Captive Fire (10 page)

“Drakon!”
Ryuu cried, weeping now. No pain he’d felt before in
his life was the equal of this loss. He reached out, not caring that his own
death rushed for him. The black dragon fell away fast.
Too
fast.

Drakon!
Ryuu’s mind flashed white, then silver, then black,
and abruptly, like a rock splitting open beneath the pressure of the sun, his
skin split into pieces. At first he thought the speed of his fall was shredding
his body, but death didn’t come. Instead, burning fire flicked along his
nerves. He screamed again, mind still on his lost mate. When his silver wings
opened, at first he didn’t understand what had happened. When the wind tugged
him up, breaking his fall, his eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was
the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains crouched on the horizon like a broken spine, black
as ash.

I’m alive,
Ryuu thought, dazed. Then he realized that Drakon was
still
falling. He looked down. A small black pebble tumbled
against the endless sea of sand and crystal beneath them. He tucked his wings
close to his body and dove.

He plummeted, faster than he thought a living being
could move without protection. Somehow, he instinctively knew exactly how to
maneuver. Perhaps it was all the hours he spent piloting a flitter, or perhaps
it was some genetic knowledge he never realized he had, but he was able to
catch up to Drakon within moments. He shot underneath his mate and unfurled his
wings as he grabbed on. He used his claws to tuck Drakon’s wings close to his
body, then turned them and tried to control the spiral that would mean their
death. The sand loomed directly in his line of vision, as if the entire world
was made of heat and glass, but he refused to give up.

Come on, you can do
this,
he told himself, beating his wings furiously. The
ground rushed up. At the last moment, he tucked his wings around Drakon and
used their momentum to go into a roll. He hit the ground,
then
tumbled uncontrollably. Fire seared his skin as the heat from the sand
surrounded them. He tucked his head down, trying to protect his eyes. When they
finally stopped, he gasped. He felt like he’d been flayed.

Dragons are clearly not indestructible,
he thought, spitting sand out of his mouth. He gently
unwrapped
his wings, astonished that none of his bones
had been crushed. Drakon wasn’t a small dragon.
And neither am I,
he
realized, looking over his new body. He winced as he
shook himself. Blood dripped down his flanks from his wings and he gasped at
the pain. From the glitter in the sand, he could tell some of his scales had
been abraded right off his hide. He turned awkwardly, trying to figure out
where they’d crashed. When he touched Drakon’s snout, the black dragon stirred.
Relief swept through him.
He’s alive!

Ryuu,
Drakon
said into his mind. The bond that Ryuu feared had gone flared to life.

Ryuu froze.
Drakon?

Drakon tried to move, groaning as his damaged wing
pushed into the sand.

Don’t try to move!
Ryuu told him, grasping at his mate’s mental signature. He would not
let the bond fade again. Somehow, he instinctively sent energy along the thread
that connected them, but Drakon did not relax. He reared up, flames leaking
from his mouth. Ryuu’s heart tripped and the spines along his neck rose.

Behind you,
Drakon sent, eyes staring over Ryuu’s shoulders.

Ryuu whirled, ignoring the pain of his blistered skin.
The emperor’s last flitter rushed down and clipped him on the head. He fell
back against Drakon, dazed. The flitter circled around, coming back for another
try.

The plasma cannons must be
damaged,
he thought when the flitter didn’t try to shoot them.
He struggled to his feet, wings unfurling to help him with his balance. He
reared up and coughed, infuriated that one man could create so much
destruction.
Not a man, a murderer,
he reminded himself bitterly,
thinking of his mother.
His cousins.
The war on Drakon’s people.
Anger scoured through him.

Ryuu, no,
Drakon said, trying to stand up.
He’s trying to kill you!

This is the end, Drakon,
he sent to his mate.
Even if we die here, I will
not go down without a fight.
Ryuu resettled his wings, ignoring the pain.
Drakon would surely understand, and after a single, startled moment, a sense of
acceptance flowed through their link.

End it, then, Prince Ryuu,
Drakon said formally.
As heritor of the Soutx
nation, I support you.
The flitter was almost on top of them.

