Dragon Blood 5: Mage (2 page)

When Ronan let go of her hand, Amber looked around, surprised by their surroundings. “Your family crypt? Why’ve you brought me here?” She watched as he removed one of the stones from the wall, the scent of the long dead filling the area.

He held out a journal. The dark brown, leather cover looked new. “Read this.”

“Now?” She eyed the journal. From the loose pages that she could see at regular intervals it looked like most of the pages were filled. “I’m not that fast a reader.”

“Just take the damn book.”

She reluctantly took it, holding it against her chest.

“You’re wearing through my patience. Open it up, Amber.”

Hearing him speak her name made her want to look inside even less. “You only told me I had to take it for now.” It must be pretty important if this was the first thing he wanted her to see when she returned. And she had a really bad feeling about it. Worse than any of the other bad feelings she’d ever had.

Ronan stared at her a moment before his predatory smile formed. “I had no idea you wanted to spend the night in my family crypt with me. Why don’t I go and get a couple of chairs for us to sit on? I won’t be too long.”

Still holding the journal against her chest, she reached out with her other hand to capture his arm. “Don’t you dare leave me in here. And don’t threaten me. I want to see Kade before I do anything else.”

“One page. Look at the first page and afterwards I’ll take you to Kade.”

She held his gaze a moment longer before she let go of his arm. Opening the journal to the first page she stared at it, the word ‘no’ ringing in her mind. Closing her eyes, she slammed the book shut. The image reminded her of the wooden bench in Ronan’s foyer. She remembered the first time she’d seen it. The day they’d captured his castle. It was made from a dark timber, the legs carved in the shape of nightmare-like creatures, their prey dead at their feet. Their human prey. And she’d asked him whose it was only to learn it was as old as his castle.

“Kitten?”

She shook her head, her eyes still closed, the journal pressed against her chest, one hand raised to stop his words. Did she really want to know what it was all about? Did she really… she stopped mid thought and her eyes flew open, her mouth gaping as she recalled Vikki’s last moments. “The hounds are coming.”

Ronan nodded.

“I thought she was talking about your son. Why would you name your son after these?”

“A Hound to catch a hound.”

“What are they?”

“When humans first saw them, they called them demons, evil spirits, but the name that stuck was Hell Hounds.”

“The hounds are coming.” She spoke the words softly. “Why now? Why are they coming now? What has changed?”

“Nothing has changed. They’ve always been coming. What the Knights did to keep them out of this world could never last. But they didn’t want to believe that.”

“What did they do?”

“They bound our worlds together. Ours, the Pliethins’ and yours. It kept the Hell Hounds from coming through the Void. When they first bound our worlds, it lasted a century, but now each binding is lucky to last a decade.”

“What has this got to do with us?”

“Look at that picture again, kitten.” When she continued to leave the book closed, Ronan gestured towards it. “Go on, open it up.”

She reluctantly opened the book and stared at the picture. It was a photocopy of a hand drawing. The markings faded and smudged in places. “Who drew this?”

“My grandfather. He was the first one to tell them that their plan wouldn’t work. And when I saw everything he’d learned and read some of the information he’d written down I knew he was right. But they wouldn’t listen to me either. I was only a child.”

She could easily imagine how that would have annoyed him. “But surely someone else must have realised?”

“If they did, they didn’t want to know about it or do anything about it. The binding is what caused the fall out between the Knights, mages and dragons. They didn’t have to sacrifice anyone. Only the dragons did. And at first the Dragon Mages were sacrificed too, but they eventually learned how to use Pliethins instead.”

“They?”

“The Knights.”

“My grandparents know about this?”

Ronan shook his head. “Most people don’t know about this. At least not all of it. I’m the only one left alive who knows the full story.”

“But all this was ages ago. Maybe it’s different now.”

“Have you listened to anything I’ve said? When they first sealed our Voids together it lasted a hundred years. Now, it barely lasts ten years. Eventually it won’t hold at all. Look at that picture.” He jabbed a finger towards it. “Do you really want something like that coming after your mother?”

She slammed the book shut. There was no way she was about to let anything come after her mother. No dragon, no Knight and certainly not the large fanged creature that looked like an upright, rabid dog. “So all this is because you want to save the world?”

