by S. E. Smith
He strode over to the pit and knelt on one knee. Carmen followed him. She handed him a thin piece of partially burned driftwood. He took the stick and poked at the remains of the fire before he held his hand over the ash.
“It’s still warm,” he said.
He threw the stick into the fire pit and rose to his feet, pulling Carmen close to him. A shudder of relief ran through both of them.
“Let’s find our daughter,” she urged, kissing his neck.
He nodded, sliding his hands down Carmen’s sides before he stepped away. Zoran placed a hand on Creon’s shoulder in brotherly support, then took the lead. Carmen slid her hand into Creon’s as they followed Zoran deeper into the Hive.
Isle of the Dragons:
A month earlier
The Time-Space hoop worked differently this time. Instead of dropping through a narrow tunnel, there was a dizzying perception that the world around him was turning backward on its axis. Ashure felt like he was being ripped in two. He saw a shadow of his former self standing in the Time-Space hoop in the village before he turned to dust. At one point he crossed the same thread of time and saw Drago, Orion, and himself passing through the portal.
The spinning slowed as he approached Drago’s castle. He was suddenly thrust forward when he reached the point where he and Orion were waiting for Drago to return from his hoard. He sucked in a breath when he merged with his previous self in the great hall of the Dragon’s Palace.
“Ashure, Theron said you were here on an urgent matter. Are you alright?” Orion asked, steadying him when he swayed.
Ashure held onto Orion and stared at the other man. Emotion threatened to choke him when he heard children’s laughter and Carly, Drago’s mate, calling out a warning to Roo, their daughter, to be careful.
“Yes,” he finally forced out.
“What’s wrong?” Orion demanded.
“The alien is on the Isle of the Monsters, and Nali needs our assistance,” he replied, feeling a sense of déjà vu as he repeated what he had said before.
“When did it appear?” Orion asked.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. It was important that they did not make the same mistake twice. Ashure cleared his throat.
“The morning of my wedding,” he admitted.
Surprise swept across Orion’s face. “Tell me everything,” he urged.
“I’ll tell you, but there is… more to the story,” he cautioned.
He quickly ran through what he had told Orion the first time. His voice faded when Drago walked in carrying a large round metal hoop. Fear gripped him for a second when he saw the hoop in Drago’s hand. Before Drago could say a word, he strode forward and ripped it out of the other man’s hands.
“What are you doing?” Drago snapped in surprise.
“I watched you die a few hours ago,” he harshly replied. He held up the Time-Space hoop and looked back and forth between Drago’s stunned face and Orion. “I watched you both die. Everything was gone—you, your families, the Kingdoms… Tonya. The alien destroyed… everything.”
His voice faltered as he remembered the devastation. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply to regain control of his emotions.
“What are you talking about?” Drago demanded.
He inhaled a deep breath and slowly released it. “We’ve used this already. We ended up in the future—a month from now—on the Isle of Magic. The alien creatures had already destroyed all but a few survivors. Ariness was leading us back to the last stronghold when we were attacked. There were too many of them.” He looked at Drago. “You ignited the dragon fire inside you to give us time to escape. The few survivors there were from every Kingdom. Dapier told me—Tonya was killed. Mike was infected.”
“How did you get back?” Orion asked in a somber tone.
He turned to Orion. “Ariness is a Time Wizard. He can control the Time-Space hoop. You and Mike held off the aliens long enough for him to activate it and send me back to this time,” he explained. “None of you survived.”
Ashure looked down at the hoop in his hand. It was far too dangerous to use, he knew without a doubt.
“What should we do?” Drago murmured.
Ashure thought for a moment. “I have the power of the sword that Magna gave me, and we know the entity cannot survive the combined power of Orion’s Trident and your dragon fire. We three will have to be strong enough to aid Nali,” he said. “We must, there is no other option.”
Orion stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Drago nodded grimly in agreement. “Oh, we’ll be enough,” he promised.
