Test of the Dragon Read online

  "We'll do our best." I smiled, trying to ease the worried look in Tibo's eyes. "Lessie and the others will keep us safe. But you have to promise not to mention anything about them to the others until we're gone, okay?"

  He nodded. "I understand."

  I gave him a moment to say goodbye to Halldor and Rhia, and then the three of us headed out to prepare for the voyage.

  "I hope that man keeps his word," Halldor said. "There's no doubt he's a good man, but even good men can be swayed by greed, and we did give him a lot of gold."

  "I think he'll be all right," Rhia said confidently. She stopped by a stall selling exotic colorful fruits, and plucked up a large, round fruit with yellow and green stripes to examine. "Aelor didn't lie about anything he said, so I know his intentions are true."

  "Either way, it's better than taking a child to the Hellmouth," I said. And, if nothing else, at least the boy would be able to sleep soundly again, away from Zakyiar's influence.

  As we walked, the piece of heart seemed to drag me down, slowing my stride. I wondered if the dragon god could only reach us in our dreams, or if there were other ways he would try to thwart us.

  No point in worrying about it now, I told myself. We would find out soon enough once we were underway.

  18

  Halldor, Rhia, and I spent the rest of the afternoon buying supplies and going over our plan with the dragons until we ironed out the details. Despite my worries, we enjoyed walking around the port city, sampling the exotic wares, and even buying a few carvings and vividly colored scarves as souvenirs.

  "It's kind of funny, isn't it," Rhia giggled as we examined a trio of dragon carvings. They were each two feet tall, and the dragons had four sets of small wings spaced across their long, serpentine bodies. "These people don't really know what real dragons look like, do they?"

  "I think they model them off the sea serpents that pirate captain was talking about," Halldor said. He traced the carving's long, undulating body, which was really shaped more like a snake than a dragon. "I really hope we don't encounter one of these on the open sea. I've heard the bigger ones can wrap their entire body around a ship and crush it."

  The mental image that conjured sent a shudder through me. "It's a good thing we'll have three real dragons to fight them off, isn’t it?"

  "True." Halldor smirked. "Kiethara would love to tussle with a sea serpent. She's always spoiling for a fight."

  Great. Another hothead to deal with. But then again, Halldor was a bit of a hothead himself, so I wasn't really surprised to learn that his dragon was, too. "As long as she doesn't go out of her way to provoke a fight, that's okay with me," I said dryly.

  Naturally, I dreamed of sea serpents and thunderstorms that night. But though I could feel the dragon god's malevolence brushing against my mind, twisting my dreams into nightmares, neither he nor Salcombe made an appearance, and I slept through without waking. I wondered if that meant he was occupied elsewhere, or if he simply didn't feel up to torturing me that night.

  Maybe he's just run out of creativity, I joked to myself, and then squashed that thought. If the dragon god was listening to my thoughts, the last thing I needed to do was challenge him to make my nightmares even more horrific than they already were.

  The three of us bathed and dressed at first light, and met Captain Drakis at six in the morning, as agreed. It wasn't hard to find his ship. It was easily one of the biggest in the bay, constructed of some kind of black wood, and as promised, the mast sported large red sails with twisting sea serpents on them.

  "Morning," Drakis called, lifting his cap in greeting as he watched us from the deck rail. His sharp gaze swept over us as we boarded the ship, and I knew he was wondering why we had packed so lightly. "Someone bringing your luggage along?" he asked casually.

  "It's with the rest of our party," Halldor said. "They'll be joining us once we're underway."

  Drakis scowled. "You expect us to load up your cargo once we're at sea, from another ship?" he demanded. "That's not going to be easy."

  "You let us worry about that," I said sweetly as I handed him the remaining portion of his payment. "All you need to worry about is making sure this ship gets to the Hellmouth."

  "If you say so." Drakis shrugged as he pocketed the money, then whistled. "This is Cronis, my first mate. He'll show you to your cabins while we get underway."

