Magic and Mayhem: How To Train A Witch (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Baba Yaga Saga Book 1) (11 page)

Jezibaba shook her head fiercely, sending her hair swinging with her dismay. “I don’t know. My great-grandmother died without telling me. Morgana refuses to speak his name. There has been a lot of conspiring to keep his identity a secret.”

Damien snorted. “Dragons and Gods feel the same about secrecy. If you were a dragon shifted into human form, I would simply look at your hereditary mark. It remains on the body to mark the horde a dragon belongs to.”

“A mark?” Jezibaba’s arms slid down her body. “Damn that conniving Goddess. I’ve had the answer all along.”

She tugged the sleeve of her dress but it wouldn’t pull up high enough. Frustrated, she waved a hand and her dress disappeared completely, leaving her in her matching purple lace lingerie and with a furious glare in her gaze as she searched her form.

Feeling Damien’s interested stare, she turned the glare on him. “I’m sorry to torture you so soon after turning you down, but I needed to get my arms bare in a hurry.” She lifted her left arm and turned to where he could see what she wanted to show him. “Is this the kind of mark you mean?”

Damien stared in shock. “Yes. Put down your arm now,” he ordered sharply. “Never show any dragon again. It is best no one ever know.”

Jezibaba glared harder. “What in the hell are you saying? You just made me tell you the whole damn story. Why are you suddenly reticent about telling me what you know?”

“Because your ancestor is no ordinary dragon,” Damien declared. “He may have been at one time but he is long past that now. Instead of dying, your ancestor chose to… evolve. It is said he can take the form of any creature he chooses. When he chose to disassociate himself from dragonkind, he was mostly forgotten by us. His continued existence is like an urban myth more than reality, but anyone directly serving Morgana The Red knows anything is possible when she’s involved.”

“Sounds like we’re back to the dragons are the superior race thing again.” Rolling her eyes, Jezibaba waved her hand. Her dress instantly covered her again. She fisted hands on her hips. “If my ancestor is not a dragon any longer, what the hell is he then?”

“I don’t know. No one knows. My guess is he’s something like your friend the Phoenix who can shift to any form.”

“Are you saying my hereditary great-grandfather is like Emeritus?” Jezibaba demanded, her voice rising in shock.

Damien nodded. “I can’t say for certain. Evidently, he was still dragon when he interacted with your female ancestor. All I have to go on are myths and legends. He was ex-communicated by the Council of Dragons. No one speaks his name for fear of suffering the same fate.”

Jezibaba snorted in disbelief. If Emeritus knew her ancestor, wouldn’t he have thrown the bastard’s name in her face at least once in the zillion times he lambasted her for things she’d done wrong?

She glared at Damien again. “I don’t care about your Council of Dragons. Do you know my dragon ancestor’s name or not? Just tell me if you do.”

“I know it, but it cannot be spoken by the human tongue.”

“Despite my humble beginnings, I am quite well educated. I speak nearly
all
languages, Professor. I translated ideas and terms routinely so I will find a human way to speak it. Now go ahead. Tell me his name.”

Damien lowered his voice, whispered the name in dragon, hoping his guards wouldn’t hear. He also hoped Jezibaba wouldn’t ask him to repeat it.

She heard the name, considered the full meaning of it, and then translated it into something her mind could wrap itself around. “Garrell the Wise One… or at least one of his horde. Do you think he gave himself that name?”

Damien frowned. “I have been too fearful to translate it into the human tongue, but that sounds correct enough. And no… dragon hordes collectively confer titles. His parents were only responsible for his first given name though legend is unclear if he even had the standard two normal parents. Some say he was created by the Gods and Goddesses with the first dragons.”

“I assure you he was very real because I’m living proof he procreated. Now I think I need to go,” Jezibaba began, “no…wait. I came here for a reason that I forgot during our discussion.”

She pulled the dragon fire protection amulet from a pocket and held it out to him.

“Your protective gesture was the nicest thing any male has ever done for me. As you now know, I don’t need this sort of protection, but Carol and Hildy do. Will you replicate it for them? You were trained under its creator. Your work on it will be faster.”

