* * *
It had been a long time.
But things hadn’t really changed at the farm.
The drive still wound in from the highway, and the house and barn were still hidden behind the trees. The sight of the house still took his breath away, though the barn looked in need of some repair. The yard was empty, of course, and when he turned off the bike, the familiar silence pressed against his ears. Troy could hear a distant car and then the wind.
Drakina lifted her helmet off and surveyed the farm with obvious approval. “Verran,” she whispered.
“Not any more. No one has farmed here for a decade.”
She gave him a knowing look. “Are you sure, Carrier?”
He paused on the way to the front door, considering her. Could there be any livestock that survived? If there was, it would be the boars. They were half-wild anyway. “Are you kidding me?”
“I smell them.” Her eyes narrowed and she inhaled again. She nodded.
“My dad had a sounder of boars.”
Drakina frowned in confusion.
“It’s what they call a small herd of boar,” Troy explained. “The sows stay together in a sounder and raise the young. The males are solitary.” He knew suddenly how he could explain the mating cycle to her. “It’s a matriarchal society. The males return to the sounder only to share their seed, though they compete against each other for that privilege.”
“So the strongest one sires the young.” Drakina nodded approval of that. “My cousins have done this with their mates. The selection of the mate is a popular sport on their planet.”
Those would be the cousins who ate their mates once the deed was done. Troy didn’t want to encourage any of those ideas.
Drakina stood with the hands on her hips, sniffing as if she sampled the wind. “I smell perhaps five sows together, several with young—” She looked at him, a question in her eyes.
“Squeakers,” he provided and she smiled.
“Do they squeak?”
“They do. They’re really cute, actually.”
Her smile was wistful. “I have never seen young verran. We always hunted in the season when the young had grown to size.”
“That’s responsible.”
She nodded. “A herd must be managed well to ensure that it thrives. My father had three gamekeepers monitor the verran. When there was no forage, he had it shipped to Sylvawyld. When the nut harvest was meager, he had more shipped there. They lived wild, but were protected and defended. And always there was an inventory before the hunt, and much consultation as to what the kill could be.” She smiled. “There were no accidents on my father’s hunts.”
It was exactly the way his dad had managed the boar population, and Troy felt an unexpected sense of understanding with her. “My dad let the sounder roam over a larger area than the farm, but they were fenced. Sometimes someone let a male loose or hunted without permission.” He frowned. “When I came back after my dad’s death, I didn’t see any boar. I assumed my dad had sold or killed the sounder, but maybe they were in the forest the whole time.” It was an intriguing thought, but he couldn’t hunt them. There wasn’t time.
Drakina shook her head and climbed the steps to the porch behind him. “They are wily, if they are like verran, and they are obstinate. Worthy adversaries for they are not readily killed.”
“No, they aren’t.”
“I would not be surprised if they survived wild.” She surveyed the house. “You grew up here?”
“I did.” The key was in the mailbox, just as it always had been. Troy had it in his hand before he realized that the boar offered the perfect opportunity to fulfill both their dreams. He turned to face Drakina. “Do you want to hunt?”
Her eyes lit with pleasure. “The verran?”
“Sure.” Troy couldn’t see why not and the prospect gave her obvious pleasure.
She exhaled, her eyes glittering. “I should love to hunt verran again!” Her eyes narrowed and she winced. “But other Terrans will see me. It would not be right to reveal myself in dragon form and disrupt the assumptions of your kind.”
“Princess! Remember who you’re talking to!”
Her lips parted and she breathed the word. “MindBender. Can you shield me from view?”
“I can convince them that they aren’t seeing what they think they are.”
“But how? I will fly too fast for you to follow, even on your Harley, and it might not be able to make a path through the forest.” She wrinkled her nose. “The sound will frighten them, as well, and reveal your presence.”
Troy’s heart was leaping at the obvious solution. “No, no Harley. Take me with you.”
She eyed him. “I must have my claws free to hunt. I cannot carry you.”
“But I can ride on your back.” Troy couldn’t believe he was being given this opportunity. “Come on, princess. Take me for a dragon ride.”
“And we shall hunt verran together!” she declared and flung herself into his arms. She flattened him against the wall and kissed him with such enthusiasm that Troy was torn between a hunt and a seduction.
Then Drakina leapt off the porch in her exuberance and shifted shape in a blinding halo of light. “Fetch a rope, Carrier! We ride to hunt!”
* * *
The Carrier brought her a gift beyond expectation.
Other cultures might dance when they courted a mate. Some shared meals with a prospective partner. But the dragons of Incendium had always weighed the valor of a mate and the suitability of a companion in his or her lust for the hunt.
Drakina was not going to be shown lacking.
She instructed Troy as to how to best fasten the rope about her dragon form, so that it would offer a secure grip for him but not restrain her. He still had to hang on and to hook his legs through the rope, but she liked the feel of him upon her shoulders. She felt that she carried a precious burden and knew she had to remember to safeguard him.
She was well aware of his awe and his pleasure.
When she took flight, she felt his quick intake of breath. Because it was new for him, the flight was new for her. She savored it as she seldom did, noting how wondrous it felt when often she took her powers for granted.
