Chapter Eleven
The moment the first figure emerged from the portal, Leo was ready. He attacked from behind, knocking the blood tracker amulet to the ground.
And nearly got swallowed by a barrage of nets for his trouble.
“Ware the cannons!” screeched the gnomes. “Get yer dumb ass outta there!”
Several hissing silver nets smacked uselessly against the ground. The person who’d come through screamed and zigzagged across the blackened sand.
“LEOPOLD, BACK!” Alliah boomed from above. She lunged at the figure and snatched it in her claws.
“Dragon!” Katia shouted. “Dragon, dragon, don’t kill it.”
The figure in her talons struggled helplessly. Alliah’s razors sliced through the Tarakonan clothing and into flesh. Leo snatched the blood tracker and thrust it in his pocket, scooting behind the portal again. If the fools had only created one, he had it now, and they would never find him again.
Provided he didn’t bleed too much in the next ten minutes.
Provided he survived this.
“PIXIES!” Alliah bellowed out a demand that the blue creatures may or may not have heard—or cared about. “I CAUGHT ONE.”
She disappeared beyond a ridge and returned just as another figure practically shot out of the portal like a cannonball. This time Leo didn’t interfere with the gnomes’ performance. The person and a net intersected and bowled across the ground, almost into the smoldering tent. Magic shimmered around the net and spluttered out.
So the nets did control magic. He’d not seen it in action, but whether that man was a wizard or dragon, he couldn’t shift, couldn’t cast spells, couldn’t escape.
Their team could handle their enemies with these inventions, but they were a finite resource. He ran toward the figure, intending to exterminate it if it was a wizard, but a phalanx of people burst through the portal all at once.
A battle shield protected them. Good thing for them. Because Barnabas Courtier raised a hand and doused them with the rage of a red dragon in her prime.
Three times as many flames as poured through the portal nearly drove their enemies back to Tarakona. They couldn’t be allowed to escape, only to return with more help. Growling, Leo forced himself into his dragon form and sprang into the air.
He buzzed quickly to Alliah’s height, shouting at the top of his small lungs. “They could flee! Stop them!”
Courtier nodded and broke off the fountain of fire. “For later, then.”
“WE SHALL TRY IT ANOTHER WAY.” Alliah plummeted faster than Leo could keep up, swooping across the battlefield and roaring out her challenge. She collided with the battle shield, but the moment she did, a spike of ice shot up, slicing through the thinner membrane near her wingtip.
Alliah’s cry of pain nearly tore Leo’s heart in two. The battle shield tore across the ground, tumbling and sparking, until it broke apart against the large boulder used to block the portal when nobody could guard it.
Flapping unsteadily but still aloft, Alliah arrowed toward the intruders. They scattered, hands covering their heads. Two nets flew down from Katia, on Alliah’s back, but missed their targets, followed by a blast of water from Courtier as he continued to control the spread of the flames. Magic shimmered around one intruder after he tumbled to the ground. Instead of tearing at the wizards with her deadly claws, Alliah latched onto the boulder. Was she going to…
No. She dropped it in front of the portal, trapping the wizards on this side of the gateway. Wavering in the air above them, Alliah bellowed her defiance. Now there was no escape until, unless, they had one of their dragons move it.
By Leo’s count, they were down at least one. That left six people to handle. One had broken away from the group and darted to person who’d been shot by the net cannon. The woman was attempting to free the man in the net. Most likely a dragon and wizard pair.
He buzzed closer, so small nobody noticed him. He was right about the pair. Ignatius Jellow and the brown. The earth dragon kept burning her hands on the sizzling mesh while Jellow threatened and cursed. Because of the thrall crystal, she couldn’t stop herself from trying again.
If he were Alliah’s size, he’d put an end to this right now, but he wasn’t. A net flew toward the fumbling dragon and missed.
A third net soared out of the sky from Katia, this time finding its mark. It wrapped around a fleeing Tarakonan. That made two in nets, but many nets wasted. He’d lost count.
One of the attackers suddenly erupted in size, turning bleached and scaly. The white dragon they’d been warned to expect. They really needed those pixies! Would Alliah sealing the portal with the boulder allow the blue creatures to assist?
Time to switch to bipedal form, to wield a sword, a net cannon, a fist, a voice. Leo landed behind the portal, skidding across the sand, to begin the process. That was when the saggy-faced shit of a wizard who’d tried to kill him spotted Leo’s hiding place.
“The little crystal dud!” he hollered, chortling despite the danger he was in. “Erick, bring him to me.”
The white dragon, one of the midsizers of the dragon world, lunged toward Leo, so he sprang into the air. A crystal’s maneuverability was unmatched. He spiraled around the portal and boulder, the white dragon unable to counter his twists and turns. Above him, Alliah was dodging stones and missiles of earth from Ignatius, whose dragon had freed him. Courtier answered with fire.
Right. Fire. Leo sped toward the burning tent, intending to lead his pursuer into the smolder and smoke. Trick him into crashing. Craning his neck to see where the dragon was, he didn’t notice the sheet of ice that erupted in front of him.
