Taming the Dragon Collection (3 page)

He stood almost seven feet tall, with pale, nearly white skin that looked silver in the beautiful moonlight. His nearly white hair flowed past his shoulders and danced across his massive, sculpted chest as he nodded slowly while looking at her. His beard was a similar white, cut very close to his face. The thing that stood out the most to her, though, was his eyes. She had always thought her eyes were the most beautiful in the world, but this man’s eyes were like bright sapphires shining through the darkness like a beacon of hope. Even in the darkness the blue was so deep and so bright that its glow popped through the fire.

The only armor the man wore was a white scale pauldron on one shoulder. He didn’t need clothes, though. His pale body was perfect the way it was.

“Please, sir,” she whispered. “Save me from this hell. Take me to a better place.”

The man didn’t respond. Instead, he turned and vanished back into the darkness beyond the fire, leaving Mara alone with her pain and self-pity once again.

“Why?” she moaned, the tears flowing from her eyes. “Please don’t leave me.”

There was nobody to hear her pleas. She was still alone on the rock, waiting for her death to come. Where had Val gone? Was he hiding in the darkness, watching her beg for her life, talking to mystery men who probably didn’t exist while he laughed at her foolishness? Why was he so incredibly cruel? He had grown up in farmlands, just like Mara. Surely he could empathize with her plight.

How could someone so powerful be so evil? He didn’t deserve the power he wielded. He didn’t deserve to hold Heart Fire.

What was that?
she thought. She sucked in a deep breath as she saw it again.
Over the moon. Something is flying in front of the moon.

She was sure it wasn’t something she was imagining, like the beautiful man who just stood watching her, doing nothing to save her. She looked up to the moon and stifled a scream as the form that shadowed the moon became more and more visible. The dragon! He was here and he was circling above.

Mara had been waiting for the dragon to arrive and end her suffering, but now, as he prepared to land, she could feel nothing but fear. How could such a magnificent creature inspire such fear in her heart?

Her hair blew in all directions as a rush of wind nearly blew her rock out of the ground, putting out the fire and leaving her in the silvery glow of the full moon. The ground shook as the monstrous angel hit the ground, stretching out and revealing its full essence and beauty to Mara.

She thought she would scream in fear, lose her mind and beg for mercy as the arbiter of death spread his wings and looked down at her. But none of those feelings came, and she remained surprisingly calm. The dragon wasn’t terrible at all, he was beautiful.

Such a creature couldn’t be evil; it was like the best parts of the heavenly realms had been combined to create the perfect being. His scales were pure white, like crystals of snow dotting his entire body. They shone and glittered like diamonds in the moonlight, mesmerizing Mara. His wings were leathery and bat-like, but they were strong and expansive. Under his chin was a frock of white frills that looked like a busy beard hanging low. His eyes settled on her, studying everything about her.

She remained perfectly still as his snakelike neck brought his head forward. She felt no fear as his massive chin landed on the rock next to her, his nostrils inhaling every piece of her scent. She could see his eyes, beautiful sapphire orbs that looked like a perfectly spherical planet floating in the universe, as they settled on the cut on her shoulder and collarbone that was still bleeding slowly.

“I’m hurt,” she said weakly. The dragon’s eyes turned to her, acknowledging the fact that she was speaking to him. “A goblin hurt me and he wouldn’t heal me.” Immediately she felt her stomach retch and fear wash over her as she realized what was about to happen to this magnificent creature. “You need to go! He’s using me as bait! It’s a trap!”

The dragon grunted and reared back, roaring to the sky as it processed her words. She could only cry out in terror as she saw a heavy boot land on the rock next to her and then spring forward. Val was here, and he was using the rock to fly through the air, Heart Fire pointed at the dragon’s heart as he launched his deadly surprise attack.

The dragon was huge, about the side of a barn in her hometown, but even so he was a sitting duck for the flaming magical sword that was mere seconds away from piercing his mighty heart of ice.

Mara smiled as the dragon moved with the agility of a smaller creature, ducking to the side and bringing its tail up to catch Val across the midsection. The evil knight let out a great cry as he was slammed into the snow. That didn’t stop him for long. He came up fast, throwing a dagger at the dragon to distract it as he sprang into action with his two-handed sword, swinging and stabbing at the radiant creature.

