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Cathbad the Druid teleported to a familiar wide ledge high atop a snow-swept mountain range in the Himalayas.
He clothed himself in a heavy coat, boots, and thick pants even though he could take pretty much any temperature. No matter the era, he enjoyed fine clothing.
After allowing another few minutes of peace before facing an antagonistic woman with a one-track mind, he turned to the hidden entrance. He called up his power and moved a massive stone to the side. That obstacle would only hold back natural beings, but it prevented Brynhild from looking out, or anyone seeing into her lair.
With the stone out of the way, he walked through the ward shielding access to anyone but himself, and preventing her from leaving without his knowledge. While she could not teleport, she’d shown off her ability to turn invisible in dragon form. He had not known she possessed that ability when he brought her here unconscious during the Dragani War. He’d put her in a frozen pool sealed by a powerful spell. She stayed there until he woke her weeks ago.
She had failed to see the value in his efforts and tried to kill him.
He kept alert as he strolled deep into the cavern lit by torches positioned in the far left area where the wall dipped deep. Brynhild’s hoard remained piled to the ceiling and stretched out toward the center of a cavern large enough for her to fly around in dragon form. This cave had belonged to another dragon who lived and passed on long before she’d been born.
Continuing slowly, he watched for her as he moved around the edge of the deep pond created just for holding her all these centuries.
She had to be here. What was Brynhild up to right now? He and Queen Maeve had created a clever plan not long after the Dragani War where they would go into a deep sleep and reincarnate centuries later when they would have an advantage.
Neither of them expected the way this world had changed.
He’d expected dragons to have died off, yet some lived besides Brynhild.
That red dragon for one.
The water exploded straight up, driven by a massive dragon with diaphanous-blue and pearl-white scales over the silvery skin. Her dragon arched before slamming the ceiling and banked hard to land between him and her hoard.
“What do ya protect from me, Brynhild? I be the one who saved that treasure for ya.”
Fierce blue eyes flashed hatred.
He’d dealt with worse and calmly waited for her to come to her senses.
She opened her wings and lifted her huge dragon head, roaring so loud the ice on the ceiling ruptured and flew around the cavern in a sparkling cloud.
If she hit him with even one piece after he warned her last time, he would lock her underwater again.
But the ice slowed and floated gently as a child’s mobile spinning.
“’Tis time for ya to shift so we can talk, Brynhild.”
She lowered her dragon’s head the size of a car and opened her jaws. “That is all you do, druid. Talk, talk, talk.” The dragon had a smooth, but full voice. “Then you dare to teleport me here and seal me in this cage again?”
“’Tis a nice cave, not a cage.”
She shifted, power flooding the area as she made a quick change. He’d begun to notice how fast she shifted and wondered if that was her natural way or something she worked on recently.
Now standing tall, dressed in her black battle armor with her family’s dragon crest in silver on her chest and impressive metallic boots, she lifted her head. Vivid eyes, outlined in kohl, stared down her nose to insult him. Her blond hair remained in a mass of braids twisted around her head, all but a thick one that fell over her shoulder.
Cathbad sighed. “I have come to tell ya what to work on next so that we can try takin’ ya into the human world again dressed as a contemporary woman.”
She raised her arms and stomped around, growling, then swung back to him. “I have been in the human world with you. I executed everything you needed excellently. I tire of you tutoring me as a child on stupid things. I am a warrior and I have yet to kill Daegan as you promised. You put me off and threaten to break your oath.”
He bristled. To break an oath in their world came with severe repercussions. “I do no such thing. Ya never remember our agreement, constantly tryin’ ta twist words. Do not accuse me of that again,” he warned. “Unless ya wish to spend another couple millennia in that pond.”
She shoved her hands on her hips. “What do you want, druid? For me to perform as a pet monkey yet once more? I have done my part, twice in fact. Do you actually think I will jump every time you order me?”
