Death Comes To All (Book 1) (62 page)

“
I
don’t think that’s going to be a problem. When he thought
that we were in danger, or at least when he thought that I was in
danger, something within his magic changed. I’ve been watching
him practice with his magic almost every day in the few months that
you’ve been gone. His power always glows blue, and his magic
always seems to calm him, as if it detaches him from his emotions.”

“
Yes,
he said as much to me when we were discussing how his power affected
him that first time.”

“
Well,
what I saw last night was nothing at all like that. His emotions, at
least his anger, was so strong he could barely contain it. For a
moment, I wasn’t even sure if he knew who I was anymore. I’m
not sure if he gained control in the end, or if he had simply used so
much of his magic at once that he passed out from it. I can say that
I’ve never seen anything move that fast before, not even him.
When he killed that beast he was so fast, I couldn’t even see
him. He wasn’t even a blur of movement. One moment he was in
front of me, the next he was behind the dragon and its head was
falling free from its body.

“
I’m
just hoping that when he wakes up he’s back to being himself. I
don’t want him to know this, but it scared the hell out of me.
For a brief moment, at the end there, I thought he was going to
attack me, and I know that there wasn’t anything I would have
been able to do to defend myself against him.”

“
You
don’t really think he would have hurt you, do you?”

“
I
don’t honestly know,” Raine admitted. “I don’t
think he would have hurt me on purpose, but I don’t think he
knew who I was either. I think that whatever had happened to his
magic was out of a desire to protect me, but it was so powerful that
he had no control over what he was doing. I think at the last minute
he might have realized who I was, but I just can’t be sure. I
guess the only answer I have is that I don’t think he wanted to
hurt me, he wanted to protect me, but if he didn’t know who I
was anymore he could have hurt me accidentally. I don’t want to
believe that, but that’s how it felt at the time.”

Drom
stayed silent, unable to believe what he was hearing. If what Raine
said was true, he could have killed her and his unborn children, and
wouldn’t have known he had done it! He couldn’t take that
sort of risk again. If he ever did anything to harm her, he didn’t
think he could live with himself.

“
His
magic was not like it had been either,” she continued. “It
didn’t glow blue anymore. He was glowing red, like the light of
a bright flame.”

“
Well,
at least when he wakes up we should know if he’s back to
normal. It would be hard to miss if he’s glowing red like you
said.”

“
I’m
not worried as much about when he wakes up as when he tries to use
his magic again. Will his magic be back to the way it was, or will it
take control of him again like it seemed to? We’ll need his
magic if we are to survive. That dragon that he killed proved that,
more than anything else possibly could have. We would all be dead now
if he hadn’t been able to use his power.”

“
From
what you told me of that fight, he wouldn’t have won if his
magic hadn’t changed like it had,” Raiste pointed out.
“The dragon had him nearly defeated, and was about to burn the
two of us alive. The increase in the power of his magic might not
have been completely in his control, but it saved us all the same.

“
There’s
not really much we can do about that until he uses his magic again,
and it would probably be best for him to wait at least a few days
before trying to do that. Even if his magic is back to normal, it
certainly weakened him to use that much of it at once. Instead of
focusing on that, I think that we should concentrate our attention on
the two of you and your upcoming childbirth. I’ve learned about
many of the herbs used by midwives. I had to for my Malik persona.
Unfortunately, I don’t know what the doses that they use are,
or what exactly they are used for. I won’t be much help when
your babies are ready to be born.”

“
Drom
doesn’t plan on staying here,” Raine announced. “I
don’t know yet where he plans on taking us. I don’t even
know if he’s thought much about that part yet. From what I
could gather talking to him, I think he was more concerned about how
he was going to convince you that we should leave.”

“
He’s
certainly right in thinking that I wouldn’t want us to leave.
With the dragon gone, Bloodheart shouldn’t know where we are.
He will have to send someone or something to start looking for us all
over again, and won’t have any real place to start. The cities
won’t be safe right now, that’s for sure. That dragon was
waiting for me right outside of Miani. Bloodheart probably has people
watching for us in every city and town under his control. This is
probably the safest place for us to be.”

“
I’m
in complete agreement with him actually. You said yourself that you
don’t know much about childbirth. Drom wants a skilled midwife
with me when our children come, and I agree with that too. I’m
not worried about myself so much, though I’m sure that he’s
worried enough about me for the both of us, but I do worry for my
children. I’ve never heard of a feral having children with a
sorvinian. There could be complications that I wouldn’t know
how to watch for or deal with.”

“
I’m
sure that there are books in my library that could teach me
everything I would need to know,” Raiste pointed out. “Your
children would be in much more danger elsewhere than they would be
here, regardless of the complications. Like a hunted animal, our best
chance of surviving right now is to find a place to hide where our
hunters will have trouble finding us. I can’t think of any
place better than here.”

Drom
slowly opened one eyeball again, hoping to get a better look at his
friends without them noticing it. If he moved at all, Raiste would
certainly notice, he knew. By listening in on their conversation now,
he would have a better chance of convincing Raiste of their need to
go elsewhere, assuming Raine wasn’t able to convince him on her
own. He would already know all of Raiste's arguments ahead of time.

He
heard a light, inquisitive chirp, and looked up carefully to find
Trick staring down at him, looking right into his now open eye. The
small dragonling flew off and starting chirping again in the
distance. It sounded as if the dragonling had gone in the direction
of his friend’s voices, though his companions were still too
far away for him to see without moving.

“
It
would seem that our friend is awake now,” he heard Raiste say.

