Chapter Fourteen
–Torsten–
“YOU CAN’T BE serious?” I said to Drakkar after Marjorie and Katana left the War Chamber, when he told me how we would travel to the Dragon Lair.
“You wish my mate to fly in a storm when she is more susceptible to Skarde than ever?” I shook my head.
“My mate, who I sense does not shift often and hasn’t flown in a very long time? ”
“’Tis the best chance we have to keep you both from being detected by the darkness,” he replied. “Betwixt my powers and the weather, we should be able to make it to the Dragon Lair in little time, giving you the best chance to remain unseen.”
“He’s right,” áma and Blaze agreed.
“Your mate has a strong, balanced inner spirit,” áma went on. “A disciplined spirit that reflects in her inner beast, so I suspect she will do just fine.”
“And I don’t think she’s wrong,” I told Katana once I joined her again and we headed out the back of the Keep. “Your Sumeri training serves you well in many things, whether you realize it or not.”
She stopped short and shook her head, rounding her eyes at me. “Outside of my recent vision, I haven’t shifted in years,” she exclaimed, claiming it just hadn't suited her lifestyle in the twenty-first century. “And it was only the one time. Now you want me to shift and fly in a storm?”
“’Tis our best chance of getting you to safety,” I said, not liking this any better than she did, but there was no hope for it. She had to fly and needed my support to boost her confidence. “’Tis also our best chance of ensuring the Realm’s safety.”
When she kept shaking her head in disbelief, I cupped her cheek and gazed into her eyes, letting her draw strength from my inner beast. “I have no doubt whatsoever that your dragon can handle this. She is, like you, fearless and driven, and nothing stands in her way of accomplishing a goal.”
“That's right,” she said firmly, worry flashing in her eyes regardless. “But there might be more at stake than just us if I don’t survive this flight.” She rested her hand over her womb, reminding me of the precious cargo she might carry. “Someone far more important than me.”
“I agree,” I replied, keeping my anger at my darker side’s callous actions from her again, buried deep lest I upset her when now wasn’t the time.
The thought of a baby certainly made every decision we made more difficult, yet still.
“Even so, ‘twill not just be our child in danger but the Realm’s inhabitants. If the Realm falls, there will be no future, so we have to put it and the prophecy first. We have to do everything we can to see this through for the sake of dragonkind and a better future for not just our children but everyone else’s. ”
She stared into my eyes for a long moment before she sighed and nodded. “Of course, you’re right.”
“You can do this, mate.” However tempted I was to kiss her, I refrained, knowing I might not be able to stop. She smelled too good and looked far too beautiful. Denying her would be impossible. “I do not doubt it.”
“I know I can,” she managed, her voice a little hoarse as her musky, sweet scent intensified and her inner beast tried to pull mine closer, just as desperate to come together again as I was.
Only I wasn’t my darker half, and I made that clear when I rallied all the inner strength I could muster and stepped away. “I know you can, also.”
Before she could pull me close, knowing she was as close to doing it as I was to letting her, I took her hand, and we continued down the dark stairs.
While we weren't traveling down all that far, I took the time we had, albeit brief, to tell her about Drakkar and why there was little to fear when traveling with him.
“He’s related to the goddess Hel?” she exclaimed. “Seriously?”
“Ja, and ‘tis her powers that allow his dragon to slip in and out of this world without ever truly leaving it, making his inner beast hard to sense at times,” I explained. “’Tis also her powers that allow him to navigate storms better than most and use them to his advantage.”
“I would imagine it also makes him well-suited to rule a place like the Dragon Lair.” She glanced at me. “It sounds like it's just as daunting as what we’re about to face in the skies.”
“’Tis not where I would have wished you to go, as I made clear in the War Chamber,” I admitted, knowing Marjorie told her all about it. “’Tis not the Sigdir tribe Dragon Lair it once was, but ‘tis kept in check by Drakkar, so I have faith all will go well there.”
She made no mention of me warning Drakkar that it had better be okay, and instead gave my hand a squeeze, telling me she was ready to face whatever lay ahead.
It did my heart good, too, even though I feared the unknown and worried about the outcome.
