Burned: Dragons' Trust Book 2 Read online

  It was Horrin, who stood on a balcony in the manor house. Everyone turned to him; something more than his voice seemed to draw them. Thane could not feel it. He was watching Folgyn. The dragon's goal was obvious. He was trying to draw Lord Krane out of the manor so that he could get him. At least, it was easy for Thane to see, since he knew the dragon's story. He wondered how much Horrin knew or guessed.

  Did Horrin know Folgyn was seeking revenge against Lord Krane? Folgyn probably wanted to eat the poor man. Or maybe he had a more painful death in mind for the one who slaughtered his beloved.

  Thane shivered. He disagreed with Folgyn's actions. There was no cause to attack innocent bystanders, no matter what the crimes of the guilty. But he could imagine the anger he would feel if someone hurt one of the people he cared for. A flash of blonde hair and gray eyes surfaced in his mind, followed by the image of Renick shrugging.

  Ah, the marked one reveals himself.

  Folgyn's words itched across Thane's mind and he went cold. He quickly tried to think of something mundane. Anything but a healer's niece or a dragon breeder's son. Thane shook his head and nudged the boy next to him. "Come on." The fire line had completely stopped. With a little urging he got it moving again. Then he lost himself in the repetition of passing buckets back and forth while trying not to remember a similar experience from the dragon mines. Full bucket, empty bucket was all he let in his mind.

  It won't work, human. I can see deeper than that.

  Thane cringed.

  "You okay?" someone nearby asked.

  "Fine," Thane said with a wave of his hand.

  Horrin was crossing the grounds now, heading to the wall where the remaining guards were scrambling to replace the damaged crossbow. Folgyn was flying circles around the manor, taunting the hunter and the knights. Or maybe he was taunting Thane.

  The dragon knights drew their mounts back to circle the manor in the sky above. Thane had read about this maneuver in one of his classes. It was a tactic designed to hem the target in. But it did not work with Folgyn. He simply singled out a dragon and its knight and attacked. The circle was eventually broken and the dragon knights withdrew, probably to regroup somewhere farther away.

  Not tonight. Folgyn hissed in Thane's head. Not tonight but soon. Soon I will have my revenge.

  Folgyn roared, and then with one final blast of flame that cut through the heart of the manor's courtyard, he sped away into the darkness and disappeared in the woods just as the sky began to lighten with the first rays of the morning sun.

  Thane turned away from the vanishing shadow, and his eyes came to rest on the face of Horrin. The dragon hunter's mouth was set in a grim line as he considered Thane. He could tell Horrin wanted to speak to him. The man looked around at the crowd that still milled about the courtyard. Then he started moving toward Thane.

  "Not tonight, Horrin," Thane said to himself, and he slipped away before Horrin could get too close.

  Chapter 19: He Must be Stopped

  Wrytha felt the gentle tug that meant Lainey-Kind was trying to contact her. She reached out and completed the connection. "Hurry, young ones, I do not have much time."

  Instantly she felt all three of her human friends, but their presence was tainted with worry. "What is it?"

  "Folgyn attacked Thane," Lainey-Kind's voice shook a little.

  "And then he attacked the village again, this time leaving no doubt of his full capacities," Thane-Brave added.

  "Don't forget about Horrin. He's here." Renick-Trusted's voice was steady. Wrytha smiled to herself. He would make a great leader someday.

  A chill ran down Wrytha's spine at the mention of the dragon hunter. "Take courage, young ones. I am about to speak with the Inner Circle. Until now I was not sure how to proceed. But this information makes my course clear."

  "What will you do?" Lainey-Kind was always filled with such wonder, even when she was afraid.

  "Folgyn must be stopped. Killing one of the Dragon Kind is forbidden. But if I were to convince the Inner Circle to Strike his name from the hall, he would no longer be counted one of us. Then, if the humans were to kill him, it may not be the catalyst for war we fear." Wrytha dipped her head to Derth, who was watching her from his place on the pedestal forming the third circle. It was almost her turn to speak.

  The children were talking among themselves, but she did not have time to sort out their words. "I will tell you more soon. For now, I admonish you to stay away from Folgyn. Do no harm to him."

