Dragon Blood 5: Mage (11 page)

Kade grinned. “No, just pointing out the facts.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

“Eliza’s kitchen?”

She hesitated, then nodded. Drawing away from him as soon as they arrived, she grinned in greeting at the glare Amos sent towards her as he stopped pacing the room.

“What’s wrong with the front door.” Eliza rose from the table, where she sat across from Isaac, also glaring at Amber.

She ignored the question and faced Isaac. “I’m going to try and set up a meeting with Martin. I’d like you there in the Void to hear what he has to say.”

“You’re not leaving me behind,” Amos said at the same time as Eliza said, “I’m coming too.”

“My grandparents will be in the Void also.”

Isaac nodded. “When are you going to organise this?”

“As soon as possible.”

“What makes you think you can get Martin to admit to anything?” Amos demanded.

“I may not be able to, but I’m going to try,” Amber said.

“What if he’s guilty of using the Knights for his own agenda?” Isaac asked. “What do you plan to do then?”

Amber held his gaze for a moment, thinking over her answer before she spoke. “I don’t plan to do anything. I’m not a Knight. That’ll be something you lot will have to figure out.”

“We’re not idiots,” Amos muttered. “What are you really up to?”

Smiling, she faced Amos. “Why do you always think I’ve got some secret plan? It’s you Knights that seem to be planing trouble at the moment. Or at least Martin is.”

“Dragons aren’t innocent either,” Amos said. He glanced towards his brother and shook his head before turning away and began pacing again.

Amber wished she could ask what Isaac had said, but she knew better than to waste her breath. She turned to Isaac. “Are there any other Knights you think should be there?”

“No, the quieter we can keep this, the better.”

“Okay.” Amber paused. “Can I get Martin’s phone number from you?”

He nodded. “I’ll text it to you. His public one. Anyone can get hold of it.”

“Thanks. I’ll let you know when I’m meeting him.”

“You’re going?” Eliza asked. “You haven’t even told me how Roy is.”

“You ring him every day. Don’t you know?”

Eliza pointed a finger in her direction. “I want to hear it from you. How is my boy?”

“My first warrior is teaching him how to fight.”

“As a dragon?” Eliza demanded.

Amber shook her head. “No, but he should learn that. We’re all going to need every fighting skill we’ve got.”

“We’re Knights. Stop trying to turn us into dragons,” Amos growled.

Again Amber bit back the comment she wanted to make. He could deny it all he liked, but he was also part dragon. She faced Isaac. “Do you have anyone willing to be a Knight Mage?”

Isaac nodded. “My wife.”

Amber shared a look with Kade. She hadn’t even known Isaac was married. From the look Kade sent her, she guessed he was equally surprised.

“No.” Amos and Eliza spoke at the same time.

“Are you saying she can’t be trusted? She knows everything about us. If we can trust her with our secrets we can trust her with this,” Isaac said.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Amos said. “What if someone finds out? They’d think she’s sided with the dragons. It’d look bad for you.”

“No one will find out. We’ll make sure of it. But if she’s right,” Isaac gestured towards Amber, “Then we’re going to need people who can see Hell Hounds. Before that happens we need to know what Knight Mages are capable of. We need to know if they can figure out our secret as easily as a Dragon Mage can. Lydia will be able to tell us that.”

“I’ll text you the address of where she needs to be tomorrow night at eight,” Amber said.

Isaac nodded.

“She’s not going there alone,” Amos said.

“You won’t be able to be in there with her, but you can wait outside,” Amber said.

“How do we know she’ll be safe?” Eliza’s gaze travelled from Amber to Isaac. “You’re a fool.”

Isaac chuckled. “No. Not at all.”

“What did you tell her?” Amber asked Isaac, not really expecting him to answer.

He continued to smile, shaking his head. “I’ll send you Martin’s number. Amos will bring Lydia to you tomorrow.”

Amber held his gaze a moment longer, before she stepped closer to Kade, taking his hand when he held it out. The text came not long after they arrived in their bedroom and she sent one back to Isaac with the address Ronan had given her. She continued to stare at Martin’s number. Ringing him was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Are you okay?” Kade asked.

“Yeah.” She looked up from her phone. “Maybe.” How was she meant to convince him to meet her?

