Astrid's Wings: Varangian Descendants Book II

by K. Panikian

  My hands shook as I wiped the blood on my jeans. My loathing for that breed of demon knew no bounds now.

  The walls shook again, raining dust.

  “The dragon is going to bring down the mountain,” Julian said. “We have to get out.”

  I nodded and we ran back through the tunnels, trying to retrace our steps. We found the giant cavern, this time empty of besy. The fire pit still raged, pouring smoke into the air.

  Trying another tunnel, we hurried down the gravel path. We stumbled into the cavern with the still pool and then ran on.

  Julian tripped over a large body in the dark and turned his headlamp onto it. A todorat sprawled across the tunnel floor, its head buried under a rock fall. Climbing over its still-warm body, we ran on.

  When we finally slipped through that last empty corridor and out into the cold, gray boulder field on the mountain slope, I wanted to scream my tense release.

  Instead, we scrambled down the rocky field, heading for the shrubland below. I fell, scraping my knees, but dragged myself to my feet again. My wrist and hip throbbed. I felt like I was being chased, but every time I looked back, the landscape stood empty.

  Julian and I reached the arid field below the smoking mountain and paused, staring at each other, chests heaving. I started to reach for him.

  The mountain detonated and I screamed, dropping to my knees and covering my ears.

  The twilight landscape turned bright orange and then black. Hunching my shoulders, I closed my eyes. Ash started raining down from the sky.

  Chapter 27

  The dragon exploded from the smoking crag, trailing falling rocks and puffs of smoke. She careened toward the plain and then away. Her wings could not hold her aloft. She bugled a sound of pain and distress into the night sky.

  She spiraled, correcting her course, and then made wide, sweeping plunges, heading down to the shrubland where we waited. Crashing to the ground nearby, scales rained around her.

  We ran to her side. She writhed, seemingly in agony, and more scales fell. Then she lay still. I went to the nearest head and patted it. “Are you okay?”

  She shuddered and one orange eye cracked open.

  I am free. It is enough.

  “We need to get off this plain,” Julian said. “Whatever demons survived that blast will start crawling out of the mountain at any moment.”

  The dragon heaved a huge sigh. Her orange eyes slit open again and she looked at me wearily.

  I do not go with you.

  “You can’t go home,” I protested. “Please come with us. We can take you to my father. He will help.”

  I give you my blessing. I diminish.

  A pale blue glow began emanating from her wings. It separated and hovered in the air, then drifted toward me, luminescent and in the shape of a dragon. I took a step back nervously.

  Do not be afraid, niece of my mate.

  I held still and the blue haze settled all over me. I felt warm inside of the glow. Power surged and the blue light danced under my skin in hot pinpricks. Then the light vanished inside of me.

  “Uh, what just happened?” Julian asked.

  Call the air. Think of wings.

  I thought about wings, light and cobalt-blue and made of air. Next to me, Julian gasped. I turned my head and from my back trailed tall, cerulean dragon wings. They shimmered like fire. I let go of the air and they vanished.

  I called them again and then stirred the air; the wings let out a gentle flap and I rose a foot in the air. I let them go again.

  My heart soared—such magic! I turned to Julian, grinning. “I have wings! I can fly!”

  The dragon writhed on the ground again and then shuddered. I dropped to her side, my hands fumbling to help.

  More green scales fell at her feet and she began to shrink. She moaned as her long necks diminished and her heads retreated into her body. Continuing to shrink, her scales completely vanished. In their place, she grew pearly green skin. A human head unfolded from her body, with cropped black hair.

  Pale brown eyes looked up at us from where a woman sat in the dirt.

  Julian blinked.

  She slowly stood, nude, and shook her arms and legs. Her skin was no longer green, but she looked weak and sick. Peering down at her hands, I saw her fingernails were gone, the skin underneath raw and pink. She had lesions on her legs and arms and stomach. She looked like a victim of war and, I thought to myself, she had been.

