Cold Hearted Son of a Witch (Dragoneers Saga) (15 page)

“Its maw looks like that of the thresher we saw on the wharf at Port,” Rikky observed. “I wish I could see the wings better.”

“Over there,” Jenka directed them to another of the three imprisoned Sarax. Zahrellion knelt next to Aikira and helped her tend the wizard. Once he was covered with a cloak and his head was resting on a pack, Aikira stood. “Crimzon is a fire drake who’s well over a hundred years old,” she informed them. “We must stand before him, though. Clover told Vax as much before she passed. It must be done.”

“I think arrows with thin, well-sharpened, bladed tips will penetrate them,” Rikky said as he hobbled on his peg-leg around the Sarax that was trapped with its wings open. He wasn’t paying attention to the others. He was studying the enemy. Marcherion was right beside him.

Lemmy was also looking at the first Sarax closely.
I think that here, just below the sternum, is a soft spot.
He hurried over to Rikky’s side and found that he saw the same soft-looking indentation just above where the
creature’s
naval would be, if it had one.

“The eyes,” Marcherion said as it came to him. “If we can blind them they can’t swarm us in the sky.”

Where is the other one?
Lemmy asked Aikira. She glanced toward the curve of brushed steel that wasn’t buried in the earth, but was covered in fracture-shot crystal. There at the edge of the shell coating the star ship was the third of the Sarax. A shadow shifted behind the milky layers and glazing, reminding them that there were many more waiting to burst forth from inside.

Jenka saw Zahrellion glancing at Marcherion once, and was filled with a surge of jealous anger. When her eyes met his they darted away. It only made him that much more perturbed. Again he wondered why Zahrellion hadn’t spoken to him. Part of him wanted to forget that they were Dragoneers. That part wanted to wrap his arms around Zah and lose
himself
in those liquid lavender eyes, but another part of him knew that it wasn’t meant to be. They’d parted lovers, or so he thought, but they were Dragoneers now. The fate of mankind rested on their shoulders. It wasn’t easy, but he managed to contain his emotions.

“We go see Crimzon then,” Jenka said with a bit of anger in his voice. He wasn’t sure of his place as leader, but no one seemed to mind the suggestion.

***

The Dragoneers, rested and refreshed, were a full day into their journey to find Crimzon’s lair. Lemmy was down in the star ship crater watching over Vax Noffa. The wizard was sitting up, sipping water from a wooden cup. They were discussing the kingdom and the Outlanders, and what they might be able to do to warn the men in those more populated places.

If the rangers rode forth and spread the word, a lot of lives could be spared,
Vax said into the ethereal.
I know not how men can stand against such creatures, but we have to give them a chance, at least, to get cover where they can.

They’ve just started back into the frontier,
Lemmy explained.
Rikky told me of the dragon guns the Walguard built and used against the mudged. If we had spear launchers like those on all the walls we’d be able to keep them away from the cities, or at least make them pay for attacking.
He paused as another idea struck him.
We could mount them on wagons, too.

The people must be warned,
Vax’s mental voice trailed away as a distant buzzing came to his ears. It was followed by a sharp popping crack of fracturing crystal.
The people must flee, not fight,
Vax said quickly. A low buzzing sound followed. Something large was in the crater with them now.

Lemmy grabbed Vax Noffa by the wrist and the
groggy
wizard stumbled to his feet. Lemmy led him away from the star ship, but stopped when he saw the empty hollow of crystal where the open-winged Sarax had been. Looking around franticly, neither of them saw the creature.

The other is gone as well,
the wizard pointed at another empty hollow of transparent shards. The third Sarax was still imprisoned, but was wiggling and working the shards apart around it.

We have to warn the Dragoneers,
Lemmy started sprinting out of the cavern.

Vax Noffa went after Lemmy, but stopped when he saw the Sarax race ahead across the ceiling, then drop. It fell into a crouch right in Lemmy’s path. It spread its wings out, blocking the way, and hissed menacingly.

Its skin was thick and rough, like tree bark. Its black eyes were dead and glossy, but a fine sliver of fiery orange split them vertically. The Sarax reared back and let out a mind-piercing shriek that caused Lemmy to fall to the ground clutching his ears. Vax didn’t see what happened next. Pain exploded through his entire body as terrible claws stabbed into his back and shoulders from behind. He was pressed into the cavern floor by an alien force so strong that it buckled his knees backward. His chest slammed into the ground. The last thing he sensed before his flesh was devoured from his bones was the eardrum-rupturing buzz that exploded through the ethereal.

Part IV

Crimzon

Chapter 18

The Dragoneers flew for most of the day. It was a glorious feeling, the five of them in the sky soaring above the clouds. Rikky and Silva flew circles around Blaze and Crystal, the bigger dragons unable to maneuver so easily. Golden was magnificent. She could shoot forth with a burst of wing beats just like Silva, but Aikira wasn’t interested in showing off. Her expression was serious, determined.

Jade was having trouble just keeping pace with the others. The green wyrm felt small among the more mature dragons, and Jenka sensed his unease. Now he was finding the way Zahrellion looked at Marcherion sickening. He didn’t feel well at all, and was pleased that Aikira was guiding them.

