by Rain Oxford
“And we were living our own lives happily until you started causing trouble,” Rojan growled.
Marnd managed to look chastised. “But you were needed all this time. We waited for you.”
“For what?” Rojan asked. We were both confused.
“For what? The sago was raised to be king, was he not? And you were bred and conditioned your entire life to lead us. We were waiting for you to return and become our king.”
I wasn’t sure if it was me or Rojan who shivered with disgust. Rojan handed control back to me and I shifted my eyes. “Alright, Dylan, flash us out of here.”
“You sure?” Dylan laughed. “You were the one who wanted us to stick our noses in dragon affairs.”
I would be eating this mistake for a month. “Just get us out of here.” Before he could, there was a screech. Dylan grabbed Ron, I grabbed Sammy, and we backed away from each other in time to avoid being squashed by a dragon who was all too familiar.
Her scales changed from dark gray to sand-brown before smoothing into pale flesh that glowed in the moonlight. Another man may have gaped in awe at her perfect womanly figure, the long red hair draped over her shoulders, or her cool blue eyes raised with no shame, which glittered from her internal fire. Her perfect skin was marred only by the flame tattoo that crawled up her left thigh and over her hip. She put her hands on her hips and didn’t bother to cover her nakedness. However, I felt nothing for her except the need to hide her flesh from others, because she was Rojan’s sister.
“Wow,” Sammy whispered. I had the sudden and dreadful thought that Sammy would share Dylan’s taste for women; that he would go for the trouble maker who could no more tell the truth than keep her opinion to herself. I put my hand over his eyes.
I opened my mouth to tell her to cover herself in front of the boy I considered a son, but Rojan took over. “What are you doing still alive?” he asked.
“How can you speak to me like that?” she asked.
“Get to the point or get out of my way.” I grabbed Sammy’s arm and pulled him behind me. We passed her, Rojan making sure I faced her the entire way, for we knew she was a threat. She raised her hand with a throwing knife aimed at Dylan.
“No, I think you should stay over there,” she said with a smirk. She was a fool to think a knife would stop him, but Rojan was furious.
How dare she threaten Dylan? “Sammy, go to Dylan.” He glared at his sister and let go of Sammy’s arm. When she tried to look at him, Rojan growled and took a step forward. “You dare to threaten my clutch?” he asked.
She frowned for a second. “Your mate and children died many years ago.”
“They are Mordon’s family, and that makes them my clutch,” he corrected.
“Well then, I suggest you do exactly as I say unless you want to lose your---” she started. Rojan cut off her words when he wrapped his hand around her throat and squeezed. My claws dug into her flesh, my teeth shifted, my fire rose, and I felt a twitching sensation across my back.
“I will rip your throat out if you even think of finishing that sentence,” Rojan growled.
“You would kill your sister for killing your friends?” she asked.
“I would kill you for looking at them wrong.”
“Marnd, get him off me,” she gasped. She struggled to breathe as Rojan turned his scowl on his childhood friend. The man looked really conflicted. “Marnd!” she yelled.
Rojan squeezed her neck to shut her up until all she could do was squirm helplessly. “Are you her pet now, Marnd?” he asked.
“When you died, she moved here and took over. Unlike you, who only gave us direction and guidance, she dictates everything we do. We want you as our leader, but she wants to make you submit to her.”
“Why do you obey her?” he asked. She started grasping at my wrist, but she could not grow claws in person form. I felt the fire inside her stir as she began to shift and Rojan shook her. “Dylan,” he said.
Dylan snapped his fingers and made a fancy hand signal, then green lightning jumped from his fingers to Rojan’s sister. She cried out in pain, her fire died, and she became limp as the fight left her.
Rojan smirked at him. “Snapping your fingers now?”
“Yeah, Regivus did it and I thought it looked cool,” he said. Sammy and Ron both tried to snap their fingers. “Answer his question, stupid,” he told Marnd.
