Frostbite (The Dragonian Series Book 3) (26 page)

I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes again, light started to pour into the entrance of the tree; I went outside and the picture of the sun’s rays seeping through the forest was breathtaking.

Some of the plants that curled up for the night, unwound into gigantic plants and it almost looked like all the trees were stretching out. I smiled as I looked up at them all. There weren’t a lot of animals because it was still cold. But the forest did block most of the breeze and winter away.

Cheng woke up around six-thirty and we had bacon and eggs for breakfast. I’d really started to like this camping thing as we had everything we could possibly need. We checked out the map that Master Longwei had given us and we knew more or less which way to go to find the tree with Cheng’s red marking.

Around seven-thirty we were all packed up and ready to move on.

Cheng put the compass away the minute we found the tree with the mark he’d made yesterday.

“Whatever happens from this point on, just let it happen, Elena. They won’t kill us. They are very curious people, some of them have never been outside these woods. I can promise you that.”

I nodded, but it was scary as I didn’t know what they would do once they found us.

For the next two hours my senses were on high alert. I could smell every change in the forest and I could feel danger as it crept near. We passed a beautiful waterfall and Cheng looked at the map again. He turned his head in the waterfall’s direction and then to the left.

“What is it?”

“We made it to the waterfall. Master Longwei said that it’s a marker. If we got this far, they haven’t detected us yet.”

“Who, the forest people?”

He grinned. “You make them sound as if they are savages, Elena. They’re not. Some of them are the smartest people in Paegeia. They don’t live in a village, it’s a city made in the heart of the forest. I can’t tell you what it looks like, as most never make it back out, but I can tell you that it’s not what you think it is. We’re close.” He started to walk forward again.

I closed my eyes for a second and thought about Lucian again. Did he get this far?

“So, what am I going to face with these people?”

“They’re very private and they will not like that we are here one bit. But Master Longwei said the leader has a deep fascination for dragons. That is why I believe Tanya Le Frey is here.”

“How does Master Longwei…whoa.” Something tight trapped my angle and before I could spell my name I was dangling upside down. “What the hell!”

“Relax, Elena.” Cheng hung next to me. “It’s only a matter of time before they get here.”

“I don’t like this Cheng.”

“Don’t bring her out, Elena. We are safe. This needs to happen. Remember. We’re going to be fine.”

I could feel the blood rushing to my head and I looked down to the ground. My cammy, change and gum that had been inside my pockets were lying on the floor, next to Cheng’s cammy and a couple of loose change, but only for a second. I watched as the earth opened up slightly and swallowed it. Guess I know now where people got that saying from.

“Cheng?” I whispered.

“What?”

“The earth just swallowed our Cammies.”

“Guess it needs it more than we do?”

“It’s not funny. How are we going to phone Master Longwei, and explain to me how can the ground open up and…”

“Elena it’s Paegeia. A lot of things don’t make sense.” He cut me off

I blew out a deep breath. How long were we going to hang here? Then noises filled the area close by. It was a horrible hooting sound, a lot like Native Americans chanting around a fire, but worse. My skin crawled and I knew I shouldn’t be afraid. I was a Rubicon for crying out loud, but something in their tone made me believe that Master Longwei had no idea who these people were.

“We come in peace,” Cheng said and I tried to look at who he was speaking to. I found a brown and white painted face with huge earrings in the ears and nose. “I thought they weren’t primitive?” I whispered.

“I never said that. I said they weren’t savages.”

More appeared and they started poking at us with long spears. “Hey stop that,” I yelled. I looked at Cheng. “You sure about that last part?”

“Elena, don’t infuriate them.”

“No they shouldn’t infuriate me,” I grunted back.

Suddenly, I crashed to the floor without warning and my back and arm ached. I didn’t think anything was broken but I must have strained a muscle or something. The men circled us and all pointed their spears into our faces.

“Remember why we’re here, Elena. We need to be taken, so lift up your hands and surrender.”

I didn’t like this one bit but I did what Cheng said without taking my gaze from them.

