Death Comes To All (Book 1) (61 page)

The
dragon, however, was not yet finished with its attack. It continued
its spin, bringing its other front claw around in a vicious backhand.
This time Ocean’s Hand was not in position to intercept the
attack, nor was Drom balanced to avoid it. The back of the dragon’s
claw smashed into Drom's side, hitting him like the blow of a hammer.

Drom's
side exploded in pain. The force of the unexpected blow sent him
rolling across the ground, to land several yards from where he had
been standing. He gasped for breath, the burning heat on his side
making it difficult to pull air into his lungs. The dragon glared at
him cruelly. Drom knew that he wouldn’t be able to escape.

So
this is how it ends?

Raine
watched in shock, unable to do anything, as the dragon released a
thick fountain of searing hot dragonfire. Drom moved Ocean’s
hand in front of him, but did not have time to do anything else
before the stream of flame reached him and enveloped him completely.
As the dragon turned its ugly head to look at them, the only thing
that Raine could see of what remained of Drom was a thick plume of
black smoke, where the dragonfire had incinerated everything in its
path.

The
dragon stalked the remaining two with clear contempt. The sorvinian
had been his target's last chance, it knew, and while that one had
been powerful, it had not been enough. The dragon had been summoned
with one purpose, to kill Raiste Goldstone, and slaughter any who
stood in its way. It would destroy these two, and then its purpose
would be fulfilled.

“
I
thought I told you, if you want to harm my friends, you’re
going to have to go through me!” Drom shouted from inside the
thick smoke. As it cleared, Raine could see that somehow, against
everything sane, he had managed to survive the fire that should have
destroyed him. Not only that, but he was slowly starting to get to
his feet!

Joy,
the likes of which she had never felt before, obliterated all other
thoughts.

He’s
alive!

The
dragon began to turn back toward him, but Drom moved before it had
the chance. Before it could face him he pointed Ocean’s Hand at
the beast. The bright, blue flame of his magic changed along its
length, turning a deep, vibrant red. In the blink of an eye, the red
light reached the tip of the mighty sword, and the dragonfire it had
absorbed burst forth in all its power.

The
dragonfire struck the dragon directly on its midsection, the fire
quickly encompassing the monster. Raine had to look away, the intense
heat and bright light from the assault stinging her eyes.

As
the flames of the dragonfire extinguished, and the magic on his blade
went back to its normal blue, Drom collapsed to his knees. He had not
overused his magic, he knew. The pain in his side had simply made it
too unbearable to stand. He looked up in horror at what the
dragonfire had wrought.

Dragons
contained the awesome power of dragonfire inside them, a constantly
burning flame that they could release at any time. They were created
to be able to withstand that intense heat. Drom had absorbed the
dragonfire and sent it back, but fire could never harm a dragon. The
dragon looked back at him and snorted. While it was surprised that
this enemy was still alive, it knew that there was nothing more that
the sorvinian could do.

It
turned away from him and looked back at his intended target. It would
kill Raiste first, it decided, and then it would have some sport with
the sorvinian. Perhaps it would make the sorvinian watch as it ripped
apart the feral woman. It could sense the young growing inside the
woman’s belly, and knew instinctively who the father was. Yes,
that might be a fitting way to return the pain the sorvinian had
caused.

It
knew, however, that once Raiste Goldstone was dead it would have to
return to where it was summoned, to report its success and show what
it has seen. It would not have time to play with the sorvinian like
it would prefer. Far better to force the foolish man to watch as his
friends were burned alive by dragonfire, it decided.

“
No!”
Drom shouted. Somehow ignoring the intense pain in his side, he
leaped to his feet and ran at full speed between the dragon and his
friends. With his magic infusing him, his friends movements seemed
slow and sluggish, but the dragon’s motions were not slow at
all. It lowered its head and released a strong jet of dragonfire at
the two huddled together.

Drom
stepped between the stream of flame and his friends just before it
would have hit them. From behind him, Raine could see the intense red
fire of the dragon’s attack hit Ocean’s Hand and pause.
Some of the fire split, to flow to the left and right of the mighty
blade, enough that she could feel the incredible heat of it begin to
scorch the hair on her face, but it was not enough to burn her. Most
of the attack, she could see, was absorbed into the blade itself,
flowing into the great sword. The blue glow of Drom's magic along its
length seemed at war with the red glow of the dragonfire, with the
power infused in the blade slowly winning out.

After
only a few seconds the dragon ended its attack, perhaps believing
that its target had already been incinerated. As Raine watched in awe
the last of the dragonfire was drawn into the blade, until the bright
red of its magical heat disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the
bright blue glow of Drom's power.

“
I
will not allow you to harm her!” Drom screamed at the massive
beast. The dragon looked on with its unblinking gaze. As Raine
watched in amazement, the magical aura surrounding Drom began to
change. The bright blue light shifted, swirling around him like a
caged beast, struggling to break free. All at once the color of his
magic, which had always glowed a bright blue, shifted, turning a
deep, angry red.

“
I
will not allow anyone to harm her!” Drom bellowed, his voice so
loud and powerful that it seemed to shake the trees around them with
its sound. Raine instinctively put her arms up in front of her face,
as Drom's power exploded from him. She felt as if the force of it
would rip the skin from her bones.

Drom
had never felt so powerful. He felt the pain in his side, and with
only a thought, made almost absently, he felt the skin, the muscles,
and the bones underneath the injury shift, knitting together and
healing him completely in less than a second. Anger, as burning hot
and searing as the dragonfire that seemed to fuel it, burned within
him. He struggled to keep it contained, for some reason his conscious
mind rebelling against the violent rage that filled him.

