Furee Born: The Dragon Mage Series Book IV (6 page)

“And the brightest?”
Furee asked drily, not needing to question getting brighter, knowing that it
was Lady Riva’s doing.

“That’s easy,” Adair
said.  “Lux is always the brightest light.  He’s almost as bright as the Lady
Melisande and she is the brightest of the sisters.  The only one I have ever
seen brighter than her is the Lady Riva.” His smoke grey eyes hit the lady in
question and practically glowed with wonder.  “She’s like a beacon in the dark.”

Furee did not care for
the look or tone Adair directed at his mate, but he let it go when the young
dragon looked away quickly.

“Lux?”  Both Aarion and
Balin spoke at the same time, their surprise obvious.

“Well,” Balin finally
said.

Adair shrugged his broad
shoulders and opened his hands wide.  “I can’t explain it either.”

Furee had already lost
interest in the conversation because Riva was waking.  He laid her gently on
the now empty bed and did his best to make his power release her, completely
calling back his fire.  It wasn’t easy.  It seemed the more he touched her, the
more his soul cried out for her and his flame followed right behind.

She opened her eyes and smiled
at him, he was sure lightening his soul further.  That was w
hen the attack started.

General Solan Fire-Eater
crossed into Kinkaid land with his wind talker mage mate riding his back. She
preferred to travel that way.  He preferred to hold her safe in his arms when
they flew, or really any time for that matter, but like in most things, his
delicate mate with her soft titian hair and even softer skin had just given him
a single look out of grass-green eyes when he suggested it and he knew she
would have her way.  There were few things he would not give his mate when she
looked at him with such soft eyes.

Hurry, I don’t think
Stevart made it through.
  He felt Melly’s worry for the young
dragon he had sent flying off with the warnings of impending attacks, but when
the boy had not returned and Melly heard tales on the wind of battles fought
and more to come, she had finally insisted despite his need to keep her safe
that they would have to go personally to Isolation.  He had refused but agreed
to take her to Forsaken where she would be safe with her sister on Kinkaid land
while he went to Isolation.  If he could not keep her by his side deep in his
own fortress beyond the Lake of Tears and beside the Great Ocean, then Forsaken
would have to do.  Melly would have argued that they had no time, but where her
safety was concerned even her soft eyes would not sway him.

Have you heard word of
young Silver on the wind? 
His own thoughts were much calmer
then hers but laced with an iron determination to see the boy safe.  Though
perhaps it was erroneous to call the dragon male a boy.  He was over three
hundred and had achieved his second molt.  Not to mention he was in training to
become a knight of the Light and all the strength and deadliness that implied. 
Still, he was small for a dragon, built along slender lines almost unheard of
in dragon-kind..  He moved quicksilver fast and Solan had seen few who could
match him with either the bow or any kind of race whether on feet or wings, which
was why he was with them at Ocean End and acting as their messenger.  Because
he also had the silver hair and blue eyes of the House of Air, the other
knights had taken to calling him Quicksilver.  His brother, Icarus, older by a
few thousand years, had shortened it to Silver.  Flying fast in his silver
dragon form, he was nothing more than a smear across the landscape so the name
had stuck.  Melisande and the Ladies of House of Fire and Water were the only
ones besides his mother who young Silver allowed to use his given name.

Not of Stevart, but
Icarus and Datulos fly to House of Air.  If Stevart was there when the battle
happened he may be among the injured.

Do not make trouble when
we have so much already.  If Stevart was in danger, I am sure your vision would
have warned you.  It may be that his father is more hurt than we know.  He
would not leave his side unprotected.  He could not if the rest of the family
was also in need of aid.

He felt more than heard
the relief in his mate’s mind. 
That’s probably what happened.  I am sure no
one is fatally wounded but I cannot help but wish I could have done more . . . And
I fear the worst is yet to come.

Furee will protect Riva,
you have seen that yourself.

But at what cost? 
The
words in his head were soft and he doubted she knew he heard them, but since he
had no answer, he kept his own council and turned in to find the doors of
Forsaken wide open, and the balconies outside the war room revealing other
guests had already arrived.

Seatown has come calling,
Melly
said with a smile in her thoughts.  Solan grumbled and his dragon snorted fire
just a bit, making her laugh.  She knew how he felt about the mages of Seatown.

