by Aidy Award
Cage pulled up short, landing directly in front of the entryway. He still cradled Azy in his great claw, holding her away from the power. “She has it shielded somehow.”
He sniffed and poked at the energy field at the doorway. “The spell doesn’t have an effect on me. But, I’m not going through without you.”
Azy reached her hand out and through the sparkling energy. Where she touched it, the sparkled faded and she felt nothing, just as when she’d gone into Fallyn’s cave before. If Jett hadn’t crashed through, she wouldn’t know any kind of barrier was even there. “I’ve been in there. I didn’t even know there was a spell.”
Cage glanced over her shoulder and shoved her into Fallyn’s cave, following right behind her.
“I won’t have a dragon stealing my hoard.” Fallyn stood just inside the entrance, a sword held with the tip pointing at Cage’s throat.
A rumble sounded in the tunnel behind them. Jett got to his feet and took a stand in front to the entry, blocking it with his body, his tail poised to strike at anything that came through. A stream of demon dragons ran past the cave, not a one of them even glancing in their direction. They all stayed silent until the final one was gone.
Fallyn was the first one to say anything.
“If you move an inch, I’ll push this blade in to your neck. The poison is not for you, but it will hurt in ways you don’t even understand.”
Cage’s eyes grew wide with Fallyn’s words, but not in fear, in realization of something important. “You’re the one who stabbed Match.”
Fallyn spat on the floor.
Yeah. That wasn’t the way to get her calmed down. What she needed was a distraction. For that matter, so did Azy. Her wounds were throbbing now. She glanced around the room hoping for inspiration anywhere. Whoop, there it is.
“Ooh. Fallyn, I don’t think I remember your ornaments being so, so, brilliant before. Did you do something special to them?”
Fallyn looked over her shoulder toward the display and lowered her sword a few inches.
“The mother gave me a spell to make everything shine like I want.”
Interesting, the sparkle around the ornaments echoed the force field. “They’re even prettier than before. Is it the same one you used on the entryway to your, uh, treasure cave?”
The sword dropped another few inches. “Ereshkigal doesn’t like shiny things. She can’t see in here anymore. She gets mad when I don’t talk to the mates and takes my things.”
Cage stepped away and shifted into his human form but didn’t move his gaze from Fallyn and her sword. His change from dragon to man seemed to calm Fallyn and she let the sword drop the rest of the way.
Phew.
He glanced around the room, nodding to Jett to follow suit. “This ward is a powerful spell.”
Jett shifted and glared at Fallyn. “Who is the mother?”
Didn’t these two know each other? They were both from hell, so Azy assumed they did. She’d kind of wondered if they weren’t related somehow since they were the only people down here and weren’t actively trying to kill her.
She pressed a hand against the wall to continue to hold herself up. Damn that demon dragon. She would have to ask Jett what the hell was up with it later, when she wasn’t so close to throwing up from the pain.
“I think she is mine, or Izzy’s. I’m not sure.” Fallyn tipped her head in that way that she did when she was thinking about something and glared over at Cage. “She’s his mother.”
Cage shook his head. “My mom was a human. A beautiful one, but nothing more. She had no powers.”
Fallyn looked at him like he was stupid or something. “No. Not that one.”
Jett circled Fallyn, clearly trying to intimidate her. “Who was this woman? What did she look like?”
Fallyn snarled at him. “She looked like the mother.”
“You’re not going to get a clearer answer from her than that.” Azy was feeling more than a little woozy and these two weren’t helping.
“When did she give you this spell?”
Jett was awfully interested in the mother and the spell. Couldn’t he give it a rest?
“When the afterlife took the blue dragon warrior.”
A giant pit filled with snapping crocodiles opened up in Azy’s stomach. “The blue…you mean Ky? Ky didn’t die, did he?”
Azy had assumed he’d gotten out with the other dragons. Maybe he hadn’t. One more thing she couldn’t forgive herself for. Ky Puru had tried to rescue her. Once when she’d been taken by the Black Dragon and his stupid minions in the water cavern and again when he’d been brought down to hell himself.
Cage came up to her and touched his knuckles to her cheek and neck. “No. I was just at his wedding a few weeks ago.”
His warmth felt good on her skin, she was cold. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t feel the incessant heat of the hellfires. She grabbed his hand and held it to her skin. She tingled everywhere he touched.
Fallyn seemed so far away now. The room had gotten bigger, and darker. “Why did you say he was dead?”
“I didn’t.” Fallyn stared at her and frowned. “Why are you in this place with your dragon, mermaid?”
Oh, to be a mermaid again, her skin cried out for the cool waters of the Atlantic. Her scales felt so dry, like she would crack if she went any longer without the sea on her skin.
“Azynsa!”
Her legs went out from underneath her. No, she didn’t have legs any longer. She’d lost them. Inch by inch her scales crawled up her skin, fusing her legs together into a tail.
But, those weren’t her scales. She was a rich deep yellow, so dark to almost be copper. These scales were brilliant gold, interspersed with pearly white.
That was probably a hallucination. She could tell because everything in the room was wavering and the colors were fading. A muffled buzz went off in her ears.
