Licked by the Flame (16 page)

“I have more than enough steam, as you say, to make short work of vermin.”

“Is that so?” the man asked with a shrug, then gestured toward one of the others. “I guess we’d better do something about that.”

Before Nic even had time to react, one of the weapons exploded with a shot. Immediately Nic felt a burning in his side—he’d been hit. Damn, he should have been ready for that. He should have known what was in the man’s mind long before he had time to use one of those weapons. And by the Fires below, he ought not feel so much searing pain from one simple human weapon. He staggered back, unprepared for the whirling sensation inside his head.

The humans waited, as if they expected Nic to lash out and defend himself. Hell,
he
expected to lash out and defend himself. He could not, though. His legs felt weak and the cavern was losing focus before him. The boldest of the humans laughed at him, then the others followed suit.

“What’s the matter, dragon? Can’t find it in you to breathe fire or do any of your scary dragon things to us? Aw, so sorry.”

Nic craned his long neck to see that he had indeed been shot, but not by any ordinary projectile. Whatever had come out of that weapon had punctured his scales as if they were paper, then clamped onto his side. He could see it there, a metal device with a small blinking light. What was this, an incendiary of some sort? Was that their plan? But what could be making Nic feel so totally weak, so drained of his very essence?

“You’re curious, aren’t you?” the man asked. “Very well, I’ll explain. We’ve just attached one of our dampeners. Oh yes, they look harmless enough, but as you can see, that little device can suck magic right out of you and transmit it to something more useful, like this, for instance.”

As he spoke, the man shifted so that Nic could see an equipment case next to him. He could hear its low, steady humming, but could feel nothing from it. Usually human devices emitted energy, electrical static…something. This gave off nothing. It was as if the air all around it was turned into a vacuum, but of course it was not. Nic was simply noting the complete, impossible absence of magic.

Whatever this human machinery did, it was as the man said. Magic was being pulled from him and transmitted away. He was being drained of everything that made him who he was. His legs gave out and he collapsed onto his chest. Damn these humans! He could not let them get away with this.

With every ounce of strength he had left, he swung his head at them. Two of the men were easily out of his reach, but the others were not. One man fell down, his weapon skittering helplessly across the smooth cavern floor. The other man was standing closest to the lip overlooking the clutch. He dropped to his knees, then lunged for his weapon as it slipped from his hands. Nic took advantage of this and swung again, knocking the man completely off balance. The man and his weapon were easily swiped right over the lip.

He screamed as he fell into the superheated lava pool that acted as a nest for the clutch. His scream did not last long. Of course, this infuriated the other men.

The double crack of weapon fire reverberated around them. Nic jolted as two more of those devices imbedded themselves into his body. The effect was instantaneous and suddenly even his own head was too heavy to lift. He crashed onto the floor, his bony jaw sounding against the rocks every bit as loud as the crack of the weapons.

They hadn’t counted on the intensity of his rage, though. One stupid human made the mistake of overestimating their weapons. He did not move away once he regained his footing. Nic summoned the heat from deep within his core and lunged out with all that he had. Flames shot from his roar, singeing the air and filling the immediate area with acrid smoke. The human never knew what hit him; he was instantly charred.

The leader of these spineless humans kept his distance, but his last remaining companion whipped out a lethal-looking knife and dove for Nic, digging the knife into his body between the scales at a sensitive spot under his arm. The additional pain ripped a groan from him, but it served to shoot a burst of adrenaline into his system that allowed him to swing his injured arm, catching the man with his own lethal blades.

Four steely-sharp talons raked over the man’s midsection. His innards spilled out in a heated pile. Falling to the ground, the human writhed in agony. Unfortunately for him, he was not merely writhing in a pool of his own vital fluids, but of Nic’s sizzling blood as well. The man was burned instantly. Dragon blood was fatal for humans. The fool.

Now only one lone man remained. Nic glared at him. The man glanced at his watch. Was he waiting for something? Checking to make sure the devices had enough time to be fully effective? Nic focused inwardly, testing his body for any parts of him that were not yet drained by this strange human invention.

He was weak everywhere. Even though the three devices had been shot into the heaviest part of his torso, they seemed capable of draining his limbs, his mental abilities, and his core. He could feel himself cooling rapidly. That was not good. In his dragon form, he needed to maintain heat to remain fluid inside. If he cooled too much, his body would become solid as stone. He would be little more than a dragon-shaped mineral here in the center of this mountain.

The clutch would, no doubt, suffer the same fate. Without the magic that gave all of them life, they would be nothing more than cold, dead rock. The future of Nic’s people would be in jeopardy. He simply couldn’t let it end like this. He had to find a way…somehow.

