by G. A. Aiken
She heard roars of anger, then screams as unleashed lightning bolts slammed back into those who sent them.
“By the gods,” she heard Madenn whisper.
For some reason that made Shalin chuckle—just before everything went black and her head took out the front of the castle where she landed.
Ailean held the head while Arranz held the back claws and Kennis happily chopped away at the neck. Once they separated head from body, they let it drop.
It hadn’t taken long, wiping out a small army of Lightning dragons. Well, it would have if he’d been fighting with the queen’s army. There were rules to follow and those who gave orders to listen to.
But a family free-for-all, as his father liked to call it, usually ended pretty quickly. Although it was quite enjoyable while it lasted.
Glancing around, he saw that his kin had it under control, so he motioned to Arranz and Bideven. “Back to the castle. We need to—”
Ailean abruptly stopped talking. His head tilted to the side as he stared out over the trees toward his home.
“What’s that?” he asked his brothers, pointing at the silver thing glinting from the early afternoon sun.
“I…I have no idea,” Bideven responded. And since he was the smartest of them all, if he didn’t know, none of them knew.
Panic flooded through him and Ailean charged forward, heading toward the castle. As he neared, he saw several Lightning dragons lay on the ground. They weren’t dead, but they were unconscious.
His brothers were on either side of him, Kyna and Kennis hovering behind him.
Slowly, he moved around the foreign thing above his castle. It fit snuggly against the gate surrounding his castle. A perfect fit. Eventually, not knowing what else to do, Ailean leaned forward a bit and rapped on it with his fist. It was metal. Solid metal.
“What in all the hells is this?”
Arranz tapped his shoulder and pointed to the middle of it. “Brother…isn’t that your crest?”
It was. The crest his human soldiers wore on their shields and surcoats.
Ailean laid his claw flat against it, and the solid metal suddenly wobbled a bit before dropping away completely. Stunned, he watched the metal shrink and change back into the small human shield it once was, landing with a loud clatter at the clawed feet of Shalin.
“Oh, gods!”
He quickly landed beside her, his brothers and the twins right by his side, Nightmare anxiously pawing the ground near her left shoulder.
“Shalin?” He pushed her hair from her face, leaned in close and said loudly, “Shalin! Can you hear me?”
She winced. “Don’t scream.”
Ailean let out a breath and glanced back at his kin. “She lives.”
In answer to that, Shalin coughed and a piece of metal flew out of her mouth, landing near the shield. Arranz picked it up and held it next to a small open hole toward the base.
“Look at that…it fits.”
“That’s it.” Kyna stood. “I’m going out beyond the castle gates to kill the rest of the Lightnings. That I understand. This—” she motioned to the shield Arranz held “—I don’t.” She took flight, her sister right behind her.
“Shalin…what did you do?”
“Did what you told me to. I protected our people.”
Ailean gave a small smile. “Yes, luv, you certainly did.”
But she didn’t answer. She’d passed out again.
15
Shalin woke when she heard arguing. She rolled her eyes. Can they never get along?
Glancing around, she realized they had her back in the cave. She lay on a huge pile of furs, a large pitfire nearby, and the disgusting taste of metal still in the back of her throat.
She pushed herself up until she could sit back on her haunches. The cave shook as the arguing between kin became more…insistent.
Shalin didn’t know what they were arguing about and she didn’t care. Instead she focused on finding a bit of parchment and a quill.
Shaking blood out of his eyes, Ailean slammed his fist into one brother’s face and used his tail to toss the other across the cave floor.
Bideven jumped up and charged and Ailean lowered himself, waiting for the hit.
But Kyna stepped between them, grabbing both brothers by the hair and shaking. Ailean would have to admit—it hurt.
“Stop it. Both of you.” She shoved them apart while Kennis helped Arranz to his feet. “Is this about Shalin?”
Ailean frowned, confused by the question. “No.”
“Then what are you three up to?”
The brothers all shrugged. “We were bored,” they said at the same time.
Disgusted, Kyna paced away from them. “That’s brilliant.”
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s gone,” Kennis informed them.
“What do you mean she’s—” Ailean pushed past them and walked into the chamber they’d put her in. All that was left—a piece of parchment.
“I’ll be back,” Bideven read over Ailean’s shoulder.
“Is that a promise or a threat?” Arranz asked.
Ailean crumpled the parchment in his hand at the same time he expanded his wings, sending both of his brothers flying across the chamber.
Shalin walked into her father’s work chamber and smiled. How could she not when she found the old dragon on his knees and under the enormous wood desk he used to work on? His tail lazily swung back and forth while he dug through books and muttered to himself. Her heart swelled at the sight of him. Even that sight. Gods, she loved him so much.
“Father,” she said softly, as not to startle him. But he jumped anyway, slamming his head into the desk.
He moved out from under it and smiled at his daughter. “Shalin!”
“Hello, Father.”
“What are you doing here? Is everything all right?” He walked closer to her. “You look tired?”