Ashure held out the Time-Space hoop to Drago. “Please do something with this thing. It is far too dangerous in the wrong hands,” he said with a slight shudder of distaste.
“Done,” Drago agreed, taking the hoop and tossing it into the air.
Ashure retreated several steps when Drago suddenly shifted into his dragon form and blew a long, fiery breath at the hoop. The hoop turned a brilliant yellowish-red and then burst into glittering flakes of molten ash. Shards of smoldering metal dotted the carpet, causing several spots to ignite.
Orion hastily pointed his Trident at the spots, and summoned water, quickly putting out the fires. Ashure wiggled his nose when the smell of smoke and wet wool hit his nostrils. This wasn’t exactly what he had meant when he asked Drago to do something about the hoop. He had expected Drago to return the hoop to the safety of his hoard. They all turned and looked at the doorway when they heard Carly suddenly yell.
“Drago! You’d better not be burning the palace again,” Carly growled from the other room.
Drago shifted back to his two-legged form. “It was just a small one, love,” he replied with a grimace.
“So, what’s the quickest way to get to Nali?” Orion asked.
Drago grinned. “Well, I do have one more thing that might work,” he admitted.
“Really, Drago? You couldn’t have used portal stones before trying to use that manhood-shriv….” He paused when Drago glared and glanced meaningfully at his child who was watching with wide eyes. “Before you decided to use the Time-Space hoop?” Ashure amended.
“I didn’t think about it, alright? Besides, do you have any idea how much gold these damn things are costing me? At least the Time-Space hoop was already mine,” Drago growled.
“Mommy says you aren’t supposed to talk like that in front of us. I need five more big coins, Daddy,” Roo informed her dad with a pleased expression.
Orion’s muffled snort of laughter was contagious. Ashure rubbed a hand across his mouth to hide his grin when Drago muttered under his breath again about never doing a business deal with dragons. The fact that Drago was dealing with his own daughter made all of his grousing even more hilarious.
“Three, four, five,” Drago counted, dropping the coins into the bag Roo was holding out.
“One more,” Roo said.
Drago frowned. “But—I gave you five gold coins,” he retorted with a frown.
Roo tapped her foot and shook her head. “Yes, but six would be even better. I’ll give you a kiss to go with the rune stones that Mommy bought me. A kiss from me is worth two gold coins, but I’ll give you a discount if you pay up in the next minute,” she bargained.
“Your mommy had no idea what these were when she bought them for you,” he muttered.
Drago grumbled, but pulled another coin out of the bag at his waist and pressed it into Roo’s outstretched hand. She leaned in and gave him an enormous hug and a big, messy kiss on the cheek. Ashure was surprised at the sudden wave of yearning that struck him.
“You have that look in your eye,” Orion murmured near his ear.
“I do? What look?” he asked.
Orion chuckled and shook his head. “You’ll find out about nine months from the time you get back to Tonya,” he predicted.
Ashure winced when Orion slapped his shoulder. He shook his head and studied Drago and Roo. Kids? Him? Who would have ever
imagined him as a dad?
“Thank you, Roo. Make sure you stay close to your mother until I return,” Drago instructed.
“I will, Daddy. I love you,” Roo replied, giving Drago another hug and kiss before she clutched her bag of coins to her chest. “That kiss was free.”
“Thank you,” he dryly laughed, with a shake of his head. “And don’t tell your brothers about the gold,” he called after her as she skipped out of the room.
Drago rose to his feet, holding his purchase from his daughter in his hands. Ashure and Orion both grinned at him when he looked down and scowled at the colorful assortment of magical stones.
“You know, Drago, Roo wouldn’t make a bad pirate,” he ribbed.
“Don’t you even think of putting that idea into her head, Ashure. Six gold coins…,” Drago groaned.
“Well, you got an extra free kiss out of it,” Orion pointed out.
Drago looked up and grinned. “I did, didn’t I?” he reflected.
