Taming the Dragon Collection (17 page)

Mara and Alek took the streets slowly, making their way towards her father’s house. The people of the city either paid her no mind or looked upon Alek’s armor and her dress with contempt. Nobody was clean and nobody looked like they’d had an easy go of things since the last time she had seen them.

“There used to be a house there,” Mara said, looking at a pile of rubble that sat where the baker’s house used to stand.

“Looks like it was burned down,” Alek said, pointing out charred pieces of wood.

“Did the silos suffer the same fate?” she asked.

Alek just shook his head in confusion and put his hand on the small of her back to guide her forward. “These people don’t look too happy with our presence. I suggest we move before there is an incident and I have to do something rash to protect you.’

Mara didn’t question Alek’s violent nature this time; she just nodded and hurried forward towards her father’s cabin. On the way she passed three more houses that had been razed. Someone had attacked her village and left it in shambles. Was it the goblins out for revenge after Val had annihilated many of them in bloody fashion?

Finally they arrived at the door to her father’s home. The house still stood, but it looked like someone had shot it full of arrows at some point. Wood was splintered all over the front of his home, making it look more like a shanty than the two-story home of the village elder. Mara didn’t even knock; instead, she rushed forward and threw the door open, charging in and leaving Alek standing in the street alone.

“Father!” she called. “Father, where are you?”

There was no answer and her heart began to grow heavy. Surely an elder as strong and robust as Erik had not been killed this easily.

“Father, please answer me!” she screamed, starting to head upstairs.

“By the fire, my sweetling,” a tired, rough voice called. “If that is my sweetling.”

Mara turned and jumped off the steps, hit the ground and ran through the front hallway to the open living space that dominated most of the first floor. As she turned the corner her shoes slid on the smooth wood and took her legs out from under her. She hit the ground hard and slid into the wall, but she ignored any pain that she felt. All she wanted to do was find her father. She half walked and half crawled her way across the room, collapsing on her knees in front of her father, who was sitting in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace.

He didn’t look like her father anymore. His once corn-yellow hair was now white and wispy as if it had been falling out. His eyes were sunken and his skin paler than Alek’s white scales.

“Father, you are not well,” she said, moving her hands all over his body as if she would find the source of his sickness somewhere.

“I am tired, my dear,” he said, his voice still sounding rough. He reached a hand out and cupped her cheek, rubbing it tenderly as he smiled at her. “It does me good to see that you are still alive. I had feared the worst.”

“I am here now, Father, and I am not going anywhere.”

“Is it true?” he asked, sitting back away from her in his chair.

Mara pulled herself onto the stool in front of him and sat, meeting his eyes, which were now cutting through her like steel. “Is what true?”

“Did you leave us for the dragon on the mountain?”

“Not exactly,” Mara said, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked away from her father’s intent glare.

“Val Woodshadow told us you betrayed him and helped the dragon in combat—forcing him to retreat. He took out his rage on the village.”

“Val did this,” she said, feeling the rage growing in her. “Val Woodshadow is a liar and a scoundrel, Father.”

“I suspect so.” Erik did not look surprised by her revelation. “Any man who would do this to a helpless village after he did not get his way does not have high moral character in my estimation.”

“He doesn’t, Father. He tried to rape me on the path, but some goblins attacked us and he had to fight them off rather than have his way with me. I was injured in the fight, see?” She pulled down her dress to show her father the scar across the top of her chest. His eyes flashed with fire now. “He did not heal me. Instead he forced me to march onto the mountain. Then he chained me to a rock and told me I was a sacrifice to the dragon.”

“That son of a bitch,” her father muttered. “I wish my bones were not so old or I would handle him myself.”

“There is no need for you to do that,” Alek said.

Mara and her father both turned to see the dragon standing in the living space’s doorway. His normally pale skin was now red with anger as veins bulged all over his body like snakes hiding just below the surface of his skin.

“Who is…?” her father started to say.

