God of the Abyss (5 page)

Dragons surrounded us in all colors, shapes, and
sizes. I felt the pressure build up in the shield in preparation for Dylan’s
flash. He was curious; there was no other reason it took him so long. The
dragons parted to let one through and as I looked at the midnight black dragon,
Rojan gasped.

“Wait!” Rojan’s plead burst from my mouth and the
pressure released.

We were at a standoff for the next few moments as the
dragons landed. Dylan strengthened our protection but didn’t flash us out. “Why
are we waiting?” he asked.

“I know this dragon. I mean, Rojan does,”
I
said in his mind. The dragons probably understood Sudo and I didn’t want them
to hear Rojan’s name or know we were talking about him.
“His name is Marnd,
and he is Rojan’s childhood friend.”
I had to know what was going on. “This
is the part where you come up with a plan, right?” I asked.

“No, this is the part where I do something insanely
stupid, nearly get us killed, then get us out of it at the last second, and
everything turns out for the better.”

“I call that a plan.”

“Oh, good, then I have a plan.”

“What’s that?”

“This.” He dropped the shield.

Marnd roared, opened his jaws wide, and blew fire…
but it was warm. The fire was his way of scenting us, not hurting us, and it
was lukewarm at best.

“Don’t shift your eyes. Play sago for a few
minutes,”
Dylan suggested. Ron squirmed around to get a better look at all
of the dragons.

Marnd shifted in front of us. He was a mess of
contradictions. His hair was dark brown and long, and his eyes were light green
with flakes of dark green and brown. Most dragons were born to live in a
certain ecosystem. Marnd was an abnormality because his eyes and scales were
those of a forest dragon, as his mother was, while his dragon shape and wing
design were those of a mountain dragon, as his father was. Because of his shape
and wingspan, he could never live in the forest, but because of his coloring,
he could never blend in the mountains. Unfortunately, he also didn’t inherit
the adaptation of mountain dragons to withstand the cold. He suffered the worst
combination possible, so he spent his childhood in person form. His family was
ashamed of his decision, but no worse than his genetic misfortune.

Other dragons shifted around us, some of which Rojan
recognized vaguely, some he had never met.

“Is this the part where we nearly get killed?” Sammy
whispered.

“No, honey, not yet,” Dylan answered.

“Then can Ron have some water?” he asked. Dylan
pulled a bottle of water out of one of the bags and handed it to his youngest.
The little child calmly drank some water before handing it to Sammy.

I could not have been more shocked when Marnd bowed
to me… Not even when the other dragons followed suit.

“You broke them,”
Dylan accused.

“We have waited a long time for your return, Rojan,”
Marnd said.

Rojan stirred inside. He wanted to talk to this
dragon, so I let him take over. My eyes and claws shifted, but my teeth stayed
normal because it was difficult to speak with sharp teeth. All of the dragons
stepped back. “What is this about, Marnd? Why have you resorted to cheap tricks
and traps?”

“How else could we find you but to draw you here? We
nearly got you when you vanished from that kingdom.” There was a slight
irritation as I tried to scent him, though I could tell that he only felt
relief and anticipation. I detected no lie or malicious intention, but my
senses could apparently be deceived by magic.

“You know about Mordon, then?” Rojan asked. He didn’t
like this; he didn’t like dragons knowing too much about me. Dragons all shared
a dominating instinct; protect. Many protected their family and territory.
Rojan protected me, Dylan, and the boys.

“Of course. We know the sago was born sick and you
gave up your life so that he could live. We know that his mother did some kind
of spell on him so that he could become a dragon and you both could live
mutually.”

Okay, so they aren’t very accurate. They don’t
know that I cannot shift,
I thought.

No, but they know far too much.
“How did you
get this information?” Rojan asked. “Not even the king’s servants know of me.”

“Your sister. She scanned the mind of the king’s
adviser. The dreadful sago did not let us see you and tried to suppress you.
Your sister explained that they failed to subdue you, but you decided to stay
in that kingdom until the sago child was old enough.”

“And we were living our own lives happily until you
started causing trouble,” Rojan growled.

Marnd managed to look chastised. “But you were needed
all this time. We waited for you.”

“For what?” Rojan asked. We were both confused.

