Love Charms (121 page)

More trumpets sounded and the drums beat
a faster, more staccato rhythm. “This is amazing,” Jacob said watching the
dragons flap their wings in unison. 

Vieranna gave a sad sigh. “This is the
last one.”

“The last joining?” I asked.

“Yes. There are no more left to join.”

“And no more excuses either,” Randall
said.

“What do you mean by that?” I looked from
Vieranna to Randall.

Randall started to answer, but Vieranna
held up a hand cutting him off. “He means, we can no longer treat our lack of
children as an isolated problem. If this last couple cannot make an egg, we
must accept that, if something isn’t done, we will die out.” She pulled her
necklace out again. “This was the first sign of hope we had that maybe we could
adjust to this climate, but it failed. In a thousand centuries, the first egg
failed. We do not have the time for our physiology to adjust. Our life spans
are long, but not long enough.”

“She’s right. They need a solution now or
they will become extinct.” Randall put a comforting hand on Vieranna’s shoulder
as she bowed her head, wiping a hand across her eyes.

“What about the Sidhe, surely they can
help?” I asked. There had to be something they could do.

Vieranna, her head still down answered,
“They can only offer magic and magic can’t command life outside of forcing the
occasional flower into blossom. Science, human science is our only hope.”

“Science is about to do its job,"
Randall said typing furiously on his laptop. “They’re taking off.”

We fell silent and, one by one, again
turned to look out to the field where the two dragons fanned their large wings,
preparing for flight. The crimson one took off first, followed by its mate and
they soared into the sky, flying in a long arc over the field.

Higher and higher they went, flying
shoulder to shoulder, their tails sometimes intertwining. When they were all
but specks in the sky, they began to blow fire. Red flame tinged with blue shot
through the night, a cross between fireworks and flamethrowers.

“That’s amazing. Like the fourth of
July,” I said, eyes wide with wonder.

“I know," Vieranna said. “Before
gunpowder, we provided fireworks for the Chinese New Year.” At my look of
surprise, she laughed. ”Why did you think dragons figured so prominently in
their New Year festival?”

“But I thought humans hunted dragons.”
From the way Wyllven had described it, humans were the mortal enemies of
dragons.

Vieranna frowned. “Yes and no. There were
moments in history where we worked together. The Chinese, in particular, seemed
to appreciate our talents. I even miss them sometimes. I had friends there
once.”

“Look, they’re all taking off now."
Jacob pointed to the field. We watched as the dragons soared, en masse into the
sky. They quickly rose above the tree line and spiraled higher and higher
until, they too were specks in the sky. In unison, they blew fire, lining up
until each flame joined the one before it, making one continuous line of orange
in the sky.

I had never seen anything like it and I
couldn’t keep from gasping in awe as the dragons went through a series of
formations, like flaming sky-diving teams. A kaleidoscope of fire burned above
me, taking the form of pinwheels, spirals, and other geometric shapes. Every
few seconds, a new pattern of flame glowed hot against the dark night.

The dragons flew for maybe an hour and
then drifted, almost gently considering their bulk, to the ground. They
transformed back to their human form, the air shimmering with the magic of
their shape change, and donned their discarded robes. I began to see the
attraction of the muumuu robes, they were easy on, easy off.

Moments later, Zyllven joined us, the
smile on his face revealing overly large canine teeth. In his hands, he carried
the cylinders Randall had given him, which he put on the chair next to the
scientist. “How long do you need?”

Eyes on the computer screen, Randall
reached for a cylinder, and pried it open, removing some small electronic bits.
I didn't know much about computers, but they looked like computer processor
chips. “I should have everything ready tomorrow.”

Zyllven clapped him on the back.
“Excellent. Come and see me as soon as you’re done.” Turning to us he said,
“What did you think of the joining?”

“It was beautiful,” I said.

“Amazing," Jacob added.

“I thought you would enjoy it. Now that
the festivities are over, we should be getting back to the castle.” Zyllven
held out a hand, “Vieranna, my love, are you ready?”

