Dragon Blood 5: Mage (6 page)

Ronan smiled his predatory smile and Amber wondered if she should interrupt. Ronan spoke before she had a chance.

“Maybe he’s mine too. Which would mean what is his, is also mine.”

“Amber brought you here to protect you. She is not about to let harm come to you while you are enjoying her hospitality,” Rian said.

“Sheath your swords,” Isaac said.

Amos slid his sword into the scabbard hanging at his side. “This still isn’t any of his business.”

“I have arranged lunch. It is in the dinning room,” Rian said.

“Ever the peacekeeper,” Ronan said softly. “War will come no matter what you do, boy.”

Rian inclined his head, opening the door he still stood near.

“What makes you think we’re going to eat any food you’ll offer us,” Eliza said.

Amber opened her mouth to tell Eliza she could starve for all she cared. Rian answered first.

“You have been offered protection for today. It is safe to eat the food.”

Eliza glanced towards Isaac and narrowed her eyes, before looking away. “Let’s get this over and done with then.”

When Amber would have followed them, Ronan grabbed hold of her arm, tugging her to him. He waited until they had the room to themselves, closing the door on Kade who left after Amber nodded in reassurance. “Why did you bring them here?”

“I wasn’t about to let them get killed.”

“They are useless to us.”

“They have humans that would be useful.”

“But not loyal to us. I told you to find ones that’d be loyal to us.”

“We also need ones who will fight the Hell Hounds regardless of their loyalty. How much stronger is a Knight Mage?”

“As strong as a dragon, or near enough that most can’t tell the difference.”

“Then what’s the harm in making Knight Mages?”

Ronan stared at her, holding her gaze for long silent minutes. “We still need mages that are loyal to us.”

“And we’ll have some, but we also need people who will fight the Hell Hounds because they believe in protecting humans. That’s what the Knights are about.”

“So they say.”

Amber smiled. Of course he wasn’t about to trust anything anyone said. “Yep. So they say.”

“You better hope this doesn’t cause problems for us later.” Ronan paused. “What happened with Wayne?”

“He nearly got me. He shot at me from a distance and if I hadn’t moved, I’d probably be dead.”

“You need to be more careful than that.”

“What did you expect me to do? How was I supposed to know he’d do that?”

“Be more alert. Haven’t you learned anything yet?”

Amber was tempted to say no, but she could see he was serious. “Of course I have.”

“Then you should have been continually checking the area. With all of your senses.”

“I’ll do that in future.”

“You’re lucky there will be a future. Don’t trust no one. Always expect someone to be waiting to stab you in the back and stay alert. It’s the only way to survive.”

“Even that might not help when we face the Hell Hounds.” Images of the hand drawn pictures came to mind.

“It’ll help.”

“I want you to promise me that if anything does happen to me you’ll protect my people.”

“That wasn’t our deal.”

“Neither was this. Fighting Hell Hounds wasn’t ever part of our deal. Only getting your lands back.”

“Two. Name two and I’ll protect them if anything happens to you in this war.”

“Ten.”

“Four.”

“That’s not enough. Ten isn’t even enough.”

“Four. Take it or leave it.”

Amber stared at him for a moment, deciding he wasn’t about to budge. “Kade, Jasper, Crystal and Rian.”

“You think you have to ask me to protect my own son?”

Amber nodded.

Ronan threw back his head and laughed. “I have hope for you, kitten. I really do.”

Some days hope was all she had. “I need to get to the dinning room.” Although Rian would probably prevent an argument far better than she could.

“Organise your mages by Saturday. They’ll need time to train before our war begins.”

“But that’s only five days away.”

“Then you better hurry.” Ronan disappeared into the Void.

Amber glared at the spot where he’d been before she flung the door open and marched to the dinning room.

The following morning Amber kept her eyes closed, seriously thinking about not getting out of bed. After she’d finally agreed to keep Roy at Temolae Keep yesterday afternoon, the Knights had returned to their own world, with some help from Daray. She’d thought the problems had been dealt with for the day. She’d been wrong. Shylah had rung wanting her to give approval for the humans they’d chosen. It had sounded simple, until she told Rian that she was going.

Shylah hadn’t been impressed when she’d turned up with Kade, Rian, Daray, Crystal and Flinn. It had taken a lot of effort to convince Kade and Flinn, especially Flinn, not take their warriors. Only the fact that if they had to leave the place in a hurry they had enough Golds to get everyone out immediately, if they didn’t take their warriors, convinced them. Once getting past that issue they’d then had to deal with Shylah’s family wanting every human in their Castle to become a mage. Even Amber had known that wouldn’t have been a good idea. They finally agreed to six. That included Roger.

