“Attack!” I ordered Jim, pointing at the four writhing dragons.

It stared at me in horror. “Are you kidding? Attack with what? My stubby little teeth? I can nip at their ankles, if you think that will help.”

Drake spat out an oath as he leaped on top of a tomb, blood spilling out of a cut across his chest. Chuan Ren followed him, screaming something unintelligible.

“Oh, for god’s sake, why didn’t you pick a Great Dane or something?” I yelled, running over to slap a binding ward on one of the two dragons who were beating the crap out of Kostya. Nora slammed a piece of stone down on the other one’s head, causing him to reel backwards.

“We must seal it, Aisling,” she cried, closing her eyes and starting to sketch the series of wards of adjournment that were used to seal portals.

“I don’t care what you do, just do something!” I ordered Jim, opening the door in my mind as a piece of the stone seal exploded upward. Imps, small, orange in color, and accompanied by a repulsive smell, started to pour out of the broken seal.

Jim bounded over, snarling as it attacked the imps.

Behind me, a man shouted, a dark figure flashing past me as István leaped over Jim and the imps, tackling the foursome who I feared were about to break out of the binding ward. Wards don’t last as long on dragons as they do on people, and mine had been hastily drawn.

Pál raced into the room, glanced quickly at Nora and me, and took in the sight of Drake leaping from tomb to tomb as he fought Chuan Ren, their blades flashing in the light of the lamps, and Kostya doing battle with the other two dragons. He gave a yell and joined the fray with István just as the ward gave free.

I tried desperately to clear my mind of the chaos around us, focusing on the acts needed to seal the portal. Another chunk of the seal exploded, leaving a hole in it about two feet across.

“Ash, I’m gonna need some help here,” Jim yelled, its body covered in imp blood as it attacked the fresh wave of tiny orange beings.

I pulled on Drake’s fire and blasted the entrance of the portal with it, incinerating the imps and stopping their flow for a moment.

Nora drew wards of adjournment, but as soon as they were drawn, they dissolved into nothing.

“What’s wrong?” I yelled across the portal to her.

“This portal is too old. It has too much power. My wards aren’t strong enough. I fear we’re going to have to call for help with it.”

“You go get help. I’ll try to keep it contained until you get back,” I said grimly.

She nodded, racing past me and out the door.

I closed my eyes for a moment as I gathered up every negative emotion I’d felt in the last few weeks. The attacks by the red dragons, Fiat’s evil plots, Kostya’s stubborn insistence, the pain Bael had deliberately caused me, and the thankfully brief grief of losing Jim all roiled together in my gut, churning within me until I allowed it to merge with Drake’s fire.

“Ash! It’s going to blow!” Jim cried, shaking an imp until the little form hung limp in its jaws. “You’re gonna have to seal it now!”

The remainder of the seal exploded upward with a tremendous blast, sending me staggering backwards.

“Mate!” Drake bellowed.

“I’m all right!” I yelled back at him as he twisted just in time to avoid a beheading. “Just take care of her!”

The clash of their swords merged into the chaos of noise from the dragons as they fought around us. I stared with horror at the black abyss that lay open at my feet and knew with absolute conviction that Nora would not make it back in time.

I had to seal the damn thing.

Imps leaped out of the portal, singed and blackened by the dragon fire, their teeth needle sharp as they snapped at my legs.

I had to seal the damn thing now!

“Need a little help here,” Jim snarled, its teeth clamping shut on another imp.

“István!” Pál shouted, going down under a pile of red dragons that suddenly appeared at the door of the crypt.

I pulled hard on Drake’s fire, blasting the portal just as a demon stuck its head out.

“Aisling, close it!” Jim cried.

Behind me, Kostya, István, and Pál flung themselves forward at the incoming red dragons. I didn’t wonder at Kostya helping to fight them; I didn’t have time to do anything but focus on keeping the wave of incoming horror from escaping the portal.

It wouldn’t work. I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t do this without the dark power.

