Chapter 19
“Afemale?” Taggart stared at the cloud of midges. A female Draecna complicated matters tenfold. “Are ye certain she said the hatchling was a female?”
“She made herself quite clear, my prince. She said the female’s name was Esme.” The gnat hovered higher then lower, as if stressing the reliability of its information.
“Septamus!”
“I am not deaf. Stop bellowing. Do you wish our presence announced to all in Erastaed?” Septamus slid his snout through the narrow opening of the tent and shoved through the flap.
“By the way, how do you expect to fit inside this dwelling when in your Draecna form? I have to hunch over to keep my horns from snagging the rigging and yanking down the poles.”
Taggart waved away the grumbling. “Ye have done naught but complain since we crossed the threshold and led the army through the pass at Ruarke Ridge. Have ye lost your touch, Septamus? Can ye not survive beyond the walls of Taroc Na Mor or the goddess’s caverns?”
The elder released two snorts of black smoke as he yanked his horns free of the lines holding the canvas tent taut between the wooden poles.
“Mind your tongue, rash hybrid. You know as well as I, it would be much more efficient to cross Erastaed with equipment sized for full-blooded Draecna rather than puny humans.”
Taggart ignored him, studying the map draped across the table. He ran a finger along a jagged blue line. “Once I shift, we will not return to this camp overlooking Sloan’s keep.”
Septamus tapped a claw on the map. “The flies say she is in the death cells and moved to a new one at the stroke of every killing hour. They could not locate the egg. But I am certain Sloan keeps it in his chambers.” The senior Draecna peeled back the map to reveal a detailed schematic of Tiersa Deun.
Again, he tapped a claw on a highlighted wing.
“And you do realize when both are stolen from under his nose, your brother will not be satisfied until he sees everyone in Erastaed dead whether they fight for him or against him.”
“The death cells,” Taggart repeated. Hannah trapped in the bowels of Tiersa Deun. Where Sloan tortured his prisoners for amusement until death brought them merciful release. “Erastaed is due a cleansing. This time, I will not go quietly to another world.”
Septamus responded with a single nod of his gray horned head. “I shall spread the word. I am certain many will join us. Centuries of followers have waited for you to reclaim your throne.”
Taggart rose and pushed out through the tent flap.
He strode to the edge of the cliff overlooking the densely wooded gorge hiding the fortress of Tiersa Deun.
Erastaed stretched out before him. Purple-hazed mountains.
Jagged, unforgiving terrain. A mournful howl echoed through the rising haar, the soft blanket of mist that settled across the land each evening.
Home. The word made him snort, his breath fogging in the dropping temperatures.
Humiliated at the altar, stripped of his birthright, and forced to watch everything he loved destroyed.
How could he consider Erastaed home? A biting wind whipped against him as though trying to shove him deeper into the painful memories.
The sea lay a few miles to the west of the gorge.
The stench of rotted fish hung heavy in the air.
The graceful blue terns that kept the beaches picked clean of any carrion had been hunted to extinction by Sloan’s order.
He said their early morning keen annoyed him.
“Taggart! You really need to hurry.”
An eerie awareness made his nape tingle, standing every hair on end. He turned and scanned the grove of gently swaying trees, searching for her. How was she able to speak to him?
“Hannah?”
The first of the twin Erastaedian moons swelled full and bright in the early evening sky. Clouds raced across it, flitting through its light.
“Taggart? Is that you?”
Bathed in the brilliant blue-white light, he realized her thoughts rode the moonlight to him. “I hear ye! Can ye see the moon? Touch its light? Ye must not look away or we will surely lose this connection.”
“It’s shining into my cell. Please, you must hurry and save us. Esme only has three days and then she will die if I don’t help her hatch. I have to release her in three days. She must not die. I couldn’t bear it.”
Only three days? His gut clenched as though punched.
“Taggart. Did you hear me? Are you still there?”
“I will come for ye, I swear. Ye must not give up hope, my love. Promise ye willna release her until I arrive. I will be there in time.” He paced along the edge of the cliff, kicking at clumps of dried grass.
She must not help the youngling hatch. As soon as she did, Sloan would kill her. “Hannah, promise me?”
Nothing but deafening silence answered as the wind smothered the glowing beacon of the night with a blanket of impenetrable clouds.
