Earth Born (The Earth Born Cycle Book 1)

by N. E. Conneely

  Cord flipped on his flashlight, sweeping across the area. There were two dragons ahead of them, but the flashlight wasn’t bright enough for Shasta to tell what color they were. However, they seemed to know Branstan and responded to him with warbles and sweeping tones of their own.

  After several exchanges, Branstan swung his head around to look at Shasta and Cord. “I’m too fatigued to continue. These are two of Edgar’s grandparents. They’ve agreed to take you to town. If you could remove some of the food from the pack and leave it out for me, I will rest and join you in a few hours.”

  “Doesn’t that leave you vulnerable?” Cord asked.

  “It’s a half-hour flight to town. So far our enemy has not mounted any attack against a mature dragon at this range. There are also patrols flying overhead.” Branstan tipped his nose up toward the sky. “I should be fine.”

  Shasta pursed her lips as she started undoing the buckles. She didn’t agree, but if he was too tired to fly, he was too tired fly, and they needed to get back with word of what had happened. This was far from ideal, but he was right. Their enemy would have to be quite a bit bolder than he had been to date to put Branstan in any danger.

  Cord helped her dig their backpacks out of the larger saddlebag. To their surprise, near the bottom of the big pack there was a twenty-pound ham for Branstan. It was hardly more than a snack, so Shasta unwrapped the two remaining sandwiches and set them down next to it.

  “There’s a stream nearby. Only a hundred feet to your right.” Shasta pointed toward it.

  Branstan nodded solemnly. “I will be fine. Let Adriana and Anthony take you to town.”

  “Please hurry. The rest should know,” one of them said in carefully enunciated English.

  “You have a preference as to whom you carry?” Cord asked.

  The one on the right knelt down. “I am to be your ride.”

  Cord bowed and then hurried over to mount up, carefully settling himself between two spine ridges, his hands clenched on one of them.

  The dragon who’d spoken first knelt. “Come, young one. I will carry you.”

  Shasta bowed. “Thank you.” She carefully climbed up the dragon that under closer inspection turned out to be ginger. That would make these two Finn’s parents. She settled between spine ridges and grabbed the one in front of her.

  “Hold on,” one of the dragons said.

  Shasta leaned forward, her hands clenched tightly around the crest of a ridge. The takeoff was more of a thrust than a lurch, and unlike the past few times she’d been on dragonback, she didn’t feel in danger of falling off. As fast as it felt Branstan had gone, atop whichever one of Finn’s parents this was, she could feel the speed difference. What was going to take these dragons thirty minutes would probably have taken Branstan closer to an hour. She hoped he was safe back there.

  The time passed in a blink, and before she knew it they were circling a field speckled with lights. The landing was as smooth as the takeoff, hardly jostling her at all. Shasta scrambled off the dragon’s back, bowing again and thanking her. She wasn’t sure the dragon heard, however, because she was whistling so shrilly Shasta had to clap her hands over her ears. The dragon tongue could be quite beautiful, but it also hurt.

  In a matter of seconds Shasta found herself next to Cord with dozens of dragons peering at them through the darkness.

  “Branstan flew these two to the cave where they found Matilda in hopes that they could kill the monster. Instead, they found something far worse. Branstan is resting outside town. We carried them here so everyone could get the news as quickly as possible.” She wasn’t sure if that was Anthony or Adriana, but as their ride spoke, the dragons around them edged a little closer.

  Shasta cleared her throat. “The monster isn’t simply a blood sorcerer. He’s trying to become a weredragon. We found bodies of people he experimented on. I don’t know if he’s made any successful weredragons, but he’s close. He’s going to need more dragons to continue his experiments.” Shasta swallowed, wetting her dry mouth. “None of you are safe.”

  There was a moment of silence before all the dragons erupted into chatter. A mix of English and the dragon tongue filled the gathering place. Shasta stood there as question after question was directed at her, but she couldn’t separate them, never mind attempt to answer. One head would shove another out of the way. The orderly crowd began to shift, some surging toward her and others moving away, Cord put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

  She turned to him and mouthed, “What do we do?”

  “Wait,” he mouthed back.

  The mix of languages rose in volume. Shasta winced at a particularly shrill set of notes. That was easier said than done.

  He yanked her down as a dragon swung around, tail passing right over their heads. She stayed crouched, wishing she had any useful idea for how to manage this situation. She’d never thought she’d have to tell a bunch of dragons that they were in mortal danger from an enemy that could look like them. She really should’ve considered their reaction and if they might eat or cook the messenger before she blurted all of it out.

  Cord tugged her to the side. She followed him to a stately black dragon who lifted a wing. Shasta and Cord paused long enough to bow before ducking under the provided cover. At least here another dragon wouldn’t forget to look for the short bipeds and squish them. Apologies were nice and all, but they didn’t unsquish a person.

  A whistle that bordered on a scream cut through the chatter. The dragons all looked up into the sky. Shasta and Cord crept out from under the dragon’s wing and looked up, straining to see what the dragons had focused on. Shasta hoped it was Branstan, but if the family luck held… Well, her family wasn’t known for luck.

