And left black scales in its wake.
What strode through the forest toward Brock may not be a Storm Drake, but when I approached him, I saw the glint of fear in his eye. Because I wasn’t exactly a Gryphon either.
The beak was still there, but when the feathers stood on end, black scales erupted among them. And the spikes in the centers glowed as the sky went black as pitch. The clouds roiled with thunder.
For the first time, the Drake within me spoke. Not in words, but in sensations.
Memories,Iskar said.
Amid the flashes of lightning and the smell of ozone, strode a figure.
Rafael. And behind him, Isobel.
It showed me a power that reached out, wrapped around will and body, and forced it to concede. To leave the cave that was its home and face a fate too horrible to conceive.
Entrapment. And eventually, death, as Rafael held it in place, and Isobel drained it dry.
But its rage wasn’t just for itself. There were others. A community of lost souls, some the last of their kind.
Guide it, Marcus,Iskar cautioned.Don’t give it control.
I gritted my teeth and fed its rage into my own, struggling to keep it from emerging completely.
Brock lowered his head and stared at me. “Gets aways from me, freak.”
Lightning shot across the sky, changing the night into day. Black scales chased amid the fur of my forelimbs, and as I raised my head, I realized the beak had given way to a thick, powerful muzzle. The spikes along the center of it glowed white hot, joining the ones radiating around my head. And the sky lit up again.
Brock spread his shredded wings. They’d already started to heal, but they weren’t ready for flight yet. He bared his teeth at me. And then he turned, and ran.
I raised my muzzle to the sky. Roared. And called the lightning down.
It came from multiple sources in the clouds, coalescing on Brock’s fleeing form. I have never heard anything scream like that. He reared up on his hind legs, and his entire body, wings included, went incandescent.
Horrified, Iskar yanked back on the Drake, and shut it all down. And I let it go. The lightning shut off, and Brock slumped to the ground, twitching all over.
With a thump, Havoc landed beside me. And just beyond him, Vali backwinged to the ground.
The red Dragon looked like hell. Blood covered him, and it seeped from his eyes, nostrils, and mouth. His breathing rasped.
But he looked at his ex-master, before he said, “Couldn’t happens to a nicer fucking Dragon.”
38
Riley
The dust tingled as I swallowed it, but although I experienced a surge in energy, it didn’t quite have the euphoric quality of before.
Was that a good sign?
“Stand behind me, and whatever you do, don’t let go,” I told Lucas.
First, Rafael. And then…
Havoc,I pushed along the link.Where are you?
His response pulsed with pain. I caught an image—of forest and a bronze Dragon spasming on the ground. The creature standing over it looked like nothing I had ever seen before, but I knew who it was.
Marcus.
