Fire The Blood: Dragon Mage Series Book III (16 page)

"We all know why we
have been called here.  A mage has attacked and killed a member of the House of
Earth.  He stands there, accused and witnessed; the only possible punishment is
death."

"Your pardon, my
Lord," Balin valiantly tried to halt Rendal before he got rolling. 
"But should we not wait for the full council on such a grievous matter? 
There is also the matter that the attack was instigated in defense of Lady
Clare of House Fire and Water, and her own people have yet to arrive."

Rendal brushed his words
away.  "You have the accused and the witnesses, do you not?  And Lady
Clare is with us, though I doubt her testimony will be relevant in this case. 
From what my man tells me, Brax laid claim to the lady mage per dragon law, and
he was viciously attacked by this upstart and killed.”  Rendal waved a
dismissive hand at Theron.  “The fact that a mage came to Dracon and was
capable by some dark magic to kill one of our people is the main issue
here."

"Your man would have
raped a child after claiming her against her will, and that is not the main
issue?" Theron spat out his question in disgust.  "Would we be having
this meeting if any but a mage had separated his head from his shoulders, or
are you so far gone as a people that the destruction of innocence is acceptable
here?"

"How did you even
come to be here, mage?  What right do you have to interfere in dragon affairs?"

Asha stepped forward. 
"Lord Theron of Seatown is my twin brother and Laksee's son.  Taken from
his mother by force at birth, he was left to fend for himself among the
humans.  He has as much right to fight dragon injustice as anyone."

A general murmur swept
through the dragons while at the Council table a long beat of shocked silence
ensued. 

"So that is how you
were able to kill a dragon," Rendal finally mused aloud, making Braedon
shake his head.

"Is that really all
you heard of what Asha said?"  Braedon shook his head turning back to
address Asha.  "Why exactly did we not just take Theron and return to the
island? This trial is a farce."

The dragon lord stood in
anger, but Asha spoke before he could begin his tirade.  "Is Lord Rendal
the only voice of this council?"  She looked at the two dragon lords
flanking him.  Lord Topa was doing what he always did and weighing everything
he heard.  Fahlion might as well have been asleep for all the reaction he
showed.

"The council will
always welcome the words of the dragon seer," Lord Topa finally spoke up,
shaking his head at his fellow council lord.  "I hope that at least has
not changed."

Lord Rendal snorted,
earning a glare from Topa.  "She can hardly hold that title when she has
not the true powers of her mother’s people.  Having occasional visions hardly
qualifies her for that honor."

"And how," Asha
asked, her eyes on Lord Rendal knowingly, "how have you come to such a
realization?  The last time you tried to take me by force, you were adamant
that my powers would be claimed by the unscrupulous and used badly."

"I know the truth
now.  Your powers have been diluted by your mixed blood.  You are not the true
seer that your mother was."

"Again, Lord
Rendal," Asha said smoothly, ignoring the tone that made Braedon want to
burn the man to ash. "How came you by such information?"

"I told him, of
course." At this voice, Braedon turned with Asha, little believing what he
was hearing.  "It was time the truth came out about everything." The
dragon looked and sounded haggard, and the battle with Theron had visibly aged
him in years, but there was no mistaking the man who had just tried to kill
them all at Seatown.

"Why hello,
Father,"
even Braedon was surprised by her calm tone.  "I've been waiting for
you to make your appearance."

Asha felt the shock waves
reverberate across the room from the dragon knights, some of whom reached for
their weapons, and even a few of the council lords: it certainly wasn’t all of
them, but Topa definitely had no idea what was happening.  Theron looked like
he was going to jump across the small space and strangle the man himself, but
she shook her head at him, willing him to keep the peace.  Braedon had frozen
like a statue beside her.  She casually reached for his hand and gave him a
warning squeeze.  He squeezed back with a little added pressure.  She did not
blame him.  She could have warned them about what was going to happen, but the
arguments would have taken valuable time.  She hoped they would just continue to
trust her, though in Theron's case, she was not sure she deserved it.  Even
now, she could feel the taint of dark magic upon him; his would be a long road.

She shook off her guilt
and returned her attention to the man who had started all of this.  Lord Graedon
had lost much of his dragon youth and power.  He looked to have swelled and
sagged all at the same time.  Unfortunately he also looked pathetic enough that
the other dragons here might take heed of what he would say, which would be a
very well-dressed set of lies.  Despite his physical and spiritual
deterioration, she could still see the sharp mind behind those old eyes.

"I have much to
tell, and I know that in doing so, in coming forward, I will be courting my own
death."  He coughed a little, looking almost humanly pathetic.  "I
would gladly give what is left of this half-life to save the rest of Dracon
from my fate."

Lux snorted, a loud sound
in the cavernous room.  His predatory eyes were sharp and focused on Graedon. 
Asha could practically see death smiling from his eyes.

"Do not kill him
yet, Lux," she said loudly.  Every head in the room turned her way first,
and then swiveled to look at the knights.

