Dragon Blood 1: Pliethin (6 page)

“What are you hiding?” Kade grabbed her wrist when she tried to move away from him again. His grip tightened when she pulled back. Kade closed his eyes.

Amber felt the invasion of her mind immediately. She resisted, angry that he would force her to tell him what had happened. She focused on him. Filled her mind with the image of him sitting in front of her, eyes closed, arm stretched out. She raised her hand so she could add that to the image.

He retreated. “Amber, you have to tell me.”

She chose option B. “I tried to barbeque him.”

“You did what?”

Amber opened her fist, palm up, and held her other hand near it. “Fire.” She stared at her palms. “I threw fire at it.”

Kade’s grip loosened and he placed his free hand against her other palm. “Fire?” His word was a whisper.

Amber didn’t answer. Instead she watched their two hands that were pressed together. Heat generated between them. She gasped when fire bloomed in her hand as Kade took his away. Fire clung to his palm. She could feel the heat against her own palm, but her hand remained unchanged. A flickering ball of fire rested in her palm and it didn’t even raise the slightest blister on her skin.

Kade swore and snapped his hand closed. The fire went out. Amber mimicked him, dousing the fire in her own palm.

“The Pliethin.” Kade stared at her hands.

“Is that it? Is that all it did?” When Kade watched her cautiously, Amber rose to her knees and slammed her hands against his chest, breaking from his grip in the process. “Tell me that’s all it did. The last thing I want to be is a freak like you and your warriors.” Option A after all. Amber shut her eyes at the flicker of hurt that crossed Kade’s face. She opened her eyes again. His expression was closed. “Okay, so I thought it was kind of cool when it wasn’t me. I don’t want this. I’m an ordinary person, with an ordinary life. I like that. You start being extraordinary and people expect more of you.”

“No one will know of this. Do you hear me? No one.”

“I don’t want it. Tell me how to get rid of it. Will it wear off with your blood?” Kade’s sudden inability to meet her eyes alarmed her. “This is because of your blood, isn’t it?”

Kade nodded. “I think so. Amber…” he cleared his throat. “I haven’t heard of this happening before.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Pliethin. They affect only Gold Warriors. They don’t cause any change in other dragons. Many have tried. Nothing has happened. Only Gold Warriors, and the effects on them are permanent.”

“Have they tried when they have the blood of a Gold Warrior in them?”

Kade nodded. “It doesn’t work on those that aren’t Gold.”

“So you don’t know if this is permanent?” Silence met her question. “Answer me!”

“I’m sorry, Amber. I screwed up in a major way.”

“No!”

“Amber-”

“No!” She struggled to her feet. Anger burned away exhaustion.

Kade was beside her in seconds. “Let me take you to my house before you collapse.”

She turned to face him. “My grandmother’s.”

“You don’t want that.”

“Don’t tell me what I want!” She stopped abruptly as an image of her appeared in her mind. Someone wild, hair tangled, eyes blazing, teeth bared as she yelled. Dust coated her, leaves and twigs caught in the knots her hair had become. “I don’t look like that.”

“Let me take you to my home. Get cleaned up and we’ll talk about you going to your home.”

“It’s my grandmother’s home,” Amber muttered. She stubbornly stared at Kade who only shrugged. “Fine. I’ll get cleaned up and then you take me home.” She unwrapped the loop of the harness from her waist. “You didn’t tell me where Brann and Maira are.”

“No. I didn’t.” He shimmered into dragon form, grabbed the loop and pulled her into the air with him.

Amber was too agitated to enjoy the flight to Kade’s home. She had a glimpse of open paddocks a moment before they landed in front of an old house with a verandah wrapped around two sides. They stepped in the front door and Amber paused to look around the lounge room, lit by the soft light of a floor lamp in the corner.

A lounge suite dominated the room, its floral fabric faded and worn in places. A television sat on one wall, DVDs and CDs scattered on the low cabinet it sat on. The floors were worn timber, no shine like those in her grandmother’s house, and a rug lay on the floor in front of the lounge suite.

“Maira brought your bag over earlier.” Kade gestured towards the overnight bag Amber had packed that afternoon.

She stared at it by the door. A lot had happened since then. Her whole life had been shattered. And to think she’d been upset about moving and starting a new school. At least she’d known what to expect. Now… now she didn’t have a clue.

“Amber?”

“Where’s the bathroom?” She picked up her bag.

