Adventures in Summoning

Chapter 38

It isn't easy to capture a dragon. Even without our ability to change shape, we also have wings to carry us away from any confrontation. Had I not been weakened by the healing I needed to do to myself after fighting that demon, Holl and Vittan would have had no chance to take me. Even working together they would have lost that battle. But they were able to get me through the gate back to home and had ripped me from my mate.

They would regret that.

They threw me to the hard floor as soon as we were through, and I felt Holl claw at the weakened membrane of my previously injured left wing, bringing a roar of pain from my mouth as I felt the old wounds reopen. Vittan knelt on my shoulder as I struggled, but I already could tell that the wing was worse than before, and I wouldn't be flying any time soon.

"Damn you Holl!" I screamed in frustration, only to hear the two of them laughing.

I couldn't get up with their weight upon me, but I was able to reach over with my right arm and rend Vittan's calf, feeling a little satisfaction from his roar as I felt him roll off me, trying to avoid my claws. I wrenched my wing from my brother, it couldn't be hurt much more, and returned the favor, grasping his right wing in my hands and wrenching it out of the socket before shredding his membrane as well. He'd be hurting until he got to my mother, since she was the only other healer besides myself, and I certainly wasn't going to help him. I would have done worse, but Vittan grabbed my hair and slammed my head into the floor, causing me to see double with dizziness. Within moments, they both repeated that action and I saw only blackness.

I awoke some time to the gentle swaying of the same little boat I had used with my human friends to travel from the palace to the base, and I smiled in remembrance of my mate guiding us. I was hunched over in the front of the boat and could feel a claw on the back of my neck as I regained my senses.

"Don't move sister, we have a long way to go now in this stinking boat." Holl snarled at me while tightening the grip on my neck. Part of me didn't care, part of me wanted to die. Being separated from Justin was a fate worse than death, and the ache in my heart hurt more than anything I could remember feeling. But then, if I were to die, then I should try to make some changes before I went. Dragons should never treat each other like this, and I was the wrong dragon to fuck with.

Damn I liked these human curse words!

I resisted the urge to heal my wing, I didn't need to fly, and I wanted to be as strong as possible before being brought to my mother.

----------------------------

I landed face first on the floor of the gate room in my Nana's basement, then rolled over onto my back and groaned. Tears were still leaking from my eyes, and a feeling of helplessness had settled over me. I had lost Quin, and the only way to go get her had been destroyed. I looked over at the wall, but the shiny black fabric of the gate was gone, replaced by dull cement bricks.

"What happened? Where is Quin?" Cried Dee.

I couldn't even talk, I just rolled onto my side, staring at the wall as the tears flowed from my burning eyes. We had been so close! Everything was in place, we just had to walk through the damned gate. I closed my eyes, letting the tears flow as I was thinking desperate thoughts. "Helen, how hard would it be to build another nexus?"

Helen moved over beside me and put her hand on my chest. "Justin don't think that. Even if we could build a nexus, unless you're willing to become our grandfather, we'd have no way to fight the dragons," she replied softly.

"I don't think I can live without her. I really don't know how I can do it," I choked out between sobs. I felt Dee kneeling on the other side of me and they both wrapped their arms around me. I know they were trying to be comforting, but I didn't think anything was going to help at this point.