Southern Fried Dragon (13 page)

How long will this last?

What if the attack injured Shaw? Or worse. Another question rolled through her like an itch. Where had the Black Dragon gone? He must have warned the southern batteries at the harbor entrance since they quickly turned the ship away with cannon fire. The current fate of Shaw and his soldiers loomed as an unknown that Dru wanted to rectify at once. Without federal reinforcements, Shaw and his men were all alone.

“Not alone. I will help them.”

“Not while I am here.”

Dru’s wings wavered, and she tumbled toward the sea. In her moment of despair, the Black Dragon had surprised her, but she gained her balance and returned to face the aggressor.

“Still here?” she asked while gathering her balance. “I assumed the loud noises had scared ye off, ye coward.”

Flames erupted
from his mouth, and he bared his fangs.

“Shouldn't you be on your way home? To Scotland?” she teased. “ ‘Tis lovely on the moors in spring, as I remember.”

“Return with me, now, and I will spare him.” His eyes glared and smoke seeped from his nostrils. Glossy black scales reflected the morning sun, as the enemy guns continued their battering of Fort Sumter, and Shaw.

Time was running out.

An idea popped into her head. If she eliminated the black bastard, and his threats against the man she loved, the humans would continue toward a natural end; an end not aided by a creature as mean, vile, and deranged as the Black Dragon.

Humans were, for the most part, intelligent creatures. Their caring souls must fight their own battles. Had Shaw not told her in his own words that he had a duty to his men and his country, as well as her?

She would do her best to give the humans a chance to fight, surrender, or find peace. To do so, meant she had to eliminate the Black Dragon and his threats. As one of her own kind, she cringed at the reality of aiding in his death. Their race neared extinction. However, Dru had decided quite recently to end her days in Shaw's arms.

As a human.

“Answer me, dragon. Or, I shall personally rip out his throat.”

Revulsion, fueled by a sudden hate for the despicable creature hovering before her, drove Dru to dive toward Fort Johnson and its cannons.

“Stop! Come back.”

Dru prayed the Black Dragon would choose to follow her. Unfortunately, her death loomed as well. The trick was to manage to outrun her tormentor while avoiding the secessionist’s cannon bursts.

Flames singed her tail. The bastard had taken the bait. She flapped her wings faster, then dipped and rose through the rising smoke. 

Dru called on her dragon senses to avoid the whistling balls flying by her head. She hovered and waited, listening. She hadn’t waited long when her ears rang with a sickening thud
, followed by a horrific scream. Scales, blood, and flames rained down on her, yet a grin pulled at her scaly lips. Dru folded her wings and plummeted into the harbor before the smoke cleared.

* * * * *

Shaw stood behind his gunners, as they finally fired Fort Sumter’s cannons. Even as wall after wall crumbled around them, the men stayed at their posts. The order to retaliate, anticipated ever since the enemy bombardments began before dawn, brought cheers from the men.

We are at war, but not licked. Not yet.

Supplies had dwindled, and the Fort was not as protected as Major Anderson had hoped. The three story high walls were built to withstand low flying cannons aboard enemy vessels. The batteries on the shore were able to lob their shells high, sending burning shrapnel inside the fort. Fires burned in several areas spewed flames and smoke. Their food-stores, sleeping quarters, and most of their ammunition were at risk. Morale was low ever since the soldiers learned that Major Anderson wanted the gunners to wait.

The wait was over.

At one desperate moment, while Shaw rescued a man overcome by smoke, cannon shells crumbled the floor above. He pushed the man to safety as bricks, mortar, and thick, black smoke rained down. Slammed against a wall, all breath whooshed from his lungs.

In complete darkness, struggling to breathe, his thoughts drifted to Dru and their love. His chest ached, not from injury
, but from one last chance to explain to her why they could not be together. She wouldn’t understand his need to stay with his regiment. Hadn’t she tried to press him to fly away with her? His men looked to him for guidance. How could he turn his back on them in their time of need?

If I die defending Fort Sumter, so be it.

Shaw prayed for Dru’s safety and long life, even as something warm and wet trickled down his face. The pain radiating down his back and hip could not compete with the sorrow piercing his heart. He would miss her. A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. She was a joyful handful. His quiet life as a soldier certainly changed for the better once he’d kissed her in an alley.

A kiss I shall never forget.

Shaking dirt from his hair, he grabbed his hat from the rubble, and gazed around his makeshift tomb. Would anyone realize falling walls had trapped him? The thunderous roar of shells battered the fortress and sent more debris raining down, choking him in the dark cave.

Before he could shout for assistance, the rocks and debris tumbled away. A shaft of sunlight warmed his face. He lunged toward the light, and freedom.

“I'm here. I'm coming out.”

As Shaw stepped into the light, a small hand pulled him under another shadow-filled archway. The guns in this area of the fort faced the sea, and were not in use. The eerie silence confused him until he noticed that he and his savior were alone.

“Yer a mess, soldier.”

Shaw, suddenly wrapped in a familiar embrace, breathed in a recognizable scent. His heart raced. “Dru?”

Dru’s silky lips kissed his, and he drank in her heady taste. Inhaling her earthy fragrance, his lungs filled to bursting. She kissed him thoroughly, and he kissed her back with abandon before he pulled away, and coughed.

“Are ye well, love?” she asked.

Her face was barely visible, but fire blazed in her eyes. “Is it really you, lass?”

“Aye. Blazes! When the wall collapsed, I thought ye were dead.”

“Me, too. Thanks.”

“Thanks? ‘Tis all I get for saving ye, ye wretch? And, what’s this?” She rubbed three fingers across his forehead. They came away wet with
his blood.

