He grew bigger and bigger. His neck arched forward, and he changed into a brilliant blue dragon. He barely fit in the entrance hall, and he let out a screech that shook the castle to its roots.
Robbie nodded. “Ready, lad?”
The dragon bent its head close to the door. Robbie gave it a violent tug. The door flew open, and Fergus unleashed his fiery breath on the trolls outside. With one blast, he cleared the doorway. The trolls flew shrieking away from the walls.
Fergus charged the gap. He plunged through the opening and disappeared. Angus rushed forward. From where she stood against the back wall, Alexis saw him shift and launch into the air. One after the other, the other Urlus followed. Robbie charged out last and pulled the door closed behind him before any trolls could get near it.
Dead quiet descended over the hall. Alexis looked around. She was alone with Lachlan. “Now what do we do?”
He pulled his saber from its scabbard. “Now we defend this place. They’ll handle the outside. The inside is our job.”
He hurried away. Alexis ran after him. “What do you want me to do?”
He seized her hand and dragged her forward. “You’re with me.”
He ran around a corner into another room. He looked through a window at the field in front of the castle. Trolls fluttered all over the place. While he and Alexis watched, the biggest dragon Alexis ever saw came rocketing out of nowhere. It unloaded a massive jet of searing flame on the cloud of trolls and incinerated them in seconds.
The Urlus flew all over the place. The trolls fluttered and shrieked in alarm, but they couldn’t get away from the dragons. Alexis’s heart leapt, but at that moment, a shadow crossed the battlefield.
A golden dragon dropped out of the sky to touch down in front of the window. Perched on its back, tucked in a hollow between its neck and shoulder, sat Christie.
Chapter 27
The minute Jamie’s feet touched the ground, the trolls converged on him in clouds. They flapped their wings against his hide and pecked him all over. He reared back to beat them off, and Christie almost lost his seat.
He pulled his saber and started hacking the things, but he couldn’t get near them in that position. He waited until Jamie slammed down on all fours. Then Christie slithered off to the ground.
He hesitated to leave Jamie’s side. He couldn’t fight so many trolls to get to the castle, and Jamie’s wings protected him somewhat. He stabbed and chopped the trolls swarming all over Jamie’s skin.
One troll chomped into Jamie’s leg. The dragon bellowed in pain. His neck whipped around. He seized the troll and crushed it in one bite, but more trolls attacked him all over. Christie couldn’t fight them off. He had his own problems.
Trolls crawled up his legs and scratched his skin. They flapped in his face where he couldn’t stab them with his weapon. Christie dared not back up too close to the plunging, writhing dragon.
Dragons fought all over the place, but they all faced the same problem. They could scorch swarming clouds of trolls on the wing, but they couldn’t deal with so many all over their bodies. Not even flying could save them from these winged trolls.
Callum strutted across the field to where Robbie seethed under a mountain of the monsters. Callum whipped back his head and sent a withering barrage of fire against his brother. He blasted the trolls off until Robbie’s green skin shone clear and bright in the evening dusk. The next instant, thousands of trolls rushed in to cover him again.
Angus fared the best of the bunch. He stood tall and terrible. His black form blended into the dim light. He didn’t try to shake the trolls off. He stood still and calculated each move with treacherous precision.
He cracked his long tail through the air and flicked a troll off his shoulder. He struck again, and a troll went flying off his back. He hit them one after another with such power their replacements hesitated to attack.
Christie couldn’t watch anymore. He called up to Jamie. “Help me! I must get to the castle and find Alexis.”
Jamie surveyed the battle scene. He turned his back to the castle and rose up on his hind legs. He gave his wings a tremendous beat, and the trolls ripped off him by the dozen.
Jamie never stopped beating his wings. The wind force wouldn’t allow any troll to land on him again, and he created a pocket of stillness behind him where Christie could take shelter.
Jamie backed up, one step at time, to the castle steps. Christie defended his rear. He put his foot on the steps when an almighty blast of freezing cold air hit him. He raised his arm to protect his eyes. He looked all around to find the source of the disturbance.
