Dragon's Heart (13 page)

“But
you’re not sure?” Maya asked.

“No,
but it makes the most sense. The magicks of Mother Earth would have been easy
for a Dark Lord to access. Also, I am of his line. Only a Dark Lord or a son of
one can beget a Dark Lord, and only between truemates. Using Earth magicks we
believe they were able to change so they could live amongst humans. Some
obviously did find their truemates, the leader being one of the few who did.
The first offspring of the mixed matings could also explain the lapse in our
ancestral memories. Before we got to Akgon, my memories and those of the other
brethren were strongest after the first matings.”

“What
about the ones who couldn’t find truemates?” Sherri asked. “What did they do?”

“They
merely found suitable human mates. Eventually, they took their mates and
families and began to live apart from humans. All of the first brethren
offspring were able to change. We became both dragon and human, brethren of
Earth and Akgon.”

“But,
why did they live apart from everybody else?” Ian asked.

“Because
they were feared,” Maya answered.

“That
is correct. Man began to fear dragons. Humans thought dragons were stealing the
females. The ancestors thought in order to maintain the peace it would be best
to live separately, and for a long time this worked. There was this new race,
and while they looked human, they could do things no human could do. And the
villagers knew it.”

Draakar
opened his arms and gestured around. “They came here, to this remote mountain,
and created a small village around the Circle of Stones. This circle is a
circle of power as well as a gateway for those with the power and skill to open
it, though none ever did. There was no where they wanted to go.”

Everyone
looked around and he knew as they all peered harder at the walls, it became
clear the Stones of power were indeed a part of the chamber walls.

“Wow!”
Darryl exclaimed.
 
“
They did built a town…a village here
. I
can see it in my mind.”

“Very
good, Darryl.” Draakar smiled as he watched the confusion on some of their
faces. “Darryl is correct and in time the memories of that village will come to
all of you. The first brethren chose to die when or soon after their human
mates died, but they left many progeny who were long-lived. Eventually some
moved to the foot of the mountains and beyond, and the brethren grew and lived
longer.

“As
ages passed, man began to hold dragons and magicks less in awe and more in envy
and fear. Christianity replaced the old ways and magick was seen as evil.
Dragons became associated with the devil and blamed for everything bad
happening to poor villagers. A renegade among the brethren helped fuel fear
among the humans. The brethren, for some reason, were able to access less and
less of earth magicks to help protect themselves. As a result, they stayed in
dragon form to better harness magick, which did not help alleviate the fear.”

“Is
what I’m remembering true?” Ian asked. “My memories show brethren were hunted
and literally cut down. The magicks no longer protected us.”

“Yes,”
Draakar replied. “Humans had found a way through our protective shields.
 
Later we discovered they had help. The
renegade betrayed us. He lived amongst us, but helped the humans hunt and
destroy dragons. One night, when only a few were present, they attacked the
village we created at the foot of this mountain. All within were slain.
 
No human could have destroyed all those
brethren on his or her own. There were powerful brethren in the founding
village. My father tracked the betrayer and they fought, but humans fought with
the betrayer and they helped him slay my father. My mother died avenging him;
we thought she had killed the betrayer.”

“What
do you mean, ‘thought’?” Maya asked. “Didn’t you have a body?”

“When
we found her we also found a body near hers engulfed in dragon flame. We
assumed it belonged to the betrayer because we could find no trace of him.
 
I think we were wrong. When I first
arrived here, I felt a recent vibration on the wind and caught a whiff of
something in the currents. The vibration and scent are distinctive marks of a
silver dragon. There has only ever been one silver dragon and that is the
betrayer.”

“You
mean this dragon is still alive?” Ian asked incredulously.

“Yes,
and if he is, then there must be a reason why he is active now. He was here
before I crossed over. I believe he never left, never drained his magicks, and
never died.”

“How
come we didn’t know about him before now?” Maya asked, shaking her head. “If
there was a dragon flying around, believe me, he would have shown up on the
evening news.”

“At
the very least YouTube,” Darryl joked.

Draakar
frowned. “He may have just been biding his time. I do not know. What I do know
is the silver dragon will bring nothing but death and destruction to Earth.
Like nothing you have even seen before. His is the way of chaos. He must be
stopped. This is a selfish creature who wanted to control all the magicks here
on Earth and to have humans serve him a thousand years ago. He thought it his
right. None of that has probably changed.”

