***
The trip up the mountain was uneventful.
“What is that noise?”
She pulled the car to a stop inside the Heartline Drilling base camp. Sid had his door open and was halfway out of it before she’d even put the vehicle in park.
“Slow down!” she called, chasing after him.
“That sound,” he said angrily, jogging toward the tunnel entrance. “That sounds suspiciously like drilling.”
“What noise?” Hollie couldn’t hear anything. Apparently his hearing was far more acute than hers too. Was there anything he didn’t have an advantage in her over?
“You lied to me.” The hurt in his voice was evident.
“I don’t understand. What did I lie about?”
He swung around to glare at her. “You lied about the drilling. You told me that because you weren’t there, that they couldn’t proceed.” He jabbed a hand down the open hole in the mountain. “Yet they are drilling. I can hear the rock being ground up under your machinery.”
Hollie took a step back. “Listen, Sid—Obsidian—I give you my word that to the best of my knowledge, what I had said was true.”
“Then how are they mining?!” he roared, the noise loud enough to bounce off some of the buildings.
Someone, Jason, she thought it was, came out of a building and saw the two of them standing there.
“Hey Hollie!” he called. “Wasn’t sure we’d be seeing you here today, what with Adam back and all.”
She frowned. “Adam is back? But he has a broken leg!”
“I dunno. They seemed extremely eager to get back to work, and when word spread that you were off on some harebrained quest about a guy who owns the mountain or something they brought him back and—ack!”
“Sid!” she snapped as the dragon-man snatched her coworker up by the neck, holding him easily in the air. “Put him down. Now!”
Sid glanced at her, then glared at the man as he opened his fist.
Jason dropped to the ground in a heap. “What the fuck?” he shouted, pushing backward away from them.
“Hollie does not have a rabbit brain,” Sid growled. “She is one of the smartest women I have ever met, and you’ll treat her as such.”
“Yeah, sure, man. Whatever you say,” Jason agreed, holding up his hands to indicate peace.
Hollie motioned for him to go, and he didn’t think twice, turning and bolting back toward the building he’d just emerged from. She didn’t wait to see him go. Instead she rounded on Obsidian just in time to wipe the smirking grin from his face. “I thought you told me that you wouldn’t provoke anyone?” she snarled angrily, blood pumping through her system as she focused on him. “Is your word not worth anything anymore? Are you just another liar like all the other men?”
She was starting to have second thoughts about him. Perhaps he wasn’t the man-dragon she’d assumed him to be. It was a shame, because he had a really nice ass, but if he couldn’t stop from physically harming people any time they said something he didn’t completely like, he wasn’t the man for her.
The reaction to her comments was almost the exact opposite of what she’d expected. Defiance, anger, and casual dismissal is what she’d planned for, and what her next words had been pre-planned to confront. Instead. Sid’s shoulders sagged in defeat.
“I am sorry,” he told her. “I…He insulted you, and I just saw red.”
She wanted to smile, but instead kept her features schooled into a calm, neutral expression. That his actions had been borne out of a protectiveness toward her was almost endearing, but they had crossed a line.
“Do you know where you erred?”
Sid smiled ruefully. “Was it the part where I put my hand around his neck, or the one where I lifted him from the ground?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get sassy during an apology, mister. It’s not polite to—”
A warm hand stronger than steel slipped across her mouth. Hollie started to protest when Sid’s face registered to her eyes. He was no longer focused on her, but instead on the tunnel entrance. She closed her eyes and listened, trying to pick up on whatever it was he could hear, but there was nothing. Her hands were free however, so she lifted them palms up, questioningly.
He licked his lips, and Hollie’s eyes grew wide as she realized something. Obsidian was nervous! What the hell did he have to be scared of? She’d seen him ready to take on any and all comers just an hour ago. Now he was afraid of something? Her eyes slammed back to the tunnel entrance. Whatever it was, it was down there.
“The mining,” he said quietly, backing away from the entrance, using his other hand to lift Hollie and carry her with him. “It’s stopped.”
She struggled free of his grip. “I’m not an icicle,” she said in an equally low voice, moving to keep him between her and the opening.
Hollie was strong-willed, not stupid. If whatever was coming had Obsidian on edge, she should be downright petrified.
“What are you hearing?” she asked as he twitched.
“Yelling. Lots of yelling.” He paused. “And—”
Whatever he was going to say next was lost as a shadow as black as midnight in the country swept out from the tunnel and came toward them with an angry roar. Obsidian pushed her to the ground and they ducked as massive talons dug into the earth just beyond them, missing her by inches.
Something hot and wet spattered across her arm and cheek. She tasted copper and suddenly knew what it was.
“Sid,” she yelped, rolling over. “Are you okay?”
But he was already upright, his face tight. “Stay near me,” he commanded.
She looked around frantically, but the shadow was nowhere to be seen. Moving quickly, she slipped behind Obsidian, gasping at the huge rents in his back. “You’ve been hurt!”
“I’m fine. Keep your eyes open for Nyx. He is swift.”
A thousand questions ran through her mind all at once. The biggest one was “Who the fuck is Nyx?” But before she could answer, the building in front of Obsidian simply disappeared in metal shards, most of which came flashing at them. She screamed and ducked, holding up her arms in a futile attempt to protect her face.
The sound of rain hitting a metal roof thundered around her, assaulting her eardrums as she clapped her hands over them. The noise was terrible, but even as she braced herself for pain, nothing came. Looking up, she saw great wings of bronzed leather curled tightly around her.
“Enough!” Obsidian shouted, the sound amplified tenfold as it emerged from his dragon’s mouth. “Nyx, cease this destruction.”
“I think not, little brother. It is time to play. I’ve been locked away for too long!”
“The world is different now! Things have changed immensely. It has been six hundred years, Nyx. Please, come here and let me show you what has changed. We cannot just waltz around in these forms anymore. It’s not safe.”
There was deep booming laughter from somewhere to her left. She turned to face it, but the membrane of his wing prevented her from seeing anything that was going on, so Hollie was forced to simply listen.
“It’s not safe for whom, Obby? You?”
The concept of dragons grinding their teeth together in frustration had never been something she’d considered. But now she was rather positive that’s what Obsidian was doing.
Obby? Now that’s something to file away if we get out of this. She made a mental note of that, and also the discrepancy between how long Sid had been asleep, and the extra hundred or so years he’d just told his brother that he’d not been around. Had he kept his brother imprisoned here for a century before falling asleep? Hollie wondered what the story behind that was.
“For us, Nyxie. Our race. Things have changed drastically. The technology, the weapons they have. We are no longer safe. We must conceal ourselves. Fighting like this will only kill the both of us!”
“No, Obsidian. It will only kill YOU!”
The last word was accompanied by a tremendous roar, and the bronze dragon protecting her was thrown backward. His hind leg hit Hollie and she went tumbling across the packed dirt, bouncing and rolling until she came to a halt twenty feet away in a coughing, heaving pile of pain.
Really, really bad pain. Perhaps not excruciating, but certainly on par with, if not a little above, stubbing a toe or hitting a shin off the corner of an unruly coffee table. It took her several long moments to recover her breath. Behind her she could hear the sounds of struggle.
She turned just in time to see a dragon of deep silver use its tail to connect with Obsidian’s head. The bronze dragon fell, stunned, though he still managed to keep himself between the larger purple dragon and her. Hollie watched in horror as Nyx jumped into the air, beating his wings swiftly to gain attitude. He swooped low once, sending her diving for cover before he turned and winged away.
Directly toward Drake’s Crossing. Toward her home.