Phantom Fae (20 page)

Everyone on Ena's staff stared at Brett wide-eyed.

"I just do. It just seems natural, as if I was Doctor Doolittle, only I can't speak to all animals. Did you want to talk to the healer and see why she said I was not one of the fae?"

"After we locate the missing dragon's egg. It's extremely time sensitive."

"Wait, dragon shifters hatch eggs? You were hatched?" Brett asked, shocked.

"Real dragons. I mean, dragons that aren't dragon shifters. They live up on the cliffs in a rugged area where the fae don't travel. But the nearby village has been attacked twice by dragons and the fae want a dragon shifter to locate the egg and return it to the mother. I don't know if the dragons will accept us since we're fae and dragons. But I've got to give it a try. Beyond that location is another community of dragon shifters. We can go there and see if maybe you are related to some of those. They have all dragon shifters there. They rule their own colony and don't work for a fae community like we do."

"Okay, sounds good to me. I'm ready to go." He was dying to learn about his heritage and rescuing a dragon's egg sounded good and heroic. He really loved being here. With Ena, that made it all the better.

"But Cook prepared Brett's favorite veal and dumplings," Muriel said.

This time Ena rolled her eyes.

Chapter 17

The next morning, Ena and Brett began her next mission, except that this time she didn't have an army of helpers. And she really loved having Brett for company. She still wanted to ensure that he could fae travel to places without any difficulty. She had to hold his hand though so he could learn the direction to go.

"If we locate the dragon's egg, won't the dragon suspect we stole it and want to kill us?" Brett figured it would.

"Only if it smelled our scent in her cave. And since we haven't been there before, I'm sure she would realize we're bringing her baby back to her. Dragons are intelligent animals. Though I've never had a case like this before."

"Great. Here I thought you were the expert," he said with a teasing tone to his voice.

She gave him a "watch-it" look anyway. "I am—in many cases. But I don't always have exactly the same mission as before. Just like with rescuing Duke Tully. I had rescued Princess Alicia, and you know how that came about, but it wasn't anything like how it turned out in this case. Yes, we saved him, but under totally different circumstances."

Well, he trusted her lead. He was certain she didn't want to be faced with fighting a whole bunch of dragons either.

***

When they reached the Village of Candor, Ena and Brett met with the elder, a grizzled, white-bearded man, Colin. He offered them ale and bread in his clean little cottage, a warm fire burning in the fireplace, the scent of lavender filling the air where he had them hanging to dry. Then he explained the situation. "Near here, cliffs rise high into the sky and maybe twenty or so dragons make their homes in the caves. When the young dragons grow to adulthood, they find homes of their own. Each dragon has around ten to twenty dragonlings. We live in mutual cooperation, fishing from the same sea and lakes, sharing the space, and never bothering them, while they never bother us. But when someone stole one of the eggs, the mother burned some of our outlying homes. No one was injured, thank the goddess. We were having a feast of the new moon and during the festivities, everyone joins in on the games and eating and drinking. The dragons know this, so she was aware that the homes would be empty. Which is good. We can rebuild the homes."

"Did she think someone from the village stole the egg?" Ena set her empty mug on the table. That's what Ena figured because of her attacking the village.

"No." Colin refilled their mugs. "She knows we're fae like the one who stole the egg. I assume she figures if she makes us aware of this, we'll take action to recover her egg. We have never had any trouble with the dragons until this happened."

"Do you have any idea who might have taken it?" Ena asked.

Brett sat quietly listening to the conversation and she loved that they could do these missions together, when she never thought she would ever do such a thing, even if he got a quarter of the treasure for the job. Though she hadn't asked for much from the Village of Candor, given that these people were only trying to do right by the dragon. They had nothing to do with the theft—which showed Brett was rubbing off on her because she usually asked for what she thought her price should be.

"Someone who could sell it? Someone who wants an exotic pet? Someone who wants to raise it to use for his or her dark purpose as a trained killer or something else?" Colin shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"It wouldn't be easy to hide a dragon's egg or a baby dragon," Brett said, "I wouldn't think. Not that I've ever witnessed either for real."

