Chasing Legends

by Pippa Amberwine

  “And if I need your help, you’ll do that for me?” He obviously already had something in mind. I could almost hear the cogs whirring in his head.

  “You have my word.”

  “And you’ll stop any of your people opening rips?”

  “If we can, yes.”

  He rubbed his chin with one hand. I could hear the scrub of skin against bristle.

  “I get an awful feeling that I might regret this, but on those terms, I will take you and Nova back to Dracos to help find Lynnette and Derek, and then we’ll discuss whatever it is you need.”

  His face registered surprise as I leaped at him, and if I was honest, it surprised me too. It was almost a reflex. I was just so damn happy and relieved to even have the possibility of more blood to sustain us. I wrapped both arms around his broad shoulders in an embrace that he didn’t reciprocate. Awkward, but I didn’t even care.

  “Thank you,” I said. “This means the world to me. To us.” I let go and stood back.

  “Thank me when you’re back safe. You have no idea what you’re heading into.”

  That gave me pause for a second. It was true, we didn’t, but what the hell, it couldn’t be any worse than being a mind-controlled vamp, which was where we were heading until he came along.

  “We can handle it,” I said confidently, but in truth, what he’d said was true—this was a trip into the unknown. I couldn’t wait to get started.

  Chapter Twelve

  “ARE YOU READY?” Jevyn asked.

  I’d been around and hugged each of my friends and got an extra-long hug from Marty that I thought might crack a rib. Nova had shaken everyone’s hands.

  My mind was working double time as I embraced everyone. We had the chance to get more dragon blood. If I could somehow convince Jevyn to help us. The problem was that to last us a lifetime, we needed a lot of blood for the six of us. A whole lot. I couldn’t see that happening. What did occur to me, though, was something I’d thought about earlier. When we used human blood, we had someone sympathetic come over, gave them any food they requested as long as we could afford it, sat them in front of a games console or their favorite TV show, and generally tried to help them feel relaxed and appreciated. The donor usually ended up being a friend because we put in the effort to make a sincere connection. Maybe that was the approach we needed to take with a dragon shifter.

  I was excited at that thought of succeeding. We would only need a fraction of the human blood we used, and maybe the shifter could be part of our little group. I committed that to memory as an approach we might take.

  I faced Jevyn and nodded.

  “Nova?” Jevyn asked over his shoulder toward where Nova was standing.

  Nova’s bright green eyes were shining with excitement when I half-turned to grin at him. He ran his fingers through his dark-brown hair and took a deep breath.

  “All set.”

  “Right, then, here we go,” Jevyn said, sounding calm. But there was a glint of intensity in his eyes.

  I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth, clenching my fists so hard the nails dug into my palm, and waited for the swirling air I’d seen before. I tensed in anticipation of a rough ride to Dracos.

  The first flick of a breeze tossed my hair a little. Every muscle clenched.

  “We’re here,” Jevyn said.

  “Huh?” I asked, not ready to open my eyes yet.

  “We’re here.”

  “But . . . we can’t be. No pfft. No swirling out of control.”

  “No shwssh either.”

  I had to grin at that. But he had to be right. The quality of the air had changed—drier, lighter, somehow—and there was a hint of a scent I didn’t recognize.

  “Is it okay to open my eyes?”

  “You’ll find it a struggle to see much if you don’t. Open them. Take it all in.”

  I cracked one eye open. Then the other.

  The last thing I’d seen were the posters on Derek’s wall. What I saw when I opened my eyes was . . . miraculous. I glanced over my shoulder quickly to make sure Nova had arrived in one piece and found him staring open-mouthed at what he saw. I guessed I was probably the same.

  I turned back to look around. We were in the same spot I’d seen through Derek’s rip when he had torn it open, before Jevyn came flying through.

  It was a park. The grass was green. So far, so good. Nothing too weird.

  I widened my gaze slightly. Trees. Odd curvy trunk shapes but with green leaves. Good. People walking around. Children running around shouting and playing as children do.

  Buildings around the edge of the park. All very similar but recognizably buildings. A palace floating above the city. Lots of things flying around. They looked like birds at first glance, until I spotted the reptilian tails and large heads. I sucked in a breath. Dragons.

  The sky was purple, or at least more purple than Earth, but I could live with that. It was actually kind of cool. One sun was shining down on the city, and the other was just dipping below the horizon.

  There was a pleasantly cool breeze blowing, although the sun was hot. I could smell something floral but unfamiliar in the air and another smell I recognized—incense. Lynnette!

  I took a step in the direction I could smell the incense coming from and then stopped. I furrowed my brow and then slowly turned around. A palace floating above the city? Nova hadn’t moved and was pointing at it.

  “What the—” I started.

  “It’s the royal palace.”

  “But it’s floating.” Nova was scratching his head. “There are no supports. I don’t see any propelling mechanism, either.”

  “How does it do that?” I asked, trying not to gawk. It was, in comparison to the other more low-rise buildings around, huge. It rose at least five stories above the huge lump of rock it was built on. It was also revolving very slowly.