“For what? The sago was raised to be king, was he
not? And you were bred and conditioned your entire life to lead us. We were
waiting for you to return and become our king.”

I wasn’t sure if it was me or Rojan who shivered with
disgust. Rojan handed control back to me and I shifted my eyes. “Alright, Dylan,
flash us out of here.”

“You sure?” Dylan laughed. “You were the one who
wanted us to stick our noses in dragon affairs.”

I would be eating this mistake for a month. “Just get
us out of here.” Before he could, there was a screech. Dylan grabbed Ron, I
grabbed Sammy, and we backed away from each other in time to avoid being
squashed by a dragon who was all too familiar.

Her scales changed from dark gray to sand-brown
before smoothing into pale flesh that glowed in the moonlight. Another man may
have gaped in awe at her perfect womanly figure, the long red hair draped over
her shoulders, or her cool blue eyes raised with no shame, which glittered from
her internal fire. Her perfect skin was marred only by the flame tattoo that
crawled up her left thigh and over her hip. She put her hands on her hips and
didn’t bother to cover her nakedness. However, I felt nothing for her except
the need to hide her flesh from others, because she was Rojan’s sister.

“Wow,” Sammy whispered. I had the sudden and dreadful
thought that Sammy would share Dylan’s taste for women; that he would go for
the trouble maker who could no more tell the truth than keep her opinion to
herself. I put my hand over his eyes.

I opened my mouth to tell her to cover herself in
front of the boy I considered a son, but Rojan took over. “What are you doing
still alive?” he asked.

“How can you speak to me like that?” she asked.

“Get to the point or get out of my way.” I grabbed
Sammy’s arm and pulled him behind me. We passed her, Rojan making sure I faced
her the entire way, for we knew she was a threat. She raised her hand with a
throwing knife aimed at Dylan.

“No, I think you should stay over there,” she said
with a smirk. She was a fool to think a knife would stop him, but Rojan was
furious.

How dare she threaten Dylan?
“Sammy, go to
Dylan.” He glared at his sister and let go of Sammy’s arm. When she tried to
look at him, Rojan growled and took a step forward. “You dare to threaten my
clutch?” he asked.

She frowned for a second. “Your mate and children
died many years ago.”

“They are Mordon’s family, and that makes them my
clutch,” he corrected.

“Well then, I suggest you do exactly as I say unless
you want to lose your–” she started. Rojan cut off her words when he wrapped
his hand around her throat and squeezed. My claws dug into her flesh, my teeth
shifted, my fire rose, and I felt a twitching sensation across my back.

“I will rip your throat out if you even think of
finishing that sentence,” Rojan growled.

“You would kill your sister for killing your
friends?” she asked.

“I would kill you for looking at them wrong.”

“Marnd, get him off me,” she gasped. She struggled to
breathe as Rojan turned his scowl on his childhood friend. The man looked
really conflicted. “Marnd!” she yelled.

Rojan squeezed her neck to shut her up until all she
could do was squirm helplessly. “Are you her pet now, Marnd?” he asked.

“When you died, she moved here and took over. Unlike
you, who only gave us direction and guidance, she dictates everything we do. We
want you as our leader, but she wants to make you submit to her.”

“Why do you obey her?” he asked. She started grasping
at my wrist, but she could not grow claws in person form. I felt the fire
inside her stir as she began to shift and Rojan shook her. “Dylan,” he said.

Dylan snapped his fingers and made a fancy hand
signal, then green lightning jumped from his fingers to Rojan’s sister. She
cried out in pain, her fire died, and she became limp as the fight left her.

Rojan smirked at him. “Snapping your fingers now?”

“Yeah, Regivus did it and I thought it looked cool,”
he said. Sammy and Ron both tried to snap their fingers. “Answer his question,
stupid,” he told Marnd.

The man’s eyes darted all around, unwilling to meet
mine, and he was sweating. “She has extremely powerful blood. Dragons have been
hunted until we were forced to change. We are
still
being hunted. Isera
keeps us alive.”

“Mordon, if Rojan kills her, can they make him be
their king?”
Dylan asked me.

Although he couldn’t speak directly to my friend,
Rojan was able to hear Dylan and I speaking to each other in our minds. He
immediately dropped her. In short, yes, they could.

