Dragon's Heart (15 page)

 
    
Ask!

    
NO.

    
She died helping me open the portal that
would send me back to you. Knowing it meant her death.

    
NO... NO...!
Maya threw
back her head and roared. All within the castle felt her pain, anger, and
remorse.

Maya’s
eyes flamed and her form shimmered and grew until it rose above him. For a
moment, Draakar caught a glimpse of a bronze dragon with golden scales. As
quickly as it started, the shimmering stopped. The form receded and a heavily
breathing Maya bowed her head, this time in reluctant acceptance.

He
understood how she felt like her very being was rent asunder. The hurt and
betrayal surrounding her heart and soul like a solid block of ice cracked. The
sound could be heard in the silence engulfing them both. They seemed to be poised
on a precipice and only one way to freedom lay before them, a leap right over
the edge.

A
leap he also understood Maya might never be ready to take.

Draakar
closed the distance between them, slowly raising his hand until it touched the
side of her face. She didn’t kill him or even burn his hand as she lifted her
head to stare at him with a fiery gaze. He took that as a good sign.

As
he lowered his head toward her, she broke from his hold and disappeared,
transporting herself behind the closed door of her room.
 

The
late arrival at the Sperrin Inn stepped out of the hired car he had just
arrived in and looked toward the northeastern end of the mountain. A brush of
power carried on the wind came from that direction. Hazel eyes set in a
handsome face widened in surprise. Silver lightning flashed within their
depths.

S
hocked, Maya glanced around, unsure how she had done
it other than having an overwhelming desire to escape and being not at all
afraid of using her magicks. Her blood still hummed with the residue of power.

I’m sorry, Dark One. I’m sorry,
truly I am, but I…I need more time. I can’t do this. Not now. Maybe not ever.
Perhaps when the threat to Earth is over you and I can have a conversation and
come up with another option for the brethren.

Conversation is not what we both
need. There are no other options for us. Somehow, I will give you more time. It
cannot be much. We may not be able to wait until after the betrayer is stopped.

Feeling
on somewhat surer ground, Maya opened her closed door to find Draakar leaning
against the doorframe. It probably seemed cowardly for her to ‘talk’ to him
from behind the door. It appeared cowardly to run, but a coward she wasn’t. “I
won’t need much time,” she said. “Let’s focus on what has to be done right now.
I’ll be back down in a little while. Will we meet in the library?”

“I
think poolside. The others have discovered the tennis courts and pool and are
on their way down there.”

     
“Shouldn’t we
be concentrating on finding this betrayer?”

     
Draakar raised
his hand as though to touch her, but then seemed to think better of doing that
and instead crossed his arms over his chest. “We are. As I said, time is of
importance. I must find him. The longer he’s loose the more of a danger he becomes,
especially if he finds any awakened brethren. They will be the first he goes
after. I must make sure you few are trained in the use of your powers, so some
of you can train others. The pool and the tennis courts are to help with your
training.”

  
   
She surprised herself because not only did she
not step back, but she wondered what his caress would have felt like. She
mentally shook herself to get back on track, and not her emotional confusion
when it came to him. “How?

  
“You all already know how to
create things out of the magicks flowing through Mother Earth. Now you need to
harness the power of manipulation.”

     
“Isn’t that the
same thing?” Maya asked.

     
“Not at all.
One is the creation of something out of what is apparently nothing. The other
is the use of matter already there bent to your will. As with all things, some
will be better at it than others. A few, no matter how much they practice, will
never go much further than what they will accomplish in a couple of days. You
will not be among that number. Go ahead and change then come down.”

Maya
didn’t think she would be in the later group either. She was tired of having
her guard up against the man before her all the time. She needed to act normal
around him, as normal as they could be. “Too bad I didn’t bring a swimsuit,”
she said, staying away from further confrontation about their relationship.
“Oh, well I’ll play tennis then.”

“You
don’t need a suit,” Draakar said with a grin. His breathing softened, and she
could feel him relaxing. He made an effort to put her more at ease. He didn’t
try to kiss her again. On the one hand she was thankful but another part of
her…well, it wasn’t so sure.
 

     
“I’m not skinny
dip— Oh, yeah I can create one.”

