Dragonvein (Book Two) (32 page)

Ethan stood and helped the old man to his feet. “No,” he replied, with absolute conviction in his voice. “What do I care about their right to choose when the fate of an entire world is at stake? I’ll live with my decision. And if they’re upset about it…” He spread his hands and shrugged.

Renald gave him a sideways look. “Markus is right. There is something much darker about you since you drank the dragon’s blood.”

“What’s your point?”

“Just that if I can see it, Martok can too. Be careful not to lose yourself.”

Normally, Ethan would dismiss this particular brand of advice as nothing more than a casual warning. But now …

There is no need to fear me
.

The voice echoed in his mind, bleeding out from the tempest of souls within. It was Martok. Ethan could feel him watching. Waiting.

They walked on together in silence until the dock came into sight. Ethan spotted Val and Jake sitting on the edge of the boards at the far end, both of them staring out at the horizon. Val was leaning against her brother’s shoulder, clutching his arm for comfort.

Markus and Jonas were talking on the deck of the boat, passing a bottle back and forth. On seeing them approach, Markus leapt onto the dock to meet them midway. “How did it go with Kat?” he asked, grinning boyishly.

Ethan cocked his head and blew out a breath. “She’s changed a lot.”

“You can say
that
again. When I first saw her at that soybean farm, I didn’t recognize her at all. But hey, didn’t I tell you she’d grow up to be a beauty?” He threw an arm around Ethan’s neck to whisper in his ear. “And she still carries a torch for you, buddy. That’s why she came back.”

Ethan laughed. The boy he used to be would have turned red with embarrassment, but not any longer. “That’s what I call
good
news,” he said. “But I keep wondering why
you
came back with her. I thought you wanted to make a new start for yourself on Earth.”

Markus shrugged. “I figured you might need my help after all. Besides, once Shinzan is dead, I’ll be able to make a new start here.” He withdrew his arm. “By the way. Whoever that guy is who possessed you…I suppose that’s the best way to put it…he’s all right in my book.”

This caught Ethan by surprise. “What did Martok say?” he asked.

“Martok? Is that his name? Nothing much. He just promised to help us. He said he was your relative and that you had let him take control of your body so we could save Kat. That’s true, right?”

Ethan nodded. “That’s true.”

The pounding of footsteps on deck planks then drew his attention. Jake was storming toward him, eyes ablaze with anger.

“Before you say anything…” Ethan began.

That was as far as he got. Jake’s fist shot out and connected solidly with his jaw.

Ethan stumbled back, bumping into Renald and very nearly sending them both to the ground. Markus reacted quickly, grabbing the infuriated youth and putting him in a restraining hold.

“You son-of-a-bitch!” Jake shouted, struggling ineffectively to free himself. “You bring us here and don’t tell us what we’re getting into? Who the hell do you think you are?”

After rubbing his jaw for a couple of seconds, Ethan widened his stance and extended both arms sideways. A bright ball of flame erupted from each palm.

Jake’s eyes shot wide. All his struggling ceased.
“What
the hell are you?”

“I am Ethan Dragonvein, and I brought you here because you and your sister are needed. If you think what I did was wrong, I honestly don’t care. But if you do not listen…” Ethan closed his hands and the flames vanished. “Then we will wait here until you do.” A smirk crept upon his lips.

Renald shook his head with disapproval, but Markus gave him a slight nod.

Val ran up, followed closely by Jonas. “Please don’t hurt him,” she pleaded.

“I just wanted his attention,” said Ethan.

“Well you’ve damn sure got it now,” Jake muttered.

“That’s good,” said Ethan. “I’m sorry you feel you’ve been deceived, but there is an entire world at stake here. I couldn’t risk you and your sister refusing to come. If it meant tricking you or withholding information, that’s what I was ready to do. So you can be as angry with me as you want. I would still do it again.”

Jake glared. “You had no right.”

“I had every right.”

Val placed a hand on her brother’s arm. “Jake. Did you really want to keep living the god awful way we were? At least here we have a second chance.”

“Are you kidding?” he shot back. “Didn’t you hear what the old man said about that Shinzan guy? This asshole has brought us here to die.”

“You were just about to die anyway, if you remember,” Markus pointed out.

