Dragon Blood 4: Knight (16 page)

“Everything will be fine. Or don’t you believe I can protect you?”

Amber slowly smiled. Typical.
“Of course you can.”
She kept the rest of her thoughts to herself. But it’s you I’m worried about.

Roy caught her gaze across the table.
“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just don’t like the waiting before a battle.”

Roy nodded, turning to answer a question from his mother.

By the time Ronan had taken all the Golds through the Void and back again, Amber was pacing the room, sending a glare to her grandfather each time she passed him in his pacing.

Ronan spoke to Chait, Anrai and Alsandair. “Take the warriors and Knights to their waiting point.” He gestured towards Helen and Charles. “Then take Roy to the car that’s waiting for him. The rest of us will wait here for your return. Kade, time to let the Elders know the test location. They’ve had enough time to inform Tahmid that he was caught breaking the law and passing on information about the warrior tests and has lost his position.”

Ronan’s other gold, Turi, stood beside Jasper. Amber’s eyes remained on Turi for several minutes. They needed to get Jasper a Gold that was loyal to them, not Ronan. She tried not to think about how Jasper’s last Gold had died. When Turi looked over in her direction, she held his gaze a moment longer before she went back to her pacing.

Chait returned from taking Roy to the car, causing Amber’s stomach to do a slow turn. It was time. Kade stepped in front of her, halting her pacing, linking his fingers through hers.

“Ready?”

“I guess so.” This time when Kade took her through the Void, they stayed in it. The world around them looked like it was covered by a light fog. She wondered how much harder it was to see through the Void in the dark. It was late afternoon now, hopefully they’d be out of the Void before they had a chance to find out. Holding Kade’s hand tightly, she moved forward. The air was so heavy around them it was like walking underwater. “Where should we wait?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see Tahmid anywhere.” He glanced over his shoulder. “But hopefully that’s Roy driving up.”

Amber turned to see a car drive through an open chain wire gate nearly two metres tall. The car stopped, the engine continuing to run for a minute before it was turned off. Roy climbed out of the car, closing the door behind him as he slowly walked forward, his eyes scanning the area. He walked straight towards them.

“What happens if he walks through us while we’re in the Void?”

Kade chuckled. “It’ll feel like a breeze passing through us.”

“And what’ll he feel?”

“I believe you humans have a saying about it. Someone just walked over my grave.”

As Roy continued to come closer Amber tugged on Kade’s hand, drawing him to the side. “I think that’s an experience I can live without.” She turned to watch Roy cross the pitted bitumen car park, headed towards the dilapidated building. “Where is Tahmid?”

“Maybe he’s inside.”

Amber followed behind Roy, slowly falling behind since it was harder to walk through the Void. “What happens if we need to get to him quickly?”

“We run. But whatever you do, don’t let go of me.”

She tightened her grip on his hand. “Do I really want to know why?”

“Probably not.”

Roy stopped abruptly as Tahmid stepped out of the Void in front of him.

“If the information you have for me is worthless, your life will be too,” Tahmid said.

“It isn’t. Like I told you, it’s about the mage. She almost got me killed when she escaped the Knights,” Roy said.

“What makes you think I’m interested?”

Roy shrugged. “I heard everyone wants her, but you’re the only dragon I know. You’re my grandfather.”

Tahmid laughed.

The sound sent a shiver through Amber. “And I thought Ronan was bad.”

Still smiling, Tahmid said, “That means nothing to me, Knight. Hurry up and tell me what you know or you can take the information to the grave with you. I have more important things to deal with today. ”

“I know where they’ve hidden her.”

If Amber hadn’t know that Ronan had asked Roy to do this, his behaviour would have convinced her he was about to betray her. A hand clasped hers and she started to scream, stopping when Crystal and Flinn appeared before her. “What are you doing? Give me heart failure, why don’t you?”

Crystal grinned. “Sorry.” Her grin faded. “I told-”

Amber swore, cutting Crystal off as she looked around her. “We’re surrounded. There must be fifty Golds in the Void.”

“You can see them?” Crystal asked.

Amber nodded.

“I can too,” Kade said.

“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to. I thought it might only be dragons. But forget that.”

“Forget the dragons?” Amber had no idea how she was meant to do that.

