Journey 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book Two' (5 page)

I choked down the laughter that was
trying to make its way up my chest. I reminded myself that even
though he was only the size of a large sparrow, he could still turn
me into ice. “The first dragon I have ever met was Faren. I didn’t
realize dragons varied in size. I don’t suppose you know
her?”

He relaxed and his spines
lowered
. I know her. She is one of the
three fire dragons
.

“There are only three fire
dragons?”

He nodded.
Three fire dragons, two water, five wind, four
earth and one Mother. These numbers are constant. The Mother only
hatches an egg to replace a fallen dragon
.
He shook his head.
At the rate Faren is
going, we should have a new hatchling to play with soon
enough
.

“Why? Where is she? What happened to
them?”

She thinks Ternach has you.
She is on her way to his lair. I assume your friends are with her.
The mother had us all looking for you. We are to tell you to leave
these regions immediately. Had it not been for the fact that your
Winged One deflected Ternach’s magic and redirected you here, he
would have captured you. Leave. Now
.

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving.
Where is Ternach’s lair?”

I won’t help you jeopardize
your life
.

Dodge shook his head and the little
dragon had to take to the air or be flung off. My horse started
forward at a trot.

The dragon came to rest on
my shoulder.
What are you doing?

“I have a feeling Dodge is going to get
his stone and then we are going to help our friends.”

I heard a little sigh by my
ear.
My name is Bryenk
.

“I’m Hayden.”

Dodge snorted.

“Only me?”

He nodded and I laughed. “I don’t do it
on purpose. And you have to feel better that we have dragons as
friends as opposed to enemies.”

He snorted again and I took it as an
agreement. Back in the world where I had grown up I’d had a habit
of picking up every stray that walked around. Here it wasn’t any
different.

We moved along for a few hours before
Dodge slowed and then stopped. He swung his head to the
side.

“You want me to get off?”

He nodded. I did as I was told and gave
him a pat on the neck.

Is he after an
emerald?

I nodded.

Bryenk let out another
little sigh.
I am guardian of the emeralds.
Tell him to go get it. I won’t stop him.

I relayed the message to Dodge, who
nodded toward the dragon before trotting off into a large
cave.

The Mother won’t be pleased
with me, though I imagine she might not mind losing one emerald if
it means you’ll leave these parts sooner.

I sat on a rock and pulled my damp hair
away from my neck. I looked around at our surroundings. “What do
you eat? There’s nothing here.”

I fish. The deeper ponds are
full of them
.

“So you can swim?”

I am a water dragon!
His laughter rang in my head.

“Can you tell what Faren is
doing?”

Bryenk shook his
head.
Only the Mother is linked to all of
us and even that is only a one way connection. She can feel and
contact us, but we can’t do the same
.

I heard hoof beats and a snort behind
us.

Hello, Hayden.

I turned and smiled. If I had ever
tried to imagine what Dodge’s voice would sound like, this was
almost it. It was deep and soft.

I got up and went to give him a hug.
“Hey, Buddy. Let’s have a look at you.” I stepped away and walked
around him.

He looked just like he always did with
two exceptions. I reached up to touch the emerald that was embedded
into his forehead and he closed his eyes.

“Did it hurt?”

No. It feels like some
little part of me that was missing is back
.

My hand made its way over his ears,
down his neck, and stopped on his withers. Just behind his
shoulders were bumps, one on each side. I touched one lightly. “Do
those hurt?”

He shook his head.
No. Not really. They itch more than
anything
.

“Do you know how long they will take to
grow in?”

No
.

Bryenk looked over to
me.
Will you leave now?

“No. Now we go find
Ternach.”

The little burgundy head
shook at me.
Are you so eager to
die?

“No, but I’m also not willing to let my
friends die.”

Your life is more important.
They will understand
.

I shook my head. “That’s where you’re
wrong. I’m no more important than anybody else. Will you tell us
which way to go?”

He took a moment to think of it then
lifted a leg and pointed.

“Thank you.”

He looked toward the mouth of his cave,
shrugged, and then looked toward one of the steaming ponds. A wave
of water left the pond and formed a wall at the entrance. Bryenk
blinked and the wall turned into ice.

If you’re going up against
Ternach, you will need all the help you can get
.

“Thank you.” I fought the urge to pet
the little head. I was pretty sure he would have been insulted. I
turned to Dodge. “Can you displace us like you did
before?”

No.
He shook his head
. I’m not even sure
how I did it. I can feel magic, but I can’t use it. When I felt it,
all I could think about was getting you out of there. The next
thing I knew, we were here.
He gestured
back with his head.
Hop on. We’ll have to
do this the old fashion way
.

I swung on and we trotted off. Under
the direction of Bryenk, we made our way quickly through the steam
beds.

“How far is it?”

Bryenk came to rest between
Dodge’s ears.
Once we get to the sand
plains, if the Winged One can keep a steady pace, we should be
there by night fall
.

“Night fall. When we crossed the river,
Jasper had said it would be time to make camp. Was I
unconscious?”

Dodge shook his head.
No. Days are longer here as are the nights. It
takes two of our days and two of our nights to make one day and
night here
.

We had reached the edge of the hot
springs and Dodge broke into a canter over a flat desert of hard
sand.

