Authors: Denise A. Agnew
DarykHunter (3 page)
She didn’t flinch and refused to allow his disparaging remarks to draw her ire. If she wanted to escape, she needed to plan, to outthink him. From his size, she couldn’t defeat him in combat. She could use his sexuality, she supposed, to secure his cooperation in helping her rescue her father. Distasteful indeed. But she could do it.
“What else do your legends tell you?” she asked.
He chuckled and the low sound sent another wave of heat through her. “Magonian women are almost men. They have short, dark hair and prefer sex with all their clothes on. You, though, seem different. You’re taller that most of the women I know. Lithe.” His fingers slipped away from her neck and touched the thick hair that fell over her breasts. “With the prettiest tangle of golden-brown hair I’ve ever seen. And eyes like a blue moon.”
His hand so close to her breast sent an indignant gasp to her throat. Heat rushed to her face. “How dare you speak of…of sex with a woman you are not joined to?”
His eyebrows went up. “I just did. Tell me, are you wasting your life with a Magonian male? Becoming a lifeless vessel for his weak sperm? You aren’t what I would have expected. And you aren’t as immune to me as you claim. You speak one thing, but your body tells of banked passion. You came with my fingers deep inside you, my touch on your little bud. Can a Magonian male do that for you?”
Anger spilled over inside Ketera as a blush filled her face. “You’ve never met a Magonian woman before and yet you claim to know what is in my mind and how my body feels? You are a toad, sir.” He didn’t move back, his body still way too close for comfort. “I’m not married, and Magonian women do not…take sperm from any man but their husbands.”
The Daryk One’s laughter sounded like silk and sin. “Keep telling yourself that Ketera Aldrancos.”
She almost sputtered, a rage she couldn’t remember feeling before stirring inside her until it threatened to reach a perilous boil. “I know of what I speak. Back away from me.”
“Then you have heard wrongly. And I can’t let you go. If I do, you won’t last a moment in the castle alone.”
“That is dragon dung. I won’t be detained here.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “What do you know of dragons? Have you ever met one?”
“Of course.”
“What color are they?”
“Black like the deepest levels of all the hells.”
He threw back his head and laughed hard, the sound throaty, deep and filled with a huskiness that rasped over hidden places inside her and filled Ketera with heat. “You lie. They come in all the colors of every rainbow. They are big and small, fat and skinny. Just like Magonian women.”
A fuse lit inside her. She swung at him, and he grasped her wrist in a firm grip. She made a little growl in her throat and twisted, but he held tight. Still, his touch didn’t hurt her. She knew the Daryk One withheld his true strength. No doubt he could break her wrist.
“You say you despise violence but you just showed you’re willing to fight a man much larger than you. Are you feisty or foolish, I wonder?” His eyes held a challenge. “Why do you want to escape? Do you have some other mission?”
She doubted telling him about her father would help her situation. If she had to lie repeatedly, so be it. “My ship was blown off course by a storm and a terrible wave sank it. Many perished. There is nothing more sinister to my presence here than a storm.”
“You are lucky that you washed up on shore and didn’t drown first.”
Memories of being tossed in the water, strangling as the waves pummeled her, assaulted Ketera. She didn’t want to remember the moments when she was sure she would die.
Insecurities assaulted her. She resolved to escape this madness.
Dane backed away and pointed to an arrow slit window across the room. “If you must see the truth for your own eyes and understand that you can’t escape…”
She stalked across the small expanse and peered out the slit. In the dawn of a new turn of the sun, rays poured over a landscape she only imagined and never thought she’d see. She pressed as close to the wall as she could to obtain a decent view. It was difficult. Beyond the great curtain walls, a jungle spread out for as far as she could see. Huge trees forested a tall canopy, their vines and leaves gargantuan. The forest was forbidding, a landscape so alien she couldn’t comprehend it at first.
“Beasts live in that forest,” she said.
“How do you know? Do you have such places in Magonia? I thought your land is parched and without extremes.”
She nodded, still staring at the trees. “Extreme desert and heat. Harsh. And beautiful.” She frowned and turned to look at him. He’d retreated across the room. “Have you been to Magonia?”
