Dragon Legacy (9 page)

Zane pressed the demon’s shoulders hard and forced the harsh ridge of tree bark into his damaged back. “This is a temporary reprieve. You’ll still be killed, but quicker if you cooperate.”

Xavier spat blood from his mouth. He sneered at Zane’s words as he delivered his own threat in a hoarse voice. “I want the dragon egg. You’ll never find the girl until I have it.”

Zane made no comment. Lukas pushed his face close to the demon. He suppressed a retch as fetid smells filtered to his sensitive nose. The beating's severity left Xavier's human body with mortal damage. The inner demon remained. “The dragon egg will never be yours. Tell me what you’ve done with Fleur.” An inhuman sound vibrated through Xavier’s body—the demon. Lukas stepped back, vulnerable to pure demon power as a human. Zane pulled him away. From the safety of a nearby group of trees, they watched a black mass of bluebottles erupt from Xavier’s mouth and swarm around the beaten body before they flew further into the woods. Lukas berated his lack of control. His loss of temper destroyed the demon’s host body. Now the demon sought another host.

“What now?”

“You and Jasmine must hide the dragon egg at Hallows House. Grace and I will search for Fleur. Her telepathic skills will find Fleur’s aura.”

“You should try and reach Fleur. Your telepathy is more advanced.”

“Telepathy needs detachment." His strange vision of Fleur proved his lack of objectivity. With his vast array of psychic abilities, he should know if he had lost her forever. Yet he didn't.

“I can bury the body.”

“Let’s leave it here. It's not human. We’ll dispose of it when the dragon egg is secure and Fleur is safe.”

Zane nodded. “We must get back to Jasmine and Grace."

*

“We heard the noise. Are either of you hurt?"

“What happened to Xavier?”

Zane updated the two women while he lifted the dragon egg into the padded sack Jasmine brought. “Right, come on, Jasmine. Let's find somewhere safe for the dragon egg."

"Lukas must regret what's happened to Fleur.”

"He'll find her."

"Or die trying."

Zane didn't speak, but his expression registered his fear.

“Don’t go back through the woods.”

"Don't fuss Mum. We’ll be careful.”

*

Xavier's beaten body stirred. Its soul had been destroyed when the demon possessed the human body and became Xavier. The faint traces of humanity left looked through the body’s damaged eyes. Confusion reigned. A buzz vibrated through the wood. Everything went black as the demonic swarm of bluebottles occupied their original host. The body rejuvenated. The urbane Italian features repaired. The ripped clothes gave the game away. Xavier's gaze registered the blood-stained rags. He imagined a new outfit complete from hat to boots. Instantaneously, pristine clothes matched his perfect body. Now he could have his revenge. The dragon would pay for his brutal treatment. A strange silence filled the woods. Xavier transformed into his demonic form and completed his rejuvenation.

*

“I want you to locate Fleur’s psychic signature.”

Grace's frown marred her serene face. “I’ll try.”

“Xavier didn’t give any indication where Fleur was. I don’t want her left alone and unprotected.”

“Can’t you find her? Isn't your telepathy more advanced than mine?”

“Should be, but it needs objectivity, and I don’t have any where Fleur’s concerned.”

Lukas fought his impatience. Pity filled Grace's serene grey gaze. He didn't want sympathy. He wanted answers and action. His fierce gaze impaled her. Grace's eyes glazed over as she concentrated on Fleur.

“Lukas, I’m sure I can sense her. She’s not far away. The psychic energy is well-defined.”

“It’s hers?”

“Yes, I’m almost positive. It’s so odd—human, but not quite.”

Lukas smiled at Grace. “I wish I’d warned everyone about the demon’s impersonation skill, but Zane should have realized.”

“Don’t blame Zane or yourself.”

“We should have protected one vulnerable human between us.”

“Instead of recriminations, let’s be positive and find her.

“Let’s retrace their steps as far as we can." Lukas pushed his dark thoughts away. He couldn't lose her. His face grim and determined as if his will alone would save her.

Grace’s mobile rang. “Hello.”

“Is it Fleur?”

Grace shook her head. Frustrated, he left her and climbed the hill.