Crystal shook her head. “No, forget about how you can see them. I told Ronan how many there are, but he said to go ahead as planned. We can’t kill that many before the dead bodies start appearing out of the Void,” Crystal said.

Kade pointed to where three Golds stood near each other in the Void. “Head there. If we stay together we can take more out.” He drew a dagger.

“We still won’t take out enough.” Flinn held a bloodstained dagger.

Kade walked towards the group. “We can try.” He glanced at Amber. “Hold onto me so I’ve got two arms free.”

Amber saw that Crystal had her fingers hooked into the waistband of Flinn’s trousers so her fingers were pressed against his skin. She did the same to Kade, keeping hold of Crystal’s hand so she could continue to see into the Void. When they reached the Golds, Amber looked away as Kade and Flinn grabbed hold of two, slitting their throats, holding onto them until they were dead, turning into dragons. They lowered them to the ground. As soon as they’d taken out the third one, they started moving towards another group of Golds.

Amber had trouble drawing her eyes away from the blood oozing from the dead dragons. Even blood didn’t move properly in the Void. “This doesn’t seem right.”

“Of course it’s right,” Flinn said. “You use whatever advantage you’ve got.”

“It seems like cheating. They can’t see us.” Amber looked away as they grabbed another two Golds.

“We’ll still be outnumbered when we all come out of the Void to fight.” Kade lowered the body to the ground.

“Yeah, but…” her voice trailed off as her eyes were again drawn to the blood that slowly oozed from the dragon on the ground. Did she want them to have a fighting chance? Wouldn’t that put her friends and family at risk? She didn’t know what to think anymore.

Flinn and Kade took out another four Golds before an alarm went on Crystal’s phone. Her fingers momentarily tightened on Amber’s. “Five minute warning before all hell breaks loose.”

Amber looked towards Tahmid who was still questioning Roy. “I better get closer to Tahmid.” Behind him she could see Ronan, near the wall of the building, his arms crossed as he watched everything.

“Good luck.” Crystal let go of Amber’s hand, disappearing.

“You too.” She guessed Crystal heard her when her friend momentarily touched her arm, smiling before she disappeared again.

Kade took her hand from his waistband, walking towards Tahmid. “If we get behind Tahmid, we shouldn’t be in the way of Roy’s family when they try and get him out of here.”

“I hope they get him away safely. There’s a lot of Golds that’ll be attacking us.”

“Don’t worry about them. Focus on taking out Tahmid. We have to get to him before he leaves through the Void. This will be our only chance. He’ll be on his guard after this and we’ll need several armies to take him down.”

For a moment Amber wished Kade hadn’t told her that. She didn’t want to remember what it looked like to attack with an army, but then she was glad. It hadn’t occurred to her he might run. She’d been expecting him to stay and fight. “Okay.”

“Remember, it’s survival of the fittest.”

With the amount of times she’d been told, it wasn’t likely she’d forget. She kept the words to herself, nodding instead. They stopped close behind Tahmid who was telling Roy to hurry up and explain himself properly. Amber smiled at how well Roy was doing with his garbled explanation.

A Gold stepped out of the Void. “Tahmid!” He pointed towards two dragons lying dead on the ground.

Tahmid reached for Roy. His family, and the Golds with them, came out of the Void, pulling Roy away from him.

When Kade brought them out of the Void, Amber let go of him, drawing her daggers. Tahmid spun to face her so that she met his eyes as she drove the daggers into him, her arms wrapped around his body. Shock filled his eyes as he dragged them into the Void. Amber saw Golds pouring out of the Void to attack her allies, but she couldn’t let Tahmid go. He took her with him through the Void, struggling to break her grip as he came out in a large bedroom with stone walls and a carpeted floor.

Tahmid finally broke free and Amber stumbled backwards. She threw herself at him, sinking one of the blades into his arm as he tried to draw his sword. Around her she sensed people moving rapidly towards the room they were in and guessed Tahmid had called his warriors to help him. She didn’t have long.

Again Tahmid broke free from her and this time when Amber sprang at him, she dropped her daggers. Turning into a panther, she pinned him to the ground, going for his throat. Before she managed to tear into him, he twisted under her, becoming a dragon. Then he was above her, flames pouring from his mouth. She turned human, one of her hands reaching for a dagger as she rolled out of the way of the flames. Calling up her own flames, she plunged her fiery dagger into the dragon, forcing it between two scales, her hand coated with blood as she pressed deeper.

