King Of Souls (Book 2) (13 page)

Cold dread washed along Ronan’s spine as he slipped free the sheba blade strapped to his shoulder. The blade felt heavy and cold in his numb hands. “Dear God, it can’t be. Rika fly!”

Rika didn’t need prompting as she beat her wings with furious abandon and flew at breakneck speed toward shore.

Behind them, a shrill screech preceded the furious sounds of splashing and tearing.

Ronan’s heart pounded in his ears, and his legs turned to mush leaving him barely able to hang onto Rika’s saddle. He spared a quick glimpse over his shoulder, and his body stiffened as primal fear soaked deep into his bones.

A dragon with thick golden scales clutched the sea creature in its talons carrying it like a child’s toy. Its enormous jaw opened, revealing row after row of razor sharp teeth each a foot long. The dragon’s ears perked, and it snapped its massive neck downward. With a violent splash, the beast’s armored head disappeared beneath the rolling waves. A moment later, its head reappeared holding a wriggling great white shark like a minnow in its powerful jaws. The dragon tipped its head backward, opened its jaws, and let the floundering shark slide down its gullet.

Ronan channeled more power into the spirit shields surrounding him and Rika. He tapped enhancement energy and sent a charge through his sheba blade’s core.

The dragon twisted its neck toward Rika, opened its massive jaws, and screeched. Bits of tattered shark flesh and bone blew in a wide arc across the open sea.

Rika flew faster opening fifty feet of distance between her and the dragon while she let loose a high-pitched wail.

Ronan spun to face the dragon while securing his body to Rika’s with two leather straps dangling from her saddle. “Fly Rika and don’t stop! Elan save us don’t stop!”

As the dragon beat its golden wings, undulating waves rippled across the sea. It launched itself forward, jaws gaping.

The rain’s intensity increased, and the storm clouds thickened into a dark black mass.

Streaks of rain sizzled off Ronan and Rika’s shields. Ronan prayed they’d reach the shoreline before the dragon overtook them. He pushed a ball of blue spirit energy into his outstretched palm and readied his arm for attack.

The dragon closed the distance with ease opening its jaws wider as it moved within feet of Rika’s tail feathers.

Ronan pitched the spirit collected in his palm directing it toward the dragon’s open mouth.

The spirit attack blazed forward and slammed into the dragon’s face scoring a direct hit. An energy barrier surrounding the dragon rippled. Ronan’s attack scattered across a spirit shield surrounding the dragon.

A sick knot of fear twisted in Ronan’s stomach while he looked on horror-stricken. Without slowing, the dragon had ignored a spirit attack meant to dissolve a man under normal conditions. “Up! Fly up Rika!”

Rika screeched and pitched her snow eagle’s body upward. The dragon's oncoming snout nudged Rika's spirit shield.

She careened backward tumbling over the dragon’s snout.

Ronan’s shield collided with the dragon’s sending ripples of blue and white energy flaring in both shields. By Elan's grace alone, he clung to Rika’s saddle. They tumbled through the rain and wind riding the dragon’s spine toward its spiked tail.

The dragon twisted its tail as if to swat Rika while she and Ronan tumbled free finding open sky and the approaching sea below.

Ronan grabbed the saddle horn and clung by his fingertips as he and Rika spiraled downward in an out of control death roll.

“Take a breath Ronan!” Rika screamed over the wind, rain, and the dragon’s deafening roar. She shifted into a giant walrus as she and Ronan smashed into the icy water. Ronan’s shield held strong as Rika surged through the water with speeds only capable by sea-born creatures.

Overhead, the dragon roared. It swung its neck from side to side as its flight speed slowed searching for Ronan and Rika.

Rika pushed faster towards the shore, closing within three hundred yards of the towering cliffs.

Ronan held his breath and glanced upward.

The dragon flew a foot over the water’s surface tracking Rika's movement. The sky lightened as the dragon’s shadowy blur streaked forward toward the shoreline.

Ronan’s stomach fluttered. Had the dragon decided to give up?