The elder studied Brett for a moment, his expression curious.

"He was raised by humans. He's only recently come home," Ena explained, buttering another slice of bread.

"Well, I agree that it would be hard to hide such a creature. Would a royal figure pay to have the egg stolen? Then have handlers who would raise and train it? Or is it some eccentric or power monger who lives out in the country or wilds who thinks he can tame it?" Colin shook his head. "They are wild beasts and can't be tamed for a fae's use, no matter the techniques used."

"How long before the dragonling hatches?" Ena glanced out the window at the nearby cliffs. She suspected she knew the answer before the elder even told her the situation.

"Two days, maximum. That's why the mother is so frantic to bond with her youngster. They have to imprint between mother and baby. And the father will have the same imprinting, to show he is their father. It's necessary for them to follow their lead and it's essential to their survival in the wild. And know to court their own kind. If the dragonling fixes on the thief, the baby will follow him around, thinking he is his mother."

"So the man or woman who stole him would bond with the dragon intentionally?" Brett asked, frowning.

"Yes. Which makes us believe the fae who stole the egg knew exactly what he was doing with regard to timing."

"So then the person must have been here before? Knew when the dragon was bearing her eggs and they would be ready to hatch." Ena shook her head. "This was well planned then."

"Yes. Anyone who can take off with a dragon's egg had to have been watching the behavior of the dragons for a while. It's easy to see the female and male courting each other, flying through the air in patterns, nipping at each other's snouts as if they were kissing. Once the female began sitting in her cave and the male taking turns, the thief would know they had eggs they were keeping warm."

"How long ago did it happen?" Brett asked.

"Four days ago. We asked for King Tibero's help in the matter, and expected he'd send a dragon shifter to aid us, but then we learned of his death and the battle going on and feared the worst."

"What about the dragon colony close to here?" Ena planned to take Brett there to see if he was related to any of them.

"They go on a month-long sojourn to various parts of the world. Sometimes to the human's world."

Ena pondered that for a moment. "I wonder if the thief knew that as well."

"Might have. The dragons only have offspring once every quarter. If the fae had tried to steal the egg at any other time, we could have gone to the dragon shifters near here to ask them for their assistance."

Brett looked disappointed that the dragon shifters were gone, and Ena didn't blame him. Maybe they could find a library of information there still.

"Did anyone come through the area that seemed suspicious?" Ena asked.

"We don’t get many visitors out here because we're out of the way of the hustle and bustle of other fae kingdoms. But a few said they'd seen a stranger in the woods. He wore unusual clothes, green to blend in with the forest, like he didn't wish to be seen by anyone. Like Duke Tully is known to camouflage himself in the woods to take travelers hostage. But different, his clothes were rich and more…flowing, rather than a tunic and breeches. It reminded us of a mage's garments. Anyway, that's what came to mind."

"Mage," Ena said. At least there were not as many mages as just regular fae. "Did he give anyone his name?"

"No. Whenever he saw anyone, he just vanished. No greeting anyone, which though was somewhat odd, a couple of people are hermits who live out away from the village and behave in the same way. Not all fae are sociable. So it's not entirely unheard of. He might have thought someone intended to steal from him, as richly garbed as he was."

Ena glanced at Brett. "Why would a mage need a dragon's egg? Do you know of any special reason?"

"Maybe for some potion or spell? I don't recall anything in my grandfather's books. Speaking of which, I'd like to pack those up and take them back to your castle."

"We'll do that."

"You're a mage?" the elder asked, his eyes wide, maybe surprised because Brett wore regular fae clothes and not mage gowns.

"Apprentice and I'm only just learning about all this."

Ena was wondering about Zane. Could he have done this? "Time-wise, do you think Zane could have gone to all this trouble to do this?"

"He might have. From one of my books on the subject of mages, the author described mages who do good, the ones who have an affinity for helping others out. And those who are dark mages, who love to do whatever it takes to cause more havoc in the fae world. What did the mage look like? Are there any in the surrounding area?" Brett asked.

