Faith Of The Dragon Tamer (Book 2) (12 page)

That left her with only eighteen guards. No, seventeen. Manda had killed Bort.

Alezza’s resolve deepened as she refocused on Chris. His head was down. From the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest she knew he was sleeping. She hadn’t granted him any sleep of late.

Tonight would be no exception.

She slowly lifted his head until his face came into view. Alezza licked her lips. Tonight would be perfect. Chris stared up at her, unblinking and without fear, but with the most intense animosity she had ever seen.

“Not appreciative of the bath?” He was handsome in a boyish kind of way. His huge green eyes, shaggy blond hair and thin build shouted of innocence, but his sunken jawline, broad shoulders and sheer height argued for a man worth the title of prince.

It would be a pleasure to break him.

She ran a finger down the side of his face. “My sweet.” He flinched, but she ignored him. He wouldn’t flinch long. Instead, he would be begging. “I won’t bring you any more pain, only pleasure, but you must do one thing for me.”

Alezza saw the hatred intensify in his eyes. It sent a tantalizing chill down her spine. She liked challenges, and this wasn’t only a challenge, it was fun.

“Now, now,” she whispered as she found the needles in his mind. She sent a powerful surge of the Quy. His face quickly registered surprise. He hadn’t known the assault was coming. But she had to be careful. She didn’t want him to break completely, at least not before he had given her the throne.

Instead of sending fire into him she sent a tantalizing breeze. At first she made it barely discernable, then she gusted it in short blasts. Chris set his jaw, brows furrowing. She chortled deep in her throat. Her own vitals felt what she was sending. No man could resist for long.

Kneeling, she stroked his cheek, forcing the breeze inside him to build in severity. She saw the effects of her frolic on his face. After the pain, the small erotic sensations caused his eyes to roll back into his head. She kept her sensations slow and easy, running her hand over his chest and shoulders.

“Don’t try to resist, my love. You can’t resist,” she teased, sending a small amount of pain down the needle’s shaft, reminding him she could revert to the pain if he didn’t give in to her demands.

His body began to convulse as if she had sent a quick, intense surge inside him. Alezza released the pain, surprised. She hadn’t sent enough for him to react so. She knew his limits. Curious, she tried again. He reacted the same way.

After the eroticism the pain was a shock. Alezza tittered. This would simplify things. He would be much easier to control.

She started the process again, then again. When the carnal sensations came Chris jerked and trembled with euphoria. During the pain he screamed as though she were sending a fiery wrath inside him.

Alezza knelt beside the prince and started to build the pleasure. She watched as his chest rose and fell as the feelings grew. Alezza whispered her love and promised no more pain. Her hand stroked his face. She wanted him to grow accustomed to her touch.

The emotions she was sending caused her to feel flush. She began to take off her outer garments, letting the heat-filled breeze wash over her thin frame. She wished she were willing to lay with a man before she wed. As soon as the thought was out, she looked at Chris. If Manda evaded the guards and told her story, Alezza would be hung unless there was an heir. Alezza released a throaty laugh and brushed Chris’ face. Chris was, after all, going to be her husband, and if he gave her a child before he died no one could condemn her to death. She would be allowed to live and raise the child.

And if she matched physical contact with inner sensation how much faster could she break him?

- - -

The fire had long since died. Ren shivered, but he welcomed the cold. It made him think about something other than Aidan and his mother. He touched his left shoulder, the only part of his body the silver dragon had burned. He felt the ridges of flesh underneath the pledget. It would scar, forever reminding him of his deception.

He was only supposed to stand watch for a moons’ click, but he hadn’t woken Galvin to take his place. He knew he would be unable to sleep. He honestly didn’t know if he would ever sleep again, at least without nightmares.

Ren sighed softly to the night, trying not to wake Galvin. Galvin had been so concerned over the past few days he woke at any movement. Galvin stirred, but only to bring his arm under his head. The previous night Galvin refused to sleep unless Ren did first. Needless to say, neither of them had slept.

Ren walked to the nearest tree. He rested against its trunk and stared into the dark forest. They had wasted precious time. Bentzen and Galvin insisted he rest his burnt shoulder for a day before moving. Now they were only a day’s ride closer to the Alcazar. Ren’s frustration was starting to overcome his reason. That night he had forced his men forward until most had fallen asleep on their horses.

