Chapter 29

CHAPTER29

He hated saying goodbyes. Abraxas could handle almost anything, but goodbyes had never gotten easier over the years. Especially saying goodbye to these people, these companions, who he had only seen for a short amount of time.

He wanted more time to hear what they had to say about their lives. Abraxas had so enjoyed listening to their laughter and their stories and watching them together. Beauty and Zephyr had built a relationship that he respected. That he actually liked.

They were sweet and kind to each other. They cared if the other was well, and how many relationships had he seen like that?

Even the deepmongers made him nervous to say goodbye to. After all, they were now going to be the sole people taking care of the most precious thing in his life.

Lore let him gather her up in his arms and hold her close to his heart. She snuggled her face into the base of his neck, her arms wrapped around him just as tightly.

It wasn’t goodbye forever; he told himself. He would find her again, even though they had only just gotten to be with each other after the worst experience of their lives.

“I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “I will love you for the rest of our days. This is not goodbye.”

“I’ll see you very soon,” she replied, then leaned back to press her tear slick lips to his. “You will be safe, dragon. You will come back to me and you will keep our children out of that damned ocean.”

“No leviathan will touch them.” Abraxas trailed his clawed hands down her cheeks and blew out a long breath. “You will not take any unnecessary risks. You will stay alive for me.”

Her eyes filled with more tears. And likely everyone watching thought them ridiculous, but he refused to even think about that when his woman was in his arms and needed him.

Lore nodded. She looked fierce and determined, as though what he had asked of her was an impossible task. “You will come back and you will not find a single scratch on me, my love. I will stay alive for you.”

“Good.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then forced himself to take a step back. He’d already said his goodbyes to the others. Tearful, heartfelt goodbyes that had made his stomach twist in his chest.

None of them could ever promise that they would forever be well. Not in a kingdom like this, while they were all being hunted by the best of the elves. But they were all so used to this kind of goodbye now.

If he had his way, this would be the last time they ever had to say goodbye like this again.

Stepping away from all the others, he let the change flow through his body. Red scales dusted over him, covering him from head to toe as wings burst out of his back and talons ripped from his hands. He surged forward into the world as a crimson dragon, the protector of all those he loved. And he refused to be anything but that. He would keep his family safe, from now until the bitter end.

Lore approached him, her bag in her hands in her heart in her eyes. From the depths of that dwarven magic, she pulled out the armor he had been gifted. The armor that would keep him safe.

Though it would be difficult and heavy to wear, he would bear such discomfort to know she didn’t worry as much about him as she might have before.

Docile and still, he froze as she placed the armored plate on his chest, pressing against the rune that made it widen and thicken and stretch over his form like a second skin. It spread up his neck, the links clacking into place up and around the sensitive flesh of his spines and all the way over his shoulders.

The saddle she kept, though. She did not want anyone to see him as anything other than an avenging dragon fleeing from this realm once more.

“You will bring them back to me.” Her voice rang out through the small clearing in the forest where all the Ashen Deep stood to watch. “You will bring the dragons back to Umbra, as they should have been for years. We will show everyone and everything in this kingdom that the dragons are alive and well. We will strike fear into the hearts of those who defy us and hope into the hearts of all those who are still kind.”

The Ashen Deep cheered as one. And for the first time, Abraxas thought he could see a future where dragons like him were accepted. Where they were not seen as weapons to be used, but as a people to be bartered with.

Perhaps the future that Lore fought to bring into existence was possible after all.

Swallowing hard, his eyes trailed along the ranks of elves to Beauty and Zephyr, who sat side by side on a stone just outside the Ashen Deep home. They both watched him with the same hope that Lore spoke of. They saw more than a beast in him, and for that, he would fight. He would prove to them that they were right. He was worthy of that hope.

Shaking out his neck, he readied himself for a long flight and a hard battle to get his children here. Tanis knew what island to meet him at, the same one with the oasis in the center where he’d stopped with his children for the very first time. He’d reach it before them, and then he had to wait until they arrived.

Tanis would bring them and then return to her own children. They could not risk having more dragonlings here when their focus needed to be on the war itself. A last war. The final one until they could reach the end.

Lore stepped in front of his face and ran her hands down his muzzle, her touch soft and loving. “I love you,” she whispered against his scales. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, dragon, so you have to come back in one piece.”

“I’m risking very little on this journey. But you are risking much.” He had heard her talking with the Matriarch in the darkness. He knew they were going to use this time to gather as many people into an army as they could.

Soon, they would make their final stand against Margaret, who would never back down. No matter how foolish it was to fight against a goddess.

Oh, by the gods, it was time for him to go. He didn’t want to. He had to.

Abraxas spread his wings wide, and because they were no longer hiding, he let the flames build in his throat and then let out a roar that shook the very forest. It would spread across the kingdom, and those who feared the dragon would know he was here.

But then they would also see him leave, and he wondered how that would leave his friends. What danger would follow them to this forest where they no longer had a crimson dragon to watch over them?

His goddess grinned up at him and as he watched, she called a storm over their heads. Black clouds blanketed the sky so no one would see him leave, no one would even know that there was a dragon flying over their head.

And he felt better knowing that he left his dear friends in the hands of a goddess.

Bursting into the air, he fought through thunder and lightning. Flashes pulsed around him, but none ever touched his scales until he burst out of the storm and into the bright, clear sky above.

Alone.

But not for long.

Opening his wings wide, he soared over Umbra, but could not see when he passed the castle or any of the other familiar landmarks. The only one that remained was the high peak of the mountains far beyond, where the spiders now lived and a magician’s tower had once stood.

