Web Of Bones: Book II of the Dragon Mage Series (11 page)

Solan looked down at the tiny mage that slept beside him.
It was an anticlimactic end to a long day and night.

After the attack, then being wind talked, she amazed him by still having the strength to defy him.
Arguing so ridiculously about where she would sleep. Solan refused full stop to let her sleep anywhere but by his side, not for the rest of what was the worst night of his life. And in his head he knew, not any night to come hereafter. When she had balked, and got that stubborn look, he had finally just pinned her to the sleep mat with a growl. To be so quickly on the ground and restrained by a seven-foot tall dragon warrior had her opening and closing her mouth while she blinked up at him with big green eyes. But there was no fear in her, just a breathless surprise, until finally she sighed out a breath and said “Fine. But I want my pillow.”

When he was sure she had really nodded off, he placed his hand on her chest just to feel her breathe.
It was a long time before he was able to step away and join Lux and Aarion at the fire. Even then his power wrapped around her, blanketing her in safety while he kept an ear on her pulse, unable to let it go for fear she would be taken again while she slept.

It was Aarion who spoke first.
“We have to get word to the others that a dragon is involved.”

“
Kinkaid and Prince Ladon should be warned I agree, but I do not like the idea of splitting our forces when the Lady Melisande is in jeopardy.” He placed his hand on Aarion’s shoulder and squeezed his gratitude before letting go. His voice lowered to a gruff rumble. “If you had not been here ... “

Aarion nodded his head in short acknowledgment
, then moved on. “This poison she speaks of. Could it be the same that transformed Lord Bochus?”

“
I would say that is the most likely possibility. Shehar did say after examining what was left of the bastard that he had been poisoned by dragon blood mixed with death magic. We thought we had ended that threat with Bochus and the destruction of the blood mages, but what if the one we missed was the one responsible? And we know there is another dragon involved.”

“
We need to take this to the council,” Aarion growled.

“
So they can do what?”

Aarion narrowed his eyes at his leader.
“So that they can find the one responsible.”

“
And if they are the one responsible?”

“
You think a council leader is involved?”

“
That I cannot say, but Bochus was, as is one other dragon powerful enough to hide among us for who knows how long. Let us not forget that the council would not trust the word of a mage when guilt points to their own.”

Aarion studied him
. “You think they would deny the Lady Melisande as witness? But I saw the power surrounding her. It was dragon magic of the House of Earth—surely they cannot doubt a knight of the light?”

“
We have all seen dragon blood used for evil before. They could very well say that is what you sensed.”

Aarion paused his lips compressing while he considered his commander
’s set face. “Because they do not want to believe a dragon is behind it all.” He shook his head while Lux cursed and started pacing behind them. “Have we really become so arrogant?”

“
I have come to believe after some deliberation that we have all been unforgivably blind, and arrogance self-delusion may be what destroys us in the end.”

“
Unless we are vigilant,” Aarion said, his words a promise.

Solan met his eyes, his own swirling to quicksilver, then hardening with resolve.
“We will be vigilant.”

Lux slapped them both on the backs, the power behind the hits might have felled lesser men, but they barely noticed.
“Glad that’s settled. Now what?”

Solan turned to look at Lux, who as usual looked less than interested in talk, and was ready to battle.
Before he could come up with an answer, he sensed movement and they all three twirled to face different directions, weapons drawn. They all relaxed almost immediately, Solan and Aarion sheathing swords and Lux his battle-axe. With a whip of hot wind, Furee landed a safe distance from the camp with a fire mage sitting on his back.

After sending his magic to make sure it was just exhaustion keeping Melisande asleep, rather than anything unnatural
, Solan headed for Furee, and that fire mage.
Now what, indeed.

By the look of Furee, he was not going to like any news they brought with them.
As soon as the fire mage jumped down, Furee transformed from enraged fire dragon to furious man.

“
The council is ordering the return of the Dragon Knights,” he spat out, his feeling on the matter clear. “I am to deliver this message for the return of everyone but General Solan. You are needed for a
special assignment
.” He bit the last words out like a curse.

Solan arched a brow.
“What of Prince Ladon?”

“
Someone made sure this particular vote happened when he was not in attendance. Even so, it was not unanimous. But they have decided and put into law a plan to deal with the mage mate issue,” Furee bit out each word, obviously quoting.

