Everything hurt. His head, his shoulders, but especially his chest. He felt so weak, and tired. He couldn't remember what had happened. All he remembered was fighting with Skylar... everything after that was dark.
Skylar, where was Skylar? He tried to open his eyes or sit up or anything, but his dragon suppressed his control. How odd, as he could feel that he wasn't in his dragon form, he was in his human. He took a deep breath to try and gauge his surroudings through smell and immediately regretted it. The pain in his chest intensified to a point where he almost passed out again. As he took a shallow breath, that was still agonizing but bearable, he felt his shirt pull at his skin, as if it was stuck.
His dragon whined and paced in his head, but still wouldn't let him move. That said enough about how weak he was. He likely would have shifted, but it was hard for the dragon to take control when the human side wasn't conscious. His dragon should have been able to do it though; there was a different reason why he hadn't shifted.
He felt someone grab his arms and drag him forward. He nearly passed out again. "Damn he's a heavy bastard isn't he?"
"Just pull him over here."
"Did you bring a shovel?" the first man asked.
Orion heard a scoff and the pressure on his shoulder eased as the man stopped walking. "Does it look like I brought a damn shovel? Where would I have gotten a shovel?"
"Just asking. Jared told us to bury him, hedidn't want a dead body rotting in the woods."
"Jared won't know if we just leave him out here. We're in the woods; the animals will take care of him soon enough. He won't be rotting"
His dragon let out a sharp growl, and Orion could feel him debating the shift. Orion had no strength to stop him if he decided to, but he wasn't sure stopping him was the best idea at the moment. He wasn't strong enough to fight; he could barely breath let alone swing at anything. His dragon could easily stop the two men, but if anyone else saw him, they would be done for. Everyone would know he was still alive, and they would be after him. They obviously thought he was dead. It wasn't a stretch; he could smell the blood that was caked to him, but he had no idea what happened. Did Skylar think he was dead too? And where was she?
His dragon whimpered at the thought of Skylar. Something about her worried him, but he wouldn't share with Orion. His dragon had never kept anything from him before, and that scared him more than anything. If the beast made the judgement that it was too horrible to share, that meant it was truly horrible. Dragons' sense of good and bad wasn't as sensitive as humans. Only the truly terrible things made an impact on them, otherwise everything was what it was.
If something had happened to a dragon's mate, that would be enough to get his dragon to keep it a secret until Orion could do something about it. Which he couldn't, but he needed to know where Skylar was.
He pushed at his dragon's will, but the beast stood his ground. He would give nothing, and Orion wasn't strong enough, mentally or physically, to challenge him any further. The last time he'd seen Skylar, he'd been upset with her. He'd left her alone, and now he was here, being dragged through the woods with a wound in his chest and more blood than was safe caked against his skin and shirt.
His captors gave his arms another good tug and he had to bite back the groan. They thought he was dead, he needed to keep it that way to maintain the element of surprise. Unfortunately, he could think of no way out of this that didn't involve shifting. He couldn't fight. On any other day he could have fought them both with one hand tied behind his back. Today he wouldn't even be able to trip one of them.
His dragon growled, following his train of thought. They reluctantly came to an agreement. His dragon wanted to tear the men apart, but spending any extra time here left them vulnerable to discovery by someone else. Their only hope was that the men wouldn't want to bury a body where other people could see them. They were likely out of sight, but were they far enough out of sight that no one would notice a dragon?
There was also the fact that Orion's injury would seriously impede the strength of his dragon. Their strength came from one another, and if one half of the soul was out of commission, then the other half wouldn't be a strong. Of course, a dragon at half strength could still overpower a couple of humans with ease, but the flight back to Hal's castle would be difficult for him if the wind wasn't in his favor. He would also need to land inside the castle; there was no way Orion could walk on his own. They would just need to be fast. Speed and efficiency were necessary for his success. He didn't know what he would do when he got back to the castle, but at least from there he could regain his bearings and figure out where Skylar was. That was the most important thing: Skylar needed them. That much he knew.
