Flight of the Phoenix Read online

  Inside his head, a deep voice bellowed. “Open your mouth.”

  Afraid to disobey, Quinn did as he was ordered. Even this tiny movement cause him more agony and he shrieked. The dragon reached the tip of its claw into his mouth. It pulled a fat white grub out of his throat, popped it into its mouth and chewed with great satisfaction. “Loa loa,” he heard echoing through his brain. “So rare, so tasty and delicious.”

  With the pain gone, shock and fear filled Quinn and he passed out.

  * * * *

  “Did you hear that?” Bryn gasped.

  “Sounded like Quinn,” Fenix said. She was wet and cold and so tired of this quest. Why had Lazarus demanded she follow Bryn on this endless journey?

  Bryn turned in a circle. “I think it came from over there.”

  “By all means, let us follow the sound.”

  Priest had his head tilted. “Did either of you hear anything else?”

  “No, Draak, we didn’t. Why don’t you be quiet?”

  “The voice might have been in my head. I think it said open your mouth.”

  Bryn didn’t have time for Priest’s imaginings. “You’re clearly going insane. Malenfant’s habitation of your brain has destroyed what little grasp on reality you ever had.”

  She grabbed Fenix’s hand. “Let’s follow the sound.”

  Fenix stumbled along behind Bryn as they skirted the pool and headed deeper into the cavern. The stench grew stronger. Then they heard a horrible roar and more screaming.

  “Quinn is in trouble!” Bryn dropped Fenix’s hand and started running.

  “That’s a dragon,” Priest said and Fenix stopped dead in her tracks.

  “Bryn! Priest says there’s a dragon. Stop.”

  But Bryn ignored her and ran on, quickly disappearing into the darkness. “Come on.” Fenix grabbed the sleeve of Priest’s cassock. Touching his skin was simply out of the question.

  “The torch is dead and I can’t see as well as you. Slow down.”

  Fenix growled. “Keep up or I’ll throw you in the water and hold you down.”

  “I’m not completely without power,” he grumbled and suddenly a ball of fire bounced along in front of them lighting their way. Fenix grinned. “I can do better.” She tossed several fire balls into the air and suddenly they saw the chamber lit up like daytime.

  “Oh God, we’re going to die,” Priest moaned.

  The surface of the water shimmered blood red while bones littered every shelf and crevasse of the huge chamber. “Something’s lived here a long time and killed a lot of animals. Something really big. Take heart, Priest, they’re all animal bones.”

  “I wish I could change into my dragon form. I’d fly out of here so fast.” He moaned. “Malenfant ruined my life. He destroyed everything.”

  Fenix ran lightly along a rocky ledge that traced the pool of bloody water. “I’m sad for you, truly. Maybe it’ll come back. Keep trying.”

  The balls of fire Fenix kept throwing illuminated Bryn. She stood at the entrance to another chamber of this underground maze, staring at something with her hand over her mouth. When they caught up to her, Fenix saw why she was transfixed. A huge golden dragon sat on top of a pile of treasure; coins, chests of jewels, old books, and antique furnishings. Scrolls, statues and ancient carvings vied for space with bolts of cloth and ancient weapons. Between the dragon’s huge forearms, Quinn slumped unconscious. When the dragon saw them, she opened her mouth and roared.

  “She just said, ’He’s mine.’” Priest moaned. “I can hear her in my head, just like Malenfant.”

  “Tell him we need him back.”

  “It’s not a him. It’s a her.”

  Bryn snarled. “Then tell her.”

  “Why me?” Priest moaned. “Why do I have to be the one to talk to her?”

  Bryn grabbed the front of his cassock and pulled his face to within inches of hers. “Because you can talk to her, idiot. And, you’re a dragon yourself.”

  “But I seem to have lost the ability to become one,” he hissed, and then froze. “Oh no, she heard you.”

  Bryn spotted Quinn sitting atop a pile of gold coins between the dragon’s forelegs. She was probably saving him for a snack. He looked dazed and exhausted. She shoved Draak Priest toward the dragon. “Distract her.”

