“A Unicorn.” Terra’s weak voice drifted across the room. “He cast, a spell.”
Arin cut a look over his shoulder. The woman was pushing herself up, failed to get far and collapsed back. “What?”
“Golix,” she managed. “Gutted me, cast a spell.”
He pulled back and looked down into Lanni’s face. Her eyes were tightly clenched though and he couldn’t tell if her sister’s words were correct. “Open your eyes.”
She did and he just caught the red color fading into the background. Now it all made sense and he knew exactly what to do. Curling his arm around Lanni’s neck again, he tenderly kissed her forehead. “Shhh. All will be fine.”
She sagged against his chest, coughed and sighed out a soft breath. “Do, you know, what’s happening to me?”
He smiled against her temple. “Not yet. But I know where to find the answers.” He kept her tight against his chest because he could admit it felt damn good, even if she was compelled to run from him. “Are you up for seeing my home?”
***
“How ya feelin’, Sis?”
Terra smiled weakly up into her own face. Reaching up she cuffed her twin on the arm. “Better. You?”
Lanni shrugged casually but couldn’t quite hide the wince of pain. She was still pale and the dark circles under her silvery eyes was worrisome. “I’m fine, as long as I stay away from Arin and apparently Draven too.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” she sighed. “It was me getting us into trouble this time.”
Lanni laughed. “For once!”
“Can you tell us what happened?”
Arin’s question came from the doorway to the ship’s cabin and she nodded. Sitting up in the small bunk, she leaned back against a bulkhead and started at the beginning. “I woke up in a mass grave, crawled out and ran,” she finished twenty minutes later. She turned her gaze to her sister, smiling. “I’m glad you heard my call.”
Lanni shrugged and rubbed at her temples. “It was kind of hard to ignore, as usual.”
She gave her sister an apologetic smile and turned toward Arin. “Where are we going?”
Arin moved into the cabin and stopped next to Lanni, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We will stop in Roasu first,” he said. “Then head for my home in Gahroon.”
Lanni had explained when she’d first opened her eyes what was going on, bringing her quickly up to speed. From her dreams, she still couldn’t comprehend that Draven was dead – it didn’t fit – and she’d said as much the moment she was strong enough. They seemed convinced though and had explained the need to vacate the Cyclops City and the Kingdom of Gonnel.
The boat they’d procured in Kyles rocked gently against the waves they were crossing and her stomach lurched with the motion. Swallowing down the queasiness, she closed her eyes before answering his comment with another question. “And what is in either of those places?”
“First and foremost,” Lanni answered. “Safety. Arin’s Pack will protect us.”
“Secondly,” Arin added. “If there is any chance at all Draven is alive, it will be because the Harpies intervened and took him to Win-ra.”
She blinked opened her eyes, seeing the hope in his that the words were even remotely true. She felt much the same. “What is Win-ra?”
He shifted an inch closer to Lanni and her heart filled with happiness for her sister. Her twin deserved a good man and from what she’d seen of Arin to date, he certainly fit the bill. Just as Draven had…
She cut that off. She wouldn’t, couldn’t believe he was dead. He’d seemed so real in her dreams. She’d felt him, touched him, felt the heat of his fingers, his body. No. He was alive. He had to be. Her heart wouldn’t let her think otherwise!
“Win-ra is the Harpies capitol,” Arin said, interrupting her thoughts. “If he was as injured as they made it sound, and if he survived, he will be there, under their care.”
Lanni turned a look she couldn’t read up at him. “Why would they help?”
“The Harpies are long-time allies of Dragons. An eon ago, they pledged their loyalty to whatever House sits the throne,” Arin explained. “And Harpies never break a pledge.”
***
The ocean’s breeze lifted Lanni’s hair off her back, stringing it out behind her in a long wave of red. He wanted to drive his fingers into it, hold her head still and kiss her senseless again. He couldn’t, it would be too painful for her, but it didn’t stop him from wanting too.
