Time Slipping (21 page)

“And the blood of the Mother will bring them late,” added Sam.

“What about that part about crying? And Lycurgus?” Tony asked. “Is Lycurgus a person or a place or something else?”

Felicia obliged him with another partial reading. “The cries of many will weigh you down. The cries of one will bring Lycurgus round.”

Something was tickling the back of my mind. “Uhhh…” I tried like hell to remember what it was, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“What’s going on?” Spike asked, linking our hands together. “You okay?”

I nodded, feeling desperate, like I had to tell them something important. “I, uhh… I … shit. I can’t remember.”

Tony was about to say something, but whatever he was going to share was drowned out by the sound of a ship’s sails going by. I frowned. I’d heard that sound before recently.
When was it?

A shadow passed overhead, and I suddenly remembered where I knew these things from; it was when Ish had found me on my back in the dust, when I first appeared in this realm. I heard a ship’s sails, a burst of hot wind that blew dust into my eyes, and then his footsteps in the grit. I looked up as the form of something massive soared overhead, and it all came together for me.

Dragon!
Othello was here.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

EVERYONE GATHERED INTO A TIGHT circle, the guys on the outside and the girls sandwiched in the center.

“Isn’t this kind of sexist?” I asked, trying to see over the back of my boyfriend. Everyone was faced in the direction we’d seen Othello fly.

“Vulnerable targets in the middle, expendable, stronger assets on the outside, Jayne.” Finn said. “You know how this works.”

“
Pfft
, please. You don’t even have your bow and arrows.” I called to The New Green and pictured a bubble of power around us, imagining the fire from a dragon coming at us and bouncing off.
Keep that fire element way the hell away from us
. A quick, excited pulse in the element’s connection had me believing it understood what I wanted and was looking forward to doing my bidding. It was kind of unnerving to deal with an element that was so humanlike. I much preferred the more staid, almost boring presence of the Earth element back in the Here and Now.

“I can still put a hurtin’ on anyone trying to touch my girl,” he said.

Becky hugged him from behind. “That’s my brave man.”

I rolled my eyes. “You know your girl is just going to disappear into thin air if a bad guy gets anywhere near her.”

“
Shhh
, Jayne! Stop being so mean,” she said, pinching me.

I pinched her back, but didn’t say anything.

Tim came flying toward us from the direction the dragon had gone, out of breath. “He’s here! The dragon’s here! And he’s a big one, too.” He landed on my shoulder, gasping for air.

“Why are you so out of breath?” I asked.

“Too much sulfur. Had to hold my breath while I was near. Hard to be aerodynamic without proper oxygenation.” He grabbed onto my hair and leaned over by my ear. I could feel little puffs of his breath hitting my lobe. “The kid’s a freaking master, I’ll tell you that. Got flamed for his trouble, but didn’t stop him. He threw up a shield and boom, still had his hair after.”

“A shield?” I asked. “Where’d Ish get a shield from?”

“Don’t know. You can ask him yourself. He wants you to come.”

I had to work at swallowing the glob of spit in my mouth. “Are you sure?”

“Yep. Good luck.” He patted me on the head and flew over to sit on Jared’s shoulder.

“You’re not coming?”

Tim shook his head. “Nah. Gotta hang out here. Keep an eye on the peeps. Make sure they don’t get themselves in trouble. Keep my ears open. You know. Spy stuff.”

“What’s going on?” Tony asked, turning to face me.

“Tim says the dragon wants to see me.”

“You can’t go alone.”

Jared turned next. “I agree. You can’t go alone.”

I wished I could just go along with what they were saying and agree that I should have at least five escorts with me, but I knew better. I’d seen what those dragons could do to someone they didn’t like: entire dwarf skeletons in a pile of dragon poop? Yeah. No thanks. Not a fate I had in mind for my friends. “None of you have armor or weapons to protect you. I have a bubble around you, but I can’t guarantee it’ll hold up if he’s determined to fry your butts.”

“Are you sure he can’t fry yours?” Spike asked, putting his arms around me from behind.

