Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (29 page)

The army out the front suggested there was quite a lot.

Marl finally expressed his unease. “Where did they come from? What do you
think they want?”

“I have no idea,” Sapha had to admit. “But something tells me that Arotia
is not going to like the reason they either want our city or our crystals, and
either way it will be the end of the people here.”

Marl was already deathly pale, his skin white, translucent – like all of
the Drones – muscle and bone visible beneath, but he seemed to shrink even
further into himself. “What will happen to me?” He knew Sapha needed nothing to
survive.

“I will keep you alive,” she whispered to her only friend, the little boy
she thought of as a brother and would die to protect. “Do not ever fear death
from lack of energy, I have enough to keep you alive.”

Marl hugged her, his cold thin body melding into her own for a brief
second. The Drones did not hug or touch much, it was not in their nature – too
easy to want to suck the life energy from another. But Sapha craved touch, so
these brief moments meant everything to her. “I would give you energy now, but
I know that if anyone sensed it on you, they would want to know where you got
it from and they would kill you.”

They would think Marl was stealing energy and they would not hesitate to
end his life. They were brutal with their laws now. Martial law ruled Arotia.

“You give me more than enough.” Marl patted her arm once before
withdrawing back to himself.

He really didn’t understand the power Sapha wielded.

There was
no day or night on Dronish to mark the passing of time, only the sliver of moon
which drifted across the sky. From this they knew when to rest in their meditative
state and when a weekly cycle had passed so they wouldn’t miss Marl’s next
chance with the crystals. Sapha wished they didn’t have to go into Arotia at
all, but Marl wore tracking bracelets, as did all the other Drones. If someone
did not show up for feeding time, they searched for them. The priest said it
was protection for the masses, but it was really about control. The trackers
were deactivated, the lights along the edge of the ankle brace dull and
lifeless. They would light up if activated. But they only did that in rare
occasions. The priest wouldn’t waste power unless he needed to find you. Sapha
dreaded the day that Marl’s lit up. She didn’t have one of course, she’d been
hidden since birth.

It was the next moon when she approached Marl. She’d been working on a
plan all night. It felt like now was the time to break all ties with Arotia,
especially if a battle was coming. “I think I’ve figured out how to remove your
ankle tracker. I just have to be sure that my power won’t be detected.”

Marl shook his head, his eye blinking as he stared. “Why bother? They
won’t call it in. No need to risk exposure.”

Sapha clenched her hands together. “What if those other Drones have
infiltrated the city? They might have the energy to activate every tracker. They
could find us out here. We risk detection either way now.”

“Can you sneak back in under your shadows and see what’s happening?” He
crouched down on his pillow. It wasn’t time for meditation, but he often sat
and absorbed the fine particles of energy in his surroundings. “That way we
know the true risk either way.”

“I already planned on going,” Sapha said.

She had not rested for the entire meditation period. She had to know what
was happening and she had to know now.

She left Marl, after making him promise many times he would not leave the
cave, and made her way back to Arotia. She called her shadows to her the moment
she was in the clear plains. It was nice when the shadows wrapped around her,
warm and comforting, giving her the touch she desperately craved. Yes, they
were not solid, but had been there her entire life; she would have gone crazy
without them. She slowed outside the fence hole, pausing for a moment to make
sure there was nothing or no one to worry her on the other side. It seemed to
be clear.

She slipped through. There wasn’t anyone close by; she could detect life
force pretty easily, except on those who were close to death. Wandering toward
the town center, her eyes flicked left and right, waiting to detect the
presence of the town’s people. Arotia was not a spread-out city. To conserve
energy, all of the inhabitants lived in large buildings. Each dwelling had
layers on top of the other; literally thousands inhabited each of the
stacked-on structures.

Staying close to the edges of the buildings, hidden by the shadows under
the overhanging eaves, Sapha crept her way toward the front gate. She ground to
a halt about a hundred yards out. She couldn’t move any closer. It looked as if
the entire populations of Arotia was surrounding the gates. Kan and his men
still sat in the watchtower. No one moved or spoke.

What the hell is going on here?

It was hard to get closer without running into anyone, but sticking with
her darkness Sapha managed to get herself right into a small corner of a dwelling.
From here she could climb a lattice decoration and make her way to higher
ground. The first level she reached wasn’t high enough, so she continued to
climb, working hard to keep her movements silent and hidden. Finally the second
story of this particular building allowed an uninterrupted view.

Holy mother of all energy
,
Sapha cursed under her breath as she blinked
out into the darkness.

The crowd of others outside the barriers had grown to massive
proportions. They had at least the same numbers as Arotia, and they had moved
closer to the city. Sapha couldn’t tell what was happening, but it looked as if
they were preparing to enter.

Shouting broke the silence. The words of the ancient Drones’ language.
Not the tongue Sapha preferred, but one she understood.

A young Drone stepped forward. He wore a long, dark cloak like the rest
of their society, his pale skin lit with red carvings which accentuated his
very red eye. “We warned you. Surrender your city and energy to us, or we will
end you all.” He wore his energy like a cloak, and he was filled to the brim.
In fact, all of the people outside the gates looked flush with strength.

“You have one more circle of the moon.” This was his last warning before
he turned and gestured to his people. They all backed away, moving to their
camp.

The Arotia priest turned, facing out to the thousands who waited on his
words.

“Everyone into the town square now. We are bringing out the emergency
crystals. Energy for everyone so we have a chance to fight.”

Sapha gasped a few times before scurrying down the side of the building.
She fumbled near the bottom, missing the last few rungs and landing on her
hands and knees. The hard rock that formed the dry ground bit into her delicate
skin, tearing it and spraying free the liquid which lived under her skin. She
was the only Drone she knew who had this red flowing in their bodies. It was
real pain. Thankfully she wasn’t too hurt and managed to make it to her feet
and take off for the cave. She had to stay ahead of the others and she had to
either free Marl’s tracker or get him back to the town. They were sure to turn
on the trackers for this. It was definitely an emergency.

