Twiceborn (34 page)

“Go ahead,” said a new voice. “He means nothing to me.”

I whirled around. Alicia! She strode in, flanked by half a dozen willowy leshies, and all hell broke loose.

“No!” I screamed, but no one heard as chaos erupted.

In an instant the leshies banded together and had the courtyard shaking as if the end of the world had come. The portico bucked wildly and Valeria staggered. She dragged Lachie back from the edge, screaming orders at her remaining goblins, who opened fire on the leshies. But with the ground heaving beneath their feet, their shots went wide.

I staggered too, dizzy with pain and loss of blood. My arm ran red, and blood dripped from my fingers to the ground. Jason seized the chance to come at me again, and I barely dodged a swipe from those massive claws.

“Don’t you care that that bitch is threatening to kill your son?” I screamed at him.

“That bitch is my queen,” he said, panting, “and Leandra’s head on a stick is the only way I can prove myself to her. If you’d just shut up and die I’d be up there with him.”

He lunged, and this time I felt his claws rip through my breast. I fell back. God, the pain. I’d never felt anything like it. My chest burned with the fire of a thousand suns. I lay on my back trying to find the strength to get to my feet while the stars swam above me.

“Kate!” yelled Ben.

His voice sounded far away. I blinked, trying to clear my fogging vision.
The stone. Take the stone
. I suppose it was too much to hope the police might join the party, with all this gunfire. But the neighbours probably thought it was fireworks.

My hand inched toward my back pocket. It was the only thing that still worked—my legs refused to obey instructions. All I could do was watch as those claws slashed at me again.

Ben slammed into Jason at the last minute, knocking the killing blow aside, and they fell out of my vision. I heard snarling, which probably meant Garth had joined the fight. It seemed unimportant now. I lay there, gravel digging into my back, vision shrunk to a dark blur, and focused on my hand, forcing it to close around the channel stone. No other options. Leandra was Lachie’s only chance.

Whatever it took. Lachie was all that mattered. My trembling arm inched its way up my body.

I’d tried, but even with enhanced strength and senses, I was still human. And human wasn’t good enough to save Lachie. I’d give anything for him—everything I had left. The
only
thing I had left.

If Kate couldn’t save him, then Kate was of no use. I needed Leandra now.

Working on instinct—mine or hers, I don’t know—I pressed the stone into the gaping wound at my breast. Indescribable pain assaulted every nerve end, and my vision darkened ominously. Dammit, I couldn’t afford to black out. I lay panting, the noise of the battle roaring around me, and felt the black stone burrow deeper into my flesh, like some hideous monster tick. There are some things no one should ever have to go through. My heart stuttered with agony and horror, and the world reeled away into darkness.

Barely moments had passed when I regained my senses. I could still hear Garth snarling, and the sounds of others fighting around me. Everything still hurt, but I could move again.

I clambered shakily to my feet. The biggest slash across my breast, the one the human had pushed the channel stone into, had stopped bleeding. Already it had begun to close up. I rolled my shoulder experimentally and found the pain much lessened. Excellent.

I turned and found Garth standing over the body of an unconscious human, growling at Jason. The traitor had his back to me. I landed such a kick on him it shattered his kneecap and slammed him into the brick wall ten feet away. Most satisfying. But it wouldn’t stop him for long, so I looked around for a more serious weapon.

“Ben’s hurt!” yelled Luce, coming to crouch beside the body Garth defended. I left her to deal with it. I’d spotted a long knife lying on the gravel, its blade bloody. Must have been Garth’s. Werewolves loved knives. They were like extra-long claws. Left to choose for themselves, werewolves rarely carried guns; knives were the weapon of preference, at least until they decided trueshape was an even better option.

Feeling more myself with every passing moment, I snagged the knife then staggered as another tremor shook the courtyard. Two leshies had taken tree shape. They tore at the house with twiggy fingers, pulling great chunks of brickwork apart. The portico teetered on the edge of collapse.