Ronan threw back his head and laughed. “Don’t go making a hero out of me, kitten. I’m not hero material. Like I’ve told you before. This is all about survival. When the binding shatters, if we’re not prepared, those hounds will destroy our worlds and everyone in them.”

She remembered him telling her, months ago, that he’d leave his journals to her if he died. “Is all this in your journals?”

Ronan nodded. “Yes.”

“Where are they? Your journals. You told me the journals were mine if you died. So where have you hidden them?”

He held her gaze a moment longer before nodding to the place in the wall where he’d replaced the stone. “In there.” His expression hardened. “If you read them before I die you are asking me to kill you. Understand?”

She nodded, knowing it was a promise he’d keep. “So you wanted to make sure someone would deal with this even if you couldn’t. I thought you said you were no hero.”

Ronan laughed again. “No. It wasn’t about dealing with it. I wanted to make sure they didn’t win even if I’d died. None of them listened to me. Or my grandfather. We weren’t Gold so we didn’t matter.”

“Is that why you wanted a Council seat? So they’d listen to you?”

“No. I wanted a Council seat so I could steal back my grandfather’s notes that they’d taken. I wanted to translate them so I could find out where the binding was done. We have to destroy it.”

Amber took an involuntary step away from him. “You want to let them in?”

“I want to end this farce so we can get on with doing what should have been done in the first place.”

“And what’s that?”

“We should have been hunting them down and destroying them instead of letting them breed and grow in strength.” He pointed a finger at her. “That’s what Dragon Mages were made for. No matter what skin a Hell Hound wears, you can see through it.”

“Skin?”

“They can take on the appearance of anyone they have killed and eaten. It’s how they gain their strength. And the parents take some of their kills back to their offspring. It’s the only way they can grow and strengthen. From the living flesh of other intelligent creatures.”

This wasn’t what she’d expected to hear when she’d phoned Ronan. Oh, she’d known he was keeping some secret she wasn’t going to like, but this, this was so far beyond the realms of normal she didn’t know what to think. “Do we have to stay in here?” She was getting sick of being surrounded by death.

“No one will disturb us here and no one can stay in the Void in this crypt.” Ronan’s predatory smile formed. “It’s not the dead you should be worried about.”

Amber’s arms tightened around the book she clutched to her chest. “Couldn’t you at least have given me one day back before you dumped all of this on me?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s time for you to do your part. I have an army of Golds loyal to me. I need you to make us an army of mages that’s loyal to us.”

“I thought you didn’t want Dragon Mages.”

“It wasn’t time. Now it is. And I never had an issue with making Dragon Mages. Only making ones that aren’t loyal to us.”

“I need to think about this.”

Ronan gestured towards the book she continued to hug. “Do you want creatures like that loose in your world? Humans are their preferred meal. Most of you are too weak to put up much of a fight. Even against the weakest Hell Hound.”

“You can’t expect to dump all of this on me and expect me to be ready to go. I need time.”

“How much time?”

Amber shrugged. “I don’t know. I have to give my boss notice. And give her time to replace me.”

“Tell her you quit and you won’t be back Monday.”

“I can’t quit my job like that.”

“Tell your boss your mum is suffering a breakdown.” Ronan grinned. “I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Amber’s eyes narrowed as she recalled her boss talking about the time she’d had to help a friend through a breakdown. “How often were you watching me?”

“Not often. You were far too boring with your frequent sighs and your disinterest in doing anything even remotely interesting.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to apologise.”

Ronan chuckled, gesturing towards her. “This is the person who has been missing for the last couple of months. Try and tell me this isn’t you.”

She held his gaze a moment longer, the continual gold colour in his eyes unfamiliar. “Why did you think I’d return?”

“Because I know you. As much as you tried to deny it, you are a warrior.” When she started to speak he interrupted. “Not a killer, or an assassin, or any other term you might come up with that has a negative meaning in your mind. Everything you’ve done told me it’d be impossible for you not to want to come back and protect your people. You just had to figure it out for yourself.”

She continued to stare at him until she finally nodded. “Will you take me to see Kade now?”

“How much time do you need?”

“To visit him?”

“No, to think about the hounds.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. A couple of days, I guess.”

He reached for her, taking her through the Void and arriving in the courtyard of Temolae Keep. “Where is he?”

Amber mentally searched for him. “In our room.”