With a growl of frustrated anger, Jake spun out of his now much relaxed hold and stomped back to the end of the dock.

“Give him a few minutes,” said Val. “This is a lot for him to take in.”

“And what about you?” asked Ethan.

She smiled. “Yeah, I was angry at first…and a little scared. But I’m finally where I belong. And if I’ve come home to die, so be it.” She looked over her shoulder at Jake, who was now sitting at the far end of the dock. “Let me talk to him. We’ll meet you back up at Renald’s place.”

While Val joined her brother, the rest of them headed back to the house.

“I’d like to hear what happened when you went back,” Ethan told Markus.

His friend chuckled. “It was one headache after another. The pendant I had wasn’t made to find Kat, so it kept sending me in the wrong direction. Because of that, it took me a while to figure out where she actually was. I’ll tell you all about it later.” He slapped Ethan on the shoulder. “I did discover one thing you’ll be happy about though. We won the war. That nice Mister Hitler shot himself in the head, and Japan surrendered a few months later. From what I managed to find out, we paid them back a thousand times over for Pearl Harbor.”

This news drew a big thumbs up from Ethan. “One tyrant down, and one to go,” he grinned.

When they reached the house, they saw Kat sitting on the porch. She was munching on an apple and humming an unfamiliar tune. Ethan thought that even her voice was beautiful.

“Lylinora’s inside,” she told them before anyone could ask. “But be careful. She’s in a pretty bad mood.”

Markus smiled. “I’m not surprised. I’m sure you had nothing to do with that.”

Kat held up her hands and gave an elaborate wink.

“Let’s get inside,” said Renald. “We have matters to discuss.”

Lylinora was seated at the table with a thick, leather bound book in front of her. But at the rate she was flipping through the pages, it was clear she wasn’t actually reading anything.

Markus sucked a breath through his teeth. “A bit tense I see.”

“I’ll do without your comments,” she snapped, slamming the book shut and shoving it across the table.

“I think you should sit next to me,” Markus whispered into Ethan’s ear.

He nodded in wholehearted agreement and was just about to take a chair when a sharp pinch on his backside made him jump. Before he could turn, Kat rounded the table, winking at him as she passed. She sat down right beside Lylinora – obviously with the aim of antagonizing her.

Ethan positioned himself so as not to be sitting directly across from either woman.

Once they were settled, Renald banged on the table to get everyone’s attention. “Now that two more of the children are with us, I think we need to decide on our next move.”

“What’s to discuss?” asked Jonas. “They must be taught. That falls to either you or Lylinora.”

“You were in my brother’s service for far too long,” Renald told him sourly. “Nothing is ever that simple when it comes to magic. There is a reason why mages choose their students so carefully.”

“I understand all this,” remarked Jonas. “But unless you know of another trained mage…”

“You don’t understand at all, you old fool,” Renald snapped. “Numbers is not the problem. One mage can train dozens if the need arises. It wasn’t done in Praxis’ time because of arrogance, and even more than that, sloth. Mages are a lazy breed. To teach more than one at a time involves hard work. And hard work was not exactly a quality for which mages were renowned.”

The door opened and Val and Jake stepped inside.

Jake looked directly at Ethan. At first he was silent. Then Val poked him sharply in the ribs.

“I’m sorry I hit you,” he said.

When he didn’t say anything else, Val poked him again, prompting him to continue. “Now that I’ve thought about it some more, I’m glad you brought us here. Markus was right. We would have been killed anyway.” He glanced back at Val. “And she was right about our life back in Mobile. It sucked.”

Ethan rose up and shook his hand. “No apologies necessary. I’m just happy you’re here.”

With no more chairs inside, they retrieved two from the porch and squeezed in at the table.

“Did we miss anything?” asked Val.

“No,” Renald told her. “In fact, you’re just in time. Lylinora will be instructing Jake in the use of magic.
I
will be handling your lessons.”

“What about me and Ethan,” Kat jumped in quickly.

Renald sighed. “Your instruction is not so important, I’m afraid, Kat. But Ethan’s is.”

She crossed her arms firmly over her chest. “I don’t see how leaving me out is fair.”

“You are not being left out,” Renald said. “I will instruct you as far as my endurance will allow. But Lylinora should really be the one to teach you. And I can see quite clearly that this may be a problem.”

