Warrior Lover (Draconia Tales)

by Karilyn Bentley

  Were there rules for introducing one’s present lover to one’s former lover?

  He grabbed the blanket and stuffed it into a pack. Since he found Lily, the memories of all other females faded like a colorless dream. Lily was the one he wanted to live with. The one he wanted to wake beside each morning. He wanted to see her smile and—dare he say it—love in her eyes. None of which would happen once he returned to his village. And not going back was out of the question. He needed to prove once and for all he was ever bit as much of a Watcher as his old man. Maybe then his father would acknowledge him as his son.

  Why he bothered after all these years remained a mystery. His father would rather cut off his balls than admit Enar came from his loins. Didn’t matter Enar looked like a younger version of the old bastard or that no man dared look at his mother with lust. Never once had he told Enar he was proud of him. No, not his old man.

  Enar kicked dirt over the smoldering fire as he remembered being sent to live with Thoren’s family as a child. Undoubtedly, his father meant it as punishment, but he saw it as the best thing to ever happen to him. Thoren’s family was so, well, normal. Loving. Everything Enar’s was not. And therein lay the problem. No other Watcher grew close to his Draconi ward. By his race’s standards he was an oddity. His own father, for all intents and purposes, had disowned him, he’d rather spend time living with the Draconi instead of guarding their lands and he had never claimed a woman.

  Until now. And what a woman she was. As his people’s epitome of beauty, Lily was the perfect female specimen. The whiteness of her skin, the paleness of her eyes. All Watchers wanted a woman with her beauty, but none had found one. No one but him.

  With Lily on his arm, the taunts he endured since childhood, the longings of fitting in, would be over. He could start anew. Prove to the Watchers he was a man.

  And she would be his way to his father’s heart.

  Enar slung the packs over his shoulder and walked back to where Lily sat with Jamie.

  Enar dropped the packs at her feet. Jamie glanced at the packs and then to him. “How am I going to get to the Temple?”

  “I’ll carry you. There are leather straps somewhere,” he rummaged through the packs until he found the straps. “Ah-ha, here they are. I’ll fasten a sling out of these and you’ll be nice and not try to jump out. All right?”

  Jamie nodded.

  “I’ll take some of the bags since you’re carrying him.”

  Lily started gathering bags to carry while Enar constructed the sling. He wrapped the straps of leather around Jamie and gave them a tug.

  “Ready?”

  Jamie squinted his eyes. “Uh-huh.”

  Lily helped him move Jamie into a sitting position. Back to the lad, Enar fitted his arms through the straps and stood.

  Jamie whimpered. And there went the chest ache again. Apparently Lily wasn’t the only cause of it.

  Lily tied Keara’s herb bag around his waist, handed him a pack that he slung across a shoulder, and picked up the rest of their belongings, strapping them across her body and around her waist.

  His claim looked like a pack horse.

  “You all right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Give me that one,” he pointed to the largest.

  “You have Jamie.”

  “You’re about to fall over. Give it to me.”

  With a huff, she ducked her head out of the strap and handed him the bag. Enar threw it over his other shoulder and started walking.

  With each step, Jamie whimpered, small involuntary noises that crept out from between his lips like squeaks from a wheel. Lily pulled her cloak over her head, trying to hide from the light that lit her cheeks like a flame.

  Enar stared at the sun. The thing couldn’t move across the sky fast enough.

  Chapter 15

  The path widened into a packed dirt road meandering through trees, weaving itself right up to the largest monstrosity Lily had ever seen.

  Tall, gray stone jutted from the ground, carved into twisting shapes she couldn’t decipher from the distance. A stone wall surrounded the thing and Lily’s feet screeched to a halt.

  Enar took a couple of steps before turning around. “We’re almost there.”

  Lily’s arm pointed at the gray stones in the distance. “What is that?”

  “The Temple. Our destination.” Enar started walking.

  Jamie twisted around, trying to look over Enar’s shoulder at his first glimpse of the Temple. “Will Keara be there?”

  “I hope she is. But even if she’s not, the priestesses will take good care of you.” Enar reached behind him and patted Jamie on the head. “You’ll feel better once we get you there.”

