Dragon's Heart (26 page)

I
s that the
best you can do?
Draakar didn’t wait for a reply but shot an energy bolt
from his eyes right back at Arwan, who didn’t react quickly enough. The bolt
hit him squarely in the chest, knocking him off his feet and into the air. The
betrayer landed on his back, some twenty feet away from the couple. The mist
cleared a path directly to the body, giving Draakar a clear view of the
unmoving creature on the ground.

      
Draakar
didn’t move. He simply turned his palm over and sent more energy fire to his
enemy. But Arwan’s body started to glow again. Even though he appeared
unconscious, his shield remained raised and Draakar’s bolts couldn’t penetrate
it.

     
He released
Maya’s hand and moved toward Arwan, but he hadn’t gotten very near when the
glow surrounding Arwan’s body grew brighter. The betrayer’s body shimmered and
his shape expanded and elongated, transforming into his dragon form.
 

     
Draakar
initiated the change to his dragon to meet the silver dragon rising before him.
Arwan completed his shift faster than Draakar and took to the air while
Draakar’s dragon form remained incomplete. The silver dragon spread his wings,
hovering above the Dark Lord. He opened his jaw, and spewed silver and blue
fire down on Draakar’s still shimmering partial change.

     
Maya watched in
horror as flame surrounded her mate.
 

     
Acting purely
on instinct, she raised her hand and a bolt of golden energy shot forth,
hitting the silver dragon in one eye. The vibration from the roar of pain
erupting from Arwan’s throat caused the ground beneath her feet to shake. She
had brought Draakar the time he needed to recover and complete the change.
 

     
A dragon
reflecting no color raised his enormous wings and shot up off the ground to
meet the silver in the air, raking his talons across the betrayer’s chest as he
flew past. Thick red blood oozed from the eye Maya’s energy bolt had hit, and
also ran from the chest of the silver dragon to stain the mist swirling beneath
the battle in the sky.

     
Draakar soared
higher above the wounded dragon. The betrayer still hovered in the air, a
little closer to the ground now. His wings appeared to barely hold him up and
his head hung down toward his chest. Hurt but still dangerous. The Dragon Lord
turned in midair, pinned his wings to his sides and dove straight for the
betrayer to finish it all. He was at the point where he could not stop his
downward momentum when Arwan suddenly turned. He tucked his wings against his
body, propelling straight up into mist, faster than Draakar could react to stop
him.

     
By the time
Draakar turned to follow, Maya couldn’t see the other dragon.

He shot into the mist,
Maya sent to him
as she watched from the ground.

     
Flying in
circles, Draakar replied,
Yes, he came
this way because he left his scent as well as a trail of blood behind. There is
another portal here. That’s how he’s escaped.

      
How could that be?

      
Draakar landed before her
in dragon form and changed before responding to her question.
Portals can exist anywhere,
he sent as
he walked toward her on human legs clad in black jeans.

     
It took Maya a moment to respond
as she raked her eyes over him, still in awe of the change from dragon to man.
She would never get tired of staring at the beauty of Draakar in either form.
She shook her head. This was not the time. They were in a battle and she had to
focus.

    
Maya sent her
thoughts to him. By the smile lighting up his face, she could tell he had
already heard her wayward thoughts.

     
As I am in awe of you, beloved.

    
Are you all right?

    
Yes, thanks to you.

When he stood in front of her, she had to touch him. Maya
reached out and ran her hands up and down his muscular arms, just to make sure
for herself he was all right. He pulled her toward him. She placed her hands on
his shoulders and looked up at him. Maya still had questions, and knew if she
succumbed to his embrace she would forget everything but him.
Why wouldn’t the mist warn us?

    
The mist didn’t understand it was a
portal. To the mist it appeared as just another place in its realm. It controls
the one we came through but apparently not this one. It opened from the other
side. The betrayer must have a link to wherever it leads. That’s the only way
he could have opened it. I do not believe it leads back to Earth. I would know.
Very few power sources are strong enough to open to more than one world, and
the Stones no longer respond to him.

    
Well, do you know where it does go? Surely
not Akgon?

     
I don’t know where it leads, but it
doesn’t go to Akgon.

    
Can you open it?

     
I have tried but its magicks is
unknown to me.
 

    
Well, what are we going to do? We can’t
let him get away.

    
You’re right. He may still be able to get
back to Earth. We will have to return to the Stones and see if they can be of
any help in locating the betrayer or opening this portal. If not, when I get
back to Akgon I can consult with my seers. They may be able to come up with
something.

    
Maya moved out of his embrace.
Come on then, let’s go. Can we seal the
portal at least from this side so he can’t use it?

    
Hmm…yes, but then no one will be able to
ever enter this realm again from that portal. With the help of the mist, I can
close the one above, but that would mean the mist would be isolated for
eternity.

