Dragon Storm (14 page)

“As I love you,”
Connor said in her mind just before he shifted form. Warm hands came down on her shoulders as he stood behind her. Darius joined them, taking her hand as he walked her forward to face her grandfather in a grand show of ceremony. These guys certainly had the theatrics that her grandfather liked down pat.

“Sir, may we present your granddaughter, our mate.” Darius sensed there would be outrage from some of the villagers.

“Both of you?” The elder seemed surprised by his own outburst, but the anger in his eyes demanded answer.

Connor moved from behind her to stand beside her, one twin on each side. In such a position it was easy to see the men were as identical in human form as they were as dragons. More shock passed through the villagers, and her grandfather’s eyes widened.

“It is the way of dragons,” Connor said with a careless shrug, though she knew he watched every nuance of reaction carefully. “There are few women willing or able to partner our kind.”

“Granddaughter, is this true?” The old man spoke to her directly for the first time in years.

“Yes, Grandfather. This is Darius, and this is Connor.” She gestured to each in turn. “Both are my true mates, as I am theirs.”

The man seemed stunned, as did the villagers. The elder recovered first. He stepped forward and offered her a surprising hug.

“Welcome home, child. And welcome also, to your mates. It has been many centuries since dragons graced our skies.”

They were ushered inside the main hall in short order, those who could, crammed in behind them. The place was filled with curious snowcats, but they kept a respectful distance from Josie, her grandfather and the twins.

The old man invited them to sit, and refreshments were served by some of the other villagers at his command. Josie knew the ceremonial greetings had to be done before they could get down to business. She shot the twins a look that begged them to follow her lead. A tiny, almost imperceptible nod from each of them reassured her somewhat. Connor’s steady voice in her mind went even further to calm her nerves.

“You are our guide in this strange land, Josie. Don’t worry. Remember I told you we were taught diplomacy in our youth? We won’t shame you in front of your grandfather.”

“You could never shame me.”
She thought the words, hoping they made their way to his mind. She still wasn’t very comfortable with sending her thoughts to them, though she heard theirs just fine. She hoped it would get easier with practice.

Her grandfather began the ritual of greeting, and she sought the bag at her side. She had some things she’d thought to pack in there to ease their way. Reaching inside, she pulled out a lovely white silk scarf. It had white-on-white patterns in the fabric of twining dragons. She’d bought it on impulse many years ago and realized only now how prophetic a purchase it had been. She presented the gift to her grandfather, and it was received with a welcome smile.

“It is good to see you remember the old ways, child.”

“Grandfather, we come seeking your counsel. Darius and Connor are not from this world. They were brought here through a magical storm and awoke in the forest near my home. I was the first person they met, and I shudder to think what would have happened if they’d crossed paths with anyone else on their first foray into this world, or worse, landed in a city.”

“They did not,” the old man said in his quiet way. “They could not. Such is not their karma. They arrived just where they were supposed to arrive, to meet just the person they were supposed to meet—you. It is the way of things.”

She had never gotten used to his philosophical outlook on the world. The Western side of her just couldn’t deal with his casual acceptance of things. Especially astounding things like dragons landing in her backyard.

“As you can imagine, I don’t know how they will survive in our world. It is likely they’ll eventually be seen in their shifted form, and that will cause all kinds of trouble.”

“Not trouble, child. Revolution.” A militant light entered the old man’s eyes. “The people of Tibet are already talking of the return of dragons to their land.”

Oh, she didn’t like the sound of this.

“Your pardon, revered elder,” Connor said with great respect in his deep voice that Josie couldn’t fault, even though he was speaking out of turn. Still, she needed a minute to regroup. Her grandfather’s implications had stunned her. “We are already embroiled in a great war in our own land. If at all possible, we must find a way to get back home to help our brothers and our people.”

Well that was news to her, but then, they hadn’t had much time to talk about these kinds of things. Even though the idea of living in their medieval-sounding world was frightening, Josie already knew she would go anywhere they went. No matter the cost, she had to stay with her mates. But fear rode her hard.

