Caught By the Dragon: Maiden to the Dragon, Book 1, - [ebook reader with internet browser txt] 📗

Xander angled his legs behind him and his head forward. His wings flapped hard and we were pushed forward by the momentum. We sped past the ground beneath us. A cool wind whipped my face. I shivered and turned to face away and toward his chest.

“Cold?” he asked me.

I gave him the Evil Eye. “What do you think?”

“That you are not enjoying the ride as much as I would wish,” he commented.

I glanced down at the earth far below us. “You don’t exactly come with a seat belt or parachute.”

He blinked at me. “Seat belt?”

I shook my head. “Never mind. Just don’t drop me.”

He chuckled. “I believe I can agree to your request.”

We flew over the thick forests of tall, ancient trees. Our shadows ghosted over the needled tops as the sun set to our right. A cool wind whipped my hair over my face and over my bare arms. The warmth of the dragon lord’s body stifled some of my shivering.

The winding gravel road traveled with us. I looked ahead at its future. The road ended at a small village of thatched-roof houses. Smoke floated from the chimneys and dim light of candles.

The exception to the stillness lay at the southern-most edge of the clump of houses. There, in a round clearing that stretched into the trees, arose a large, twenty-foot tall upright hoop made of stone and vines. The hoop stood at the extreme end of a stone platform. On the ground in front of the platform was a round stone alter like a bird-feeder, but filled with oil. A fire three feet tall fed off the flammable liquid and pierced the air with its twisting flames.

The platform was reached by six wide steps. Two figures clothed in cloaks of brown and black stood on the platform on either side of the steps. Three others stood around the tall alter of fire. They were clothed in cloth of gold, green and blue, and white. All of their cloaks had large slits in the backs, but their underclothing and skin were hidden by multiple layers of clothing.

Around them were a half-dozen others cloaked in gray habits that had no hoods. Those men were all around thirty and their hair was cut short in the bowl look. The monk-like men poured the oil into the hungry fire, swept the ground around the alter, or stood off to one side in a line.

The cloaked group looked up at us as we landed. Xander and Cayden set us down as the three figures around the fire came over to us. They bowed, and the one in green and blue stepped forward.

“My Lords, you do us a great honor with your visit,” he greeted us.

Xander smiled and bowed his head in return. “It is too often we forget to pay our respects to you who guard the Portal.”

The person removed his hood and revealed himself as a man of fifty. His gray-stranded hair flowed down his back in a tail. Wrinkles teased the corners of his eyes, and there was a soft smile on his face. “It is, and always will be, an honor to manage the Portal for you, My Lord. How may we serve you this night?”

Xander gestured to me. “My Maiden wishes to see the Portal in all its mythical glory.”

The man bowed his head. “As you wish it, My Lord, but I cannot perform the ritual on my own.”

Xander smiled. “One must admire your diligence to code, Apuleius.” He looked to Cayden who stood beside us. “Cayden, does my priest have your permission to open the Portal?”

Cayden nodded. “I will allow my priest to help.”

The man in the golden cloak removed his hood. He was about seventy with more wrinkles than an unsettled pond. His soft blue eyes smiled at Stephanie. “I will gladly do My Lord’s bidding, but would also congratulate you on a beautiful Maiden. I have not seen the likes of her in many years.” Stephanie blushed and looked at the ground.

Cayden bowed. “Thank you, Jethro. I, too, am most pleased with her.”

“But to the reason for our visit,” Xander reminded them.

Apuleius nodded. “Yes, My Lord. Your will shall be done.”

Apuleius and Jethro walked up the stone steps to stand ten feet from the tall hoop. Each of them held up an opposite arm, one left and one right, and closed their eyes. Their lips moved, but no sound reached my ears.

Something shifted on the Portal, though. The vines that covered the archway drew back and revealed a set of six carved figures. They were standing dragons, and were so intricate I could see their scales. There were two sets of three, one on each side of the arch and they faced the top center. In the center was a small drop of water.

The drop of water glowed blue, and the dragons glowed the respective colors of the five houses with the addition of a red dragon at the top left. Opposite that one was a green dragon. The brilliance from the carved figures flowed over the arch and into the hole. It spread over the interior like a thin film of rippling water. The film covered the center of the archway to the surface of the platform.

An explosion of light burst from the center and spread outward to the stone arch. The burst left behind a smooth, reflective surface that revealed my astonished face.

Xander picked up a small pebble from the swept ground and offered me his arm. “Shall we?”

In my stupor I took his arm and let him lead me up the stairs. Cayden and Stephanie followed behind us. We stopped where the priest stood. The pair stepped aside and let us stand in front of the water portal.

Xander swept his eyes over the surface. “Quite impressive, is it not? It took a century of ancient magic from the ruling houses of the dragons to bring this to fruition. The stone figures were carved by the dragons themselves and infused with their life forces.”

“Did it hurt them?” Stephanie wondered.

Xander shook his head. “No, but it left them and their lines spiritually weakened.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Than why did they do it?”

He looked down to study me. “Because they believed the reward was worth the price. The Maidens would offer a rejuvenation of their line, a new promise to their descendants.”

Something on the ground caught my attention. I stooped and picked it up to turn it in my fingers. It was a bit of compressed clay dropped from the tire of the pig-men’s truck.

I held it up so Xander could see it. My lips pursed together as my eyes flickered to him. “So how were those pig-men able to go through?” I questioned him.

“Their kind are the exception to the rule. They are not of our world, nor nor yours, but between them as travelers,” he explained.

I let the dirt clod fall to the ground. It crumbled to dust. I glanced at the portal. “I see.”

Xander frowned. He picked up a rock from the ground and walked up the stairs. The men in cloaks bowed their heads and stepped aside. He threw the rock underhanded at the gray blob. The hard matter hit the gooey center. There was a small flash of light at the point of contact. I saw the rock burst into a thousand tiny, colorful fragments of glass. The fragments fell to the ground in front of the portal.

Xander half-turned to me and gestured to the remains of the stone. “That is what happens to anything from our world, of which you are now