Rise Of The Dragon King (Book 5) (9 page)

Over his life, Rikky had overcome so many things that he knew he could have her, too. Where there was a will, there was a way, and Rikky had more
will
than any score of men, but he wasn’t willing to betray the Dragoneers, or his honor, to have that end. No matter how determined he was about some things, like matters of the heart, the outcome just couldn’t be up to him. Still, he enjoyed the fresh feeling of being close to her, and held a bit of hope that maybe she
would willingly separate from Jenka and choose to be with him. Jenka was in a daze most of the time anyway. Rikky doubted he would care.

Do you think they are safe?
Zahrellion’s voice held enough concern to draw him back to the moment.

Who?

Jericho and Pascal, of course
.

Crystal lurched ahead of Silva, but with two quick wingbeats, they were side by side again.

They are fine
, Rikky told her honestly.
The castle is magically fortified, and nearly two hundred rangers have taken up residence in the valley
.

I wish Marcherion were here
, she said, and the words stung Rikky. He understood, though, for March was the most defensive and protective-minded of them all. If he was guarding the children, it would be one less thing for them to worry about.

Rikky was about to ask her about a funding issue that needed resolution so that the rangers could continue expanding with the populace, but what had appeared all along to be a huge boulder near the shore was now a massive, leaping colossal. And a roiling mass of flame, thrown by the wizard sitting on its back, was heading right for Crystal’s underbelly.

Rikky didn’t see the other beast, but Silva felt it as it narrowly grazed her hind section.

Get higher
, he heard Zahrellion’s voice. Then she and her wyrm were tumbling away. They’d tried to dodge the fireball, but only managed to avoid the brunt of it. Crystal roared out in agony, for her icy scales were more sensitive to heat than other dragons’ were.

Rikky saw that Zah’s wyrm wasn’t going to crash, and then Sliva pulled them into a steep climb. A moment later, they were diving, and Silva was adding the thrust of her speedy wingbeats to their momentum. They leveled out and banked around the colossal before them. A streak of red-hot magical force shot past them. Rikky felt his hair curling from the proximity and was glad they avoided the blast. To the creature’s surprise, Silva kept banking, causing it to have to twist and turn to keep them in its sight. Then, when it was about to stumble, she turned sharply up, coming to a near hover a few hundred feet above the thing.

She didn’t expect it to leap up at them so swiftly, but it played into her attack, for Rikky’s dragon shot a blast of her molten pewter spew straight down and then simply pushed herself out of the creature’s way with one casual wing-thrust.

The colossal was scorched down its side, and the wizard riding it, half-
melted as it slowed its rise and then started back down toward the ground. For a full heartbeat, Rikky felt confident, then he saw Crystal and Zahrellion fumbling around on the ground where they’d landed. Zah was defenseless, and it was plain that he had to get there before the other monster did, or she was done.

“So, with the amulets, we will be able to control the dragons we collar?” King Chad asked as he looked over the dusty crate holding a pair of newly made, and recently enchanted, dragon collars. Richard was familiar with them because his grandfather had used them on the dragons he fought in the pits on King’s Isle. Royal’s twin had fought there, and after attacking his grandmother, had been beheaded by young Herald Kaljatig before a cheering crowd. The thought made him seethe, but he didn’t show his emotion to the king.

A little bit of studying revealed that the devices could be made easily enough and then enchanted with certain charm and binding spells by a capable wizard. Richard had tried, but couldn’t manage it. He had a knack for the destructive magic Vax Noffa and his Nightshade had taught him, but not much else. Luckily, the king was in league with a clutch of wizards who cared not why they were making the items, but about how much the king was donating toward their attempts at establishing a trade agreement with Zahrellion. Richard doubted
that was what they were doing with all the coins the smaller kingdoms were donating to them, for Zah would readily agree to anything fair and reasonable. Giving a bunch of aligned wizards gold seemed like a foolish thing to him, but they ensorcelled his collars with minimal fuss, and he was thankful for that.

Richard looked to the king and smiled a genuine smile. “Yes, but collaring a dragon will not be easy. And on that note, I would like to have the honor of leading the quest to collar our wyrms. I know you have duties, and risking your life isn’t what the kingdom nee—”

“Nonsense, Richard.” The king nodded, as if hearing Richard’s offer pleased him. “
We
will lead the expedition, and
we
will travel in luxury, until we can no more.” Richard wasn’t sure the man could spend a day outdoors, even in the mountains, without being scorched raw by the sun. He was as white as fresh linen.

“I fought legions when Kar started breaking into smaller entities,” King Chad went on. “I am no castle-raised king, but I will ride to my battles in a carriage on my arse while being fed fruits by naked women, not in a saddle, and definitely not on my feet. And if you ask me why—” The king stopped and laughed, and then put a hand on Richard’s shoulder. “—I’ll answer: Because I can.”

“What of the wedding?” Richard asked, knowing what the man would say.
What any king would say.

“We will spend the weeks between then and now organizing the party.” The king hugged him in a fatherly fashion. It was clear that he would have been a great father to a son, had he had one. “I think three days is a long enough time for the two of you to consummate the union. On the fourth day after the wedding, we will depart.”