No more war,
Ryuu vowed. He coughed again, and a small blue flame spouted from his mouth. If
he’d been in human form, he would’ve smiled. When the flitter closed on their
position, he saw that his father was the pilot.
Good,
he thought
harshly, more than ready to end this destructive tyranny. He took a deep
breath, then deliberately flamed the flitter into oblivion.

Chapter Eight

Drakon gasped, jolting abruptly awake. Pain burned
down his shoulders and back. He’d shifted back to human at some point in the
night, and that had saved his life, but he was still gravely injured. He
groaned.

“Don’t move,” Ryuu said, putting a cool cloth on his
face.

Drakon relaxed slightly. “Where did you get the
water?” Above his lover, stars glittered against a black sky. The sand below
him was still warm, so he knew he hadn’t slept for long. Soon, the desert would
grow terribly cold and they’d face another battle to survive.

Ryuu smiled. “I know some tricks,” he murmured.

“You shifted. Silver,” Drakon said. He coughed, trying
to clear the junk from his throat and immediately wished he hadn’t. Agony
speared through his bones. “Beautiful.”

“It seems my mother’s blood runs true in my veins,
after all,” Ryuu said softly.

Drakon nodded. “I’m happy for you,” he gasped.

“Shh.” Ryuu set aside the cloth. “We can’t stay here.”

“I know.”

“I’ve called for help,” Ryuu said somberly.

A burst of fear tripped through Drakon’s heart. “Who
did you call?”

Ryuu smiled wryly. “I told them the Desert Dragon
needed their help.”

Drakon stared at his mate as he realized what Ryuu
meant. “They won’t help me!”

Ryuu frowned. “They will help if they want to live. I
still have the strength to shift back to my dragon form.” He sighed and kissed
Drakon’s forehead. “They’re the only ones close enough to help. After my
father’s surprise attack earlier, none of my people have any working flitters.”
He looked to the east. “We crashed much closer to the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains
than I realized.”

Drakon shook his head fretfully. “Don’t hurt them,
Ryuu.” Stars flickered along his eyelids and he knew he didn’t have much
strength left. “They don’t know any better.” He gasped for breath.

“You care for your people a great deal, hmm? You
didn’t abandon them at all.” Ryuu put the cloth back on Drakon’s forehead,
fingers gentle and soothing.

“I serve, even if they don’t want me to,” Drakon
whispered as the darkness took him.

****

Ryuu stood, watching the small party of Soutx walk
toward them in the darkness. Their lights looked like old-fashioned lanterns,
bobbing against a sea of black. He wished they would hurry. Drakon was weak,
and he wasn’t sure how to help him. He shifted his weight, concealing a wince. He
hurt, but he would heal. Drakon, though, was in bad shape. He sighed and shook
his head.
What will be, will be.

“Are you the Desert Dragon?” the leader of the group
called out. Her voice carried the weight of age and authority. Now that they
were close, he could see that the lights were lanterns made of crystals set on
the end of poles. He’d read about such lights but never seen them. The crystals
were the same as the ones that formed the fields above the citadel, and thus
served as excellent light reflectors and amplifiers.

“I am the Dragon,” Ryuu said, ignoring a pang of worry
he couldn’t quite dispel. He hadn’t ever admitted that title aloud before.
Usually people called him a butcher.
Or the Bearer of Blades.
He snorted quietly to himself. The truth of his identity was far stranger than
anyone knew.

“We brought our healer,” the woman said, walking
faster. She wore soft brown leather clothing and had her long hair tied back
into a complicated braid design. “Who is injured?”

Ryuu stepped back, letting their light fall across
Drakon’s unconscious form.

“Drakon!” the woman gasped. She thrust her pole
lantern at a man standing just behind her and hurried forward. She fell to her
knees and reached out a shaky hand.

Alarmed, Ryuu loomed over her, but then he saw the
tears on her face.
A face that looks suspiciously like Drakon’s,
he
realized.

“He’s alive,” Ryuu said softly, crouching down. “But I
don’t know how to help him.”

She touched Drakon’s cheek. “Aster, come quickly,” she
called urgently. “Your brother is alive, but terribly ill.”

