Dragon Guardian

by Ophelia Bell

  “Sweet Mother, no,” he croaked.

  Most of the group stood back, grim faces observing them as Calder led Aodh and Neph into a lit cooler to the other side. They reached a solid wall and stopped.

  “The baby we discovered was inside the room beyond this wall. There must be a way to open it, but we haven’t found it. We’ll have to drift inside.”

  Aodh’s heart felt like a lead weight in his chest, his gaze fixed on the trail of blood that stopped at the wall. Vrishti’s blood.

  “By Gaia’s grace, please. No.” Neph’s tone was a mournful plea breaking through the buzz of helpless panic that had risen up Aodh’s spine. A moment later Neph was gone, his shape fading into mist and disappearing as he drifted through the wall. Aodh forced himself to focus on the power to move and followed.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Neph

  Neph’s silent prayers to Dionysus and Gaia went unheard. He landed in the room beyond the steel wall to the overwhelming scent of green grass and wildflowers—Vrishti’s essence was so deeply imprinted on his soul he’d know that scent anywhere.

  A choked cry caught in his throat as he fell to his knees in the pool of blood. Aodh appeared beside him, his roar instantly filling the room, but even the deafening volume of it couldn’t penetrate the sickening din of Neph’s own failure.

  “Sweet Mother,” Aurum whispered when she arrived. The immortal Gold’s power flooded the room with a despair that only barely matched what Neph already carried deep within him. “Where is the baby?”

  Neph was transfixed by his own dark reflection in the pool of blood beneath him. The indecipherable vision had been this, he was sure of it. He should have heeded his gut, left her behind in the safety of the temple. It took him a moment of self-flagellation before Aurum’s words sank in.

  “What baby?” He tore his gaze away from his macabre reflection to look up at the others. Aurum, Nicholas, and Calder had joined him and Aodh and were staring up at the small transparent tank in the center of the room.

  “There was a fetus in the tank when I scouted this room earlier,” Calder said. “It was hooked to that supply of satyr blood. There’s no way it could survive for long without that supply.”

  “We were going to find a way to save her,” Aurum said in a shaky voice. “To protect her from the mad bitch’s experiments. We’re too late.”

  Slowly Neph gathered his wits and mentally reached out to Aodh to calm the raging dragon. His roar had cracked the tank, which now slowly leaked pinkish fluid that began to pool on the floor in a swirling mix with Vrishti’s blood.

  “Satyr blood … that’s what was feeding the baby,” he said, catching a whiff of the stuff.

  “We were hooked up to tubes in the other tank,” Calder said. “Father and the others had been supplying her with blood for ages, but this child can’t have been more than a few months past conception. My guess is that her experiments never worked until this one, or she’d have acted long before now.”

  The fog finally cleared from Neph’s mind and the truth fell into place with a sickening snap. “She needed the power of the Source for the child all along. Your blood was the closest she could get. Vrishti’s blood … Gaia’s tears, she’s taken her for her blood.”

  “Where?” Aodh yelled. “Where did Meri take her?” The dragon hauled Neph up by his shoulders and shook him. Neph met the dragon’s wild gaze and shook his head.

  “She couldn’t use the portal we cast the trap spell on, even if it were clear of the trap. She has to have a backup plan.”

  “But she can’t get into the Haven, so where would she go?” Calder asked. “We’ve all been locked out since Mother went mad. She’d need the power of the Source to open it, and Mother’s the only one who can do that. From the inside.”

  Neph gave the others a pained look. “Vrishti’s at the height of estrous, or would have been when Meri captured her. Her blood is pure Source. Enough power to open a portal from outside.”

  “Then we shouldn’t wait to do this.” Aodh snatched the dripping tube that dangled from the side of the wheeled examination table and held it over his mouth. Several red drops gleamed in the dim light from the console as they fell onto his tongue. He closed his mouth and swallowed before handing the tube to Neph.

  It would be only half a blood meld, but Aodh was right—having Vrishti’s blood in their systems would grant them both a closer connection to her. And as long as she remained in the human world, they would find her.

