Dragon Blood 4: Knight (7 page)

“Maybe I should put you in a bedroom next to mine in case you’re attacked in the night.”

He was taking this far too seriously.
“I’ll be fine. I can call you like this if I get in trouble.”

“It won’t work unless I’m in the same room as you.”

“I’ll be fine. The whole idea is to make people think I don’t have allies here. Then surprise them if they do attack.”

Roy nodded slowly, still jogging.
“That’s a good tactic. But what happens if you’re attacked in your room?”

“I’ll make enough noise that the entire corridor will hear me.”
She slowed.
“Do we have to jog so fast?”

“You don’t have to keep up with me.”

Amber slowed more and Roy pulled ahead of her.

“They say you’ve killed dragons. Many dragons.”

She wanted to ask him who ‘they’ were.
“No.”

“You haven’t killed dragons?”

It probably wasn’t a good idea lying to a temporary ally.
“I haven’t killed many. Only two.”

He slowed until he was alongside her.
“What was it like?”

She met his gaze, trying to decipher the look in his eyes. It wasn’t the same one Dominic had when he’d learned. There was wariness, maybe even a touch of fear. She shook her head.
“Something I wish I hadn’t needed to repeat.”

They fell into silence as they continued to jog, leaving the moment their hour was up. Roy left her at her room, after first checking that no one was in there. She held back her smile until he’d left, grabbing her bag and heading to the bathroom.

The next morning when Amber sat at a table in the dinning room, not only Roy joined her, but also Dominic. She watched him across the table, wondering what he looked so happy about.

“Why are you suddenly so attached to Amber?” Dominic’s eyes were firmly on Roy.

“I told him he needed to show me around.” She noticed Stanley was watching them and she wished she’d sat as far from him as possible. At the time it had seemed easier to sit at the empty table, which was right across from Stanley, than have a table become empty when she sat down.

Dominic’s gaze travelled to Amber. “I was told to show you around.”

She shrugged.

Dominic turned to Roy again. “So you don’t need to do it anymore. It’s my job.”

Roy put his cutlery down and started to speak.

Amber interrupted, worried about what Roy might say. “You didn’t want to show me around. You made that very clear when I wouldn’t answer your questions. I told Roy he had to do it. I might have even insinuated that my grandfather suggested it.”

“So you lied to him.”

She shook her head. “Not at all.”

“Will you stop answering for me?”
Roy sent Amber a look that clearly told her to shut up.

“Fine.”

“Do you trust her?” Roy asked Dominic.

“Of course I don’t. None of us know her.”

“And yet you thought it was okay for her to wander around our headquarters unaccompanied.”

“Oh.” Dominic sent a quick look over his shoulder towards Stanley. “I’ll show her around from now on.”

“You ditched her. I’ve taken over. Find something else to do.” Roy returned to his breakfast.

“This is my job. Dad gave it to me.” When Roy continued to eat, Dominic demanded, “Did you hear me?”

“Unless he’s deaf he would have heard you.” Amber smiled. “Actually, everyone in the dining room probably heard you.”

Dominic looked around the room, his expression growing thunderous. He turned back to Roy, pointing a finger in his direction. “My job. Got it?”

Roy placed his cutlery on his empty plate, rising to his feet. “No.” He collected Amber’s empty plate and took them to Stanley.

Dominic rose to his feet, planting his hands on the table to lean over it and glare down at her. “We’ll see what my father has to say about this.” He stalked away, headed for the door.

“Amber, come here.”

She looked in Roy’s direction, seeing Stanley talking softy to him. Rising from her seat, she hurried to his side. “Are we ready to go yet?”

“We left five minutes early last night.” Roy’s voice was flat.

“From what?”

Stanley answered her. “The training room.”

“No we didn’t.”

Stanley smiled. “Are you going to argue again? I can give you longer in the training room if you want.”

“How long have we got?” She thought of the Knights who were going to be here today. Had Roy been looking forward to training with them? She really hoped not.

“Until lunch. The first hour jog around the track, the rest of the time use the other equipment. In future complete your full punishment.” Stanley continued to smile.

Amber wanted to get rid of his smile so badly. Her hands curled into fists as she fought the urge to form fireballs. She hadn’t wanted to see any other Knights. But he didn’t know that and he was doing this deliberately. Relaxing her hands, she dredged up a smile of her own. “I probably should be thanking you. The gym equipment is much easier to use than a sword.” Her smile widened when Stanley’s vanished. Turning on her heel, she strode towards the door.

