Can you hear my dragon roar?
COPYRIGHTED 2018 by LaVerne Thompson
Bathed in blood
We come into this world
And some
Bathed in blood
leave it.
Vente Dark Dragon Lord 320BC
Warning
Once, these majestic beasts soared through the heavens at will. Masters of the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. A long lived race of magick wielding shapeshifting dragons known as brethren. They were favored by Mother Earth and ruled over her domain, but that was before man embraced the coming of the one God and Earth magicks began to disappear.
Once, they were predators, now they are prey. As dragon magicks weakened, the brethren were betrayed by one of their own, eventually their kind disappeared. Or so legend has it.
Once...but some things change, and some stay the same.
For, what once was gone has now returned.
For, what once was lost has been reclaimed.
The scent of smoke rides heavily on the wind and the crackle of lightening splits the darken sky. Can you hear the dragon roar?
The dragon blood has awakened.
Past and present merge. Time becomes now.
And death follows.
Chapter One
A rare echo of thunder drummed across a hazy Arizona night. The threat of rain and the lateness of the hour insured privacy. At the place known as Window Rock, directly beneath the arch of the natural circular stone monument, two men, one older one younger, watched and waited. The older one had long white hair pulled away from a high forehead into a tight braid, hanging down the center of his back. The pathways on his deeply lined face told the story he?d lived life long and rough, the broadness of his features highlighted his Native American heritage.
The older man crouched within the Window, pulled out the sheathed ceremonial knife at his hip and handed it to the younger man. He was of medium height and wore a cap pulled low over his head his face remained shadowed. When he reached for the knife, lightning reflected off its surface showing the man?s dark colored skin.
The Native American man held out his hands, palms up and the other man sliced them both open from his thumb across his life line to the other side. Turning around, the older man laid his blood covered palms upon one side of the stone interior. He sang in his native tongue, voice low the tone guttural. Where his hands touched the rock, instead of smearing it red, the surface began to glow, muted at first then into a radiant white. The younger man narrowed his eyes when the glow blazed highlighting his features. Isaiah Turner stood silent sentinel, stroking the bloodied ceremonial knife in his hand against the other side of the rock. His long wait was almost over. After twelve years of careful planning, searching, everything was in place?almost. They needed one more crucial piece. He nodded at the old Indian he?d been sent to find and stayed with for the last dozen years, learned from. Readying everything for this day. The old man was dying and this would be his last act, best his death help their master accomplish his goals.
***
The seismic boom ricocheted through the night and jerked Darryl Jenkins from a deep sleep. His wife beside him bolted upright, her blond micro-braids swinging as she looked quickly toward the window in their room facing east, toward Window Rock. The direction of the sound. The echo of danger vibrated within their dragons, causing them to growl. The explosion disturbed the lines of magicks running through the very core of Earth. Any one with a drop of brethren blood would have felt it to varying degrees. The stronger in power the greater the effect. For Darryl and his truemate, it was the equivalent of a thousand bells ringing in their heads.
Darryl turned and took his wife into his arms. Holding onto each other, they combined their powers and stopped the effect of the disruption, lesser brethren might have headaches for days from the after shock of such pain. But Darryl was a First. One of the first seven brethren awakened by their leader, Draakar, the Dark Dragon Lord, over a dozen years ago. Darryl carried strong magicks in his veins, as did his truemate.
Darryl had been born on Earth, a descendant of Earth born brethren. His mate however, was born on Akgon, their native realm, a place not of this Earth. Still, they both came from strong brethren blood.
The reason for the boom chilled Darryl to the marrow of his soul. It was why he?d been placed here, in this area. He was the strongest brethren in the country. Other than the Dark Lord?s son, Talon, there were not many brethren stronger in power on Earth than Darryl. His sole task, because of his great strength, was the guarding of the portal at Window Rock in Arizona. The arch was a gateway to another world, another realm. One neither brethren nor human, something no human should know of but obviously perhaps a handful did. It didn?t matter, Darryl and the other brethren wanted no one crossing over from the other side. So Darryl kept watch.
Years ago, he?d helped his Lord seal all the portals on Earth in order to trap a renegade brethren, known simply as the betrayer. For his crimes against brethren and humanity, his name stripped from their history. A silver dragon bent on proclaiming himself Lord of all brethren and human alike, by any means necessary. The seals were meant to keep him from returning to Earth and wrecking his havoc. Darryl feared the explosion could mean the betrayer had made an attempt to break the seal. Or worse. He succeeded.