“Not so badass without your special powers, are you?” the human snarled at him.

The weapon, apparently, was only useful once. The man tossed it aside now that he’d fired his implement. He was not without defenses, though. A huge knife was tucked into his waistband and he reached for it now.

“I’m told after a while you’ll cool down enough that your body will turn into rock,” he said, eyeing Nic with a covetous leer. “Kind of a pitiful end for something so glorious.”

“You should never have come here,” Nic grumbled. “You don’t know what forces you’ve awakened.”

“Forces? Really now, dragon, there’s no need for lies. I see no
forces
. No, look around. All I see is a field of helpless little eggs, just sitting there waiting for us to suck the life out of them. Do you have any idea how much magic we can pull out of those things before they shrivel and die? Very resilient creatures, you dragons. Well, the young ones, anyway. You, Nicolai Vladik, don’t seem to be doing so well.”

“There are a hundred who will come after me. You will die here, human. I promise you that.”

The man was unimpressed by his pledge. He held his knife up to the glow from the nursery area and studied it. When he spoke, his mocking tone proved he had no idea what he was truly dealing with.

“First lies and now promises you can’t keep. Really, I’m kind of disappointed. I thought we might get a little more fight out of you. Oh well. I’ve got a shipment of ten more dampeners and a fresh crew coming in once that storm is done in about an hour, I’d guess. You’ll be long dead by then, though. We’ll shove you out of the way and forget all about you, Vladik. But first, I think I’ll just get myself a little souvenir before you’ve completely solidified.”

He ran his eyes over the full twenty-foot length of Nic’s body. His gaze settled on Nic’s tail. It didn’t take dragon sense to recognize what the bastard had planned. Nic rumbled a snarl.

“If you think to dismember any part of me, I’d advise you to rethink that plan,” he warned.

The man simply laughed. “You’re not exactly in the position to be telling me what to do, Vladik. I know how these devices work. I’ve seen grander ones of your kind laid low by this technology. Sorry, Puff, but you’ve got three of those in you. There’s not much you can do. I’m afraid you’re rather at my mercy just now and, to be honest, I don’t really have any.”

Holding his knife out ahead of him, the man took a few steps, then watched for a reaction. Nic was still. The man took a few more steps, reaching the tip of Nic’s tail and picking it up. Nic held back his rage. He could feel the human’s touch on his scales, sense the warm blade of the knife as it was pressed to his tail. Yes, he could feel it, but he gave no sign whatsoever that he could feel other things as well.

He still had heat in his core, enough to demand one more effort from himself. The devices still drained him, but because of such close proximity to the heat from the nursery, he suspected the technology was not functioning quite to its full capacity. The human clearly expected him to be nearly drained of all energy by now, and he was careful to let him go on thinking he was correct.

He had one last chance, but he’d have to be cautious. He would wait until just the right moment. It meant remaining completely still as the human studied the sensitive tip of his tail, tracing over the small spade-shaped fin and lifting scales one at a time to find the opportune spot for a cut. It seemed he wanted to be able to include some of the tattoos that marked Nic as a protector for his clan. If the fool had any idea just what the barbed symbols that had been ritually dyed into his scales truly meant, he’d have gone running from the cavern.

He didn’t, though. He thought Nic was just some dumb beast, cowed by unfamiliar technology and waiting to die. The human had magic implanted into him through some extraordinary means, yet he didn’t think to use it now to ascertain the true state of Nic’s powers. The fool did not even deserve to die in this sacred place.

But die he would, Nic would make certain of that. He held perfectly still as the man’s knife dug into his tail. So the asshole thought he was taking a souvenir, did he? Nic was going to make this a memorable moment, all right.

He felt the pain, the sawing motion as blade collided with bone. He waited just enough to feel the blood flow and the fury rise up within him. One last burst, that’s all he could muster. But it would be enough.

He roared. An insufficient blast of fire shot from him, but he did not intend to use flame to dispatch his assailant. No, he knew he did not have enough for that. He needed to rely on the man’s own vanity and greed if he intended to kill him.

He channeled all his remaining energy into his tail. It was a wonderful appendage, his tail, and this paltry human could not even guess what power was contained there. With a flick, he swatted the knife out of the man’s hand, then wrapped his bloodied limb around the man’s neck. He squeezed just enough to hear the man gasp.

“You underestimated me, human,” Nic growled. “Tell me who has orchestrated all this, what purpose it will all serve.”