“We haven’t had time to tell you about the situation in our land,”
Darius’s voice came to her in the privacy of her mind.
“For that we’re sorry. Our brothers need us. If there is any possibility of returning home, we must search for it.”

“We can talk about it later,”
she tried to send, though she wasn’t certain he could hear her.

“You are twins, yes?” Her grandfather distracted her from her worries with such a strange, obvious question. “Identical in every way. Buy why does only one wear armor in his dragon form?”

Connor shook his head and reached into his pocket for the necklace she’d seen once before. “That’s because I decided not to put this around my neck. My brother is the more impetuous of the two of us. A strange seer, newly arrived to our land gave us these trinkets a few days ago and Dar put his on right away. When he shifts, it shifts into the armor you saw. I am more cautious. I’ve kept it in my pocket all this time.”

The snowcat elder leaned in to look at the amulet in Connor’s hand with something approaching reverence.

“You should put it on, dragon lord.” The old man leaned back and breathed a heavy, cleansing sigh. “And now that I have seen this—” he looked from the necklace in Connor’s hand to the one now displayed at Darius’s throat, “—I understand what must be done.”

Josie was glad somebody seemed to understand something around here.

“There is a mountain called Gang Rinpoche, sacred to Marpa, a great wizard of antiquity who brought enlightenment to our land and was the progenitor of our family line. On the sacred mountain there is an ice cave, accessible only from the air, or so it has been told from generation to generation of snowcat elders. In that ice cave is a talisman like the one you have just shown me. I have seen a drawing of it in an ancient text available only to the elders of each generation. That talisman waits for the one who will travel between worlds. It waits for you, granddaughter.” His pale gaze pinned her, and a chill ran down her spine. “When the three become one, the heavens will open in the blink of an eye. Magic that has not been seen in this world in many generations will be unleashed for the good of both worlds.”

“What does that mean?” Josie was at a loss.

Her grandfather smiled craftily. “I begin to understand the ancient puzzle. All will become clear as it was meant to be. Tomorrow, if the dragon lords allow, I will take you to Marpa’s sacred ice cave. There we will find the talisman and take the next steps on your journey.”

Connor and Darius bowed their heads, keeping eye contact—a show of respect among her clan and theirs too, apparently. It was amazing how easily they fit in here, among her father’s people. Heck, they fit in better than she did.

“It would be our honor to fly you to this sacred cave,” Connor answered formally.

Nosy clan members crowded into the great hall began to murmur among themselves. Tension filled the air as momentous events began to unfold. Josie was at the center of it. Either she was growing used to the tumult of her life since the twins entered it or she was just too tired from all the traveling to care. Her eyelids drooped as her grandfather arranged for refreshments.

“First you will eat, then you will be shown to your quarters for the night. On the morrow, we will undertake our quest.” Her grandfather’s eyes sparkled like a youngster. There was no doubt the old man was looking forward to flying. Or maybe he just wanted to get a good look at Marpa’s sacred ice cave after all these years. Probably a little of both, she figured.

“You have our thanks. As you can probably tell, the journey to get to you was lengthy and tiresome.” Darius put one arm around her shoulders, supporting her sagging spine. She was beat, and it probably showed.

“The shifters we met on our path were nothing but kind to us,” Connor was quick to add. Of the two, he was the more diplomatic. “They have our thanks for easing our way in this strange world. Where we come from, only dragons and birds fly.” Connor laughed as he lifted a morsel of food to his lips.

“And gryphons,” Darius added as an afterthought.

“Gryphons? Truly?” Josie’s grandfather beat her to the question, and all the snowcats waited to hear their answer.

“They are newcomers to our land, but yes, there are gryphons in our world. They are not numerous. Or perhaps I should say, we do not really know their true numbers. When we left our brother’s kingdom, two mated pairs had sought his permission to nest in the cliffs above the royal palace. It was the seer who accompanied the newest pair who gave us these trinkets and warned us of our impending journey. We, foolishly, didn’t believe her.”

Darius laughed with his twin. “We owe her a big apology when and if we return.”

“Your brother’s kingdom?” Josie repeated the part that had really caught her attention.