Lylinora flashed her a spiteful grin. “We’ll see just how much of a problem it is.”

“Bitch,” Kat muttered under her breath. But her look of irritation was soon gone as a tiny smile grew from the corners of her mouth. “If you don’t have the time, Lylinora, maybe I’ll just have Ethan teach me what he learns. I’m sure he won’t mind giving me…you know…a few private lessons.”

Renald spoke quickly to quell the storm that was obviously brewing. “And therein lies the problem. As I was trying to explain, mages take on an apprentice according to their different abilities. Most often a child will have talents similar to one of the parents. This is the case with Ethan. Though he has some of his mother in him, his abilities far more closely favor his father. Unfortunately, neither I nor Lylinora are suited to teach him in the way that he really needs to be taught.”

“So what does this mean?” asked Ethan, suddenly alarmed. “That I don’t learn anymore?”

“No, it just means that you will not learn enough for our purpose,” he was told flatly. “Not from either of us. We simply don’t have the skill. I could never teach you to be as powerful as your father. And it is
this
type of power that we will need.”

“So what can we do?” asked Lylinora.

I can teach
you
.

Martok’s voice crept to the fore of Ethan’s thoughts.

I can show you things you have never dreamed
of
.

“We continue on with what we have,” Renald answered. “And hope that a solution presents itself.”

“There is still the matter of the final child,” Jonas pointed out.

“There is nothing we can do about that for now,” Ethan told him. “The dragons were greatly weakened by helping us.”

“Will they recover?” asked Lylinora.

“In time. But I don’t know how long it will take. And until they do, we can’t go back to Earth.”

Renald turned to Jake and Val. “Then we will begin your lessons tomorrow. Assuming that the two of you are agreeable with this.”

They looked at one another. Jake then burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. But are you serious? We’re actually going to be learning…
magic
?”

Ethan recalled his own similar reaction. “You’ll see soon enough.”

“Then I suppose we’re in. Right, Val?”

She hugged her brother’s arm. “Most definitely.”

“Then it’s all settled,” Renald declared. Standing up, he hobbled over to the stove. With a flick of his wrist, the wood inside ignited. “Now, if Jonas would be so kind as to get off his rear and help, I’d like to eat some time before dawn.”

*

Lylinora listened to the waves crashing onto the beach. The sea was rough and the stars were partially hidden by scattered patches of clouds. Hugging her knees, she curled her toes into the sand. Were the
sirean
near, she wondered? Were they watching her?

The sound of Ethan, Kat and Val’s laughter carried over from the boat. With the two newcomers swelling their numbers, it had been decided that the women would sleep on board, and the men at the house. Kat, however, had insisted that Ethan join them for a while before turning in.

She didn’t notice Markus until he plopped himself down beside her.

“What are you doing here all alone?” he asked.

Lylinora forced a smile. “They’re talking about Earth. It seems Kat and Val have that in common now.”

“You don’t want to hear about it?”

She shrugged. “I’ll never see it. So why bother?” She glanced over at Markus. He was leaning back on his hands with head tilted and eyes closed. “Anyway, what are
you
doing here?”

“I came to see you, of course,” he replied, his tone good natured and warm.

Lylinora huffed. “I’d rather be alone, if you don’t mind.”

“Is that because of Ethan?”

She shot him a warning glance. “That’s none of your business. Why don’t you just go?”

“Kat sure did grow up beautifully,” he remarked, ignoring her rebuff. “But I’m sure you’ve noticed that. And so did Ethan, apparently.”

“Did you just come here to gloat?” she snapped. “Or perhaps you think my feelings don’t matter.” She turned her back to him. “Maybe you want to know if I’m jealous and angry. Will hearing that make you happy? Very well. Yes - I am both of these things. Now go away.”

Markus chuckled. “Why would you be jealous? Do you think Kat’s beauty surpasses your own? Because it doesn’t. Or do you think Ethan will choose her over you?” He sat up. “Is that it? Do you even love him enough to care?”

She spun around, eyes glistening with tears on the verge of falling. “I
do
love him. I didn’t before. I admit that. But now…” She picked up a handful of sand and threw it angrily into the ocean. “And now, just when I realize the truth. Just when I finally know what I want…”