Dinsa stood next to her on the bow of the ship. Ion leaned on the railing and he caught the tail end of the conversation they were having when he was close enough.
Ion’s chin jerked toward the water. “Roc’s love fish,” he was saying. “It is a treat, so procure it when you can. Otherwise their diet is one you would expect, meat, the occasional bucket of oats or wheat but they will take fish every time if you allow it.”
A shadow passed overhead and he tilted his gaze up to follow it.
Shada swooped out of the sky, his talons outstretched toward the waves ahead. His scale-covered body skimmed along the surface, the claws dipping into the water and coming back out clutching a bundle of squirming, green colored Tava’s. He flapped his wings and spun back, landing on the deck with a thud, nudging a part of the pile toward his brother.
Dinsa dropped his head toward Lanni and she laughed, patting his neck. “Go on then. Share in the spoils of the hunt.”
The Roc squawked softly and pounced on the food, gobbling it down.
His hearts knocked against each other at the tinkling sound of her laugh. He’d heard it once before and quite liked it now, just as much as then. It reminded him of the chimes his adoptive mother kept on the porch of their home when he was a youngling. Sweet, soft and melodious, they had sung him to sleep every night during the hot rotations and warned him of approaching storms in the cold ones.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he watched them continue to talk and again, jealousy gnawed at his gut. He shouldn’t be, but fact was fact. He was. For the first time he could remember, he wanted someone to share his life and his bed and she was, for now at least, completely unattainable.
He could force the issue, but whatever magics had been cast over her would do whatever it was supposed to. If it was like most things in their world, if she tried to form some sort of bond with him while under its influence, it would kill her.
And he’d rather live without her completely than have that happen…
Chapter Eighteen
The Magu, steamed its way into Roasu harbor. Several ships occupied the space between them and the docks and Arin grunted. It would take them most of the daylight to get into the port and he honestly didn’t want to wait that long. Being in such cramped quarters with Lanni for the last six rotations had been worse than any of the Nether Worlds he could readily name.
Oh, they’d tried to avoid each other.
She’d spent most of the time either in Terra’s cabin or on deck with Ion, Shada and Dinsa.
He’d spent most of the time watching her.
During the daylight, she would practice riding the massive Roc, flying ever growing circular patrols around the ship. After darkfall, she’d retire to the cabin she shared with Terra and he’d have to listen to the pair of them talking and laughing like younglings on some forbidden outing. He couldn’t tell what they were saying, thankfully the walls were thick, but he could hear the low rumble of their voices and the occasional giggle.
He didn’t think they were laughing at him or anything of the sort, but he’d wanted to be a part of those nights just the same. He wanted to join in and more than that, learn all he could about the woman who was not-so-subtly consuming his every waking moment.
But he couldn’t.
“Are you upset with me?” Lanni asked.
He hadn’t heard her approach and mentally kicked himself. He’d relaxed since they’d left Kyles and that would get them all killed if he wasn’t more diligent in the rotations to come.
“No.”
Dinsa’s large claws clacked across the deck and he came to a stop between them.
He cut a scowling look at the creature, annoyed that it had had more time with Lanni than he of late. The Roc didn’t move, unintimidated in the slightest and that cut deep.
Had he gone soft?
No. The bond between a Roc and its Rider was legendary. They would defend their counterpart to their last breath without hesitation, so it was no wonder Dinsa didn’t back off at his glare.
When and if they managed to break the spell, he and Dinsa were going to have to learn to share, pure and simple! Throwing the creature another scathing look, he turned back to the harbor.
Lanni rocking back and forth on her feet. “Then why have you been giving me the cold shoulder?”
He crossed his arms. It was the only way to still the impulse to grab her and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. “It is for the best.”
Her reply was small and tore at his very soul. “Well, then. Guess I’ll just,” she paused and climbed gracefully onto Dinsa’s back. “Be in the air.”
