Patrick pinned his eyes on the rising towers of the castle, visible through the rolling land. In just a moment, the town would be in sight, and he would have no choice but to follow the course he had chosen. His feet found a little extra speed as he committed to the action. If the people of the town came to run him out, so be it. He would do everything he could to save the woman he loved. Mine!
Screams rang out as Patrick raced his way through the village. He carefully dodged through the people moving about.
“To arms!” he roared as he passed the guards Daniel had sent to the village. The cry was picked up by human voices and echoed out, cutting through the screams of terror. The soldiers left their posts and followed their lord. For a moment, Patrick thought about how this looked to the villagers. A red dragon had just raced into their town, roared to draw the guards’ attention, and raced out with a swarm of fighters on his heels. If nothing else, the villagers would think the men were giving it their all to protect them. Patrick smiled for a moment before sobering and putting an extra bit of speed into his run.
Cries of ‘dragon’ echoed through the bailey as Patrick skidded to a halt near the center of the enclosed space.
“To wings!” Patrick roared, turning in place as he looked for one person. He found him and raced towards the steps where Daniel was coming out of the castle. “Get the horns! Call the men back as fast as possible!” he cried, nearly bowling the man over.
“Patrick!” Daniel’s hands caught the frantic lord’s injured wing. “Calm down!”
Patrick roared in pain and dropped himself to the ground to keep from accidently lashing out and hurting someone.
Daniel stood there in shock, looking at the downed lord. What in the world would drive Patrick to throw away everything they had been working for and show himself as dragon? He shook free of his surprise and glanced around at the chaos in the bailey. “Speak!” he ordered.
“He has Kathryn,” Patrick growled from where he remained on the ground. “I know where he took her.”
Surprise and understanding passed through Daniel. The kidnapping of one’s potential mate would definitely drive a dragon to rash actions. He grabbed one of the men rushing past and pulled him to a stop. Patrick had already blown their cover with the townspeople, and if the lord knew where the dragon was, it was time to act. They would deal with the consequences later. “Take the horns to the towers and call the men back. Four short blasts and two long.”
The man’s eyes widened at the signal, but he nodded and rushed to carry out the order. The signal would ring throughout the land, calling the scouts back as quickly as possible. They would come en masse, on wing.
“Explain,” Daniel demanded as he reached out and touched Patrick’s wing. It hung at an odd angle. He shifted it around to see how badly damaged it was. Thankfully, it looked to just be out of socket.
“We were out at the lake,” Patrick growled. “The dragon attacked from the water. I couldn’t stop it.” There was a pained note in his voice that had nothing to do with his physical injury.
“And where did it go?” Daniel asked. He braced himself on Patrick’s shoulder and wrapped his hands firmly around the long bone of Patrick’s wing.
“An underwater cave,” Patrick explained as he forced himself to relax under his friend’s firm grip.
That explained why they couldn’t find the lair. Daniel drew in a calming breath as he yanked the dislocated bone back into place, driving a roar from the lord. A scream sounded from the doorway, drawing their attention. A group of maidens peeked out at the red dragon Daniel was helping.
“You have just made our lives here very hard,” Daniel reprimanded his lord as he released the wing.
Patrick let out a puff of smoke. “I know,” he grumbled as he worked his way up from the ground. Tucking his wings in, he sat down and wrapped his tail around his feet. “I have made my choice, and I will live with it.”
Daniel gave him a hard look. Did the lord not realize he had just jeopardized all of his men, too?
“The dragon’s lair is not a place we will be able to get to in human form,” Patrick explained. “I fear for the girls he had dragged into that watery hell.”
“Then we will do as we must.” Daniel turned away from his lord to look at the men waiting for orders. A horn cried out the signal from the top of the tower. He paused for a moment to look up at the maidens gathering in the doorway. They had grown bold and were stepping from the safety of the castle to look at the red dragon glistening in the sunlight.
Daniel glanced at his lord. Patrick really did make a striking sight. But the ladies were in for a whole lot more in just a moment. Daniel turned from them and looked out over the men. “To wings!” he bellowed.
The call echoed through the men, and they started to strip out of their clothing and shift to their grand dragon forms. The girls gasped as a sea of dragons erupted in front of them. Greens and blues made up the majority of the mass with an occasional red. Only one black body broke the display of flashing scales. Daniel smiled at his men, slipping into their ranks. Oh yes, now that was truly a sight to behold!
Daniel slipped through the throng of dragons, barking orders. A few would remain here to protect the women as the rest went out to face their foe. Once the orders were given, Daniel passed Patrick and headed up the steps to where the maidens and Nana stood. The girls were terrified, but the older woman just smiled at him.
“I knew what you were,” Nana said as she beamed at the younger-looking man. “I was very young when the purge happened, but I still remember the musk of dragons.”
Crafty old woman! Daniel smiled at her. “Thank you for trusting us.” He held her hand and bowed over it.
She patted his cheek lovingly. “You have been so good to us. It’s nice to know your kind still survives.”
Daniel’s grin spread as he stood up. “We were never gone.” Releasing her hand, he started to pull off his clothing as well. The pleasure dropped away from him as he pulled off his shirt. He looked over the confused girls huddled behind Nana. “Part of the men will remain here to protect you in case the dragon gets past us, but fear not. They will see you come to no harm.”
Patrick let out a reaffirming growl that caused the women to bunch up in fright.
Daniel just shook his head and came back down the steps. He placed Patrick between himself and the woman and stripped down to shift into his grand form. He stretched his green wings out. Lord, it felt good to be back in scales. A quick scan of the men found that they had formed up in loose lines with the smallest in front. Daniel let out a snicker. Even in his grand form, Patrick was easily the smallest of all of them.
Turning back to the business at hand, he looked over at the lord. “Shall we wait for the scouts?” There were six holes in the ranks waiting to be filled.
Patrick shook his head. “No. The guards can send them to find us at the lake.” He cocked his head and gave Daniel a grin that looked a lot scarier than it should have. “I don’t think they could miss a full flight of dragons.”
Daniel rumbled with laughter. “Then let us be off.” He looked down at his lord. “Will you be able to fly?” He was worried about the man stressing his injured wing so soon after having it set.