Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) (27 page)

She had never looked more beautiful. He had
the sudden need to go to her, the vast emptiness in his heart that
had been left after Adrastea had been torn from him needed to be
filled. Layna had always been the one to fill it, he saw that now.
Aileen’s memories flashed before his eyes once more, combined with
his own of the many days they had spent together, Layna’s laughing
face, their stolen kisses, and the wrenching heart-ache he felt by
not being with her.

He stepped over to her and took her in his
arms, surprising her out of her battle stance. The dragon wasn’t
bothering with them at the moment, apparently distracted by
something else.

Gryffon looked deep into Layna’s eyes,
willing her to believe his words.

“I love you.”

*

Layna’s jaw dropped open. One minute ago she
had been fighting a dragon, and now Gryffon had just told her that,
that he loved her! She forgot completely about Nuko.

“You do?”

Gryffon laughed, his throaty chuckle sending
shivers down her spine. “How about ‘I love you too’?”

“Yes!” Layna breathed, “I love you too.”
Gryffon drew her into his arms and their lips met like magnets. He
kissed her so passionately that Layna lost her breath entirely. It
was hungrier than the one in the palace hallway, and she returned
its fervor with her own intensity. So many months of loving him,
wanting him, and wishing that he returned her feelings. And he did!
She put all of those pent-up emotions into the kiss.

Layna felt as though her world had suddenly
clicked into place, and the power she had roiling about her, caught
up in her talent stilled. She gasped in amazement.

“Wow,” Gryffon said, and the look on his face
told her that he didn’t just mean the kiss, he must have felt the
difference in the power as well.

“I guess that’s what Aileen was talking
about. You make me whole,” Layna said, biting her lip at the cheesy
line.

Gryffon humored her with a grin, and kissed
her again. Once again the world drifted away and Layna reveled in
the feeling. Gryffon loved her! Not Aria, not anyone else, but her!
She had been so blind, why had she not told him earlier. But it
didn’t matter, everything was perfect now. Perfect…

Their moment was suddenly interrupted by a
loud roar, jolting them back to reality.

*

Nuko growled in frustration, why wasn’t it
working? He felt cloudy and weak. Something was wrong. He looked
down at the river of blood flowing into him from the host and
examined it with his second sight. What was this? There was some
kind of poison!

His gaze flew to the host’s body, limply
hanging from his restraints and the girl Katya was holding tightly
to his neck. He swatted her with his forearm, sending her smashing
into the cavern wall. With lightning speed, he brought his head
close to the host’s corpse and cursed in his native tongue.

It was too late, there was no stopping it
now. The host was already dead. Not only was he absorbing useless
blood, but he had already taken in a large portion of the poison
with it as well.

He looked around for where the body of the
girl he sent flying had landed. He needed to take his frustration
out on something. He launched himself towards her, but was
surprised when his snout ran smack into a shield over her. He bit
at the thing, trying to break through, but it was no use. How had
she made such a shield? He peered inside. She appeared to be
unconscious. Then who?

His head swung back around and he spied the
other two humans standing together, the female’s mouth moving. It
was them. And what was this? The power around them had grown
significantly stronger. Impressive. They must have kissed and made
up, how cute. These humans might be worth keeping around. He had to
grudgingly admit that together their strength was imposing.

But not as strong as him. He switched his
attention to take them out.

*

It gave Layna pause as the dragon reared
around and came straight towards her and Gryffon. She was glad that
she had told him that she loved him too, this might be the end. The
sight of a full-grown dragon running flat out towards her made her
heart jump into her throat and it took everything she had to hold
her ground, thrusting Leoht out in front of her and pouring energy
and power into her shielding.

The dragon hit the shields with a tremendous
force, rattling Layna to the bone. She glanced at Gryffon, who gave
her a thumbs-up that he was okay, and the two of them lobbed the
volley of attacks they had planned. Most still rebounded off the
tough scales, but at least one hit home. Nuko was forced to veer
off away from their bombardment. As he retreated to regroup, Layna
sent a probe to Katya, and discovered that the girl had woken.
Layna motioned her to join them and the three of them formed a line
against the fast approaching dragon.

