobic, you pick up a trick or two.” Her eyes came back around and locked on to his. “You ok now?”

  He pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her back. Tilting his face into her hair, he drew in a long breath. “I will be.”

  ***

  Arin circled the trees, staying just high enough to keep his belly from scraping at the foliage. Terra had said Lanni was somewhere in this direction but he had no clue what to look for. They knew so little of this land that it was a miracle they’d even been able to find Terra in the first place.

  But Draven had lead them on a sure course once they’d landed on shore, guided by something he wasn’t privy too. And his friend had never said, but they’d known each other long enough that he trusted his King implicitly. And Draven seemed to trust the woman, so who was he to question such things!

  No one, that’s who. Not that Draven had ever treated him any differently, or looked down on him in any way, but the facts were still the facts. He was nothing more than a consultant in the King’s Court and barely one at that. It was only because he’d saved Draven’s scaly hide on more than one occasion that he was afforded the respect he was given.

  The left side of his brain, the one that occupied the left head when he was in this form, pushed such things aside and focused back on the task he’d been given. But it was the right side of his brain, or the right head, that picked up on her first.

  Knocking itself into his left, it titled toward the ground, sniffing hard. “She is close.”

  His left head snorted at the air, finding nothing. “If you say it.”

  “I do,” his right argued. “Now, down there!”

  It tilted toward the ground again and he dipped his right wing, circling around to land on a thick branch.

  “Where? I do not see her!”

  The right side jerked toward a nearby tree. “There, at the base.”

  “Where?”

  The right muttered out a growling command. “Just put us back together. You will see.”

  He took the advice and closed both sets of eyes, waiting patiently to morph back into his humanoid self. As right and left joined, he found what it had meant. In a hollow at the base was the woman. Her scent was clear on the air now. Shaking off the last vestiges of magic, he began the slow, arduous process of climbing down. It would have been just as easy t
o fly, but he had no idea what might be waiting and wasn’t going to take a chance with her safety…

  ***

  The fear was ebbing. Terra could hear it in his breathing, feel it as he relaxed against her. Her hands slipped around his solid body of their own will, roaming gently up and down his broad back, kneading the muscles as they went. She turned her face into his neck, pecking softly at the rigid cords of muscle.

  Why she felt this comfortable with him, this quickly, she might never know. Maybe she sensed the broken parts of him and her first instinct was to fix them.

  She’d always been a fixer.

  She’d fixed her sister’s messes, bailing Lanni out of so many jams, she’d lost count.

  She’d fixed her uncles drinking problem, sending him off to the Re-programming center before the rest of the family figured it out!

  She’d fixed her father’s company, would still try to salvage it with a loveless marriage when she made it back home.

  Draven was different though. On the outside, he certainly didn’t seem to need her. But, she’d seen the terror in his eyes moments ago, still felt it in the vibration of the fists pressed into her back, even though the shakes were getting farther apart. On the inside, he did need her, or at least for now, seemed too.

  Was it more than that? Could it be?

  No. She was convenient, here at the right time.

  “Why did you save me?” she asked, fearing the answer a bit.

  “Which time?”

  She smiled against his neck. “I think we can agree you’ve done a bang up job on this rescue. So, the first time. When I fell off the building.”

  His face left her neck and he rested his chin atop her head. A huff of air ruffled her hair and she could hear the honesty in his reply. “It was my fault. I did not have time to warn you about my shield.”

  She stepped back enough to see his eyes. “Your shield?”

  His chin tilted down in a slow nod, regret flashing through the molten orange. “When I am in the city, I wear a medallion. It protects me. When you touched me, it reacted to the threat.”

  She twisted away, a ripple of fear pulsing through her gut. “Threat? Me? What the hell?”

  His arms dropped to his sides. “Yes. Threat. It perceived you as such and dealt with it. If you had spoken your intentions, I would have had time to turn it off.” He frowned. “By the by, why did you touch me?”

  She snorted. “To prove a point.”

  “Which was?”

  She spun, giving him her back. “That you weren’t real. That this is, was,” she corrected. “Just a fantasy my sister purchased and programmed for me.”

  He gently touched her arm, fingers insistent that she look at him. She did. His features were confused, the molten colored eyes lighter than normal.

  “Speak straight.”

  She waved a hand. “It’s nothing. The fall from your building, an evil Unicorn and Quasimodo-like Satyr’s trying to kill us kind of changed my mind.” She took in a breath and asked another question. “What are you? How did you, do what you did?”

  “I am a Dragon,” he admitted.

  Again, she heard the honesty in his voice. And it was right there in his eyes. She didn’t want to believe it, she really didn’t, but after the last 18 hours, how could she not. “Is, is that why my heart stopped?”

  He frowned. “When?”

  “When I first looked at you,” she said quietly. “My heart stopped and I couldn’t breathe. What happened? Did you cast a spell on me, like Golix?”

  He shifted forward, closing the inch separating them and it happened again. Just like on the roof, her heart stopped, the air stuck in her lungs and her blood heated to a scalding level. His gaze locked to hers, eyes shifting through the same myriad of colors…red, red-orange, light-orange and then back to the normal molten-orange. His nostrils flared and when he spoke again, there was no denying the possessiveness in the words.

