Chapter 10

 

 

Jamie dropped a heavy armload of firewood onto the stone hearth. It made a satisfying crash. The noise startled Grace awake. She jumped a foot off the bench, got tangled in her blanket, and tipped off the bench onto the floor.

Jamie stood back and watched the mayhem that ensued. She struggled to get up, fought the blanket, and fell over again. He bit back a smile. If he laughed at her, she would never forgive him. By the time she got the blanket unwound and her limbs sorted out, he presented a picture of serene calm as though none of it ever happened.

“Eat yer breakfast,” he told her. “I’ll walk ye down tae the ford, and ye can gang ye back tae yer home.”

She obeyed him and took her place at the table. She ate the food he put in front of her while he put the house to rights. He didn’t want her to leave, but he wouldn’t show her that for the world. He didn’t want her in danger, and she belonged over there on the other side. The more she stayed there and stopped coming through the portal, the better for everybody.

Besides, he had other plans. He didn’t need her around to interfere with them. As soon as he got rid of her, he would hike up the brae to Piper’s wing. He would interrogate the wizard about those other women. He would also find out how much the wizard knew about that spell.

Grace ate in silence with her back to him. She didn’t fall apart and weep and beg for him to let her stay. He didn’t really expect her to do that, did he? He should know better by now. None of those women from the other world ever did anything like that. They met whatever came with their heads up and their weapons ready to fight. He should have known Grace would do the same.

She recognized the need to go back and stay back, but he still couldn’t be entirely happy about it. She was his only contact in this crazy world. She alone understood about the McLeans. She saw those wolves fight the giants, and she saw Carson and Lachlan both change into men.

He didn’t want her to go, but he yielded to the sense of it. This was the best course for her, the safest course, the sensible course, so he would do it. He would do it for her, and he would suck it up and do what he had to do alone.

She finished eating and got to her feet. She faced him. They regarded each other for a moment without saying anything. They walked out of the village together without a word.

Jamie walked down to the ford like he was going to his own funeral. Why did he have to do this alone? Why couldn’t he face this with one person by his side he could trust? His brothers did it. Why couldn’t he?

He didn’t say so out loud, though. When they got to the ford and she faced him one more time, he shrugged. He tried to smile, but that was asking too much. “Weel, on ye go. Ye’ll be awright o’er there.”

She nodded, but she didn’t leave. For some reason, she just kept standing there and looking up at him. Something in her eyes made him think she already knew. She looked straight through his skin to the dragon underneath. How was that possible?

She put out her hand to touch him. His blood screamed in his veins. He couldn’t let her do this, or he was lost. At that moment, something mountainous exploded out of the ground right next to them.

Grace and Jamie staggered sideways to get out of the way. The next thing they knew, a giant loomed over the treetops. He propped his club on his shoulder and scanned the ground in search of something to smash.

Jamie gave Grace a shove. “Run! Gang ye through the doorway. Now!”

She jerked out of her shock to run away. Jamie rounded on the giant when the monster hauled back his club and swung. Trees flew out of the way in front of the huge weapon swiping through the woods. The giant batted masses of vegetation aside to clear a swathe of space around his feet.

Grace bolted into the undergrowth. Jamie bared his teeth in rage at the giant. All thought of keeping his dragon nature a secret from Grace evaporated out of his head. He had to defeat this thing before it killed them both.

Lachlan and his pack wouldn’t leap out of the shadows to save him this time. Jamie had to do this all by himself, and he had the weapons to do it. He spread his arms to break out of his skin in all his fury when another club hit him from behind.

Jamie went sailing across the ford. He crashed through branches and hit a large rock. He slumped to the ground fighting to stay conscious. He barely got the stars blinked out of his eyes when three more giants reared up out of the ground. Where did they come from? That question meant nothing when it came to the curse. They could come from anywhere. They could spring out of the very air.

The four giants stomped through the woods, laying waste to the landscape with their feet and clubs. They uprooted trees. They overturned boulders. They flattened hilltops with their clubs.

Jamie climbed to his feet. He balled his hands into fists before setting off running toward the giants, bellowing out loud. That roar boiled out of his deepest soul. It called the dragon to erupt out of his fragile body to visit his vengeance on his enemies.

Grace’s voice pierced his brain. “Jamie, no!”

He didn’t hear. He ran. His foot touched the stepping stones across the ford, and he launched at the nearest giant. Before he got off the ground, the behemoths turned around and saw him.

