The Dragon's Gem (21 page)

“That is not what we agreed on,”
Hershel snapped angrily just before I heard Soran grunt loudly and cry out.

“Stop hurting him, his f
ather won’t pay us if he’s dead,” one of the Wyverns commanded.

“I don’t give a shit.” Soran s
creamed and I knew Hershel had hurt him again.

“I warned you
, dragon.” A scuffle broke out and then a strangled cry reverberated off the walls of the cave before I heard a loud thump on the ground near me.

“You killed him,” one of the
Wyverns cried out.

“Don’t matter. We don’
t need him anymore. We got what we came for.” I felt cold fingers brush my cheek and forced myself not to react to the revulsion I felt. “Maybe when we bring her to the boss he will allow one of us to mate with her.”

“Are you daft? Sebastian h
as plans for this little one. Between his power and her ability to carry our offspring he can now create an army of Wyverns to take care of the Dragon Lords and their council.”

They both snickered and walked away
, leaving us alone again. I reached for Soran and he grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight. “Are you alright?” I whispered.

“Never better,” he groaned.
“How bad are you hurt?”

“They didn’t hurt me,” I told him.

“No,
their master obviously doesn’t want you harmed.”

“Can’t prove that by kidnapping,” I told him, gasping as a sharp pain raced down my leg.

“How bad did they hurt you when they took you?”

“I think I broke a few ribs,
and possibly my leg,” I told him, leaving out the pain in my head that I thought might be a concussion. We had enough problems that I didn’t need to add to the list.

“Let me see,” he
reached over with a groan, found my rib cage, and moved his fingers gently along the protruding bones. I cried out, which had him pulling back immediately. “At least two, possibly three broke,” he said angrily. He ran his hand over my leg and I bit my lip drawing blood to keep from screaming. “I swear I am going to kill these bastards when I get enough strength.” He sighed. “Listen, your injuries create a big problem.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered.

“You have Draco’s blood inside of you, which means you will begin healing much quicker than a normal human would, but if we don’t get help pushing them back into place those ribs are going to heal the way they are.” I shook my head, unable to believe what he was saying. “I can’t so this alone we need help and I’m not asking Heckle and Jekyll for it.”

“What do you suggest we do then?” I asked.

“This is the only way, I’m sorry.” He grabbed my hand, sliced the palm once again and placed it to his lips. He drank until I felt myself slipping back into darkness and when he finished he pressed a kiss to the area and wrapped it in a piece of cloth I heard him rip from his clothing before I finally passed out once again.

***
Draco
***

I knelt down and gathered another clip from the ground looking around for any sign of an entrance in the large rock face of the mountain we searched. We had been at it for hours and had little success so far, but I wasn’t giving up, not when Aurora’s life was at risk. As I stood the last of the sun’s rays hit a small opening in the face of the rock and I strode toward it finding it large enough to slide through, yet hidden enough that I was not obvious to someone who wasn’t paying close attention. “Over here,” I called out slipping inside.

It was dark as pitch and although I had extraordinary
vision, the inky blackness made it difficult to make out anything. I moved my hand and hit something on the wall that I realized as I moved my fingers over it was a torch. I pulled it from the wall blowing fire from my mouth and lighting the oiled cloth to illuminate the area around me.

“What the hell,” Nate said behind me as he took in the interior of the cave
that was filled with statues, antique furniture, and crates of God knew what.

“Obviously Hershel hides his
treasures here,” I said, taking a step forward, keeping a careful eye out for booby traps. One thing about red dragons was their need to hoard precious things and it looked as if Hershel had spent most of his life doing so. “Be sharp, he will have security measures in place.” A loud scream filled the air and we turned to find Ryan hanging from in a net from the ceiling. “See,” I said extending my claws and tearing the rope apart with one sweep of my hand.

Ryan fell to the ground with a soft thud. “Thanks
, man,” he said as Nate helped up from the ground. “Look before you leap,” I cautioned before turning back around.

“Draco, over here,” my father called out.

I crossed the cave to his side where another opening was and held the torch out to illuminate the interior. “It’s a long corridor, but I can’t see where it ends.”

“The only way to find out is to follow it,” my father said behind me.

I walked into the narrow passageway, carefully making my way through, finding more than one trap that I had to pause and dismantle. It was slow going and by the time we exited the tight area into the next cave I was sweating profusely and swearing more than was normal for me. I took a few steps forward to allow the others in but what I found in that cave though stopped me in my tracks and brought a chill over me that caused my body to shiver and my heart to stop beating. On the floor before me was a thin of strip material like that of a nightgown, soaked in blood lying on the ground. “No!” I cried dropping to my knees, my entire body trembling as I grabbed the material and brought it to my nose, scenting Aurora immediately. Everyone filtered in behind me, and watched silently as I hugged the cloth to me, trying to hold on to the hope that she was still alive. I wasn’t sure how much time passed before I got to my feet and looked to my father, who stared at me with sympathy. “We go on,” I told him.

