First Apprentice

Chapter 10

The Ancient Gate's magic pulsed at my back deep and steady like waves crashing against the shore. The marks on my wrist prickled, but didn't burn. They should burn. He branded them into my flesh. They were his. They always burned around him.

"Hold her steady," Joel ordered.

Slim hands pressed my shoulders against the gate. Fire lanced through my left arm as Joel's magic invaded my body.

My eyes snapped open.

Cold brown eyes set in a finely boned face bored into mine. Sumati's permanent frown deepened. I absently wondered if she ever smiled. "Stay awake, Alannah."

"I'm fine." My words emerged slurred. I blinked. What happened?

"Deep frostbite and a compound fracture is not fine. Stop fighting the healer."

"Not a healer," I mumbled.

She tilted her head and ran an appraising eye over Joel. "With that aura, I'm inclined to agree, but he says he can help. He will help," she said, heavily emphasizing 'will', "or the Border Guard will require a new chief."

As she spoke, Joel's magic twined with mine. My arm went numb then skin followed by muscle started sloughing off as new tissue replaced it. I watched the entire messy process with detached fascination. Pink skin grew over bare muscle.

Panting, Joel rested his forehead against the gate and shot me a weak smile. "Leave the numbing seal on your shoulder until our healer examines it."

Sumati's hands dropped off my shoulders. Seconds later, she pressed a sword to his throat. "Finish it."

Unconcerned about the sharp blade, he shook his head. "Healing tissue damage is my limit. The bone's set, but she needs a real healer, not a battlefield hack. So does Terry."

Sumati sniffed. "Dead men don't need healers."

"I didn't kill him," I whispered more to myself than to them. At most, I collapsed his lung. Painful, but easily healed. Assuming Terry knew how to magically patch himself back together.

The earth trembled under our feet. Heat rose off the ground in shimmering waves. I stared over Sumati's shoulder at the delicate bronze dracon locked in combat with a male three times her size. Blood glistened off the male's black scales, but Endellion's were pristine as always. Lava oozed out of the earth around her feet.

Uncle Manfred once described fighting Endellion as battling a walking volcano. I never fully understood what he meant. She taught me how to force my fire into the earth and create small lava flows. Those lessons always began with sit down and meditate for an hour or three. I thought it was just another control exercise she concocted. I never knew you could interchange Dracon fire and magma until now.

Terry hunched down, tail swishing. Frost clung to his feet, solidifying small footholds. He defended himself, but never attacked. Odd and inconsistent with Terry's actions during our spar.

Sunlight glinted off my dagger, which was still stuck in Terry's chest. Suddenly, I saw his defensive battle in a new light. I didn't kill him, but Endellion would.

Joel shot an uneasy look at two combatants. "We're too close."

Head cocked, Sumati studied him for a long moment. "I expected you to interfere."

"I know my legends, Sumati-dae, clan Pundarikam."

"Ancient Guardian," she corrected. Her gaze remained fixed on the slowly encroaching lava. "I'm surprised. Most believe I died with Gan."

"Your survival is one of many secrets I inherited. Interfering means battling you. You don't need to win, just delay me long enough for Endellion to kill Terry and join you. Then the Border Guard will be leaderless. Right now, Terry and I are the only ones standing between Alannah and the clans. We can and will protect her. However, if either of us dies here, she will be at their mercy."

"What do you want?"

"Get their attention. Once Endellion sees that Alannah's safe and mostly unharmed," he trailed off.

Sumati pressed her lips into a tight line. She looked down at me then nodded. She whirled around, sheathing her sword in one smooth motion. Then she raised her right hand.

The air charged with static as a ball of lightening formed in her hand. Sumati flung the ball towards the roars. "Either knock him out or go teach somewhere else," she yelled.

"Teach?" I asked.

Sumati shrugged. "A valuable lesson all idiots," she flashed her fangs at Joel, "should learn. If you hurt Endellion's daughter, she'll have your hide for a rug and cremate your remains."

I winced and slumped against the gate. That was exactly why I didn't summon the Ancient Gate when Joel appeared during Endellion's annual two-week holiday. Endellion and Uncle Manfred hated each other. They couldn't last five minutes without snipping at each other or coming to blows. Add in Terry's delightful personality and I wouldn't be surprised if the third clan war started in Grandfather's sitting room.