Page 24 of The Dragon Shifters’ Enemy (Dragon’s Reign #7)

Wall Of Death

T he helicopter’s blades spun up and the backwash of air nearly ripped open Valerius’ robe. Not that it would have mattered. He and Caden were about to shift so the robes would be shed in moments. But he had to see Celestine taken back to Reach safely first.

After speaking those same two words as Landry had, “wall” and “death”, she had fallen unconscious.

None of the other Falcon shifters had returned to give them more information.

He had not expected they would, because Celestine would not have left her people behind if they had been saveable.

Hopefully, it was not too late for her as well.

“We’re doing this together, Valerius,” Caden said as he shielded his eyes from the downwards blast of the rotor blades. “I’m going with you no matter what.”

Valerius sighed. The desire to protect Caden was as strong as always, but the thought of leaving him behind only filled him with dread. He saw Raziel and Iolaire leaning against one another. They would not be parted either.

“I don’t want you out of my sight,” Valerius confessed.

Caden’s eyebrows rose and his lips parted slightly. “I expected you to fight me on this after what happened to Celestine and the other Falcon shifters!”

Valerius cupped Caden’s face. “I want us to be by each other’s sides from now on. That is the only way I will know you are safe.”

“And vice versa!” Caden agreed, nodding before moving his head to the side to kiss Valerius’ right palm. It was a feather-light kiss, but it burned as if tattooed upon his flesh.

The throaty sound of the helicopter was now a faint chop-chop in the distance. Both of them gazed after the now small-looking craft as it headed for one of Reach’s best hospitals.

“Do you think Celestine will be all right?” Caden asked. Valerius saw him swallow deeply.

Valerius did not know. Celestine had used all of her strength to report back to them. But he knew she was strong and had an iron will.

“I believe she will make it, if anyone can make it,” Valerius said.

“She didn’t have any wounds on her, but she was bleeding out inside,” Caden said with a shudder. “I mean I’m no doctor, but that wasn’t right.”

Valerius nodded, agreeing with him. “Perhaps poison…”

The Behemoth’s many heads had various abilities. One of them could have very well gassed the Falcon shifters causing such terrible damage.

“Illarion’s poison breath can have similar properties,” Valerius added.

If he hadn’t known that Illarion was at High Reach right now by Chione’s side, he would have thought that the Green Dragon Shifter was responsible for this.

But from the battle that Raziel had shown them, it was clear that there were variations on the gifts that each of them had reflected in the other trapped Dragons.

He wondered what the Behemoth itself could do.

Were its abilities simply to entrap the other Dragon Spirits?

Or did it have other powers as well? Or maybe what had happened to Celestine was nothing like what he was thinking at all.

Valerius took his cell phone out of his robe’s pocket and called Chione back, but it was not his Councillor that answered, but Tilly instead.

“King Valerius!” she greeted him, sounding quite professional as she did so. Clearly, Chione had found a mentee in Caden’s sister. “Chione is coordinating with the hospital for Celestine’s arrival so I’m answering her calls. What can I do for you? Hey! HEY! Cut it out, King Illarion!”

Illarion’s voice could be heard rising in the background, “Get back here, little girl! I wish to speak to Valerius! He will not leave us in the dark and--where are you going?” There was the sound of tapping feet and then some heavy breathing. “You think hiding underneath that table will stop me?”

“Tilly, are you okay?” Caden asked, eyes flashing white for a moment.

“I’m fine! The big green meanie can’t fit under here and I don’t think--hey! Using super strength is not fair!” Tilly snapped at the Green Dragon King. “He just lifted up the entire dining room table!”

“I will speak with Valerius! Now give me the phone, little girl!” Illarion demanded.

Valerius’ jaw clenched. “Tilly, put me on speaker please.”

“Right away!” she said and there was that hollow sound that signaled he was broadcasting.

“Illarion, are you in the habit of chasing 13-year-old girls?” Valerius’ voice was soft, almost gentle.

“I--I was not--she should have--you are making me sound foolish!” Illarion ground out.

“He’s doing that all by himself,” Caden muttered.

“You will never speak to Tilly or behave with her in that way again. Is that understood?” Valerius asked.

Caden’s head lifted up and his eyes widened as he heard a tone in Valerius’ voice that he had never heard before. He’d threatened. He’d ranted and raved. This was different. It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise of terrible, terrible things happening to Illarion if he didn’t obey.

