Authors: Rain Oxford
“It sounds like a pretty miserable situation. Let me
soak in the knew information for a bit,” I said. Dylan closed his eyes,
possibly to nap. I wanted to go inside and sleep for a week, but the going inside
part was too much work, so I just laid there to sleep.
Rojan? Are you doing
okay? You’re not talking much.
Sleeping.
Oh. Were you okay watching over Dylan? Did you
suffer a lot from the lack of oxygen?
I had the strength to keep watch and follow the
plan.
What plan?
I asked. I didn’t remember making a
plan, especially since I had no idea of what was about to happen.
Distract the enemy until Dylan arrived. That was
the plan, no?
I could hear the grin in his thoughts.
Oh, yeah.
Yes, that was the plan.
“Did we let
all those people die?”
He looked at me. “It was a creature that couldn’t
stand light. What could possibly be brighter than that flash?” he asked.
I had to agree there; not even sunlight was that
bright.
“You said there was something in the dark.”
I looked at him. “When did I say that?”
“When I blew the door down. Why did you say that? We
knew there was something out there, so it seemed odd. Out of character for
you.”
“I don’t remember saying that. I’m too tired to think
about it. What about the woman? Rojan’s pet?”
“Now that the world has been healed, she should have
a chance. Their memories are going to be all confused; they should at least
hesitate to hurt one of their own if they don’t even remember what they’re
punishing her for.”
“I was hoping you would say we had to go back for
her. I wanted to keep her,” I said. I could feel his stare and regretted saying
it out loud, even as Rojan grumbled his agreement. “As a pet only, of course.” Exhaustion
was the doorway to honesty, and I wanted neither to cloud my judgment.
* * *
I woke in a bed, feeling as if I had slept for days.
Wrapped in comfortable, warm blankets, I didn’t want to move. Unfortunately,
the small weight lying on my chest did, and when it settled, there was hot
breath blowing all over my neck.
I pushed Sammy a few inches away from my neck and
rubbed his back until he fell back to sleep.
“You need to eat,” a really annoying person
interrupted me from returning to sleep.
“Go away.”
Tell the annoying person what happens if he wakes
a sleeping dragon.
“Rojan’s going to eat you,” I growled. I heard a
furious hiss from the protective Shinobu. “And your little cat, too.”
“It’s dog…”
“What is?” I asked, opening my eyes. We were in
Dylan’s cabin. Sammy was sprawled on my chest, Dylan sat on the edge of the bed
with a plate of steak, Shinobu sat curled on his shoulder, and I knew Edward
was upstairs. “How are you feeling? Still sick?”
“I feel better. Not perfect, but definitely better.
Apparently, Edward healed two worlds using my pentagram while we were working
on Skrev.”
Dylan tried to take Sammy one-handed so that I could
sit up, but Shinobu hissed at the sleeping baby. I growled at her at the same
time Dylan reached up and smacked her head.
“You don’t hiss at Sammy,” he warned.
Startled, she jumped from his shoulder and scampered
up the bookshelf. Dylan almost never reprimanded her. Ignoring her, Dylan put
the plate of steak on the bedside table and took Sammy.
“You still shouldn’t hold him.”
“I’m powerful enough now that being in the same room
should be harmful.”
“You don’t seem any different to me,” I said, taking
the plate and the silverware. “How long was I sleeping? I’m starving.”
“Two days. Edward says I can hide my power, that all
of the gods can. It’s how Divina blends in. Apparently, I’m powerful enough now
to hide it and I can prevent it from reacting with Sammy’s energy.”
“And are you going to be okay? You were the one to say
we are who we are.”
“It’s not the same thing; you have always been a
dragon. I keep changing. Who knows what I’ll end up as?”
“You may someday be as powerful as the gods, and I
know you hate that, but you will never be one of them. You will always be Earth’s
Guardian and you will always be half sago, half human. Have you seen Divina?”
He shook his head. “She isn’t at her place. I want to
try to contact her, but I think she’s still fighting the others about me.”
Sammy was awake now and chewing on Dylan’s finger.
