Chapter Fourteen

 

 

Letting the magic of both his Dragon and his Wolf silently heal his injuries, Gage searched his mind for who belonged to the gravely, grating voice that threatened his mate. Little by little his enhanced night vision returned, lending light to his otherwise pitch-black prison.

Not wanting to let his captor know he’d awakened, the Guardsman rolled his eyes as far as they would go first one way and then the other. Blessedly, he found Tree and Junior propped against the wall to his left, their chests rising and falling in slow, deep succession.

Stunned, but not dead. I can work with that…

Taking a moment to scent his surroundings, he was over-the-moon to find no sign of Elle and shocked to realize he, his brother, and his friend were truly deep under the desert in some kind of ice cavern. If that had been the only thing that didn’t make sense, maybe he could’ve focused on finding a way out, but as his eyes scanned the walls, his sense of impending doom grew by leaps and bounds.

Faces drawn in terror, partially decomposing skeletons, bones of humans and animals alike, all hung in suspended animation making Gage’s skin crawl and his mind rebel at the horrific images before him. How had this happened? How long had this atrocity been right under their feet?

Mind reeling, his conscious struggled to absorb the true and absolutely vile beast infesting the MacAllen’s little piece of paradise. It was inconceivable that something with the amount of power it took to not only kill but encase its victims in ice, not to mention keeping them like that for years upon years, could exist so close to their home. Someone would’ve sensed it, felt it, hell, even caught it in action judging by the sheer number of victims he could see.

Scanning the walls, trying to come up with a plausible explanation, one that would help him develop a game plan to defeat whatever was threatening his mate, he stopped dead. There it was. The answer he’d been searching for. The one piece of information that reached into his chest, wrapped around his heart, and squeezed until Gage could do absolutely nothing but stare.

It was so horrible, so inconceivable, so utterly repulsive that he slammed his eyes shut, frantically shook his head side-to-side before counting to three then opening them again praying with all his might that he was caught in a nightmare.

“Son of a….” The words froze on his lips.

It was real. There was no escaping it. This beast, this abomination had done what no other had done. Not only was it a sin against nature, but it defied logic, magic, and the truths that every living creature knew to be true. Yet, there it was, right before his eyes.  

Trapped in the ice, caught in the midst of shifting, stood half a man/half a Dragon. Pain etched in his stoic face. His jaw partially elongated. Wings still collapsed, sprouting from his shoulder blades. Brilliant amethyst scales covered his body, their shine and glitter even more spectacular because of the ice.

It was gruesome in its beauty and macabre in its splendor. Pushing his enhanced vision as far as it would go, it was as if he was looking through a microscope, examining every minuscule crystal, dissecting them in search of the source of their power.

Every probe, every poke and prod led him back to the beginning, gave him the same answer, told him nothing but that an incredible mix of powers, unnaturally combined were being wielded by something ancient, powerful, and deadly. Reaching the poor creature’s face, Gage pulled scant amounts of enchantment and power from both Tree and Junior. Careful not to take too much, but needing to at the very least find out who this Guardsman was and find a way to release him from the ice, he pushed harder.

Slowly but surely, moving closer with every wave of mysticism he pushed into the frozen mural, he thrust the palm of his hand onto the ice. The sweet snap and pop of cracking ice filled the cavern. Hope drove his face to the ice. He could do this. He’d found a weak spot and would exploit it to get the noble Dragon back to his people.

The foul stench of decaying flesh assaulted his senses as the tip of his nose hovered just above the ice. Moving along the man’s jawline, he whispered to himself, “Keep goin’. Push harder. Go dammit go.”

Glancing backward then side to side, making sure his captor was nowhere around, Gage was turning his head back to the front when an explosive flash of magic threw him into the air. Landing on his backside, he spat, “What the fuck?!”

Jumping to his feet, he raced back to the wall. Slamming his hands on either side of the frozen Dragon’s face, he once again was forced to believe the impossible.

The frozen Dragon was alive!

“Who are you? How did this happen? What can I do to get you out? Who has done this to you?”

But no answer came, only the wild, one-eyed stare of a man pushed beyond his limits.

Using mindspeak, the telepathy shared by all Guardsmen, Gage tried again, “Is this a spell? Has this beast used a totem? Do you remember anything?”

If possible, the trapped Dragon’s gaze grew even more crazed. Gage could feel the chaos of his fractured mind, shattered by decades, maybe even centuries of torture at the hands of whatever entity sought to murder Elle. The elongated pupil of his golden eye dilated as his misshapen body shook beneath the thick layer of ice and magic.

“What are you trying to say? What are you…”

Tap…shuffle-shuffle. Tap…shuffle-shuffle…   

The echo filled the chamber. Someone was coming. Malevolent sorcery filled the chamber as the tap…shuffle-shuffle of the tip of a cane and two sluggish footsteps announced the arrival of their captor.

Fear, rage, fury, dread… Gage had tapped into the frozen Dragon’s mind. The bond had been solidified. This was no ordinary Guardsman but one with whom he shared a body of blood and heritage, but who?

Questions would have to wait. Yanking his hands from the ice, Gage stepped backward, his eyes trained on the large stone archway on the other side of the cave as he stood before Tree and Junior. No one would harm them while he still drew breath.

This fucker isn’t gonna make it out of here alive if I have anything to say about it. Nobody, and I mean NO-BODY threatens my mate or my family…

Body shaking, ready to fight whatever appeared, Gage was once again shocked to his core as the figure emerged and realization set in. Long, tense seconds passed before a maniacal cackle reverberated off every surface, “Stupid and slow to the bitter end, Gage MacAllen.”

Tap…shuffle – shuffle…

One step closer. Her voice low and ominous, resonating with so much hatred and deceit it made his skin crawl and the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Her old, frail body grew larger, more muscular, more massive with every syllable she spat from her vile, colorless lips.

Inhaling through her nose so deeply her head fell backward and she moaned along with her bitter taunt, “I’m gonna enjoy the crunch of your bones with a side of warm blood and your innards for dessert.”