Dragon Treasure by SJ Sanders
Chapter 22
“Idon’t understand why I can’t come with you. I need to see this thing destroyed,” Tania argued as she followed him out of their rooms. She paused only for a moment to cast a wary glance around before hurrying after him.
Drathnor grunted and turned to face his mate, blocking her with his greater heft, his tail snaking out around her.
“And it will be destroyed, if it can even be found. But to do so I must hunt deep for it, deeper than you can go, little one,” he sighed. “You cannot follow, and I cannot guard you where I must go. You must remain here where I know you will be safe.”
An unhappy look crossed her face, her eyes narrowing before she too released her breath in an airy huff. Brushing her hand over her long braid, she grimaced with reluctant agreement. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I don’t have to like it, but this is something only you can do.” She squinted up at him. “And if you ever repeat that I said those words, I will find a way to knife you in the back even if I have to suffer until you’re healed.”
Chuffing in a rumbling chuckle, he leaned down and brushed his muzzle against her cheek. As much as he loathed leaving his mate, especially now that they seemed to be really connecting and exploring their bond as a mated pair, the few stolen days they enjoyed were overshadowed by the knowledge that whatever darkness was living within the monastery could not wait. He had put it off long enough, waiting days while his mate healed and stopped flinching at every sound and shadow as if waiting for that thing to attack anew. At first, he worried that she might not, but gradually her resiliency won out and her anger at it flared to life.
It was a welcome sight, even if it made him worry that she might do something reckless. Thank Tarachna that his mate possessed some common sense. That she did not appreciate being left behind he could understand, even if there was nothing that he could do to amend the situation. That he had prevented her from venturing down to the depths of the baths and confronting the creature herself he considered a blessing in itself.
Still, he could feel her scowl on his scales and the weight of her worry follow after him as he left their rooms. Although she was displeased at being left behind, they both knew that she truly did not wish to dive beneath those waters again. Whatever that thing was still haunted her nightmares, even if she refused to acknowledge it. He was relieved, however, that she was no longer afraid to be in their rooms alone.
He was not too happy to leave her side, but the shadow creatures that had disturbed his mate’s rest before would not come until after night had fallen. Until then, there was much to do. At very least, despite the unnatural shadows that plagued the monastery, the creatures stayed away while the sun was up.
It was for that reason alone that he felt comfortable leaving Tania within the safety of their temporary nest while he hunted for the creature in the pools and the various caverns systems that were linked to it.
As before, once he exited the main channel connected to the baths, the water became darker and an unpleasant flavor swept over his tongue whenever he failed to keep the liquid out of his mouth. The temperature felt strange. It was neither cool and refreshing as the deep springs near his nest, not did contain the heat of the baths from the mineral springs. These particular cave systems carried a water that felt silty and brackish, although not from salt or any kind of mineral he knew but from some other strange residue he did not recognize. Still, he plunged ahead, curling through one passage and then another, alert for any signs of predators lurking within.
Despite the strange feel of the water, he was frustrated that nothing unusual showed itself. He would have liked to tear the monster apart that had threatened his mate and drag its body up into their nest to present to her, but wherever it had come from, there were no signs it had returned from that unknown place.
Grumbling, he found a wide enough cavern to turn around, and sped back with a powerful slap of his tail and wings, pushing him through the tunnels. Disappointment left a bitter taste in his mouth, but at the same time he was relieved to leave the flooded tunnels and return to the surface. Though he worried even more for his mate knowing that it was out there, his failure at locating it was nothing less than what he had expected, although he had hoped otherwise.
He had known going in that it was unlikely that he would manage to track the creature. He was not a water dragon with senses developed for hunting prey in that environment, but his failure still did not sit well with him. Whatever the monastery was, it was more dangerous than any health concerns that might exist for living underground in his nest. Even that he no longer felt comfortable doing. Not with whatever the monastery had awakened now prowling the cave systems that his own nest shared.
