Dragon Storm (13 page)

When the twins stepped forward to add their own formal words to hers, the two shifters seemed to regard them with awe and a sort of stunned amazement. They had heard the rumors. Word had spread fast through the shifter community. Everyone seemed to know there were dragons in the world, heading for the snowcat sanctuary in the Himalayas.

Josie only hoped her grandfather didn’t know yet. There were few phones anywhere near the snowcat village, so perhaps he hadn’t heard. If so, she’d be lucky. She wanted to surprise him with the twins. She wanted to see his first reaction—not the one he’d had time to think about.

The plane to Tibet was much smaller and made funny noises she preferred not to think about. Safety standards in the Communist country weren’t quite what they were in the West.

Connor took one of her hands as Darius took the other.

“Don’t worry. This craft flies at a height we can handle with no problem. Should it falter, we can fly you to safety easily enough.”

It comforted her to know they could rescue her should the plane take a nosedive. It also warmed her to know they were attuned to her moods already. They knew when she was scared out of her wits and why.

“It’ll be okay,” she insisted, but she didn’t let go of their hands until they landed on a narrow runway high in the Himalayas.

Darius and Connor looked around with interest as they disembarked from the small plane, directly onto the tarmac. A small building in the distance was the airport terminal. As with their arrival on mainland China, a shifter escort was their to meet them. This one spoke only Tibetan and bowed in greeting, which Josie returned. She struggled to remember the language of her youth and was startled when Darius addressed the escort—a nervous-looking leopard shifter—in perfect Tibetan.

“Where did you learn this language?” Josie asked him in the same tongue.

“Am I speaking a different language?” Darius looked truly surprised.

“You are.”

The leopard escort’s eyes widened, and he began to pray.

“It could be the magic trinkets Shanya gave us,” Connor observed, pulling the necklace from an inside pocket of his leather tunic. He held it in his hand, and Josie recognized it as a twin to the one his brother wore. It had the mark of a dragon chased in gold and silver. Handsome work in the shape of a small shield. Connor too, was speaking the native dialect.

Darius moved the collar of his tunic aside and displayed the matching necklace he wore. It gleamed against his bronze skin.

“One of the fair folk gave these to us before we departed on our journey. She was a seer and warned us that we would be making a quest to a far-off land. She was right about that part, at least.” Darius raised an eyebrow in the direction of the surrounding snow-capped mountains.

“Fair folk? That’s what Irishmen call elves, but they’re just a myth.” She waved one hand in dismissal of the idea.

“Like dragons, eh?” Darius grinned at her.

“All right, you have a point,” she had to concede. Josie looked at the frightened escort who had retreated a few steps. She smiled at him, trying to ease his fear. He was young and untried, more frightened than he should have been. “What is your name?” She tried to speak softly, to encourage his trust.

“Zhao. I was sent to escort you, but I am not a true escort. I fear my skills will not be up to your standards, blessed one.”

Oh, boy, this one had it bad. The snowcats liked to cultivate reverence among the other shifters, and this youngster had bought her grandfather’s mumbo jumbo hook, line and sinker.

She took his arm and began to walk away from the plane. They couldn’t stand on the tarmac all day. People were beginning to wonder about them.

“Don’t worry, Zhao. I’m sure you’ll do fine. My name is Josie. Do you have a vehicle?” He seemed to come out of his daze and nodded eagerly, gesturing toward the parking area.

They walked companionably toward the dilapidated van that waited. Darius and Connor took charge of her carry-on bag while she did her best to calm Zhao’s nerves. They piled into the van and the young leopard got behind the wheel, more at ease with each moment.

“I can take you to the base of the mountain. We were not able to get word to the snowcat patriarch of your arrival. Sometimes we don’t see anyone from the mountain for months at a time. I am sorry.”

“Actually, I prefer to surprise my grandfather,” Josie admitted.

“The patriarch is your grandfather? Then you are the ghostcat.”

“The what?” Even Josie was surprised by the name. She had no idea the villagers at the base of her grandfather’s mountain even knew of her existence. Of course, she had snuck down the mountain often enough as a youngster, seeking friends her own age. She’d even found a few among the village children, but her grandfather always came and got her, demanding she follow him back home.