The dragon was so beautiful, so perfect, how could anyone want to kill it? She was astonished that anyone would ever hunt a dragon. She understood now why the barbarians worshipped the dragon and sacrificed their fairest maidens to it. Dragons were the closest things to gods that anyone could ever lay eyes on without passing on to the afterlife.

“Please, dragon,” she whispered, feeling her tenuous grip on consciousness begin to slip. “You’re my only hope. Please kill Val Woodshadow. He’s the real evil in this world.”

Anyone who wanted to murder a dragon had to be evil, didn’t they? Nobody should want to kill such perfection.

The fighting was becoming fuzzy, but she could tell that neither combatant was tiring. As powerful and beautiful as the dragon was, Val was just as terrible and terrifying. Each blow the dragon threw at him was expertly blocked. Each blow he threw at the dragon was easily dodged or parried. They were an even match for one another, and that truly scared Mara more than anything else.

The stories her father had told her as a child had always been the same. Evil kidnapped the beautiful princess and tried to hold her from good, but in the end good was always more powerful and always easily dispatched evil. But those stories were just fairy tales. She was learning that the hard way as evil proved more than a match for good at this moment.

Her heart jumped into her throat as the dragon let out a terrible howl that filled the night sky and drowned out the wind. Val had connected with a shot to the dragon’s wing, drawing bright red blood that stained the snow and made Mara’s world crumble down around her.

“No,” she whispered weakly. “No, he can’t win.”

She saw Val’s trademark cocky, evil smile as he watched the blood pooling in the blanket of snow that covered the ground. His cockiness proved to be his undoing as the dragon’s other wing flew in and caught him on the side of the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. He tried to rise but the dragon reared back, opening its mouth as a brilliant white light began to emanate from deep within its throat. The light pooled in its great mouth, balling up and expanding as the dragon continued to rear back.

It was the dragon’s breath weapon, something she had heard about before. Val had told her all about it during the trip. Each dragon had a different breath weapon, depending on its color. Val had told her that a white dragon released a powerful blast of cold that could freeze a man right to the bone. If only that would be the case right now. Val’s heart was frozen, but the rest of him remained warm and able to do damage.

Finally the dragon released its breath weapon on Val. A brilliant blue and white flash of light escaped its mouth and enveloped Val, completely covering his body.

Mara was barely able to keep her eyes open now, but she knew that Val had to be finished off. The dragon’s breath weapon was not something anyone could survive, not even a terrible slayer like Val.

She lost her fight with the darkness and slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she would remember seeing was Val, standing unharmed as the light from Heart Fire warded the dragon’s breath away. She passed out, feeling nothing but despair.

Chapter 4

“Poor thing,” a distant voice said, cracking through the darkness that had enveloped Mara’s life. “The fever is finally subsiding.”

“The master has taken quite a shining to this one,” another, heavier voice said. “You’d better make sure that wound is clean and dressed properly.”

“It’s from a goblin’s dagger,” a third, higher pitched voice said. “It didn’t cut too deeply, but she lost a lot of blood.”

Mara felt something cool and wet on her forehead as the first voice spoke again. “I think she’s waking up. Her eyes are fluttering.”

“Oh, how exciting!” the high-pitched voice said. “We finally get to meet her.”

Mara began to blink, trying to eliminate the blurriness from her life as the world came into focus. She was lying on a bed with her head slightly elevated. As she opened her eyes she could see that she was in a large stone cavern. The ceiling was roughly cut out of stone with a thin layer of ice crystals covering it. She knew immediately that she was still on the mountain, or inside of it to be more exact, but she didn’t feel the bone-deep chill that she had experienced while she was exposed to the unforgiving wind.

“Don’t try to sit up too quickly, dear,” a voice said. She felt a large hand pat her on the back and provide support as she sat up on her elbows and tried to gather her bearings. “I don’t want you getting sick again. I don’t think your stomach has anything left in it, dear.”

