Page 12 of Galadon
“Good.” Bailey clasped her hands. “Now, we can ask them to bring dessert.”
Rayna’s eyes widened when servants began carrying trays filled with various flavors of pies. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a treat. At least temporarily, she wouldn’t mind being among civilization again.
Chapter 6
Rayna
Since Onyx was restless the next day when she looked in on him, Rayna decided to take him out for the hunt. He would get plenty of rest while she was away in Texas. Conrad and the other slayers borrowed horses from the same stables, so they could all travel quickly.
Normally, they’d have left their mounts shortly before coming near the last Kandoran dragon sighting for the animals’ protection, but her stallion would guide the others and keep them out of harm’s way. While she could speak mind-to-mind to all creatures on some level, the other horses didn’t know Rayna and wouldn’t necessarily listen to her. Onyx would make certain they did as they were told and protect them if needed.
So far, they’d traveled about ten miles beyond the Taugud border just north of the former town of Newcastle—it was pretty much destroyed after the war—and stopped at the Canadian River. They let the horses drink water while they planned where to go next.
Conrad rubbed his chin. “They gotta be close to here. We spotted that pile of dragon shit half a mile back, and even the Kandoran gotta hydrate now and then.”
“Look over there.” One of the former NAC slayers pointed across the riverbank. “Fresh tracks, and looks like a big dragon’s.”
James was a large man with dark skin, tight dreadlocks, and a look in his eyes that said he’d seen many hardships in his life. Rayna estimated him to be in his early thirties like her. He was mostly quiet, so she knew to listen when he spoke.
“Good eye,” Maya said, narrowing her gaze to look that way.
She’d helped fill the silence during their journey and told Rayna a few things about herself. Her family immigrated from Mexico when she was five years old, and the dragons attacked when she was fifteen. She and her mother turned out to have the slayer gene, but not her father or two siblings.
While her mom rejected the urge to hunt, Maya, despite her young age, completed the ritual to become a full slayer. That required killing a dragon and eating its heart. Within minutes of doing it, one would begin a painful transition that would make a person stronger, faster, and able to recover from major injuries quickly. Now, she was twenty-two and one of the toughest women Rayna had met for her age. It was hard to imagine someone so young taking on such a dangerous responsibility. They’d compared scars along the way, which were rare since slayers usually healed fast. The wound had to be especially bad for a trace of it to be left.
Their body types were totally different despite each being a slayer. Rayna had a toned body with just a bit of extra curves in her chest and hips and stood about five and a half feet tall. Her hair was coppery brown and only reached a few inches past her shoulders.
Maya was shorter at only two inches above five feet and had an impressive hourglass figure that drew the eye when she walked. Her thick, black braid reached all the way to her waist. While she had a quick temper, she also loved to crack jokes and laugh.
“Let’s check the tracks and see if they can give us any clue which way the dragons went?” Rayna suggested.
Of course, if the Kandoran took off in flight, there wouldn’t be a trail to follow, but they might figure out a direction to hunt. They got back on their horses and used the I-44 bridge to cross the river since—by some miracle—dragons and war hadn’t destroyed it. There was a half-burnt car, scorch marks, and missing railing on one side, but otherwise, it appeared sturdy.
James took the lead while everyone else followed, constantly checking the skies for movement. It was quiet so far—almost too quiet. No bird or insect sounds or even wind. Once on the other side, they made their way down the riverbank to the tracks. The prints were large, indicating sizeable dragons, and there were about six. Those matched what the border guards had reported when they spotted them two days ago. The imprints had to be fresh since there had been hard rain early that morning, and the storm would have washed away anything older.
Rayna glanced at the sky, calculating it had to be around four in the afternoon. The Kandoran kept a later schedule than the shifters, so they must have been here no more than half an hour ago, maybe less.
“We just missed them,” she sighed.
James nodded. “I agree.”
“Damn, man.” Conrad clucked his tongue. “There’s even extras, so I can get more than one.”
Maya snorted. “Only if you can kill yours faster than us, and that…” She patted him on the back. “Is highly doubtful since you play with your prey like a cat.”
She wasn’t wrong. Rayna had never seen anyone toy with dragons as much as Conrad, slicing and dicing for ages before striking the killing blow. He also taunted them almost non-stop with demeaning remarks and a slew of curse words. It was the only time she ever felt sorry for an enemy.
“Hey, I gotta get my kicks wherever I can find ‘em,” he said with a toothy grin.
James rose from where he’d crouched over the prints. “I think they went west.”
“Then let’s head that way,” Rayna said.
They mounted their horses, following James’ innate sense of direction. She remembered hearing talk among the other slayers that he had an uncanny ability to track anything and rarely got it wrong. Since magic returned to the world with the dragons, so many oddities had popped up—good and bad. Some people gained abilities they didn’t have before, with no explanation for how or why. He wasn’t even a hybrid like her with sorcerer abilities.
They followed him for the next half hour until he stopped at a copse of trees and dismounted. As he patted his horse, he glanced over at them. “We’ll walk from here.”
All their mounts had taken the fireproof potion, but only Onyx had experience fighting Kandoran. He did fine against the humans, but he didn’t dare mess with the dragons in a directconfrontation. The most he did was kick them with his hooves if she was down and needed a distraction. Then Rayna took back over the fight before he got hurt.
