Dragonvein (Book Two) (26 page)

“I’m…I’m sorry,” he said weakly. “You know I would never hurt either of you.”

“I sure hope your family feels the same way,” Kat told him, with a nervous laugh. “If not, we’re in for one hell of a time.”

Lylinora wiped her eyes. “Until you learn to control this thing, we should halt our lessons.”

Ethan nodded, his face still guilt-stricken. “I’ll fix it. I promise.”

She forced a smile. “Understand that I don’t blame you.” Stepping forward, she offered him her hand. “It will be all right. I’m sure of it.”

He allowed Lylinora to help him to his feet, though he far from shared her positive outlook.

Kat tried a touch of humor to help ease the tension. “If there are hundreds of your family wandering around inside you, let’s hope that was just one drunk uncle who no one else likes.”

Her ploy worked. The other two could not prevent themselves from laughing.

Ethan then saw Markus and Jonas hurrying toward them with worried looks. Each man held a small string of fish in one hand and a pole in the other.

“What the hell was that?” called Markus. “Are you sending signals to the bloody moon or something?”

“I’ll explain when we’re back in the house,” Ethan told him.

On stepping inside, they found a highly irritated Renald sitting at the table.

“What did you think you were doing?” he demanded. “Are you insane? None of you are ready for such powerful magic. That you’re not dead is amazing. Not to mention that you’ve now announced our location to anyone within five-hundred miles who might be looking. Shinzan may not be able to leave his source of power, but that doesn’t prevent him from sending others out to find you.”

His eyes settled on Lylinora. “I can only assume it was you responsible. What were you doing? Trying to impress Ethan?”

“It was me,” Ethan cut in quickly, before she could reply.

Renald raised an eyebrow. “You? How did you manage such a thing? It’s not possible.”

Everyone gathered around the table while Ethan explained what had happened. At the conclusion, even Jonas, who in the past had always appeared most pleased when Ethan displayed great power, wore a worried expression.

As for Renald, he sat silently in thought for several minutes, scratching his beard. He then leaned back and threw up his hands. “Well, there is nothing we can do, I suppose. You must simply find a way to control yourself, and that is that.”

“What do you mean,
that is that?”
cried Lylinora. “He nearly killed us. And that’s the only bit of wisdom you can offer?”

“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” he retorted. “There is no precedent for this. Ethan has taken on a burden like no other Dragonvein before him. Why should I know what to do? I suppose you could try asking Heather. Perhaps she has the answer.”

Ethan nodded. “Yes. I’ll do that before I return.”

“Speaking of which,” said Renald. He got up and retrieved a cloth sling from a chest near his bed. “Maytra will be going with you. She likes to be carried in this sometimes.”

Ethan had noticed her in the corner near the stove when first coming in. She was now circling an empty bowl and looking at the fish Markus and Jonas still held.

“It’s coming, you old rat,” snapped Renald.

The tiny dragon hissed and gurgled in reply.

Renald turned his attention back to Ethan. “I do think you should cease using magic until you’ve spoken to Heather. The power I witnessed would have impressed even Praxis. And not all of our family were good and noble. Some were, shall we say…not the type of mage one would want to encounter.”

“That much we already guessed,” Kat chipped in.

After dinner, Jonas raised the matter of sleeping arrangements. Given his age, and since he was not allowed to leave, he felt that Renald could either help him to build a proper bed, or offer to share his own. After a long and heated argument, the old mage eventually relented and made room.

Once this was settled, Ethan gathered his belongings and spent the rest of the night on the boat. Usually when he did this, Kat would come down and join him for a while, but this time only Markus cared to be there. And even his old friend kept mostly to himself that night.

Ethan had frightened them, and he knew it. More than that, he had frightened himself. How much darkness was now residing within him? He hadn’t hurt Kat and Lylinora…this time. But could he really lose control to the point where that might happen? Was he even capable of such a thing? He prayed that Heather could somehow guide him to the answer before it was too late.

Sleep came slowly as he tried to keep his mind quiet. But no matter how hard he tried, the voices were always there. A distant call from a place he did not fully understand.

