Dragon Blood 4: Knight (17 page)

“Pathetic.” Sword swinging, he attacked, nearly getting her.

Before Amber could work out how the window was locked, she felt Ronan close enough to send her thoughts to him.
“Ronan.”
She landed, warily watching the man who had turned to face her.

“Where are you?”

“I’m guessing in a castle.”

“Where’s Tahmid?”

“Dead.”

“If you don’t stand and fight me, I’ll make you suffer,” the man warned at the same time as Ronan spoke.

“What were you thinking, going with him like that?”

She thought it was probably best not to tell him she hadn’t planned to go with Tahmid.
“He was getting away.”

“I knew you could kill him, kitten.”

“Yeah well, his son is trying very hard to make that my last kill.”
Her contact with Ronan disappeared and then she felt him closer. “
You’re headed in the right direction. You’re much closer now.”
She slowly walked to the side, her eyes not leaving the man.

“He headed for his main castle. Get out of there, Amber. Four of his sons are in residence. It’d be suicide coming in there after you.”

Amber’s heart sank. She’d thought Ronan would be able to help her. He obviously didn’t think she stood a chance if he was calling her by her name.
“The windows are shut and I’m a little busy trying not to get killed to open them.”
Launching a fireball at the man, she leapt into the air as a goshawk, streaking across the room to land on the window ledge, staying in bird form.

“Where in the castle are you?”
Ronan was coming closer.

Amber watched the man, waiting until the last moment to fly out of his way. The sword struck the window, but it remained closed.
“A bedroom.”
She landed on the other window ledge.

“Try and be helpful, kitten.”

It was a relief to hear him call her that. Maybe she’d manage to survive after all. Again she flew out of the way at the last minute. The man roared as he spun to face her.
“That’s as helpful as I can be. Stone walls, carpet and a timber bed. A bedroom.”
Ronan was even closer now, maybe only minutes away.

The man launched himself at her and Amber felt his blade sweep past her as she flew to the other window. The sound of steel on timber sounded behind her.

“What shaped windows are they?”

Dodging another attack, Amber tried to focus on not getting killed. She didn’t know how much longer she could last before he got lucky with his wild swings.
“Arched.”
She screeched, glad she wasn’t human so that the laughter drawn from her wasn’t obvious. She couldn’t help thinking about having watched Playschool when she was younger. It looked like today she needed to be able to see through the arched window.

“Stay still!” The man’s attacks were growing wilder. Chips of timber flew into the room each time he hit the shutters.

As if she was about to make his job any easier by standing still for him. She sensed another person headed towards them. Was it another son? Two vengeful dragons might be more than even she could handle.

“Get one of them open,”
Ronan ordered.

For a moment she was confused until she remembered they’d been talking about the windows. It was a little hard to focus on anything other than the dragon who wanted her dead and was putting in a lot of effort to achieve his goal. But what choice did she have?
“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Hurry up before someone spots me.”

The man attacked her again, this time his sword clashing with the stone window frame. She was halfway across the room when another man burst into the room, fireballs in his hands.

“Attack her.” The man ordered. “But stay out of the way. This room isn’t big enough for three to fight in.”

Amber dodged behind the man and the fireballs barely missed both of them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The man pointed his sword in the direction of his mage.

“You told me to attack her.”

Amber screeched, amusement cutting through her fear. She reached for the mind of the other mage and was surprised she was able to communicate with him so easily.
“We have Cooper. He’s free.”

The mage looked in her direction.
“Prove it.”

She tried to think of a way to prove it, but drew a blank for a moment.
“He likes to draw fantasy art on a computer tablet.”

“He’s safe?”

“Usually, but he is free and we protect him.”
She flew out of the reach of the sword that came for her.

“Will you protect me?”
He launched an attack at her. It went wide.
“Sorry. I have to make it look good.”

“All I can promise is to try and get you away from here.”
She reached for Ronan’s mind.
“If I can get a mage to jump out the window, can you catch him?”

“If I know what window it is.”

