Dragon's Heart (16 page)

What is…? What is that I sense,
Dark One?

Paul.

He’s in danger.

The
others must have sensed something too because they all stopped what they were
doing and looked toward the village.

“Something’s
very wrong,” Draakar stated. “I’m going to the inn.”

“I’ll
come with you,” Maya said.

Draakar
returned his gaze to her.
Together we are
stronger than you alone,
she said to him. He nodded his head in acknowledgment
of her truth. He held his hand out to her.

Ian, you and James follow in the
car. Everyone else, stay here.
 

Maya
placed her hand in his.
Together then.

Draakar
enclosed her smaller hand within his larger one and drew on the power of their
bond. He used her nearness to charge his own magicks. An electric surge bounced
off each and every one of her nerve endings.
Remember how you willed yourself to your room.

Yes.

Think of Paul and the inn.

One
minute, Maya stood on the side of the tennis court, the next she and Draakar
stood in one of the rooms at the inn. The sitting area in Paul’s room.

Draakar
didn’t look around as though he already knew what they’d find.
Do you smell it, Maya? The metallic scent of
death, and even stronger, the stench of the silver dragon.
 
The betrayer has been there. The chaos
has begun.

Maya
faced the closed bedroom door. Before she could take another step toward it,
Draakar stopped her with a thought.

Don’t, Maya. Wait here.

He
moved past her and, turning the doorknob, stepped into the room.

M
aya couldn’t just stand there and let him deal with
whatever resided in the bedroom alone. Paul was brethren; one of theirs. She
got as far as the doorway before Draakar turned and used his larger frame to
block her view. The solid immovable wall of his silk clad chest stood in her
way.

“It’s
his wife,” he said tonelessly. “She’s dead. Paul’s not here.”

“Dead!
My God! The betrayer…he did this. But…where’s Paul? I don’t get a sense of him.
I thought he was the one dead in the room.”

“No,
he’s not dead, at least not yet. He has been taken. The betrayer knows he is an
awakened brethren. It is as I have feared. He will try to use Paul to enter the
circle of power.”

“Why
would he need Paul to do that?”

“Because
the betrayer is barred by the wards surrounding the Stones.”

“I
don’t understand.”

“No
time to explain. We must get back to the castle. I already turned Ian and James
back. They’ll meet us at the castle.”

“What
do we do about Paul’s wife? And Paul? Don’t we have to notify the authorities?”

“I
will take care of her before we leave. I’ll clean things up too, and have
someone find her who can summon the authorities. Then we have to get back. I
will need to be within the circle of power to try to locate Paul. I can barely
feel my link to him, just enough to know he’s alive but not enough to find him.
The energy signature of his life force is being blocked.”

Maya
squeezed Draakar’s hands and he closed his eyes. The air around him crackled as
power surfaced within him. He stepped away from the door for Maya to look into
the room. Cindy lay in bed seemingly asleep, but Maya’s enhanced senses
screamed otherwise.

“How…What?”
she stuttered, unsure what she expected but not this serene scene before her.
Given the violence she’d first sensed, Draakar must have made some changes.

“I
had to clean things up so there will be fewer questions. It will appear as if
she died of natural causes.”

“Twenty-something
year olds do not die of natural causes.”

“No
one will question this.”

This
time Draakar didn’t offer Maya his hand. He took hers and returned them to the
castle. The brethren already waited for them in the center of the Circle of
Stones.

We don’t have much time. Please
join hands and form a circle around Maya and me.

Draakar
watched as each of his brethren unconsciously stood with their backs to the
etchings of dragons on the stones matching their color.

Maya, take both of my hands.

She
did and placed her forehead on his chest. The Stones around them hummed and
glowed. The light in the cavern grew so bright everyone had to close their
eyes, but all could still see with their dragon’s inner eye what happened in
the cavern. The Stones emitted a wide spectrum of colored lights throughout the
cavern. At least one of the lights pierced all the brethren within the circle,
crisscrossing through the two at the center, Maya and Draakar, sending all of
the light through them. Then abruptly, the lights withdrew and the Stones went
silent and dark.

For
a moment, the only sounds were inhaling or exhaling of air, and then both human
and dragon sight were gone. The Stones began to glow softly, once again bathing
the cavern in light and their sight returned. Everyone released their joined
hands, but he didn’t let Maya go.

He’s dead,
Maya said,
raising her head and looking at Draakar.

No,
was
Sherri’s mental cry.
I…I can still sense
him.

Draakar
inclined his head to Sherri.
You are
correct, he is not dead yet, but his life energy is very weak. When the
betrayer could not breach the barrier using Paul, he tried to kill him. If we
don’t find him soon he will die.

Why?
Sherri
asked.
Why try to kill him? Why kill his
wife?
“It served no purpose,” she finished out loud
.

“That
is what the betrayer does,” Draakar said. “He causes fear and confusion. The
only thing he cares for is power and control. The Stones are a conduit for
immense power. If he were able to control the Stones, he would be unstoppable.
My father used the circle’s power to create the wards surrounding the Stones.
He wanted to prevent the silver dragon’s entry. However, the betrayer will not
stop trying to find a way past the wards.”