And then he passed the storm to find himself over the sea once more. The sea where they had found themselves and their future all laid out before them. With it came a sense of peace. Of understanding that he was headed in the right direction. Toward his children, his family, and to gather them up where they all belonged for the first time in a very long time.

Abraxas let his mind settle and his thoughts fade away as he flew. He was nothing but the wind that flowed underneath his wings, the water that sprayed up against his scales, and the clouds that meandered above his head. This was where he was meant to be. He was going to gather up the pieces of his heart so they could all finally be together.

The island appeared on the horizon. A storm had hit it recently and most of the trees he remembered had fallen after the wake of the wind. But the rest of it was the same as he remembered. Abraxas landed hard on the ground beside the open pool of impossibly fresh water.

Dipping his head to take a drink, he remembered how many days it had taken him to get here last time. How he had struggled with the weight of two half grown dragons and the heartache that had dogged his every step.

Now, he had made it in only a day of travel and had to wait for the others longer than he’d anticipated. Or perhaps he was stronger this time. All the flying he’d done over long distances, learning how to use his body not as a weapon for others but as a dragon really should.

Curling into a ball near the lake, he settled in to rest and wait. There was no telling how long it would take for his family to get there.

It took them three more days. He knew exactly how long because he watched the sun rise and fall, and he stared into the moon as though Lore herself could feel him watching. He wanted to be there for her, even if he wasn’t physically beside her.

And then he saw them. On the horizon, there were three dots and two of them moved ahead of the last. One speared itself in a blinding flash of blue into the water and, like her mother, Nyx became a glittering glow beneath the waves that raced toward him.

Spreading his wings wide, he launched himself into the air. A green streak had already darted toward him, and he’d been so worried about his son, who had smaller wings and wasn’t made to fly long distances like Nyx. His daughter could swim for the greater part of the journey, at least. Even though he’d promised her mother that he wouldn’t let her.

He got closer to them and a sapphire spiral rotated out of the ocean. She spun in a giant circle as water flowed off her form and then snapped her wings out wide. With a bright grin, his daughter joined his son and together they flew toward him, then circled as he beat his wings to remain still in the air.

They were here.

They were flying, and he’d missed it.

But they were alive, and they were well and they looked more like dragons than he’d ever imagined. Tilting his head back with a roar of delight, he swooped low underneath them. Nyx was much more agile. She spiraled around him in the air so he could get a good look at all the colors that flashed on her bright underbelly. Hyperion flew beneath him, tilted onto his back so he could stare up at his father with a teasing expression.

And oh. They were here.

If he was a mortal man, he would have cried tears of joy. Instead, all he did was let out another trumpet of triumph that his children were flying. They were dragons, through and through, and he’d never been more proud of them.

Together, they all flew back toward the familiar island and landed in a heap of scales, wings, and claws. He dragged them closer to him, holding them out with his wing like it was an arm, forcing them to stay still.

“Stop wiggling,” he snarled as he looked them over. He nudged Nyx hard with his big head, making her stand up straighter as he circled his children. Hyperion wouldn’t stop bouncing. The boy never could control his energy, but by all the gods in the sky, they were perfect.

“My goodness, look at you,” he said as he leaned back and stretched his body out as large as it could get."You are stunning, the both of you. Exactly the dragons I always hoped you two would be."

They preened under his praise, just as he knew they would. And before he knew it, another heavy thud landed on the isle. Tanis, with all her glittering amethyst scales, made quite the presence here. He hadn’t thought to ever see her out of their homeland, and it made something in his heart twist to know that another full grown dragon had joined them.

A dark elf slid off her back, wearing a large pack that squirmed with something inside it. And to his surprise, a second elf slid off as well. Wearing yet another squirming bag.

He frowned. “Rowan? I thought you were staying behind with the children.”

“Ah, well.” Rowan shrugged the bag off and opened it to reveal a small, purple dragon that tumbled out into the dirt. The little one snorted hard to get the dust out of its nose before catching a scent and snuffling off.

He was... shocked. Why would they bring their baby dragons here, and why were they still so small? Was Tanis not feeding them?

Draven took his own pack off and let out the other two. The crimson one was much larger, as expected, but the little gold dragon was almost smaller than his claw and it made his chest flush with flames in fear of what might happen to the three of them.

“The dragonlings,” he muttered, meeting Tanis’s gaze with a shocked expression. “Why would you bring them?”

“This is a war, I know. But you need your family with you, Abraxas, and that includes all of us. If we cannot save Umbra, they will come for the dragons as well.” She grinned and shook off the weight of the elves and the flight and suddenly seemed larger. Stronger. More capable than he’d given her credit for. “Besides, I have plans for Umbra. And if you are going to fight against an elf who has an entire elven army at her disposal, then you will need both of these men to advise you.”

When Abraxas slid his gaze to the deepmonger, Draven puffed out his chest in pride. “I have been learning much in the months since you’ve been gone. Rowan and I have spent countless weeks learning the history of our people, and what Margaret might do. Battle tactics. Weapons. Spells. Armor. I have studied, Abraxas. I will be of use, if you’ll have me.”

“That’s the first time you’ve asked to be of use to me.”

“And the only time I’ll likely mean it.”

It wasn’t Draven’s words that convinced him. It was the ease with which he bent down and scooped up the golden dragon. Draven held the child like a natural, and he gently stroked underneath its chin on a hidden spot that made the small dragon go limp in his arms with pleasure.

A man like that, who could hold a baby dragon without fear, was a worthy advisor indeed.

Spreading his wings wide around all the people he loved, even Draven, he let out a low growl of pleasure. “Good,” he said. “I am so happy to see you all, even if now we must fight.”