dragons breath 02 - dancing with flames (38 page)

Oh, for crying out loud. I scowled at her escape hatch, then ran for the hole in the wall. Leaping through it, I found Phoebe and the children running away. She held one little girl who was wrapped in a camrium blanket she must have pulled from shiggara, and the other kids moved on their own ahead of her.

I glanced up at the sky. Matrika hovered a hundred feet overhead, gazing longingly at the children. She jerked her attention to me, and a look of resignation came over her eyes. She turned and flew away. Not toward the battle, but toward the north.

With that threat out of the way, I sheathed my sword and ran up to Phoebe and the kids, picking up a young boy who straggled behind. Together, we hurried south toward the main road leading to the airport. Just before we reached it, Conrad pulled up in the truck.

“Hurry!” he yelled, hopping out of the vehicle to help.

I pulled the back door open and slid the boy inside, then I took the girl from Phoebe and put her in there next. The rest of the kids climbed into the back of the truck with Conrad’s help. Sounds of the battle in the field nearby spurred us. The hundreds of dragons fighting over there couldn’t see us from this side of the building, but all it took was one of them coming overhead to blow our cover.

“Dear, Zorya,” Phoebe said, a look of horror coming over her face.

I followed her gaze, and my heart skipped a beat. At least fifty green dragons were coming from the north—fresh, new arrivals. The battle had been in the shifters’ favor before, but it wouldn’t anymore.

“Ah, shit,” Conrad cursed, forgetting about the children in the truck.

I could hardly yell at him for it now, especially since those were my thoughts exactly.

“I have to go fight with my toriq,” Phoebe said.

“No.” I shook my head. “We have to go to plan B.”

When she and Aidan had stopped by a couple of days ago to update me on the battle plans, I’d told them of an idea I had if the situation became dire. Conrad and I had gone back to the Thamaran nest and retrieved the eggs left behind after my father and I killed the parents. Phoebe had confirmed the baby dragons inside were still fine and would likely hatch in the next couple of weeks. They were currently in the trunk of the car Danae brought, carefully wrapped and cushioned. My initial instincts were to kill them before they were born, but I had decided to keep them alive just in case we needed them. Now I was glad I did.

“Drop the children off and get the eggs,” I ordered Conrad.

He rubbed his head. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“Go!”

He climbed into the truck and drove off, though not too fast since the kids were in the back. I watched him get away, making sure no dragons came along to attack. Thankfully, they were still too busy fighting over on the airfield.

“Phoebe,” I said, turning to her. “You have to track down Matrika and drag her scaly ass back here as a hostage—hurt her a little if necessary. The last I saw, she flew north heading away from the battle. If we’re lucky, we can work out a trade to make the Shadowan leave Norman if we don’t kill her and let her have the eggs.”

Aidan’s sister scowled. “Would you like me to grab the moon for you while I am out, too?”

She hadn’t been too hot on this idea when I first brought it up, and I’d had to revise it a little since things didn’t go quite like I expected. “Do you have any better ideas?”

From the way Aidan described it, the Shadowan loved Matrika. She was their only known weakness, though I still couldn’t understand why she held such a lofty position. Even when the rest of their clan went out to fight Aidan and the shifters, they still spared a guard for their little princess. If there was any chance we could broker a deal, this was the way.

“Fine. I’ll do it,” Phoebe said, then her gaze hardened. “But you’re going to go out there and kill some of those zishkat while I’m getting Matrika.”

I’d heard the term zishkat once before and asked Aidan what it meant. He said it was dragon dung.

“I thought you all didn’t want me getting into this fight.” I glanced down at my oversized t-shirt. The first time a dragon sent flames my way, the camrium clothes underneath would be exposed.

“This is an emergency.” She looked toward the sky where some of the red dragons were now fighting multiple opponents. “I’d rather get into trouble for associating with you than see more of my toriq dead.”

I pulled my sword out of its sheath. “Then you can count on me to help.”

“Take down as many as you can,” Phoebe said, then she began to shift.

