Healed by Fire Artemis Lupine 3 Read online

  I patted his muzzle reassuringly and then stood up slowly. “I’m sorry.”

  Theseus cleared his throat and the dragons turned to look at him. “Would it be alright if I flew down with you instead of riding?”

  My eyes widened and I looked at Blu hopefully. “Please, Draco-Blu. It has been so long since I’ve soared,” I pleaded.

  Blu locked eyes with his friend a moment as they communicated telepathically and then nodded his head. “You may follow us down to the floor level.” Blu looked at me with concern and asked, “Are you sure you’re alright to fly?”

  I smiled and nodded my head vigorously. “Yes!”

  Blu and the other two dragons sprang up and away from the ledge, extended their wings and soared over the giant expanse of the open mountain. Theseus pulled his shirt off over his head and then walked behind me, tearing open slits in my shirt so I could let my wings out while still keeping my shirt intact and covering my upper body.

  I walked a few steps away from him and closed my eyes, calming my mind and body. Power flowed within the mountain and it generously lent me energy. I pictured my back and imagined my wings sliding from the two slits and expanding outwards. My back pulsed and then my wings were free. I opened my eyes and marveled at the colors of my body.

  Theseus grunted and I watched as his body glowed and then his wings released. He smiled at me and then launched himself from the ledge.

  I squatted down and then jumped up as high as I could, letting out a victorious cry of glee as I soared. I zipped past the others and made a circle around the entire mountain. If my calculation was correct, the area of the bas of the mountain was at least twenty five hundred square feet. Theseus flew after me and then folded his wings in and plummeted down towards the bottom. I followed close behind him, but pulled up early to circle one more time before landing on my feet on the stone floor.

  Blu landed beside me and roared happily. If I smiled any wider my face would surely split. Mid-smile, I glanced at the floor of the mountain more carefully. Blu had described the mountain for me before, but it was incredible to witness first hand. The ground was solid marble and several large tents were set up along the outer edge of the floor level.

  “Who lives in the tents?” I asked curiously.

  “Friends of the dragons when they visit,” the golden dragon answered.

  I turned to face him and said, “I must apologize for my rudeness. I have forgotten to ask what I may call you.”

  The golden dragon’s lips pulled back slightly as he gave me a dragon smile. “Friends call me Fafnir.”

  I frowned as I recalled the name from a story I’d heard. “Doesn’t that mean greed?”

  Fafnir and Blu laughed loudly. Fafnir nodded his head. “Gold is not only my coloring, but my favorite treasure.”

  I smiled. “Aw, so your treasure holds more than just jewels and virgins waiting to be devoured?”

  Blu snorted. “He wishes he had virgins again.”

  Fafnir sighed. “I do miss those days. Humans were so much tastier before they developed so many chemicals.”

  I turned to the green dragon and bowed. “I have not forgotten you. What may I call you?”

  “I am Ryuu.”

  I smiled. “It is a pleasure to meet you Ryuu and Fafnir. I am honored.”

  Ryuu and Fafnir dipped their heads. “We are honored to meet you as well, Hatchling,” they said in unison.

  I’d heard Blu and Fira speak in unison before, but it was strange to hear other dragons do it as well. Blu said it was because of their telepathy. Sometimes they finished sentences for each other as well.

  “Chandra,” said five voices at once.

  I turned and watched as the five oldest dragons, so worn with age that they rarely flew and if they did fly, only made it as far as the first nests two hundred feet overhead, walked towards me. They were all bi-colored, the only multicolored dragons I’d ever seen before. Were they more powerful because they were bi-colored or had they become bi-colored after becoming the Council? I wasn’t sure since Blu never talked about it.

  The dragons stopped a hundred feet away and held my gaze. I walked away from Blu and Theseus and dropped to the ground on my knees and bowed until my forehead touched the ground. I was shaking inside, but I held my body tight as I bowed. I would not show fear to the Council. “It is an honor to have an audience with you, Council of Dragons.”

  “We are pleased to finally meet the hatchling of Draco-Blu,” they answered in unison again. “Please stand, friend of the dragons, and be easy in our presence. You have nothing to fear from us.”

  I stood up and bowed my head politely. “Thank you.”

  “Please let us look upon your face.”

  I took off the talisman to reveal my true face. The dragons stared at me and hummed in harmony as they each used their magic in sync to examine me.

  I felt like a tuning fork that had been flicked. Their powers vibrated against me infiltrating my mind and body. I tried to relax despite my fear so as not to disrupt their spell.

  Images of events I did not remember started to play across my closed eyelids and made me cry out in pain. I fell to the ground on my side as the pain blacked out my vision. The images stopped and the dragons’ magic dissipated.

  “You are not ready to face this on your own. We must wait for him to come,” the Council said.

  Theseus picked me up from the ground where I was laying and carried me as he followed Blu towards one of the tents.

  “Draco-Blu, I…” I began.

  “Quiet. You must sleep and wait, Hatchling,” Blu said with concern and worry evident in his voice.

  I closed my eyes and a smile spread across my face as I whispered, “I can feel him coming.”

