Bound

excerpt


Grath motioned for Gaire to remain still for a moment, so the young dragon—in his human form for the moment—froze against a boulder. His breath barely plumed out before him, even in the bitter, bone-snapping chill of the high Skyhome Mountains. Not far away, Grath’s thick-haired mountain horse snorted and tossed its head, pulling with its teeth at a small clump of dried, withered shrubbery.
The large mountain man crouched at the top of a rise, looking down into a deep gully Gaire had seen from the air. When the tracker signaled safety, Gaire inched forward to stoop beside Grath, looking down at the deep bowl impression in the mountains.
Bones littered the hillsides, though Gaire could see that most were large animals that dragons preferred as prey. There were a few human bones, but they looked so old that Gaire didn’t think they were from the rogue. Quite likely she wasn’t even a human-killer. At least, Gaire hoped she wasn’t. If she was, he’d have to kill her, rather than take her back to Dragonhome bound.
He slipped over the lip of the rise and stumbled down the snowy hillside toward the rocky nest in the center of the depression. Grath hissed a warning, and Gaire raised his hand to show that he’d heard. Reaching the bottom of the bowl, he walked slowly and cautiously toward the nest. It seemed to be untenanted.
She came screaming at him from the overcast sky, her green scales glittering sleekly in the sunlight. Gaire rolled out of the way seconds before her talons would have impaled him, and ducked behind a boulder. The green dragon recovered and lunged after him, pouncing a split second too late to actually catch him.
Grath let out a bellow and tossed his weighted netting over the dragon’s sleek body, pinning her down momentarily. Gaire scrambled out into the open, watching in surprise as the dragon managed to writhe in an almost back-breaking maneuver, and slipped free of the oiled ropes. No dragon in their right mind would attempt such a dangerous twist, risking snapping their spines, yet the rogue had pulled it off flawlessly. Gaire had to admire such skill, even as he quickly initiated the change in his body.
The green, who had charged at him the moment she was free of the net, let out a surprised squawk and pulled up short when her skinny human prey became a black dragon slightly larger than her. Gaire chuckled. Worked every time.
The two of them began to circle warily, the green eyeing her new target with mingled disdain at his presence and appreciation at his looks. Gaire ignored this. Now was definitely not the time to get mixed up with his quarry. He needed to take her back to Dragonhome so that the older dragons could decide what to do with her. Getting mixed up would only complicate things.
She suddenly crouched and lunged, aiming for the softer underside of his neck, and he ducked and rolled under her to avoid her dangerous fangs. Now was also not the time to get himself killed. What would Churr and Kyra say?
Quick as lightning, he wrapped his tail around the green’s before she could recover from her lunge. Pulling roughly, he dragged her back a few paces, close enough for him to leap onto her back. She screamed and bucked, trying to throw him off, attempting to dislodge him as he wrapped his forelegs around her slender neck. Her armor scales bit into his underside, but he held firm, using his greater weight to wrestle her down off of her feet. She managed to throw him off once, but he was back on her before she could turn and attack. Again, pressing with his weight and battering her wings with his, he managed to force her to the ground.
Immediately, he moved his forelegs from her neck to her shoulders, pinning her arms and wings to her sides. “Change!” he ordered in draconian, using his head to push hers into the trampled snow. His tail still held its grip on hers, keeping her from lashing at him with her tail spade, and his sheer weight on her back kept her from kicking him with her hind legs.
She struggled and tossed her head, trying to break free. He rammed her chest into the ground, winding her, and ordered again, “Change!” She still ignored him, and once more he beat her against the ground. “Change, or I pinion you!” he growled.
He could sense the deep reluctance in her as she shifted her form. Now, pinned in his arms, a slender human female struggled, not much taller than Avra. Her armor pressed into his skin, but didn’t hurt as much as her draconiform armor scales. She kicked and thrashed, trying to break the draconic grip that held her tight, but in her human form she wasn’t nearly strong enough.
Gaire looked pointedly at Grath, who came forward with ropes and the wyrds. Gaire took the bespelled charms and clamped them around the girl’s pendant, locking her transformatory ability in the human form. She screamed draconic obscenities at him as Grath carefully and thoroughly tied her arms behind her back and her ankles together. “You’ll pay for this kraken!” she shrieked, as Grath removed her weapons. “You too, worm-fodder!” She tried to get close enough to Grath to bite, as he placed her, trussed up, on Gaire’s shoulders. “You’ll pay for this!”
“Your name,” Gaire ordered, looking over his shoulder at her.
She set her lips in a firm line. “Never, snake-dung.”
“Your name,” he repeated. “If you don’t tell me, the dragons at Dragonhome have ways of finding out, and they aren’t pretty.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because it’s true. I have authorization to pinion you, and I’m not afraid to do so.”
“Who do you think you are, threatening me? You can’t pinion me.”
“I suggest you not tempt me, unless you really want to see how far a thief will actually go.”
She blinked. “Kail Valeshyan,” she whispered, glaring. “But I’d rather you call me nothing. The last thing I want is a thief to be talking to me.”
“Suit yourself. Just shut up for the ride or you’ll be dangling from my hind legs, not riding on my shoulders.”
“Like it would be any less comfortable.”
“Don’t push me.”
She frowned and tried to jab one of her heels into his side. With her legs firmly knotted together, all she managed was a little bit of pressure.
“Suit yourself,” he grumbled, and pulled her around. Taking her bonds in one hind foot, he used his other to launch himself into the air, even as Grath mounted his horse. Gaire heard a satisfying scream from his prisoner as the world dropped away, and he turned and headed back south, toward Dragonhome, bellowing his thanks to Grath.