Authors: Sophie Duncan
~*~
Yakov was watching him again; Drekken could feel the youth's eyes on his back as he led the party through what had turned from the head of a wooded valley into a forested canyon. They had parted after just a few minutes of kissing, but still Yakov's attention on him sent starts of delight out through Drekken and he knew he was more attached to his friend than he had been to any human in a long time. Immortality had made him cautious about relationships, since he had seen too many partners age and die, but he knew denying what Yakov inspired in him was a lost cause.
However, since they had returned to the others, the atmosphere had been strange, in no little way due to the fact that there was still a wall between him and Malachi and a largely silent lunch had not been able to rid them of it. Drekken was therefore not surprised when he found the older empath falling in beside him and he glanced across at Malachi's serious profile.
"You do realise Yakov has you on a pedestal now?" Malachi began quickly, his voice low.
Drekken checked over his shoulder to where Yakov was carrying Keril and talking to the other dragons. Yakov smiled brightly and rolled his eyes before wagging his head at Malachi's back and Drekken winked back. However, he straightened again when returning his attention to Yakov's scowling protector and agreed, "I am aware of that."
"And you've seen how vulnerable he can be."
Drekken nodded again, not wanting to interrupt what Malachi had been working up to.
"He was thrown away when he was a kid, no-one wanted him. If you hurt him, I'll kill you."
Drekken started walking more quickly then and took Malachi by the arm, moving him along with him. He put a little distance between them and the slowly moving youngsters and then stopped, turning to face the hostility in his friend.
"I have no intention of throwing him away, nor you either," he assured.
"We've heard that before," Malachi dismissed immediately and tried to pull his arm out of Drekken's hand.
Yet, Drekken wasn't finished, and he clamped down on the empath's bicep.
"I don't make promises I don't intend to keep," Drekken said, emphasising every word.
Yet, the promise did not have the desired effect, in fact, Malachi's expression darkened and he huffed repeatedly. The strong, defensive stare was gone, and the youth's gazed danced around Drekken's face, but did not look him in the eye. Malachi was still trying to free his arm, but Drekken refused to let go. Eventually his persistence was answered.
"You can't have him," Malachi snarled, his tone low and hurting.
Drekken was slightly stunned by the accusation, since the tease from the two empaths in the cave had been worked in such perfect tandem that he has not even considered pursuing just one of them. He paused, now recognising jealousy when he saw it. Malachi stilled as well, confused by Drekken's silence.
"I don't want him, not without you," Drekken sighed and faced the second of his realisations that day.
Malachi looked so young then, his dark eyes uncertain and confused.
"But you've been flirting with him all the time," Malachi revealed he was the watching kind.
Drekken chuckled and dismissed, "That's because Yakov is easy to flirt with."
"But," Malachi began, hackles rising a little again.
"But you're harder work," Drekken stole his words and risked a tease, before leaning forward and whispering in the youth's ear, "and so worth it."
He let go this time when Malachi pulled away and stepped back, because he caught his friend with a heady look instead.
"You come as a pair," Drekken recalled the innuendo to underline his more serious promise.
Eventually, Malachi nodded.
"Great, all sorted, can we keep going now?" Yakov made them both jump as he walked straight between them and Keril chittered at them over Yakov's shoulder as the youth strode on up the slope.
Renar came to a halt between them and looked up from man to man enquiringly. This caused a tail back of dragons, since Renar filled the space between them and so there were shortly four wondering faces staring at them.
"Are we alright?" Drekken took the bull by the horns, since it didn't look like Malachi was going to speak any time soon.
There was a slight colour to Malachi's cheeks when, much to Drekken's relief, he nodded again. Drekken knew there was more talking to be done, but it would have to wait until they found somewhere safe for the night, so, with his own respectful incline of the head, he then turned and followed Yakov.
~*~
"What's it like being bonded to a dragon?"
Drekken smiled to himself; Yakov had been walking just behind him for a little while and he had been waiting for a question. Still, he had to think for a moment and he slowed to allow Yakov to catch up properly.
