He flinched as a large cluster pegged him right between the wings. Enraged fury filled him. Sloan would die as painfully as possible for choosing this day for a reckoning.
“Taggart?” She thumped his chest, then hugged him tighter.
“I canna say how he found the stronghold, but I ken verra well why he chose this day.” He arched his back, lifted his head, and released his blaze. With a sweeping arc of blue flames, he welded together the loose bits of what was left of the ceiling. “That should hold long enough for William to get both of ye to the shelter.”
“I am not leaving you.” She bared her teeth and wriggled her dagger out of her dress. “I owe Sloan big time. Do you think I’m leaving here without a fight?”
“William!” he bellowed without taking his eyes from the furious gaze of his wonderful mate. By all the gods, she would go to that shelter with young William even if he had to paralyze her with a catatonic spell and toss her across the lad’s back.
“I am here.” Panting and glancing all around, William ducked as a boom echoed from a lesser cavern deeper to the north. “I will not fail ye. Tell me what ye wish me to do.”
He placed Hannah’s wrist into the curl of the youngling’s front claw, then closed it. “Take your mother to the shelter. Dinna come out until I come for ye, ye ken?” He paused, staring down at her tiny arm swallowed up by the lad’s clawed hold. His heart clenched. She was so delicate. So fragile. She had to be protected at all cost. He refused to contemplate living a moment without her. “Keep her there, William. One of us will come for the two of ye. Make certain ye dinna open the door for anyone lest ye know ye can trust them, aye?”
“The others have gone to fight the intruders.” William looked toward the tall narrow doors dangling halfway off their hinges.
“I know.” He gave the boy a proud smile. “I am glad ye stayed here as ye were taught. Ye did well. It is yer duty to lead the sacred Guardian to the shelter. Keep her safe. I must join the others to fight off the intruders.”
“No,” Hannah said. “William, you to go to the shelter, but I intend to stay and fight at Taggart’s side. Release your claw. I promise I will be just fine.” She squirmed, trying herself free, then scowled when William shook his head.
“No, Mother. Taggart has given me a direct order, and it sounds as though ’tis for yer own good.” William tugged while encircling her with a wing as he tried to edge them toward a curtained off alcove in the room's side. “Come, Mother. The shelter is safe. We must make the passage before another volley hits and seals off the corridor.”
“Good lad, William. Take her there no matter what she says.” Taggart urged him onward, waiting to ensure they made it to the passage.
“I said I amnotgoing!” She planted her feet and latched hold of Taggart’s wing with her free hand. “I can stay and help you fight. I am an immortal now, remember? I am not leaving here without you.”
He touched her forehead with the tip of his claw and rendered her limp as a child’s rag doll. “I love ye, my dearest one,” he whispered. He caught her up and draped her across William’s back. Heclosed her eyes and pressed a tender kiss to her temple. “I will come for ye when it is safe. Until then, ye must stay with William.” He hated to leave her, but he couldn’t bear the thought of her facing Sloan.
With a nod to William, Taggart rose up and spread his wings. “The spell will render her motionless and silentfor but three days, lad. Hopefully, I shall be back to save yer poor hide before she recovers and regains her speech.”
“I will take care of her. I swear it.”
“I ken ye will, lad. May the gods and goddesses be with ye.”
“How many still live?”Sloan pressed a finger hard along the rim of the crystal wineglass, relishing how much the squealing sound mimicked the whimper of a victim in pain.
“Gearlach is the only confirmed Draecna dead, my lord. The Waerins placed his head on a spike outside the tents as you ordered. I have not bothered to count the villagers. I figured you didn’t give a care about them.” Corter ran his thick tongue across his bulging lower lip while ogling Sloan’s glass of wine.
The blood-red liquid swirled in the long-stemmed glass. Sloan studied it, frowning as he pondered Corter’s report. “You mean to tell me we have only killed one of those bloody beasts? What seems to be the problem?” They had blasted the caverns for a solid three days. They should have mangled more of those monstrosities than that. “Are those abominations truly that difficult to kill?”
Corter didn’t answer. He stood hypnotized by the ruby-red temptation swirling in Sloan’s glass.
“Corter!” Sloan threw the wine in the man’s face. “There. Now that you have enjoyed your wine perhaps you can answer my question. Why is Gearlach the only Draecna casualty?”
After swiping the back of his hand across his face, Corter sputtered while licking his lips. “Draecna are not the easiest beasts to kill.We can only end their lives by sending one o’ their own to do it. Has something to do with that friggin’ magic what flows through’em.”
“You promised me the power of the Waerins was just great. Assured me their abilities would secure the safety of my throne.” Sloan tired of this bothersome game. His castle lay in absolute ruin. And the tent he used while following battles was less-than-adequate. He enjoyed his luxuries and was utterly done with the constant noise and grime of this mess. It was high time they all gave up and died so he could return to his accustomed standard of living.
“A Waerin is no match for a Draecna, m’lord.” Corter backed closer to the flap of the tent and ducked as Sloan lobbed the wineglass at his head.
“Then you had best figure a way to trap more Draecna to use against each other. Must I tell you every step to take? Remind me why I allow you to live?” Sloan paced across the length of the tent, scuffing his slippered feet against the thick carpet. “I am bored with this battle. I want Taggart filleted and gutted and the Guardian impaled on the poles in front of Tiersa Deun. Is that understood?”
With a cowering nod, Corter edged his way through the heavy flap of the tent. “Understood. I shall see that it is done.”
23
Hannah opened her eyes to a darkness so complete it suffocated her. She turned her head, straining every sense, then realized why she couldn’t breathe. Deafening silence accompanied the total loss of light. The termburied alivecame to mind.
The bone-jarring echo of explosions had ceased. All that broke through the stillness was the steady rhythm of William’s breathing spiked with the occasional snore. She moved her leg and it both shocked and thrilled her. She could move again. That meant three days had passed. Possibly more. She remembered Taggart said the spell would lift in three days. She shifted and tested the other leg. It protested with stiffness at the knee and hip, but moved as well.
