Dragon's Heart (5 page)

“Yes, Doctor.
 
Can you tell me how he’s doing?”

“Unfortunately, he’s still unconscious. We’ve run a few tests
and I’m still waiting on the results of some imaging and blood work. There’s no
evidence of any external trauma to the head to indicate why he’s unconscious,
so we’ll see if there’s anything going on internally. If there’s no change by
morning, we’ll run further tests.”

“He came to at least twice when he was with me, but he didn’t
remember what happened to him or who he is.
 
So maybe he’ll wake up again.”

“Maybe.” He paused to check his chart. “I see he’s listed as
an unidentified male, so I’m assuming you’re not a relative?”

“No, I’m sorry. I was out hiking and found him in the middle
of a circle of stones, which I know no one around here seems to have ever heard
of. Both times I questioned him he seemed confused and kept saying his head
hurt.”

“You sound like you might be an American?” Doctor Donovan
said, after Maya nodded he continued. “When he spoke did he sound like he might
be a local?”

She paused thoughtful. “Actually he sounded like an American
too, although he could be Canadian.”

“Well, if he hasn’t awakened by morning, I’ll call the
constable and see if there’s been any missing persons report on anyone fitting
his description. They might want to talk to you and hopefully see to it his
description is sent to all the agencies handling missing persons.”

“Great,” Maya replied relieved. This boy obviously belonged
somewhere. “Someone should be looking for him or if he’s got a passport, his
information would be in some database.
 
Hopefully, you can find out who he is.”

“I hope so too,” the doctor agreed.

“May I see him now?
 
I’d like to stay with him for a little while.”

“Well, it’s a mite irregular but under the circumstances,
I’ll allow you a few minutes with him.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“If there’s any change we have your hotel information and
number here in the paper work and will give you a call.”

Doctor Donovan escorted her to the teenager’s room and left
her. The boy appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Someone had pulled his hair
back and tied it with a rubber band. It lay as a long thick ponytail draped
down the right side of his chest. Attached to his forehead were little white
disks, what looked like electrodes, and an IV stuck in the back of his hand. A
flicker of light drew Maya’s gaze up above the bed to intricate-looking
machines appearing to monitor his heart and brain activities. Maya prayed the
green lights and funny looking graph meant everything was fine.

The doctor said she could only stay for a few minutes
but he left, and she didn’t think he’d be back so hopefully no one would bother
her for a while. Since her nana died in a hospital, she hated the place but she
didn’t want to leave the young man alone. She pulled the single chair in the
room closer to the bed, put her backpack on the floor and sat down, staring at
the boy for a long time. Aside from the slight rise and fall of his chest, he
didn’t move.

“Who are you?” she whispered, though she didn’t really expect
an answer. She raised her arms above her head to stretch her shoulders.
Bringing her hands down, she folded them on the bed and laid her head on her
hand. Her eyes closed without thought and immediately she fell into an exhausted
sleep.

Talon
came to. Awake and aware.
 
He
remembered it all.
 
His
mother…dead.
 

The loss of the emotional psychic link to his mother was the
final pain, driving him to total unconsciousness. All brethren are linked in
some fashion.
 
The love he shared
with his parents provided an almost physical link for him to both of them, and
they were likewise linked to him. Now one connection simply snuffed out, like a
light turned off leaving only darkness. Such a thing could only happen with her
death. The knowledge of which on top of what the Stones taught him had been too
much for his brain and emotions to process.
 

For a while, he hadn’t been able to remember his own name.
Simply too much knowledge stored into his consciousness at an alarming rate.
Part of his mind went blank while he tried to process it all. It might still
take years before he could fully access the information the Stones imparted.
Some of it he might never be able to use because they were of magicks only a
Dark Lord could wield.

Talon
turned his head slightly and looked at the woman whose head rested near his
hand.

Maya.

Beautiful.

His
newfound knowledge told him she had skin the color of leaves on earth when they
turned an autumn brown. And her hair, a riot of long curls, rested across her
shoulders and captured the many russet and golden colors of fall. While her
eyes, if he remembered correctly, were the color of bronze with a touch of gold
around the iris. He gently touched the hand lying near his—marveling for
a moment at how much paler his appeared next to hers. He did not really have to
touch her to know. His need had called her to him. Valour was right. Blood
called to blood. She was brethren. One of the Forgotten Ones.
 

If
she could change form she would be a gold or bronze dragon, or maybe even a
very unique combination of both. Dragons came in a variety of colors and the
color of a dragon determined the strength of its magicks. If she could harness
the powers of both, it would make her one of the strongest female dragons for
as long as there had been dragons. The Earth magicks had indeed changed the
blood as the Stones warned him.
 
