To Save The Broken Heart: Dragons, Griffons and Centaurs, Oh My! (Dragons, Griffons, and Centaurs, Oh My!)

by Margaret Taylor

  A minute or so passed and out the little guy came. As before, it scooped up the treat and headed back to safety.

  She gave it time then did it again, this third one landing even closer to the cage.

  The rodent squeaked again, a tentative sound and she whispered to it, without turning to look directly at it. “Come on little guy, I really need your help.”

  A sniff then a snort was followed by, “Well, why did you not just ask.”

  She almost screamed, she really did and managed not too only by biting down on her lip. When she had the impulse under control, she gulped and looked down. Sitting next to her thigh was the same rodent looking thing she’d just been feeding.

  Only it wasn’t really a rodent. It was a ferret.

  His white fur was filthy, from she could see and he wore the tattered remains of a three-piece suit. One brownish paw held the last chunk of fruit and he munched on it calmly.

  “Who are you?”

  He finished chewing, politely wiped the corners of his mouth and swept a tiny hand out in a flourishing bow. “I am Furiem Corlant, Royal Reporter to King Taraxus. At your service.”

  Ok, she wasn’t expecting that! “What are you doing here? If you don’t mind me asking?”

  He sat back on his haunches and chewed another mouthful. “I stowed away on the Nval.”

  Arin! He’d been on that ship. “Did you see Arin? Arin Manus?”

  He popped the last of the chunk into his mouth, nodding slowly. “I did, M’lady.”

  Her heart tried to punch a hole through her chest. “What, what happened to him?”

  Furiem’s small shoulders lifted on a sigh. “I fear he was turned over to the Orcs.”

  She really had no clue about this world but from the sounds of it, that wasn’t a good thing. “And that means what exactly? Where did they take him?”

  He scooted closer on the sand and put a small hand to the back of hers. “You should not concern yourself over such things. The War Advisor can take care of himself.”

  He was trying to be reassuring, she got it. It didn’t help, but she got it. “Where will they take him?” she asked again.

  He sighed a second time and the tone of his one word reply sent a shiver racing down her spine, though she had no clue why.

  “Golbu.”

  She sat up a bit straighter and her original plan to go after him took hold again. “We must save him.”

  One of Furiem’s eyebrows lifted into the air. “We? Oh no, no no, I am just a Reporter.”

  She smiled slowly. “Not today you’re not. Now, here’s what I want you to do…”

  ***

  Furiem darted among the cauldrons, seeking out the key the human woman had seen hanging near one of the food tents. It was a bad plan. One he shouldn’t have agreed too, but the look in her eyes said she would try and escape with or without his help and rush off to aid the War Advisor.

  She should stay here, glean as much information as she could and allow him to take it back to the City.

  That was a much better idea…wasn’t it?

  Yes, yes it was. The Interim King needed to know what was coming! The City needed to prepare.

  Spying what he was after, he stuck to the shadows and climbed up the pole. Scooping it off the hook, he slung the large ring over his shoulder and headed back to the cage, holding it out for her on both hands. “M’lady, if I might?”

  She scooted over to the door and paused, one hand wrapped around to fit the key into the lock. “What?”

  He scurried up her back, perching on her shoulder. “Would it not be wiser to stay here and learn what we can? I can take that information back to Bra’ka, warn King Cannis…”

  She snorted and thunked her forehead against the door. “Dammit! I don’t owe you people anything,” she muttered. “All I want to do is make sure Arin is ok and get back home!”

  He patted her cheek. “Tis true. You owe us nothing. But it seems you are part of,” He waved a hand toward the few Satyr’s still working. “Whatever this is. Would it not stand to reason that you are in the prime position to do something about it?”

  ***

  No! This place had done nothing but try to kill her since arriving!

  Why should she care what happened too it?

  What about Terra?

  She thinks I’m dead. Might as well let her keep right on believing it…

  True, but she might be soon too. If you don’t do something.

