The Fate of Her Dragon (6 page)

Chapter Eight

Alicia woke with a start and
attempted to sit, only to be held in place by a pair of huge, unforgiving
hands. Looking up, she saw the soft grey eyes of Devon, one of the Guardsman of
Rayne’s Force. He grinned. “Just lay still. You freaked them all out, Ally.
They called for Mom when you wouldn’t wake up. I had to play chauffer.” He
chuckled. “I sure hope no one reports a flying white dragon.”

Smiling up at the calmest
Guardsman she’d ever met, Alicia shifted her attention to Devon’s mother,
Siobhan, dragon kin’s most respected Healer. The Elder was examining a rather
nasty scratch on the young witch’s arm and humming an extremely serene tune.
Alicia immediately remembered it as a healing song from her youth. It warmed
the young witch from the inside out, making her feel almost euphoric.

The older woman smiled
sweetly. “You gave everyone quite a scare, young lady.” Turning to the side,
she called out, “Sarah Beth, Alicia is awake and seems to be no worse for
wear.”

Alicia wasn’t sure what was
happening, but for the moment, she was relaxed and feeling no pain. Sarah Beth
knelt across from Siobhan, grabbing her daughter’s hand and looking every bit
the part of a very worried mother. “Goddess help us, Alicia May, you scared the
crap outta me. What happened?”

Shrugging against Devon’s
hands, the young witch chuckled when he jumped while simultaneously removing
his hands from her shoulders and apologizing. “No worries,” was her response,
then to her mother she answered, “I have no clue. It was like something was
pulling all the strength from my body. It didn’t hurt, it just felt…
weird
.
Then it got hard to breath and I guess I fainted. Which is happening way too
much lately for my liking.”

“I may have an answer for
you,” Siobhan interjected. When both Alicia and Sarah Beth were looking at the
Elder Healer, she began to explain. “It seems that your mating bond with Drago
has grown quite strong. I understand it is not something you are happy about
but there is not much I can do about that at this point.” Siobhan paused,
giving Alicia a very motherly look.

Not wanting the older woman
to think ill of her, the younger witch quickly answered, “I’m coming to terms
with all of it.”

“Very well,” was the Elder
Healer’s only response before continuing, but Alicia could see her answer had
pleased the older woman. “When a dragon finds his mate and the bond begins to
form, the couple start to share certain innate abilities. Usually this process
is seamless and neither even realize it is happening until after the official mating
ceremony. There are, of course, exceptions, and you and Drago are one of those
rare cases. Because the man is in eminent danger of taking his final leave to
the Heavens, his beast has taken over control of their survival. The dragon
with whom Drago shares his soul has reached through the mating bond and
borrowed, so to speak, some of your essence to keep the man alive.

“Since the beast is so
massive and because I believe Drago is in serious danger, the dragon pulled a
little too much too quickly. Once he’d realized his mistake he shoved it back
into you. That tug and push was more than your body and soul could handle, so
it shut down until everything was once again balanced within you.”

Alicia thought about what
she’d just learned and then asked, “But why now? Drago has been in danger from
the first moment he called to me. Shouldn’t his dragon have worked his Jedi
mind tricks before now?”

“I can answer that for you,”
Kyra said, joining the growing group crowding around the young witch who still
lay on the cold, dirt floor of the crater. “The sigils inscribed on the archway
of the tunnel leading to the wall of rocks were infused with a failsafe. It was
something the wizard working the spell put in to make sure no one ever rescued
Drago, at least not while he was alive. But then that punk ass
Draoi
never
counted on
you.”

The tiny witch pointed at
Alicia with a big smile on her face. “You are his mate and therefore, the one
person that can keep our boy alive until those big lugs,” Kyra pointed over her
shoulder, “get the rocks moved and we find where they’ve got him all chained
up. We banished the magic of the sigils, now they’re doing the heavy lifting.”