     
Maya’s body
suddenly became rigid. When her body relaxed, she spoke. “The mist wants you to
bind the portals with your magicks, Draakar. It said not to worry. The energy,
both positive and negative, we generated here today will enable it to keep both
portals closed to the betrayer, but your powers or your emissaries would be
able to open it. Now that it knows about the portal to another realm, while it
can’t control the opening from the other side, it can control who enters this
realm and the betrayer will not be allowed.”

     
“That’s good. I
would not like the mist to always be alone.”

     
“It would like
us to send other brethren here from time to time so that it may learn more
about us.”

     
“That’s
possible.”

  
“Oh and by the way, did you know
the entity is male?”

     
The lines on
his forehead crinkled into a frown. “A male? I don’t believe it’s either male
or female as creatures from either Earth or Akgon understand it.”

     
“Not true.
 
I get the sense it’s definitely male.
Call it Dam intuition.”

     
He smiled. “If
you say so beloved.” He took her hand and kissed her palm.

     
The mist parted
in front of them to reveal a dirt floor and a rock wall on the other side.
Draakar let Maya cross over first, but then they both paused to say farewell to
the mist before moving into the cave. The slit in the wall closed behind him.

     
Draakar turned
to face the rock surface and lay his palm upon it. Maya heard him call upon
both the powers of the mist and Mother Earth, and then he sealed the portal so
no one the mist did not wish to enter could. He took Maya’s hand again.
We must return to your parent’s house.
That’s where Talon and the others are. I’ve let Talon know we’re headed there
and to wait for us.

    
Where’s my mother?

    
She’s there also. I told you she’s fine.
Apparently, Sherri and Paul have arrived. I have some good new. Sherri finished
the healing on your mother I began.

     
That is good news. Wait. What about
Paul? Is he well enough to travel?
 

Yes, he’s fine.

What happened to
his wife’s body? Is it still in Ireland? I didn’t even think about it or
funeral arrangements when we left.

You had others
things to think about, but all is well. It has all been taken care of.
 
We’ve actually been away for two of
your earth days, Maya. During that time, Sherri and Paul brought his wife’s body
back with them. She had no family of her own so they had her buried earlier
this morning in Florida, where they lived.

Poor Paul. I’m
sorry we weren’t there for him. Was Sherri at least with him?

Yes, so he wasn’t
alone. I’m sorry too that we couldn’t be there for him. Another death that
bastard has to answer for.

 
Maya sighed, sadness still present
in their small victory.
Well, what are we
going to do about Justin, or Arwan, or whatever his name is? We’ve got to find
him.

    
We have to go back to the Stones. I would
also like your parents to come with us.

    
My parents! I don’t know about that.
Besides my mom still needs more time to recuperate.

     
She’s fine, her dragon has awakened,
and I think they will want to come.

     
Maya stepped away from Draakar
and he released her hand, silently watching her.
 
“I’m not sure if I can return to Ireland with you just now,”
Maya said. “My vacation is almost over and I have a business to run. I’ve
already been gone for some time and I have people who are depending on me.”

     
He smiled at
her. “Those are not the reasons why you don’t wish to return with me. You
forget, Maya, I am in your thoughts as you are in mine. I know what you fear.”

     
She shook her
head. “Do you? Well, explain it to me because I’m not sure I fear anything
about you anymore.”

     
Draakar
laughed. “You never did.” He closed the space between them and wrapped his arms
around her waist. At the same time she raised her arms to wrap them around his
neck. “Hmm…I’m beginning to find I don’t like having you out of my arms for
very long.”

     
She kissed his
cheek and smile. “Me either. Will it always be this way?”

     
He nodded. “I
fear I will always have this need to constantly be near you.” He rubbed the top
of her hair with his chin. “I promise we will work this out. But for right now,
no one is safe, especially you, if I can’t figure out where the betrayer has
gone. We severely wounded him but this is not the first time he’s escaped
justice. I won’t be fooled into thinking we killed him or that he won’t be
back.”

     
She raised her
head up to look at him. She knew she was being stupid, her fear, not of him,
not even of going back to Ireland but returning with him to Akgon held her
back. Yes she was brethren but she was human too. “I know you’re right, but…”

     
“No buts. I
need to get to the Stones as soon as possible then we will try to locate the
betrayer. For now, he won’t be able to gain access to Earth’s realm through the
mist. But wherever he’s gone, he may still be able to get back to Earth
directly from there so we must try to find him. The other alternatives would be
to try to block all the portals here on Earth.”

     
Maya understood
the betrayer had to be stopped but he didn’t really need her to find him. She
frowned as another thought occurred to her. “How many portals are there?”

 
He ran his hand through his hair, she’d
come to realize he did that when he was frustrated. “I don’t believe there are
many. I know of only one other, besides the one for Akgon and the mist and I
suspect there are others, but the Stones will know of them all. And some
portals may be used to enter more than one realm, such as the Stones. If that’s
the case, they may be almost impossible to close off.”

     
“You mean the
portal at the Stones can take you to other worlds?” She had not considered
that.

     
“Yes. That was
one of the dangers we faced when we used it the first time. The portal at the
Stones is a true gateway to other worlds.”