  Neph held the thin tube over his own mouth until the tangy taste of her blood hit his tongue. The second he tasted her, his body flushed with a surge of unexpected power. He instantly shifted back into his full primal shape, dizzy from an overwhelming need to find his female and mount her until she was ripe and filled with his seed. He shook his head until the feeling passed and inhaled deeply to settle himself.

  When he looked up, Aodh regarded him thoughtfully.

  “I used to do that to you with only my breath,” the big dragon said.

  “You still do. Trust me, if we didn’t need to get to her, I’d mount you right here.”

  “Ah … Shall we go get her, then?” Nicholas asked.

  “She’s downriver several miles, near the coast. I know the portal, but we need to be prepared for a battle. Aurum, get a message to Nikhil to send everyone to our location the second he can.”

  “Done,” the golden beauty said. “We’re with you.”

  Neph reached out both his hands. Aodh twined his fingers between Neph’s and Aurum took his other hand, her mates linking hands on her other side. As a unit they drifted, landing a moment later to the deafening crash of heavy surf on a rocky shore.

  He stared around, disoriented, his eyes acclimating to the darkness. There should have been a cave entrance here, but there was nothing but a wide expanse of sand and rocks. He released the others’ hands and ran in the direction his instincts told him Vrishti would be in.

  Rounding a rock-strewn berm, he found the eroded cave entrance, repositioned after ages of ocean wind and waves had worn down the far side and collapsed the old entrance. Dim lights filtered out from inside. It was far too quiet, but he and Aodh picked up speed, rushing toward the entrance and clambering over broken boulders to reach the opening where they could see an ancient tide pool that reflected the light from several abandoned torches.

  Abandoned. The place was entirely abandoned, but Vrishti’s blood was everywhere. Meri had painted a circle of glyphs beside the tide pool that was surrounded by the kicked up dust and pebbles of hundreds of feet trampling through. The space was only a fraction of the size of the cavern Aodh had hibernated within, so barely a few dozen men could have fit in this cave at once.

  Staring back out into the darkness along the beach, he saw the signs he’d missed. The shore looked like an army had recently trekked across it, all the way into this small space that still reeked of blood and sweat and piss.

  “Where the fuck did they all go?” Nicholas asked.

  “Meri’s gone home,” Neph said. “And she took an army with her.”

  “Can you see the Haven, Uncle?” Calder asked. “Do you know they’ve breached it?”

  Cold numbness weighed down Neph’s limbs. His mind rejected the idea of even looking—confirmation of their failure to protect their home was the last thing he wanted to see.

  A warm hand gripped his shoulder and he turned to see Nereus and the other four Thiasoi soldiers. They’d drifted in with as many of Nikhil’s soldiers as they could bring.

  “Assana will know what to do,” Nereus said. “But we need to find a way back in, and this route is not an option.”

  “Your reunion with my sister should not have to happen under such dire circumstances,” Neph said to his oldest friend.

  “I was Meri’s prisoner for centuries. I never expected my homecoming would be easy. We’ll beat her
one way or the other. How can we get home to do it?”

  “The Sanctuary,” Nicholas said. “We made it through the Rainsong portal at the Solstice. We can do it again now.”

  “No,” Aurum said. “Our entry last time threw the energy of the barrier off balance almost catastrophically. It took us weeks to repair the damage we caused. And anyone not an ursa would need to be immortal just to survive the passage.”

  “Aodh and I can survive it,” Neph said.

  “That still doesn’t solve the power balance issue,” Aurum reminded him. “While I’m willing to risk pissing off the ursa to protect the Haven, we don’t know what will happen if that much power becomes unstable.”

  A warm wind blew through the cave, setting the torches flickering and carrying with it the scent of summer that proved a painful reminder of how he’d failed Vrishti. Would her mother know what had happened?

  “I may have a solution,” a smooth, melodic voice said from the entrance. Everyone turned as a petite, gray-haired woman entered, seeming to float on the breeze for a moment before her feet appeared beneath the hem of her wispy dress and settled on the ground beneath her.

