Ferro

 

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked as the cargo van hit another bump.

There were a few mumbled words from the back seat, but she ignored them. There was a metal grate between him, Ana, and the rest of the occupants. It muffled most noises quite well he found, meaning he didn’t have to tell them to shut up and let Ana drive.

“Of course,” Ferro said from the passenger seat.

“What are we going to do, you know, after?” she said awkwardly, as if unsure of how to approach whatever she was after.

“After?” He gave her a confused look.

“After this is over,” she said forcefully, gesturing all around them.

“I thought we were going to make a life together?” A tendril of doubt wrapped itself around his stomach as he looked at her.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, looking distinctly unhappy at having brought the subject up. “I just wanted to make sure,” she added lamely.

Ferro looked at her, trying to understand. Something was bothering her, he could tell, but she didn’t know how to bring it up?

Couldn’t she have waited until after?

They had made contact with Merlin again, and he had arranged a meeting between as many dragons loyal to the Council as he could. There had been a grand total of eleven, only six of whom had volunteered to fight. The others had said it was a suicide mission. Ferro could understand their reluctance, even if he didn’t share in the sentiment. They didn’t know everything he was capable of, but even then, it was still a very risky proposal.

There had been no further intelligence on who was leading the Order. With Luthor, Karthorax, and Parlanah—his three eldest children—all dead, he knew it had to be a powerful dragon. But he just did not know who, and neither did anyone else. If he knew who it was, then he could use that knowledge to predict how they might go about defending the ancient castle.

It was ironic that they had decided to make use of the castle where he had once ruled as a tyrannical despot. It would be a chance for him to set things right, perhaps make amends for some of the things he had done in his early life. They couldn’t have known that’s how he would view their occupation of the castle.

Or could they? Perhaps the decision was made on purpose.

It wasn’t as if the building truly deserved the label “castle” anyway. It was a square-sided structure with walls that at their peak were fifteen feet high and only three feet thick. These days they weren’t anything close to that. There was enough room inside for twenty, perhaps thirty people to live comfortably. Ferro had kept it restored over the years, mostly through his own hard work. It was in the middle of nowhere, and barely known by human civilization these days.

“I wonder if this was their plan all along,” he said aloud, partially to get other opinions, partially to change the topic.

“What do you mean?” Ana asked, her voice tinged with concern.

“I think whoever the leader of the Order is chose their headquarters on purpose. To send me a message.”

Ana glanced back and forth between him and the road. “You’re just mentioning this now?” she yelped. “We might be driving into a trap?”

He shook his head. “Maybe. I have my doubts on that though. This would have been done long before I got involved in the world again. They could not have known I would choose to do anything either. No,” he mused, “this was more of a middle finger by whomever is their leader.”

“I see.” Ana didn’t sound convinced.

Ferro knew he needed to get her head back in the game. They were currently en route to the castle. After much talking, they had decided that a frontal assault would be their best bet. The Order would never expect them to do it on foot either. They would be watching the skies for their dragons, and that’s what the Order would be prepared to repel.

So when they came storming up through the secret passage Ferro had had installed, the hope was they would catch them by surprise.

He reached out and laid his hand on Ana’s leg, giving her a reassuring squeeze that was just as much for her benefit as it was his. Ferro wasn’t scared about the upcoming assault for himself. He was utterly petrified that something would happen to Ana.

“Please do not do anything rash in there, okay?” he pleaded silently.

Ana frowned. “Have I given you the impression that I’m going to?” she asked quizzically.

He shook his head. “No, you have not. But that is your personality,” he said bluntly. “Brash, bold action, making decisions without much thought.”

Ana’s face grew darker as he spoke.

“It is what I have come to love about you,” he said softly. “It is also what I fear will be your undoing in the end,” he finished, his voice no more than a whisper.

“I’ll be fine, Ferro.” She shrugged. “As fine as any of them,” she said, tilting her head toward the rear.

“I hope so,” he said. “I could not bear to lose you. Not after just having found you.”

She blushed at his words, and for just a moment it looked like tears started to form in her eyes, but she blinked swiftly and then it was gone.

“I have many years of making you nervous that I don’t intend on missing out on,” she promised him.

Ferro laughed, a big, belly-shaking laugh that filled first the cabin, then the entire van. He knew the other dragons in the back were staring at him like he’d lost his mind, but he didn’t care.

She was perfect. Perfect!

“We’re here,” Ana said suddenly, having reached the forest that separated the castle from view of most people. The roughly hewn road led through the forest, but they were taking a different path. Ferro’s secret passage lay in the hills off to the right of them.

“Move out,” he commanded as his mate killed the engine.

His mate.

It was the first time he had thought of her like that, but he wasn’t startled at it. He fell in step next to her, casting repeated glances at her as they jogged through the field to the first of the hills.

“Watch your back, my mate,” he whispered.

The way her eyes blazed with pride and love at his words stirred Ferro’s heart.

The Order had no idea who they were messing with.