Tamed by the Fire

by Maxine Mansfield

  Instead of smiling, however, she asked, “Where’s Tawny?”

  Her family didn’t get the opportunity to answer, as the very air around them began to shimmer. From seemingly out of nowhere, Marquart, with a dagger to Tawny’s throat, appeared along with six very big, very mean-looking trolls.

  The commander cackled. “I haven’t lived for nigh onto nine hundred years without learning a few little black-magic tricks along the way. Trust me, they’ve come in handy…many times.” Then she laughed again. “Have yout by chance misplaced a member of yout family, Kitrina? Tsk, tsk, how very irresponsible of yout. Perhaps I can help with this…unfortunate situation?”

  For emphasis, Marquart caressed the flat of her blade along the tender skin of Tawny’s small neck, and the fear-filled gaze her sister shot her had Kitrina’s heart pounding hard in her chest.

  “Remember poisons class, Kit-ten? Remember cerebral toxins and just what they are capable of doing? Well, that’s exactly what I dipped this dagger into, and unless yout do exactly what I say, I’ll slice little Tawny’s sweet throat with it. She’ll be dead before even three grains of sand have time to shift through the hourglass, and there won’t be anything yout can do to prevent it.”

  Kitrina gulped. Marquart would do it. Of that, she had no doubt. She could see the insanity shining in the woman’s eyes, feel her adversary’s animosity, her desperation flowing toward her, oozing from every pore.

  Kitrina knew exactly what Marquart was after. Still she asked. “What do you want?”

  The troll chuckled. “Do yout think I’m playing a game here, Kit? Really? Don’t insult me by pretending yout don’t know exactly what it is I’m after.” Marquart pointed. “I’ll trade the dagger I have at yout sister’s throat for nothing less than what now hangs around youts.”

  ****

  Zander lifted his hand in warning as he and his group came within sight and sound of the outer bailey. The wailing of a large, dark green dragon rent the air, and the nervous shuffle of the barbarian soldiers surrounding what was obviously her egg filled their sight.

  Obsidian’s voice sifted through all of their minds at the same time. “You will have to forgive Jade. She is in mourning. Our egg is encased by a spell that even with our knowledge of magic, we cannot break. A spell so dark and powerful that any disruption of the force field surrounding our child could immediately crush the egg’s fragile outer shell and destroy the growing male dragling within.”

  The dragon sighed, and Zander felt Obsidian’s pain and frustration reverberate through every pore of his body.

  “She knows there is probably no hope. In the end, we must fight for and with the Paladins of Albrath and against the evil that is Marquart and the Baron Fistslammer. The safety of our humans…and all humankind must come before the needs of our own.” He sighed again. “Still, she is his mother and cannot help her grief.”

  Zander shook his head. “No spell is unbreakable, Obsidian, even those forged of dark magic. There must be a way, and if there is, we will find it.”

  It was the huge black dragon who shook his head this time. “To save the egg would be to sacrifice the life of an innocent, and that we cannot do. Someone would have to surround the egg itself with their own essence. They would have to block the dark energy, absorb it within themselves, and somehow repel it outward away from the egg. The force of the dark magic alone would probably kill them. Still, I would gladly do this task for my son…but dragons cannot touch dark magic. That is why Marquart chose it.”

  Zander nodded. “One way or another, we’re going to at least attempt to save that dragling, dark magic or not. But first, I need to get inside the castle and make my way to Kitrina before she does what I’m afraid she’s about to do.”

  He slipped his hand deep into the pocket of his breeks, searching for the small comfort found in the two halves of the once whole Dragon Heart Opal. As long as there were two pieces, then Kit was probably safe, still probably hidden. But his fingers only found a single half of the stone, his half, the half that wasn’t attached to the thin strip of leather he’d always seen hanging about the neck of the woman he loved.

  Zander’s heart pounded and his spiritmaster sensibilities roared to life. Kitrina’s half of the stone was missing, and that could mean only one thing. Kit had shifted from cat form into a human, and if that was the case, knowing Kitrina Dragonheart as he did, he had no doubt that, even as they were all standing around discussing how to proceed, she was, this very moment, inside the castle negotiating a deal with the devil herself in the form of Marquart for the safe release of her family. A negotiation that was doomed to fail.

