Hunted (Book 2) (6 page)

Bastian strode into the cave. Connor sat propped up against
one of the eggs, Bastian’s cloak wrapped around his shoulders. Connor looked up
at him, his eyes bloodshot and eyelids swollen.

“How are you?” Bastian asked. He sat down next to his old
friend, hands on his knees. He wasn’t sure if he should hug Connor or punch him
on the arm like they always did as kids. It had been months and so much had
changed, but Connor was still his best friend.

Connor eyed him. His lips trembled as they slowly parted.
“Who are you?” he asked Bastian, confusion in his eyes.

“You don’t recognize me?” Bastian asked.

Connor shook his head, his sandy hair plastered in pieces
to his head. He looked as if he hadn’t showered in months. Not since he left
Hutton’s Bridge.

Like Bastian, he had somehow been healed. The wounds from
the thrashing he took at Stacia’s hands should have been deep scars, yet his
skin was smooth. Dirty, but unharmed. His nails were long with mud caked under
them.

“Your name is Connor. Does that sound familiar?” Bastian
asked him.

“Maybe,” he said. “I think she called me that.”

“Who?” Bastian asked. “Hazel?”

Connor didn’t react to his wife’s name the way Bastian
thought he would. “No.” He reached up and wiped his nose with Bastian’s cloak.
“The woman in blue. She called me Connor, too.”

Bastian’s stomach sank. “Stacia?” He heard Elinor gasp over
near the entrance.

Connor scowled into the distance. “Stacia. Is she here?” He
looked over his shoulder. “Has she come for me? Did she find us?”

“Us?” Bastian asked. He hadn’t seen anyone else in the
cave, but he hadn’t thought to look either. If Connor had someone with him,
they were either hiding or dead in the back of the cave, forgotten and
overlooked.

“My children,” Connor whispered. He looked at Bastian.

Then Bastian realized Connor wasn’t looking at him. He was
looking over Bastian’s shoulder. At the egg. Bastian scooted away from the egg,
unsure if leaning up against it would anger his friend. These things most certainly
were not Connor’s children.

“Where have you been since we left home?” Bastian asked his
friend.

“Home?” Connor asked. “Were you in the dungeon too? Is one
of these eggs yours?”

Bastian was even more confused. How could a dragon egg be
his? Connor was clearly delirious. Somehow he’d been rescued just like Bastian
had. Someone had healed him and hidden him here. “Elinor,” Bastian called. “Can
you come in here?”

She took a few tentative steps in. For the first time, she
was unsure. From the moment he’d awakened, Elinor had been three steps ahead of
him. Maybe now they were on even, unknown ground.

“Did anyone in your Healer's Guild heal Connor?” He set a
hand on Connor’s shoulder. His friend sat still, half awake and half in a
stupor.

Elinor shook her head. “No. I would know. We discuss
healings. It’s part of our training.”

“But there has to be a leader in your group. Maybe it was a
high-level decision. Connor was dead, or at least he seemed that way to me.
What if it was a secret operation?”

“No. You don’t understand how we work. I would know. Connor
wasn’t healed by one of us.”

“Then how was he healed?” Bastian sprang up. He ventured
away from Connor, who didn’t seem to care. “I saw him die. I saw it, Elinor.”
He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Someone had to have done something to
him. Look at him.”

Elinor stared at Bastian’s shoulder, her eyes nowhere near
Connor.

“Why are you avoiding looking at him? I haven’t known you
long, but I got the impression you weren’t afraid of anything. What about
Connor has you upset?”

Elinor’s eyes traveled to the eggs again. “I don’t know how
Connor was healed. I really don’t, Bastian. But something isn’t right here. The
eggs. Him. It’s all wrong.” She wrung her tiny hands together. “I don’t feel
safe.”

“Connor wouldn’t hurt you. Trust me. He’s a good man. I’ve
known him since we were little kids. He’s my best friend.” He didn’t know how
else to convince her. He’d just have to wait for Connor to feel better and
prove it himself.