  Lily forced her feet to move forward, the gray stones forbidding even from this distance. What would it be like close up? Was the place as scary as it seemed?

  Small dots moved around the periphery of the stones, branching out along what appeared to be roads. Lily’s chest seized. So many people! She clutched her hood tighter around her face.

  The dots grew larger the closer they came to the Temple, turning into black-haired beauties. Lily tried not to stare, but the whole lot of them had Thoren’s coloring. She tucked wayward pieces of her hair under the folds of her hood. It still covered her aberrant coloring, but she felt the stares as people passed. She took a step closer to Enar.

  Who seemed to be thriving with all the attention. Smiling, nodding, he parted right through the mass standing at the gates. Greetings were tossed their way courtesy of a cluster of white-robed women.

  Lily felt her stomach roil at the women’s greetings and fawning. The whole lot of them must have sand in their eyes from all the blinking they did.

  Once through the gates, the smell of flowers assaulted her, overwhelming her senses. The stone walls opened into a green courtyard, filled with shrubs, trees and multi-colored flowers. White-robed women walked through stone-paved paths winding between the trees.

  Peaceful. Beautiful. And totally frightening, for as soon as Enar stepped into the courtyard the conversation died as everyone turned toward them, the only sounds the chirping of birds.

  Their stares pierced her attempt at disguise, laying her bare for their perusal, but their gazes didn’t show hatred. Curiosity gleamed from their eyes as they glanced at Lily, their gazes settling on Enar.

  More simpering and fawning. Great. Enar had obviously impressed other women prior to meeting her. The remaining-aloof plan required a sense of not caring, which was rather hard to do with the current seeds of jealousy running through her veins.

  Lily stepped out of Enar’s shadow and grabbed his arm. He glanced down at her, a smile on his lips, warmth in his eyes. As his arm slid around her shoulders, he pulled off her hood exposing her hair. Gasps rang out, stilling the chirping birds.

  Lily felt heat hit her cheeks and she couldn’t help dropping her gaze to her feet. What she needed to do was look at the crowd. To look and see fear and hatred in their eyes. To see how, despite Enar’s and Fafnir’s words, the Draconi would not like her.

  Raising her eyes she saw respect and awe. No fear. No hatred. And the women swarmed around them, speaking to Enar, casting smiles and curious glances her way.

  It felt...odd. But comforting. Enar told her the truth about the Draconi. They didn’t seem to care about her coloring.

  She offered the flock of women a tentative smile.

  “Where is Aryana or Annaliese? I have an injured Halfling that needs tending to now,” Enar asked the fawning flock.

  “I will call her,” one of the dark-haired beauties said, her eyes closing, a look of concentration crossing her face.

  “Who’s Aryana or Annaliese?” Lily whispered to Enar.

  “Aryana is the High Priestess and Annaliese is the highest ranked Temple healer. They’ll be able to help Jamie.”

  Lily gulped. Despite her earlier confidence these women meant her no harm, a cold ball of fear took up residence in her stomach. What if this High
Priestess thought her coloring was an abomination and tried to kill her? What if Enar couldn’t protect her? What if everyone here turned against her?

  She was so tired of all these what-ifs banging around inside. Lily straightened her shoulders. She had lived through the priests’ threats her entire life. She refused to be cowed by some woman she didn’t know.

  Enar would protect her. Hadn’t he proven that already?

  Yes, yes he had. There was no reason to fear. Her fear of the unknown was worse than the reality of the situation.

  She took a deep breath. She wasn’t afraid. Was. Not. Afraid.

  If she said those words enough times, they would come true.

  She hoped.

  Enar’s arm clamped around her shoulders, lending her strength, letting her know he stood by her come what may. The sea of women parted and she got her first glimpse of what must be the High Priestess. Lily’s breath lodged in her throat, stilling her lungs.

  A gold circlet in the shape of a dragon accented the woman’s straight black hair. Dragons embroidered in gold played down the front of her green dress and across the hem of the sleeves. Power seeped from the woman, washing into her like a wave.

  She knew this woman. Remembered where she’d seen her.