  “Sophia. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Neph said. Despite knowing how powerful a seer Sophia North was, she still made him nervous whenever she appeared out of the blue like this.

  Sophia turned her stormy gaze to regard him. “My world is in danger of destruction as much as yours is, if Meri manages to control the Source. I have a very valid stake in seeing her brought down.”

  “How do you propose we do it?”

  “Just as the ursa says. But you will not enter the Sanctuary by a single portal. Four immortals must enter at each of the four portals: Stonetree, Rainsong, Sundance, and Windchaser. Only then can the power toll be balanced and the integrity of the barrier remain whole.”

  “My brother will help,” Aodh said. “Aurum, will you?”

  “No,” Sophia said. “Your brother should not leave his mate. My great grandchild needs Ked’s power to survive, and no breeding female should attempt the passage. The barrier takes life as a toll—it would damage her baby.”

  “I can go again,” Nicholas offered, but his mouth snapped shut when Sophia’s words sank in. “Wait, her baby?” His gaze shot to Aurum, whose eyes had widened, her hands dropping to her belly.

  “Yes, her baby. And you, my child, are not immortal. Your power is not fed to the barrier when you enter because you have a blood tie to it already as a Stonetree.”

  “Who else is there?” Neph asked.

  Sophia called over her shoulder, her voice a cross between a songbird and the whistling wind. The crowd that had congregated around the cave entrance parted and a scruffy, but well-built blond man appeared.

  “Grandmother, stop jerking them around,” the man said. “Sometimes you are so full of shit it’s no wonder your eyes are brown.”

  Sophia scowled at the man.

  “Who are you?” Neph asked.

  “Ozzie West. Fate’s bitch this year, it seems. No thanks to her.” He shot a mockingly cheery grin at Sophia, who narrowed her eyes.

  “Impertinent boy. Fine, you want me to tell them the truth, I will. My grandson’s Zephyrus’s chosen heir. The West Wind won’t be left out of the coming fight and has decided to one-up his brothers this time around. He has a soft spot for the Haven, you see, where the others do not.”

  “Nanyo … tell him.” Ozzie crossed his arms. The old woman glanced around the cave at all the interested faces, but seemed no closer to revealing her secrets.

  Nikhil finally barked out the command to everyone unnecessary to leave, which was instantly followed. Moments later, the only ones left behind were Aodh, Neph, and the two turul.

  Before Neph’s eyes, Sophia transformed, her diminutive shape growing until she was as tall as her grandson, with flowing jet-black hair and storm-gray eyes. Her smooth skin glowed with an inner power the likes of which Neph had never seen, and tiny blue-green glyphs seemed to dance within the depths of her dark pupils. When she held up her palms, the same glyphs appeared in twisting patterns upon her skin, spinning in a swirling blur he could barely track.

  “What the hell are you?” Neph asked, his skin prickling.

  “I am exactly what you believed I was all along. Of all the higher races, the turul are Fate’s chosen children. I am the agent of Fate who helps direct them on their paths. The dragons are my master’s second-favorite children. They have typically had a longer leash. Nymphaea and ursa have always had much more freedom to choose. It was the balance agreed upon by Fate and its counterparts.”

  “I know several dragons and ursa who would disagree about their supposed ability to choose,” Aodh said.

  Sophia turned her glyph-filled eyes to the dragon and lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. “It’s up to the one marked by Fate to convince the others of their divine bond. Neph and Vrishti could have rejected you. Neph did reject you once. You were always meant to love the two of them. Whether they returned that love or not was their choice.”

  Aodh tensed, a tiny puff of smoke gusting from his nostrils the only sign of his barely contained rage. Neph rested a hand on his shoulder, opening his mind to hopefully ease the dragon’s ire. “Focus,” he said.

  Taking a deep breath, Aodh finally nodded. “So this makes you divine. And Ozzie … Zeph? What do I call you, friend? I knew Zephyrus long ago, but he hasn’t manifested in ages.”