Bastian turned to his friend. Connor had gotten up from the
dirt floor and was running his hands over one of the eggs, whispering to it. He
went to each egg, doing the same, but eventually came back to the first egg. He
seemed to favor it over all the others.

“I admit,” Bastian said, turning back to Elinor, “his
behavior is strange. I can’t pretend to know what he’s been through. Look, I’ll
take him with me on the boat you’re arranging for my travel. I’ll care for him.
You can go back to the town like you planned.”

Elinor parted her lips to reply, but before she could get a
word out, a loud crack broke through the peaceful morning air. Bastian spun
around in time to see a crack in of one of the eggshells widen. He watched in
horror as a small claw emerged.

Bastian grabbed Elinor and shoved her behind him. “Connor,
get over here!” He’d seen the destruction an adult dragon could cause. A baby
would be completely unpredictable. “Connor!”

Connor ignored him. Instead, he scurried over to the cracking
egg, helping to peel back the broken pieces of shell. Connor tossed them to the
ground, a smile taking over his face. “Do you see? The first one is hatching!”

The smell of rotten eggs and cooked onions overtook the
dank musk of the cave. Bastian threw a hand over his nose. Elinor gagged behind
him.

“We have to get out of here.” Elinor tugged on his sleeve,
but Bastian wouldn’t move. Not without Connor. “Bastian, please,” she screeched,
desperate. Her feet scrabbled over the rocky dirt at the cave’s mouth, but
Bastian didn’t follow.

“Connor, now,” he pleaded.

Connor turned with a smile on his face. “I can’t leave.
These are my children. I have to care for them.” He cracked another broken
piece of shell, but didn’t remove it. The claw retracted and a full set of
talons broke through.

Bastian’s stomach swam in circles. What was wrong with
Connor? What had happened to him in the last few months? “Connor, your children
are back in Hutton’s Bridge. With your wife, Hazel. Remember her? She loves you
so much. Come with me. Let’s go home together.” Bastian held out a hand to his
best friend. Bastian was brave. Most of his life, that was all he had. Today he
couldn’t bring himself to step any closer to the dragon eggs than he had to.
Connor would need to come to him.

“These are my children now.” Connor mingled his fingers
with the baby dragon’s claws, still mostly ensconced inside the egg. “I don’t
remember another family.” He looked pointedly at Bastian. “I don’t remember
you.”

Connor stood taller. Every moment he spent coaxing the
dragon out of its egg was another step toward looking stronger. Yet he didn’t
look like the Connor Bastian once knew. He’d changed.

Still, they were best friends. Bastian had fought to save Connor
once before, and he would fight for him again. He would never give up. Connor
wouldn’t leave him behind if their positions were reversed.

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“Then don’t go,” Connor said. “Stay. Meet my children. Help
me name them.”

Bastian took a step toward Connor. He’d trusted Connor his
whole life. He wouldn’t stop now. Fists at his sides, he took another ten steps
until they were standing shoulder to shoulder.

The dragon’s snout poked out of the egg. Its mouth dripped
with sharp teeth. Bastian stumbled back, afraid it would blow fire. Connor
stroked the dragon’s nose, cooing and coaxing it out of the cracked shell. With
a final crack, the dragon burst out of the egg.

Connor laughed and held out his arms. The little dragon
stumbled into them and nuzzled its head into Connor’s shoulder. A contented
puff of air wafted from its gaping nostrils. “Come closer,” Conner said. “Meet
her.”

“Her?” Bastian asked. He swept his eyes over her, but
couldn’t figure out how Connor knew it was a female. He reached out with a quivering
hand. The dragon snapped at his fingers. Heart pounding, Bastian yanked back
his hand. “How do you know it’s a girl?”

“I just do.” Connor tickled it —
her—
under
the chin. He placed the dragon down on the ground. Her legs splayed wide and
she fell on her tummy.

