“She’ll be our shaman,” Jhet answered. “A priestess, in your human terms.”
“She intercedes for us to our Earth Mother,” Maher continued, his tone hot. “When our shaman dies, the egg holding the next Keeper is laid. The egg is tended with devotion until she hatches. She then takes her predecessor’s place.”
“Our shaman has died,” Bulvang went on.
He pointed with a talon the length of a sword. On a huge, low-level ledge on the far wall of the cavern, the corpse of a dragon lay. Red-gold, similar to Ly’Tana’s hair, she’d been placed there with love and honor, awaiting her funeral when the hatchling, her successor, was born.
“Without our Keeper,” Jhet said, “we cannot converse with our Mother. Never in our history have we been without her, our most precious intercessor.”
“Ja’Teel’s message was clear.” Bulvang spoke, his tone both sad but firm. “We’re to force you to drink from these vials. We’re instructed to take King Broughton’s intended brides, you and Rygel, in an unconscious state to a place he named and leave you there. Once we obeyed him, he would return the egg.”
“Er,” Jhet said slowly, gazing around at us as though counting. “We’re one short.”
“My sister remained behind,” I said. “To keep her safe.”
“Ah, this is most distressing,” Jhet muttered. “We were told four of you. We’ve little time. This dark criminal demanded you be taken to him by eventide this very day.”
“The egg’ll hatch soon. Within the next few days,” Maher added.
“So you see?” Bulvang said. “We must do as he’s ordered. We must get Ananaya back.”
I exchanged a long, grim glance with Rygel and Ly’Tana. “Majesty, what makes you think Ja’Teel will keep his word?”
“What? Of course he will. Once he has you he’s no reason to keep her. He’ll return her just as he promised.”
Rygel smiled, shaking his head. “King Bulvang, you’re no doubt wise among your people. Yet, you see little of true evil in the world, here in this remote and special place.”
“What’re you saying?” Maher asked, lowering his head. Smoke poured from his nostrils.
“Ja’Teel has no intention of returning your infant shaman,” Ly’Tana said. “Once he has us, he’ll think nothing of leaving her out there to die.”
“No, you must be wrong, he’ll bring her back.”
“And risk you killing him for his treachery?” I smiled up at the blustering dragon king. “He’ll be far too busy taking us back to Brutal. He certainly won’t risk your wrath that he dared invade this holy place.”
“He cares not at all of the lives of others,” Ly’Tana added. “He’s wicked and cruel. He’d leave her to die for his own entertainment.”
Bulvang glanced helplessly at his council. “What do we do? We must get her back, we must.”
Hissing, muttering, flaming, dragon voices cut the quiet air. His council, plus several others, shoved us back to converge on Bulvang. Amongst themselves, they chattered, cursed, suggested, pleaded, questioned, begged and at last condemned. If anyone was to blame for their egg going missing, we were far too handy to ignore.
I wanted to smile at their simple, innocent behavior, wishing that they, among all creatures on earth, might remain safe from human’s evil. So far north, so far from the touch of invasion, they at least had the right to live their lives without human drama. But I wasn’t that stupid.
Because of us, their shaman had been torn from them, sundering their link to the divine. ‘Twas up to me to make amends.
“We will get Ananaya back for you.”
Though I kept my tone soft, I let my voice ring loud throughout the hollow mountain.
Bulvang’s council shut up, one by one, green-gold eyes swiveling over huge, winged shoulders. Silence fell. I think every dragon eye in the city found me and stared. Bulvang’s greyed muzzle rose and his jaws parted in a half-smile of hope. Jhet snorted flame and his amused eyes apologized as he, too, grinned.
“How?” Nabila asked, his tone lighter.
“Where were you to leave us?” I asked.
“At the entrance to a cave many leagues from here,” Bulvang said. “We, of course, are too big to go in ourselves.”
“Ja’Teel is probably in there,” Rygel said, nodding. “Or nearby. As is your shaman.”
“Had you found him,” Kel’Ratan said, his mustache bristling. “He’d threaten the youngster until you backed off.”
“Which we would,” Jhet agreed. “We’ll risk nothing that might harm her.”