He opened the gate, with the help of his dragon, and the beast burst through. The shift was more painful than it had been since his first shift, like every bone was broken and then reshaped. Of course, that was essentially what was happening, but he hadn't felt it to that extent in fourteen years.
"What the bloody hell?" one of the men squealed at his fell on his behind. Both men stared up at the glittering dragon, which was the last thing they would ever see.
The golden dragon knew exactly what had been done to Skylar, and where she was. He felt vengeful, for they took his mate from him. They took her to the Dragon Killer, the man who wanted to hurt her. Now he was going to hurt them.
He snarled in their face, making sure they got a good, long look at his glistening teeth before he took one into his mouth and bit him cleanly in half. He'd never done that to a human before. The dragon didn't care, but Orion wondered if he should be worried about how easy it was. He dropped the pieces of Draco's knight to the ground in front of his friend, who screamed in terror. He stood up to run, but the golden dragon was right on his heel. The man only made it three strides before he met the same fate as his companion.
The dragon snorted in satisfaction and snarled at the body parts one more time. Then he opened his wings and jumped into the air, leaving the corpses for the animals, as they were going to do to Orion.
As he turned himself toward Trael, the wind shifted so it blew toward him, instead of from behind him. That meant he would be fighting the wind the entire way, and would have to work that much harder. Frustration filled the beast; he needed to get back fast so that Orion could get help and they could save Skylar. If he fought the wind the whole time, it wouldn't take long for exhaustion to overwhelm him. He could already feel his own strength waning as Orion got even weaker. If they didn't get help soon, Orion would die. Which meant the dragon would die, but he wasn't worried about that. He was worried about who would save his mate if he was dead.
<><><><><><><><>
Olly stared at the group of men standing before him. Five-hundred of Hal's men had volunteered to help, despite knowing they were dragons. They hadn't believe him until he'd shifted for them, which had caused an uproar, as was expected. Three men had rushed forward in an attempt to slay him, but he'd knocked them harmlessly to the side with his tail and then Hal had sent them to the dungeon for trying to harm a guest. They still didn't believe Skylar was a dragon.
The 500 men had agreed to help anyway, despite everything, which had surprised Olly more than anything; he hadn't expected even that many. He and Hal had done their best to sell it, to explain what had happened, that their brother-in-arms had been murdered and Jonathan was being held as a captive. That was what convinced them. They were trained soldiers, and they took honor seriously. They were also completely loyal to Jonathan. All of the other men had scoffed at them and walked away, siding with the three who had tried to kill Olly.
The soldiers stood in the courtyard, preparing to leave. It was the early morning of the fourth day since Skylar and Orion had left. Olly wanted to be on the road sooner, but it had taken time to convince the men and then get them ready to march all the way to the Western Clan, which was a week long march without any setbacks, and with 500 men there were likely going to be some setbacks. Luckily, they were closer than Draco's army, so they should still be ahead of them. They needed to beat them there, because the men needed a chance to rest and a chance to practice fighting alongside the dragons.
"Will this be enough?" Hal asked, crossing his arms next to Olly. "My men are excellent soldiers, but so are Draco's."
Olly nodded, trying to appear optimistic. "With the dragons fighting as well, I think we should have a good chance. Having a dragon at your back is a good thing."
Hal snorted. "I can honestly say that's the first time I've heard that."
Olly chuckled and turned to respond to Hal when he heard a murmur overtake the crowd of men. He stopped to survey them and saw they were staring up at the gray sky, where the sun was still just below the horizon. A few pointed at something, and Olly tried to follow where they were looking. As soon as he spotted it, his eyes widened.
A golden dragon was angling toward the courtyard, and all the men gathered there. And he was moving far too fast to be able to slow down in time for a good landing. The golden dragon was getting larger and larger at an alarming rate, and Olly could see he was struggling with flight, his wings locked in place because when he flapped them they began to buckle into his sides. He was coming in for a crash landing.
"Get out of the way!" he shouted, raising his arms to the men. "Get out of the way!"
Fortunately, the men were soldiers, so they were fast to follow orders without question. They all rushed to the edges of the courtyard, all five hundred of them, as the golden dragon hit the ground with a deafening crash. Pieces of grass and dirt exploded into the air as the immense creature created a substantial rut in the ground. A low moan escaped the animal as he went limp where he came to a stop.