  Zander turned quickly to his father and his best friend, Talon. “Along with our soldiers, please see to the left flank.”

  Adan Hammerstrike smiled. “It’ll be our pleasure, son. Any barbarian who dares draw a weapon on his king deserves nothing better than death.”

  Zander then faced his uncle, Sarco Sunwalker, his cousins Graydon and Gareth, and the entire contingent of elf soldiers they’d brought along with them. “And if you don’t mind, Uncle, take the right.”

  Sarco grinned. “I’ve always been partial to being on the right side of a battle.”

  Leeky Shortz cackled as he twirled his twin daggers in the palms of his black as the night, go-to-warring gloved hands. “What the rusty, crusty, pink-polka-dotted panties on the wide arse of a streetwalking banjo-playing, dark elf pretty with a taste for medium rare, sweet-ta-the-very-last-bite tube steak do ya make of that? Looks like the rest of us get ta take it down the middle.”

  Zander nodded. “If you don’t mind.” Then he hesitated. “But not me and not Wally.” He took a deep breath. “Kit’s in real trouble. I sense it. Do whatever you need to do to take back Castle Kuropkat. But give me and Wally a few minutes to get inside the castle before you start. We’ll worry about how to save the egg when this is over.” He ran his fingers haphazardly through his hair. “I’m going to have Wally, umm, escort me right past those guards as his prisoner. And hopefully, our ruse will get us all the way to Marquart herself before anyone’s the wiser.”

  Levin stepped forward. “Our help isn’t needed out here with these few. Ten and I are going inside with you.”

  Zander shook his head. “No.”

  Levin wasn’t having it. “I wasn’t asking. I was telling. Asla’s inside that castle, too, just like Kitrina is, and we’re going in after her. There’s no telling how many barbarian and troll warriors are waiting inside, not to mention the baron. Four’s better odds of getting them both safely out than two will ever be. Wally’s just gonna have to escort a couple of extra prisoners to Marquart, and that’s all there is to it.”

  Zander wanted to argue the point. He didn’t want to put anyone else in danger, especially not his kindhearted, lovesick cousins. If Wally Titwilder hadn’t been half-troll and the perfect person to use as a guard, he wouldn’t have suggested using him, either. But he was.

  There was no time for debate. And he knew there was nothing on Albrath anyone could ever say to him to convince him to wait outside while the woman he loved was in danger. He wasn’t about to insult Ten and Levin by trying to do so now.

  If his plan had any chance at all of working, Zander had to implement it soon. So, he simply nodded in Ten and Levin’s direction as he once more faced Leeky Shortz. “We could use a little diversion, if you could manage it. Just enough distraction to make sure those barbarian guards don’t look too closely at any one of us in particular. If you know what I mean?”

  Leeky rubbed his chin. “Oh, I hear ya, Lad. It’s times like these I wish I hadn’t stopped bringing my Miss Bunny along with me on day trips. Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve had need of her help. Guess I really am getting old, after all.”

  Pierced hopped up and down excitedly as he pulled something plastic from deep within his front pocket. “Baabette,” he said as he popped out her stem and began forcing air into her limp body. “Had ta bring her,” he interjected between b
outs of blowing. “Couldn’t trust the little hussy at home with Steve. I’ve seen the way she looks at him. I’ve no doubt she’d like ta have him shear her wool and nibble on her lamb chops.” Pierced gave two more really deep, hard blows, and then closed off Baabette’s stem. “It’s about time my slutty little cousin was good for something other than enticing other people’s boyfriends with her come-hither smile.”

  He kicked off his boots and breeks and positioned Baabette on the tip of his little gnome penis. He rammed the blow-up sheep down all of his one and a half inches and slapped her on her plastic ass. “Ya take it baby, just like that. Ya know ya like it rough. Ya know ya want daddy ta drive it home.”

  For a moment, Zander thought he must be losing his mind, because he could’ve sworn Baabette’s plastic plastered-on smile and eyes got even bigger than they normally were. He shook his head to dispel the troubling image.

