Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) (25 page)

As they came to the end of the long tunnel to
where the passage opened up into a large cavernous space, Nuko’s
presence inside him stirred with excitement. This was it! They
entered the chamber and magelights lit it up, revealing the most
magnificent creature he had ever seen.

Nuko’s smug pride filled him and he examined
the form before them. It was curled into a ball, its head resting
on its tail and the wings folded neatly on its back. The magelights
shone off the shimmering red scales, their brilliance complemented
by the black base of each one.

His three captors stood in front of the
dragon in awe and he smiled slightly. The man turned around and
barked another command at him, “Go stand in that circle.”

Nathair had no choice but to comply and he
hardly had to fake the distressed expression for Katya who was
watching him with hawk’s eyes. Her distain for the use of the
collar was obvious. As he stepped into the circle, he turned back
towards them and put his hands out. “There’s no need for this type
of treatment, please take this thing off me.”

“I don’t think so,” the man answered, a hard
look upon his face and Layna said nothing, but continued to watch
Katya’s reaction.

“Katya, darling, would you? Remember.”
Nathair beseeched her using the command word he had ingrained
within her sleeping mind, and he saw the evidence in her
expressions that their dream conversation and understanding was
coming back to her. She hesitated just a moment, and Nathair felt a
twinge of worry. But then she came to stand next to him, and before
the others could react, she preformed the spell that he had given
her to.

His smile grew wider and he laughed
triumphantly as she concluded the spell and his will was his own
once more. “Thank you dear. I now won’t have to worry about you
trying to stop my little plans.” He felt spells from the other two
bouncing off him and he raised an eyebrow.

“No, wait,” Katya held up her hand to stop
them, “he’s not-” she began to defend him, but paused when she saw
the effect, or lack thereof that all of their magics had on
him.

“My, my, that spell really was effective.” He
smirked, putting an arm around Katya. “You see, my lovely Katya
here has just made it so that not only am I not a prisoner of the
collar anymore, but it actually works to prevent others from using
magic against me.” He winked at them. “It pays to do your research
when it comes to magic.”

Nathair suddenly felt something very strange,
as though an immense pressure was building up inside of his head.
He fought to clear the fog, but it kept pushing its way in.

-
Yes!
- Nuko’s mind-voice
rang loud within his head.
What?
Nathair wondered only a
moment before it dawned on him. The dragon was pushing him out! He
fought back, resisting the intrusion as he had done each time
before, but it was no use. This time the dragon was simply too
strong. Nathair weighed his options; stay and fight and risk being
permanently removed, or hide until he could reassert himself. He
retreated to a tiny corner in the back of his mind and waited.
There was nothing else he could do.

*

“Katya, what did you do?” Layna implored her,
watching in horror as the spells bounced harmlessly off Nathair.
The Three in her head were present, but unable to offer her better
advice at the moment, and frustratingly unable to use their power
through the connection they shared. It would simply overload
Layna.

“I-“ Katya stammered, seeming not entirely
sure of herself, “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know it would do that,
I just couldn’t stand the collar, and-” Her brow furrowed and Layna
suspected that something else was at work here. At least she hadn’t
meant to make the man invincible; she had only been blinded to the
greater threat by her hatred for the tool they needed to use to
contain him. Her shocked expression at the King’s explanation of
what she had just done assured Layna that she wasn’t completely
against them.

“Katya, please help us.” She paused,
desperately trying to figure out why Katya would be helping the
King when she was so sure that the woman understood the danger he
posed and had seemed so determined to help them prevent it. “I
understand your hatred for the collar, but if he is allowed to
reunite with his body, everything will be lost! It’s not Nathair in
there anymore, he’s no longer just a man.”

The girl stopped looking at Nathair, who had
suddenly taken on a grayish look and seemed to be involved in some
sort of internal struggle, and turned her confused look to Layna.
“What?”