He would have thought the urgency to find the One would abate after his encounter with the dragon. On the contrary, it had escalated. It was a constant buzzing in his mind, an imperative force that wouldn’t leave him alone.

The air turned colder. Ren tensed. A shiver of warning rippled down his spine. Overhead the nightbirds stilled their eerie song. Ren looked out into the night, sensing something moving his way.

It took every ounce of energy to remain still and search with his eyes. A rustle stirred but he couldn’t lock the sound’s position. It seemed to be coming from everywhere.

He didn’t know what to do. Some creatures of magic reacted negatively to movement; others reacted just as violently to stagnation. Ren tried to clear his mind of all else, concentrating on the danger but distancing himself so as not to lose his reason.

He sensed movement below him. Tiny black snakes slithered over his boots. His mind quickly connected the rustling sound to the snakes’ movement. Adders!

Ren drew in a breath and turned his head. The rest of the camp was already crawling with tiny snakes. He heard a shout and saw Markum standing as a black snake fell out of his tunic.

“Markum, freeze!” Ren yelled. But it was too late. Markum’s body tumbled to the ground in death.

The snakes bit at first movement. Their venom was immediate death. The Adderiss always sent her snakes ahead of her, making sure they stopped everything in her path. Once the target was covered in the vile creatures the Adderiss demanded things. If she didn’t get her wish she let her snakes feed on the victim. It was that simple.

Pain swept through him as he heard Galvin scream Markum’s name. Markum was dead. Curse the Fates! Markum was dead.

“Ren!”

Ren swiveled his upper body. He locked eyes with Bentzen. The swordsman, careful not to move the bottom portion of his body, now crawling with snakes, tried to reach for the Quy’s sword, but it was just out of reach. Bentzen’s muscles strained in effort, only to drop back in exhaustion. Looking into Bentzen’s eyes Ren felt his own fear reach a zenith.

Ren had never seen Bentzen afraid, but the look in Bentzen’s eyes betrayed his terror. The implication shook Ren more than his own apprehension.

Bentzen’s eyes widened as he looked past Ren. Ren tensed, feeling the warm venomous breath of the Adderiss on his neck. He reached toward his sword. He felt its metal, its weight. In the next heartbeat the sword was in his hand.

Turning, he posed ready. He was unprepared for what he saw. Twin pools of moss-green sordidness marred by thin viperous slits of black pupil peered at him. The Adderiss threw her head back and hissed in laughter. Her eyes rolled back to reveal their red undercoat.

“You think you can kill me with a sword?” she hissed, narrow tongue flickering dangerously close to his face.

He grew taut as her moss eyes roved over his men with slow, hungry precision. Their red edges made her look like her insides were on fire.

As a human, she would have been beautiful. Her form was human, though if you looked closely her skin was an ivory reptilian. A raised ridge of scales crowned her head and trailed down the sides of her face and neck. Thick, coarse black hair fell in waves to her shoulders. Ren’s eyes dared to flicker down her body. What he saw sent waves of nausea through him. The only thing covering the rest of her tall, thin form were adders, slithering over her in waves. Two large ones, apparently the two that produced the countless others, slithered sensuously around her hips and shoulders.

The Adderiss smiled at his repulsion. Sharp incisors clasped over her bottom lip. She placed a hand on his shoulder and hissed. Her fetid tongue hit his cheek. Some of her adders glided over her hand and down his shirt.

“Stay put, Chosen.” She walked past him.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he turned himself to stone. The thin snakes twirled over his chest, making sure he remained motionless.

The Adderiss’ laughter echoed through the night. He gritted his teeth, forcing the memory of Markum’s lifeless body from his mind. The Adderiss hissed as if she had found a prize.

Ren couldn’t see what was happening. She had already killed Markum. He refused let her kill anyone else.

“Adderiss!” In response to his shout the snakes moved over him with more speed. Although the Adderiss laughed at his demand, he sensed her moving closer.

“The Chosen speaks. Let me not deny him his words.”