“
Go on.”

The fire mage spat out his own curse, even while he turned to walk off the fire escaping up his arms.
Solan looked from one furious man to the other. Finally, Furee seemed to contain his anger enough to finish. “They have decreed that notice will be delivered to the humans. All mage females, of child-bearing age, will be delivered to the North Gate and surrendered to the dragons. The males will not be welcome. The females will be held until and if they can be successfully mated to a dragon male. If there is not one found they will be returned to the South side of the gate and abandoned.” He growled out. “Or as the law states: Returned to their people.”

Now it was Lux who was cursing.
“They want to send them back to the humans to be burned?”

“
Any offspring that is not dragon or female mage will also be returned to their people. All a dragon male has to do is openly state a mage is his mate and she is considered his, whether she already belongs to a house or not. They have taken away a dragon’s right to protect his family. Worse, if such female offspring are not claimed in an acceptable time period, they too will be
returned to their people
.”

“
To die,” Solan growled, finishing the unspoken statement, aware that his dragon was fighting against his skin to get out. “It would be the end of the mage as a people.”

The fire mage finally spoke, his words as cold as his eyes hot.
“No. If it is mates you need to survive, and breed, it will not be our people who suffer. We have hid for hundreds of years beneath the very nose of the humans. After this decree gets out, no mage will willingly go to the dragons. We will live and die in hiding, and dragons will go on as they always have, alone, until the last of your kind crumbles to dust and is forgotten.” The last he was saying directly to Furee, who clenched his jaw but remained quiet.

“
Surely this cannot be acceptable to anybody?” Aarion growled out, frustrated.

“
Prince Ladon has declared it an abomination, and he has no intention of presenting his unmated females up to be claimed by any dragon stupid enough to support this law. He is hiding his mate’s younger sister in Forsaken with Eben Kinkaid, who no one will cross, while a re-vote is called. He demanded an open forum, and his mate will be speaking, whether the council wishes it or not. But in the meantime, you are to return to Dracon with the Lady Melisande to be presented to the dragon males, and the decree will be sent out to the mages.”

Solan ignored the mention of Melisande, knowing that it would infuriate him past thought to consider that part of what was said.
She was safe for now, and none of this would stand, not as long as he held breath. If the notice went out, the mages would never again trust a dragon.

“
Who is supposed to deliver this decree to the humans?” Solan finally asked into the silence.

Furee turned hot eyes his way.
“You are.”

For the first time that night, Solan was tempted to smile.
“Then we stop this before it begins.” He looked each man in the eye. “No notice is given, no rumors started among the humans or mage kind.” He looked at the fire mage smoldering beside them. “No mage will ever be forced to give up her family or her rights while I breathe.” He looked at the other dragons. “We are Knights of the Light. We finish this journey we started for the Lady Melisande, and we finish it quickly. We will give the last of the blood mages the death he covets, then we return home and remind the council what they have forgotten about dragon knights.”

He turned away
, intent on checking on Melisande, but the fire mage stopped him with a question. “And what is that that they have forgotten?”

It was Aarion who answered, with Lux and Furee standing beside him looking ready for battle.
“We are more than the council’s dogs of war. A dragon knight is a protector of the Light. We honor life and protect the innocent. We choose to follow the council, but if they have truly turned to such a dark path as this ...” He looked to Solan, who finished in a rough voice coating steel.

“We can choose to bring them down.”

Melly had slipped away with the help of the wind sweeping away all her sounds and smells, but with each whisper of information that came her way from the men, she was more determined to do what she came here for. She was not afraid anymore. Not of death anyway, and not of being unworthy. If Solan was supposed to be her mate, then she was worthy of this battle. She had to be. She would not lose her mate, nor would she sit idly by while her sister fought this battle for mage kind among the dragons without her. Solan was right. She would finish what she started, and then they would return home to end this law that made virtual slaves of mage kind. She whispered through the trees like the wind that surrounded her, led her and hid her from pursuit.

A few moments later
, a great roar could be heard through the trees. The ground shook with the fury of dragon, and Melly picked up the pace. Solan Fire-Eater would be after her now, and it was only going to get harder from here. She kept running but took a moment to send back a soothing wind meant to swirl around and come at him from another direction. She sent her voice along with it. “Don’t follow me. I have seen what I need to do.” She had no hope that he would heed the call, but she had to try. She would need every trick her magic could produce to escape him. With his life on the line, she could not fail.

