Zander wasn’t the least surprised when Levin turned toward his brother. “Then it looks like the baron is ours also, Ten.”
Ten nodded. “Most definitely, brother, most definitely.”
Chapter Seventeen
Marquart paced the entry length of the dungeon like a trapped animal, her eyes darting back and forth and, every few seconds, stopping to glance up the stairs. She was obviously waiting for something or someone, and Kit didn’t believe for the time it would take a single grain of sand to filter through the hourglass that what Marquart was waiting for was word that Kit’s family was safe. On the contrary, the evil troll was probably expecting to hear that they were finally all dead.
It was all Kitrina could do to sit patiently and simply watch. Not that she wasn’t concerned for the safety of her parents and her sisters, for she was. But really, only three troll soldiers against the leader of the Paladins of Albrath, his very magical wife, and his two shape-shifting daughters? The odds didn’t seem even close to being fair. Add in the fact that Zander and the others were without a doubt in or very close to the castle this very moment? Oh, yes, her family was almost as safe as if they were in their very own beds…she hoped.
Marquart suddenly turned on her. “Shift and get into the cage, now.”
Kitrina shook her head. “Not until I’m sure my family is in Landis just as you promised.”
The troll growled. “Yout think youtself so smart, don’t yout? Well, yout aren’t.” She grasped Kitrina’s arm. “I’m tired of waiting. Yout will do as I say or else. I just realized something. I don’t need yout family to bend yout to my will. I have dragons.”
Kit’s surroundings began to shimmer, and a heartbeat later, she found herself outside Castle Kuropkat in the very foggy, wet outer bailey, but still in the clutches of the commander Marquart and at the foot of the nest holding the magically restrained dragon’s egg.
Kitrina shook her head to clear it as she looked around. “How?”
Marquart laughed. “Dark magic, of course. Very dark and very old. Now shift, paladin, or I’ll use that same magic to crush this shell and the dragling within it before yout can take another breath.” The troll once more growled. “That is what yout are, after all, isn’t it, a Paladin of Albrath? Sworn to protect the dragons? Like yout daddy? Or didn’t yout really mean the words of the oath?”
Kitrina gasped.
Marquart cackled. “Didn’t think I knew about the paladin’s oath, now did yout, my little Kit-ten? It’s amazing what one reveals while talking in their sleep.”
Kitrina was just about to shift and do as Marquart demanded when an almost naked Pierced Shortz with his blow-up sheep cousin, Baabette, bobbing up and down on his little gnome penis stepped through the cover of dense fog and rain.
He smiled up at her and said just one word. “Surprise!”
****
The great hall was deathly silent as they approached, and Zander motioned for the group to stop and await his signal. Then he heard it, felt it even, right through the unnatural stillness. Danger was on the other side of the doorway, danger and death. Not that it had been an actual resonance his ears had perceived. No, it was the sound, or really the lack of noise where at least an echo should’ve been, that put his spiritmaster sense on high alert.
With hand signals, Zander explained to his followers their roles in what was about to happen. Even little Tawny, in her tiger form, had no problem understanding the plan. She simply nodded her furry, striped head along with everyone else.
He mouthed the words “One…two…three,” and as a unit, they moved forward. The moment they entered the great hall and were met face to face with the awaiting warriors, the battle was on. Swords swung from every angle, clashing loudly, scraping both stone and bone alike, as daggers flew through the air and fists smashed into faces.
Zander, Uthiel, Wally, Ten, and Levin tore a path straight up the middle of the room where the baron sat with Asla upon his lap. Trolls and Barbarians alike hit the floor in their wake. Their bodies still quivering, but their eyes dull and lifeless.
The girls were doing their part also. Any warrior, be they troll or barbarian, who managed to slip past the men, was quickly met and dispatched by the steel of Briar’s dagger or the teeth and claws of her daughters.
When the last opponent lay dead at his feet, and Zander finally had a chance to look up, he was surprised. He stood so close to Baron Ambrose Fistslammer, he could’ve easily reached out and sliced the man’s traitorous throat. And he would’ve if he hadn’t already promised Ten and Levin the pleasure if the opportunity arose.
