Web Of Bones: Book II of the Dragon Mage Series (15 page)

The call went out.
The message was short and to the point. “Bring all the dragons you trust to Isolation Mountain. We finish this.” Melisande stood on a cliff outside the cave of a sacred hot spring overlooking all of Dracon and sent a wisp of air flying to her sister. Well, it was meant to be a wisp, anyway. She had significantly more
oomph
that she realized, and it blew away with the push of a mistral wind–hopefully, one that would not cause damage across the whole of the land. She cleared her throat and looked up at Solan with a slight apology in her voice. “It’s sent.”

“
I can see that.” His eyebrow went up as he watched the loud, billowing progress across the valley. Then he shook his head and rubbed the back of his fingers down her throat. He sighed. “I would give a great deal to keep you out of danger.”

She smiled, taking his hand to her lips and kissing it.
“A dragon must build a granite wall of protection around his mate,” she quoted.

“
Exactly,” he grumbled, his eyes on her lips melting to quicksilver.

“
But you would not ask me to be less than I am,” she finished with a smile, making him growl.

“
I would keep you safe above all things.”

“
I am safe with you.” She stepped forward until she rested her chin on his leathers, her arms wrapping loose around his waist. Her eyes met his, way above her. “No matter what we face, there is nowhere safer for me than by your side.”

His hands went to either side of her head and dug into the silky hair until he could fist it behind her ears.
“You will do exactly as I say, and you will not leave my side.” His hands tightened just to the point of pain, and his eyes went stone cold. “Nothing in that place is as important to me as you, so do not test this. I would burn my honor and desert my men unto death, if that is what it takes to see you safe. Do not ask me to make such a choice. Stay by my side, and no matter what you see in there, no death-defying heroics for small wind mages.”

“
I will do as you say.” She shivered and looked away from his piercing gaze. “I am not as brave as you seem to think I am. I am only doing this because Laksee is counting on me to save that woman.”

“
Yes,” he said, his hands shifting her gaze back so she saw the ice in his eyes melt to molten silver once again. His lips softening to his almost smile. “I forget that you are not actually brave. It’s easy to forget when you insist on always doing the right thing without regard to your own safety.”

She narrowed her eyes.
“Now you are teasing me.”

He laughed, and Melly had to smile.

“Come,” he said, chuckling his rusty laugh, while he lifted her off her feet. “We have fair damsels to rescue and dark dragons to defeat before I can take you to my home and have you all to myself for a while.”

He shape-shifted to dragon still carrying her in his arms.
Melly had to close her eyes to the flash of light, and then without any hesitation, he was flying off the cliff in a long drop that she felt in her swooping stomach. With her now held securely in dragon talons, he picked up a thermal and glided up.

Someday,
she thought to him, trying to catch her breath,
I would like to ride my dragon, rather than be carted around like baggage.

Perhaps someday we can try it that way, but for now, I like the feel of you pressed to my heart too much to give it up any time soon.

Melly smiled, pressing herself closer to her dragon mate and closing her eyes with a wistful sigh.
Good answer.

***

Isolation Mountain did not look like the lair of an evil dragon from the outside. Like the rest of Dracon, it was beautiful and wild. The trees grew bountiful up the sides of the great cliffs, and there was even a waterfall that shot out the side and fell into a misty lake. It was lovely and raw, and it did not smell of anything but dragon magic and nature.

“
It’s beautiful.”

“
Isolation Mountain has been the home of the Dragon Seer as long as I can remember.” Solan’s voice was a reverent whisper. “No one intrudes without an invitation, but always it has been a place of beauty and light, much like the woman who wears the mantle.” He shook his head. “It was only in the last twenty or so years that she has confined herself here, with only her mate visiting rarely. If what you saw has come to pass, it is a dark day for dragon kind, not just because Laksee was s truly good female, but also because she died without an heir to pass on her legacy.”

“
The woman I saw was tortured, but not crazed,” Melly said, turning her head to see the dragon’s flying to meet them. The iridescent black of Eben Kinkaid, the shimmering bronze gold of Prince Ladon, behind them Furee, Lux and Aarion, and surprisingly enough, two mages, one of fire atop Furee, and one of earth, riding Ladon, wearing a green dress, her shimmering brown tresses flowing behind her.

Melly blinked in surprise.
“My sister is with them.” She looked at Solan, her eyes wide in wonder.

“
Do not look to me for answers.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “I would not have thought it possible.”

The dragons landed around them one by one, until Melly felt truly insignificant among their numbers.
Then her sister was dismounting and pushing them all out of the way without regard to her small size or fragility.