Valeria screamed her defiance and shimmered into trueshape. The portico creaked alarmingly under the dragon’s weight. The tree leshies flinched back and the ones on the ground scattered like a kicked ants’ nest. They’d already experienced dragonfire, and they knew what was coming. Alicia’s face was a study in horror and outrage. Valeria was pushing it now. Bad enough to take trueshape out in the bush, but in the heart of Sydney? The queen would not be impressed by this flagrant breach of the rules. Even if, as I suspected, Valeria was her favourite daughter.

The ground heaved as if another dragon stirred beneath it, the leshies uniting to throw up an earth wall as protection. Their activities were too much for the tottering portico. With a dragon above and juddering foundations below, it gave up the struggle and subsided in a thunder of falling masonry. I caught a glimpse of a little boy tumbling amid the dust and debris, and then Valeria launched herself with a thunderous clap of her wings and snatched him out of the air.

Something inside me clicked at the sight of that small body dangling helpless from her massive claws. The pandemonium in the courtyard faded to nothing and my world narrowed to that one child. That one beautiful, beloved child. I had never known such love was possible. Had any dragon? I forgot the leshies and their earthworks, Jason and Alicia, Garth and Luce. Friends and enemies alike, none of it mattered compared to the rage that streaked through me like wildfire. That was
my child
. She’d taken my baby and I’d move heaven and earth to get him back.

I felt a tugging sensation inside, familiar but unexpected. Was it still possible? I reached for union and felt a rush of welcome, of homecoming. Cries of delight and terror filled the air as the courtyard shrank around me.

My head level with the roof, I realised the courtyard hadn’t changed. I had grown. I could see little Luce and Garth, now a naked man, jumping up and down and hugging each other as they shouted to me. I ignored them. Jason lay on the ruptured earth, dead or unconscious, and I lifted one great foot, momentarily distracted by the temptation to make sure of it.

Then I remembered my purpose and spread my wings instead, delighting in the strength I’d thought lost forever. I leapt skyward, feeling the familiar rush of freedom as I caught the wind.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Trueshape!

I trumpeted my joy to the sky. The stars wheeled above me as I beat upward, filled with renewed vigour. I had never thought to experience the joy of trueshape again.

Valeria climbed just ahead. She craned her long neck round, saw me on her tail and hissed her displeasure. She soared out over the harbour and I followed, gaining rapidly, delighting in the feel of the air rushing under my wings. Perhaps she wasn’t really trying to outpace me.

She landed on the very apex of the Harbour Bridge, above the symbol the humans had lit for their celebration. It was a stylised dove, with a sprig of olive in its mouth, emblem of peace. Now a bird of a very different kind perched above it, her armoured tail lashing across the dove’s face.

I circled in and landed some distance along from her, feeling a vibration in the steel beneath my claws as it took my weight.

“So you fly, too, abomination?” she snarled, her voice a deep rumble in her chest. “You are tainted with humanity, fit for nothing but death.”

Lachie stirred, still clutched in her claws, and opened his eyes. He saw me and those eyes widened in terror, and he began to scream and struggle.

“Silence!” she hissed, and he burst into noisy tears.

She laid one wicked claw against his throat. “Such a tough decision. Should I cut his throat or just … discard him?”

Quick as thought, she flung him, and he cartwheeled screaming through the sky. I leapt after him and she lunged, trying to snag my wingtip with her teeth and bring me crashing into the bridge. But her jaws snapped on air as I hurtled after the falling child.

I caught him before he hit the water, cradling him in my claws as I pulled out of the dive and beat away. Above, Valeria stooped from the bridge and plummeted toward me. She had the advantage of height and speed, whereas I was desperate to protect the sobbing form in my claws. I couldn’t fight; I could only hope to dodge her. Not a winning strategy.

I changed course abruptly and ducked under the bridge just as she would have seized me. I shot out the other side and pivoted in mid-air, dropping my precious bundle on the deck of the bridge, then darted away again. It was a risk, but I thought I knew Valeria well enough, and my hunch paid off. With her blood up, she wanted to sink her claws into me, feel my flesh rip and tear, and toying with Lachie couldn’t provide the same satisfaction.

She surged after me, while I ducked and weaved, the nightlights of the city wheeling dizzily around us. I led her up and around the bridge, using its great steel network of girders as a shield, and she bellowed her frustration.

