Excerpt Continued…

His job was to be the bait, to use his connection to Matyas to gather information. And to get his brother the hell away from this dragon-damned cavern. Later he would consider how he expected to protect his siblings or a mate when he wasn’t trained as a warrior. Up to this point, he believed his world wasn’t all that dangerous. Obviously, he was wrong.

“He’s still out, you put too much power into that wizard-bolt.” This voice didn’t belong to Johannace. Yet, it seemed familiar.

“I might have misjudged. He was turning quickly and I didn’t want him to get his hands on me. Yousef wasn’t much of a fighter, but I had no idea what his brother is capable of.” That was Johannace.

The first man chortled. “You needn’t worry. I spent a few centuries with their father, filling the man’s mind with ancient stories I twisted to serve my master plan, of dragon-lore and the mistakes the Dragon Lords made.”

Matei screamed in his mind, Adramelech! Matyas, it’s Adramelech! He wanted to rant and tear at the man. All his confusion and pain over the last several days, everything Midnight said and he tried so hard to disbelieve, coalesced in his mind.

In a very sick way, it all made sense now. The Father’s closest friend and advisor had purposely revised dragon-lore. Why would he do that?

The Betrayer continued, “The man firmly believed every single tale. He didn’t train his children to be warriors. This plan has taken a long time to play out. But I’ve managed to capture two Dragon Lords who have forsaken their damn Sacred Oath, and are worthless fighters. The threat they pose to us is less than what a human can muster.”

The pain in his heart and body exploded. That was why—to negate the threat they should have been! He was useless, he didn’t know how to fight and he rarely used his magic.

“I would say your efforts produced an amazing result. Now we have two dragons to drain. We’ll have enough blood for your army.” Johannace’s voice faded as he spoke.

Matei thought they were walking away. But still, he remained limp in the chains and didn’t move or allow himself to take a deep breath. His mind raced, his heart lurched, but he didn’t move a muscle.

“Matei.” The hoarse voice called to him. “They’re gone.”

Slowly raising his head, he turned and looked at his brother. “Yousef!” he moaned. “Did you hear?”

His brother looked broken, bloodied, and in pain. He nodded.

Matei’s heart twisted in his body. He should have protected his little brother from this.

“Don’t get all protective on me. I’m the one who got us into this mess, and as bad as it seems, it is worse. You need to move, you can’t let your body hang there without moving or the pain will be worse than you can imagine. Stand up and take the weight off your arms.”

Matei didn’t comment but did as his brother bid. Twisting his hips, he got his legs under him and stood, relieving some of the pressure on his arms. Blood rushing into those muscles almost took him to his knees again. He ignored the pain caused by the returning blood flow.

“You’ve got a nasty gash on your head, you need to have Matyas heal you,” Yousef advised. “It will get harder for your dragon once they start taking your blood. You need to stay strong for as long as possible. Maybe we’ll get the chance to fight.”

Matei shook his head. He looked around the room and over at the tunnel where Adramelech and Johannace must have gone. He turned to Yousef and caught his gaze. “Matyas isn’t here.” He mouthed the words, not making a sound.

Yousef’s eyes widened. He blinked, and mouthed, “Is he alone?”

Matei shook his head, no.

His brother sagged in his chains, relieved at the thought of rescue.

But Matei knew it might not be that easy. He needed information. “What does Adramelech want with our blood.” In the interaction between the two men, he figured out it was the Father’s old advisor who was running this show. Johannace was a tool.

Yousef stood once again and opened his eyes. He nodded at his brother, understanding that Matei would be communicating with Matyas, and relaying anything that could help.

Matei was proud of Yousef. Whatever his brother had been through, it hadn’t broken his mind or his will.

“You got the part about Adramelech corrupting dragon-lore?”

“Yeah, I need to know why. Not just to capture us because obviously, that worked, but what does he want us for?”

Yousef winced. “They want our blood. From what I’ve learned in the last couple days, Adramelech and Johannace believe that if Johannace drinks Sangre de Drago, or the blood of a dragon, it is supposed to enhance the dark druid’s magical powers. Whatever the hell Adramelech is, he wants to drink it too. He’s keeping that fact from the druid. But every time they draw my blood, I see the dark longing in his eyes.”

Matei’s mouth dropped. His mind raced. “You have got to be kidding?”

Yousef’s laugh was low and filled with anger. “Believe me, I’ve been drained of blood twice a day. I’ve watched them force their captive army to drink the stuff. So far, they haven’t been thrilled with the results, but they haven’t stopped trying.”

Frowning, Matei asked, “What do you mean captive army, and what do they expect to happen?”

Yousef shrugged. “I can only tell you what Johannace has bragged about. I’m not sure he knows everything. Adramelech is the one directing the process and I would be surprised if he’s told the druid the truth. But supposedly some ancient prophecy states that Dragon’s blood can be used to increase wisdom and strength. If a magic-user drinks Sangre de Drago, they are supposed to gain the ability to learn things only the dragons know...such as the language of animals and how to control them.”

Matei took a deep breath and regretted it immediately. The cavern smelled like blood, old and new, and death. “Who has died here?”

Yousef winced and lowered his head. He mumbled, “Every time they give one of the captive magic users my blood, and force them to drink it…they die a horrible death. Screaming in agony and pain, it takes them only minutes to die.” Raising his head, he met his brother’s gaze. “So they tried giving them an infusion, just hooking an IV up to me and putting the blood directly in their veins. The one they tried that with, died faster, and in even more pain. My blood kills them, Matei. There have been three who died so far.” The anguish in his voice was clear. He dropped his head and sobbed.

“Yousef, look at me,” Matei demanded, and waited until his brother raised his head and looked in his eyes. “You did not kill these people. This is solely the act of an evil mind. You are not responsible!”

Yousef kept his eyes locked on Matei’s for long moments. Finally, he nodded and grimaced. “I know that, brother. It is just hard to remember.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll remind you often.” Matei changed the subject. “You said captive army?”

Nodding, Yousef explained, “Yes. I told you I had been searching for missing magic users for some time. Johannace was the one running the show, recruiting other magic users to try and find their friends. I don’t know how many are here. They keep them somewhere down that tunnel, but I think there were about twenty missing persons. I think there are some others here, but I haven’t seen them. Johannace just bitches about the freaky warrior twins. I don’t know what he’s talking about. I’ve known Johannace for some time, so when he asked me to work for CCOM and help, I happily agreed.” He rattled the chains binding his hands. “Turned out to be a bad idea. These are magically warded, by the way, we can’t break them.”

Before Matei could ask another question, he heard clapping. He glanced toward the tunnel and saw Adramelech leaning against the wall. He had no idea how long the man had been there.