“Forgive me.” Zhao seemed embarrassed. “It is what some of us called the pale young girl who visited our village many years ago. We thought perhaps she’d died. It’s good to know she lives and has fulfilled such a grand destiny. You walk with dragons, they say.”

Josie was impressed the leopard had figured out and heard so much. The shifter grapevine must really be working overtime.

“Darius and Connor are dragons brought here from another world. We’ve come to see my grandfather to learn what he knows about where they come from. As you can imagine, it would be hard for dragon shifters to live in our modern world.”

Zhao’s eyes flicked back and forth between the road and his rearview mirror, in which he could see the twins. He looked awe-struck once again.

“It is hard for any shifter. I can only imagine how hard it would be for a dragon to hide his presence in this age of technology.”

Zhao fell silent and Josie turned to the twins, who sat on the bench seat in the back of the small van.

“The village is used to shifters. It is one of the few places in the world we can roam, but even here, we have to be careful not to be seen by outsiders. If humans see us in our animal forms, we could be shot at or hunted. At least we look like animals people are used to seeing. There are no dragons in this world. If you two were seen, it would cause big trouble.”

“It’s kind of hard for us to hide, considering how big we get in our other form.” Darius laughed, but she felt his unease. How would they live in this world? Josie only hoped her grandfather could offer some good advice.

Zhao stopped the van at the base of a trail that led up the mountain. The men got out and surveyed the area, looking upward with calculating eyes. Connor stowed the handles on her carry-on and adjusted the straps, sliding it onto her back.

She hadn’t expected that. Sure, she could carry the thing, but she’d thought the twins would have a little more chivalry than to make her carry the bag when they had no luggage of their own. Then Connor walked off, away from the trail without so much as a word.

“Where are you going?” she called after him.

He didn’t answer as a black fog surrounded him. A moment later, the dragon stood in his place. Darius took her hand and led her to his brother.

“He gets the honor of carrying you this time, but it’s my turn next.” Darius showed her where to place her foot on Connor’s bent knee to climb up onto his back.

“We’re flying up there?” She was shocked by the idea, surprised she hadn’t realized what the twins intended.

“Of course. No sense walking through knee-deep snow when you can fly. It will be quicker and warmer this way.” Darius turned to Zhao and shook the young man’s hand, thanking him for the ride before he too, shifted shape into a black dragon.

Connor took a running start, expanding his wings and in two great sweeps of his tar black wings, they were airborne. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. Within moments, they were high above the ground, Zhao and his van turning to insignificant specks below.

Darius followed behind, bringing up the rear. Only seeing the glint of the sun off metal did she realize the intricate necklace had transformed into a plate of armor that covered his chest with a gleaming design. He was magnificent as he gained on them, flying beside them and winking one huge, jeweled peridot eye at her.

“How do you like it?”
Josie jumped a little, realizing it was Darius’s warm voice in her mind. Experimentally, she tried to send a message back.

“I love it!”

Whether he heard the words or not, she wasn’t certain, but he seemed to get the gist of her feelings.

“Is that the snowcat village?”
Connor’s voice felt slightly different in her mind, distinctly unique.

She looked upward, realizing they’d covered the distance that usually took a full day to climb on foot, in less than a few minutes. Sure enough, she saw the curving lines of the dojo’s roof in the distance.

“Yes! That’s it!” she shouted aloud to be heard above the wind. It was cold up here, but with Connor’s dragon warmth beneath her, she didn’t really feel it. His dragon body was like a furnace, warm and toasty where they touched, even through her layers of clothing. They drew nearer to the village, and she felt an odd sense of triumph that was quickly doused.

With dawning horror, she heard an alarm being sounded through the village. Bowmen appeared on the rooftops, and a few eager arrows were loosed.

“Stop!” She screamed over the wind, and pounded her fists on his hide, but Connor ignored her. Tears came to her eyes as she saw the glint of arrows flying toward them.

