Tristan: The Manning Dragons ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  ~*~

  Wynter tried to reason with herself that this faerie, who had known her parents forever, wouldn’t have anything to say to her. She would tell her only the barest of things, things that she might have already known, but there would be nothing else forthcoming.

  “My lady.” She sat down at the table where the others were. Flame was in the smallest chair that Wynter had ever seen. “I have been awakened to speak with you. What is it you’d like to know?”

  “Anything that you have knowledge of to tell me about them. I know nothing at all.” Flame said that she could do that. “I’d very much like that.”

  “They were very old when you were conceived. It was thought by them both that they weren’t to have any offspring. I don’t think it bothered them, not really, to think that they’d have no child of their own—that is, until they were pregnant with you.” It was already more information that she thought that she would get from the sick faerie. “I was with them both when they passed. Back then there were so many dragons that sometimes it would be necessary for a pair to share one faerie. Now, I’m to understand that there are sometimes as many as three or four for the dragons. But they were never taxing to me, asking of me only what they thought of as not too much trouble. I would have given them anything, my lady. They were the kindest dragons I ever knew.”

  “I’ve been told that my father died protecting my mother and myself.” Flame, a very faint color of herself, nodded but didn’t speak. “I’m sorry to have brought you here, Flame. I was selfish to do so. I should have known that you’d be very tired.”

  “I am, my lady, but only because I was so excited to meet the daughter of the dragon that I had come to love so much. Your father as well. Yes, he was defending the caves for you and your mother. He died the day that you were born. His body laid there for several days while your mother recuperated, awaiting his return. But he didn’t make it back.” Again, Wynter told her how sorry she was. “You have the look of your father, my lady. He was a dark dragon—you will be light, I think, because your mother was. But you have a strong face, one that they both would have been very proud of.”

  “Thank you. That means a great deal to me.” She looked around the table, the family all there, wanting to hear what the old faerie had to say. “There was a book with me when she dropped me off. I know what it is now. But was there anything with the blankets? They are soft as butter, and as warm as anything that I’ve ever felt against my cheek.”

  “They were made from your mother’s scales, you see.” Wynter looked at Tristan, then back at Flame. “She was very smart, your mother. The scales from her body could be cooked to a very high temperature from her breath. Once it had cooled, she could shred it, and then press the pieces together to make things for you. She knew that her weight would make anything bend to what she wished, and she wanted you to have a part of her.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Flame nodded and took a sip of the juice that had been brought with her. “I so wish that I could have seen her. Both of them. It would have been so nice to have a face to go with them now.”

  Flame stood up, hobbling to her, and Wynter picked her up when she asked for her to. She was weaker than she thought that she’d be. Wynter could see that now that she was close to her. And when she asked to be able to touch her mind, Wynter didn’t hesitate, but allowed her to do as she needed.

  The images were there for her to see. Flame told her that they were her parents, and her grandparents. “They were a very strong family. Not as strong as the one you are with now, but they loved as strongly.” Wynter looked at the dragons in her mind. “The male there, he is your uncle. I don’t believe that he is alive any longer, but he was a rebel like your mate here. Collin, that was what he called himself, he helped everyone out when he could, and even made sure that there was plenty enough food for his sister, your mother, when she was hiding away in the cave. He was a very good dragon.”

  Wynter watched as Collin smiled. If she hadn’t realized that it was a smile, she would swear that it was a grimace. It was difficult to tell, she thought, any of the facial expressions on a dragon. When her mother was there, Wynter could almost reach out and touch her.

  “You were born that day. The day that your father was murdered, you were born. Your uncle Collin, I know not what happened to him, as I said. But I’ve not heard the earth or the faeries talking about him for a long time.” She asked Flame if she was taken to the Dawn’s house that night. “Nay, your mother was very weak. You were born, as I said, late in her life, and it took a great deal from her. When she was able to move, she had the faeries come and take your father’s body away. That was when the great witch Sadie came to her. She had a message for her about you.”

  Flame told her of the great meeting. That Sadie had told her mother that the female child would be born, but she would be in great peril if she was to raise her alone. Flame said that she worked for days on the magic that would change her into a human child.

  “There was also magic that would keep you safe from the dragon slayer. He was a man that would hunt down the magic that came with having a baby dragon, and kill the unborn dragon.” Wynter asked if her mother had told anyone about her. “Nay, only the four of us knew of you. You would not believe the preparation that went into finding a home for you. We did stay with the couple that you were to go to. We wanted to make sure that they could raise such a child as you would be. Also, the hiding place, the home, it was off in the woods so that no one would be able to take you should they come upon you. Other faeries, they watched over you until you turned eighteen. Then, I suppose, there was no one to take their place, and you were left alone. That should not have happened.”

  “It does explain a great deal about my woes when I was eighteen. Things started to fall apart for me and my mom. Is the dragon slayer still alive? I mean, will he come for me?” Flame laughed a little, and some of her colors returned. But only for a moment did she look how Wynter had thought she would.

