Taking a deep breath, Nick knew he had to stay calm and collected if he was going to be of any help to Lana.
Lana asked, “Are you okay?”
Nick answered. “Yes. This isn’t going to be fun or easy.”
“I’ve heard that nothing worth doing ever is,” Lana answered back.
Nick was glad to see that she still had her sense of humor. He was in awe of her temerity and ability to stay strong in the face of grave danger. She was certainly not a woman to be reckoned with, and he was glad that she was on his side.
They approached the foreboding looking cave. As expected, it was quite a bit larger than all of the other caves. That gave the dragons more room to move around inside.
The opening looked like a giant maw that intended to swallow them up. Perhaps that was actually an accurate description, since he fully expected that once he and Lana entered, they wouldn’t ever leave. He was no fool. He was going to fight, but didn’t really expect to win. There were already at least four dragons against two lions. That was not the greatest of odds.
There seemed to be an invisible shield of darkness at the front of the cave. As they entered, Nick felt the temperature drop significantly. A feeling of complete darkness and emptiness enveloped him.
Herded by the two dragons behind them, Lana and Nick followed Xutin into the deepening darkness. Icy fingers seemed to invade Nick’s body and touch his soul. He imagined that the grim figure of Thanatos stood by with his scythe, appraising Nick, and waiting to collect his essence when they were killed.
Nick shook his head. I’m getting fanciful. I need to focus and see if we can at least rescue her mother and father before anything happens.
He saw Lana glance at him. She must have read his thoughts. She rubbed her head against his quickly.
“Isn’t that cute,” Kyrse said.
Deep inside the cave, Nick spotted the light of several torches. Dizag was sitting at a makeshift throne to one side. He was in his human form, looking triumphant.
“Lana, it is so good to see you again,” he said.
Ignoring him, Lana looked around. There were several cages along the wet, dank walls. In one of those cages were Lana’s parents. They were bloodied and bruised. They hadn’t been imprisoned as long as the others had, so they weren’t as emaciated.
At first, they didn’t notice Lana and Nick as they came in. They were huddled in the corner together. Lana’s father, Clarence, had his arms wrapped around Lana’s mother, Sara. Her head was pressed against her husband’s chest. His head was resting on Sara’s. It was hard to tell where one of them began and the other ended.
Before Dizag or the others could stop her, Lana ran over to the cage. “Mother, Father. Are you alright?”
As though they were in a daze, it took a few minutes for them to respond. Then, slowly, they both raised their heads, in unison.
Sara stood at her daughter for a few seconds as though she didn’t register who she was seeing.
Then, she whispered, “Lana, no.” She slumped to the floor, passed out cold.
15
Nick
Nick watched the exchange between Lana and her parents. He was mentally smacking himself, as he knew that Dizag would have some kind of trap, and he and Lana walked right into it. He was just so desperate to help Lana save her parents that he hadn’t taken the time to come up with a plan that didn’t involve a direct route to Dizag’s lair.
He should have studied the maps of the area and found a different way to approach the caves, instead of following the exact path that Dizag had left for them.
The least that they could have done was to give Dizag a run for his money. They would have still ended up in the same place, but at least it would have been a challenge for Dizag and his henchmen. Instead, he and Lana had handed themselves over as sacrifices. The thought rankled Nick and he growled softly to himself.
Xutin heard him and looked over at him. The dragon knew he was frustrated and took pleasure in that knowledge.
Nick turned his attention back toward Lana. She was standing in front of the cage staring at her parents. Her father had managed to get her mother back on her feet. Sara ran to the bars and reached her hands out. Lana put one of her huge paws in her mother’s hand.
“Why did you come, Lana? He just wants to kill you. Why are you here?” Sara asked, frantically. “You should have left us here and rallied the kingdom to come back stronger.”
“I had to come, Mother. You know that I wouldn’t leave you as a prisoner to this monster without trying to do something to help you. You are the ones who have to come back and rebuild,” Lana replied.
“Oh, Lana,” her mother moaned.
Dizag stood up and walked over. “What a touching family reunion. It almost makes me miss my dear old mom and dear old dad. Makes me almost regret killing them.”
Lana whirled around to face him. “You murdered your own parents? Why in the world would you do something so heinous? It is code in all shifter kingdoms to honor the elders.”
Dizag shrugged. “They got in my way. I had plans. Vardok wanted me to come and serve him in his army, and my parents refused to let me go. I was fifteen and had the right to make up my own mind. I knew that Vardok had a policy of destroying anything that got in his