  Drakis's first mate was a hulking monster of a man, with a smashed face, several missing teeth, and a thick accent we could barely understand. Halldor immediately put his body in front of Rhia as he approached us, but the man barely gave her a glance as he led us to the small cabins belowdecks that we'd been given.

  "These are surprisingly clean," Rhia said as we inspected the spaces. They were small, with room for a narrow twin bed, chest of drawers, and a washstand, but more than sufficient for our needs. "I thought pirates were dirty people."

  "Don't let them hear you say that," Halldor said under his breath. "Privateers can get real touchy about that kind of thing, even if they really are pirates."

  "Sorry." Rhia's cheeks colored. "Do you think it's safe for us to leave our stuff here?"

  "We don't have much," I said, eyeing the water and food supplies we'd brought. But the last thing I needed was for the pirates to tamper with our stuff, so I used my lockpick to seal the doors, then went above deck to watch as we set sail.

  It took a few more minutes, but we finally took off, our sails catching a favorable wind. I sighed in relief as we sailed out of the harbor and smiled as we passed a rocky outcropping where a large group of sea lions sunned themselves. So far, Drakis hadn't given us much trouble. I had no doubt he'd get nasty on us at some point, maybe demand more money, but he'd quickly change his tune once Lessie and the others arrived.

  "Zara!" Rhia cried. "Look!"

  I turned back to the sea lions just in time to see an enormous sea serpent burst from the water. The sea lions barked frantically as they scrambled away, but the serpent struck fast, snatching one of the larger females up in its maw. The poor animal thrashed frantically, scoring the serpent with its huge tusks, but it was no match for the sea serpent. The larger beast's fangs pierced tough hide and blubber, raining blood onto the small patch of land, then abruptly disappeared beneath the waves, leaving nothing but a swirling red froth to indicate it had ever been there.

  "Well." I cleared my throat, trying to banish that horrific sight from my mind as I turned back to Rhia. "At least we're not sea lions, right?"

  "Right," Rhia echoed, her face white as a sheet.

  "We'll be fine," Halldor said, putting an arm around Rhia's shoulder and turning her away from the scene of the attack. "Let's just try to enjoy the journey, okay?"

  "Okay." She leaned into him with a long sigh.

  A few of the sailors cast smug glances toward Rhia and Halldor as they stood by the rail, and my stomach clenched as more than a few lingered on Rhia. But there was no need for me to butt in. Halldor's frigid glare was more than enough to keep the men moving. Halldor was tall, well-muscled, and a trained warrior, and few men aside from the first mate could easily take him. As he tightened his arm protectively around Rhia, I felt a twinge of jealousy. I certainly didn't need a man to protect me—for that matter, neither did Rhia—but Halldor's affections reminded me that Tavarian was absent.

  What was he doing now, I wondered as I fingered the sapphire engagement ring. Had he finished his negotiations with Warosia? I hoped they'd managed to come to an agreement, but I knew these things were never simple. It had taken Tavarian over a month to get the Traggaran king to even give him an audience, and that might not even have happened if I hadn't orchestrated a series of events to turn King Zoltar against the Zallabarians.

  Then again, the Warosians weren't our enemy. They wanted to ally with us against Zallabar, which already put us way ahead of the game.

  "Miss." Captain Drakis's smug voice caught my attention, and I turned away from the railing to see him and ten of his men standing in front
of us in a semi-circle. My blood iced over. All of them had drawn their cutlasses and pointed them straight at us. "I think we need to have a conversation."

  I sucked in a deep breath, my hand drifting toward the dragon blade strapped to my leg. "Conversations typically don't involve swords."

  He moved faster than I expected, the flat of his blade lifting my chin before I could raise my weapon against him. "Actually, in my experience, some of the best ones do," he drawled, a lazy gleam in his eye.

  "You bastard," Halldor snarled, jabbing his own sword in Drakis's direction. "I knew you were going to try to cheat us."

  "And yet you still boarded my ship anyway." The captain laughed. "You three really are idiots, aren't you?"