“
Melly,” she called, her familiar arms surrounding her in a hug. “We were told congratulations are in order.”  Morgan pulled back and looked her over, smiling.  “You look happily mated.”  Melly hugged her back and then jumped and looked down. In the short time she had been gone, her sister was already sporting the smallest baby bump. She looked into eyes nearly identical to her own. “I know,” Morgan laughed. “It is ridiculous to be showing so soon, but the healer says we are healthy ... just anxious to be born.”

“
What are you doing here?”

“
You called, we came. I was not about to stay behind, and my mates would not have left me on my own at the Dragon Council regardless.”

“
They could have taken you home.”

Morgan snorted.
“They could have tried.” She rubbed her hand down Melly’s flame-red hair, her chin jutting stubbornly. “But when my sister calls—I answer.”

“
But the babies ...” Melly realized what she had said before the whole sentence was out of her mouth. She looked up from the belly at her sister’s wide eyes and smiled her apology, even as the stillness around them broke.

“
Babies?” Eben Kinkaid asked, his voice sounding as cold and shadowed as water from the bottom of a well.

Melly cleared her throat and looked up into those ancient gold eyes, as he came to stand over her sister like a protective cloud.
“Hello, Eben. I see you received my message.”

“
Babies?” he asked again, his voice dropping another full octave. Beside him, Prince Ladon was looking just as determined to get answers.

“
Didn’t I mention you are having twins?” she asked, her voice rising to a squeak at the end. “Surprise.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me?” Morgan asked, the color draining from her face. “Two dragon babies? Goodness. I need to sit down.” Those words started a flurry of activity that had all the dragon males hopping to, trying to rearrange the rocks on the mountain to make a seat for one small earth mage. Melly watched with fascination, protected by Solan’s broad back, as there really wasn’t enough room for such activity and they were all bumping into each other and slamming rocks down willy-nilly. She saw Braedon jump up and grab the ledge above his head, pulling himself up to the lip of the jutting stone ledge above them. It was either that, or be knocked off the ledge to his death, by overly solicitous dragons.

What seemed like so much longer was only a few seconds, and they had Morgan shoved down on one of the many new rock seats.
She huffed, shaking her head and looking at Melly with a new understanding.

“
Enough of this,” Solan said. “We have little time, as a woman’s life is at stake. We will discuss the rest later. For now, know that Melly has been pulled into a dragon seer dream by Laksee.” All the dragons stilled at the name. “In the vision, a woman was beaten and buried alive. We do not have much time to find her. I do not know if she is dragon or mage, but we do know that we have not been told the truth all these years about the state of the oracle’s mind.” He looked down at Melly, who was holding his hand in a death grip. “In the dream she spoke of her own death, as if it had already come to pass. I believe the girl is buried in the dungeons of Isolation Mountain.”

“
No.” Aarion fell to his knees, the betrayal fresh on his face, as he dug his talons into the rock beneath him.

“
I am sorry, Aarion; I know Lord Graedon is your uncle and head of your house.” Solan blew out a breath and said the rest. “It gives no one here joy that he is the betrayer who sold dragon blood to the blood mage for the poison to kill dragons. And I believe he is the one who tried to kill the lady Melisande and has in fact killed ... his own mate, Laksee.”

“
It can’t be,” Aarion said. “No dragon could kill his own mate; he would die with her.”

“
There is no more time for discussion,” Melly said quietly, as the dragons absorbed the news. “Whatever the vision means, I know that a woman needs our help. And she suffers yonder,” she said, pointing across the cliffs to Isolation.

“
Then let us find Lord Graedon, and his lady wife, and ask them ourselves what this vision means,” Eben said darkly. He looked at Aarion. “Let us hope that there is some mistake in understanding on our part; we will enter the mountain and find the truth.”

Solan nodded his head.
“Melisande and I will find the girl, while you look for Lord Graedon and Laksee.”

“
I will go with Solan and Melly,” Morgan said, with a deep breath. “If someone is buried there they will need the power of the Earth to extract her.”

Ladon met Eben
’s eyes. “I will protect our mate, while you hunt.” He did not say ‘again’, but it was implied, and had Eben bowing his head in gratitude.

Furee stepped forward, standing by Solan, and Braedon dropped down from the ledge and slowly stood to his full height.
“I go with the mage.”

Solan grunted his approval and met the fury buried in Eben
Kinkaid’s eyes. “I will leave justice to the Council’s Executioner.”

“
And I will see justice is done.” With one more touch of his mate’s cheek, Eben jumped off the cliff, transforming to his dragon as he went.

