Dragon's Heart Read online

  Dragon’s Heart

  Story

  Of

  The

  Brethren

  LaVerne Thompson

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, or other status is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2012 by LaVerne Thompson

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever known, not known or hereafter invented, or stored in any storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission of the author. LaVerne Thompson. [email protected]

  First e-book edition 2012 Isisindc Publishing, LLC

  Lavernethompson.com

  [email protected]

  Editor- Lara Parker

  Line Editor- Zena Gainer

  Cover illustration by Fiona Jayde

  Cover model Jimmy Thomas

  http://romancenovelcovers.com

  ISBN- 9780-9859646-0-3

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Legend

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  DEDICATION

  This one is for all those who dreamt of dragons. Not just owning one, but being one.

  Acknowledgements

  This story was a long way in coming to this point. I have so many to thank for pushing me on, but I have to give shout outs to my RPW writers group: Eve Tesoro, E. W. Walsh, Scarlet Hunter, Tess Black, and my Strydie. Also, to my sometimes partner in crime, Stephanie Williams. And last, but so not least, VR. Love you all.

  From fire we’re born,

  from fire we thrive,

  from fire we breathe,

  by fire we die.

  LEGEND

  Once, these majestic beasts soared through the heavens at will. Masters of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. Favored by Mother Earth and ruling over her domain, but all that happened before man embraced the coming of the one God and Earth magicks slowly disappeared. Or so legend had it.

  Once, dragons numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but only a handful of hatchlings had been born in a thousand years. Their number slowly dwindled.

  Once, predators now prey. With their magic weakening, humans—with the help of one of the brethren’s own—hunted and killed dragons, their mates and any offspring. The survivors of the purges had to leave Mother Earth or die. Earth was no longer safe. Only one place left they could go.

  The brethren had to return to the lost land of their beginning by opening a gateway to another realm. Earth was merely one of many worlds existing on parallel planes and those with the knowledge and the power could travel through gateways connecting them but at a great risk. They were unsure how to open such a gate or where they would end up if they succeeded. Memory said it could be done. They had to try or die.

  Still, some decided to stay. Earth was home. To remain behind and survive, they would willingly forgo their birthright, forever shed their dragon skin, drain their remaining powers and become fully human.

  Some simply wanted to die as dragons on this world. They were too old for change. Dragons had roamed Earth’s skies for ten thousand years. The brethren could not imagine a sky without dragons in flight. Some would not surrender this heritage. They refused to live as anything other than what they were on the planet of their birth.

  Before the first of the sun's rays crested the eastern horizon, dragons gathered at their sacred place high in a remote, hard to get to area in the Sperrin Mountains of Erin, an area few humans had ever seen, but every dragon knew. It was a special place, a circle of power controlled by a ring of stones with no name where the first dragon appeared.

  Those who would journey in search of the world from whence they began formed a circle around one dragon. The strongest amongst them stood in the center of the stones, his massive twelve foot frame dominating the area. Like the first dragon who opened the portal, a Dark Dragon Lord led them. As dark as the deepest night, as memory said the first Dragon Lord to have been. Unlike other dragons, whose scales shimmered with a spectrum of colors, his scaled massive form seemed to absorb light. No color whatsoever reflected off a hide appearing as smooth as silk but impregnable as titanium.

  His raised great head showed a spiked ridge running from the bridge of his nostrils over his skull down the length of his body. Green slitted eyes—the only color on him—filled with emerald fire, looked around at the dragons gathered just within the circle and outside it. He turned so he could survey them all. No great number remained.

  His father—their leader—dead, killed by treachery. His mother’s dying roar of rage still echoed in his blood, but before she died she destroyed the one who killed her mate. Draakar had come to their aid too late. He was young for a dragon, but as their son and the most powerful among them, he led now as their Dark Lord, and he would not let the brethren down. But, so few of them were left to lead. So many dead or their magick weak. He could wait no longer.

  He’d mated last night, joining with the strongest female amongst the remaining brethren, a mate who could call forth his powers. Draakar hoped it would be enough. He would make sure of it. In one last effort to save their race, he would use his powers to open a portal to another world.

  The Dark Lord turned to look down at the smaller golden dragon standing at his side. The realization of what he had done fractured his heart. The pain something he would have to endure for the rest of his long life. The golden dragon was now his mate for life, but not by choice. His sacrifice for the brethren. Their needs over his own.

  The dragons gathered channeled all their power to him, helping him open a gate to the beginning world. It had not been done in the time of any dragon alive, there had been no need, but it had been done in the long ago past, and dragons were long-lived with boundless memories. Need drove them to attempt it now. The memories in their blood, passed down to them from the first ancestors, promised it could be done. The first dragons, the forbearers, the ones who came from another place, showed them the way. To a place not of this earth, not of this world.