“First, an inventory,” she said, then followed the scent of a solitary male. It didn’t take long to find him, for he was close, and she flew low so that Troy could see him closely.
“He’s an old boy, maybe nine or ten years,” he said. “Look at those tusks.”
The verran cast a baleful eye at Drakina, but she ascended, seeking the others before the choice was made. She found five more solitary male boars, spread over a large range. Troy told her that his family’s lands were adjacent to a park, and two of the boar had escaped into that area. They all appeared to be eating well.
She then sought the sounder of females. There were six of them, with a cluster of young being protected by the mothers. There seemed to be two groups of young ones, one group much bigger than the others. The small ones were striped and not very big at all.
They were adorable.
“A late litter,” Troy said. “Still nursing.”
“Oh! They are so small!” Drakina turned a circuit high in the air, yearning. “Are they soft?” she asked quietly.
“Do you want to find out?”
Drakina felt her pulse quicken. “Can you MindBend such creatures?” Truly her mate offered bountiful gifts!
“Sure. It’s how we used to corral them, although no one knew how it worked but me. My dad just thought I had a gift.”
Drakina supposed that MindBending might be a gift, not a liability. The Carrier certainly had explored its advantages.
“I would like that very much,” she confessed.
“Then let’s do it. Leave me in a tree, just in case the MindBend slips.” Drakina heard him chuckle. “I know I can’t outrun an angry boar.”
He might be trying to charm her. Drakina didn’t care. She chose a tall and strong tree and left him high in it
s boughs. Then she shifted shape, clinging to the branches at his side. She listened as he explained their annual cycle. By this point in the Terran year, the young should all have been weaned.
The sows were aware of them, for more than one glanced upward, but they were remarkably untroubled. Drakina guessed that each of them weighed twice or even three times as much as she, and they would be formidable opponents. They would be at their most powerful if they believed their young to be threatened.
She waited until Troy cast her a smile. “We’re good,” he murmured. “Go.”
Drakina descended the tree slowly and steadily, ensuring that she made as little noise as possible. The sounder did not move away, but continued to forage nearby. She smiled when she heard the little ones squeak when they believed they were too far from their mothers. She watched as two latched on to nurse and her heart swelled.
What fine small creatures they were.
What fierce adults they would be.
Her feet were on the ground before she doubted the Carrier’s words in the least. The largest sow lifted her head and surveyed Drakina, her dark eyes small and her gaze intent. She would be the matriarch of the sounder. Drakina’s heart stopped and she hoped the Carrier was right about his skills. Then the sow returned to her foraging. She dug in the ground with her snout and loosed a root, chewing on it noisily as she moved slowly onward. Three squeakers followed her, one latched on to a nipple even as she strolled and two hovering in her considerable shadow.
They were the smaller ones. Drakina counted the squeakers and wished to ask Troy whether they were usually more fertile than this. They might not be faring as well in the wild as could be hoped.
She could have turned back, but Drakina wanted to touch one. It might be the only chance she ever had to touch a young boar, the closest creature to a verran. She flicked a glance at Troy, still perched in the tree. He gave her a hand signal, his thumb pointed upward, which she didn’t understand, but his confident smile told her all she needed to know.
She moved forward stealthily, her heart in her throat.
* * *
It would be so easy.
Even as he exuded calm thoughts toward the boars, Troy knew he could stop his MindBend. He could let the sows realize the danger posed by a woman approaching them and let them complete his assignment for him. Even if Drakina could shift shape fast enough to defend herself, he didn’t imagine she could fend off six furious boars at once.
They were fierce and fast. They could do his dirty work. He certainly wouldn’t have been able to stop them once they attacked.
But there was no question of him betraying his dragon princess. Drakina was so enchanted with the young boar, and he liked the way that delight lit her expression. Plus she had given him a dragon ride, making one of his oldest dreams come true. It would just be wrong to put her in danger.
It was right to give her something in return.
She reached the sounder and the largest of the sows grunted as it glared at her. He couldn’t MindBend them into complete oblivion but they were calm. Drakina moved slowly and carefully, which helped a lot. Troy saw that she had gathered some berries while she moved closer and she let them fall on the ground ahead of her.
One of the smaller squeakers peeked out from beneath its mother with curiosity. It was striped and furry, about the size of a basketball and nearly as round. It peered at Drakina, then at the berries, and sniffed, cautious but interested.
She waited, more still than he could have believed possible.
He kept his MindBend locked on the sows, particularly the biggest one. She was not only matriarch but the mother of the curious squeaker.
The mother took another step away from Drakina, ambling toward the denser scrub around the perimeter of the clearing. The little one looked between its mother and Drakina, then made a dash for the berries. It devoured one, hesitated, then sought the others. Troy guessed that they were gone when the squeaker considered Drakina.
She slowly stretched out her hand. Even at this height, he could see that there were more berries in it.
The squeaker’s nose twitched.
Troy waited, rather than giving it a nudge.
He smiled when it surrendered to temptation and went to Drakina. As it ate, she cautiously stretched out her other hand and stroked its back. The mother made a grunt that was a summons, the little one finished the berries, then bolted after the big sow. The sounder moved into the denser undergrowth, unhurried but charting a course away from Drakina.