  In her dream. Speaking to her. Letting her know she’d see her again.

  Lily’s dreams didn’t speak to her. Ever. They showed her things to come, not carried on conversations with her. But this woman, the High Priestess Aryana, had visited her in a dream.

  The cold ball of fear grew tendrils that snaked through her insides, shaking her limbs.

  “Lily!” Keara’s voice snapped her head around.

  Sunlight glinted off red hair as her friend rushed toward her. The ball of cold, writhing snakes froze, banished into darkness by the sight of her friend. Keara seemed alive and well and Lily returned the other woman’s hug, tightening her arms around Keara’s waist.

  Praise the Goddess her friend was all right. That she felt whole and seemed happy.

  “Enar, my friend. How are you?” Thoren stepped around Keara and clasped hands with Enar while simultaneously smacking him on the shoulder. Enar returned the male bonding hug, while Keara’s brows drew together as she peered around Lily, obviously looking for Jamie.

  Before Lily opened her mouth to tell Keara where Jamie was, the boy spoke.

  “Keara!”

  Keara reached for Jamie, but paused. Steam roiled out her ears. Steam? Since when did her best friend’s ears steam? Was that what happened when she came to Draconia? Whatever the reason, her friend looked like she could cheerfully char something.

  “What did you do to him?” She hissed at Enar, steam escaping through her teeth.

  Thoren placed a hand on her shoulder. “He didn’t—”

  “I carried him for the past four hours. It wasn’t easy. The lad’s more trouble than he’s worth.” Enar shook his head, ignoring the steam wafting across his vision. Removing the sling, he lowered Jamie to the ground.

  Lily knelt next to Keara, watching as her friend stared horrified at Jamie.

  “What did you do?”

  “He fell out of a tree,” Lily said. “Broke his arm, sprained an ankle and broke his leg. We didn’t know how to set it.”

  “Can you heal him?” Thoren asked.

  The High Priestess stepped closer, the white-robed women moving out of her way.

  “Greetings, Enar,” Aryana said, peering over Keara’s shoulder. “Is this the male Halfling?”

  “Male trouble-maker is more like it,” Enar said. “Your Highness.”

  Lily glanced up in time to see Aryana place a hand on Enar’s arm, a look of sadness on her face. By the time Lily finished blinking, the moment had passed. In that moment, though, a root of jealousy sprang to life. That woman liked her man. The power seeping from Aryana might scare her, the fact the High Priestess visited her dreams knotted her gut, but the look in the other woman’s eyes just made her want to kill.

  So much for intellectual knowledge trumping emotions.

  “His arm and leg are broken. I need to get him to the infirmary,” Keara said.

  Aryana knelt at Jamie’s feet. “My apologies for not noticing earlier, young one. Hang on and I’ll send you to the infirmary where Keara and our priestesses will help you.”

  Jamie’s eyes bugged at the High Priestess, but the speechless performance didn’t last.

  “You’re the High Priestess? You don’t look old enough. My daddy said you were old.”

  “Who has my herb bag?” Keara looked at the sacks hanging from Enar’s belt, obviously embarrassed by Jamie’s outburst.

  Lily poked the boy’s good arm, hoping he stopped embarrassing her friend. Not to mention herself.

  “I’m older than I look. When you feel better you’ll have to tell me all about your father.” Aryana touched Jamie’s shoulder.

  The air around Jamie warped, shimmering like the reflection off water on a hot day. He started to disappear right when Enar spoke. By the Goddess, what was happening?

  “Catch.” Enar pulled the herb bag from around his waist, tossing it to Keara.

  Lily watched Keara’s hand grasp the bag and then she felt every small particle in her body rip apart. She opened her mouth on a silent scream, which made sense seeing how she no longer possessed a mouth to make words. The pain crashed over her, streaking through her limbs as she disappeared. Her awareness centered on dark blurs of objects streaking past her vision, until they stopped moving, coalescing into a bed and four walls.

  A scream pierced her ears, bouncing off the stone walls, crashing through her. It took her a moment to realize the noise came from her mouth. Not that the realization made her lips close.