Connor seemed to hover, caught one tiny arrow in his claws, looked at it then threw it away in disgust. He veered away from the village, putting his body between her and the rain of arrows aimed their way.

“Never fear, sweetheart. Darius will talk to them.”

“But the arrows!”

“Such arrows cannot pierce our hide. They could damage your lovely skin however. We will wait in safety while Darius does his best to make them see reason.”

“Darius?”

Already some distance away, they flew well out of range of the village’s weapons but were able to see the black dragon with his gleaming chest plate of armor land in the snow. People scattered and arrows flew, bouncing off his coal black hide. Flame came from his mouth. Josie could see he was careful not to hurt anyone or burn anything of importance. It was merely a show of his power.

A dragonish chuckle drifted from Connor’s mouth. He aimed the stream of smoke away from her as they flew, gliding now as he followed a path back and forth in the sky so they could keep an eye on his twin and the village.

“Dar is not the most tactful in our family, but we all had lessons in diplomacy as we grew up. He’ll bring them around.”

“But their weapons. Won’t they be able to hurt him now that he’s so close?”

“Such weapons as I just saw cannot hurt us.”

“But others can?”

“As our mate, you will learn all our deepest secrets in time, my love.”

“How can I be sure he’s safe unless I know what can hurt you? I know the kinds of weapons they have in the village. You don’t.”

“A good point. Do they have diamond blades in that village?”

To say she was surprised would be an understatement. “Not to my knowledge. Maybe on some rock cutting tools, but not on the weapons.”

“Then there is little to fear. Diamond blades are the only things we know of sharp enough to pierce dragon scale. Of course, some things like skith venom can hurt like the dickens and do major damage if we don’t wash it off quickly.”

“What is a skith?”

“Worm like creatures as big as me and Dar. They squirm along the ground and live in rocky places eating anything that comes by, including people. They spit venom that is as corrosive as the strongest acid. You do not have such creatures in your world? If so, you are fortunate. They were created to be a dragon’s worst enemy and inhabit the neighboring land of Skithdron.”

Josie was intrigued, but her attention was split between his words and the action on the cliff. The arrows had stopped, and she saw her grandfather walk forward to meet Darius, who remained in dragon form. Perhaps they were ready to calm down and see what the dragons wanted.

“That’s my grandfather,” she whispered, but apparently Connor heard her soft words.

“Good. Dar is more likely to make headway with the leader. It is a good sign that he came out to parlay.”

Connor flew a little closer on the next pass, and she could see the old man’s eyes turned toward her.

“The old man wants to know if the daughter of Marpa has come home to stay?”
Darius’s voice sounded through all three minds.

“To stay?” Josie was suddenly frightened. She didn’t want to stay here. She wanted to be with her mates—wherever that led her. “I don’t know. I go where you go. He needs to understand that.”

“I’ll make it clear,”
Darius assured her.
“They’ve put their weapons down. I’ll shift, and we’ll see how that goes. If they don’t attack me as soon as they think I’m vulnerable, chances are it’ll be safe for you to land.”

“Be careful,” Josie whispered, hoping Darius would get the message. She wasn’t sure how this telepathy thing worked, but it was a handy gift. She’d learn, if at all possible, so she could talk with her mates the way they talked with her.

On the ledge, Josie saw the shimmering black cloud envelop the dragon for a split second before Darius, the man, appeared in his place. He was clothed in black leather and the gray hooded sweat jacket he’d worn on the plane, his gleaming dark hair vibrant in the sun. He was taller and broader than the men who surrounded him, confident in a way few men were.

God, how she loved him.

Connor flew closer, going in cautiously. The entire village, it seemed, watched their progress as he alighted on the snowy edge of the small town.

“Slowly now, my love. Use my knee to step down and do it with the dignity you wish to portray. Remember, you are a princess among these people. Do not let your grandfather intimidate you in any way. You are our mate now. He has no power over you except that which you give him.”

The pep talk was exactly what she needed. “I love you.” Josie bent to kiss Connor’s sinuous neck before stepping off, just as he’d instructed, with as much dignity as she could muster.