  "Let me guess," I said, keeping my tone bored so he wouldn't sense my fear. Sweat trickled down my spine despite the chilly ocean breeze, and it took everything I had not to move when all I wanted was to disarm Drakis and run him through with my own weapon. "Now that you have us at your mercy, you're going to confiscate our supplies and sell us into slavery."

  "Why, I couldn't have said it better myself." Drakis grinned at me, and the flash of too-white teeth sent a chill down my spine. "Although I might keep you," he said, slowly scraping his blade down the front of my shirt. He applied just enough pressure to make my blood run cold without actually pricking my skin. "I do have a soft spot for redheads, and it's been a while since I last kept a pleasure slave."

  I was just about to tell him what he could do with that idea when a large shadow fell over the ship. "Dragons!" someone cried.

  "Don't be ridic—" Drakis started when something large and very heavy landed on the poop deck. The pirates cried out as the ship began to capsize in that direction, cannons and equipment sliding toward the front. The blood drained from Drakis's face as he whipped his head in that direction, and I laughed as Lessie grinned at him, displaying her terrifying maw of teeth to best advantage.

  "Something wrong?" I asked pleasantly as Kiethara landed on the other end of the ship. The sailors screamed again as the boat began to list the other direction, and I used the distraction to knock the cutlass out of Drakis's hand. "I forgot to mention," I purred as I flicked my dragon blade out so that the edge rested against the side of his throat. "My three passengers are very large."

  A third shadow passed over the ship, and the sailors scattered as Ykos landed in the middle, somewhat stabilizing things.

  "I wouldn't do that," Halldor called as three of the men grabbed one of the cannons and pointed it at Ykos. "You might injure him, but the other two will set this entire ship on fire, and then where would you be?"

  "You bitch!" Drakis's seafoam eyes blazed with fury as he bared his teeth at me. "You three are dragon riders, aren't you?"

  "We sure are," I said cheerfully. "Now what was it that you were saying about getting us to our destination?"

  Drakis's jaw worked for several moments as he tried to figure a way out of this. "If we kill you," he said slowly, "then your dragons will die too."

  "Who told you that story?" I scoffed even as every hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. If the crew members moved fast enough, they could kill the three of us, and I had no idea if the dragons would be able to take their ship out before they died as well. "I assure you that if you harm even one hair on my head, Lessie will be more than happy to make your death very slow and very painful. Dragons aren't dumb beasts, you know. They're just as intelligent as humans, and they can be very inventive when it comes to revenge."

  Drakis swallowed hard as he glanced at the three dragons. The rest of the sailors still had their weapons out, many trained on us, but they were shaking, and several of them sported some fetching trouser stains. "You can't sail this ship without us," he finally said.

  "Aha." I winked at Rhia and Halldor. "Looks like he's finally catching on."

  "Maybe," Rhia said with a wicked grin that surprised the hell out of me. "After all, we don't need all the sailors, do we? Dragons need a lot of food, and they get hungry pretty quickly. How many of them do you think they could eat without compromising the ship?"

  "All right, all right!" Drakis finally threw up his hands in the air in surrender. He barked something at the other pirates, and they slowly lowered their weapons. "We'll take you to the Hellmouth."

  "Excellent." I sheathed my weapon, then gave the captain a broad smile. "Now what do you say we rustle up some lunch?"

  "That was insane," Halldor muttered later on as we sat on the poop deck. Lessie was curled up behind us, lazily watching the helmsman as he steered the ship. The three dragons had stayed exactly where they were, spread out across the ship so no one could try any funny business. "Completely and utterly insane."

  "Maybe, but we're going to have quite the story to tell," Rhia said with a grin. I was happy to see that most of her fear had vanished. The confrontation with the pirates had exhilarated her, and she was still riding on the high of our victory. "It's not every day one can say they commandeered a pirate ship and its crew, can they?"

  "No," I said with a chuckle as I leaned against Lessie's hide. Her warmth was a boon out on the open ocean like this. Though we were in a southern climate, the winds still made it chilly. "And we couldn't have done it without our dragons."

  Lessie curved her neck inward to nuzzle me, but her mood was uncharacteristically solemn. "We'll need to stay on our guard," she said. "These men might be temporarily cowed into submission, but they are used to being in charge. It won't be long before they try to revolt."

