The Isle of Eternal Happiness by Kay Berrisford

Author:Kay Berrisford [Berrisford, Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay, Urban Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Less Than Three Press, LLC
Published: 2018-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

"I would've gladly killed it," said Clem. "I wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to snap its spindly neck, if the dragon hadn't been me."

"So you discovered a spell that separated out your dragon and mermaid forms," said Lyle, enraptured, as he sat in the semi-darkness with his mother. "I had no idea that was possible."

"Few, if any, have tried it before," said Clem, proudly. "The knowledge has been kept hidden for thousands of years. I found it in Clewell's collections, which make interesting reading. Even the Wise Mas only know a fraction of the magic Clewell did, so it seems."

"So it seems," echoed Lyle.

"Dragon-shifting is not only a far greater challenge than any other kind of shapeshifting," continued Clem. "It's a different process to simply shifting between legs or tail, or casting a concealment spell on your fins. To shift into something as wildly different as a dragon, one must first have a dragon self within, or it isn't possible."

Lyle nodded thoughtfully. Given that his dragon had first turned up randomly in the recesses of his unconscious mind, this made some sort of sense.

"Only a handful of our lineage have been blessed with a dragon," continued Clem. "Even less of us can access it. I hoped I had one, so that one day I could teach a few folk a lesson. Unfortunately, when I separated my dragon out, she turned out to be this runt." Balancing on one stunted leg, she gave a languid twirl. "Holding such an unwanted bundle of skin and bone reminded me of my last born child."

"No need to be unpleasant." Lyle sniffed, straightening his sagging spine. He'd be damned if he'd betray any weakness to Clem.

"I do beg your pardon," said Clem, snide as ever. "Anyhow, I feared my dragon would shrivel up and die, so I used the mind-jump mantra to leap between my usual body and this one, allowing me to care for it and flex these silly things." She unfurled cobweb-frail wings, no larger than a pigeon's, and gave them a desultory flap. "I hoped I'd be able to find magic to strengthen my dragon, or at least learn to fly. All I ever really mastered was that mind-jump mantra, though. I could do that in a flash."

"So that's how you escaped when Cully incinerated your other body," murmured Lyle.

"I leaped between them in the nick of time," she said. "Now my mermaid is destroyed, I'm stuck this way, and I've no idea how to fix it. However, with so much time on my hands this past half year, I have found out how to reverse the flow of power from the collar."

"You have?" Lyle caught his breath and held it as the implications of her latest bombshell notched into place. If Clem could reverse the flow of power from the collar, then he could gain his old abilities back and draw magic without suffering. He'd no longer be dependent on Ben—or anybody else. It wouldn't solve all his problems, but it'd be a start.

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