It was hard to resist. The baron was literally begging for it. He hid behind his daughter who he kept securely ensconced upon his lap, his captive, his shield. And the man was smiling with insanity shining in his cold eyes.
Zander very much wanted to wipe that smile from the baron’s face, forever. Instead, he stepped back and motioned Ten and Levin forward. “I do believe the baron has something that rightly belongs to you two gentlemen?”
Ten nodded. “So it seems he does. That is, if she’ll do us the honor of having us, of becoming our wife?” He knelt before her. “We both love you, Asla. Marry us and let us take you away from here.”
Levin’s cheeks pinkened as he nodded vigorously in agreement.
The baron laughed, and though he appeared to speak only to Ten and Levin, Zander knew his words were meant for him also. “Pretty little thing, isn’t she? And talented if you know what I mean. After all, it was I who taught her everything she knows. But if you want her and truly don’t mind receiving used goods, I’d be willing to part with her…for a price.”
He chuckled. “If you two half-breed freaks of nature are willing to see me safely back to Halla and if King Adan can somehow be convinced to grant me amnesty for this one teensy-tiny transgression, I’ll give her to you. If not, I’ll kill her myself. I’ll slice her throat from ear to ear, and you can watch her die right before your eyes.” He sneered. “Try my patience, and just see if I don’t.”
Baron Fistslammer lifted a knife and held the blade to the pulse point of Asla’s throat. “Tell them! Tell them you’ll be more than happy to marry them in order to save your daddy.”
Zander held his breath, not sure exactly what Asla would say or what she’d do. She looked as if she were in shock and she appeared beyond defeated. All he knew for certain was the hearts and futures of his cousins rested directly and entirely in Asla’s hands.
Her eyes cleared as they filled with tears. She grasped her father’s hand, the same hand holding the blade to her throat, and she sighed. “You’re wrong, you know? It is I who would be more than honored to have you as my husbands, both of you. But my father is right, I am used goods. You deserve so much better. Forget about me. I don’t matter. But please, I beg you, don’t let him get away with what he’s done here. Not this time, not this day.”
The baron roared. “You ungrateful little tramp.” He shook off Asla’s hand and strengthened the grip on his knife. A drop of bright red blood welled as the point his blade made contact with her skin once again.
She winced.
Before another drop of Asla’s blood could join the first, before even another beat of her father’s heart had the chance to thump-thump in his chest, Levin, with a deafening roar, removed the baron’s head with one quick, clean sweep of his sword.
At the same exact moment, Ten pulled Asla safely from the madman’s grasp and into his waiting arms.
If it wasn’t for all the blood and gore putting a damper on events, Zander would’ve thought what the two brothers had just done for the woman they so obviously loved to be one of the most romantic gestures he’d ever witnessed.
He faced Uthiel Dragonheart, his wife, his daughters, Wally, Ten, Levin, and Asla. “Let’s get moving. It’s time to put part two of this plan in motion.”
****
Kitrina stared at Pierced, knowing if he was here in the bailey, acting like a fool with Baabette dangling
off his private parts, then Zander and the others must be close by plotting, planning, biding their time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
She almost smiled, and she almost relaxed for a moment. Instead, she did as she’d pledged to do long ago. She fulfilled her oath to the dragons. She shifted into Cat as Marquart demanded and offered up her life in order to prevent further harm to the unhatched dragling and to hopefully buy time for Zander to put into effect whatever scheme the man had most assuredly come up with. For if there was one thing she knew about Zander Hammerstrike, it was the man had a plan. He always did, for everything.
“Don’t just stand there starring, you unnatural creature,” Marquart hissed. “Get into the cage, now.”
Kitrina complied, and the metal latch on the contraption clicked shut, trapping her within the small enclosed space. Panic threatened to overtake her. Her heart pounded in her furry little chest, and her breath came fast and hard as if she’d run a very long race.
Kit strove to achieve calm. She couldn’t allow fear to win the day. Even if she was merely a female, in her heart, she was just as much a Paladin of Albrath as any man ever born. She was also a VoT fine rogue if she said so herself and the eldest daughter of Sir Uthiel and Lady Briarlarn Dragonheart. She could do this. She wouldn’t let them down, not any of them.