The morning offered a brief respite from his troubles. Markus had already left – probably fishing with Jonas again. The sun was barely over the horizon and the air was still cool as he strolled leisurely back to the house. Wild flowers and blossoms on the various fruit trees filled his nostrils with a wholesome aroma, bringing a smile to his face. Memories of upstate New York with his parents drifted through his mind…
his
memories. Not those of some long dead kin. This was enough to lift his spirits considerably.

As he had guessed, Markus and Jonas had already gone off fishing. Lylinora and Kat were just sitting down to breakfast while Renald was settled on his plush sofa, reading.

“Off on your mysterious adventure, are you?” the old mage remarked casually, not bothering to look up from his book. “Mind that you pay attention to Maytra. She’ll keep you out of trouble.”

The dragon was perched atop a book shelf on the far wall. She let out a high-pitched growl in greeting. Ethan smiled. She had apparently forgiven him for the death of her mate, and over the past week had even seemed to grow a bit fond of him.

“You’re not going anywhere on an empty stomach,” Kat insisted.

Ethan sat at the table across from Lylinora, not knowing what kind of reception to expect. But she greeted him with a smile. He could tell she was still slightly unnerved, but not so much as to cause serious tension between them.

“I’ll be loading rajni stones with the portal spell while you’re gone,” she told him, searching for conversation.

Kat, on the other hand, was completely at ease – as if nothing had happened. “How long
will
you be gone?” she asked.

“Four days.” He had told her this several times already, but she still kept asking as if hoping the next time it would be shorter.

Kat frowned. “That’s too long. And I’ll tell you this: take one day longer and I’ll come looking.”

Ethan grinned. “I’ll try not to drag my feet then.”

With breakfast over, he donned his gear and said a final goodbye. Kat threw her arms around him so tightly, it was only after Lylinora pulled on her shoulders that she reluctantly let go.

Then it was Lylinora’s turn. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Do be careful. And hurry back, or Kat won’t be the only one coming to look for you.”

Ethan stopped by the lake to have a word with Jonas and Markus. As he drew near, he could hear them arguing over what bait to use.

“I wish you wouldn’t go alone,” said Jonas.

As if in reply, Maytra screeched from high above.

“I’m not,” Ethan replied with a wink.

Markus gave a good-natured laugh. “I’m not sure what use a cat-sized dragon will be. But at least she can lead us to your body.”

Ethan chuckled. His friend’s dark sense of humor never failed to make him smile. “Just get to me before I start stinking,” he replied.

Jonas shook his head in disapproval of such talk. “Enough of this. Ethan has a long way to go – that’s my guess anyway – and we still have fish to catch.”

“Yes, and if you’d brought along some raw pork instead of fish guts, we’d already have caught some,” Markus shot back.

Ethan left them to their argument.

It wasn’t until he was several miles beyond Renald’s grassy fields that Maytra swooped down to join him by landing on his shoulder. He winced as, for a brief moment, she dug her claws into his flesh to keep herself balanced. The sling Renald had provided was tucked into his belt, so he quickly put this on. With serpentine agility, Maytra crawled into the cradle and curled into a ball.

As the day progressed, Ethan began finding it easier to ignore the voices, particularly when Maytra was close by. It was then that he could once again hear the dragons’ call clearly; they were directing him to his destination.

With only two short stops to eat and rest throughout the day, he was thoroughly tired by the time the sun began to set. After laying out his blanket and pillow, he found a large rock and placed it a few feet away. He muttered a short incantation that Renald had taught him, and the rock very quickly began to radiate heat. Ethan smiled. The old mage had assured him that this would last for several hours, and should be more than enough to keep away the night chill. As he closed his eyes, he heard the flapping of wings. This was followed by a short period of growling and gurgling as Maytra snuggled herself alongside him beneath the blanket.

He imagined what the next day would bring. It was crucial that he complete his task, and though it would certainly be trying, he was confident that he knew enough to succeed. Renald’s book, along with his detailed instructions, would see to that.