Ronan again took her through the Void, but this time when they came out, two unknown Golds stepped out of the Void just after them, swords drawn. Kade, who’d been asleep in his bed, became human again, rolling out of bed, reaching for a sword leaning against the chest of drawers at the side of the bed.

“Amber?”

She took a step away from Ronan, keeping a wary eye on the Golds.

Kade glanced towards the two warriors. “Put your weapons away, light some lamps and get out of here.” He leaned the sword against the chest of drawers.

Emotion overwhelmed her and she wanted to fling herself at him and beg him never to let her go again, but she was conscious of Ronan watching them. “We didn’t go to schoolies. You owe me a date.”

With a laugh Kade strode towards her, taking the book from her arms and tossing it onto the bed. “That wasn’t my choice.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.
“I missed you. Ronan and Crystal kept telling me to let you be. That you’d come back. I was beginning to think they were wrong.”

“I’m sorry.”
She didn’t want to let him go. Behind her she felt Ronan disappear into the Void.

“Are you staying?”

“Yes.”

“For good?”

“Yeah. I had to figure some things out.”
Her lips met his and she clung to him until her phone rang. She was tempted to ignore it, but no one called her this late at night. Not unless there was a problem. With one arm still tightly around Kade’s waist, she checked her phone, swearing when she saw it was Cooper. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay? I know you said you’d be late, but…” his voice trailed off.

She’d forgotten about him. She should have rung earlier and let him know what was going on. “I’m with Kade.”

“You’re going back? You said you were finished with being a mage.”

“Well obviously I haven’t.”

“Does this mean we have to go back to being mages too?”

“No. Look, can we talk about this tomorrow?”

“Is it safe to stay here?”

“Yeah.”

“You promise?”

“Look, it’s safe, okay?” She’d make sure of it by asking Rian to organise a Gold to keep an eye on Elliot and Cooper.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

She was tempted to turn off her phone before she returned it to her pocket, but that should be the last call for the night. Smiling, she met Kade’s gaze. “So where were we?”

“You were about to beg me to forgive you for taking off like that.”

Amber laughed, sliding her other arm around his waist. “Really?” Her lips were a breath away from his. “I’m not quite sure how this begging thing works, so you let me know if I’m getting close.” She lightly touched her lips to his.

“I reckon this might be fairly close.”

She didn’t care if it was or not. She wasn’t about to let him go for ages.

The bedroom door being flung open, woke Amber the next morning. She grinned when she saw Crystal in the doorway. Beside her Kade, who’d just turned human, groaned.

With a squeal, Crystal launched herself across the room, throwing herself at Amber. “I thought he was joking when he told me. But Rian never jokes. I can’t believe you’re here. You’re staying now? Oh, I’ve missed you so much. Well? Are you going to say anything or just grin?”

Amber laughed. “I was waiting for you to take a breath. I forgot for a moment that words are like oxygen for you.”

Crystal poked her tongue out before she grabbed Amber’s hands. “What are we going to do today? There’s so much we need to catch up on.”

“Does that mean you’re not about to let me get back to sleep?” Kade asked.

“There’s no time for sleeping,” Crystal said.

Grumbling, Kade staggered out of bed.

Amber drew one of her hands from Crystal, reaching out to Kade.
“We won’t be long.”

He took her hand
. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m hungry. I missed dinner last night.”

“Then I’ll see you shortly for breakfast.”
He let go of her hand.

Amber nodded, watching him leave the room.

Crystal bounced lightly on the bed to catch Amber’s attention. “So what have you been doing? Rian kept telling us you were okay. He said your second warrior was keeping an eye on you.”

Second warrior? She was going to have to talk to Rian later. Did he know about Daray? And who’d made that decision? She smiled when Crystal bounced on the bed again when she didn’t answer her immediately. “Thinking. I had a lot of thinking to do.” Not that she’d done much of it until the last minute.

“You were a bit slow at it. I thought you’d have figured it all out a couple of weeks ago.”

Amber laughed. “I missed you. I missed everyone.”

“Yeah, well that was your own fault. I can’t believe you don’t have anything interesting to tell me.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t do much.” Except mope around and miss everyone.

“Well now that you’re back, I need you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“I want you to talk to Rian.”

“What about?”

