Chapter Twenty-Eight
Libelle fell through the sky, her eyes clenched shut and her breath trapped in her lungs while she fought the urge to scream. This was a stupid move, she told herself. The jagged rocks at the base of the cliff drawing closer and closer, why did she decide to jump?
"Slayer!"
Libelle opened her eyes at the familiar voice that called out to her, she smiled wide when the red scaled dragon sped towards her. "Theron!"
She cried out to him, her voice trailing throughout the air as she rolled over mid-fall. Her old ally sped towards her, his massive wings clamping down around his body as he dove after her. His massive body fell beneath hers and she landed harshly against his back. He stretched his wings and turned upwards towards the sky before they crashed into the ground, Libelle panting and clinging to his dorsal spines.
"Caught you." He chuckled, his fiery scales glowing with the suns reflection.
Libelle sighed in relief, positioning herself better on his back to look over her shoulder. Erupting from the trees was Berodach, the dragon's body soaring into the sky and towards her. She called out to him, and he roared in response. He reached them as Theron circled in the air, and his yellow fangs were revealed as he scowled at her.
"You are wounded Libelle." Berodach said. "I can smell your blood."
She nodded, "Take me to Uppsala, the priests there can help me."
"There?" Theron asked while he flew in the direction of the highest peaks of the mountains. "Your wounds are grave slayer, will you make it?"
She clung to his back, "I'll try."
Her unlikely friends had quickly come to her aid, and she owed them so much for saving her life. The cold wind stung at her skin as the trio rose into the clouds towards the snowy peaks, and her scaled companions glanced at her with worry. Blood from her wounds stained the fiery scales of Theron's hide, the intoxicating smell of it stinging their nostrils. The determined expression on her face had vanished and now she looked as pale as a ghost.
Berodach called out to his kin, "She's losing consciousness. Where is it she wants us to take her?"
"There is a temple at the top of that mountain, it is a place the gods frequent." Theron turned his head to speak to her. "Hold on little slayer, I will go faster."
She bit her lip shivering, trying to form coherent thoughts for Eskil to hear, but she could hardly focus on her trembling hand tangled around the spine protruding from Theron's back. She wanted to be with Eskil, that's all she could think. The temple was coming into view, and Libelle tried to look up. The heaviness she felt in her head made it painful to do so, blood loss was making her dizzy.
She felt Theron suddenly dive, nearly losing her grip on his back when Berodach soared higher into the dark clouds with a roar. Her vision was becoming blurry, and she wondered what the sudden commotion was about. Theron slammed into the courtyard of Uppsala, sending large waves of snow into the air around him.
Libelle gasped, the force of the impact sending her sliding from his back and onto the cold stone slabs. He rumbled a throaty growl, moving to stand over her while glaring up at the sky. Berodach glided down to stand beside Theron, and moments later Eskil landed in the courtyard before his brethren.
“Step away Theron.” Eskil snarled.
Theron barred his teeth, “I will not. This slayer is not yours to kill, not today.”
Eskil snapped his teeth at the lieutenant, shifting his weight onto his hind legs and spreading his wings as he roared. Berodach growled low in return, protecting the she-elf who had saved his life once before. She had formed a close bond with both of the dragons, each one coming together under unexpected circumstances. They had promised each other, that if they ever called: the other would answer. Today, they held that promise and answered her.
Libelle laid beneath Theron unmoving, the smell of her blood filled Eskil’s nostrils, and the pain within her body wracked his. “Theron, step away. Now.” He took a step towards him. “I will not ask again.”
Theron didn’t step away, he knew he wanted to protect Libelle from the malicious acts of Eskil’s fury. His throat began burn with sparks of fire, when his mouth opened and explosion of flames burst from his mouth and struck the black dragon. Berodach roaring and rushing forward to try and clamp his yellow fangs onto Eskil’s flesh. Eskil bellowed out a shaking roar, lunging forward to snap back at his kin.
“Enough!”
They stopped their attack, turning to look at Vegeir who was lowering himself onto one of the stone pillars in the courtyard. The aged dragon glowered at them both, “Now is not the time to fight!”
Eskil nodded at him, turning his attention back to Theron and Berodach. “Step away from her.” He said again.
Theron looked worriedly between Eskil and Vegeir, when he continued to hesitate, Vegeir spoke again. “It’s alright Theron, he will not hurt her.”