Something bigger than the Earth itself flattened him to the ground. He lost consciousness for an instant. Then he became aware of a heavy weight holding him down. Vibrations rumbled through him. He shook his head, but he couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

He looked up into the sky, and a huge ugly face smiled down on him. It spread its lips in a stupid grin, and a giant laughed. It picked him up in its fingers. He dangled by his shirt before the creature’s eyes.

He twisted this way and that in his effort to get free, but the giant held him tight. Jamie saw more giants all over the place. He swam through his stupor to count them. There were over fifteen giants scattered through the woods.

A mixture of shock and rage filled him to bursting. He pulled his saber and slashed the giant’s fingers. The big dope dropped him with a screech that shook the mountaintops.

Jamie hit the ground. The saber fell out of his hands, but he never got another chance to use it. He didn’t see Grace anywhere, but he didn’t care. He jumped to his feet and rocketed at the giants one more time. He had to get aloft. He had to fight them as a dragon. He couldn’t fight them any other way, and he was only one man. He wasn’t even sure a single dragon could defeat them, but he had to try.

He made it two steps before a different giant sent him flying with a swift kick from the side. Jamie sailed through the trees and smashed into the hillside. He couldn’t move to get up. His head reeled, and every limb hurt.

Grace screamed from somewhere. “Jamie!”

Out of nowhere, he felt her delicate hand on his face. She was touching him. She was murmuring into his face, “Oh, God, please get up. Oh, no, please be all right. I can’t let this happen to you. Oh, please no!”

He swirled through space on a dreamy cloud. She cared. She was right there next to him, even though he couldn’t see her. Everything was okay. He didn’t need or want any more.

Another vibrating tremor shook him awake. His eyes fluttered open. He didn’t see Grace, even though he still felt her hand resting on his chest. He looked up at a giant framed against the blue sky. It swept its beady eyes over the landscape. Then it walked on away from him, heading north into the mountains.

While he lay there in a daze, another giant crossed his line of sight, heading north. Jamie realized they must be springing up from the same site where the last batch fell. Then they pushed on toward their destination.

Jamie didn’t sit up. He didn’t move a muscle. A force beyond himself yanked him off the ground and hurtled him through the air. Grace cried out one more time, “Jamie, no!” but it was too late.

The frail, ineffectual skin of Jamie Cameron remained behind, and pure dragon power blasted through him and out of him and in him. He stretched out his neck and unfolded his wings. His skin hardened to gleaming golden scales. In the blink of an eye, his reptilian form streaked through the trees. He screeched his wicked challenge to the giants.

He didn’t have to turn around to see the look on Grace’s face. She would stare up at him in astonishment, but at least she would know. He didn’t have to worry anymore about her finding out. No more hiding. No more sneaking around and lying. This was him. This was the real him.

He catapulted off the ground. The giants spun around to face him, but he whizzed between their heads and soared high into the sky. He zoomed past their startled eyes. Two of them raised their clubs to strike him. They swung and bashed each other in the heads instead.

They bellowed in fury, but Jamie was already too far away for them to reach. He climbed into the dizzy blue firmament, and there he stooped to take aim at his foes.

He narrowed his slitted eyes at them. He summoned all his murderous hatred and retracted his wings. Gravity caught hold of him, and he plummeted toward the Earth. The wind screamed over his scales. The slightest twitch of his wings sent him in a wide arc toward the giants.

The giants fixed their sunken eyes on him. They raised their clubs to smash him out of the skies. At the last second, he veered right to cut between them. He unleashed his fire, first on one, then on two others.

He rocketed between them and swooped out of the way before they could recover. When he stalled in mid-air to make another pass, he gazed down on the three giants going up in flames. They tried to pat the flames out with their hands. The inferno woofed into the air. White-hot plumes of fire blasted skyward.

The giants staggered and went down on their knees among the woods. Jamie measured the distance. None of them was close enough to put Grace in danger. He paused in mid-air and dove. Back and forth he screeched over the landscape. He scorched them one after another with his fire. He set them burning and vanished before they could catch him.

Seven, eight of them he burned to the ground. They stumbled, fell, and didn’t rise. They sank into the Earth and vanished among the trees. Nine, ten. The last remaining five broke out of their surprised stupor to charge him. Only one had the idea to wait for him to make another pass.

The others came at him with their clubs swinging. He chortled deep in his throat, and the sound shook the Earth beneath him. Now these idiot creatures gave him something of a challenge. He dodged between them. He reveled in his speed. He cut sharp corners around their clubs, clipped their ears, and nipped their noses before he tore away to the shelter of the skies.