“You
sound like you knew him,” Robert said.

“I
did.
 
He was my father’s brother.”

Gasps
ricocheted off the stonewalls.
 

“Never
in the memory of brethren have there been a silver and a dark dragon born from
the same line. As rare as dark dragons are, silver dragons are rarer. Purer
brethren usually have one birth. Those with lesser blood are no different from
most other humans when it came to procreation. However, only the strongest
amongst us ever have multiple births and then never more than two. I was an
only birth and the third new generation of dark dragon lords, and that also had
never happened in brethren memory.”

“But
I don’t understand,” Ian said. “I thought only dark dragons could have dark
dragons?”

“Yes,
but even with the holes in our memories we know it is rare to have such
consecutive births. There should have been generations separating such
births.
 
Only one generation had
passed before my grandsire’s birth.”

“How
far back do your memories go?” Maya asked. “Is it just to the time here on
Earth or do they extend back to Akgon?”

“At
first it was just to the time here on Earth, but after we returned to Akgon
some of us picked up memories from there too. Not everything but enough for us
to more fully understand the significance of the dragon colors as well as maybe
the importance of finding truemates.”

“I
can see we all have different auras of colors surrounding us,” Maya began, “and
I know that has something to do with the color dragon we would become, if we
could change. Does color also indicate the level of magicks we can use?”

“Very
good, yes,” Draakar replied. He noticed she didn’t ask about truemates, and
what that meant to brethren. He read the question she wanted to ask as it
formed in her mind, but she’d asked a different question so he answered what she
had. “While you can all access the magicks of Earth, you can only hold so much
of it, and this effects what you can do. For instance, very few of you will be
able to control enough magicks to change into your dragon form here on Earth.
On Akgon it would be different; you would all be able to change. The magicks
there are different. It is the home world of the brethren; therefore, it is
easier to take our dragon form. Our powers are greatest there.”

I will answer your other question
later.

M
aya started to respond to him then she realized he had
only mind-spoken to her. No one else had heard so she continued to stare
blankly at him, refusing to acknowledge him. She didn’t want to know the answer
to the question she hadn’t verbalized. Or did she?

“How
many colors are there?” James asked, interrupting her train of thought.

“There
are eight. Black is the strongest because black is a conduit and contains every
color. Black also controls the greatest amount of magicks on any realm. Silver
absorbs color and reflects them all, but to a lesser degree. Next strongest is
gold, then bronze, red, brown, green, and blue. There are times when there is a
limited combination of colors.
 
These brethren tend to be stronger than some of the purer colors, with the
exclusion of black and silver. Usually a red is involved in any combination, a
red and gold or a brown and red. This, however, is the first time in memory
when there is a brethren of gold and bronze.”

All
eyes turned toward Maya.

“If
I had to guess,” Draakar continued, “I’d say because the brethren drained their
powers back into Mother Earth, this may have changed the magicks in some way.
So we may see combinations we have not seen before. Maya is the strongest
female brethren in memory. There is none other like her. She is also a Dam.”

“No,”
Maya whispered. Spoken so quietly, her ‘no’ carried more weight. It became a
desperate plea. Her body took on a rigid stance. She knew what he meant to say
next and did not want him to do so.

You bastard, don’t you dare!

They already know, Maya. They sense
the power in you. They already sense what is between us.

They sense nothing! There is
nothing between us.

She
turned to walk away from him, but his next words spoken verbally stopped her.

“A
Dam is the rarest of all females. She is one born at a time the brethren have
great need, and our needs here on Earth and Akgon are great indeed. The
betrayer is alive and we must try to determine where he is and what he’s up to.
Above all he must be stopped. For what he did to my parents and for the
destruction he brought down on the brethren, and what he will still bring.
After brethren and human alike are safe on Earth then I must return to our home
realm. Time is of the greatest importance. My world, our home world, is also in
trouble and running out of time. I may need your help to reopen the portal to
return. The balance of powers there is weakening and must be restored or the
brethren will die.”

Yes
return, Maya thought bitterly, as she turned around to face him. His precious
brethren still needed him. He would not remain on earth. This was not his home
and he had someone waiting for him. She would do well to remember that.
 

“If
you know who the betrayer is, can you tell us his name and show us in our minds
what he looks like?” Robert asked.