∞

Lukas kicked the small stones, frustrated by his lack of success. The path yielded little evidence of their presence; the torrential rain washed most of the path and any tracks away. The deluge made it either impassable or, in other rocky areas, dangerous and slippery. He opened his mind and searched for Fleur. He looked for her psychic energy, any sign she passed this way. He needed a psychic trail. A sudden pain rocked him and made him stumble. It disturbed his vision, made his head pound. The unexpected powerful images debilitated him. He sat on a flat rock and recovered.

*

The atmosphere appeared dark and airless. His breath hitched as he ascertained his whereabouts. Dampness and the unpleasant dankness associated with deep water overwhelmed his sense of smell. He held his breath. He didn't want water in his lungs. Could Fleur be here in this inhospitable cave? Fleur's image in a watery grave made him gag. Water rushed in and filled his mouth and nose. He gave a violent splutter and expelled the water before he forced his mouth shut. He must conserve his air. He held his breath. His fingers bit into the rock's hardness. Blood pumped from the cuts he made. The pain in his hand roused him. This couldn't be real. His senses experienced the cave and its horrors through someone else. Was this Fleur's out-of-body experience? Haunted by ethereal images of Fleur, acute sadness and despair besieged him. Fleur suffered somewhere in this dark abyss, and he couldn't find her. Water swirled and foamed in the distance. Lukas focused his keen gaze. He identified an outline, which thrashed about in the water. He swam towards it, but the current's resistance pushed him back. The harder he swam against the wall of water, the further it pushed him back in the direction he came from. His frustration bordered on desperation. He wouldn't cede. His goal remained unattainable.

The dragon stirred deep within him. Angry, it strained for freedom from the captivity of Lukas’ human body. He focused on the still indecipherable shape. His dragon’s eyes broke free of their constraints. His head and eye sockets numbed with pain. He ignored it and persisted. He must identify the shape in the water. His dragon gaze focused and zoomed in. He saw Fleur, her long hair plastered across her face. She didn't move. Maybe she drowned. No, her elegant limbs made jerky movements. They extended and flexed as they sought an unknown protector. The dragon roared in anguish. The water rushed into Lukas’s lungs.

The darkness receded. He lay on the hard, damp ground amid the wild hills. The wind blew his dark hair across his golden, now human, eyes. Elation filled his mind. Fleur lived, but she needed help before her frail human body died. Every second counted. He must act now. The dragon breathed fire into his body. Lukas fell to his knees, with the supernatural furnace's force inside his human body. The blood in his vessels and organs boiled. Lukas relented, his decision inevitable. He must give the dragon his freedom. Delay meant destruction of his human body.

The dragon’s identity overwhelmed his humanity. His mind still retained a modicum of human rationality, but it contained a dichotomy of human and dragon sensibilities. The transition into the dragon body went beyond his human endurance. He collapsed on the wet, slippery stones and fell into a comatose state. Convulsions racked him. The pain of the transition ripped his human body apart. Unconsciousness protected his humanity and prevented his insanity from the pain. His thunderous roar rivaled the gale force winds as it echoed around the hills.

The deep cavern's cold water penetrated his skin. Pain contorted his muscular body as it grew and changed. His head and face elongated and formed the dragon's pointed snout. The skin cracked and hardened to turquoise scales. They covered his head and the rest of his vast body. His eyes didn't blink. No longer human, they looked like burnished gold as they reflected his dragon's fire back to him in the water. Wings sprang from his ribcage and swept the dark water into a torrent. Mere seconds of human time passed before the streamlined, turquoise-scaled dragon sliced through the cave's deep water. The dragon's aerodynamic shape suited the cavernous pool. Combined with the enormous strength he possessed, the dragon battled through the wall of water that separated him from Fleur in seconds.