Now when he descended to his hoards, he could taste the taint on the air. While nothing had accessed his nest’s powerful wards yet, he had no knowledge of what had been set loose there. He had little choice but to take his mate and relocate his nest elsewhere, far away. There was too much risk to stay. Once certain portals were open, they were all the more difficult to close and the creatures harder to find and exterminate. Even if the monastery crumbled to dust on the mountain, it would resolve nothing.
Although it infuriated him to abandon the nest he had prepared as one decade passed into another, Drathnor felt no hesitation over his decision. All he felt was the keen sense of loss knowing that his mate would never sleep within it nor brood over their young within the rooms that had remained unfinished.
Now they never would be.
The chance that his nest may need to be abandoned had entered his thoughts after that first night, when his mate was awakened by the presence of something unnatural within their room. He had not yet been convinced that it would be necessary… and had even carried on as if nothing were amiss, bringing up the obsidian to carve into the perfect nestling box to await the arrival of their first offspring. But it was no longer something he could ignore.
Snarling, he stalked back through the quiet corridors of the monastery. The priests were all in the chapel observing the midday rituals and prayers and so he had a certain freedom that he could not always enjoy when eyes observed his every move. Still, he maintained caution, keeping his actions and expressions controlled until he could reach the access to his private balcony. There, he could slip away and try once more to scout before the hour became too late. He could fly far without anyone in the monastery tracking his movement.
His caution was necessary.
He did not want anyone to suspect that he did not intend to dwell permanently within the walls of the monastery with his mate, not until it was too late to stop him from carrying her away. He wanted to leave immediately, but he also knew that for his kind that was not an option. For a dragon who roosts for many centuries in a single place, it is no simple matter to relocate his entire hoard and family should he have one. He would have to move slowly to see to it that his new nest could be readied without interference.
Until then, he would remain vigilant for any danger that might threaten his female’s safety. She was in her breeding time. Although he was magically suppressing his fertility, just her scent roused every protective instinct within him. His instinct was to prepare for young and to make sure that she had a safe, comfortable place to nest with him. Worse, there were all kinds of dangers that a fertile female would be particularly vulnerable to. Creatures that hunted by the scent of the pheromones, drawn by the richness of her flavor. It was bad enough in natural predators, but to have his female in a place filled with unnatural ones? It made his scales bristle, shifting in a manner so that they appeared larger and denser against an enemy.
His big body shuddered, his scales rippling over him yet again with agitation. He hated that he would have to delay moving her. He hated that it would take time to find a suitable nest and to move all of their gold. Both were necessary to keep them strong and healthy. The only thing that kept him from abandoning his hoard altogether to whisk his mate away was knowing that they would both sicken from it. It was risky enough with a mated dragon pair doing so, but with a delicate human mate, he worried too much for her safety to risk her to the hoard sickness.
Dropping from his balcony, Drathnor skimmed low against the cliffside until he rolled at an angle, the monastery disappearing behind the edge of the mountain behind him.
He did not know what possessed him to look, but he did. Craning his neck back, he peered at the visible turrets, the tall, proud walls and sloping roofs that marked out the monastery against the sky. To his surprise, he did not see the usual sight of gleaming metal and white stone.
Darkness rose like thousands of filaments from the building, lifting up in the air. Wherever they did not pull upward, the oily miasma rolled down like plumes of smoke, dripping from every edge. Something twisted within that mess as if alert to his presence in the air.
His wings jerking, Drathnor snapped forward through the air, throwing his body against the window as he flew in the direction of what had appeared to be a promising location. He would investigate and make it fast. Already he could feel the demand within him to return with all haste to his mate’s side.
He nearly did so once before he plunged onward, ignoring the pain twisting in his gullet. At least he had left his mate resting so she would be unaware of the discomfort of his absence.
Not for long. He would not be parted from her any longer than was necessary. If he was right about this new location, then he would return and make his plans—and to guard his mate.
Bugling angrily, Drathnor flew higher, climbing a crest.
He would see to it that the monastery was destroyed even if he had to fill the skies with his brethren. Nothing would threaten his mate again as long as he was by her side.
And, if he were fortunate, perhaps he would be given the time to win Tania’s guarded heart as well.