Aw, crap. She’d lost complete control of her body and she was going to pass out.
Fucking awesome.
Cage grabbed for her, sliding his arms under her tail and supporting her behind the back an instant before she hit the rock floor.
Chapter Seven
Chp 7 – Legs Are Required
C age caught Azynsa and lifted her in his arms, holding her tight against his chest. Where her legs would have been, she had a tail, full-on fish fins. It was absolutely gorgeous. Her scales shimmered and shined brighter than any ornament in the room, more than all the gold, coins, jewels, or anything else in his hoard.
This, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and the sight of it had his gut clenching, squeezed by the thought of losing her when he'd only just found her.
“Azynsa, wake up. What's wrong?”
If he wasn’t such a dumbass and had been paying attention, he would have seen the wound in her upper right arm seeping blood. Another in her tail looked worse, like a jagged hook had snagged her. Fuck, he should have protected her better. He hadn't even known she'd been hurt.
Her eyelids fluttered open and she grumped at him. “Why do you keep calling me that. Nobody calls me that, except the Mami Wata.”
Thank the First Dragon. The fist around his core loosened its grip. She wasn’t out of danger yet though. “I’ll call you your royal highness supreme, ruler of my universe if you promise never to scare me like that again.”
Although, he’d rather call her his lover. This mating had his mind in the gutter when it needed to be on rescuing her.
She blinked a few more times and wriggled in his arms. “I may hold you to that later. Just call me Azy.”
Sweet and sassy. He loved it.
“I guess I'm a fish out of water.” Azynsa made the joke, but there was real pain in her voice. “I haven't stayed in human form that long since meeting the Mami Wata. I don't really know what happened just now.”
Ky knew more about mermaids than he did. He would know better what to do. Cage's own healing abilities were much stronger when he was in dragon form, perha
ps it was the same for other magical beings. “How badly are you hurt?”
The way she bit her lip instead of responding was answer enough. She didn't want to admit any weakness.
Now, that was something Cage could relate to. He may not know much about her, but he wasn’t a complete dumbass. She was hot to the touch and her scales and skin were dry.
He turned to Jett and Fallyn. “She needs water.”
Jett shrugged. “That's not really a thing in hell.”
Azy huffed out a one-note laugh. “That’s an understatement.
“Then it’s time for us to leave. I’ve been waiting for you a long ass time. No dying on me now.”
“We’re not leaving without her.” She pointed toward Fallyn.
Fallyn squeaked and backed up until she was surrounded by a circle of swords, then kept on going until she was hidden behind a whole store worth of Christmas ornaments.
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. “I don’t think she wants to come with us.”
“I’m not leaving without Fallyn.”
She was gorgeous so fierce like this. She was his priority and he wouldn’t let anything get in his way of rescuing her. Not even herself.
“You’re asking for a shit-ton of trouble. Kur-Jara and Ereshkigal barely let her out of their site, much less leave hell. I didn’t sign on for a jailbreak of that magnitude.”
“I thought you wanted to cause him trouble.”
“Yeah. I do. But, if you take Fallyn out of hell, hell is going to follow. I want to rake that bastard over the coals, but I’m not fucking stupid.”
“I’m not going anywhere with a dragon warrior.” Fallyn tossed one of her daggers from behind her wall of ornaments, but Cage redirected it to the wall with a breath of wind.
The woman obviously didn’t want to go and why would Cage want to help her? She’d attacked and seriously injured Match.
She was important to Azynsa, that’s why.
Azy laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes again.
“I can’t make her leave if she doesn’t want to, love.”
“Yes, you can.” She swallowed hard, like she was trying not to throw up. “We can’t leave her to her father. She’s been abused here her entire life. No one should have to live like that.”
“Go away.” Fallyn hollered from behind her wall of ornaments and threw another dagger.
Cage side-stepped the projectile again. She didn’t seem to be trying that hard to actually hit them. “You want us to rescue her from hell.”
Azy’s face went ashen and her eyes rolled back in her head. She convulsed in his arms. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
He was losing her, right here, right now.
The shard at her throat sparked, blinking bright and then off and on again. A sharp emptiness pierced him deep inside. If he didn’t get her out of here and god-damned quick he was going to lose her forever.
He knew no help was coming his way, but he sent up a prayer anyway, if only to buoy himself for the upcoming battle to get Azy safely to the surface. A good warrior had brawn, but smarts and knew the half of winning was the mental game. “First Dragon, hear my plea. Guide me in the way of your warriors. Show me the way out of here.”
The tunnel outside of the cave was empty and looked like the best place to start. With or without Jett and Fallyn, he was taking Azy home. He held her tight in his arms and made for the entryway.
“Izzy says to show you the mermaid’s secret.”
Cage stopped. Fallyn had come out of her hiding spot. He didn’t know who Izzy was, but if she was on his side, then they were about to be new best friends.
“Will the secret help save her?”
Fallyn tipped her head to the side and her eyes flitted from side to side for just a moment. “Yes.”
“Then show me.”
Fallyn grabbed the mirror Azy had tucked into her belt, the only thing left of the leather leggings she’d been wearing.
