The Dragon’s Mage

away long enough, it would be done.

Blood and Sex.  Her mother, a mage healer, had said little about dragons the few years she'd had to train her children in the craft, but she did say they could feed on blood and sex for healing.  Well, she would try blood and hope it helped enough for him to escape.  His life was worth nothing if they realized what he was.  Dragons were killed on sight.  Their blood called a high price in magic circles, but it was nearly impossible to survive the attempt to collect it.

Magnulls had no effect on dragon magic.  Under the circumstances, she couldn’t help envying them that.

When the guard finally nodded off with the dawn, Morgan found again the rusty nail poking out under her shoulder.  She used it to prick her finger, then bent back to the dragon.

He should have looked pathetic curled up in her lap trying to find heat.  One of the few things that could kill dragons was the cold, and that only before they reached their first adult molt.  That would put him at less than two hundred in years, but looking at his well-defined musculature and the fact that he topped her by a solid foot and probably a hundred pounds, she figured he was close to the change.  She hoped not too close.  He would never survive the transition away from his own.

Her mother had been abundantly clear about that.  She was not sure what the dragons might need, only that it was something that could not be found outside Dracon.

If he was not at the bridge to his adult life then a little magical blood should set him to rights, at least enough so that he could escape and get himself somewhere safe.  Mage blood was tremendously powerful when given freely and dragons were especially affected.  Her mother had cautioned that the giving of blood should only be done in the strictest emergency, never lightly; this had to qualify.

Morgan took a deep breath.  If he was truly power-starved, this could go badly for her.  But she would rather die helping someone than beneath the knife of a dark mage.  She pulled his head up from where it lay against her breast with one hand while she shoved her bleeding finger into his mouth.  At the first taste of blood, he clamped down.  It stung even before he bit to hold her finger in place.  She did her best to stifle her whimpers and the nearly unbearable need to shake him loose.  He was taking a lot of blood through one small finger.  It wasn’t enough because he reared back and bit into her wrist.  She couldn’t stop the cry of pain when his teeth sank deep, and it woke the sleeping guard.

“What...”  The guard made the mistake of attempting to pull the dragon off.  He was slammed one handed into the iron bars of the cage.  He slumped to the deck below the dent his head had made.  He wouldn't get up again.  His head had cracked like an egg, and the noise had drawn a crowd.

The twenty or so soldiers that had been left to hold the caravan, while the magnulls went into town to collect any stray magic users, pulled their swords.  The man/boy looked at the soldiers surrounding the prison cart with eyes of dragon gold.  He dropped Morgan’s wrist with a final lick and studied her through glowing eyes.  She was light headed from blood loss.

 “Go dragon.”  She said with difficulty.  “Before they come for you.”

“You know what I am?”  He began to change before her eyes.  Morgan’s last thought before she passed out was silly under the circumstances.

He seemed smaller when he was asleep.

Chapter 2

Morgan woke up with no idea where she was.  She lay very still even as she recognized the feel of a body shivering against her back.  She could feel the length of chain against her ankle, and for a moment she was sure she’d failed.  She wanted to cry for them both.  Then she realized the length of chain attached to air, and this was not the prison coach.

She opened up her senses and felt magic breathe through her.  They were in a cave.  She could sense no one else around.  They must have traveled a substantial distance from the magnulls for her magic to return.  How had he managed to carry them both so far in his sad shape?

No wonder he was wracked with shivers again.  Between the shapeshifting and the flight he must have used up all the energy he received from her blood.  She turned over as best she could with the dragon holding her in a vise.

Morgan put her hand up and reached for the magic within her.  Fire flared in her hand, healing the ugly bite on her wrist even as the dragon opened his eyes.  They were a cool ice blue that quickly changed to dragon gold as she watched.  His hands uncurled from her body with an effort and cupped the flame as if he would pull it into himself.  When he was not burned, she upped the wattage and pressed it into his bare chest.  He gasped and arched in pleasure/pain as his body absorbed the heat flowing from her power.  When he had taken all he could, the excess sunk into the rock beneath him.  She halted the flow.  He purred and curled up like a lizard in the sun.  He was asleep again, but this time without the life sucking cold making it unnatural.

Morgan got up and headed for the cave opening, worried he had not come far enough in his weak condition.  A hand whipped out and wrapped around her ankle before she could take two steps.  She stumbled, almost fell, but managed to catch herself.  She turned; his eyes were open, burning gold under his matted waves of hair.

“You will not leave.”

Morgan shook her foot, but he just tightened his grip.  “I’m not leaving.  I just want to see where we are.”

“We are north of the Coban River in the deep mountains.  You are safe here.”  She tried to hide her dismay.  He had brought her at least a seven-day walk from her valley.  On one hand, there was no way the magnulls would find them, on the other; she was farther away from her brother and sisters than she had ever been.

“I also need to use the bathroom and find something to eat and drink.”

“I have prepared an area at the back of the cave for your needs.  Tomorrow I will be rested and able to fly further.  I will find you food.  You will not leave my side.”

“That’s...Nice of you.  I appreciate that you freed me, so thanks, but I rescued you first, so we’re even.  Tomorrow you should continue your journey home, and I’ll do the same.”

He let go of her ankle to stand up, and Morgan was happy to see he rose easily and was steady on his feet.  At least she was until he stood to his full six-foot plus height and looked down at her with eyes of power.  Her belly rolled dizzily when she got her first real look at the dragon she had set free.

He obviously reacted well to either her blood or her fire because all his bruising was gone.  He was young, even in the woven slave trousers and with a filthy nest of hair tangled to his waist, he was beautiful.  From the sharp almost alien angles of his face to his finely honed body he was, in a word, dangerous.  Morgan caught her breath, fighting the need to step back.  Showing weakness to a dragon would be a mistake.  She stood her ground and met his golden stare with challenge.

“How did they catch you?”

His jaw locked.  “I was betrayed.”

She dropped her eyes not wanting him to see her compassion and mistake it for pity.  She was all too familiar with betrayal.  “I’m sorry.”

His hand gripped her chin lightly, pulling her eyes back up to his.  “How did they catch you?”

She debated telling him but saw no danger in it, a dragon would never work with a dark mage, and he needed to know why she was not free to go with him.

“They came to our valley, and I stayed to give my family a chance to get away.  The magnull took my power, and I was caught.”

His hand tightened painfully on her chin making her wince.

“Your family?  You had a mate who allowed you to face this danger alone?”

“Oww.”  She tried to pull out of his hurtful grip, but he wouldn’t budge.  “I have no mate.”  She said, the angry fire behind her eyes sparking.  “My young sisters and brother are my only family, and it is my duty to see them safe.”