“Yes, of course.” She slipped her arm
through his with a demure smile.

"Wait, isn't there some kind of
party? A wedding reception?" I asked. I needed to meet more dragons, find
a way to touch them in order to continue my investigation.

"No. Not tonight. Tomorrow there
will be a banquet at the castle," Zyllven said. "Joinings usually
last a couple days. Right now, it's late and time to sleep."

Looking back to the field, I could see it
was quickly becoming empty as dragons made their way back to the city. Dragons
may be large, but they sure disappeared fast. My expectations had been too high
for the joining. I sighed. At this rate, it might take weeks to figure out who
was involved with the theft outside of Zyllven.

But maybe that was the point. Maybe
Zyllven wasn't as naive as I'd thought he was. He knew how my abilities worked,
through touch, and had appeared to facilitate my investigation. But had he
really? Or was he manipulating me, obstructing my access to his cronies and
trying to woo me with pity, using his own wife as a pawn? Perhaps it was time
to consider another approach.

I mulled it over as we followed Zyllven
and Vieranna back to the castle. When Zyllven made to drop of us at our rooms,
I laid a hand on his arm, leaning in close to whisper, “I need to speak with
you.”

“Of course. Go right ahead.”

I looked at Vieranna and shook my head.
“Alone.”

“All right,” He gave me a calculating
look and released Vieranna with a pat on the hand. “Why don’t you go on to our
suite, dear? I have some business to conduct with Sofia.”

“It was lovely to meet you both.” She
extended her hand to me and then Jacob before continuing down the hall.

Zyllven opened the door to my room. “Why
don’t we do this in your room instead of out here in the hall?”

“Fine by me.” I brushed past him to enter
the room. A fire had been lit while we were gone, bathing the stone room in a
warm, honey glow.

Jacob followed making a brief detour to
drag a foot stool over to the fire so there were enough seats for the three of
us. I sat in the rocking chair while Zyllven took the arm chair across from me.

Zyllven leaned back and crossed his arms.
“What is it, Miss Parker?”

“I know you have the gold.” I held my
breath and watched his reaction.

Aside from a narrowing of his eyes,
Zyllven didn’t even flinch. “What do you want? A cut of the gold?”

I tried to mask the horror his suggestion
raised. Stolen Sidhe gold could be a death sentence for a human. “No, thanks.”

“Then what?”

“I want to know why. What do you think
you’re doing?”

“Saving my people.”

“So it’s about having kids then?”

“No. It’s not just about having a family.
I’m trying to save our species.”

“And the only way to do that is to steal
the Sidhe’s gold and break the Safe Harbor Treaty?” I raised a skeptical
eyebrow at Zyllven. “I hate to tell you this, but the human world has changed
since you left, there isn’t as much space for dragons to live.”

“Sacrifices will have to be made.” The
way he snapped the words, I didn't get the feeling the dragons planned on
making all that many sacrifices.

Jacob cleared his throat and said, “Have
you tried to negotiate with the Interspecies Commission? I’m sure they could
make some accommodation for your special circumstances.”

“They’ve denied our petition.”

Jacob rubbed his chin. “Have you filed an
appeal?”

Zyllven nodded. “Yes, but they’ve ignored
the motions we’ve filed. Your governments have made it quite clear we are not
welcome. My father's diplomatic patience with you humans has accomplished
nothing.”

“So you’ve taken matters into your own
hands.” I shook my head in disbelief.

A knock at the door interrupted us and
Jacob went to answer it. Jocyllen pushed his way into the room, glaring at
Jacob and then me as he went to Zyllven’s side. “My liege, is everything all
right? Princess Vieranna said you had stayed behind.”

“Yes, thank you, Jocyllen. We were just
discussing the Sidhe’s gold.” The two dragons exchanged glances and Jocyllen
leaned down to whisper in Zyllven’s ear. Whatever he said, Zyllven wasn’t
interested. “No, that won’t be necessary.” He held up his hand when Jocyllen
made to protest. “I said no. You are my guard, not my advisor”

Jocyllen snapped to attention and moved
to stand behind Zyllven without another word. The look he shot me spoke volumes
though. Remembering the Eros goblin, I met his gaze, matching his intensity
with my own until he looked away.