***
Aurora
***

“Aurora,” I heard Soran call out as he shook me. “Wake up, we need to get moving.”

“Soran?” I murmured tiredly.
I didn’t know if it was the blood loss, the pain, or the injuries, but it was a supreme effort to waken.

“Yeah,” he said gripping my h
and. “We need to go. The Wyverns heard someone in the caves and are searching for them it is the perfect chance for us to escape.”

“Escape?” I asked my brain fuzzy and disoriented. Must be the blood loss
, I thought.

“Yes, with your blood I have regained
some of my strength and I can get us out of here.” He took my hand and squeezed it gently.

Pain tore through me as if reminding me
, I was a liability to him and I squeezed his hand. “I can’t,” I muttered. “The pain is so bad I can barely breathe, much less move. Go without me and find help.”

“
The hell I will!” he said sternly. “I’m not leaving you here, Aurora, so whatever it takes I will do it to get us out of this damned cave.” I heard him shuffle around and then he came back to my side. “I’m going to need to tear some strips of cloth from your nightgown so I can bind your ribs. I’m afraid if I don’t they will pierce the skin when I move you.” I didn’t bother to tell him one already had because I knew he would discover it soon enough. I heard him tear the material of the gown I wore and felt the cool dampness of the rock I was lying upon on my legs. “Okay,” he mumbled his hands moving over my torso. “Shit, Aurora, you didn’t tell me one had already tore through.” The pain was so bad as he wrapped the makeshift bandages around me that I couldn’t even respond. I screamed as he lifted me to wrap the bandage around me. “I’m sorry, so sorry,” he murmured, but I was beyond hearing him. The pain had overwhelmed me, was suffocating me slowly, snuffing out the life out of me and I knew I was in danger of losing my life. “Fight, damn you,” Soran screamed at me as I faded, but I was just too tired to care.

*****

When next I woke, Soran was carrying me in his arms. I was in unbearable pain and my body was so hot it felt like I was on fire. “Where are we,” I mumbled.

“Almost out of the cave,” he answered tiredly.

“Why,” I asked.

“Why what?” he asked.

“Why save me…should have left me… saved yourself,” I mumble.

“And tell Draco I left you behind? I don’t think so.”

“Fraidy cat,” I teased.

“I’m all about survival and leaving
you behind would ensure Draco would kill me.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Hey, I was teasing. I care about you, Aurora. I would never leave you behind.” He walked on for some time before speaking again. “We are at the exit of the cave, I need to sit you down and see how those bandages are holding up before we go on.”

My body trembled knowing that meant more pain. Carefully he laid me down and went to work
, cursing softly as he tore more of my gown to cover the bandages I knew were soaked with blood because of the wet stickiness against my flesh. “This is going to hurt,” he said as he sat me up to wrap the bandages. Hurt didn’t begin to describe it. I screamed so loud that I heard it reverberate off the walls of the cave, and then I heard the loud screeching that let me know my screams had brought the Wyverns to us.

***
Draco
***

I knelt next to Hershel’s body feeling nothing but displeasure that I had not had the honor of killing him myself. From the scattered pieces of cloth to the fresh blood on the hard stone floor it was clear Aurora had been there recently and I felt hope build inside of me. A loud scream bounced off the walls of the cave and I lifted my head. “Aurora,” I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest. The loud screech of a Wyvern followed and my heart clenched in my chest. “Crap,” I screamed, taking off down the tunnel towards the loud screeches and screams.

It was the longest run in
my life. The entire time I pictured Aurora in the Wyvern’s claws, dangling far above the mountains about to be dropped to her death. What I found though when I turned the corner was something far worse. Soran was desperately trying to fight off the Wyvern with a tree branch while Aurora lay still on the ground, her long hair spread around her pale face, blood seeping through the many layers of bandages around her torso to soak the ground under her.

My father ran out behind me
, shifting easily to his dragon, as did a few others to help Soran while I rushed to Aurora’s side, my fingers going to her neck searching for a pulse. “She’s alive,” I said as Kristen came to my side followed by her husband, who cried out at the sight of his daughter lying there broken and so near death.

“Just barely,” Kristen said running her hand down her daughters long silken curls.

Tears filled my eyes as I knelt next to Aurora, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. “What do we do?” I asked.

“You need to implant one of your
scales inside of her,” she said, her gaze meeting mine purposefully.

“But that will bond us for life,” I said.

“Only you, she will always have the choice to leave if she wants to. Only a blood exchange would bind her to you forever.” She reached out and touched my shoulder. “How much do you love her, Draco? What would you sacrifice to keep her alive?”