I knew right now, in this moment, for everyone’s sake, I had to put all of that aside.
“Out of curiosity, does using his godly powers drain Drakkar like it does you and your sister?” she wondered, and rightly so.
“Fortunately, no,” I assured her. “He not only possesses more godliness than we do but Hel is one of our more powerful deities.”
Seeming to find added comfort in that, she nodded and soon after, we entered a sizeable cave with an equally spacious opening overlooking the frothing ocean below. Black-bellied clouds rolled in swiftly on an ever-gustier wind, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed.
Drakkar and áma were already awaiting us, as were Blaze and Marjorie, who wanted to see us off. Ragnar was keeping watch in dragon form on the highest battlement.
“I, too, have not shifted or flown much,” áma said to Katana when their eyes met, her tone gentle and supportive.
“Yet I do not doubt if this is what the gods want via the great Ygdrasill, then we need not fear their wrath this day but rather see it as protection.” She looked from Drakkar and me back to Katana.
“We will be by your side every step of the way.”
Trusting áma, where my darker side distrusted her, I nodded in thanks for her support, understanding by the slight golden pulse of her aura that she lent Katana extra confidence.
“As will her dragon, when you shift together for what I sense is the first time,” Blaze said into my mind. “’Tis like nothing you have ever felt before and will be the push Katana needs to face this.”
It turned out he was right.
Minutes later, after Drakkar said it was time, we shifted for the first time together, and I finally laid eyes on Katana's beautiful dragon outside of a hazy vision. As beautiful and delicate as her human counterpart, her scales were obsidian, and her eyes were the same mesmerizing, pale, fiery brown. When our gazes locked, the impact was so strong it became crystal clear there was nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her and keep her by my side always.
I knew she felt the same way when her pupils flared, and she released a low, rumbling growl when I briefly brushed my neck against hers, because I had never smelled anything so good as the scent she put off for me.
A scent solely designed for her fated mate.
“Are you ready for this, mate?” I rumbled into her mind, speaking the way of dragons, already knowing she was.
My strength was her strength.
“I am,” she assured, impressing me with her courage, not hesitating to launch into the storm with her satchel wrapped in her talon, following Drakkar and áma after they took to the skies.
Nodding one last time at Blaze and Marjorie, assuring them we would do everything in our power to protect the Realm, I took off after the others, catching up to my little mate quickly despite the volatile wind and nonstop lightning.
The elements alarmed me more than I would allow Katana to see, yet she held her own, gaining altitude despite the wind tossing her every which way.
“Remain as close to me as you can,” Drakkar said into our minds, his jet-black dragon pulsing with a dark aura born of Helheim as he climbed. “’Tis best we remain within the storm clouds once we are beyond the Realm until we land at the Dragon Lair.”
Doing as he requested, we caught his tailwind and stayed in his immediate wake as we climbed higher, thunder booming around us so loudly it vibrated my scales. Like the others, I felt it the moment we left the Realm behind, even as we flew through thick, black, soupy clouds.
“If I weren’t worried about the obvious,” Katana said, swooping alongside me with ease, “I think I might actually enjoy this. Not as much as Azura likely would, but still. It’s exhilarating in a way I hadn’t expected.”
“So your friend enjoys danger?” I asked, fully aware Drakkar was paying attention to our internal conversation, which told me Azura had already piqued his interest.
“To say the least,” Katana replied, her dragon bouncing around even more when we hit a particularly rough wind shear.
Yet she steadied quickly enough, undoubtedly sensing Drakkar was listening in, too.
“Every which way Azura can get it, whether it’s putting herself in dangerous situations in war-ridden parts of the world or even extreme sports.
She likes the rush that comes with it and doesn’t deny it. ”
“And she met you and Marjorie in this writer’s group I have heard about?”
“She did.” Katana steered a little closer to me when a lightning bolt nearly clipped her wing.
“Like Marjorie and me, at some point she wants to write a fictional story. For now, she’s found success as a war correspondent, reporting on the action wherever that may be.
She also goes undercover sometimes if it means getting closer to the truth about things the bad guys would rather the world not know. ”