Koldis the Green (DRAGONWALL SERIES 4)

CHAPTER 22: FORT LEADER VOTE

Kastali Dun

Tamara leaned into Byron's scaled neck, keeping her eyes trained on the land below. Searching. Byron's voice sounded in her mind intermittently as he called out for Verath.

"I will kill him if any harm has come to Desaree," she grumbled so that he'd hear.

"Peace, love. I am sure she is fine. He wouldn't let her come to harm, even drugged up as he was."

For nearly three days, Verath had been absolutely unreasonable, spending long stretches of time out flying. When he wasn't, he was even worse within the castle walls, striding about making ridiculous demands, operating at a productivity level impossible to keep up with. After his initial return, King Talon quickly realized it was better to send Verath off flying, to get him out of their hair. And Verath insisted on taking Desaree with him every time.

"I told Desaree to refuse his demands," she said, letting the telepathic thought stretch between them.

"I know, love. But she cares for him, worries for him. She doesn't want him out in the wilderness alone in this state."

Tamara all but snorted. "It isn't as if she can communicate with him when he's in form, and especially not when he's this unreasonable."

It wasn't until last night, when Verath didn't return, that they'd all grown worried. They had waited for hours in King Talon's tower beside the fire. It wasn't until Lady Saffra voiced the concerns they were all too afraid to put into words. "We do not know exactly when the Klizite will wear off and the Dragon's Bane will kick in," she'd said. "The combination of Klizite fatigue with Dragon's Bane will all but paralyze him."

"How bad?" Tamara couldn't help but ask.

"Think paralyzing giant snake bite, but worse. Obviously he's the first person we're testing this on, but I suspect his muscles will seize up and and extreme lethargy will take over."

Tamara's jaw had dropped open then. "What buisness did we have allowing him out to fly? He could fall from the sky and..."

"And harm Desaree," Saffra had said at last, leaving Tamara sick with worry.

"He wouldn't listen to reason," Talon said by way of explanation, as if that had made their king's actions justifiable. "I'll go out and look for him."

"We will all go," Bryon had said, jumping to his feet.

And that's how they found themselves soaring over the vast grasslands as dawn brightened around them.

"Don't fret, Tam," Byron said again, banking left to sweep back over the area they'd covered. "If we don't find them, the others will."

"I promised Jocelyn and Saffra that I would bring her back safely," she said. Both women had been close to tears at remaining behind to wait. "And Claire. Gods. If anything happened to Desaree, Claire..."

"I know." Byron's calm helped, but only so much.

They flew for another two hours. Byron was ready to call for a break—more for her sake than his—when she saw a sparkle of red glinting far in the distance below. Byron saw it at the same time as she and let out a roar. A relieved laugh bubbled up in her chest when they grew closer and she saw Desaree standing beside Verath's form, arms waiving to flag them down.

She was alive.

Byron took them in a steep dive. They were on the ground in seconds. She was out of her harness and off Byron's back, racing towards Desaree. Their arms locked around each other. "Verath! He just...he..." Desaree sobbed into her shoulder. "I didn't know what to do. We were flying and he...he..."