Chapter 35

Aidan

Aidan stood on the ground, bloody and wounded from his last battle with a rather vicious opponent. Three dragons circled him, preparing to attack. He had lost track of his father about ten minutes ago. It worried him deeply, but he needed to deal with his current situation before he could locate Throm again. The pendragon had been wounded several times, and he was in no shape to fight anymore.

The beast directly in front of Aidan lashed out at him. He sidestepped to avoid it, bumping into another Shadowan. That one took advantage and leaped on top of him. Sharp talons dug into his sides. Aidan twisted and turned, trying to buck his attacker off, but the dragon just dug his claws deeper.

Then he heard a voice he hadn’t expected to hear. “Get off of him, you damn zishkat!”

The beast within him was elated to see the slayer, but Aidan was not so pleased. This wasn’t the time or the place for Bailey to be making an appearance. Not only would she have difficulty stopping once she began killing, but she would draw the notice of his toriq.

She cut her way through the third Shadowan, finishing him with a sword through his back. It was faster than he had ever seen Bailey kill a dragon before. There was a wild look in her eyes as she finished. She was in full slayer mode now, and her bloodlust was high. Bailey ran forward with her sword out and shoved the blade through the side of the beast on top of him, her aim surprisingly accurate. The dragon slumped, and Aidan shook him off.

He went for the final one before she could reach it. The Shadowan was so surprised to find a slayer in their midst that the beast had his eyes on her, rather than him. Aidan leaped forward and bit into the dragon’s throat, wasting no time crushing it. He fell dead on the ground.

You should not be here,
Aidan said telepathically, unsure if it would work with him speaking instead of his beast.

“You’re outnumbered, and your sister told me to help even the odds until she can carry out plan B,” Bailey hissed, careful of the other Taugud who fought nearby and might hear her.

Ah, plan B. He’d hoped they would not have to resort to that. It must mean Matrika was still alive somewhere, and Bailey wouldn’t be here unless she had successfully rescued the children. Though he was certain the Shadowan valued their princess, he didn’t know if it would be enough of a trade. He supposed they’d find out soon enough.

Very well, but take care not to kill my people,
he said, grateful that he could at least communicate with her in dragon form. Aidan did not want to speculate too much on how that was possible. It meant there was a far deeper connection between them than he had yet acknowledged.

Bailey didn’t answer. Instead, she spun on her feet and attacked the first green dragon she could find. Aidan supposed that was answer enough, considering she had to move around one of his brethren to get to the Shadowan. Somehow, she had gained even greater control since he last tested her. She had said she would continue to work on it, but Bailey had achieved a greater level than he dared hope for.

Feeling a renewed surge of energy, Aidan sought out his own foe and attacked. One after another, he took green dragons down until it seemed all he saw was a sea of blood. Still bodies from both toriqan lay strewn across the earth—some dead and some dying. In his search for his father between bouts of fighting, he spotted Donar. His cousin was covered in wounds but still battling his enemies with a touch of crazed zeal. He also caught Falcon take down two opponents within moments of each other.

After killing what must have been the tenth dragon Aidan had faced, he ran into Bailey again. She was bloodier than before and wounded in several places, but still standing and fighting with a vengeance. He couldn’t have been prouder of her. Then the scene just beyond her caught his attention. Two green dragons tore into Throm as he attempted to fight them off, but he lacked the strength to do any real damage. The right side of his body gaped wide open, revealing his ribs, and one of his legs hung at an odd angle. If he were to survive, he would need a healer right away.

Aidan raced across the ground, desperate to save his father before it was too late. Bailey was finishing off her opponent as he ran past her. He could not stop to explain. Aidan kept going, watching with horror as one of the dragons rammed into Throm’s side, knocking him over. The other Shadowan went for his neck.

Only a few more paces and Aidan would be there.

The green dragon chomped hard on Throm’s throat while the other tore deep into his belly. Aidan roared his anger, but the Shadowan paid no attention to him. They knew who they were killing and wanted the glory of taking the pendragon’s life. As Aidan reached them, the first released Throm’s neck and stepped away. He caught a glimpse of his father’s eyes and watched the light go out of them. The pendragon—the male who had inspired and guided him for more than two centuries—had just breathed his last breath.