Instead of giving into her trepidation, she spent the next few moments glancing about, seeking a sign that her friends were indeed approaching. Friends who could also help protect the dragling from Marquart.
Then she saw it from the corner of her eye and through a gap between the throng of huge barbarian and troll guards surrounding Marquart and the dragon’s nest. Movement. Not from where Kitrina expected but right out through the front doors of Castle Kuropkat.
Kit gasped as first Zander, then her father, followed by Wally, her mother, her two sisters in cat form, Ten, Levin, and Asla marched forward. At the same exact moment, a battle cry rent the air and, from out of the fog, strode King Adan, Uncle Sarco, his two sons Graydon and Gareth, Leeky Shortz, Talon, and an entire mixed contingent of barbarian and high elf warriors.
King Adan Hammerstrike spoke loud enough and clear enough that there could be no confusion as to the meaning of his words. “Do you really dare raise arms against your king? Drop them now, and I’ll allow you to live. Fail to do so, and this will be your last day upon Albrath.”
Kit wasn’t the least bit surprised as the baron’s remaining barbarian soldiers surrounding Marquart and the dragon’s nest let their weapons simply clatter to the ground as they knelt before their king.
The troll soldiers, however, didn’t move, and they didn’t even flinch as the sound of Marquart’s voice filled the bailey. “Yout would all do well to back away. I now have what I came for, and I’m willing to leave peacefully. But if yout try to stop me, I’ll be forced to crush this egg yout all seem to care so much about.”
For emphasis, she held Kitrina’s cage in front of her like a shield while with her other hand she pointed toward the golden egg and began to chant. “Power of darkness, power of night, fill me with yout evil and destroy this sight.”
Blue flames shot from Marquart’s fingertips, and the troll closed her fist around them before they could do any damage. “What will it be, paladins? The Kit-ten or the dragon? Yout choice.”
Her mother stepped forward, though her father tried to hold her back. Pride filled Kitrina’s heart. The woman, standing tall with her red hair flowing in the breeze like a blazing fire and her green eyes snapping and glaring right through the troll commander, no longer resembled the gentle, mild-mannered, soft-spoken housewife and mother Kit had come to know and love.
“You will release my daughter this very moment and step away from that egg, or I will kill you where you stand.” Oh, no, this Briarlarn Dragonheart was more warrior than lady, and she’d come prepared to fight. Her voice was the same as Kit had always known it to be, calm, reassuring even. But the determination behind her words held a definite bite.
Marquart laughed. “Yout? Yout think yout can kill me? Bring it on, bitch.” Again the troll commander began to chant, louder this time, faster. “Power of darkness, power of night, fill me with yout evil and destroy this sight.”
The sound of the egg’s shell cracking reverberated throughout the bailey. Jade, the dragling’s mother, screamed as Obsidian bellowed his rage. Swords clashed, thunder roared, fireballs flew through the air, and from the corner of her cat eye, Kitrina saw someone literally throw their own body over the egg, shielding it, but she couldn’t take her eyes off her mother.
Her mother spread her arms wide and did what she was known far and wide for doing, she channeled. Her mother’s powers were normally used to heal, but this time, Kitrina could not only see but feel Marquart’s evil being repelled, being forced back inside the troll and away from the egg.
With an explosion of blue fire, Marquart suddenly loosened her grip upon the cage, and it dropped. Kitrina found herself tumbling through the air, and with a thud, the enclosure hit the ground, and its metal hinge gave way. In the space of a heartbeat, she leapt through the opening and shifted back into her human form.
Her eyes sought Zander and locked gazes with him, their eyes speaking in a language that didn’t require words. Marquart focused all of her evil directly toward Briar, and her mother’s arms began to tremble. It was now or never.
Kit held out her hand, and Zander nodded his understanding. He tossed a dagger straight at her. She caught it as easily as if they were merely practicing in rogue class. With both hands, she hefted the blade and plunged it beneath Marquart’s outstretched arms, right between the third and fourth intercostal spaces of the troll’s left side. Right where she knew there was no way in VoT she could miss slicing a huge chunk out of the commander’s heart.
