Warlock Apprentice, Black Lake Novel 4

Chapter Thirty-Three

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Iza landed softly, as uncharacteristic as her announcement that evenin’ that she’d transport the three of us alone. With the statement, Taiz’lin keened for an instant and Tir nuzzled him, wrappin’ his long neck around Taiz’lin’s.

For dragons to demonstrate such discomfort, my imagination exceeded my expectation in creatin’ ever-gloomier outcomes. Only the anger for Morgan’s unwillin’ness to tell of his pre-sight, kept me from fallin’ to the ground in a fetal position.

Morgan slid down Iza’s shoulder first. I hesitated, and took two more deep breaths before followin’. The ogre grabbed me, slowin’ my descent to the ground. He didn’t bother repeatin’ the courtesy for Selene, though the wizard surely had nothin’ to do with the future Morgan foresaw. The man hit hard, tumbled forward, and rolled on the rocky ground. He hurried to his feet tryin’ to save as much decorum as he could, but the sand in his hair didn’t make that easy.

Sixty feet up the rise, three dragons blotted out my view of the mountain behind them. The brindle chest of the sire to the left, the ebony Kyn’loch to the right. Between them the heavily grayed coat of the aged queen—Ash’et.

Silvery blotches obscured my vision and all of the air escaped from my lungs. Feet floundered and the world tilted. Wasn’t sure, but perhaps an expression Mama would have scolded me for, snuck out of my mouth. Sharp pain pinched each of my shoulders. It felt a little like the day Taiz’lin carted me to the hamlet crushed in his talons.

The world sharpened and the pain evaporated as Morgan let go of me—guess he’d grabbed me to keep my butt from gracin’ the ground, like Selene. But I sucked in a new, hard breath.

We stood before the most ancient creature ever to grace God’s Earth.

I emptied my lungs slowly. Did I stand at an angle? Despite every effort, couldn’t make the sensation go away. I was also certain my back curved from the majic broilin’ through my spine. An army of ants scoured my skin for a threat.

Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

The grayed head of the queen lowered until it hovered ten feet in front of us. Her eyes glimmered black-gray, provin’ an unpromisin’ mood. “Step forward, wizard.”

Selene rocked a moment before he took two steps forward.

“Ya’re Nador?”

“Y—yes, ma’am.”

“I personally killed a few of yar kin. Enough I assumed yar line perished. I didn’t think much of them, and they never stumbled to the ground before me.”

I grimaced from the discomfort waftin’ from the man. Selene remained quiet. What was there to say? What could one say to a dragon that had lived thousands of years?

“Ya don’t look like much. Yar majic trembles.”

I swallowed hard not to gag.

“The world would be better off if I ground ya into the dirt.”

My eyes welled. Stared to keep the tears from rollin’ down my cheeks.

“But I would rather use ya to destroy the others of yar kind.” She paused. A hue of green replaced the black in her eyes. “Besides. For the good of my last clutch, I’ve embraced peace. Step back.”

Selene lurched, hitched to a stop, and took two quick half-steps backward. His mind washed with the dragon’s insults and the self-doubt they created. Had she used some kind of control on his mind? I never would have expected the man to falter as he did.

Yes. She did use some kind of majic, I decided.

I stepped forward and shouted. “Ya needn’t have belittled another to build yarself up. This is a good man and ya sully yar own character with such an attack.”

I sensed more than I heard Morgan’s reprimand.

Ash’et exhaled sharply. The moisture of her breath saturated me, but I stood taller yet, challengin’ her to defy my words. Morgan’s enormous hand slapped down on my shoulder but I shrugged it away.

“Leave him be,” Ash’et said in a whisper. It may not have even been spoken out loud.

As the moments stretched, my indignation surrendered to the previous fear.

“Ya have a complex connection to the ethereal,” she said.

The way she stretched out the word ethereal, with the lilt of her accent, made me shiver in—awe was the only word I could place to it.

“Interestin’ it took them this long to find ya out.” Ash’et lowered her head nearer. The remainin’ gray in her eyes gave way to a shimmer of blues and purples.

Were her eyes whirlin’?

“Ya amuse me, young one. Perhaps ya would like to visit me another day. When yar ogre friend doesn’t have so many urgent issues fillin’ his mind.”

“I—I would enjoy that, ma’am.”

“Tut,” she said. “Morgan.”

I stepped back, turnin’ so dizzy I plowed into Selene. I didn’t see Morgan step forward, but when my vision cleared, the ogre stood five feet from Ash’et’s snout.

“So ya think they’re comin’ for me?” she asked.

Morgan nodded. “They were—” He froze.

Ash’et continued, somehow knowin’ what he hadn’t finished sayin’. “Surprised I still live. Eager to see that remedied.”

Morgan nodded.

“That they could be so bold amazes me. They have no clue how weak their majic is. But in truth, I’m not the dragon I once was, either. And my family has not the fire we had in my time.”

“If—”

“Ya fear,” Ash’et interrupted, “that if my kind escort them into the afterlife, it will initiate a new war.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Morgan answered.

“And the same would happen if they managed to kill me—because my clutch would take revenge.”

“That is what I’ve seen,” Morgan said.

The dragon trumpeted, a lethargic laugh that rumbled, echoed into the cliffs behind her, and left my ears ringin’. A gravelly drumbeat rolled from her mate and son, and their heads weaved side to side, not with humor.

“Ya must know how I hate comin’ across as rude—” Her eyes certainly whirled then. “But the three of ya appear considerably incompetent to stave the future ya claim ya’ve witnessed.”

Morgan stood before the dragon, incredibly calm, considerin’ the situation. I stared at the back of his head, but the dreadlocks gave up little of what the ogre may have been thinkin’.

The air vibrated with tension still.

Finally Ash’et continued. “Selene. I can identify to ya the seven troublemakers. I will leave it to ya to decide how many ya must eliminate to end the threat.”

“Aye,” Selene answered, though I filled with the man’s confusion.

“Warlock.”

I grinned, though I didn’t know why I enjoyed hearin’ the ogre’s previous address. Perhaps because wizard had come to represent bad people in my mind.

“Ya worry about yar hen friend. But first things first. Do ya understand?”

A new jolt, my own and Morgan’s emotions mixed, made me stumble forward.

“I will ask my friends Ike and Lucas to arrange supplies be readied for ya.” Ash’et arched her neck, turned and plodded into the scooped-out escarpment that made up their lair.

The word friends, as she had spoken it, reverberated in my mind. What was its importance? It had the ring of a private joke. Would Iza explain it, if he asked? Had Ash’et communicated the seven troublemakers privately to Selene? I ducked as the blast of air from Iza launchin’ thrust me forward.

And where was she goin’ in such a rush? I turned to follow her flight. Miles above, Kyn and Taiz’lin went to the air also.

Selene rested a hand on my right shoulder, Morgan’s mitt on my left.

Morgan said, “Iza says there’s a spring below, where the rock meets the plain. I guess that means she expects us to camp there. At least it won’t be a dry camp.”

Lord forbid we didn’t do what the dragons wanted.

But then, it was humans conspirin’ to kill the most renowned dragon. And she took the news rather calmly. The tellin’ of the silent mystery by Morgan turned out to be much simpler than I imagined.

And no one was ripped to shreds.

That was most pleasant.

But what of Louisa? Wasn’t right that she didn’t come first.

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