She stood and pivoted, her triumphant smile almost blinding Troy in it brightness. He found himself grinning in return, then she leapt into the air and shifted shape. She snatched him from the tree and soared high in the sky. Her excitement was contagious and he found himself laughing as she raced through the air, turned a somersault, soared toward the sun, then dove to fly low over the forest again. She spiraled down to a rocky outcropping, shifted shape just before her feet touched the ground and backed him against a tree. Her eyes were sparkling.
“Troy!” she exclaimed. “Thank you!” And she kissed him with such enthusiasm that he had no chance to say anything for a long time.
* * *
Drakina might have celebrated on that rock, in the open air, but Troy caught her shoulders in his hands and broke their kiss. He wasn’t unaffected, but perhaps he was shy. “I thought you wanted to hunt,” he said, with a gleam in his eye. “First things, first, princess.”
“I will say that your slow and thorough scheme has its advantages,” she said, unable to be vexed with him at all.
“The longer the burn, the hotter the flames,” he said.
She arched a brow. “We shall see.”
“We will.” He was cocky again and she couldn’t help smiling at his attitude. “So, what about those boar?”
“They are wonderful. Healthy animals and much like verran. I think they may not have sufficient feed on their own, though.”
“The litters are small,” he agreed. “I remember them having eight or even ten squeakers in a litter.”
“Did you smell it?” she asked, guessing the answer as soon as she uttered the words. “The litters were all sired by the oldest boar. His scent is strong in their blood.”
“You can smell that?”
“My kind have a refined sense of smell, Carrier.” Drakina considered the forest spread before them and couldn’t help being reminded of Sylvawyld and its joys. “This is a fine place. You are fortunate to have had such a home.”
He nodded, following her gaze. “I couldn’t wait to get away, but it’s good to come back.”
She smiled, glad he had shared his homecoming with her. “What is your thinking about this population?”
“I have ideas. Let’s see if we think the same way. Tell me what your father would do,” he invited.
Drakina didn’t hesitate. “My father would hunt the oldest male on this day, to encourage diversity in the lineage of the sounder.”
“That would be my choice, too.”
“Beyond that, the sows and young must be protected so that the herd can grow. And the other males must be encouraged to return to your family’s fenced lands, for their protection and that of other Terrans.” She pursed her lips. “There may be a late litter for the same reason that the litters are small, because the sounder has nutritional needs that are unsatisfied. Once they are back on your family lands, I would supplement their diet.” She looked at Troy. “And you?”
He smiled. “I would do exactly the same thing, princess. Are you up for hunting that old boar?”
Drakina smiled. “His pelt is as good as mine.”
* * *
Although he had always wanted to ride a dragon, and although he had often imagined what it would be like, the reality was far beyond his dreams. The second time that Drakina carried him aloft, Troy was less overwhelmed and could compare dream and reality better.
A dragon ride was simply magical.
Drakina was all muscle. She made f
lying look effortless but Troy could feel the power of her body beneath him. Her dragon scales seemed to be black, but when touched by sun, he could see that they glimmered in a hundred shades of metallic green. Her wings were like black leather, and they stretched wide, sending a current of wind at him when she flapped them hard. Her eyes were a glittering jade. Her talons were gold, as well as long and sharp. With the wind in his hair and Drakina warm beneath him, Troy felt like the king of the world.
And that had been his impression before she touched the squeaker.
Before he’d seen the compassion that mingled with her ferocity.
Before he saw the woman in the dragon.
When she snatched him up and soared through the sky, triumphant, Troy felt alive as he never had before. It had taken everything in him to break their kiss, then the hunt had been a challenge and a thrill. The old boar had been as cunning and fierce as Drakina had predicted.
But she had won.
And Troy had had a front row seat.
It was dusk when they returned to the house. Troy led Drakina to the bunker where his father had always cleaned his kill. It was a lot easier to deal with the boar’s weight with Drakina helping in her dragon form. He cleaned the carcass as she watched and hung it to cure in the cool dark space, only realizing once he was done that there might not ever be anyone to eat it.
The wager demanded that he kill Drakina to survive. If Troy succeeded in that, he’d have no taste for the boar, much less the memories it would conjure of this hunt.
If he didn’t kill Drakina, he would be executed himself.
Troy felt trapped. Were they only destined to have this short time together? What about her astrologer’s prediction of their shared destiny? What about the son who was supposed to be conceived?
Maybe the astrologers had seen that Troy might let Drakina survive, regardless of the price to himself. It was the noble thing to do, but he wanted more.
He wanted more time with his dragon princess.
A bleak sense of despair filled his heart, but Drakina’s hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to find her smiling at him. “It is the way of life,” she said gently, and he realized she’d mistaken the reason for his reaction. “We all must die in our time, and it is the responsibility of the gamekeeper to manage the herd for their own health and welfare.” She surveyed the boar. “He was majestic. He was robust and virile. He sired many, and his days of life were both numerous and good. He was a champion to the end. We must celebrate him and his life.”