Even more interesting, Maya was a Dam, a Dragon Queen. But not his, and
meant for a Dark Dragon Lord.
 
His
father’s truemate had found him.

Talon’s
own mate lived on Terra or earth but her life essence seemed weak. No, not weak
exactly, just not matured yet. Perhaps still very young, a mere hatchling. By
human standards he was young, too. He would have to wait for her essence to
grow stronger and bide his time to find her. The Stones would not help him with
this. They deemed it his destiny to find her or not. But he would. In the right
time she would call to him, and he would be here to answer.

Meanwhile,
he needed to try to understand this lost world his truemate belonged to before
he could ask her to be a part of his own. The Stones and Mother Earth had
explained much to him, but he still needed to experience things firsthand for
himself.
 
They also warned him his
father would be here soon. Even as he slept, he felt the blood bond linking
them grow stronger the moment his father crossed into earth’s realm.

Talon
would need Maya’s help. His father would try to send him back. He would not go.
Could not. His dragon sensed loose magick in the world with the scent of a
dragon on it where there should be no such creature. But all wrong in some way
he didn’t understand. Instinct warned the wrongness was both powerful and
dangerous.
 

The
earth magick, far from weak as he’d been told, held immense power for those who
could tap into it. His father would know what to do, but he would want Talon on
Akgon until the danger passed, and the girl-child of an age to be taken. Talon
needed to be here in case of any threat to her. At least if he were here, he
would know and be able to do something. On Akgon, he could do nothing to
protect her.
 
However, he must not
be here when his father arrived. His sire and Dark Lord must not find him. If
he could not find him, he could not send him home.

A
slight pressure on her hand caused Maya to open her eyes, only to find herself
staring into emerald fire. She blinked. Was she even awake? The last few days
seemed like a dream. It all started with dreams of a dragon, then finding the
young man in the center of stones. Stones no one seemed to know anything about.
Glowing stones and a black dragon with green eyes.

Ha, ha, ha. Don’t be afraid.

“Who’s
there?”

Maya
raised her head and looked at the closed door behind her, but no one stood
there. She turned to look at the young man on the bed. His open glowing green
eyes stared right back at her.

Don’t be afraid, Maya. I won’t hurt
you. I could never harm you. Thank you for helping me. I remember now.

Maya
blinked. She could hear him just fine. Only one problem, his mouth didn’t move.
Hers did. “What the hell!”

She
jumped up, overturning her chair as she backed away from him.

N
o insect, animal or bird sounds were ever heard in the
center of the stones because all knew better than to venture into the circle of
power. Even the wind only danced around its edge. Just before dawn, something
changed. For miles around the stones not a creature stirred. They sensed
something coming and were careful to give the area an even wider berth than
usual. Only heavy fog moved across the mountains as a dragon lord from a time
long gone glided slowly through the gateway and landed squarely in the center
of the Stones.

     
Black talons
dug into the rich soil and the humming sound emanating from the Stones changed
to a fevered pitch, far beyond human hearing.

     
At long last!
the Stones sang.
A son of earth has returned
! rejoiced
Mother Earth.
Welcome back!

     
The great black
dragon reared his mighty head, releasing a sound earth had not heard for over a
thousand years.

     
The roar of a Dragon
Lord.
 

A
Dark Dragon Lord, one born to power stood on Terra once more. The Stones glowed
like never before, bathing their Lord in their elemental, earthly light. Power
flowed through his veins, the likes of which he had never felt before. The air
hissed and crackled with it. A master of earthly elements: fire, wind, rain,
thunder and lightning, he harnessed them all.
 

The
sun had not yet risen when, for the second time in as many days, a fast moving
heavy fog developed over clear skies and coated the land. Sporadic flashes of
lightning were seen through the fog over Sperrin Mountain, causing more than
one hand to raise and make the sign of the cross. When the sound of a
roar—people would swear it wasn’t like any thunder they’d ever heard before—echoed
across the county, the ones who didn’t cross themselves the first time did so
then. Rain and hail, the size of small pebbles, fell as the sky overhead turned
blacker. Against the darkened sky, over one spot on Sperrin Mountain, residents
in the area could see a light show composed of a myriad of colors. No one
thought to investigate the area where the lights seemed to concentrate, and
those who tried to take a picture of it found their digital screens blank.

Draakar
released his dragon form, knowing he could call it back at will and maintain
it, for awhile. His dark image shimmered; any human watching would have thought
they stared into a black fluid void because it kept changing shape. But no
human eyes bore witness to this. Finally, from the center of the void, the
image of a pale naked six-foot-four man solidified and emerged.