*****

It was almost completely dark when
Bryenk told us to stop. We had been traveling deeper into a forest
of trees that looked like sugar maples in the fall. The leaves were
beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows.

Ternach’s lair is just a
little ways away. It doesn’t look like much, but you’ll see a
hollow tree stump in a clearing. I imagine he already knows we’re
here. Did you have a plan of some sort?
Bryenk looked up at me from on my shoulder.

“I guess if he knows we’re here,
there’s no point in trying to sneak up. Let’s go knock on the door
and see what happens.”

I’ll go. You stay
here
. Dodge looked back at me.

“You’re not going by yourself,
Buddy.”

His tail swished.
Hayden. I’ll go scout around. If anyone sees me,
they’ll just think I’m a Winged One on his quest
.

“Fine. But I’m giving you two minutes
and then I’m following.”

He nodded, knowing full well that this
was as much cooperation as I was going to give him.

I watched as he walked away, Bryenk
slightly ahead of him, leading the way. I started to count in my
head.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6,…

“Hayden! Thank the moons!”

I spun around and threw myself into
Jasper’s arms. “Did you guys just get here? Where’re Brice and
Faren?”

Jasper’s lips found mine and silenced
any more questions I might have had for him. His hands ran up my
back and I moaned. One instant I was thinking of how we needed to
find everybody and get away, and the next all I wanted was for
Jasper to push me up against a tree and take me right
there.

I pulled away, trying to catch my
breath. “Let’s keep that in mind for later,” I grinned up at
him.

He laced his fingers in my hair and
pulled me back to his lips. “Why wait,” he muttered. His hand ran
up my shirt. He brushed his thumb over my nipple and I
groaned.

“Oh, god.” I closed my eyes and gasped.
He lifted me and wrapped my legs around his waist then pulled my
shirt up and ran his tongue along the curves of my
breasts.

Somewhere in the back of my mind a
little voice was telling me that this was ridiculous. We had to get
away. Jasper suckled me gently and the little voice disappeared. I
shook with need. I ran my hands through his hair and tilted his
head so I could look into his eyes.

He gazed at me and smiled a crooked
grin.

I realized I was projecting how I was
feeling full force. “Sorry.” I reined it in.

“What for?” He looked
confused.

“I was feeling…” I took a few deep
breaths and shook my head to clear it. Jasper ran his fingers
lightly across my back and my mind clouded again. My shield
dropped.

The look in Jasper’s eyes stayed the
same.

“How are you not feeling that?” I
reined it in again. Had this been any other day, he would have
groaned; would have been vibrating with my need and his.

“Feel what, Hayden?”

He would have called me
Shlova.

He can look like everything and
anything. He never looks the same way twice. Faren’s description
rang through my head.

“Ternach!”

Does it matter who I am if I can make
you feel like this? I think I’ve decided the humans can keep their
gifts. I’d rather have you. His voice was like a caress in my
head.

“Put me down!”

He set me gently on my feet, but kept a
hold of my waist. Jasper’s blue eyes gazed into mine. His hands,
Jasper’s hands, ran up my sides. My mind clouded.

“Stop that!” I shook my head again.
“Don’t touch me!”

Jasper’s face crumbled as if I had
slapped him. I almost pulled him to me to comfort him.
Almost.

The look turned from pained
to sly.
If that’s what you want. It works
either way for me.
He took a few steps back
and stood with his arms crossed.

I felt invisible fingers brush lightly
over my face. They moved down my neck, over my shoulders, and then
were in my head.

I fell to my knees and moaned. It felt
like I was being touched in all the right places simultaneously. I
was breathing hard and groaning. I wanted to give myself up to him
and let him finish what he had started. Pictures flashed in my head
and I knew he was reading my memories. I looked up into his eyes.
Not Jasper’s eyes. They were the same perfect blue, the same
slightly catlike shape. But they were not his. Jasper’s eyes were
full of what he was feeling; I could read him like a book. These
eyes were blank. I focused on those eyes and took a deep
breath.

“Get out of my head.”

Those eyes widened a bit and I said it
again, this time with a bit more conviction.

“Get out of my head.” I pushed myself
to my feet and started to feel my anger rise. “I don’t know who
you’re used to dealing with, but back off!” I threw the red waves
at him.

He put a hand up casually then cried
out when the flames ran over him. Jasper’s form wavered and turned
into a small man made of grey stone. I saw him pull his own waves
toward him and got mine ready to counteract whatever he was going
to throw at me.

The flames came at me so quickly I
almost didn’t have time to throw the grey waves to blow them away
from me.

Well, aren’t you a handy
little one. I wonder how you will handle this!
The little rock monster grabbed a silver wave and threw an
energy bolt at me.

I pulled the ground up in front of me
and the rock wall exploded with the impact of the bolt.

Not bad at all. He had
turned into a man again. This one was blond with dark brown
eyes.
We are going to have fun, you and I.
I love a good test of strength when the opponent is worthy. And
just think. Once we are done playing, we can spend the rest of our
time making you quiver like you were moments
earlier
.

I felt him try to enter my head again
and I screamed in anger. My vision turned red and I concentrated on
the ground at his feet. The flames shot up at him and this time he
cried out in pain.