Berodach snarled, “Do not trust him. Eskil is the reason our kind are dying every day.”
Theron hesitated, then he grumbled and stepped away from Libelle, her pale body trembling from the cold. Eskil took large steps towards her, pushing his snout against her side. His breath causing warm steam to wrap around her, his deep voice gentle as he called out her name. She coughed, her eyes slowly opening and she smiled at him.
Her palm rested against his snout, “Hello there.”
He chuckled, “Can you stand beloved?”
I think so. She held onto the scaled horn on his snout while he slowly raised her to her feet. Everything hurts, I feel so weak.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood, you need to get warm and get some rest.”
She steadied herself on her feet, trying to balance herself as her calf ached in pain from. She looked at Theron and Berodach, nodding at them while they observed the situation with curiosity. The dragon’s looked to the temple’s doors when they were pushed open, and the four elderly priests stepped out. The looked between the dragons, then towards Libelle who was slumped across Eskil’s muzzle.
Davyn rushed towards her, Kirk right behind him. “What happened?” He asked.
Libelle looked up, “The usual.”
Vegeir spoke to the men, “Take her inside and treat her wounds.”
They nodded and begrudgingly Eskil allowed them to take her from him, they took her arms and wrapped them over their shoulders, carrying her towards the monastery. Eskil watched them disappear behind the closed doors, his worry going with her.
“Would either of you care to tell me what that was all about?” Theron asked. “Why would you help her Eskil?”
Vegeir sighed heavily, “The slyer is mated to Eskil.”
The red dragon’s voice shook the stone around him, his surprise coming honestly. “That’s not possible!”
Berodach growling as well, “A slayer cannot mate to a dragon, they are cursed creatures and deserve death.”
Theron glared at him, “I know you don’t feel that way about her.”
Berodach snorted and Eskil growled at him, taking a step towards his kin when Vegeir spoke. “Eskil, brother, calm yourself. Your lifemate is alive, the men inside will tend to her wounds.”
He hissed, turning around and walking across the courtyard. He could feel Libelle’s pain, and it infuriated him. The priests were trying to be gentle with her, but they had to tear the two barbed arrows from her body. She tried not to cry out, she tried to be strong; however she had experienced so much over the last day. He wanted to be by her side, and he couldn’t reach her right now.
Theron’s surprised turned to amusement, his body shaking with each laugh. “I cannot believe it. The first dragon, our prince, the vessel of the gods, you! You are mated to a slayer?!” He laughed more. “How, how is this possible?”
Berodach forcing himself to not chuckle at Theron’s words. Eskil grumbled, and Vegeir spoke for him instead. “It’s a rather long and complicated story.”
Theron rested himself further back on his legs, “I have time.”
Theron and Berodach could not control their laughter as Eskil became the center of the conversation, as well as the reason for their enjoyment. The four dragon’s had spoken with each other for most of the afternoon and well into the evening. The red scaled dragon had laughed harder than he had in years, finding the joy in Eskil’s latest adventure. Berodach snickering at Eskil’s unfortunate round of events. Vegeir even chuckled, knowing his brother felt some embarrassment in the situation.
They turned their head to Davyn who exited the monastery, his expression relieved as he approached them. “The slayer will survive, she just needs time to rest to replenish her strength.”
Vegeir sighed, “Good. Very good.”
Theron nodded. “I’ll stay here until she wakes, I would very much like to see her.”
Eskil glared at him, baring his teeth.
“I mean it in all ways innocent, I have no ill intentions brother.”
“I would like to stay, however I must return home. I answered the slayers call, I have repaid her. Tell her that when she is well.” Berodach snickered again, pushing himself up to the sky to return to his home.
He snorted at Berodach, shuffling to look at the mortal man. “Thank you for tending to her.”
Davyn’s eyes widened in surprise, however he nodded and bowed to him; then turned and walked away back to the warmth of the temple. Eskil sighed, he wanted to call out to Libelle yet knew better, she was resting. He should probably rest as well, but his brother’s incessant harassment seemed like it would not stop. For the first time in his life, his brethren teased him as if they were equals. They did not act as if they were his fearful subjects, instead they joked with him like the brothers they were. He wasn’t used to it.
Theron subsided his chuckle, “Eskil, if you two are mated… how you are two going to, ehm. Mate?”