“A pet would be a more willin’ partner,” he countered. “We have made a good start. I need ya out with me as much as ya wish to leave this cave. To do that, ya must learn all ya need ta move fluidly among humans and I must be able to trust ya to keep your word outside this cavern. Ya push the limits every time we leave.”
“You are such a—”
“Do not call me a nag again. That will not gain yar freedom, Brynhild.” He had given her space to accept her life and become the woman he needed to reach his goal of gaining Treoir Castle and all within that realm. If she could do her part, she would see Daegan die and rule alongside Cathbad, but only if he could risk turning his back on her.
She shrugged. “Nag is not the word I reached for. I have kept my part of the agreement. I told you I would join you to gain Daegan’s death, but I weary of waiting. Have I not done as you have asked?”
He could answer that question two ways. She sounded so contrite, but she didn’t possess that emotion. She had done what he’d required of her, but not without conflict each time.
Gifting her with a smile, he said, “Yes, ya have been impressive.” Women needed stroking, even medieval dragon shifters.
Her lips hinted at smiling. That was as close as she’d get to preening under his compliment.
“Did I not give ya the ability to breathe fire?” he pointed out.
She grumbled. “That is not true fire. Nor do I like that you cast some spell on me.”
Unappreciative female. “Ya will never breathe it as Daegan does, but ya will have that weapon on occasion.”
“Not often enough.”
He would not continue that argument. They were finally talking, but it always seemed to take so much effort to get to this point. Getting back to his reason for this visit, he said, “I have somethin’ for ya ta read. It’s in Latin, the language you were taught, but I also brought books in today’s English.”
“You what?” she asked as if she had not heard correctly.
“Books and women magazines. I need ya ta be able ta read text on things from signs ta news material.”
Her mulish expression turned darker. “Tell me when we will go back to that archival research centre to see if they have anything on the Treoirs. Someone hid from us in the back of that building.”
Shaking his head, he commented, “Ya almost exposed yar power there. Everything I do is for a reason and my plan is not ta be taken lightly.” He’d only gone to the ancestral research centre in County Galway to see if the dark druids he’d consulted had been correct about a woman named Luigsech who could read text from before the time of dragons. If so, she would know of the Dragani War. He’d expected to find a descendant of the Luigsech squire family of King Gruffyn.
Not a mysterious woman hiding from him.
“What plan?” Brynhild shouted. “We left empty-handed.”
He would not tell Brynhild everything. His plan had been simple. Confirm who Luigsech was, then come back to kidnap her and hold her prisoner until the time came to use the woman to lure Daegan into the perfect trap.
To push this cranky ice dragon shifter off track, he said, “The one hidin’ from us surprised me. I suspect the one who did not show her face while we spoke to the Fenella woman was either the Luigsech female or she knows how we can find her. Would ya have me demand ta see her that first time and scare her off?” The hidden woman had run, but she would be back.
He was sure of it.
If she’d feared a threat at her door, she would not have left Fenella there. He’d discovered the two had been close for many years.
So Luigsech went to see someone. Who?
He could not wait to return and confirm if that missing person was indeed the Luigsech he hunted. He couldn’t take this unmanageable dragon shifter with him until she pulled her act together, because Brynhild had come close to blowing that moment when she became demanding with Fenella.
The bookish woman had remained calm, but she had a wily look about her.
He tried again to calm Brynhild. “I need ta find out if the person whose power I felt is that Luigsech woman. The best way to meet her in person would be by me takin’ her text that is impossible to translate.”
“Where will you find such a book?”
“I have many, but they are in TÅμr Medb. I will go choose one and drop it off at the archival research centre, which will give me a valid reason to visit again.” That wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but it might mollify Brynhild.
“I will go with you.”
Here came her mule-headed attitude again.
“Not if ya wish ta live. Queen Maeve is not so easily fooled as human women.” He could only imagine putting Maeve and Brynhild in the same space.
Cocking her chin as if she loaded a weapon, Brynhild said, “Queen Maeve is no threat to me.” The quiet ice mobile that had been floating around them began to turn faster.