  “He is. So is his second, though I don’t think he’ll be long for this world. He was to murder you when you were but a hatchling. He missed that day because he was not paying attention.” Wynter asked if he was still searching for her. “Yes, but he looks for a babe. Not even a baby dragon—a babe that was born to a dragon. He felt the magic, the day that you showed yourself, your true self, to the Manning men. He thought, as we all had hoped he would, that you were only just born. He has no idea that you are now here as a grown woman.”

  Everyone at the table laughed then. She could only imagine a man searching in vain for her when she wasn’t a child, but as Flame had said, a woman. Wynter asked her what happened now that she’d been born and was with Tristan.

  “They will cease to exist. For a time, anyway. They’ll return here, they always do. But the man that has started it all, Cunningham is his name, he is the one true dragon slayer. He will need to be killed, so that all animals, all creatures, will be safe from his magic. Because if he has his way about it, then all magic will disappear.” Cooper cleared his throat and asked Flame what would happen if the slayer found Wynter. “Nothing. It is much too late for him to kill her. Not that he could. She has a magic that she has shared with all of you—the magic that was her parents’. The magic of being able to see them long before they see you. If you were to close your eyes, all of you, you’ll see the man in his true light. You’ll see that he rests now, but will awaken soon enough. When he does, he will kill the man that was his second. After that, he’ll come for you all. To destroy what he cannot have.”

  “What is it he wants?” Flame moved back to the chair. She didn’t answer right away, but Wynter had a feeling that she was preparing her words carefully for the new king. She knelt before Cooper, and he thanked her. “If you can help us with this, Lady Flame, I shall grant you any wish that is within my power to give to you.”

  “You’re a good man, King Cooper. Your father—you are so much alike that I cannot see you without thinking of him. He was a
good king. You, however, are better.” Cooper thanked her again. “The dragon slayer does not work for anyone but himself. He does have people, humans, that no more believe in dragons than they do faeries. But he wants to be the one, the named one, that will be the last dragon slayer. The one that will end all humanity forever.”

  “He knows this.” Flame told Tristan that he did. “He knows that killing all the dragons in the world will only bring death to all the things that give him life? How can he do such a thing and not worry about what will be gone? Or his own death, for that matter?”

  “Because he is a man that has no heart—I doubt that he ever did.” Flame moved to sit in the chair, but only raised her sword. “I have a gift for you, Lady Wynter. It is also for Lord Tristan, but you will use it more, wield it better. I give to you the sword of dragons, the one that your mother used to bring her blood forth to put upon your head. The blood of your kind. The richest and most sought after thing that all killers of dragons want.”

  The sword was laid on her palm, and Wynter could feel the heat of it. And when it started to get bigger, the places that were tarnished, the nicks and dents in it, were removed. At its full size, the sword was nearly three feet long, and as thick in the middle as a small tree. The sides of it, the sharpest parts, were as thin as a hair, and sharper than anything that she’d ever seen.

  “You will need to feed it before each battle.” Wynter asked her how she was to do that. “You must nick your flesh and let the blood fill in the words that are said before each battle.”

  “My sword is my lifeline between life and death. It will not only feed me, but it will slay those that try and take what is mine. My sword is an extension of my arm, a part of my heart. Sword of the dragons, you will be held in my hands until I fall to the ground. Thank you, oh sword, for keeping me and mine safe.” Wynter asked Tristan if he’d heard those words before.

  “Yes. Every time we entered a battle, any kind, the six of us would say that, drawing our swords so that we’d be able to return to our home at the end of each battle.” Tristan kissed her then, holding her hand as she touched the sword. “You are very lucky to have such a gift, Wynter Manning. And I will treasure you as much as it will keep us safe. Forevermore.”

  She looked over at Flame, her colors different than the first time she’d seen them. It occurred to her that Flame was like this because all her life, she’d protected someone, had someone need her. In a flash, Wynter knew just what she had to do.

  “Flame, I would like to ask a favor of you. You may turn it down. I promise you that no one will think badly of you for it. But I’d like for you come home with me. To live with us for all time to help watch over the babies, the children that Tristan and I have.” The color to her hair flamed just a little brighter. “I would be honored to have you live with us so that I’d feel like, in some way, my mother is watching over me. I have my own mom, the only one that I’ve ever known, and who I love so much it aches. Having you with us would be like having a friend that knew my mother better than anyone else.”

  “I would have to ask the lady queen.” Wynter said that she understood that. Then asked her if she’d be coming to live with them. “Yes, my lady.”

  When she took off to the ceiling, Wynter had a moment of fear. But when she returned to her palm, Wynter knew that this, this little person that she was talking to now, was the real Flame. The one that had loved her mother so much.

  Her colors were so bright, like the smile on her face. Her wings were fluttering so quickly, it was difficult to tell them from the flame appearance of her body. Flame settled and said that she’d return soon, if the queen thought it was a good idea. Wynter hoped so. She needed the little Flame as much as it appeared Flame needed her.

  After Flame was returned to her home, Wynter sat at the table wondering what she was to do now. She knew as much about her family as she did the parents that had raised her. It occurred to her then that she owed a great deal to a lot of people. They had kept her alive to meet Tristan. It was more than she could have hoped for in her life.