“Like hell I can’t,” I growled at my doubts, spreading wide my arms and yelling at the top of my lungs, “Fettered and fastened, I bury you deep!”

“Oh, man, you’ve been reading the Merseburg Incantations,” Jim said, spitting out a bit of imp. “That’s kind of old, Ash.”

“This portal is old. It will recognize the power of the binding. Blood bound to stone, so you will keep!”

The red dragons swarmed over Pál and István. Kostya was using one of their swords against them, but he was quickly being overwhelmed.

Drake shouted as Chuan Ren knocked him backwards, leaving him vulnerable.

I flung a fireball at her, knowing it wouldn’t do her any damage, but it contained enough power to upset her balance. She spun around toward me, screaming at her men.

“The portal!” I yelled above the cacophony to Drake. “Come to the portal! The red sins of man to my fire be bound!”

“Arrrrrrrgh!” Jim screamed as it went down in a wave of imps. “Not again!”

“Darkness below; life above will resound!”

Three red dragons leaped toward me. I flung a binding ward at them and jumped across the portal to the far side.

“They’re going for Aisling!” Kostya shouted as he fell under a wave of dragons.

I hadn’t been sure if Drake had heard me or not, but at Kostya’s cry, he screamed with rage, a noise that sounded more like the roar of an enraged animal than anything a human could make.

He threw a handful of dirt at Chuan Ren’s face, vaulted to the top of a tomb, and leaped over the heads of the struggling dragons to land a few feet away.

“The portal!” I yelled, pointing at it.

The dragon fire was dying away. Behind it, dark forms writhed, and I knew that I had a matter of seconds before they would burst out.

He nodded and twisted sideways, anticipating Chuan Ren’s attack. She leaped off the same tomb he had used, but he was several inches taller than her. He grabbed her in midair, spinning them both sideways as he flung himself to the ground.

Chuan Ren screamed as she fell into the portal.

“Bone to bone, blood to blood, fire to life, so are you sealed!” I shouted, my voice hoarse as I drew one last ward on the portal. The instant the sentence left my lips, a crack of thunder exploded around us, the shock wave knocking everyone backwards.

Echoes of the explosion rang in my ears, leaving me disoriented and confused for several seconds, but at last the various noises resolved themselves into separate sounds, most of them recognizable.

“Kincsem! Aisling!”

I opened my eyes to the glorious sight of Drake’s concerned face, bloodied, battered, but whole. “Did it work?”

“The portal is sealed. Do not move. You could be injured. Do you hurt anywhere?”

“Yeah,” I said, shifting to the side. “It’s my back. There’s something…I think…oh, my god! I landed on an imp!”

Drake didn’t even grimace as I wiped my impy hand on his sleeve. “Do not try to sit up. You could have injuries.”

I laughed, much to Drake’s shock. “Sweetie, I’m a tough cookie. It’s going to take more than being knocked onto an imp…ew! A pile of imps! Oh, my god, my whole back is covered in imp goo! Argh!”

“Be thankful they were there,” he answered, frowning as I got to my feet. “They cushioned the force of your landing. I don’t like you moving before a doctor can see you.”

“I’m fine. I wouldn’t move if something felt wrong, but nothing hurts except the thought of my back being covered in imp guts.”

He frowned again at me. I kissed the tip of his nose, my back twitching at the uncomfortable wetness. “I’m not going to look, I’m not going to look,” I muttered, then immediately had to look.

I don’t know how many imps there were, but they were squashed flat into an Aisling-shaped mound, the sight of which I doubted I’d soon forget.

“I’d demand a shower, but I guess we have a few dragons to take care of,” I said as he helped me over a chunk of fallen tomb. To my amazement, the room was empty of red dragons. “Where did they all go?”

Drake understood what I was asking. “They left as soon as they saw Chuan Ren go into the portal.”

“You’re kidding! They just turned tail and ran?”

He shrugged. “My dragons would not run if I fell, but the red dragons…they are different.”

“Bunch of weenies,” I muttered, taking a quick look around to assess the damage.

