Dragon Moon (35 page)

32

With barely any strength left, I struggle to half carry, half drag Chloe up the passageway to the small chamber that houses the door to the treasure room. Leaving her on the floor, I feel on the wall for the light switch and flick it on.

I gasp. My poor Chloe! Cold to the touch, she lies with her eyes closed, breathing in rapid, shallow gasps. White bone shows at the bottom of the long, red gash on her neck. Her scales have turned dull green, her torn wing lies unfolded and laid out at her side.

It takes all my willpower to resist lying down beside her, resting in the quiet safety of the chamber, but I know both of us need food if we're to rest and heal. I nuzzle Chloe with my snout, say, “I'll be back as soon as I can.”

She shows no sign of hearing me. I force myself to leave her, enter the dark passageway that leads to the cells above. In my natural form, the passageway and steps leading up to the cells are almost too snug. I shrink myself a little to speed my way up the steps and, at the top, I push up on the bottom of the floor above me until it begins to rise and pivots out of the way. As soon as it does, I rush to the storeroom which holds the freezer and study the dozens of frozen sides of beef hanging dangling from hooks.

The meat will be cold and hard but so what? As long as it nourishes Chloe and me it will have served its purpose. One side, I think, will feed us for now, but I have no certainty how long it will be before Charles and Derek decide to search the house.

I take down three frozen sides of beef. Since there isn't enough room in the passageway for me to carry more than one side of beef at a time, I leave two of them on the floor. Picking up the other, I tear off a chunk of frozen meat and chew on it as I carry it back to my bride.

I find her lying as I left her, her eyes still closed. Well aware that Charles and Derek might rush into the house at any moment I hurry back up the steps, make two more trips to bring down the rest of the meat.

At first, Chloe can take only small pieces, which I rip from the beef carcass and force between her lips. Swallowing my own saliva, I ignore my hunger, forgo eating any more myself until my injured bride feeds enough to start healing.

I wait while she chews each bite, then feed her another, lying on her, hoping my body will warm hers.
“Chloe. You have to eat. You have to heal.”

“Not yet,”
I say.
“You have to eat more.”

She shakes her head, but takes the meat from my claw.
“More,”
I say.

I start giving her larger pieces which she chews and swallows.
“It's cold,”
she says.
“Can't you warm it?”

“No.”
I nuzzle her, feed her another chunk. I mask my thoughts. {
We can't risk going upstairs. We might run into your father or your brother.
}

Chloe's eyes open. {
Where are they?
}

I shrug.

{
Where are we?
}

Still masked, I say, {
We're in a secret passageway under my house. Derek never found it. He and your father have no way of knowing where we are. We're safe as long as we stay here.
}

{
My father,
} she says. {
Peter, he could have killed both of us. Why didn't he?
}

{
I'm not sure. I think he's enjoying all of this. Maybe he doesn't want it over so soon. He definitely made it clear — he wanted me to save you.
} I feed Chloe another chunk of meat.

Wincing, she shifts her body, pushes me off her and sits up on one haunch. {
Pa wanted you to save me?
}

I nod. {
He said you'd shown your bravery, there was no need for your or our daughter's death.
}

{
I guess Pa isn't quite the monster we thought he was.
} Chloe looks at me. {
Still, look what he's done to you. My poor Peter,
} she says, stroking my jowl with a foreclaw. {
All you wanted was a wife and a family.
} She examines my wounds, shakes her head at each rip, each bite. {
Look what loving me has brought you.
}

{
Look what it's brought you,
} I say, tearing off another bit of meat, offering it to her.

She pushes it back. {
You need to eat. You need to heal too.
}

{
You take that one. I'll eat another.
} Chloe accepts the piece I offered while I tear off another chunk of cold meat and bite into it.

We both go silent while we feed and concentrate on healing our bodies. I think over what Chloe said as I gulp and chew large chunks of meat, shifting my body back to its full size as soon as I've regained enough energy to do so. No matter what the outcome of our conflict with Charles and Derek, I have no regrets that I chose to pursue her or that she chose to have me.

{
Are you sorry now that I came for you?
} I say.

Chloe stops feeding, looks at me. {
Not for a moment,
} she says. {
I'm only sorry my family treated you the way that they did.
}

“Peter!”
Charles Blood's thoughts interrupt us.
“Where are you, boy? Haven't you had enough time?”

“No,”
I say.
“Chloe and I are still healing.”

“Pa. Why can't you just leave both of us alone? Peter already offered to help you,”
Chloe says.

“And you, Peter,”
Charles continues.
“Please convince my daughter to stay out of this. It's time now for us to end this. Show yourself, boy. Don't make me come searching for you.”

“I'm not your damned boy!”
I say.
“Search whenever and wherever you wish. My father taught me long ago that only a fool fights at his enemy's convenience. I'll show myself when and where I please.”

Charles says nothing.

I tear off another morsel of meat, push it toward my bride and say, {
I think your pa was right. I should fight him alone.
}

{
I'm not going to let you face him without my help. I can't sit in safety and watch you go to your death,
} Chloe says.