  Chapter 7

  The slayer woke. The tomb that he was in was dark and dank smelling, so he laid there for several minutes wondering what could have awakened him. Since there didn’t seem to be anything in the murky cave with him, Slayer sat up.

  His body was stiff with lack of use. The fingers on his left hand were still gripping the dagger that he’d lain down with. The right hand, curled into a fist, took several minutes to open without pain. Whoever had awakened him, they had better have a good reason.

  “My lord.” Ian, his faerie, was there with him, his own body as stiff as his had been. Slayer asked him if he had any idea what might have brought him from his sleep. “Nay, my lord, but I think it has been many decades since we have come here. I will go out and see what I can find out.”

  “Good. While you’re out, check on that boy. What was his name?” Ian told him. “Yes, Eric Howell. I would not have chosen him for the job, but I needed a rest, and he was the closest choice as a replacement for me. Tell me what he has been up to.”

  After Ian left, Slayer got up from his resting place and moved around the tomb that he’d created. It had been in the cave for longer than he could remember, but it was a place that he seldom used. Until he needed to rest again, that was.

  The webs were coated in dust from all the years past. The boulder that he’d set in front of the entrance was no longer in one piece. At some point, he surmised, there had been a movement in the earth, and he’d been lucky that the mountain hadn’t fallen down on his body. Looking around for something to drink, Slayer heard something that he’d never heard before—a grinding sound that made him want to go and investigate. Whatever it was, it seemed to be coming closer all the time.

  Instead of waiting for Ian to come back or the monster sound to come knocking on his area of rest, he shifted into a small bug and left. The sun nearly blinded him. The snow added to the pain in his eyes. He knew the season, all right, but the year was something that Ian would have to tell him about.

  Going higher into the sky, he saw the source of the noise that was getting closer. It was a thing that was cutting down trees at an alarming rate, and putting them onto a large trolley. As he didn’t know the names of any of the things working to clear out the forest that he’d had so much fun in before, it dismayed him to think that there would be nothing left if they kept this up. Already he could see the animals of the forest running for cover, which, he noticed, was getting more difficult to find by the minute. The trees and the places to hide were dwindling with each cut of the trees.

  As he watched, Ian found him. He didn’t have much in the way of news as yet, but he did know the year. He told him that they’d been resting for nearly four hundred years. Slayer had already figured it had been a great many, but to hear that it was almost four hundred startled him.

  “What of Eric? Have you found him?” Ian told him that he was living in his old home. “I see. Well, I should be proud that someone has kept it in working order. It would have fallen to dust by now had no one been living in it to make the magic work. Has he done as he was told?”

  “I know not that, sir. I can tell you that the Mannings are still around. All but one is mated. I can only assume, sir, that he has been doing his job in some way.” Slayer asked if any of them were the one. “I don’t know that. I have only been to your house, and to find that the Mannings are living. I will need more time before I can find what I need. I came back quickly to tell you of the years that had passed, and where the man is.”

  “Good job. You will keep an eye on him. Do not allow him to know that I have awakened. I’m still not sure what has woken me, but I have a feeling that it has something to do with Eric and the Mannings. They will be the ruination of all that I have worked for should they find a female dragon to mate with.” Ian said that he understood that. They watched the machines working. “Just look at that mess they’re making. The smell is enough to make me puke out my guts
. What could they need that many trees cut down to build a single house?”

  “There are many changes, my lord. Some that will make your hair grow white. It’s a very busy world.” They both looked up and saw a large bird like creature zooming across the sky. It too was leaving an odor that made Slayer think that it was not an animal of any kind he’d ever encountered. “I think we will be out of sorts with things until we spend some time in this century.”

  “I agree. See if they still have someone that prints the newspaper. They haven’t gone out of style, I hope. Also, see if you can find us a place to stay that is nice, and will keep us out of this mess.” Ian said that he’d do that now. “I’ll be here, in the forest. When you return, you need only to say my name and I will come to you. I must get away from this smell. It makes my head hurt.”

  After Ian left again, Slayer went into the forest. Finding the highest tree that he could, Slayer sat on the very tip as a bird and watched. He didn’t know yet how far the machine was going to come toward him, but he did want to observe other things that he might be able to see from his perch. Ian was correct, there was a great deal going on that he’d missed.

  The buildings looked much sturdier than he remembered them being. The vehicles were moving much faster than before as well. Twice he watched a yellow vehicle pick up people on the corner, only to return and pick up more. It was then that he realized that there was more than one of the yellow conveyances.

  As he watched the little town below him, Slayer realized that it would be much more difficult to hide oneself in this sort of environment. The people seemed to be everywhere, and there were large signs about all kinds of things that he didn’t understand. The one that puzzled him the most said, “I don’t get paid until you get paid.” That made absolutely no sense at all to him.

  After a while, he was bored with what was going on. Flying back to the middle of the forest, he shifted to his form and sat down on his throne. It wasn’t as soft as he remembered it being, and he made the necessary adjustments to get it suitable for himself.