Pál sat next to István, whose arm hung at an unnatural angle. Kostya stood at the portal, an odd expression on his face.

“You threw Chuan Ren into Abaddon,” he said finally. “You sealed her in there.”

“It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss,” I said as Drake and I picked our way over to the portal. I looked with no little amount of pride at the stone circle, once again intact, the wards glowing with faint golden auras. “Two birds with one stone, if you’ll excuse the unintentional pun. I’d say I’m sorry that it messes up your plans for getting into the weyr, Kostya, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not at all sorry. I don’t know if Abaddon can hold Chuan Ren, but assuming it does, I’m thrilled that she’s out of our hair.”

Gabriel appeared at the door, Tipene at his side. “Are you all right? There was a horrible explosion—half the chapel came down.”

“Is Maata all right?” I asked, concerned.

“Yes, we had moved her out before the second wall came down. What has been happening here?”

He and Tipene gawked at the site of destruction.

“I had to close a portal. Chuan Ren kind of got in the way of it and…er…fell in.”

His gawking changed to an outright goggle of astonishment. “She what?”

“It’s a bit of a long story—”

“One which you will tell later. Sit,” Drake ordered, pointing to a convenient piece of stone.

“Sweetie, I’m fine!”

“Sit!”

I sat, smiling to myself as he quickly explained what had happened to Gabriel. I smiled through the quick examination he insisted Gabriel conduct on me, and I was still smiling when, a half hour later, we made our way out of the crypt and up into the relatively fresh air of London.

Nora met us as we skirted the destroyed chapel. Emergency crews had the area cordoned off, but several ambulances were pulled up next to the remains of the building.

“Have you seen Paula and my uncle?” I asked Nora as she rushed toward me. A familiar man was at her side. Evidently Nora had called in the bigwigs. “Are they all right?”

“Your family is fine,” she said, giving me a hug. “Everyone is. Rene got everyone away from the church before the first bomb blew. I had no idea there was a second one, but I can’t tell you how worried I was that it had…but you’re here, and now I’m going to embarrass us both by weeping.”

“You’re not going to be the only one,” I said, tearing up as I hugged. Drake murmured something about being right back and went to help Pál take István to the ambulance.

I smiled at the man next to Nora. “I’m sorry, Mr. Battiste, you’re bound to think us a couple of silly women.”

“On the contrary, my opinion of both of you holds nothing but admiration. Am I correct in thinking that the bomb has temporarily blocked the portal?”

I shook my head. “That wasn’t a second bomb. It was the reverb from the portal sealing.”

His brown eyes widened slightly at my words. Nora gasped. “Aisling, you didn’t!”

“Yeah. I used a variation on the Merseburg Incantations. I figured if the portal was so old that normal wards and spells wouldn’t work on it, then something with a bit more age might. And it worked!”

“Good lord,” she said, glancing at the head of the Guild.

He was silent for a moment, his eyes examining me carefully. My happy glow of success faded as I wondered if I had done something horribly wrong.

“I wish to be sure I understand the situation completely. You closed the portal?”

“No. I sealed it. There’s a difference, right? Closing means it can be opened again from the Abaddon side, and sealing means it can’t?”

They both nodded.

“OK,” I said, relieved. “I was worried I had it wrong. The portal is sealed. The big round stone seal that sat on top of it was reforged when I spoke the incantation. I tossed on a couple of wards just to give it a little extra oomph, and they were there when I left.”

“You sealed the portal,” Caribbean Battiste repeated.

“Yes. I have a horrible feeling that you’re going to tell me I’ve done something wrong. Wasn’t I supposed to seal it?”

“No,” he answered. My heart fell.

He shook his head. “I misspoke. Yes, you should have sealed it, but no, you should not have been able to seal it. You were an apprentice when you left the Guild. Am I correct in thinking you’ve had no formal training in the care of portals?”

“You are correct. There was no time for me to do more than show her the portal I guard,” Nora said. There was a glint of laughter in her eyes, and something else, something warm and fuzzy that looked a whole lot like pride.