Kade stared at her for a moment before he headed for the only other door in the room. They stepped through a dark hallway and straight into a kitchen. Kade turned the light on and strode past the table that sat in the middle of the room, eight chairs around it, and to another doorway opposite the one they’d entered. A laundry ran along the back of the house. He gestured to the door on his left. She caught glimpses of shadowy trees and stars through the timber-framed windows that marched along the rear wall of the laundry.

“Towels are in the linen cupboard in the bathroom. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re finished.”

Amber didn’t bother to answer him. She stepped inside the bathroom and carefully shut and locked the door, resisting the urge to slam it. She dropped her bag on the floor, grabbed a towel from the cupboard, shoved the towels that were already on the rack to the side and hung hers over the rack. Stripping off her clothes, she grimaced at the dust that floated around her and to the ground, frowning when she noticed a couple of cat hairs where the top of her pants had ended. Normally a red rash would have appeared with how long they’d been there. Maybe she was growing out of her allergy.

Another thought occurred to her as she stepped under the warm water of the showerhead which was set over a claw foot bathtub. Maybe the Pliethin had cured her of her cat allergy. Yet another thing she could have lived without in favour of her life staying the same. She hated change. She knew people who thrived on it. She wasn’t one of them.

Grabbing a bottle of shampoo that hung in a metal rack from the showerhead, she wrinkled her nose. Orange blossoms. Now she’d smell like a garden. Just great. She guessed Maira owned it. The only other bottle was conditioner. Amber wondered what Brann and Kade used. Surely not orange blossoms. Her only other choice was a cake of soap. Orange blossoms would have to do. She preferred berries.

By the time she finished in the bathroom, Amber felt more human. Or as human as it was possible to be when you could hold fire in your hands. Shuddering as she recalled the sensation, she wiped her hands against the long sleeved, short cotton dress she planned to wear to bed. She could still feel the heat in her hands.

As she stepped out of the bathroom, Kade came to the kitchen doorway. “You might as well throw your clothes in the washing machine.”

Amber gathered up her dirty clothes, holding them away from her body, taking her phone from her pocket before she dumped them in the machine. While she washed her hands at the laundry tub, Kade added washing powder and softener before he turned it on. Still remaining silent, Amber moved away from him to the back door. She opened it, surprised it wasn’t locked, then remembered the front door hadn’t been either. Dialling her mother’s mobile number, she waited for her to answer.

“I was beginning to wonder when you were going to call it a night.”

“Sorry, Mum. I forgot to ring you before we left. I’m already at Maira’s house.”

“Did you have a good time?”

Yeah, I was nearly eaten by a wyvern. She could just imagine what her mother would say if she said that. “I didn’t know anyone there.”

“Amber-”

“It was a waste of time.” But now I can throw fireballs. Yet something else she was going to have to keep from her mother.

Donna sighed heavily. “Well, don’t stay up all night talking. You know how cranky you get when you don’t have enough sleep.”

She doubted that would have been what her mother would have said if she’d told the truth. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be home some time tomorrow afternoon.”

“Ring me when you wake up.”

“Don’t go ringing me early to check on me. I’m not getting up before lunch.”

There was silence for a moment. “If you’d give this place a chance-”

She’d done that and look where it had gotten her. “Night, Mum.”

Another sigh. “Goodnight, Amber.”

Amber left her phone on the bench top of the cupboards that ran from the door to the laundry tub and stepped into the cool night air. She crossed her arms, wishing she had her jacket.

“Will you be right while I have a shower?”

Amber ignored Kade, listening as he moved towards the bathroom, after a moment, and closed the door. She stepped further into the yard. Large trees were scattered around creating deeper shadows. Breathing in, a scent caught her attention.

Her head came up and her eyes narrowed. Anticipation raced through her and she slowly stalked forward, her feet sure and quiet. Her muscles tightened and she forced herself to keep moving slowly. The wind teased her with the scent and her mouth watered. Ever closer she came to the tantalising aroma. The shadows seemed to give up their secrets, lightening as if the moon had come out of hiding. She didn’t bother to glance up and see, all her senses where focused on one thing. Then she saw him.

Head down, nibbling on the grass, the reddish brown coat sleek, the antlers rising from his head that suddenly lifted. He tensed, his head moved. Then he relaxed and went back to grazing. Amber, who had frozen at his movement, began to inch forward again. The stag continued to remain unaware.

“Amber!”