He roared, rearing back before he dropped down to strike at her. Blood stained the carpet as she threw herself out of the way, jumping to her feet to draw her sword. It burst into flames as she spun, driving it into Tahmid as the bedroom door burst open. Blood coated her arm and, letting go her sword, she leapt out of the way as Tahmid collapsed onto his side. She heard his heart beat slow, blood continuing to flow from him.

In the doorway stood five warriors, swords drawn as they tried to crowd into the room. None of them attacked. They continued to stand there, staring at her.

She didn’t know what to do. Where was Ronan when she needed him? Mentally searching for him didn’t help. He must still be in her world because she couldn’t find him. She took a step backwards, running into the dead dragon. Trying to recall what the room looked like behind her, she continued to warily watch the warriors. Amber couldn’t even remember if there was an open window. She certainly couldn’t fly past the warriors in the doorway. Not without being cut down. What were they waiting for? Her phone started to ring, but she ignored it. Now wasn’t the time for taking calls.

The warriors in the doorway parted and a single warrior stood there, sword drawn and pointed at Amber. “You will pay with your life for the one you stole.”

If the man hadn’t been so serious, she would have rolled her eyes at his theatrical comment. Raising her hands, she formed fireballs. “I don’t think you really want to do that.” Her phone stopped ringing and she was glad it didn’t start again.

The man stepped into the room. The warriors closed ranks behind him. “You killed my father. I’m going to rip your heart out and eat it.”

Oh crap. For a moment she thought she’d spoken the words aloud. A small measure of relief filled her when she realised she hadn’t. Never show weakness. She smiled, trying to mimic Ronan’s predatory one. “I’m sure you think you’ll manage that, but you won’t live long enough to do it.”

The man laughed. “I know mages. We still have one here. You are pathetic, weak creatures. My father was probably already mortally wounded by your warrior before he came home with you.”

She thought of Cooper. Yeah, if he’d been the only mage she’d known then she’d think the same as this man. Hopefully he was about to learn differently. She really didn’t want to die. “The only wounds Tahmid suffered today were the ones I gave him.” She could see his son didn’t believe her.

The man gestured towards the sword embedded in his father. “Take your weapon. I will avenge him with honour.”

Amber started to move, then froze as she felt Ronan in the distance. He was somewhere in the dragon lands, but not close enough for her to mentally contact him. Then he was gone and when he came back into the world again he was even further away.

“Now.”

The man’s word snapped her back to the room and she picked up the dagger lying on the floor before she pulled the one from Tahmid’s body.

“Leave them. Your sword, mage. Fight me like a warrior, not an assassin.”

She slid the blades into her wrist sheaths, hoping she’d actually get a chance to clean the blood from them later. No matter how distasteful a chore it would be. Was that what Ronan was trying to turn her into? An assassin? Struggling to draw the sword from Tahmid’s body she again felt Ronan flash in and out of the world. He was going in the wrong direction. The sword free, she faced Tahmid’s son. Fighting the urge to ask him his name, she raised her sword. She would have no choice but to kill him. Having his name wouldn’t make it any easier.

“Pathetic. You don’t even know how to hold your sword correctly.”

Her chin rose and she met his gaze squarely. “And yet I was still able to kill your father. What does that say about him?”

“That you got lucky.”

Maybe she could keep him talking long enough that she’d figure a way out of here. Ronan now seemed to be coming closer to her with every flash in and out of the world. “No, I think the phrase you’re looking for is that he was beyond pathetic.”

The man came closer and Amber moved away from Tahmid. She didn’t want to risk tripping over his body during the fight. Trying to keep an eye on the man in front of her while she assessed possible exits was nearly impossible. Catching a glimpse of a closed window, she jumped to the side as the man attacked. There was no way she could beat him in a sword fight. As he came at her again, she sheathed her sword, turning into a goshawk and shooting past him to land on the other side of the room, as a human. Her scan of the room had shown her two windows with closed wooden shutters. Things didn’t look good.

“Stand and fight me, mage.” He attacked again and once more Amber avoided him by turning into a goshawk.

Becoming human, she grinned at him. “Having a little trouble catching me, are you?” If she drew him across the room maybe she could fly back over and get one of the windows open before he could reach her.