  For a moment, Leeky distracted him. The pudgy little gnome’s voice broke as he exclaimed, “What the puckered pimples in the stinky armpits of tutu-wearing ogre temptress do ya think of that, lads? He’s a chip off the old block, I tell ya. There’s no doubt about it; he knows just how ta make his old da proud.”

  Pierced grinned. “If’n ya liked that, then just watch this.”

  Out into the open bailey Pierced Shortz danced as if he didn’t have a care in the world, with his bare gnome arse shining in the sunlight, and Baabette bobbing up and down on his little gnome cockling.

  The barbarian soldiers stared with their mouths gaping open.

  King Adan Hammerstrike cleared his throat. “Now that is what I call a diversion. But Zander, what do you say to a little change in the weather? Just enough so the enemy can’t tell how many strong we are or see us coming until it’s much too late.”

  Zander nodded. “Good idea.”

  He closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, and lifted his face toward the sky. Thick dark clouds rolled in, rain pelted down in cold heavy drops, and fog swirled, covering the ground.

  It was now or never.

  Zander motioned for Wally to take his end of the rope tied securely around Zander’s waist and lead them on. With Ten and Levin also loosely bound to him, they set off.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kitrina grasped the leather throng holding the Dragon Heart Opal and slipped the gemstone over her head. “If you expect me to hand my legacy over, then you need to set my family free.”

  In response, Marquart nicked the tender skin of Tawny’s neck enough to spill a single drop of blood. The young girl flinched, and then went completely limp in the troll’s arms.

  Kitrina gasped, but Marquart simply raised an eyebrow.

  “Cerebral toxins, remember? If less than a single drop can render her helpless for a few moments, just imagine what a full dose will do?” The troll commander grinned, and her sharp tusks gleamed in the flickering candle light. “Now, be a good little human and do as yout’re told or else.”

  Kit handed over the stone, and it was Marquart’s turn to gasp. “Where’s the rest of it? What kind of trickery is this?”

  At first, Kitrina didn’t understand what Marquart was talking about, but then she glanced once more at the stone the troll held in her still wide-open palm. It was smaller. And not just by a little bit but by half.

  Her heart raced, and her breathing quickened. There were only two reasons for the Dragon Heart Opal to ever change shape, and since she knew for a fact she hadn’t born a child for the stone to attach itself to, there was only one other possibility. The stone had split into two equal parts. The Dragon Heart Opal had chosen her mate.

  But who?

  Who could Zander have entrusted with the safety of the Dragon Heart Opal other than himself? Her mind filled to bursting with speculation. Then, with a soul-deep certainty, she knew. There could be only one man the stone would’ve chosen for her. For, there had only been one man who’d ever held her heart.

  Alex Zander Collin Hammerstrike, prince of Alaria, future king of the barbarian race, would’ve never willingly handed over a responsibility he felt was his own to another man. Any other man, no matter how trusted. The stone, the Dragon Heart Opal, had without a doubt chosen Zander, the one and only man in all of Albrath who could never, ever fulfill the role of being her mate.

  A sob lodged in her throat, but she refused to let her family or the horrid troll, Marquart, see her pain. She doubled her resolve and stiffened her spine. Not only would she do what she must to save her family, but now, she’d do what needed to be done in order to save Zander from ever having to make a choice. For a moment, however, she wondered. If circumstances were different, which path would’ve he chosen, her or the barbarian crown?

  “I asked yout a question, human.” Marquart’s words put a stop to any further speculation.

  Kitrina didn’t look at her family as she lied. She couldn’t, she didn’t have the heart. “You’ve never held the gemstone before, Marquart. It looks bigger on me, a small human, than it does in the hands of a great big troll.”

  The commander grinned as she slipped the leather throng holding the precious treasure over her head and allowed the jewel to settle between her large green breasts. “Is it always so uncomfortably…warm?”

  Kitrina nodded, knowing as she did, it was Zander’s heat, his life force, the stone was now emitting against the cold-hearted troll’s skin. But “I’m afraid so” was all she said.