“He’ll think of something else to get back at you,”
Roy warned her.

“What’s his problem?”

“His parents were killed by dragons when he was five.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.”

“He argued against you being here.”

Pulling out her phone, Amber sent a text first to Kade and then to Ronan to let them know she wasn’t going to archery today. She probably should have done it last night, but she hadn’t wanted to deal with Ronan’s questions. When Ronan’s reply came through, she nearly laughed. He was so predictable sometimes. She quickly answered his why with the fact that two Knights from Sydney were arriving today to give extra training. She didn’t bother telling him she wouldn’t be a part of it. That would only lead to more questions.

They arrived at the training room as Amber returned her phone to her pocket, starting to jog slowly around the outside. This time Roy kept pace with her. Several times she checked her phone, wishing the hour would pass quicker. Saturday’s weren’t meant to be spent stuck inside jogging around a track being punished for something you hadn’t done. It was mid October. The beach would be perfect this time of year. Not too hot, but certainly warm enough for swimming. And she was stuck here doing circles because someone hated dragons and was taking it out on her. It wasn’t right.

Getting on the exercise bike once the first hour was over didn’t improve her temper. She sent text messages to Crystal while she half heartedly pedalled, complaining about how much it sucked here. When Crystal said she’d ring, Amber told her there was no point since there were listening devices in the training room as well as the other classrooms and her bedroom.

When she’d finished chatting to Crystal, she read a book on her phone, staying on the exercise bike. About every half an hour she noticed Roy move onto a different piece of equipment, but she didn’t bother. The exercise bike seemed the easiest and at least she could do other things while she was on it to help with her boredom.

It was nearly lunchtime when a scent caught her attention and she looked in the direction of the door, seeing two dark skinned men just inside the training room. She returned her phone to her pocket, keeping a wary eye on them.
“Roy? Who are they?”

“The visiting Knights.”

She hopped off the exercise bike, walking towards them. She heard Roy’s footsteps behind her, but didn’t turn to look. Stopping out of arm’s reach, she stood, arms crossed as she returned their stares. They were both a similar height with hazel eyes, dark brown hair closely cropped, swords at their sides and a similar look to them that made Amber think they were related. She breathed in deeply, frowning. “You’re Knights?”

“My uncles.” Roy stood beside her.
“Remember the listening devices.”

She nodded. “Your mother’s brothers?”

The two men turned abruptly without answering and left the training room, headed down the corridor.
“They want us to follow,”
Roy told her.

“They spoke to you? In your mind?”

“Yeah. I told them you could hear mind talk, but they didn’t want you to read their minds.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I told them, but they don’t believe you.”

Amber walked beside Roy. The two men remained ahead of them. They eventually arrived at the room Roy’s mother had taken her to, closing and locking the door once everyone was inside. One of them remained at the door, arms crossed, feet firmly planted as he watched her.

“I thought Eliza said your mother escaped. How did she end up with three kids?” Amber moved to a spot in the room where she could see all of them, wishing they could have stayed next to each other to make the task easier.

“How do you know?” The one standing in front of the door asked.

It was frustrating not knowing who she was talking to. Nearly as frustrating as not knowing what was going on. “Doesn’t anyone believe in introductions anymore?”

Roy pointed to his uncle in front of the door. “Isaac.” Then he pointed to the one pacing the room. “Amos.”

“How do you know what we are?” Isaac asked again.

“I can smell it in your blood.”

“How?”

She shrugged, not sure how to answer Isaac’s question. “Any dragon could.”

“You’re not a dragon.”

“No.”

“Then how?” There was an edge to Isaac’s voice this time.

“I don’t know. I just can. Like I can smell the dragon bone on all the other Knights and in the food each time it’s added. I can smell poison and sometimes even fear.” She felt the panther in her half-heartedly try to escape at the word fear. She pushed it back down. No one was afraid at the moment. There was no prey for it to chase.

“Why can’t the Knights smell it? Why can’t we smell it?”

“You probably could. But I have no idea how dragon bone works, so I don’t know how well Knights can smell.”

