“Give me an example,” I suggested. Might as well get a few tidbits of information out of him. It could be useful on the chance we never got rid of the dragons.
“You just witnessed what Mirrikh did with those people out there. He is among the worst of the pure dragons, but there are others who enjoy humans as well. The only clan you do not have to fear eating humans is mine. Shape-shifters would never do such a thing since we can take your form as well. We are meat-eaters, but we are not…” he paused, brows furrowed as if in thought, “cannibals.”
I mulled that over. “What you’re saying is you want a dragon slayer who can side with your clan against the others?”
“More specifically, I want you to ally with me, but we can get into the reasons for that later. The important thing to remember is I can help you in ways you cannot help yourself.”
I studied the ceiling and tapped my chin. “And how would this work? Would your clan just allow me to come stay with them while I train?”
He cleared his throat. “No. Other than my cousin who you saw at our first meeting, none of my people will know we are working together. We will train you away from anyone who may see us.”
I frowned. What was he up to if he didn’t want his clan knowing about me?
“And Conrad?” I indicated the man wheeling out the second grocery cart.
“You must swear him to secrecy if you wish him to live. Neither humans nor dragons can know about our alliance for now.” He paused. “It is too dangerous.”
“And where will we train?”
I caught the faint outline of a green dragon flying through the clear sky. It was too far away to worry about yet, but Aidan’s shoulders tensed when he saw him.
“This road here…it is called Lindsey Street?” he asked, waiting for my nod before he continued. “Follow it east. There will be a point where it ends, veering to the north, but it begins again along 84
th
Avenue. Keep going east toward the lake until the road ends with a red sign. Wait for me there. I will check each day around mid-afternoon to see if you’ve come.”
“You can read English, too? Did you learn that from your humans as well?” I asked.
“Yes. They live and work amongst my clan.”
I put my hands on my hips. “And where did they come from?”
“We did not steal them if that’s what you are worried about,” he said, his yellow eyes narrowing. “They began crossing into our world more than two decades ago. We merely offered them sanctuary from the pure dragons.”
Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. I had no way to disprove anything he said—for now.
I decided it was best to get back on topic. “You do realize the place you want to meet has got to be at least nine or ten miles from here. Even driving, there’s a chance I could be attacked along the way.”
“My clan has claimed that section of the lake and the area around it. There is still some risk until you reach our territory, I admit, but that is the safest place for us to train. I suggest you go by foot so that you might stay under cover as much as possible. You’ll need the exercise to get stronger, anyway.”
“Uh, no, forget it.” I shook my head. “I don’t know you or trust you. There’s no way I’m going to a secluded place outside of town to train alone with you.” He was crazy to even think I’d go along with the idea.
A look came over his eyes, almost like he pitied me. “It is your choice, of course. The amount of training you require means I need you willing, but I hope you will consider it. Every day the pure dragons will continue to destroy this city and kill its human inhabitants. There is nothing that can stop them except my clan and born slayers such as yourself.”
I studied the tile floor with its dried mud footprints covering it. Some people must have looted the store soon after the last big storm. There weren’t employees around to clean it up anymore—probably never again.
“There’s no way I can make that big of a difference,” I whispered
Aidan clasped his fingers around my arm. His touch was hot, but it didn’t burn me like it did Conrad. “I’m not saying my plan will be easy. In fact, it could take a long time to execute fully, but it will work if you follow me.” He let go and stepped away. “I’ll give you time to think about it, but don’t wait too long.”
He turned and left, exiting the store without a backward glance. As soon as he made it out to the parking lot he lit up on fire. In another minute, the flames died down to reveal a solid red dragon with wings spanning eight to ten feet on either side of him. He took off into the air, veering west. I watched him leave not knowing what to think of him.
“So that guy really is a dragon,” Conrad said in disbelief, coming up behind me. “How in the hell did you get mixed up with him? They’ve been here for what? A minute—and you’re already friends with one?”
His voice wasn’t hoarse anymore. I glanced back at him and noticed his neck burn was hardly noticeable. Guilt still ate at me for him getting hurt in the first place, but I needed to impress on him that he had to keep this incident to himself.
“He’s not a friend and nobody can know about this.”
“Oh, I ain’t trying to tell anybody what I just saw.” Conrad shook his head. “Can they all shift between being a dragon or human?”
“No—only the red ones. The green dragons can’t change.”
We started walking toward my truck.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” he asked.
“For one, I wasn’t sure if anyone would believe me. And even if they did, they might freak out and think I was in league with them or something. Second, I didn’t want the attention because it’s more complicated than you know.”
We reached the truck and settled inside.
Conrad was silent until I pulled onto the road. “What are you not telling me?”
“Aidan says I’m a born dragon slayer.”
He laughed, looked at me, then laughed some more. It had been funny when I’d first heard it too, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it was true. The willingness to take on dragons when they first invaded and again when the man-eater showed up in the parking lot were indicators Aidan didn’t lie. For the last two weeks, I’d been trying to figure out why all my self-preservation went out the window when I saw one. Now I had an answer—if I chose to accept it.
Conrad finally calmed down. “What made him think you’re a dragon slayer?”
“Their fire doesn’t burn me.”
His eyes widened. “No, shit?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s what really happened to your pants that first day, isn’t it?” He paused. “Was Aidan the one who tried to burn you?”
“It was a green dragon that tried to burn me. Aidan came along and killed it,” I explained. “That’s when I first met him.”
“I think you’re gonna have to start this story from the beginning.”
This was going to be a long drive back to the library.
Chapter 12
Aidan
“How did it go?”
Donar asked, flying toward Aidan.
“She’s not ready yet, but she will be.”