“Yes, my love.” Connor took her hand in his, looking deep into her eyes, audience be damned. “This is one of the things we have not yet had a chance to discuss with you. Our eldest brother, Roland, rules over both humans and dragons in our land.”

Chapter Seven

Darius took her other hand, drawing her attention. “We are members of the royal family and as such, you will be a princess in our land. Roland recently married, as did our next oldest brother, Nico. The rest are bachelors—excepting me and Con, now.” Darius winked at her. “You will have sisters-in-law and even some youngsters flying around should we find a way to return to our land.”

“Flying?”

“Roland’s wife bonded with a baby Ice Dragon. He is still quite young,” Darius went on. “Really just a toddler, though he flies like a dream and is larger than most full-grown dragons. You’ll love him. He’s the darling of the castle.”

“He’s
just
a dragon, right? Not a shapeshifter?” She wanted to be sure she had that part right.

“Yes. Most dragons are only dragons. It is a trait of the royal lines that we are both human and dragon. Our ancestor, Draneth the Wise, made it so,” Darius reassured her, and she knew he spoke to the audience that listened as well. Connor then picked up the tale.

“Draneth was one of the last of the great wizards of old. He struck a deal with dragonkind. By making himself and all his descendants both human and dragon, they were deemed worthy to rule both races. In our land, the dragons are equal citizens with the people. Both follow our brother, Roland.”

“There is a Council of Advisors, of course,” Darius put in. “And a Dragon Council, as well. But Roland is the one who will lead us all into battle, if battle is truly in our future.”

“Why? Do you expect a war?” Fear made itself known, tickling the edges of her spine as she waited to hear what they would say.

“We have already had battles—some major, some minor—with our neighbors to the north and east,” Connor confirmed with narrowed eyes.

“The king of Skithdron is mad,” Darius said with conviction. “He attacked us along the border and we pushed his forces back. He held our new sister-in-law prisoner in his castle, and she told us of the horrors there and the deal he’d made with the barbarians in the northlands. The next attack came from the north, with weapons supplied by Skithdron. We almost lost Roland in that battle, but his wife was able to find the dragon within herself at the last moment and she mounted a rescue with her cunning baby Ice Dragon and our youngest brother, William. It was insane of them to even try, really. But it worked, so we can’t complain.”

“What is the fighting about? Do they just want to conquer territory?” Josie was aware of the silence and the snowcats absorbing every word, but the twins didn’t seem to mind.

“If only it were that simple.” Connor sighed. “No. We believe King Lucan of Skithdron plots to free the wizards trapped in ice millennia ago.”

“Wizards?” Josie’s grandfather joined the conversation, drawing their attention.

“Yes. As in your world, wizards are the stuff of legend. Generations ago, there was a mighty war among them where those on the side of good—those who did not want to enslave all other races to do their bidding—eventually won the day, but at great cost. Most died. Others chose exile.”

Darius picked up where his twin left off. “Of the evil ones, most were killed in the battles. A few remained and were imprisoned for all time in the ice at the farthest reaches of the northlands. There they remain to this very day. Or so the legends say.”

“If King Lucan proceeds with his plans, we will fight him until he is defeated. When you come back to our world with us, your life will be rich, but it may also come with danger.” Connor cupped her cheek, holding her gaze. “We would not put you in peril for anything, but you need to know that our world is not a peaceful one at the moment.”

Josie smiled. “No world is as peaceful as it seems. Life is inherently full of danger, especially for a shifter. You are my mates. Wherever you go, I go. For your sake, I hope we find a way to send you back home. Nothing will change my mind. When you go home, I will go with you if possible.”

“The Mother of All would not bring you together only to part you at the first possibility.” Her grandfather’s tone reassured her.

Like most shapeshifters, snowcats believed in a female deity. The snowcats called her the Mother of All. She who gave life to all there is and all there will be. They were Buddhist in many ways, but the snowcat form of Buddhism was different than that practiced by the majority of Tibetans. Just like the shifter forms of many common religions around the world differed from their human counterparts.