  He stumbled forward, cast one frightened look back at her and approached the monstrous golden creature. Her scales glistened in flickering light emitted from their one remaining torch. She seemed larger than the dragon Priest morphed into but it could be an illusion created by the small space which she filled. A dragon-sized tunnel on the far side of the enormous chamber looked like it must be her exit from the underground. Light glowed dimly from the tunnel. It might lead outside providing them with a way out of this strange world.

  Bryn grabbed Fenix’s hand and dragged her away from Priest. “Let’s snatch Quinn and get out of here.”

  Her sister seemed dazed. “No, Lazarus says there is some artifact in the dragon’s keeping we must have to end our curse.”

  Bryn stopped and growled at her sister. “Lazarus speaks to you?”

  Her sister’s fair complexion reddened with acute embarrassment. “Once in a while,” she mumbled.

  “And this artifact is what?”

  “He didn’t say. He just told me it would be here in the mountain guarded by the dragon.”

  Bryn pulled Fenix around the edge of the chamber. She hugged the rough stones of the wall as she inched her way toward Quinn. “You can stay and look for your artifact. I’m getting Quinn and running.”

  Tears flowed down Fenix’s face. “I have to look for it. Lazarus told me it’s the only reason he allowed me to come on this expedition. He swears this artifact will end our curse.”

  Bryn heard a moan from Priest and stopped. “Oh my God,” she gasped.

  The dragon had surged to her feet and hooked Priest in her claws. It looked as though she was about to devour him. Fenix tore out of Bryn’s grasp and climbed the closest mountain of dragon loot. “Don’t eat him!” She screamed.

  The dragon looked up and roared.

  Fenix waved. “He can change into a dragon. You’ll be eating your own kind.”

  Bryn thought the dragon looked shocked, if dragons could do that. The beast poked Priest in the head with the tip of one claw and fire shot into Priest. He immediately began changing into the huge black dragon Bryn and Fenix knew so well. When his transformation was complete, Priest opened his maw and roared. Bryn detected a note of joy in the sound.

  The two dragons, one black and one shimmering gold, began circling each other. “Let’s run now while her attention is absorbed by her new friend,” Bryn hissed.

  “You go. I have to search for the artifact.”

  Bryn waved her hand to indicate the piles of accumulated treasure. “How are you going to find anything in here? You don’t even know what to look for.”

  “Just go. When I find what I’m looking for, I’ll join you. I can fly, too, as you well know, so do not be worrying about me.”

  Quinn suddenly leaped to his feet and stared at her across the vast floor of the chamber. She started running toward him. His eyes flew open when he recognized her and he slid off his pile of coins to run toward her. They met and she threw herself into his arms. “Quinn, Quinn, I thought I’d lost you forever.”

  He stroked her hair as he held her close. “Where, in all that’s holy, are we?”

  “In a cave system under the Mountains of the Moon. Come on. I think that tunnel is the way out.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the huge tunnel.

  He hung back. “You can’t leave your sister. I may have been jealous of your relationship with her at one time, and I may be guilty of thinking she was a spoiled brat, but I would never allow you to do anything you would regret later. Leaving Fenix in this cave would be a terrible mistake.”

  Bryn groaned. “She’s hunting for something in this vast pile of crap and she doesn’t even know what it is.”
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br />   “Then you should help her. Bryn, you’ve been caring for her for centuries, you can’t abandon her here. You’d never forgive yourself.” He lifted her chin with one finger and gently kissed her. “Let’s help her, my darling.”

  A weird ululating cry echoed through the cavern. “Run and hide!” Quinn yelled. He grabbed Bryn’s hand and dived between two heaps of treasure just as the golden dragon shot into the exit tunnel closely followed by Draak Priest in his dragon form.

  Bryn grabbed her head as the strange cry rang inside of it and far across the chamber Fenix screamed. A wave of lust hit Bryn so hard she fell to her knees. Her loins burned as though on fire. She blindly reached for Quinn as she tore off her breeches. “I must have you inside me right now.”