“Stay still and fight!” she roared, but I was no fool. She was bigger and older than me, and I had more to lose. I needed to find an advantage, and fast.

She banked over the arch of the bridge again, almost catching me. Her tail swiped the top of the dove as she passed and knocked it loose. It dangled drunkenly, its peace offering pointing straight down at the water far below.

Many pleasure craft still floated on the harbour. White flashes of light winked from them as their passengers tried to photograph the aerial display. Did they think we were part of the fireworks? The fools should be fleeing for their lives.

I skimmed low over the water, hoping the usual draconian dislike of cold water would keep her at a distance, but she dived on me. Her wings beat in my face as her hind feet clawed for my belly. She didn’t bother turning her fire on me: in dragon form we were immune to it, and so the battle must be fought in more primitive style, with tooth and claw. I twisted away, barely avoiding them. I needed a miracle.

Something to give me an edge. Something like Jason in his human form with those wicked dragon claws like scythes. But he was old and skilled.

I doubled back and beat upward, trying to get above my rival. Wasn’t I skilled too? I’d experimented with form more than any other dragon I knew. I’d shrunk myself down to save Luce and destroyed a full company of goblins. And of course I’d saved myself with the ultimate throw of the dice when I’d transferred to a human body. No one had ever attempted that before.

I dropped down toward the waves again, tasting their salt in the air. Time for one last gamble. I let my tail dangle in the water to hide what I was doing, leaving a plume of spray behind me. Then I focused my will on what I wanted, reforming and shaping.

Valeria dropped like a stone, ready to pound me into the sea. As her claws reached for me I flicked my tail up again. It was shorter now, but the spike on its end was the length of a man and wickedly curved.

I whipped it up and plunged it into Valeria’s exposed breast, skewering her through the heart. Obliterating that vital organ completely.

Smacking into the water felt like hitting concrete, and our entwined bodies plunged deep. Cold water filled my nostrils. I could see nothing in the black depths. Panicked, I struggled to free myself from Valeria’s entangling weight. Which way was up? I followed the stream of bubbles and limped for the surface, breaking through with a great gasping relief. Dragons were not meant for swimming.

The water around me roiled with the waves of our impact. The air rang with shouts and screams from the distant boats, but none dared approach. I waited, bobbing on the water like a vast ugly duckling, until a still blonde figure broke the surface. Valeria. Definitely dead.

Taking off from the water proved impossible, though I flailed around in a brave attempt. Eventually I gave in and paddled to shore at the base of the bridge’s northern end, coming up into a park at Milson’s Point littered with drunks. Some were asleep; the ones that weren’t scattered, screaming, as I flexed my wings.

I flew up to where I’d left Lachie. He was gone, and my heart did a little flip of dismay before I spotted him hiding behind a lane barrier. Poor kid. Time for something a little less terrifying.

I relinquished my trueshape.
Her
trueshape?
Our
trueshape? I shook my head, too tired and worn to think about it. I still felt like Kate, but I felt like Leandra too, as if our personalities had given up fighting and fused together.

I stood on the Harbour Bridge, a woman who could turn into a dragon, buck naked, alone among the wide empty lanes and towering scaffolding except for my son, a boy who’d died months ago. It didn’t come much crazier than that. I laughed, a little burble of sheer happiness, and Lachie peeped out, his eyes like saucers.

“
Mum
?”

I held out my arms. “It’s okay, Monster. You can come out now.”

He ran to me and I crushed him tight, face buried in his hair, breathing in his precious Lachie smell. My eyes prickled with tears.

“I thought you were dead!” he sobbed.

“I know. I thought you were too. It was all a big mistake.” One that would involve some tricky explanations eventually, but for now it was enough to hold him and feel the truth of his existence.

When the sobs had wound down into hiccups he wriggled uncomfortably. “Mum, you’re squishing me.”

“Sorry.”

I loosened my hold and he looked up, eyes wide in his little pointed face. “Are you a dragon now?”

I could hardly deny it when he’d just seen me change. “’Fraid so.”

“Cool,” he breathed.

Typical. I grinned and stood up, still keeping a tight grip on his hand.