The Drones were going to war again.

Chapter 2

Abigail

The group
that gathered on the grassy area before the beach was large. We were at the
wedding slash mating of my best friend, Lucy, and her mate, the wolf-Walker
Colton. We were watching Cerberus, a two-headed hellhound, and Lina, a massive,
shiny black unicorn – her long sparkling ivory horn tipped with a deadly-looking
spike – gallop along the sand toward us.

Yes, you heard me correctly: hellhound and unicorn.

As Lina stepped closer, I was shocked to see a pair of shiny black wings
tucked in at her side. I hadn’t noticed them before. Unbelievable. She wasn’t
just a unicorn, but some sort of hybrid. Like a Pegasus and unicorn combined.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what the other five sacred Walker animals are
going to be,” I heard Lucy murmur. She was next to me, still decked out in her
stunning white gown, and tucked under the arm of her equally stunning mate.
Colton’s white-blond hair was tousled. He watched the creatures approach us.

“If Cerberus is bonded to me,” I said, “does that mean each of these
sacred guides will choose one of the half-Walkers?”

I tilted my head upwards and was captured by the velvety brown of my
mate’s eyes. “Yes,” Brace said. “That’s what the legends say.”

As the creatures approached, I felt a draw to step toward them, the same
pull that had been there when I found Cerberus in pixie land. I clearly wasn’t
the only one. Fury, Talina, Ria and Delane followed me off the grassy area and
onto the sand. The half-Walker girls. My heels sunk in but it took no effort to
kick the uncomfortable death-traps free. I reached out and linked hands with
Fury on the right and Talina on the left. In turn, Ria attached to Talina, and
then Delane – our most recent friend from the world of Nephilius – hesitated
just briefly before she took Ria’s other hand. The five of us were linked
physically, but as we stood waiting for the animals to reach us, unity,
strength, and something a little more connected us at a cellular level.

“What’s her name?” I heard Delane whisper. There was a sense of reverence
coating her tone. “And what sort of animal is that?” I wasn’t sure I’d ever
heard such emotion from the warrior Walker.

“On Earth we called them unicorns, but they don’t usually have wings.
She’s a pegacorn,” I said.

“Or a Unisus,” Lucy chimed in.

I laughed. “Probably just easier to stick with unicorn. And her name is
Lina.”

Cerberus reached me first, and his two heads bobbed as happiness exuded
from him. My hellhound had been alone for so long and now he was reveling in the
Walker love around him. Not to mention his fellow animal guides were returning.
Lina paused six feet from us. She had large eyes, a shimmery silver color. With
an inclination of her head she acknowledged each one of us half-Walkers. I
found my own head lowering slightly in return. She was so majestic. The energy
that swirled around her was so strong I kept expecting to see visible strands.

Lina, who stood heads taller than all of us girls, stepped forward and
stopped right in front of Delane. The Nephilius half-Walker’s eyebrows drew
together and her lips parted slightly. She pulled her hand free from Ria, and
then with little pause Delane lifted both hands to gently rest them against the
long, horse-like nose of Lina. Suddenly the Nephilius half-Walker’s short,
silky black hair lifted in whirls around her face and the caramel of her skin
darkened as energy flowed between them. Both Delane and Lina’s wings shot out
from their bodies, standing many feet about their heads. We all had to jump
back or we’d have been clobbered by the massive, razor sharp appendages.

“She’s mine?” Delane choked out. “I can’t … I don’t know what to say.”
She turned her head to face me. She hadn’t removed her hands from Lina. I could
see the shock in her wide, dark eyes.

“They’re our guides, helping us through this war, protecting us when they
can,” I said as I also freed my hands and reached forward to hug Cerberus. “I
think we need to do some research into them. I have no idea what their
capabilities are.”

“We can help you with that, baby girl.” I spun my head to side and found
Josian standing there.

My lips lifted in a broad smile as a flood of joy washed through me. I
was so glad he had made it back before the ceremony was over. He’d had to leave
in the middle of Lucy’s wedding, but I always felt better when he was close by.
Something was going on with my father. I had sensed it for a while now, but
still his presence was so essential in my life that I felt a little lost when
his massive personality wasn’t around.

“Who is we?” Ria asked. Which was a good question, since he was standing
there alone.

“The princeps of all seven clans are due to meet later. We should have
enough knowledge between us.” He grinned, showcasing his perfect white teeth.
His red hair shifted around him in the breeze off the ocean.

I had so many things to be doing in the next twenty-four hours. I needed to
go to the lalunas and see if I could reform my melding bond with Brace. I had
to meet with the princeps and find out about our animal guides. And I needed to
get moving to the next world, Dronish, and gather the sixth half-Walker. We
were in a race against the clock. Four of the Seventine were out there and they
were gathering energy and working to free the last three of their brothers. And
speaking of gathering energy, I also needed to find out what Fury had
discovered on Crais. I had a terrible feeling there was something big about to
go down on one of the planets. I just didn’t know which one or how to prevent
it from happening.

“But I think now it is time for a dance,” Josian said, spreading his arms
wide. “Can I have the honor, baby girl?”

His words had the crowds dispersing again. They moved back to the
positions they’d been in before the arrival of our second sacred animal, mingling
on the dance floor and seated around the tables eating and drinking. I caught
Lucy’s eye and she gave me a wink before turning back to Colton. Brace was
standing where I’d left him; his strong features softened as I blew him a kiss.

As I strode across to Josian, the other girls remained behind, still
gathered around the sacred animals.

***