Furee Born: The Dragon Mage Series Book IV (2 page)

“Rhune,” she gasped, “must
you sneak up on a person?”

The mink transformed into
a 12-year-old boy with auburn hair and grass-green eyes kneeling in the
flowers, taking up a lot more space in his grubby leathers than the mink had. 
Riva winced at the carnage his growing boy body inflicted on the flowers he
trampled.

“I didn’t want Furee to
stop me before I talked to you,” he said in a loud whisper.

Riva blinked and looked
around.  “I think I would know if Furee was in the garden,” she said, her voice
filled with soft irony.  “He is not exactly easy to miss.”  That was the honest
truth.  Whenever he was in the room, Riva felt the pull of him, no matter where
he stood or who else was around.

Rhune shrugged his skinny
shoulders.  In the last few years, he had grown lanky and bulked up enough that
he was starting to show the promise of the warrior he would one day grow into. 
But for now, as hard as he tried to eat everything he could find, it was not
enough to put more than meager boy muscles on his frame.

Rhune rolled his eyes at
her naiveté.  “He never comes to the garden.”  He pointed up to the high peaks
that rose above and around them.  

Forsaken was a castle
fortress hewn directly from the mountain itself through dragon dreams, the same
dragon dreams that made a garden grow out of stone.  The peaks above them went
on for miles up the mountain and housed rooms, turrets, and balconies for the
dragons to come and go in flight.

“He always watches you
from above, where you can’t see him.”  Rhune finished with a softer voice, “He
wouldn’t let me wake you up if he caught me, and he would listen.”

She didn’t know what to
address first, but the healer inside won out.  “Is someone hurt?”  Later she
would address the other question she had about Furee watching her.  For now,
Rhune was a healer in training, and as such, there were things he could not
handle on his own, and some he should not handle at all, not at such an early
age.

When most mage used too
much power, they burned out, were sick, and needed time to heal the damage and
recharge.  Healing power was different; something about the way the power was
stored or the way it was used meant there was no cup of power to draw from.  Rather,
a healer’s body and spirit as a whole was a vessel for the magic.  When the healing
mage used too much power they died.

“Morgan?”

“She’s fine,” Rhune was
quick to allay her fears.  “Grumpy but fine.”

Riva smiled at his
disgruntled tone.  “If you had been pregnant for two years you would be grumpy,
too,” she assured him, shaking her head at the thought.

Dragons it seemed took
much longer to gestate then humans or mages, even half-mage twins.  Morgan was
as big as a house, had every dragon at Forsaken driving her crazy trying to
cater to her every whim, and faced what could be another three years of the
same if she followed the standard dragon timeline.  Riva could not even imagine
being pregnant for two years, let alone the five that full dragons gestated. 
Yes, she would definitely be grumpy, too. 

“If not Morgan, what has
you interrupting the first real sleep I’ve managed in three days?”  Riva smiled
to show she wasn’t angry with him, but she was glad she had gotten the small
sleep that she had.  Her nightmares were not always kind, but it was her status
as a healer that had her losing sleep lately.   With so much unrest in Dracon,
Morgan ready to deliver anytime, and the sporadic calls from Seatown to come
treat rescued mages, she always seemed to be coming or going.   Reason enough,
she supposed, for Furee, who had elected himself her guardian in her brother’s
staid, to guard her sleep as diligently as her person.

“It’s about Furee.” 
Rhune looked up and around to make sure they were still alone so he missed the effect
his words had on Riva.  “When he grabbed me to pull me off the balcony rails
yesterday, I felt it.  There is something wrong inside him.”  Rhune’s young
grass-green eyes seemed to drift away, looking at something only he could see
and darkening.  “There was so much pain . . .”

Asha felt the dream
change the second Riva left it.  No longer was she looking through the healer’s
eyes to see but had become a distant viewer, as she was through most of her
dream walks, which meant there was something here in the past that would have
an impact on the future.  She waited for the memory to unfold.

She watched Riva and
Clare disappear into the forest and turned to see Furee meet the five dragons
from House of Earth as they landed and shifted from dragon to warrior form.

Brax took the lead,
stepping forward, his eyes on the forest behind Furee where the women had
disappeared.  Then, he turned eyes of black onyx to the dragon knight in his
way.  A big man, Brax consisted of gold tones like most of the House of Earth dragons.
The security force Lord Rendal had put together from House of Earth as his
personal guard were more likely to wear jeweled swords and ostentatious gems
sown into their tunics with no real thought as to how they might hinder or help
them in battle.  Brax was no different.  A big warrior nearly equal to Lux in
height, he towered over Furee in both width and height, but despite the size
difference, not a dragon there doubted who would win going head to head with
Furee.  Brax might have had delusions of grandeur, but he was not so deluded to
challenge a dragon knight of the Light as old and battle-hardened as Furee. 
Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to take the lead.

When the silence had
lengthened enough that the Earth dragons were looking around nervously, Furee
spoke.  “Yes, did you have a reason for stopping to chat?”

The men blinked.  Brax
narrowed his eyes at the dry tone.  His jaw tightened.  “We have been sent to
bring the unclaimed mage females, the Lady Riva and the Lady Clare, to the
council chamber.  By law, they will be presented to the unmated males of Dracon
for mating.”