  “I thought you couldn’t transform anymore?” I asked.

  She shook her head at me and spoke in a normal, albeit scratchy, voice. “I am zmeya no more. I have given away my blessing. This is my form now for always.”

  She stepped to the side, wobbling.

  Julian asked, “Does this mean Astrid’s a dragon now? A zmeya, like you?” His voice sounded high and tight.

  The dragon woman grimaced and shook her head. “No, though she may choose to become one, of course, one day.”

  She winced again and rubbed her hand over her heart. “I, however, do not recommend it.”

  She turned and started to limp away.

  “Wait!” I called. “Where are you going? Can we help you? You can’t just walk off into the night, naked and alone. At least let me give you some clothes.”

  “You cannot stop me, niece of my mate. I will walk. I will rest. I will walk again. I will walk until this ache inside of me eases. Or until I die.”

  I stared at her helplessly. “Take this at least.” I held out Bjorn’s bear medallion.

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t belong to me.” She pointed at Julian. “You may wield it.”

  She sniffed the air around him while Julian watched with wide eyes. “You have the bear in you. It will not make you mad. It may make you a little more feral, at first. But that’s not a bad thing,” she added, winking at me. I blushed.

  “Or you may gift it.”

  Julian started to shake his head. “I don’t think—”

  “I don’t care what you decide.” She turned again and walked away.

  I tucked the medallion in my pocket and we watched her until she disappeared into the opacity of the gray twilight. She went north.

  I turned to Julian and shrugged, feeling a little bereft. “Okay, that’s that, I guess.”

  Our packs on our backs, we trudged east. I couldn’t believe it was over. We freed the dragon and stopped Abaddon from making further powerful monsters, but now he marched on the citadel with his enhanced forces and we headed for the portal in the opposite direction.

  There was no way we could keep up with the demonic army’s march across the continent in this world. We needed to return to Earth and hope we could find a portal closer to the citadel in modern-day Russia.

  It was disheartening to realize we’d accomplished so much, and still had so far to go. I felt proud that we rescued the dragon instead of killing her, even if she didn’t seem grateful for our help. Cato and Bard would never believe the astonishing story.

  I held Julian’s hand as we walked, sharing my worries and doubts.

  “We’ll do it,” he said confidently. “Maybe one of the other groups found a portal, too, much closer to the citadel. Don’t forget, the gods are on our side.” He winked at me.

  We walked as far as we could from the smoking mountain before we were too tired to continue. Julian found a creek and we dropped down in the grass beside it, not even bothering with the tent. I felt Julian pull our rabbit cloaks over top and then I was asleep.

  Chapter 28

  As morning broke, I looked west and saw the smoking crag was no more. Instead, a flattened mountaintop rose from the foothills. With no sign of movement on the landscape in any direction, we took the time to clean up in the creek and reassess our supplies. We had only a little food with us, so that needed to be a priority.

  Building a small fire, I boiled some water to refill our canteens. We had no weapons, except for my small skinning knife and another small folding knife that Julian found in the bottom of
his pack.

  Without my bow, hunting would be significantly harder. It looked like we had a lot of fish in our future. I dug out some burdock roots from the creekside to tide us over; I washed the roots and then we munched them like carrots.

  I thought about the dragon, wondering what would happen to her. I didn’t even know her name, if she had one. I would tell Rurik about her, I decided, and maybe he would know what to do.

  We repacked and started walking east again. It would take us weeks to get back to the portal and all the while, Abaddon would be marching in the opposite direction, heading for the citadel.

  We needed to get through the portal as quickly as we could and catch up with the others. We needed a new gate, one close to the citadel, so we could warn the Varangians about Abaddon’s plan.

  It took us over a month to travel west to the mountain. We needed to shorten that time. My mind spinning with possibilities, I wondered if I could use my new power to help.

  I looked speculatively at Julian from under my lashes and then cleared my throat.

  “Yes, we can try it,” he said, turning to look at me. I blinked. He tapped my head. “I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring you out.”