Bare
feet planted firmly on the earth, shoulder width apart, mimicking a battle
stance of old. He raised muscular arms away from his sides, turned his palms
upward, and tilted his head back as if paying homage to the sky.
 

Emerald
fire burst forth from his eyes toward the heavens. In response, two bolts of
lightning struck each upturned palm while gusting winds blew his pitch-black
hair wildly back and forth across the tops of his well defined gluts. Torrid
rain fell and pummeled him with their steady rhythm, driving the memories of a
past he did not share with earth into his being.

The
wild storm lasted for over an hour while, simultaneously, a dozen people awoke
at dawn because of strange dreams. From these strange dreams developed their
new reality.

Several
inexplicable things happened. First, an account opened in a Swiss bank, which
suddenly found its coffers increased by several billion dollars. The young bank
president himself took care of this special account. He also opened several
other accounts in various countries. All of the accounts were under the name
Draakar Akgon, owner and President of Akgon Enterprises, a privately held
company.

Among
other events, the helicopter pilot, who had flown Maya and Talon to the
hospital, found himself gainfully employed by Akgon Enterprises. He got up at
dawn to make several phone calls on behalf of his new employer before leaving
his house.

While
all of these things were happening, fifty feet around the perimeter of the
Stones the earth began to rumble. The wind and rain stopped as quickly as they
started, leaving the Dragon Lord and the earth bone dry, not a trace of water
appeared on either.
 
The rumble
increased in volume. Trees got sucked downward, as though giant vacuums were
under them, and dirt flew up everywhere when fissures appeared in the
ground.
 
Then the entire circle of
stones sunk into the holes, Draakar with them, while a different stone
structure of gigantic proportions rose, enclosing both man and stones.

Once
the dust cleared, a castle made of stone appeared in the area as part of the
mountain side. If asked, people in Sperrin County would say Akgon Castle had
stood there for hundreds of years. They would tell you about a very old, a very
private family; the Akgons whose roots could be traced back to the first Norse
invaders.

Draakar
lowered his head and hands to his sides. Blood had called to blood and many had
answered. It pleased him to find so many human brethren on Terra still.
 
The dragon’s blood had weakened in
most, but stayed strong in some, and he would make use of the strongest. More
than a handful of those were the ones he used to set events in motion for his
presence. He would need their help in the days to come.

Mother
Earth and the Stones guided his powers and told him much, but he still had a
lot to learn for himself. It had been a long, long time since he walked upon
Terra, or rather earth. Much had changed. Dragons were relegated to the role of
creatures from fairytales, and magic deemed a thing of science and technology.
He would laugh at the absurdity of it all, but in truth if he did he’d end up
crying for all they had lost.

He
didn’t understand it, the existence of so much power here and unlike what he had
known before. Mother Earth had told him the power lay unused and had simply
accumulated through the ages. Something that should not have happened. In the
wrong hands, such power could be dangerous. And danger existed on earth thought
long gone. He had been right to hesitate in sending Talon here alone.
 

The
power from the borrowed magicks of the Stones he now held would not last. He
didn’t know how long he could hold on to it, but he hoped it would be long
enough to find his son. Only with a truemate could he hope to access and retain
this much magicks.
 
Well, he would
find his son first, get him to safety, and then he would search for his mate.

He
looked down at his nakedness. No sooner had the thought entered his head, with
his new knowledge, he covered his body with dark colored clothing, befitting a
Dark Lord. In a blink all black material covered him, from the silk shirt
molding itself to his large frame, the slacks hugging thighs built for
strength, to the calfskin ankle boots enclosing his size fourteen feet.

Draakar
glanced around the dimly lit unfurnished area surrounding him. It resembled a
huge cavern holding muted light. The light source was not immediately obvious,
but it emanated from the Stones now a part of the walls.
 

Each
stone made up a portion of the walls, which rose some twenty feet high. Most of
the stones depicted scenes of dragons in all of their varied, vibrant colors
and glowed with life. One part of the wall however, appeared pitch black.
Unlike the rest of the room, no light reflected off it.
 
Instead, it looked as if it absorbed
light.
 

Draakar
walked through this wall. He found what he expected on the other side, a long
wide hallway made of rock rose steadily at an incline. In pitch darkness,
Draakar had no trouble finding his way. He could see perfectly with his
dragon’s sight. After some time, the hallway came to an abrupt end in front of
another wall, without pause, he walked straight though it.

