Drachengott by K J Taylor

Author:K J Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Nils managed another transformation, and the four of them flew back toward Drachenburg together, Elynor riding on Spurling’s back in her cat shape. But they didn’t have to go very far, and certainly not all the way to the city itself. A good way out from its broken walls they came in to land again, at the front ranks of an army bigger than anything Nils had seen before. Thousands of humans and hundreds of dragons, the humans marching or riding in formation, the dragons guarding them from the air. They roared at the sight of Spurling.

The grey dragon quickly dropped Elynor off and flew up to join his fellows, leaving Nils, Rutger and Elynor to meet up with the group riding at the head of the army. They were on deerback, of course, a group of men and women, all armoured and some armed. Nils made himself human, and he and the other two walked alongside as Rutger and Elynor greeted their friends. The first of those was a red-haired man with deep scars on his forehead, who leaned down to kiss Elynor. She kissed him back, and then pulled herself up onto the back of the spare deer he had been leading beside him. ‘Ambrose, love,’ she smiled at him.

Rutger climbed up onto a second deer, and offered a third to Nils. ‘Will you ride with me?’

Reluctantly, Nils climbed up onto the animal, which snorted uneasily but didn’t try to throw him off. He slung the Soul Thief on his back and took the reins.

‘Now who is this?’ asked the red-haired man. ‘Is this the man you were looking for, Dragonsbane?’ He, too, had a Gallien accent, and his face was long and sly-looking.

‘Yes, this is him,’ said Rutger. ‘Theodor, this is Ambrose von Ketzergard.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Theodor,’ said Ambrose. He inspected Nils with interest. ‘It’s true — you’re the very image of your father. But you should meet my children.’ He indicated two young adults who were riding just behind him. One was a girl with long red hair and sparkling green eyes, the other a brown-eyed boy whose blond hair had strange dark stripes rippling through it.

The boy put his head on one side. ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘My name’s Tancred.’

‘I’m Lilith,’ said the girl. ‘We’re shapeshifters, too, just like you.’

Nils smiled shyly at her. ‘I’m not like you,’ he said. ‘I was born a shapeshifter.’

‘So were we,’ said Tancred. ‘We grew up very fast, just like you.’

Nils gaped. ‘You mean—?’

‘You’re not the only one,’ said Lilith. ‘Don’t worry. But I wish I could turn into a dragon,’ she added.

‘What do you turn into, then?’

‘A fox, like Papa,’ said Lilith. ‘Tancred’s a cat like our mother.’

‘But with stripes,’ Tancred added. ‘Will you show us your dragon shape again later? Maybe we could run together. That’s what shapeshifters do.’

An older woman riding nearby laughed. ‘Enough of that, you two,’ she said. ‘We have more important things to do than playing around in the moonlight.’

Despite himself, Nils started to relax in their company.

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