“You’re very close. No, other direction. Yes, keep on that course and you’ll be at the window.”
She dodged another halfhearted attack from the mage and a more serious one from Tahmid’s son. Speaking to the mage, she said,
“I’ll fly past the windows, launch fireballs at them. We need to get one open. If you jump out, my dragon will catch you.”
She wheeled around and flew past the window. The sound of splintering timber rang out behind her, followed by the clash of steel and stone.

“Jumping out a window to possible death can’t be worse than living here,”
the mage said.

“Was that you, kitten?”

“What?”

“The fireball coming out the window.”

“No. It was the mage I want you to catch.”

“Tell him to jump. I’m ready.”

“If anything happens to him, Ronan…”
she let the sentence trail off.

“Hurry up. I can see movement,”
Ronan ordered.

“Are there any other mages?”
Amber asked the mage.

“No. They’d planned to capture you before they made more. We weren’t good enough for them. They wanted to know how to make us properly.”

“Then get out the window. Ronan will catch you.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes. Now go before it’s too late.”
She felt the brush of steel. A piece of feather drifted to the floor.
“Now!”

The mage ran across the room, throwing himself out the window.

“Elliot! Get back here.” The man dashed to the window, hanging out it. He bellowed in rage. “Ronan!”

Amber shot through the small gap above the man’s head, arrowing through the sky towards Ronan who clutched Elliot in his front claws.
“Where is everyone?”
She made sure both Ronan and Elliot could hear her.

“At Kade’s place.”

“In the human world?”

“Yes.”

“They’re all safe?”

“They were when I left them.”

“Take Elliot to Cooper then come back for me. You can take me to Kade. I’ll keep flying in this direction.”

Ronan didn’t bother answering. Instead he disappeared into the Void. She felt him come out of it, a long way from her and guessed that was where Temolae Keep was. Fighting the urge to turn in the direction of her castle, she reminded herself that Ronan wouldn’t be able to find her if she changed directions. Then Ronan came out of the Void behind her. Not far behind him she sensed other dragons giving chase. She wheeled around, aiming for Ronan. His claws closed over her and she was taken through the Void to Ronan’s home. As soon as he let her go, she turned human, glancing towards the water garden, visible in the grey light filling the sky. It was nearly dawn. How had an entire night passed? No wonder she was exhausted.

Ronan landed beside her, also becoming human. He eyed her up and down. “Any of that your blood?”

She shook her head, anger coursing through her. She was getting sick of this place.

“Are you certain Tahmid is dead?”

She nodded. And sick of being dragged wherever Ronan wanted her to go.

“Have you forgotten how to speak, kitten?”

She shook her head, gaining control of her anger. “I was just trying to figure out if you were getting deaf in your old age. Or maybe you’ve lost your ability to find your way through the pathways of the Void. This doesn’t look anything like Kade’s place.”

“In case you’re interested, Roy and his family made it out safely. They should be back at their own home by now.”

“I am interested, but you didn’t need to bring me here to tell me this.”

“I delivered Elliot to Cooper. Flinn took his warriors and Crystal back to his place and they’re all unharmed.”

“What do you really want, Ronan?” A hand started to go to her hip then she dropped it when she remembered all the blood on it.

“You at my side when I take the Council seat in a couple of hours.”

She shook her head. “That wasn’t part of the deal. Not really. All I had to do was help you-” she hesitated, unable to bring herself to say kill. “Deal with Tahmid.”

Ronan closed the small distance that was between them. “I know you, kitten. You were born for this.” He reached out and lifted her hand, turning it so her dagger was visible.

Amber tugged her hand from his grip. “For what? An assassin? Not likely. Now take me to Kade’s.”

Ronan smiled, all predator, gold in the depths of his blue eyes. “No. Not an assassin. You don’t have it in you to sneak around in the shadows. A Dragon Mage. A warrior.” He took hold of her hand, taking her through the Void.

When they came out into Kade’s lounge room everyone was shouting. Charles and Helen both had their swords drawn, facing Kade who had his hand on the hilt of his while Jasper was trying to tell Charles and Helen to put their weapons away.

“Enough!” Amber shouted.

The room was filled with silence for a split second before everyone started talking at once. Ronan leaned back against the wall near the front door, a smile of amusement. Amber shook her head. This was ridiculous. Hadn’t they just fought together against an enemy? And yet still they fought amongst themselves.

