Shifting back into her human form, she went to get her things. Tonight, she would dig out her pots and pans and fix him a dinner fit for kings and heroes. And tomorrow, they would head to Noah’s house. Then, if he showed more signs of stabilization, she would ask him for the information Daniel needed.
Noah’s hindquarters plopped on the ground, and he stared at the doorway where Kara had disappeared. That woman has sass! He laughed to himself. He liked a sassy woman. Easing himself down, he relaxed the rest of the way to the ground. The grass was amazingly cool and felt wonderful on his aching body. Letting out a long breath, he closed his eyes and considered his dilemma.
He liked Kara. She was sweet, sassy, and knew how to take care of business. But he wasn’t ready to face the things jumbled inside of him. Thankfully, she had taken the out he’d offered. She was a strong woman, and it was clear that her episode had had nothing to do with a lack of food. Had she corrected him, they both would’ve had to acknowledge what had happened. That would have pulled Byrd back up. Then there would have been hormone-driven emotions involved, and things would have gotten out of hand. Noah didn’t know if he could handle that right now.
Worried by the silence of his dragon, Noah reached out, feeling for his other half. The energy of the dragon bubbled inside him, but it was deeper than Noah had ever felt. Obviously, Byrd was still recovering from their outing.
Noah let out a sigh and opened his eyes. He was going to have to figure out a way to deal with his feelings before Byrd came back up. The dragon ramped all of his emotions to a higher level than he was used to. There had been occasions when Noah had teased some of his dragon friends when they’d done something stupid and had blamed it on a hormonal reaction. He regretted it now. Instincts and hormones were nothing to be laughed at.
Drawing in another deep breath, Noah did what he always did when faced with a problem he couldn’t think through. Closing his eyes, he emptied his mind and reveled in the world around him. The whisper of the wind through the trees and the warmth of the sun on his scales relaxed him. He breathed deeply, pulling in the scent of grass and dirt. His newly enhanced senses filled him with stimulation like he’d never known. It was overwhelming, but exactly what he needed to settle his emotions.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. His mind was clear. His emotions were calm. And for the first time in a while, he felt centered and ready to do magic. If only a spell could help. Thinking of something, he whispered the one healing spell he was good at and aimed it at his aching shoulder. The tingle of magic touched him, but nothing happened. Confused, he said it again, but it still didn’t work. Panic hit him as he tried it again to no avail. My magic!
He breathed through the panic and tried to regain that calm he’d had a moment before. There had to be a logical explanation for his failure. Many of the mages he knew were dragons, and none of them had ever shown the slightest problem working spells. He huffed in deep gulps of air, but nothing was slowing the terror filling him. His magic couldn’t be failing him.
Magic wasn’t just Noah’s job; it was all he had in life. He’d discovered he was good with it at a very young age, much to his parent’s chagrin. They had tried to curb his practice, but it had been a natural thing for Noah. Even through the punishments, he studied all he could. He had stuck with it even through the embarrassment of his father forcing him to shave his head to hide the white in his hair. And Noah’s decision to become a mage had caused a rift in his family that nothing could bridge. At eighteen, he had left to face his future alone—a disgrace in his family’s eyes. The loss of his magic would be the end of his world.
Lifting his head, he swallowed hard and forced his mind to focus. The healing spell had been an intricate piece of magic. It had taken him a long time to be able to use it on more than just minor scrapes. Maybe something simple. Bending his will towards something he knew, Noah picked a simple light spell. As he said the spell out loud, he felt the sizzle of energy, but the ball of fairy light didn’t appear before him.
Noah’s front feet clenched in distress, driving his claws deep into the dirt. That had been the first spell he’d ever mastered. He’d been using it since the age of six! “Byrd!” he cried out, trying to draw the dragon from where it rested.
Byrd stirred but didn’t answer his call.
“Byrd,” Noah tried again, shaking his head. He stretched and folded his wings, but his other half did not respond.
“Noah?”
Noah looked up to find Kara coming out of the building towards him. He stood up, then dropped back to the ground. Fear and anxiety paralyzed him in a way he’d never felt before. “My magic,” he chirped, shaking his head. His claws kneaded the ground. “I can’t.”
Kara dropped to the ground in front of him and took hold of his head. She held it so he would look at her. “Noah, what’s wrong?”
He swallowed, stretched his wings, and dropped them loose along his sides before he could string the words he was dreading together. “My magic is gone!” He huffed air as the panic attack rolled through him.
“Oh, sweetheart!” Kara said as she rested her cheek on the top of his head and held him. “Just breathe. Everything will be fine.”
Indignation burned through the fear. Fine? How dare she! He shook her off his head and backed up so he could glare at her. “Fine?” More harsh words bubbled up out of him, but he couldn’t make them form right. They came out as chirps and squeaks that only made him madder.
“Noah!” Kara grabbed the crest on either side of his head and forced him to be still. “You’re fine,” she snapped. “Your magic is fine.”
Her words froze him.
“Tell me what happened.”
He swallowed twice before he started. “I tried a healing spell.” He panted, trying to get the sound coming out of him to be words. “It didn’t work.” His heart raced with fear.
Kara worked the tips of her fingers into the softer scales on the backside if his boney frill. “Relax,” she said, soothing him with both words and touch. “Just calm down, and we will figure this out.”
Noah twitched his head in a nod and tried to breathe. He concentrated on the feel of Kara’s fingers as they worked the tension from the back of his head. As his heart rate slowed, his breathing evened out and some measure of control returned to him.
“Now, tell me exactly what happened.”
Fear crawled back up his spine, but Noah concentrated on Kara’s touch and told her what had happened.
“What spells did you use?”
Her words were calm and even, and that helped Noah to remain calm as he told them to her.
“There’s your problem.”
Noah’s eyes hadn’t been focusing on anything as he spoke, but this statement pulled his attention up to her face.
A soft smile graced her face. “Spoken spells don’t work in dragon form,” she explained. “You’re using the wrong language.”
The wrong language! The truth hit Noah fast and hard. The power he had channeled hadn’t taken form because the words he’d used hadn’t been correct. Searching his mind, he pulled out a few spells he could do without words. Two were attack spells he had learned in case he was trapped and bound. His favorite was a fire spell that required written runes. But, since he didn’t want to hurt or burn anything, he pushed those away and turned to something flashy but significantly less dangerous.
Closing his eyes, he pulled the magic to him and gave it form. As he cast the spell, he listened for Kara’s reaction. Her gasp of surprise calmed the fear in his heart. Opening his eyes, he took in the delight on Kara’s face as she watched the twinkling fairy lights dance around them. This was the spell he used to wow his dates when they asked him to show them magic. As his own personal adaptation of his first spell, it was something he knew well. Simple, yet elegant.