The Dragon Legion Collection 9 (11 page)

She crouched down and hugged Lysander close. “Would his hearing be sharp enough to hear us?” she demanded, barely giving breath to the words.

Lysander met her gaze in horror. “He already knows where we are,” he said, then his features set with resolve. “I need to see.” He crept up to the edge of the cave to look again. “More silver thread,” he whispered. “But this time, the dark dragon is making it. It’s like a noose of starlight.”

Katina had to look then, but she still couldn’t see any silver thread.

“He’s got a scale,” Lysander murmured as the yellow
Slayer
displayed something to the dark dragon. Katina looked at her son, awed by his keen vision.

He was
Pyr
.

Before she could say anything, Lysander winced then, burying his face in his knees. “Papa,” he murmured when Katina bent over him. “Oh, Papa!”

What was wrong? Katina peeked over the lip of stone to see that Alexander was writhing on the ground. The amount of blood running from the wounds on his chest was frightening, and he seemed powerless to stop himself from changing from dragon to human form and back again.

What had that fiend done to Alexander? She was so horrified that she was barely aware of Lysander peeking over the lip of stone beside her.

“Papa!” Lysander cried. He leapt over the lip of stone and ran toward the fighting dragons.

“Lysander!” Katina gasped, then raced after her son.

Alexander had wanted to keep them safe, but she was sure they’d all be lost.

Chapter Four

When Jorge glanced over the hillside, seeking Katina and Lysander, Alexander took advantage of the
Slayer
’s moment of inattention to attack. He leapt at the other dragon, using his own trick against him. Alexander breathed a stream of dragonsmoke and latched it on to the
Slayer
’s throat, letting the smoke squeeze even as it stole power. Alexander’s dragonsmoke tightened like a noose, surprising Jorge, who stumbled backward. He slashed at Alexander then seized Theo, holding the limp boy before himself. Alexander continued to tighten the noose of dragonsmoke, even as he smelled the
Slayer
’s scales beginning to burn.

The
Slayer
faltered and clearly became weaker. Alexander breathed with greater force, thickening the line of dragonsmoke. He thought about choking the life out of this evil creature, imagined what he must have done to Cassandra, and fueled his breathing with his determination to ensure that Katina never suffered the same fate. The
Slayer
stumbled and began to sway, as if dizzy. The blood flowed from the wounds in his chest with greater force, and Alexander dared to hope he might win.

Then Jorge laughed. He displayed a dark dragon scale to Alexander, turning it so that it caught the light. It was the same color as Alexander’s scales. He remembered the sense of something falling when he was making love to Katina and fought the urge to raise one claw to his chest.

She’d asked him about the gap in his armor.

He’d lost the scale when he’d returned home and realized that he loved her even more than he’d believed.

And now he was vulnerable as a result.

“Look what I found when I went to collect the boy I’d bought,” Jorge crowed. “Did you lose something?” The
Slayer
grinned, obviously knowing the source of the scale. He deliberately snapped the scale in half.

Alexander fell to his knees at the violent stab of pain that shot through his body. He couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t think of anything beyond the excruciating pain. The line of dragonsmoke broke, because he couldn’t control it any longer.

Jorge laughed. He stepped out of the noose of dragonsmoke, then strode to Alexander. He smiled, then snapped the scale again and again, each crack escalating the pain Alexander felt. He writhed on the ground, feeling consciousness slip away.

“That will teach you to challenge me,” Jorge said, casting the pieces of scale over Alexander’s body with disdain.

Alexander closed his eyes, assessing the damage to his body and knowing the injury would kill him. He tried to close the wounds on his chest, but the blood flowed warm and thick over his hands. He knew he was losing too much blood, just as he knew he couldn’t do anything about it.

So, he had returned to his own time just to see Katina, realize they couldn’t be together, lose his son and die.

It was far, far less than what he’d hoped to achieve

“Papa!” a young boy shouted in the distance. “No!”

Alexander was consumed by pain, but that cry gave him new strength. Lysander! No, the boy couldn’t come close to Jorge!

“Stay back!” Alexander cried.

“By all means, come right to me,” the
Slayer
said, then his voice dropped low. He breathed steadily, exhaling a stream of dragonsmoke. Alexander saw a young boy running toward him, a young boy with
Pyr
blood in his veins, and knew his son would be the
Slayer
’s next victim. Behind Lysander was Katina.

Jorge would destroy her next.

Never! Alexander would give his all to see them safe. He knew Jorge’s tactic and knew he had little time to make a difference. He breathed dragonsmoke as quickly as he could, choking as he forced himself to loose a long unbroken stream.

Jorge’s dragonsmoke swirled high, then shot through the air toward Lysander. The boy froze, his eyes wide in terror. He could see it, proof of his nature.

In that same moment, Alexander drove his dragonsmoke plume in pursuit of Jorge’s. He used every vestige of his power to urge it on. His dragonsmoke locked around Jorge’s dragonsmoke, entwining the two streams. He made the tip on his rise up, like a snake preparing to strike, then plunged it into the tip of Jorge’s dragonsmoke.

Alexander felt Jorge’s shock, but had to make this work. “
Take my strength instead
,” he invited in old-speak, wishing he knew something about beguiling
Slayers
.
“I have more than the boy.”

Jorge laughed.
“You’re trying to be noble
.” He said this as if it were a ridiculous trait.

“You’re just afraid I’m too strong for you,”
Alexander taunted.
“You’re just afraid a seasoned dragon warrior has too much power for you to tame.”

Jorge snarled. His eyes flashed, then he turned on Alexander, seizing control of the dragonsmoke with lightning speed. Alexander immediately felt the change and was shocked by the
Slayer
’s agility.

