Soul of the Dragon (11 page)

Tars snapped the briefcase shut and swung it off the desk. Mark followed him to the door. Annoying gnat of a man, Tars thought, then stopped, sighing and rubbing his forehead. Mark was loyal, intelligent, hardworking. It wasn’t fair to take his bad humor out on him. And he was right, after all. Tars Suinn had never done anything illegal.
 

He was feeling more and more, however, like Tarsuinn the Mage.
 

* * *
 

Alexa didn’t waste any time getting away from Dragonsoul Enterprises. She flagged the first cab she saw and directed it to the restaurant where she’d left her car. She ignored the driver’s off-key rendition of “Feel Like a Woman” and tried to catch her breath.
 

What the hell had happened up there? Cyrgyn was obviously correct about Tars keeping his magic. But the fireball should have knocked her off the ladder and ten feet into the air. It hadn’t touched her.
 

And where was Cyrgyn, anyway? She tilted her head against the window and looked up at the dark sky, knowing full well she wouldn’t be able to see him if he was up there. She hadn’t been looking for him during the altercation, but now that she thought about it, she wondered why her protector hadn’t swept down out of the sky and roasted the mage.
 

Just as well he hadn’t, she thought, paying the driver with her emergency twenty—she’d had no chance to grab her purse—and checking the Saturn automatically before she got into it. She’d learned something valuable on her own. Now if she could just figure out what…
 

The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. The GenCom phone, which she’d left in the car. She glanced over her shoulder, then merged onto the highway before setting the phone in the speaker cradle and hitting the receive button.
 

“Yeah.”
 

“Alexa.”
 

She recognized the voice, but he sounded strange. “Kurt? What’s wrong?”
 

“Marilee. She’s in labor.”
 

Alexa grinned. Excitement and fear. That was what she heard in the tough FBI agent’s voice.
 

“Great! What are you doing calling me?”
 

“She’s decided she wants you here. She thinks it’s bad luck if you’re not.”
 

Touched, Alexa didn’t know what to say. “Kurt, that’s ridiculous.”
 

“Hell, I know it is.” Now he sounded disgruntled and wary. “But honestly, Alexa, I’m not in a position to argue with her, you know?”
 

Alexa evaluated, changed lanes, and took an earlier off ramp that would take her to the main terminal of the airport. “When did labor start?”
 

“Just about an hour ago. We have plenty of time. We’re not at the hospital yet. But Marilee insisted I call you now.”
 

“How’s she doing?”
 

“Cheerful as a songbird until a contraction hits. Where are you?”
 

“St. Paul. I’ll catch the next flight I can. Tell Marilee I’ll be there but not to make the babies wait.”
 

“Thanks, Alexa.”
 

“No problem.” She clicked off and tried to figure out a way to let Cyrgyn know. She didn’t want to take the time to go to the hangar and maybe miss a flight. He wouldn’t be there, anyway. But he wouldn’t be able to check voice mail, even if he could figure out which phone she called.
 

She grabbed a ticket at the long-term parking lot and swung into the nearest space. Maybe she’d have time after buying a plane ticket to try to contact him.
 

No such luck. The next flight was soon enough she’d barely have time to get through security. The agent eyed her expectantly while she tried to make up her mind. She bit her lip, her commitments at odds with each other.
 

Frustrated, she screwed her eyes shut. If only she could communicate with the dragon telepathically.
Cyrgyn
! she yelled in her mind.
I’ve got to go to Washington. Emergency
.
 

Understood
.
 

Her eyes flew open and she whipped her head around. Nothing. The ticket agent still wore that patient, expectant expression. But Alexa was certain she’d heard Cyrgyn’s voice.
 

“I’ll take it,” she told the woman, handing her a credit card she’d had hidden in the car. She’d assume the message had been received and hope for the best. The quest would wait a few more days. Cyrgyn would be all right on his own—he had been for centuries, after all. And Tars could only benefit from cooling his heels.
 

