Chapter 43 Mina
Mina
Every single thing about this conclave sets my scales on edge, the foreign energy of this place making my skin prickle beneath my human form.
The females are all collared, the metal bands gleaming in the harsh sunlight, some studded with gems that match their dragon colors.
All the children are bound by the anointing oil, its cloying scent hanging in the air like a miasma, sweet but with an undertone of something bitter and wrong.
Forced betrothals and forced matings are an accepted thing in this area, the evidence written in the downcast eyes of the females, the submissive postures that speak louder than words.
The dominant drake chooses who may be mated to whom, and they haven’t had any true mates in generations.
The absence of that joy is palpable in the strained silence between pairs.
I cling to Klauth’s side, not because it’s expected of me, though the watching eyes of the gem dragons would believe so.
But because I want to tear every single drake apart and melt the collars off the females, my rage is a living thing inside me, hot and demanding like a second heartbeat.
The heat radiating from Klauth’s body is the only warmth in this place, his familiar scent of brimstone and ancient forests my only anchor.
“You allow your female to shift?” The elder asks Klauth, his voice grating like stone on metal. My hand tenses at Klauth’s lower back, nails digging into the fabric of his shirt, feeling the muscles beneath tighten in response.
“Absolutely I do. A powerful female produces powerful progeny,” he says with that kingly tone that no one argues with, each word carrying the weight of millennia, vibrating in the air between us.
‘I really want to torch him where he stands,’ Klauth says through the bond to me, his mental voice hot with barely contained fury.
I beam up at Klauth and press my nose under his jaw in affection and submission, the gesture both performance and genuine love, his skin warm against my lips, the pulse at his throat strong and steady.
‘I’d like to hit him with a dozen small lightning strikes and then rend his flesh from his bones.
’ my tone is sickeningly sweet in his mind, the contrast between my outward docility and inward rage sharp enough to cut.
‘I think our little mate has taken on some of my more charming qualities,’ Thauglor says with a laugh in his tone, his mental presence cool and smooth like water over stones.
‘We only have to play nice a little longer. The mages shouldn’t be that far behind us,’ I remind my mates as we follow the elder again, his robes sweeping the dusty ground, leaving faint trails behind him.
The path beneath our feet is hard-packed earth, worn smooth by generations of dragons in human form, the occasional gemstone embedded in the dirt catching the light like fallen stars.
Commotion starts on the far side of the compound, the sudden noise shattering the oppressive quiet, and gem dragons shift and taking flight, their transformations accompanied by the crack of bones and the rustle of unfurling wings.
The air fills with the sound of beating wings and panicked cries, the scent of fear sharp and acrid in my nostrils.
All the females are left defenseless on the ground with the hatchlings, their faces pale with terror, some clutching their young to their breasts.
Moving quickly, Thauglor gives Lily to Balor and sends him and Abraxis away, their footsteps fading rapidly as they retreat.
With Abraxis’s old injury, I know he can’t fly far, but it’s hopefully far enough, the thought of sitting cold and heavy in my stomach.
The taste of fear is metallic on my tongue, bitter and familiar.
The only bad thing that comes to mind is that all three of us are wyrm dragons, the power of our beasts a beacon to those who hunt us.
I can only hope that my mates being great wyrms means that the mages’ magic won’t work on them, though the uncertainty makes my heart hammer against my ribs like a caged bird.
“What do we do?” I step back so that I’m standing between my mates, their bodies forming a living wall of heat and strength around me.
“We’re easier to kill in our human forms,” Thauglor says, glancing over me at Klauth, his sapphire eyes glowing with inner light, reflecting my worry back at me.
“We’re bigger targets when we shift,” Klauth offhandedly mentions as we watch the females running in all different directions, their colorful clothing blurs of motion against the stone buildings, their frightened cries echoing off the walls.
“Someone needs to make up their minds what we’re doing. The mages are heading this way,” Thauglor pulls us back into the shadows and wraps his wings around us, the leathery membranes blocking out the sunlight, creating a private cocoon that smells of smoke and cedar and dragon musk.
‘We need to surround them, shift, then unleash our breath weapons,’ he pauses for a moment, the silence heavy with unspoken fears.
‘Klauth, you take the main road and fire down the center. Mina and I will flank them and unleash our weapons.’ His sapphire eyes glow for a moment, and I know his drake is at war with him, the beast wanting to protect us while the man plans our attack.
I reach up and caress his cheek, feeling the stubble rasp against my palm, the heat of his skin almost feverish.
‘We will be okay,’ I say through the bond before pushing at his wings to open, the membranes reluctantly parting to allow in the sunlight once more.
Quickly, I kiss both of my mates, tasting their determination and fear mingled with my own, before taking off running to get into position.
The ground is uneven beneath my feet, stones digging into my soles through my thin shoes, the impact jarring up my legs with each step.
I can see the mages moving slowly through the streets as if watching for something, their robes swishing softly, staves tapping against the cobblestones with each step. The scent of their magic hangs in the air, oily and wrong, making my stomach turn.
The tallest one holds a clear orb in front of him, the crystal catching the sunlight and refracting it in dazzling patterns across the ground.
What looks like three dots appear and point in different directions, glowing with an unnatural blue light within the sphere.
“The orb says there’s three, two ancient and a very young probably new wyrm,” he announces, his voice carrying in the unnatural silence that has fallen over the area.
“We’ll take out the old ones first; they’re probably blind and weak,” the shortest mage says as he pushes his glasses up his nose, the lenses flashing in the sunlight, momentarily obscuring his eyes.
‘They have an orb that senses wyrm dragons. They sense you, Klauth,’ I reach through our bond, the mental connection thrumming with tension. I get into position and watch everything around us, my senses heightened by adrenaline, every sound amplified, every scent more intense.
‘Let them come,’ he says through the bond to me, and I get that chill up my back, like ice water trickling down my spine. Something isn’t right; the certainty sits in my gut like a stone.
Using my talons, I climb the stone face of the cliff, the rough surface scraping against my scales as they emerge.
I shift, the transformation sending waves of pain through my body as bones crack and reform, muscles stretch and thicken.
As my dragon emerges, I use the iron dragon gift of stone shape, my claws somehow finding purchase on the smooth rock.
I climb higher and look around, the wind at this elevation sharp and cold against my scales, carrying the scent of distant fires and fear.
There’s more than the six we see. It looks like a dozen more are searching the town, their dark robes standing out against the colorful buildings like ink stains on fine cloth.
‘There’s at least a dozen more searching the buildings,’ I practically scream down the bond, the panic making my mental voice shrill.
Four wasn’t horrible to handle with four dragons.
Eighteen mages and only three dragons—these odds are horrible, the reality of our situation making my heart rate triple.
Before I can yell for us to retreat, I hear the click of Klauth’s ignitor, the sound unnaturally loud in the tense silence, and a torrent of flames rushes down the street.
It’s like a tsunami of fire flowing like a river of magma.
The heat is so intense it reaches me even at this height, drying the air in my lungs.
The roar of the flames drowns out all other sounds, a primal force of destruction unleashed.
I look at my mate and his eyes scare me, glowing with an inner fire that matches the inferno he’s creating.
He’s lost to his rage; his dragon is in the driver’s seat, all humanity subsumed beneath the ancient predator’s wrath.
Within seconds, Klauth is in the air, raining down fire upon anything that moves, his massive form silhouetted against flames that reach higher than the tallest buildings.
I watch in horror as his rampage hits extinction level.
The smell of burning flesh and wood and stone filling the air, black smoke beginning to obscure the sun.
The screams of the dying rise, a cacophony of agony that will haunt my nightmares.