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And chapter 8. I hope you will enjoy it. Only one more to go.

As always, comments are appreciated and requested.

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Continued from 'The Gathering Storm'...

I had been taking a final exam in US history when I had suddenly felt as though I had been stabbed, the mental cry of my mate rending apart every rational part of my mind in an instant. I hadn't even bothered to tell the teacher where I was going, I had just gone, racing out of the school and flying away as fast as I could. As I flew over the city, I wondered why Skye, who had been on guard today, hadn't given me a similar warning, but whatever the reason, something had to have gone terribly wrong. The acrid scent of spent gunpowder hanging like a cloud over the mountain confirmed that feeling and I circled slowly, casting around with my magic for intruders. I didn't feel anyone who wasn't supposed to be there, but what I did feel made my heart leap into my throat. Ducking out from the cloud I had been flying around in, I burst into the air above the meadow, looking down. It took me no more than a few seconds to spy the bright blue mound in the meadow grass, like a shard of the sky above me had been torn from where it rested and cast to the earth. Diving faster than I ever had before, I landed hard on the ground, my muscles absorbing the impact that left craters in the earth. Paying no heed to the frightened shrieks coming from the birds and other mountain dwelling beasts, I raced to my friend's side, horrified at what I saw.

"Skye!!" I cried when I neared him and his head moved weakly in response in the dirt. I could see now that something had carved a pair of deep gashes in his side and hundreds of small scuffs marked his scales. Pressing a large paw to the gashes, I allowed magic to surge through my limbs, resealing the flesh, healing his wounds in moments. However, nothing except time could easily replace the blood he had lost. He would be weak for a long time yet. "What happened?"

"I...I'm sorry Argil. I failed." Skye stated, his voice trembling with weakness and pain. "Soldiers came and I tried to fight them, but some had magic and I was overcome. I should have expected them to bring a magic user."

"No, old friend, you have not failed me. You could not have known." I stated and my friend's eyes closed in exhaustion. His chest still rose and fell but he was not moving otherwise. I knew the effort that it must have taken to remain awake this long, fighting the darkness that now consumed him in the hope that he would be able to tell me what had transpired. Leaving my friend to rest, I raced up to the uncovered cave and down to the nest as fast I could, churning up the dirt and stones with my claws as I went, disturbing the thousands of spent shell casings that glittered in the dirt. Down in the cavern, I found my mate lying in a very awkward position, magic foreign to me sheathing her body as she lay, great draconian tears falling from her eyes into a growing puddle on the stones. "Pyre?!"

"Gone!! Gone." She managed between sobs and I snarled, ripping the magic that had paralyzed her off of her body with a mighty heave of my mind. "They took the eggs. They are all gone!" At her pronouncement, grief welled up in my heart and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her body to mine. I hadn't even had a chance to see my children before they had been stolen from me, a travesty that I was only barely beginning to grasp. A cry of utmost sorrow built swiftly in my throat as the pain and sadness got worse and worse. Finally, I roared, a roar of terrible sorrow and grief, tears falling from my eyes to join those of my mate.

"Who did this?" I finally managed, the echoes of my cry fading slowly away and my mate answered me, her voice quiet.

"Juno. He and another stole our eggs. They bore the mark of the dragon hunters." She sobbed and something white hot thrust aside my grief, boiling the sorrow into nothingness as it burned its way into prominence in my mind.

When I was younger, I had always had a bad temper, so bad that I had been ready to snap at the slightest provocation most of the time. My father had always joked that it was the Irish blood in our ancestry coming out, but through years of dedicated mental training and discipline, I had learned to control it until it no longer threatened to break loose at even great insults. But this...this was beyond anger. It was an ancient rage, fueled by more than my master's betrayal. It was an undying fire that had smoldered in the blood of every dragon and every one of their descendants for many millennia, stretching farther back than human history recorded. It had been kindled all those centuries ago, in the moment of the great betrayal that had started the ancient war between humans and dragons. At once, my dark grief and sadness became instead thoughts all of fire and death, a terrible desire to rend and kill overcoming me. It was a bloodlust I had never imagined had existed within me, a frightening instinct that made me feel monstrous as well as powerful

Ever since I had become a dragon, that side of myself, that ancient side that had risen to almost entirely eclipse my human side, had always seemed sort of docile, calm, controlled, as if nothing could get under its skin. It had always seemed that dragons were above such things as anger and hatred, above insult, almost aloof. But in those moments, when the heat of the anger was first upon me, I truly understood my people, understood a simple fact. Dragons were not so much above such emotion, but rather far more skilled at controlling them. It took quite a lot to rile a dragon to anger, to turn a beneficent creature to the madness of rage. But once we were angry, once we felt those emotions, they ran deeper and far stronger than a human's. Though I was still fully in control of my actions, even now, when I was so angry that curls of smoke were trialing from my mouth with every breath, I desired nothing more than battle and blood. I wasn't sure exactly what I was about to do, but one thought had overwhelmed everything else, a simple truth, a fact really. Whoever was responsible for this outrage would pay with their life, as would anyone who tried to stop me. The hunters would die today, no matter what it cost me. I was so angry that I was visibly shaking with wroth, and I pushed myself up to my feet, stepping away from my mate for a moment.