?Was that what I think?? his wife asked, fear in her voice.
?I?m not sure.? Darryl could not lie to this woman even if he wanted to. She was his truemate, with access to the deepest reaches of his soul. The one woman born just for him, capable of drawing forth all of his magicks. Darryl was brethren who could harness magick when Draakar first awakened him, but even more powerful since he mated a year ago. He followed up his initial answer with the truth, a truth that would only take her brethren senses another moment to discover for herself. ?Whatever is going on, it?s coming from the portal. Come on, we?ve got to go.?
* * *
At about the same time Darryl and his truemate backed the car out of their driveway and headed in the direction of the Window to investigate the disturbance, someone else prepared to rush to his aid. Talon, Earth?s guardian and Draakar?s son, along with Robert, one of his father?s Firsts assigned to watch over Talon, stepped on the Akgon private jet in Ireland to get to Darryl?s side. Even over thousands of miles, Talon?s powers were strong and he was linked to all of the Firsts remaining on Earth. Though an ocean and thousands of miles separated them, Talon called upon the powers of the Stones. The source of the portal to Akgon. He sent telepathically to Darryl. We?re on our way. An attempt has been made to breach the portal, so far the seal is holding.
Unfortunately, Talon and Robert, even though both were golden dragons, couldn?t take dragon form and fly there, or teleport over such a great distance. That would task powers they may later need. However, they could boost the speed of the plane they traveled on and move it from one location to another, with the help of the powers of Mother Earth, in minutes.
Darryl?s response to Talon, his Lord?s son could only be one thing. Jenna and I are already on our way to the portal. We will make sure it holds.
Soon enough, Darryl stopped the Jeep as close to the Window as they could get, got out of the car then quickly climbed to the top of the hill the arch sat upon. The entire area lay covered in the darkness of night, deserted, and after the soul shattering noise earlier, suddenly eerily silent. None of the night sounds that should be present were. Not even the brush of the wind.
Darryl?s dragon within remained uneasy. As Darryl and Jenna cautiously approached, he expanded his senses and scanned the area. He felt his mate beside him do the same. I don?t see or sense anyone. He sent to her mind, but something is still very wrong.
The unnatural bright silver light glowing from the center of the Window seemed even brighter against the otherwise black background. Darryl could feel the power continue to build from the other side pushing against the entrance to Earth. So far it held. They could clearly hear thunder now, echoing from its center. The air drifted ripe with the scent of an electric charge, but nothing could be seen except the light. When they got nearer they noticed a shadow move on one side of the stone arch. Yet neither could sense anyone or anything, as though the power generating from the portal dulled some of their senses.
Lightning gathered overhead suddenly striking the empty space dead center within the Window, causing the structure to shine even more so for a moment it looked like daylight. Darryl released his wife?s hand and reached into his jacket, pulling out the Beretta semi-auto he carried. He could command great amounts of powerful magicks, but sometimes something else simpler was called for. Stay behind me.
Be careful.
They raised their body shields and he angled their climb so they approached the Window from the other end of the movement they had seen. As they drew closer to its base, Darryl could feel the intensity of the steadily building power emanating from it. Like being as close to fire as you could get without feeling the burn, but the flush seemed bad enough. This was as close as he wanted them to get to the glow. And still they were only about ten feet away from it.
Slowly, he made his way until he stood at the edge of the Window, being careful not to touch it as he rounded the corner, gun in hand. He quickly spied around the corner and saw nothing. As brightly as the center glowed it did not extend much beyond the Window to penetrate the dark and provide any light, nor could he see through the portal to the other side. Even with his dragon senses Darryl had a hard time seeing in the unnatural night surrounding them. And it was unnatural. Great power created this kind of dull darkness. The sense of danger hit him as he turned around to check on his wife. The sight behind him caused his blood to turn to liquid fire.
His dragon roared and his magicks reared to kill the man who held the gun pressed to his mate?s temple. Taking in several things at once, he noted her shield seemed to be down as was his. He?d heard her warning too late. For both of them. Trap!
Let there be dragons!
Coming this summer!