  Now the Dark Lord and his remaining brethren used those memories as a guide to their realm of origin. They dug deep within themselves to the part of their souls still binding them to a past left behind. From a time so long ago, no dragon living remembered this place, yet no living dragon could forget its existence. Time to go home, back to their beginnings. Home to the birthplace of fire, the birthplace of the heart of the dragon—Akgon. They had to return home to survive. The time of dragons on earth was over.

  As the sun glistened high in the sky, above the Dark Dragon Lord the very air trembled, a swirling gray cloudy mass appeared. They had done it, created a portal, but the Dark Lord had to maintain it. The only one strong enough to do so. He had to hold it open till all who wanted to go crossed over. One by one the dragons flew through and disapp
eared within the cloud until he remained the last of those who wanted to leave. Before leaving he tried one last time, sending a mental plea to his brethren who watched from the ridge. His great body shuddered with exhaustion from using such strong magicks but, by will alone, he would hold the gate open a while longer.

  Come with us. It is not too late.

  A unanimous response to his plea floated into his consciousness. No. But we wish you all a safe journey.

  The Dark Dragon Lord had no choice. Even his great strength could not hold the gate open much longer. Then I wish you speed beyond the wind. Goodbye.

  With a heavy heart for those electing to stay, for the life they left behind, Draakar raised his wings and followed his remaining brethren through the gate. A bright flash of silver lightning appeared to swallow him as he crossed over. The swirling cloud folded in on itself, forever closing the gateway behind him, leaving a faint scent of smoke upon the air.

  The ones staying behind had little time for regret, much too late for that. Their combined strength would not equal the power of a Dragon Lord, and even rarer, those magicks available to the Dark Dragon. Only three had been born in their thousands of years on Earth. Two were dead and the last survivor now gone.

  With the sun hovering above the other horizon, casting the sky in a purple haze, the day ended. Tomorrow would be a new beginning. Those who chose to forsake their brethren heritage and become human shed their dragon skin for the last time. They changed as they turned, walking away from the stones on human legs, using the last of their magic to get down the mountain. A few others spread their iridescent wings and took to the heavens, one more time. For a short time, for the last time, dragons rode the currents in the night sky until those too were gone.

  Gone to die.

  Those who chose life joined with humans and never passed down the secret of their dragon ancestry to their offspring.

  The dragon blood lay dormant. Even those with great promise of magicks were never taught. Those brethren now lived human lives, with human life spans. They had given up their magic. Finally, all who remained to teach their offspring and to show them the way of the dragon passed from life. And while the blood passed from generation to generation, weak in some, strong in others, it did not stir. There was no one left to call to it. Dragons became a thing of myth and legend. A fairytale.

  Yet the dragon blood waits…it sleeps…

  Waiting.

  Waiting.

  Dragons are known for their patience.

  Chapter One

  “Oh no! Not again.” Maya rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. “Arrgh!”

  For the third night in a row she'd had the same dream. Dragons! Well, one dragon. A black dragon with emeralds for eyes. Consuming her, drawing her into their fiery depths. A fire, while dreaming, in which she gladly and willingly burned. After the first dream, she’d awakened in a cold sweat and checked her skin for burn marks only to find her body unblemished.

  For the hundredth time she wondered, why had she taken the tour of the dragon stones? It had sounded so exciting when the hiking guide told her and a few other people in the lounge about it. Something different and not on the listed hiking tours of the Sperrin Mountains but, he’d claimed, more interesting.

  In truth the hike itself was quite amazing and the stones magnificent. According to the guide who described them, the stones were not as tall as Stonehenge and only about half their size but older and all preserved in a perfect circle. These stones had also been polished by the elements until they not only looked like marble, but appeared as smooth.

  The guide didn’t know how they had gotten there or who put them there. He told some local story to the group about druids and the harvest, most of which Maya ignored. She was too busy rubbing one of the stones and getting an electric shock for her efforts.

  “Ouch!” she cried, rubbing her fingers and glancing at some of her fellow hikers. “I could swear there was an etching of a dragon carved into one of the stones a second ago.”

  The guide, James, came over to where she stood and looked. He brushed his hand over the unblemished, once again smooth, surface. “Nothing but dirt,” James assured her.

  “Why are they called the dragon stones anyway?” Maya asked.

  James shrugged. “Not sure.”

  Her dreams had started later that night. It’s strange she’d never heard of the standing stones before. No one had warned her for days after her visit she'd have nightmares about being burned by a dragon. And aching for the feel of his fire on her skin.