{
Look at yourself. You've lost too much blood. By the time you're healed, Derek will be too. I should fight your father before he has help.
}

{
You were talking about getting guns from the arms room. I'm well enough to pull a trigger.
}

I shake my head, bite off more meat, force my body to mend as quickly as it can. {
Face facts,
} I say. {
Your father has to be waiting for me somewhere nearby. The arms rooms' doors are outside, on the veranda. I don't know if I can reach one without him seeing me. If I do reach one, I don't know if I'll be able to get any rail guns loaded and ready before he attacks. And even if the guns are loaded I don't know if they'll stay dry enough to fire in this storm.
}

{
So you think I should stay here and wait while you may go to your death? Don't you realize what your dying would do to me?
}

{
Of course.
} I sigh. {
But now that we know your father doesn't want to kill you, it would be foolish for you to risk your own death. We have to think of our daughter — and of Henri. At least if you survive, they'll have a mother.
}

Chloe says nothing. We feed in silence, only stopping once we're gorged. Lassitude overtakes us and we lie for too long, half dozing, side by side.

A loud crash comes from the floor above and I sit upright, wondering what might have been shattered, what could have broken to make noise penetrate the stone walls around us.

“Peter, I'm tired of this!”
Another crash breaks the calm quiet around us.
“Show yourself soon or I'll destroy everything in your house.”

“What's the matter, Pa? Can't find us?”
Chloe mindspeaks.

I wince at the crash that answers her. {
Good, why don't you taunt your father more. Let's see if he can break everything I own,
} I say.

My bride's eyes twinkle. {
Okay,
} she says, then mindspeaks,
“Please, Pa, don't do anything to the dining table. Peter and I love it.”

Charles doesn't answer, but a few minutes later something large slams into the floor above us. I wince at the thought of the massive oak table dropping three stories to the stone floor of the bottom landing.

Chloe stifles a giggle. {
Sometimes he's so predictable,
} she says.

{
I can see why he may have thought you were difficult,
} I say.

My bride nods.

{
You know I'm going to have to go soon.
}

Chloe lays her tail over mine, strokes me with it. {
Not yet.
}

I lie back down, nuzzle the back of her neck. {
If I could, I'd stay here with you for days,
} I say. {
But if I go soon, while your father's still inside, I may be able to get in position to surprise him.
}

“PETER, YOUR BOAT WILL BE NEXT!”
Charles says.

A laugh erupts from Chloe.
“IT'S NOT EVEN OURS!”
she mindspeaks, then giggles.

Something else breaks overhead and I can't resist laughing too. Then we both go silent, ignoring the noises, paying no attention to Charles's angry outbursts, stroking each other, not as a preliminary to sex, but as an acknowledgment of the pleasure we take from each other's presence.

Chloe stretches, looks around the chamber and lazily motions to the steel door nearest to us. {
Is that the door to the treasure room?
} she mindspeaks.

{
Yes.
}

She points to the other steel door, across the chamber from us. {
Then what's that door lead to?
}

Bolting to a sitting position, I stare at the ancient steel door, the aged, rusted locks and the equally rusty chains that protect it. {
I've never been inside,
} I say, remembering my father's words. {
Father said I should only open that door if there's no other hope. I think this qualifies.
}

Standing, I walk to the door, examine the locks and chains and reach up and run my right foreclaw over the stones to the right of the door.

Chloe sits up and stares at me. {
What are you doing?
}

Stopping at the third stone, I tug on it. It moves and I pull on it, work it out and put it on the floor. {
Father told me there's a chest inside. With some sort of weapon. I'm getting the key.
} I reach into the cavity, feel a small wood panel, slide it out of the way and find a thick, rusty key. Taking it out, I show it to Chloe. {
See.
}

She gets up, hobbles toward me as I attempt to put the key in one of the ancient padlocks. At first, it doesn't fit. I hit the lock with my claw and rust falls away. I strike it again, knock off more rust and then try the key again. It slides in and, after a little initial resistance, it turns.

Undoing that lock, I use it to bludgeon the others, knocking off rust, loosening their mechanisms. They too click open and I pull the chains off the door, swing it open.

The room is empty except for a small wood chest left on the stone floor, near the back of the room. I go in and carry it out.

{
That's going to have to be a mighty small weapon,
} Chloe says.

I lay the chest on the ground, stare at it. {
It barely weighs anything,
} I say.

Chloe opens the chest, takes out its entire contents — two small wood boxes. One has a painting of a large fire-breathing dragon on it, an
X
etched beneath it. The other has a painting of a smaller dragon.

My bride opens the first box. It holds twelve glass vials, seven empty, five filled with a green fluid. {
Oh, my,
} Chloe says. She opens the second box, once again finds twelve vials, four empty this time, eight filled with an amber liquid. {
Oh, my,
} she says again. {
Do you think this could be what I'm thinking?
}

She closes the boxes and I study the two dragons on their covers. Chloe puts her finger on the larger, fire-breathing dragon. {
I think that's the image of a Zal warrior.
} She moves her finger to the image on the other box. {
And that's an Undrae.
}

{
Father said this came from an ancient war, before the time of humans,
} I say. {
You think this is the potion you told me about? The one the Undrae used to fight the Zal?
}

Chloe nods.

I open both boxes, take out a full glass vial from both. {
No wonder Father said this was dangerous,
} I say.

{
Remember, if you take it, you only have twelve hours. If you don't drink the antidote by then
}
— Chloe points to the amber liquid —
{
you'll die.
}