Into a Dragon's Soul: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Chronicles of the Four Book 3)

by Marissa Farrar

  He nodded and ducked his head. “I do, Dela. I’m here for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  With a full stomach, and feeling warm and safe, Dela went to where the egg was nestled into the furs. She lay on her side beside the egg, her hand pillowed beneath her cheek, and allowed her eyes to drift shut. It was good the dragon had trusted her enough to leave the egg with her, though she wouldn’t be able to keep it with her forever. If there was to be fighting, she couldn’t risk the egg getting broken. When would it hatch? She curled her body around it, focusing to see if there was any more movement, but there was nothing. Was the baby dragon reserving its strength to hatch, or had they accidentally hurt it while they’d moved it? She prayed that wouldn’t be the case. What would the dragon do if she’d accidentally hurt his baby? The bond between them might be broken for good.

  Chapter 6

  Dela

  She was flying with the dragon once more, but not riding on his back. No, this was the kind of flying where she was inside his head and was experiencing it as though she inhabited the dragon’s body. Dela knew this was a dream, but she also knew it was more than that. She was seeing what the dragon was experiencing, which meant he wasn’t resting like they were.

  Far beneath her stretched the jagged expanse of the Great Dividing Range. From this viewpoint, the mountains held a breathtaking beauty that was impossible to appreciate from below. The snow was like a smooth blanket of white, the full moon above reflecting on the ice. Ridges and jagged peaks of dark rock stabbed through the snow.

  They flew over peak after peak, sometimes getting so close the dragon’s wings caused flurries of snow to tumble down the sides in striated waves. Snow hit their skin and immediately hissed and rose back into the air as steam, only to hit the freezing air and fall back down as snow. It was an incredible spectacle, and Dela laughed inside her head with joy. It was impossible not to live in the moment when she was experiencing how it was to fly as a dragon. In the moment, nothing else mattered—not King Crowmere, or the broken Treaty, or the Second Great War.

  Something moved beneath them.

  She wasn’t alarmed yet—more curious than anything. There wasn’t much that lived this high up in the mountain range. Even the Norcs set up home at the base of the mountains. But the movement hadn’t come from the peak of the mountain, but the side. The altitude was still high here, and she willed the dragon to swoop lower to get a better look. Even in the bright moonlight, it was difficult to see. Something was moving en mass, and she wondered if it was a trick of the eye and she was actually seeing a snow slide, thousands of tons of snow shifting down the side of the mountain. Only, whatever was moving wasn’t white. Quite the opposite.

  The dragon banked to one side, skirting the side of the mountain. In her sleep, Dela frowned. Something didn’t look right. Where the other mountains hit the bottom of the valley below and then swept back up to become new peaks, at the bottom of this one she could see only darkness.

  She urged the dragon lower, but remained cautious. She wanted to know what she was looking at, while not wanting to put the dragon in any unnecessary danger.

  What she saw started to take shape beneath the moonlight. The ravine below seemed endless, a darkness which plummeted into the depths of the earth. Did the Norcs know it was here? Had they discovered it during their explorations of the Great Dividing Range? Or was this something new, perhaps opened during the earth tremors that had occurred a few days previously, when the Seer’s cave had fallen apart on the island?

  But then she realized the darkness wasn’t all it seemed. From out of the ravine marched an army of creatures. They looked like giant beetles, with shells on their backs, only they didn’t walk flat to the ground on six legs, but were up on their hind legs, their other four legs more like arms protruding from their torsos.

  What were these things? She’d led a relatively sheltered life, but she’d never even heard stories of something like this before. And there were hundreds of them! No, not hundreds—thousands. They marched like an army of their own, as though they knew exactly where they were going.

  Dela suddenly remembered the Norc settlement. How far away were they now? At the speed the dragon was able to move, she thought they were a good distance. It might only be a couple of hours for the dragon, but it was surely a day or more over the mountain ranges.

  Had these creatures been living somewhere beneath ground, only for the earth tremors to split that same ground open and give them access to the outside world? It was a possibility. These things, whatever they were, didn’t exactly look friendly. Would they reach the Norc settlement, or would they veer off in a different direction and meet the human army first?

  She urged the dragon lower, wanting to get a better look and an idea of what these things might be. If they were heading toward the Norc settlement, she needed to warn them, and the more information she could go back with, the better. The Norcs might already be aware of what the creatures were and be prepared for them, but, just in case she lost them again, she wanted them to be ready.

  The dragon flew around the head of the swarm. Yes, that was what they looked like—a swarm of giant insects, each one as large as a dog. But they didn’t move like insects. They moved like an army.

  A bellow of flames from the dragon’s mouth poured down over the creatures. A shriek of anger and fear rose from the swarm, but they pulled the shells up over themselves, creating shelters. Then, when the flames had faded, they popped up again, unharmed.

  Dela’s stomach turned. That wasn’t good. Dragon fire destroyed almost everything. How could they defend people against these things if they weren’t able to use the dragon?

  Dela woke with a lurch, her heart beating hard, her skin covered in a thin film of sweat. The fire in the middle of the hut had burned down to mere embers, and the chill of the night had crept into the simple building. Her new furs had kept her body warm, but the sweat caused by her very real nightmare had cooled her skin.