It was then Alicia heard the
sound of rocks bouncing off one another. Something she’d missed until Kyra
mentioned it. Nodding, the younger witch asked, “So what do I need to do and
can I
please
sit up? I swear there are ants crawling in my hair.”

Her sisters, who had gathered
around, chuckled as Devon helped her into a sitting position, stood, and headed
over to help with the excavation. It was Siobhan who answered her question.
“You simply need to continue to try to make contact with Drago. If you feel any
strain at all let me know, but I am sure his dragon is only taking the smallest
amount necessary to keep your mate alive. It should not be a strain on your
system at all. Nature has a way of taking care of its own. This is just one
more confirmation that you are indeed the woman the Universe made for our
Assassin.”

Alicia could feel everyone
waiting for her to argue and part of her still wanted to, but that was just the
part that wanted to argue about everything. In her heart of hearts, the young
witch knew she and Drago were meant to be and just wanted him out of his prison
and in her arms. Nodding in agreement but still not speaking the words, the
young witch asked, “Is there something I can help with, something I can do?
Waiting is gonna kill me.” She knew she was whining but couldn’t work up the
strength to care.

Kyra grinned. “You just lay
there and rest. As soon as the big guys have taken enough of that wall down for
us to get through, it’s gonna take all of us to locate Drago.” With that, the
tiny witch returned to where the Dragon Guardsmen were making short work of the
one thing standing between Alicia and her Assassin.

For the next half hour, the
McKennons, along with Melanie and Siobhan, sat around telling stories and
generally trying to keep their minds off what they all knew was coming… more
black magic. Alicia laughed and worked hard to pay attention but it was
useless; her sole focus was on Drago. She continued talking to him, telling him
everything that was going on and promising to kick his butt for all her worry.

While she talked to him and
tried to keep up her end of the conversation with everyone else, the young
witch had been able to locate her bond with Drago and had even felt the
extremely strong presence of what she now knew was her mate’s dragon. The sheer
power she felt coming from the beast was nothing short of amazing. Alicia promised
herself to ask Drago to call him forth as soon as her Guardsman was well enough
to do so.

I think I want to meet the
dragon as much as the Guardsman. Well, maybe almost as much.

A shout of triumph came from
where there’d once been a black-magic-wielding-sigil-covered wall. “We’re
through!” Rayne called. It was the first time Alicia had seen or heard him since
waking up. “What’s next?” the Commander immediately asked.

Kyra turned toward where the
other witches were sitting, waiting for instructions. “I’m gonna go through
with Alicia, Rayne, and Royce. We’ll see what’s up. Y’all get your candles and
lights and be ready. I’ll be back to get you as soon as I know what we need to
do.”

Without waiting for an
answer, the tiny witch threw her backpack over her shoulder, turned on her
flashlight, and headed through the opening with her mate on her heels. Alicia
jumped up, jogged over, and followed the large Guardsman. She could feel the
Commander at her back and thanked the Goddess when he clicked on his flashlight
so she could see. 

They’d traveled less than a
hundred yards through the narrow, winding tunnel when Kyra stopped and
exclaimed, “What the hell?”

Royce shot in front of her,
only to be smacked on the arm as she walked around him scolding, “How the hell
am I supposed to see what it is if you’re in front of me?”

“Kyra…” The biggest of the
dragons growled at his mate, obviously wanting to shield her.

“Whatever, Roy. I have to see
it to know what to do with it.” Kyra sounded irritated and more than a little
put out at her mate’s protective nature. It made Alicia smile.

While the couple were
arguing, she and Rayne moved up next to them and were now staring at a huge
silver box embedded in the rock of a cave no one had known was there. Taking a
step closer, Alicia could see it was the shape of a coffin and covered in the
same nasty bloody sigils they’d been dealing with all day.

From one heartbeat to the
next, recognition flooded the young witch’s body and mind. With no thought for
her own safety, Alicia ran to within inches of the box. Turning, she screamed,
“He’s in there! We have to get him out. Drago’s in there.”

Rayne rushed to her side.
“Are you sure?”