  She didn’t have to wait. Quinn was hard and ready. He fell on her, stabbed his cock into her sex as he threw her onto her back. Bryn’s mind went completely blank for several seconds as Quinn pounded into her. She shuddered with an incredible orgasm which cleared her head enough for her to realize Priest and the dragon were mating above them. Their mating was so intense they were transmitting it to all living creatures within broadcast range.

  Quinn, who had never been receptive before, was so captivated by the transmissions he had no other thought than fucking. He paused for one second and Bryn received the same message. Priest was covering the female dragon whose name was Moregon. When she closed her eyes, she clearly saw the treetops racing by below, mountains, the valley where Kivunjo’s village lay and the lake. When Priest stabbed his huge dragon cock into Moregon, Bryn melted into another powerful spasm.

  Grunting with passion, Quinn flipped her over and stabbed into her again, this time from behind. Bryn’s sex was swollen, her heart racing and her entire body on fire. She lifted her ass to meet his every thrust. Above them, the dragons flew together joined. The larger female supported Priest’s weight as they soared high in the sky. Bryn was completely absorbed in their arousal, barely aware of her surroundings.

  When Quinn’s organ began swelling to previously unheard of proportions, Bryn moaned and shuddered with another orgasm. Quinn roared in her ear, bit her neck and exploded inside of her. Above them, the two dragons separated. They flew together for several moments and then Moregon turned and soared on the wind currents toward the mountain containing her lair.

  Quinn fell away, panting. He lay on his back completely spent. Bryn rolled over and lay beside him gasping for air. “What the deuce just happened?” he demanded.

  Bryn stifled a giggle. “Don’t you know?”

  He reached for his breeches and pulled the small black velvet bag out of his pocket. Purple smoke issued from the open top. “I’d rather hoped for something a little more romantic.”

  Bryn raised herself on one elbow to stare at the charm Katherine had given her in Paris. She sighed. “Just be glad the bag is smoking and not you.”

  Chapter 17

  On the other side of the cavern, Fenix was on her back with Lazarus on top of her. She too had been carried away by the rabid mating going on in the skies above the jungle. Lazarus had felt her arousal and appeared in the flesh to satisfy it. As they lay entwined in a beautiful afterglow, she thought to ask him what she was looking for.

  He pulled her against his chest. “We lie atop it right now.”

  She struggled to sit and he held her tightly. “I would hold you a little longer.”

  She laughed. “But I want to see what it is.”

  He stroked her white thighs and kissed her neck. “As you wish, my love.”

  He helped her arrange her blouse, pull up her breeches and smooth her wild hair. “Bryn can’t see you like this. She’ll know.”

  “Bryn! Oh my, did she and Quinn . . .?”

  He pulled her to her feet. “Dragon sex is a very powerful aphrodisiac.”

  Gold coins, statues and other artifacts lay beneath their feet. Lazarus dug around in the pile and pulled a small pointed stone out from under the bust of a Caesar. He held it out to Fenix. She took it from him and turned it over in her hand. “What is it?”

  “Examine it carefully and you will understand.”

  Fenix rolled the stone around in her fingers. It was gold, shaped like a pyramid and the eye of Horus was etched into each of its four sides. “This has to be a capstone.”

  He kissed her. “Not just a capstone. It’s the capstone.”

  “For the Great Pyramid of Cheops?”

  “Yes, my darling, and now I must go.”

  “Oh don’t, please stay with me.”

  He held her close and stroked her hair. “One day we will be together.”

  And then he was gone. Fenix felt like she’d been abandoned. To one moment be held close to a living beating heart and then to suddenly be all alone was a terrible feeling. She longed to be with Lazarus no matter what that meant. She stroked the capstone absently as she relived each moment of their brief interlude. What would it be like to remain by his side forever?

  “What’s that?” Bryn demanded, shocking her out of her lethargy.

  “It’s what we came here to find.”

  Bryn took it and Quinn hovered over her shoulder to examine it with her. “Is this what I think it is?”

  Fenix nodded. “It’s the capstone for the Great Pyramid. I guess we need to place it to end our curse forever.”

  “We still need that dagger,” Bryn said.