  She sat up. It was still dark outside.

  Good. They needed to get moving. There wasn’t any time to waste. Dela knew what she’d seen had been real. She trusted the dragon’s eyes enough now to understand that he showed her what was important.

  She felt torn. Should she somehow deal with the insect creatures first? Or go to the human army as planned? She couldn’t be in two places at once.

  Leaning over to where Warsgra lay, his mouth open and snoring quietly, she shook him awake.

  “It’s time to get up,” she said, not bothering to keep her voice down. The others needed to wake, too. In fact, the whole of the Norc settlement needed to be warned.

  The men stirred from their slumber, sitting up, pushing hair back from their faces, and rubbing at their eyes.

  “Is it time to go?” asked Vehel.

  “Yes, but there’s something else. I had one of those dreams, and I saw something.”

  Orergon frowned. “The human army?”

  “No. It looked like an army of sorts, but not one of the races. They’re like beetles standing upright, and when the dragon breathed fire at them, they pulled their shells over themselves and were protected.”

  Vehel’s eyes narrowed. “Protected from dragon fire?”

  Dela nodded, fresh worry winding through her. “That was what it looked like. I didn’t watch them for much longer. We needed to get back here and alert everyone to the danger.”

  Warsgra got to his feet, his heavy brow pulled down in a frown. “You think these beetle creatures are on their way here?”

  “They were heading south. I don’t know if they’ll change direction, but that was what we saw. There was something else, too. There was a ravine nearby—huge and impossibly deep. I think the creatures came from the ravine.”

  Warsgra pressed his lips together, his nostrils flaring. “It’s possible.”

  “We need to warn people,” she said. “They need to be prepared.”

  Orergon stared at her in disbelief. “For a human ar
my, and now a swarm of giant beetles?”

  “I’m sorry, but yes.”

  He shook his head, his long black hair falling around his shoulders. “By the Gods …”

  She took a breath. “I understand this isn’t good news, and Warsgra, you’re going to need to warn your people, but this doesn’t change the fact the human army are still on their way. Whatever those things were that I saw, they have numerous mountain ranges to cross before they reach us. The human army are only a day away and have a relatively easy trek through the Southern Pass. They’ll get here first.”

  Vehel fixed his gaze on her. “We need to go to the human army first.”

  She nodded. “I think we have to.”

  It was still dark outside, the moon as high and full as it had been in her dream. If she could reach the army at daybreak, before they were gathered together enough to march, then they’d be less likely to attack. That was the last thing she wanted. She dreaded being put into a position where she was going to be forced to hurt her own people. She’d recognize some of the faces—young men and even boys, younger than she was, who she’d known growing up. These people were no less pawns of King Crowmere than those of them sent on the Passover. But she wasn’t naïve enough to believe everyone in the army was a good, innocent person. There would be followers of the king’s who would literally go to their deaths to protect his rulership, but she would simply have to deal with them when they stood against her, even if it meant making the hardest of decisions.

  Her blood ran cold at the thought. The Seer had told her blood would be spilled before there was peace, and she knew that was true. It didn’t make it any easier to bear, however. If she could get through this war without a single drop of blood being spilled, then she would, but she wouldn’t turn her back on what was necessary or hard.

  “Go,” she told Warsgra. “Spread the word of what I’ve seen—of what the dragon has seen—and then we need to leave.”

  He didn’t argue with her, but slipped from the hut, the axe he’d taken from Mudurt swinging at his side.

  “Is there anything we can do, Dela?” Orergon asked.

  “No. Just stay with me and be ready to leave when Warsgra returns. The other Norcs won’t listen to you or Vehel.”

  “They might listen to you,” Orergon said.

  “Maybe one day, but not yet. They’ll ask too many questions, and we don’t have time for that. It’s better that it comes from Warsgra. They’ll listen to him.”

  Dela turned her attention to the egg. If there was to be fighting in the Southern Pass, she didn’t want to take it with her. The egg appeared safe and warm nestled in fur and near the embers of the fire to keep warm. She picked up a couple of other furs and draped them across the top of the shell to hide the egg from view. “It’ll be safe until we return.”

  Together, they left the hut. The dragon sat on the ridge running along the entrance to the Southern Pass. He turned his head toward her as she approached, and opened his mouth and let out a mournful screech that echoed around the Southern Trough, no doubt waking the Norcs from their slumber.

  “I know,” she murmured, half to herself and half to the dragon, though he was beyond hearing. “It didn’t look good to me either.”

  Though it was not yet morning, the Norc settlement was already coming to life. The news of what was coming was spreading through the camp. Longhaired, green-eyed children ran from hut to hut, pausing only to stare in wonder at the huge dragon perched high above them atop the snow, rock, and ice. Fires were relit after dying down during the night as people came awake. She’d not wanted to frighten them, but she’d rather they be frightened and prepared than attacked without warning.

  She didn’t want to hang around, knowing the Norcs would have questions she didn’t have the answers to. She didn’t have time to get bogged down in their queries, though she did feel bad for leaving them.