  Marquart picked up a small cage and held it out at arm’s length. “Now, shift into Cat and get into yout new home. I’m not stupid, yout know? I’ve been watching. I know the stone won’t remain in my possession unless yout are very close to it or can no longer become human.”

  Her mother gasped. “No, don’t listen to her, daughter. Don’t do it.”

  Kitrina didn’t look at her mother. She didn’t even acknowledge that she’d heard her speak. Instead, she simply shook her head. “Not until my family is away from here and safe.”

  The troll laughed. “Oh, I think yout will. It’s either that or watch yout family die, one by one.”

  Kitrina shook her head once more. “As you’ve said, you can only truly possess the Dragon Heart Opal, the true Stone of Anthion if I am Cat and do not have the space available to shift back into human form. If you want my cooperation, then release my family. For without them being safe and away from this place, away from you, there is no reason for me to ever acquiesce.”

  Marquart put her dagger to Laura’s throat this time. “I’ll do it. I swear I will kill her. I don’t have time for foolishness. Now shift.”

  Kitrina stiffened. “If you harm her, if you harm any of my family further, I will never again become Cat, and you will never truly possess what you so desperately need.”

  The troll commander growled. “How can I be sure yout will do as yout say if I do release them?”

  Her father struggled against the troll soldiers restraining him. “Don’t do it, Kit. We’ll find another way.”

  Kitrina didn’t acknowledge her father either. Instead, she looked Marquart straight in the eyes. “I’ll give you my oath as a Paladin of Albrath. You can ask anyone, it is a promise that, once given, can never be broken as long as the one it was given too still breathes.”

  Uthiel gasped. “No, no, don’t, Kitten. You mustn’t.”

  Marquart smiled smugly. “Agreed, give me yout pledge and shift now.”

  Kitrina shook her head. “Not until I see proof of their safety.”

  The troll commander smiled. “I’ll have them taken to Alaria. That should make you happy. I’m sure King Adan would be more than happy to send back one of his many barbarian soldiers with the news of their safe arrival.”

  “No.” Kitrina shook her head once more. “There are barbarian warriors all over the place here. Send them to Landis, to Sarco Sunwalker, and have him send back an elfin emissary. Then, and only then, will I believe my family safe and do as you ask.”

  “So be it. What do I care where they are taken.” Marquart mot
ioned to a group of three troll soldiers. “See the Dragonheart family safely escorted through the Castle Kuropkat portal and into Landis. Then return to me with the elf dignitary.”

  ****

  The barbarian soldiers had been so busy watching the Pierced and Baabette show and trying to get themselves out of the sudden downpour that they hadn’t wasted much more than a single glance or two in the direction of the random troll soldier marching what were obviously his three prisoners toward the keep.

  Zander almost chuckled. He would have to if he hadn’t felt the eyes of at least a score of very dry, very alert troll and barbarian soldiers on him and his companions the moment they stepped through the doors.

  But instead of allowing even a hint of a smile to curve his lips, he kept his head down and followed as Wally navigated the group through the hallways of Castle Kuropkat. The closer they came to the great hall, the louder the sound of raised voices grew. One in particular had the small hairs on the back of Zander’s neck rising in protest and the fingers of his hands clenching and unclenching into fists.

  Asla’s father, the Baron of Halla, traitor to not only King Adan but to the entire race known as barbarian, sounded as if he were issuing orders from Sir Uthiel Dragonheart’s place of honor. It wasn’t to be abided.

  Zander took deep breaths and soothed his rage. The time would come for revenge, but first he must find Kitrina and her family and see them to safety. And then he must deal with Marquart and see her dead and out of their lives forever. Then and only then would he be free to make sure Baron Ambrose Fistslammer never got the chance to betray anyone ever again, especially his king.

  He schooled his expression as they entered the hall, prepared to face whatever sight awaited him with calmness. But he couldn’t help but notice Wally suddenly tense. Zander glanced up and immediately knew why.

  Wally dropped the hand he lightly held the lead rope of his prisoners with and grasped both Ten and Levin in a virtual death grip of sorts while he addressed the room. “I have a gift for Commander Marquart! Someone she’s been expecting.”