So
much for listening in for a bit longer,
Drom thought irritably.

As
much as he liked the little dragonling, and had even missed the small
creature during the time that Raiste had been gone, it could be a
nuisance at times, especially when Trick’s intentions differed
from his own.

Without
any reason to hide that he was awake any longer, Drom sat up and
looked around the room. Raine was still dressed in the clothing he
last remembered her in the night before, though now the mint green
color was dotted in places with dark green and brown mud. Thankfully
he could see no wounds on her body, much of which was plainly
revealed through the nearly transparent cloth.

Raiste,
on the other hand, was completely covered in mud, so much so that the
assassin was almost unrecognizable. Most of the mud that covered the
man appeared to be dry already, crusted and cracking in some places.
The cloth underneath it, or what Drom could see of it anyway, was
tattered and torn. Drom had never seen the assassin in such a state
of disrepair before.

Perhaps
he should use this look as a new disguise,
Drom thought with mild
amusement.
He could pass for a beggar in any city in the world.

“
Hi
Raiste, welcome back,” Drom said, trying his best to pretend
that he hadn’t been awake and listening in on his two friends
for the past several minutes. “When did you get back?”

“
Last
night,” Raiste replied. “Don’t you remember
anything that happened?”

“
I
don’t remember a thing about last night,” he replied.
That part at least wasn’t a lie. He might have already learned
everything that had happened from listening to his friend’s
discussion, but he didn’t actually remember it. If he hadn’t
known that they were talking about him they could have been
discussing someone else entirely, as far as his memory of the events
were concerned. “Why, what happened?”

“
I
was chased all the way here by that shadow dragon that was hunting us
before. You fought against it, and in the end somehow you managed to
kill the thing. Afterward, you passed out. I’m guessing that
you must have overused your magic when you fought it, like you did
the first time you practiced using your power. I was knocked
unconscious, so I missed most of it. Raine had to wait for me to come
around before the two of us brought you inside. You’re not
exactly a light-weight.”

“
Sorry
about that. I’ll try to be more careful when I use my magic. I
thought I had a pretty good handle on holding it, and fighting while
using it, for long periods of time. I guess I must not be as good as
I thought yet.”

“
Don’t
concern yourself with it. I barely managed to scratch it when I
fought against it. You defeated it, and that’s no small feat.
Anyway, that’s something that we can talk about again later.
Raine's been telling me that congratulations are in order.”

Drom
didn’t miss the fact that Raiste had completely glossed over
his battle with the dragon, nor did he mention the fears that Raine
had expressed in the conversation he had overheard.

He
probably doesn’t want to worry me,
he thought.

He
decided that he would keep that knowledge to himself for the moment.
If his friends, particularly Raine, didn’t want him to know
about it, he wouldn’t tell her that he already did.

“
I’m
glad to hear that you’re taking it so well.” Drom stated
honestly. “I was more than a little worried that you wouldn’t
approve.”

“
You’re
both adults,” the assassin replied with a shrug. “What
the two of you do is entirely your own choice. I will say that,
considering everything that is going on right now, your timing could
have been a little better, but then again there might not ever really
be a good time for that, at least not for a while. If the two of you
can find happiness together, who am I to say anything against it?”

“
I
want to take Raine to someplace safe, for our children to be born,”
the sorvinian stated bluntly. If he couldn’t listen in as Raine
tried to convince him, he had to try. He had thought for weeks about
how he would broach the subject with Raiste, and had decided before
that simply plowing right through might be the best and fastest
course. As Raiste had already said, what happened between him and
Raine was his own choice, and he would not be swayed.

“
Why
is it that you think that we’re not safe here?” Raiste
asked, trying to sound reasonable. Drom had expected something like
that. The assassin was quite skilled at getting people to do what he
wanted them to do, Drom knew. He didn’t know exactly what
tactic the man would use, but he had steeled himself against changing
his mind. He knew what the best course for them to take, he felt
certain of it, and would not allow himself to be convinced otherwise,
at least not easily.

“
You
were just chased here by a dragon. Do you really have to ask that
question? Bloodheart isn’t going to stop looking for us. We
need to go somewhere that he isn’t going to think of looking.
Besides, Raine and I are getting married. I’m sure that there
are people in her home village she would like to tell. I would like
get word to my family as well. I’m sure my mother would be very
upset if I didn’t tell her the good news. She’s going to
be a grandmother soon.”

“
I
suppose you’re right about that,” the assassin admitted.
“Still, even if Bloodheart could find this place, which, aside
from summoning another dragon, we don’t know for certain that
they would be able to, it would still be safer here than anywhere
else. Plus, don’t forget that traveling on foot is often
difficult at the best of times, and we would be traveling with a
woman who will soon be heavy with child. Trying to take her elsewhere
right now could be more difficult for her than staying here would be.
It could put a greater strain on the child as well.”

Drom
heard the argument, and could see some of the points that his friend
was making, but he ignored those arguments for now. A thought, one
that had not occurred to him before, had taken root into his mind. He
knew of a place that might be safer for them than the Hut; a place
where anything Raine might need could be provided for her.

“
If
Raine agrees, I think that we should go back to my home village,”
Drom said. “Bloodheart thinks that I’m a human, as far as
I know. He would never think to look in the sorvinian lands. We could
stay there safely for a while, at least until the children are born.
We’ll figure out what we should do afterward, when the time
comes.”

“
It
could take us at least three months to reach the sorvinian farm
lands,” Raiste replied. “By then Raine will not be able
to travel well. It could be dangerous for the baby.”