  A tawny dragon plummeted out of the sky, landing heavily only a little more than a wing length from Shasta and Cord. She was sure if they’d still been in the open, they would’ve been flattened. The dragon sat on its haunches, its head low as it sucked in great gulps of air.

  Anthony—or was it Adriana?—stepped out of the crowd. “What happened?”

  The tawny dragon lifted its head. “Human trespassers at the eastern border.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  It took a while to get the full story. Not only was the poor dragon exhausted but it kept switching between the dragon tongue and English, which didn’t help Shasta or Cord follow along.

  Finally Adriana retold the story, with frequent glances at the tawny dragon, whose name turned out to be Dennis, for verification. “They found a group of twenty humans in five vehicles roughly forty miles inside the border. They confronted the humans, who claimed to have been invited in by dragons for a tour. It took some time to convince the humans that they were not welcome, get them turned around, and escort them back to South Dakota for the human police to deal with. One of the things they mentioned was that they were not the first group. Another group had left the day before. This group of humans is uncertain how many people were in that group. One of the dragons is coordinating with the human police to see if they can track down what happened. The humans also claim tours have been going on for months. They were simply the most recent group.” Adriana glanced at the tawny dragon. “With that knowledge, Dennis returned, warning every patrol he encountered on the way back that there were human intruders. None of the patrols he spoke with reported seeing humans, but they all said they would send word if they did.”

  Another, this time quieter, round of exclamations broke out. Shasta caught Cord’s eye and made a talking motion with her hand. He frowned but nodded. They needed to go over what they found in the cave again so that everyone could understand the implications. There was no way of knowing how many tests Mr. Evil had run or how many people he currently had under his power. All the dragons needed to be alert, and it would be best if they only traveled in groups.

  Shasta leaned over and whispered into Cord’s ear. “Would you tell it this time? I don’t want to tell the dragons bad news a second time.”

  �
��Partners, remember?” His lips brushed her ear, sending shivers down her spine, as he replied. “I’ll do it this time.”

  Before she could thank him, he strode out from under the black dragon’s wing. “We have news of our own that was not told in its entirety.” With that, he quickly relayed everything they had learned and outlined the implications. No one was happy to hear about the tortured dragons or that there were dragons created from blood magic. If Mr. Evil’s creations got loose, the dragons would be on the front lines of that fight.

  Shasta sat on the ground, nodding emphatically whenever a dragon glanced in her direction.

  Dennis looked at Cord with wide eyes. “We are doomed.”

  Shasta got to her feet. Remembering all the lessons she’d had from both her parents, she forced herself to stand tall and square her shoulders. “Pish.” She strode into the empty space and locked eyes with as many dragons as she could. “You aren’t doomed. For one, you have the brownies, and there’s no evidence that this person has any particular affinity for their magic or ability to target them as he does you. Then you have each other. Something along these lines has to have happened before. How did you beat it then? The human world is full of stories of people trying and failing to get things, be it blood or scales, from dragons. I’m sure more sinister events occurred and were suppressed. After all, who wants to give the next evil person ideas?

  “Plus we found his notebooks, and tomorrow we’ll examine them. From the little we’ve read, we know some of what he’s done. Hopefully it details where he’s hiding as well as his plans.” A few of the dragons were sitting on their haunches, starting to look thoughtful, but she had no intention of stopping there. “That’s not even counting the two of us. You have hired us to teach your young, but we can and will fight for you. Then there’s the fact of who was hired. We have more resources than just the two of us. We can alert the rest of the company. My parents and brother will be here as soon as they can. Now, we’re too tired to go after the humans inside your borders tonight, but tomorrow we can join the fight again.” Shasta ended with a grin that she thought was equal parts determined, and had one of the humans been there, potentially terrifying.

  It did not have the same effect on the dragons. A sky-blue dragon edged forward. “How does your company help us? And for that matter, how do the two of you do anything?”

  “I don’t know if you’ve heard of Oaks Consulting, but Cord and I are the two most junior members. Perhaps you’ve heard of Michelle Oaks and Elron?” This time her grin was positively feral. “These days Mom is known less for her magical prowess than for being the Premier—you know, the witch in charge of all the other witches.”

  The sky-blue dragon’s jaw swung open, and other dragons had jerked their heads back and were exchanging looks with their friends. Apparently her family connections hadn’t been common knowledge.

  “My mom doesn’t like people who dabble in blood magic, and if need be, she’ll get every witch in the country to help hunt this person down and kill them. That’s assuming she and my dad can’t manage the task on their own.”

  Now the glances the dragons were exchanging were more thoughtful than upset.

  Cord stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with her. “You know me as an elf. You don’t know me as an elf who spent fifteen years working as a police officer. You know Shasta as the youngest member of Oaks Consulting. With her powers, she’s also one of the most unique people on staff. She almost killed this monster once. We’ll call the company. We’ll get an army here if need be, but the two of us can kill this monster.” His voice vibrated with conviction.