“I know. I'm going to. I will. Go away.” Fallyn shook her head and rolled her eyes as if they could all commiserate with the frustration she was having over the conversation with the person in her head.
It sure as hell didn't seem like a good idea to follow a crazy person through the tunnels of hell, though he didn't exactly have another choice at the moment.
“Lead on.”
Fallyn redirected her eye roll at him. She held up the mirror so that he was looking directly into it. Only his own reflection did not look back at him.
“You're the one connected to the mermaid. Not me, anymore.” She seriously thought Cage was a dumbass.
He stared into the mirror again and saw a cave with water dripping into it from above. “Where is this?”
Jett folded his arms and scowled. “What do you see?”
“Rocks, dirt, nothing that seems any more indistinguishable than where were standing now. Except for the water.”
Azynsa stilled in his arms, unconscious but not seizing anymore.
“Ask her.” Again, with the don't be stupid tone. “You're in her head and she's the only one who knows where to go.”
He didn't feel like he was that deeply connected to her. He'd only just marked and claimed her. She owned his soul, and he knew at a visceral level that they belonged together. But, he didn't know her well enough to understand what she was thinking.
He liked to pretend he knew women, he knew their bodies, what turned them on.
Beyond that they were as mysterious to him as mermaids.
He did know to play to his strengths. That's what made him a good warrior in the first place.
Cage lifted Azy's back and brought her head up to his. She had such plump lips and all he could think was “mine.”
He brushed his lips across hers, feeling how rough and dry they were. He dipped his tongue out wetting them both. “Azynsa, my mate. I know you're in there and I think you can hear me. Let me in, my love.”
She released a soft sigh and the image in the mirror lit up brightly enough to draw his attention away from her lips.
The droplets of water shimmered with a yellow gold light that matched the spark of his soul shard. They pooled on the floor of a small cave. The view changed, as if Azy were looking up. The water was falling from leaves and a small root poking through the dirt of the ceiling.
That was the only bit of life Cage had seen since they had entered the caldera and began their descent through the gates of hell.
The water and the light inside of it pulsed with elemental magic. She was giving him every clue she could.
He pressed a real kiss to her lips this time. “That's my girl.”
Jett had been with Jakob and Kai down here in hell before. He knew how they escaped and where. “The escape route Jakob carved through the stone. That's where her secret hideout is.”
“Smart girl,” Jett said.
“Can you lead us there?”
“Yeah, but I can't guarantee there won't be a horde of demon dragons crawling all over it.”
Fallyn sniffed and made a face at Jett. “Tell them to go away.”
Was she simply rambling again? Cage thought not. “You can communicate with them, can't you? Control them even.”
What a bastard. Jett was more than just a rogue dragon. When they were safely out of hell, he and Jett were having a serious conversation.
“I don't control them. But, they are my brethren. Some of them will listen to me. The ones that don't aren't worth saving.”
There was too much going on here that Cage did not have time to interpret. Jett had fought against and slaughtered his fair share of demon dragons while they had been down here. If he would continue to do that, the rest didn't matter to Cage. Only getting Azy to safety did. “Then, I expect you to use that advantage to help me save my mate now.”
“I will, golden boy. But, don't forget that favor you owe me. It's getting bigger by the minute.”
Azy whimpered softly. The image in the mirror shifted and Cage now saw Fallyn. She was chained to a r
ock. No, she was gripping the chains. A whip of fire sliced through the air behind her and into her back. Her mouth moved saying the number eleven but without any sound.
Shit. That favor he owed Jett was about to get a lot bigger.
“I will do whatever it is you require. Now grab the girl and let's go.”
Jett raised one eyebrow but nodded. He stalked toward Fallyn. She dropped the mirror, but Jett caught it and her. She screamed and thrashed in his arms until Jett wrapped his arm around her neck and pinched her in a full on Vulcan death grip. She collapsed, and he hefted her up and over his shoulder.
“Let's go.”
He shoved the mirror back through Azy's belt, then nodded, ready to move out.
Jett pushed through the entryway first, the shield zapping him again. “Ouch, God dammit.”
Cage pushed through with Azy in his arms and didn't feel a thing. “Which way?”
This part of the tunnel was so dark it sapped Cage’s energy just by being in it. The only light was from the glowing shard nestled against her skin.
Jett was clearly comfortable in the pitch black because he took off down the tunnel. The black dragon’s nature was still so unknown to him. Despite being a pretty big dickhead, Cage kinda, sorta, wanted to like the guy. Yeah, he had his own agenda and the way he went about accomplishing it had made trouble for Cage and the other dragon warriors, but the goal was the same. Defeat the Black Dragon.
He still couldn't completely be trusted. A few more battles where he proved himself like back there in the cavern would help though.
Not like Cage was looking forward to running into demon dragons or their leader.
That was a first for him. His entire life up until he'd been struck down by the loss of his shard had been about three things. Treasure, sex, and being a warrior.
His father would be horrified if he found out that Cage could give a flying fuck about his treasure. Azynsa was the only treasure he needed.
The possessiveness he felt about her would probably piss her off.
For the first time, age found himself wary of fighting a battle. Normally, it was just as fun as sex, and had kept him going when his libido had flagged.