“I’ve studied Magonia.”
She shook her head. “We don’t study you. The scribes tell us everything we need to know.” Her chin tilted upward. “You are a cruel horde of barbarians.”
He laughed, but no humor laced the throaty sound. “We are. And proud of it.”
Real fear threatened to ease its way up inside her, to destroy the composure she held by a thread. For she had never intended to come here, never known the storm would throw her ship off course. Tears she couldn’t afford blurred her vision as she turned back to the window and stared out at the primordial jungle. What she didn’t know about this hostile continent streamed out ahead of her in a terrifying wave of possibility. “By the god, I shouldn’t be here.”
A great roar rumbled out of the forest and she started. She thought she heard screams below. “What was that?”
Dane rushed to a chest by the wall and dragged it open. He dropped his pants and his firm, naked buttocks caught her shocked attention.
She clenched her fists in frustration. “What’s happening?”
He didn’t answer but drew out a skirtlike garment and strapped it around his waist. He jammed his feet into boots and slammed on shin plates of shiny copper-colored metal. He yanked a sleeveless leather tunic out and dragged it over his head. On top of that he placed the metal breastplate she’d seen him wearing on the beach.
“Dane—”
Another roar echoed out of the forest. “No time to explain.” He grabbed a sword off a wall bracket and charged for the door. He pointed at her. “Stay here!”
She rushed forward as he opened the door. “What is it?”
“Dragon!”
He exited and slammed the door.
Astonished but excited at the same time, she ran back to the window and peered outside, straining to see through the slit. The very little she’d read about dragons in her father’s texts drove her curiosity.
Treetops swayed but not all of the forest that moved was propelled by a strong wind. Only one or two trees swayed.
Ketera saw the creature emerge from the forest, its wings spread and mouth open for another angry bellow. She had a fleeting impression of gray scales, a red stripe running down its back and fiery golden eyes.
Ketera made an impetuous decision. Her captor’s order for her to stay in the room warred with her curiosity. She would not stand here meekly. She found shoes by the bed, and although they were a bit large, she pushed her feet into them. She hastily rummaged around the room, looking for a bag, anything she could find that would carry supplies. When she located a knife with a long, serrated edge, she hesitated. She’d never resorted to violence, but what if many beasts lurked in the jungle? She must have some protection. Jamming food, a water skin and the vicious-looking knife into a large pack, she headed for the door.
Time to escape.
Chapter Two
Ketera ached as she hurried down the stone spiral staircase, her body reminding her she’d survived a shipwreck. She slowed her steps, well aware one slip on the unforgiving stones could mean disaster. She came to a dead stop outside the wooden doorway of Dane’s stone abode. Impressions rushed at her at the same time as her heart pumped with fear. Was the dragon dangerous? She’d heard conflicting stories from the texts her father had located in his archaeological dig.
More information rushed to the forefront of her memory. Where was her copy of the forbidden texts?
Oh my god Magon. What happened to it? She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten it.
She’d had her pack anchored to her when the storm came. She’d lost it. She halted for a moment and mourned the loss of the precious texts. She needed it to save her father. It proved he’d been correct about the Dragonians all along.
Fright mixed with overwhelming inquisitiveness as she watched people around her and marveled at strange differences. She wanted to run at the same time she longed to explore.
A horrendous roar from the beast outside the castle walls broke her reverie. Reality rushed back. People scampered about the enclosure outside the tower. Women shrieked, their voices piercing. Children cried out. Men shouted. Carts of goods overturned in the mayhem. Around her the massive castle rose into the sky on all sides, the curtain walls far above her head. Towers guarded at intervals. Through the chaos, she searched for Dane. Several men dressed just as Dane ran by, their muscles gleaming with sweat.
Eager to escape, she darted and dodged through the sea of people, running alongside one wall until she reached an opening. Daryk Ones stood across the opening. Of all the hells. What to do now?
When another roar, this one loud and throaty, burst through the air, she scampered along the wall toward another opening not far away. Her legs trembled, her heart pounding. Her heart leapt in excitement when she saw a small opening unguarded. She could just fit.