The stag leapt forward, tail up. Amber swore. She rounded on Kade to yell at him for scaring off her meal. Her jaw dropped as she realised exactly what she’d been thinking. Her hands came up to cover her mouth. “Oh my god! Oh no! Please no.” Her voice trailed off to a whisper.

Kade reached her side in seconds, draping an arm around her shoulders. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

Amber could only shake her head, trying to understand what had happened. She let Kade guide her inside, dropping onto the kitchen chair he pulled out for her.

“Do you want a drink? Something to eat?”

Amber shook her head. Her eyes widened as her stomach did somersaults. Clapping a hand to her mouth, she focused on breathing. She wasn’t going to throw up. And she wasn’t going to think about the stag.

“Amber…”

Holding up her hand, she shook her head, still unable to speak. She dropped her head onto the table and waited for her stomach to settle. As soon as it had, she looked up at Kade who hovered beside her. “I was stalking that stag. I wanted to eat him.” Hysteria bubbled up and she forced it down. It tinged her last words.

Kade dropped into the chair beside her. “Stalk?”

Amber nodded. “I could smell him. I didn’t even think. Just reacted. I felt like I could tear him apart with my bare hands. Tell me I’m not going mad.”

“Stalk.”

“Will you stop saying that?” Amber hit the table with her open hand.

“What animal?”

“Stag.”

“No, what animal did you remind yourself of?”

“I don’t know. Pounce! I was tensed to pounce. A cat. A large cat. Tiger, panther, jaguar. Something like that.”

Kade swore. He pushed away from the table and paced.

Amber stepped in front of him, her chair nearly falling with how quickly she rose. “What’s happening? Tell me!” She grabbed his upper arms.

“Panther.”

“How do you know?”

“Those cat hairs?” When Amber nodded, Kade glanced away. “It wasn’t Maira’s pet. It was a panther.”

“What!”

“They’re returning it. Flinn thought it’d make a good meal. Maira argued with him about it. She won.”

“You had panther hairs on your shirt?”

Kade nodded. “I’m sorry-”

“You stupid-” her fist aimed for his jaw.

Kade moved out of the way, catching her hand. “Enough! It wasn’t deliberate. You were told to follow orders.”

“Follow orders! I had Flinn and a wyvern coming straight for me. It was instinct to grab the Pliethin. I was scared out of my mind. I was stuck in a tree with a red-eyed beast whose claws were ready to tear me apart. I don’t know what I was thinking. Or even if I was capable of thinking. I know I had a fleeting thought that I was going to die. But that might have been later. It’s all a muddle. Tell me what this means.”

“I don’t know! Why do you think I’m suddenly going to have the answers to this when I keep telling you I wouldn’t have a clue? You can’t tell anyone about this. Do you understand? No one. Especially not Flinn.”

“Why?”

“Because he’ll kill you if he thinks you’re a threat to our people. I was going to bunk in Maira and Brann’s room and let you have mine. But not now. I don’t know when Flinn and his warriors will be home, but I won’t leave you alone. He’ll know something happened.”

“And how could he know that?”

“He flew off and left the wyvern there to kill us. Any Gold Warrior who holds a Pliethin is not aware of their surroundings. At all. We shouldn’t have survived the wyvern attack. You have to tell him you kept the wyvern occupied until I was myself again. That you kept running and dodging like you did the first time.”

“He wanted us to die?” Her words were little more than a whisper. They echoed in her mind.

“We believe in survival of the fittest. I should have had Maira and Brann with me, but I didn’t think Flinn would desert us like that. I shouldn’t have let Maira get squeamish over a panther. Flinn had his people with him.”

“I didn’t see any other dragons.”

“They were there. Keeping their distance, but ready in case they were needed.”

“Where are they now?”

Kade shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably with Flinn. And before you ask, I don’t know where he is either.”

Amber turned away. Exhaustion washed over her. “This is all such a mess.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, sure you are. But only because you’re worried about what your old people will say.”

Kade laughed softly. “Elders. And they’re not all old. Well, not in the dragon sense. It’s their title.”

“Oh, who cares?” She turned abruptly so she could face him. She wanted to stop thinking about all this. “Where am I sleeping?”

“My room.” He stepped back into the hallway and this time turned to his right. There were two doors at the end, one ahead, one on the right. Kade opened the door in front of him, turning on the light. He stepped out of the way so Amber could enter.

She stared at the king-sized bed before she turned to face Kade. “You better not be expecting me to share that with you.”