They’d returned to Temolae Keep and Amber had thought surely that was the problems dealt with for the day, but Angela had rung. She’d wanted Amber to meet the humans she’d chosen. None of the people had known what was about to happen and had been expecting movies and pizza. Flinn had taken one look at all of them and had argued Angela’s choices.

Flinn, Amber and Angela had retreated to the kitchen for a whispered argument. Kade, Crystal, Rian and Daray had remained in the lounge room with the rest of the gathering who were eating pizza and paying very little attention to the movie that was on. Talking and laughing instead. It had taken them nearly half an hour to convince Flinn. Only Angela’s warning that her mother would be home at ten seemed to help Flinn come to a decision quickly. Everyone was finally told the real reason they’d been gathered. Some had taken more convincing than others, but in the end all had wanted to become Dragon Mages.

Amber felt Kade stir on the bed beside her and she opened her eyes to see him change back into human form. She reached for him, not wanting to think about anything else for a while.

Crystal burst into the room. “Oops. Sorry.”

With her arms still wrapped around Kade, Amber looked towards her friend, who didn’t look at all sorry with how wide her grin was. “Sure you are.”

“Flinn thinks we should hunt Wayne down. He said it’d be better to deal with one enemy at a time rather than wait and deal with them all at once.”

Groaning, Amber rolled out of bed, reaching for her phone and weapons. “We need to find more humans. We’ve only got four days.”

“How are we meant to do that?”

Amber shrugged as she tightened the sheaths at her wrists before strapping on her sword. “I haven’t got a clue. It’d be so much easier if I knew what each person was really like.”

“You can.” Kade rose from the bed.

“How?”

“Read their minds.”

“I’m not good enough at that.”

“It sounds kind of wrong,” Crystal said.

“I can help you,” Kade said.

Amber stared at him a moment. “I suppose.” Her words were hesitant.

“I still think it sounds wrong,” Crystal said.

“Don’t some jobs in your world expect you to have a psychological assessment before you can do them?” Kade asked.

“This is different,” Crystal said. “You’re going to invade their minds.”

Amber met Crystal’s eyes. “I don’t like the idea of it, but what if we accidentally picked out some psychopath because we didn’t know them?”

“You mean like, Ronan?” Crystal asked.

Amber couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah.”

“I suppose, but it still feels wrong.”

“Ask Flinn. I’m sure he’ll tell you there’s nothing wrong with it,” Kade said.

“There’s very little Flinn and I agree with so it’s no point asking him. I’m sure we won’t agree.” Crystal turned towards Amber. “Do you need help with it?”

Amber shook her head, clearly hearing the plea in Crystal’s tone for her to say no. “We’ll be right.”

Crystal grinned. “I’ll let Flinn know that he’s got time to help me with my Void walking. He always seems to find excuses to get out of helping me with it.” Crystal left the room as quickly as she’d arrived, barely giving Amber time to say goodbye.

She stared at the closed door, wishing that Crystal hadn’t pointed out how wrong reading someone’s mind was. Not that she hadn’t already had the thought herself, but it was worse coming from someone else.

Kade came to stand beside her, his own sword at his side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She didn’t have a choice. “How many do you think we’ll need to find?”

“I don’t know. You could ask Ronan.”

That was the last way she wanted to start her morning. “Maybe after breakfast.”

She was still reluctant to contact Ronan after breakfast and decided that it’d probably be best to check in with Rian before they went out for the day. Tracking him down, she found him teaching Roy in the training room. Daray stepped out of the Void less than a minute after she entered the room.

Rian moved away from Roy, sheathing his sword. “Take over for me.”

Daray nodded, drawing his sword then crossing the room to face Roy.

Rian joined Amber by the doorway. “We will step into the hallway so we do not disturb them.”

As soon as they were in the hallway, with the door to the training room closed, Amber asked, “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” She couldn’t think of any other reason why he’d want to leave the training room.

“Ronan came to visit me this morning.”

Amber wasn’t sure she wanted to know what they’d talked about. Something that Rian couldn’t speak out loud couldn’t be good.

“He wants me to become a Gold like him.”

Yep, she’d been right.
“Why?”

“I am sure he has more reasons than what he actually gave me.”

