Dragon Storm, page 17
“Thank you, Josie.” Roland turned to her as they neared the edge. “I have learned a great deal, and so it appears, have our people.” He stepped back, and she knew then he’d done it so the Lair folk would know what she truly was. Why he wanted that, she didn’t know, but he had definitely achieved his goal.
Josie shifted back in a cloud of white mist and smiled up at the king. Roland stepped farther away and a black mist enveloped him as he shifted to his dragon form. He had the most amazing emerald eyes as a man that held true in his dragon form. With a mighty sweep of his wings, he took to the air.
Darius and Connor gave her sweet kisses and tight hugs, then she was bundled up in a warm fur coat and given a small bag of provisions to carry. She said goodbye to Candis while the twins shifted shape, then climbed on Connor’s back and away they went.
They stopped only once during the long flight for the dragons to get a sip of water from a crystal-clear lake. The countryside was dotted with farms and forestland. It was hilly in places, and she could see mountains in the distance. All in all, it was a beautiful, fertile land, free of the smog of urban life. It was lovely.
Josie took a moment to stretch and felt the urge to do a little t’ai chi while she was in such beautiful surroundings. She hadn’t felt this much at peace in a place in a long time. Her mountain home in Oregon had some of this feeling, of course, but she was always cautious about hikers and day-trippers who came onto her land at least a few times a year. She never knew when or how she would be disturbed in her sanctuary, only that she would be.
She had none of that subtle stress here. No, these people were shifters of an even more magical kind. From all accounts the townspeople were used to magic and though her cat form might garner attention, she wasn’t likely to become the target of an insane news media if she was spotted running across the hills. For the first time since leaving her grandfather’s home, she felt truly free to be who she was.
“What was that you were doing?” Riki came up behind Josie after she’d finished her t’ai chi form and was reaching for an apple from the sack she’d carried. The men were still mostly in dragon form, some guarding while others refreshed themselves with food, drink or simply a moment of peaceful motionlessness.
“It’s a form of moving meditation called t’ai chi ch’uan.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It has a practical side too. Each of the movements is either a defense or attack posture.”
“Really?” Riki looked truly interested. Josie explained a bit more as Riki sat beside her, taking another apple from the sack on the ground.
“It’s actually a martial art.” Josie stood and moved into one of the postures. “See? This is a block while this hand is in a strike position.” She flowed into the next move. “Watch my hands and imagine someone standing behind me. See the way my fingers are curled? Aiming for my opponent’s eyes. Gross, huh?” Josie smiled at Riki’s astonished expression.
She looked up to find Roland watching her with narrowed eyes. He’d shifted to human form and walked over without her knowing. These dragons moved like the wind.
Riki passed him the sack of food, and he pulled out a sandwich for himself before settling next to Riki on the ground. Nico appeared and sat on his wife’s other side, grabbing the sack out of his brother’s hands. Josie looked around for the twins, realizing they were the only two left standing in dragon form, their necks craned and their stances alert.
“I left the boys on guard duty.” Nico waved a hand in the twins’ direction. “Punishment for making us worry.”
“Nico, that’s not nice. They’re newly mated. They’ll want to spend time with Josie,” Riki protested.
“I know.” Nico grinned and placed a smacking kiss on his wife’s lips. “They’re young. They’ll survive. And they’ll think twice about worrying us again.”
“It really wasn’t their fault,” Josie protested, sitting again with the group. “They didn’t call the storm. At least not on purpose. I think it was meant to come for them. My grandfather said all of this was part of my destiny. Part of the prophecies of a time almost completely forgotten in my world—even by those touched by magic.”
“Your grandfather is some kind of mystic, Darius said.” Nico’s question was a leading one, but she didn’t mind answering.
“All snowcats are revered by other supernaturals—particularly other kinds of shifters. Snowcat holds a position of spiritual power because, of all the shifter Clans, we have the most magic. Or so my grandfather would have everyone believe.”
“Why is that? And in what ways are you more magical than others?” Nico continued his not-too-subtle interrogation. She decided to fill them in on her background. It was better if she told them without the elder brothers needing to pry it out of her. She figured they’d learn the story sooner or later anyway.
“The snowcat Clan lives high in the mountains of Tibet. It’s a remote country with a long mystical tradition. Many kinds of holy men seek enlightenment in the Himalayas—a snow-covered mountain range that has some of the highest peaks on the planet. It was the playground of ancient wizards, including the founder of my line, the one known as Marpa. My full name is Josephine Marpa. My mother was human, my father was the heir to the snowcat legacy. When he died, my mother took me to her land, which is where I grew up for the most part, among humans. She died when I was a teenager, and my grandfather came to get me. He didn’t have high hopes for me. He didn’t even think I’d be able to shift, but I surprised him and myself. My snowcat is strong, even though I’m only half-snowcat by birth.”
She fished another apple out of the sack and leaned back against a convenient rock, continuing her explanation. “My grandfather is a holy man. A warrior monk. And he likes to keep up the tradition of snowcats being more spiritually connected and magical than all other shifters. It’s not something I enjoy. I wasn’t raised on his mountain. I grew up in the real world. But there’s no arguing that snowcats have more magic than most shifters in my world. For one thing, like you dragons, we take our clothes with us into the shift. Almost all other shifters need to disrobe before shifting or risk ruining their wardrobe.”
