Page 36 of Galadon
I paused at the top of the stairs. “I would be happy to have your back, and I think Rayna is worth saving, but I’m the only one here who does. So, I’ll let your mother know what has happened, and then I’ll travel to the Taugud fortress and see who is willing to help because we know there are people who care up there. It will likely put me a couple of days behind you, but I’ll bring as much help as possible in case you don’t get out.”
“Thank you, Lorcan,” I said, dipping my chin. “That means more than you know.”
The shifter shrugged. “Gotta keep you happy and alive before the bitkal.”
I snorted. “Yes, of course.”
Without another word, I raced down the stairs. A servant waited at the bottom of the steps with a sandwich in her outstretched hand. I gave her an inquisitive look as I took it.
“Voices carry here.” She gave him a sympathetic look. “We only met Rayna the one time, but she’s a good person. Save her and bring her back alive.”
“Thank you. That’s what I intend to do,” I said, hurrying out the door.
If anyone wondered why I tore into a sandwich while racing through the jakhal, they didn’t dare ask. By the time I reached the landing pad, I had finished chewing the last bite. It wasn’t much, but the heavy drinking last night was going to slow me down, and getting some food in my stomach could make a critical difference in a fight.
This was a trap. I was under no illusions that I’d get the slayer and escape without running into trouble. Some would say it was stupid to race there without help, but the driving force in me couldn’t wait another moment. I had to get to her now, and at least I would have help coming eventually. That gave me hope we’d save her one way or another.
Shifting took longer than I liked. My body was sluggish and dehydrated, but if I’d been able to predict anything bad might happen beforehand, I wouldn’t have gone on a binge last night. I hadn’t touched the stuff in years, and this was my reward.
My dragon form took up most of the landing pad by the time I finished. While I wasn’t as large as a pure dragon, I wasn’t much smaller. I launched into the air. Rising into the sky took more effort than usual, but I willed myself to climb higher and move faster. Though my muscles screamed at the exertion, I didn’t let myself take a break until I reached Lake Texoma. It was in the neutral zone between Faegud and Taugud territories.
Only then did I allow myself to stop, drink my fill of water, and force myself to rest for ten minutes. If I used up all my energy on the flight, I’d have nothing to give if I ran into the enemy. No matter the urgency riding my every thought, I had to try thinking strategically.
Next, I calculated the safest path to Rayna’s tower. Since I’d flown through the area recently, I had a good idea of where to go to avoid any Kandoran dragons. Few would be out mid-afternoon, but there could be some. I ended my break and flew as fast as I was able without overtiring myself too much.
Thanks to my planning, I didn’t run into any trouble until I neared Rayna’s tower. I had no idea where she was located at present because the details in my visions didn’t give me any landmarks. Instead, I had to start with where they took her and track their path from there.
Three Kandoran dragons waited for me as soon as I caught sight of the structure and lake beside it. My muscles already ached from flying hard for two hours after a single ten-minute break, but rage filled me. They’d targeted beautiful, fierce Rayna, and whether I wanted a relationship with her or not, no one was allowed to hurt her.
I considered bringing a storm on them, but that would announce my presence on a wider scale and draw more of the enemy. Without the slayer’s precise lightning strikes, my storm-wielding ability had limited benefit while I was also in the air.
Instead, I blew a wide arc of flames to blind two of them and attacked the third. He didn’t have a chance to strike first before I sank my fangs into his neck and ripped his throat out. As he dropped, one of the others grabbed my wing. I swung around quickly to free myself, but it tore in his grip, sending shots of pain all the way to my shoulder.
Gritting my teeth through the discomfort, I grabbed his head. Pure dragons had short arms and long necks, which gave shifters an advantage because we had better reach. The third Kandoran was flying up behind me, but before he could damage my wings further, I used the leverage from holding the one infront to kick my legs backward. My feet hooked with the rear opponent’s neck, and I dragged him down so he was locked between my ankles below.
The front dragon snapped his teeth, tearing into my right forearm. As the pain ripped through me, I pressed my talons into his eyes and gouged them until they were destroyed. Then, I used all my strength to fling him down to the ground hundreds of feet below. Though his wings still worked, he couldn’t get any sense of direction and tumbled as he went down.
The third dragon twisted his head back and forth, trying to bite my legs. His short arms reached up as well, but they merely grazed my toes. I lifted my feet and dragged him up until I could take hold of his wings. Fighting through my pain and exhaustion, I grabbed one in each hand and pulled them hard apart until they were half torn from his back. He let out a shriek that pierced my ears.
I flung him to the ground toward the other one. After killing the first, my priority had been to get out of the air as fast as possible, so I didn’t have to use my injured wing any longer than necessary. As he went down, I glided toward him, only flaring my wings at the end to slow my descent.
He crashed into the ground and rolled a couple of times. I landed at a walk, going straight for the other dragon as he attempted to get himself untangled from his bad fall. His back bled profusely as I stomped up his spine until reaching his large neck. He tried to swing around and snap at me, but I grabbed his head and thrust my talon into the soft spot at the back of his skull.
Instant death.
Leaving him, I hurried to the struggling one whose eyes I’d destroyed. Dragons were resilient creatures. We could grow them back, but it would take four or five days. I grabbed him by his upper and lower jaws and wrenched them apart until they broke, leaving them gaping open. He panted and struggled as I punched my fist through his throat to sever his spine. As I pulled my arm free, the Kandoran slumped to the ground.
Searching the skies, I didn’t see any dragons in the air, nor did I sense their malevolence as I usually did if they came anywhere near me. Injured and bleeding, I walked to the lake and dove into the water in my dragon form. It cleansed and refreshed me. I gulped some of it, knowing I was even more dehydrated after the battle.
A part of me felt guilty for taking this break, but if I’d been in better condition, that fighting would have been easy for me. Three dragons rarely proved too much of a challenge and none of these had any true warrior skills. It was an embarrassment that they injured me at all.
As much as it irked me, I had to give myself a couple of hours to let my wounds close. It would take a day for them to fully heal, but I would be in much better shape to fight again if I wasn’t bleeding and the tear in my wing could seal enough to hold my weight better. Going out now, I’d struggle to face any more Kandoran. One thing the month-long war taught me was to pace myself and take breaks whenever possible.
I searched the skies again to be safe, and then I shifted into my human form. My primary goal now was to study Rayna’s current home and see if I could find any clues inside. The first thing I noted was that the door had been pulled off its hinges. Stepping into the dim interior, I found a cot against the far wall. Onyx’s saddle, bridle, and other things were over to my right.One odd thing was that I couldn’t find any of Rayna’s clothes, personal effects, or the pack she used to store them when traveling. A quick search of the circular space turned up nothing.
Kneeling next to the cot, I caught sight of something underneath it, close to the wall. I managed to grab it with my fingertips and pull it out, setting it on Rayna’s little bed. It was some sort of book—a human-made one. I pulled a camrium cloth from shiggara and used that as a barrier while I opened it. The last thing I wanted was to melt the plastic cover with my heated skin.
What I found inside caught my breath. It was a lifelike photo of Rayna in her teen years with a stern mother on one side of her who had the same hair color and a smiling father with thinning black hair on her other side. Next to him, I saw a young boy. He appeared to be ten or eleven for a human, and the resemblance to his parents and sister was uncanny, including Rayna’s smile where their lips turned up at one corner more than the other. She’d mentioned her parents once or twice but never her brother. Where was he now?