Zyllven gave a nervous laugh. “You’ll
have to excuse Jocyllen, he takes his duties very seriously.”

“So do I,” I said, not amused.

“Yes, I see. So when will you tell my
father?”

“Wait a minute," Jacob said.
“There’s something I don’t understand, why the urgency? You dragons live for a
very long time. What is so important about breaking the Safe Harbor Treaty now?
I don’t get it.”

Zyllven steepled his long fingers.
“Dragons may live for a very long time Mr. Sanders, but there is a time limit
on our fertility. One that many of us are reaching.” He held his hands out to
us, pleading. “All we want to do is have families and preserve the dragon
species.”

“Stealing Sidhe gold is not the way,” I
said with a stern look at the prince.

“Human governments forbid us to enter
your world so long as the Sidhe let us stay in Fairy. Stealing the gold forces
the situation into a full blown diplomatic crisis that politicians can’t
ignore. Unlike our appeals. Can you think of a better solution?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Jacob
beat me to it with an affirmative, “Yes. I’m a lawyer and this is a legal
issue. I have some contacts that might be of some help.”

“Interesting.” Zyllven leaned forward in
his seat, his eyes gleaming. “And these contacts, are they people of power?”

“Yes. If you give back the Sidhe gold, I
will use my contacts to put your motion in front of the Interspecies
Commission. I can promise you the ear of the commissioner.”

“You can guarantee this?”

Jacob thought for a moment and then said,
“Yes, I can.”

I raised my eyebrows, surprised at
Jacob’s connections. “You can?”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah, I really can.”

I blinked. “Well, that’s a coincidence.”
Who would’ve thought his brother’s death would have let to such serendipity?
Some might call it fate, but I wasn’t superstitious enough to believe life was
predestined. It was luck. Strange, but good luck.

Jacob just shrugged. To Zyllven, he said,
“Well? What do you think?”

Zyllven rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I
will consider it.”

“Don’t consider too long, I have an
obligation to your father and I mean to honor it," I said. “Jacob is
giving you a way out. I would take it if I were you.”

“Yes, of course, but I have... partners.
People who must be consulted.” Zyllven sat back in his chair, folding his arms
across his chest. “I may be a Prince, but I am not alone in this. I need some
time to convince the others this is a good idea.”

“I can’t wait long. Talk to whoever you
need to talk to and do it fast.” I held his gaze, my eyes steady.

Zyllven looked over his shoulder at
Jocyllen who gave a slight nod. “Can you give me until tomorrow?”

I narrowed my eyes at the exchange
between the two dragons. Since when did underlings call the shots? I wished my
abilities extended to reading people without touching them, because I would’ve
loved to have known what thoughts hid in the tall, angular dragon’s mind. I bet
there was more to him than just robbing gold. His pinched face had a malice to
it that made me uncomfortable, like I wanted to keep my back against the wall.
Still, I nodded accepting Zyllven’s timeline. If I could get the gold back to
the Sidhe and let Wyllven sort things out behind-the-scenes with his son while
Jacob worked his contacts, the situation would be a win-win all around. “Fine.”

Zyllven offered me his hand and we shook.
Once again, just that momentary touch told me everything I needed to know. He
had no plans to honor our agreement. I could feel the betrayal emanating from
him in waves. He also still believed the blank wall he had fixed in his mind
was enough to keep me out, not realizing his own thoughts had broadcasted his
theft. Zyllven had no idea he was the weak link and thought Jocyllen had given
the theft away.  I managed to hide my frown as we exchanged pleasant wishes for
a good evening with him, but once the door closed, I let my guard down. “Damn.”
I smacked the rough stone wall with an open hand welcoming the sting. It
matched my temper.