Sapphamire (17 page)

“What…no…you can’t leave me here!”
No way was Natasha going to change over into dragon form and not have the king right there until Blain showed up.”

The king seemed to be struggling with an internal war within himself.
“The thing is, you have to remove your clothes, Natasha. That is why I said I would step back. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, I was just trying to give you a bit of privacy. That’s okay, I’ve got a better idea. Go back behind your horse, and remove your clothes. Stay there, and I will walk you through how to shift.”

Over the course of the next three hours, the king showed her that even though dragons had a mind of their own, and loved to exert themselves when they were set free, it was still the human who was ultimately in charge. He spoke to both Natasha and Naquadus, offering advice and gentle instruction. He showed Natasha how to remain firmly in charge at all times, and worked with Naquadus to teach her what a great honor it is to protect their human counterparts.

And when Naquadus wasn’t testing her wings and flying, he was teaching both of them the history of Dragonose and its people. And then he zeroed in on Natasha.

“Natasha, dear, I know you informed everyone that you had no powers. But you are wrong, my child. Your powers were just latent until you met your mate. Yes, child, I heard about them trying to force-mate you, as if such a thing could actually be done. That damn Other Council doesn’t use their brains at times. Anyways, you’ve got powers, child. Powers that can and will scare the Council, should they get wind of all of them. My advice to you is to keep as many quiet as you can. Now, let’s see what all you can do, shall we?”

King Thoran placed both hands on her shoulders and stated, “Look me in the eyes, Natasha.”

She knew he was reading her mind, but what he hoped to find there was beyond her, since she wasn’t aware of any special abilities. She heard his voice inside her head state,
'go back to the incident in which you burned Dominic’s arm. Yes, yes, go back to that memory. I want to see what triggered everything.'
A moment later as he released her mind, he stated enthusiastically, “I got it!”

Natasha was just wondering what “it” was when he spoke again. “So, Natasha, ready to try out a few new tricks?”

“Um, I guess so. King Thoran, I don’t mean to be rude, but I still don’t think I have any of these great powers you seem to think I have. I have never been able to do anything other than fly and decrease myself down to pixie size while flying.”

The king tipped his head back and laughed heartily. “Oh, my dear child, you are about to get your eyes opened. What would you say if I told you that not only can you shrink down to the size of a pixie, but Naquadus will also be able to do so, as well? You must embrace your pixie side more, though, and you will also find your wings are quite a bit stronger than they have ever been before. Now, that incident with Dominic? That is just the beginning. In human form, you will be able to throw fireballs straight from your hand. And Naquadus will be able to spit the fireballs from her mouth at great distances.

“But, the other side of that is you will also have limited healing and pain relief abilities. Just be careful on how you use those, because your body will absorb both pain and injury, and you will have to purge it out of your own body. I happen to have the gift of healing also,
which is how I healed Dominic. I also see a bit of a calming attribute trying to surface in you. I am not sure exactly how it will work on you, but in the past, when this gift made itself
known, it was through touch. You should be able to push a calming effect into someone.

“Now, here is the big one. You are going to have Line of Sight Teleportation. Have you ever noticed that you tend to be faster than others? This gift has always been there, just waiting for you to unlock it. What this means is you will be able to start running, picking up speed, until to the naked eye you disappear—only to reappear at a different location. Call it teleportation or time jumping if you will, but it is limited to your line of sight.”

“Okay, I don’t quite follow you as to what the big deal is on that last one. I mean, it is limited to just what I can see, correct? Where is the usefulness in that?”

“Let’s say you are under attack. You start running toward someone. It is entirely possible that you would disappear from their sight altogether, reappearing behind them and could strike before they even realized you were there.”

“Oh, now that you put it that way, it does sound cool,” Natasha murmured thoughtfully.

“So, let’s take a few of these gifts out for a test run, shall we?”

“Umm, sure, but I need to know what to do.” Now that she thought about it, Naquadus had gone extremely silent. It was as if she had curled up and gone asleep once she had been let out to play.

Before the king could respond, a very large Sapphamire came flying in from the east. Changing back to human form almost before the dragon had touched down, Blain looked over at his king and then his mate. “Hi, baby. What is going on?”

“Naquadus decided she wanted out. In the middle of town square.”

The king wore a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye as he explained. “I heard Natasha’s distress, and knew you were tied up with training. So I came to take her to an open spot, and start teaching her how to handle her dragon, rather than let Naquadus handle her.”
The king chuckled as he shook his head. “I think it is safe to say that Naquadus was trying her best to gain the upper hand when I arrived.”

Blain quickly pulled on a pair of jeans that Sapphamire had held in his mouth while they traveled. Natasha walked over and gave him a hug and a kiss. “I’ve missed you, but King Thoran was great! And guess what? He says that I have a lot of different powers that are all going to start coming out! Me, the one that didn’t think she would ever have any powers! Oh, but he warned us not to let the Council of Others know about everything, you know how they are about something they don’t understand.”

Blain glanced over to his king who nodded his head in agreement. “Blain, once Natasha learns to use all of her powers, I daresay you two will be a force to be reckoned with back on Earth. I know enough about the Council to know that if they realize the extent of your combined powers, they will feel very threatened. So my suggestion is not to tell them anything more than necessary.”

Blain knew his king was correct. He had seen the way they treated Natasha when they couldn’t force a mating on her. He had seen what happened when the Council
became nervous about someone that might be just a bit different than they were. “Okay, what kind of powers are we talking about?”

“Well, I was just getting ready to have Natasha test some of them out. Let’s see what all powers she has awakened now that her dragon is fully developed.”