Beyond
it, awaiting him were the rooms of his castle. He entered his personal library
first. The bright light in the room provided by modern electricity didn’t even
cause him to blink. The entire castle was wired. Modern magic. Nor did he pause
to savor the museum quality works of art filling just about every room. Some of
the objects d’ art were so rare museums would kill for just a glimpse. These
things had been hidden from mankind but all were his by right. Mother Earth had
collected and protected them until a child of power could return and claim
them. He had. Draakar didn’t stop to examine his claim; he had too much to do.
He opened the library doors and followed the hallway to the front of the
castle.

By
tomorrow night, Draakar would have his home on earth full of human brethren.
Already one traveled the newly created private road now leading to his castle
standing above the Stones.

None
would be able to find this road who did not carry brethren blood or who Draakar
did not want on it.
 
Potent wards
surrounded the place of power. Draakar opened the heavy double oak doors, the
entrance to his castle, and stepped into a misty morning. The heavy fog of
yesterday and earlier had gone. A light mist now lay over the mountains, giving
them an ethereal look. Draakar did not feel the chill in the air, but this
weather required outerwear of some kind. Immediately, a supple black leather
coat draped his body from shoulders to ankles.

Before
Draakar’s foot reached the last step, a man stepped out of the black
Rolls Royce 101EX, which awaited him in
the driveway. Ian McNeil stood beside the passenger door. He would be Draakar’s
First among the first awakened brethren, his right hand in this realm. Also his
driver until others came.
 

The
blood ran strongly in Ian. He had immediately answered Draakar’s call. If the
man were on Akgon he would be able to release his dragon form—a red,
judging by the color of his hair—but the earth magicks here suppressed
the change and were stronger than Ian’s ability to control them. To strong in
fact for most brethren to weld, except the Dragon Lord.

“Welcome
home, Lord,” Ian said.
 
“At last we
meet.”

Ian
opened the car door and tried to move out of the way, but Draakar would not let
him step aside. He clasped him by the upper arm and Ian returned the salute. An
old greeting amongst warrior equals. Ian understood and smiled.

“No,
not Lord,” Draakar said before he released him. “Not here. Just call me
Draakar.”

Ian’s
smile widened. “That’s kind of a mouthful. How about Draak?”

“Draak...mmm…”
He smiled. He hadn’t smiled for a long time. He relaxed a little. “I think I
like it. Thank you for coming. I’m ready.” His smile changed to a frown. “Now
let us go collect my son.”

Draakar
climbed into the car, not once allowing the disturbing knowledge the Stones had
reveled to him to show in his expression, but he worried. A hint of dragon’s
blood salted the air where there should not have been. And not his son’s. Just
as there should not have been this much power still on Terra, the scent should
not be here.
 
Dragons had been
gone, dead or turned human for over a thousand years on Terra. Fully awakened
dragons should be impossible. The Stones had provided no answers. Some things
even they did not know or refused to share. Some things they left to Fate. But
no mistake here, the Dark Lord’s senses picked up the stench of twisted and
corrupted magicks.

A
silver dragon.

While
a dark dragon provided balance, a silver dragon thrived on chaos and
destruction. Draakar shuddered to think of a silver dragon alive and harnessing
this much earth magicks.
   

“Lor…I
mean, Draak. Are you okay?”

He
realized Ian spoke to him and met the concerned look of his First in the
rearview mirror.
 
Apparently, Ian
had noticed his tension after all. “I’m fine, Ian.”

Ian
glanced at him for a moment more before returning his attention to the road.
“Everything has been arranged,” Ian continued. “By the time we get back to the
castle the other four people who were within easy distance should be there; the
others should arrive in a day or two.”

“Good.
For now I will keep the numbers small and start training some of the strongest
first.” Draakar did a mental count of the human brethren he’d called to him.
“That should be a total of six, not including you.” If destructive loose
magicks were being used by a silver dragon, he would need them all to counter
what could result. He had no doubt a dragon roamed earth. It could only be the
betrayer, whose name the brethren did not speak. Only his crime, the ultimate
insult.

 
It seemed he had not died after all. His
mother had not killed him as they had all believed. The betrayer presented a
danger to both brethren and human alike. As Dark Lord he had a duty to protect
and carry out judgment against the betrayer, and as his father’s and mother’s
son, a legacy to see the betrayer dead.

As
the Rolls
passed smoothly down the mountain,
his thoughts turned to his son. The sooner Talon returned to Akgon the better.
It would be years before his mate reached an age to join him there. Draakar
understood the time conundrum and realized their mistake. By earth standards,
Talon was a mere boy and his mate even younger.