Only a succession of hollow cries from the beasts of the Dragon Wastes slowed Ethan’s descent into slumber – from miles away they called out their lonely song to be carried on the wind. It was unsettling, yet at the same time somehow fitting in this desolate land. He could feel that Maytra was at ease. If whatever was out there was a threat, she would be aware of it.

He woke just a few minutes before the sun rose. After a quick meal, he hurried on, wanting to reach his destination as soon as possible. Maytra had taken to the air. She would have known where to go, even if he had not. And she knew the purpose of his trip.

As he’d been hoping, he located the entrance to the cave well before the morning was over. Disguised by angular boulders and an uneven rock face, it was almost impossible to spot unless you knew what to look for. The opening was narrow – three feet wide and ten feet high. Ethan held up his palm. In response, a tiny ball of white light hovered just in front of him, illuminating the way.

Once beyond the entrance, the path opened up wide enough for several men to walk abreast. Maytra landed a few feet ahead of him and sniffed the air. Ethan did the same. Unlike the dry dusty stench typical of the Dragon Wastes, the atmosphere here was moist and cool. It even carried a faint hint of lavender. Tiny multi-colored mushrooms and thick hanging moss littered the ceiling and walls: the only things that Ethan had ever seen growing in the Wastes outside of Renald’s land.

Soon, the ground began to slope downward. It continued like this for several hundred feet before opening up into a spacious cavern, the interior of which was mostly unremarkable aside from the ground bearing a dull sheen that suggested it had once, long ago, been highly polished.

What really mattered though, was sitting atop a dense patch of emerald green moss growing in the very center - three dozen fist-sized, powder blue eggs.

Maytra immediately scrambled over to them, her talons scraping and clacking as she went. With motherly tenderness, she nudged them with her snout.

Ethan smiled. “You’ve been taking care of them, haven’t you?”

He knelt down to touch one of the precious eggs. Just as Heather had described, he could feel the life raging within, fighting with every measure of its strength to survive. Though drinking the blood of the dragon had brought him close to their spirits, this was something different. Something far more.

“You’d better go,” he told Maytra.

She looked at him, growling and thrashing her head. Ethan still couldn’t hear her like Renald seemed to, but her emotions and intentions were crystal clear.

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said, trying his best to be firm.

His words had no effect. In a flurry of movement, she leapt into the air directly at Ethan, landing inside the sling. Hissing and sputtering, she glared at him defiantly. In a funny kind of way, it reminded him of Kat.

He sighed and bobbed his head in defeat. “Fine. I’ll just go ahead then, shall I?”

He removed his pack and placed it at the entrance. He then knelt beside the eggs and began chanting softly, hands extended and fingers spread wide. For more than ten minutes he continued with this until a faint green light surrounded the moss on which the eggs lay. Once the chanting ceased, the light slowly dimmed and disappeared. Ethan then took a few steps back and repeated the process. This he did again and again until reaching the very edge of the cavern. He then returned to the center and started all over again. For six hours he labored on, each time growing ever more weary from the effort. Finally, when he was no longer able to stand, he crawled to his pack and collapsed into a dreamless slumber. The wards were in place. He had accomplished his task.

When he woke, it was pitch black. For a moment he couldn’t remember where he was. Only the nudge of Maytra’s snout on his ribcage urged him fully back to his senses.

“Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked, reaching down and gently stroking the tiny dragon’s chin.

She cooed and growled in appreciation.

Ethan created another light to guide him out, grinning as it floated and bobbed in front of him. Despite everything he had seen, simple magic still filled him with wonder and delight.

Upon reaching the entrance, he set one final ward before starting back to the house. Thankfully, creating a single ward only drained him mildly. He’d been amazed at the sheer effort and strength it had taken to completely protect the dragon eggs. All the wards Renald had set around his home must have damn near killed him, Ethan found himself thinking.

Travel was pleasant – or at least as pleasant as it could be in a land as unwelcoming as the Dragon Wastes. Still fatigued from his labors, he stopped far more frequently than he had on the outward journey. Maytra didn’t seem to care about what pace he moved, spending half her time in flight, and the rest curled up in the sling, sleeping.