Crystal glanced around the room before she spoke. “I need you to tell Rian that if I want to hook up with him and he likes me, then there’s no problem.”

Amber stared at Crystal for a moment. “You like Rian?”

“Yep.” Crystal grinned. “Very, very much.”

“What about Flinn?”

“I’ve never liked him that way.”

Amber shook her head. “No, I mean about being his mage.”

“Oh, I’ll continue being his mage. But just because I’m his mage doesn’t mean I have to be his girlfriend.”

“I didn’t expect you to be. Actually, I’m glad you’re not. And I’d be even happier if you weren’t his mage.” She paused. “This won’t end well.”

“Does that mean you won’t tell Rian that there’s no problem?”

Amber laughed. “There is a problem. It’s called possessive dragons, but I will tell him that the decision is up to the pair of you.”

Crystal threw her arms around Amber. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Amber tightened her arms around her friend. “I really missed you.”

“You were the idiot who took off.”

“Yeah, I know.” There’d been too much going on. She’d needed time to process it.

Crystal drew away. “So when are you going to talk to Rian?”

“I’m guessing the only answer you’ll accept is now.”

Crystal nodded emphatically.

“Can’t I at least have breakfast first?”

“I suppose so. But you will talk to him straight after that, won’t you?”

Nodding, Amber hopped off the bed, grabbed her phone and headed for the door. She’d just about reached it when she decided to turn back and collect the book Ronan had given her. It was lying on the floor half under the bed.

“What’s that?” Crystal asked.

“Homework.”

“You’re studying?”

Amber laughed, shaking her head. “Ronan gave it to me to read.”

“But you only got back last night.”

“Tell me about it,” Amber muttered as they headed out the door.

“What’s it about?”

Amber hesitated. Ronan hadn’t said she couldn’t tell anyone, but he had taken her to his family crypt when he’d told her. “I haven’t read it yet. But I’m pretty sure it’s probably going to be one of those nightmare inducing type of books.”

“It comes from Ronan, that’s almost a given, isn’t it?”

When they reached the dining room Amber sat beside Kade, leaving the book on her lap as she helped herself to the food in front of her. She sent Ronan a text asking him if she could share the book with her people. He replied almost instantly.
Have you read it?

Give me a break.

I thought I already had. How long were you gone?

Amber glared at her phone.
I’ll read it today. Happy?

Not even close.

Can they read it after I’ve read it?

Talk to me first.

She growled, “Bloody dragons.”

Kade chuckled, reaching for her hand. “Have you got any plans for the day?”

“Apparently.”

“What?”

“I’ve got to read a book for Ronan. He just better not expect a book report on it because he certainly isn’t getting one.”

“I doubt whatever he’ll expect from you, after you’ve read it, will be as simple as a book report,” Kade said.

Amber thought of the picture in the front of the book. No, it wouldn’t be that simple. Nothing was ever simple when it came to dragons. For a moment she wondered if she was doing the right thing coming back. It didn’t take her long to know that she was. All she had to do was think about what the nine weeks and five days away from everyone had been like.

Crystal, who was the only other person at the table with them, said, “Don’t forget you’ve got to talk to Rian first.”

Amber grinned. “I do? It must have slipped my mind.”

“What about?” Kade asked.

“Nothing,” Crystal said quickly.

“I have to ask him a couple of questions about several things Ronan said.” She glanced towards Crystal. “Among other things.”

“So when will you have time for me?”

Amber met Kade’s gaze. “I’d like to say right now, but I’ve got a feeling things are going to get really crazy again.”

“But I don’t want crazy. At least not for another six months,” Crystal wailed.

“Why six months?”

“Because then Flinn and Kade will have passed all their tests.”

Amber frowned turning to Kade. “Didn’t you have another test to do besides hold this place for a year?”

Kade nodded.

Crystal answered before he could. “Yeah, but we had someone attack us, trying to take our castle from us. As if we’d let anyone take Temolae Keep. We retaliated as a test.”

“We would have retaliated anyway,” Kade said.

“Yeah, but we used it as a test,” Crystal said.

“Was anyone hurt?” Amber looked from one to the other as worry arrowed through her.

“No one died,” Crystal said. “Well, no one that you know, anyway.”

Why hadn’t they told her they’d been attacked? That they’d needed to retaliate. They’d faced battle without her there to heal them. She shouldn’t have wasted so much time staying away.