“So?” Furee said mildly. 
“The Ladies Riva and Clare are House of Fire and Water.  Present yourself to
the head of their house and state your case to them.  I am sure Eben Kinkaid
and Prince Ladon will respond decisively.”

The House of Earth
dragons looked at each other, shifting just a bit at the thought of taking this
fight to Kinkaid.

“The ladies are here,”
Brax said, his mouth caressing the words in a way that had Furee’s eyes
flashing brighter.  “We will see our duty carried out and Kinkaid can take his
response to the council.”

“And I assure you he
will,” Furee said mildly enough, “after he hunts down every dragon who dared to
try and take a female under his protection against her will.  But none of that
will matter to you five,” Furee continued, his voice dropping just enough, his
eyes flashing from fire to ash in that brutally beautiful face.

“And why is that?”

Furee bared his teeth at
the other dragon and two of House of Earth backed hastily away.  “Because
anyone who touches them dies at my hands,” he finished on a growl, the rage
flashing and shifting his eyes to smoldering ash, “today.”

“Take him,” Brax suddenly
ordered, which had three of the dragons from House of Earth taking hesitant
steps forward and another gawking at him. 

The gawker spoke, “Take
him?”  A golden-haired, golden-skinned warrior with eyes of shifting fog turned
his incredulous eyes to Brax.  “What do you mean ‘take him’?  We are not
seriously going to attack a knight of the Light and take two females who
obviously don’t want to go with us?”  He shook his head and looked from Brax
and Furee to the forest beyond where the women hid.  “This is not right.”  The
last he seemed to say to himself.

“Adair,” Brax growled, “you
will follow my orders.”

Adair narrowed his eyes
at the other dragon and repeated the words with more surety.  “This is not
right.”  He stood up a little straighter.  “My father would not want this.”

Brax laughed mockingly.  “Your
father gave the order.”

Adair nodded, looking
grim.  “He has given many orders lately that do not make sense.  I am through
following them.”

Brax pointed at the other
three dragons.  “Are you all going to turn coward as well?  Afraid of a knight of
the Light?  Or is it that you don’t want mates of your own?  Take him.”  Then
he turned to Adair while the other dragons moved to circle Furee.  “You can
return to House of Earth and explain to Lord Rendal why his son was too afraid
to take on one dragon, while I take the female that would have been yours.”

Adair shook his head.  “Only
mine if she were truly my mate, who my father is has no say in that.”  His
misting eyes turned to granite.  “And you are not taking anyone, anywhere.”

“You are barely past your
second molt,” Brax scoffed.  “You cannot challenge me.”

“I can,” Adair said,
stopping the other dragons in their tracks.  “And I do.”

Everyone seemed to hold
their breath, all attention turning to the two Earth dragons who were squaring
off, and Furee was watching it all – waiting.  He caught the Earth dragon Adair
looking at him briefly and knew he was stalling.  He nodded minutely to the
young dragon.

Adair raised his chin at
the acknowledgment from the legendary Furee of the dragon knights.  He would do
this.  He spoke in a hush.  “I challenge you Brax for the mage females.  You
will not touch them.”

“They are not yours to
protect,” Brax stated on a growl.  “You cannot challenge to keep something you
never had.”

“As you said,” Adair said
coolly, “my father has already promised the Lady Clare to me.  That he has not
the right to do so does not change your actions here; why should it change mine? 
I proclaim her mine to defend.”

The other man seemed to
grow in his fury.  “Challenge me, hatchling, and I will not care that your
father protects you. I will be bringing you back to him in pieces.”

“You aren’t taking them.”

Brax launched himself at
the younger dragon, his cry of rage turning to a roar of intent as he shifted
in midair to dragon.  Adair was just seconds too slow in his shift and found
his dragon at a disadvantage when he was taken up into the air on sharp talons
and then smashed into the ground, causing a percussion to resonate in every
direction for miles.  Then the real fight began.

Asha saw the bloody
fight, and the other three dragons turn on Furee at a roar from Brax.  She knew
what followed.  Brax would leave Adair for dead at the end of this fight and
head into the forest after Clare and Riva.  His attempt to claim Clare would
fail when Theron, Lord of Seatown, entered the fight in her defense.  He would
kill Brax.  Riva would heal Adair as he lay dying.  The dragon knights would
come, but they would be too late to make a difference, and her brother, Lord
Theron, would be taken before the dragon council for killing Brax.  The dragon
knights and the Houses Fire and Water and, surprisingly, Lord Topa of House of
Air would take a stand against the laws.  Theron would proclaim all mage to be
under his protection.

Asha watched it all to
the conclusion.  She knew all this, had witnessed some of it firsthand, and the
rest through other dream walks.
What am I missing?
  She went deeper into
the weave that followed.  What she found had her returning to her body
abruptly.

***

Asha opened her eyes with
a gasp, not surprised to find herself held tightly in her mate’s arms. 
Everyone in the meeting room at her brother’s castle in Seatown was looking at
her, dragons and mages alike.  She caught her mate’s glittering topaz eyes.