“North dragons came for me.”
“Oh, dear.” He leaned in a bit, his face solemnly sincere. “I feared as much. Do you need me to protect you?”
Shalin snorted, and her father smirked. “Thank you very much, Daughter.”
Covering her snout, Shalin shook her head. “Forgive me, Father. I didn’t mean—”
He waved her words away. “We both know I’m no warrior.”
“But you’d die to protect me.”
“Of course.” He hugged Shalin. “You mean everything to me.” He kissed her brow. “Sit and you’ll tell me why you’re here.”
Her father motioned to a spot closer to the pitfire.
“Now I have some delicious wine here somewhere. If I could just remember where I put it.”
Shalin smiled. Her father misplaced everything. It used to drive her poor mother insane.
“Ahh. Here.” He grabbed two goblets and what looked to be a very old bottle of wine before he sat down across from his daughter.
“Are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
“Like your mother with that. Won’t eat when something worries you.” He pushed the filled goblet closer to her with the tip of his claw. “Drink then talk.”
She sipped the wine. “It’s very good.”
“I found it just the other day. I think I put it away three or four hundred years ago.” He shrugged. “Or maybe it was last week. I never remember.”
Her father sipped his wine and said, “So what is it, Shalin?”
“I’ve made a decision.”
“About Ailean?”
She nodded. “He told me he loves me.”
“And do you love him?”
“I do.”
“Then why the hesitation to admit you want him as your mate?”
“Father, they call him Ailean the Whore.”
“Aye. They do. They also call him Ailean the Deadly. Ailean the Powerful. Ailean the Decimator, which is my personal favorite. He has many names you can be proud of.” Her father thought for a moment. “If you’re a dragon,” he adde
d for good measure.
“But there are so many of them, father. There’s Ailean, his two brothers, an untold number of aunts and uncles. Cousins. And the twins. I’m not used to so many around me.”
“It’s time you had kin of your own, Shalin. You’ve never been like your mother and me.”
That surprised her more than she could say. “I haven’t?”
“No. Don’t you think a father knows? You were lonely. And bored. When the queen asked for a companion for her daughter, I sent you there thinking it would be good for you to get out and meet others. I had no idea the princess was a vindictive little bitch, though.”
Shalin almost spit up the wine she just drank. “Father!”
“It’s true. If I’d known how bad she was, royalty be damned.”
“It was a good experience. I’ve had access to books and knowledge I never would have, had I not been part of the court.”
Her father smiled at her attempts to soothe him. “And you’ve become quite the diplomat as well.”
Shalin laughed. “I guess I have.”
“The Cadwaladr Clan needs that, Shalin. They need you. Ailean needs you.”
“He does?”
“Gods, lass. Are you that oblivious?” She couldn’t believe her father, of all dragons, had the nerve to actually say that. “He’s lost his heart to you, Shalin. Make no mistake.”
“And I’ve lost my heart to him, Father. That’s why I’ve decided to stay with him.” She placed the glass down and ran her claws through her hair. “But—”
“But what, Shalin? What has you so worried?”
“I promised her. Promised I’d become an Elder and I doubt I can do that if I’m the mate of Ailean the Whore. His reputation alone will—”
“Promised who?”
“Mother. Before she died. I promised her.”
Her father stared at her for several long moments, then said, “She’s dead, Shalin.”
“Father!”
“She is. I miss her every day, but she’s dead. And I will be soon enough. Will you go on living for me as well? Long after I’ve gone?”
“I don’t want to disappoint her.”
“It’s impossible to disappoint the dead. You made promises to a dying dragoness when you were barely fifty winters.” Actually thirty, but why argue with him now? “Still a hatchling, in my estimation.”
“And you, Father?” she asked the question that bothered her more than anything. “Will I disappoint you?”
“Disappoint me? If you don’t become an Elder? I’ll be more disappointed if you don’t allow yourself some happiness.”
Annoyed that her father saw some things so clearly, she muttered, “I never said Ailean made me happy.”
Her father laughed, his old voice cracking. She remembered when it was strong and clear, ringing out through the cave chambers.
“If he didn’t make you happy, you wouldn’t be worried about staying or going. You would have already left. Sweet the world may see you as, Daughter, but I know better. And so does that frighteningly large dragon you love, I’d wager. You always get what you want in the end. Not only that—” Her father took her goblet and poured what was left of her wine into his glass. “—you bring out the best in each other. There are some who bring out the worst, but you and Ailean…” He nodded. “A good, solid match.”
Shalin threw up her claws in exasperation. “I’ve tried to kill him. And I’ve tried to pull the hair out of his head. Actually, I’ve tried to kill him twice—although that first time was a necessity.”
“And both times, I daresay he most likely deserved it. But you’re dealing with the Cadwaladr Clan now, my love. They don’t want the weak in their bloodline. Every time you fight him, challenge him, you make him yours. And, if I thought for a minute he meant nothing to you or he was a bad match, I’d tell you to send him a very stern letter and get back to your studies. But he means everything to you, Shalin, and we both know it.”