“That’s inconvenient.” Nico made a face.
“Very,” Josie agreed. “It’s also inconvenient to be a snowcat among other shifters. They all tend to want to make me into some sort of holy person, which I’m not. It’s even worse when they’re Buddhists, and they know I’m a descendant of Marpa.”
“He was a wizard, right?” Roland asked.
“So the legends say. Unfortunately, one of the world’s major religions also credits him with being one of its founders. Human Buddhists would never associate my last name with my lineage. It’s the shifters who are Buddhists who know I really am one of his descendants. They expect me to be wise and all-knowing. I hate to disappoint them when they find out I’m just as confused as everyone else is most of the time.” She chuckled, and the others followed suit.
“It’s not always easy to bear the burden of lineage. I do think it’s significant that we’re all descended from wizards, however.” Roland shot her a sideways look full of speculation. “In our case, the common ancestor is Draneth the Wise—he who joined with dragonkind. I wonder why the Mother of All put you in our brothers’ path.”
She liked that. The Mother of All. It was one of the names her grandfather’s people called the Mother Goddess. She didn’t know much about her mates’ religion yet, but she had an open mind where spirituality was concerned. Considering the way she’d been raised, straddling two cultures and belief systems, she knew firsthand that there was no one true way.
Her mother’s religion had looked to a male deity. Her father’s beliefs had taught ways to seek harmony with the Earth, guided by the Mother of All. As a shifter, Josie had always felt a little more comfortable with her father’s beliefs about the Earth spirit and the female flavor of creation than the stuffy church her mother had taken her to. Besides, the incense they burned in that place had made her sneeze.
Whatever deity anyone followed, Josie believed some higher power had been instrumental in bringing her in contact with her mates. Too many amazing things had to happen to bring them together to believe it had all been coincidence. Josie had never believed in coincidence. In fact, she was more likely to believe in things like destiny and fate—especially where true matings were concerned.
“All I know is that Darius and Connor are my true mates. My cat recognized them the minute she met them. Actually, she recognized them one at a time, but both were her mates. It’s like that for most shifters. A scent, a flavor, a feeling. We know our mates when we meet them. Of course, it’s rare to have two mates. I never did take the easy road in life. It’s illegal in most countries in my world to marry more than one person at a time. And it’s usually a man trying to marry more than one woman. The opposite is practically unheard of.” She quirked a smile at her own expense.
“Dragons are like that when they recognize their mate, as are the knights who partner them.” Roland finished his repast and tossed the organic refuse. “As you no doubt saw in the Lair, three-partnered marriages are the norm among knights, so you’ll have no problems here.”
“That’s one small advantage to coming here, I guess.” She stood and brushed off her pants.
“I hope you will find other compensations to living in this world, Josie.” Roland was as serious as she’d ever seen him. “I don’t think I could survive if any more of my family were taken from me.”
Whoa. That was a warning if she’d ever heard one. Josie decided to play it cool. He was the king here, after all. Still, he needed to know the truth.
“My grandfather said I had the power to call the storm that will take us between worlds. He also intimated that I would go back to my world at some point in the future, but I got the feeling my true destiny lay here. What that destiny is, we will discover together—Connor, Darius and I.”
Roland eyed her for a long moment, then nodded. “Fair enough. We should continue our journey if we want to reach the castle by midday.”
Josie decided not to say anything to her mates about the conversation with his elder brothers. She figured they already had a pretty good idea what their brothers had been up to. The looks she’d seen pass between them when she’d mounted up on Darius’s back said as much.
The castle was like something out of a fairy tale. They flew over the top of a mountain and there it was, in the distance, built into the side of an even-more-dominant peak. A castle carved into the spire of rock with a rainbow of dragons flying around. When the closest dragons caught sight of their party, the loud trumpeting began, to be echoed by the other dragons within earshot.
Then Josie noticed the town. A city, really. Built around the base of the castle, on verdant slopes. The farthest outskirts had open farmland and a few larger homes and compounds of different types. The whole thing looked like some fantasy artist’s concept of a magical medieval city. It was breathtaking.
It also was a stark reminder that this was not her world.
“‘Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.’”
“What was that, my love?” Darius asked in her mind.
“Nothing. Just thinking aloud.”
At various heights along the mountain palace, Josie saw landing platforms similar to what she’d seen at the Northern Lair. Roland led the way as other dragons joined their small formation like an honor guard on either flank.
By the time they reached the castle, they had a real crowd of dragons. Now this was some kind of welcome home. She looked down and realized people were spilling out of the houses and businesses they flew over to wave and smile.
As they whizzed past, she noticed more than one puzzled smile sent her way until she realized she was the only one riding on a black dragon. Since the black dragons were known as royal blacks, she guessed that was a rare enough occurrence to merit a second look.