Slam! Like a bird into a window, Leo splatted into the ice and slumped to the sandy soil. The sound of running feet, a woozy head. Hands grabbed him, and he was promptly tucked against a soft body.
“He’s mine,” yelled a female, the woman cradling him. He couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t rough—but he belonged to no wizard. He belonged to himself and had chosen to share that self with Alliah. “I got him first.”
“Is that so?” He could hear the sneer in the white wizard’s voice. “You’re almost out of amulets, oh corpulent one. How do you propose to stop me?”
“I…I will stop you,” another female declared. Leo wriggled his head until he could see the slight figure of a young woman with a red lattice glowing on her skin. “Stay away from my mistress.”
She held up a sword, but not with expertise. She was barely a teenager, newly come into her variant. What was this wizard doing bringing a baby into a battle? Leo snapped at her fingers, furious, and she clamped his jaws shut with a strong hand.
“If you lay one finger on my dragon loveys, I will report you to Governor Victoria about what you did to those women,” his captor warned, quivering with righteous anger. Bertha Treacher, Leo realized. She didn’t have a terrible reputation among dragons, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t helping her.
“Can’t prove it. Fake news,” the wizard ranted.
“Victoria will believe me.” She backed up, letting go of his mouth to fumble for an amulet. “She already hates you, Daggart, and it won’t take much.”
Leo squirmed as vigorously as his small body would allow, biting and snapping. He could shift while in Bertha’s arms if he had to, but this next shift, so soon after the first, would leave him vulnerable. He’d best make that transition somewhere safe from wizards.
The white wizard spat at her. “Lazy, stupid woman. You don’t deserve to have dragons. Erick, come to me!”
Daggart raised a fist. Bertha Treacher grabbed an amulet. The young red dragon ran toward the white wizard, stumbled on a blackened cactus, and fell. Bolts of power shot from each wizard, meeting right over the fallen dragon’s head.
She squealed and rolled. Leo sank his teeth into Bertha’s flesh. Her magic bolt shuddered out, and Daggert’s lightning zapped toward them.
“Not my dragon, you don’t!” Bertha tucked herself around Leo and hit the ground. The lightning struck her, somewhere, not affecting Leo. His captor went limp, and the teenage red dragon uttered a shrill cry.
Leo squirmed away from the dead weight, perhaps literally, and saw Daggart aim a foot at the teenager, catching her in the ribs. Something cracked. “Wait here, if you know what’s good for you.”
The red dragon huddled and sobbed. “Mistress? Are you all right?”
Bertha moaned softly. She wouldn’t be all right once Daggart reached her. And neither would Leo.
He took flight and narrowly avoided crashing into the white dragon. The larger beast’s wing smashed him aside. He hit the ground, bounced. How many times was he going to stupidly run into large objects today?
Fuck all this. He began the change. His dragon body was just not a natural fighting form, and he intended to fight until the very last second. His team would win this. It had to.
The white dragon landed clumsily beside him and slammed a foot on his chest before he was done. Gritting his teeth, he finished the switch, glad he’d managed to materialize his weapons. Sometimes under stress, clothing or possessions would…disappear. He stabbed a dagger into Erick’s foot, and the dragon uttered a nasal honk of pain.
Leo thrashed, lashing out, much more effective as a man than a dragon. Erick, though larger, recoiled after the third stab. “Father, he’s hurting me!”
Father? The white dragon was the wizard’s son? What kind of sick relationship was this?
“Bring him to me or you’ll regret it!” Daggart roared, but Leo was already on his feet, sword in one hand, cannon in the other.
Erick feinted at Leo. Eventually the guy would realize all he had to do was use his bulk as a bludgeon. Leo bounded backward, gaining some clearance. Would the net work on a full-sized dragon?
Leo aimed. Shot. The net whopped into Erick’s head, and he bleated in shock. He launched himself, wobbling, into the sky, trying to shake off the painful mesh.
He whirled and aimed it at Daggart, who jutted out his chin and glared. He pulled the trigger.
Daggart conjured a ball of ice that met the net halfway, and they hit the ground, useless and smoking.
Leo only had one more net in the cannon. No more nets flew from the sky or from the gnomes. But he couldn’t take his gaze off Daggart to verify his backup. He and the white wizard circled one another warily.
“You put a thrall crystal in your own child?” Leo said.
“He’s a dragon, and a pathetic one that that. I don’t need a crystal to force him to obey.” Daggart yanked a new amulet from around his neck. “You’re much more valuable. I plan to sell him to a drainer once I have you.”
“Father, no,” Erick bleated from somewhere in the air.
“Might as well give up sooner rather than later.” Daggart’s poorly-fitting trousers and shirt bagged around his body so much he could be hiding a hundred amulets in there. What spell would he toss at Leo next? “If you cooperate, maybe I won’t accidentally kill you.”
“But I definitely intend to kill you,” Leo growled, and flung three daggers toward him in quick succession.
As it happened, Daggart was clutching a defense shield amulet. The bubble fuzzed into existence around the wizard, deflecting the blades. Leo shrugged, released a war cry, and charged his evil ass. He’d hack his way through the defense shield if he must. Anything to slit that wizard’s throat.