  Ozzie lifted an eyebrow at his grandmother, and Neph directed his questioning look to her.

  “Zephyrus and his brothers are no more than whispers now,” Sophia said. “They are pure power the way the seasons are to the ursa. It was easier for them to allow the turul to decide for themselves how to wield their power, rather than rule over them. When you’re as old as the Winds, life grows tiresome. I am sure you both would agree. This is the first time they’ve chosen a vessel to inhabit, but with Zephyrus’s power, Ozzie can serve as the fourth immortal.”

  “Are you all right with this?” Neph asked the man who stood, silent and listening with arms crossed over his broad chest.

  “I am Fate’s fool. I don’t exactly have a choice. But if it helps you get to the woman you love, it’s worth it. There are some perks.” He gave Neph a half-smile as a warm wind blew through the cave again, sending ripples across the tide pool between them. The surface swirled into tiny eddies and then stilled to a glassy sheen displaying images that hadn’t been there before.

  Within the depths of the water, Neph had a clear vision of what had been muddled in his own mind. The Haven was displayed with all its glorious grottos and waterfalls, the residents engaged in a ferocious battle against the Ultiori hunters who had been granted access.

  An army of antlered nymphs and immense clawed bears stood between the hunters and the Source, blood spilling left and right. Meri’s army was too numerous. The others could only hold out for so long without assistance, even with the throngs of ursa streaming in to replace the fallen nymphs.

  “We need to get in there,” Ozzie said. “Or we may as well give up now. Your mate is here.” The image shifted to one of the many luxuriously appointed prisons scattered around the Haven, where he could see Vrishti’s unconscious shape lying on the bed.

  Neph cursed at the sight of the red stripes down her limbs where the needles had been torn from her flesh and she’d continued to bleed, but even more shocking was the way she seemed to curl inward, her arms wrapped around her midsection as though protecting something.

  “Sweet Mother, she’s pregnant,” Aodh said. “That’s what Meri did with the baby from the tank. Maybe this is a good thing. If we can get to Vrishti and control that child, we can control Meri.”

  Nikhil emerged from the darkness outside the cave and Ozzie flinched at his sudden appearance. “My first imperative is to kill Meri. Forget controlling her.”

  “Mine is
the Haven’s welfare,” Neph said. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Vrishti rot while we figure out how to gain access to get more defenders inside. We have to go now. Equinox has only just begun. Aodh and I will try to find a way in for the rest of you once we are inside and Vrishti is safe. One thing I am sure of is that it will have to happen today, or all is lost.”

  “But there is no way to communicate beyond the barriers that separate the Sanctuary and the Haven from the outside world,” Nikhil said.

  “This is where I come in,” Ozzie said. He waved his hand and another breeze blew through. The images on the surface shifted again, and this time voices audibly echoed from within the Haven. A huge red dragon breathed fire at a throng of hunters while a nymph atop his back roared a battle cry. But the clearest sound was that of a whispered prayer that came closer and closer as the image moved, panning around to focus in on an isolated grotto Neph recognized.

  Within the grotto, Nyx rested on her knees atop the bed, her face raised up to the moonlit sky that shone through a hole in the cave above her. Her voice was barely a whisper, but her plea was as clear as a bell. “Nereus, come back to me. Nereus, come back to me. We need you.”

  Across the pool, Nereus fell to his knees and reached out a hand, stopping just before he disturbed the surface. “My love,” he croaked, then swallowed harshly. In a whisper of his own, he said, “I am coming home. We will save the Haven.”

  Wind rustled Nyx’s hair, teasing it around her face like a soft caress. “Hurry,” she said, then nodded and lay down on the bed.

  “Winds can travel where bodies cannot,” Sophia said. “We will ensure the required messages get where they need to go. We must not waste more time, but Ozzie and I will need you to take us to the portals before we enter.”

  “I am ready,” Aodh said. He immediately went to Ozzie’s side, leaving Neph with Sophia. With only the most cursory communication to settle their tasks, they drifted.