She stepped between Charles and Kade, her eyes on Charles. “Stop it. I won’t let you hurt him.”

“She doesn’t belong to you Knights,” Ronan said.

Amber rounded on Ronan, about to say she didn’t belong to him.

Kade spoke before she could. “Do you want to go somewhere quieter?”

She was sick of always having to watch what she said. Sick of the fights. Her eyes were drawn to the blood on her hands. Sick of battle and sick of the blood. Always there was blood. Even in her dreams.

Helen pointed a finger at Kade. “Stay away from her. If it wasn’t for you, she’d be a Knight.”

“If it wasn’t for Kade, Grandad would still be imprisoned.” She shouted the words, trying not to, but it was impossible. She was so tired. Tired of everything. She just wanted her life back. And this wasn’t it. Again her eyes were drawn to the blood on her hands. It was nothing like her life.

“I would have escaped eventually,” Charles said.

He had to disagree with everything. Her eyes roamed the room, before being drawn back to her bloodstained hands. “I can’t do this anymore.” She headed for the front door.

“Where are you going?” Helen demanded.

She stopped, still facing the door. She didn’t have a clue. Where could she go? Turning, she faced Helen. “I’ll stay at your place until school finishes and then I’m gone. It’s not like you’re using it.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Kade crossed the room, reaching for her.

She sidestepped him. “I can’t do this anymore. It’s not me.” She held up her hands. “Look at them. Ten. I’ve killed ten people.” A sharp laugh burst from her. “I can count them on my two hands. How long before that’s no longer possible? How long before I lose count?”

“Amber-”

Again she stepped away from Kade. “I just can’t. I need to get away from all this mess.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. The words were hard enough to speak. If she looked into his eyes she knew she wouldn’t be able to say them.

“What about Topaz?” Jasper asked. “She has to go back Tuesday.”

It took her a moment before she could think what to do. “I’ll go with Ronan Tuesday and tell them you will make the exchange in future.” She started to turn away.

“I always knew you were weak,” Helen spat the words.

She met her grandmother’s eyes, anger pushing the pain away. Anger. She was sick of anger. That wasn’t her. The blood, the anger, the fear. She didn’t have a clue who she was these days, but that wasn’t her. Words began to form, but she changed her mind. Her grandmother’s comment didn’t deserve acknowledging. As she turned to the door, she caught Ronan’s gaze, a slight smile of amusement on his lips. She pointed a bloodstained finger at him. “And you stay out of my life.”

Ronan chuckled.
“You know my number, kitten.”
He vanished into the Void.

He was wrong. She was done. She strode outside, staring at the road. It was a long way to town and she wasn’t about to walk it. She’d have to fly. A panther would cause too much unwanted attention.

“Amber!”

She kept walking, trying to ignore how the tone of Kade’s voice cut into her.

He ran after her, stepping in front of her. “Don’t go.” His voice was soft, his words a plea.

She shook her head. “I can’t do this anymore. I have to go.” Could hearts break? Is that what the ache in her chest was?

“Please.”

She almost gave in. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. Her lungs filled with the scent of him. Dragon. Forcing herself to meet his eyes, she said. “I can’t stay. If I do-” she broke off, looking to the side.

Kade reached for her, but she backed away. His hand curled into a fist as it dropped to his side. “Don’t do this. How can you even think about leaving? You say you love me. If you did, you couldn’t walk away. It would be ripping you apart.”

“It’s ripping me apart to stay.” She swallowed, finding it almost impossible. “It’s turning me into someone I’m not.” The blood was drying on her hands. How long would it take to remove those stains?

“Wait until the end of the year and I’ll go with you.”

She shook her head. “Don’t you see? You’ll still be a Gold Warrior. I can’t be a part of that.” Her eyes burned as she held his gaze a moment more before she stepped around him and kept on walking, images of blood filling the world around her. It looked like she’d have to walk. There was no way she could change form without the panther forcing her way out. And if she was going to do this, if she was going to take her life back, she needed to leave it all behind. The fire, the goshawk, the panther and most of all the dragons. Her eyes momentarily closed. The dragons. A dragon. That was the hardest part of all. But this wasn’t her. She needed to figure out who she was before she became someone she wasn’t.