How to Bond a Mage (Heir of Dragons Book 3) Read online

  How to Bond a Mage

  Heir of Dragons book 3

  J.A. Culican

  Copyright © 2021 by J.A. Culican

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written consent from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. Trademark names appear throughout this book. Rather than trademark name, names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.

  The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

  The characters, locations, and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarities or resemblance to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Glossary of Creatures

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by J.A. Culican

  Chapter 1

  Kaleb had drifted off. Reclining against one of the ancient trees in the forest, he'd yawned, stretched out and fallen asleep quite unexpectedly. Minx had been chatting with him, discussing the future, when a contented snore had left his lips.

  She grinned, nestling up against him. “Maybe you're right. It would be nice if we could just stay like this, forever,” she told the slumbering dragon shifter.

  Nearby, Mau was busy chasing forest rodents, her silvery tail sticking straight up and her great paws clapping down against the soil as the little creatures dove into their burrows. It had been some time since the Faelyr had been able to relax. Minx was pleased to see her enjoying herself.

  Golden sunlight snuck through the trees overhead, painting the forest floor a warm yellow. Where battle cries and explosions had lately filled the silences, Minx was now able to parse many varieties of birdsong issuing from the canopy. Had she only these surroundings to consider, she wouldn't have believed that the lands of the Fae had recently been threatened by the dark mage's army. Here, at least, things appeared as “normal” as they ever had.

  Once, she had been naive enough to believe that the regeneration of the wards around the territory would be sufficient to ring in a new era of peace and prosperity for the Fae. In the days since the defenses had been refreshed—thanks to Kaleb's heroism—Minx had slowly come to terms with the fact that this would not be the case, however.

  Things were more peaceful than they had been only days prior, it was true. The shielding spell had given her people some much-needed breathing room, and since Torrent's forces had largely been driven off by the ward's reemergence, the war-weary Fae had been able to put down their swords for the first time in ages. The extent of the destruction that the dark army had wrought was beyond imagining, and the Fae set about the daunting task of rebuilding—though time and again violent interruptions reared their heads before the work could meaningfully begin.

  The dark forces, comprised of Wuffs and Plurn—not to mention others of more dubious lineage—had been repulsed upon the warding spell's completion. Some among Torrent's forces proved immune to the shield's effects, however; in particular, the Krah had waged several nighttime attacks, slipping past the borders of Fae territory unexpectedly and wreaking havoc.

  The Fae huntress had intercepted a few such attackers, dispatching them near the outer limits of Pandling Grounds with Mau. Why it was that the Krah could cross the magical barrier when the other races were barred was a mystery, and the repeated incursions of the lizard-like warriors became a profound frustration for the Fae, who'd long ago tired of ambushes and strife. Thus far, Minx and her fellow warriors had put down every rush of Krah that had dared approach Pandling Grounds, and she hoped—perhaps in vain—that they would soon see the last of them.

  Not every battle then being fought in the lands of the Fae involved weapons. Minx's father, Valdar, had lately been stricken with confusion bordering on total senility. Though in control of himself at times, he had increasingly slipped into bouts of restless bafflement, lashing out wildly. Minx, along with other trusted friends, had been caring for him, but there appeared no cure to this curious and distressing ailment that had destroyed her loving father's mind.

  Without even considering the incredible mental strain of war that had accosted all the Fae in recent times, the degradation of Valdar's mental state had been tied to two major events. The death of his wife, the mate he'd been bonded to, had dealt him a great blow—though in the haze of battle, with fearsome enemies pressing in on every side, even he hadn't realized just how tremendous the loss had really been. The final straw had been Torrent's tainting of Heilo Lake. The Dark Mage had sullied the lake with his blood in a foul ritual that now gave him undue influence on those clear, sacred waters. As a member of the enigmatic Silence, the small organization devoted to protecting the lake, Valdar's own wellbeing had been closely tied to the lake's purity. When it had been tainted, his mind had been unable to resist the Dark Mage's magic. Physically, he appeared robust. Having had a bit of time to rest, he no longer looked as punished and war-weary as he had only days before. But his mind had clearly begun to falter, and no amount of rest or sustenance could much return it to its earlier sharpness.

  Since the seriousness of his condition had come to light, Minx had taken up her father's place in the Silence. She had met with the mysterious young priest affiliated with that secretive sect, but had little idea of her ultimate role within the society. They had not held a meeting or thoroughly briefed her on her responsibilities. Like everyone else, the Silence appeared to be reeling due to recent events and struggling to regain their footing. Torrent was widely-regarded as a fearsome power, but none had anticipated his meddling with the lake. That once-pristine body of water so important to her people had been attacked, and its light had begun to die out. The return of the shielding had slowed the poisoning of the lake, but Torrent's influence on it remained great. The Silence seemed as clueless as anyone else about the best way to handle the matter.