  "I know." The hateful look Drakis cast our way every time he passed us was proof enough of that.

  19

  "Zara!" Lessie's strident voice pierced the murky dream. "They're trying to escape!"

  I bolted upright in bed, then raced out the door, thankful I'd chosen to sleep fully dressed. "Rhia! Halldor!" I yelled as I raced up the stairs, but they were already behind me, woken by their own dragons.

  "Damn you!" Captain Drakis swore as Lessie stood in front of the lifeboats. Two of them were already in the water, I noted, rowing away, but thankfully Lessie had headed off the captain himself before he could get on board. "Move out of the way!" he snarled, brandishing his sword at Lessie.

  "Do you have a death wish, Captain?" I asked, genuinely curious as I strolled up to him. The captain whirled around to face me, sword pointed in my direction, but Lessie roared so loudly that he dropped the weapon immediately, his face turning sheet white in the moonlight.

  "You can't keep us here," he snapped, straightening his spine. I had to give the man credit—he had to be scared out of his mind, but he met my gaze squarely and didn't tremble. "There's not enough food or water on board for all of us and three dragons."

  "That's why we brought extra supplies," I said pleasantly. "Besides, we're going to pass Laoras on our way to the for—" I nearly said "forge," then cleared my throat. "The Hellmouth, and we'll be able to stock up on extra water and food there."

  The captain crossed his arms, his green eyes glittering as he studied me. "What was that you were about to call it?" he asked. "The force? The form?"

  I gritted my teeth. "None of your business."

  "Oh, I think it is my business." He took a step toward me, ignoring Lessie's warning snarl. "Your dragon isn't going to kill me for asking questions, not when you need me to run this ship," he snapped. "What is it you're looking for on that island? Treasure?"

  I glared at him. "I thought I made it clear to you when I hired you that I wanted someone who wouldn't ask questions. Now either you tell your men to get their asses back to the boat, or our dragons will bring them back. And if they have to do that, I can't promise that they won't eat a few of them as a midnight snack."

  The captain turned on his heel, then rushed over to the railing and started shouting at the men. I let out a silent sigh of relief when the sailors reluctantly rowed back to the boat. While it was true we probably didn't need all of them, the last thing I needed was for someone important to leave the ship if
something went wrong.

  "The next time this happens," I said quietly to Drakis as the lifeboats were hoisted back onto the ship, “I'm going to tie you up and strap you to Kiethara's chest.” I gestured to the large red dragon at the other end of the ship who watched us with glittering gold eyes. "A dragon's chest is the hottest part of its body, where the fire sits, ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice. Oh, it's not hot enough to roast your balls off," I said with a vicious smile as Drakis's face went white again. "But you'll be very uncomfortable, that I can guarantee."

  "You're a stone-cold bitch," Drakis muttered. "In other circumstances, I think the two of us might have been good friends."

  I snorted. "We're never going to be friends. But if you quit trying to undermine me, we might all be alive by the end of this."

  The next morning, the sailors were even surlier than usual. True, they kept the ship on course, and they didn't try to fight us, but the slop they served us for breakfast was barely edible, and we had to shout at them several times for them to even acknowledge us when we tried to give an order.

  "I guess we can't really blame them," Halldor said dryly. "And threatening to kill them for serving us gruel isn't going to change anything."

  Despite their hatred of us, the sailors were reluctantly fascinated by the dragons. From our travels through the continent, it was obvious that no one had ever seen a dragon before, and the sailors were taken in by their iridescent scales and powerful wings. They loved to watch the dragons fly over the ocean, hunting serpents and other large sea animals for their dinner, and they often placed bets whenever the dragons got into a battle with a sea serpent.

  "By the dragon," Rhia muttered as Ykos landed on the deck, half a serpent dangling from his maw. He dropped the long, bloody piece of flesh on the deck, and the sailors watched in horrified amazement as he tore into it with relish. "It took me a bit of time to get used to watching him eat fresh kills, but this is a whole new level of gross."