She stepped into view. More snakes had left her, revealing more skin than Ren cared to see. She gurgled deep in her throat as she circled him, touching him in places he didn’t care to be touched. When she faced him she bowed. The snakes stirred around her in a frenzy.

The Adderiss stepped closer. Her moss-green eyes burned a hole through him. His anger slipped away. She would get what she wanted or she would kill them all.

“Don’t ever speak to me in that tone again.” Her hot breath steamed off his skin. Perspiration rained down his face. He willed himself to ignore the itch.

“Then be on your way.”

A sinister grin slit her face as she hissed in laughter. The intensity of the sound sent her covering writhing with glee. The adders in his tunic nipped his chest as if tasting what was to come.

“I see the Chosen is well read in magic. But does the Chosen know the Adderiss must get something for his safe passage?”

“Let my men go. Then I will grant your demands”

She scowled. “You don’t make the rules. I make the rules.”

Ren remained silent.

She fastened her hand on his arm and pulled him closer. Her hot breath seared into his nostrils. Her eyes radiated contempt and evil. His skin crawled with lewd disquiet.

“I want your fire.”

Ren blinked in confusion, thinking he had heard her wrong. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Your fire,” she demanded, “for your men.”

Ren hesitated.

“I warn you, Dragon Mate choose and choose now. I grow weary of your hesitation.”

The term caught Ren off guard. Chance had used the term “Dragon Mate” when referring to him, and her decree had been about the silver dragon and Aidan.

“Agree!” Her eyes darted behind him.

He screamed for her to stop.

A thud reverberated in the night. Galvin’s intake of breath told Ren another man had fallen.

The Adderiss’ moss eyes turned to him, wide with rage. He searched his mind, frantic to think of what his fire could be. Her eyes darted back to his men. He grabbed her arm.

“Agreed,” he said. His movement caused the adders to nip furiously at his flesh, sending him into a torrent of darkness.

- - -

Ren slowly opened his eyes and looked into the faces of his friends.

Galvin collapsed on the ground beside him. “We thought you were dead. Fates!”

“Help me up.”

Galvin looked at him with concern but didn’t argue as he lifted him into a sitting position. A tingly sensation flowed through Ren’s chest and arms but he had only been stunned, nothing more. He looked at Galvin with a slight hope.

“The others?”

Galvin’s face turned ashen. He shook his head. “Bentzen and Markum are gone.”

Ren bowed his head. Bentzen his loyal follower, the one who was just beginning to allow himself to feel friendship and love … and Markum.

How dare she do this! Ren stood, still feeling numb in places on his upper body where the snakes had nipped his flesh. But he had agreed to her demands before they bit and was therefore protected from their venom.

He faced the camp. Many travelers had used the clearing. No grass grew in the large circular area, and a fire pit lay at its center. Rocks were stacked around it to thwart any unwelcome breeze. The fire had been rekindled once again. It blazed high into the night, trying to ward off anything else looming in the darkness. Markum and Bentzen lay where they had fallen, eyes wide and lifeless.

Ren searched the forest until he found a sharp rock. Finding a large area beneath a sheltering cedar he began to dig the graves.

Soon Galvin and Neki joined him. They worked in consoling silence, each concentrating on the task at hand. It was slow, and at times Ren thought about taking Markum and Bentzen farther inland where the red soil wouldn’t be as prevalent, but each time he thought of moving them he quickly dismissed it. Moving them didn’t seem right.

The red soil was difficult to dig. The others took breaks in silence. Ren did not. He needed a purpose, and his purpose at that point in time was to dig.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Galvin’s concerned face. Ren hadn’t noticed the rain. Galvin’s blond hair was drenched and water ran down his face like perpetual tears.

“Tomorrow the ground will be easier to work because of the rain. We’re all exhausted. Let’s get some sleep. We can finish this after we rest.”

Sleep was the last thing Ren wanted. He needed to occupy himself with something physical, something that would help block his thoughts. Just as he was about to argue he saw the weariness in Galvin’s eyes. He glanced behind him. Neki faired no better. Ren nodded reluctantly. Galvin gave his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze before he turned to erect the thatched shelter they had constructed during the previous rain.