Page 78 of Dragon Mine (Dragon Kings 2)
V grunted. “It would be nice to have the other Kings here.”
“That might be the verra thing that began all of this,” Vaughn stated.
Brandr walked up and said, “We’ll know soon enough. My generals have been informed of the plan and are getting the army in place along our border with the humans.”
“We should get in place, as well,” Con replied.
V was the first to shift, then Con, Eurwen, Vaughn, and finally Brandr. The five of them took to the air. Eurwen noted that the nearby dragons watched, likely wondering what was going on. She looked from V’s copper scales, to Con’s gold ones as they flew on her left side. To her right was Vaughn and his vibrant teal scales and Brandr with his golden scales that faded to a beige color on his belly.
Whatever was on Zora, be it an entity or magic, would be stopped. Eurwen didn’t doubt it for a second. She wouldn’t have questioned it even if it had only been her and Brandr facing off against the threat. But she certainly didn’t hesitate with three Dragon Kings aiding them.
When they finally reached the border with the humans near where Nundro had been attacked, the five of them met up with the four generals. The army flew high above them, watching for any movement below. The plan was for the generals, Kings, Brandr, and Eurwen to hopefully draw out whatever had come to Zora.
Eurwen and Brandr returned to human form as soon as they landed, each with armor infused with their magic. They had never gone up against enemies like the Dragon Kings had, but she and Brandr were prepared, nonetheless.
She drew in a deep breath as she lowered herself to hide in the tall grass. The generals and Vaughn would stay in the air as Con, V, Brandr, and Eurwen moved about in human form. She glanced to her left to see her father in the distance. To her right, she almost made out Vaughn’s shape.
Eurwen scanned the area. They were there as a group, but each of them was also isolated. She was scared as well as anxious to start the battle. “All right. Where are you?” she whispered.
As she waited for someone to strike, she wondered who might have come to their realm. Not knowing who and what brought the infants to their realm opened the possibility that anyone and anything could potentially find them. It was a sobering thought. For so very long, she had assumed that Zora was safe from outside threats. That she and Brandr had things under control. After all, no beings like the Fae or a group like the Others had found them.
That wasn’t only foolish, it was also naïve and reckless not to be prepared for anything. Had they merely been lucky all these eons? Eurwen had been so preoccupied with everything the Kings had done wrong on Earth that she hadn’t stopped to think about Zora and its vulnerabilities—one of the things the Kings had done correctly on their realm.
But she knew real fear now. The kind that wouldn’t ever completely go away. The fact was that the dragons were under attack. It could be humans. They’d been resourceful in the past in capturing and imprisoning dragons to torture. It could also be the crone. Brandr thought it was her, and while Eurwen hadn’t ruled her out, she wanted facts.
It could also be another entity they hadn’t thought of yet. In fact, it could be several things. And even if they contained it this time, who was to say something else wouldn’t get through later?
Eurwen flexed her hands, feeling her magic coursing through her. She scanned the area again, sensing nothing. Not even the tingling on her neck like the day before. That didn’t alleviate her worry, though. It was only Brandr and her on Zora. Earth had the Dragon Kings, fighting together whenever something attacked. They needed more than the generals for help here. They needed Kings.
All of them.
Her mind immediately went to Vaughn. She wanted him in Zora. She wanted him with her. He liked it here. But did he like it enough to give up Dreagan and his brethren when she refused to give up her life? She couldn’t ask that of him, especially when she wouldn’t entertain the notion of him asking it of her.
The wind suddenly shifted. Eurwen was instantly on alert as her senses prickled. But no matter how hard she looked, she didn’t see anything or feel anything else.
“Check-in,” Brandr called to everyone through the mental link.
One by one, everyone gave the all-clear. Until it was her turn. “Nothing here,” she answered.
Thirty minutes went by, still with nothing. Until the wind shifted again. Once more, her nerve endings tingled, alerting her that something was out there. This time, Eurwen felt that same sensation from when she’d walked through the doorway. She frantically scanned the area.
“The wind,” she told the others. “I just felt…something.”
She waited to hear Vaughn’s response. When he didn’t immediately reply, she glanced in his direction. That’s when she saw a shimmer out of the corner of her eye. She jerked back around, but whatever she’d seen was gone. Yet she knew that something had been there.
“It’s here! It’s invisible. I saw a flicker out of the corner of my eye,” she alerted the others.
Eurwen’s heart pounded wildly. She knew that something was coming right for her. She might not be able to see it, but she could sense it. She stood and spread her hands, palms out, ready for battle. Before she could determine where to send a volley of magic, something slammed into her abdomen. She tried to look down to see what it was, but she couldn’t move. It was like something had frozen her in place. She tried to call out, to warn the others, but her voice wouldn’t work. Eurwen attempted to access the mental link, but words wouldn’t form in her head either.
Then she was falling backward. She blinked up at the blue sky before everything went dark.
“Now, you’re mine,” whispered an eerie voice in her ear.