  Though there had been relative peace in the days since the ward had been reinstated, it was widely understood that Torrent's forces weren't going anywhere, and that they were—even as the Fae sought to get their legs under them—plotting to stage greater attacks. Nowhere was this clearer than in the disappearances of many Fae during daily patrols.

  Considering the extent of the destruction her people had faced, Minx was hardly surprised to learn that many had gone missing. Bodies were found every day as rubble was cleared in th
e Trading Center and beyond; others, though, had seemingly vanished without a trace. Among these were the scouts that were sometimes sent along the edges of their lands to monitor enemy movements. Each day, one or two among a dozen would be spirited away, never to be seen or heard from again. The Fae huntress shuddered to think of what had happened to them, and doubted that they still lived. Torrent was a brutal warrior; mercy was not his style.

  In light of these disappearances and the sporadic aggressions of the Krah, it had been a bit difficult to enjoy this peace—or even to honestly label it such.

  If there was anyone who could provide guidance just then, it was the voice of Heilo Lake, which Minx longed to hear. Daily, at least a few times, she would reach out to that distant presence. She even spent time along the shore, all but demanding that the waters speak to her. Her queries always went ignored, however. The lake had been silent for some time. If it could even speak at all about recent events, it was apparently at a loss for words.

  There were other difficulties, too—stoppages to trade being one of the most pressing. With the dark army remaining outside their borders, the Fae could not trade with outsiders for vital resources, leaving them only with what they could produce on their own lands. Luxuries became scarce as a result, and in time stores of food and other supplies were likely to dwindle. Already there were murmurs of shortages on the horizon, and fears of a lengthy siege were widespread amongst the people.

  In the moment, Minx was content. The sunlight was warm, and she was relaxing beside the man she loved.

  But the war was far from over.

  She realized herself in a quiet lull between two storms. The worst, she feared, was yet to come.

  Torrent isn't finished with us yet. We need to find some way to defeat him—to put an end to this war once and for all, she thought to herself as she peered at the dozing dragon shifter. And although I wish it weren't so... It's clear that we can't do it alone. We need help.

  At this, Minx loosed a long sigh.

  Outside help, unfortunately, had been in short supply.

  Chapter 2

  It was early the next morning when Kaleb announced his intention to return to the Talon Range.

  Over breakfast, Minx had aired her concerns about the ongoing threat posed by Torrent, and had insisted—not for the first time—on the need for outside aid.

  Though the dragons of the Talon Range had staunchly refused to assist the Fae in their war against Torrent—not once, but twice—Kaleb sought to appeal to them again, albeit in less grandiose terms than before. His prior attempts, desperate and attention-grabbing, had mostly ended in derision and threats of legal action. “I want to see how they're doing,” he explained, running a hand through his long, black locks. “I doubt Torrent has started to march on the lands of my people, but venturing there and getting a bird's eye view of his movements seems prudent. And anyway, I'd like to speak to my father. A lot has happened, and I want to let him know where things stand. It's probably a long shot, but maybe... just maybe... if I can get him to listen, others will, too.”

  The Fae had no allies that they could readily call on during these pressing times. Because of this, Minx had pinned a lot of hope on a collaboration with the dragons during their previous trips to the Talon Range. She'd been disappointed many times now by Kaleb's stubborn people, but agreed that a trip to the mountains would give them a better vantage point into Torrent's movements—and she remained optimistic, too, that those obstinate dragons would come around once they'd heard about Kaleb's most recent act of heroism. He'd risked his hide—literally—for her people. The least they could do was listen.

  Once she'd stopped in to check on her father for the day, Minx had joined Mau and Kaleb near the edge of the Trading Center. There, Kaleb had shifted and the three had taken flight. The dragon's brilliant red scales caught the bright sunlight and glowed like the embers in a raging fire. His wings, well-rested, beat with ferocity and latched onto every crosswind as they gained altitude. Soon enough, the lands of the Fae were merely a speck in the distance. Kaleb cut through the cloudless sky effortlessly, his tremendous yellow eyes constantly scanning the world below.