The tallest one said something in a different language and another one wearing a skimpy animal skin that only covered his private parts took both my hands and tied them up really fast. They did the same with Cheng and pushed us from behind to move forward.

I had to endure a lot of shoves from behind and needed to keep counting to ten to stop myself from lighting their asses on fire, or burning these stupid ropes from my wrists. They could thank their lucky stars that Cheng was with me otherwise they would’ve been little heaps of ashes.

We walked deeper into the forest for what felt like hours. I couldn’t stop thinking about Lucian. He’d had to do this all alone.

The men at the front gave another order and I could hear a huge boulder moving in the distance. We followed them again and I saw an entrance appear through the mountain. When I looked up a figure looked down at me, but vanished from sight when it saw me staring.

The entrance was dark but the tight grip on my arm guided – shoved me in the right direction until light came up ahead.

When we exited the passage, I found myself in a beautiful place. It was inside the mountain and was so light that I would’ve thought that I’d died and gone to heaven. Vines ranked against the hard edges of the walls and trees as huge as the ones we’d just spent the night in, were used to build houses high up their branches. Tiny windows and little porches with ladders were all around the houses. I could make out a palace made of rocks way at the back. It was majestic and overpowered all of the trees.

A small trail close to the wall of the mountain led deeper into the city.

My feet skidded on a couple of small rocks and I was thankful that Cheng walked in front of me to block me from skidding down this trail.

The tree houses and palace disappeared as we descended and I couldn’t stop looking at all the fauna and flora around me. Huge purple flowers with roots that moved and lots of green leaves and vines wrapped all around the trees. Birds chirped and I jumped as a huge yellow bird with a long tail took flight. I watched it soar to the top of the mountain and leave through a large opening.

We finally reached the edge of the trail and came to a beautiful manmade lake. Women were grabbing children when they saw us and I looked at the way they climbed like little monkeys up the ladders and into their homes.

It made me feel as if I was the savage.

An animal roared near me and I jumped in the opposite direction. My eyes fell on a black as night puma, growling inches away from me.

The men that led us here started to laugh.

“It’s not a real puma,” Cheng whispered. “It’s a shifter.”

“I thought they were dead?”

“Apparently not,” he said. “These people crave the gifted. You should by no means show them what you are and what you can do. They will not let you go if they know you are a Rubicon,” Cheng whispered.

“Why are you telling me this now? Can they understand you?”

“No, they can’t. Only the leader can speak English, and of course, Tanya Le Frey.”

“Master Longwei tell you that too?” My tone sounded sarcastic.

We reached a cable car before Cheng could answer and we were shoved into it, followed by most of the men. It descended down into another part of the city. This time modern buildings and houses on top of each other passed us by. I tried to take it all in. “Not so primitive after all.”

Cheng suppressed his smile. He really wasn’t scared at all.

The cable car came to a halt and we stopped with a jerk. It opened onto another passage where the men handed us over to guards who were fully clothed. Each one carried a huge gun.

They had a short conversation with the four men still aiming their spears at us and when one of the guards took out a bag stuffed with something, they gave us over to them. I looked at Cheng who for the first time looked worried too.

The new guards shoved us into the halls of what I imagined was the palace, or with my luck, the dungeon.

They led us past more dark halls and stopped right in front of a door. When two of the men opened the doors, a light coming from the other side blinded both Cheng and I. It took a couple of minutes for our eyes to adjust. The guards shoved us again from behind and I almost fell into a huge throne room.

I looked at the man sitting on the throne in front of me. He didn’t look very impressed that we were there. At least Master Longwei had been right about something.

A dark hatred danced in his eyes. This was a cruel man. I could feel it inside my dragon bones and Cheng had been wrong: we weren’t going to come out of this alive. That man looked as if he was going to execute us at any moment.

“Bow,” Cheng said and I did as he asked. My hands started to become hot, and I knew at any minute the rope around my wrists was going to fall off.

“Why are you here?” the man asked.

“We wish to speak with Tanya Le Frey, sire,” Cheng answered.

