King Of Souls (Book 2) (41 page)

Ronan rolled sideways while keeping his gaze locked on Rika’s position. He stood and sharp pain flared in his lower back sending jolts of agony through his upper hamstring. He channeled Elan’s healing magic and quenched the pain. He prayed Rika’s shield withstood the dragon’s blow and a three-hundred foot fall, but he had serious doubts. If he could find her in time, he could heal her injuries.

He staggered forward pushing aside burning limbs and bobbing globs of fiery leaves and fruit. White smoke curled from his shield, but the raw heat seeping through sent sweat rolling through his hair and down his face.

Ten-feet ahead, a clear patch of ground revealed itself not far from Rika’s crash site.

Ronan paused in the clearing and peered through the heavy smoke scanning a smoking pile of dead heartwood. Amid the blackened limbs, Rika’s dark leather armor would make too perfect camouflage.

Rika’s silver boot buckle gleamed atop a blackened branch seeping white smoke from its ash covered bark. She’d lost her hawk’s form and lay motionless between two broken branches.

A hard lump formed in Ronan’s throat, and he stumbled over a mountain of twisted branches until he stood six feet from Rika’s limp body.

Rika lay high atop a mountain of deadwood. She appeared unconscious, and the shield surrounding her body had burned away.

Ronan began climbing the pile of wreckage and froze.

Beneath Rika, the limbs twisted and moved causing her body to jumble and slide inward. Flames licked the wreckage opposite Rika, and if her movement continued, she’d fall face first into the fire.

Ronan froze, his gaze locked on the moving pile.

Beneath the heartwood mountain, a pair of glittering sapphire eyes opened. A massive dragon’s head twisted to face Ronan. Smoke curled from flared nostrils at the end of a long ebony-scaled snout. It blinked and tilted its massive head staring at Ronan like some rare delicacy.

A sharp pang of fear constricted Ronan’s chest and spiking adrenaline rushed through his muscles. On rubbery legs, he lifted a shaky palm toward Rika and channeled spirit surrounding her with a fresh shield. “I mean you no harm.” Despite his best effort, his voice shook as he spoke.

Near the dragon’s head, a charred corpse lay face down with arms and legs splayed across uneven limbs and branches. A singed burlap robe worn by Obsith sorcerers clung like a second skin to a child-sized body. The riderless dragon showed no concern for the corpse and kept its gaze leveled on Ronan.

Ronan’s gaze flickered toward Rika before settling on the dragon’s pure blue eyes. “I don’t want to trouble you. I just need to collect the woman lying atop your back. Then I’ll be on my way.”

A heavy external force pressed against Ronan’s mind, and on instinct, he pushed back. He pulled in a ragged breath, and his eyes widened. The last time he’d experienced something so strange, he stood in Lora’s Garden speaking with her spirit.

Ronan recalled Rika’s words about a dragon’s ability to communicate when they chose. He let go a sharp breath and decided to take a risk. The muscles in his shoulders tensed, and he closed his eyes before opening his mind.

The mental push came again, softer, as if hesitating. Finding no resistance, the entity entered Ronan’s mind with the looming presence of a grand noble. Its baritone voice spoke in Ronan’s mind with clarity unlike any he’d ever experienced.

“Why do you fear me human?” The dragon spoke in Ronan’s head. He lowered his gleaming black head until his gazed stood even with Ronan’s.

Ronan’s toes curled, and goose bumps rose on his flesh. The voice felt alien and awkward like a person starting a conversation while standing an inch from his face. He pushed out a short hard breath and tried to stay calm. Pushing his thoughts outward he spoke. Ronan tipped his head toward Rika. “My lady friend is lying atop your back near that flame, and I’m afraid for her life.” As an afterthought he added, “and mine too.”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head an inch to his right as if confused. “You say strange things for a being whose soul shines like the sun.”

Ronan had heard enough about his bloody soul. “Please, I mean you no harm. I’ll collect my friend and leave you in peace.”