But the human merely struggled against him, grasping in vain at Nic’s tail and gurgling for breath. The blood from Nic’s wound was eating into the man’s flesh, burning away at his neck. The smell was unpleasant, but the sight of the man going limp brought some measure of satisfaction. All four of them were gone now. The clutch was out of immediate danger.

Nic dropped the body and slumped back onto the floor. What of this fresh crew that the man said would be arriving here soon? How could Nic fend them off? How could he protect his clutch? There was little he could do, so drained of his power. In ordinary circumstances he could simply rest here, drawing power from the heated bed of the clutch, replenishing his exhausted being. But with these damned devices plunged into his body, he seemed to be losing power faster than he could absorb it.

If he were back at the jobsite, in his human form, he knew exactly what he could do to revive himself. But he was not there, not in that form, and not with Lianne. Once again he’d been forced to leave her alone and unprotected. This time she’d been right in the very entrance to these caverns! If that other crew did arrive, they’d find her immediately.

He had to get word to her, tell her to hide. Could he do it? There was no choice—he had to find a way. He shut out everything else, his exhaustion, his pain, his concerns for the clutch. If he could just reach out far enough to touch her, he could send a warning. He could tell her to go, to find someplace to hide until the humans could find her.

He wished he could see her again, to be certain she was safe. He shouldn’t have brought her out here. It was selfish of him. He should have found enough strength in himself without using her the way he had, the way he would have used her again if they’d been given the chance. Regret was not an emotion he was often familiar with, but he understood it now. He regretted that he’d never feel her body beneath his again, hear her soft sighs and see the glow of passion on her face, but mostly he regretted that he’d put her in danger. She might never again feel any passion or pleasure with anyone—and it would be his fault.

Unless he could make her hear him. He reached out with his mind and groped through the cold, empty spaces. She felt so far away from him now. Could his weakened mind penetrate the distance? He would use the last of his life force to try.

Lianne…you’re in danger!

L
ianne was staring at the faint, throbbing glow of the…thing…laid out on the floor of the cave. Why was she still seeing it? Surely once she slammed the “fairy” with her boot, that should have vanquished it from her imagination, right? It didn’t. The little wings simply crumpled and the unconscious body sprawled where it had fallen.

At least, she hoped it was merely unconscious. She would hate to have hallucinated killing the thing, even if it was scheming something against Nic and had been rather rude toward her. But why on earth would her mind fabricate this sort of thing? Why not something sensible like a warm, cozy fireplace or some practical footwear that actually kept her toes from being frostbit? No, her stupid tumor brain had gone and invented a tiny blue jackass with wings. It figured.

She blew a deep breath into her boot to warm it up inside, then stuck it back on her foot. Well, it was better than standing on the cold rock in her socks. She did the same with the second boot, stamping to make sure they were secure. The fairy didn’t flinch. He didn’t look too good. She thought about going over to see if she could help him, but something stopped her.

Lianne…

A voice was calling her name. No, not calling, actually. It was not an audible voice. It was inside her head! Oh, hell. The tumor must be getting worse.

It called again, clearer and with added information this time.
Lianne…you’re in danger!

Danger? She glared at the fairy to make sure he wasn’t messing with her. He was clearly not capable of conversation right now, and she knew what she’d heard hadn’t been a fairy voice. It wasn’t some alien from a UFO, either. It was Nic’s voice. And it seemed so real! She stood still and held her breath, listening as closely as she could.

They’re coming, Lianne. You have to go. Get out of here. Hide.

The fairy had mentioned something about a shipment on its way. A dangerous shipment, maybe? It made sense that Nic’s disembodied voice would know about what the fairy had said, since it was all just some weird fabrication of her own mind, anyway. But why
this
? Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? Could it be that she really was in some kind of danger?

She didn’t know what was real and what was hallucination at this point. She did know that Nic was missing. What if that really was his voice and he was calling for her? The cave did seem to go deep into the mountain, much deeper than she had considered investigating in the darkness. And with the glassy-smooth walls, sound would echo and carry in odd ways…What if she hadn’t imagined Nic’s voice?

“Nic!” she called out. “Are you here somewhere, inside this mountain?”

Yes, I’m here, Lianne.

Thank heavens! He didn’t sound very good, though. Just as she’d been afraid, he was in trouble. She had to help him.

“I’m coming, Nic. Where are you?”

No, you can’t come to me. They’ll find…

“What is it? Are you injured, Nic? Keep talking and I’ll follow your voice.”