# # #
Alliah saw the wizard raise a lava ball behind the defensive shield and realized it was too big for Leo to evade. If he dodged the impact, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the lava flow.
Ignoring the pummel of boulders against her underside, she dove through the sky as the stars began to emerge. Time to get scorched again for her man. Would she make it in time?
But Leo, surprising her, flung the net cannon toward the wizard like a shotput. It pinged off the shield and disrupted the lava ball’s course. The molten rock whistled through the air, missing Leo, and struck the ground near the last place she’d seen the gnomes.
Screams and shrieks greeted her as the lava spread out, consuming the earth around it with nature’s hunger. But she was almost to the ground.
“Katia, the gnomes,” Courtier declared as Alliah neared the confrontation. “Trapped.”
The minute she landed, she flapped down her wing. Courtier and Katia skidded to the ground. They had no more nets, but they were as determined as she to stop these wizards from kidnapping dragons ever again. She barely waited for their dismount before she was thundering full speed toward the white wizard and her crystal dragon.
The earth trembled as she roared across it. The wizard whirled inside his protective sphere, took one look at her, and started flinging lightning.
Alliah dodged most, but a few hit her, stinging like giant knives. They pierced her armor and blood dribbled from the wounds. She would bite him in half! She would kill him. She careened into his shield, bleeding and furious, and he bounced across the ground like a rubber ball. Meanwhile rocks from Jellow and his dragon continued to shower the area, growing smaller as the dragon tired. Their aim was poor now that the sun had set and most of the fires were out.
“Hit him again!” Leo shouted. The air hissed with the sounds of lava, magic, and chaos. Or was that something else?
Pixies swarmed through the skirmish, alighting on the white dragon who was trying to limp away, the brown dragon being drained by Jellow, and the girl crying over Bertha Treacher. They must have already handled the blue dragon she’d tossed on the other side of the ridge, for that poor soul hadn’t entered the fray. The recipients of the pixies’ attention squawked or cried out as an aqua glow enveloped their bodies.
“What spell is this?” Daggart shouted. White magic glowed inside his shield, which was still in one piece. The wizard with his endless supply of amulets, his reservoir of stolen dragon essence. “Get away from those dragons.”
The brown dragon awoke from the curse of the thrall crystal first. The woman punched Jellow in the head and took off running into the shadowy desert. Next the red dragon stumbled to her feet. She hugged herself, looking lost and tearful.
Alliah shouted to her. “GIRL, YOU ARE FREE. RUN!”
Stumbling, the child followed the brown dragon, glancing back once at the still figure of her former mistress. Alliah couldn’t tell if Bertha Treacher was dead or unconscious, but right now she only cared about one thing.
Leo.
The white wizard, inside the shield, rolled to his feet. Lightning shot out in every direction, piercing her wing again, narrowly missing the portal. Leo’s sword flew out of his hands, and he cursed. More lightning scorched the earth at Leo’s feet, as if he was the white wizard’s primary target. But she was in position now, and she would put a stop to this war.
The bloody way.
Alliah rose onto her hindquarters. A standard defense shield could guard against many things, but it wouldn’t stand up to the full weight of a massive red dragon. Before she could splatter the wizard into the dirt, the white dragon soared out of the night sky and knocked her over.
Winged creatures were not the most agile when flattened on their backs. Alliah struggled with her wings, tucking them close to her body, and tried to flop to her front. Hopefully onto the wizard and not Leo. “GET OUT OF THE WAY, LEO.”
“What took you so long?” the white wizard snarled. “I’m almost empty.”
Was that asshole ever in for a surprise. The white dragon no longer had a thrall crystal, thanks to the pixies. He landed next to the wizard and…
And allowed the man to mount.
Daggart beat his heels in the dragon’s sides. Whites weren’t armored like reds, and the sensation wouldn’t be pleasant. “Get us out of here!”
“My feet hurt. He stabbed them,” the white dragon moaned. He broke into a limping run and launched himself across the desert.
Leo jogged up to Alliah, sticking a dagger back into his belt. “We have to go after them.”
“That dragon’s taking him off somewhere to kill him,” Alliah guessed. “Looks like Courtier, Katia, and the gnomes have the others rounded up.”
Indeed, the wizard was floating several net-wrapped bundles to the sand beside Bertha Treacher, where he stooped to check her pulse. Katia set off into the desert after the two frightened dragons. Alliah would let Courtier tend to the wizard, if he must, before asking him to staunch her bleeding.
“No, he won’t kill him,” Leo said, staring up into her huge eyes. Blood dribbled down his skin in places, too, and his lattice shone with a joyous frenzy of battle lust. “The dragon didn’t have a thrall crystal. The dragon is the wizard’s son.”
Alliah blinked at her man. It seemed they would get what they’d fantasized about after all—the chance to kill a wizard. Together. It would need to be efficient, though, because her blood loss was not insignificant.
“Hop on,” she said, showing him every one of her teeth. They might fight over who got to deliver the death blow, but in the end, that bastard would die. “Let’s ride.”