Noooo! This could not be happening.

Aidan had meant to protect his father and see him alive through the end of the battle. Anguish unlike anything he had felt before ran through him. Now he would never be able to speak to his sire again or gain his forgiveness. Aidan let out a mournful wail for all his toriq to hear, letting them know what had happened. They echoed it with their own sounds of sorrow.

You will die for this!
Aidan said to the one who crushed Throm’s throat.

He leaped on top of the dragon, ripping and tearing into him with his teeth. Aidan’s pain and anger fueled him. In moments, there was little left of the Shadowan to identify. He would be claiming no glory for himself today. Aidan twisted to find the other dragon who had attacked Throm, but he found Bailey had already finished him off. As she hovered over the beast’s with her bloody sword in hand, she gave him a respectful nod.

While he had been distracted with killing his father’s murderer, she had protected his back and fended off his would-be attacker. Some shifter males might be ashamed to have a female—especially a slayer—aid them in battle. He took pride in the fact that she was capable of doing it, and for him.

Stop fighting if you want your princess to live!
Phoebe called out. Aidan turned to find his sister standing on the rooftop of a hangar, gripping Matrika’s throat with her teeth.

Within seconds, the battlefield went still. Shadowan and Taugud alike stopped and turned to look at Phoebe and their princess. Though she was smaller than Matrika, she looked the part of a vengeful warrior. Aidan noted that Bailey quietly slipped away while everyone had their attention elsewhere. Her fists were clenched and her expression tight as she fought to maintain control, but she managed to walk past a dozen dragons before clearing the battlefield.

Once she was out of sight, Aidan sat next to his dead father and guarded his body while listening to his sister propose the terms for Matrika’s release. She made it clear the Shadowan must withdraw to the north, citing a human interstate they called I-240, though she described it in terms the pure dragons could understand. That was much farther north than they had discussed, but it could not hurt to ask for more than they expected.

She also told the Shadowan about the eggs, pulling one from shiggara for everyone to see and stating there was one more like it, both almost ready to hatch. They came from the Thamaran, but the parents were killed by a slayer so the eggs would not be missed. It would allow Matrika a chance to be the mother she wished to be so desperately. All the Shadowan had to do was give up a bit of territory—or they could continue to fight and lose the princess and the eggs. It was their choice.

Volker, the pendragon and Matrika’s father, came forward.
You ask for too much.

I think not.
Phoebe said, maintaining her tight hold on the female dragon’s throat. It was just as well she did not need her mouth to talk.
You are the one who clearly planned to invade our territory, and it is your warrior who just killed our pendragon. I could take my revenge on your daughter, or I could make her very happy. The decision is yours.

Volker called two dragons to him. They spoke through private communications for several minutes before he addressed Phoebe again.
Perhaps we can redefine the territorial boundaries you have proposed.

Absolutely not,
she growled and bit harder into Matrika, who made a pain-filled sound.
You have five seconds to consider before I finish her.

The Shadowan pendragon took a step forward, but then remembered the imminent threat to his daughter and stopped.
Very well, we accept your offer.

Aidan was shocked. That had taken very little convincing, even with Matrika’s life at stake. The Shadowan must value her even more than anyone guessed.

Ruari appeared at the base of the building.
We must prepare for the ritual of agreement.

Why was Aidan not surprised his brother showed up so quickly now? With the pendragon dead and the successor not present, it fell on one of Throm’s children to perform the blood ritual that would seal the accord. Ruari wouldn’t want to miss a chance in the spotlight, though Aidan noted his brother didn’t appear all that worse for wear from the battle. He had likely hidden for most of the fighting, only revealing himself long enough for the toriq to see him participating. Aidan might have argued against letting his brother perform the ritual, but it was rather painful. Let Ruari be the one to experience a stab through the gut—he certainly deserved it.