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“You didn’t believe me?” she asked, trying to feign indignation.
“I don’t think you outright lied to me, but I think you tap-danced around what all he said. I suspect you left some important details out.”
She hung her head. “Yeah, I did, but not because I don’t trust you, but because what he said was so fantastical.”
Delaney then told him everything Whistler had told her about dragons and other shapeshifters, ending with “A lot of these shifters have held long-harbored resentment towards humans and want to be able to live their lives out in the open without fear of retaliation. He says that there are forces at work within the shifter community led by a group of rogue dragons known as the Phantom Fire.”
Tevryn went still. Delaney could barely feel if he was breathing. “You think I’m batshit crazy, don’t you? I promise you I’m not, and I would have thought Whistler had gone off the deep end, except for one small thing.”
“What’s that?” he asked softly.
“I’ve seen one. A dragon. In fact, I saw two. It wasn’t a bird that came down out of the sky; it was a dragon, and if the other dragon hadn’t risen up like some kind of phoenix, rising from the ashes, I don’t think we’d be sitting here talking.” Tevryn said nothing. She gripped his hand. “I’m not lying, Tevryn. I know what I saw.”
“And you saw dragons…”
Chapter 13
Tevryn
“You don’t think I’m crazy?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No; I don’t think that at all. And even if I did, I would be thankful that you trusted me enough to tell me something you feared I would write off as crazy, and maybe you along with it. For the record, I would never, ever write you off. Why don’t you tell me everything you can remember.”
“As you know, I needed to pee. When I was done, something caught my eye and I found a set of what looked like neolithic standing stones, buried in the ground so that only their tops remained visible. In the middle of the circle, there was a kind of depression, so I went to investigate it. Whistler had told me he wanted to build on an ancient site and that the coordinates he gave me were more for the general area than a specific site.”
“That makes sense. Primitive people didn’t have GPS.”
She grinned. “In any event, I thought it might be the site so went to investigate. I heard this almost deafening, shrill cry from the sky behind me. When I first looked up the sun was too bright, and then the thing seemed to block it out. It was a dragon. I thought I was hallucinating, but I saw it shift its body so I could see the talons coming for me. It occurs to me now, that the rocks might have been some secret entrance into the Phantom Fire’s stronghold, and the dragon who attacked me was some kind of guardian.”
“How’d you hit your head?” he asked, leaning over to kiss the still sizeable bump on her head.
“I was terrified, and I tried to scramble away, and the rocks and dirt gave way, and I went down. I turned around and then there was a clap of thunder, only it sounded like it was close to the ground, and another dragon rose up between me and the first one and seemed like he was challenging him. I don’t know if he was trying to save me, or just wanting to keep me for himself as a tasty snack.”
She had no idea how close she was to the truth—but his idea of a tasty snack he wanted to eat was the kind she enjoyed.
“Anyway, the first dragon blew fire at the second and the second did the same. They crashed into each other, each of them holding on for dear life as they tumbled across the sky. Finally, the second dragon seemed to get the better of the first, and that’s when I blacked out. I came to in the hospital, and I have no recollection of how I got there.”
“I heard you scream. I have to admit I didn’t see any dragons, but then I was looking at you and not up into the sky. I carried you back to where I thought a Medevac chopper could get to us and called for help.”
“So you didn’t see them?” she asked, sounding so disappointed.
“No, but babe, I wasn’t looking for them. All I could see was you down on the ground.”
“But you believe me?”
“I believe you believe you saw them, and that’s good enough for me. As much as I don’t like Whistler, I don’t think either of you is crazy. I’ve heard of the prophecy, the scrolls, and the dragons. In fact, I’ve spent some of my time in the Winds trying to find out the truth, trying to find the fortress of the dragons. Given what you’ve told me, and my own research, I’m not comfortable with you going back into the Winds on your own. We’ll go together. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“You’ll come with me on what might be just a gigantic wild goose chase?”
“I will, but with one proviso. If the dragons and these other shapeshifters do exist, and there are too many cultural stories that they do, I won’t support any kind of war Whistler wants to start with them. I would only support a peaceful co-existence.”
“But if they want to take over…”
“Babe, think about it. That makes no sense. None. If they are that powerful, if they wanted to take over, why haven’t they? If that’s Whistler’s goal, we’re out. Period. I’m not letting you get hurt in a war that Whistler wants.”
“Why would he want a war?”
“Same reason rich men always want war—to get richer. All the robber barons in the first half of the twentieth century made or re-made their fortunes on the first two world wars. If Whistler is trying to use this stronghold for the production of Norle, there’s more to it than building a state-of-the-art facility. He’s looking to keep his plant and what it produces secret, maybe even run some experiments he doesn’t want to risk seeing the light of day. I’ve heard some ripe tales about a laboratory up in Reykjavik. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Whistler wasn’t trying to give them a run for their money.”