“You don’t have to ring him tonight. He mightn’t even be awake at this hour.” He reached for her, holding her close.

“I know. But I’m afraid if I put it off I’ll keep finding excuses not to ring him. Like I did with my mum.”

His hand ran lightly up and down her back. “You won’t. He’s not important to you, so you’ll make the call.”

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. He was probably right. She drew away from him. “Okay. I’m going to ring him now.” Before she dialled his number, she sat on the edge of the bed.

It took Martin several rings to answer. “Hello?”

“Martin.”

“What do you want?” The friendliness disappeared from his voice.

“Are you wondering where Stanley is?”

“I already know.”

She paused, trying to figure out what to say next. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

A thought occurred to her and she smiled. “I’ll ring you back in a minute. Someone just sent me a message I need to deal with.” She hung up before he could speak.

“What are you planning? You’re smiling exactly like Ronan.”

Amber laughed, rising to her feet. “Good. This is a plan that should make even him proud. Take me to his house.” She started to dial Ronan’s number as she held out her hand.

Ronan answered immediately. “What?”

Kade took them through the Void and brought them out at Ronan’s water garden. A quick search of the area showed he wasn’t home. “I need to see Stanley and I need him gagged and unable to make any other noise. So he should be tied up too.”

Ronan stepped out of the Void, disconnecting the call. “What are you planning, kitten?”

Amber grinned. “All sorts of things. But we need to be quick, I have to ring Martin back.”

“I’ve sent some warriors to deal with him. Now what are you planning?”

She told Ronan of the conversation with Martin. “I want Stanley to hear it, just in case.”

“You’ll have to stand in the hallway. Phones don’t work well in the room.”

She nodded. “That’s okay.”

“And be careful what you admit to on the phone. Martin might record the conversation.” Ronan held out his hand to her. “They’ve got Stanley ready.”

With a glance towards Kade, who nodded, Amber took Ronan’s hand. Kade came out of the Void next to them, in front of the open door. She stared in at Stanley, bound and gagged, his eyes promising retribution. Satisfied he wouldn’t be able to make any noise, she rang Martin again, putting the phone on speaker setting.

“Any more interruptions and you can forget about ringing back.”

“No more interruptions. Anyway, we were talking about the fact that you’re missing Stanley.”

“I’m not missing him. Missing implies you don’t know where someone is.”

“And you’re not bothered about where he is?”

“I’m sure he’s fine where he is.”

“Really? I doubt you actually think that. Particularly when I know for a fact that he’s in a really unhealthy situation. Which you would also think if, as you say, you know where he is.”

“Get to the point, Amber.”

“Why didn’t they bother taking Stanley with them? Why’d they leave him behind?”

“I have more important things to do with my time than discuss this with you.”

“More important things to do than worry about one of your people?”

“If he was stupid enough to get himself into a difficult situation, that isn’t my problem.”

Amber kept her eyes on Stanley, watching as his expression went from retribution, to disbelief and was quickly followed by anger. “Then why did you concern yourself with the other two who got themselves into a similar situation?”

“I’m not going to say it again. Get to the point.”

“I’d like to talk to you about this in person.”

“Why?” Martin demanded.

“What do you mean why?”

“Exactly what I said. Why are we even discussing this now? I’m not interested in this topic.”

“You can choose the location. Somewhere busy if you want, but where we can talk without anyone overhearing us.”

“This matter is over. I have no further interest in it.”

Worried he was about to hang up, Amber quickly spoke. “Knight Mages.”

There was a moment of silence on the phone. “When did you want to meet?”

Amber watched as disbelief hit Stanley again. His shoulders slumped. She tried not to feel pity for him, but it was hard. “Tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll send you an address in the morning.”

“Give me at least an hour’s notice. Some places are difficult for me to get to.”

Martin laughed. “Oh this place will certainly be difficult for you to get to.”

“It better be out in the open and not somewhere my dragon can’t go.”

“He can go there, as long as he’s not in the Void.” Martin hung up.

Amber returned her phone to her pocket, stepping into the room. She stood in front of Stanley, sensing Kade and Ronan at her back. After a moment she removed his gag, pulling away the grey duct tape that had been used.

“I still won’t tell you anything.” Stanley glared up at her.