“I’m sure he has too. What reasons did he give you?”

“That as a Gold he should have fathered at least one Gold by now. He does not want anyone questioning the fact he is Gold.”

“Why you? Why not one of your brothers?”

Rian smiled fleetingly.
“I asked him that too. He said I have the greatest chance of surviving.”
Rian remained silent for a moment.
“He told me of the deal you made. Why me? Of all the people you could have chosen, why me?”

She really wished he hadn’t asked her that. It wasn’t a simple question or answer. She shrugged.
“What would you do if I died?”

“Take revenge on whoever had killed you.”

“You would?”

Rian nodded.
“Of course.”

“Is that because you’re my first warrior?”

“It is one reason.”

“And the other reasons?”

“Ask Kade what he would do if you died.”

She stared at him a moment longer before she did as he asked.
“What would you do if I died?”

“Where are you? Are you okay?”
Kade asked.

“I’m fine. It was just a question Rian said I should ask you. What would you do?”

“I would avenge you,”
Kade said.

She started to protest, then remembered how she’d felt when she’d thought Vikki had killed him.
“I would do the same for you.”
She could sense her own feelings reflected back at her from Kade. She held onto them for a moment, feeling almost like she could wrap them around herself.
“I have to finish talking to Rian. Then we can go to my world and find humans suitable to become mages.”

“I’ll be ready,”
Kade said.

“I spoke to Kade. He basically said the same as you. But he loves me.”

“We are dragons. It is expected of us. Not just for those we love. I owe you a life, but I would do it even without that. You would be worth avenging.”

Amber felt slightly uncomfortable by his compliment.
“What would you do after that?”

“I would protect the castle and your people.”

“You would protect Crystal.”

“Yes.”
Rian stared at her for a moment.
“This is your reason?”

“I think I must be getting as complicated as your father.”

“No one is that complicated.”

Amber laughed, hearing the humour in Rian’s thoughts.
“Maybe not.”
She reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder
. “Crystal isn’t the only reason. Just being Ronan’s son puts you in danger. And not only from others, but also from your father and what he expects of you.”

“I would do all I could to protect you. But if for some reason you should not survive I will protect your people.”

“Thank you.”

“All of them. Not only four.”

“Thank you.”
She let her arm fall to her side.
“I need to find more humans to turn into mages. I have absolutely no idea how many we’ll need.”

“At least fifty. Preferably one hundred.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How am I meant to find that many?”

“You will manage. You always do.”

“How can you say that? I ran. Well, it was a walk, but I still left everyone.”

“Everyone needs a break at some stage. You returned when it was time. None of us had to ask you to return.”

What would have happened if she hadn’t returned by now? If it had taken her a lot longer to figure everything out. She wondered if Ronan would have come up with a plan to make her want to return. She thought of everything that had happened Friday. From the late delivery to the man with the gun on her way home from work. Surely that would have been beyond even Ronan’s planning abilities. Pushing that thought away, she started to say she’d better go, when another question occurred to her.
“Why are you training Roy?”

“Because he is uncertain of Ronan, but he completely trusts you even though he keeps reminding himself he should not. If he is going to fight at your side he needs to be more efficient than he is.”

“He told you that?”

“In a lot more words.”

“Are you going to let your father turn you into a Gold?”

“It involves eating the heart of a Gold. He told me he already has a heart, frozen and segmented.”

She wanted to protest, but as a Gold Rian would be able to protect Crystal a lot easier.
“It’s your choice.”
She wanted to order him to become a Gold even though her mind shied away from the thought of anyone eating a dragon heart.

“If anyone was to find out I had eaten a heart I would risk becoming a renegade.”

“It is your choice.”

“I have the feeling you want me to say yes.”

Amber smiled wryly.
“Crystal.”

Rian chuckled.
“Of course.”

Amber nodded.
“I need to go and find some more recruits.”
When Rian nodded she started to walk away, searching for Kade. She found him in their room, removing his weapons. It was something she needed to do as well. She reluctantly removed her weapons, feeling half naked without them. She met Kade’s gaze, holding it for several minutes.

“Are you okay?”

She wasn’t sure. This wasn’t what she’d expected when she’d returned. But she would be. She’d come back for all of them. Come back to protect those she loved and keep them safe. Come back to be with them because without all of them she wasn’t herself. “Yeah. Let’s do this.” She held out her hand, waiting for him to take it so they could travel through the Void.