Kade reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “We’re fine. Stop worrying about it. There’s always battles. Remember, we like to keep what’s ours.”

Amber smiled reluctantly. “And what’s your neighbour’s too.”

Kade chuckled. “Yeah.”

“A Gold just came into this room in the Void. It’s that one that tried to kill you, Amber. The assassin we talked to at Ronan’s,”
Crystal said to both of them.

“Daray, out of the Void now.” Still holding onto Kade’s hand, Amber turned to face him when he stepped out of the Void. “What do you want?”

“I’m on guard duty.”

“No you’re not. And stop watching me from the Void. I really dislike that.” Amber pointed a finger at him. “Stay right there.” She turned to Kade. “I’ll see you later.” Still holding his hand, her other one rested against his chest as she leaned in to kiss him. When she drew back, she held his gaze for a moment.
“I missed you.”

“Good. Remember that next time you think about taking off.”

Amber grinned.
“I’m not going to take off again.”
With a glance towards her almost finished breakfast, she rose from the table, headed for the door. As she passed Daray, she said. “I’m serious. Stay here.” She mentally searched for Rian, hurrying through the castle to corner him in a hallway. “I need to talk to you.”

With a nod, Rian headed for the planning room, closing the door behind them. He sat at the table, across from her. “Welcome back.”

Amber nodded. “Thanks.”

“I was informed when you arrived last night, but I knew you would want to spend time with Kade. That is why I only told Crystal this morning.”

“That’s not what I want to talk to you about. First, what’s the name of my second warrior?”

“Daray.”

“He belongs to Ronan.”

Rian grinned fleetingly. “Not since he talked to Doneele. His daughter has an extreme case of hero worship for you and Jasper.”

“I thought he was going to stay out of her life.”

“He was worried about her. I do not think he planned to talk to her, but she spotted him. Your brother took her to the theme parks on the Gold Coast as a reward for doing so well at school. Daray followed. Jasper said he could join them for the day.”

“And this is okay?” When Rian nodded, she asked, “I mean, this won’t cause problems?” Rian smiled. The same amused one his father used when she said something stupid. She glared at him. “Well?”

“It may cause problems, but having another loyal warrior at your back is never a bad idea.”

She nodded, trying to think of a way to speak to him about Crystal.

“Was that all?”

“Not quite.” She continued to stare at him, almost wishing he wasn’t siting there so patiently, waiting for her to speak. Why didn’t he ask her what she wanted? “Crystal spoke to me this morning.”

Rian continued to sit patiently.

Amber tried to wrack her brain for the right words. None came. “Oh come on, Rian, help me out here.”

“She should not have bothered you.”

“Yes, she should. We’re friends. That’s what friends are for. She wants me to tell you that if you like her, then there’s no problem to the pair of you hooking up.”

“And if I do not like her in that way?”

“Then tell her.”

Rian remained quiet for several minutes. “Have you considered the problems it would cause you with Flinn?”

Amber stabbed a finger in his direction, leaning forward. “Don’t you dare put this on me. If you’re interested in Crystal don’t you make me the reason you won’t do anything.”

“I am your first warrior. Your needs must come before mine.”

“Well in that case, you’re fired. Now go talk to Crystal.”

Rian chuckled, rising to his feet. “I am not fired, but I will talk to Crystal.” He paused. “Was that all?”

She thought of the book Ronan had given her. “Yeah. For now.”

With a nod, Rian headed for the door, closing it softly behind him.

Amber rested her arms on the table, dropping her head onto them as she breathed out heavily. “Damn dragons,” she muttered, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Before she could have Daray bring her the book she’d left on the table, Crystal spoke to her.

“Rian wants to talk to me. What’s he going to say?”

“I wouldn’t have a clue.”
She rose to her feet, heading for the door.

“But you must have some idea.”

“No. Not really.”

“Okay. I’m almost where he wants to meet me. I’ll talk to you later.”

Amber couldn’t help smiling at the excitement that had been in Crystal’s words. She hoped it worked out for her. Crystal would be devastated if Rian rejected her. She guessed she should have Daray bring the book to her. She hesitated. Surely she deserved at least a little break before she started. Mentally searching for Kade, she found him not far from where she was. Yep, she did deserve a break. She strode towards Kade’s location.