Page 29 of Dragon Lord
Draknart had at least fought her, allowed her the chance to save herself.Einin silently cursed the god.She gripped her sword with both hands and groaned with the effort to move the weapon higher just as a new, darkly and dangerously feminine voice joined the conversation.
“She does not appear ready to fall into your arms, Belinus.”The tone was taunting in the way a quick rapier taunted the opponent in a duel.The sly mockery gave the impression that the one wielding the weapon knew where to strike.
The clearing brightened still more.An electric charge filled the air, making Einin’s skin tingle.The soft little hairs stood up on her arms.
She didn’t have time to consider what to do next.A second pillar of light emerged from the stone circle.Smitten by an invisible fist, Einin dropped to her knees.She had to squint not to be blinded by the brightness, but she did not close her eyes.She watched the vaguely human-shaped columns of light, so that she might see death coming.
“You seem to be losing your touch with the maidens, my god husband.I don’t remember any of them drawing a sword on you before.”The goddess glided past Belinus, turning her attention to Draknart.
“Have you come to cause trouble, dragon?”Her voice held the deep cold of midwinter nights.“Have I not humbled you enough by turning you into a halfling?”
“You have, goddess,” Draknart said through gritted teeth.
“You sought to lift the curse by going behind my back?”The rapier-sharp tone stabbed.
“Forgive me, Belisama.And if you can’t, at least forgive the wee maiden, I beg you.’Twas all my doing.She had no knowledge of why I brought her here.She doesn’t deserve your wrath.”
If Einin had not already been aware of how deadly the danger was that surrounded them, she would have known then.Never had she thought she would hear Draknart sound this subdued.Even more bewildering was her realization that he humbled himself not to protect his own life but hers.
“I decide what you both deserve,” the goddess snapped, and another wave of frigid cold filled the clearing.“A very foolish dragon.Had you brought her over the threshold into Fae Land, you would be wriggling by my feet as an earthworm.”
Chapter10
Draknart could not take his gaze off the goddess, for Belisama would not release him.But from the corner of his eye, he saw Einin on her feet again, taking one stumbling step after the other toward Belinus as the god drew her.
“Your gift pleases me, dragon,” the god said.
Draknart struggled to move, muscles popping, sweat pouring down his body, but he was as weak as a pup in his human form.
“No!”he roared.“She’s not to be taken!”
The swirling column of light that was the goddess suddenly stilled.The great pressure that held Draknart to the ground eased.Not enough for him to rise, but enough so he could breathe easier.
“You’d be willing to face a god’s displeasure for her?”Fascination tempered the goddess’s sharp tone.“You claim her as yours?”
“She is her own,” Draknart growled the words, baring his teeth.
The goddess laughed.“Dragon, are you in love?”The column of light bent at the top as she gave him a closer look.“You angered me for many years.Centuries.Now I suddenly find you amusing.Never before have I been surprised by one of your kind.Maybe all of you are not as dreadfully predictable as I thought.”
He bowed his head deep, nearly to the ground.“I beg you, goddess, do with me as you wish, only save Einin from Belinus.”
A gale of laughter filled the clearing.“Youarein love.How delightful.”She considered him for a long moment.“Let us make a bargain.”
“Aye.”He would agree to anything as long as Belinus didn’t carry Einin off into Fae Land.
“You accept my curse.You will remain a halfling until your death.Neither in man’s world, nor in dragon’s, reviled and hunted by all.A permanent curse, willingly taken, that cannot ever be lifted.”
Every cell of his body protested, everything that he was and had ever been screamedNo!
Cursed forever.Gods, but forever was a long time for a dragon.He could live another thousand years or more.Cursed.The thought made him want to rage, made him want to hurl himself from the nearest tall cliff.
“Aye,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Long after the human woman is dead and gone, you will be halfling still.For centuries and centuries, until one of your kind catches you at a disadvantage and rips out your throat.”
“Aye.”
“This woman might not want you.She simmers with anger.She might leave you as soon as Belinus releases her.But you will still remain a halfling forever.”