Its footfalls shook the floor and Layna heard
Gryffon murmur, “Steady.” The three of them stood there, Gryffon
and Layna with their swords in front of them and Katya with her
throwing knives. As the dragon came into range, Katya’s hands
darted forward, releasing the knives and Layna drew upon Gryffon to
send along a onslaught of magical attacks to distract it from the
approaching physical threat.

The ruse only partially worked as the dragon
was able to repel the attacks and the knives ricocheted off the
hard scales, the only wound resulting from a tiny knick by the
dragon’s soft skin by its eye. The eye looked at them and
glared.

That’s when Layna realized that Katya wasn’t
next to her anymore. The woman had dived underneath the dragon and
was about to shove another knife upwards and into the heavily
armored chest. What was she doing? The knives would never have
enough force behind them to get through the scales, and the moment
the dragon realized she was there she would be crushed beneath him
like a bug.

Layna linked with Gryffon and surprised
herself by sending him thoughts about what she wanted to do, passed
along their shared bond. He nodded and together they wove the spell
to levitate the dragon. It wouldn’t do much to hurt him which Layna
hoped would make him not bother to dispel it, giving Katya a
chance.

Katya had reached the spot she was apparently
looking for and she thrust the knife upwards; only rather than
driving it straight in as Layna had been expecting, she tilted it
so that it went in at an angle. She wiggled the knife and then
pushed the hilt roughly away from the dragon’s skin.

The dragon howled as a scale popped loose,
but the levitation held. He clawed at the air, trying desperately
to grab Katya before she could escape his clutches, but she was too
quick.

Layna looked at the area on Nuko where she
had just been and finally realized what Katya had been up to. She
had just effectively given them a target. They wouldn’t have to
worry about going through the scales, if they hit it just right, it
would pass through the hole in his armor, directly to the softer
skin beneath. Layna grinned at Katya, congratulating her on her
brilliance with a look.

“All yours,” Katya gestured to the dragon and
stepped out of the way. It would be up to her and Leoht to finish
him off. She stepped forward and aimed for the opening. Gryffon
aimed a flurry of blows at the dragon’s head and Katya hurled spell
after spell.

Leoht’s tip was inches from its goal when
Layna felt a burst of pain. She found herself suddenly pinned to
the ground beneath Nuko’s massive foot, one of his talons piercing
her side. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, the pain was
incredible. She looked down and saw blackish blood seeping out
around the talon. That wasn’t a good sign.

She drew upon all of the power around her,
taking in so much that it threatened to overwhelm her, and only
Gryffon’s steadying presence made it possible. She bunched it up,
squishing it tighter and tighter, until it was like a spring
waiting to be released. And then she did, unleashing the explosion
of pure power upwards at the beast.

He was knocked off her with surprising force,
and his body smashed into the ceiling above, sending a spray of
rocks and debris down at them. Layna sealed off her wound quickly
and got to her feet, as fast as her injured body would let her. She
raised Leoht high above her head, cringing at the pain in her side,
and waited for the dragon’s body to fall back towards her.

Its massive form loomed bigger and bigger
above her and she held Leoht steady, using magic to help its aim be
true. As the dragon crashed to the ground, Layna felt the sword
pierce its skin, plunging deep within its chest, seeking the
Bloodstone, until her arms were covered in gore.

Then the rest of the dragon hit the ground,
and Layna was swallowed up by its unimaginable mass.

CHAPTER 21

“Layna!” Gryffon shouted hoarsely as she
disappeared, crushed under the dragon’s weight. Nuko let out a last
shuttering breath and his eyes dulled, his body falling limply to
the ground. Leoht must have found its mark.

But that still left Layna trapped underneath.
Gryffon rushed forward, attempting to levitate the massive form off
the ground, but after the drain of the battle it was no use, it
trembled slightly at his effort, but didn’t budge. He reached for
his connection to Layna, but she didn’t respond.