Roland took them in an almost acrobatic arc upward that left her dizzy. It also landed them atop one of the lower landing platforms. One by one, the black dragons sought purchase on the thick rock slab. The smallest of the blacks was female, and Riki had a rough go of it when she tried to emulate her husband’s smooth landing. Still, she made it in one piece.
Josie was glad of her mates’ skill at setting down smoothly. She hopped down from Darius’s back and followed the parade of dragons into a huge stone archway. One by one, the dragons shifted to human form. Connor came behind her and lifted her off her feet for a quick, hard kiss before passing her to his twin.
Josie’s head was whirling when Darius let her go, finally. They had to scamper to catch up with the rest of the small group. Josie tried to get a good look at the elaborately carved stone in the hallways, but they had to hurry. When they entered through a huge archway, Josie stopped short. Riki stood waiting for her with an identical twin and behind them loomed the largest, shiniest dragon she’d ever seen.
“Whoa.” Darius and Connor stopped beside her, one on either side. “Is that Tor? Man, you told me what he looked like but… Wow.”
The gleaming silver head perked up as she spoke his name, and his neck extended to hover just a few feet away.
“I’m Tor. Who are you?” The childlike voice boomed through her mind as the Ice Dragon’s tongue peeped out as if to lick the air. “Your magic tastes funny. It tickles.”
“This is Josie, scamp,” Darius said, reaching up to stroke Tor’s shiny scales.
“She’s our mate,” Connor added.
“Your mate?” Tor blinked and looked at her even more closely. “What is she? Her magic is furry.”
The twins laughed outright, as did Josie. “That’s because I am furry. Well, half of me is. I’m a snowcat.”
Diamond eyes blinked widely. “A snowcat? Truly?” This was said in hushed tones.
“What do you know of snowcats, sweetheart?” The twin Josie hadn’t yet been introduced to stepped forward. This was Lana, then. Queen of Draconia.
“When I was in the shell, back before you started taking care of me, Lana, Mama told me about snowcats. She said they were hiding.”
“What’s this, son?” Roland came over, concern clear on his face.
The precocious young dragon was too focused on Josie to answer the king. He moved closer, his snout only inches from her face.
“Will you show me the snowcat? Please?” He sounded just like a little kid, and Josie realized that children were probably similar regardless of their species. “Seeing a snowcat is supposed to be good luck.”
Josie looked to her mates. Connor seemed wary. It was Darius who took her hand and spoke.
“If you don’t mind shifting for him. Knowing our nephew, he won’t rest until he’s chased your fluffy white tail around the audience hall once or twice.”
Josie shrugged and called the cat. In a mist of white, she became her alter ego. The silver dragon followed her change in height with rapt attention.
“You’re pretty. And furry!” Tor exclaimed, delight clear in his tone as he looked at her. He reached out with one big talon, and she lifted her paw to show him her smaller set of claws as smoke issued from his mouth in a dragonish chuckle of delight. He was so entertained, she decided to show him a little more.
Josie dashed around the room, leaping up onto the small stone ledge that lined the perimeter of the ornate chamber. It was a good ten feet up in the air and required all her balance, which gave her cat a good workout. She began to show off, using her native agility and speed to practically climb the stone walls with her big paws. There were carved outcroppings that worked as balance points for her, given the speed of her ascent.
When she was as high as she could safely go, she jumped out and down, landing on all fours right in front of the delighted Ice Dragon. She twitched her tail and sat in front of him.
“Did you see that?” Tor looked to Lana first, then to Roland, then to the rest of the group. Josie had put on her little demonstration for the dragonet. It didn’t hurt for the others to realize that while they might be fire-breathing dragons, she also had her talents. “Mama described snowcats to me when I wasn’t even hatched. She said they were acrobats, and she was right. She said she’d take me to see them after I hatched, but then Salomar’s men came and then Lana took care of me after Mama left.”
Josie’s heart broke a little for the poor, orphaned dragonet.
“That was the witch’s doing, sweetheart,” Lana spoke soothingly at the baby dragon’s side, stroking her hand over his long neck. “Your mama was tricked into leaving. Otherwise, nothing could have made her leave you. We talked about this.”
“I know, Lana.” There was sadness in his tone that touched Josie deeply. She shifted back to her human form and bowed to the dragonet, drawing his attention.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tor. Your Uncle Darius and Uncle Connor told me a lot about you. You’re just as smart and handsome as they said you were. I like the way you sparkle.”
The young dragon preened as she’d hoped he would, his sad thoughts banished for the moment by her praise.
“Thank you, Josie. And thank you for showing me the snowcat. She’s pretty and so are you.”
“Thanks. You’ve heard of snowcats, huh? That’s funny, because Darius and Connor said they’d never seen my kind before.”
Tor’s face scrunched up as if he was thinking hard. “Well, I haven’t seen any here in Draconia and I never saw one when we lived in the mountains Salomar controlled, but Mama said there were lots of them farther north, in the coldest high places. Even higher up in the mountains than where Salomar lived.”
“That makes sense,” she told him, knowing the others would hear her as well. “My family lives in the tallest mountain range on my world. The snowcat’s big paws are designed for treading lightly over the deepest layers of snow and ice.”
