Possessed by a Dark Warrior (2 page)

He had been serving one of those princes for forty-two centuries, almost his entire life. It had become his whole life. It was his purpose.

Had been his purpose.

He threw his arm across his eyes and heaved a sigh as he pushed away from that thought and crushed it out of existence by focusing on the nature surrounding him, soothing his weary soul and bringing him a moment of peace that he knew would be all too brief.

He switched his focus from the nature around him to the dream once he began to relax again, picking out every detail of what was actually a memory, a moment that had occurred only months ago.

He pushed deeper into his memories of the female, running back to another time three centuries ago when their paths had crossed in a dragon clan’s village. The scars on his neck tingled, luring him into drawing his arm away from his eyes to run his fingers over them. Scars she had given to him.

He focused on them and turned the clock back another four centuries, to when he had first set eyes on her.

She had been in her dragon form, her violet scales dark in contrast to the white of her breast, an invader in the elf kingdom and one he had been dispatched to pursue and capture, and bring to justice for her crimes.

She had stolen something precious from Prince Loren, a powerful sword of elven making that had belonged to his father and had been protected in the palace, locked safely away from the world where it could do no harm.

In her reckless hunger for the sword, she had rampaged across the elf kingdom, laying waste to many villages, slaying thousands of his kin.

He had fought her near the border with the First Realm of the demons, where mountains rose high into the darkening sky beyond the elf kingdom, beyond the sphere of the light they brought into their realm to make it verdant and give it life. She had escaped them but then she had returned a short time later. That time, he had led the charge against her, but she had been stronger than he had anticipated, had injured several of his warriors and himself too. They had lost her, and he had hunted for her for decades before he’d had to move his focus to matters regarding his prince’s safety.

Four hundred years later, when Prince Loren had sensed the presence of the sword again, linked to it through the blood of his father, Bleu had led the three finest elf warriors in the army to the dragon realm to seek her out and regain the ancient blade.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he recalled crossing paths with a slender female in one of the villages and she shimmered into being in his mind, as if it had been only yesterday. Her tightly pulled back hair accentuated her striking sculpted features, her face bathed in the shadows of the small thatched stone building she had exited. He had questioned her, so entranced by her beauty and how she kept her head bowed, a touch of shyness to her behaviour, that he had allowed his men to leave his side to question others.

A foolish mistake.

He had dropped his guard and she had lunged at him when he had pressed her about the violet and white dragon, her talons raking down his throat and her incredible eyes flashing dangerously at him as she came into the light.

It had taken him a moment to realise she was the dragon he hunted, long enough that she had fled before he could stop her, transforming and flying away from him just as she had in the arena only a few months ago.

Bleu stroked the scars on his neck. The proof of her sin and a constant reminder of his unfulfilled mission. She had slaughtered thousands of his kin, had stolen something precious to his prince, and extremely dangerous. With such a weapon, she could slay an entire legion of elves with one swing. Now that she had surfaced again, he wasn’t going to let her escape him.

This time, he would capture her and bring her to justice.

The flowers above him in the trees twinkled, their warm light flowing over him, soothing the fatigue from his body. He had been tracking her for what felt like forever, but he wasn’t sure how long he had been gone from the elf kingdom. Not more than seven days, perhaps ten at most. Time had lost meaning in his pursuit of her, his mind so focused on his mission and following all the leads he had to their conclusion, or to the next lead that drove him ever onwards, inching closer to her.

He would complete this mission.

He had never failed one, wasn’t the sort of male who could leave things unfinished. He always had to see them through to the end, even when that end was one that hurt him. He couldn’t leave a fight, could never surrender, not even when his life was at stake.

He would finish this.

Bleu rose fluidly onto his feet and stretched, clasping his hands together above his head. His fingers brushed the flowers on the trees, causing the blooms to briefly close and the light to dip, before they reopened and glowed brighter. The grass tickled his calves as it sprang back and wavered in the warm breeze. Nature cocooned him in a brief sweet embrace that he savoured, aware that it would be a while before he could visit this place again. He tipped his head back and brushed his fingertips across the deep green leaves of the tree that had given him shelter, silently thanking nature for her comfort and for restoring his body, driving the weariness from it enough that he could continue.

He stalked forwards, his bare feet lightly compressing the grasses as he walked through them, heading towards the edge of the forest. With a simple mental command, his armour flowed from the black and silver bands around his wrists, the scales rippling over his body to cover his nudity.

Boots formed over his feet first and then the scales raced upwards, over his calves and thighs, cupping his backside and groin, before encasing his stomach and chest, and running down his arms. He kept his hands unprotected and ran his fingers over the scars on the left side of his throat again, his thoughts locked on the dragon female as he strode out of the forest.

The warm light of nature gave way to the darkness of the Fifth Realm of the demons, the calming soft touch slipping from him and leaving him cold inside. Black gravel crunched beneath his boots as he marched up the incline, heading into the gloom, his eyes rapidly adjusting to the grim realm, sharpening to pick out the subtle difference between the bare obsidian lands and the deep grey sky of Hell.

Bleu halted at the brow of the slope, standing at the precipice where the black land plummeted into a deep canyon. He scoured the lands beyond the canyon. The Third Realm of demons.

Beyond that was the mountainous home of her kind.

Dragons.

If his information was correct, he would find his next lead there.

He called his black blade to his left hand and narrowed his eyes on the deep distance, all of his focus on it.

He was closing in on her.

Seven hundred years of hunting were finally going to end.

Taryn skirted the border of the village, remaining as far from it as possible as she hurried across the hilly terrain. She kept her head down, a tattered swath of black cloth she had picked up gods only knew where or how long ago covering it to conceal her hair and her face. Her heart drummed a sickening rhythm behind her breast and the thick roll of cloth she carried on her back, the leather strap attached to it tight across her left shoulder and breasts and around her right ribs, felt heavy today.