  “It’s an exceptionally complicated process,” Jevyn said.

  “I’ll bet.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away, even though I knew we should get after Lynnette. “Why is it a mishmash of designs?”

  Parts of it were built from stone the color of red sandstone at home. It had three towers sticking out from the main body of the building. All three were different. One had walls that seemed to rise and then curve away from the body of the tower in some crazy random patterns. The next had similar structures attached to the main body of the tower that looked for all the world like flames climbing up it. The last one had a huge and slowly turning what looked like a wind turbine in it.

  All three towers had a flag flying from the top, but I couldn’t make out what was on them or on the big flag flying from a pole in the middle of the whole thing.

  Although it was without doubt a huge building, it also seemed peppered with odd bits of machinery and here and there what looked like steam was rising from below the ramparts. It was so spectacularly different than anything I’d ever seen in my life.

  “It pays homage to the four elements we dragons base our magic in. soilstone, wind, fire, and water.”

  My brows rose. On Earth, magic users like Lynnette drew from essentially the same elements for their power. I guessed that Soilstone was the same as the Earth element. Maybe Dracos and Earth had more in common than I’d guessed. Maybe that meant dragon shifters weren’t so very different from us.

  “What’s that big flag in the center for?” Nova asked.

  “That is the elemental flag of whichever tribe the current Queen or King hails from.”

  “And that is?” Nova asked.

  “My tribe, the Morea.”

  “Which element?” I said, still thinking about the similarities between the Earth and Dracos magic systems.

  “My tribe is mixed, some of them are Fire elementals, some Water, some Wind, some Soilstone, and some mixtures of all four. Predominantly my family is strong in Soilstone, so that is the flag flown.”

  I could see that he was gazing on the flag with some pride, although from this distance I couldn’t make out the exact
design. It might have been a mountain, but I couldn’t be sure. The other flags were all a blur.

  “So, what role do you play in the tribe, Jevyn?” I asked.

  He maintained his gaze at the floating city for a moment or two and then shook his head as if to clear it.

  “We’re here to find your friends, get whatever it is you need, and then get you back. Not talk about this world,” he said, all business. “I figure we could just follow that hideous smell of incense to find Lynnette and just hope we get to her before she does any damage.”

  I got the feeling that something was bothering him about that floating palace, but we had promised to be in and out quickly, and we were relying on Jevyn to guide us around the place, so I didn’t object to him shutting down the information he was providing. But my curiosity was piqued. If I got the chance and a moment of peace, I was determined to find out what was troubling him. I had promised we would help him if he needed it, and I wanted to be true to my word. I hoped it might also ease things between us when it came to talking dragon blood.

  The world itself, except the floating palace, didn’t feel too much different from home in many ways. There were people walking around, probably on their way to whatever passed as a job over here. Some of the people seemed relaxed and carefree, and some seemed to be rushing about like maniacs with no time to spare to even look at a couple of strangers. Various hair colors, skin shades, and builds. Essentially, just like home with people of all types.

  The fact that Lynnette and Derek had a bit of a head start on us wasn’t great, but my enhanced sense of smell was helping. I caught a brief whiff of her musky perfume on the breeze and pointed the way it came from—a long road that seemed to meander toward the palace in the distance.

  As we were following the trail, I couldn’t help but be amazed at some of the shops we passed and the people in them. Everyone seemed to be wearing incredibly richly decorated clothes, much more colorful creations than the standard jeans and T-shirt I was so used to seeing at home. Not only that, but where they were visible, I started to see the various markings that designated the people as dragons. Some were like Jevyn’s, but there were so many different variations that it was impossible for me to guess whether they related to tribe, family, elemental strength, or something else entirely. Maybe they were all unique, like fingerprints.

  As we walked along the road following the scent, the shops became busier and busier. The place was like an enormous mall, but all outdoors. It reminded of a documentary I saw on TV once about the souks in Arab countries; it seemed to be very much like that with buyers and sellers bartering and arguing over the goods.

  It made it a raucous and noisy place that was almost overwhelming on my senses. The chatter of people and the smell of all the wonderful foods for sale with a slight underlying smell of something rotting, the smell so intense that I could almost taste it in the air. I had never been to a place so full of interest and excitement, and I found myself getting drawn into the interesting chaos of it all. I had to keep reminding myself that we had a mission to find Lynnette. But all I could see around me were things that seemed to be of little value here that would make a fortune back on Earth. Many of the jars and bowls that held spices and foodstuffs seemed to be made from gold or silver. Those alone would keep me well fed and housed for months—maybe years—back at home.

  I could understand then why Lynnette had headed straight here.

  As we passed a vendor selling some kind of richly spiced stew, I felt a pang of hunger. It wasn’t hunger for stew. It had been the sight of the vendor’s neck that had brought it on.

  My stomach turned and heart thumped uneasily as my pulse sped. We had managed to bring over a tiny amount of the dragon blood we had left—barely a smear of it, really—as I knew Nova and I would be getting close to an uncontrollable bloodlust. It was basically the last of an emergency supply.