The dragon opened its long ash streaked snout revealing three rows of gleaming white teeth. It shook its massive head and glared narrowing its eyes. “I’ll not let you have her human.”

Ronan froze and leaned away from the dragon’s overpowering stare. He channeled both enhancement and shield magic increasing his strength and physical protection. He thickened the shield already surrounding his body giving it enough resistance to stop a pack of angry saber cats. In a blur of motion, he pulled free the sheba blade strapped to his back. Crimson light filled the darkness and reflected from the magnificent dragon's gleaming black scales.

As Ronan brought forth his blade, the dragon lowered its neck and closed its sapphire eyes. With a guttural scream he sent his blade downward in a streak of glowing red death. An overpowering sense of wrongness settled over him like a smothering blanket. He froze his blade a hair’s breadth from the dragon’s neck.

The dragon cracked its right eye open revealing a thin sliver of its ocean blue eyes. “Kill me!”

Ronan stiffened as if slapped. A thin layer of sweat and ashen grime coated the back of his shaking hands. His body screamed for him to finish the beast and take Rika. But, a kernel of doubt festered like one of the thousands of burning embers dotting the forest floor.

“I’m begging you. Kill me and take her. I’ll not harm you.” The dragon’s words came desperate and haunting.

Ronan released the power flowing through his blade and sheathed it. “Why should I kill you?”

“I’ve destroyed your forest and killed your people. I’ve earned the right to a quick death.”

Ronan shook his head. “I’ll not kill you outright. I’m not a butcher.” He slipped past the dragon’s head and climbed atop the heavy limbs and branches that buried its body inside a heartwood coffin.

As Ronan moved past its snout, the dragon made no move to strike or lash out. It twisted its neck following Ronan’s movement up the wreckage until he reached Rika.

Ronan knelt and scooped up Rika as if she weighed no more than a child. He placed two fingers against her neck and felt a strong steady pulse. As a precaution, he channeled flows of white magic and wrapped them over her body repairing any lingering injury.

A low groan escaped her throat, and her lips parted as if to speak.

Ronan moved backward easing down the twisted wreckage until he stood near the dragon’s head. He knelt handling Rika like a piece of his grandmother’s fine white porcelain stretching her out on the ground. He slipped free his jacket, folded it into a neat square, and slipped it beneath Rika’s head. With a wave of his wrist he strengthened the shield surrounding her and bent brushing her lips with his. “Rest for a minute my love. You’ve taken a hard fall.”

“I’m broken human. Please finish me. Don’t make me grovel,” the dragon said.

Ronan stood and faced the beast, but the fear he’d felt a moment ago evaporated. “Is that your master?” Ronan nodded toward the sorcerer’s charred corpse.

The dragon’s eyes narrowed, and he bore his jagged teeth. “I greeted his death with joy in my heart. If I could do the same to his brethren, I would, no matter the price.”

“What’s your name?” Ronan said.

“You don’t need my name to end my life,” the dragon said. “Enough chatter. Use your blade and end this.”

Ronan tipped his head in greeting and slid the backpack from his shoulder. “My name’s Ronan Latimer, and if I’m to kill you, I should know your name at the very least.”

The dragon’s brow furrowed with annoyance. “I’m called Thoth by my kind.”

As Ronan’s leather pack met the ground, the flap opened, and the shaggy white bear cub leaped out. He pitched his nose skyward breathing in the bitter stench of burning leaf and wood. His nose curled, and he shook his head right and left as if trying to shake loose the stench.

The cub caught sight of Rika lying unconscious near Ronan’s feet. He waddled across the charred earth before curling up beside her waist.

“Your kind has destroyed an entire nation slaughtering thousands of innocent people,” Ronan said. “You’ve not earned my pity or respect. Why should I help you?”

“How could one with a soul such as yours not see the truth? Open your eyes and see.” Thoth said.

Ronan hadn’t the faintest idea how he could see any truth in the dragons’ despicable actions. “My eyes are wide open, and I’ve seen your kind destroy mine without mercy or compassion.” He glared at Thoth as fresh anger flashed in his head. “Women and children were among those you murdered. You deserve nothing!”