Ten yards ahead the dragon’s head broke the water’s surface. It turned glowing blue eyes on Rika lunging toward her with wide open jaws.

With three quick kicks Rika shot upward and shifted into a fast moving hawk when she broke the water’s surface. She beat her wings and screeched as the sea cliffs loomed overhead.

The dragon lifted off from the choppy surf still clutching the sea creature in its dripping wet talons. It roared and shot upward following Rika’s trail.

Ronan prepared a second spirit attack doubling the power of his first and waited.

Rika crested the cliff’s jagged edge and climbed higher following the steep rocky face of the nearest mountain.

As the dragon crested the cliff’s edge, Ronan hurled a spirit orb at the dragon’s head.

The spirit attack slammed against the dragon’s shield and flashed with brilliant blue and white light. The dragon wailed teetering on its flight path before retreating in a slow arc over the sea’s frigid coastal waters.

“Yes!” Ronan pumped his fist skyward and spun in his saddle. “Rika, fly behind the mountain before it returns.”

Rika curled around a snow-capped peak and climbed higher. She moved up a larger peak’s face with its summit disappearing inside the low hanging clouds. She shifted into a giant snow eagle’s form and spread her wings letting the updraft carry her hundreds of feet in seconds.

Ronan peeked over his shoulder and watched the gold dragon searching the lower cliffs for signs of him and Rika.

Rika flew faster as she raced through peaks and cornered rocky crevices and outcroppings.

The cold rain had changed into a driving windless snow as Rika plunged ahead widening the gap.

Ronan shot another quick glimpse over his shoulder.

The gold dragon curled around a snow-capped peak a half mile behind still searching peaks and valleys. “Don’t stop. I see it behind us!”

As Rika crested an icy ridge, a flash of red preceded a deep bellowing roar.

Ronan’s heart lurched, and his eyes widened as he looked on a second dragon only yards ahead.

Gleaming white, razor-sharp teeth flashed and the dragon roared.

The reek of rotten bloody fish rolled from the dragon’s hot rancid breath, and a wave of thick nausea gutted Ronan’s stomach. He pushed energy into his body toughening his skin and bones while shutting off his sense of smell and taste.

Rika screeched and veered off course twisting and tumbling toward a snow drenched valley fifty feet below. She spun upside down, careening toward looming snow drifts while Ronan clung to her saddle by his fingertips.

Heavy wings beat the air as the red dragon took flight chasing Rika toward the valley floor. His wings beat faster slowing his rate of descent, and he stretched out his talons preparing to land.

A blast of wind hammered Ronan as the dragon’s wings pushed air flows that sent Rika toppling.

“Hang on Rika!” Ronan channeled spirit into Rika’s shield giving it ten times more strength. But, could their shields withstand its full force? Could it breathe fire? Would his shield withstand a dragon’s fire attack? He didn’t want to find out.

The ground came fast, but soft as Rika drove into a loose snowdrift and Ronan piled in on her rear end.

Ronan scrambled to his feet and reached for his blade, but found his sheath empty. He spun while the snow around him gusted in torrents.

Overhead, a deep thundering bellow rattled the frozen limbs of a nearby grove of pine trees. The red dragon’s beating wings pushed a giant flurry of snow around his body like a great snow globe.

Adrenaline surged through Ronan’s body. He channeled spirit magic, readied a blast, and hurled it toward the red dragon.

The dragon’s shield crackled and dimmed under Ronan’s onslaught. It roared glaring at Ronan through smoldering black eyes. The dragon plunged its talons deep inside the snowdrift where Rika lay buried.

“No!” Ronan lunged into the drift trying to reach Rika first.

The dragon beat his wings in a furious torrent as it gripped Rika in its outstretched talons.

Fear wrung every inch of Rika’s face as snow fell in clumps from her protective shield.

Gusting wind pushed Ronan off his feet, sending him flying backward a half-dozen feet burying him in a snowdrift.

His chest constricted and his legs went slack as he watched the beast climb higher still clutching Rika.

