a disapproving look. Others looked away.
“Yeah, I said it,” the guard said. “You’ll say plenty more of what’s on your mind, too, if you ever get to be my age.” He glanced at the pit. “And I don’t think my words will wind me up in there. But I might get fed to a dragon nest, maybe.” He cracked his neck and slapped Gorlee on the shoulder. “You’re young, Jason. You should be marching the borders. This is just a dead end here.”
“I think I would like that,” he said. “I think.”
“Well, you really need to work on the thinking thing. I wish I’d done more thinking when I was younger.” He sauntered away and said to another, “What are you looking at?”
Thinking. That was the problem. Gorlee had become a dullard. Without purpose. Drifting. The High Priestess Selene controlled all of that. Whenever she called, he went. Whatever she ordered, he did. But none of what she asked came easy. Something inside of him resisted. Something within himself had led him here, to this pit. There was still a remnant of whoever he really was hidden inside him, and he wanted to find it.
Taking a position between the pit and the cage, he teetered on his feet. He’d been imitating many people. Their manners. Habits. Voices. All in pursuit of something. His memories. Selene and Kryzak had taken them. He knew. He could remember parts of that day. They’d taken almost everything , but not gotten all of it, and tucked it away. He’d played along for months, but every day he felt more parts of him fading away. He had to find his memories. Fix what they’d done to him.
The Deep. It was the perfect place to hide what they had taken. And he could sense that his memories were down there. He edged closer to the pit again.
“What did I say?” the older guard said, marching over. “You don’t want a kiss from the phantom, son. Now stay back. All the way to the bars!”
“Sorry,” he said. “Just curious.”
“Just stupid is more like it.”
Gorlee felt stupid. There were only bits and pieces. It stirred him. He saw Nath Dragon’s face. There is something wrong with what I am doing. I can’t live like this any longer. He edged toward the pit.
“Fine,” said the guard. “It’s not as if you aren’t expendable.”
CHAPTER 10
Focus. Focus. Focus!
Nath had no wings. Nothing changed. Thoughts rushed through his head.
Will this fall even kill me?
Through the evening darkness he plunged, headlong toward the street.
I’ll know soon enough.
He covered his head with his arms. Something jerked him up by the ankles, snatching him a few feet from impact with the cobbled street. People screamed. Then up, up, up he and Selene went. Nath crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. Selene dropped him back on the balcony.
“You are an evil lady,” he said.
“Am I?”
“You might have killed me,” he said, gathering his legs under him and standing up again.
“Maybe, but I don’t want you dead. I want you alive. I want you to embrace the dragon within, and I must say, you seem reluctant to do that.”
“I’m not reluctant. I’ve always wanted to fly.” The feline fury cruised to his side. Nath dug his fingers into its mane. The fur was thick and soft. The cat that had tried to kill him before had become his only comfort. “I’ve always wanted to be a dragon.”
Selene’s wings collapsed behind her back and disappeared.
“I was taught these things when I was a little girl. I imagine things were easier then. More of a second nature. Your problem is still the same. You think more like a man than a dragon. You need to stop that, Nath.”
She was right. He’d spent most of his life fitting in with people, not dragons. He simply got along with people better. The dragons had shunned him for some reason. Up until now, anyway.
“I just don’t understand why your father withheld so much from you, Nath,” she said, coming closer. She kneeled in front of the feline fury and petted
Tracie Peterson, Judith Pella