Fleur's body lay limp and lifeless. The water's current buffeted her, which gave the illusion of movement, but her chest didn't rise and fall with breath. Its stillness was ominous. The dragon nosed her upwards until her lungs drew necessary air from the water's surface. Her body contorted as her chest went into spasm when it exchanged water for oxygen. Fleur spluttered and coughed back to life. She breathed. The dragon pushed Fleur towards the rocks and safety. He supported her fatigued body, which trembled with the effort of movement. She clambered across the slippery rock to sanctuary. When he ensured Fleur's safety, the dragon plunged into the pool's depths without a ripple. Protection of his human host body meant the dragon must return to his own dimension immediately. After he left Fleur, the dragon’s most powerful physical elements returned to his own time dimension. The dragon's spiritual and psychic elements, which lived in his human form, slipped into Lukas' comatose body as it lay defenceless on the cold windswept hillside.

Lukas' now human, green eyes flared with life. Grace knelt at his side as he woke. Her expression was concerned.

“What happened?”

“I found Fleur. The dragon saved her,” Lukas recounted his story as simply as he could.

Grace wouldn't understand why the dragon left Fleur in the cave. Lukas wouldn't justify his actions. "She wasn’t ready for the dragon.” Lukas realized Grace accepted his explanation when she didn't offer further comment.

"There's a cluster of rocks which have caves. Follow the hill path and when you reach it, walk through the small wood. The caves are opposite.”

"I better go alone. Go back to the house and tell Zane where I am. I may need his help." Lukas' command didn't invite negotiation. Grace didn't argue.

*

The insistent drip of liquid niggled at Fleur until she opened her eyes. She couldn't see anything in the darkness. Each breath she took hurt her tender ribcage. A shudder shook her delicate frame when she remembered the water, her fight for survival, how she lost her battle when the dark water enclosed her. She must be dead. A creature with several pairs of long legs ran across her hand. She snatched it away, still alive. She trembled with shock and fear. Dizziness made her legs wobble as her stiff joints baulked at the slightest movement. Fleur held onto the rock. She allowed her body time. As it acclimatized, she stood upright and peered through the darkness, where she glimpsed an overhang of rocks. Intrigued, she moved a little closer, a steady drip of water running across the rock face. The water trail's source revealed a small crack in the rock walls. Her hopes lifted. Her heartbeat quickened when she saw the tiniest stream of light. The water's dark depths swirled with dark menace around her rocky sanctuary. Her slow progress across the slippery rock surface ensured she didn’t fall. On closer inspection, a second larger crack came into view, hidden by jagged rocky protrusions. It looked tiny, but it could be her salvation.

*

The hillside path proved almost non-existent. Lukas scrambled across wet stones and slipped into deep puddles until he reached the path intersection. The clumps of trees formed a wood to his left exactly as Grace described. The slime, which coated the wet path, made him slip. He recognized the demon snake slime
.
An image of Fleur, frightened and helpless, caused a temporary loss of his humanity. His gaze filled with golden fire and his body hardened, an involuntary mechanism, which helped him withstand the pain the dragon fire inflicted on his organs and muscles. Ripped branches and tree trunks with their bark sliced away surrounded him. The same type of slime he encountered along the path covered the fallen branches and vandalized trunks. It appeared thicker here, protected by the tree canopy from the weather's atrocities. Fleur must have run this way. Did she escape the demon?

He exited the other side and reached the rocks across the clearing from the woods. A jagged split in the largest black rock formed an entrance. He pushed into the tight space and flicked on the torch which he had pulled from his backpack. Illuminated, the makeshift entrance led into a cave. Lukas continued through the rocks until the cave expanded and he could straighten the kinks in his tall, muscular body.

The cave's thick rock walls provided the ideal habitat for numerous simple, moisture-loving plants. Mildew and moss covered all their visible surfaces and made the cave damp and cold. The lack of a definite path forced him along the uneven cave floor, which hugged the cave's walls. He ignored the inhospitable atmosphere and rushed headlong into the cave's darkness. His mind focused on Fleur. The cave's distractions didn't deter him until the roar of water as it flowed into the cave's depths alerted him of possible danger. He stopped and looked ahead. The cave floor disappeared into a dark abyss. Maybe it led to a watery grave. He shuddered. This must be it. Full of fire, he imagined Fleur's terror as she plummeted unheeded towards an unknown fate. He kept his face human, but his gaze darkened to old gold, a strange mixture of reptile and cat. His eyes took on a luminous quality in the darkened cave. He turned towards the dark pit of water, his powerful dragon gaze scanning the cavern for a safe route towards its watery center.