I stood and walked to the edge of the cliff shifting to my Dragon form and moving before her
, offering her my chest. Without preamble, she tore away the scale directly over my heart and turned to her daughter. Oh so carefully she sliced a long clean line across Aurora’s shoulder then tucked the scale under her skin. Aurora’s pale skin began to shimmer, becoming opalescent and her rib cage expanded. I heard a sickening crunch as her ribs moved back into place with a little from parents guiding hands. A loud cry of distress drew my attention and I looked to the sky where my father and friends battled not one but two Wyverns and then looked back at Aurora, torn about where I needed to be.

“Go, take your revenge
, we will sit with her until you return,” Kristen said, taking her husband’s hand in her own and sinking to the ground next to her daughter.

Carefully I lowered my head and nudged Aurora’s cheek
, taking one last long sniff of her sweet fragrance before I lifted my massive body high in the sky heading directly towards the object of my rage. One Wyvern squawked loudly and took off with Nate and Ryan trailing him. The other Wyvern roared as I joined the battle. My father inclined his head to me before he and Tegrid backed away, leaving him to me. I could see the arrogance in the Wyvern’s eyes as he waited for me to make the first move and knew that arrogance would be his downfall. Flames shot from my mouth as I let out a roar and dove for him. I wanted him to suffer for every ounce of pain he had caused Aurora. My sweet Aurora, who had never done anything to deserve being subjected to the injuries they had inflicted upon her. Blind rage consumed me as I grabbed him with my long deadly talons, tearing into him, showing no mercy, ripping away his massive scales and gouging the flesh underneath, single-minded in killing the one who had dared harm my mate.

He let out a cry of anguish but I was oblivious, nothing but the satisfaction of making him pay for what he had done would be enough and everyone around me knew it.
He was smaller than I was, but was an excellent fighter, and I had many gaping holes upon my body to prove it. I, though, had anger and the need for justice on my side, which made me stronger, faster, and far more willing to do whatever it took to end his miserable life. In the end, it was not any of those things that did him in. No, it was his final, desperate attempt to kill me that ended his life. He dove for me as I hovered before the mountain and I dodged leaving him no time to pull up before he slammed into the side of the rocky cliffs. With the speed he was moving and the weight of his body behind him it was like a freight train slamming into the mountain. The mountain shuddered with his impact, his large body crumpling as it bounced off the rock face, tumbling over and over, and slamming into the hard edges, until he fell lifelessly to the ground. I stared down at his unmoving form looking for any sign of life, but none came. I let out a roar of victory, circling high over his body before pulling in my wings and landing, shifting easily back to my human form and going directly to Aurora’s side.

Kristen spared me a thin smile and moved
to allow me to sit next to my mate and I brushed the hair from her face wincing at the large knot on her forehead where someone must have hit her to knock her out. She moaned pitifully, which tore at my heart and I felt my world shudder. For a long time the idea of her coming here, being around me was repugnant, but now I couldn’t imagine life without her, couldn’t bear the thought of even a day without hearing her sweet voice and seeing her brilliant smile. She moaned again and I saw a flash of something shiny pass through her forehead and knew the energy from my scale was working its way through her to repair the damage that had been inflicted upon her. All I could do was pray. The dragon power of my scale could only heal her physical injuries, but her mental state would be the determining factor in her recovery. With the hell she had been through in the last few days, who knew if she had the willpower to fight? “I’m here, baby,” I said, her pale face and silence killing me. “I love you,” I whispered in her ear before placing a soft kiss on her lips.

“Son, let’s get her home,” my father said behind me.

“The other Wyvern?” I asked.

“He got away,” Nate said behind me.

“Draco, worry now about your Gem. Take her home. We will fight another day,” Tegrid said wisely.

I nodded and
looked to Aurora’s parents, who watched me solemnly, both of them nodding in approval, then gathered her carefully in my arms. I moved slowly to the end of the cliff where my father transformed into his majestic gold dragon form and handed her briefly to Nate, who waited for me to get situated on my father’s back before handing her back to me. My father turned his head back to look at me, his eyes filled with sympathy for my pain. Never had I thought it would come to this, never had I imagined that my beloved Gem would be hanging on to her life by a thread while I watched helplessly. I had arrogantly thought that I could protect her, but my own past was what had put her in her current position. I was responsible for her condition and I hated myself for it. “Let’s go,” I said. My father lifted his enormous body high in the sky with a flap of his wings and we headed for home.

*****

I stood in my father’s office barely listening to the conversation around me. My fear and worry for Aurora was growing by the minute, but Lars had come to apologize for what his heir had done and since the slight was to my Gem and me courtesy demanded I meet with him. Out of respect for his position as a Dragon Lord, I stonily greeted him and listened to what he had to say, but I could have cared less in that moment about him, Hershel, or the Wyvern. The only person I cared about was lying in a bed so close to death I felt the Grim Reaper circling the house.

