Firedrake - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,43

and knights alike had bled here—Drake’s family.

Fire burned in his veins as he took in the evidence of what had happened here. He recognized the deep red of dragon blood, mixed with the sandy soil. Lilla’s and Arlis’s blood. And Ren’s and Declan’s blood.

Drake worried for Ren and Lil. As he’d left that morning, word still hadn’t come from the Border Lair of their arrival or condition. For all he knew, they were still gravely injured and in danger. He didn’t actually think they were dead. Drake thought he would know somehow if either Ren or Lilla left this realm. Undoubtedly Jenet would know too, in that magical way of dragons, if her mother passed on.

So there was hope. But worry as well.

Mace signaled with an upraised fist and both dragons descended to the ground. There were a lot of hand signals used between knights that Drake remembered seeing in his youth, and they came back to him as they flew. The dragons relayed messages between themselves and their knights, but the complex system of hand signals was faster in many cases than waiting for the dragons to speak back and forth and then pass on information.

Unfortunately, while Mace and Nellin had been training for the past decade, Drake and Jenet had not. Drake knew only the things he’d seen his fathers do in his youth, but he hadn’t studied the ways of knights and dragons with any real seriousness. As a result, he had to rely on Jenet’s communications with Nellin more than he thought most knights would, but then, he wasn’t a knight, and that fact was driven home at every turn.

Drake slid down from Jenet’s back, careful not to disturb the ground a few feet distant where clear marks had been left by men, horses and injured dragons. Those marks held a story and Drake could read it well, now that he was on the ground, where he was more used to tracking.

Mace walked over to him, stretching the kinks in his muscles as he moved. “They went off in a straight line to the south, but Krysta wanted a look around before we press on and I thought we could all probably use a little break.”

Krysta stepped up beside Mace and headed straight for the outskirts of the tracks, moving carefully, Drake was interested to note. She knew something of tracking.

“Five men waited here, under the soil,” Krysta said, walking with short, sure steps as she studied the ground.

Drake moved up beside her. “And another four right over there, past the scrubweed line.”

Krysta looked up at him with agreement in her expression. Agreement and respect. “Small pockets lay in wait all over this area. It was an ambush, but one of the most elaborate I’ve ever seen.”

“I agree.” Drake studied one of the larger bloodstains. He looked over his shoulder, knowing Jenet would crane her neck to him if he beckoned. “Are you up to this, little one?”

“Anything to find William.” Jenet lifted her head clear over Drake’s tall form and sniffed at the ground near the soaked-in blood. “This is where they hurt Papa.”

Drake padded around the site, skirting the perimeter as he walked with Jenet to the next large stain. His hand continually caressed her neck as she shivered with emotion. He hated to subject her to this trauma, but she knew her parents better than any other dragon and could help them decipher what had happened here on the ground better than anyone.

They reached the next stain and she stopped, using her long, sinuous neck to sniff at the spot. “This is Mama’s blood.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” Drake consoled her as best he could, feeling her pain as if it were his own. “Just one more thing. We need to know if you scent Prince Wil’s blood anywhere here. We need to know if they hurt him.”

Jenet walked the perimeter of the site, craning her neck over to the various bloodstains. Krysta stood next to Drake as they watched the brave young dragoness do her work.

“This is where they took Lilla down, and that first area is where Arlis was attacked.” Drake clarified the scene for Krysta as they watched Jenet go about her scent study of the area. “So far, Jenet hasn’t detected any of Wil’s blood, though she definitely scents his presence.”

“That’s good news,” Krysta agreed.

“How so? They could still have hurt him after they took him.” Mace had come up to join them while Nellin cooled off in the nearby lake.

Drake