“Another one.” The leader or whatever he was sounded annoyed. It was Lucian he was referring to.

“Please sire, the one that came before us died and we don’t know the verdict of the business he had with Tanya Le Frey; I beg you, we need to speak with her,” Cheng pleaded.

My heart sunk as the guy next to me pointed his gun straight at us. He was ready to pull that trigger when their leader gave the command.

“No, he promised no one else would come and that he would never set foot here to speak with this so-called Tanya Le Frey ever again.”

“Sire, I beg you…”

“I said no.” The leader got up on both his feet, roared and nodded to the guards.

I shifted without thinking about it and blew fire on the one guy right next to me as I hit Cheng down with my tail.

“Elena, stop. Please, stop,” Cheng sounded worried and had both hands up in defense. I did as he asked and the leader was staring at me with huge brown eyes. He showed the halt sign as his eyes just lingered on my majestic body.

“Where are we?” Cara asked.

“Not now, Cara. We are in grave danger, these people want to kill us and we have to get out of here.”

“Just give the command, Elena and I’ll kill whoever you want me to.”

“Deep breaths, Elena,” Cheng said again.

“They tried to kill us, Cheng. You promised that wouldn’t happen.”

“You speak English?” the leader asked.

“Yes, and you are?” Cara spoke this time.

“I’m Balitomora De Ganor, son of—”

“Balti is just fine, no need for the entire history lecture.” Cara sounded so rude.

The sire laughed as if she was merely telling a joke. He touched his chin and kept staring at us. There was lust and want in those big brown puddles and I felt sick.

“What the hell is he looking at?”

“Us?” I replied.

“What is it you want with Tanya?” Balti asked.
“My friend already explained that to you,” I said.

“He’s your rider?”

“I don’t have a rider,” Cara spat.

“She’s a Rubicon dragon, sire.”

The guy looked at Cheng with horror then back at me. “She can’t be, only one can live at a time. We know the one is male.”

“It turns out that they were wrong, sire. We believe Tanya has the answers,” Cheng said.

“I don’t.” A woman’s voice came from behind us. “I told Lucian everything I could. Now get the hell out!”

I turned around and my entire body froze on the spot. In front of me was a woman I’d only seen once. In a picture that I’d lost that night on Interstate 40.

COULDN’T SPEAK. I was bowled over.
Tanya Le Frey was my mom?

“Please, Tanya, you have—”

“What is the Rubicon doing here? Are you insane?” She looked at Cheng through slits.

“It’s not him. It’s another one,” Cheng said.

“Tanya,” the leader spoke. “You said this wouldn’t happen again.”

“Mom,” I finally found my voice. She turned her gaze from Balti back to me and her eyebrows furrowed hard.

I heard Cara gasp.
That is our mother?

I ignored Cara completely.

“Who are you?” Tanya wanted to know.

Betrayal and hurt jolted through Cara’s body and mine. It numbed her completely, so it was my time to be strong now, and ask the questions. “What are you doing here?” I yelled at her.

She looked at Cheng for the answer. “How is it that this dragon can speak English? Who is he if not Blake?”

Cheng stared at both of us. I could see in his eyes that he felt my pain and anger. It was silent for a short while before he spoke again. “It’s not a he, it’s female. Her name is Elena.”

Tanya grabbed her mouth. “Change back immediately. Now!” she yelled at me.

My head turned to Cheng who was still protected by my tail. We both just stared at each other.

“Now, Elena, turn back,” Tanya yelled again.

I did as she asked and she ran over to wrap a table cloth that was spread over one of the tables around my naked body. My eyes didn’t leave hers. “I’m sorry that this is happening.” She looked back at Balti. “I know the consequences but I need to speak to my daughter in private, please my liege.”

The leader nodded. “But the boy stays.”

I looked at Cheng. “It’s okay, Elena. Go talk to your mom. I’ll be fine.” He sounded stunned, mixed with confused, exactly the way I felt.