  The lands surrounding Pandling Grounds remained in ruin. The dark army had made many ramshackle encampments in the fields beyond the reach of the warding spell. Where lush forests had once grown, only muddy fields full of jagged stumps now stood. The Wuffs and their foul allies were consuming everything within reach and transforming the area into a desolate waste. Things had been bad during their last trip to the Talon Range, but at witnessing the destruction on this occasion, Minx was staggered by its extent.

  That's what they want the whole world to look like, offered Mau, staring angrily at the world below. They're itching to find a way through the shield so that they can turn Pan into a barren desert.

  Would the dragons be pleased to see the entire world beyond their mountain transformed into... this? wondered Minx. They've refused to help us up to this point, but this horror will only spread once my people have fallen. I don't believe it—I don't believe that the dragons, stubborn though they are, would just sit and watch all of Aleio become a wasteland like this. Now... if only we can make them understand!

  Her attention was drawn to the shapes of the filthy tents below, their mud-daubed canvases and rough-hewn lumber frames springing up endlessly across the battered land like sores on a festering carcass. Each of them appeared to teem with life; Wuffs, Plurn and others filled out every encampment, the combined soot of their campfires serving to mar the daytime air. The haze of war hung thickly amongst them, and the sight of so many thriving enemy combatants turned her stomach. She had always known the odds to be long—had never considered their victory a given—but to see these gathered forces after all they'd already endured sunk her spirits. Torrent had a seemingly limitless supply of men.

  Kaleb noted the state of the enemy camps and said little, apparently as discouraged by the sight of them as she'd been. When finally they'd passed beyond the densest clusters of enemy warriors and encountered only staggered factions wandering through the wilds, he felt he'd gotten the lay of the land and focused all of his energy on flight. “Hold on,” he warned his two passengers, dipping slightly in the sky. He spread out his great wings, gathering up the tremendous winds, and then beat them with all he had, propelling them forward at yet higher speeds. Like a warship cutting rapidly through calm waters for the pounding of a thousand synchronized oars, Kaleb's maniac flight saw them barreling through the skies. His pace was so hurried that Minx and Mau both struggled to hold on; the Faelyr buried her claws in the grooves between Kaleb's glittering red scales to anchor herself, while Minx had to wrap her arms tightly around the dragon's serpentine neck.

  The flight to the Talon Range was a lengthy one, though by this time the three of them had become well-accustomed to the distance. What none of them could have anticipated was that their flight might be interrupted. Short of another dragon, there was no creature that could hope to challenge a Royal Dragon of the Pyra Clan so high in the sky. Of the many flying creatures known in Aleio, Kaleb easily ranked among the largest, and they had never before encountered trouble while soaring across the land. Whatever hostile forces they passed had no option but to watch helplessly from down below—and to be grateful that the fire dragon did not choose to shower them with blasts of hot magma. The trouble they faced on this long journey, however, did not come in the form of an adversary.

  They'd covered nearly half the distance when Kaleb suddenly slowed. He made an odd noise—groaned as if he'd been struck—and promptly lost altitude. Minx and Mau hung on for dear life as Kaleb began to unexpectedly descend. His wings fluttered chaotically and his yellow eyes were squeezed shut as if he'd been subjected to terrible pains.

  “What's wrong?” cried Minx, her stomach seizing as they fell from the sky.

  Kaleb struggled to right himself, to catch the wind. Listing to one side, he nearly rolled over. “Something's wrong...” he spat, still f
alling from the sky. “My shift... something's interfering with my ability to remain in this form...”

  The trio dropped from dizzying heights, plummeting so swiftly they would surely crash into the ground within seconds. Finally, outstretching his wings and managing to coast for a beat, he regained his composure and sailed straight for the nearest clearing. Kaleb landed roughly in a large, grassy field, his bulk still shuddering.

  “Are you all right?” asked Minx. She'd screamed without realizing it during their plummet, and her throat ached as she spoke. Mau, still clinging to Kaleb's back with her eyes squeezed shut, did not move or speak, merely panted.

  Kaleb took his time in responding. “I'm all right...” he finally replied. “While we were up there, I was having trouble maintaining this form. I felt like I had to shift back into a human—like something was forcing me to.”

  “What was it?” asked the Fae huntress, the color only now returning to her face. “Could it have been Torrent?” She looked about the field, searching for signs of the enemy. This stretch had been little touched by the hordes, and as best she could tell they were alone there. Previously, they had encountered warriors among Torrent's forces—spell-casters—whose chants and artifacts could interfere with Kaleb's powers.

  “Possibly,” he replied, “but I don't think he was behind it this time. I think... it may have been your old friend Winterlimb.”