Ashure and Orion both laughed out loud. The twinkle of pride in Drago’s eyes at Roo’s determined negotiations was easy to see, and so was his love for the dainty little girl. Ashure sighed, thankful for this carefree moment.
“Do you know how to use these?” he asked, nodding at the stones.
Drago snorted. “These are child’s play,” he retorted.
“Child’s play—as long as you say the spell correctly so we don’t end up in the middle of the ocean,” Ashure pointed out.
Drago waved away Ashure’s concern. “Between Orion and myself, we’ll get the spell right,” he said confidently.
Ashure stared at Drago. “Between you and Orion… You don’t remember the spell, do you?” he demanded.
Drago shrugged. “Not all of it, but we’ll figure it out,” he replied.
“You could always ask Roo,” Orion suggested with an amused grin.
“Are you crazy? She’ll probably demand twice as much gold for the spell as she did for the stones. Besides, you don’t think that carpetbagger of a crook at the market would give a child the actual spell to a magic portal, do you?” Drago argued.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t have thought a vendor would sell the stones in the first place, so who knows,” Orion countered.
Ashure opened his mouth to make his own caustic remark when the sound of running footsteps drew their attention. A pink-cheeked Roo stared at them for a moment before she ran over to Drago and held out a message. Drago took the paper she was holding.
“I forgot you’ll need the spell that goes with the pretty rocks. DJ heard Aunty Marina telling the words and how they work to Mommy after I showed her my rocks, and he wrote them down, but I can’t read all of them yet so I haven’t tried the stones, but I know they work because DJ and Stone use them sometimes at night to visit with Dolph and Juno. I’m not supposed to tell you about that because it is a secret—but I’m telling you because they refused to pay me the gold coin they promised they would if I was quiet! So I really don’t need to keep their secret ‘cause they didn’t pay me,” she breathlessly added before giving Drago a huge smile. “Love you, Daddy. Have fun on your trip!”
Drago stared after his daughter with his mouth hanging open. For once, Ashure felt sorry for Drago. It was obvious the man was going to have his hands full with Roo when she got older.
Older? Hell, she’s running circles around him now! he wryly thought.
“Perhaps we’d better get going before she returns,” he suggested in a light tone.
Drago absently nodded, handing Ashure the piece of paper with the spell. “Maybe you should do this, since you know where we are supposed to go,” he offered.
“That might be wise,” he chuckled.
Orion took half the stones from Drago. “If the boys can do this, so can we,” he stated.
Chapter 23
Isle of the Monsters
Asahi stood on a flat edge at the top of the mountain and took in the panorama of the long lake. He didn’t understand how the magic worked, but he could see through the clouds as if it were a two-way mirror. Far below, he observed Nali returning with their meager supplies.
He absently rubbed his aching shoulder as a shiver ran through him. For a moment, he worried that he might be getting sick. His concern intensified when a wave of dizziness sent him stumbling back from the edge. Shaken by the combination of symptoms, he closed his eyes and took deep, calming breaths while he waited for the dizziness to pass.
We must access the Gateway, a malevolent voice whispered.
Asahi frowned and rubbed his suddenly aching brow. The voice sounded eerily like the alien—only now it was inside his head. He stiffened when a vision formed in his mind. The scene was so clear it was like watching a movie on a big screen television.
The Water Sirens were creating rip currents in the lake to slow the alien’s progress. Each time the alien would change direction, the Water Sirens altered the current. He watched as the eel split open and the alien poured out. Horrified at the sight, it took him a second to understand what was happening. He jerked when he felt a touch on his arm, and the image in his head disappeared.
“Asahi, what is it?” Nali asked with concern.
He opened his eyes and swayed. Nali grabbed his arm and steadied him. He lifted his hand to caress her cheek, but suddenly paused, his hand in midair. Both of them froze as they noticed the trail of black spiderweb-like veins on the back of his hand.
“I’m infected,” he replied in a strained voice.
