Page 30 of Dragon Lord
“Aye.”
The pillar of light that was the goddess drew back.“You surprise me, dragon.”Her stillness dissolved into movement, a swirling column of white.“So be it.I curse you anew.”
The last few words echoed in Draknart’s head, and he knew she spoke them to him alone.Nobody else could hear them.
“I curse you anew,” Belisama said, “yet balance must be kept, so I will bless her.For each day she willingly stays with you, a day will be added to her short human life.But she must never learn about this blessing.She must stay with you for love, not to extend the number of her days.Should she ever find out, my blessing will end.”
“Aye.”
The air shimmered.Draknart could not draw breath.Darkness was gathering at the edges of his vision, when the goddess mercifully turned her attention to Belinus at last.Power pulsed from her in waves.
“Jealous, my love?”the god teased.
The goddess expanded.“Enough to burn the world.”
The deep chuckle that rumbled forth from the god sounded pleased.He shone brighter.His boundaries grew and grew, until Draknart could no longer look at either one of them.He only sensed them moving toward each other.When they touched, the explosion of energy knocked Dracknart on his back.Their hold on him was released.
Pure divine power blew through the clearing like a storm.
Unable to stand, Draknart crawled to Einin, head down, as if fighting strong headwinds.She lay still on the ground, pale but breathing.The gods’ attention and then the explosion of power had overwhelmed her human body.
The storm raged hard, then harder, until she was in danger of being blown away.
“Hold on, lass.”Draknart clawed the earth, wishing for his talons, holding on to clumps of grass as he struggled forward.Then he reached her at last and sheltered her in his arms, carried her behind the giant rock formation by the deer path.That he had the storm and the wind at his back, helped.
He hurled himself into an indentation in the rock, barely a cave, so small that his dragon body would have filled it to the brim.But as he hid Einin in the most sheltered corner, putting himself between her and danger, he found more room ahead, then more and more as the cave seemed to expand—either the god or the goddess giving them room to survive.
Draknart kept going with gratitude in his heart, all the way to the very back of the cave, into darkness.
Einin revived and startled, struggled in his arms.As she had no dragon vision, she probably saw nothing.
“It is I, Draknart.I have you, sweeting.”He had to raise his voice.’Twas loud as an ocean storm out there.If they were lucky enough to ever leave the cave alive, he doubted they were going to find a single tree standing.
“Have I been struck blind?”
The panic in Einin’s voice made Draknart hold her tighter.“We are in the dark of a cave.”
She settled against his chest, as if her clash with the angry deities had exhausted her near unto death.“And the gods?”
He cradled her as he turned so she’d be next to the rock wall while he stood between her and the cave’s opening, shielding her with his body.“The gods are mating.”
“It seems very terrible.”
“’Tis not meant to be witnessed by lesser beings.”Which worried him more than anything else just then.
The appearance of the cave meant that either the god or the goddess meant to shelter them.But the threat that their protector would forget about them in the heat of passion was real.And what would happen then?Would Draknart and Einin be sealed inside the rock?
Yet the cave was their best chance for survival.Going outside was certain suicide.
Einin wriggled to slip her feet to the ground, so Draknart released her.He did not want her out of reach, but he was prepared to let her go.When she put her arms around his waist and held on tight, he could have kissed her.
She laid her head on his chest and shouted toward his ear, “Can we survive?”
Had he his great dragon body, Draknart could have protected her better.He could have flown her through the gale that raged outside.But as a weak human…
Frustration silenced him.
Einin clung to him tighter.“Will we die?”