“And on the third day, she brought forth the hatchling and was relieved of her head.” Sloan chuckled and clicked his black lacquered nails.
Hands behind her back, Hannah took in a deep breath while staring at the egg. Esme lay coiled tight as a spring, more than ready to emerge. The female knew the day had arrived and she waited for Hannah’s touch.
“I will protect ye, Guardian. The evil ones speak freely around me. I have listened and know exactly what to do.”
Hannah swallowed hard and reminded herself to breathe as she rubbed her hands together.
She appreciated Esme’s bravado, but she remembered her precious wee William’s entry and couldn’t imagine a brand new hatchling protecting much of anything.
“Protect yourself, Esme. You won’t have a flame because you are a young one.
As soon as you hatch, I want you to run and hide.
Don’t look back or worry about me. Just hide.
Promise me you will. I will do my best to distract them so you can get away. ”
Laughter as warm as a hug filled Hannah’s mind, matching the pulsating glow of the egg. “Females are born fully matured with complete knowledge and control of all powers, dearest Guardian. It is the males who require training because they are immature.”
“Interesting.” Hannah resettled her stance. That leveled the playing field a little.
“What did you say?” Sloan moved closer and clamped a hand on her shoulder.
“Do you want me to hatch the egg or not?” She flinched away as his nails cut into her flesh. With any luck, Esme would fry him to a crisp. “I have to call the hatchling from the egg. But I need space. Step back and I will get on with it.”
Chilling deadliness glittered in his black eyes as he retreated half a step. He jerked his head toward the egg. “Proceed.”
“It’s time, Esme,” she whispered. “Ready?”
The shell splintered into a thousand fiery cracks.
Blinding rays of light shot out from its core.
A roaring wind swirled through the room as the pieces exploded.
A darkened form silhouetted in the brilliant light unfurled its wings and stretched.
The pedestal groaned beneath the creature’s weight.
It collapsed, then crumbled to dust beneath Esme’s feet.
“By all that is holy, the hatchling is a female.” Mia crouched behind a marble likeness of Sloan reclining on his favorite chaise lounge.
Sloan yanked the bug-eyed Corter between himself and the glowering, newly hatched Draecna. “You will never escape Tiersa Deun. The magical wards will kill you both as soon as you pass between them.”
“Order them disabled, Sloan of Cair Orlandis, or receive the kiss of my very first blaze.” Esme blinked her great, golden eyes and bent her shimmering, blue head closer to his face.
The room shook as a blast sounded on the other side of the door. Masonry dust and chunks of gaudy painted plaster fell from the vaulted ceiling, raining down all around. High-pitched sirens pealed as more explosions followed.
Hannah stumbled against Esme, dodging flying bits of stone and marble. She choked on the dust but held tight to the rib of Esme’s wing. Taggart. It had to be Taggart and his army. Her heart soared.
“If you allow them to take either of them, I shall impale you in the center courtyard and let the dogs rip out your entrails while you still live.” Sloan shoved Corter through the rubble toward a doorway beside his settee. “Release the Waerins. Taggart will not expect an army of those beasts.”
“Esme! Let’s go.” Hannah tugged on her wing while pointing at a gaping hole in the wall. More blasts shook through the building and rattled the foundation.
“If you take one more step . . .” Sloan started toward her only to disappear behind a wall of flames.
“Very impressive.” Hannah gave Esme an approving nod. “You can teach Gearlach about control. Did you fry the fiend or just delay him?”
With a slow turn of her graceful, horned head, Esme urged Hannah toward the opening, nudging her with the tip of her long shimmering tail.
“A Draecna does not take life unless absolutely necessary. There is history to be settled between Sloan and his brother. If I killed him, it would leave loose ends for Taggart. It is not my battle to fight.”
While Hannah agreed up to a point, she felt sure Taggart would have forgiven Esme if she had stolen his thunder. She peered one last time into the cloud filled room. A sense of justice filled her at the sight of Mia crushed under a collapsed column. There was something to be said about Karma.
“We must find Taggart, Guardian. The Waerin could be difficult for you .” Esme nudged Hannah again as another blast rattled.
She scrambled across the loose stones and paused, glancing up and down the passage. This hallway differed from any of the others. Plush, red carpeting ran down the center.
“This looks like an entry hall. Which way do you think we should go?”