“Well, if she’s not, I damn
sure am,” Kyra answered before Alicia could form a coherent thought that didn’t
involve ripping the lid off the awful silver coffin and pulling her mate to
safety.

Nodding, Alicia looked at
Rayne. “We have to hurry. He’s fading fast. I don’t know how I know, I just do.
Please,” she begged. “Please get him out of there.”

It was once again Kyra who
answered first. “We’ll get him out of there, sweetie, I promise. We just have
to do it the right way. The black magic in those sigils has to be banished and
I need to make sure there’s no more surprises that might end it for all of us.”
Looking at Royce, she instructed, “Go get the rest of the girls, Roy, and have
the Guardsmen come too. We’re gonna need all the magic, prayers, and luck we
can get.”

Without further discussion,
Royce took off the way they’d just come while Kyra took a closer look at the
box. Rayne stood back, pure fury etched upon his face. After several minutes of
pacing, he growled. “Why? To what end did the former
Draoi
do this to my
uncle? It is absolutely heinous. Do you know what silver does to a dragon?” He
paused, simply staring at the silver coffin as if he wanted to crush it like a
beer can.

Alicia knew Rayne was talking
more to himself than anyone else, so she listened while taking her time to move
as close to the box as Kyra would allow and begin pushing as much of her magic
as she could into their mating link while calling out to Drago. She could feel
his dragon, but even that was weaker than before and still there was no
response from the man. The young witch’s patience was growing thin just as her
mother, sisters, and Melanie appeared with most of the Guardsmen bringing up
the rear.

Sarah Beth made her way to
Alicia and Kyra. “What do we need to do?”

The tiny witch was quick to
answer. “It’s just as I feared. The
Draoi
has death magic worked into
the sigils all around the seal holding the box closed. If we try to banish the
magic like we did in the tunnel it’s liable to collapse in on him or something
even more horrible.” Kyra shivered. “So I was thinking, we need to make a
dousing serum, enough to cover the whole damn thing at one time. That should
short circuit whatever the crazy ass wizard cooked up and give us the time we
need to free Drago. Sound like a plan?”

Everyone nodded their
approval and she added, “Great! I need a couple of you girls to go get the
gallon jugs of drinking water we brought. I think there are ten or so of them.
While they’re doing that, the rest of you go collect as much rue, wild
rosemary, juniper, leaves from the copal tree, wild celery root, and wild
marigolds as you can find. We’re gonna need a bunch to banish all the shit
those bad guys threw on this box.”

Within seconds only Kyra,
Royce, Rayne, Alicia, and Sarah Beth remained. The tiny witch and Alicia’s
mother modified the Banishing Spell they had used before, while Royce and Rayne
got as close as they could to the huge silver coffin holding her mate. Alicia
watched as the Guardsmen looked for ways to remove the box from the rock. She
knew they had to be talking to each other mind to mind, because every once in a
while one would nod or shrug. It was frustrating to say the least. The young
witch wanted, no
needed
, to know what they were saying.

 Alicia’s curiosity got the best of her and she blurted out,
“What are you guys doing?”

Turning in unison with looks
of utter surprise on their faces, the Guardsmen answered in harmony, “We’re
formulating plan B.” Looking at one another and chuckling then turning back toward
Alicia, it was Rayne who continued. “If for some reason magic won’t get Drago
out, we plan to rip the lid right off that damned box and drag him out.”

If anyone else had said those
words Alicia would’ve laughed at their absurdity, but with the two most
formidable Guardsmen she’d ever met looking at her with complete confidence,
the young witch had no doubt they would do everything within their power to
free her Assassin. Unable to speak, she simply smiled and nodded, thankful her
sisters started returning with the supplies Kyra had asked for. It wasn’t long
until they had everything they needed and Sarah Beth began putting together the
Dousing Serum.

“Alicia, can you make a salt
circle around the box? Go right up to the wall and throw some on top. Close it
with your magic. Be sure not to touch the silver
at all
. Those markings
are nasty little buggers.”