Aarion and Lux were both
flanking Clare in protective stances, battle axe and gleaming sword at the
ready.  The young woman, Asha was proud to note, held her head high, her fixed
eyes and jutting chin proclaiming her courage.  If she looked closely enough,
Asha could see the hand clutching her torn tunic was shaking.  With her long
legs and tumbling red hair, she looked like a battle maid who had just returned
from war.

"You will sheathe
your weapons, all of you," Rendal ordered from his seat at the council
chamber.  Some complied, and some did not.

Aarion and Lux did not
move, nor did they move their eyes from the real threat in the room.  Lord
Graedon smiled just a bit while most eyes were elsewhere.  Like a spider
carefully weaving its web, he took satisfaction in the turmoil he wrought. 
Asha kept her serenity with an effort, but the fire under her skin was leaping
about like boiling oil.  She saw Braedon clench his jaw beside her, but he,
too, kept his head, which was a feat worthy of a knight after he caught that
small, telling smile on Graedon’s battered face.

"You cannot control
them any longer, my old friend," Graedon finally called out weakly when
Lord Rendal continued to get no response and looked ready to burst from his
rage at being ignored.  "They are no longer yours to command.  They answer
only to Kinkaid now."  The hush that settled on the room was a shocked
pall until a deep, rich voice came like a call to arms from the doors of the
hall.

"And what am I
supposed to be commanding them to do?"

All eyes turned to see
Kinkaid.  Always an imposing figure, he now stood flanked by the golden Prince
Ladon and their mate, Lady Morgan, who looked murderous enough to take out the
town.  Indeed, thunder rumbled in the distance.  Beyond them stood General
Solan Fire-Eater, Commander of the dragon knights, his wind mage mate, Lady
Melisande, and Furee with Lady Riva, who was trying to get around the
protection of that dragons broad back.  Looking at the group of them in
comparison to Lord Graedon's sapped vitality, Asha knew that without the fast
thinking of Clare that was to come they would have lost this fight.  He just
looked too pathetic to be scary when compared to Kinkaid and his friends.  Before
Graedon could weave more lies to the twittering crowd, Clare made her move,
running across the room and throwing herself into her sister Morgan's arms.  She
burst out crying.  Even with the knowledge of what was going to happen, Asha
still had to smile at the performance.  Clare had gone from a stalwart warrior
queen to a trembling hysterical girl in seconds.  She was brilliant, and no one
who did not know her well would question it.

"He tried to claim
me against my will," the words seemed to burst forth from her tears. 
"Then Lord Theron saved me, and now they want to kill him for helping
me."

Morgan, who had frozen in
shock when she suddenly found her sister in her arms, took about a second to
process before she began patting her sister’s shaking back and glaring at the
Council.

Clare was not done. 
"You said the dragons were honorable, that we would be safe here!" 
She cried even harder.

Morgan turned her eyes
back to the Council for another glare while Asha felt the sway of the crowd
turn to sympathy for the young girl.  Clare spoke one last time, driving her
words through the appalled crowd.  "I thought I would find a true mate like
you did, and Melly, but he was not that.  He was a monster.  If Lord Theron had
not come, he would have hurt me, and the mage laws would have allowed him.  He
told me that.  He said if he could not claim the dragon seer as promised him by
Lord Rendal, then he would take what he could get and do whatever he wanted to
me."

Morgan turned stormy eyes
of mage green power to the appalled looking Council Lord.  The earth beneath
their feet shuddered, while lightning repeatedly struck the outside stone
walls.  Beside her, both Ladon and Kinkaid seemed to swell with light as a
tidal wave of power swept the room, bringing many to their knees, including,
Asha was glad to see, Lord Graedon, who could not stand before the brunt of
it.  He clutched the table on one knee, head bowed, and she could feel his rage
beating just behind Kinkaid’s.

Theron was looking at
Clare with his head cocked to the side as if he was unsure of her true
feelings.  Asha knew that he would be able to feel that she was not as
devastated as she pretended to be.  He just did not know why or how he knew
that.

Kinkaid spoke, and his
voice moved through the air on another wave of power.  "A child of my
house has been attacked, and you would kill the man who saved her?  Is this
dragon justice?"  He turned those blazing gold dragon eyes to Graedon
where he stooped, and everyone could see the weight of that gold gaze drop him
to his second knee with a crunch.  "And while she stands in tattered
clothes with bruises on her face and leaves in her hair, you listen to the
ravings of a mad man?  A man who has stolen the magic from the very blood and
bones of our people?  A man who killed the dragon seer, Lady Laksee’s true
mate, and tortured and imprisoned her daughter?  This is what you would hear
while a female under my protection, and whom I hold dear, suffers in
silence?"  His last words carried the weight of his years, and the council
lords could feel it.  Rendal seemed to be taking the brunt of it; his hands
clutched the table before him while he tried to stay on his feet.  "You
would hear his poison from his own lips and swallow it like honey?"  Just
like that, the power was pulled back, and everyone staggered, suddenly able to
move again.  Asha felt her ears pop, while Braedon just muttered a heartfelt
curse.  "Then choke on it.  He wishes you to think I seek an end to the
Council, to be King of Dracon, when it was I who ended the reign of Kings eons
ago and established the Council in the first place?"  He shook his head,
and all eyes were riveted his way.  "Graedon is an old spider who spins
his web well."  He looked to the assemblage, shaking his head in disgust. 
"Flock to your yoke, then, if you are such cattle to be herded.  From
henceforth, my lands are no longer Dracon.  Any paths to my lands will be
Lost."

