Saldrea had ten dragons on that little shifter in her personal dungeon. There wasn’t room for many more down there. I had to assume, given the size of the hidden complex off campus, that it held a hundred guards or more.
I’d never be able to get my sister back on my own, even if I got all the titans on campus to help.
It infuriated me.
I hated that I needed help. Only weaklings needed help. I should be in control. I should be strong enough to deal with anything!
Skycleaver whinnied and brought me back to reality. Even though he wasn’t sapient, sometimes I wondered if he was somewhat empathetic. He seemed to know when to nuzzle my shoulder, or whinny, or stomp, breaking my melancholy.
I ran a loving hand down his silky mane and sighed. “Thank you, friend.”
I quickly saddled Skycleaver and mounted up, taking him for a flight. I’d brought one other creation with me, but it had been so anathema to the senses of the elves they hadn’t even allowed it on campus. I’d created a pen for it some distance off campus, hidden by trees and wilderness. Landing and dismounting I strode through the forest to the large cage of stone I’d surged up from the earth to house Prideaon. If Skycleaver was beauty and grace, Prideaon was power and passion. Of all my chimeras, Prideaon had been my crowning achievement, the blending of a dire lion and a wyvern to stunning perfection.
The body was mostly lion, with a large head and shaggy mane, it retained all the proud heritage of — what the human-realmers called — the king of beasts. In Seial, lions were far from the strongest of beasts, but dire lions were still proud and powerful creatures. Leathery wings emerged from behind the shoulders and were currently folded back along the sandy-colored flank. Two stripes of spiky scales trailed along the bottom sides of the beast, and another along its back, all meeting at the hind quarters. The backlegs were scaled, like a wyvern, and a long serpentine tail, barbed with heavy spikes, swung casually behind my creation.
I lowered the stone cage and Prideaon came to me, I hugged that massive head close and breathed in the earthen scent of the beast.
“Shall we hunt?” I whispered to Prideaon and though he didn’t understand my words, he seemed to know my intent, frisking at his freedom and ready to feed.
I mounted Skycleaver and launched into the sky with Prideaon close by. Technically, this was illegal. I’d been told Prideaon could be fed with meat but couldn’t hunt freely. I used the flimsy loophole that he wasn’t “free” but guided by me. I’d done this a few times, and we were far enough from campus that killing a few of the forest beasts didn’t seem to bother anyone. Eventually some dryads would find out and protest, I was certain, but I didn’t much care. These were the only real moments of joy I had anymore, and I’d not give them up.
Prideaon was a masterful hunter from the skies, taking down a massive bull moose and a large sow bear. I gathered the two carcasses in one spot and let Prideaon feed as I sat nearby, wishing this could be my life.
Eventually, however, I erected a new stone cage around the area, leaving Prideaon to his meal — those two kills would last him for a week or so — and returned on Skycleaver to campus.
I landed, brushed down my beautiful mount and was about to leave and return to the despicable princess… when someone called my name.
“Bayn?” The voice was strong, male. Not one I’d heard before. “Leader of the titans here on campus?”
I turned to see an odd group approaching me. The bigone was a dragon. Of all those on campus, dragons were the only ones who came close to the size of us titans. With him was an incubus. I could tell his race more by the way the man walked than anything else about him. Concubi had a way of moving — whether they be male or female — as to draw the eye to them, accentuate their masculine or feminine forms. Though, when I took a closer look at the man, I reassessed my initial guess. He was also part salmaeri, as witnessed by his fiery eyes and red hair, which were not common concubi traits. I recognized him as one of the three who’d fought beside Izzy during her dominion match against Saldrea.
Curious.
The last was a buxom nymph, who looked like some young and nubile wench, but I knew better. Nymphs were rarely what they appeared to be. The eyes of this one spoke of experience, and probably a much longer life than her form suggested. Also, something about her look vaguely reminded me of that half-breed, Izzy. She might be a family relation, on Izzy’s father’s side. If my intuition was correct and Izzy was the lost princess, then her father would have been a nymph. Which meant this was most likely an aunt or grandmother, probably the latter, given the depth of experience in her eyes.
This didn’t bode well.
If they were friends of Izzy, they could only be here for one reason, to enlist my help in freeing the half-breed, or the shifter, or both. I couldn’t. Betraying Saldrea would mean the death of my sister…
Although…
An idea began to form in my mind as the three drew near. Perhaps I could use these folks as they wished to use me.
“Yes, I am Bayn, leader of the titans. What do you want?” My tone was blunt, harsh. I’d never been one for niceties.
The dragon bristled but calmed himself. Good, he wasn’t easily goaded, perhaps he had a decent head on his shoulders, rare for a dragon, most of whom were hot-tempered blowhards.
The dragon looked back at the nymph.
She seemed to concentrate, then said, “We’re alone. The only creatures around are these horses.” It wasn’t a common ability among nymphs, but some could feel the water in creatures nearby. It seemed this one possessed such a gift.
“I’ll keep an eye out, just in case,” the incubus said, and slunk off.
“As much as I hate to admit it, we need your help,” the dragon began. I was curious why he was doing the talking, not the nymph, who seemed far more self-possessed and controlled. “I have it on good authority that you hate Saldrea as much as we do, that you’re being forced to serve her. Is that correct?”
Straight to the point. I liked it.
But I’d not give anything away easily. “Ifthat were the case, I’d clearly not be able to help you, now would I?” This was where my burgeoning idea came into play. “Unless…youremove whatever it is Saldrea might have over me.”