"Orion?" Olly asked, rushing forward to the dragon's head. His golden eyes were close, but opened the tiniest bit when Olly knelt next to him. His own dragon began to whimper and pace in his head at the sight of not only his brother, but also his future Alpha in such a state. His placed his hand on the golden dragon's snout and one on his cheek, trying to be reassuring.
"Orion?" he asked again as the eye fell shut again. He didn't need to sense how weak the dragon was, it was easy enough to see. He shouldn't have been like this, the flight should have been easy. They'd been gone for barely four days, and they'd been on horseback; the equivalent flight should have been nothing for Orion. Something else was terribly wrong. "You need to shift now. I can't do anything for you in this form."
The dragon moaned and took a labored breath. The men had gathered around in curiosity, staring at the beast. This was as close as they'd ever been to a dragon, other than when Olly shifted for them briefly. This dragon obviously was no threat, and they didn't see how worrisome that was. All they saw was an opportunity to satisfy their curiosity.
The dragon made no indication that he was going to shift, so Olly was forced to remember what Nana had taught him so long ago. And he had to hope that he had the strength to push hard enough for it to work.
"Alright, fella," he said quietly. "We'll have to make you shift manually, if you're not going to do it yourself."
He ran his hands around the dragon, making sure the beast always knew where his was, as he moved to each pressure point. The base of the skull, the top of the shoulder, the joint where his back leg attached to his hip, and one of his temples. It was different than a human, and he pushed as hard as he could at each spot. He knew it worked when the beast growled softly at the pain of the first one, but then froze as the second one began to take over. Then, after a painfully slow shift, Orion was curled into the fetal position in front of him.
The scent of blood was overwhelming.
"Oh, no," Olly said, leaning down to roll his big brother onto his back. Blood caked his chest, and his skin was a sickly ashen color. It looked like there was more blood outside of his body than in, and the force of the shift had caused the wound to begin bleeding once again. A wound that appeared to be from a knife was centered perfectly on his chest. How the attacker had managed to slip through the ribs was beyond him, but Olly had no idea how Orion wasn't dead.
This certainly explained why his dragon had been so weak; Orion himself was holding on by a thread.
"Holy shit," one of the soldiers whispered. "What happened?"
Olly shook his head, at a loss. He'd never seen his big brother look so weak. He seemed so small, when he'd always seemed like a giant. Even when Olly was tall enough to look his future Alpha in the eye, Orion had seemed like he was three feet taller. It wasn't until Skylar came along that he realized his brother was just a man like he was. He wasn't a god, he was just a dragon. He had weaknesses like everyone else. Those weaknesses had apparently caught up to him.
"Orion, where's Skylar?" Olly asked even though the Alpha was unconscious. He looked up at Hal and the men, at a loss. His brother was dying, his future sister-in-law was missing, and he had no idea what to do.
"Get some water!" Olly shouted. "I need some water!" He gently wrapped an arm around Orion's shoulder and lifted him gently. "It's going to be okay," he whispered.
Some shoved a canteen of water into his vision and he took it quickly. He tipped the water to his brother's mouth and coaxed it down his throat. All of a sudden, Orion sputtered and then groaned. His head fell back and his eyes fluttered open.
"Skylar..." he breathed out in a weak voice.
"Orion. What happened?"
"I... don't... remember," he grunted. "But I need Nana, and I need to find Skylar."
Olly nodded. "We'll find her I promise, but we need to get you home."
Orion groaned and closed his eyes. "Everything hurts, Olly."
"I know, brother," he said, lowering him to the ground as he rose to his feet. He turned to face Hal. "I need to take him home."
Hal shook his head slowly in bemusement. "Where's Skylar?"
"He didn't say. I don't think he knows," Olly explained, looking down at where Orion lay. He couldn't stand to see his brother like this. "But I need to get him to our healer."
"We have doctors here," Hal told him. "He's not going anywhere until we find Skylar."
