Tears of War (60 page)

On her left, Varnen fought through the Kojen with his twin blades and Abrax at his side. Sweat rolled down Jocelynn’s face as time took on no meaning. Using every trick taught during her training in Boromar, she cut down her enemies. Adirynn had her back leaving her free to concentrate on those that came at her front.

Surprised, she saw Kellinar, Taela, Anevay, and Vaddoc working their way through the Kojen. Jocelynn glanced at the sky. It was empty of Shadow Dragons. Kirynn appeared at her side, flashing a smile as she took down the Kojen. “Hello zahri sister,” she called.

Jocelynn smiled back and nodded, acknowledging Kirynn’s welcome but not taking time to shout back. Bringing down Kojen took more effort for her than it did Kirynn. No one was as good as the flame-haired woman.

After several more felled Kojen, Jocelynn turned to find her next target only to realize there wasn’t another one. Instead, all she saw was a sea of dead Kojen littering the grass, their dark blood staining the ground.

Kellinar looked around to make sure no more Kojen were going to charge out of the trees before turning back to the gold dragon and his young rider.

Merru was sprawled in the grass with his eyes fixed on Loki who lay with his hands bound behind his back, and a heavy black chain around his neck. Loki struggled to a sitting position and tried to pull his hands from their bonds as blood seeped from under the ropes.

Kellinar ran to him. Pulling out a knife, he sliced through the ropes

Loki grabbed at the chain as he staggered to his feet and stumbled toward Merru. He yanked on the black links, tearing his skin. The chain wouldn’t come free. Loki screamed as he tried to pry it away from where it had embedded itself in him. Blood ran down his chest as the skin ripped more.

His heart in his throat, Kellinar grabbed Loki’s wrists, pulling his hands away from the black chain that seemed to have burrowed further into the boy’s skin. “Stop! It won’t come off that way.”

Loki’s eyes were wide and frantic. “Get it off me, Kellinar! It’s tearing Merru away from me!” He twisted away from Kellinar and tore at the chain again. Tears ran down Loki’s cheeks as he struggled to rip the metal from his flesh.

“Loki, Anevay and Taela are here. Taela can remove it. Try and be still.” Kellinar’s voice and hands shook as he tried to get Loki to sit down.

Kellinar glanced at Merru. A ripple ran over the dragon and some of the gold faded from his scales. His heart pounded and terror welled up inside him. Oh Fates, they were too late. They were going to lose them.

“I can’t…I have to get it off. Merru is fading!” Loki screamed through panic-filled sobs, yanking at the chain again with bloodied fingers.

Taela threw herself at Loki, tackling him to the ground. Closing her eyes, she placed her hand on the necklace and pinned him down with surprising strength. Kellinar, Vaddoc, Kirynn, and Anevay rushed to help her as Loki writhed and thrashed, shouting that he had to get to Merru.

A ripple worked its way down Merru’s body, taking with it more of his color.

“Merru!” Loki managed to yank his hand from Kellinar’s grip and lay it on the gold’s snout. “Merru, no! No, no, no...stay…”

Another ripple flowed along Merru. Kellinar’s heart thundered in his ears and tears welled in his eyes. He watched in helpless frustration. Why hadn’t Adirynn called for Shryden and him sooner?

Taela didn’t move or open her eyes, but Kellinar felt her through the bond, working frantically. Tears ran down Kellinar’s face as he struggled to hold Loki and ignore the boy’s screams to get the chain off. He tightened his grip as Loki fought to reach for the black links. Kellinar glanced at Merru again. The golden scales had faded even more and the dragon’s bright blue eyes were closed. “Hurry, Taela,” he pled through gritted teeth.

Taela’s eyes flew open, lines of strain creased her face. “Everyone off. Loki, close your eyes and look away, it’s coming off.”

Everyone sprang back as the necklace exploded. It ripped through his flesh and sent shards of metal flying through the air. Loki opened his eyes and scrambled on hands and knees to Merru, crying in relief as the gold color of the dragon’s scales slowly brightened.

Kellinar reached for Taela as she doubled over from the pain of the chain’s backlash, the knowledge of the agony in her head slamming through the bond. He felt her stomach heave and quickly pulled her hair away as she vomited on the ground. When she was done, Kellinar pulled Taela away from the mess and held her as the pain slowly ebbed.

Anevay crouched next to Loki and examined the wound left by the necklace, heedless of the blood running down the side of her own face. She looked at Taela. “It’s clean, there is no metal left in his skin.” She closed her eyes and Kellinar saw the effects as she began to heal Loki.

Kellinar helped Taela to her feet when she was ready. She smiled unsteadily at him. “I think it might be best not to tackle those chains alone. It was bad when we took Kirynn’s off, but the backlash was divided between three of us.” She rubbed her forehead. “Taking it all was…painful.”