She sighed in resignation. “True.”
“And think of it this way—among that family, you’ll always be the smartest.”
“Father!”
“Yes, dear?”
“So you’re just going to sit here? And wait?”
“Yes,” Ailean stated to Bideven—yet again. “I’m just going to sit here and wait.”
He thought when he began sharpening his swords and spears, his brothers and cousins would leave him be. No such luck.
“And what if she doesn’t come? What if she stays in her school?”
“Then she’ll have made her decision.”
One of his cousins angrily tapped a finger against the Great Hall’s worn wood table. “I say we tear the school down stone by stone until she agrees to come back to you.”
Ailean held his blade close to his face and studied the edge, examining it for any nicks or jagged edges. “And why would I do that, cousin?”
“So she’d understand her place belongs with you.”
“Should I cut off one of her wings too, so she can’t escape? Then we can be just like the Lightnings.”
“I never said—”
“No. You didn’t. But you might as well have.”
“The full moon is tonight, brother,” Bideven pointed out—yet again.
“Yes. I’m well aware of that fact.”
“And if she doesn’t come tonight, Ailean? Or any night? Then what will you do? Find another?”
“There is no other, Arranz. We both know that.”
“Then perhaps our cousin is right. Perhaps—”
“No. This is her decision to make. I ignored her wishes once before and she cut my throat. And that I’d happily risk again, but I won’t risk losing her.”
As one, all of the kin cluttering his Great Hall began shouting at him, telling him what they thought he ought to do. Most of it involving violence against anyone who would possibly step between him and Shalin.
But Ailean’s patience waned, and in one movement, he stood and brought the blade of his favorite broadsword down on the thick oak table, splitting it into two.
Not surprisingly, that brought immediate silence.
“Now,” he said calmly, “I’ll ask again. Does anyone else have anything to say?”
“No,” they all said as one.
16
It took Shalin a bit longer to get back to Kerezik, since her father decided to drink a bit more than was good for him and she had to stay to ensure he didn’t pass out. But she had a few hours before the moon would rise. Enough time for something to eat and some time to talk to Ailean before tonight. Before he made her his.
She landed outside the castle gates and shifted. A guard standing outside immediately handed her a robe. What she found fascinating was that he wouldn’t look at her.
“Something wrong?”
“No, ma’am.”
“All right.” She pulled the robe on and tied it at the waist. The gates immediately opened and she walked inside. It took her only moments to realize that, although they all nodded to her in greeting, no one looked her in the eyes.
Madenn met her on the stairs, a basket of warm bread in her hands. “Don’t worry. They’ll get over it.”
“I scared them.”
“A bit. But they’re grateful. Give them time. Our ancestors were scared of Ailean in the beginning as well.”
Wincing at the state of the front of Ailean’s castle where her head had crashed into it, she asked, “Is Ailean in his room?”
“No,” Kyna told her from inside the castle walls where a makeshift door had been erected. “He’s not here.”
Patting Madenn on the shoulder, Shalin walked into the Great Hall. “Where is he, then?”
“Out with his brothers. He should be back soon.”
“You just left,” Kennis accused.
“That’s between me and Ailean.”
“Fair enough.”
Shalin nodded at the two and walked toward the stairs. She had her foot on the first step when she wa
s propelled forward. She never hit the stairs, though, as hands gripped her tight and pinned her arms behind her back.
Looking over her shoulder at the twins, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Handling this.”
The pair forced her up the stairs as Shalin tried to shake them loose. “You can’t do this!”
“We can,” Kyna told her.
“We are,” Kennis confirmed.
“We know you two. You’ll talk and talk and the full moon will pass. That won’t work for us.”
“Work for you?”
“Aye. And don’t screech so. Makes me head ache. Don’t it, Kennis?”
“That it does, Kyna.”
“I’ll shift,” she threatened. “I’ll shift and take this whole blasted building with me.”
The twins stopped walking. Kyna moved right up next to her and said against her ear, “And kill all these lovely humans? Would you really do that, Shalin the Innocent?”
“From protector to murderer in the beat of a heart,” Kennis said with a smirk.
Shalin glared at them. “I hate you both.”
“Hate us today. Love us tomorrow,” Kyna laughed while she and her sister shoved Shalin through Ailean’s bedroom door.
Ailean walked out of the stables and into Madenn, who was about to walk in.
“What?” he grumbled.
“Still in a bad mood, I see?”
“And it’s getting worse. What is it?”
Madenn gave a small smile. “She’s back and—oh!”
Ailean kissed her forehead and ran off toward the castle. He was up the stairs and heading toward his room when the twins stumbled out, laughing hysterically. But when they saw him, they immediately stopped, which had his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“What have you done?”
Kyna and Kennis passed him, both patting his shoulders.
“Just helping,” Kyna said on a giggle.
“But you better get in there,” Kennis added.
“Before she tears the walls down around us.”