There was a long silence from Illarion and then a low, “I was not going to hurt her! I--”

“Do you understand?” Valerius pronounced each word as he repeated the question.

“Yes,” Illarion hissed. But Valerius knew he meant it even though the Green Dragon Shifter sounded put out. “But you need to tell us what is going on! We are equals to you, Valerius! We are not your servants!”

That was debatable.

“Gather the other Dragon Shifters near for I will not repeat this. Time is short,” Valerius' voice was clipped.

There were footsteps that neared and then stopped. He imagined all of the Dragon Shifters gathered around Tilly and the phone as if they were worshipping an ancient, occult object.

“We’re all here, Valerius,” Esme informed him.

“And here is where Caden and I are. We are certain that Chione told you much of this already, but here is the simple summary. Landry made a call. Her cell phone’s location was traced to a valley near my private retreat,” Valerius informed them and grimaced as he admitted this much.

Hadn’t Caden said that Illarion would take off after the Behemoth?

He likely could find them with this small amount of information, but if he didn’t give enough there would be more objections and children-chasing.

“I sent Celestine and the other Falcons to investigate, believing if Caden and I went in our Dragon forms, Landry might be harmed before we could get to her. Only Celestine returned, desperately injured. Both she and Landry said the same words. Wall and death.”

There was a long silence as all of the other Dragon Shifters took this in. He wondered if their confusion and dread was as great as his. Likely not. Because they had not seen the battle in the past and its horrible conclusion.

“We must come with you,” Jahara said. “You are going to investigate this place, yes?”

“Yes,” Valerius said. “But it would not be wise for us all to go.”

“You are the largest and strongest of us, Valerius,” Mei said then, “but not even you can stop the Behemoth on your own.”

Actually, he could and he had --or rather Raziel had--but the results had been… terrible.

“I know,” Valerius agreed. He had no idea how to stop the Behemoth without devastating a whole country or more.

“It’s actually a lot more complicated than that,” Caden broke in.

“Guys, you need to ask your Dragon Spirits to show you the battle with the Behemoth in the spirit realm. Once you see that, you’ll understand that Valerius and I aren’t going there to fight the Behemoth.

We’re just looking for Landry or any sign of where the Behemoth is hidden. ”

“Eldoron is quite upset all of a sudden!” Tez cried. “It doesn’t want to speak about the battle. Oh, my!”

“It must. All of us need to know what happened back then, because we cannot let it happen again,” Valerius told them.

Kaila piped in, “Lana said we won, but we--”

“Lost,” Esme murmured. “Oh, dear, this looks to be bad news.”

“Perhaps or perhaps not. We just cannot face the Behemoth as we might have intended,” Valerius said.

Anwar spoke up then, “Those words wall and death . Do you recall the wall I found in my territory? The one that had the Behemoth’s likeness upon it, but then did not? ”

“Oh, man, could there be another wall here?” Caden looked horrified.

Valerius ground his teeth. The Gray Mountains were his . He and Raziel had literally lifted them from the very earth themselves. To think that the Behemoth may have polluted them was beyond aggravating.

“Even if you do not intend to fight the Behemoth, you might have no choice if you walk into its lair,” Mei stated. “Let me send Adama to go for you or, at least, to accompany you if you will not let us help.”

“I need you to be protecting the people of Reach,” Valerius told them, the vision of the explosion running through his mind’s eye again. “If something goes wrong for Caden and I, you will know. But a stream of all the Dragon Shifters to the Gray Mountains will cause too much interest.”

“Adama can cloak itself and become invisible,” Mei said.

Valerius blinked. “Become… become invisible?”

“Yes,” Mei sounded pleased at his stunned intonation. “Adama has many features--”

“Including ones that you intended to use to spy on me?” Valerius asked.

There was a slight pause then Mei sighed, “Well, of course, but I’ll be taking Adama back with me now that Illarion destroyed my other robots.”

“Yes, you will. I insist ,” Valerius said, not caring that she was taking back her gift . He and Raziel would have just used it for target practice in any case.

“A robot spy is a bit conspicuous, Mei,” Esme sniffed. “I would have thought you'd have fashioned something more… discrete.”

“Sometimes more is more,” Mei stated with Valerius imagined with a shrug.

“And now all of them are slag,” Illarion chuckled darkly.

“All the ones I brought with me,” Mei responded sweetly.

Illarion went quiet.

“We have to go, guys,” Caden said. “Make your Dragon Spirits tell you--or better yet--show you the battle. As soon as we find out anything, we’ll be back.”