  Argh!

  How many times had her twin bailed her out over the years? Too many if she gave herself a moment of complete honesty. So much so that her own sense of loyalty wouldn’t let her just run away. She may not be beholden to the people of the Five Kingdoms, but she did owe Terra.

  And since her sister looked to be the new Queen, if Rygan could be believed anyway, it was her duty as family to help fight whatever plan Golix had.

  Speaking of? Where was that guy anyway?

  The attack had come so fast she hadn’t had time to see what happened. Had the Griffons taken him somewhere too? Or had they killed him outright? A heartbeat of worry danced through her stomach but she needed to put that aside, for now.

  There were more pressing problems.

  “Fine,” she finally replied to Furiem. “What would you suggest I do?”

  She turned enough to see him tap a small finger against his chin. “For starters, what have you learned so far?”

  She pushed off the bars and headed back to the other side of the cage, away from those still on the beach. It was as much privacy as they would get. Tucking the key in her pocket, she kept her voice low. “I think he means to make the ships fly.”

  Furiem got comfortable on her shoulder but let out a soft gasp at her nonchalant statement. “What? But, he, you, wait, are you sure?”

  She nodded, propping her arms across her knees. “Ahyep. This guys really fond of blood magic and considering he has the remains of my Roc and at least four Griffons in those vats, it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  The ferret leaned against her neck and she could practically hear the wheels turning. “So, what does he need you for? You are nothing more than a human, are you not?”

  She chuckled then winced when he grabbed her hair to keep from falling off. “Sorry. Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Turns out, not so much. Do you know who Decia is?”

  Another of those soft gasps rang across the ocean breeze. “Of course I do! She was the daughter of King Elan, banished to the Human world for working with a Unicorn to overthrow him!”

  “Yeah, about that…” She drew in a breath and related everything that she’d learned in Gahroon from the Harpy Crone. “As it turns out,” she finished. “Terra and I are her great-great-whatever Granddaughters.”

  Furiem sat up, pressing both hands against her cheeks. “You are Dragon Born?”

  “I guess so…”

  He clapped his hands together, red eyes flashing excitedly in the light from the fires nearby. “Most excellent. What power do you have?”

  “Excuse me? Power? I don’t have any power!”

  The ferret rose and paced along her shoulder. “Yes, you do. All Dragons do. Now, what is yours?”

  She scooped him up and set him on the sand, crossing her legs. “Wait a minute. Just back it up there little guy. Explain!”

  He paced away, arms going a mile a minute. “Dragon’s come in two types,” he began. “True Dragons are those born to parentals of the Dragon persuasion and Dragon Born have only one parent. True Dragons have all the benefits there too and are usually from one of the seven Royal Blood Lines. Dragon Born’s though are usually not but do tend to inherit the power specific to their line.”

  “Wait. So, only Royals can shift from one to the other, is that right?” she interjected when he paused for air.

  His little chest expanded and he nodded. “Dragon Born cannot. At least it is rare.” He tapped a finger against his chin. “Now, let us see, where was I again?”

  “S
pecific power?”

  He snapped his fingers. “Ah yes. Most Dragons have one thing they do very well. For some it is fire breathing, for others it may be faster flying, some have thicker scales, and others are more adept at hunting. Some are very intelligent, others are excellent at jewel hatching. The list is quite extensive. They are very long lived, so tend to be prolific in their…” He cleared his throat. “Relations. And since finding ones true mate is unusual, they do not tend to look all that hard.”

  He paused to take another breath and she interjected another question. “How do they know? That they’ve found their mate?”

  He waved a small hand. “Oh, that is easy. A Mate will light their Dragon Fire.”

  He said it so matter-of-factly she believed him. She had no clue what Dragon Fire was, but it made sense. “So, let’s see if I understand you. True Dragons are prolific, so there are plenty of Dragon Born’s mucking about, yes?”