“Father,” Mara said, then jumped up and moved to stand beside Alek. She put her hand on his back, trying to calm him, but it felt like she was hugging a boulder. Every muscle was tensed and flexed, ready to attack. “This is Alek, I mean Aleksander.”

“Aleksander is the name of the dragon that dwells in the mountain, Mara,” her father said.

“That is true. This is the dragon, Father. He is with me.”

“So you
did
betray us for the dragon?” he asked.

“No,” Mara said, shaking her head vigorously. “I did no such thing. Alek nursed me back to health after my injuries nearly claimed my life. I had a horrible fever from the wound and the cold. He took care of me and helped me regain my strength.”

“Then why did you not return when you were healthy?”

“That is my fault,” Alek said, stepping forward. “Mara is a treasure and I wanted to protect her. I did not want her to have to trek through the harsh winter cold to return to the village. She stayed with me and helped me through the winter.”

“Is that so?” her father asked, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “And now you have brought her back?”

“Not for good,” Alek said flatly.

Her father raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair, waiting for Alek to speak again.

“I have grown to love your daughter. She has captured my heart like no human woman ever could. I have come to ask for her hand in marriage.”

“I do not know you, dragon,” Erik said, finally rising from his chair. He grabbed a walking stick that was on the ground beside his chair and used it to bring himself across the room until he was standing face to face with Alek. Even in his haggard state he did not back down from the great dragon. “You have held my daughter from me for the last several months and you show up here on this day when the world is on the cusp of spring and ask for her hand in marriage? What gives you the right?”

“I do not have that right yet,” Alek said. “But I will gain that right when I crush Val Woodshadow and gain revenge for your village.”

“Is that so?”

“Daddy, quit saying that,” Mara whispered. Her father only said that when he didn’t believe what was being told to him. He had said it two times since she had returned—which meant he was skeptical of Alek’s intentions.

“You will have to forgive my skepticism, sweetling,” he said. “I do not know this dragon from anyone else who would come from outside the village. He comes making promises about destroying the man who has brought us great harm, when he couldn’t do it in a one-on-one fight when they first met.”

Mara could see Alek tense and she knew he was feeling challenged by her father. She couldn’t believe it was coming to this and she hoped Alek didn’t rip her father’s head off in a show of strength right then and there.

“He retreated from the battle like a coward,” Alek said through gritted teeth. “He did not want to fight once I had gained the upper hand. He will not escape this time.”

“Why do you want to kill him so badly?”

“For the affront he has caused to your village.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No,” Alek said, balling his fists up so hard that blood began to drip from his hands. Mara tried to reach for him, but he pulled away and refused to break eye contact with Erik. “My love was promised to him in marriage and he has proven he is not worthy of her. He has besmirched her honor and proven that he is not a proper knight. I will punish him for throwing dirt on her honor and prove that he is not fit to marry her. This is my vow.”

“Okay, then,” Erik said, nodding his head in agreement. “If you can defeat Val Woodshadow and avenge my daughter’s honor, then I will grant you her hand in marriage.”

“I will leave tonight for Atherny,” Alek said, turning towards the door.

“There is no need for that, lad. He has promised to return when spring is in full tilt and defeat the dragon. He is coming for you, and us, I suspect.”

“Then I will help rebuild your village,” Alek said, turning back to her father. “So he can see that he has not broken your spirit, right before he dies.” Alek pulled the bag of treasure off his belt and tossed it down at Erik’s feet. “A gift.”

Mara couldn’t believe what she had heard as she watched Alek stomp out the door of the cabin into the street.

“Father, are you serious?” she asked.

“He will make a good husband, sweetling,” Erik said with a chuckle. “If he is worthy.”

Chapter 22

Mara followed Alek outside to where he stood in the muddy street, looking both ways like he wasn’t sure where he was going or what he was doing.

“That was quite the show,” she said, picking through the mud and coming up behind him as people passed her on the street splashing the dirty substance all over them. Some people’s eyes grew wide when they watched the mud magically slide off her dress.