Damien took back the amulet, feeling silly now that he’d tried to protect a dragon from dragon fire. But her idea about giving dragon fire amulets to the girls was a good one. “Yes. I can replicate it. One of the first things I did as a mage was break down the protection in it. I didn’t trust my trainer any more than he trusted me.”

Jezibaba nodded. “Your caution serves us well in this case. The amulets will give us one more layer of protection against what we now know is coming.”

She started to leave, then stopped to meet his confused gaze once more. “Damien… you must do something else for me.”

Damien looked down as he turned the amulet over in his hand, then lifted his chin as he looked back up and met her serious gaze across the room. “Haven’t you figured out yet that I will do anything you ask, Witch?”

She swallowed at the sincere offer she could never accept. “Please don’t tell my origin story to others. All anyone on the Council of Witches knows is that I’ve outlived many other witches. They attribute my longevity to Morgana. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Well, that is the truth of your life, is it not?” Damien asked.

Jezibaba nodded and gave him a smile for his show of faith. “Indeed it is, Professor Smoke. Goodnight now. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Jezibaba returned to her room feeling vulnerable for having shared her deepest secret with someone she was trying to stay away from both physically and emotionally. Emotionally she was hanging in there, but her plan to do so physically wasn’t working out well.

And now there were more mutant dragons coming after Carol and Hildy.

She paced around her bed in the small space, feeling like a caged tiger. Her head was down in thought the whole time which is probably why she never saw the nine foot tall woman draped in green scarves materializing in her room until she spoke.

“Blasted academics. They know far more than is healthy for them, Elenora. I swear I meant to tell you about all this myself, but it just never came up. What would knowing have changed for you in the past anyway? Nothing important, Child. So see how right I was to be discreet about not revealing your ancestry?”

Despite her extreme frustration, Jezibaba walked to the woman and knelt, never erasing her frown of displeasure. “No I do not see. Hail, great Goddess-I-no-longer-trust. What brings you to visit this evening? You’ve never worried about my opinion of you before now.”

Morgana chuckled at the disrespect before wagging a finger. “I should smite your ass for that sorry welcome, Elenora.”

“It’s all I can manage after finding out you’ve been lying to me all these centuries. Using my give name does not undo the wrong you have done me as your faithful servant.”

“Child—I
never
lie. I simply chose not to tell you something that would not have served you well to know before now.”

She heard Morgana huff about her lack of retort, turn away, and walk to drop down on the only chair in the room. Even in her human form, Morgana dwarfed the seat, but did nothing to make it fit her larger frame. Ignoring her humble sitting place was the only outward sign that the Goddess was disturbed about how things had played out.

Still dealing with her own angry reaction, Jezibaba rose and glared at her manipulative benefactor. She had long ago stopped hiding her true self from the Goddess. Morgana The Red liked poking her with any stick she could find until she came out of her corner snarling and snapping at it. A Goddess’s pet she might still be, but she had at least learned to no longer act a Goddess’s fool about it.

“You told my great-grandmother the man she bedded was a dragon,” Jezibaba pointed out.

Morgana nodded. “I did and it was the truth at the time. But dragons don’t regenerate, Elenora. Other creatures do. The dragon wanted immortality and I granted it to him. Your conception was my price. Losing his dragon form was his, and trust me, he gladly paid it.”

Jezibaba snorted. “So what is my great-grandfather now?”

“Nothing you need worry about,” Morgana declared, looking away. “He is nothing to Emeritus either. I merely used my Consort as a model creature to grant the request. Yes, I was eavesdropping on your discussion with the handsome Professor Smoke because the warlocks informed me you had gone to see him alone. I came to spy because I thought you might actually have the nerve to take the dragon for a lover, but you wimped out. Now here you are grumpy and pacing because you didn’t get laid.”

“You know damn well why I declined his offer to bed me,” Jezibaba declared, lifting her hands in the air. “I cannot conceive the dragon’s child and risk what you set in motion being undone. I’m abstaining for your sake—not mine.”

Morgana waved her hand impatiently. “You’re abstaining because you still don’t know how to just grab opportunity when it presents itself. Your ancestor had no magic with which to bring that statement into reality. I do not fear some off-the-wall statement.”

