AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Duty kept her moving toward the launch tower. It was her job to protect the island and the queen. Once she reached the upper levels of the guard tower, she could see the chaotic order of the guardians. Everyone was on alert, shifting and launching into action.
“How many?” she barked.
“Three.”
Kymri stripped her clothing and shifted.
Pain tore through her body radiating outward from her womb. The hard shell around the child crackled and thickened, taking up more space inside her. It was protecting itself from her magic. She gasped for breath while the sharpness of the pain subsided enough for her to focus on what she was trying to do.
As soon as she could draw a deep enough breath, she went for the ledge and threw out her wings. Gaining altitude, she could see where two of the intruders were being engaged by her sister guardians. She circled the island looking for the third. Circling upward, high above the citadel, movement on the opposite side of the skirmishes drew her attention. Zayli was fighting alone with another of the larger intruders. No matter their differences, a sister guardian was still a sister. They always protected their own —no matter what. And she wouldn’t be able to hold up for long on her own.
Kymri tucked in her wings and dove with a snarl.
She ignored the throbbing in her lower belly drilling all her focus into a weak point of the intruder’s throat and clamped onto it with the full weight and force of her diving body. Her jaws closed on his scales and squeezed hard.
He roared and reared against her attack; his claws still tangled up with Zayli. Kymri clamped a talon on one of his wings and they began to tumble.
The ground rushed toward them, jagged rocks and frothing sea below the cliff-top prison barracks. Kymri wrenched hard, pulling their falling masses away from the stone building, but the writhing of the intruder, wrenched them back again, causing them to collide with the jagged cliff wall. The impact loosened her hold on his throat, and Zayli took the brunt of the impact, her head slamming back into the solid rock wall. She fell as the intruder shook himself free.
Kymri’s strength began to flag and she was losing altitude. There wasn’t enough strength in her to chase him, instead she dropped down to Zayli’s inert form.
Zayli lay on her back on the hard rocks. Kymri hoped her scales were strong enough to prevent penetration, but the impact could do serious internal damage. Her body shook with the exertion of the fight and holding her shift. She held her dragon form despite her waning strength and slipped her body between Zayli’s and the rocks and surging ocean to keep her head out of the water.
Someone would find them; she knew her sisters would search the islands. And sure enough, two more swooped into view overhead to pursue the fleeing intruder. A third surveying the area spotted them and left. Kymri knew she was going to get help. She sighed under the strain of holding her form. She just had to hold it until they returned.
Dragonsdammit, this child was going to be the death of her.
She was starting to lose consciousness when she heard the whoosh of air over head. Sliding out from under Zayli’s dragon form, she clung to one of the boulders as she slid back into her human form, giving in to darkness again.
Great, she was going to be forced to spend even more time in fucking bed, she thought as she blacked out.
Chapter 12
The door to Jori’s prison wrenched open, and two angrier than usual guards crowded the space.
While lying on the bed, he’d been sketching in his notebook. On seeing their expressions, he put it down and stood. Their faces were pinched, and he could feel the rage rolling toward him. One clenched her fist around her spear, the other had both hands curled into very tight fists at her sides.
“Out.”
Eying both warily as he passed, he kept his back straight and squared his shoulders.
It was several days after the attack and escape of the large dragon outside his prison.
Obviously, things were still tense on the island.
All the way through the complex, he remained ready in case one of his prison guards decided lash out at him, but neither did.
They walked him along corridor after corridor through the belly of the citadel, then up several sets of winding staircases and along several wider corridors where the architecture was distinctly different from that of the lower levels. Here the ceiling rested on carved arches capping equally ornate pillars. The walls were covered in massive paintings and tapestries. It was like one of the castles restored to the medieval period which he’d visited in Europe. Torches flickering in sconces lined the path, and the smell of the burning pitch was heavy in the air.
He was led to massive double doors. His guard with the spear thumped her weapon on the stone floor and the doors slowly whispered open on well-oiled hinges.
His shoulders tensed as the room opened to him beyond the doors.
He stepped in. The air crackled. The sensation of power whispered over his flesh and slithered down his spine.
The cavernous room was full of light from the large arched windows. At one end, set against a solid wall, was a raised dais where stood an ornately dragon-carved throne occupied by the upright figure of a woman. She was surrounded by what was clearly her guard. The space between him and the dais was filled with a circular version of the House of Lords. A podium faced him with its back to the dais, and from either side of that, semi-circular rows of seats faced the central raised witness box.
He took a deep breath. This couldn’t be good.