Cathbad rubbed his head. “This is why I must go alone. Ya have no sense of the danger ya cause with your arrogant attitude. That’s why I have brought the books and magazines for ya ta study.” He pointed at an open spot and a comfortable recliner appeared first then a tall bookcase filled with reading material on every shelf. “Half of that material is in Latin, as I mentioned, which makes English easy to learn so—”
Brynhild’s face boiled red. She screamed like a harpy. The floating ice shot around them in a circle, moving as fast as a buzz saw then shattered all at once.
Cathbad covered his ears and shouted, “I hate yar voice.”
“I hate you! I am not a child to sit and read all day!”
Standing still, Cathbad spun up his power, preparing to deal with her.
She shifted into her dragon.
Oh, no. He would not tolerate that. “Shift back now.”
The dragon blew out a blast of sleet, flicking it across him. As she flapped around in a circle, her dragon spoke. “I grow stronger. You will not shove me back in that water again.”
Cathbad’s muscles bulged from fury. “I hadn’t intended to, Brynhild, but an ice bath might take the starch out of yar attitude.”
Brynhild’s dragon landed, giving Cathbad a moment of relief to not have to battle her again.
But her dragon roared and blasted him with ice from ten feet away, turning his body into a frozen block. He couldn’t move his fingers. His head was stuck in one position.
The dragon walked around with humor in her glowing blue eyes. Her voice rolled with power. “You will not treat me as a child or a pet again. I have killed men for less.”
In a flush of power, she shifted back to her human form, once again dressed for battle and continued lecturing him. “Now that you know I am not weak we can work as true partners. You will listen to my ideas, too. I may allow you to ... chill out, as you say, in that block of ice for a day, or maybe two, until you come to your senses. Is that not what you toss at me all the time? I tire of your ordering me to do this and that, then you criticize me for not thinking like you. I am not you. I. Am. ME.” She lowered her voice to one of warning. “I am an ice dragon.”
A frown marred her smooth forehead as she paused to observe him in the frigid blob. She stared and moved closer, murmuring, “Did you blink?”
The ice exploded out in all directions.
She went flying backward and landed hard, skidding across the cave floor.
Her face suffered cuts and bruises. She could heal them if she wished, but he would not help. She yelled, “You stupid druid. How dare you hurt me?”
“Stand up, Brynhild.”
She had a look that said she considered refusing him, but that dragon shifter would never allow anyone to stand above her. She stood and rubbed her arms where ice had slashed her perfect skin.
“How many times do I have ta teach ya that crossin’ me is dangerous?” he whispered with cold anger.
She glanced up fast. “If you retaliate, then I will, too. This will go on and on.”
Cathbad pointed at the pool of water, which began swirling into a whirlpool with huge ice boulders banging the edge.
She healed her cuts and crossed her arms. “If you put me back in there, you will regret it.”
Cathbad bellowed an order in Gaelic.
She screamed as her body shot up in the air and dove headfirst into the pool.
He strode to the edge.
He waved his hands over the top and the surface iced over solid enough to be skated on. Her furious face appeared out of the darkness. She slapped the ice from below, pounding it over and over, eyes sizzling with hatred.
Then she stopped all motion and stared at him as if he was a dead druid walking. Then she sank deep into the black void.
She would survive. He’d kept her down there in stasis after pulling her out of King Eógan’s castle during the Dragani War.
She hated Daegan for refusing to accept the marriage agreement proposed by her king.
Cathbad had thought keeping her alive and giving her a chance to exact revenge on Daegan would make her a worthy partner. A better choice than Queen Maeve, who danced closer to insanity every day.
How had he managed to team up with the two craziest supernatural females of all time?
Brynhild could be managed. She may not like being treated as a child, but eventually she’d fall into line. While she had a chance to cool herself off, he’d retrieve a book from TÅμr Medb for the Luigsech woman to translate.
He hadn’t been back to that realm for ... too long.
There was no guessing at his reception.