“Take us as close to that cave as you can,” I said. “We’ll kill Ja’Teel and bring the egg back.”
“No,” Maher thundered, flames spurting from his nostrils. “You’ll just abandon us, and Ananaya, to save your own skins.”
Gently shaking loose from Ly’Tana, I walked toward the angry dragon. Maher stared down at me, his leathery lips skinned back from his wicked, backward curving teeth. Smoke curled from his nostrils, and he took short, heavy breaths as though he barely containing his rage.
My hand on my hips, I smiled gently, my head tilted back to meet his hot eyes. “As you well know, I’ve an errand I must complete by winter solstice. If my honor brought me all this way to free my wolves’ god from his prison, how could my honor permit me to turn my back on that child out there?”
“You know little of humans,” Rygel said from behind me. “You judge us by what Ja’Teel has done, not on our own merits.”
“He does have a point,” Jhet said.
Maher relaxed slightly. “You’ll bring her back?”
“Or die trying.”
Maher looked only half-convinced, yet made no move as I walked away from him and back toward my pack. Several dragons still hissed, their anger and fear informing me they suspected Rygel and I lied. Gadron led them, talking to them, no doubt planting the notion in their heads that we couldn’t be trusted.
Ly’Tana smiled as she turned about, watching the angry dragon faces. She lifted her arms in a wide-encompassing gesture.
“I’ll remain here,” she said simply, “as your hostage. Should my mate not return, you may kill me.”
That pronouncement silenced the nay-sayers. Gadron gaped.
Kel’Ratan stepped up and put his arm around her shoulders. “I, too, will stay as your hostage.”
I glanced at the wolves. “My brothers will also remain. Only Rygel and I go. Does that satisfy you?”
“More than satisfy,” Bulvang said slowly. “You’re generous.”
“Maher is right,” I said. “We brought this trouble upon you. It’s up to us to make it right.”
“We’ll bring back your shaman,” Rygel said. “Ja’Teel will die for his crimes.”
“How?” Jhet asked. “He has much power.”
“Not as much as me,” Rygel replied grimly, his tawny eyes flat. “That boy has much to atone for. I’m going to rip out his damn throat.”
“You picked us up at midday,” I said. “We have what? Three hours?”
“Perhaps that,” Bulvang said, raking furrows in the stone with his talons again. “Jhet’ll take you.”
I nodded. “Rygel can fly in your form, with your blessing.”
“He has it.”
Ly’Tana’s small hand crept within mine. I glanced down, finding her kitten teeth gleaming up at me in a smile. Her green eyes glowed. Her other hand toyed with the gold-washed jewel, turning it this way and that.
“How about a kiss for luck?” she said.
I cupped her cheek with my hand, running my thumb across her lips. “We’ll be back. I promise.”
I kissed her soft mouth, gazing down into her emerald, glistening eyes. She nuzzled my nose with hers. Then her warm hand squeezed mine gently before dropping it and stepping back from me.
“I know you will,” she replied softly. “I have faith.”
I took her into my embrace, my hands around her shoulders, her beautiful face upturned. I kissed her again, mo
lding her fair lips to mine. She tasted sweet, like fresh honey and flowers. Her arms crept about my waist, pulling me to her.
For once, I forgot about the eyes that stared. I forgot that others lived, for nothing existed save she and I. Had I died in that moment, I’d die a happy wolf.
She broke our kiss, her smile tremulous, tears wetting her cheek as she held my bristly face in her hands. “Go on now,” she said. “That baby needs to come home.”
I grinned, kissing her lightly on her nose. “Your will is my command, my queen.”
Kel’Ratan stepped up, his mustache bristling. “Make sure that bleeding idiot is dead this time, eh? Can’t have him trotting along behind us, making trouble at every bend. That won’t do, not at all.”
I thumped him on the shoulder. “I guarantee it.”
Tickling Silverruff on the chin, I said. “Sorry, lads.”
“No worries,” Silverruff grinned, wagging his tail. “We’ll be here, waiting for you.”
“Ask if they have any more chow,” Thunder asked. “I’m hungry again.”