The man’s eyes darted all around, unwilling to meet mine, and he was sweating. “She has extremely powerful blood. Dragons have been hunted until we were forced to change. We are still being hunted. Isera keeps us alive.”
“Mordon, if Rojan kills her, can they make him be their king?” Dylan asked me.
Although he couldn’t speak directly to my friend, Rojan was able to hear Dylan and I speaking to each other in our minds. He immediately dropped her. In short, yes, they could.
“Dayth!” Isera yelled.
Before I could do anything, the man standing behind Dylan shoved him, grabbed Ron, and pressed a dagger against the boy’s throat. Everyone froze with shock, because a dragon that could hurt a child was disgusting.
“He’s got a knife to my son’s throat,” Dylan said to me. His eyes glowed green and I knew if someone didn’t stop him, Duran was likely to lose Mokii altogether.
“Dad, we got this,” Sammy said calmly. Dylan’s eyes stopped glowing. Sammy made a hand signal and Ron gave him a thumbs-up.
“Back off,” the dragon said, his voice shaking a little. He wasn’t confident in his actions, but his hesitation would not save him from death. He had a knife to a four-year-old child’s throat; there was no saving him.
Sammy gave him another signal and Ron started crying loudly and desperately. The man lowered his arm around Ron’s chest and moved the dagger away from his throat a little. “Stop crying, child. I will not hurt you if they surrender.”
Sammy used both of his hands to give Ron another gesture. Sammy drew his energy, opened the lid to the water bottle, and poured it out. Instead of flowing into the sand, the water shot through the air like an ethereal snake to cover the knife and then hardened to ice before the man could react. Now the knife couldn’t cut. Ron gave Sammy a signal and Sammy returned a similar one.
Ron bit the man’s arm with everything he had, slammed his elbow into his attacker’s groin, and dropped to the ground. When the man leaned forward in pain, Ron’s small boot came up to kick him in the face. The instant Ron rolled out of the way, Sammy shot a bolt of lightning at the dragon, who then dropped to the ground in agony. Ron returned to his usual place behind Sammy.
Rojan’s sister yelled for the dragon to get up, but there was no response.
“Is he still alive?” Dylan asked. I could smell the life still in him and nodded. “I’ll take care of it,” he said. He raised his hand and his eyes started to glow.
“No, Dad, it’s okay. He didn’t want to,” Sammy said, tugging on Dylan’s arm. Although Sammy had been a revenge-seeking baby, he grew into a very reasonable child. Dylan didn’t say anything, but he didn’t lower his arm, either.
“You don’t want Ron to see death. It would make him cry,” I said. Dylan lowered his hand and the glow faded. I went to his side and the dragons all backed away. “You have made a mistake,” I told Marnd. “However, Dylan is a very good person and for that reason only, we will not kill you all. Do not ever breathe Rojan’s name or the name of anyone in my family again. Rojan will not be king, so if he must return to defeat his sister, you will be left without a leader.”
“Oh, and we need a place to stay tonight,” Dylan said.
We all gawked at him in shock. “We need to leave,” I insisted.
He squinted and grimaced in pain. “Yeah, want to, yeah, but can’t,” he said in English. “The gods are calling me and they are being very insistent. Need to land now.”
He was obviously struggling very hard to stay here. “Go. I’ll take care of this.” The words were barely out of my mouth before he passed out, but I was expecting it so
I caught him as he collapsed. “Where is your den?”
“Not far. Is he sick?”
The man’s senses must have been horribly dull when in person form compared to his dragon form. It seemed I had numerous advantages even over the other dragons when they were in person form.
Rojan took control and picked Dylan up. “He is fine. Take us there and keep Isera away from me. Until I leave, I am in charge,” he looked at Sammy. “Annihilate anyone who disobeys.”
“Yes, Rojan,” he said with a grin.
He took Ron’s hand and we were led through the dark dunes. After about ten minutes, we came upon a huge cave complex on the side of a cliff. Many of the dragons shifted and took flight.