  The dragon hopped down from his perch on the cliff face of the Southern Pass and spread his wings to soar down toward where she was standing. His feet touched the ground in front of her, and his massive wings folded into his body.

  She turned to where Orergon and Vehel waited. “It’s time to go.”

  Oregon looked over his shoulder, back at the Norc village. “Where’s Warsgra?”

  “He’s coming.”

  She took the lead, as always, to climb up onto the dragon’s back. She didn’t know how he would react to one of the men getting on without her first being there. Orergon climbed on behind her, and Vehel took up his spot on the other side of the dragon’s body. The spines running down the middle of the dragon’s back separated them, but if they both reached up together, their fingers would touch around the spine.

  The dragon’s head turned toward her, his long neck allowing him to sweep around the side of his body. She caught his eye and understood what he was checking on.

  “Not yet,” she told him. “We need to wait for Warsgra.”

  As though she’d conjured him, the Norc came striding through the huts toward them. In his right hand, he held the axe he’d taken from Mudurt. Warsgra clearly didn’t intend on returning the weapon.

  “Done,” he said as he approached the dragon with a wariness he didn’t often show elsewhere. “They’re spreading the word and sending out a couple of goat riders in the direction you saw the creatures. Someone might recognize them and know how to deal with them.”

  “There were a lot,” she said, remembering the swarm she’d seen from the sky.

  “Norcs are used to the mountains and the strange creatures found here.” He pulled himself up onto the dragon’s back, settling behind Vehel. “They’ll be able to deal with them.”

  “But you don’t recognize my description?” She wasn’t convinced this horde of things heading their way could be so easily dealt with.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Okay. They were still some distance away. Hopefully, it will give us enough time to reach the human army and get back in time.”

  With Warsgra settled in place, she placed her palm against the side of the dragon’s body. “Go.”

  The dragon’s wings lifted, forcing them all to press tighter against the creature’s body. Within seconds, they were back in the air, and Dela felt as though she’d left her stomach back on the ground with the watching Norcs.

  The dragon set off in the direction of the Southern Pass. He didn’t need to pass within its tall, rock walls, but instead could fly above. Dela peered down, watching out not only for the human army—though they’d have had to continue marching all night for them to have covered the distance—but also for the possibility that there might be more of the insects. If her instincts were correct, and the earth tremor had caused a crevice in the mountains that had released the creatures, then there might be more fissures.

  She had to raise her voice to be heard, but even shouting, the wind whipped her words from her mouth.

  “When we land, we stay beside the dragon,” she told the others. “Allow me to do the talking. I don’t know how they’re going to react, not only to the dragon, but the news of what I have to tell them.”

  “What if someone tries to attack you?” Warsgra asked. “You can’t expect us to stand there and do nothing.”

  “I have the dragon. He won’t allow anyone to hurt me.”

  Orergon spoke from behind her. “Neither will we. I might not like the dark magic, but I’ll use it if a human threatens you.”

  “Same with my magic,” Vehel said. “I’ll use it, if necessary.”

  “Thank you, all of you, but I’m hoping it won’t come to that. Some of the men will want to fight, but I hope most will want peace.”

  “In my experience,” Warsgra grumbled, “fighting men want to fight.”

  Nerves flipped in her stomach at the idea of standing up against the human army. She was even more nervous about it than she had been speaking with the Norcs. It was because she knew some of them would recognize her, and they would still see her as the girl who’
d grown up in the back alleys of Anthoinia. They’d see her as Ridley’s little sister, and that person didn’t command much respect. Would they scoff at her and ask if this was all a joke?

  Yes, there was a good chance that would happen, but she needed to make sure they saw her as the person she was now—the Dragonsayer, born to lead—and no longer little Dela from Anthoinia. But what Warsgra said was true. The army would have been riled up during their journey, fed stories and songs of wild battles and victories. They would want blood and women, and maybe even treasures for their efforts, and what she was offering was nowhere near as glorious. She couldn’t allow her doubts to creep in, however. This was right for their country, and she needed to convince them of that.

  The dragon continued to fly, chasing the full moon across the purple hued night sky. Stars winked out, and she realized they were approaching morning and had not yet spotted the army camp. Could they have moved on overnight? Perhaps they’d had dangers of their own to deal with?

  The trouble with the Southern Pass was that much of it looked the same. Dela bit hard on her lower lip, her brow furrowed in a frown, and she peered over the side of the dragon’s body, watching the Southern Pass below them. In the dark, it was hard to see the bottom, but she knew the army wouldn’t camp without multiple fires being lit to keep away the terrors of the night, and she knew she’d probably see the glow from all of those fires before anything else.

  “Is there are a chance we missed them?” she called over to Warsgra, as he knew this area better than the others. “Could we have gone too far already?”

  She was starting to doubt herself.

  “Just a little farther,” he shouted back.

  She was thankful for the men’s presence—each of them. She couldn’t imagine trying to do this alone.

  Ahead, a glow rose from the darkness of the Southern Pass. It was warm and orange, unlike the white radiance of the moon.

  “There!” She pointed toward the light.