Bastian couldn’t help himself and laughed. She was cute, if
he didn’t think about the destruction she would eventually wreak on
unsuspecting humans. He looked at Connor again. His friend’s eyes were still
wide in amazement. Connor had that same adoring look he’d given his two boys
back in Hutton’s Bridge.

“It will be some time before the others hatch.” Connor
walked around, patting and rubbing the remaining twelve eggs.

He stopped at the one farthest back in the cave. Though it
was the same size as the others, this egg had a more subdued appearance. Its
blue shell had a more sandy tone. It didn’t have the raised markings. Smooth
and speckled, it stood out as a stranger, but there was no mistaking: it was a
dragon egg like the rest. Connor’s hand rested lightly on the top. “This one
will be the last to hatch.”

He spoke with such authority. Bastian wondered how his
friend could have learned so much about dragon eggs in only a few short months,
all while forgetting his previous life.

Bastian knew from Connor’s determined gaze that he couldn’t
drag his friend away from these eggs without brute force. It was the same expression
the day they’d entered the fog. Connor loved his family more than life itself,
which was why he was willing to risk his to save them all.

What had changed? Why was he so determined to stay with
these dragons?

“How do you know it’ll be the last to crack its shell?”
They all looked the same size to Bastian. Or maybe they weren’t like human
babies. Maybe you couldn’t tell from the outside like with a pregnant woman.

Connor smiled. “Because this one is my offspring.”

Offspring. Connor believed a dragon was his child. And he
was claiming the other eggs as his too. Now Bastian knew for sure that his
friend had sustained a head injury. Maybe it had happened in the forest when
they were separated. Maybe it was after the dragon’s claws had dragged his body
from the platform where Bastian thought Stacia killed him.

Whatever it was, Connor wasn’t right in the head.

“How long will it take to hatch?” Bastian didn’t want to be
trapped in the cave waiting on baby dragons. But he wouldn’t leave without
Connor either.

“I’m not sure. It might be months. Years.” Connor didn’t
seem perturbed, the smile firmly etched on his face.

“Years?” Bastian repeated. “We can’t stay here for years.”

“Of course we can.” Connor walked away from his precious
eggs and the baby dragon. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.” His eyes
narrowed. “Even from you. But if you are who you say, if we truly are friends,
then perhaps you’ll respect my wishes.”

Bastian’s lips pressed together. He considered a myriad of
responses, none of them appropriate for a man who didn’t remember how close
they’d once been. Connor was tough and if Bastian said what he was truly
thinking, they’d probably end up with their fists in each other’s faces.
Bastian would win, he always did, but he didn’t want to fight.

His best friend was now a stranger. Still, he wouldn’t
leave him behind, especially when he so obviously needed healing of the mind.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to feed my little
hatchling.” Connor motioned to the dragon. She scuttled across the dirt to
Connor’s side, just like a puppy. With adoring eyes, she looked up at him, her
forked tongue hanging out. “I think I'll name you Fotia. Come on, let's go find
you something yummy.”

The two of them trotted out of the cave together. Bastian
looked back at the eggs, then decided to follow Connor. He didn’t have any food
either. Elinor was gone and so was her pack. Maybe he and Connor could scrounge
up some food. Though he wasn’t sure a few berries would be enough to feed
Fotia.

Bastian remembered how ravenous his own daughter, Farah,
was as a baby. Fotia was at least twice her size and probably twice as hungry,
and she didn’t have a mother to feed her.

Mother. All the eggs were shades of blue. If Tressa and
Jarrett’s story was accurate, Stacia was the only adult female blue dragon,
which meant all the eggs were hers. He didn’t want to connect the missing
piece. So if Connor claimed one was his… Bastian shook his head, trying to force
the thought out. No. Stacia had tried to kill Connor. She hadn’t used him as a
mate.

Connor tossed a stick to Fotia, letting her fetch and
return it. He waved his hands above her head. She jumped, mouth wide open,
teeth bared, attempting to grab a hold of him. It was too similar to the way
Connor had played with his own boys back in Hutton’s Bridge.