"Probably a lot like you and Malachi," he eventually replied and glanced behind where Malachi was a few not so discrete feet away.
Yakov cocked his head to one side questioningly, but did not ask again. Drekken considered his words carefully and then decided he could kill two birds with one stone.
"Malachi is the most important person in the world to you, you would do anything for him," Drekken did not really ask, he more stated, but then waited.
Yakov nodded earnestly as he had hoped and Drekken responded quickly, "That is how I feel about Miri. She is part of me and I am part of her."
Yakov nodded his understanding again and they fell silent for a few paces. However, there was enquiry in the air, and Drekken wasn't surprised when Yakov struck up again, "So do you share everything?"
The question was asked openly with Yakov's usual lack of inhibitions, but there was something else in his tone that made Drekken glance over again. Yakov had his eyebrows raised in enquiry, which was rather too much of the 'look at me, I asked the question' and so Drekken looked back at Malachi. Drekken had left the two youths to talk together since his exchange with Malachi and now he could see the fruits of that conversation on the colour on Malachi's cheeks.
"Not completely," Drekken replied directly to Malachi, who looked sheepish at what had to have been a primed question and then he returned his attention to Yakov, who still had the over the top expression on his face and added, "but we hide nothing."
"Do you always like the same things?" came the next, even less subtle question and Drekken thought he heard Yakov in that one.
"No," Drekken decided to be honest and since direct was always best with Yakov, he added, "Miri once tried to incinerate one of my lovers."
"Incinerate?" Yakov checked and his eyes widened in concern.
"They came to terms in the end," Drekken shrugged, "and she apologised, but the hair never did grow back."
Yakov put his hand on his head and Drekken didn't have the heart to tell him the hair he was referring to had been much lower down.
"Does she do that a lot, try to incinerate people?" Yakov dug a little more, still looking worried.
"Only if she's really annoyed. She tanned my arse once, couldn't sit down for a week," Drekken laughed, but rubbed his rump in sympathetic memory.
That made Yakov smile, even if it was somewhat nervously and it was Malachi who spoke up next.
"What made you decide to bond?"
There was no simple answer to that and Drekken knew the sound of someone who had thought about it as well. It was not a conversation to be had with his back to Malachi and so Drekken led them all over to a shaded clump of trees and sat down. Malachi and Yakov sunk down opposite him, leaning on each other, and the dragons arranged themselves as they pleased between and around them.
"It was not a quick decision," Drekken began as he cast his mind back centuries. "I knew that if I bonded, it would be a perfect bond."
Malachi looked surprised, but Yakov showed no sign of realising the significance of such a predetermination.
"How did you know?"
"My human mother, Wen, she has a sense for these things," Drekken revealed a secret he hoped his mother would not mind.
"And you still decided to bond?" Malachi revealed he was wiser than his years in recognising the burden of immortality.
Drekken smiled, a little sadly: he had regrets, but not many.
"I didn't go looking for a bond, but when Miri and I met at the Academy, it was instantaneous, we just fitted together. Still, I told her what I knew and we resisted rushing into a bonding. It was so hard," Drekken sighed and shook his head as the turmoil of that time came back to him. "Miri told me her magic would flare every time I came near. In the end, it was bond or go as far away as possible from each other, and we couldn't face that."
"What did it feel like?" Yakov had a wistful expression on his face.
Baby D chose that moment to lift her head out of her sling and Drekken cradled her more closely as he tried to find the words.
"Until her," he nodded down at the little dragon, "I would have said I felt complete."
Yakov looked like he might burst at that admission; Malachi was just thoughtful. It was time to pose his own questions about Malachi's thoughts on bonding and Drekken opened his mouth. However, the pause between speaking was suddenly cut by the crack of wood under pressure and, all thought of conversation was drowned by alarm. Drekken scanned the immediate area, there was no sign of anyone yet, but he knew they had to be close, so, quickly, he stood up and, dragging Malachi and Yakov to their feet, pulled them towards a thicket. Dragons and humans dived behind the cover and Drekken crouched still and watched the direction from which the warning sound had come. What he saw made his heart fall and his magic rise.