But his voice was very quiet now, nearly imperceptible. He was fading in and out and not making much sense. She caught bits of babbling about danger and hiding, and she was pretty sure he apologized at some point for something. Then he mentioned eggs, but she guessed that part actually made sense. The poor guy was probably hungry, maybe a little delirious from the cold. She needed to find him and get him out of here as soon as possible.

But he wasn’t being very helpful. How was she going to find him in the dark? One quick glance back at her wounded hallucination and she had an answer.

She scooped the little fairy up and held him in front of her, toward the darkness at the back of the cave. Sure enough, his blue glow was just enough to light up the nearest ten to fifteen feet. All right, then. She could proceed. Probably when her head was clear and things were making sense again she’d find out this was just a flashlight or something, but for now it sure as hell looked and felt like a fairy.

She dangled him by his wings and let him light the way as she moved deeper into the cave. After several yards she came to a fork. One passageway went off to the left, and one went to the right. The one on the right seemed to be larger and more heavily used, so she started toward that one.

No, take the other.

Ah, so Nic must hear her footsteps. He must be close by. She adjusted her route and followed his lead, moving carefully in the direction his voice indicated. The glowing fairy twitched in her fingers, but made no effort to escape.

Again she came to a fork, but this time there were three possible options. Nic directed her to the one on the right. She was hesitant to follow his lead this time because the passageway took an obvious downward angle and she worried about losing her footing, but she realized that could very well be what got Nic into trouble. Maybe he was just down the slope of this narrowing passage. She moved carefully along, holding her fairy out like a lantern and steadying herself by clinging to the smooth walls.

Turn to the left. Then a quick right.

She did as he said. Sure enough, after she made a sharp left into a passage that seemed to come from nowhere, there was an almost immediate intersection. She turned right. This passageway continued a gradual downward slope, but it was somewhat more twisting than the others she had been on so far. It also had quite a few other passageways leading off it, but Nic was silent, so she continued onward.

What a strange place this was! And getting warmer, too. At first she hadn’t been sure of it, assuming that maybe she simply felt warmer due to all her activity, but now she was certain. The air was definitely warm.

She also had to admit that there was no way Nic had been directing her by hearing her footsteps. It was entirely possible that he’d not been talking to her at all, that this was just more of her hallucinations and she’d led herself down into this dark, unwelcoming place. She had no idea how she was going to get herself out of here, either.

“Nic? Are you down here?” she called out just in case maybe there was some small hope she wasn’t as crazy as she worried she might be.

Stay where you are, Lianne. You’ll be safe there. Well hidden.

Hidden? What the hell was he doing, bringing her down here only to keep her hidden? No, she came down here to find him and that’s what she intended to do.

She could feel him. She knew where he was. She hadn’t felt him before, but now she did. He was close by, and he was in pain.

Her footsteps sped up as she moved through the passageway, instinctively making two more turns before she could see the warm glow of what appeared to be fire ahead of her. The air brushing her skin was hot, and very dry. She no longer needed the fairy to light up her way, but she held him carefully in her hand, just the same.

Nic was just through the next opening. She knew he was there, could sense him even though he hadn’t spoken to her for several minutes now. She burst from her passageway into a huge, bright cavern, lit by the glow of what could only be a lava pool. So this was the source of energy they had been trying to tap into—the ancient volcano was not dormant at all. No wonder their readings had been inconsistent. It was just as Nic had warned.

But how had their team not discovered this? Surely they could have detected this even without a permit to come onto—or into—the mountain. And what were those oddly round boulders doing in the center of this lava pool? It struck her as very strange that they could appear to be floating there, not sinking and not being consumed by the molten rock that they rested on.

And then she noticed another strange thing in this cavern: a dragon.

At least, that’s what the giant thing looked like, stretched out on the cavern floor near the edge of the lava pool. Was it alive? No, of course not. Dragons weren’t real, so this one couldn’t possibly be alive. But then again, this wasn’t exactly Disney World, either. Who would have built a life-sized dragon in the middle of a volcano?

And this one looked an awful lot like the one she imagined in the storm, the one that had protected her from the wind and the lightning, then carried her into the cave. The one whose voice sounded just like Nic. Oddly enough, this rocky mound of incomprehensible dragon was lying exactly where her instinct had told her to find Nic.

Oh my God. Did the dragon eat Nic?
No, her mind was telling her what it all meant, but she was ignoring it. No way would she even admit to herself such crazy imaginings. There were no such things as dragons, and Nic sure as hell wasn’t one of them. She had
not
made out with a reptile.

But she did know that whatever the thing was, it needed her. Clenching her still-groggy fairy, she hurried across the distance between them. By God, it sure as hell did look like a dragon when she reached it.