She grimaced, “I did it
again, didn’t I?”

He shrugged his broad
shoulders.  “At least this time we weren’t in the middle of something good.”

And we managed to stay on
our feet and not scrawled ignobly across the stone floor
,
he added in her head through their mate bond.  Remembering the aches and pains
from more than one tumble, she had to agree.

Lux, the dragon warrior who
had traveled with them from Dracon, chortled.  “I was going to say at least you
weren’t flying, but ‘something good’ brings so many possibilities to mind.”  He
slapped Braedon on the back, and both he and Asha nearly went flying from the
impact. 

At seven-feet-plus, Lux
was a massive muscled beast of a man who towered over the much shorter mage
warriors and huntsman of Seatown.  If that was not enough to attract attention,
he had blue hair the same color of his dragon scales when he shifted. Like
nothing human, in the sun it shown like liquid sapphires when he moved.  His
eyes were the ever-changing blue-green of ocean waves.  She had seen him when
he was angry and the waves in his eyes looked like storm-tossed seas under dark
moody skies.  He talked loud, laughed louder, and rarely took anything too
seriously.  The giant battle axe he carried across his back was the size of a
human child, and she had seen him use it in battle and laugh while he cleaved a
bloody trail through armies.

Unlike the earth tones of
her mate’s huntsman’s leathers and soft boots, Lux wore black leather with high
boots.  Lux’s top was not the soft supple tunic the mages favored, but a vest
that cut a deep v showing off hard muscle and man.  Whereas the huntsman and
mage warriors of Seatown wore a sword with a variety of other blades, his belt
was wide leather and bare of sword or sheath.  He was scary enough anyway, with
the giant axe and the ability to shift into a house-sized blue dragon.  Covered
in diamond hard scales and gifted with talons and teeth, more steal would be
superfluous.

Usually Asha was the one who
stood out in this crowd; half ice dragon, half fire mage, Asha was tall for a
human but short for a dragon.  With her lapis lazuli eyes, skin that glowed
like pearls, and hair with a diamond bright shimmer over bronze, no one could
mistake her as anything but a dragon.  In her mate’s swarthy arms and next to
his dark hair, she looked like the wick of a candle glowing softly.

The rest of the company
consisted of one steel-haired huntsman beside Braedon, and two mage warriors. 
The brothers, Archer and Cree, traveled as Lord Theron’s personal guard.  Or
they did when he traveled as human.  Most of the time these days, he shifted to
dragon and flew away without a word to anyone.  He was coming and going so
often, she had not seen him in anything but his dragon form in months, and that
from a distance.

The brothers, both taller
than the huntsman and shorter than Lux, were well armed always, their black
leathers fairly bristled with weapons, but even stark naked, they would still
exude menace, probably more so naked.  As hard and honed down as the huntsman
were that followed Braedon, the two brothers were both darker and harder,
making the others look soft by comparison.

Very private, they rarely
spoke, but watched everything like stalking predators, keeping their own
council.  Like most of the shifting mages Asha had met since leaving Dracon,
they lacked the power to transform into more than one animal.  Archer shifted
to the hawk his sharp features resembled.  Cree, surprisingly, shifted to a
black stallion with a single deadly horn jutting from the center of his
forehead.  Both men were deadly in either form they wore, and both were
watching Asha with identical questioning looks in their dark eyes – the same
question that resided in everyone’s eyes at that moment.  But then she was the dragon
seer.  When she had a vision, everyone knew to worry.  It was rarely good news.

Asha sighed; having put
it off as long as she could, she turned back to her mate, giving it to him
directly and without artifice while the rest of them listened.  “Riva dreams in
memory and I was drawn to walk it with her, but she did not see what I saw.”

At the mention of his
sister, Braedon froze, Lux cursed, and everything else in the room stilled
utterly.  The beautiful healer was well known in Seatown and had healed most
everyone there at one time or another.

Braedon’s attention
sharpening, his eyes turned grim.  He had almost lost his sister to an angry
mob and a bonfire once before.  Spending so much time in Seatown the last few
years while his people adjusted to living in one place rather than the nomadic
existence they led before, he worried.  About them, about the mage situation in
both Dracon and the human places, but mostly he worried about his sister.  If
he could have forced her to stay with them at Seatown, he would have.  But Riva
had a mind of her own and felt that Morgan and her soon to be babies beat out
the worrying of an overprotective brother.

“Tell me,” he finally
said, not bothering to let her go.  Asha didn’t mind.  She preferred to have a
grip on him when he heard what she had to say.

“Riva remembers the day
Clare was attacked and the dragons of Houses Fire, Water and Air broke from
Dracon.  She awoke before the fight but I saw it.”  Asha hesitated.  “And I saw
her heal Adair after he was nearly killed going against his own house to
protect Clare from Brax.”

Lux snorted.  “Everyone
knows that story, the young dragons from every house can’t shut up about the
beautiful,
unclaimed
mage healer who brought Adair back from the brink
of dragon death when he went against his own to defend the other beautiful
unclaimed
mage female.”  He shook his head.  “It has eclipsed even the great battles of
the dreaded Eben Kinkaid in the telling.”