Only that one particular giant didn’t move. He glared at Jamie under his heavy brows. He stood still with his club poised, but he didn’t swing or stomp or lumber around. He just stood there in deep thought.

What he might be thinking about, Jamie couldn’t imagine. The giant watched Jamie annihilate his comrades one by one. Not even that made much of an impression on the thing. Jamie set his sights on the other four. He would leave this strange one for last.

He raced out of the Heavens on an intercept course for his enemies. He spat four times. He hit two giants, but the third swung his club at a surprisingly intelligent moment. He hit Jamie’s wing and sent the dragon spinning through the trees.

Jamie’s wings whomped outward to stop his headlong tumble. He spun around to see the last three giants lined up to face him. Jamie didn’t hesitate. He pumped his wings to rocket across the landscape. This time, he took no chances. He gauged the giant’s swing. At the last second, Jamie threw his wings out to both sides. He braked hard. The giant’s club whistled an inch beyond his nose.

The giant spun with the momentum of his own swing, and Jamie made his move. He took off at full speed heading straight for the giant’s face. He let loose his fire into the giant’s eyes. In a second, flame engulfed the monster’s head. His hair crackled in the heat, but Jamie didn’t stop.

He dove over the giant’s shoulder. He swooped down the giant’s back and set his clothes and skin on fire. He didn’t let up until he covered the creature all over in flame. He zoomed between the giant’s legs and did the same thing to his front.

The giant smashed his club right and left in rage, but Jamie already raced away to the next giant. This one watched his friend go up in flames, and he spun around to meet Jamie incoming. He roared out loud, but he didn’t try to swing his club at the flying object. He set his club on his shoulder, waited until Jamie came near, and slapped the dragon aside with one hit.

Jamie went spinning away. He came to a stop some miles away, and he turned around to face his enemy. Some of these giants weren’t as stupid as they seemed. He picked up speed on his way back, but he took more care this time. When the giant brought back his hand to swat the dragon away, Jamie dodged under the monster’s arm.

He came up spitting fire right and left. He torched the giant from behind, and while the monster did his best to deal with the situation, Jamie zoomed around in front.

The giant’s eyes flew open when he spotted the dragon in front of him. He hauled back his enormous hand and dealt Jamie another catastrophic smack. Jamie somersaulted head over heels, but he didn’t come to rest some miles away.

He untangled his long neck to find himself on a straight course for the other giant, the one who stood still and watched. Before Jamie could react, this one smacked him back toward his friend. He laughed a big, rolling, jolly laugh. They would keep slapping Jamie back and forth all day long if Jamie didn’t think of something.

He waited until he got near the first giant’s hand. He measured the distance exactly. At the moment of impact, Jamie threaded his neck and tail through the giant’s fingers. He latched his teeth into the giant’s skin and hung on for dear life.

The giant wailed. He tried to shake the dragon off, lifting his hand to whip it downward. That was the moment Jamie chose to let go. He went spinning into the sky and left the giant still shaking his hand and looking around for the pest.

All this time, the flames Jamie let loose against the giant licked around the monster’s legs and back. They climbed up his clothes. Jamie didn’t wait around. He took off flying with all his might. He made a circuit of the giant. Already the giant happened to notice the burning sensation along his neck. He kicked against his pant legs to stop the itch, but it was too late.

Jamie whizzed between his legs and up in front of the giant’s chest and face. He poured his flame over every inch of the creature. The giant screamed aloud, but he couldn’t stop it.

At that moment, the last remaining giant ran up to his friend. He snatched Jamie out of the air and crushed him in his fist. Jamie wriggled and fought, but it was no good. His head thrashed back and forth, but he couldn’t break free. The giant held his limbs and wings tight against his body.

Jamie glanced around in desperation. The giant brought him close to his face. He peered into his eyes, and a wicked grin spread over his big ugly face. He put down his club and raised his other hand to do God knows what.

A scream pierced the stillness. A female voice shouted out, “No!” Grace ran to the giant’s foot and stabbed him with a knife. The giant thundered in Jamie’s face. Before the giant could bend down to react, Jamie let loose his fire into the creature’s face.

Flame sprouted around the monster’s eyes and nose. It flickered into his mouth when he spread his lips. He wheeled right, flailed his arms into the sky, and flung Jamie onto the ground with all his might.

Jamie smashed into the ground, and he knew no more.