"Lost?" 
Braedon asked in a whisper.

"It is an old
spell,” Asha whispered back.  “I saw it in a vision once.  Few but the really powerful
can do it.  It allows welcome visitors, but anyone not invited or meaning harm
will be turned away should they try to cross over to Kinkaid land.  If they
persist, they could find themselves on a forever path that leads to nowhere. 
They would wander it, lost, until they died, never able to find their way
back."  She squeezed his hand.  "It is powerful magic thought to be
lost."

“I stand with my mates!”
Prince Ladon boomed out, his voice as angry as Kinkaid’s.  His power rolled
through them with the warm power of House Fire and Water behind it.  “That this
creature of the blackest magic has been allowed to pollute these halls means
you are beyond ridiculous.  That he does it while my adopted sister stands in
harm’s way is beyond unacceptable.  All my lands and those of my brethren in
House Fire will henceforth no longer be Dracon lands but instead under the
protection of House Fire and Water.”

"But together you
lay claim to more than half of Dracon!" Rendal sputtered, clearly shocked.

"You have lost more
than that," Solan said darkly, his eyes swirling molten silver in his own
rage.  "The dragon knights are of the Light.  We serve justice, not a
Council who would side with the Dark or allow a law to be written that harms
the innocent.  Henceforth, the dragon knights serve the greater good and their
own conscience.  The Council," he growled, his eyes on the stunned Lord
Rendal, "Can enforce its own foolish laws."

Before the uproar in
response to that announcement even began, another voice rose in challenge.

"But not where they
pertain to the mage," Theron inserted loudly, drawing every scandalized
eye.  "The mage are under my protection.  Any action that would harm or
otherwise force them into a situation that would be harmful will be dealt
with," his eyes started to glow mage green, and then the power swept over
the room with such force people were pushed off their feet, chairs fell, and
tables crashed into walls.  "By me," he finished.   Then he
transformed into a great bronze dragon that forced more shocked dragons out of
the way.  Kinkaid and company merely moved to the side politely when he came
their way.  The doors burst open as Theron passed. 

As he flew away without a
backward glance, Asha felt a warm wind flutter through her hair. It should have
warmed her, and it would have, had she not seen the amber gem planted in her brother’s
dragon scales right where his heart lay.  An amber gem that pulsed with the
dark red power of old blood.

When she turned back to
the assemblage, everyone was getting to their feet and looking around at their
neighbors and family with shock in their eyes.  Lord Rendal was sputtering. 
Topa looked thoughtful, and Fahlion seemed to be in shock.

Finally, Lord Topa
spoke.  "In view of these events and my own long-held concerns for the
path we tread as a governing body, I am resigning my commission as Lord Council
for Dracon."  He turned and looked at the knights who lined the walls
behind the chaotic citizens.  His eyes seemed bent on finding one in
particular.  "I would also like to add that any dragon knight who fights
for the Light and his own conscience would be as welcome in my lands as he
would be with General Solan or Lord Kinkaid and Prince Ladon."  He bowed
his head to the lady mages of Fire and Water.  "I also declare the mage
laws null and void on House of Air land."  He turned to Asha then. 
"We should have done more sooner to protect the treasures in our midst.  I
hope with time you can forgive our lack of action.  When you are as old as some
of us, change never seems the lesser of evils."  He bowed his head deeper
in apology, and Asha bowed back.

"You cannot do
this!" Rendal cried out.  "We would have no law but the military
dictatorship of the knights!"

"Better no law then
a corrupt one."  Everyone turned to see Aarion, who had stepped forward. 
"I am Aarion, oldest son of the House of Earth.  As such, it is my duty to
see to its protection and defense."  He looked around and then straight at
the staggered Rendal.  "Any who would harm the innocent of any race will
answer to me.  There will never again be a forced mating, a killed true mate,
or the imprisonment of children."  He looked right at Asha then, his eyes
dragon gold and shooting sparks of his power through the room.  "I claim
Isolation Mountain as my birthright and swear by the Light I will purge it of
its darkness."

“You denounced your
birthright when you joined the knights!”  Rendal whaled.

“No longer,” Aarion
stated with finality, his hand on the pommel of his sword, bearing proof of his
willingness to fight.  “Graedon has abused our family honor.  I will see it
made right.”

At those words they all
turned to look for the crumpled form of the broken Lord Graedon, but once
again, distraction had been his friend.  He was gone.

Beside him, Lux cursed
and hefted his battle axe higher, looking ready to cleave something.  Braedon
was muttering his disgust beside Asha at the same time.  Aarion showed his
teeth in a parody of a smile.  "I vow this day that Lord Graedon, formerly
of the House of Earth and dealer of death, will be killed once and for all by
my hand."  His eyes bore into hers while she felt Braedon shuffling
uneasily beside her.  "The atrocities he committed at Isolation will be
avenged by this house!"