Amos stopped his pacing. “There are too many other smells. Unless one is extremely overpowering they all blend.”

She shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to figure it out for yourselves.”

Amos crossed the room, stopping in front of Amber so she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. “Tell me.”

She breathed in deep, smelling the dragon. It was a stronger scent than it had been on Shylah. She had no idea what that meant, unless he was about to change form. “You change into a dragon and I will attack you. Now back off.” Amos glanced towards his brother then took several steps away from her. She wondered what Isaac had said to him. Whatever it was, it didn’t look like he appreciated it.

“Why won’t you tell us? What else are you hiding?” Isaac asked.

“Probably just as much as you’re hiding.” She glanced at Roy who moved to sit on the edge of the table. “How about you tell me how come there’s three of you. Eliza said her mother escaped. Are you triplets?”

Isaac stared at her for several minutes before he spoke. “I answer that and you tell me how you can smell dragon in the blood.”

Amber nodded. It probably wouldn’t help him much, but that wasn’t her problem.

“The dragon thought it was amusing that our mother passed Eliza off as the daughter of a Knight when she’s half dragon. He captured her again. We’re twins.”

Amber’s stomach lurched. It sounded so much like something Ronan would do. “Do you know his name?”

“Tahmid.” Amos spat the name out, his lips twisting into a sneer. “If I ever find him, I’ll kill him.”

Amber swore, taking an involuntary step backwards before she forced the shock from her face.

Isaac crossed the room in a blur, a dagger in his hand, holding it against her throat.

Amber called fireballs up, pressing one to his arm, pulling away the moment his grip loosened. She backed away, her hands up, warily watching the three part dragons who stood in front of her. Two with swords drawn, one with a dagger. “You won’t all live.”

“I’ll turn dragon and then we’ll see who lives,” Amos said.

“She’s killed two dragons.” Roy lowered his sword. “Even if you killed her, they’d still find out.”

“But at least we’d take her with us.” Amos took a step towards her.

She looked at each of them, trying to figure out the best plan. Roy she wasn’t certain of. He didn’t have the look of someone about to kill her, but that didn’t mean anything. If his uncle’s attacked she doubted he’d defend her against them. “Your enemy is my enemy.”

Amos laughed. A sharp, harsh sound full of disbelief. “I doubt it.”

“He wants the secrets I know. He’s already killed one of my allies and gained some of them.”

“What secrets?” Isaac demanded.

“How to make Dragon Mages.” Silence filled the room and Amber began to wonder if she should speak again. She had no idea what to say and didn’t want to make things worse.

“You still owe us an answer.” Isaac pointed at her with his dagger.

At least that would buy her some time while she tried to think what to do. “You need to focus on one of the scents. Block out the others.”

“How?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I found it easier to do when I was hungry. When I was learning to control the panther. The dragons taught me to follow the scent. Pull it to me.”

“You’ve got your answer, Isaac. Now we can kill her.”

“Surely you’ve got other questions.” Amber extinguished the fire in her hands, pulling her shirt off to reveal the dragon-leather vest she wore underneath. She dropped it on the ground.

“What are you planning?” Isaac demanded.

“No more than you’re planning.” She barely managed to speak the words when Amos attacked. Throwing a fireball at his chest, she leapt into the air, turning into a goshawk and streaking across the room.

Isaac chased her, throwing his dagger and drawing his sword.

Amber dodged the dagger, hearing it embed itself in the wall as she faced them, becoming human long enough to throw more fireballs at them. As soon as she became a goshawk, she flew across the room out of Isaac and Amos’ reach.

“Stop! All of you stop.”

They ignored Roy, continuing to attack. Amber flew past Amos, coming up behind Isaac to turn human. Drawing her sword she stab it through his side, leaping out of the way when his legs gave out and his knees collided with the ground.

Amos roared, running towards her, slashing with his sword.

Amber turned into a goshawk again, flying out of the way.

Roy ran to his uncle, screaming. “Stop it. Heal him. Please heal him.” He pulled the sword from Isaac, letting it fall to the ground.

Amber landed on the table, turning human. “A life for a life. I heal him you owe me my life.”

“He’s dying. I can feel it,” Amos snarled. “You can’t change that. Death is final.”

“Promise me.” She pointed at Amos. “You promise me. If I save him you will never attack me ever again. Or have someone else attack me. No matter what happens you owe me that.”