“There is an empty chamber near the top if you would shift,” Marnd suggested.
“My clutch cannot shift, so we will take a cavern that is accessible from the ground.” Of course, we couldn’t shift either, but he didn’t need to clarify that. I felt his sorrow, but there was nothing I could do.
“Does it… I mean…” Marnd trailed off as he led us towards the caves. “Does it make you sad that your sago’s family cannot shift? That they could never know the feeling of flying?” he asked quietly.
Rojan felt sympathy for me that I could feel his memories, but never know the feeling myself. “They have never known any other way. Mordon’s family does not know what they are missing.” Unfortunately, you do.
I’m okay not being able to fly. I wish I could shift because I know you miss it, but it’s not in my blood like it is yours.
We share the same blood, he insisted. I shrugged mentally. “Where did you get the magic to hide from me?” he asked.
“Isera found a plant that disorientates dragons. Well, it was from another world, so it wasn’t the real plant, just a bit of dust. Isera got a wizard to make it useable. It was such a low dose that we became immune to it, so we can now use it to hide from other dragons. I am confused as to why you didn’t know that.”
“Why would I know you have plant matter that affects dragons?” Rojan asked.
“Ishte-mor, your sago’s father? He came about two months back. He found us as if someone told him exactly where we were and asked us about the plant. We told him we had no idea what he was talking about, but we assumed you sent him.”
“I didn’t even know you were here. I had other things to worry about than dragons.”
Marnd’s expression was wounded. “You are a dragon. You may have spent the last twenty-six years with people, but you are one of us. We waited for you. Even your sago was always welcome. Should I call you Ishte-mor Rojan?” he asked.
He was basically asking where he stood as my friend, since it was inappropriate to call someone who wasn’t close by their first name. Still, this tradition was not practiced by dragons, since dragons had no family names. I shook my head as I took over, careful not to let Dylan fall. “I gave up the Ishte name and the title of mor when I left the kingdom.” Mor was a title for royalty and I shivered at the idea of being addressed as such. “I was given the family name Yatunus, and I carry the title of so.”
“A wizard title? I know dragons are thought to be extinct, but is calling yourself a wizard not disgraceful?”
Rojan huffed at his old friend’s ignorance, but I still had control over my mouth. “I am as much a sago as a dragon. Rojan and I are separate beings; Rojan is a dragon while I am a wizard. There is nothing disgraceful about it. You can call him Rojan, but you lost his friendship with your betrayal.”
We were shown to a small cavern and left alone. I laid Dylan down on some furs and got food from the bag for the boys. Sammy took his boots off and shook the sand out of them at the mouth of the cave, then did the same with Ron’s boot.
“I don’t like Rojan’s friend,” Sammy said. “Marnd needs someone to lead him, and the others do, too. Rojan shares your distaste for leading others, because it makes him feel chained down. However, he is a dragon, immortal and ancient, while you and Dad are so young. That has to make him feel a kinship for his childhood friend. How hard would it be for you to turn Dad down when he really needed you just because you didn’t want to do something?”
“They have Isera to lead them. Your father is different because he needs a little bit of help sometimes, and he is always willing to help me if I need it. Being king is like being a feeder for leeches. Yes, your people do as you command, but they do it because they think they must. Dylan and I are like brothers; we help each other and it’s not a one-sided thing.”
“But Rojan’s people need him.”
“You are correct about Marnd, but not about Rojan. Although Marnd is his kin, we are his clutch, which is always more important to a dragon. No matter what pressure he is put under, his loyalties will always be with us.”
“Like yours will always be with Dad?” Ron asked. I nodded. “Can you tell us about Rojan’s mate?”
Rojan mentally clinched up. Twenty-six years wasn’t enough time, I guess. He never really talked to me about her; I just got glimpses of memories and stray thoughts. “Maybe another time.”