He grunted, unable to look at her. If he did, he’d give in to the desire he’d been fighting since they set sail. He’d yank her off the blasted beast, into his arms and never let go again. “Do not get too close to the city walls. The guards will shoot first, ask who you are later.”
She sniffed, her next words cutting him deeper than a thousand Satyr arrows. “Seems like that might solve your problem, doesn’t it?”
Without waiting for him to reply, she pulled up on Dinsa’s reigns and the creature took off for the bow at a run. It leapt onto the railing and launched off the front of the ship with a deck rattling bellow.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He was an idiot, but what else could he do. Until they knew the full effects of the spell and how to de-spell it, he wasn’t taking any chances with her safety. They’d already proven kissing was a bad idea, evidenced by the headache and limb-numbing weakness she’d suffered for several rotations afterward. Who knew what would happen if they went any further…
“She’s falling for you, you know that, right?”
He didn’t bother to turn at Terra’s comment, watching her and Dinsa spin off toward the cliffs surrounding the port city. He waited until they’d become not much more than a speck to answer. “I know. And I for her.”
She slapped him hard across the shoulder. “Then do something about it moron!”
He spun, and let out all the pent up frustration in a rush of words he couldn’t have stopped if he wanted too. “I cannot! To do so would most likely kill her. Do you not see that?” She jerked back a step in the face of his tirade and he softened the rest of it. “I would sooner die than see her harmed, in any way, but especially by my own doing or lack of control.”
Confusion swirled through the silver of Terra’s eyes. “Wait, what?”
He hadn’t shared his speculations about the spell with either woman yet, but he might as well now. “Golix bound all of you together.” He sighed and moved off to lean on the railing.
Terra joined him. “Explain,” she said in a tone that demanded he give her all of it.
Running a hand down his face, he did just that, repeating the words she’d given them just after waking. “Dragon’s Ire, consume the fire. Dragon’s Sin, be the twin. Dragon’s Mate, binds your fate.” He paused and let out a billow of air. “Essentially, the bastard bound both you and Lanni to Draven. Dragon’s Ire, consume the fire, Dragon’s Sin, be the twin means whenever he sees Lanni, while under its effects, he goes into a murderous rage and tries to kill her. We know this, it already happened, we just did not know why. If I had not intervened and he had been successful…”
He let that implication hang in the air before explaining the rest. “Dragon’s Mate, binds your fate was intended to kill the both of you. Had we not saved you, in your weakened condition, you would have passed with Draven.”
She frowned and gripped the metal, her knuckles turning white. “Then why am I not dead now? If he is, shouldn’t I be?”
He propped his chin on a fist. “Magic is a fickle beast. Spells like these backfire quite often, which is why most of them were outlawed Suns ago. However, if Golix is as powerful as he seems to be, it would stand to reason that you should be dead, if our King is.”
Her fists shook. “Of course, there could be a much more logical explanation.”
He laughed tightly. “Magic is seldom logical, but continue…”
“Draven is alive.”
The vehemence in her tone rolled over him, filling his hearts with hope that she was right. He put a hand over hers. “If he is, we will find him.”
She nodded and sighed, her fist relaxing a bit under his hand. “It still doesn’t explain why you and my sister can’t, you know, be more than friends.”
He turned and leaned back against the railing, crossing his arms. “As part of the very fabric of the magic binding all of you, if she tries to counter it with feelings for me, it seems to have some unpleasant side-effects.”
“Like?”
Terra hadn’t been coherent enough to see them at the time, but he had. He’d felt Lanni’s pain, seen the terror in her eyes at whatever was going on in her mind and shuddered now with the memory. “Near as I can tell, it will fry her brain.”
***
Lanni dropped the reins over the horn on Dinsa’s saddle, giving her friend the opportunity to go where he wished. Once they’d slackened, he dipped toward the water and with outstretched claws, snagged up a hefty pile of Tava’s. Pumping his wings, she rode out the change in altitude as he headed for the top of the massive cliffs surrounding the city.