Looking like some Outland goddess from a bard’s tale, the golden-helmeted ebon girl took them deep into the mountains to places that could never be traveled on foot. Below them the peaks were sharp, jagged, and frozen. Rikky pointed out a huge, sleek snow-stalker with wide spiraling horns as it ran a herd of mountain goats down a steep valley edge. One of the fleeing creatures misstepped and went tumbling. The oversized but agile feline dove on it with practiced skill and devoured its kill.

Over a pine-covered valley they scared up a herd of elk that was easily two hundred strong. The dragons longed to feed, but the will of their riders helped them master the urges.

Before long, Aikira was leading them down into a canyon that an ice river must have cut into the rock. She took them down its winding length, curving this way and that as the narrow gorge dictated. It wasn’t easy for Blaze to manage because of his wingspan. More than once he scraped a tip on one side or the other.

Jenka and Jade felt the warm air before they saw the source of it. The young green dragon had gotten good at riding temperate thermals. His foreclaw was still sore, but Rikky had tended it and assured dragon and rider that the bone was set straight and would eventually be as good as new.

Soon the canyon opened up into a surprisingly green valley that was shrouded in steam so thick that only the tops of the trees were visible.
 
There was a lake, too, and in a moment where the mist thinned enough for Jenka to see through, he glimpsed deep blue water. He felt through Jade a sensation that all the dragons were feeling. The presence of supreme high dracus in the area was palpable.

Golden landed in a field of high grass that was visible when her wings whipped the ground-hugging fog away. The other dragons followed. Soon the Dragoneers were all dismounted and stretching their legs, or leg in Rikky’s case, while the dragons lapped up lake water.

The Dragoneers could barely see each other through the thick, warm air.

“How much farther?”
Rikky asked.

“We’re here,” Aikira said. “Close anyway. Did you think we would just fly into Crimzon’s lair? We have to climb the rest of the way. Our dragons must wait behind.”

“They seem to want to stay here,” Zahrellion observed.

“You can stay with them if you’re afraid,” Jenka shot back before he knew what he was doing.

“She dove on the coral serpent when it attacked me, Jenka,” Rikky said matter-of-factly. “I doubt she’s scared at all.”

“It’s all right, Rikky.” Zahrellion’s form faded into the foggy steam.

“You’re dense,” Aikira whispered directly at Jenka. “Don’t you remember what those claws looked like?
Those teeth?”

For no reason other than common courtesy Marcherion went after Zahrellion, causing Jenka to have to bite his tongue. Rikky shook his head.

Jenka took in a deep breath and spoke loudly. “Zahrellion, I’m sorry. Let’s just do what we have to do. I’ll work it out.”

“Good boy.” Aikira nodded with some surprise showing on her face. “All of you listen,” she continued. “We will be face to face with those Sarax with no wall of crystal between us if we don’t get Clover’s dragon tear to Vax Noffa. You heard what he said. Let’s just do it.”

“Agreed,” Rikky said sternly in the direction Zahrellion and Marcherion had gone.

“Agreed,” Zah shot back angrily. The last thing she’d wanted to do was break down in front of Marcherion, but she had. It didn’t help that she was now realizing her thoughts of Marcherion were just as foolish as Jenka’s were of her.

“Agreed,” March said as he came back among the others behind Zah. He looked like a boy who was unsure of what he’d been scolded for.

Jenka saw Zahrellion’s angry look. “Let’s go then,” he commanded with a bit of authority in his voice. “You’re leading,” he added to Aikira who was looking at him curiously now.

She gave him a nod of respect and started into the steam. Rikky was right after her, his peg-leg all but forgotten in the waist-deep mist. Marcherion hurried after Rikky, but Zah nearly shoved him aside as she caught up to Aikira.

They zigzagged up a slope and eventually entered the colder air that hovered over the steamy spring-fed lake. ‘Bitter’ was the word that Jenka would have used to describe the cold on his now clammy skin. Soon they were on a rocky face looking up at a cavern that was venting more steam into the cold mountain air. Jenka didn’t have to be told it was their destination.

“I hate caves,” Marcherion called to Rikky. He had fallen back and was now just ahead of Jenka, who was taking up the rear.

“Me and Jenka will protect you,” Rikky jested.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t go in,” March conceded. “I said I hate caves. My best friend was nearly killed when a wyvern attacked us in a cave. Brendly was ripped from hip to ankle.”

“We have to stand before Crimzon, the wise and mighty wyrm,” Aikira absently sang the words out loud and then continued humming in the ethereal as they went.

 
“My best friend and my mother were killed by trolls just a few short months ago,” Jenka said more sharply than he meant to. As they were walking, he found that he couldn’t get the look Zahrellion had given the new Dragoneer out of his head. Jealousy was threatening to take hold of him again. He fought to suppress it.

“Master Kember, Solman, and Mortin were killed too,” Rikky chimed in. His tone cut some of the edge off of Jenka’s words, but Zahrellion was the one who brought them all back into focus when she whirled and spoke haltingly to Jenka.

“We all know where we really stand with each other.” Her voice betrayed the fact that she wasn’t happy with him or herself. “We have to depend on each other and keep our heads clear, Jenka. It’s the only way.”