  Keara elbowed her in the ribs and the pain snapped the scream out of her throat. “Lily! Stop that! You’ll wake the dead!”

  Lily took a deep breath and pursed her lips together. If they pressed together, they couldn’t allow loud noises to escape. Looking around, she saw Jamie lying on a bed, a smile evening out the pain lines etched on his face.

  Jamie’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Keara. “Can we do that again?”

  “Sweet Goddess, I hope not. What happened?” Lily’s hand fluttered at her chest, as if the hand could make her heart stop its frantic beating. How did she get from the Courtyard of the Temple into this room? Where were they?

  “It’s how the Draconi move about. Takes awhile to get used to it. But once you do it’s amazing.”

  Lily watched Keara rummage through her herb bag, looking for Goddess only knew what. Her racing heartbeat calmed, but continued to thud like she had walked a long distance straight uphill. The Draconi traveled by splitting their body into dust and flying across the sky. Where was her list of unusual items? It needed another entry.

  Keara spoke some to Jamie, then began cutting off the leg of his trousers, her face lost in thought as she examined his injuries.

  “Lily? Would you mind setting the pot of water to boil?”

  “Of course not. Where’s the pot?”

  Keara gestured to the stack of pots against the wall. Grabbing the top one, Lily looked around the room for a pump, finding it in the corner.

  Several pumps later she had the pot full and resting on the grill of a brazier, being warmed by red-hot rocks that produced heat without being aflame. She stared at the rocks, mentally adding them to her unusual items list while Jamie told Keara his story of the ginormous bird and falling out of the tree.

  How did the rocks produce heat if they had no fire?

  What kind of land was this?

  The rocks held no answers, just continued to emit heat. She turned away. Her face held enough heat from the sun without adding fire-less rocks to the mix.

  She went and sat next to Jamie, turning her attention to Keara’s movements as her friend prepared an herbal mixture for the boy. Keara gave Jamie a lecture about the herbs she would use to treat him and what he could expect from the bone-setting.

&n
bsp; Pain, pain and more pain. And a dose of possible death to round out the brew. Lily shivered. She should have watched Jamie better. Should have ensured the boy stayed feet-down upon the ground. Then perhaps the poor boy wouldn’t be suffering so now.

  “Try not to kill me,” Jamie’s voice remained strong, but she saw fear in his eyes.

  Lily patted his good arm. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Keara knows what she’s doing. She’s done this before, you know.”

  She sat beside the boy in silence while Keara finished his potion. What could she say to ease his mind? To ease her own? She settled for more of the arm patting, the silent movements expressing her concern.

  “Bottom’s up.”

  Jamie made a face, but drank the cup dry. Soon his eyes closed and he drifted to sleep.

  “What do you need me to do?” Lily sat on the opposite side of the narrow bed from Keara, watching her friend as she gathered up splints and strips of cloth.

  “Stabilize his arm. I’ll pull and adjust the bones, but I need you to hold it like so,” she demonstrated for Lily, “and not let go. Can you do that?”

  Lily nodded. How hard could holding an arm be? Keara grabbed Jamie’s arm, one hand at the wrist, the other at his elbow and tugged, applying steady pressure. Lily’s muscles strained, shaking as she struggled to maintain her hold.

  To make matters worse, little spots of lights flickered at the edges of her vision. Flickered in such a way she knew one of her dreaded visions was about to make an appearance.

  Why now? Keara needed her help. Do not pass out, Lily. Do not pass out. She muttered one of Enar’s curses under her breath and squeezed her hands around Jamie’s arm, hoping the pain would ward off the vision. Beneath her fingers, she felt the bones in Jamie’s arm slip into place, saw the bulge straightening out, and then the flickering lights coalesced into a bright flash and she crumpled to the floor.

  Chants and the low rumble of drumbeats sounded in the darkness. Lily looked around, trying to find the source of the chanting, seeing nothing but a whole lot of dark air. She blinked. And again. And one more time for good measure. Darkness remained. Darkness and chanting and drumbeats. Since when did she only hear a vision and not see it? After all, that was why they were called visions and not hearings.