  Furiem nodded.

  “And a mix-Dragon, or Dragon Born as you say, inherits whatever specific power their Dragon parent had?”

  Again he nodded.

  “So, what was Decia’s?”

  He frowned just a bit, snapping his fingers. “Well, let us see, if memory serves, she could commune with animals and from our history, her Fire was near in-extinguishable.”

  She sat back on her heels.

  Well fuck all. That explained a lot!!!

  Chapter Four

  Terra stretched against Draven’s side. Blinking sleepily, she nuzzled his shoulder, not really wanting to move. She cut an eye toward the portal, seeing the shadows just beginning to lighten beyond the pane of glass.

  And it was a good day. Or rather night. Another spent in his arms and she sighed.

  He stirred and lifted up enough to kiss the top of her head. “Good daylight, Kyleri.”

  She hummed and scrubbed a hand across her face, covering the yawn with the back of her hand. She’d never been a morning person. She’d forced herself to be one though, back in her world. Rising at the crack of dawn, she was usually the first in the office and the last to leave.

  But here, there was nothing for her to do.

  Yet.

  Well, except tag along for the ride on the craziest adventure of all time!

  “Tell me something?” she asked softly.

  “Hmmm?”

  “Before this all started, what did you do?”

  He shifted under her, rolling so they were face to face and propped a fist under his head. Wiping the crust from his eyes, he blinked a couple of times. She did the same and for a moment, forgot the question as she drunk in the sight of him. His deep, smoky hair was tousled from sleep, a bit of it sticking up at an odd angle and a day’s worth of stubble covered his lower jaw.

  He smiled crookedly, the molten orange of his eyes relaxed and sated. “What do you mean? What did I do…”

  She trailed a finger down the gold and red tattoo on his chest, fascinated when the pulse in his neck jumped and the muscles rippled in response. “You know, daily. Did you go to an office? Sit on a throne and stare out at the masses, what?”

  He laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. “That is an odd question, love. But, I did all the things my ancestors did before me. I listened and settled disputes. I had daily meetings to attend with any number of citizens. I worked with various organizations to ensure the safety of my people…”

  She held up a hand to interrupt. “Sounds rather dull and boring.”

  He tucked his arm under his head, reaching out the gently run a finger down her cheek. “At times. At least recently.”

  She shuddered under his touch, a trail of fire leaking out of her skin in the wake of the digit. She gulped, again completely forgetting what they were talking about. It only came back when his hand rested on her hip. “Recently?” she managed.

  He nodded. “Peace has reigned here the last hundred Suns. Since my father returned from the Human world and we began to implement the technology he discovered, most of the age-old feuds were set aside.”

  Well that answered a lot of things. Most of them in fact. Like how they’d come to have the boat they were on, why his city, Bra’ka, was as modern as any she knew of and so on. Everything she’d seen since she arrived, save for the inhabitants themselves, could just as easily be found back home.

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it, trying to reason out why Golix has gone to the lengths he has.”

  “What do you mean?”

  There was genuine curiosity in the question, like he hadn’t thought about it at all, just accepted what had happened so far at face value.

  “Well, where I come from, no one does anything without an ulterior motive. At least, that’s the way it used to be. Not so much today, but it still has me curious as to what the Unicorns end game is.”

  He looked confused and she tried to clarify it better. “Everyone has something they’re after, Draven. Whether they act on it or not, it’s still there. It’s the driving force that most don’t even realize they’re following. But they do.”

  He still looked confused and she sat up, leaning over on her hand. “Ok, let’s try this. Did you always want to sit on the throne?”

  He snorted. “Good Gods no.”

  “But, I’ll just bet your father groomed you for it, didn’t he.”

  The molten color of his eyes lightened a shade and he sighed. “That he did. Or tried too.” He cocked a grin. “I was quite good at rebelling.”