Huge, steely scales covered its long, thick body. It was hard to determine what color the beast actually was. The scales were iridescent, their color appearing bright red in some areas to accentuate his huge, muscular frame, and darkening to a deep, deep burgundy in others. Orange flickers from the burning lava pool reflected off the creature, making him appear to radiate heat. Between the scales here and there she caught sight of a deep red glow that came from inside him. It pulsated like a heartbeat, slow and labored. The body expanded and retracted with pained, shallow breathing.

Leathery bat-like wings sprouted from its back, but now they were furled helplessly against the creature’s side. It appeared to have four legs ending in digits with knife-sharp claws, those on the forelegs appearing more like hands than feet. She walked along the length of it, terrified yet fascinated.

Above the wings, a long, serpentine neck extended. It was lined with the same metallic scales that covered the rest of his large, rugged body, but these were smaller and more intricately aligned. She noticed there were black markings adorning his sides, wrapping around his muscular limbs, twining with thorny points, barbs, and symbols she could only wonder the meaning of. The markings culminated in the shape of a stylized dagger running the length of his neck. No, not a dagger. A sword—long, razor-sharp, and deadly.

It was a dragon-sized version of the tattoo she’d seen on Nic. She could no longer pretend to doubt. This truly was Nic.
A dragon
.

She was suddenly filled with dread. What could possibly have happened to bring him to this state? He was so weak, so helpless…there was so much pain in his body and she could do nothing to ease it. She didn’t even truly know if she could make herself face him like this.

What would she find when she looked him in the eye? And what would he find in her eyes? She hated to let him know that she feared him, this place…her own sanity.

But sanity wasn’t the issue. She reached her hand out to touch him. Warm. Moving. Alive. Yes, this was very real and she wanted to understand how.

She followed the neck until she came to the huge, arrow-shaped head. Her steps faltered. His face was angled away from her so she couldn’t see his eyes. A crest of glinting spikes lined his jaw, while his skull seemed to be formed of impenetrable plates. His appearance was something like the dragons she’d seen depicted in art and in movies, but the reality of standing next to such a creature, feeling heat radiate off his body and hearing the rush of air through his lungs, was so much more than she could have ever imagined.

Yes, she had to admit even her wildest fantasies could never have produced something like this, with or without the help of a brain tumor. He was the embodiment of danger, of power, and yet…he was beautiful.

You shouldn’t be here, Lianne. It isn’t safe.

“I think I need to be here,” she replied, moving around so she could meet his gaze. “You need me, Nic.”

His huge head shifted, his scales scraping over the rock like flint sharpening steel. She found his eyes. Nic’s eyes, dark but fiery, piercing into her soul as if he could read her very thoughts. Maybe he could.

You need to hide. Some others will be here and…What is that in your hand?

“Oh, this?” She held up the fairy. He had moved once or twice, so she knew he wasn’t dead, but for some reason he wasn’t coming around very well. Had she really nailed him that hard with her boot? She felt kind of bad for the snotty little guy.

“I found him in the mouth of the cave. He was talking to someone on a device of some sort, something about a shipment arriving soon. Then he found me and he looked like he was going to start trouble so I…well, I slammed him with my boot. He’s still alive, though. Sort of.”

The dampeners. They must be affecting him, too.

“Dampeners? What are you…Hey, you’ve got something jammed into your back. Oh my God, there are three of them!”

That’s why you have to leave. I can’t help you, Lianne. You’ve got to go before they get here.

“These weapon things are the reason you’re just kind of lying here? Will it help if I pull them out?”

There’s no time. It’s too late for me. You have to go.

“It’s
not
too late, damn it! What are these things doing to you, anyway? They’ve got blinking lights on them. Are they bombs or something? Are you going to explode?”

No, they’re dampeners. It’s complicated, Lianne. You won’t believe me even if I do explain.

“I’m holding a half-dead fairy in my hand and having a conversation with a giant dragon. Try me, Nic.”

The fairy is half-dead because these devices that were shot into me are dampeners. They collect magic and store it in that large console over there. I need magic to exist, Lianne, and so does that fairy. And so do the eggs incubating in the clutch here in this mountain.

She looked around. As he said, there was a large equipment console sitting nearby. The blinking lights on it roughly matched the lights on the devices wedged between Nic’s metallic scales. But
eggs
? Her gaze shifted to the rounded boulders cradled in the heat of the lava pool. Obviously not boulders, after all. They were dragon eggs! No wonder nothing about this project had made sense. This whole mountain was just one big nest for little dragons waiting to hatch.