I rested my hands on his tattooed forearms, loving his solid presence at my back. “Dragon fire has never hurt me before. And I have this now.” I held up my hand, glad to see it didn’t have an eyeball in it. That little episode was weird, and probably something I should have let Tony and Jared analyze, but it was a little late for that now. I’d get to the bottom of it later, hopefully with all my body hair still attached to me and unsinged.

Footsteps interrupted our conversation and Ish appeared from among some trees. When he stopped in front of Jared, I stepped between the guys to face him.

“Othello has agreed to meet with one of you.” He looked down at me. “The one who bears the mark of the dragon.”

I held my hand up. “That’s me.” I tried to put on my brave face, but I wasn’t feeling particularly courageous at that moment. I just wanted all of this to be over so I could move on with my life. Do my duty to the fae and continue my training as their elemental Mother. I wanted to earn that moniker and do them proud. That goal was the thing that put one foot in front of the other and got me next to Ish when everything in my head was telling me to run the other direction.

“I don’t like that she’s going alone,” Spike said.

“She is not going alone. She is going with me.” Ish’s chin lifted. “I will keep her secure.”

“No offense, but you ain’t no match for a dragon,” Finn said.

Ish glared at him. “How that is not meant to offend, I am not certain. But I assure you, I know Othello well, and he is loyal to me. If I ask him not to hurt this girl, he will not hurt this girl.”

“Unless he’s hungry enough,” Finn said.

I turned to glare at him. “Would you relax? I can handle this.”

Finn shrugged. “Fine. I’m just sayin’…”

I nodded. “I hear you and I get it. But I have to do this, and you know it. So watch my back and if anything happens, get the girls to the portal, wherever it is.”

“You got it, Mother.” He put his fist to his heart and bowed.

For once I didn’t feel like punching him after hearing that.

I put my hand on Ish’s arm. “Come on, let’s go. Take me to your dragon.” I turned my head to look at my friends over my shoulder as I started walking, trying to tell them with my eyes that I was going to do the best I could and try not to piss the dragon off. All of them looked like they were saying goodbye forever. It didn’t kick up the confidence any, that was for sure. I sighed, facing front again.

Ish led me through the trees, speaking softly as we went. “When you approach, do not stare the dragon in the eye. He will take that as a sign of disrespect. Wait until you feel his acceptance before you do that.”

“Okay.”
Whatever the hell that means.

“Watch out for his talons. He knows where they are and he has precise control, but he also has a sense of humor that most people would call wicked. He is not above taking a pound of flesh in jest.”

My footsteps slowed. “A
pound
?”

“It’s just an expression. He wouldn’t take a whole pound. Not in one slice.”

I hurried to catch up to my guide. “Nice. He sounds like a laugh riot.”

“He can be.” The softness in Ish’s voice was hard to miss. “He has been my closest companion for a long time.”

“Anyone ever tell you you need to get out more?”

He smiled. “My cousin Dalys. He says I am too dragon-centric. But I don’t know any other way to be.”

“What about a girlfriend? Don’t you want one of those?”

“I cannot have one. Not until Othello finds his mate.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. Why can’t you have one first?”

“Because. For now, I am his companion. He needs my constant attention. When he doesn’t have it, he becomes …”

“Cranky?” I offered.

“Yes.” He smiled down at me. “That is exactly what he becomes. Moods take him places sometimes that I do not understand.”

For the first time ever, I felt lucky to be Biad’s companion. She only needed me twice a year.
How lucky is that?
Guilt niggled the back of my mind as I compared my situation to Ish’s.
Is that true? Does she only need me twice a year or would she want me to be there more often if I could be?
I quickly shrugged off that line of thinking. No way in hell was I going to turn this thing into a full time gig.

The stink of sulfur got stronger as we continued on. “How did you find Othello?” I asked. “How did you know you were going to be a dragon-rider?”

“I was a very small child of five cycles the first time I saw a dragon and flew through the air.”

“Wow. That’s young. Your mother was okay with that?”

“No, she was not. But when a dragon picks you up by the short pants and takes you away, there is not much a mother can do to stop it.”

“Did he take you forever? Have you been with Othello that long?”

“No, he brought me back. But over the years I saw him more and more. Eventually I went with him and didn’t go back for a long time.”