  I grinned at him.

  “Let’s stay low for now. We don’t want to stand out in the sky if any besy are nearby. Plus, this is a new power; we don’t know how long you can sustain it. Better to be close to the ground in case we crash.”

  I handed Julian my pack and he strapped it to his front. I thought about wings again, beautiful, blue wings of air. Feeling them unfurl from my back, I flexed them, stretching carefully. They felt strong and my confidence grew.

  I couldn’t help myself—I leaped high in the air and I flew. I twisted the currents around my body in soft, chilly streams of magic and I pushed up, up, up, and then dove down again, looping and spinning. My elemental commands stirred the air to cradle my body and then launch it up into the sky again. I laughed. My hair whipped into my face while I played.

  The sun felt warm on my skin and I paused, midair, to soak it up. The breeze was bracingly fresh against my body.

  When I finally settled back on the ground, I found Julian sitting on his pack, waiting patiently.

  “Ready?” he asked. The skin around his blue eyes crinkled at me in amusement.

  He was so dear. A rush of tenderness swept through me. “You’re my favorite person in all the worlds,” I told him, still panting from my flight. “And I’m in love with you.”

  I held my breath, not believing I’d just blurted that out. My heart in my throat, I felt tears threatening. I waited for him to back away from me again.

  Rising to his feet, Julian crushed me in his arms. “You’re my life,” he whispered. “And I love you more.”

  I choked back a laugh, my blood singing in my ears as I inhaled his scent. The knot in my throat eased. He loved me.

  We stood still, our breaths matching, our bodies so close I felt our souls intertwine for a brief, shining moment.

  When we finally separated, I felt at peace. I could do anything with Julian by my side.

  As he smiled at me, I reached out, wrapping him in bands of air filaments. Lifting him up, I flapped my own wings and rose. We both hovered a few feet above the ground.

  Julian peered behind me. “They’re not like actual wings. You’re not flapping them to stay in the air. They’re floating behind you, like beautiful, fiery, cobalt sails.”

  I nodded. “I feel them supporting me in the air, but it’s my magic that’s moving me. They’re only a conduit for my own elemental power, I think.”

  I took us a little bit higher and then we started moving east. I picked up our speed until we streamed through the air like birds.

  My heart pounded and my face ached with a fierce grin. I glanced over my shoulder at my bright, shimmering blue wings and felt tears in my eyes again. I quickly blinked them away and checked on Julian.

  He trailed me slightly in the air, his face stoic as he tried to hold perfectly still. I grinned at the picture we must make, a dragon girl and her packrat.

  The landscape rushed by in a green and brown blur. We traveled through the shrubland, over creeks and trees.

  After a couple of hours, I dropped us slowly to the ground again, abruptly achingly tired. As soon as I released him, Julian ran over to me with anxious eyes.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  I nodded, my eyes heavy.

  “Let’s rest for a bit,” he said.

  Sitting in the shade, I drank some water. I leaned my head down, just for a minute, and quickly fell deeply asleep.

  When I woke, the sun was much farther west in the sky. I had probably slept for a couple of hours. I looked around for Julian and saw him crouched by a small fire, cooking some eggs. My mouth watered.

  The events of the past few days felt like a distant memory as the smell of the frying eggs rallied my spirits. Julian must have found a nest nearby while I slept.

  I staggered to my feet and walked over to him. He grinned up at me, his beard bright blond in the sun. “Perfect timing!”

  He scooped the eggs on our plates and we dug in. The eggs were golden yellow and I ate voraciously.

  After we ate, I cleaned up while Julian dumped dirt on the fire. Then we started walking east. Realizing how tired flying made me, we would need to pace ourselves from now on.

  WE walked, flew, and camped for a few days. We ate sparingly, pushing hard for the portal.

  After we left the shadow of the mountain, we discarded our rabbit fur cloaks. They were starting to smell.