“These dragons really have good food,” Little Bull added. “After you kill the monster, might we come back and visit?”
I chuckled. “Perhaps we will at that.”
“Ready, then?” Jhet asked, extending his talon.
I stepped onto his palm without hesitation. As he lifted me high, I saluted King Bulvang. “We’ll be back, Your Majesty. With Ananaya.”
“Somehow,” Bulvang replied slowly, thoughtfully. “I do believe you will.”
Rygel, in his dragon form, leaped into the air, his mighty wings beating high and hard and whipped Ly’Tana’s hair into her face. She brushed the loose tendrils away from her eyes, her left hand still twirling her gem. I half-wondered if she prayed for our success, and whether the gods would answer her.
“They may,” Darius commented.
Jhet reared back on his haunches, his own wings flapping, the talon holding me tight to his chest.
“No hurling now,” he warned.
I laughed. “I swear.”
His leap took him several dragon-lengths off the ground before his wings took over, propelling him higher. The stony mountain floor receded into the dim distance, as did Bulvang and the other dragons who remained behind. I lost sight of Ly’Tana, Kel’Ratan and the wolves long before, their bodies too small to be seen at this tremendous distance.
Dragons still flew above, below and across our path upward. I half-wondered how they didn’t crash into one another. At Jhet’s right wing, Rygel flew, the twin horns on his handsome head tipped back as his head tilted at an upward angle. He caught me watching him and flashed me a dragon grin.
“I’ll teach you dragon anatomy, my prince,” he said. “And to fly.”
I laughed, reveling in flight this time, enjoying the wind in my hair, the speed, the endless drop to earth. I felt no fear–nothing but the thrill of flying.
“There’s no sensation on earth,” Jhet said, “that can compare to this.”
“You know,” I replied. “I’m thinking you’re right.”
The exit cavern grew larger and larger in my sight, a dark hole in the wall of the mountain near its top. Rygel slowed his speed to allow Jhet to fly in first. Jhet shortened his wingspan, which increased his speed, and bolted through the dark tunnel like death on wings.
We shot out of the tunnel into clear, cold sunshine, his wings enslaving the wind. Rygel emerged just behind us, beating hard to catch up and soar wingtip to wingtip with Jhet.
I looked down, thinking to gauge roughly where we were in relation to the mountains, but the dense cloud cover beneath us concealed everything. I cursed under my breath.
“What’s wrong?” Jhet asked. “You’re not going to puke, are you?”
“No,” I replied, still gazing down. “Where is this cave Ja’Teel spoke of?”
“South,” he answered. “Many leagues away. Down in the first range of mountains.”
“Behind us,” Rygel said grimly.
“Why there?” I wondered, both to myself and aloud. “This makes no sense. How could he get into the mountain to steal the egg from so far away?”
“He translocated himself,” Rygel answered.
“He what?” Jhet asked, bewildered. He held me up, close to his green-gold eye.
“Wizards can travel by merely thinking themselves into a place,” Rygel answered, his tone terse. “That’s why you didn’t see him. He popped in, grabbed the egg and popped back out within an instant.”
“He had to be familiar with it,” I said. “How did he come by his knowledge of not just the dragons and their shaman, but the home in which they live? He had to know the layout of the cavern–the exact spot the egg lay in her nest.”
“He finally used the porridge he calls a brain,” Rygel replied. “Outside of watching us, he knows where we were going; knew we had to pass within the dragons’ territory, and knew when we’d be there. That probably wasn’t at all hard.”
“But how did he know so much about dragons and how to hit them?” I asked. “He knew that egg was the one thing they’d protect at all costs.”
“Doubtless, he used his contacts within the aika’ru’braud brotherhood,” Rygel answered, snaking his long neck under his wing to peer down. “They’ve information many of us wish they didn’t.”
“This criminal has been watching you?” Jhet asked. “He knew where you were all along and used us to capture you?”
“Not quite,” I replied. “Used you, yes, but hasn’t been watching us.”
Rygel flamed briefly. “He had to have been watching us, my prince.”
I grinned and wagged my forefinger. “Not at all, braud. Had he been actively watching, he’d have known we left Arianne behind. He didn’t know she wasn’t with us.”