“Gryffon!” Katya practically shouted at him,
forcing his shocked brain into listening to her. “Look, we may not
have the energy to simply lift him off her, but if we work together
we can do it inch by inch. There are boulders all over in here, we
can lift it as far as we are able, and stuff the rock under it.
Then we can do it again.”

“This is all your fault!” Gryffon yelled at
her, pushing her backwards forcibly. “She’s dead because of
you!”

Katya had the grace to look ashamed, but she
spat back at him, “What, it’s okay to use the evil we’re trying to
prevent simply because it benefits us? The whole the end justifies
the means routine? Fine, think what you want, but I’m not giving up
on Layna. I’m not bothering to stand here and argue about whose
fault it is while she’s pinned beneath the body of a dragon!” She
whirled on her heel away from him and stood before the dragon,
managing to lift it a few inches off the ground.

Gryffon was abashed and quickly looked around
for a boulder, and finding a wedge-shaped one, he used what energy
he had left to slide it into the opening. Katya’s strength left her
and the dragon sagged back towards the ground. She slumped her
shoulders in defeat, but straightened again as she spied the
boulder, propping the body off the ground. She looked back at
Gryffon and gave him a short nod.

She took a moment to regain her strength,
drawing upon the wild energies around them, and lifted again.
Gryffon shoved the boulder farther underneath. A rasping intake of
breath could suddenly be heard from below and Gryffon rushed
forwards, searching the space for signs of Layna.

“I’m here,” she said weakly, and Gryffon and
Katya performed their motion once more, opening the space enough so
that Gryffon could see her. Tears of joy welled up in his eyes and
he squeezed down into the cavity to take her hand. He could see
that she had survived by pure luck. She had fallen next to a rock
in the floor which had helped prop the body up from completely
compressing hers, along with the hilt of Leoht, which was the only
part of the sword still visible. The rest was buried deep within
the dragon’s chest, perfectly aimed through the hole that Katya had
made.

He gave her hand a quick squeeze and
whispered a few words of encouragement before wiggling back out. He
looked up to discuss options with Katya, but found that she was
looking around the cavern’s walls, her face a veil of concern.

“What’s the matter?” Gryffon asked, but a
deep rumbling that shook the ground beneath him answered his
question.

“That,” Katya confirmed and then pointed to a
crack in one of the walls where a bubbling red-hot liquid was
beginning to seep into the cavern, “and that. We need to
hurry.”

Gryffon took over lifting the dragon, and
with a final heaving effort of all his might, he managed to raise
it enough that combined with the force of the boulder pushing it,
the body rolled off to the left, freeing all but Layna’s foot. She
gasped in the fresh air hungrily and clutched her chest in pain.
“Ow,” she said meekly.

Gryffon rushed to her side, planting a kiss
firmly on her lips. “You have to be careful, my love, you are not a
cat you know.”

She gave him a confused look, and then
smiled, rolling her eyes at him. “I know, I know. I only have one
life. And you seem to end up saving it quite frequently.”

“Hate to break up your little reunion here,
but that stuff is getting closer. We need to get out of here now.”
She lifted the dragon’s bulk enough to pull Layna’s leg out from
underneath and was rewarded by the most ear-piercing scream from
Layna. She panted for a moment and closed her eyes and Gryffon held
onto her hand while examining the leg. It was obviously broken. She
wouldn’t be able to get anywhere fast.

“She can’t walk,” he told Katya
needlessly.

“I don’t think it would matter anyway, I have
a feeling that nowhere near this mountain is going to be safe very
shortly. We need to make a jump.”

“Well, we can’t transport anywhere in the
chaotic magic, that would just be suicide. And an unprepared jump
would be just as dangerous.”

“We’ll have to risk going back to the King’s
chambers and hoping that no one is there. It’s the only possible
way. Plus the energies of the recent jump will make the way easier
to follow.”

“But even that we don’t have enough energy
for. I don’t know about you, but my strength is dwindling down to a
point that would make it dangerous for me even to touch the power
given its unstable state here. Not to mention that it seems to be
getting worse.” The cavern gave another grumble and they had to
regain their balance as the earth shook beneath them.