“Your aunt is right. This isn’t your fault.”
“I never said it was. But I didn’t have to bring you here. I did, and my father knew I would. He sent Lightnings knowing there would be mostly females here. Just what a Lightning Horde would want to hear.” She stepped closer, placed her claw on his forearm. “But I need you to stay here. You’re still healing and, to be honest, Addolgar, I can’t afford to lose you.” She shrugged. “I’ve been swinging your hammer around and it hasn’t bothered you once that I haven’t grown tired. Most males I’ve known . . . that just makes them nervous.”
He took his hammer from her, rammed the base on the rocky floor. It extended into a weapon that could only be held by a dragon in its natural form.
“That’s remarkable,” she said, smiling as he handed the weapon back to her.
“My sister and I got tired of needing two sets of weapons, one for when we were dragons and one for when we shifted to our human forms. So a Volcano blacksmith made this for us.” He wrapped his claw over hers, looked deep into her eyes. “Use it well.”
“I will.”
She stepped back from him, and that’s when Addolgar added, “Their natural weapon is lightning. When they open their maws, be prepared. That shit goes everywhere. Just like in a storm.”
“Okay.”
“And if they’re in armor, well, their armor doesn’t cover all their important bits. Feel free to attack the groin if necessary. Use your tail.”
“It’ll be fine,” she tried to assure him. “Just please . . . stay here. Keep safe.” She leaned into him, nuzzled her head against his. Then she was gone.
As Addolgar sat there, already missing her, Caron walked by, heading toward the exit. She smiled at him.
“Don’t worry, Mountain, we’ll take good care of our cousin.”
Addolgar growled. “Stop calling me that.”
Chapter 17
Braith had just reached the chamber where she’d met her cousins only a few days ago when Heledd flew in. She was going so fast that when she tried to touch down, she hit the ground hard, and turned into a rolling ball of blue scales and black claws until she hit the far wall.
Braith ran to her side just as her other two cousins followed Heledd in. This time, the aunts caught them, preventing them from ending up like Heledd.
Helping her cousin up, Braith asked, “Are you all right?”
“They’re right behind us.” Heledd looked over at the rest of the kin. “We need to move.”
“You all know what to do,” Crystin said. “Now go.” And Braith’s kin did, charging out of the cave and into the open. “You,” Crystin barked at Braith. “Stay by my side. I don’t want to face The Mountain if something happens to you.”
Heledd patted Braith’s shoulder before heading back out. Braith did as she was ordered and went to her aunt’s side. Together they moved toward the exit, but before they reached it, Lightnings dropped from the skies. There were so many, Braith didn’t even bother to count, concerned that she would let the number make her feel defeated before she even began.
And without a word, the Lightnings charged, attacking Braith’s kin inside and outside of the cave. They had no intent to harm; they wanted to bring the females in alive and relatively healthy. So they were trying to disarm, which was exactly what two Lightnings did to Braith.
She’d barely raised her hammer before it was ripped from her claws and tossed aside. Then the two males were on her, slamming her to the ground.
All she managed to hear was, “Get her wing!” before the panic set in.
He wanted to pace, but he didn’t want to do it while hopping. He had no idea what was going on outside and he was completely and utterly not happy about it!
“Fuck it!” he finally muttered. “I’ll just bloody hop.”
But before Addolgar could move from his spot by the hall table, he scented what some would consider a thunderstorm. That scent of lightning in the air. But he knew there was no storm deep inside these cave walls.
Gods, he was definitely not at his best if he was forgetting the battle strategies of the Lightnings. Especially when it came to rounding up females. He’d always heard there was a lot of arguing about that strategy among the Lightnings. Most came head-on because they had a better chance of getting hold of the most hearty females. Those females not afraid to attack, although there was always the risk of mortally wounding them during battle. At the same time, other Lightnings would go in the back way, where they often found the ones too young to take, the old She-dragons—which could be ridiculously dangerous at those advanced ages, especially if they were the ones minding the hatchlings—and the weaker She-dragons too afraid to run. The weaker She-dragons were also the ones the Lightnings could make use of.
Addolgar knew that somewhere in this cave the Penardduns had hidden the hatchlings. He may not be able to help Braith, but he wouldn’t let anything happen to her young cousins while the Lightnings were searching for other females. Turning, he started to hop over to his ax when a flash of purple flashed by him. But it was too late. He was already flying across the chamber and crashing into the opposite wall.
“Look what we have here, lads!” he heard a Lightning announce. “A lonely little Fire Breather!”
One Lightning was holding her down while the other pulled out his ax. “Flip her over!”
Not liking the sound of that one gods-damn bit, Braith got one forearm out from under her attacker, bent it, and brought it up. Her elbow collided with the Lightning’s jaw, stunning him, but he still wouldn’t loosen his hold. So she brought her elbow across his snout again. That knocked him out and she pushed his body off her. She tried to scramble away, to get her hammer, but a claw grabbed her by the ankle, dragging her back.