Heavier than yesterday, which had felt heavier than the day before.

The closer she drew to the edge of the dragon realm, the heavier her burden grew.

She tensed as a dragon flew overhead, going still and hoping her black leather trousers, boots and top, and the cloth over her head would camouflage her against the obsidian land. The drumming of her heart grew fiercer and she struggled to breathe as she waited for the dragon to move on, reaching the edge of her senses.

Her gaze flicked in that direction and she watched the great green beast land in the village in the distance.

Gods, she needed to fly.

That need surged through her and she was close to shifting when she caught herself, and the cold reminder of what would happen if she took on her dragon form slithered through her.

The dragons would see her, her cover would be blown and she would probably come under attack from her own kin.

Not only that, but this close to the edge of the realm, near the mountains that bordered it, there was a chance that he would sense her from where he waited beyond the cragged peaks. On the other side of the treacherous black range was a valley, a realm that few dragons dared to cross into and that many whispered dark and gruesome tales about.

The Valley of the Dark Edge.

Her final destination.

He waited there.

For her.

For her cargo.

Taryn trudged onwards, her feet sore from walking and heart aching with a need to shift and take flight, to shed the tethers of her mortal form and fly free.

She needed to fly.

Instead of surrendering to that powerful urge, she wrapped her arms around herself and marched forwards, her eyes locked on the peaks that stood between her and her destination.

Between her and her twin brother.

Tenak was waiting for her.

She had kept him waiting long enough.

The road was little more than a winding narrow path that soon gave way to only rock as it led her upwards, into the foothills of the mountains. She moved her focus to her feet, picking a route over the treacherous and steep terrain. Rocks shifted underfoot, bouncing down the side of the mountain, tumbling into the valley. She lost track of time as she walked, weary and sore, the ache to fly growing stronger as her instincts roared that she could reach the other side of the mountain range in no more than a few beats of her wings if she shifted.

The temptation was great, but the instinct that warned Tenak would sense her if she shifted kept it tempered, stopping her from giving in to it. She removed the cloth from her head when the nearest village was nothing more than a speck on the horizon and the dragons remained at a distance.

Afraid of the mountains because of the male who lurked beyond them.

She blew out her breath and combed her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, untangling it from the violet roots to its white tips. They were dirty, dull with grit from the journey, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had bathed. The fantasy of a warm bath kept her mind occupied as she soldiered onwards, clambering over boulders and edging around rocks that blocked her path.

She pressed her back to one as she shuffled around it, her eyes on her feet on the narrow ledge and the several hundred foot drop below. If she fell, she would have to shift to save herself. Her pulse pounded at the thought and she breathed deep to steady it, reassuring herself that she wouldn’t fall. She reached the edge of the ledge and safety, and scrambled up over another rock.

As she hit the top of it, she paused, the black rock biting into her knees through her trousers and her palms, and looked back in the direction she had come. The whole world stretched before her, endless peaks that were home to her kin, harbouring almost a hundred clan villages within their valleys.

Home
.

It had been her home once, centuries ago, before her brother had stolen it from her.

She turned her head in the other direction, seeing down into the valley beyond the mountain she climbed and to the ones that surrounded it, larger and more formidable than any range in the dragon realm. A red haze clung to the bases of many of the mountains in the distance, as if flames filled their valleys, and fiery veins streaked the ones off to her right, ominous cracks and booms echoing from them.

The Devil’s domain.

Taryn lowered her violet-to-white gaze to the valley below her. Nestled between the Devil’s domain and the dragon realm, it belonged to neither, a no man’s land that had once been the realm of the Hell beasts and other fell creatures.

It was now Tenak’s kingdom.

He had claimed it through blood and fire, slaughtering all who dared to stray into it.

Her blood chilled and she shifted onto her backside, shimmied to the edge of the rock and carefully started down the other side of the mountain, ignoring the instinct that whispered at her to turn back.

She couldn’t.

She knew what she was doing might be the end of her, but she would accept that, as long as it was the end of her brother too. She had neglected her duty for too long and she had to finish it now, before Tenak turned his wicked gaze back on the dragon realm and the other kingdoms of Hell, bent on bringing them all to their knees so he might rule them.

The rock was sharp underfoot, slicing into the soles of her boots, as if the valley had teeth and wanted to take a bite out of her.

She lifted her right foot to rub it and give it some relief, and her left one slipped. She bit down on her tongue to stop herself from shrieking as she skidded down the side of the mountain, afraid that she would draw attention to herself. The scent of blood surrounded her, the hot stab of each rock burning in her palms as she groped for a hold, and her teeth cut into her tongue when her fingers caught on a crack in the mountain and she jerked to a halt.

She lay there for some time, breathing hard, struggling to steady her heart. Her entire body shook, teeth clattering as adrenaline and fear refused to ebb away, combining to strip her strength.

When she finally calmed, she pulled herself up onto her knees, found a small ledge where she could rest and scanned the mountainside. She had pushed herself too hard, had walked too far and had almost paid the price. If she had shifted to save herself, or cried out, there was every chance her brother would have sensed her presence and come to her, and she wasn’t ready to face him yet.

The quiet voice at the back of her mind asked whether she would ever be ready?

She had been putting this off for two lunar cycles already, coming up with excuses to avoid making the journey to the valley and facing her brother.

Her gaze stopped on a ledge with a dark recess just a hundred feet below to her left. She would rest there, gather her strength, and then she would continue her journey. She wouldn’t turn back. She wouldn’t give up. She would keep marching forwards and stick to her plan.