Dylan took a sack of berries out of his bag and gave them to the baby. He was
so focused on Sammy that he didn’t see Divina appear behind him. She was
blocking her scent and powerful aura.
I set my plate down and reached for Sammy. “Come
here, Sammy,” I said.
Sammy frowned up at Dylan, but turned and crawled
into my lap. “She must love you a lot to fight so hard for you, especially
against her brothers,” I said.
“I know. She loves me and I love her. I know I’m
freaking out about it now, but really, it doesn’t matter how powerful I get as
long as she never leaves me. I don’t want to be more powerful than I need to be
to protect Earth, and I don’t want the gods to feel threatened by me, but more
than anything, I don’t want to become someone she doesn’t like. I know she
likes protecting me. I do not ever want her to feel threatened by me.”
“How could she? If she asked it of you, you would
never use magic again.”
“If she asked me not to do magic, I know she would
have a damn good reason.”
With him sitting on the bed, facing me, she came up
right behind him. I could see it in his eyes the moment he realized she was
there. As he turned to look at her, she sunk her fingers in his hair and leaned
down to kiss him. They were perfect together.
Sammy buried his head in my shoulder. At least he
knew better than to attack Divina, but anyone could see the Dylan’s love for
her. Dylan pulled her down onto the bed, so I took Sammy and went to stand by
the bookshelf. When they lasted several minutes without stopping their kiss to
breathe, I got a little worried.
Is it possible for him to have lung damage
from the cabin that was not healed?
Leave him alone
, Rojan advised.
“Breathe,” I whispered. They ignored me, so I took a
few steps closer. “Breathe,” I whispered louder. Dylan waved me off without
stopping, but Divina pulled away. He tried to follow her, but she stopped him
with a gentle hand on his chest.
“I love you, you stupid idiot.”
“I love you, too. Can you tell me now why you stayed
away for so long?” he asked.
Lying next to him, she leaned her forehead against
his, obviously dreading the conversation. “You really want to live with me?”
“I want to marry you.”
“But you’re a Guardian. You’re supposed to have
children. Don’t you want them?”
“Of course I do. But I want them with you, and no one
else. There are nine other guardians to have little wizards. We could adopt.”
“What if I don’t want to adopt? Would you leave me if
I never wanted to be a mother?”
“Of course not. You’d just have to make it up to me
by not calling me stupid anymore,” he said, jokingly.
Sammy glanced up at me as if unsure what was going
on.
She scoffed. “I don’t like that at all.”
“Well… you could stop calling me an idiot.”
She sighed. “Maybe I could do that.” She leaned away
from him a little. “You know how much I love you, you say you trust me, but you
still think I could leave you. I’m an Iadnah, Dylan. I’ve lived just an instant
of my lifespan in this form. I have created a world and everything that has
ever lived on it. Without this body, I’m sure I wouldn’t know love or be able
to feel it, but it comes with many other feelings, too. Some you wouldn’t like.
You want to have children, and you shouldn’t have to live your entire life
without them just because you were coerced into loving me.”
“What do you mean, ‘coerced’?”
“These emotions are both the best thing and the worst
thing about having this mortal form. You cannot help your emotions. You didn’t
choose me; your emotions did. A young, powerful Guardian… why fall in love with
one woman when you can have anyone?” she asked him.
He leaned back against the pillows and laughed. “I am
proud to be Ronez’s son, but I’m not him. I’m a guy, but not a slut. I know
what I want and it’s you.”
“You have too long a life to never have children, but
I am a god. I would make a horrible mother, because I have no maternal
instincts.”
“Really? None? Mordon, please bring Sammy over here,”
he said.
I really didn’t want to. Divina would never hurt a
child on purpose, but Sammy could seriously anger the wrong person. I handed
him to Dylan, and he handed the child to Divina. She took Sammy, but held him
out at arm’s length. Both the child and the woman stared at each other with
wide eyes. He looked over at Dylan with a worried expression, then back at
Divina.
“Aren’t you supposed to support the head or
something?” Divina asked.
“Not at this age.”
“Is he going to throw up on me?”