Mirrikh’s timely display would leave an impression on her. Not that Aidan condoned eating humans, but if anything could convince Bailey to join his cause, a cannibalistic dragon would be it.
Donar angled his head.
“She doesn’t trust you yet, does she?”
“We have met twice. That’s hardly enough to inspire confidence.”
His tone came out disgruntled. The dragon spirit inside him stirred, joining in Aidan’s displeasure.
He dropped down low to skim above the trees. It required more concentration than flying in the open, giving him an excuse not to speak to his cousin. He’d known bringing Bailey to his side wasn’t going to be easy, but with each day that passed the danger grew. At best, his father had a year left. After that, chaos would reign within his family. He needed time to train Bailey and push out the pure dragon clans before that happened.
The clan Taugud fortress came into view up ahead. It had crossed over from the other world a week ago during one of the ground tremors, most of his missing brethren coming with it. The castle arrived intact, but the outer walls and a few small structures inside were damaged during the transition. The stone masons had been working day and night to make the necessary repairs. Already, Aidan could see an improvement.
It sat at the foot of the mountains on a hill of green grass with dragons flying patrols above. Dark gray walls rose thirty feet high and surrounded the fortress. Along the ramparts, there were a series of jagged spikes designed to tear into a dragon if he flew too close. Four guard towers—one at each corner—provided a full view of the surrounding area and any incoming enemies. They could launch assault weapons capable of tearing dragon wings at a moment’s notice.
The castle, also dark gray, was set in the center. It rose higher than everything else around it with spirals and spikes protruding from every rooftop. All the windows were tall and narrow, but there were walkways at the top of the third level where the pendragon and his family could come out to enjoy the view—in human form.
The entire clan lived inside those walls. There were over two hundred smaller buildings, including barracks, shops, and homes. They all had pointed rooftops and spikes jutting from them similar to the castle.
His ancestral home was designed so that no one could enter it safely by air. They had to land outside the walls and walk on foot through two sets of sturdy gates made of a fire-proof metal they called zaphiriam. It was impregnable to pure dragons. They’d attacked the fortress enough times to test its strength.
Aidan caught sight of his sister, Phoebe, in a clearing outside the fortress. She held a zaphiriam sword in front of her, slicing it through the air and giving instructions to the next generation of female warriors. From the looks of it, this was a second-year class.
Male and female shape-shifters who wished to undergo training volunteered once they reached twenty years of age. They had to pass a brutal trial that tested their physical strength, stamina, and prowess. Only about half made it. The process had served their clan well for thousands of years by helping them select the best candidates to become warriors. He’d made average marks on his—little more than enough to pass. Except for Donar and his sister, no one knew Aidan could have scored higher if he’d wished.
Phoebe wore her long black hair in a tight braid. Only one strand of silver was left loose to fall on her cheek. All the female members of his family had a few silver streaks in their hair. They passed the trait down generation to generation. She’d also inherited their height and large bone structure. Aidan was only a few fingers taller and perhaps a stone or two heavier than her. Though to be fair, he was the smallest of his brothers.
She was the first female in their family to become a warrior. He’d heard stories of when she was a mere five years old they’d had to hide all the weaponry. Too many times they’d found her in her room practicing with zaphiriam knives and swords she’d pilfered—often the ceremonial ones hanging on the walls. Her wooden toy dragons were forever littered with stab wounds. He had to wonder if they might have represented her two older brothers.
Aidan was born sixty years after her and didn’t witness those days for himself. All he’d known was the fierce warrior she’d become. Seeing her now in her fitted black camrium attire, she appeared as if she could fight off a handful of opponents at the same time. Her top was in a halter style that showed the well-developed muscles in her shoulders and arms and her pants fit like a second skin on her legs.
Donar landed next to Aidan in the clearing. Flames covered them as they changed to their human forms. In the beginning, shifting could be quite painful, but after a few decades one barely noticed the discomfort.
“I’m off to see my father,” Donar said, glancing toward the fortress gate.
“Are you going to help him?” Aidan asked. “From what I hear, the masons have more than their fair share of work.”
Donar grimaced. “I promised I’d assist him for a few hours.”
“Good. The sooner the repairs are done the sooner we can breathe a little easier.”
“Save the speech. I’ve heard it enough times before.” His cousin shook his head and walked off.
Donar’s father came from a line of dragons who could generate two types of flames. One that could destroy anything it touched and another that could fire-proof stone, metal, and a few other materials such as the cloth they wore. The rare ability was highly valued within his clan. Only about a dozen had mastered the skill and most specialized on one type of medium. For Donar’s father, it was stone.
Aidan turned to observe his sister and her five female students. In their first year, they would have learned hand-to-hand combat, but in their second they began working with swords. Though they’d all be twenty-one or twenty-two, they appeared younger. Shape-shifters aged slower than humans. Their dragon form developed at an even more gradual rate.
One of the girls appeared to be having greater trouble than the others handling her blade. He rarely assisted in training warrior candidates, but he could use the practice if he wanted to help Bailey—assuming she accepted his proposition.
“Put your hips into it. Your body is too stiff,” he said, walking up to the girl.
“Okay,” she said, drawing her brows in concentration and trying once more. “Like this?”
Her eyes were dark gold as she looked up at him and her brown hair had the faintest hint of red as it glinted in the sun. She was from one of the low families, but if she worked hard, she could earn prestige as a warrior.
“Not quite.” He gave her a stern look. “You must twist your hips more.”
She made another attempt, improving a bit.
“Good. Now do it a hundred more times,” Aidan ordered.
He left to join Phoebe. She stood with her arms crossed as she watched her students from a distance. It was a method of giving them space to become familiar with their weapons. When he reached her, they clasped arms in their human form of greeting.