  “But how do we find Cardinal Malenfant? He has it.”

  “We ask the man who knows him best.”

  “Where is he?” Fenix’s face flushed. Priest had just had sex in a highly visible way with a dragon and apparently, they’d all participated. A huge roar and a rush of air announced the return of at least one of the dragons. Quinn grabbed both of their hands and dragged them out of the path of the gigantic golden dragon. She flew into the cavern, hovered briefly, settled on top of the highest pile and began preening her bright scales. Moments later, a roar was heard and the black dragon sailed into the cavern through the tunnel.

  “I believe that’s him,” Bryn said.

  Priest landed close to the golden female and began licking her face with his enormous pink tongue. “That’s just so weird,” Fenix said.

  “Yes, it is strange indeed, even for Priest, but we need him to get the dagger.” Bryn handed the capstone to Fenix. “Hide this. I’m going to talk to him.”

  Fenix shoved the capstone into her pocket. It caused a bulge in her pants which she hid by pulling her blouse over it. Quinn put his hand on her elbow and urged her toward the exit tunnel. “I know Bryn thinks we must have the Lazarus dagger, but I think we need to exit this place immediately. Mating makes most female animals very hungry.”

  “Great.” She allowed him to push her toward the tunnel where moments earlier both dragons had appeared. “I hope we don’t have to be able to fly to get out of here.”

  Bryn climbed over three piles of dragon loot to get to Priest. “Priest!” She reached a high point where he could easily see her and called to him.

  The black dragon looked up from his work cleaning the golden dragon and roared. Bryn prepared to run. “Priest, where is Malenfant? Don’t you want the dagger back?”

  The black dragon’s eyes were green. They spun in hypnotizing circles and Bryn was forced to look away or be captured by their spell. Priest blinked and morphed back into his human form. His walk, as he came down the side of the pile, was more of a strut. He was filled to the bursting point with his recent romantic success. “I do want the dagger. You know I do.”

  Bryn examined Priest. His flight with Moregon hadn’t given him back all of his youth, but he now looked like a man in his fifties instead of a man in his seventies. He had more hair, fewer wrinkles and that bounce in his step. “Where do we find Malenfant?”

  An expression of extreme distaste crossed Priest’s face. “Him! If I never see him again it will be too soon.”

  “He has the dagger. Do you know where he went?”

  Priest closed his eyes an
d shuddered. “He’s never far from me. We are connected in a perverted way I cannot sever. I gave him life and he continues to draw energy and sustenance from my body.”

  “I don’t understand. If he’s close by, where is he?”

  Priest turned in a slow circle finally pointing up at one of the rocky outcroppings in the roof of the cavern. “There!”

  Bryn searched and spotted the wizened troll sitting in an arched opening high above. He’d clothed himself in a robe of red silk he had no doubt discovered in the treasure piles. “You can fly,” she said. “Go get him.”

  Priest shook his head. “I wish it were that easy. The minute I try to grab him, he disappears.”

  “Where does he go?”

  “I’m not sure, but Moregon says it’s to some other dimension.”

  “Well, go after him.”

  “I can’t. He can go because he’s technically dead while we are very much alive. The place he goes is populated by the souls of evil beings awaiting judgment. Moregon says it’s an awful place and that’s why he doesn’t stay long.”

  “Then send him there and wait for him to come back.”

  “You think I haven’t thought of that? He uses many doorways so you never know where he will reappear.”

  Bryn rolled her eyes. “Everything is always impossible with you, yet still you live and prosper. Ask your dragon queen. Maybe she has an idea about how to trap him. We need that dagger.”

  Priest smiled as he gazed at Moregon. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  Bryn groaned. “Keep your mind on the problem at hand.”

  Priest thrust out his chest. “She says I’m going to be a father.”

  Bryn stifled a second groan, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “That’s wonderful. Can you ask her?”

  He nodded. “You’re right, she’s smart as well as beautiful. She’ll know how to catch him and kill him.” Priest’s eyes narrowed. “Though death would be too great a gift. I want to torture him as he tortured me. I want him to suffer for centuries.”