"We need our healer. Our grandmother. She's the best there is, and he'll get better faster there. Once he's well, we'll figure out what happened to Skylar. But he's no good to us in this condition," Olly snapped, taking charge. "I'm taking him home."
"Then we're coming with you," Hal stated. "We'll be ready for Draco when he attacks, because I'd bet my kingdom that he has Skylar. Tell us where to go, and we'll be right behind you."
Olly nodded in agreement and explained the direction of the Western Clan. Once he dropped Orion off, he would fly back and find them to lead them the rest of the way. But he needed to get his brother home.
Hal shook his hand before looking down at Orion. "I don't like him because of his relationship with my daughter, but I don't want him to die. Once we get her back, she'll need him. And we'll need him to get her back."
Orion groaned, but Olly wasn't sure if it was because he heard Hal or if he was in pain. Or both. He seemed too delirious to really know what was going on around him. He stepped back and shifted in one smooth motion. The men around him gasped in surprise and stepped back in shock and some distrust. This dragon was strong and healthy, much more of a threat than the gold one. The orange dragon ignored them all as he carefully lifted Orion in his massive paw. Orion went limp as he lost consciousness again, but the dragon ignored that. His only objective was to deliver Orion safely home.
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Orion felt pressure around his hand, and he was surrounded by familiar scents. Something wrapped tightly around his chest, which was still agonizingly painful. A cold cloth fell across his forehead and the smell of Nana washed over him.
"Orion, son," a voice rumbled next to him. "Please wake up."
His eyes opened slowly and stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He recalled waking up in Trael, looking up at Olly, but his memory failed him in telling him how he got home. He could only assume Olly had gotten him back to Nana.
"Orion?" the voice said again. Slowly, carefully, Orion turned his head to the side, where he met his father's anxious black gaze.
When their eyes met, Leo let out a sigh of relief. "You're awake. I thought... It's not important. Son, what happened?"
Orion stared at his father, his brain moving sluggishly toward an answer. He felt groggy, like he had slept too long and his mind didn't want to wake up.
"Leo," another voice snapped. "Give the boy a chance to wake up, for goodness sake. He's been out for three days."
That cut through the fog that muddled his brain. "What?" he croaked, trying to sit up. He hissed at the sharp pain the movement caused and fell back onto the pillows. He couldn't have possible been unconscious for three days. What about Skylar? He needed to find Skylar, and his dragon still hadn't shared the information.
"Shhh," Nana walked over and placed a hand on his forehead. "Settle down, love, or you'll tear out your stitches."
"My stitches?" He did his best to look down at his chest, where a crisp white bandage had been wrapped around his chest, hiding the carnage from him.
She pushed his hair back from his face in a motherly gesture and then cupped his cheek. "The stab wound in your chest, darling, the one that almost killed you. It needed stitches. To be entirely honest, I'm not sure how you survived as long as you did without proper care. And then flying with Olly for a day? I've never met anyone as stubborn as you."
"It's been three days?"
"Two days since you arrived here, but Olly said you didn't wake up the entire flight here."
Orion tried to process that. It would explain why he didn't remember any of it. "I feel really weak, Nana."
"I'm not surprised. If you'd lost any more blood you surely would have died. I've been trying to feed you water and broth to help gain your strength, but that's hard to do when you're not awake to help. Now that you are, you'll regain your strength much faster."
He nodded slowly and swallowed through his sandpaper mouth. "Why didn't I heal quickly, like dragons usually do?"
Nana sighed and pursed her lips. "Even dragons can't magically heal nearly fatal wounds. Your body wasn't strong enough."
"It still isn't," Leo cut in, glancing from Orion's face to his bandaged chest. "So take it easy, alright?"
"Dad," Orion shook his head slowly, though it ached and he regretted it immediately. "I need to find Skylar."
Leo placed a hand on his son's shoulder to hold him down on the bed. It was a gentle touch, but Orion didn't miss the unspoken command behind it. Nana gave them a cautious look, but when she was sure their tempers were going to get the better of them, she kissed Orion on the forehead and then slipped from the room.
"Do you know where she is?"
Orion let out a low sigh though tight lips. "My dragon won't disclose that information."