“I’ve been through a lot lately,” I told him, suddenly wanting to be near Drake. “I guess it all just kind of came together. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a wyvern to reassure.”

“You have a wyvern to wed,” a voice said behind me.

Drake smiled. Like the hand he held out to me, he was bloodied and filthy, his shirt dark red with blood from various slashes across his chest. Next to him stood Gabriel, less damaged but just as dirty.

“I think maybe we’re going to have to wait on the wedding idea. I don’t think I can mind-push Paula again without driving the poor woman insane, and it’s going to take her a long, long time to forgive me for the last attempt.”

“We will work that out later. Right now we have a wedding to attend.”

I looked at the destroyed mess of a chapel. “Uh…”

“I never told you what I did before I was made wyvern, did I?” Gabriel asked, his dimples dimpling like crazy. “I was ordained in several faiths, any one of which would allow me to marry you two.”

My laughter startled a nearby pigeon that had settled on a mound of debris. The bird flew into the air, flapped around us a few times, then resettled itself and watched with bright, interested eyes.

Drake raised his eyebrows. “Shall we?”

“Hell, yes! There’s no way I’m going to wait for another wedding.”

We found a relatively quiet corner, one that was momentarily empty of the emergency crews, police, and bystanders who milled around the remains of the chapel. There, covered in dirt, blood, and imp guts, perched as best we could on a pile of rubble and debris, with only Nora and Caribbean Battiste as witnesses, Drake and I were finally married.

“Congratulations,” Nora said a minute later when the quick ceremony was over, a delighted look on her face.

“Mazel tov,” said Caribbean Battiste, beaming.

Gabriel’s dimples flashed warmly.

It was Drake who wholly held my attention. His eyes were filled with love as he smiled down at me. “Happy now?”

“Yes. But I could be more happy,” I said, rubbing a smudge of dirt off his cheek, laughing at the surprised look that flashed in the depths of his emerald eyes. “The imp goo is starting to dry and is itching like crazy. Take me home, husband.”

 

“I can’t believe you got married without me!”

“I’ve apologized a dozen times already, Jim. I’m sorry I didn’t summon you so you could see us married, although to be honest, it took all of two minutes, and then the police descended on us, and Drake dragged me off to see my doctor.”

“I can’t believe you sealed the portal without me!”

“Yeah, well, Nora seems to think that means something, but you know, I think it’s all part of being a Guardian. And speaking of that, is it wrong, I wonder, to hope Chuan Ren is harassing the hell out of Bael?”

Jim lolled over on its back and presented a hairy belly to be rubbed. “I can’t believe you were covered in imp gore, and I missed it. Hey, what do you think of my package? Is it bigger than the old one? I think it is. I gotta remember to tell Cecile I got a new form, in case she notices the difference between this one and the last.”

I obligingly scratched Jim’s belly and purposely did not look at its nether parts. “I’m just glad you went with another Newfie. I don’t think I could have gotten used to you as any other dog.”

“Newfies rock,” it said, kicking its back legs when I hit a ticklish spot. “Hey, Drake. Hey, Uncle Damian.”

My uncle made a face at Jim as he entered the living room on Drake’s heels. “Does he…it…have to call me that?”

“Aww, I think it’s cute,” I said, grabbing my pillow and down comforter and scooting a few feet down the couch so Drake could sit next to me. He hauled me over his lap, tucking the blanket around my legs.

“How do you feel?” he asked, a familiar glint in his eyes.

“Fine. Better than fine, perfect. Which the doctor confirmed, so you can stop treating me like an invalid.”

A little tendril of smoke drifted out of one of his nostrils. I pursed my lips and blew a perfect heart-shaped ring of fire.

“You’ve been practicing,” he said, admiring it.

“That’s not the only thing I’ve been practicing,” I answered with a wicked wiggle of my eyebrows.

Passion, love, and interest all came to life in his eyes.

“Oh, yeah, it’s gonna be steamy jungle lovin’ time,” Jim said, rolling over.

