Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 263

Chapter 263: Dragons
“It’s all right, we’re not here to hurt you, or steal from you… at least I’m not. I’m not a threat.”

Ford heard Mia’s words with some confusion. The earthquake and strangely enormous bat were confusing to his mind and he couldn’t quite process them.

Perhaps the heat was messing with his head, or perhaps Denholm had punched Ford much, much harder than he realized.

But what was Mia saying now? Was she talking to Denholm? That didn’t make a lot of sense, but there was no one else in the cave, was there?

Ford made his way as quickly as he could, given his injuries.

His leg was sore from the hiking. His ribs were bruised, perhaps fractured, from Denholm’s vicious kick. That made it hard to take the deep breaths normally needed for strenuous activity. His head throbbed, and his left eye felt incredibly swollen and tender.

And now, maybe, he was hearing things.

Step by step, he continued forward. Leaning heavily on the rock formations, pausing to catch his breath, and straining ahead. He didn’t want Mia alone with that monster.

Who knew what he would do?

All of Denholm’s crude jokes from the last few days came flooding back. Each time, the older man had apologized for his lack of manners, saying that it was harmless teasing or covering the faux pas with some innocent explanation for his innuendo.

Mia had forgiven him each time, but Ford had grown more deeply wary of the man. There were those in the mines that made similar jokes, and they were the kind of men who would skip meals to save their money for the houses of ill repute in the town.

Ford didn’t like the idea of Mia being around men like those, innocent and trusting as she was. And if Ford couldn’t fight the man, he doubted Mia could.

“I’m here in peace… I will go, if you will allow it,” Mia was saying now, which confused Ford again. Was she still trying to convince Denholm to let her go?

“STOP!” Denholm commanded, and Ford reacted in panic. If the man was screaming at Mia, that was only one step from violence.

Ignoring the pain, Ford surged towards the noise, and rounded the corner just as his leg buckled beneath him and he tripped, falling to the ground and getting a face full of cave dirt and small rocks.

Sputtering, he looked up and froze at the sight before his eyes.

The tree. The tree actually existed??

The crude drawing on Martin’s map hadn’t begun to do it justice. He was in awe of its shimmering beauty. The very air around it seemed to quiver with the mystery of magic surrounding its bejeweled leaves.

The magic looked a lot like the waves of heat that came off the ground on a hot day, or off of a bonfire…

The air was incredibly hot. It was several seconds before Ford was able to tear his eyes away from the mesmerizing sight of the golden, jewel-laden tree, but when he did, he choked.

Half a dozen… dragons… dragons??… stood on four legs in a semicircle around the tree. After the shock of discovering that was real, and still having trouble quite believing his eyes, the addition of the dragons was too much for his mind.

Had he gone insane?

Concussion wasn’t out of the question. Denholm must have punched Ford far, far harder than he’d realized.

Each dragon was at least three times as tall as a horse, even on all fours. Their wings were slightly folded, but spreading sporadically as if in agitation.

Denholm and Mia were standing a few steps ahead of him, as still as statues.

Why weren’t the dragons attacking? Was their vision based on movement? Was something else at play?

Denholm’s power?

And so Ford remained lying on his stomach, unwilling to move until they did. He could almost hear the machinations of Denholm’s mind whirring.

The evil man had the ability to alter perception, as he’d demonstrated by making both Ford and Mia experience extreme cold in the sweltering cave.

Ford’s eyes widened slightly as he put two and two together. Of course, the cave was hot when it was full of fire-breathing dragons!

The half-dozen surrounding the tree slowly seemed to lose interest in the three humans, though they had seemed visibly startled by Ford’s tumbling appearance. Something was distracting them.

Had Mia been trying to talk to these creatures before Ford rounded the corner? Had they understood her, and responded? That didn’t seem likely. They grew agitated, scratching their claws against their legs and bellies, and Denholm’s fingers twitched.

He must be using magic to affect the dragons in some way. Making them itchy?

The great creatures shook off whatever seemed to be happening and turned their heads downward to look deeply into a jagged crack in the earth. It surrounded the tree almost entirely, and Ford shifted slightly to get a better look. As he did, he dislodged a few small stones, drawing the gaze, briefly, of the nearest behemoth.

“Will you stop moving, it’s harder to keep them distracted when they’re paying attention this direction,” Denholm ground out between his teeth. “If it comes for you, I’m in the way.”

Ford clenched his muscles tightly to keep from moving, resentful that it was Denholm who was currently protecting him from being eaten alive by monsters. He almost wanted to move again, loudly, out of spite, but he didn’t want to push the man who still gripped Mia’s arm tightly.

The dragon twitched and raised one of its great arms to scratch the bottom of its chin before resuming its position looking downward with the others. What were the dragons doing?

Were there tasty creatures to eat down here in the cave? Were they there because of the tree?

Ford frowned. If the tree could give powers to people, could it also give magic to dragons? Weren’t they already magical, by virtue of being able to breath fire and the like?

With a deep, unified inhale, the six large creatures lifted their heads, causing the humans to tense. Unable to tear his eyes away from the mythical monsters, he watched in horror as they opened their great mouths and erupted with flame.