You cannot still worry I
will leave you for some boring mage, even if he is half dragon?
she
teased, her thoughts a windy caress he could feel across his snout and cheeks.

I don’t like the way he
looked at you the last time he visited.

How did he look at me?
Melly
asked with clear exasperation just as they were landing beside the group of
mages.  She recognized the Lady Asha, her mate, Braedon, and the two elite
guards for Lord Theron, Archer and Cree, but she did not see Lord Theron
himself in either of his forms.  The only dragon she saw besides Asha was the
great blue figure of Lux who was just then shifting to his warrior form.

With his eyes,
Solan
thought back with belligerence making Melly laugh across his senses; this as
much as the realization that the Lord of Seatown was not among those here had
him relaxing.  He dropped to the deck, and as soon as Melly slid off his side
into Lux’s waiting arms, he shifted and took her back from the man.

At the quick shift and
snatch, Lux laughed his booming laugh and clasped his commander on the back
with his usual jovial oomph.  If it had been anyone less imposing than General
Solan Fire-Eater, the hit would have felled him.

Solan Fire-Eater, general
of the dragon knights, did not have Lux’s height, but he was built like the
dragon he shifted into and even Lux would not have wanted to take him on in
battle.  He held his mate high in his arms and did not so much as move with the
heavy pound from the large fist.  He did, however, give the knight a glare from
swirling silver eyes before he set his mate down beside him.  Normally Melly
would have laughed at both of them but too much was happening, and instead, she
turned looking anxiously about the room.

“Lady Asha, Lord Braedon,”
Solan said, looking at both of them in turn and not liking the grim look on
either face.  He studied the two mage males who accompanied them.  Archer and
Cree he had met before but only in passing.  Neither said a word and he didn’t
like the look of them.

You are being ridiculous.
 
He heard his mate’s exasperated voice in his head. 
All they are doing is
standing there.

But it’s the way they are
standing there.  Like they own the ground on which they stand.

Melly laughed in his head
again. 
They stand no different than all the rest of the arrogant dragons
and mages around them.

Perhaps. 
He
studied the two mage warriors narrowly even as Braedon spoke.

“Where is my sister?”

Solan Fire-Eater turned
his eyes to him, hearing the grim rage in his tone, and recognizing the fire
barely banked in his eyes.

Before he could speak,
Eben Kinkaid called from within.  “Everyone inside.  It appears we have much to
discuss.”

They all trooped into the
war room.  But Braedon did not let a moment pass before he was speaking again. 
From the flame shooting up his arm, he was not going to be put off.

“Where is my sister?” the
fire mage asked grimly, his eyes flashing around the room and then landing on
Eben, who stood with his mates at the large table.

“They have gone to
Isolation to heal Aarion,” he said finally, his eyes moving from Braedon to his
seer mate, and then to Solan and Melly.  “I take it the seer and the wind talker
have news we will not like in regards to the Lady Riva.”

Asha stepped close to her
mate’s side, her own eyes flashing from hot to cold with her two warring sides,
ice dragon and fire mage, neither of which were happy.  “The attack on
Isolation was a way for them to get the healer to come to them, since they
could not get to her here.”  The Lady Asha took her mate’s hand, and a second
later, the flame that worked its way up his arms was sucked away, leaving if
not cool heads at least no open flames behind.  “Graedon is in need of a
healer.”

“Riva would not normally
be called in for dragon affairs.  And even Graedon would not go after Shehar. 
Ryall will serve him his guts,” Ladon said mildly enough, but you could feel
the tension spiking in the room.

“Which is why the attack
on Lord Topa,” Eben Kinkaid said grimly.  “They would not dare touch a dragon
healer with connection to two if not all of the houses.  Even the dragons who
still believe his lies would turn on him.  He needed Shehar out of the way so the
knights at Isolation would have no choice but to come for the Lady Riva.”

“And it worked,” Morgan
said grimly, suddenly needing to sit down again.  She turned her eyes to
Braedon, her own stricken.  “Riva has gone to Isolation.”

Braedon cursed his fire
flaming around him for a moment before he called it back in.  Everyone around
him but his mate stepped back.  Dragons were impervious to normal flame, even
most magic, but besides Furee, Asha, and probably Eben Kinkaid, no one here
could withstand the heat of Braedon’s flame when he was in a rage.  Even Lux
gave the fire mage a wide berth when he was in a fury.