A younger version of the woman pushed through the
cluster of Soutx. A braid of dark brown hair slid over her shoulder as she set
down her pack to examine Drakon. She took out a handheld computer tablet and
attached a sensor wand. When she held it out over Drakon, Ryuu turned to the
older woman.

“He’s your son, isn’t he?” he asked.

She nodded, still staring at Drakon. The other Soutx
walked around, planting their lanterns in the sand so they would have light.
Ryuu was relieved that none came close enough to crowd them.

He bowed to the woman. “Lady Delinda, it’s an honor.”

She looked up at him sharply. “Who
are
you? How
do you know my name?”

He tilted his head, considering what to tell her.
“Drakon said you wouldn’t help us. That his father disapproved of his choices.
Is that true?”

She frowned, glancing away. “His father was a very
bitter man.”

“Was? Where is General Ozuru now?” Ryuu asked,
surprised. Drakon hadn’t said anything about his father being dead.

“He died in the last battle with the Arethuza.” The
woman stroked a hand down Drakon’s cheek. “I was elected interim leader of the
Soutx, until the heritor came home.”

Ryuu sat back on his heels. That meant that he was
mated to the leader of the Soutx. He smiled wryly. Soutx and Arethuza, united
at last.
Pity it took countless battles and blood spilled for it to happen.
“He will be sorry to hear of his death.”

“Please. How do you know my son?” Lady Delinda asked
him.

Ryuu took a deep breath. “He is my mate.”

Her eyes widened. “But that would mean…”

“That I am also a dragon. Yes.” Ryuu was done with
hiding. “The Desert Dragon asked for your help. You came.”

Drakon stirred suddenly.
“Ryuu!”

Ryuu immediately went to him. “I’m here.” He touched
Drakon’s hand.

“Don’t hurt them,” he mumbled.

Ryuu squeezed. “Don’t fret.”

Drakon grabbed him.
“Promise.”
His fingers loosened before Ryuu could reply. He glanced at the younger woman.
“Will he be okay?”

“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he should recover.” She
pasted a med-tab onto Drakon’s arm and threaded the line from it into a
portable medicine station. She sighed, and touched Drakon’s wrist, taking his
pulse.

“What about his wing?” Ryuu had to ask. “It was nearly
destroyed by plasma fire.”

She frowned. “He was injured in dragon form?”

Ryuu nodded.

Her green eyes, so like Drakon’s, went bleak. “Only
someone bonded to him can help heal that injury.”

She must not have heard me tell their mother he is my
mate
. “How?” he asked urgently. “I’ll
do anything.”

She stared at him, obviously confused.

Ryuu wanted to shake her. “Tell me how to help him,”
he enunciated clearly.

“No!” A man pushed his way through the Soutx clustered
around them.

Ryuu came to his feet, moving to protect Drakon. The
man spat into the sand as the lantern light flickered across his face.

Yet another relative,
Ryuu thought, looking at the man’s cold, green eyes.
Drakon certainly has a lot of them.

“If Drakon’s injury prevents him from taking his
dragon form, all the better,” the man shouted. “He was never meant to lead the
Soutx.”

“Apep!
You overstep yourself,” Delinda said, standing with
Ryuu.

The man spat again. “I will be leader, Delinda. Not
some nightmare out of myth. Our people need a pure human to lead them to
victory over the Arethuza.” He shoved forward, reaching out a hand to yank away
the med-line from Drakon’s arm.

Ryuu grabbed his arm. “The war is over,” he said,
thrusting the man away.

“You lie!” Apep growled and swung at Ryuu.

Ryuu stepped back,
then
easily tripped him. He followed him down to the ground, drawing two of his
knives and stabbing them into sand on either side of Apep’s face. “It’s over. I
could kill you a thousand times, easily, and that would not change the truth of
it.”

“You have no authority to declare a truce! You’re
nothing but a traitor spy.
A fucker of men.”

Ah. Prejudice and hatred survive, even among the
Soutx.
Ryuu made a disgusted sound
and stood up. “Do you know who I am?”

Apep scrambled to his feet.
“Arethuza
scum.
The war will never be over as long as that foul emperor yet
lives.”