The
dragon sensed that its enemy had once again risen, somehow more
powerful than ever before. It lowered its head and roared a
challenge. It moved forward, though what attack it intended Raine
would never know.

Drom,
who had stood in front of her only a fraction of a second before,
disappeared right before her eyes! One second he was there, the next,
gone! She looked up at the beast in front of her, now posed for the
kill.

Its
head lowered as if to attack, or so she had thought, but that was not
what happened. Not at all. The monster wasn’t attacking. In
fact it would never attack anyone again.

The
dragon’s head rolled across the ground in front of her to land
at her feet, completely cut through halfway down the neck. Its
tremendous jaws opened and closed once, as if to speak, saying the
first and last words it would ever say. No sound, however, issued
from those reptilian lips. Instead, its thick, forked tongue lolled
out of its mouth, and it ceased to move.

After
several seconds the beast started to disappear, fading away as if it
had never been. It had not been a true dragon. It was nothing more
than a shadow, given life by powerful magic. Once that imitation of
life was destroyed, its magic dissipated, and the creation ceased to
be. It didn’t have a body to leave behind.

As
the body disappeared Raine saw something else behind it, what had
once been hidden from her sight now revealed. Drom stood, bathed in
an intense red glow. The power thrashed around him, as wild and
volatile as a forest fire.

“
Drom!”
Raine cried out. The sorvinian man turned to look at her, a clear
look of anger burning behind his wild eyes. He glared about, as if
looking for another opponent, then turned his eyes back to her. His
lips turned back in a vicious snarl. He stared at her as he would an
enemy; as he would a stranger.

“
Drom
it’s me! It’s Raine! Don’t you recognize me?”

“
Raine?”
Drom snarled, his voice barely recognizable as the man she had known.
He tilted his head back and screamed, long and loudly, the thunderous
sound hurting her ears. The scream turned into a wail, almost
mournful in its sound, and as she watched the red glow of magic that
surrounded him shifted. The lashing slowed and, as quickly as it had
started, the color shifted back to the blue she had come to know. As
even that faded, Drom dropped to his knees.

Raine
left Raiste's unconscious body on the ground where it was and ran to
Drom's side, catching him just as he fell to the ground completely. A
quick glance told her that he didn’t have any obvious injuries,
which surprised her. She thought for certain that, as hard as the
dragon had hit him, he would have had a few broken ribs at the very
least, yet he didn’t even seem to have been bruised by the
blow. He must have just fainted from the use of the powerful magic
that had filled him.

Wonderful,
she said to herself.

Both
Drom and Raiste were unconscious at the moment, though only Raiste
seemed injured. Even in the best of times she would have had trouble
moving Raiste, and Drom was far too heavy for her to lift. She
certainly wasn’t going to risk straining herself just to try to
move them inside. It wasn’t herself that worried her. Had it
been she would have ignored any risk and moved them anyway. She was
not, however, willing to risk the health of her unborn children.

She
heard a questioning chirp from somewhere in the trees above her.
Apparently deciding that the danger was gone for the moment, the
small dragonling flew down next to Raiste. Sniffing the man
tentatively, the creature seemed to decide that the man was all
right, or at the very least that there was nothing that a little
dragonling would be able to do for him. The little creature hopped
over to Drom, repeating the process.

Trick
must have come to a similar conclusion about the sorvinian as well.
Instead of waiting next to either of the men, it hopped over to
Raine. He stepped up on to her leg, sniffing her belly. After several
seconds the dragonling changed its tactics, putting its small head
against her slightly swelling stomach.

There’s
no question that Trick knows what happened while they were gone,
Raine thought with mild amusement.

Sitting
on the ground with the small dragonling resting its head on her
belly, she waited for her friends to wake up. They would have a lot
to talk about once they were both up again, she knew. Much had
happened in the months since Raiste had seen them, both to him and to
them.

Chapter
Twenty-One

“
Please
tell me you’re joking Raine,” Drom heard as he woke. He
recognized that voice. He opened his eyes and looked around.

A
white furred face and vacant eyes stared back at him. He nearly
jumped to his feet before he realized that he was not looking at a
living being, but at the bearskin rug that sat on the living room
floor. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out how he had
gotten there.

“
No,
I’m not joking Raiste,” he heard Raine say in her most
patient voice.

Raiste.
Had he returned while Drom had been asleep? Why hadn’t Raine
woke him up?

“
I’ll
be honest with you Raine, I really thought you were smart enough to
keep that sort of thing from happening,” he heard Raiste say.
He quickly closed his eyes again, hoping that his friends didn’t
notice that he had woken up. He had planned on having this
conversation with the assassin together with her, but of course Raine
knew the man much better than he did. If she thought it better for
her to talk to their friend first, than he would take her advice.

Still,
that doesn’t mean that I won’t listen in.

“
Well,
it did happen,” she replied. “I didn’t notice when
it was coming on me, and he didn’t know anything about it. Now
it happened, it has been continuing to happen, and will continue to
happen from here on out. At first we didn’t have a choice, but
we do now. We had a choice when he asked me to marry him, and I had a
choice when I said yes.”

“
So
now you’re pregnant with his child, knowing full well what will
be coming after us. You know this is a complication that we didn’t
really need right now. From what you told me, he barely survived
against that dragon. I’m amazed that he succeeded in doing that
much. Now Bloodheart is likely to send something even worse. He won’t
be able to fight against something like that if he’s worried
about protecting you and a baby on top of it all.”

Fight
a dragon? What on earth were they talking about?

There
was something to this, he knew, but for some reason he couldn’t
remember what it was. He felt completely drained. Had he overused his
magic again? He couldn’t remember.