He shook his head at her understatement and knelt next to Loki putting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Anevay still sat in the grass with her hands on the boy, a small furrow between her brows as she worked to remove the damage done by the chain. As he watched her, anger built inside him. How in the name of the Fates had this gotten so far?

Kellinar looked up and asked, “How did this happen? How were they able to take him without anyone noticing?”

Jocelynn straightened, a worried look in her pale green eyes. “We did notice, but we didn’t realize anything had happened to him. He has had a habit in the past of taking off and not answering calls to him. When he didn’t come back from patrol, we thought he was off having fun.”

Kellinar sent her a hard look. “Why didn’t you call for me?”

“I didn’t want to have you running back here—“

“You will call us the minute any of you go missing from now on,” Kellinar growled.

Taela laid her hand gently on his arm. “Kellinar, they did what they thought was right at the time. They were already searching for him.”

“We were almost too late,” he snapped at her. Fates, he’d almost lost Loki twice now. “If we had known sooner—”

“It would have changed nothing, bondmate. We wouldn’t have known where to look until Merru could send out a call.”

Kellinar closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, trying to calm the anger he knew was just a reaction to his fear. When he opened them, he looked at Jocelynn. “She’s right. I’m sorry I lost my temper.”

She nodded. “Don’t worry about it. I understand. If I had known…”

He shook his head. “I know. Like Taela said, there was no way to know. From now on though, if any of you come up missing, I want an alert sent out to everyone immediately.”

Jocelynn sucked in a breath. “The other distress call from Tellnox and Nydara, what happened? Are Maleena and Mckale alright?”

Kellinar’s heart lurched as he reached for Shryden.

“There has been no word,”
the blue sent.

His stomach twisted. Hopefully they were alright. He glanced at Jocelynn. Varnen stood with his arm around her waist. “Your help today was good to have. You did well against the Kojen.” He smiled slightly. “You reminded me of Kirynn, wading into them like that. Well, except your braid is blondish-red instead of red-red.”

Kellinar leveled a stern look at her. “As appreciated as your help was, don’t think I didn’t see your catcher strap swinging free when you came through your Slide. There is always time for that. It can mean the difference between life and death.”

Jocelynn nodded. “I won’t forget again.”

S
erena marched through Arandrall’s house as a startled Border Guard from the roof led the way. They rounded the corner and she saw a man pacing in front of a large set of doors. Several other Border Guards stood in the hall, many of them covered in blood.

The pacing man stopped and looked up. “Who is this?”

The guard with her shrugged. “She rides a yellow dragon and says her name is Serena, and she is here to take care of Mckale and Maleena.”

The man looked at her. “I am Arandrall. My personal physician is with them now.”

Serena snorted. “In all likelihood creating more damage for me to fix.” She strode past them and through the doors. Maleena and Mckale lay unconscious on a large bed, Maleena on her back, Mckale on his side. A man bent over Mckale.

For a moment, Serena was torn. Thoough Maleena looked pale and drawn, from what she had learned through the dragons, Mckale was the more seriously injured. She cast another glance at Maleena, worry for her friend and the babe she carried filling her. But as Serena approached, it was clear Mckale needed her more.

The man looked up. “Who are you? I don’t let a bunch of people in the room when I have patients.”

She fixed him with a stern look. “I’m Serena, rider of the Yellow dragon Miya and a Guardian of Galdrilene.” Titles always worked best with these kinds of people. She stepped next to the bed and looked down at her friend. Mckale was much too pale, pain etched lines in his face and blood smeared his mouth where it had been hastily wiped away. The crude bandages packed around the arrow were soaked red. Without looking up she said, “I also use Healing magic. I can do what you can’t.”

She reached for the arrow shaft and snapped the broad head off.

The physician grabbed her arm. “If you pull the shaft out like that he will bleed to death.”

Serena leveled an irritated look at him. “He’s bleeding to death now. Trust me; I have no intention of letting him die.” She smoothed Mckale’s dark hair away from his face. “Do you hear me? If you even think of trying to die on me I will march into Maiadar and drag you out by this thick hair of yours.”

With one swift movement Serena pulled the shaft from his chest. He grunted even in his unconscious state. Blood flowed freely. She ignored it and laid her hands on him. Working quickly, she wove several weaves and temporarily patched the worst areas of bleeding, a technique Serena learned while working to save Emallya’s life after the battle at the Kormai.

When she had the bleeding slowed to nothing more than a small amount of seeping, she set to work on the wound itself, carefully fixing blood vessels and mending flesh. One of his ribs had been broken too. He had to have been hit at close range.

When Serena finally pulled her magic back, only a thin scar marred his chest. Her strength was drained and her legs shook slightly, making it hard for her to stand. Picking up on her problem, the physician helped her to a chair.