“Then you shall be delighted to know that Emperor
Midian is very, very dead,” Svana said, stepping out of the dark and bowing to
Ryuu, fist against her chest. “Sire,” she said. Zinan stepped up beside her and
bowed as well.

“It took you long enough,” Ryuu said irritably.

Zinan retrieved Ryuu’s knives from the ground and
presented them with a sardonic smile. “That last ambush carried you almost to
the foot of the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains. It’s a fair distance from the crystal
fields.”

Ryuu snorted, taking his knives and sheathing them.
“Is the citadel secure?” He ignored the wide-eyed looks Drakon’s people were
giving him. They’d figure it all out sooner or later. Better it happen soon,
before any more misunderstandings led to worse violence.

“It is, Sire,” Zinan said, bowing again.

Ryuu sighed. “Good. I can’t leave here until Drakon
has recovered. It may be awhile.”

“Of course,” Svana said. Abruptly, she pivoted,
striking Apep in the arm. “Don’t even think about it.”

Apep dropped the plasma knife he’d been about to
throw. “Who the hell are you?” he snarled at Ryuu.

“He is your leader’s mate,” Svana said. “Show some
respect.”

“Mate?”
Healer Aster asked.
“A true mate?
A dragon?”

Ryuu nodded. “Yes.”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him back down to
Drakon’s side. “I love my brother,” she said urgently. “If you can heal his
dragon form, you will save his sanity.”

“How?”
Ryuu asked her.

“You must shift,
then
force
him to change as well. He’s too weak to shift by himself. Only you can do it.”
She hurriedly removed the med-tab, and backed away. “Move away!” She waved her
arms at her people.

“That makes no sense,” Ryuu protested, grabbing her
elbow. “He was dying. Shifting back to human was the only thing that saved
him.”

She shook her head and brushed off his grip. “Yes,
that’s true, but Aiyana won’t allow any of her creatures to suffer if they can
be saved. The moment he shifts back, the planet’s energy will heal him.” Her
gaze flicked to his still-raw skin. “And you, as well.”

“We’re not just dragon, we’re also human,” he said,
worried.

“Doesn’t matter.
Aiyana recognizes
her own
.”
She pushed at him.
“Hurry!”

Ryuu looked to his guards. “Get these people back.”

Svana frowned.

“I need to shift to my dragon form,” he told her.

Her eyes widened. “It’s true?”

“Your mother’s blood was of the dragons?”
Zinan asked, voice hushed.

“Yes. That’s how we survived the destruction of our
flitter.” He looked across the desert. Several klicks away, a few twisted metal
scraps were all that remained.

“Sire.”
Zinan put both fists to his chest. “Our lives are
yours.” Svana copied him, bowing even lower than before.

Ryuu bowed his head to them, acknowledging their
loyalty. “I need to try and heal Drakon.”

They backed away, grabbing Apep as they went. Lady
Delinda and the other Soutx had already moved off.

Ryuu turned to his mate, the love of his heart, and
bowed until their foreheads touched. “Change with me, Drakon,” he murmured,
reaching inside and touching the fire that burned in the center of his soul.
Unlike the first time, the change was easy. He still couldn’t believe he’d had
this buried inside him, and that he hadn’t known it for most of his life, but
he supposed it was just as well. His father would’ve experimented on him, most
likely, if he’d shifted when he was still under the emperor’s thumb and too
young to protect himself. He stoked the fire that was his dragon half,
then
blew it into a conflagration even as he reached for the
bond that linked him and Drakon tightly together.

He shifted. An explosion of energy threw him up and
back, and suddenly he was in dragon form. His silver wings flared out, painless
and balanced. His wounds were gone. He tugged harder on the bond, pulling
Drakon from his human skin. It felt like dragging a dead weight through the
sand. He roared and pulled harder, fighting the impossible drag. Abruptly, he
thought he heard someone cry out, and fire erupted all around them. He welcomed
the heat and threw back his head, roaring blue flame into the night sky. When
black scales flashed into existence, he roared again. Drakon stood before him
in all his glory, whole and strong.