A blood-curdling scream bubbled forth from Marquart’s mouth. It was the last sound she ever made. Then came silence, cold, calm, dead silence.
Kitrina bent and snatched the Dragonheart Opal from around the lifeless neck of the troll and placed it back around her own where it belonged. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was over, finally over, and they’d all somehow survived intact.
Then, she heard it, the sound of anguish, and Kit turned toward the nest. There sat Sarco Sunwalker, the lord of the high elf nation, upon the cold, wet ground, and he held the body of his unmoving son, Gareth, in his arms.
“Why’d he do it? He’s not human. He’s not a Paladin of Albrath. He’s a VoT high elf, for God Draka’s sake,” Sarco cried. “Why’d he put himself between the troll’s dark magic and the egg?”
Obsidian’s voice wafted through their minds. “You are mistaken, Sarco Sunwalker. Your son has proven this day that though he may not be completely human, he is one hundred percent Paladin of Albrath. For, it is not race that determines a hero. It is the righteousness of his convictions that sets him apart from all others. And it is his ability to put the needs of the weaker above his own.”
Kitrina couldn’t force her legs to move, but her mother rushed forward to kneel beside the young, high elfin fire wizard and placed her fingers gently against his neck.
“He still lives, barely,” she sighed. “Graydon, hurry to Landis and bring back your mother and stop by Alaria and collect Lizbeth. I’ll need both of their unique talents if I’m to have any chance of saving him.”
Without a word, Gareth’s twin nodded and left to do as she bid.
Her mother stood. “Let’s get him inside so I can see to his injuries.”
Immediately, Zander, Talon, Wally, and Pierced stepped forward. But in the end, it was only Uthiel Dragonheart’s, Adan Hammerstrike’s, and Leeky Shortz’s help that Sarco would allow.
Kitrina understood why, and she knew the others probably did, too. Especially now, after what they’d all been through this last semester. Some bonds were closer than family or friendship. Some bonds could never be broken, no matter the circumstance, no matter the pain.
After all,
bonds like the one her Uncle Sarco shared with her father, Adan, and Leeky had been forged by the interlacing of fibers of their beings over the period of an entire lifetime. Fibers torn from their very souls and given freely from the depths of their hearts.
Carefully they lifted Gareth, and once more Kitrina gasped. For there, directly beneath the high elfin wizard’s body lay a perfectly formed, miraculously very much alive baby dragon. He opened his large black-as-night eyes and blinked up at them, then he slowly unfurled his black wings swirled with glorious patches of vibrant green and tried his best to follow after the man who’d just saved his life.
Words filtered again through the minds of all present. This time no more than a gentle whisper but obviously in Obsidian’s voice. “Malachite, no, my son, not yet. There will be time later to fulfill your destiny and do what you have need to do. This, I promise.”
The dragling nodded his little head, closed his eyes, and snuggled back into his nest. Jade and Obsidian surrounded their newly hatched son with their warmth, as Sarco, with the help of his friends, carried Gareth into the castle.
****
Kitrina paced. She didn’t know what else to do with herself. Except perhaps, rack her brain once more seeking new ways to avoid Zander and the upcoming discussion they’d most assuredly have when the situation with Gareth was resolved.
What on Albrath had she been thinking when she’d shifted into Cat right before Zander’s eyes? And even worse, how was she ever going to justify not telling him in the first place, when the reasons she hadn’t now seemed ridiculously lame considering Gareth lay fighting for his very life while she worried over what some guy thought about her turning into a stupid cat? And then, of course, there was the little situation with the Dragon Heart Opal splitting, and that same guy being in clear possession of a substantial chunk of it. How was she going to deal with that?
Not that she’d had to deal with the barbarian in any capacity…as of yet. Zander hadn’t so much as even looked her direction since they’d first entered the castle, let alone sought her out or touched her or demanded she stop what she was doing and speak with him. Why, if she didn’t know better, she swear the dratted man had even forgotten she existed.
Tamed by the Fire Page 24