Richard laughed out loud, and so did the king. Richard knew the king was thinking he might get control of a dragon and try to abscond. By having a huge public wedding first, the union would be undeniable, no matter what happened on their quest.

This was all fine with Richard, for once he was married, if something happened to the king, Richard’s son would be the heir. That meant that for eighteen years, Richard would be King Regent, and if he had it his way, he would have a dragon to help him hold his son’s throne the whole time.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

C
lover urged Crimzon around toward the lake. She looked over her shoulder and checked that Aikira was there, and was glad that she was. She’d had no idea that the Outland girl had been orphaned, just like Crimzon, and that Clover’s son had taken her in and trained her. Clover’s previous thoughts of the young ebon-skinned woman dissipated, for here was what she could only see in her heart now as her granddaughter.

Crimzon topped the hill that kept them from seeing the lake, and Clover was just in time to see the colossal that just missed Rikky foul its landing and send up a huge splash as it crashed, half in, half out of the water. Another of the beasts, this one with a robed figure riding it, was pouncing on Crystal, where she was struggling on the ground.

Clover sent a thought to her dragon, and he complied by lurching them closer and sending a streak of blood-red lightning sizzling across the sky. It missed the wizard but arced deeply into the monster. For the brief moment it was touching them, Crimzon elevated the amount of power he was expending and
caused the colossal to rear up. This not only saved Zah and her dragon from being savaged like a mouse under a hungry cat, but it allowed Rikky and his speedy wyrm to get there and engage the thing, so that Zahrellion could tend to her dragon.

Clover saw the injured beast slide into the lake and dive under the surface. At first she could see it by using Crimzon’s heat vision, but soon the thing was too deep to make out with those senses.

Aikira blasted at the other beast from near Rikky, and soon the creature had a dragon on three sides of it and was thrashing and turning just to keep them all in its vision. The wizard riding the colossal wasn’t panicking, though. His attack hit Golden hard, then he sent Silva back-flapping through the air with another invisible fist of force. Clover had Crimzon bathe the beast in fire and was certain it felt a good deal of her wyrm’s violent heat before the pair teleported away with a static pop.

Something else comes
, Crimzon voiced through the ethereal, so that the others could hear. It turned out to be Jenka, though.

A short while later, Rikky was tending Crystal’s burns with his exceptional healing magic, and Zahrellion was cursing the colossals and their wizards for all she was worth.

“We’ve got to eliminate them, Jenka,” she growled.

“We will, Zah.” Jenka nodded, but instead of going to his rattled wife, he went to Clover’s side.

“What do you think we should do now?”

“I think we should go hunting for those bastards, is what.”

It was no easy chore getting Crystal back to Clover’s Castle, but together they managed it. They decided to hunt in groups of two, and Jenka and Clover were off while the others were still discussing strategies.

Rikky watched Zahrellion and could sense her disappointment when she learned this, but the boys were there, and both she and Aikira were aglow with motherly adoration for their children. Amelia was giggling shrilly, and Rikky decided that, since she was running on her own two feet now, she was about to be a handful. He also noted how eerie the child was. It was as if she shared her father’s mind-drifting episodes, or maybe she just stared vacantly at times.

It wasn’t fair to ask the women to go hunt these beasts, as they had so much more at risk than he, and so many more responsibilities. Aikira insisted, though, and Zahrellion agreed to watch over Pascal while she and Crystal rested their wounds and tended to the kingdom’s needs.

“Be careful,” Zahrellion told them, as she gave them each a hug in turn. Rikky closed his eyes and savored her embrace. He wasn’t disappointed when she held him a little longer than usual, and she seemed pleased that he gave her an extra long squeeze in return. The moment made Aikira give them both a look, though, and Rikky found himself blushing as they levitated from the rotunda to the landing area.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

J
ade
can sense that wizard’s particular imprint in the essence
, Jenka said.
But only when he is using his magic
.

So, you don’t know where he is, only where he was when he last cast a spell?
Clover asked.

Yessss
, Jade hissed the answer, for his rider’s mind had already drifted from the conversation.

Why didn’t you tell me about Vax?
The demanding tone of Clover’s voice pulled Jenka’s attention back to the moment.

You were aging once we were free of that place
. Jenka surprised her with the clarity of his response.
I didn’t want you to spend the last few days of your life wallowing in regret. Had I known you’d be restored by the crazed dwarf’s fountain, I might have
.

I’m thankful for you not telling me, Jenka
, Clover clarified.
I was just curious why
.

Yessss
, Jade hissed.

He just cast a spell
, said Jenka, letting Jade carry them toward the sensation.

They started southwest, and soon the long, oval sheen of Demon’s Lake could be seen in the distance. Jenka was having to concentrate to keep focused, but he was managing it. There was only one place around the lake that he knew could conceal all of the beasts, and if they were hiding in the grottoes, then Jenka would have a huge advantage over them, for he had scoured King Richard’s mind once, and knew that his brother and Royal had escaped Gravelbone through a hidden tunnel in the depths of those haunted caves.

It turned out not to be such an easy set up. There was a creature hiding in the shallower part of the grottoes, and a handful of wizardly spell casters attending it, but it was most likely the creature Silva and Rikky had scorched. The more powerful wizard Jade had sensed must have been there and gone.