“You ran away?”

“You could say that.” He sighed. “I did not fit in with others my age very well.”

“Huh.” I thought about that for a few seconds, hopping over some fallen branches in my way. “I guess it sucks being a teenager no matter what realm you live in.”

“It is not easy, our life here in Kenrack. There are wars, famine, promises that are not fulfilled. Sacrifice is expected of everyone. I am one of the lucky ones.”

“You said you’re a dying breed, right?”

“Yes. Dragon-riders used to be plentiful. But so many of them have been killed due to warriors killing their dragons or by their own stupidity.”

“What do you mean, their own stupidity?”

“There is much to know about being a companion to a dragon. I learned the hard way, but I survived the process. Many do not.”

My heart skipped a couple beats as I realized he could be talking about me. I had zero training.
Why had I assumed it would be easy? Am I insane?

“So … this dragon know-how. Do you think you could train someone? Like, teach them everything you know?”

He shrugged. “I suppose I could. Most dragons are similar in behavior and nature. They all have their individual personalities, of course, but a dragon is a dragon.”

“I have to go be a companion to a dragon I’ve only met once. I could probably use some of that training.”

He smiled. “But you are leaving my realm.”

“Yeah, but not right away. I mean, we probably have a day or two here before we find the portal.”

He looked like he was thinking about it. The smell of sulfur started to burn my nostrils. I amped up the Earth element just a tad to keep it from getting worse. I didn’t want to block everything out, just anything wanting to hurt me. I wasn’t sure that sulfur qualified, but I wanted to have a clear head when I dealt with this beast who could take a pound of flesh out of me as some kind of sadistic joke.

“I think I would enjoy teaching you the things I have learned. You seem relatively intelligent and I can see you are eager to learn.”

I frowned. “Thanks. I think.”

He stopped walking and held out his arm to keep me from passing. “One last thing.” He turned to face me, looking down to stare into my eyes.

I looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

“Othello is very … possessive of me. Try not to get too close, or to let him see that you admire me.”

A bigger smile than I allowed tried to sneak out. “Okaaaay. I’ll try to resist your charms as best I can.”

He seemed like he wanted to say something else too, but instead, he turned and left me standing there in the trees. I hopped up and jogged after him, not wanting to be caught out alone where a random dragon talon could snag me from above. As I rounded the corner of a pile of boulders, a big blast of hot, egg-stinky air hit me in the face and warmed me to the core. At first, I saw nothing but smoke and steam, but then it started to dissipate and everything came into focus.

“Holyyyy shiiiiit,” I said in a panicked whisper.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I KNEW HE WAS GOING to be greenish-blue in color because I’d seen the scale in Ishmail’s hand. But seeing one scale was a lot different than seeing an entire dragon body covered in them. He reminded me of a sea monster from the bottom of a sparkling ocean in an exotic locale. The armor on his face was smaller, the scales more tightly packed together. The ones shielding his belly and sides were bigger, thicker looking. A double row of blackish-green spikes ran down his spine and finished at the end of his tail. His eyes were swirls of black and gold, the pupils vertical slits that were focused on me. Two sets of eyelids, one of the bottom and one on the top, moved toward one another, meeting in the middle slowly before opening again. His nostrils were huuuge. He could have fit two of me standing up inside those suckers.

Othello huffed a smallish puff of smoke out of both of those nostrils, and I took it as a greeting.

I held up my hand with the scale in it facing him. “Hello, there, Othello. Nice to meet you.”

He was so big, I expected his movements to be slow and deliberate; they were anything but. One second he was lounging on his elbows and knees, reminding me of a horse resting out in a pasture, and the next he was leaning in my face, his eyes narrowed and his mouth open, rows of razor-sharp teeth gaping out at me.

I am not ashamed to say that I did pee a little.

“Heeeerrrrrreeehhhh!!” The sound of a really loud train whistle exploded around my head at the same time a giant wall of flames came out to engulf me. Othello was trying to barbecue me, or possibly even cremate me. The fire coming from his mouth was green and blue like his scales, the kind of heat you see at the bottom of a fireplace — the hottest part.