“He must have had some power over things, Morgana. He made you wait three full generations for me.” Jezibaba glared when the Goddess shook her head in denial. Honestly, how could the woman ever call her stubborn?

“Not really, Child. That was nature fighting back against what I’d done. The dragon paid his price for immortality. Your great-grandmother paid hers. She is happy in my court and has a handsome demi-god keeping her company these days. Your grandmother is with her as well because I value all healers. Neither woman remembers having ever been in this world you still occupy, but I kept my word about caring for the women in your family.”

“And what of my mother?” Jezibaba asked.

Morgana snorted. “Your great-grandmother had to name you because your mother refused after you burned her. Instead of embracing what you were, that power hungry witch did her best to destroy you. Your biological mother was never my servant and therefore she is unimportant to our discussion.”

Jezibaba sighed when her Goddess glared at the wall above her head. Morgana had never forgiven her mother, but in truth, she had all but forgotten the woman and her lack of love. Three hundred years was too long to hold a grudge against a dead woman.

“It’s not like I care—I was just curious. I can’t help wondering how many other things you’ve told me are deception and half-truths,” Jezibaba said quietly.

Morgana snorted. “If your mother had been the dragon witch I was promised, I would have tracked your dragon ancestor down and shredded him. Only you matter to me. I too was part of that original divine conception. You carry my magic inside you because of it.”

Jezibaba crossed her arms and fought not to glare. Glaring only riled Morgana. “If my dragon ancestor means so little to my history, then why did you keep him such a secret? If he is immortal, then he is still around. It means he no doubt knows about me and has been avoiding me all my life. Are you responsible for that as well?”

Morgana was silent for a long while. Jezibaba wanted to know all she could know and would have waited all night for the Goddess to answer.

“The only reason I can attempt this explanation is because you’re finally starting to mature. Let’s just say that when you go against nature the way I did, unexpected things happen. I knew there were risks when I made the bargain, including that you might not show up at all in any generation. But you stand proudly before me and I have not been wrong… not yet. You truly are the most powerful witch ever born on this Earth.”

Jezibaba sighed as she uncrossed her arms. “You don’t have to flatter me, Goddess. I both love and loathe the power you have given me. I will continue to do your bidding, but I need some show of understanding in this matter so we can restore our trust.”

Morgana chuckled. “Really? You want an act of repentance from me for something I absolutely do not regret? All I care about is that I’ve hurt your feelings. I would not change what I did then or in keeping it from you. Your dragon ancestor’s role in your life is done.”

Jezibaba snorted. “I’m not asking you to be truly sorry for deceiving me. I know better than that. What I want is well within your power or I wouldn’t bother to ask anything. Maybe you can consider it doing me a favor.”

Morgana laughed genuinely. “Whatever else you are, you are always amusing, even when you vex me. The part of myself I contributed to your creation surfaces at the oddest times though, Elenora. Okay, ask me for your favor. It is yours if it is reasonable.”

Jezibaba lifted her chin. “If you won’t tell me who my ancestor is, then I want you to release Damien Smoke and his family from the remainder of their debt to you.”

Jezibaba rolled her eyes when Morgana clapped her hands loudly and bent forward to belly laugh at her request. The only reason the warlocks didn’t hear her was that Morgana always dropped some kind of confidentiality cloak over the two of them.

“Listen to you, Elenora! I can hardly believe what my ears are hearing. You bargain for the dragon when he’s not even graced your bed yet. What if he proves to be a terrible lover? You will have wasted your favor from me. Was his kiss truly that persuasive?”

“No,” Jezibaba declared, lying through her teeth. “But I have been swayed by Damien’s compassionate listening skills and by his own story. Plus he gave me an amulet to protect me from dragon fire. His personal inclination to protect me sets him apart from the other men in my life. So yes… I wish you to use my favor for the dragon.”

Morgana’s continued laughter made her grit her teeth to keep from yelling at the Goddess.

“I’m glad you think my feelings are funny, Morgana. Now will you grant me Damien’s freedom from your service or not?”