He unleashed his psyche's power and searched for Fleur. She glowed in his mind. The vision materialized before him, so real. He caressed her, as she stood hesitant in front of him. Her body trembled in response to his gentle, inquisitive touch. Intrigued, he leaned forward and planted a feather-light kiss on her parted lips. She tasted sweet, like strawberries and cream on an English summer’s day. He pressed his lips a little harder against hers, and his tongue skimmed along her full bottom lip. He wanted his tongue inside her mouth so he could taste her sexy warmth. She didn't hesitate. Her arms coiled round his neck and pulled him closer as she parted her lips and let her tongue entangle with his. Lukas' muscles went rigid as he reined in his unchained passion for this woman. Her unique mix of inexperience and natural sensuality intoxicated him like a sultry cocktail. Addicted, he drank his fill. He needed more. He pulled her closer and lifted her into his arms. The contact disintegrated, the vision faded. His empty arms trembled with unrequited arousal as he recognized the illusion his mind created from his desperate need for Fleur. He shouted in anger. Fleur's life remained endangered.

Full of despair, he didn't feel his feet leave the ground until he was airborne and swooping into the cave's depths. Maybe this was a dream too, or he fell. He knew the answer. His body launched into the abyss, which rushed towards him. Fearless, he relished the icy air as it rushed across his face. Acceptance. He could do this. His breakneck speed was tempered by a control he didn't know he possessed.

*

A powerful draft ruffled her wet hair. It swayed in the breeze. Fleur couldn't see what caused the air movement through the cave's darkness. She refocused on her tentative escape route. She hoped her body could get through the gap without more damage to her battered skin. It wouldn't be easy. Getting stuck was not an option. The strange airflow touched her again, closer now. If the demon found her, she must hide.

Her gaze darted around in panic, but apart from the trickle of light in the rock, the cave remained dark and hidden. Her heart rate raced. Dizzy, she took a deep breath and considered her options. She reassessed the gap in the rock, but it didn’t offer her the easy escape route she needed. She edged along the rock face. She mustn't fall. Her shoulder bumped into a hard, jagged surface. She turned and her head and body collided with another rock, offset from the main cave walls. The sharp rock ripped her damp clothes and tore her naked skin, but it looked large enough for her to hide. She forced her way between the rock and its
neighbor. Her need for sanctuary from the demon overcame the pain of her torn skin and her claustrophobia. She ignored the two rock walls' proximity and their possible inhabitants as she crouched in the dirt and waited.

*

The dark inky water came closer. Lukas swept round the pool. A cluster of flat rocks positioned at the water's edge caught his eye. Somewhere he could land. Lukas checked his descent. He recognized the rocks, or the dragon did. The improvised runway loomed. Lukas closed his eyes, his concentration total. He pushed extraneous thoughts from his mind, at one with the dragon. Minutes later the firm, if slippery, rock surface supported his feet. Lukas looked around; no sign of Fleur. She must still be here. He controlled his impatience, but he couldn't see any more solid ground in the vicinity. The rocky island, unprotected from the deep water, which lapped the rocks, would have left Fleur exposed and vulnerable. She must have found somewhere safer.

Calmer, he looked for a possible alternative. He noticed the split rock face. It looked inaccessible but may have let slim Fleur slip through it. He balanced himself and moved towards the rock face. The brief vertigo experienced after he landed dissipated. He reached the rock face intact. Could he squeeze through the low, narrow hole? He removed his rucksack and forced his hand into the gap. It widened after the first edge, but closer inspection revealed it wouldn't accommodate his muscular body even if he crawled.

Rocks fell and bounced against the rocky floor. The noise drew his attention. He trained his powerful eyes at the sound's source and stared into the darkness. His heart rate increased, muscles tightened and poised for attack. He realized his mistake. Fleur crawled from a small gap in the rocks. She looked bedraggled and weary. His dragon eyes humanized as he recognized her as the intruder.