Amos lowered his sword. “He dies so do you.”

“Hurry.” Roy cradled his uncle on his lap, blood staining him and the floor.

“Promise me.” Amber held Amos’ gaze, willing him to hurry before he caused her to be responsible for another life. “Now. Before it’s too late.” She could hear Isaac’s heart slowing.

“I promise.”

Amber jumped off the table, rushing past Amos to kneel at Isaac’s side. She pressed her hands against his wound, seeking the dragon in him. He was weak, had lost too much blood, but she could do this. Power poured through her hands and she healed the wound, working from the inside out. Exhaustion swamped her and she wrapped a bloody hand around one of her bracelets, drawing power from it.

Isaac’s hazel eyes opened and he met hers. “Why?” The word was barely a whisper.

She reached for his mind.
“You were trying to kill me.”

“No. Why heal me?”

“Because I have more than enough blood soaked nightmares without letting you give me more.”

He reached up, brushing his fingers across her cheek and jaw.
“You’re not what I expected.”

Amber grinned.
“I get that all the time.”

“What’s going on?” Amos knelt across from Amber, resting his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I can still feel how weak he is.”

“Of course he’s weak. Look how much blood he lost.”

“He’ll live?” Roy pressed a hand against his uncle’s heart. “He’s not going to die?”

“No, but someone might if we don’t have a good reason for the mess we made in here.” She could just imagine what Stanley would do. Probably blame it all on her and demand her death.

Isaac grinned. “We wanted to test your skill. We’d heard so much about you.”

“You’re not going to tell them she won.” Amos made it a statement, not a question.

Amber laughed. They were very much dragons. “It was a tie.” Her grin remained in place. “Obviously.”

“It wouldn’t have been if you hadn’t cheated.” Amos glared at her.

“Killing someone isn’t cheating.” Isaac tried to sit up. “Help me up, why don’t you? And quit bitching at me. You’re giving me a headache. It could just as easily have been you.”

Amber rose to her feet. “I didn’t stab him because I knew he’d be too pig headed to forgive me. That’s why I made him be the one to promise not to attack me.”

Roy laughed, a startled sound that he cut off before it had barely begun. “She knows you already.”

Amos glared at Roy and Isaac who both grinned. “We’ll get this cleaned up. You two go to lunch.” He eyed them. “After you’ve showered and changed.”

There was a sharp knock on the door. Amos and Amber swore at the same time and Amos sent her a look as if to ask how dare she be even the slightest bit like him.

The handle rattled.

“Are we going to open it?” Roy asked.

“You open it.” Amos collected his sword while Roy crossed the room.

Amber picked up her own sword, grimacing at the blood on the blade. Her eyes were drawn to the door as Roy swung it open. When she saw Charles and Martin in the doorway she grinned. “Well isn’t this just perfect.”

“What’s going on?” Martin drew his sword as he entered the room.

“No one is meant to harm her.” Charles left his sword at his side. “Do you know how many dragons they’ll have here if she dies? We can’t get that many Knights organised quick enough to protect ourselves.”

“We were training,” Amber said.

“It was a tie,” Amos quickly added.

“You’re unharmed?” Charles eyed her up and down. “Whose blood?”

“Mine,” Isaac and Roy said together.

“Both of you?” Martin asked.

“Probably a little bit of everyone’s,” Amber said. “It was a tie after all.”

Martin’s gaze arrowed in on Amber. “Did you start this?”

“I wanted to know what a mage can do,” Isaac said.

“What did you discover?” Charles asked.

Isaac met Amber’s gaze and held it. He smiled. “That she can hold her own in a fight.”

She nodded, returning his smile.

“Everything is alright? We aren’t going to have two castles full of dragon warriors turning up on our doorstep?” Martin demanded.

“Everything is fine,” Amber said.

“Then get to class.” Martin glanced at Roy. “Both of you.”

Her stomach growled. “What about lunch?”

“You missed it,” Martin said.

“I doubt it. Not unless you want a panther roaming your corridors.”

“Go get cleaned up and we’ll meet you in the dinning room,” Isaac said.

“You aren’t the High Protector here, Isaac. I don’t come into your headquarters and start throwing my weight around,” Martin said.

Amber barely managed to control her shock. She reached for Isaac’s mind.
“You’re High Protector?”