The certainty of his statement filled him with dread. Fear for Nali caused him to jerk away from her touch. He curled his fingers into a fist.
“How—when?” she demanded in dismay.
He closed his eyes again and thought about the last few days. He remembered feeling an intense pain in his shoulder when the alien struck him outside the opening to the goblins’ underground tunnels. Now he realized that was when the alien infected him. The blow had been brief, but sharp—like the stab of a needle.
“My shoulder—I thought it was just a bruise. The alien must have injected me with some of its body matter,” he said.
“Loosen your shirt, and let me look at your back,” she instructed.
“Look, but don’t touch me. We don’t know—” He paused and then voiced his grim realization. “There’s a chance it could have spread to you when we made love.” He released a shaky breath.
“If that is the case, then we will deal with it,” she replied.
He slowly unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged the fabric off of his shoulders, turning his back to Nali. The sound of her low hiss confirmed his fear. He flinched when she gently touched the heated flesh around the bruise.
“There are streaks feathering outward from where the alien struck you,” she exclaimed. “What are your symptoms?”
He stepped away as he pulled his shirt back on, then turned and faced her, slowly buttoning his shirt. He ignored his slight discomfort. There were far more important concerns at the moment, like the images he had seen a few moments ago—and the whispered words.
“Before, all I felt was an ache in my shoulder. A few minutes ago, I experienced minor chills and disorientation. I also had a vision, and it felt as if I could hear the alien’s thoughts,” he said.
Nali’s lips parted on a soft gasp. She took a step forward, ignoring him when he lifted a hand to remind her to keep her distance. Frustration and concern churned inside him at her stubborn disregard for the danger he now presented to her and their mission. She wrapped her hand around his and held it against her chest.
“What did you see? What did the creature say?” she demanded.
“It said ‘we must access the Gateway’. A moment later I saw the eel split apart and the alien spilling out of it. I lost the connection before I could see what happened next. Nali…,” he murmured, cupping her chin so that she was forced to look into his eyes. “I now pose a danger to this mission.”
She shook her head. “Not yet. The entity left Medjuli
ne without killing her. We’ll find a way to remove it from you,” she replied in a hard, determined tone.
“I hope it doesn’t require that I run head first into a tree,” he wryly mused.
He started to pull away from her when a movement over her shoulder caught his attention. She sensed his surprise and twisted around to follow his gaze. A small army of dark shapes was approaching the mountain. Asahi’s rising concern dissolved when he heard Nali’s strained, but relieved, chuckle.
“I knew Pai would find me,” she murmured.
Together they waited as the hippogriff led an army of gargoyles to their mountain perch. Minutes later, Pai swept up over the edge of the cliff, followed by the gargoyles. The sight of the granite-like army caused Asahi’s throat to tighten with emotion. For the first time in a while, he was infused with hope. The large group circled around before landing in the serene meadow that carpeted the extinct volcano’s sunken crater.
“Now we only need Ashure and the others to arrive,” Nali murmured, as if reading his thoughts.
“They will,” he replied with confidence.
The words had no sooner left his mouth than a shimmering portal opened less than thirty feet from them. The first thing he saw was Ashure’s grinning face. Asahi noted several other men behind the pirate. He was distracted from watching them appear from the portal, however, by Ashure’s exuberant greeting.
“You don’t know how glad I am to see you!” Ashure exclaimed with relief.
Asahi frowned when he noticed new lines etched around Ashure’s mouth and the unexpected amount of emotion in the man’s eyes. He started to raise his hand to shake Ashure’s but then dropped it back to his side. He pursed his lips before he nodded to the group in greeting.
“Thank you for coming,” Nali softly greeted.
Ashure wrapped his arms around Nali and hugged her as if he would never let her go. Asahi met Ashure’s searching look. He raised an eyebrow in inquiry.
“Where’s the alien? I’m ready to incinerate the damn thing,” Drago demanded, studying the area with a curious expression.