  Blu snorted in my face and the world went dark.

  ~~~

  Chapter Four

  “I want to see her!” yelled a familiar deep, commanding male voice.

  “She is resting,” said Blu angrily.

  “I’m awake,” I whispered because I knew both would hear me.

  Blu stuck his head into the opening of the small tent I was lying in. “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Like I got stepped on by a dragon.”

  Blu laughed. “You would not be alive if that were true, Hatchling.”

  “Please, I would just like to see her,” said the werewolf prince.

  Blu sighed. “Are you well enough to have visitors?”

  I smiled at Blu and stood up slowly. “I am. Thank you for your concern.”

  Blu rumbled affectionately at me, much like a feline would purr.

  I changed quickly and then took a deep breath for courage just as he stepped into the tent. He was even more handsome than I remembered.

  He had started to move towards me, but stopped and clenched his hands into fists. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been better,” I admitted.

  “Did they hurt you?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  I frowned at him. “Did who hurt me?”

  His eyes flicked to the side. “The Dragon Council.”

  I stared at him in shock. “They were trying to help me. I am sure they did not mean to harm me.”

  Theseus walked into the tent with a tray of food, but stopped when he saw the prince. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.” Theseus dropped his head in submission and started to leave.

  “Wait,” I said. “Is that food for me?”

  Theseus looked at the tray and then smiled nervously. “Yes, sorry. I’ll just leave it.”

  I felt the prince watching us as I walked to Theseus and took the tray from his hands. I kissed Theseus’ cheek and smiled at him. “Thank you.”

  The prince growled softly behind me, but made no movement besides that.

  I ignored him and walked outside to eat beside Blu who was still standing guard outside of my tent. Blu moved his tail so I could sit on it while leaning against him to eat as I’d done many times before. I sat down and p
atted his side before eating the meats and fruits on the tray.

  “When will I speak to the Council?” the prince asked. His shoulders were tense and his eyes glowed with magic.

  Why was he so angry? Even if he was my mate, I hadn’t done anything that was considered inappropriate.

  “As soon as she is ready,” Blu answered.

  The prince started to move towards me, but Blu growled and wrapped his tail protectively around me, lifting me up to my feet.

  The prince squatted down in an attack stance and changed his hands to paws.

  I smacked Blu’s tail. “You’re being rude and possessive, both of you, and I don’t like it.”

  Blu exhaled smoke. “I apologize. I did not mean to offend you.”

  The prince changed his hands back and his eyes returned to normal. “I’m sorry. I am not usually like this.”

  “The Council will see you both now,” said the combined voices of the Council who were walking towards the center of the mountain.

  I walked next to Blu, but felt the prince behind me like a weight on my back. We stopped in front of the Council and I dropped to the ground in a bow. “Thank you for seeing us, Council,” I said as humbly as I could. I stood back up and rested a hand on Blu’s shoulder for support.

  “We have spoken to the Prince of Werewolves and know he has spoken the truth.”

  Then he was my mate! How? Why were we separated?

  The Council continued, “But we cannot perform the recognition spell until the other man you are tied to has arrived.”

  “He should be here any minute,” said the Prince.

  I looked at the Council. “Wait. What do you mean the other man I am tied to?! I thought you said that the Prince was telling the truth about me being his mate?”

  “You are my mate, but you are also bound to another. It was an emergency action done to save your life,” answered the Prince.

  “But I do not regret it,” said a voice like wind chimes.

  I knew that voice and I definitely knew the language with which that voice would normally speak. Sidhe. The man behind me was a Sidhe and judging by the presence I felt, a very powerful one.

  What had I done in my life to warrant the attention of the Prince of Werewolves and the… I turned around and one look at his face released a torrent of memories. I screamed in pain as I saw the Sidhe holding me while I was in pain, saw him walk with me down a dark staircase and reassuring me with his presence. Heard his voice in my head whispering that he loved me…

  I screamed again and my eyes flew open. Blu was lying across me, humming and singing in the magic of dragons. The pain in my head was subsiding, but my heart felt like it was going to explode. I turned my head and found the Sidhe and werewolf princes being held back by dragons. Yes, that was who he was, a prince. Wow. Two princes?!

  The princes looked at me with fear and anger. Were they mad at me or with the dragons holding them back?

  “Blu, I think you can let me up now,” I whispered. The Dragon Council growled angrily and I realized that I’d slipped and addressed him informally. “I’m sorry, I meant to say Draco-Blu. Please forgive my offense.”

  Blu let me up, but pressed his nose to my head. “I accept your apology. You’re in much pain still though. Perhaps you should lie still while I heal you?”

  “You cannot heal this pain, Draco-Blu.” I looked at the princes. “They are the cause of the pain and I believe only they know how I can fix it.”

  Blu lunged across the opening and pinned each of the princes to the ground under his talons. “What have you done to her?!”

  I rushed to him and put my face in front of his. “No! You misunderstand! Don’t harm them!”

  “Let them up, Draco-Blu,” said the Council.

  Blu hissed at the princes and let them up, but not before pulling me back against his chest with his head away from the princes.

  The princes both began to glow incandescently. “Step away from her,” they said eerily in unison.

  “We will begin our discussion now,” said the Council distracting everyone.

  I stepped away from Blu and walked to stand in the center of the circle of dragons. “I am ready and will humbly accept whatever decision you give.”

  “You are a valued friend of the dragons and we treasure your acceptance of us,” they said to me.

  The two princes came to stand on either side of me and I had to fight the urge to reach out and touch them. The Council looked at the Sidhe prince. “You are unknown to us, which is neither good nor bad as we are neither good nor bad, thus we are willing to assist you if you meet our small request.”

  “Anything for her,” he said without hesitation.

  The Council then turned to the werewolf prince and their mood darkened. “You are very well known by us. You almost destroyed the race of dragons, you and the vampire prince. You are no friend of ours.”

  “I will do anything you ask to make amends for the devastation I caused and for my ignorant and childish actions,” he said quietly.

  “You are no friend of ours and there is nothing you can do to make amends for what you have done, but we love the hatchling you are mated to and thus we will agree to ease the suffering in her if you agree to a test to prove your loyalty.”

  “Anything,” he answered without pause.

  The Council was silent a moment and then they said, “In addition to one task we will divulge later, you must retrieve the lost dragon egg.”

  I gasped and Blu snorted in surprise.

  The werewolf prince asked, “Would this be the green egg which the vampires found eighty years ago?”

  The Council looked at him suspiciously. “Yes, that is the egg we speak of. We have heard rumor that the King of Vampires has it in his possession and plans to hatch it and control the dragon within. We must not let this happen.”

  “So, if I get the egg and hand it to you, you will help Ar…Chandra regain her memories?” he asked.

  The Council was vibrating with anger. Why was he asking them to repeat themselves?

  “Yes, if you hand the egg to us, intact and safe, and pass one more test, we will assist the hatchling in regaining her memories and thus returning her to you as she was before she was stolen from you.”

  The werewolf prince nodded his head. “Alright, deal. I will need Ach…the Sidhe prince to fly down to the bottom of the mountain to assist me, is this alright?” The Council nodded their heads and the werewolf prince smiled. “Great. We will be back as soon as we can with your egg.”

  The Council was eerily silent as they talked amongst themselves, probably pondering what he had up his sleeve.

  I turned to the princes. “You do realize that the King of the Vampires could capture you and kill you, right?”

  The princes both smiled at me, their smiles bizarrely similar. If I didn’t know better I’d say that they were brothers. I wanted to get closer to the werewolf prince to smell him, but decided better of it and planted my feet on the ground.

  The werewolf prince asked, “Are you worried about my safety?”

  I stepped back and then glared at him. “I was just saying that it seems like a lot of trouble to go to for a girl who doesn’t remember you.” Both princes winced as though I’d struck them. I hadn’t meant to be so harsh, but he was rude and I didn’t like it.

  The werewolf prince walked to stand a few inches from me and whispered, “I would face the entire Flight of Dragons to have you back in my arms and have you remember the times we’ve spent together. I would cut off my arm and give it to the dragons as payment if they would accept it. You are the only important thing in my life and I will face a hundred Vampire Kings before I let something as simple as death make me hesitate in getting you back.”

  The conviction and feeling in his voice was overpowering and I would have fallen if not for Blu’s tail catching me. “She needs to rest.”

  The werewolf prince smiled at me and said, “I’ll be back. You don’t need to worry about me.”
/>   I moaned in pain as a memory of a weaker, non-magical me stood on the porch of someone’s house watching the werewolf prince leave somewhere and say those exact words to me. Blu whisked me away from the princes and into my tent before I could say anything else. He laid his head on me and sang until I fell asleep.