  Somehow she didn’t doubt that. And from the sounds of it, the many years in between had tempered his youthful streak and molded him into the man he was now. “Still, your father’s drive was to see you take over, wasn’t it?”

  He nodded and his hand tickled up her ribs. She slapped it, wanting to work this out with him instead of having sex, again.

  Oh hell, who was she kidding, she wanted him, probably would until she was old and grey, but right now, they needed to take a beat and talk. Something they hadn’t had the chance to do, yet. “Draven, I’m serious. We need to figure this out.”

  He rolled his eyes and flopped back on the tangled sheets, tucking both hands under his head. “Fine. We can talk. However, afterwards, no words.”

  The lava of his eyes shifted through the myriad of colors that set her body on fire. She wanted nothing more than to do just that, but, if they didn’t put this puzzle together and soon, they’d continue to wander aimlessly along, reacting to situations instead of going on the offensive to counter whatever Golix had up his sleeve, or rather hoof.

  Stealing a breath out of the air, she continued, hoping the conversation would distract her body from bursting into flames.

  “Ok, so what would Golix’s motivation be? Why did he want you dead?”

  One of his dark eyebrows shot into the air. “Other than the fact he is evil and it is what evil does?”

  She went back over all the Fairy Tales she’d memorized as a child. In every one, Unicorns were magical and white in color, helping those in need, not trying to destroy things. “Wait, was he always evil? Unicorns where I come from are good.”

  He smiled another of those sexy smiles, his eyes slowly roaming down her naked chest before coming back to hers. He blinked a couple of times and cleared his throat. “Yes, they have always been dark and power hungry. At least as far as I know.”

  That distracted her and she fulfilled her own curiosity. “And how long is that? How old are you?”

  He winked slowly. “I will be 466 Suns at the next Festival.”

  She did some quick math. From what she’d seen in her return to the past, Golix and his mother had started their quest long before Draven was even born. “And how long was your dad on the throne?”

  “Almost 200 Suns, why?”

  Being conservative and allowing an extra 50 years for Golix to begin implementation after their vision at the cave…

  She blinked.

  The bastard had been planning this for at least 700 yea
rs, give or take. That was a very long time for the mere payoff for running a single country, or rather Kingdom.

  Granted, evil was rarely logical, but the Unicorn didn’t strike her as the type to not be. The time they’d met, he’d seemed perfectly in control, calculating even, not maddened or crazed. Yes, he had power, it was right there in his eyes but he wasn’t deluded by it.

  So, what did he want? What could he possibly hope to gain in the end?

  “You said something about disputes? What kind are we talking?”

  He shrugged. “The usual. Someone breached a contract, someone took something that did not belong to them, that sort of thing.” Curiosity shifted the molten orange to a burnished color. “Why?” he asked again.

  It was her turn to shrug. “I’m not sure. I mean, 700 years is a long time to be plotting and planning for such a paltry payoff, don’t you think?”

  He frowned. “I do not understand.”

  She sat up fully, crossing her legs. “Well, let’s look at this from my perspective. In my world, I run a very large company. We have almost a 1,000 employees and 700 rigs, but most of them are old, outdated and the maintenance costs were killing me. A major overhaul is expensive. It’s why I was going to marry Nolan. The Harrington’s are loaded with cash. He offered to give me the money I needed to bring the fleet up to code and get my trucks back on the road. That was my drive, sort of a hostile takeover in reverse.”

  His frown deepened, the burnished color shifting to a bright red. “You were using him?”

  Oy vey. It was best to be honest though. “Yes, and no,” she qualified quickly when his eyes flashed a shade deeper. “Yes, I was using him for the money. But he was doing the same, Draven. Once he married me, he’d become half-owner and have rights to all the profits.”

  The red lightened. “So, it would have been, as you say, a win-win?”

  She let a small smile play at her lips. “For him, yes. Not for me.”

  The orange returned to his gaze and one finger trailed down her arm, another swath of flames following. “Because you did not love him?”