  The landscape changed from shrubland, to forest, and then to steppe. Flying made it much easier to cross rivers and ravines this time around. When I flew us up the same tall waterfall that stymied us on our westward trek, to the top of the cliff where the misting water sparkled over our faces, I felt joyously alive.

  I dropped us at the waterfall’s head and we made love there, beside the thundering cataracts. It was the happiest I’d ever been in my life.

  THE season started to change as we crossed the steppe at our fast-forward pace. The days grew shorter and it became chilly at night. The grassland turned dry, like straw, and the creeks dropped to trickles.

  The days were still hot enough that we baked when we walked. At least when we flew, there was a breeze to keep us cool.

  We could see the large lakes dotting our path and I aimed us from one to the next, skipping across the landscape and always heading east, tracking our cairns and other trail markings we had thoughtfully left behind on the ground.

  FINALLY, I felt like we were getting close to the portal marshland.

  Walking through a field of tall grasses, golden yellow and brown, Julian froze next me. “Don’t move,” he whispered. I stopped.

  “There’s something watching us on the right,” he murmured. He drew his small knife. I grabbed my little skinning blade.

  I tried to pull my wings out, but we’d flown earlier in the day and I was still magically depleted. I couldn’t form my wings or lift Julian. I could still send out my pulse though.

  When it echoed back to me, I saw the shape of a gigantic crouching animal. The stench of musk enveloped me. “It’s some kind of predator. Not a demon, I don’t think.”

  “I can see its eyes. I think it’s a lion,” Julian said.

  Holding my knife tighter, my heartrate sped up.

  “Hand me your uncle’s medallion.”

  Digging it out of my pocket, I put it in his hand. He slowly reached up and hung it around his neck.

  “Touch the bear,” I said.

  He touched it and then he wasn’t Julian anymore. Instead, an enormous bear berserker hulked next to me with thick, muscled arms and a broad, furry chest. He was a rich, golden-brown color all over.

  Above his huge shoulders a fierce, shaggy head looked forward. His snout was long and when he opened his mouth, I saw sharp teeth. Snorting and shuddering, Julian shook his arms out. Long claws flexed in his hands. A fur
ry pelt covered most of his chest before tapering to smooth, dark skin at his waist. His human lower half rippled with corded strength.

  Clothes lay in tatters at his feet, along with his shoes.

  Turning his head to look down at me, he said, “Stay here.” His voice was Julian’s, but deeper and raspier.

  He strode into the grass in the direction of the lion and I watched.

  A sleek tan shape rose from the grass. It was a cave lion, or a steppe lion. I’d seen one from a distance previously, but never this close up. It was huge, at least four feet tall at its shoulders and eight feet long, not counting its tail. It had a short, narrow muzzle and no mane. Its eyes blazed tawny-yellow in the sunlight and its paws looked as big as my head.

  Baring its fangs at Julian, it stalked forward, its shoulders rolling with pacing steps. It growled menacingly at the bear-man.

  In a flash of gold, the lion darted forward, its fangs gleaming. Julian braced himself and then swung his heavy arm, clouting the lion aside. It rolled and then quickly rose to its feet again, snarling. It charged again and this time Julian waited until it leaped, then he smashed his fist into the lion’s ferocious face and tore at its side with the claws on his other hand. The lion dropped to the ground, stunned and bleeding.

  Julian roared and jumped on it, wrapping his arms around the lion’s body. It started to struggle and he squeezed.

  The lion clawed at him, digging gouges in Julian’s back, but Julian just squeezed tighter. I heard a great cracking sound and then the lion’s body hung limp in Julian’s arms.

  He flung the heavy carcass away and I ran forward, heart pounding. Dropping my pack, I started fishing around for the first aid kit when I felt a snuffling nose at my hair. I looked up into the bear’s deep, brown eyes. It inhaled deeply again and bared its fangs at me.

  “Julian!” I said sharply. “Stay in control.” The bear snorted at me and my hair ruffled. “I’m only getting you some bandages.”