“That he might, but only if you make him mad. He has
a vindictive streak,” Dylan said proudly.
Rojan chuckled with approval. She handed Sammy to
Dylan, and he handed Sammy back to me. Before I could step away, Divina grabbed
my arm to stop me.
She looked me straight in the eyes, leaning closer
until all I could see was deep blue. Rojan responded by staring right back.
Rojan knew she saw him, but it wasn’t threatening. Still, I stayed aware of her
mood as best as I could.
“What a beautiful dragon. Why are you green, though?
I’ve never seen a green dragon. Blue, black, dark brown, light brown, and even
smoky white, but how do you blend in? Or are you green for something other than
camouflage? There was a nest of mine once born red and black. They were very
beautiful. Are you a forest dweller? Maybe a swamp?”
“The desert, actually.” Rojan was talking and, though
it was weird, it really wasn’t like he was taking over my body. “While my
scales are green naturally, I can change the color at will.”
Hang on. What do you mean “desert”? And that you
can change your color? We never lived in the desert. You said you’ve always been
with me.
I have been a part of you for your entire life,
but I am much older than you.
“Sorry to interrupt, but have you accepted Dylan into
your clutch?” Divina asked.
Rojan knew it was more for confirmation than a real
question. “Dylan is Mordon’s best friend and someone he looks up to. It was
either accept Dylan, or eat him. The latter would have upset Mordon very much.
The same with the little child, though I would never eat a child, sago or
otherwise.”
What is a clutch?
It was Divina who answered me. “Dragons of every
world are alike in one aspect; it is their most basic instinct to guard. They
must guard and protect something. As they are all very territorial, they form
clutches; small family units of three or four dragons, usually a mated pair and
babies. They protect each other.”
All dragons have difficulty with fertility and so
we treasure our children above all else, even our mates. Sometimes a dragon’s
need to have children drives them to steal another’s child.
“Dragons kidnap each other’s kids?” Dylan asked.
I got how Divina could hear me, but how was Dylan
listening into my head?
“No, dragon children are too well protected. However,
there will never be an orphaned dragon child, because any dragon child would be
instantly adopted by anyone. Dragons have been known to kidnap sago children
and dragons on other worlds steal children of the people there. No dragon would
ever turn down helping a child of any species.”
“So where is your clutch? Did you have children?”
Divina asked.
I felt Rojan’s pain, but his memories were blocked
from me.
“They are all dead now.”
I wanted to press for answers, to know what happened
and why he hid himself from me. He had memories and a past, which had never
occurred to me, and I realized then that I didn’t actually know Rojan very much
at all. It seemed that he knew me pretty well, though.
You do not really want to know what happened to
me, and I do not want you to live with those memories.
I couldn’t agree to a secret being kept from me, but
Rojan wouldn’t be pressured on the matter. Coexisting like this might sometimes
be difficult; however, I knew it was worth it to have Rojan. I may not have
known he was there until recently, but I didn’t feel like myself when he was
gone. I didn’t know what he really was, only that he was part of who I was.
That was what Dylan had been trying to tell me.
“We need to get back to healing worlds,” Dylan said.
“Of course, I want to heal Earth next, but I have an idea that might be better.
I had never even heard of Skrev before, and it was in serious need of help. I
figured out how to travel---”
“You have learned to flash,” Edward interrupted,
stepping down the stairs. It was getting really crowded in the room. “That’s
what we call it. Only the gods can flash; the Guardians learn to travel using
our book’s magic.”
“Okay, so I learned to do that. Maybe I can transport
us again, but instead of landing us in a particular place, I try to land us on
the world that needs healing the most.”
“Absolutely not. You have no idea where you would end
up,” Edward argued.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Divina said. “Whatever
world needs him the most, the longer he waits, the worse its condition will
be.”
“So you will go with him, then?” he asked her.
“I still have things to take care of.” The glare she
sent him told me they knew something Dylan and I didn’t. My first instinct was
to relay this information to Dylan, to warn him, but his expression said that
he was already aware of it. “You can’t go with them, either; you keep getting
banned from worlds. Why is that?”