Mara looked to her left to see a rather large woman leaning over her, helping to support her in her endeavor to sit up. This woman had rough, long blonde hair that was tied into two pigtails rolling over her broad, almost man-like shoulders. If Val had wanted a live definition of a shield wife, this woman was the perfect example.

“Thank you,” Mara said, managing a weak smile as she brought herself completely up to a sit.

She glanced around. She was lying on a bed that was raised several feet off the ground. Several heavy wool blankets covered her and protected her from the chill of the mountain’s core. Standing beside the bed were two more women, more beautiful than the shield wife who had helped her. One was much younger, with skin and hair much darker than any Mara had ever seen, contrasted by her emerald green eyes. She was standing nervously with her hands clasped in front of her, smiling at Mara. Beside her was a thin, petite woman. This one had white hair and appeared to have been born on or around the mountain, judging by her pale skin that didn’t look like it saw the sun too often.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” the white-haired girl said. She was the one with the squeaky, higher-pitched voice. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t wake up.”

The dark-skinned woman pinched her on the arm and hissed, trying to silence her companion. “Don’t say things like that. Raylene is a wonderful nurse.”

“I’m Raylene,” the big woman beside Mara said, reading Mara’s eyes as she glanced around, confused. “Tall, dark and beautiful over there is Priya and her friend is Abigail.”

“I’m grateful for your care,” Mara said, feeling at the wound on her chest.

“Don’t touch, dear,” Raylene said, slapping Mara’s hand quickly and harshly. Mara pulled her hand back, feeling the sting of the big woman’s strike radiating across her skin. “It’s healing just fine, but it doesn’t need you touching it and playing with it.”

“Of course,” Mara said, nodding in agreement. “How long have I been asleep?”

Priya and Abigail exchanged nervous glances before looking over at Raylene. Raylene put one large arm around Mara and hugged her tight to her ample bosom. “It’s been at least a fortnight, dear.”

“A fortnight?” Mara said, pushing Raylene away and trying to find her way off the bed. “My father must be worried sick. Is he close? Has anyone alerted him?”

“Your father isn’t of any concern right now,” Raylene said. “You need to recover your strength, dear.”

“But it’s been so long. Surely he’s worried about me. What happened to Val? Did he slay the dragon or did the dragon slay him? Did they just leave me on the side of the mountain? Is that where you found me?”

“You’ll have plenty of answers after you regain your strength,” Raylene said, trying to push Mara back into a lying-down position.

“No,” Mara said. “I need to go. I can’t stay here. My village is in danger. If Val won, they need to know what a snake he is. He could betray them all. If the dragon won, he could be seeking retribution.”

“The master won’t be seeking retribution against anyone,” Raylene said, holding Mara down. “Just getting some sleep and relaxing. He’ll have our hide if you don’t heal up. That wound won’t ever heal if you don’t give it a chance. Do you want a big, ugly scar, honey?”

“I don’t care what your master wants,” Mara said, trying to push past the maid who was holding her.

Who were these women and who was their master? Why did he want to keep her here? She couldn’t remember any rich or powerful men living on or around the mountain; it was mostly the land of barbarians. These women certainly didn’t look like any barbarians Mara had ever heard of. They usually came into the village seeking to trade animal hides and meat for weapons or other metals. They were tall, gruff-looking men with more hair than vocabulary. No, these women were too civilized to be barbarians.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this,” Raylene said, turning to the other two. “Priya, get the dream weed.”

“What’s dream weed?” Mara asked. She’d never heard of that herb, but there was Priya, crushing something with a piece of stone before sliding it into a pitcher. “I won’t drink it!”

“You’ll regain your strength in no time,” Raylene said. “You just have to rest.”

Mara tried to kick and fight, tried to get loose and escape this hell that was being brought upon her, but Raylene was much too strong. Abigail joined her in holding Mara down and forcing her mouth open as Priya mouthed “I’m sorry” before pouring the contents of the pitcher down her throat. She tried not to drink it, but Raylene forced it down and shut her mouth. She had no choice but to swallow or drown.

Within seconds the world around her began to grow hazy and out of focus. She tried to stand and protest, but it was no good. The blackness returned to her and sent her to a land of dreamless sleep.