Thoth’s blue eyes softened. “You’re blind.”

“I told you —”

“I don’t mean your vision human. My kind has served yours for centuries, but it’s not the partnership you might imagine.”

Ronan recalled Moira’s story about the dragons enslaved and controlled by Trace. He kept his thoughts guarded letting Thoth explain his version of events. “I’m listening.”

“The Obsith emperor, a human named Trace, discovered a way to control many of my kind centuries ago,” Thoth said.

“Many of your kind? Not all?”

“Trace can control dragons born with elemental magic. He cannot enslave those born with other magical talents. He murders those whelps before they’ve had a chance to flourish.”

“Why haven’t any of your kind escaped?” Ronan said.

“We’ve tried countless times, but his control is absolute.”

Ronan’s anger faded. Dragons had endured centuries of slavery and massacre under Trace’s cruel reign. He’d used them as pawns without regard to their sentient nature. How many had died? How many more would yet die? “What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you fly away?”

“The tree fell, and landed on my back. I fear it’s broken. I’ve no feeling beyond my neck, and without flight, I’m useless.”

“I can help you, if you’d like me to try.”

“Using your white magic?” Thoth said. “I saw your lady wrapped in its flows.”

“It might work, but I’ve never tried healing a creature not human,” Ronan said.

Thoth lowered his neck and flattened his head to the ground. “I’ll not harm you. Step forward.”

As Ronan stepped toward Thoth, the bear cub leaped to his feet and bounded toward Ronan with hair raised.

Ronan knelt and scratched behind the cub’s ears. “It’s okay boy. There’s nothing to fear.”

The bear cub hovered near Ronan’s side, and he continued forward stopping beside Thoth’s massive head.

The dragon’s head came to Ronan’s waist while its neck disappeared into the tangle of shredded heartwood.

Ronan channeled healing magic, and white energy flows swirled over his hands. He flattened his palm against Thoth’s neck and directed the white healing magic between his shining scales.

White magic drifted like smoke across the beast’s dark scales. It seeped through the sharp edges and cracks crisscrossing his back. Thoth’s eyes widened as the magic took affect inside his body.

Thoth’s injuries demanded greater energy, and Ronan staggered under the dragon’s thirst for healing. Blackness crept at the edge of his vision, and his legs slackened and wobbled.

The mountain of burning lumber covering Thoth creaked and shifted as the dragon stood on his four thick legs.

Ronan released the healing flows, and his head spun. He rubbed his temples as dizziness left him stunned and disoriented. He dropped to a knee, lowered his head, and flattened his hands against the ground steadying himself.

“Human, you’ve provided me a great gift!” Thoth stretched his wings shaking free bits of ash, twigs, and mud.

The dizziness passed, and Ronan stood. “Thoth, carry information to others of your kind. Free dragons exist. Wild dragons that Trace hasn’t captured. For centuries they’ve waited for the chance to join you in the desert.”

“How can that be? If Trace finds them, he’ll butcher them,” Thoth said.

“Why can’t you fight back? Maybe they could help you?” Ronan said.

“I already told you, the emperor wields absolute control over dragonkind. We’re incapable of resisting. Doing so would kill us.”

Ronan’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand how that’s possible.”

Thoth stepped forward lowering his neck to the ground. “Come closer and you’ll see.”

Ronan inched near Thoth’s neck and his gaze drifted along the dragon’s head and neck.

“Near the base of my skull, where it meets my neck, you’ll find a crystal wedged between my plates. Do you see it?”

Ronan flattened his palm and called forth a blue orb of spirit holding it near Thoth’s neck.

A golden fragment of sparkling crystal caught the spirit’s bright light. A thin crystalline chain led from the jewel and disappeared between Thoth’s thick ebony plates.

“I see it. What is it?”

“The crystal extends through my skin. Its needle-sharp tip rests on the base of my brain where it intersects with my spinal column. Every dragon the emperor doesn’t slaughter, has a similar crystal implanted at birth.”

“Could I remove it for you?”