Five Feras warriors in full battle armour stalked into view. The helmets were not a good sign, they would have infra-red visors and very shortly, Drekken knew that he and the dragons especially would be glowing for their pursuers.
"Spread out, the trail is still hot, they have to be close. I want the dragons alive, the others: do what you have to," the lead warrior ordered and waved his soldiers in either direction.
It would only take one scan their way and Drekken knew they'd be found, so, with a quick set of hand signals, he indicated to his companions to take one direction while he went the other and then he started to remove Baby D's sling. However, the child clicked at him in alarm and he could feel her fear beginning to form at his urgency. Anymore and she would give them away, so Drekken dropped her back against his chest and, rubbing her belly through the cloth, pulled it over her head. He glanced at Malachi and Yakov, who nodded their understanding to him and then, letting his magic rise, Drekken turned and crept away from his charges.
He kept low, using the shady patches as his cover and aimed for a tree partially behind the Feras leader and the two warriors who were still in sight. Pulling in his magic, he lifted his arm and aimed at his enemy. He did not like ground combat, not having Miri under him made him feel exposed and nervous, but there was no choice but to engage. However, before he could let off a fireball, he heard the ground crunch again behind him and, turning and ducking instinctively, a laser blast slammed into the tree right above his head. He let off a blast of flame in retaliation, but it was not very accurate and his opponent dived away.
Shouts came from several directions then and Drekken took on the role of bait. Hoping to give his friends time to hide, he let off a volley of small fireballs towards the Feras commander and then ran in the opposite direction to his charges. He ran towards sunlight, hoping to pick up as many of the searchers as possible and he heard the breaking of undergrowth from at least two directions as he charged into the clearing ahead. It was bigger than he expected and he cursed at the spread of grasses ahead, but disappearing was not an option, not until Malachi and Yakov had got the little ones away, and so, zigzagging, he started out across the open ground, firing a couple of lines of flames down through the dry meadow behind him to try to distract his pursuers.
However, the distraction was not enough, because Drekken heard the whine of a laser pistol going off and then pain erupted out of his thigh. His leg collapsed under him and he went pitching forward, only a quick twist of his body stopping him from landing on Baby D. He heard her squeal at the sudden descent, but the sling held her safe. The sound of armour crashing through undergrowth behind him meant that Drekken did not have time to consider the pain that was making him see stars, instead, with combat trained stamina, he put one arm over his vulnerable charge, rolled onto his back and aimed his hand at the noise. He froze there, poised to attack, but halted by the fact that a laser was pointing directly at his chest and D, who was cradled there.
Drekken was trapped: he knew he couldn't walk, not with the lancing pain in his leg, and he could do nothing but hold his defensive position as his enemy advanced on him. He couldn't see the soldier's face, it was hidden by an armoured mask, but Drekken knew hostility and the stalk of victory when he saw it. He hoped forlornly that the boys had escaped the search party with the other little ones.
"Surrender," the metalicised command came at him.
Drekken didn't move. He still had his enemy in his sights, he could fry the man before the laser ended it, and so he gritted his teeth and grimaced at his adversary. D whimpered and he tightened his hold on her. The Feras soldier's head titled just slightly at his move.
"Relinquish the beast and you may live," the next offer came.
Drekken's blood boiled at the derision he heard there and he flexed reactively, failing to contain a growl. His enemy retrained the laser on him for that and they both came to a second halt, further fixed in their stalemate. Drekken glared at his adversary, hoping the agony spreading out from his thigh was not showing in his face and trying to stop a trembling that was growing in his muscles. He knew he could not hold his position for very long, but he was damned if he was going to go down before his time, every moment could count. Despite his defiance, however, the stance of his enemy told Drekken the man knew he was weakening and was merely waiting for his strength to fail.