Half an hour later she was buckled into her seat, the plane heading for the runway.
 

* * *
 

Cyrgyn circled the airport and tried to determine which plane Alexa was on. He’d heard her call just as he was landing at the hangar, and wondered what had happened to alter her course. The last he’d seen her, she was driving toward their hideaway.
 

The entire evening had been an exercise in frustration. He’d had no trouble keeping track of Alexa but could not get near her. He’d followed the limousine to Tarsuinn’s building and watched as they emerged onto the roof. He’d kept his distance, hovering or circling while they ate, fuming as they danced. Then Tarsuinn had flung Alexa from him. Cyrgyn had circled closer, diving when Alexa flew into the air. His anger had turned to rage when he realized he could not get close enough to assist her. Tarsuinn had cast some sort of spell of shielding over the building, and Cyrgyn was forced to watch impotently as Alexa clung to the ladder. As Tarsuinn threw his fireball.
 

As Alexa somehow deflected the blast.
 

She had never before demonstrated magical ability. Cyrgyn didn’t know if it was a new manifestation or if she had simply been too unaware to use it before. He didn’t care why it had remained dormant until now. He was too grateful for its appearance. Grateful, and afraid. Alexa was convinced enough of her invulnerability. Knowing she could control magic would make her act even more fearlessly, putting them both in greater danger.
 

A plane took off and banked east. Cyrgyn felt the tug and followed.
Alexa. Can you hear me
? His thoughts bounced back, a hollow echo clearly unheard by their target. He sighed and winged his way behind the plane.
 

* * *
 

Alexa wasn’t tired, but she knew Marilee’s labor could be long. Like a soldier, she’d
developed the ability to sleep whenever she had the opportunity. She dozed within minutes of takeoff.
 

Her dreams, however, didn’t cooperate so easily. Images from a past she didn’t remember interspersed with images of the present. Tarsuinn approached her in the forest, his hand held out in supplication. She froze, terrified, then turned and ran until she reached a thatch-roofed hut. Cyrgyn stood at her approach, glowering as she hid behind his foreleg. Tarsuinn stopped at the edge of the forest and just stood watching them, not moving even when Cyrgyn blew flame.
 

The scene shifted, and she was striding toward Tarsuinn’s tower, her sword drawn. Tarsuinn met her at the door, laughing at her. She followed him to the curving staircase and tried to attack him, but something held her back. The stone tower became the roof of Dragonsoul Enterprises, and she was soaring over the wall. This time she missed the ladder and fell. The ground flew toward her and she twisted. Now she was the last Alexa, the one who dragged Tarsuinn the mage over the tower with her. They were falling together. Tarsuinn’s ironic laughter echoed in her ears.
 

The dream, like a looped tape, put her back in the forest. This time when Tarsuinn approached, she waited. He held out a bunch of flowers, and she took it. Then his hand closed over hers. She nodded and he looked behind her. She heard Cyrgyn’s snort and turned. The golden dragon shimmered, dimmed, then shifted. A man stood there, a man with dark hair and golden eyes. Joy flooded Alexa and she dropped her flowers, tried to run to him, but Tarsuinn wouldn’t let go of her hand. He tugged her deeper into the forest. She pulled against him, but his hand tightened around her wrist. Panic filled her and she cried out. Tarsuinn’s pale eyes flashed. He opened his mouth, about to speak.
 

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are beginning our descent into Washington’s Dulles Airport.”
 

Alexa started. The fasten seatbelt sign in front of her flashed on as the captain informed them of the weather conditions and their arrival time.
 

She relaxed into her seat and gazed out the window.
Cyrgyn, where are you
?
 

I am ever near, my dear Alexa
.
 

She didn’t know if the comforting words in her mind were his or her own, but slowly her anxiety eased, the need to run, to fight, to cry, easing away.
 

