I’m not sure how to get a dragon to go, so I treat him like I would a horse and kick his sides with my heels. He suddenly hunkers down and jumps. I’m not prepared for the vertical takeoff. My head spins until we level off. The speed is good, but I yell for him to take us lower.
He understands what I want almost as if he’s reading my mind. We dip back toward the earth, skim the ground at a winning NASCAR speed, and hit the edge of the drop-off near the bridge.
There’s no time to feel any of the sensations I felt the first time I tried to cross. We break through the cloaking magic and find ourselves flying over a deep gorge. Silence pushes against my eardrums. Blaze struggles to rise higher. The woods loom in front of us, except we’re sinking. It’s like something is sucking us down. Blaze pumps his wings, his muscles strain. We slam against the opposite edge of the gorge and he claws at the dirt.
“Come on. You can do it,” I yell, feeling my stomach drop further with every second suspended there.
His back claws rip off chunks of dirt as his front claws sink into the earth. With one massive heave, Blaze hurdles us up and into the woods, skidding to a stop in front of a huge tree. I slip off his back, my legs shaking, and I hug him.
“I love you, man. I don’t know about you, but I was scared to death.”
Blaze snuffles and lets out a horrible sulfurous stink, one I remember coming from Kera one night. She’s been keeping a lot from me, and that makes me nervous…and worried. Why didn’t she trust me?
I let go and remount, turning the question over in my mind. Once we find a big enough break in the trees, Blaze crouches and springs into the air. Aloft, I peer into the thick canopy of glittering, silver-edged leaves. Off to my right, smoke filters up through the limbs. Campfires. It’s right where the map showed an army. In front and to my left, the forest blankets the area for miles and miles.
I do a low-level search pattern, zigzagging back and forth. For being so big, Blaze is amazingly agile and quiet in the air. I can hear a squirrel climb a tree…but it’s probably not a cute little innocent squirrel. It’s probably vampiric with venom in its spit.
I’m about ready to move to a new area when I hear a scream. I call on my power. It’s sluggish to find me, but I get enough that I’m able to separate the trees and Blaze dives down, landing right in front of Signe and Reece. Horror is etched into Signe’s face and Reece has her pressed up against a tree, his back to her and his sword drawn, but I don’t see a threat.
Slipping off Blaze, I draw my sword and ask the obvious. “What’s wrong?”
Signe points to the spot under Blaze’s feet. The dragon scoots to the side to reveal a dying, smooshed field mouse.
I pick up the broken little body by its tail and Signe whimpers while Reece holds his sword pointed at it. I don’t get it. “It’s a mouse, guys.”
The thing suddenly turns on me, grows to the size of a bobcat, and lunges at my throat. I toss it in the air and Blaze blasts it with fire. The thing drops to the ground twitching and smoking, and Reece stabs it so many times he looks like he’s preparing it for stir-fry. When he’s satisfied the thing’s dead, his wild gaze settles on me. “Do you know what kinds of crazy things live here?”
We had a basic clue before we decided to rescue Kera, but I’m thinking he’s not in the mood to hear that. They both launch themselves at me, and I’m in the middle of a hug sandwich.
Reece jerks back. “From now on, we stick together.”
Signe pulls away. “Together.”
“Why’d you do it?” I ask them.
Reece points to Signe. “I followed her.”
“I couldn’t wait any longer,” she says. “Lani died because I was always scared to go with her. I refuse to lose Kera because of a weak heart.” She bows her head, fighting back tears.
Girls and tears. Having an emotional basket case as a mom helped me realize crying is as natural for them as eating. Reece wraps his arms around Signe, and she hugs him tightly. Running his hands up and down her back, he says, “You’re not weak, Signe. You’re cautious.”
“Cautious?” Her spine snaps arrow-straight, and she shoves away from Reece.
Oh crap. I take a step back. He should’ve stayed with the back rubbing.
“Hadrain was cautious and let Navar take over his lands and people. My mother was cautious, and died before she could reveal her feelings to the man she loved, afraid he wouldn’t love her back because she was human. My sister was everything that was good, sweet, and pure and she was anything but cautious and lived life to the fullest. I want my full measure. I hate being cautious…hate it!”
She wipes away her gathering tears, and Reece holds up his hands in surrender, lost as to what he did wrong.
Muttering under her breath, Signe holds out her ring hand. The stone glows blue and she tosses dirt several times in the air until a three-dimensional map appears. She follows the short line to a detailed picture of the inside of an animal burrow. “There she is, in this back chamber.” Signe glances up at Reece, “Waiting for me to stop being cautious and rescue her.” She drops her hand and the map disintegrates.
“Great!” Reece snaps. “Why don’t you race on out there and get your impulsive self killed trying to rescue your friend, and I’ll stay here and create a plan that will actually work.”
“Oh, you are…you are…,” she stammers, her cheeks turning redder and redder.
“I’m what?” he challenges.
“Not worth talking to anymore.” She spins around and stomps over to Blaze.
A confused frown shadows Reece’s face, and I shake my head. “Let’s calm down. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“What are you talking about?” He thrusts his hand, palm up, in her direction. “I
Blaze hacks once, twice, and then spits a pile of mucous-laced mouse bones in Reece’s outstretched hand. The big guy grimaces and flicks the special gift off.
Signe pats Blaze, hiding her smile, and then walks past me. “Kera is this way.”
Reece follows, wiping his hand on his pant leg. Before I go, I pull Blaze’s massive head to mine and stare into those beady amber eyes. “Stay here. We’re going to get Kera. Understand? You stay here.”
As Reece and Signe move farther into the trees, I back away, point at him, and repeat, “Stay.”
When I catch up, Reece leans over and asks so Signe can’t hear, “We’re coming back for him, right?”
Am I the only one who sees an advantage in having a dragon along? “Why wouldn’t we?” I whisper back.
“There are other ones here. Even bigger ones.”
“What?” Reece can’t be right. I look through the breaks in the trees and scan the sky. “Dragons are here?”
“Yep. One more thing not welcome in Teag.”
“That wasn’t always true,” Signe says. “Long ago, a few escaped into the human realm, and once there, away from Teag’s magic, they grew and became troublesome in your world. They were quickly rounded up and brought back. I thought they all died. Faldon was the only person I knew to even have one. He said Blaze was the last of his kind.”
If I think about it, it makes sense. Bodog, Lucinda, Blaze—they were all unwanted, and for some reason feared, by the
How does someone known to champion the helpless end up trying to kill his own grandson?
Signe stops and signals us to come quickly. We flank her, and she points to a fairly well-hidden burrow entrance. “That’s it.”
The entrance is wide enough for Reece and I to fit through, but low enough that we’d have to bend over nearly double.
“A Dreamweaver dug it.” A shiver rattles Signe, and I ask, “You’ve heard of it before?”
“Old stories. No one has ever seen one and lived.” She bends and rips a portion of her underskirt off, then asks for a knife and begins cutting the fabric up. When she’s done, she holds up six squares of fabric.
Reece nods at the squares. “What’re they for?”
“Earplugs, unless you want to hear your death song…”
Reece holds out his hand. “Not today, thanks.” He begins rolling them into manageable balls. “How do we