     
“No need. There
is one waiting for you on the bed. Go ahead and change. When you are ready,
come down.” His eyes drifted to her lips and his voice lowered an octave. He
leaned in close enough for her to feel his warm breath against her face, but
didn’t touch her. Then he whispered, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

     
A promise, at
least she took it as one. Silently, she thanked him for not pushing her
further. If he had kissed her like she knew he wanted to, any choice she might
have had about accepting him completely into her life or not would be gone. She
hadn’t been lying to him; she needed time to think about it all. Time to come
to terms with the fact he had loved another woman…dragon…whatever!

     
Yet he was
right. She could not hate the other woman. Besides, why should what he did matter
to her? He didn’t love her and she didn’t love him. Oh, he wanted her. The
attraction between them had pulsed with energy from the first time they laid
eyes on each other, but she could be nothing more than a necessity to him. A
way to save his race. Somewhere inside she knew this last thought to be a lie
based on self-preservation.
 

Draakar
had loved another and had placed his needs and the needs of the brethren before
her own. Even though it seemed selfish, Maya needed to be the one who meant
more to him than anything or anyone else.
I
too have paid a price with the pain of each of my rebirths, with the agony of
coming into this world time after time only to be alone, always alone. I have
more than earned the right not to settle for anything less from my Dark Dragon
Lord.

The
thought came after he turned aside to move down the hallway. Maya quickly
closed the door of her sitting room, knowing he probably heard it. She sensed
him briefly pause but then he continued, away from her suite. Maya breathed a sigh
of relief.

In
the bedroom, on the bed rested the most beautiful gold-colored two-piece bikini
Maya had ever seen. The embroidered tiny golden sequins around the edges, while
beautiful, made it completely impractical to swim in. She walked over to the bed
and picked it up. The front portion of the bottom barely covered her hand.

“I
don’t think so,” she said to the empty room.

Why not
? Draakar asked in her head.

Maya
didn’t bother replying. She just focused on the material until it expanded
enough to her satisfaction. She also added a long sarong and slipped her feet
into the matching sequined slippers she spied at the foot of the bed.
 

Glancing
beyond the bay window she noticed the trees swaying in the distance. The
weather for the week had been in the mid to high 50 degrees, but she’d bet a
month’s salary the area around the pool would feel like they were in the
Caribbean. If it didn’t, she could make it feel that way around her body. Her
dragon gift. Exhilaration and sadness competed inside her body as she embraced
her brethren heritage, knowing she’d never be simply human again.

At
the far end of one of the tennis courts, Maya stood with her hands hanging
loosely at her sides and her sandaled-feet planted firmly on the ground. No
breeze ruffled the curly hair framing her face. The slit on the side of her
bronze sarong allowed for the showcasing of one long, sleek beautiful leg. Her
eyes concentrated on the ball on the ground in front of her.

Without
a racket in sight and without moving a muscle, she raised the ball off the
ground and sent it flying across the net at a speed tennis stars would envy.
Since Maya began playing an hour earlier, no one had been able to return her
serves…until now.

The
ball travelled right back over the net directly at her head, with the velocity
of a heat-seeking missile. She had just enough time to duck. “No fair!” she
yelled.

“Concentrate,”
Draakar said. “Why did you duck?”

     
“Oh I don’t
know,” Maya replied sarcastically. “Just the natural reaction to anything that could
either maim or bury me!”
 

     
The onlookers
standing on the side of the tennis court laughed. Draakar faced Maya on the
other side of the net grinning. While some people were dressed appropriately
for the pool or to play tennis, Draakar, with his hair hanging loosely down his
back, still wore his signature look: black silk shirt, jeans and snakeskin
cowboy boots. Not surprisingly, he did not look at all out of place. Then again
neither did Maya, wrapped in her sarong.
 
Draakar looked comfortable no matter where he was or what he wore.

With
a predatory smile showing all teeth, he said, “Again, and this time don’t duck.
This is about manipulating matter. Concentrate.”

“All
right already.”