  Oh why hadn’t she just gone to Paris on her vacation like originally planned? She had no idea what possessed her in the first place to come to Ireland. Her grandfather on her mother’s side was Scottish not Irish, and the rest of the family consisted of African descent. She should have gone to Africa or Scotland. No, she should have gone to Paris. Maybe it wasn’t too late. She had eight days of vacation left; she could still go.

  That's it! Just what she needed, a change of scenery. All this green—the land of leprechauns, dragons, and fairy princesses—made her loopy. No need to go looking for problems. Enough sat on her plate so she didn't need any more restless nights because of weird dreams. Her conscious mind held enough to keep her awake at night. She didn’t need her subconscious interrupting her when she did get to sleep. Feeling better after making up her mind to cut her trip to Ireland short, she went back to sleep.

  The shrill ringing of her telephone jarred her awake. “This had better be important,” she said groggily into the receiver. Funny, she could see emerald eyes in the still place between sleep and wake. Someone spoke, but she couldn't seem to focus her mind away from those mesmerizing eyes.

  “Hello. Who is this? What did you say?”

  A gruff voice she hadn't expected to hear for at least another couple of weeks spoke into her ear. “I'm sorry, hon, but I missed you so I took a chance.”

  Not a voice she wanted to hear. “Justin? Is that you? I thought we agreed you would wait for me to call you.”

  “I know. But I just missed you so much. I couldn't help myself. Do you miss me? I could be on the next plane out.”

  She must still be dreaming. The trip had given her time to think and to put a little— well, all right, a lot—of distance between herself and Justin. For the past three years everyone had been expecting them to get married. In truth, they’d never really gotten past the ‘dating friends’ stage. She’d never been intimate with any man. Never been tempted. Her relationship with Justin had simply been convenient—for her. Probably because he never pushed for anything more physical than kissing and touching, making him the perfect boyfriend. A sure date whenever she needed one and good eye candy. But, when he’d finally asked her to marry him, she couldn't say yes. Instead, she faced the truth about her feelings for him.

  Justin continued to speak into the tense silence. “I know it’s still too soon after your grandmother’s accident for you to go off by yourself. Let me help you get through this.”

  At first she’d blamed postponing her decision about Justin on the death of her beloved grandmother. She couldn't think about marriage so soon after Nana's death. It had only been six months since she’d stood by her grandmother’s graveside. The woman who helped raised her. Who meant as much to her as her mother did. She’d needed to get away by herself for a while. Take a much needed break from running the marketing firm her grandmother had started over ten years ago at the age of seventy.

  Never one to let a little thing like age slow her down, it took a drunk driver to take her life. Before Nana died, she swam every morning and wore a perfect size six. Nana would still be alive but for a harsh quirk of fate or a shortage of angels in heaven.

  Maya forced her attention back on the conversation. “I'm sorry, Justin. I didn’t sleep well. And no, you can't join me. I need to be by myself. Anyway, I'm not sure where I'll be.”

  “What do you mean, you're not sure where you'll be?” Justin asked, with the slightest hint
of desperation in his voice.

  “Just what I said. I've had it with the Emerald Isle. As soon as I can get an internet connection, I’ll be making arrangements to leave. Don't expect me back home until the tenth.”

  “What? But where are you going? How will I be able to get in touch with you?”

  “This is just something that I feel I have to do. I need this time for myself. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

  “You are my future wife, that’s who you are.”

  “No, Justin. I’m not your future anything.” She sighed, tired from the last few nights of restless sleep and now having to deal with Justin. “I never told you I’d marry you. I need to figure myself out.”

  “I don't understand you.”

  At twenty-eight she didn't understand herself, but she took pity on him. He cared about her, even loved her, but he wasn’t in love with her or she with him. Friendship and convenience were no longer enough. “Listen, if you need me, just send me an e-mail. I have my laptop and cell with me and I'll check in with you after I get settled.” Before he could voice any further protest, Maya said goodbye and hung up the phone.

  She reminded herself to call her parents after she got up to let them know her change of plans. If she didn’t, Justin would call them and upset them needlessly. Ever since Nana died everyone had been worried about her. They had been so close. Her parents kept waiting for her to do something rash. Like take this trip alone to Europe, the one they’d planned on taking together.

  “We have no choice. I am sorry, Your Majesties. I have done the scrying an unprecedented three times. I have confirmation from my sister seers. If the dragon brethren are to survive, we must renew the blood. Talon must go back.”

  “No,” the Dark Lord growled at his trusted advisor.

  Three dragons stood on pebbled ground in the open arena making up the heart of the palace, surrounded by the sacred circle of standing stones. The circle of power. The runes cast within were cast true. Anyone else would have backed down at the sound of the Dark Lord’s displeasure, but the chief advisor held his ground and did not move as his Lord continued to rant. “This makes no sense. I will not have it. I will not accept this.”