“What show?” he asked, still appearing pretty pissed off.

“The show you just put on for my father, trying to get his blessing.”

“It was no show,” Alek said, his face scrunched in anger. “Val Woodshadow will die.”

“I knew you already wanted to kill him. That’s been pretty obvious since we met. But you told me yourself that you don’t care if my father gives us his blessing or not.”

“It is important to you,” Alek said.

“Well, yeah.”

“Then it is important to me.”

Mara was speechless. She must have looked foolish standing in the street next to the hulking god with her mouth hanging open as village life continued around her like nothing was wrong. Was he really taking her feelings into account?

“You mean you care what I want?” she asked.

“Of course I do,” Alek said, putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning over to plant a sweet kiss on her forehead. “I have an innate desire inside of me to please you. If you’re happy, I find myself happy. I want your father’s blessing.”

“That’s wonderful, Alek, it really is.”

“Does this make you emotional?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Well, don’t let it. There is still a lot to be done before I can even gain your father’s blessing. First, I am going to return to the mountain and collect Abigail and Priya. They can help with getting things in order around here. I will also bring my food stores back. They will cook and hand out stew to your villagers. A lot of them look like they haven’t had a good meal in months. Then I will begin tearing down trees in the forest to help rebuild the crop silos.”

“Alek,” she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “This is all too much. I can’t believe you’re going to help humans like this. I thought you viewed us as beneath you.”

“I do,” Alek said, giving her a half-smile. “But the one who has my heart is high enough to stare me in the eyes and I’m going to do what I can to make her happy, even if it means helping humans. It’s time I used my power for something good.”

“Now you sound like a wonderful man,” she said.

“Am I tame?” he asked, putting his arms around her waist and sniffing her hair. She hoped it smelled good, but Alek didn’t seem to mind. He kept her pulled close to his statuesque form.

“No,” she said, nuzzling his neck. “You’re a wild beast that still has to be broken.”

“Then you can try to break me,” he whispered into her ear before darting his tongue into it. Mara immediately felt her breath go away as chills ran through her body. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Mara pulled back but Alek was already on her, his mouth meeting hers in love’s tight embrace. She put her hand on the back of his head and held him there, both of their tongues leaving their mouths and meeting in the middle as they kissed one another.

“I will return,” Alek said. “Tomorrow.”

Mara stood back as he stepped into the center of town where no houses were and shifted. Great white leathery wings sprouted from his back and his neck elongated as sparkling white scales sprang up all over his body. Mara wanted nothing more than to hop onto his back and ride the air again as a free woman, but her place was here with her father. Alek looked back at her once more with the great blue orbs that were his eyes before taking flight and leaving the village behind. He was high in the sky in mere seconds, leaving her alone.

As soon as he disappeared Mara became keenly aware of the townspeople gathering around her. They had all run and hidden when he shifted, but now they were back and they did not look happy.

“That’s her!” one person screamed. “The witch that condemned us!”

“She dares to kiss the dragon in full view of us!” another person said, flinging mud at her. “She’s throwing it in our face like we are worthless! Punish her!”

The crowd moved in on Mara, screaming, yelling and slinging mud at her. She tried to back away, but they were circling around her to prevent any escape.

“Look at how the mud slides off her dress!” someone screamed. “It is magical! We starve while she enjoys the dragon’s lavish gifts!”

Now the crowd was incensed, she had nowhere to go and Alek was already gone. Could he feel her in danger? Would he come running back to save her?

“Step away from my daughter!” a voice boomed, causing the crowd to freeze. “Get away now!”

Everyone turned as Erik parted the mob and strode confidently into the middle of the circle, putting his arm around Mara as he looked at everyone. All the age and worry that he had displayed mere moments ago was gone now, replaced by new vigor and strength that Mara hadn’t known he had. Had it really energized him this much to have his daughter return?