  “I did not. It happened because you are my mate…”

  ***

  Sweat poured from Arin’s face, trickling down his neck and soaking his shirt. His favorite shirt, mind you, one he probably shouldn’t have worn on this adventure. Fingers slick, he almost lost his grip on the tree but managed to retain a hold and jumped the last twenty or thirty feet to the ground.

  Bending his knees to cushion the impact, he crouched in the undergrowth, ears forward and listening intently for any change in the surrounding clicks, clacks and squawks of the nearby animals. If any noted his arrival, they kept it to themselves.

  Staying low, he shifted Thonu out of the sheath and crept through the roots of the massive tree. On the other side, he again paused to listen but there was no change, no loud squawks of alarm, no birds or other creatures scurrying away in fear.

  Hoping they were alone, he darted forward and spent the next few moments working his way to the tree his instincts were directing him. Something stirred the air with a fresh scent and he stopped dead, flattening his large body against the ground until he could figure out what it was.

  The animals ceased whatever early morning routine they had, quieting as a booted foot broke a branch. His ears perked forward a second time, pinpointing the noise.

  Was she being guarded?

  And then he heard it. Her voice tickled against his ears and he couldn’t help but smile.

  “Ok Lanni girl, now what?” More branches broke and she seemed to be pacing. “You’ve escaped the bad guys but you’re lost and alone, what do you do?” A tapping sound then a loud snap echoed through the trees. “I know, I’m going to Disneyland!”

  Chapter Seven

  “Pardon Sir, do you have a moment?”

  Tyleios Cannis, First Magistrate of Bra’ka, looked up from the stack of paperwork.

  Furiem Corlant stood in the doorway to his office, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. His small features were pinched with worry and Ty immediately forgot all about the shipping contracts, purchase orders and requisitions he’d been staring at for the majority of the morning. He waved the King’s private reporter forward.

  Furiem dropped to all fours, scampered across the room and hopped up on the edge of his desk. Pacing between pictures of his parentals and the last award for valor he’d been given, the little man wrung his hands nervously and cut an unreadable look in Ty’s direction. “I have a concern,” he said finally.

  A concern?

  Furiem was famous for his lack of worry about, well anything. So, the fact that he was now pacing his desk sent a niggle of fear across his thoughts. “Oh? Over what?”

  The ferret went left, right and left again, cutting another unreadable look toward him. “It, it is the King, Sir. He is missing.”

  Ty pushed the files aside and leaned forward. “Missing? When? How? Why?”

  Furiem ceased his pacing and spilled the entire thing in a rush of words. “Yesterday two humans were brought to the city. The King and his War Counselor met with them…”

  Over the course of a few seconds, Ty got the entire tale. When Furiem finished, his little chest heaving in the aftermath, he pushed back from the desk and moved around in front of it to pace.

  “This is bad, very bad,” he said after a few passes. He stopped and stared down at the rodent. “Does anyone else know?”

  Furiem nodded. “The Keeper and a few guards that were present at the time of the incident. Me, obviously and now you.” The ferret wrung his hands together again. “What shall we do? Should I call out a Detachment to go and look for him?”

  “Did His Majesty say anything before he left?” Ty countered.

  Furiem shook his head. “He did not. He simply packed a travel bag and leapt off the balcony of his private rooms. Arin went with him.”

  Ty laughed and stopped pacing. “Well, in that case, I am sure he is fine. Just fine. Arin would not let anything happen to our King. You know that as well as I do, Furiem.”

  The reporter stopped ringing his tiny hands and tilted his head but there was
still doubt in his brown eyes. “I suppose that is true. Still, it has been a full rotation. His Majesty has never been gone this long without informing me.”

  Ty bent, bringing them to eye level. “If it will make you feel at ease, I will send a Rider in each direction with instructions to call back once he is found.” He reached out and patted the man’s small shoulder with a finger. “I am sure they are most likely out and about and we will find them quickly.”

  Furiem’s eyes rose to his and he sighed. “I hope so, Magistrate Cannis, I truly hope so.”

  He patted the shoulder again. “Worry not. It has been a long while since His Majesty took a flight. I am sure that is all it is.”

  “But Sir, the humans? How can you not think it has something to do with them?”

  He chuckled softly. “We know nothing about their kind, Furiem. They most likely escaped the dungeon and have returned from whence they came, yes? Is that a more plausible explanation than our King rushing off after them for some reason?”

  Again, there was a bit of doubt remaining in the ferret’s eyes, but it passed with his next comment. “I suppose you are right. It is just highly unusual for His Majesty not to keep me informed.”

  He scooped the ferret onto his palm and set him outside the door. Squatting, he gave the little guy a gentle shove toward the bank of elevator’s down the hall. “An oversight I am sure. When His Majesty returns, he will be full of apologies for worrying you. Now, off you go. I have work that must be attended too.”

  Furiem bowed at the waist. “Yes Magistrate. I am sorry for disturbing you.”

  Ty waved a hand. “Nonsense. My door is always open.”

  He waited until the elevator had closed on the interfering little rodent before turning back into his office. Making sure the door was locked, he headed for his desk again and popped open the bottom drawer with a snap of his fingers. It slid open silently, revealing a heavy wooden box.