Releasing the Dragon Read online

  “I…I’m all right.” Annie’s teeth were chattering and she realized she was chilled to the bone. It was as though she’d gone out in subzero temperatures without any clothes on.

  “Sweetheart…you are so cold!” There was a break in his voice and once again Annie had the sensation of big, invisible wings enfolding her. Heat radiated against her skin as the big Kindred cuddled her protectively against his broad chest.

  “S-sorry,” she whispered. The purple walnut was still clenched tightly in one hand. Her fingers felt frozen but somehow she managed to open them and flip back the lid of the tiny jewel-box nut.

  Please let him be all right, she prayed, though she wasn’t sure who she was praying to. Please, oh please—don’t let that awful blackness have killed Nutter Butter!

  Inside, on the blue satin cushion was a tiny lump of fur, no bigger than the end of her finger.

  “Nutter,” she whispered to the little dog. “Hey, sweet baby—are you all right, Nutter Butter?”

  At first there was no response. Then, to her intense relief, the little ball of fur unrolled itself and a tiny face with ink-spot eyes came into view. The miniature dog was trembling all over but when he licked her fingertip, his little tongue was warm and the tiny yip-yip-yip that came from him sounded strong.

  “He’s all right!” Annie felt tears of relief rise to her eyes. “Oh, Dru—he’s all right!”

  “Thank the Goddess you are also all right,” he growled, sounding half angry, half worried. “You took an awful chance, Annie. A Shadow Demon is not a creature to play with.”

  “But issn’t that exactly what you have been doing—playing with me? Pretending to be sssomething you are not?” Slo’vv’s voice hissed, reminding Annie that their host was still there, in the long hallway with them.

  Dru looked at the Shade-being, still holding Annie close to his body.

  “It is true—I have deceived you. But only in the service of my people. I had to know what Zar’ren was planning for the Kindred.”

  “You owe me compensation for your untruthsss,” Slo’vv hissed. “You owe me the girl. Give her to me!”

  Dru’s eyes glowed.

  “I will rip you to shreds and feed each cursed piece of you to the blackness of space before I let you near her again,” he growled.

  Slo’vv manifested glowing yellow eyes to go with his sharp yellow fangs.

  “I will allow you one more chance, Drugair. Give her to me and all will be forgiven—the debt will be paid between usss. If you do not, you will never be welcome in my home again.”

  “Then we are no longer friends.” Dru lifted his chin. “Annie is mine—I will never give her to you.”

  “Very well.” Suddenly Slo’vv began to grow…his shadow-like substance filling the corridor like roiling black smoke. “Then go! The Shadow Palace and the entire Maw Cluster isss closed to you forever!”

  Dru didn’t answer with words. Instead, he turned with Annie still in his arms and jogged down the corridor, heading—she hoped—for the exit. Looking over his broad shoulder, she could see the black smoke rolling towards them like a plague cloud. The feeling of dread and horror was growing again and icy chills were running down her back despite the heat of Dru’s big body.

  “Hurry,” she urged him, shutting the nut to keep her little dog safe from the awful smoke. Somehow she knew if it enveloped them, there would be no getting out of it a second time. Both of their hearts would stop before they could even begin to fight back.

  The elevator was right in front of them and as they ran, its broad doors opened and the strange Doggers—the dogs with human heads—that had first greeted them, came bounding out.

  They began to growl at Dru but then they stopped short when they saw the roiling black cloud of smoke filling the hallway. Their growls abruptly turned to uncertain barks as both tucked their tails between their legs.

  As they stood there, trembling and obviously uncertain about what to do, Dru ran past them and into the elevator. He turned, slapping one hand flat to the side of the elevator and muttered hoarsely, “Up!”

  As the doors began to close, Annie saw the two dog-men enveloped in the choking black cloud. A high, frantic whining rose from their throats and then died abruptly as they fell over, their human eyes wide and staring.

  Dead, she thought. Oh my God, they’re dead!

  “Give her to me!” Slo’vv’s dry, cold, hissing voice seemed to fill the entire corridor like the smoke that was chasing them. “Give the girl to me now or both of you ssshall die!”

  “Never!” Dru roared back. Tendrils of black smoke drifted into the elevator as the doors continued to close. Vast invisible wings spread and fanned the air in answer, driving the smoke out.

  The last thing Annie saw of the Shadow Demon Slo’vv was his glowing yellow eyes boring into hers. And then the doors clanged shut and the elevator began to rise to safety.

  “Oh Dru,” she whispered in a trembling voice. “Are we going to be all right? Can he reach us in here?”

  “I will not allow his smoke to enter here,” Dru growled softly. “We will soon be back in my ship and away, teeska. Everything will be all right—I swear it.”

  “Thank you.” Annie buried her face in his chest, trying not to tremble too hard. Only when the elevator at last opened and they stepped out into the parking area and she breathed the fresh air, did the trembling stop.

  “Oh Dru,” she whispered. “Let’s go home.”

  Nineteen

  “Commander Sylvan? Commander Sylvan is that you? I must speak to you! Please, come in!” Dru was nearly frantic by the time the Blood Kindred Commander’s face appeared on his viewscreen. He seemed to see Dru’s anxiety at once.

  “Yes, Drugair—what has happened? What’s wrong?”

  “First tell me this—are you well? Is everyone on the Mother Ship all right?” Dru demanded. He was already flying his ship out of the Maw Cluster, heading home, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering yoke and waited for Sylvan’s reply.

  “Well…yes. We are all perfectly fine.” Sylvan looked mystified. “Why? What happened at the Shadow Palace?”

  “It must have been a bluff.” Dru slumped in relief but reminded himself he couldn’t get too complacent.

  “A bluff?” Sylvan frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “Zar’ren—he knew who I was.” Dru grimaced. “I’m afraid my cover is blown at the Shadow Palace. I can never go back there—or to the Maw Cluster period, for that matter.”

  “You are useful in other fields too,” Sylvan reminded him. “But tell me—what did Zar’ren say?”

  Briefly, Dru filled his commander in on the effects of Xi-46 and the rogue Kindred’s threat.

  “He told me he had already deployed massive amounts of the chemical throughout the Mother Ship,” Dru finished. “But I suppose he was only bluffing in order to assure himself that I really was a Kindred agent and not a merchant as I had claimed.”

  “We are all well here,” Sylvan repeated. “But I’ll have the ship searched just to be sure. How did Zar’ren say he would deploy this aphrodisiac chemical?”

  Dru shook his head. “Forgive me, Commander—I didn’t think to ask. He claimed he had already deployed it and I was frantic to be certain the Mother Ship was all right. But according to Zar’ren, the compound can be distilled into a liquid, made into a solid, or heated and turned into a vapor.”

  “Then the most likely places to check are the ventilation shafts and the water distribution system,” Sylvan said gravely. “I’ll have both searched although I don’t know how he would have gotten anything into either area—even if he’d managed somehow to get aboard. We have both systems locked up tight and guarded constantly.”

  “I don’t know either but I do know this—usually when Zar’ren makes a threat, he follows through with it,” Dru said.

  “We’ll have to check quietly,” Sylvan remarked. “I don’t want to cause a panic.”

  “If you’ll fold space for