  ~~~

  ACHILLES

  Chapter Five

  I couldn’t believe that we had finally found her. She looked even more beautiful than I remembered and yet I could see that she was not herself. The need to touch her was incredible, but I resisted so as not to cause her pain. She was so strong and yet so fragile since she had not found herself yet. I gripped Ares under the arms and jumped out of the Lair, letting the wind catch us.

  “Could you please not jump,” Ares said angrily as his heartbeat quickened.

  “I had forgotten that you were afraid of heights,” I said.

  He growled. “I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of you dropping me.”

  We landed on the ground and I patted his shoulder. “I wouldn’t drop you, Brother.”

  Ares grunted, cleared his throat and then howled as loudly as he could. I wished I could see the process of his vocal chords and throat changing shape when he went from a human’s throat to a wolf’s throat. Although I doubted slicing a man’s throat in half to watch would then allow the process to complete.

  A bat screeched nearby and I smiled. Victor loved being a bat when he could. I think he just liked being smaller and able to fly.

  A small black bat came to hover in front of us and then changed into a six foot tall, black eyed man. If you were human you might think he was simply imposing, but it was just his raw, incredible power. Victor was one of the few vampires I genuinely trusted and did not fear. He shook out his body and then looked at me with a smile, showing just the tips of his fangs. “I do enjoy being smaller and being able to fly.”

  I pointed at him. “Stay out of my head.”

  Ares sighed. “If only that were possible.”