"Long blond hair pulled back in a tail and blue eyes. Like I said, he vanished so quickly once he realized someone had seen him in the area, that no one really got a chance to really observe more than that. Well, he was as tall as you, Brett. And because of the richness of his clothes, I'd say he was a royal mage. As to where mages live—most of the major and minor kingdoms have one, some two. A few live on their own, freelancers who don't work for a royal household. The ones that are more countrified, don't dress in such rich fabrics. No need to impress anyone. Which makes me realize he had to be the one who stole the egg, because if he works for a royal house, he wouldn't be a recluse. He was attempting to hide the fact he was here for such a nefarious purpose." Colin frowned. "Despite realizing that had to be the case, we couldn't have fought him if we wanted to."

"If it was Zane, he would have kept the egg in the castle unless he had a house of his own also," Brett told Ena.

"You know the mage?" Colin asked.

"Not well. I've had some trouble with the fae from the phantom court, and I banished him to No Man's Land."

"You banished him and you're only an apprentice just learning the ropes?"

"Yes. I got lucky. So if he stole the egg, we have to find it right away before it hatches."

"Exactly. It can even imprint on an object, an old pair of boots, a shiny ale mug, or a fae within hours or days of hatching," Colin said.

"What about the timing? Could Zane have been in the area and stolen the egg while you were at the castle?" Ena asked.

"Yes. He had ample time to do so. He was gone during some of the meals even, and most of the rest of the time, I was busy with studying for the trials. He could have popped over here and popped right back in the blink of an eye."

Colin's eyes widened.

Ena shook her head. "Forgive him. He was raised by humans." She said to Brett, "Fae transport, we don't pop anywhere. And certainly not in the blink of an eye. First, let's see if we can pick up the thief's fae trail." She turned to Colin. "Do you think the dragons will mind us? We're not known in this area, and with her protecting her eggs, and since one has already beenstolen, she might be wary of us."

"I'd be careful, approach slowly, let them know you're friend, not foe. They've been standoffish, when they've never been before. I believe they know we didn't have anything to do with taking the egg, and they'll be able to smell that you didn't, but that doesn't mean they'll trust that you might not be interested in one yourselves."

"We'll be careful." Ena had gotten close to real dragons before and knew how to do it successfully, though in a case like this with a protective mother guarding her eggs, it was a little different scenario. Ena said to Brett, "Unless you think you might want to wait this one out."

"No way."

"One of us might not be as intimidating as two."

"I'm going."

"All right. Since you're only earning a quarter of the payment, I just thought it fair if I offered."

He smiled, like he didn't mind her rubbing it in. She smiled back, and then they thanked Colin and went outside to shift.

"Just follow my lead. Are you good with animals?"

"They love me," Brett said.

"Good. Think of the situation like these are big dogs. Approach with caution, offer friendship in a non-aggressive manner, let them make first contact. We don't want to fight them. If they act aggressive in any way, we take off far away from their cave, which they would be protecting. They should leave us alone after that. We'll look for any fae dust trails that might have been left behind."

"Gotcha."

After shifting, Ena led the way and hoped that Brett truly was good with animals, that if the culprit was Zane, they could find the egg easily enough, without his help, and return it to its mother before the imprinting occurred.

Chapter 18

Brett thought he was ready for this. But he was so new at doing everything, the mage stuff, the dragon flying stuff, the popping from one place to another—he would teach Ena some new vocabulary even if she was opposed to it—he wasn't sure how this was going to work out. Yes, he was good with pets, but pets like dogs and cats. Dragons? This was something entirely new to him.

As they neared the caves, several dragons in the area began to circle them like airborne sharks. He glanced at Ena to see what her take was on this new development. She continued to fly toward the dragon's cave as if she didn't see the danger all around them. The dragons didn't venture any closer. Brett followed her lead, as if they had been invited for a visit. He didn't mind admitting he was a lot nervous.