He sent her a grin, ignoring Martin. “Twenty minutes. I’ll organise someone to prepare lunch and get this place cleaned up.” He strode from the room, Amos on his heels.

Charles grabbed Amber’s arm when she started to walk past him to follow Roy. “Are you certain you’re unharmed? There’s a lot of blood in here.”

“I’m fine.” She met his sharp blue eyes, holding his gaze. She was confused, trying to figure out what the hell was going on, but physically unharmed. “Was that all?”

Charles let her go.

Amber held his gaze a moment longer before she strode after Roy, who had stopped partway along the corridor. He showed her to her room and as soon as he’d gone, she grabbed her bag and headed for the bathroom. Standing under the warm spray of the shower, after she’d cleaned her sword, she tried to figure out what was going on. Obviously Roy had lied when he’d said his family wasn’t important. She tried to think of what he’d said. ‘We have no family members in Brisbane that are high ranking in the Knights.’

She chuckled. Typical dragon. No, but they were here now and they were a very high rank. What had she been told about the Knights? She frowned. Sydney. Headquarters were in capital cities. Isaac was the High Protector of New South Wales. How had he managed that? He was half dragon. And why had he managed that? Just because he wanted to kill his father didn’t mean he had no ties with other dragons.

Ronan would want to use this information and she couldn’t keep it from him. Not without losing all the ground she’d gained with him. Turning off the shower, she reached for her towel, stopping centimetres from it, swearing. They could be Golds. Whatever the headquarters were made of they didn’t keep dragons out, only prevented them from remaining in the Void. How many other Knights had dragon heritage? Her hand closed around the towel, drawing it to herself. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Dragons always had to make things far more complicated than they needed to be.

She pulled on fresh dragon-leathers, bundling up the bloody ones and putting them in the plastic bag she carried for her laundry. Kade was not going to be impressed when he learned about the fight. Neither was Ronan. She thought about his threat to get her bodyguards. Human ex-military ones. That was the last thing she needed.

Returning to her room she found Roy leaning against the corridor wall, arms crossed as he waited for her. She ditched her bag in the wardrobe and followed him to the dinning room. Isaac and Amos were already there, four plates of food on the table.

Amber sat across from Isaac, Roy across from Amos. She inhaled the scent of food, noticing no dragon bone on any of the meals. Smiling, she began to eat.

“What’s so amusing?” Isaac asked.

Amber shook her head, remembering the listening devices. “Nothing.” Then directly to Isaac,
“How have you managed to avoid dragon bone your entire life?”

“I haven’t. The weakness doesn’t last forever. Up to a month. Usually only two weeks.”

“Just like how long the effects last when you consume dragon blood?”

Isaac nodded then glanced towards his brother.
“Amos wants to know what is going on.”

Amber reached for each of their minds.
“Is that better? Can everyone hear now?”

“Get out of my head.”
Amos glared across the table at her.

“I can’t read your mind. I’m not good at that. Some dragons can, but they have to actually make the effort. Although there is a constant buzz behind your words. Maybe you’re kind of broadcasting.”

“You can read my mind.”

“No. If I tried I probably could, but I’m not trying. It’s more than enough effort keeping you all connected. Normally someone else does that when I’m in a group and we’re talking together.”
She hesitated, knowing her next words were going to cause problems.
“I have to tell my allies.”

Amos rose to his feet, his hand going for the hilt of his sword before he dropped it.
“You did that deliberately. I can’t fight you. I can’t stop you from telling anyone.”

“Sit down, Amos.”
Isaac continued to eat.

Amos remained standing.
“We’ll lose everything. Including our lives and you’re going to sit there calmly eating your food?”

“I’m going to eat my lunch while I listen to what she has to say. I suggest you do the same.”

“Why? So I can die with a full stomach? How’s that going to make death any less final?”

“I will ask him to keep the knowledge to himself, but I can’t promise anything. Especially if it will benefit him,”
Amber said.

“Then why tell him?”
Isaac asked.

“Because she wants us to die.”
Amos dropped into his seat, his food remaining untouched.

“Because he’s my ally and I share what I learn with him.”

“Does he do the same?”

Amber smiled at Isaac’s question, almost laughing.
“No, but in exchange he protects me.”

“Who is your ally?”
Amos demanded.