He didn’t want to share the fact they already have, in his mortal form the two had made love numerous times and he enjoyed every minute of it. He had asked himself the same question once he had returned to his true form, and he didn't have answer for it. He wanted to hold her within his arms, feel her drift off to sleep against his chest; however none of that was possible in this form.
Theron chuckled again, “I assume that if you were cursed and took the form of a mortal, in that form it would be easier, don't you think?”
Eskil turned away, keeping his thoughts to himself. Instead it only peaked Theron’s curiosity more.
“You mated with her, didn’t you? In your cursed form, you mated?” Theron laughed, stretching his long neck and shaking the snow from his back. “What was it like? Do mortals mate like our kind? Is it even pleasurable?”
“It’s not something you need to know.” Eskil said, but he wouldn't stop with his questions.
“I am curious though. Do they mate like dragons where their females claw at our backs?”
His mind drifted to the image of Libelle’s delicate hands wrapping around to his back where her nails dug into his skin. Her moans of pleasure stinging his ears as he ground himself against her while they made love, the warmth of each other’s arms. He growled, his tail slamming against the frozen ground.
Theron chuckled again, “Alright, I won't push further.”
“Eskil, perhaps you’ll still be able to hold your lifemate.” Vegeir said calmly, catching his attention.
“How Vegeir? If I were to hold her as a dragon, I would kill her.”
He shook his head, “I am not saying to mate with her as a dragon, I am saying to mate her as a man.”
Eskil’s head tilted in confusion and Theron laughed again, “How? The curse is broken, I have my true form again. How can I possibly return to the form of a man?”
Vegeir’s voice carried over the wind. “You told me you returned to your true form when you felt an intense desire to protect her. Perhaps you can remember those feelings, the emotions, and take the form of a mortal.”
It sounded possible, he had broken the spell so simply when all he wanted to do was to protect her, it was worth a try at the very least. Vegeir spoke again.
“Focus on the feeling you had when you broke your curse.”
He sighed, but listened to his brother’s advice. He remembered every emotion he had felt when he returned to his true form, and he remembered how much he had wanted to rip Gaalin to pieces. Anger, frustration, love, and the desire to protect his lifemate: he felt them all at once when Gaalin had nearly killed him. He closed his eyes and focused hard on those emotions, reliving the experience though his mind again. His blood boiled, and rage raced through him at the memory, but nothing happened.
“Keep trying, perhaps it is a specific emotion or thought.” Vegeir said.
Libelle, he wanted to protect her. He never wanted her to leave his side, to be touched by another man. She was everything to him, and the anger he had felt when she was left crying and her soul felt torn apart, it nearly broke him. He was so frustrated with himself, he couldn’t protect his lifemate, his precious little elf. He loved her so much, he never thought he could love something like he did her.
“There!” Vegeir said hastily. “Whatever you just felt, that is what you need to focus on!”
Eskil looked at him confused, he had been feeling a rolling sensation of mixed emotions. Which one had he just felt? His desire to protect her, his anger and jealousy, his frustration…?
His love…?
His heart ached when he thought of her, when she wasn’t by his side he didn’t feel complete. She was always on his mind, and he always craved her touch. Her beautiful features, dimpled smile, gentle eyes and the way her hair teased his chest when she… Eskil growled low to himself, yes he loved his lifemate with every fiber of his being. He wanted to be with her now, he wanted to comfort her. He wanted to hold her and never let her go.
Warmth rushed through his body, and he felt a familiar energy engulf his body like ticklish electrical currents. It felt strange, yet pleasant. He heard both Theron and Vegeir inhale, the sound of the air being sucked in their nostrils piercing his ears as he focused on his emotions, his eyes tightly closed. He didn't know if he body was undergoing a transformation, yet he felt like he was changing. What would he look like when he opened his eyes?
Soon the warmth around his body faded, he exhaled slowly, and blinked. He looked at Theron and Vegeir, noticing his stature was much shorter than theirs now. Lifting his wings, he stared into two human palms and he sighed in relief. He now knew that changing between the forms was possible, and he now knew how to control the change.
Theron laughed hysterically, and Eskil glared at him. “What?!” He snapped.
The red dragon could hardly contain his bellowing laughter, gasping for air while choking out his words. “Why is your tail so small?!”