Her shield crackled under the dragon’s grip, but the beast held tight rising high into the snowy afternoon sky.

Ronan pushed himself free and found his blade twenty feet away half buried in a snowdrift.

Rika stretched her hand toward Ronan and screamed. “Ronan! Help me!”

Ronan readied a spirit orb, but held back. He couldn’t risk hitting Rika.

The gold dragon circled far overhead, barely visible through the heavy falling snow. The red dragon joined it, climbing higher before disappearing into the clouds.

Ronan sank to his knees, watching the clouds swirl too stunned to move.

Moments later, the peaceful sound of falling snow remained Ronan’s only companion.

In The Navy

Heat flashed at the base of Danielle’s neck, and she glared at the sandy-haired shaman. “You call yourself a healer? How dare you leave a woman to die! Are you people barbarians?”

Brees froze beneath the temple’s arched doorway, his back to Danielle and Fizzle.

Fizzle’s eyes widened, and he looked ready to crawl under a rock. “Danielle, please.” He stood between Danielle and Brees holding up his hands as if to calm her. “You can’t talk to an Ajahn in such a… familiar way.”

Brees turned and faced Danielle and Fizzle. “Fizzle, have you ever known a sorcerer to think of anyone but themselves? She can pay the price.”

Fizzle turned pleading eyes on Brees. “Excuse me Ajahn, but I think there’s been a horrible misunderstanding.”

An old woman appeared behind Karli and stepped forward, stopping beside Fizzle before bowing her head. Her eyes flickered touching on Brees’s face. “I’m sorry to interrupt Ajahn Brees, but I’ve received urgent news.”

Brees’s expression softened, and his brow furrowed. “What is it Alona?”

Alona shot a sideways glance at Danielle before settling her gaze on Brees. “It’s personal in nature.”

A look of concern washed over Brees’s face, and he held his hand out for Alona.

Alona took his offered palm, and Brees drew her a few feet inside the temple.

The old woman glanced over her shoulder and turned her back to Danielle before whispering a few quiet words to Brees.

Brees’s face turned pale, and he braced himself against the door frame. His mouth fell open, and he nodded to Alona. He muttered a short thanks, and the old woman bowed before leaving the temple.

Alona kept her gaze locked on the dirt path while she moved past Danielle giving her a wide berth.

Brees disappeared inside the temple before reappearing moments later. A burlap satchel hung from his shoulder. He left the temple and slipped past Danielle without uttering a word. He strode ahead moving toward the village entrance.

“Hey, where are you going?” Danielle hurried to catch the shaman as he strode with measured purpose through the village’s center.

“Leave me be sorceress,” Brees said. “My business is not your concern.”

Danielle glanced over her shoulder and saw Fizzle leading Karli and Keely from the temple pacing a dozen yards behind.

Brees walked faster while moving past the guard station and through Misho’s gaping jaw.

The sun’s raw power had returned during Danielle’s time inside Misho, and she wavered at the village’s exit.

Urtzi offered Danielle the barest of nods, and his stance eased.

Karli snorted as Fizzle led her from the village at a trot leaning on his atter stick a few steps behind Danielle. Keely remained secure atop the paka’s saddle.

Danielle grabbed Brees’s arm forcing him to pause.

Brees jerked his arm away and turned on Danielle as anger flashed in his eyes. “Leave me alone!”

Danielle’s chin quivered as she held the shaman’s intense glare. Her chest tightened as she fought back tears. “We’re all alone in your country. Please can’t you help my friend?”

Brees’s expression softened, and he ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. “Why do you have to do that?”

Danielle’s brow furrowed. “Do what?”

Brees shook his head. “I bet you’re used to men just melting in your presence and doing whatever it is you want. Am I right?”

Danielle shook her head. “I’m not sure —”

Brees cut her off with a raised hand and stared at his shoes. “With a few weeks of rest, your friend will be fine. The strike isn’t severe. I have to head north on urgent business and have three hard days of travel ahead of me. I can’t stop now to help her.” Brees raised his head and met Danielle’s gaze. “I’m sorry.”