Across the field, a massive gaping hole opened in space. It swirled and roiled in a spiral eddy of tumbling cloud. The moment it opened, thousands upon thousands of trolls disgorged from its center. They all poured out at once. They engulfed the dragons and covered the whole castle.
Christie crouched behind Jamie, but nowhere was safe. Angus’s black head poked up through an enormous pile of trolls all flapping and biting and tearing with all their might.
Christie couldn’t wait any longer. He spun around and charged up the steps, but the trolls must have sensed what he was trying to do. They all grabbed him at once and yanked him down the steps. They flung him on the ground and pounced on him.
He swung his saber and made contact with something. He no longer cared what he hit. He couldn’t miss in this crowd. He worked until his arm got sore. He hacked everything in sight. Blood rained into his face. He closed his eyes, and still he chopped.
Out of nowhere, Jamie smacked his tail across Christie’s face. He knocked a dozen trolls into next week and earned Christie a few seconds’ reprieve to get his head together. Christie lunged to his feet. He had to get to the castle. He had to find Alexis. That was the only way to stop this battle.
He slashed his way to the steps, but when he got to the bottom, the castle door opened from inside. There stood Alexis, saber in hand. She rushed outside and slammed the door behind her.
She scanned the battlefield for an instant until she saw Christie. Her face broke into a magnificent grin. Her cheeks flushed, and her eyes sparkled. Christie’s heart almost stopped at the sight of her, but at that moment, a million tiny hands grabbed him from behind.
At the same moment, thousands of trolls descended on Alexis. They took hold of her clothes and hair and lifted her off the ground. She bellowed and swung her saber at them, but she couldn’t stop them.
The trolls dragged Christie off his feet. They hauled him away from the steps while others carried Alexis into the air some distance away. Christie wrestled one arm free and flung it out toward Alexis. “Lassie! Alexis! Lassie, touch me.”
She fought her way clear of her captors to see what he was trying to do. She stretched her arm toward him, but they couldn’t reach each other.
Christie heart pounded against his ribs. He saw the trolls carrying him and Alexis closer to that gaping hole. He couldn’t let the monsters to throw them into it. He didn’t know where he would end up, but he couldn’t let it happen.
All of a sudden, a devastating impact slammed down on top of Christie. He looked to see Robbie descending on him from the skies. Robbie’s tail flashed the other way and smashed trolls off right and left.
Across the field, the trolls still jerked and yanked Alexis toward that hole. She struggled with everything she had. Blood stained her shirt, and a trickle of blood zigzagged down her cheek.
The sight sent Christie into a rage. He couldn’t let them do this to her. He would be damned if he stood by and watched them hurt her. He let out a maniac roar of animal fury. He charged through curtains of trolls to reach her.
He chopped and hacked with his saber. He yanked trolls off her and cut them to ribbons. He got as many of them off as he could until she dropped onto the ground at his feet. He put out his hand to touch her when a catastrophic earthquake rocked the Earth beneath him.
He spun around with his saber ready, but it wasn’t the trolls.
In front of his eyes, Callum smashed into the ground flailing and screeching. A bloody ragged crater sunk into his back where one of his wings used to be. He hit the ground and lay there writhing in agony.
Christie whirled around the other way, only to find Alexis gone. He looked everywhere until he heard her calling him. “Christie! Help me!”
He looked straight up. She dangled some thirty feet above his head. Trolls held her spread-eagle by the arms and legs and hair. They tugged her in all directions, and she shrieked in pain.
Christie jumped and swung his saber, but he was nowhere near her. He couldn’t reach her. He looked around in wild confusion. He had to get to her before they pulled her to pieces. He needed wings. He needed a dragon.
The battlefield didn’t offer him much hope. Callum thrashed and roared in agony. Christie couldn’t see Angus anywhere except for a giant mountain of trolls not far away. Angus could be dead under that heap for all Christie knew.