“Out!” I told it, nibbling on Drake’s lower lip as I pointed over his shoulder to the door.

“Oh, man! I missed all the other good stuff—you can’t make me miss this, too!”

“Out!”

Jim grumbled all the way to the door. “Fine. Be that way. But I’m going to call Amelie and talk to Cecile, and you’d better not complain at all about the phone charges! When I think of what I went through for you…losing a perfectly good form, although I gotta admit, having a bigger package is going to rock…”

The door closed on the demon’s comments.

“I thought I’d check in before I left, but I see there is nothing to concern myself about,” Uncle Damian said, his voice gruff, but as near a smile as I’ve ever seen on his face. “I take it there is no word on that red wyvern?”

“No.” The light in Drake’s eyes dimmed a bit. “We don’t know for sure what has happened—the sept has called a conclave in Beijing. I’m assuming it’s to name a new wyvern, but we won’t know for certain until one of them contacts the weyr.”

Uncle Damian nodded. “That porn star—he’s gone to ground, too?”

“Ugh. Fiat,” I said, sliding my arms between Drake and the couch. “No one’s heard from him, although he’s apparently convinced almost half the blue sept that he is the rightful leader. Bastian is having a real struggle coping, but he seems confident that he’ll be able to pull them back together. And now that Drake has formally re-mated me, I don’t have to worry that Fiat will try to reclaim me.”

“Good,” Uncle Damian said.

“That leaves only Kostya as the remaining troublesome dragon, and he…” I glanced at Drake. “Well, despite everything, he’s going to go forward with his plan to gain an official spot at the weyr table.”

“Will you support him?” Uncle Damian asked Drake.

His hands were warm under the blanket, stroking my thigh. “I would like to think that our septs will once again support one another, but much of that depends on Kostya.”

Uncle Damian was silent for a moment. I knew he wasn’t any too fond of Kostya, despite the fact that he’d helped us with the red dragons, and I expected he was just keeping quiet out of respect for Drake’s feelings, but he surprised me when he said finally, “Give him time. He’s still suffering from being imprisoned. I did a spell as a POW—you never really forget that. He may come around yet.”

“That is my hope,” Drake agreed.

“Yes. Well.” Uncle Damian looked vaguely embarrassed and cleared his throat. “I’ll be on my way. I’m glad to see you so happy, Aisling. Drake, if you don’t take care of my girl, you’ll have me to answer to.”

“He’ll have me to answer to, and that’s a whole lot scarier,” I told my uncle, kissing the cheek he leaned down to present. “Call me when you get home so I know your flight landed OK.”

He nodded. Drake started to move me off his lap in order to see my uncle to the door, but he waved him back. “You stay there and make sure my niece is as well as she says she is.”

“You’ll come and visit us to see the baby, won’t you?” I called after him.

“Wouldn’t miss it. Be well, Aisling.”

“Love you,” I called, covering Drake’s ear so I wouldn’t deafen him. “Now then, husband mine, I believe you were going to give me a thorough examination to make sure that I was, in fact, just as delectable as you found me before the wedding?”

The fire was back in his eyes. “What form would you prefer this examination to take, kincsem?”

“I was thinking a full body exam, perhaps in the tub, with that spicy frankincense oil you used. What do you think of that, dragon of my dreams?”

“I don’t think you’re going to have the energy to dream tonight,” Drake answered, hoisting me up as he got to his feet, the burn of his lips almost as hot as the burn he started within me.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” I asked, licking his lower lip.

“Both.”

I smiled to myself as he carried me up the stairs to our bedroom. “Make me burn, baby. Make me burn.”

---

Got Dragon?

Readers who enjoy the dragons are invited to stop by the official dragon Web site at www.dragonsepts.com. There you can read histories of all the septs and become a member of the sept of your choice (or multiple septs, if you so choose), bone up on your Otherworld lore via the Otherworld Encyclopedia, read the dragon FAQs, apply for membership in the prestigious Guardians’ Guild, learn how to draw wards, and even join the Minion Corps.