Master of Honor (Merlin's Legacy #5) - Angela Knight Page 0,3

down, Gaia told her that cool, distant voice. Let me show you.

Most of the bewildering connections faded from view, leaving only the damaged areas visible, including the ruptured vessel.

“Oh,” she breathed. “There you are…”

Slowly, with exquisite care, Cheryl began pouring power through her fingertips in hair-thin streams. She barely felt the sting of magic heating her flesh as she began cleaning away dead tissue and dying blood. It was a tricky job. If she used too much force, she’d fry his brain and kill him on the spot. Use too little, and he’d still die.

Her eyes began to sting as sweat rolled into them, but she paid no attention. She wasn’t using her sight anyway. Pressure built in her own brain until her temples seemed to reverberate. She ignored the pain, struggling to repair the damaged vein and re-create neurons and synapses crushed by the pressure of clotting blood.

The last time she’d worked this damn hard on something, she’d been giving birth to Adam.

Time fell away as she lost herself in healing, in the burn of power and utter concentration. Minutes or hours later -- she couldn’t tell which -- Gaia spoke. It’s finished. Well done.

We did it?

You did.

A strained, pained sound jolted her out of her exhausted exhilaration. Brown eyes bulged with terror as they stared up at her from over the vent mask. Brandon was awake and panicking at finding himself intubated. Even as he gave another strangled cry, she shot a pulse of magic into his brain to put him out again.

The effort hurt far more than it should. She’d used a hell of a lot of power healing him. With a relieved sigh, Cheryl let her head fall back on her aching shoulders. Slowly, a broad grin spread across her face as she enjoyed the best high she’d felt since Adam’s birth. A whole lot of people were going to be really surprised by that EEG.

* * *

Orlan, N.C.

The dark silhouette soared against the star-flecked blackness, moonlight edging huge wings as it flew. Great jaws gaped wide, breathing a thundering jet of flame over the trees, which instantly ignited. In seconds, the ridgeline was on fire.

People cursed. Some of the children screamed in terror, the sound painfully piercing to vampire ears. Ulf’s gloved hand tightened on the hilt of his sword as he stared upward. “Jesu, I hate fighting dragons.”

The other Knights of the Round Table rumbled an assent. Even Arthur Pendragon looked grim, his bearded jaw set, his wide mouth tight.

Pushing past Ulf, Kel gave him a clanking slap on one enchanted pauldron. “Look on the bright side -- fighting this one isn’t your job.” The big knight flashed a carnivore’s grin. “It’s mine.” He raised his voice until it rang across the McDonald’s parking lot. “Give me some room, people.”

The vampires and witches of the Magekind began to urge the crowd into a thin ring around the parking lot. Orlan didn’t have many places where you could assemble evacuees, nestled as it was in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. McDonald’s was basically it.

It was a damn good thing Alys Hawkwood had Seen this half an hour ago, vague though the vision had been. All she’d Seen was the Magekind evacuating the mortals of Orlan, N.C. to this restaurant. There’d been no indication of what the threat was, other than her conviction that people were going to die if they didn’t move fast. Yet after what had happened in Times Square, nobody was inclined to ignore any vision of Alys’s. It was the right call. A Magekind team had barely gotten the first family out before the dragon strafed their house.

As Ulf directed one family to back up a little more, the woman looked up at him. Her brown eyes looked huge, liquid with terror as she clutched a crying toddler. The mother wore a flannel nightgown and a faded pink bathrobe -- none of them had had time to dress. “Is that… is that really a dragon?”

Ulf gave her a practiced smile designed to instill confidence. “Yeah, but Kel will take care of it. We’ll keep you safe.” Which might be a little optimistic, but they were certainly going to give it their best shot.

“Where the fuck did it come from?” a teenager asked in a voice that cracked, probably more from fear than hormones.

“Hell, where did you come from?” demanded a burly, dark-skinned man. “I thought you guys were supposed to be CGI.”

Ulf snorted. “Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet.”

Kel moved