  Lainey-Kind and Renick-Trusted agreed readily. Thane-Brave was more reluctant, because as a protector he did not like the idea of standing by. But he would obey her words. Of this Wrytha was sure. She severed the connection just as Jaysh Goldenclaw called her forward.

  "Wrytha Whitewing, speak."

  "I come with news of Folgyn Darkwing, who is tormenting the village where the Trusted of the Dragon Kind currently reside." Wrytha used dragon speak to convey her message to the Inner Circle and all the other dragons present. She chose the images and feelings carefully, hoping to persuade many before she even mentioned her request. She told them of the attack on Thane-Brave, of the presence of the hunters, and of Folgyn's brash actions that threatened to expose the Dragon Kind.

  "The humans wish to end his life," a dragon from the second circle hissed. "Then let them. Now is the time for us to attack. We have waited in silence too long. It is time to fight!"

  To Wrytha's dismay, there were many hums of agreement. She turned to Derth—he was the true diplomat.

  "You forget, Braug Shorttail, that the way is not ready yet." Derth pulled himself up to his full height and puffed out his wings just a little to look more intimidating. "This war of yours depends upon the element of surprise. Without the secret way and the network of tunnels our outcasts have been digging for decades, your plans will crumble."

  Braug shifted on his pedestal and snarled at Derth. "You wish to delay us forever. You wish to wait until the last of us dies at the hands of the hunters. Only then can you be sure your precious human pets will come to no harm."

  Beside Wrytha, Plyth attempted to breathe fire, but instead nothing more than hot air leaked from between his teeth. She sent a wave of calm over the young dragon. "Derth will handle this," she told him in a whisper. Plyth took a deep breath but did not relax. He sat tensely watching the exchange.

  "Do not speak of those in the Trusted Circle thus, Braug Shorttail," Goldenclaw roared. "We count them among us and they deserve our respect."

  "They are human." Braug's words echoed in the suddenly silent hall.

  "They are Trusted." No one questioned Goldenclaw's words.

  Derth snorted a request to be heard again. Goldenclaw dipped his head in agreement. "Consider also this: until we met the Trusted, we assumed that all humans knew of our history. Now that we know otherwise, keeping our secret is even more vital to the war efforts. If Folgyn carelessly reveals our existence and calls to remembrance the reason the humans hunted us in the first place, we are lost."

  A ripple of fear spread through those gathered in the dragon hall. Wings fluttered and dragons shifted. If more humans knew that the heart stones of dragons could gift them with magic and long life—the hunting would begin again in earnest. This time none would survive. This was the greatest fear of all the Dragon Kind.

  Braug twitched his tail in barely controlled fury. "Folgyn Darkwing's mate was slaughtered by the humans. Will we leave him to the same fate? How many more of our kind must fall before we respond? I for one do not intend to fade quietly from the world. I intend to fight."

  Goldenclaw calmed the uproar Braug's words caused by letting lose a stream of fire. "This is an old debate. One that will not be settled easily. Still, we have the matter of Folgyn Darkwing to consider. He did break our laws by attacking one of our kind."

  "Why do we care about the fate of a lowly human?" Braug asked.

  "Silence," Grane Redthorne called, and all fell silent again. Grane had once supported the war, until he me
t Renick-Trusted and his friends. They had rescued his son from a deadly cave-in and changed his mind forever. "Do not speak of my kindred with such disrespect. Or I shall be forced to defend them."

  Braug, who was half Grane's size, stepped back in fear.

  "Grane Redthorne, the Trusted are of your clan. How do you bid we deal with Darkwing's treachery against them?" Goldenclaw asked.

  Grane reached out to Wrytha and Derth and they had a brief, private exchange of thoughts and images. They discussed the possible courses of action. Wrytha was pleased that Grane had come to the same conclusion as she had. Derth was unsure, but he usually took more time to adjust to new ideas. Wrytha and Grane's votes were enough. She dipped her head in Grane's direction, letting him know he should continue as he felt best.