Then he must be stopped, Dark One.
He must be stopped.

I couldn’t agree with you more,
Maya. First we must find Paul, and then we will find the betrayer. The Stones,
unfortunately, are not being helpful in locating either, so we are on our own.

“If
he tried to breach the wards, he must have left Paul somewhere on the
mountain,” Maya said. “Maybe he’s also near.”

“That’s
true. Paul isn’t far, but his life energy is weak and I can’t get a specific
location on him from here,” Draakar said. “The energy emitting from the wards
interferes with Paul’s.”

“Well,
if Paul is somewhere nearby, I can help find him,” James spoke up. “I grew up
in these mountains.”

“Okay,”
Draakar said. “Since the Stones won’t reveal his exact location to us, let’s
track him the old-fashion way. James, you and I will go back to the inn and
we’ll see if I can pick up a trace of Paul or the silver dragon from there.”

“What
about his wife?” Sherri inquired. “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“It
has been taken care of,” Draakar stated.

“While
you all are trying to track him from the inn,” Maya said, “the rest of us can
search the area around here.”

“Don’t
go beyond the wards. The betrayer would not have been able to come any farther
than the outer edge of the wards, so stay within its perimeter. Go in groups of
three. Even together you still do not have enough experience and don’t control
enough magicks to confront a silver dragon. If you see anything, call to me.”

By your command, Dark Lord,
Ian said.

“Maya
will lead one group; Sherri and Robert go with her. Ian will lead the second
group; Cass and Darryl go with him. You all have a balance of power sufficient
to hold off the betrayer, at least long enough for me to get to you.”

 
“What should we do if we find Paul?”
Maya asked.

“Call
me and I will come to you. Do not touch him or approach him. It could be a
trap.”

“What
about if we find the betrayer?” Ian asked.

“Join
hands and form a protective circle with your shields and call to me. I will
come. Do not attempt to confront him.”

Be safe,
Draakar
sent to his brethren.
One last thing:
protect Maya first.

No one has to protect me, Dark One.
I protect myself.

Draakar
never bothered to respond. He and James were gone. Maya sighed and turned to
the other brethren.
 
“Let’s go.”

She
led the way out of the castle, and they walked together to the wrought iron
gate at the end of the driveway. Once away from the castle, the air grew
cooler. The sun, at least, shone. Suddenly, clouds moved in to cover the
sunlight, and the day became overcast and colder. Everyone had changed earlier
but they all stopped a moment to add jackets to their bodies. Even though they
could regulate their body temperature and air around them to some degree, old
habits died hard. Maya grinned when she noticed the colors they favored were
also their dragons’ color.

“Let’s
go about a half mile from here,” Maya began. “That should be the very edge of
the wards but still within its protection. From there we might be able see or
sense something along the perimeter.”

“How
do you know we’ll still be within the perimeter?” Cass asked.

Maya
turned to her. “I can sense it.”

“She’s
right,” Ian added. “So can I. We’ll go this way.” Ian gestured toward the left.
“And you guys can take the other direction.”

“How
will we know if either group finds anything?” Sherri asked.

“We
call Draakar and send to each other,” Maya responded.

The
groups separated and after they had been walking for a while, Maya’s senses became
more attuned to the environment around her. The unnatural lack of sound caught
her attention first. There were no animals or insects anywhere near them; not
even a bird flew overhead. Even the trees made no sound or motion as the wind
passed through their leaves. Yet she could feel a slight breeze against her
face and could sense a current in the air. No doubt the ward surrounding and
protecting the Circle of Stones.

Without
warning, she felt a break in the currents up ahead. It signaled the end of the
wards but not the enchantment barring the mountain from the innocent, causing
those wandering too close to turn away. Something lay at the edge the wards.
Something the enchantment did not work on.
 
Something seemingly familiar to her, yet it was not Paul.

“I
think I sense something just up ahead,” Sherri said, voicing Maya’s thoughts
first.

“I
feel it, too,” Maya said.
 

“Do
you think we should call Lord Draakar?” Robert asked.

“Not
quite yet,” Maya replied. “As long as we stay within the perimeter of the
wards… Let’s try to get a little closer to see what we’ve got.”

They
made their way through a cluster of trees to arrive in a small rocky
clearing.
 
Sitting on the ground
with his blond head bowed to his chest, and his back resting against a large
boulder, appeared to be a sleeping Paul. Remembering Draakar’s instructions,
the group didn’t try to approach him.

“Paul.”
Sherri called to him from their vantage point several feet away, then sent,
Are you all right?

He
gave no indication he heard her. “I think we should call to Draakar,” Maya
stated and opened up her link to him. The moment Maya stepped into the clearing
she knew not only had she been sensing Paul earlier, but she had picked up an
echo of something else. Some kind of energy source with a familiar feel to it.

Someone
she knew? How could she know the betrayer? Maya shook her head. Impossible. She
had not been alive when the brethren were betrayed.
Ah, but I didn’t have to be
, she thought.
It’s probably just an ancestral memory.