She thought about the fading dream. Much of it, she knew, was memory, but the last bit couldn’t be. Cyrgyn would have said if Tarsuinn had ever turned him back into a man. If she had gone with the mage. Except he
had
said she’d married him in the last life. Why hadn’t Tarsuinn reversed the curse then? She didn’t think her deceit would have mattered, if he hadn’t been aware of it at first. Was it possible that he’d lied? That he really couldn’t reverse it? Were they fighting for nothing?
 

Alexa remembered the joy she’d felt when she saw Cyrgyn as a man. Her love for him lingered, making her long to see him.
 

For the first time, this quest felt personal.
 

* * *
 

Alexa called Kurt once she’d landed, and found him at the hospital. Marilee was five centimeters dilated and in the shower, trying to hurry things along. Her water had broken and the contractions were getting stronger. She relayed a message through Kurt: if Alexa didn’t get there before the babies did, she was no longer Marilee’s best friend. Kurt would move to the number one position as long as he promised never to touch Marilee again. Alexa rented a car and got to
the hospital in record time.
 

“Hello, mama!” She poked her head around the doorway of the labor room. Marilee scowled at her.
 

“If one more person calls me ‘mama,’ I will cut out their tongue with my fingernails.”
 

“Ah. You’re in transition.” Alexa came into the room and scoped the layout. A bed with a detachable base dominated, with a couple of machines next to it that, judging by the Velcro belts attached, were fetal and uterine monitors. An IV pole stood on the other side of the bed. The rest of the room looked like a regular bedroom, with flowered wallpaper and soothing prints, despite the blood pressure cuff and the sink and other paraphernalia scattered around.
 

“Finally,” Marilee breathed in agreement, sounding more like herself. “It’s hell, but at least I feel like something’s happening.”
 

“Any progression since I called?” Alexa sat in the chair next to the bed and watched her friend pace.
 

“I don’t know. I stayed in the shower until I turned pruny.” Marilee showed Alexa her wrinkled fingers. “But the doc hasn’t been in to check me again. I feel…oh, shit.” She crouched, panting, then leaned over the bed. “Press my back. Please.”
 

Alexa leapt up and ground the heel of her hand into the small of Marilee’s back while the other woman moaned. She felt the tension leave her friend as the contraction passed, and was glad she’d read up on this stuff after Marilee had asked her to be her second coach. She’d have been completely helpless otherwise.
 

“Are you having back labor?” Alexa asked her when she’d straightened.
 

Marilee shook her head. “The counterpressure helps, though.” Her focus shifted inward again. “Here comes another one.” This time she didn’t stop moving, crying out as she shifted from a crouch to pace, then to her hands and knees on the bed. “Find Kurt,” she panted. “He went to get me ice chips. I don’t need any ice chips. I need my fucking husband.”
 

“Be right back!” Alexa paused at the doorway. “Do you want me to get the nurse, too? Do you want anything for the pain?”
 

“No!” Marilee yelled. “Would people stop asking me if I want anything for the pain? I want these damn babies to be born, for Christ’s sake. I want my goddamn husband!”
 

Alexa ran out the door, Marilee’s curses following her as she searched for Kurt. She heaved a sigh of relief when he came around the corner holding a Styrofoam cup.
 

“Thank God.” She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the labor room. “She nearly bit my head off.”
 

“Nearly?” Kurt lifted the hand holding the cup. “She
did
bite me.”
 

Alexa gaped at the tooth marks on the side of his hand. “I can’t believe this is Marilee.”
 

“It’s not. It’s some kind of alien that takes over women giving birth. I heard the woman next door threatening to castrate her husband with the IV tube. She wanted to cut off the circulation so his balls would wither and drop off.”
 

Kurt stopped Alexa before she opened Marilee’s door. “Thanks, Lex, for coming so quickly. She really wanted you here.”
 

Alexa returned his hug. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
 

That wasn’t a line. She was relieved to have a break from the frustration of her quest. From the constant tug of war over control between her and Cyrgyn. Even if the respite was a different kind of battle.
 

They entered the room, and from that moment she had no room for thoughts of quests or dragons or anyone other than Marilee and the babies.