The king turned in her direction. “Natasha, we will try the first couple of exercises with you in human form. See that tree about a hundred yards straight ahead? I want you to visualize a fireball in your mind’s eye. Vision it sitting in the palm of your hand. Go ahead,” he gently urged her.

Natasha closed her eyes in order to concentrate. Naquadus perked her head up.
'Oh, I can help, Natasha!'
Sure enough, as soon as she began to concentrate on a fireball, Naquadus helped one appear. A smile broke across her face.
This was cool
! She had never had to ability to manipulate fire!

King Thoran’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Okay, Natasha, open your eyes.” When she did, she was surprised to see a perfectly formed ball of fire in the palm of her hand. “Now, I want you to concentrate on that tree. That is what you will be aiming for.”

Natasha looked at the tree that was a good football field length away from her. “Do you mean I can throw it that far?” she asked incredulously.

“Well, we are about to see.” The king chuckled.

Natasha looked at the fireball in her hand, amazed that her hand was not burning. Then she looked at the tree, concentrated on it for a moment, and as she pulled her arm back to take a swing, she pictured in her mind’s eye hitting the tree and having it burst into flames. Then she released the fireball at the exact same time she opened her eyes.

Her eyes widened in surprise a few seconds later when the rather small fireball that had been in her hand hit the tree, immediately engulfing it in flames. Blain immediately shook his head and pulled his pants back off. “I’ll be right back.” He immediately shifted over to Sapphamire, and took off high in the sky.

Natasha looked over at the burning tree. “Was I not supposed to do that?”

“What? Oh, you did exactly what you were supposed to do. He is just going to have Sapphamire go fill up with water and come dump in on the tree to put the fire out,” the king replied.

A moment later, Sapphamire returned and flew above the tree. He poured a generous amount of water from his mouth onto the tree until the fire was out. Then, landing back next to his king and Natasha, he changed back over to human and pulled his pants back on. “Okay, it’s safe to say she has fire abilities.”

“Yes, but there is plenty more. Blain, I want you to walk down to where the tree is we were just working with. I am going to have Natasha come at you as fast as she can.”

Natasha shook her head. “I don’t want to attack Blain!”

The king chuckled but took it all in stride. “You aren’t going to attack, you are just going to act like you are. Running toward him at that distance gives you plenty of time to build up speed.
I want to see if your line of sight teleportation has been unlocked yet.”

Blain had jogged down to the tree and was now waiting for her. “Come on, babe,” he taunted. “Come and get me. Show me what you’ve got.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes at him and took off at a dead run. And then, nothing. It was like she was floating on air. She could look down and see him as if she were above him. Deciding she was going to see exactly what she could do, she brought herself down behind him. Her back was to him when she landed, but other than that, he never knew she was there. She quickly turned around and goosed him in the ribs yelling, “Gotcha!”

“How the hell did you do that? Where did you go? I lost sight of you within five seconds of you starting toward me!”

Natasha turned and watched as King Thoran walked up to them. “It’s called line of sight teleportation or time-jumping.
She can only do this on things she can see, thus the name, line of sight.”

The king told them that he needed to get back to the castle, and instructed Blain to continue working with both Natasha and Naquadus, teaching Naquadus to protect the human at all costs, and that Natasha was always in charge. He also explained to Blain what powers he thought Naquadus would have, and urged him to work with the young dragon on these. “Blain, I know Natasha and Naquadus are both new to all of this, but their powers could prove to be invaluable in the event of an attack.”

Blain waited until his king was well on his way. Turning to his mate, he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled, bringing her body up tight against his own. “What do you say to ditching this place until tomorrow morning? It’s getting late, and I would like nothing better than to be curled up next to my mate.” He stopped and leaned forward, his lips touching hers, slowly at first, just sipping. That only lasted until she moaned and opened her mouth inviting him in a short moment later.

He plunged his tongue into her mouth, exploring her warm, wet cavern. She always had a slight lemon flavor that he enjoyed. Her own tongue came out to play and chased his a moment later when he pulled back a bit. They dueled another moment, and then he stopped altogether. “Baby, I missed you this afternoon. But to get me all worked up right now when we have to return on horseback is torture. How about we get going, and we will continue this at home?”

“Blain, we only have one horse. Can’t we shift and travel that way?” Naquadus lifted her head up the moment she had spoken the words.
'Oh, yes, let me out…let me out!'
Her dragon jumped up and down with glee.

Blain glanced down to his mate who suddenly seemed to be in pain. He sighed, “Is Naquadus giving you a hard time, love?”

Natasha grimaced. “I don’t think she means to, Blain. It’s just…she gets so excited when she wants something. Her enthusiasm is sometimes quite painful.”

Blain continued looking at her for a moment. “You know what, I think your idea of shifting is a good idea. I think it’s time for Sapphamire to have a chat with his mate.”

Naquadus was quite literally clawing her way to the surface. Blain quickly stripped and allowed Sapphamire full lead in not only the shift, but decided to let the dragon deal with his wayward mate. Gifting Natasha with a dragon had been Sapphamire’s idea to begin with. A wonderful present, Blain agreed, but now that dragon needed to be shown where her boundaries were.

“
Sure, sure, blame this all on me!'
Sapphamire grumbled as he quickly took over as Blain’s human form took a step back, allowing the changeover.

'
Um, might it have something to do with the fact that IT IS
?' Blain growled right back. Even though he was allowing Sapphamire to take charge of the situation, the dragon would never take charge of the man. That hierarchy had been established a long time ago. And then, just as Sapphamire fully surfaced, Blain added, '
Just take Naquadus in hand, and quickly. I do not like to watch my mate in pain!'

I will handle this. Remember, she is my mate also
!'