The Dragon Legion Collection(103)

He watched Zo? with interest, but saw nothing remarkable about her. She appeared to be a solemn child, with her father’s dark hair and green eyes. She couldn’t have been four years old, though she was tall for her age. That trait would have come from both of her parents. Drake knew that she went to a daycare at the university, where her mother taught. He never felt much connection with young children, especially girls, so he returned his attention to the yellow daisy.

To his surprise, Zo? appeared suddenly beside him. She could move with her father’s silence and stealth, and her gaze was fixed upon him with the same intensity. “I made this for you,” she said, then put a large piece of paper on the table before him. Drake was too surprised to speak. Children did not give him gifts. In fact, no one had given him a gift in a long time. She stared at him for a moment, then followed her mother to the fridge.

It was a drawing.

The drawing was clearly the work of a child, but still Drake recognized the location. There was a black oval in the middle with blue spraying out of a block in the center of the oval. Drake knew it was a fountain. There were green curly lines around it, evoking the shrubbery of a park, and the sky was colored in black with yellow dots for stars. Two stick figures sat on the lip of the fountain, and Drake guessed that they were men. One held a blue-green rectangle in his hand and there were rays of blue and green emanating from it.

It was Thad and Drake, just before Thad had felt the spark of his firestorm.

Drake looked at the little girl with shock. Zo? was drinking a glass of milk, more interested in how many chocolate chips were in her cookie than the attitude of her father’s friend. Eileen must have noticed his expression because she came to his side.

“It’s the park at the university, I think,” she said. “We pass it every day.” She frowned. “We’ve never been there at night.”

“Who are the men, Zo??” her father asked quietly.

She shrugged and bit into her cookie. “They wanted to be there.” Her gaze barely flicked at Drake, then she finished her snack and went to her room, picking up her pack at her mother’s reminder.

“It’s Thad and me,” Drake said. “This is where the stone brought us the second to last time.”

“So close,” Erik mused. “But not so close that you could sense my presence, or that I would be much aware of yours.”

“Were you?”

Erik slanted a glance at him. “I felt a glimmer a few weeks ago, but it disappeared. I thought I had imagined it, because it was so fleeting. How could you be here and gone again so quickly as that?” He pressed his fingertips to one temple and closed his eyes. “The darkfire is changing everything,” he whispered, then grimaced.

Drake was on his feet in a moment, knowing something was wrong but unable to name it. Before he could speak, Erik’s eyes flew open and he stared at the door. He crossed the room with long strides, and Drake guessed that he had felt a breach of his dragonsmoke barrier.

There was a knock at the door. Erik inhaled deeply, frowned, then cast open the door.

The corridor was filled with unfamiliar men, young and vigorous men who held themselves with determination. There had to be three or four dozen of them.

They were Pyr. Drake stood behind Erik and breathed deeply, not believing his own senses. How could there be so many Pyr of whom he knew nothing?

“We are the descendants of the Dragon Legion,” said the Pyr in front. He tugged up his shirt sleeve, showing a tattoo on his upper arm that was the same as the tattoo Drake and his men had gotten as a sign of solidarity. Drake considered the young man with wonder, liking the intelligence that shone in his dark eyes. “I am named Theo, for my forebear, the son of Stephanos who became Drake,” he said, his words startling Drake. “We come to pledge ourselves to the leader of the Pyr, Erik Sorensson, as we pledged to our fathers, who pledged the same to their fathers and their fathers before them.”

“So this is what I sensed,” Erik said, almost under his breath.

Theo offered a piece of paper. “We surrender to you this prophecy, made millenia ago but for these times. We have kept it in trust, preserved it and awaited the moment it should be revealed.” He handed an envelope to Erik.

Erik opened the envelope and removed a sheet of paper. Drake could see that it had eight lines of script, though he couldn’t quite read the words.

Erik read it in old-speak.



“Across the centuries and the years,

You will wait and shed your tears,

Until the darkfire is freed again;

Your vengeance can cause Pyr no pain.

I close the portal, for once and all,

To see those I love out of your thrall.

When darkfire will burn once again,

Your sister’s death can be avenged.

When daughters of all elements are mates

Then will the dragons face their fate.”



“So, it is time,” Erik said aloud. He offered his hand to Theo. “Welcome, Theo. Welcome to you and all your company. Please, cross my dragonsmoke and share your tidings with us.” He turned and indicated Drake with a slight smile. “This is Drake, who was Stephanos. He has been weary, but I think you may bring him joy.”

Against Drake’s every expectation, a son of his line stood before him. Theo smiled and there was a gleam of tears in his eyes. He stepped forward and gave a crisp salute. “I have always dreamed of meeting you. It is an honor beyond all, sir.”