Only Fergus and Jamie remained, and the trolls pressed them just as hard. Christie started to despair when Jamie broke free. He rolled over on his back and wriggled like a horse to scratch the trolls off. He barely got loose and launched himself skyward.
Christie held his breath in dreaded anticipation of what Jamie would do, but he didn’t fly toward Alexis. To Christie’s horror, Jamie turned tail and fled out of sight. Christie roared after him, but it was too late. Jamie was gone.
Christie bent his efforts to getting rid of the trolls plaguing him. His last remaining hope rested on Fergus. Christie turned around to fight his way to Fergus’s side. If Christie could free Fergus from the trolls, maybe Fergus could rescue Alexis.
Christie slashed halfway across the field when he heard a low moaning noise in the distance. He glanced over his shoulder, and the noise got louder. Out of the great beyond, Jamie came zooming down the wind going a hundred miles an hour. He collided with Alexis in one explosive impact.
Alexis screamed. The trolls ripped off her, and she started to fall. Jamie banked and retracted his wings against his body. He streaked through the clouds and snatched Alexis out of the air. His own momentum carried her far away before he turned around.
Christie put out his hand, but they were already long gone. In that moment, the trolls surrounded him. They tussled in his hair and raked their claws in his eyes. He lost sight of everything else in the flurry of trying to get rid of them.
Masses of them collected all around him. They pulled his saber arm back so he couldn’t swing his weapon. They bumped his leg and knocked his knees out from under him. Inch by inch, he felt them pull him to the ground. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t shake them off. They started dragging him toward that hole to his destruction.
Just then, he felt a puff of hot wind in his face. The trolls pummeled on top of him when a flash of blue brushed them away. He found himself lying on his back looking up at a clear blue sky.
The sky shimmered. Then he realized it wasn’t the sky it all. It had scales, and it moved in sudden jerks. His vision cleared, and he saw Fergus towering over him. The dragon bent his wings to sweep all the trolls off Christie.
Christie twisted over on his stomach. He planted his hands under him and lunged to his feet. At that moment, a voice touched his ear. “Christie! Christie!”
He spun around, and there was Alexis. Jamie set her down on her feet across the field, and she set off running toward Christie with all her might. The saber fell out of his hands. His heart exploded for her, and he ran toward her as fast as he could.
They collided in the middle of the field. He threw his arms around her and kissed her. They flew into each other’s embrace. The whole world vanished in a blinding flash of light. Nothing existed but the two of them together.
He swam in her kiss for all eternity. Her body vibrated in his arms, and her delicate fingers stroked through his hair. Her breasts and stomach and hips quivered against him. He pried his eyes open, but he never let go of her lips. He found her gazing back at him. Deep heartfelt love glowed in her eyes, and she caressed his cheek down to his neck.
He couldn’t stop kissing her. He never wanted to do anything but kiss her and hold her just like this. The rest of the world could go hang.
A deafening shriek startled her back. She broke contact with his lips but not his eyes. She searched his soul. Somewhere deep down in those eyes of hers, his whole life waited for him to claim it.
Voices attracted their attention. They both looked away at the same moment and beheld the astounding sight. Not one troll remained on the battlefield. The portal hole still swirled nearby, and six women stood in front of it: Carmen, Elle, Hazel, Sadie, Grace, and Ivy. They looked all around them and back over their shoulders at the hole through which they just came.
Robbie touched the ground and changed from a dragon into a man running full speed for the portal. He caught Elle in his arms and buried his face in her neck.
Chapter 28
Sadie ran to Callum’s side and went down on her knee next to him. She laid her hand on his shoulder. “Try to lie still. We’ll get you inside.”
He twisted over on his side and turned his ashen face up to her. “It hurts, lassie. It hurts like the devil.”
“I know,” she murmured. “Try to keep still. You’re losing a lot of blood. I’ll have to operate right away.”
He hunched over and hugged his own arms. “Hurry. Please.”
Jamie shifted. He and Fergus ran to help Callum. Carmen grabbed Robbie and Elle. “Help me.”