“Blast it! I'm bleeding.”

She pulled him closer, then swept the hair from his face. Pulling him near a cannon hole in the wall, he saw the concern etched on her face. Her brow furrowed as she leaned in closer.

“ ‘Tis a scratch,” she said.

Shaw shook his head, and regretted the action immediately. “Blast it! My head aches.”

“Then stop a’shakin yer head, silly.”

He turned serious, and glared down at her innocent smile. “Why are you here? You could get hurt as well.”

“Not me. I’m a dragon, remember? I am fast and tough-skinned.”

He grabbed her upper arm and headed for the stairs. Not one corner inside the Fort was safe, not with shells constantly bombarding the disintegrating fortress’ walls. She wasn’t immortal, was she?

“Can you die?”

“Aye, but I doubt—”

“You will leave. Now.” He pulled her up the stairs leading to the battlements
, above. She’d leave even if he had to push her off the wall.

At the top of the stairs, Shaw verified the area stood clear, then pulled her to the edge facing the sea. Cannon fire blasted the walls facing the coastal batteries
, on the opposite side of the fort. Some landed inside and debris flew too close.

“The only way I can assure your safety is to get you off this rock. Go!”

“Wait,” she said, pulling back from the edge.

“You have something to add before I toss you off?”

Dru grinned, flashing a pair of fangs. “You’re worried about me?”

The surprise in her expression made him hesitate. Had he not told her how much she meant to him? Her origins made no matter, he suddenly realized. He no longer thought of her as a mythical creature.

A dragon from the isles of faraway Scotland.

He’d grown up with the tales his parents brought from their homeland, yet here she stood. In the flesh, so to speak.

Boom!

The wall below them shook. Another cannon shell had found its mark and sent fragments of the wall skyward. The smoke blocked the sun and choked the air from his lungs, again. He carefully pulled her close to the wall’s edge.

“This is surreal. We are finally at war, a civil war, and I'm more worried about a dragon.”

“What dragon?” Dru cried.

“What other dragon is there?”

When she trembled beneath the fingers he’d clasped around her forearm, he turned and squinted
at her face through the smoke. She refused to look him in the eye. “Dru?”

“The Black Dragon.”

“I knew it. A creature followed you the night you informed me of your true origin. Who is he? Where is he?” The smoke cleared. Shaw peered over the edge, then up at the sky.

“Shaw, please.”

“Now, Dru!”

“I…I knew him in Scotland. He is a vile, horrid creature who discovered me working at the Millhouse Inn. In his human form, he met with General Beauregard and his men. He assumed the shape of one of the general’s messengers. He was the bastard who wanted your soldiers shot.”

“Where is he, Dru?”

“He threatened me and I flew away toward the coast. I made it through the bombardment. He didn’t.”

Her coy grin stole his breath. She’d risked her life? “You might have died as well. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking to save your life. Besides, I was in no real danger. I’m a small
and agile dragon. He flew too close to a cannonball. ‘Tis what he deserves for threatening ye.”

“You were protecting me?”

“Aye.”

He swept aside his pride. She cared for him. She’d put her life on the line to keep another creature from hurting him. Shaking off his male ego, he hugged her. She melted into his chest, and he kissed the top of her head
, even while more shells landed around them. A horrible thought brought his head back up. He peered over the battlement.

“What if someone saw you?”

“The cannons Fort Johnson fired had filled the air with smoke. Those soldiers will never know they blew him from the sky and sent his carcass into the briny deep. Good riddance, says I.”

Shaw wanted to laugh, but laughing at someone’s death was not right, no matter how despicable the victim. He kissed the smooth human skin beneath her left ear. She trembled, and he gently pushed her away.

“Dru, promise to return to Charleston. You and I are destined to live out our lives together, but not today.” He had no notion how they would accomplish an entwined future, but he vowed to make it work.

“How can I leave my heart behind?”

“Dru, trust me. I will not leave my men.”

“Aye, so you’ve said.”

“I’ll sleep better knowing you are safe and waiting for me.”

“My heart says you speak the truth. How can I deny the love filling my heart for ye? I will wait for ye forever, if need be.”

“The truth? I love you so much, Dru Little.”

She stood on tiptoes, licked the bloody scratch on his forehead, then kissed him on the lips. “Yum, good enough to eat.”

“Keep those fangs to yourself, lass.” He kissed her back, and slipped his tongue inside her mouth. The fangs had conveniently disappeared. He tasted the sea. Her earthy fragrance, usually reminiscent of cinnamon and apples, smelled of gunpowder and soot.

“Please. Leave.”

“I love ye, Lieutenant Stenhouse. Ye know where to find me. I will always find ye.” Dru stepped back and shimmered. A mighty Scottish dragon peered down at Shaw.

He inhaled a deep breath, then forced a smile in order to speed her on her way. He had to make her leave before someone spotted her, or an errant cannon ball destroyed her.

“Off with you, you cursed beast.”

“Aye, my love,” she growled, “we shall be together soon. This accursed war cannot last forever.”

April 14, 1861

Two days later

“Where have ye been, lass?” Maggie asked, placing the kettle on to boil. She returned her attention to Dru. “Ye been moping around and star-gazing for two days.”

“I was…I overslept today. Sorry,” Dru whispered. 

“While ye have been sleeping, I’ve been talking with our early-rising patrons.”

Dru hung her head. The guilt for shirking her duties for several days only added to her sorrow. Once she’d kissed Shaw, flown away from the fort, and had arrived back on shore, she’d refused to shed tears.

“I’m here, now, and ready to help ye.” Dru forced a smile to pull up both corners of her mouth. Tying her apron around her waist, she walked over and gave Maggie a gentle hug.