“I didn’t think you would. I just wanted you to know that your loyalty is misplaced.”

“We never negotiate with dragons.”

“Never?” Amber laughed, a humourless sound. “Yeah, right.”

“We don’t.”

“They didn’t have to. Not when they rescued Wayne and,” she paused, “What is his name?”

“I still won’t tell you anything.”

“Okay.” She turned her back on him and walked towards Kade and Ronan, who were just inside the room, one on each side of the doorway.

“What are you doing?” Stanley demanded.

Amber looked over her shoulder. “If you won’t talk, there’s no point in me being here, is there?”

“What are you going to do with me?”

She could smell the fear on him even though he kept it out of his voice. Holding his gaze, she let the silence stretch out. “I don’t know.” Her words were soft and she held his gaze a moment longer before she turned and left the room. Behind her she heard the door close and then she could no longer sense Stanley.

Once they were back at the water garden, Kade asked, “What are we going to do with him?”

Amber shrugged.

“The Knights don’t want him and if we let him go, they’ll think he’s a traitor. It’d be kinder to kill him,” Ronan said.

“Why don’t we see what happens after tomorrow?” Amber asked.

“You’re not planning on keeping him, are you?” Ronan demanded.

Amber shook her head. “I’d never be able to trust him. I also don’t think he’d ever be able to trust us.”

“Good.”

That wasn’t the word that came to her mind, but she decided it was best not to point that out to Ronan or she’d never get to bed. It was probably nearly midnight as it was. “I’ll let you know when Martin tells me the location.”

“Ring your Knights. Ask them where it’s likely to be. Tell them the details we have.”

Amber hesitated. It was late, but she guessed Ronan was right. Maybe they’d know. She rang Isaac, waiting for him to answer.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.” She explained what Martin had told her. There was silence on the other end. “Do you know where he’s likely to suggest?”

“Yeah. No one can remain in the Void there. Your plan won’t work. As soon as you step into the area, you’ll be forced from the Void. The Knights added sculptures and other things, made from a particular rock, to the park so we’d have a public area that dragons can’t use. There’s one in every capital city of Australia.”

“Ask him how close a dragon can fly to the area,” Kade said.

When Amber did, Isaac said, “That might work. You’d have to check it out though because I don’t know how far off the ground it goes.” He gave her an address.

“Thanks. I’ll let you know the results.”

“Text them to me. I’m heading to bed,” Isaac said.

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

“If your plan works.”

She hung up, sliding her phone back into her pocket. “So, can either of you take me to that location?” She smiled when only Ronan nodded. “I should have known.”

“When you’ve lived as long as I have, there are few places you haven’t visited.”

“You need to fly over it.”

Ronan nodded, becoming a dragon.

Kade reached for her, tugging her back to him when she started to climb onto Ronan. “Be careful. Sometimes when a dragon is forced out of the Void they’re also forced into human form.”

“Okay.” She kissed him, pulling away at the snort Ronan gave. “I’ll meet you at the castle when we’re done.”

With a nod, Kade disappeared into the Void.

Amber clambered onto Ronan’s back, glad she had the ability to turn into a goshawk if she should fall. It was much easier to ride a dragon with a saddle. Her legs tightened when he launched into the air, travelling to their destination through the Void, staying in it when they arrived.

Ronan circled lower, shuddering upwards so that Amber was forced to cling tightly or she would have fallen off.
“We can’t go any lower than this.”

Amber looked at the ground, wishing someone was there talking to give her a better idea of what it was possible to hear this far from the ground.
“Everyone should be able to hear, shouldn’t they?”

“Yes. As long as he doesn’t whisper.”

“I guess I’ll have to make sure he stays annoyed at me so he doesn’t.”

“That shouldn’t be difficult for you.”
Ronan took them through the Void.

Amber laughed as they landed in the courtyard of Temolae Keep. She clambered off him. “Let’s hope not.”

Turning human, Ronan took hold of her arm and transported her through the Void to her bedroom. “Let me know the moment Martin contacts you.”

Amber nodded, sending a text to Isaac once Ronan had left. Then she sent one to her grandfather to let him know she was meeting with Martin some time in the morning. Neither replied. About to search for Kade, she smiled when he stepped out of the Void in front of her.