Layna figured that Nathair was locked in a
battle of wills with Nuko for control of his body, and this close
to his physical form Nuko’s essence was bound to be stronger, so
they didn’t have much time. “Why do you want to help him?” she
asked anxiously.

“I don’t understand…” she looked at Nathair
who had suddenly broken into a horrible grimace, “I don’t know…I’ve
been having these dreams…” she seemed to be at a loss to explain
herself, “I don’t know what I feel…”

Layna suddenly understood. “The collar,
Katya, it made you feel emotions very strongly. You have a mark,
don’t you? The mark of the Dark King. It would be behind your ear,”
she paused, peering at Katya’s wounded neck, “only it was covered
by your scar so we didn’t realize it sooner. I can tell though,
part of why I am so drawn to and trust you, I suppose. But that’s
why you’re inexplicably drawn to him. I should have realized
sooner, and warned you,” she gave her a repentant smile, “You see,
the King has one too and that means that you automatically feel a
connection, a connection that has been getting stronger as the
Bloodstone does…and with it being with the man who’s hosting it, I
can only imagine…Combine that with the collar intensifying those
feelings, especially if you’ve ever seen him in the flesh before…”
she let her words sink in. She couldn’t imagine what the poor girl
was going through. To have your emotions wreck havoc with your
rational mind. To know that feelings you are developing are for a
man whose evil intentions you are committed to stopping. It must be
even worse than knowing the man you love doesn’t return that
love…

She saw the dawning of understanding
reflected in Katya’s eyes. Knowing why she felt the emotions she
did towards him might not be enough, however. Layna knew one’s
heart often spoke louder than one’s head.

Nathair’s internal battle looked to be coming
to an end, and either outcome spelled trouble for the three of
them. Even more so if it was only the two of them.

“Please Katya? Help us stop him.”

CHAPTER 18

Nuko opened his eyes,
his
eyes, and
looked around him. The pathetic little human girl who had been
duped into freeing them was looking from him to the other two with
a look of bewilderment.

He snarled at her, and she took a step away
from him, and then another, finally coming to a stop beside the
other two. Apparently she had decided to align herself with them
once more. Little matter, Nuko had no aspirations for sharing his
plans with her as Nathair had, and he had no use for human women.
It was time for the fun to begin.

“Nathair?” The human called Katya whispered
the host’s name.

Nuko smiled. “Nathair is gone I’m afraid.
I’ll be running the show from now on. And I hope you don’t mind
that I brought a little guest.” He reached into his pocket to
retrieve the box which held the contents from his last excursion.
All three of them flinched and took a step backwards. “So jumpy,”
he commented in derision. “Perhaps a more appropriate action would
be groveling at my feet.” The ones called Katya and Gryffon
immediately fell to their knees, but he motioned the other girl
forward. She was the one who communicated with the Three. He wanted
to make sure they could see his guest clearly. She stepped jerkily
towards him, trying futilely to resist his command.

He opened the box and dumped it out
unceremoniously. The human Aileen tumbled out onto the cavern
floor, her hands and feet bound, and a rag stuffed in her mouth.
She looked slightly beat-up from the trip.
Pity
. “You may
not recognize her with all this disgusting pink flesh on her, but
let me demonstrate.” He waved his hand and a dagger materialized
which he swiftly drew across her tender throat. Humans were such
fragile creatures.

The Three’s host’s eyes widened in horror,
her hands flexing in an attempt to move forward to help the dying
woman. Nuko waited patiently for the blood to drain from the wound,
and watched the human’s face with amusement.

As the woman gurgled her last pitiful breath,
Nuko saw what he had been waiting for. A fine mist seemed to roil
out of the woman’s mouth, coalescing into a fine cloud above her.
Nuko beamed at the Three’s host in triumph. The easily-read human
emotions were plain on the host’s face. There was surprise at the
show, of course, but there was also recognition. The Three
obviously knew what this meant.