***

Solan felt his dragon form pressing against his human skin even as the roar reverberated through the forest. A second later, he felt a cooling breeze caress down his cheek and flutter through his hair, and he knew. He closed his eyes, the relief almost enough to bring him to his knees. She had not been taken. She had left him. He heard her whisper and growled, his talons shooting out of his human hands, then retracting as they fisted. He started moving again. The men scattered and looked for the trail, just as he was. Even the huntsman was looking, but the wind blew out of nothing, working against them, scattering leaves and dirt in all directions. Obscuring scents and trails until they were crossing paths with each other in the confusion.

“
That is one furious dragon. Will the lady be safe?” the huntsman asked above the rising wind, watching the big dragon commander move ahead.

“
When it comes to a dragon mate, she will never be safer than by his side.” Aarion answered as they followed.

Lux laughed, dodging a falling tree as it cracked and crashed to the ground beside them.
“But I do feel sorry for anyone else he runs into.” Then he cursed when a squirrel bounced out of a tree and onto his leather and clung with sharp little nails. He pulled him off with a grimace and tossed him back to the winds, watching him whirl about and disappear into the brush. “Remind me later not to anger the dragon’s tiny mate. She packs quite a wallop for such a delicate little thing.”

“
She is one of the most powerful mages I have ever seen,” the fire mage muttered, looking around at the carnage. “Most mage cannot sustain magic for more than a small space of time. Though there are exceptions, and she would have soaked up quite a bit of magic living as she was in Dracon. I wonder how long she intends to keep this up?”

As if the words were all she had been waiting for
, the winds died, everything flying around them crashed to the ground, and the silence was all-consuming. Solan turned to look around, seeing the men close behind doing the same.

“
Well, I guess that answers that question.” Lux shoved the hundred-year-old tree out of the way as if it were weightless. Braedon watched the casual display of strength with watering eyes that gave away nothing of his thoughts. Wiping away the debris that caused it, he turned a full circle, probably to get his bearings.

“
You and your sister,” Lux asked, ignoring the way both Braedon and Furee stiffened at the mention. “You can do this kind of damage?”

“
My sister is a healer,” he said stiffly. “She would never do any kind of damage.”

“
And you?” Aarion asked, looking back at him while they broke the tree line.

“
I am a fire mage.” Braedon answered, his voice going hard. “I am capable of nothing but destruction.” He smiled and it was a cold thing. “But yes, I can do all kinds of damage, and I am very good at it. But I cannot hunt in a windstorm,” the fire mage yelled as the winds began to howl again.

“
It doesn’t matter.” Solan narrowed his eyes and looked to the far mountains. “I know where she is going.” He motioned his men back the way they had come. “Pack up the camp and look in the other directions just in case she misled us on this too.”

“
You go after the blood mage?” Aarion called, dodging a branch that nearly whacked him in the face.

“
I go after my mate. She is my only priority.” Solan turned to them with eyes glowing with dragon power while the silver molted and fired with his anger. His face was granite-hard. “But I have a feeling we will be meeting soon, just the same.” With no thought to the trees that cracked and broke around his transformation, he became the black dragon and took to the sky in one swoop, despite the powerful winds buffeting him.

***

Melly allowed the winds to die down again and this time did not call them back. She very carefully concealed her presence from the black dragon that winged across the sky and hunted for her. When he was far enough away, she started off again. She would have to be especially diligent. The sun was just coming up. Melly shook her head at the length of the night that had never seemed to end. She sent out a call to the winds for information, and then followed the directions that came winging back to her. One thing about being a wind mage—no one was going to find you unless you wanted them to. The tricky part would be to allow the enemy to find her, and keep the dragon at a distance. There were many roads in the forest. She just had to stay on the right path. Careful to keep her winds behind her obscuring her trail, she hurried on. Moving like a phantom through the trees, she made good time, hours passing. With each one, she knew she was closer to the blood mage she sought.

It might have behooved her to consider there was more to fear in the forest than the obvious.