Again,
Maya slowly levitated the ball, stopping it once it reached the front of her
face. With a mental push she served it even faster than before, back across the
net to Draakar. This time she mentally prepared for his return serve. When he
sent the ball at rocket pace across the net, she sent it right back at him, and
the game was on. The entire game played out without the opponents moving. There
were no tennis rackets, and no one physically touched the ball. Yet the ball
remained the only thing in motion. No one had ever seen a weirder game of
tennis.

     
Unfortunately,
the back and forth only lasted for a few minutes before Draakar upped the ante.
“Good, Maya,” he said. “Very good. It is a start. What would you do if I did
this, I wonder?”

     
The ball came
toward Maya, traveling so fast it became engulfed in flame before it crossed
the net. Maya couldn’t wrap her energy around it fast enough to send it back
across the net. She had less than a micron to react, and react she did.
 

Going
purely on instinct, she constructed a wall—a glowing, translucent,
golden, paper-thin shield. It stood as tall as she and was wide enough to
protect her. It appeared in front of her just in time. The enflamed ball hit,
barely creating a ripple in her golden shield. On impact, the ball made a
popping sound and turning to ashes, fell to the ground.

Bravo!

“Wow!”
came from the lips of more than one of the brethren by-standers.

“Bloody
hell!” Richard exclaimed. “Can we do that, too?”

     
“At that
speed?” Draakar raised one eyebrow. “Eventually, but you can create shields
now.” He walked over to the sidelines to talk to those who had gathered to
watch. “Our shields are what protect all brethren from harm. It is a natural
form of protection for us. Maya reacted by instinct and raised hers. She used
it as a wall but it can also be raised to encompass our entire bodies.” He
demonstrated by encasing himself within a translucent emerald shield. It
shimmered a few inches around and away from his body. “In a time gone by,
brethren entered battle thus encased and nothing created by humans could
penetrate the shield, or so we thought.”

     
“How did the
betrayer breach the shield?” Maya asked, coming over to stand beside him.
Drawing the information from her ancestral memories, she knew the betrayer had
found a way for humans to breach the shield.

     
“At one point,
the magicks of Earth were weakened, as well as the inner magicks of the
brethren. We became vulnerable; the shields were no longer effective against
all weapons. The betrayer discovered silver-tipped spears could penetrate our
shields.”

     
“Just spears?”
James asked.

     
“That’s all
that was used. Arrows weren’t large enough to hold the weight of the silver
required to down us in dragon form. No human could ever get close enough to us
to use a sword or a knife. We were still faster and stronger. Normally there
would be no contest. However a spear could be thrown from a distance. While we
could fight off a few men with silver spears, we could not fight off many
spears, or even one spear in the back. If even one breached the shield and
pierced our skin, it meant instant death.”

  
“Is this the secret the betrayer
passed along to help mankind destroy the brethren?” Ian asked.

     
“Yes. And he
led many raids against the more powerful of us. While he held off anyone who
could help or acted as a distraction, his men were able to surround the more
powerful brethren and take them down. Then they went after the lesser
brethren.”

     
“Does silver
still have this same effect on brethren?” Maya inquired.

     
Draakar
frowned. “I don’t know.”

    
“Well, let’s see.”
Maya walked over to Cass who wore a shiny bracelet with ends shaped like
arrowheads. “Cass, is that bracelet made of silver?”

     
Cass looked
down at the bracelet on her arm then back up at Maya. “Yes, my Lady, sterling
silver.”

     
“I wear silver
too. How come we can wear silver if it’s dangerous to us?”

     
“I never said
it couldn’t be worn. Only that in the past it was used to penetrate our
shields. But what we used in the past would have been a purer form of silver.”
 

    
“Well, sterling
silver is still mostly silver so let’s see if it’s still a weakness.” Maya
enwrapped herself in her shield. “Cass, take the bracelet off and straighten
it. See if your bracelet can get past my shield.”

     
“Wait,” Draakar
said, walking over to Cass. “Give the bracelet to Maya. She can see if it would
penetrate my shield.”

     
“No, Draakar,”
Maya argued. “I think we will have to test it on all of us. I don’t think we
can take any chances with this. Just because silver may or may not have any
effect on you doesn’t mean it would have the same lack of effect on the rest of
us. We should all be tested.”

     
Draakar stared
at Maya for a moment.
Very well, My Lady,
but I will go first.

