Chapter Sixteen
Max was torn between anger and fear. Seeing Heather go tumbling out of the sky like that had made his gut go cold, and he had reacted instantly, but what if he hadn’t? That window was dozens of feet off the ground and she would have died, and painfully at that, at the point of her impact. As fast as he had reacted, it had still been a very near thing, something that dogged him as he continued to do the fencing and other battler drills that made up so much of dragon life. It was one thing to count on their dragon bodies and abilities, but in a pitched battle with any enemy, sometimes one had to be on the ground, and so they had trained for that for centuries.
The threat of outright warfare from the Orcs was no minor thing. It was huge, and they’d nearly been wiped out of existence by the Orcs in the bad old days of that world first forming. He had to keep his mind on preventing that from happening again had to stay focused on his people and his lands and the threat that the Orcs posed to those things.
To do anything else would be dishonorable. That was why he flew out at dawn along with Blake and other dragons to do a mission to see if they could spot any Orcs hiding along the borderlands. The Orcs had gotten close enough to push through if they were on the other side of the mountain where he had left Blake, and he knew it, and that alone gave him serious pause.
They set down several miles below the mountain to be sure they were not spotted and then they began the climb upward, toiling along the rocky outcroppings and crags, always sneaking from one shelter to another in case there were Orcs pasted in places that would give those awful creatures a good line of sight up and down both sides of the mountain.
They didn’t summit until well into the afternoon and when they did Max was exhausted. He had spent a restless night tossing and turning and thinking about Heather and that near-death fall. It had not just been that fall he had thought of though. The memory of their lovemaking also kept him awake, as did the urgency his body kept putting forth every time he let his mind wander to her.
Blake said, “Look, down by the elms.”
Max let his eyes scan the terrain to where Blake had indicated. An Orc, doing its best to hide its ugly body and face with the bark and leaves of the trees, stood in a thick pool of shadows at the base of the grove. “Dammit. There’s another there, see? By the rocks.”
There was. Max, Blake, and Aura took turns cautiously lifting their heads behind the rocky piles they had taken shelter in to try to spot any others. All told there were several dozen, all of them on what looked to be high alert and in hiding. The others with them were silent. The moment called for silence. It was a moment that they could all feel held real menace.
Aura finally whispered, “I vote we go down there and snatch a few to interrogate and kill the rest.”
Max said, “I rather agree. It’s probably the most expeditious solution. However, if they are a scout troop and they come up missing we could just have overplayed our hand and let the main Orc troops know that we are aware of their infringing into our territory.”
Blake nodded. “That could actually set them off and cause them to come faster. If they have been preparing for some time and they lack only the slightest bit of preparation to be ready, that will hardly take away their edge. We’ve trained in battle for centuries, but we don’t have any preparedness ready at the moment. We still need to get our people out of the village and into the castle.”
Aura said, “That may be what they’re doing now. Attempting to go around the side of the mountain in order to spy upon the village. If they see it empty, they will know. If it seems as if everything is as it always is they will have no idea that they have been found out.”
All eyes turned to Max. His jaw clamped down so hard that it squeaked in the back of his mouth. There was only one way to do this, but it was a dangerous way, and it would ensure that he would spend the next day, at least, totally exhausted and unable to help with any effort if the Orcs did decide to swarm the castle.
He said, “That is incredibly risky. It might be better to simply have them come at night.”
Blake shook his head. “No. Look at the number of them. That many Orcs? They could absolutely destroy the village in a matter of hours, especially if we are not there to protect them. The changelings have limited ability to fight because of their limited powers. The humans are strong and brave, and they have good weapons. Still, the Orcs are much deadlier, and they are huge. It takes several humans to fill a single work. You know this cousin.”
Max did know that. He also knew that using his magic was probably the best avenue, but the idea of finding himself in a weakened state during what was probably going to be a war did not appeal to him at all.
It was, unfortunately, the best option at the moment. He said, “I think you’re right. The problem is this. If they are already inching their way around the mountain, they may have already spotted us. We did not spot any, but that does not mean that they have not somehow already invaded our borders.”
Aura said, “Order me to use my inner eye.”
Max’s hands balled into fists. “No. I will already be weakened by using so much of my own magic. For you to use so much of yours when we need more of yours is beyond foolish.”
Aura said, “I suppose we shall both be resting in bed this evening then. I will recover. We both shall. Without the eye, we have no idea of whether or not they are in our lands. We can see them down there, but only because we can see into Orc lands. None of us have the sight to see them if they are cloaked by magic, and they can only use that magic if they breach our lands. It is not their magic, and you know it. They steal it from the offerings and the trees. The eye alone can tell us.”
Max looked at Blake. He said, “This is not solely my decision.”
It wasn’t. They shared the duties of kingship. He already knew what Blake would say, and he knew that Blake was right for saying it. What’s more, Blake had the ability to be utterly ruthless: something Max often felt lacking within himself.
Oh, he could be hard; he was very tough. He was a warrior by birth, by nature. He was descended from the blood of a man who had fought wars in both worlds and who had beaten back the black magic that had nearly taken over that world many centuries before. Max had ridden alongside his father, flown with him and the other dragon-knights in the skies, and battled on the ground right next to them as well.
He was adept with a sword, with his talons and fire, and his magic. But ruthlessness? That was not in his toolbox of skills. All too often his heart would soften, and he would have to force himself to remember that the greater good had to be put before the good of one or two of his people.
Blake said, “I agree with Aura. She must use the eye.”
Max said, “Then those of us with magic must form a circle around her to prevent that eye from being seen by the Orc troops.”
They began to scramble down the side of the cliffs. They moved as slowly and cautiously as possible, using as much cover as they could find to mask their movements and keep themselves from being seen by any of the enemy that had managed to penetrate their lands. It was a torturous and arduous climb down, just as torturous and hard as the one upward had been, and Max found himself both tired and eager to have this done.
There was a cave, one hidden by a veil of magic known only to and possessed only by dragons. They entered it slowly, breaking to the barrier without a sound. Aura stood in the center of the cave, her slim body already glowing with a nimbus of light that came from within her fiery heart.
Her heart shone out gold and white, the fire within it was the fire of purity and good. Blake’s fingers went to his chest as he changed. He opened the scales that latched over his breastplate and flesh. The deep-blue glow of his heart beamed out into the cave, mingling with the white and gold light spilling from Aura’s chest.