The
others followed while Ladon scooped up his mate and the fire mage swung up onto Furee’s back. Melisande was standing with her mate one second and the next they were airborne, flying across the chasm to Isolation Mountain. By the time they made the great doors, they had been blown open and one could hear dragon roars like trumpets announcing their presence. The rest of them headed away from the noise, down the great staircase towards the bowels of the fortress, and hoped they were not too late.

The dungeon was exactly as she had seen in the vision.
Running down the stairs in a dragon vision had not prepared her for the length of time it would take to get to the bottom. They flew down them as dragons and riders, but it still felt like they were heading for the very pits of the deep. They had left all sound long behind them when they finally reached the bottom. The dragons unloaded their passengers and shifted to well armored men. Looking at their escort, she had to admit they were frightening creatures in any form. All dark and deadly, except for Ladon, who wore his bronzed-gold armor and seemed to glow with power. In fact, he glowed so much she had to blink at the sight. Besides Furee, who was as a restrained fire and looked at home in the shadowy deeps of Isolation dungeon, Ladon was the most ostentatious and eye-catching. Then he pulled his sword and pulled his mate behind him, his face cut to fierce lines and his eyes glowing dragon gold in the dark. She had to admit, he was just as scary as the rest.

“
I smell blood,” Solan said coldly.

“
As do I,” Ladon growled, his eyes piercing the darkness before them. “Dragon blood.”

Solan looked Melly over with quicksilver that heated and then chilled as she watched.
She knew what he was thinking.
Laksee.
He nodded sadly, then pulled her behind him close to his back and started forward.

They all turned fast when a flame
whooshed into life behind them.

Braedon shrugged, the
object of all dragon eyes. “Mages do not see so well as dragons without illumination.” He held up his arm like a torch, the fire burning down to his elbow. With his eyes burning with green mage light behind the torch that was his arm, he looked as deadly as the dragons. “I will guard the shadows in the rear, but I must be able to see to do it.”

Solan grunted, and then tipped his chin at Furee.
“Both of you take the rear. But keep close. Lord Theron warned of the dangers we would find here, and that the earth itself would heed our enemies’ call.”

Morgan gasped, even as they started forward again.
She looked behind her at Melisande. “I did not hear that part. Dragons may have an affinity to the elements, but they do not usually call it like the mages do.”

“
He has formed dark bonds that are forbidden to dragon kind,” Melly whispered back. “Like the blood mage and their blood rights, he has delved for power where he should not.”

“
But I have seen Lord Graedon at council.” She shook her head. “He did not feel wrong to my senses like a blood mage does.”

“
He did not feel that way to me either, until he pulled the earth from my feet and attempted to drown me in it.”

Solan growled at the reminder, his hand on hers tightening and pulling her closer.
He will not touch you again,
he vowed, keeping his eyes before them, searching the shadows. Melly patted his arm.
I know.

Then they came to the first room
; the door was open, the room empty of anything. Morgan sent her earth sense through the space and shook her head. “I sense nothing.”

Melly, unwilling to take the chance, entered anyway and blew air through the rooms and over the walls.
She released the breath she was holding and they hurried on. Two more rooms were empty; both passed inspection, once they beat the doors in and stepped inside. At the next room, they followed the same process. But this time, when Melly swept her wind through, there was a hazy shimmer on the wall above them. “Here,” she breathed, turning in circles until she got her bearing. “She is here.”

“
Melly, I sense nothing in the earth,” Morgan said, looking around at the undisturbed and to her senses empty ground.

She ignored her, moving to the spot where the wind shimmered faintly over the wall.
Then she moved to stand and look at her feet, closing her eyes and opening her senses. The wind flipped and flurried all around them. “Dig here, Morgan,” she said, pointing under her feet.

Morgan moved closer, the dragons surrounding them
, facing out against any attack. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I still feel nothing from the earth.”

“
It lies, Morgan.” Melly reached for her sister’s arm and pulled her closer. “The earth here is his. Dig. Please, while there is still time.”

Morgan nodded, and then pushed her sister back and raised her hands.
“Step farther back,” she said grimly. The earth beneath them fought her touch for a moment, and then like a geyser it spewed up and into a pile close to the wall. Melly found herself turned and shielded by her mate until the earth slowed. They heard Morgan gasp, and Melly fought to get around her mate and see what she had uncovered. It was Braedon who jumped down into the hole first and pulled what looked like a dirty bundle of rags to the dungeon floor. He turned her over and Morgan jumped forward, crying as she shoved her power through the woman until she was spewing filth and dirt from her lungs. Melly grabbed her own throat, crushed tight as she was against her mate; she was suddenly having a hard time breathing around the memories of suffering this same death.

“
Breathe,” she whispered, even as Morgan and Braedon worked over the girl.