“We are leaving,” the
fire mage said, his words bitten out between clenched jaws.  “Now.”

General Solan turned to
his mate and pushed silky red hair back behind the soft shell of her ear.  “I
will accompany them.  You will stay with your sisters and out of trouble?”  He
ran his thumb down a soft cheek while her green eyes flashed at him.

“I will stay, but I will
be with my sisters.  I would not make promises I can’t keep where trouble is
concerned.”

Solan snorted his
agreement, his quicksilver eyes taking in all that was his mate.  “Then I will
hurry back just in case.”

Melly smiled, but it did
not reach her eyes.  She turned his rough hand into her lips and kissed him. 
Then her voice dropped to a whisper.  “Riva is not the only one in danger. 
Furee . . .”

“I will see to my knight,”
he swore and watched her nod despite the tension and worry he could still see
in her eyes.  “You see to my mate.”  Then he kissed her and joined the others
that were already shifting for the flight to Isolation.  The two mage enforcers,
Archer and Cree, were already climbing aboard Lux like they road dragons
daily.  Maybe they did.  With the dragon knights in partnership with the mages
of Seatown, and the dragons finding their mates among the mages, mages riding
with dragons could become a normal sight.  Solan shook his head looking over
the two deadly mages, glad at least that they were leaving with him and not
staying near his mate.

Asha shifted into her ice
dragon, a kind not seen in Dracon for thousands of years.  Solan did not have
time to marvel at her diamond bright ice dragon form, or the ease in which her
fire mage road her.  He kissed Melisande hard one last time and shifted in
motion as soon as he was clear of the doors.  He did not have to tell Eben
Kinkaid to watch after his mate.  They all knew what was at stake and Melly had
been part of his house before she mated with General Solan, which meant he
would always see to her safety when her mate could not.  Just as Solan would do
for Morgan or Clare should the need arise – just as he would see to the Lady
Riva.

He waited until the rest
had left then turned to see his mate move to stand with her sisters.  He
received nods from both Kinkaid and Ladon, assuring him that they would be
protected.  It was the best he could do without staying with her himself.  Then
he was gone.

Melisande breathed out
the tension and wished she could relieve her mind as easily as the deep breath
relieved her body.

“He will be fine,” Morgan
said squeezing her hand, while Clare moved to her other side and took her other
one.  Melly was no longer surprised at the calluses she felt on Clare’s palm or
the strength of her grip.  In the two years since Clare’s attack, the girl had
undergone incessant training in steel and forest craft under the tutelage of the
dragon knights and the huntsman whenever Braedon visited with Asha.  Clare had
lost all of her baby softness and instead seemed honed down and supple strong. 
And sometime in the last little while, Melly realized her baby sister had left
behind her childhood things and stood beside them a woman.  It gave Melly a
pang when she realized she had missed some defining moment in Clare’s life.

“Graedon is too clever to
attack General Fire-Eater directly.” Clare added, smiling at her sister.  “He
knows he has no chance against the general of the dragon knights.”

Melly sighed.  “It isn’t
Solan I worry about, not this time.  It’s everyone else.” 
Especially Riva
and Furee
,
she thought but didn’t say it out loud.  It would do her
sisters no good to worry with her when there was nothing they could do but wait
and see how this would play out.  She turned and smiled at her sisters, trying
to inject cheer into the tense atmosphere for her sisters’ sake.  “The dragon
knights have proven themselves honorable and brave.  I would hate to see any of
them harmed.”

Clare scoffed openly,
nudging her sister with her shoulder.  “Harm the dragon knights?  It would take
more than one evil old dragon to take them on.”

Melly might have taken
comfort from that but she was wind talked.  She knew there was danger coming,
and while Clare was looking at her, she had a good view of Eben Kinkaid and
Ladon.  She saw the grim looks they exchanged.  Dragons were long lived, but
they were not immortal.  And evil had killed good men before.  She caught
Morgan looking at her mates, and then saw her eyes when she turned back to
them, before she could mask the worry there.  Melly let it go, turning back and
trying to smile at her sister and Rhune who pressed closer looking from sister
to sister.