Something, or someone, had stolen Connor’s memory. Bastian needed
to find a way to restore his friend to the man he’d known since boyhood.

“Connor, wait
for me." Bastian followed the dragon’s mewling through the dense trees,
ducking under branches and stepping through wet piles of decaying leaves. He’d
been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he’d lost track of them. Fotia’s
high-pitched whine still echoed in the forest, but Connor had gone silent.

Bastian spied Fotia through the drooping branches of the
willows closest to the river. She played on the edge of the water. Dipping a
leg in, then pulling it back. Connor stood next to her, naked. He lay supine on
the ground, splaying his arms and legs out to the side. Fotia jumped over him,
flapping her little wings. She didn’t gain any more air than the jump allowed.
Her wings flapped uselessly in the light breeze.

Connor’s body began to twitch. First, his legs, then his
arms. His back jolted up and down, slamming against the ground in a frenzy. If
it weren’t for the blissful smile on his face, Bastian would have barreled
through the vegetation to help him. And Connor’s smile only grew wider as his
arms and legs began to change.

His limbs contorted and stretched. Elbows and knees turned
out. His light skin sprouted blue scales. His sandy hair sank into his skin as
his head grew as his nose and mouth merged into a long snout.

Bastian trembled. Every inch of his entire body shuddered
over and over like the little waves lapping on the shore of the river. Bastian
held back a wave of nausea, swallowing the bile and memories of his dear friend
from home. Simple Connor. Not this...this thing in front of him.

Connor morphed into a dragon, taller than the highest
branches, wider than a copse of trees. His jaw dropped, and a plume of
controlled fire followed a great roar.

Bastian stumbled backward, his arse hitting a tree trunk.
His arms reached behind him, holding onto the tree. Sweat pooled at his
eyebrows, threatening to drip into his eyes.

His best friend. A dragon. And not just any dragon. It was
the same one who’d helped Tressa and Jarrett fight Stacia.

“Bastian!” It came from behind. Elinor. She’d come back.

“Go,” Bastian yelled over his shoulder, afraid to take his
eyes off the beast that was now splashing in the river, grabbing fish in his
teeth, and flinging them into Fotia’s eager, open mouth. “Run away. Don’t look
back.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere,” Elinor said. She laid a soft
hand on Bastian’s forearm. “You can relax. He’s not going to hurt you.”

“How would you know?” Bastian asked, still holding tight to
the tree. “He’s nothing like the friend I grew up with. He’s changed
into…something else. I don’t even know what. How can a human be a dragon? How
can they change?"

“In my order, we know ancient things. Some of them are
fact, others just theory. For a long time, we attempted to discover the nature
of the dragons. Where they came from, how they reproduced. It was important for
us to know in case we were ever called on to heal one of the ruler’s beasts.”
She tugged on Bastian’s arm until it dropped to his side. “The people of my
order came up with strange hypotheses, none of which we’d ever been able to
test.” She let out a small breath. “Until now.”

Bastian forgot his fear and faced her, anger stamping out
the worry. “You will not experiment on Connor. I won’t allow it.”

Elinor’s eyelashes fluttered down to her cheeks. “I would
never hurt another living being. It is against everything I stand for. I had
hoped you’d know that about me by now.”

“I just met you,” Bastian exclaimed. “I don’t presume to
know anything about you.”

“My only purpose in life is to heal. If I could have the
chance to learn how to heal a real dragon. To understand it.” She clasped her
hands to her chest. “Bastian, it would mean everything to me.”

He sighed and folded his arms. In the distance, Connor
continued to dive and toss fish to Fotia, providing for his child like any
father would. Even though he’d changed and didn’t remember his old life, that
dragon was still his best friend.

“If you hurt him…” Bastian warned Elinor.

“I won’t. I swear it! Oh, this is the most wonderful day of
my life!” Elinor jumped at Bastian and before he knew it, she was in his arms.