Chapter 3
Dylan
I stood before all of the gods, Vretial not included. Eleven of the most powerful beings in the universe formed a sort of half circle, as imposing as all get out. Divina looked like she wanted to come to me, but I knew the best move for her was to stand with her brothers. I needed to be on their side, not draw her to mine. The seriousness that tainted their expressions told me that the universe was once again in trouble.
“Hello, Dylan,” she started. “How are the boys?”
“They’re okay. What’s this about?”
“One of the Noquodi appears to be a traitor. Perhaps more than one,” Araxi said.
He didn’t sound too concerned, so I figured there must have been something bigger that was bothering them.
In the past four years, I learned quite a bit about many of the gods. All of them were seen as aloof and arrogant to their Guardians. This was an appropriate estimation, really. The gods were above their people and the Guardians, who they truly felt were mere servants. When I was born, I had the potential to be a threat, but the gods believed that the universe would balance itself by killing me off. It didn’t.
Seven years ago, I helped Divina defeat Vretial and the gods realized that I was here to stay. At the time however, I was only an untrained Guardian. Then, five years ago, a simple mission to save a child from an ancient demon led to a new path in my life. The universe was damaged due to the imbalance from Vretial’s demise and while fighting to help it, I discovered what the gods had been afraid of all my life; I had the ability to produce the same magic as them.
Instead of killing me, the gods let me prove myself, which I did. Furthermore, I was Divina’s mate; the one she chose to live her immortal life with. The gods slowly changed their opinions towards me and seemed to let me into their club.
Regivus, known for his fierceness, was the greatest surprise to me; he was the first to offer his guidance and knowledge. He was very good at teaching me to use my magic and even better at helping me make wise decisions.
Araxi was very careless of his people. He made them strong and planned to have little more to do with their fate. He was brash with his Guardian, who I had not yet met. He had a rather gruesome mind sometimes, and would sooner kill everyone than reason with them. It wasn’t that he was vicious, it was just his way. Gods were not people, and they did not think like us.
Enki and Madus were similar in their friendliness. Madus was just a little bit odd, like his Guardian, but both of them spoke to me as if I were one of them, not a Guardian. Neither of them wanted much to do with their people and had made their people very self-reliant.
Avoli was by far the friendliest and always wanted to keep the peace between his siblings. He was busy trying to build a new world, but his brothers acted as if he were daft. The fact that he shrugged it off with a smile made me agree, which was not good when I was regarding a god. This was going
to be my son’s god, and I wanted him to be able to stand his own. Perhaps that was why Vretial had preyed on Avoli. As horrible as it made me, I didn’t want my son to be the Guardian for someone who had already failed to protect his world. Unfortunately, Divina often took up for him, which meant I couldn’t bring my opinion to her.
Zer was pretty indecisive and agreed to whatever anyone else said, but I never really got to know much about him. Azenoth was more of a loner and only joined with the others to argue and offer suspicions and judgment.
Roshne was always polite and treated me respectfully, but was rarely open about himself around me. Mreje, god of Dayo, was quiet and offered nothing that would give me an idea of what kind of god he was. I had not met his Guardian, Rilryn, or Azenoth’s, named Rasik.
The Guardians seemed to each know little about their own god, and nothing but rumors and generalities about the others. One thing they were correct in, however, was that the gods would mistrust their Guardians if there was any cause.
“What makes you think a Guardian is a traitor?” I asked.
“Do you remember that Shiloh wanted to set up a Noquodi council?” Enki asked. I nodded. “We were originally against it, but he had some interesting points to make and we decided to let him attempt this. It would have made communication between the Noquodi more efficient. Shiloh tried to get ahold of several others, including you, but could not. That was the last I heard of him.”
Madus took it from there. “Most of us have failed to contact our Noquodi several times lately. Sometimes it would work, sometimes they would hear nothing. Sometimes we cannot even locate them, as if they are hiding. We must conclude that one or more of them has somehow learned to hide from us.”
“We already know they can because Kiro has,” Erono said.
“That was only when his book was missing. I doubt any Guardian would willingly be cut off from his book like that,” I said.