“His
name has been stricken from memory because he deserves no such respect. He is
merely referred to as the betrayer. I know what he looks like in dragon form,
but I do not know his human form. He may have some resemblance to my father.”
Draakar sent an image of his father’s human form to all of them.

“He
looks a lot like you and Talon,” Maya said.

“Who’s
Talon?” James asked.

“His
son,” Maya replied before Draakar could.

“Yes,”
Draakar said. “He is here somewhere, looking for his truemate, but by human
standards he is a mere teenager, about seventeen of your earth years and the
woman destined to be his mate is still a mere child.”

“Where
is he?” James asked.

“I
do not know—yet. But I will and soon.” Draakar gazed at Maya like she
held the solution to a puzzle. Maya’s heart rate sped up, freaking her out
because she guessed her connection to Talon related to the solution in some
way.

“Wait
a minute,” Cass said. “I thought Maya was your tru—”

Before
Cass could finish her sentence, Maya’s gaze swung to her, instinctively closing
off her vocal cords, and the other woman found her voice silenced.

Maya
focused her mind solely on Cass.
Careful
there. Have a care what you say.
Maya abruptly released Cass’ voice.

Cass
coughed a few times before she could continue. “Ah, never mind.”

Draakar
never took his eyes off Maya’s.
Enough!
You should not fear her question.
 
He
sent to Maya but said aloud, “Talon’s mother was not my truemate.”

A
confused Robert looked back and forth between Draakar and Maya and said, “I
thought dragons only bonded with their truemates?”

“A
time existed before the brethren left Akgon when that was true. Once the
brethren settled on earth, not all were able to find truemates amongst the
humans. As time passed, there were fewer truemate bondings. Even on Akgon a
truemate bonding is not common.”
 

“That’s
because you left them behind when you returned,” Maya stated calmly.
 
Inside, a storm raged. She wanted to
yell and rant and rave. Probably why his realm lay dying. The same way she died
time after time because he hadn’t been there for her. He took someone else as
mate, for life.

“That
is true,” Draakar spoke slowly. “Some were left behind, some died.
 
Understand, truemate or not, dragons
mate for life, which is a very long time and is also why so many brethren are
unmated. Females can also only mate with a male stronger than themselves. They
wait as long as they can, but eventually the needs of the brethren demand a
bonding. We weaken otherwise.” Draakar wanted Maya to understand what he had
faced. His heart clenched because he didn’t believe he succeeded or that she’d
forgive him anytime soon. At the time he could not have made any other choice.

His
heart heavy in his chest for a past he could not change, he continued. “Talon’s
truemate is here and he came back for her.”
As
did I,
Draakar sent mind-to-mind to Maya.
 
“Talon is also among a growing number on Akgon who have
decided not to mate at all unless it is with their truemates. If Talon can find
his lost brethren mate, then there is hope others can, too.”

“Well,
what happens if you’re already bonded and your truemate shows up after the
fact?” Sherri asked.

“Somebody
dies,” Maya interjected.

Draakar
sighed. “It has never happened in my time or our memories, so I do not know.”
Looking directly at Maya again, Draakar stated emphatically, “But the bond
between truemates is like nothing else. The pull is irrevocable. It is not
something you can turn away from, ignore or be broken.”

“Does
this have something to do with the problems on Akgon?” Darryl asked frowning.

“My
advisors and I aren’t sure,” Draakar replied. “But I believe it does. I have
come to believe only with a bonding of truemates are brethren able to access
their full powers. Only with all of my powers will I be able to maintain the
balance on Akgon, and only with the majority of the brethren with truemates can
we hope to continue on Akgon.”

“Well,
looks like you figured out how much you needed your truemates too late.”

Draakar’s
eyes glowed, illuminating the area a pale green, letting Maya know her words
had found its mark.

“It
is never too late. Not time, distance, or death hath dominion over the bond
between truemates.”

Not this time Dark One, not this
time. You should have remembered that before you bonded with another.

 
He watched Maya walk to the darkest wall in the room
and step right through it, even though no doorway stood there, and nothing
indicated the wall wasn’t solid. Still Maya never paused. Her mind screamed at
him she wanted out—now. Draakar could only hope she didn’t walk out of
the castle and walk away from the brethren, from him as her thoughts told him
she wanted to.