They surrounded Angus. The huge black dragon plunged and screamed on the field. One of his legs hung at an odd angle from the hip joint. No one could get near him in his agony.
Carmen held out her hands. “Easy, big guy. Take it easy. We’re gonna help you.”
“How?” Elle murmured. “He would need major surgery to fix that.”
Carmen rounded on her. “Will you be quiet it? Can’t you see he’s in distress? Don’t make matters worse until I calm him down and we get him to shift.”
“He willnae shift,” Robbie told her. “He can deal with the pain better as a dragon. Once he shifts into a man, it’ll hit him harder. Leave him like this until ye figure out how to ease the pain.”
“We have no way to ease the pain,” Carmen replied. “We have no way to fix his leg.”
“Wait a minute, Carmen,” Alexis interrupted.
Carmen spun around to stare at her. “What?”
Alexis glanced at Christie. “We can do this.”
“Eh?” he asked. “We can do what?”
“We can heal him. We have all Hazel’s power, but we have to work together. Remember?”
“What do ye suggest?” he asked.
She took his hand and led him to where Angus still thrashed and screamed on the ground. His enormous tail cracked across the ground, and his ruined leg flapped when he moved.
Alexis positioned Christie by her side as close to Angus as she dared. She stood shoulder to shoulder with him. She didn’t know exactly what she had to do, but something told her she had to do this. She took Christie’s hand in hers and raised it on high.
She pointed Christie’s palm at Angus and laid her own hand behind his. She concentrated her mind on Angus’s leg, and she felt the familiar surge of energy rising out of her. It pulsed out of her hand and hit the black dragon. In the blink of an eye, his leg straightened and slipped back into its socket.
The dragon twisted over on his stomach and crouched there. His sides heaved, and he glared all around him with smoldering eyes. Alexis put her arm down, and Christie turned to face her. “What did ye do, lassie?”
“It wasn’t me. It was both of us. We just have to work together, and we can defeat this thing. We can defeat all the trolls, too.”
Angus glared at everyone around him. All of a sudden, he imploded on himself and collapsed into a man lying on the ground. Carmen rushed in and bent over him. “You’re all right! You’re all right!”
He panted up at her. �
��Lassie! It hurts! It hurts!”
She laughed and cried at the same time. “It’s all right, darling. You’re gonna be all right. You still have some tissue damage. Just try not to move it. We’ll take you inside.” She looked over her shoulder. “Help me, Rob.”
Robbie came to her side, and they hoisted Angus upright. He couldn’t put any weight on his damaged leg. They supported him up the castle steps, and Elle followed them.
Alexis kept a hold of Christie’s hand. She didn’t want to face these strangers, especially not after what just happened. She couldn’t explain it to herself, let alone them. At least Christie was here. She didn’t have to explain anything to him.
Christie faced her. “Are ye all right, lass? Ye had me worried.”
“I thought you were dead,” she breathed. “I thought the trolls got to you on the evacuation and I would never see you again. I couldn’t handle that.”
She threw her arms around him in gratitude one more time. He never felt so good. When she let him go, she found Hazel and Grace staring at them. “How did you do that?” Hazel asked.
Alexis looked away. “I think we better go inside and see Callum.”
“Wait a moment, lassie,” Christie replied. “If we’re right about this thing, we should be able to close that portal. We reversed it and brought the women back. Now we can close it so it doesnae cause any further problems.”
“How do we do it?” Alexis asked.
“The same way we just healed Angus.”
“I don’t know what we did,” she told him. “I just…did it.”
He took her hand and led her over to the hole. Hazel and Grace stood back out of the way. Christie raised Alexis’s hand, and they touched the hole. It swirled around their fingers until it shrank away to nothing and disappeared.
Christie let go of her hand. They turned around and came face to face with the two remaining women. “That was amazing,” Hazel exclaimed. “So you two together have the power. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
Curse Breaker (Phoenix Throne Book 7): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 19