Literally getting a bird’s eye view of Roasu was amazing. Salt air gave way to bone dry, hot wind as it rolled over the mountain tops. It cooled at the very top and she laughed as Dinsa slammed his spoils against the craggy rocks. He pounced on the broken, green mush and began pecking it off the stone.
She slid to the ground and leaned back against his side, leaving him to his food and her to an inspection of the port below. Buildings had been crowded near the waterfront, butting up against the cliffs that rose up out of nothing and cast the entire place in shadow. A high gate had been constructed between them and the bay and she watched a ship reversing out of the only slip. It backed into the harbor, turned on an engine and the next in line took its place, the gate swinging shut behind it with a loud groan. Workers descended, aiding the group of Chimera that swooped to the deck in unloading whatever cargo it carried.
Not the most efficient, but definitely a safe way to do business she supposed.
She shifted her gaze beyond the obvious warehouses. The rest of the city stretched out in a cone shape to an equally tall gate on the other end. It stretched up out of the desert sand and curved back into the cliffs, surrounding the small town. What they would need to defend against, she hadn’t a clue until she remember Arin saying something about Scorpions. She couldn’t tell from up here how tall it might be, but it had to rival the one at the waterfront and she shuddered. If the beasties were big enough to need that high of a wall, she certainly didn’t want to meet them!
In between the two gates however, was what really drew her eye. Beyond the warehouses was a fairly small hamlet that had been constructed around a massive building in the center. It was the tallest in the port. She counted eight stories and it glowed brightly, beaconing ones attention with its flashing neon lights in all colors of the rainbow. Around it were smaller buildings, no more than two stories and she could just make out the Chimera as they came and went about their daily business.
And were it not for the fantastical creatures themselves, the port could have been any city, on any coast in America.
“A lovely little spot, do you not agree?”
She shrieked and spun. Dinsa reared up his head and shifted around to put himself between her and the speaker. He roared and she laughed, ducking under his neck. Giving it a pat, she leaned against his other side, shakin
g her head. “Don’t you know it’s not wise to sneak up on people when they’re eating?”
The Chimera in front of her looked somewhat like Arin, from what she remembered of his other form. His lion heads both grinned and bowed slightly, their black manes ruffled by the mountain breeze. “My apologies,” the left head said. “We did not mean to interrupt,” the right added.
She waved it off. “Apology accepted. Can I help you?”
Dinsa relaxed at her casual tone and went back to eating his fish.
“We were going to ask you,” the left said. “The same thing,” the right finished.
That was just weird, but in a way, not so much. She and Terra finished each other’s sentences all the time, so it was basically the same concept. They were just stuck to one body. When she’d flown back with Arin, she hadn’t really paid that much attention to his Chimera form, but now that she had another one in front of her, she did.
The two heads were perched on thickly muscled necks that gave way to the shoulders and front paws of an African lion, though she couldn’t remember ever seeing one so big in the books she’d read. The paws were easily four feet across and the tips of his claws clacked against the stone as he shifted from one to the other.
Black manes started at the crown of their heads and drifted down over the shoulders, ending near the underside of his belly. The front portion blended smoothly to a horse’s well-muscled flank covered in a black coating of hair that perfectly matched the manes. His leathery wings were black as well, matching both of the other parts and he’d folded them to his side. A prehensile tail swished lazily at the air, tipped with a ball of spiked metal. A large medallion made of a greyish metal had been crafted onto wide leather straps that crisscrossed his chest. It looked similar to the family shield hanging over their mantel back home and she smiled, mesmerized by the intricate design carved into the surface that was most likely the sign of his Pride.
Her inspection done, she nodded back toward the bay. “I came in on The Magu.” She reached back and stroked Dinsa’s side, taking Arin’s earlier warning to heart. “My friend here was restless after so many days at sea so we took a flight while we’re waiting to dock. Have I done something wrong?”
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