When the attack came it was not from the rear where her wind washed away her trail, or from the front where she sent her power on ahead to seek out the smell of death. It was from the side, and it was a group of humans that had no powers for her to sense. Clearly displaced soldiers, they were armed with swords and arrows. They took one look at her, with the wind swirling around her and her eyes glowing mage green, and pulled their weapons.

There were a good half dozen soldiers in all, a ragtag bunch that separated and surrounded her with one shouted command from the leader.
He was of average height for a human, but after spending so much time with the dragons, he looked small to her eyes.

“
Witch,” one yelled. Many grumbled in agreement and fingered their swords.

She looked at the men
; she could sense anger, fear, and from a few an unholy lust. “I have no quarrel with you, but I will defend myself if you attack me.” Her voice carried on the wind so that even as soft as she spoke, it sounded louder in their ears.

“
You won’t be the first witch we burned,” the leader leered at her, caressing the blade of his weapon. “And you won’t be the last.”

Melly narrowed her eyes
, feeling pressure build in her head until she wanted to scream with it. She had never been overly dramatic emotionally in her reactions; she was not quick to anger like her siblings and had always felt she lacked the passion for life that they did, ever content to be the calm one. But today was not a good day. She was angry. No, that unfamiliar pressure building inside her had to be fury. Last night she had nearly died, the dragons were passing unconscionable laws that benefited no one, and she had to leave her mate behind or watch him die, and still had to face a blood mage that wanted to breed her.

Enough
. She gave them one more warning while the wind built around her. “I am not the easy prey of healers or minor mages.” She punched the wind up. Some of the men shifted, looking around at the whipping tree branches with worry, but the leader just laughed.

“
I don’t mind a little wind in my hair while I skewer you, little girl.”

***

It had been hours, and still he could find no trace of his mate. He knew the wind was leading him in circles, taking away the scents he followed, and obscuring his vision of the forest floor. He breathed out fire, frustration eating him from the inside out. Finally, he landed out of sheer desperation and shifted to man. He roared his fury into the face of the wind. “Keeping her from me is not helping her. You send her into battle alone and unprotected.” He felt the wind hesitate around him and gentled his voice, as much as he could with the anger seething inside him. “She called you friend. If that is truth, you know her enough to see who she is. Her powers are impressive, but she is not a killer, and I would not have her become one. Should she live with blood on her hands when she does not have to? Let me find her, and I will help her finish this without it costing so much as that.”

***

“You want wind in your hair?” Melly said. Her voice did not rise, but she could see the shadow of her mage light glowing, and wondered what the men must see in her eyes. She raised her arms, and the winds whirled around them all. Then, with a surge of power, she pointed both hands at the leader and lifted him right off the ground and over the highest trees. He screamed his fear and Melly left him there, hovering high above, while the rest of his men scattered and ran, lobbing arrows her way that she deflected with the wind. She laughed, and the wind picked it up and giggled through the few who remained, like an evil army of sprites. At that point even the stoutest ran. She lowered the leader back to the ground with a not-so-gentle thump, and he was back where he started.

The cold snake eyes in his face hid the terror behind the need to cause pain.
Melly lost her smile; she had hoped scaring them would teach them a lesson about hunting mages. From the look in his eyes, he would stop at nothing to destroy anything he feared. She was very much afraid she was going to have to kill him to stop him. While she thought, he whipped out a knife and slung it with very precise aim at her heart.

B
efore the wind could change its course, there was suddenly an obsidian wall of scales between her and the threat. The knife hit the wall and bounced right off, falling to the ground. The soldier looked up into the swirling silver eyes of an enraged dragon. A second later, Solan reached forward and grabbed the hardened soldier, who had frozen in fear. With his two-handed grip, he twisted the man into two pieces so fast he didn’t even have a chance to scream.

Melly scrunched her eyes closed at the gruesome sight
, then felt large dragon talons wrap around her waist as gently as a whispering wind. He curled her into his chest and launched them into the sky, careful not to jar her. Through it all, Melly was very much aware that he was stone-cold furious with her, despite his gentle hand. When he took her, wherever he was taking her, there would be a reckoning. But facing his dragon fire when she knew he would never harm her was not what had silent tears falling from her still-closed eyes. What truly terrified her was the knowledge that she had failed to protect him … and she could not bear it.