  For a long moment all the dragons were silent. Shasta couldn’t read them well enough to tell if they were too surprised to talk, thinking too hard to talk, or were already considering how nice it was gonna be to be able to cook this monster in the dining hall.

  Adriana lowered her head until she was looking at the two of them. “We gladly accept your offer of assistance. We would be honored if you would contact Michelle and Elron of Oaks Consulting on our behalf.” Her voice softened. “You’ve done your part to aid us; rest and be prepared for tomorrow’s fight.”

  “We’ll make the call for aid tonight.” Shasta bowed with Cord barely out of sync with her. “In the morning we’ll be ready to fight.”

  As they turned to trudge back to their house, the dragons shuffled around until there was a clear path for them out of the gathering area. As strange as it was to have the dragons watch them walk by with hardly more than a soft whistle passing between the creatures, Shasta couldn’t wait to get home and activate the emergency charm. As soon as she did that, she had every intention of showering and going to bed. Maybe if she were extralucky, she’d wake up and this would’ve been a very bad dream.

  When they reached the house, Cord held open the door for her. Shasta eyed the dragon-free roof. As much as she’d complained about dragons always snoring up there, the absence left her uneasy. A shiver trailed down her spine as she crossed the threshold. Ignoring the sensation, she dropped her pack on the sofa. Mr. Evil’s notebook and Cord’s pack settled next to it. All she had to do was activate the charm, and then she could rest.

  Cord must’ve had the same idea as her because she found herself half racing him to the charm. Their fingers touched it at the same time. Shasta yanked her hand back.

  Cord sighed but picked up the charm and slipped the needle out of its slot on the back. He stabbed his finger, replaced the needle, rotated the charm around, and then squished the required three drops of blood onto the center of the charm. It pulsed with a reddish light before settling into a muted rusty glow. He sighed again as he set the charm on the countertop.

  Technically all the charm did was alert whomever was currently in tune with the company’s distress signals that it had been activated. Usually that was her mom, and if so, they could expect a magical phone call any moment, but it could be her father or brother, in which case there was no telling exactly what would happen. Her brother Victor would be almost as inclined to call as her mom. Her dad would do his best to get here as quickly as possible.

  She lifted her gaze from the charm to see Cord leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest, studying her. She had a feeling this was gonna take a while, so she pulled out a chair and settled in.

  “I don’t think this is gonna work.” Cord stated it as if it made all the sense in the world.

  “While it may be incredibly clear to you what ‘this’ is, I don’t have the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.” Looking at him, so close but so far away, had her heart aching all over again. “Would this be our stated intention to help the dragons kill that monster? Or would this be how we’ve outlined going after the monster? Or, perhaps, neither of those. Are you speaking of us as work partners?”

  He shook his head. “We’re good partners, and we can do what we told the dragons, but I can’t be your partner like this. Every time I look at you, I think about that night. When I close my eyes, I can still feel you in my arms. I can’t be this close to you and not be with you. I can’t be with you because you deserve better.”

  “I’m still trying to figure out what you did that was so horrible. I’m trying to figure out why you can’t forgive yourself. And mostly, I’m trying to figure out me.” Shasta looked at her hands, which were covered in thick calluses from years of swordplay. For every time her dad or brother had been her partner, there was a time it had been Cord. He’d always been there, even when he didn’t have to be. “What if you got it wrong? What if you didn’t take advantage of me? What if I let myself finally give in to a desire I’d had for years and pulled you in with me?” She forced herself to look at him.

  His jaw was clenched, his eyes hot with anger. “That’s ridiculous!”

  “Is it?” She challenged him. “I think you forget what I am. I think you still see me as the child you think you rescued instead of a woman, grown and equal to you.”

  “I’m twice your age, and
I spent most of that difference seeing the worst side of people.” He pushed off the wall and paced angrily around the room. “Tell me again how we’re the same. Tell me again how we’re equal.”

  This wasn’t a gap words could bridge, not even the ones she most wanted to say. Right now he wouldn’t believe she loved him. Cord would think she was saying it to convince him that he wasn’t the monster he believed himself to be. “What if I can prove it to you?”

  He snorted and continued pacing.

  Shasta pushed herself out of the chair, crossed the room, and planted herself in his path. She met his angry eyes with her determined ones. “I have things to tell you when you’re ready to listen, and you won’t be until you believe I’m your equal. I can prove it. I can prove everything you think is right is wrong and everything you think is wrong is right.”

  He leaned close. “Why are you making this so difficult? Why are you trying to make me believe something I know isn’t true?”

  “Because you’re wrong.” She stepped forward until there was hardly an inch between their bodies. “I don’t know if you truly love me, but I know what I am, and I know you haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “You’re crazy.” He broke away, quickly putting the couch between them and running a shaky hand through his hair. “That shock you received in the cave scrambled your brain. I need to get you to a healer.”

  It hurt her to see him like this, but this was better than months of awkwardly dodging conversations. The problem was they weren’t making useful progress. Before she could figure out how to move the conversation forward, there was thump at the door.