“
Why isn’t she waking up?” Braedon growled grimly, wiping mud and blood from her grimy cheek, and then with a curse he leaned forward, fit his mouth over hers, and tried to blow air into her lungs.

Melly pushed herself away from her mate.
“Move back,” she said grimly, and raised her own hand above the woman and sent wind with power behind it to fill deflated lungs. Her sister sent more earth magic right behind and pulled out what remained of the earth inside the woman.

“
What are we missing?” Melly cried. “There has to be something we haven’t tried.”

“
She is dragon. I can smell it,” Furee growled. “This should not kill her.”

“
She is too young,” Solan said darkly. “She has not even reached her first molt.” He did not have to finish the thought for them to hear it. This very well might kill her.

“
Dragon,” Morgan mumbled, and tried to grab the knife from the fire mage’s belt. He was too quick, though, and had her hand before she could pull the knife from its place on his thigh. Ladon growled, and he let her go, but kept the knife.

“
Blood,” Melly said, looking from her sister to the knife. “Dragons can be fed with blood and sex for healing.”

Braedon pulled the knife, and without another word slashed it viciously down the center of his bottom lip, then pressed them against the
woman’s slack lips. They could all feel his fire magic, chasing it, pushing the blood down through the girl, willing her to live, as the two of them blazed with the fire mage’s power from the inside out.

Then they
literally caught fire, and the intense heat chased even the other dragons back until they hit the wall, wrapped over their mates, shielding them from the fire.

“
He’s burning her,” Morgan shouted over the roar of the flames.

Melly could only squeeze her eyes shut behind
the big body of her dragon until finally the fire died down. When they looked, the woman was clean of blood and dirt, though still a scraggly mess with all that hair. But she was not burned, and she was looking up into the face of the fire mage ... and breathing.

Braedon fell back on his ass, shock plain on his face
; he looked nowhere but into the eyes of the dragon female he had saved. On his lip was a scabbed-over wound that was already scarring into a neat line.

Melly looked at her
lapis lazuli eyes and gasped, stepping forward. “Laksee?”

“
No,” she said, and then she coughed, long and hard, while the fire mage reached up to support her. She finally looked up at her hand, pressed against the floor, and then at the man holding it. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her words stilted and rough and glued to the fire mage, though she spoke to Melisande. “I am Asha.” She cleared her throat again, closing her eyes against the pain. “Laksee is my mother.”

Melly sucked in her breath and backed up.
Solan caught her against his chest.
We have to see. Before we tell her, we have to know the truth. Can you scent out the dragon blood you smelled?

Yes.
Solan brushed his fingers down her cheek and then backed away.
Stay here. I will find the answers you seek.

“
Just breathe for a minute,” Morgan was saying, when the girl kept trying to talk and coughed again. “There is time enough for you to speak.” She looked behind her to Melly; neither of them wanted to tell her about her mother until they had the facts.

“
You are not safe here,” she sputtered out, and then coughed some more. “Please, Lord Graedon ... “

They all heard the boom and felt the shake as something high above them exploded.
A second later Solan was coming through the door, and had Melisande by the arm. “We are leaving. Now.”

“
Wait—my mother is a prisoner here, we can’t leave without her.”

“
Your mother is no longer in any danger.” Solan shook his head at Melly when she would have spoken. “We leave now, before the fighting reaches this level.”

They did not shift and fly as dragons because they could not be sure what was waiting for them on the way out.
So they climbed the stairs as fast as they could until Furee could confirm the battle was high above, and moving in their direction. Then Melly and Morgan were hoisted unceremoniously while their men turned to dragons and flew faster than they ever had, up and out of Isolation, until they could land on the same stone ledge they had left so short a time ago. Solan cursed, placing her far back from the ledge and kissing her hard on the lips before Furee dropped the fire mage beside them, with Asha in his arms. “Stay here,” he said grimly, his eyes only for his mate. “Promise you will stay safe.”

“
Go,” she said, pushing him back towards the fight. “I promise we will stay here. Go help the others, and be careful.”

He kissed her hard, and then turned to the fire mage and gave him a firm look.
“We entrust you with our treasures.”

“
I will keep them safe,” he said to both Ladon and Solan. His voice was grim, his eyes burning with mage fire and fury. “See that this dragon pays for his crimes as painfully as possible.”

General Solan Fire-Eater nodded, his eyes freezing to ice.
“He will face dragon justice.
You
have
my
word.”

Then he was winging away with Ladon and Furee towards the fight.
Braedon, huntsman and fire mage, watched him go, his voice lost on the wind as he answered just as coldly as any dragon. “He will. Or it will be mage fire that finishes this hunt.”