As she squeezed through and stood outside the curtain wall, she came to a stop.
Trees swayed as the dragon stood at the edge of the jungle, its wings flapping and creating a great wind. Then it folded its wings back along its lengthy body. Its form didn’t look quite like the texts described. A flash of blue rippled down the ridge along the creature’s back. As it lumbered in an ungainly fashion over the red earth, its clawed feet took up huge swaths of ground. She noted the massive head, a strange, sharp reptilian skull more in keeping with one of the lizards that gave a savage bite in Magonia. As it lowered his head and uttered a high-pitched noise closer to a huge bird crying out, it exposed razor-sharp teeth lining its jaw.
Movement below caught her eye. Several warriors exited the castle and raced toward the dragon. They looked like insignificant specks against the hulking monster bellowing its anger. She watched, entranced, as one of the men led the pack running toward peril. Dozens of other people scampered toward the castle, caught out in the open with the rampaging creature.
Her hands clutched at the wall as she recognized one man running toward the dragon rather than away. “Dane.”
Dane charged the beast, and Ketera held her breath. Before she could turn tail and escape in the other direction, the dragon ran toward Dane. Would she see Dane killed before her eyes? A curious panic constricted her breath.
As the dragon and Dane came within feet of each other, Dane lifted his sword and threw it with tremendous force. It tumbled over and over as it flew through the air. Stunned into immobility, she watched and wondered how on Croan the sword could make a mark in the huge beast.
Everything seemed to slow down.
An ear-splitting growl erupted from the dragon and it took to the air. She watched, paralyzed as the dragon flew straight toward her.
Dane saw the blue stripe dragon fly toward the small figure standing near the castle wall.
Ketera.
Alarm screamed through him. His sword had hit the mark right above the dragon’s belly in the most vulnerable section between the thick plates of armor that protected the creature. Yet it hadn’t done enough damage to prevent the creature from heading right toward Ketera.
He ran toward the castle and shouted at the top of his lungs. “Ketera! Get down!” He waved his arms at her, hoping she could see him. “Get down!”
He saw her duck as the dragon’s tail smacked the wall near where she stood. Pieces of the wall flew in all directions.
Ketera darted back into the castle, and he took a breath of relief. At least in the castle she might be safe. He prayed his sword throw would slow the creature. A spear would have pierced the animal more efficiently, but neither he nor the other men had expected a dragon to approach the castle so blatantly. It was a female dragon, significantly larger than a male.
Other Daryk Ones followed him in his mad rush to the drawbridge over the huge moat.
His heart pounded with the rush, the excitement. Battle lust erupted through his veins.
The dragon flapped its huge wings as it landed in the courtyard, scattering people as they tumbled over and over.
Dane cursed as he came to a skidding halt inside the castle.
A young Daryk One near the commotion launched a sword at the dragon, and it sailed across the wide expanse and missed the creature.
Metal clanked against the ground near to—
Ketera.
She pressed against the wall near the bottom of the steps. Her eyes widened as the dragon turned her way. Blood trickled down the side of her face. Fierce protectiveness reared inside Dane. The sprite looked defiant, much as she had with him—but he also saw the dawning fear and her lips drawn into a tight line. The dragon pinpointed on her despite the incessant din of screaming people running to escape.
The dragon turned, wings sweeping out with a tremendous whooshing noise. Ketera froze, apparently unable to act.
“Ketera, get out of there!”
Courage reflected in the depths of her eyes. Admiration surged inside him, but she had no experience with dragons.
One false step and she’d die.
Then he saw why she stayed where she was.
A screaming child not older than three sat next to a fallen woman not far from one of the dragon’s feet. Before he could react, Ketera ran toward the beast rather than away. As she careened toward the child, Dane’s heart froze in his chest.
Ketera snatched the child from the ground and barreled away from the dragon. The creature roared and turned toward Ketera, its foot miraculously missing the woman lying on the ground. A Daryk One darted between the dragon’s legs and retrieved the woman, lifting her in his arms and running away.