The cloud hovered for a moment, before racing
straight towards the human man. It paused before his face, almost
making him go cross-eyed looking at it, before plunging into his
chest.

*

Gryffon’s head was suddenly filled with
memories and emotions of dozens of people, all speaking at once. He
hands flew to hold his head in a pain that abruptly stopped. A
serene voice touched his consciousness gently.

-
I am Adrastea, thank you for
your hospitality
.-

-
What’s going on?-
Gryffon asked,
surprising himself at the ease with which he settled into talking
to himself in his head. Obviously spending too much time with Echo
and Aileen - poor Aileen! Why had that happened?

-
I’m here
,- said a new voice, sounding
exactly like Aileen’s, but that was impossible. As though reading
his thoughts, she responded. -
Not impossible, it’s what the
Hyrdraeden do. Welcome.
-

-
I’m so sorry
,- he told her, feeling
the need to explain why they had stood by and watched her die.

-
Don’t be. There was nothing you could do.
I knew the risk of becoming a host. But there are also benefits, my
essence is now one with Adrastea, so I will never really
die
.-

He felt the souls filling his mind once more.
The memories of all the hosts before him flooded his head, though
more ordered and slowly than the last time so there was no pain. He
welcomed them all sincerely and warmed at their presence. The
Hyrdraeden were those who had been found by Adrastea as those who
might be sympathetic to her mission and would open their minds to
her sharing their bodies to fight for the goal of keeping the world
safe from the Bloodstone and from Nuko.

He felt Mila’s memories and greeted her
warmly, he should have known there was more to that woman. And
then, surprisingly, he felt the essence of the hound Weylyn. -
Is
Weylyn?-
he started, assuming he must be dead.

-
No, he was a temporary host, we needed to
stick close to you and Layna and there was no one closer available.
Good thing too, else you might have met your end back in the
tomb
.- He felt Mila’s answer and a mental wink. Then, in answer
to his unspoken question. -
It’s different with animals. They
don’t really know what’s going on, but his essence was pure after
Layna’s cleansing so we were able to ‘tag along’ with him until we
could find Aileen
.-

Only seconds passed, but he felt as though it
could have been a lifetime, or for that matter many lifetimes as he
communed with the voices in his head. Though he would have felt
that he’d feel embarrassed or mad at the invasion of his property,
it just felt -
right
. Like a part of himself that he’d never
realized had been missing was restored. Gryffon suddenly understood
what Layna must feel with the Three in her head. He had thought it
was an unnatural thing, perturbed at the thought of others being
present where only she should be, but no words could describe this
feeling. He felt guilty for ever having thought anything negative
about her relationship with them. It was nothing short of
blissful.

-
Speaking of Layna
,- Aileen’s essence
rose above the others and he was suddenly looking at memories of
him and Layna, shared from Aileen’s perspective, ending with a
conversation that the two of them had recently had. It must be the
one that they had had about how Layna needed him because he helped
to ground her - and he was brought back to his own memory of Layna
telling him this, the one where he had cut her off before she could
tell him why she couldn’t ground without him.

It was because she loved him.

*

Nuko laughed. The look on the human’s face
when Adrastea entered him was precious. The humans were so in awe
of their kind, why couldn’t the others see that they were
practically begging the dragons to rule over them.

“You see? I knew once we stripped away the
disgusting shell you would recognize the contents. It’s Adrastea!”
he said with a flourish, “Remember her, the one who thought we
should play with the humans by sharing a consciousness with them,
traveling generation to generation inside their nasty disgusting
bodies. She wanted to stay with the humans just as much as I did as
I recall.”

“I wanted to stay to be equals with them, I
thought they had the potential to grow into a powerful race and I
wanted to be a part of it. I didn’t want to rule over them, and the
only reason I stayed at all is because of you! I would have
listened to the Elders otherwise.” She said through Gryffon’s body,
and looked ashamed of her/himself, glancing at the host of the
Three and hanging her/his head.