  "I bid Folgyn Darkwing's name be Stricken from the dragon hall. Let him fall and be removed from our kind."

  A series of shocked hisses and growls surrounded Wrytha. A dragon had not been Stricken for more than a hundred years, since before their kind had fallen. She doubted that there was a dragon living that remembered the last case.

  "You ask to shame him?" Braug stood on his hind legs. "You would shame a dragon for the sake of a human?"

  "Do you forget that he is a murder? And that when he escaped his punishment he killed yet another?" Grane snapped.

  The dragon hall filled with murmurs.

  "He does not follow our laws," Wrytha called to them. "Why should we protect him with them?" Her simple words had a more profound effect on the dragons around her than she had anticipated. A sense of agreement suddenly filled the dragon hall. It was so powerful that when Goldenclaw called for a vote, Braug was the only one who was against it.

  "Folgyn Darkwing, who is not among us, I Strike your name from the hall of the dragons." Goldenclaw's words seemed to reach out of the cavern and across the sky to fill the whole world. A stone, black as night, shattered and fell from its engraved circle. The wall of the dragon hall held one less stone marking the place of a dragon.

  Many, including Wrytha, bowed their heads. It was a sad thing, to lose one of their kind, but it was necessary for the survival of all.

  Chapter 20: Healing

  Lainey ran up the steps of the manor, down the main hall, and into a room that had been converted for treating the wounded. She kept her eyes on her feet and breathed through her mouth to avoid the sights and smells of the destruction. There would be enough difficult things to face in the hours ahead. Aunt Melatheen was working on a man who had a long gash along his left arm.

  "Hold this," she instructed.

  Setting down the basket of herbs she had been sent to fetch, Lainey obeyed. Using quick hands steadied by years of practice, Melatheen stitched the wound closed. Lainey helped her to bind it. Once the man was patched up, her aunt moved on to another patient.

  The man moaned softly. Lainey reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a pouch containing powdered herbs, the ones that numbed pain. She always carried some with her. Fetching a cup, she filled it with water and added a pinch of the herbs. Then she helped the man to drink. He settled a little but still seemed to be suffering.

  Lainey looked over her shoulder at her aunt, who was patching up another soldier with the help of a fellow healer. All the healers in Trevinni were assisting with the aftermath of Folgyn's latest attack. Everyone was busy tending to wounds, and so no one was watching Lainey. The man had fallen into a fitful sleep. Lainey chewed on her bottom lip and wrung her hands together. Dare she? No one was watching, and her magic had become less noticeable with practice and tutoring from Wrytha.

  She could help, and that was what her gift was intended for. To help others. To heal.

  With another painful sigh from the man lying on the cot next to her, Lainey decided. She rubbed her hands together and took a deep breath that she let out all in a rush.

  "Breathe," she told herself and closed her eyes.

  The source of her magic hovered just above her heart, at least, that is how she envisioned it. It glowed yellow and warm, fed by her own energy and life force. She fingered the dragon stone that hung on a simple chain around her neck. Her magic originally came from the now empty stone, a gift from Junther—the dragon they tried to save. Lainey felt proud and sad as she remembered those moments. It had been an odd experience to have the magic from Junther's heart stone absorbed into her. Every once in a while she still felt the rush of heat and the odd itch, but for the most part the magic was just a gentle pulse.

  Lainey's fingers started to tingle and the tips felt warm. She hastily looked down at them. They were barely glowing. She smiled and ran her hand down the man's bandaged arm, pushing little bits of magic into it along the way. Best not to heal the wound all the way, just enough to ensure proper healing and alleviate the pain. Too quick of a recovery would draw attention. And she needed to save her strength. If she paced herself, she could do a little bit for each of the injured.

  "Lainey," Aunt Melatheen called.

  She stood and moved quickly to her aunt's side. Casting a glance over her shoulder, Lainey noticed that the man she had healed was now resting peacefully. She smiled a little before turning back to her aunt.

  "I need you to mix more burn salve. As much as we have supplies for. Quickly." The guard her aunt was tending to made a strangled gurgling sound and arched his back in pain. Lainey tried not to look at the burns that covered one side of his body. She dipped her head and went to perform her task. As she left, she let her hand trail along the guard's foot, and he quieted.