The conduit became Jorge’s possession, the dragonsmoke drawing energy from Alexander with unexpected hunger. The dragonsmoke felt icy cold, even as it burned his mouth and his tongue. Alexander felt it draw from his mouth, his lungs, his heart, his very soul. He was being sucked dry, while Jorge became larger and more radiant. The
Slayer
’s new wings arched high over his head and flapped with power. His scales gleamed. His wounds healed. His expression was jubilant.

Alexander felt the life leave his body. He felt himself shifting uncontrollably between his human and his dragon form. He knew he would die.

But if Lysander and Katina were safe, it would all be worth it.

He had one more thing to do to ensure that.

“I am recovered!” Jorge roared, when Alexander felt like an empty shell. The
Slayer’
s voice shook the very ground. “I am remade!”

“You should return to the future,”
Alexander murmured, wishing he had the power to force the
Slayer
to take his advice.
“Defeat Chen while your power is high.”

“What do you mean?”

“Has he drained a
Pyr
dry? You said there was no more Elixir. He must be weak, while you are powerful. Triumph could be yours.”

Jorge grinned. “Your thinking is sound in your last moments of life.” His eyes lit and he raged fire at the sky as he laughed and laughed.

Alexander wasn’t sure the
Slayer
would take his advice, and he struggled to keep his eyes open. He had to know for sure.

“Take me to Chen!” Jorge bellowed aloud.

Suddenly, there was a glitter of darkfire, like blue-green stars glittering in the distance.

A heartbeat later, Jorge was gone.

Alexander closed his eyes, praying Katina would forgive him for abandoning her again, as all turned to black.

* * *

The yellow dragon disappeared so abruptly that Katina feared her eyes were deceiving her. “Is he gone?” she asked Lysander, who took a deep breath.

“I can’t smell him anymore. I don’t see him either.” Her son scampered closer, pausing to bend over a fallen figure. “Poor Theo. Will he get better, Mama?”

The other boy was unconscious on the ground, but Katina was relieved to find that he was breathing. He looked to be exhausted, and there was a burn mark on his chest. “I hope so,” she said to Lysander. She picked Theo up in her arms and was shocked by how light he was, like an empty shell of a boy. It was easy to carry him toward Alexander and Pelias.

Alexander, in contrast, didn’t move at all, and Katina wasn’t even sure he was breathing. “Do you think you can help your father?” she asked. “I don’t know if I can, but we have to try. Maybe you can tell me what to do.”

Lysander led her toward her fallen husband but stopped abruptly to stare. “There’s another silver thread!”

“Where?” Katina asked.

Her son pointed. She saw then that Pelias was breathing slowly and deeply. Lysander traced a path in the air that led from Pelias to the wounds in Alexander’s chest.

As she watched, the anguish passed out of Alexander’s expression.

Before her eyes, his bleeding stopped and his wounds began to close.

Katina was incredulous. What was this silver thread and how did it work?

She went to Alexander’s side and fell to her knees beside him. The truth was indisputable—he looked much healthier. Pelias, meanwhile, looked worse. She looked between the two warriors, astonished by her realization.

“The silver thread came from Pelias?” she asked her son, who nodded.

Another
Pyr
.

Pelias’ eyelids fluttered and he tried to smile at the sight of Lysander. “Your father will train you now.”

Lysander sank to his knees beside the warrior. “But what was the silver thread, Pelias?”

“Dragonsmoke.” The old warrior licked his lips and swallowed. “We can use it to steal life force from another.”

“Or to give it,” Katina guessed, understanding what Pelias had done.

“Why didn’t you fight him in dragon form?” Lysander asked.

Pelias smiled wanly. “I learned young to hide my powers,” he said. “And now, I cannot do shift when distressed.” He looked at Lysander. “Shift often so you can do so when you must. Much may ride upon it.”

“I will, Pelias.”

The older man nodded satisfaction. His breathing became more labored and Katina didn’t think he looked well at all. He flicked her a look that was filled with understanding, his gaze lingering on Theo. He nodded slightly as if to reassure her. “I needed to see Alexander return,” he whispered. “I knew he would, but I wanted to see it.

“What can I do to help you?” she asked, sinking to her knees beside him and setting Theo down gently. “Water? I have no salve for burns with me...”

“There is nothing to be done for me, Katina. You, with your healer’s eyes, know the truth as well as I do.”

“I am no healer.”

“But you will be. You should be.”

Katina averted her gaze. “You know.”

“I have seen more than most in my days on this earth,” he said quietly. “Tell him. Embrace what you are, and together, you will change the world.”

Katina took his hand in hers and squeezed his fingers, wishing she could heal him.

Pelias shook his head, as if he guessed her thoughts. “I will give all I have to Alexander, without regret.” Katina’s heart clenched at the sight of his burns. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m an old soldier with a past but no future.”

“You’d rather die in battle,” Katina guessed.

“And so I shall, but I will make every last breath count.” Pelias nodded, the gesture clearly causing him pain. He moved a finger toward Lysander in summons, then indicated something broken on the ground.

“The scale he broke,” Lysander said, picking up one piece.

Katina saw that it was the same color as Alexander’s scales.

Pelias nodded. “Find all the shards and keep them safe.”

“Until when?”

“You will know.”

Lysander quickly did as he was bidden. He crouched beside Pelias and assembled the broken pieces, scanning the ground to hunt for every last bit of the scale. When he’d found them all, he looked at the older man.

Pelias watched him with pride. “Good. It is done.”

Katina watched as Pelias took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly and steadily. She could feel the force of his will, even though she couldn’t see the dragonsmoke. She took his hand, knowing there was more than one way to share energy.