“I have found out that Hershel ordered my guards to stay in the night Soran disappeared. I hadn’t been aware because he was in charge of them and none of them would dare go against his orders.” He looked to me apologetically. “I have decided that from now on I will personally handle such matters myself.”

“That won’t be a problem any longer,” my father said. “I plan to approach the council about a forming a mixed security team. If we all volunteered a few of our own to work together, that would ensure something like this never happens again.”

“I agree,”
Lars said looking nervously to Tegrid, who watched the proceedings quietly. “I will take my leave now so you can be with your mate.” Tegrid cleared his throat and Lars paled. “Of course, if you can spare one more moment I also wanted to offer you some treasures as recompense for what Hershel has done.” He nodded and two of men lifted large treasure boxes and placed them before me. Tegrid cleared his throat again. “Of course this is just a small sampling, I will send the rest tomorrow.”

“All of it,” Tegrid said.

Lars paled. “What?” he squeaked.

Tegrid unfolded himself from the chair he had been sitting in and stalked towards him.
“Hershel harmed Draco’s Gem, which gave Draco the right to fight him. He won and according to dragon law he won fairly which means everything that was Hershel’s now reverts to him.”

“But
there is a fortune in those caves,” Lars gasped.

“Everything!” Tegrid thundered, his eyes shimmering with a reptilian gleam.

Lars paled, trembling visibly. “Of course, we will empty the caves and bring everything here.”

“That won’t be necessary,” my father told him. “The property those mountains reside upon is
now also Draco’s; my dragons will handle the transfer.”

“Well then
, I suppose I will say goodnight,” he muttered.

I knew he was angry and I also knew that anger could complicate later dealings with him, so pushed aside my worries for a moment to make peace. “Lars, I appreciate that you came and have been so generous in regards to Hershel’s treasure.”

He looked flustered, but nodded and shook my hand. “I have always liked you, Draco. I only wish I had an heir half as competent.” With that, he walked out leaving me alone with my father, Tegrid, Nate, and Ryan.

“What happened to Soran?” I asked
, remembering him for the first time.

“His father took him home, but he has called every hour to check on Aurora,” my father said.

“I will call him as soon as we know something,” Nate said.

I shook my head. “No, I will call him. He was there for my mate when I couldn’t be and I owe him that.”
I ran my hand through my hair tiredly. I was exhausted, but until I knew Aurora was okay I wouldn’t allow myself to rest. “I am going to sit with Aurora.” I walked out of the office, trudging up the stairs to the bedroom where my mate lay still and pale as the moonlight filtered through the window, illuminating her.

Her mother
, who had been sitting by her side, stood and came to my side. “I’ll give you some time alone with her.”

She walked out and I moved to Aurora’s bedside taking her hand in my own. I brushed my finger over her cool cheek and
felt my body tremble as the dam that had been holding back my emotions broke. My knees buckled and I knelt next to the bed, clasping her hand as I cried for the first time since my mother had passed away many years before.

***
Aurora
***

I had taken life for granted I realized, as I floated over my still, battered body. I had lived every day before coming to Grayhurst without fully understanding that life is fleeting, that one has to be thankful for and rejoice for every minute they are alive and now that I am on the brink of death, it is too late. Don’t misunderstand, I have no regrets about my life I just wish I had lived more, done more, taken advantage of the short time I was meant to exist on this earth before it was taken from me. If only I had known…

A sob gained
my attention and I float over to a woman whose head was bent against my father’s chest as he held her in his arms. It is an odd sight, I do not ever remember my father so close to a woman and I cannot help but be curious.

“She’s a fighter, my little girl won’
t give up,” my father tells the woman softly.

The woman lifts her head and looks to the bed and I am momentarily stunned. There
before me is a slightly older replica of myself. Her long chestnut hair and tear-filled emerald green eyes are so like my own I am floored.

“I thought by leaving I was protecting her, now I see how fo
olish I have been,” she whispered to my father.

“Kristen, you can’t blame yourself for this. How could you have ever known that this wo
uld happen to our daughter?” my father said, pressing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

My mother! I am shocked, hurt that now I was dying
she finally shows herself. At the same time, there are so many things I want to ask her. Was my being blind such a curse? How could she have left a baby and the man she professed to love so easily? Where had she been? Had she ever cared about me at all in the last seventeen years? Did she ever love me at all?

Another s
ob filled the air and I turned to where Belynda and Ryan stood a few feet from the bed. Ryan has his arms around his sister offering her comfort as she stares at me through tear-filled eyes and I float over to them, hating to see her so upset.