“Dayth!” Isera yelled.

Before I could do anything, the man standing behind
Dylan shoved him, grabbed Ron, and pressed a dagger against the boy’s throat.
Everyone froze with shock, because a dragon that could hurt a child was
disgusting.

“He’s got a knife to my son’s throat,” Dylan said to
me. His eyes glowed green and I knew if someone didn’t stop him, Duran was
likely to lose Mokii altogether.

“Dad, we got this,” Sammy said calmly. Dylan’s eyes
stopped glowing. Sammy made a hand signal and Ron gave him a thumbs-up.

“Back off,” the dragon said, his voice shaking a
little. He wasn’t confident in his actions, but his hesitation would not save
him from death. He had a knife to a four-year-old child’s throat; there was no
saving him.

Sammy gave him another signal and Ron started crying
loudly and desperately. The man lowered his arm around Ron’s chest and moved
the dagger away from his throat a little. “Stop crying, child. I will not hurt
you if they surrender.”

Sammy used both of his hands to give Ron another
gesture. Sammy drew his energy, opened the lid to the water bottle, and poured
it out. Instead of flowing into the sand, the water shot through the air like
an ethereal snake to cover the knife and then hardened to ice before the man
could react. Now the knife couldn’t cut. Ron gave Sammy a signal and Sammy
returned a similar one.

Ron bit the man’s arm with everything he had, slammed
his elbow into his attacker’s groin, and dropped to the ground. When the man
leaned forward in pain, Ron’s small boot came up to kick him in the face. The
instant Ron rolled out of the way, Sammy shot a bolt of lightning at the
dragon, who then dropped to the ground in agony. Ron returned to his usual
place behind Sammy.

Rojan’s sister yelled for the dragon to get up, but
there was no response.

“Is he still alive?” Dylan asked. I could smell the
life still in him and nodded. “I’ll take care of it,” he said. He raised his
hand and his eyes started to glow.

“No, Dad, it’s okay. He didn’t want to,” Sammy said,
tugging on Dylan’s arm. Although Sammy had been a revenge-seeking baby, he grew
into a very reasonable child. Dylan didn’t say anything, but he didn’t lower
his arm, either.

“You don’t want Ron to see death. It would make him
cry,” I said. Dylan lowered his hand and the glow faded. I went to his side and
the dragons all backed away. “You have made a mistake,” I told Marnd. “However,
Dylan is a very good person and for that reason only, we will not kill you all.
Do not ever breathe Rojan’s name or the name of anyone in my family again.
Rojan will not be king, so if he must return to defeat his sister, you will be
left without a leader.”

“Oh, and we need a place to stay tonight,” Dylan
said.

We all gawked at him in shock. “We need to leave,” I
insisted.

He squinted and grimaced in pain. “Yeah, want to,
yeah, but can’t,” he said in English. “The gods are calling me and they are
being very insistent. Need to land now.”

He was obviously struggling very hard to stay here.
“Go. I’ll take care of this.” The words were barely out of my mouth before he
passed out, but I was expecting it so I caught him as he collapsed. “Where is
your den?”

“Not far. Is he sick?”

The man’s senses must have been horribly dull when in
person form compared to his dragon form. It seemed I had numerous advantages
even over the other dragons when they were in person form.

Rojan took control and picked Dylan up. “He is fine.
Take us there and keep Isera away from me. Until I leave, I am in charge,” he
looked at Sammy. “Annihilate anyone who disobeys.”

“Yes, Rojan,” he said with a grin.

He took Ron’s hand and we were led through the dark
dunes. After about ten minutes, we came upon a huge cave complex on the side of
a cliff. Many of the dragons shifted and took flight.

“There is an empty chamber near the top if you would
shift,” Marnd suggested.

“My clutch cannot shift, so we will take a cavern
that is accessible from the ground.” Of course, we couldn’t shift either, but
he didn’t need to clarify that. I felt his sorrow, but there was nothing I
could do.

“Does it… I mean…” Marnd trailed off as he led us
towards the caves. “Does it make you sad that your sago’s family cannot shift?
That they could never know the feeling of flying?” he asked quietly.