     
Maya dropped her shield and
took the bracelet away from Cass, who couldn’t hand it over fast enough and
stepped back.

    
“I will change the
composition to a purer silver,” Draakar said.

    
Are you sure about this, Dark One?
Maya asked as the bracelet in
her hand glowed and changed to a more brilliant silver sheen.

    
Why? Is that the sound of worry in your
voice? Concern perhaps, for me?

    
Maya didn’t bother to respond, she
stepped nearer to him. She thrust the bracelet slowly toward Draakar and
encountered a barrier pressing against it until it bent the tip of the
bracelet.

     
“I guess that
means your shield works,” Maya said.

     
“Your turn,”
Draakar said, dropping his shield and enclosing both the bracelet and Maya’s
hand in his own.
 

     
She couldn’t
have moved if she wanted to. The heat generating between them consumed her. Six
pair of eyes watched as a soft golden glow emanated from around their joined
hands before gradually expanding until it completely encompassed their Lord and
Lady. The separate male-female forms within expanded and elongated, seeming to
shine and shimmer before flaming into a very real Dark Dragon Lord and his
golden bronze companion. His great wings unfurled from his sides, expanded,
then folded to enclose the smaller bright form standing before him. A uniform
gasp echoed across the court.

     
A stunned Maya
raised golden eyes to stare into blazing emeralds.
What are you doing?

    
You know.

    
What have you done! I asked for more time!

    
I am giving it to you, but this bond
between us has been formed before time began and it will not be denied. I
called to you and you came. You need to see for yourself all of what I am, what
you are, and what we can be together.
 
I do not require your pledge now, but before all and Mother Earth on
this world of both our births, I give these pledges to you now. My life is
yours. My soul is yours. Ever they are intertwined with yours. These pledges I
made to no other because my soul has always belonged to you. I eagerly and
gladly await the time I can complete the rest of the bonding ritual.

    
The others listened
as their lord made his pledge to his lady. They watched in awe the powerful and
beautiful creatures of legend standing before them. A moment framed in time
they would never forget. Though none who observed the two consciously realized
it, each watcher decided they too would bond only with their own
truemates.
 

However,
one amongst them carried a heavy heart. She suspected what they shared would be
forever out of her reach.
 

The
magicks surrounding the pair caused the hair on the bodies of the other
brethren to rise as it reached out and included them. They actually saw the
links their Lord and Lady forged, binding one to the other. The bonds formed
very visible tendrils of power. It looked like thin black, gold, and bronze
intertwined threads pulsing as if alive. These tendrils reached out to connect
each of their chosen protectors to them. One by one each human brethren pledged
his or her life to the Dark Dragon Lord and his lady of golden bronze.
 

     
Maya and
Draakar returned to their human forms and the glow surrounding them dimmed then
disappeared. He released Maya’s hand, retaining the bracelet in his. From the
first time she’d lay eyes on Draakar, she’d been very aware of him. In the
grand scheme of things, that meant nothing. She had no idea of just how much
more aware she could be. Each time his heart beat she could feel the
contraction of the muscle as if it were her own. For every breath he took, the
air might as well have entered her lungs.

The
bond created a new awareness of Draakar on a level she had no experience with,
and little control over. Most of all, she could feel his intense pleasure with
her. If she probed a little more she could feel…no, she wouldn’t go there. For
her, his thoughts were only covered by a sheer curtain. One she could move
aside at will to venture within. He had no secrets from her should she choose
to look. Neither did she, but he would never touch the curtain in her mind
without her permission. Not yet. Nor could she bring herself to accept his
invitation to bare his.

She
raised her shield. Draakar barely touched it with the bracelet before he could
move the bracelet no more. Neither said a word. Maya merely stepped back as he
turned to his brethren. One at a time he had them attempt to raise their
shields. They were all able to do so. Some needed a little push, but it could
be done. Though none of them could change into dragon form, the silver bracelet
could not breach any of their shields.

After
the last one tested his shield, the brethren moved off; some went back to
practicing control on the tennis courts, while others wandered over to the
pool. Maya and Draakar continued to stand apart from their Firsts, staring at
each other, caught in a warp of emotions. Suddenly, they turned sharply to look
in the direction of the village even though they couldn’t see it from the
mountain.