Rygel laughed, his gust sent a sharp spurt of fire past his muzzle. “Ah, he just calculated our speed and the terrain then to time his kidnap just right. How did he leave his message, Jhet?”
“I was the first to notice the egg’s absence,” Jhet replied, his huge wings beating slowly up and down. “In shock, I went to the nest. A voice came from nowhere, announcing the theft and why, and his instructions regarding you. The vials were left where the egg had been. Now anytime anyone steps close, the voice repeats itself.”
“When we get back, I’ll rid the area of the spell,” Rygel said. “You won’t be annoyed by it for much longer.”
Jhet dropped down into the swirling mist of clouds, thick and cloying. Despite Rygel’s close proximity, his huge body grew ill-defined and hazy at times. Quite often, the dark grey mass concealed him altogether, before he reemerged from the mist.
“How do you know you’ll not fly straight into a mountain in this stuff?” I asked.
Jhet laughed, flame spurting. “Sorry. It has happened, on occasion, usually to youngsters trying to outfly one another. We know our territory, even in a cloudbank as thick as this, and we keep our navigation skills current.”
He dropped lower, below them, skimming just under their dark bottoms. It began to snow, large flakes whipping past us, flying into my eyes. I wiped them frequently in order to see.
The mountains below were now obscured by what seemed like a blizzard.
“This snow may be a god-send,” Rygel said.
“How so?” I asked, thinking it more of a nuisance.
“We can get close without being seen,” he replied. “I doubt Ja’Teel is alone and surely has hidden watchers, waiting to report dragons in the sky. Delivering us, his demanded hostages.”
I bit my thumb, thinking. “Jhet, how long till we reach the cave he specified?”
“Twenty minutes, give or take.”
I shut my teeth on the expletive that almost burst out. What had taken me months to travel took Jhet less than a half-hour to fly.
“Is there, say, a path through, either east or west that might hide us as we fly around them? To approach from the south?”
“Why?”
> “Ja’Teel will have concealed observers looking for anything that flies,” I said. “He’ll certainly watch north, but also west and east. I doubt he’ll watch south. If we hug the ground, keep the mountains between him and us, you drop us, er me, off several leagues away.”
“It’ll take a little longer.”
“That’s all right, I’m thinking. We’re a little ahead of schedule.”
“What then?”
“Rygel and I can take it from there.”
Jhet’s expressive face looked doubtful. “Are you sure of this?”
I grinned up into his green-gold eye. “He’ll be watching for dragons from the north. Not a pair of wolves sneaking up from the south.”
“This blizzard will shield us even further,” Rygel added. “Should he be wary, and post lookouts for anything that moves from any direction, we’ll be knocking at his backdoor before he knows he has company.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go home,” I said. “We’ll bring the egg.”
“But–” he began.
“Your size and presence will alert them, Jhet,” I said. “You can’t fight, for I’m guessing most of the fighting will be inside the cave.”
“I’d thought to help you,” he said, his tone mournful.
“You are, by bringing us here,” I said. “But this fight began a long time ago, and it isn’t yours. You, and your people, should never have been involved.”
“It’ll end here,” Rygel added, his tone as grim as I’d ever heard it. “Tonight.”
“Very well,” Jhet said heavily. “I’ll obey you in this.”
“Just make sure that after you leave, you stay close to the ground,” Rygel said. “They must not see a dragon.”
“We’re getting close,” Jhet said, stooping into a dive, his wings no longer beating, but swept up and back behind him. “If we hug this valley and jump that mountain there, we can duck around behind him.”
“Where’s the cave?” I asked, peering through the thick, swirling snow.
Jhet turned his muzzle to the right. “Just over that mountain. We’re about forty leagues from it.”
He dropped my gut into my throat as he dove straight toward earth at a breakneck speed, Rygel winging at his side. When Jhet said he’d hug the ground, he didn’t say he’d fly one rod above it. Trees, rocks, startled deer and elk blew past us at a blinding pace. Had I not been accustomed to flying by then, I think I might have hurled not just my lunch but all my entrails and my lungs to boot.
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