"Which means," his father growled softly, "that he thinks it's too dangerous for you to know right now. If he's putting in the effort to keep a secret from you, someone he shares a mind with, then you should tread carefully, lad."
Orion snarled as harshly as he could. "He's keeping me from my mate."
Leo rose from his seat. "He's trying to keep you alive. You think it would be a smart idea to go raging across the country side trying to find her without a plan? You don't think you'd be killed?"
"I think she's alone and she needs me."
"You're no good to her like this," Leo barked. "You can barely lift your head, let alone save her from whatever danger she might me in. Not only that, but you have no idea where she is. Even if Draco does have her, you can't be sure he's keeping her in the castle."
Orion only processed one thing from that short speech. "Draco has her?" That possibility should have occurred to him, but, in his defense, he'd a rough couple of days.
Leo ran a hand over his face and scratched at the scruff on his chin that Orion hadn't noticed before. His father never had a beard, he barely had scruff at the end of the day, because he didn't like the way his scar cut through the hair, accentuating the flaw. This beard was a few days old, and it had to have been driving him insane. Why wouldn't he have shaved?
"Harold, Skylar's father, seems to think so."
"You've talked to Hal?" Orion's eyes widened. His father conversing with a human? That was something he'd never thought he'd hear.
"Not yet, but he's on his way with the men he and Olly pulled together. Olly flew you back, but now he's back with the humans to lead them here."
"Wow. Olly did all that?"
Leo's mouth pulled up in a small grin. "He did a great job, as upset as I was with him for leaving."
Orion grinned too, pride in his little brother blossoming. Olly had come through, much better than he would have been able to. Of course, it helped that Hal and Olly got along famously.
"Where is everyone else?" he finally asked, noticing how quiet his room was. He was exhausted, in pain, and groggy, but he wanted to see his family.
"Well," Leo counted off on his fingers. "Percy and Laura have been locked in their new house since their mating ceremony four days ago, so I doubt they even know what's going with you. Olly is gone leading the humans here, like I said before. Jed is running patrol in Percy's place while Kellan flew home to rally his fighting clan members. Cassie is off pouting because you rejected her, which we'll talk about when Kellan gets back, by the way. Nana and Penelope are with Victoria," a smile broke out on his face, "and your new brother."
"My what?" Orion grinned. "She had the baby?"
Leo grinned wider than Orion had seen in a long time. "Yes, the night Percy and Laura got married, before you and Olly showed up. They're both happy and healthy, and he's beautiful. I forgot what it was like to have a baby. It's been so long since you and Olly."
Seeing the light that took over his father's face, when it had been shadowed for so long, gave Orion enough strength to reach over and grab his father's hand. "Congratulations, Dad. I'm really happy for you and Victoria."
"Thank you, son," Leo squeezed his hand. "His name is Benjamin."
"Benjamin," Orion repeated. "A strong name."
"For a strong boy. He is a Nogard after all. We're a strong breed, as you've proven these past few days."
Orion snorted, even though it hurt. "When do I get to meet him?"
"When you're strong enough to leave this room," Leo raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Consider it motivation to get better." His father stood up to his impressive height, looking down at Orion.
"Now rest, Orion. You're no good to anyone like this."
"As soon as I can walk, I'm going after her, Dad."
Leo tilted his head. "We'll talk about that later, but just know that I'm not letting you leave here. I almost lost you, and I can't go through that again."
"You can't keep me."
"I'm your Alpha and your father. If I really want to, I can."
"Dad-"
"Orion, when you're stronger, we'll discuss this thoroughly. I'm not doing this to spite you or Skylar. Despite everything, I do care about that girl, and I know you love her. Whatever you think, I won't sacrifice her for no reason, not now, not like before. Not when I know that would truly kill you. You just have to trust me, alright?"
Orion didn't answer, just glared up at him.
Leo sighed and walked about to the door. "We'll talk more when you can sit up in your bed. Now rest, and everything will be fine."
With that he left the room and shut the door firmly behind him, leaving Orion alone with his thoughts. That would have be fine if he could think of something other than how Skylar was likely in the grasp of the person who wanted to hurt her most.