I looked back at Balti. “If you hurt him, I swear to you…”

“Don’t,” my mom grunted.

“He will pay if he hurts my friend,” I grunted back.

“Understood,” the sire said and my mom pulled me away into another passage. I just stared at her as I kept the same pace as hers. Hurt jolted through my entire body again followed by a lot of anger. We took a lift and my eyes didn’t leave her for one second.

When the door closed I gave it to her. “You left us. How could you do that? I was only two years old.”

“Elena, I had no choice.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Mom. How could you do that?”

“Watch your tongue.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, you gave up that right the day you walked out of my father’s house.”

My words stung her, but it was not nearly the hurt I felt. She closed her eyes. “Believe me I’ve been punishing myself every single day for leaving you and Jako.” She flinched. “I mean Herbert.”

“So, Jako was Herbert?” I asked. I should’ve known that. I should’ve looked for what Jako looked like when my curiosity about him was piqued. They were so similar in so many ways.

She nodded.

“Why didn’t he tell me? About what I am? About this?”

“This isn’t the place Elena.”

“What!”

“I know you have many questions, but this isn’t the place to get them answered.”

My nostrils flared and I thrust myself against the elevator’s wall with both arms curled, still clutching the table cloth around my naked body.

My mind went crazy with questions and Cheng managed to enter it too. “Is my friend going to be okay with this Balti guy?”

She smiled slightly. “Yes, he knows he’s a dragon. He finds dragons fascinating.”

“So I’ve been told.”

The elevator opened and I followed her down another hall. She opened a door that led into a small apartment that was very high class. Everything was marble and pure white. The kitchen had a glass table and the most beautiful oven I’d ever seen. All the décor was crystal, and on the table stood a crystal vase with the most beautiful flowers in a million different colors. A huge tree even grew right through her apartment.

A monkey came out of nowhere and jumped onto her shoulder. She patted it softly and gave it air kisses before she took it off her shoulder and put it onto the tree.

“Sit,” she ordered me. “I’ll make you some tea and get you some clothes to wear.”

“I don’t want tea, I want answers,” I yelled again. “Why did you leave?”

“I couldn’t stay, Elena. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t. Jako kept moving us around. Said there were dragons that knew about you and that they wanted to kill us. He moved deeper into the city and I couldn’t change anymore. I am what I am, even if I try not to be. I couldn’t go without my true form, so the best thing for me was to leave.”

“You only thought about yourself. What about me and Dad? You couldn’t just try to make it work. You never even came back.”

She closed her eyes. “I couldn’t...”

“Oh please, don’t give me that crap.” I wiped off an angry tear and threw myself down onto the whitest couch I had ever seen. This entire place would drive me insane.

She came over to me and sat down on the opposite couch. I could feel her eyes on me but I didn’t want to look at her. I’d never felt so betrayed in my entire life.

“When did you turn into a dragon?” she asked.

“The day Lucian died.”

Her eyes grew and a gasp left her mouth. “Lucian died?”

“Don’t, it’s not like you knew him.”

She sucked in a silent breath. My words stung her more than I’d hoped for, but she deserved it, all of it.

“I knew how he felt about you and you about him. I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice. It was silent for a while as I kept staring at the tree that grew majestically through her apartment. “Did he tell you anything?” she asked.

“Nothing, he told me nothing because he died. Why do you think we are here? Vacation?”

She bit hard on her lower lip and took a deep breath before her gaze turned down another hall behind her. “Anna!” Tanya yelled.

I frowned as a girl in her early teens came running into the room. She had blond hair like mom and bright blue eyes. She was slender and really tall.

“Please give Elena some of your clothes.”

“Mom!” The girl protested.

“Please, Anna, do as you are told.”

The girl turned around and disappeared.
I started to laugh. “You are unbelievable, you know that.” I glared at the woman who I would have given anything to find a couple of years back. “Does she know who I am? Did Dad know?”

“Yes, Jako knew.”

I couldn’t believe I had a half-sister. “Is she a dragon too?”

“No, she’s not, and neither are you.”