  The burn wort was in the basket of herbs Lainey had brought. She pulled it out, along with her mortar and pestle, and started grinding the leaves into a fine powder. When she went to fetch a bucket full of water, she passed several more wounded and found a way to touch each one inconspicuously. By the time she returned with the water she was out of breath and her forehead was wet with sweat. She wiped it away with a sleeve and continued her work.

  After mixing the water with the powdered burn wort, she added a few more herbs and stirred until the liquid thickened into a kind of paste. The bucket was so heavy she had to drag it along the floor to show the finished salve to her aunt.

  Aunt Melatheen dipped her fingers into the bucket and rubbed the mixture between her fingers. "Excellent, now start with those who have the worst burns and work your way through."

  Lainey looked around the room. Over a dozen people lying in beds or on the floor or leaning against a wall were covered in burns.

  "What if I run out?" Lainey said in a small voice.

  Her aunt paused in her work and touched Lainey's arm. "That's why you start with the worst cases first. We've already sent for more burn wort. Just do the best you can for as many people as possible."

  Lainey nodded, then hefted the bucket and moved to the side of her first patient. With light fingers and small strokes, Lainey spread the brown substance across burn after burn. At first she tried to stretch the salve, to use as little as possible. But she soon realized that the burns needed a certain amount and she could not change that. Lainey kept careful track of how much salve she had left and how many people it must help.

  At least she was able to leave behind, along with the salve, a little of her magic to ease the pain and speed the healing. It felt good to be able to help others, and she smiled to herself.

  It took most of the evening and well into the night to finish her task. A few times her aunt interrupted her, needing assistance. But at last she reached into her bucket and found only a small amount of her mixture left. She pressed her lips together and applied the paste to the last section of charred skin on her current patient.

  She wiped her sleeve across her forehead and scanned the room, looking for the last person that needed tending to. But she could not find him. Lainey counted those with burns twice more. She must have lost count somewhere. With a sigh of relief she realized that the salve had lasted. She had been able to cover all of the burns with it.

  Lainey
stood and swayed slightly, the room around her spinning.

  Her aunt's slender fingers gripped her shoulders and steadied her. "My dear, you're exhausted." She clicked her tongue. "Poor thing, you've done enough. Head on home and rest."

  "But I—"

  "Hush, no protests. Go home. Sleep." Aunt Melatheen gave her a gentle push toward the door. Lainey took a few steps and then looked back. Most of the wounded were resting peacefully. "Go," her aunt urged. "I'll be along shortly."

  Lainey nodded and had to use her hand to cover a yawn. "'Night."

  The cool air was refreshing after the stifling enclosure of the sick room. Lainey took in a deep breath and looked up at the night sky, which was dotted with stars. She walked home slowly, soaking in the peaceful quiet.

  A sudden unease teased at the back of her mind. Lainey stopped to scan the street behind her. Her back tingled. A breeze tugged on the ends of her hair. She thought she might have heard the sound of beating wings. And then a set of dragon claws closed around her waist. Lainey opened her mouth to scream, but the air was ripped from her as the dragon launched into the air. She was flying over Trevinni and into the darkness.

  Chapter 21: The Trap is Set

  Folgyn slid through the air, circling high above his cave. The human girl was screaming, beating against him with her tiny fists. Her struggles were as useless as a fly beating its wings against a stone. He laughed and just tightened his grip. She stopped squirming and started to cry. The smell of fear was so thick on her it made him shiver with joy.

  Terror.

  He felt it ripple through him and feed the fires of his anger. Shh, little gnat. Your struggling is in vain. You are mine. Folgyn punctuated his words by swooping down low and dropping the girl right outside his cave. By the time he looped back around, she was already up and running, trying to escape. He chuckled. Foolish child.

  Dipping his left wing into a passing wind, he flew close to the ground. Just in front of the human he lowered his legs and landed with a thud that shook the earth. She stumbled. For a moment her fear increased. Folgyn could hear her heart beating faster and feel the heat coming off her in waves.