everything you can remember about your sisters.”
Belora gasped at the sudden change of topic. She had not expected it but realized it made sense that the prince would want to account for all the members of her line. The kidnapping of her sisters suddenly took on an even more sinister light in her mind. Had the kidnappers known their true identities? Is that why they had been targeted? She shivered and Lars and Gareth were there, putting one arm each around her at shoulders and waist, silent and supportive. Stars! How she loved them.
“As I told my mates, all I remember is that we were in a big town, at a market. My mother could tell you where exactly. A bunch of men rushed us.
Big men. I remember one had a jagged scar on his face and was missing the two little fingers on his left hand. He hit my mother and the others grabbed my sisters. They were very strong and no one would help us. The scarred man tried to grab me but my mother held me tight and started running. She ran and ran. They pursued us but didn’t catch her.” Gareth and Lars moved their chairs closer. “My mother and I went back later and tried to find my sisters, but they were long gone. We left that day and never went back. We walked and walked, through forest mostly, and when we came upon the cottage, we watched it for a few days before my mother would approach.”
“Sounds like your mother was taking wise precautions.” The prince’s voice held respect and admiration, which warmed Belora’s heart.
“We didn’t have any money or much to trade except my mother’s healing skills. No one claimed ownership of the cottage when my mother asked in the village and they welcomed the idea of having a healer move in closer to them.
Some of them helped Mama in the early days, bringing her food and household items to trade for her herbal remedies. That’s how we’ve lived for the past decade and more.”
“How old were your sisters when they were taken?”
“I was about five, so I guess they were about seven or eight.”
“Then they’d be in their early twenties now.”
“Yes, I think so.”
The prince stood. “Thank you, cousin. I want you to know that I’ll do everything in my power to find your sisters.”
Nico went back to speak at length with Adora while Belora and her new family celebrated the two pregnancies—both human and dragon. Adora, after she woke, was able to fill in the blank spaces in what Belora had told him about the day her sisters were snatched from them.
It was a cold trail, over ten years old, but Nico was a man who prided himself on his ability to learn things that others could not discern. He had a place to start at least, knowing the town from which the children had been snatched. He would start there.
The black dragon winged away from the new Lair under cover of darkness, off on his quest.
z z z
Everything was not as it seemed in the royal palace of Skithdron. While on the outside, things looked much as they had during old King Gorin’s time, on the inside, an evil pestilence roamed freely through the new king’s chambers. Lord Venerai knew his friend and sometime lover, King Lucan, dabbled in magics not of this land—perhaps not of this world—and paid a high price for such power, but Venerai understood. He too, would do anything for power.
When Venerai received the royal summons to present himself in the king’s private bed chamber, he prepared himself for a night of serving the young king’s rather rapacious desires. But he found quite a different evening awaited upon entering the king’s chambers. For one thing, Lucan was not as he had seen him last. Lucan greeted Venerai with inhuman, slitted eyes that reminded him of the almost reptilian gaze of a skith. Then, as Lucan shrugged off his robe, Venerai saw the changes that had been made to Lucan’s once soft and pampered skin. Gone was the almost boyish pudginess, replaced by a sleek, scaled, lithe musculature that was startling to say the
Belora gasped at the sudden change of topic. She had not expected it but realized it made sense that the prince would want to account for all the members of her line. The kidnapping of her sisters suddenly took on an even more sinister light in her mind. Had the kidnappers known their true identities? Is that why they had been targeted? She shivered and Lars and Gareth were there, putting one arm each around her at shoulders and waist, silent and supportive. Stars! How she loved them.
“As I told my mates, all I remember is that we were in a big town, at a market. My mother could tell you where exactly. A bunch of men rushed us.
Big men. I remember one had a jagged scar on his face and was missing the two little fingers on his left hand. He hit my mother and the others grabbed my sisters. They were very strong and no one would help us. The scarred man tried to grab me but my mother held me tight and started running. She ran and ran. They pursued us but didn’t catch her.” Gareth and Lars moved their chairs closer. “My mother and I went back later and tried to find my sisters, but they were long gone. We left that day and never went back. We walked and walked, through forest mostly, and when we came upon the cottage, we watched it for a few days before my mother would approach.”
“Sounds like your mother was taking wise precautions.” The prince’s voice held respect and admiration, which warmed Belora’s heart.
“We didn’t have any money or much to trade except my mother’s healing skills. No one claimed ownership of the cottage when my mother asked in the village and they welcomed the idea of having a healer move in closer to them.
Some of them helped Mama in the early days, bringing her food and household items to trade for her herbal remedies. That’s how we’ve lived for the past decade and more.”
“How old were your sisters when they were taken?”
“I was about five, so I guess they were about seven or eight.”
“Then they’d be in their early twenties now.”
“Yes, I think so.”
The prince stood. “Thank you, cousin. I want you to know that I’ll do everything in my power to find your sisters.”
Nico went back to speak at length with Adora while Belora and her new family celebrated the two pregnancies—both human and dragon. Adora, after she woke, was able to fill in the blank spaces in what Belora had told him about the day her sisters were snatched from them.
It was a cold trail, over ten years old, but Nico was a man who prided himself on his ability to learn things that others could not discern. He had a place to start at least, knowing the town from which the children had been snatched. He would start there.
The black dragon winged away from the new Lair under cover of darkness, off on his quest.
z z z
Everything was not as it seemed in the royal palace of Skithdron. While on the outside, things looked much as they had during old King Gorin’s time, on the inside, an evil pestilence roamed freely through the new king’s chambers. Lord Venerai knew his friend and sometime lover, King Lucan, dabbled in magics not of this land—perhaps not of this world—and paid a high price for such power, but Venerai understood. He too, would do anything for power.
When Venerai received the royal summons to present himself in the king’s private bed chamber, he prepared himself for a night of serving the young king’s rather rapacious desires. But he found quite a different evening awaited upon entering the king’s chambers. For one thing, Lucan was not as he had seen him last. Lucan greeted Venerai with inhuman, slitted eyes that reminded him of the almost reptilian gaze of a skith. Then, as Lucan shrugged off his robe, Venerai saw the changes that had been made to Lucan’s once soft and pampered skin. Gone was the almost boyish pudginess, replaced by a sleek, scaled, lithe musculature that was startling to say the
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