  Experience was telling me that this was such an emergency. I turned to Nova to see the exact same look on his face.

  It was the beginnings of fear, panic, and hunger.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jevyn

  The Bazaar

  Pathya, Dracos

  WATCHING KATIE’S WIDE-EYED, almost childlike gaping at everything in Pathya was something I thought would be frustrating for me. I, of course, expected that many things would be of interest to the foreigners, but I was focused on getting her and Nova and that troublesome witch and her sidekick back through a rift and back home, hopefully never to be seen again.

  Bringing them here had broken so many rules, but it was the only option I’d had.

  Because of the time I spent in Pathya, I had stopped seeing it with quite the sense of wonder I had when I was younger. Seeing Katie so awestruck made me see my surroundings in a new light.

  “What do you think of this, Katie?” I said, pointing at the arch that stood at one end of the bazaar. I had noticed her fascination with the gold and silverware in the market, and the arch was a large golden statement that this was an area of trade.

  No reply.

  “Katie?” I pointed and turned my head to see where she was looking.

  Neither she nor Nova were there.

  I spun around, my chest tightening. They couldn’t have gone far. The market place was surrounded by buildings on both sides. Maybe she had seen a shop she wanted to go into.

  I waited, a feeling of trepidation building, starting to screw tight in my stomach.

  No sign.

  I retraced my steps slowly, trying to make sure they didn’t pass me in the crowds.

  Eventually I spotted the back of Katie’s backpack between two stalls. I strode forward to see whatever they had found. I hoped it was Lynnette or Derek, but I didn’t think I could possibly be that lucky.

  “What are you guys doing?” I tapped Katie and the shoulder, making her squeak and jump a little.

  She whipped around. My brow furrowed at the tiny dribble of blood in the corner of her mouth. She swiped it away and sucked it off her finger.

  As I looked at Nova, he was just finishing swigging back some bright-red liquid from a small glass vial. I could have sworn it looked just like blood. Oh, no. How could I not have realized? Katie and her friends were vampires.

  “What’s going on?” I asked quietly. I didn’t want to advertise the fact that I had two vamps with me, so I kept my voice under control. No point creating a scene unnecessarily.

  Both Nova and Katie stared at me, unable to escape, so I leaned over and took the vial from Nova. Some of the red liquid was clinging to the sides of the vial, so I dipped my little finger in, got a smear of it out, and brought it to my nose. My eyes widened. I didn’t need to be an expert to know what it was. Dragon blood.

  “What is this?” I asked, my voice straining to stay calm, even if inside I was anything but. I knew what it was, but I wanted an explanation.

  They both looked at each other as if they were waiting for the other to answer.

  “Come on, Katie. Tell me.”

  She gulped and then licked her lips. “It’s what we use to keep bloodlust at bay.”

  “So, I see, but what is it?” I wanted the truth. If she lied, it would make it very difficult for me to trust anything she said. Was everything she had told me so far a pack of lies? Had I brought her here based on untruths?

  “It’s dragon blood.”

  My face tightened. “Go on.”

  “That’s all there is to tell. A small amount of dragon blood nullifies the effects of the VAMP2 virus.”

  “How did you get it? You told me you hadn’t been involved in any of the rifts before.”

  “That was the truth.” She glanced guiltily at Nova. He just nodded, evidently feeling that moment was the time for the full truth.

  “It’s a long story,” she said.

  “I have time.”

  She dropped her head and then took a breath and looked up at me. “We were out, all of us as a group, camping in the mountains. There was a great shift
in the magic, which spontaneously spread the virus. We were all infected, turned at the same time, and starting to get crazy with bloodlust. We came across a dragon in a field, just after we saw a flash of light in the sky.”

  “Did you kill it?”

  “It was already dead.”

  “What happened?”

  “It’s hard to remember clearly because all of us were in the haze of the infection and the first bloodlust. On instinct, we stumbled to the dragon and tasted the blood from a cut. That’s when we discovered we only needed a small amount to control the bloodlust, so we collected as much as would and took it away.”

  “And you’ve been using it ever since?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that’s why you were so desperate to come over here.”

  “Yes.”

  “What exactly were you planning?” I could feel my anger rising, and it was a battle to try and control my emotions, not to mention my disgust at such behavior.

  “We were hoping not to have to do anything violent,” Katie said.

  “I can hear the but in your voice, Katie,” I said, gently lifting her chin. “Tell me.”

  “I will do whatever I need to do to protect myself and my friends.” Her obstinance and defiance shone in her eyes.

  “Including killing?”

  Katie nodded.

  Inside, cold fury was building. “Why can’t you have the implant?”

  I saw a flash of anger on Katie’s face then. Nova blustered, but Katie raised a hand to stop him.

  “I will never let them control me. We’ve shown that vamps can live side-by-side with humans as long as we have the right blood to keep symptoms in check. We don’t have to be the vicious predators the government makes us out to be. I’m not a beast or animal that has to be contained, and I’m not going to subject myself to their control, to the suppression of my true nature. I will never subject myself to the implant.”

  “It would be worse than having to kill one of my kind?”