Magic surged into my body at my unconscious summons and I stretched out my mind once more, as I had done weeks ago when trying to find the dragon-touched. Now, I could sense every one of the awakened dragons, as well as those I hadn't gotten to just yet. But I pushed all of them aside, eschewing the contact, searching for something else, something far more subtle. And there, in a place a few hours flight away from where I was standing, were eight tiny presences, eight small beings that felt so familiar, so special to me. Reaching out, I touched them, caressing them with my mind. Their thoughts while in the dreamless sleep of their eggs were ancient and slow, but still they thought, though perhaps not in the way that we would understand. Images and ancient memories, passed down through the blood of our people, but not awareness, not yet. They were not aware of the lives they had yet to lead, the lives that were now imperiled by our most dangerous enemy, rising like revenants from the depths of history to threaten my young. A smile made my lip curl and I nodded to myself, beginning to walk out of the cave, a vague plan already forming in my mind. But as I walked, my mate's voice called to me, her words registering in my mind where no others would. Only she who owned my heart could have stopped me now.

"There is something else," she said, her tears beginning to dry up as she saw my anger and determination. "I don't know whether we can believe him or not, but before he left, Juno promised me that he would help us, however he could."

Nodding slowly in thought, I continued out of the cave, wondering about the master. True, he had lied about his very existence, concealed the fact that he was a member of those families who had very nearly hunted us to extinction. But unless he was a consummate liar, I knew his true character. He would not have made such a promise lightly, would not go against it if he could help it. Nodding once again, I reached out towards those who knew me best, who shared my blood, summoning my family to this place as fast as they could come. Details of my plan were beginning to fall into place, a plan that now had a chance of working. Feeling for Skye with my mind, I found that he was still breathing, his body slowly recovering its strength from the wound that had almost killed him. He was out of danger for the moment, a spark of relief adding energy to the inferno that raged in my heart. I spent a few minutes pacing back and forth, settling the fragments of the plan into place and then I finally grinned, the smile holding no warmth. It could work.

Heading back inside the nest, I lay with my mate, gently rocking her in my arms until, exhausted in her grief, she fell asleep. I smiled at her sleeping form and then looked up as heavy footsteps fell on the stone of the cave. Three dragons were entering the cave, one silver, another white and the third a combination of the first two. When they got closer, my brother spoke, his eyes full of concern.

"What is it Argil? What is wrong with Scarlon and Skye?" He asked and I answered him.

"Soldiers came, led by two dragon hunters" At that pronouncement, I felt the same ancient anger kindle in my close kin that had ignited my soul, though perhaps not burning quite so hot. "They stole my children, and wounded my mate and my best friend. I'm going after them."

"What do you need from us?" My brother asked and I looked at my love once more.

"I need you to tend my mate and Skye." I said and he nodded. "I also need all the awakened dragons to be ready when I call. Send word to Eodred and Koyia, we will need them as well."

"Don't worry, I will take care of Scarlon." My mother said, walking over to stand next to my mate. "Go after your kids."

My brother and father went out into the meadow and carried Skye back into the mountain cave with their magic, careful not to cause him any more discomfort. Once I saw that this was being done, I left the cave, and took to the sky once more, not bothering with a shell of invisibility. The ancient anger made it so clear to me that my kind had hidden quite long enough. It was time the world of man knew just what they had rekindled. Thousands of years of terrible, festering anger filled my body to overflowing, bringing with it more magic than I had ever used before, so much that my body was seething with its strength. Down below me on the road, the presence of an angry Dragon Lord in the sky caused a number of fender benders on the roads as people stared at me. If the situation hadn't been so dire, I might have enjoyed the shock that would be spreading throughout the world by this evening, but the perverse joy was shunted aside in my heart, left by the wayside on my flight to battle.

I flew on and on at great speed, guided by my magic to the place where my children had been taken. When I got near enough to spy it out, I found that it was actually quite small, not what I expected from what I had sensed. A single, three story building in the middle of the foothills, surrounded by a chain link fence with razor wire on top and patrolled by soldiers in Marine battle garb. Most of what I had felt, it seemed, was underground. Several insect like attack helicopters also hovered around above the facility and I could see even from this great distance that they carried explosive missiles designed to take out tanks. While it was likely that those explosives, as powerful as they were, wouldn't kill me, they would certainly injure me. I had no wish to test the strength of my scaly hide against them, not now when there were more important things to worry about. Floating on a thermal high over the facility, I puzzled over how best to sneak into it for a few moments, and then it came to me. It would be so simple. Grinning, I tapped into my magic once again and vanished inside my invisibility, banking over in a dive towards the earth...

***

"Excuse me, Sir, but the security feed you requested is ready." The young Marine runner said and Jason looked up from the egg he had been examining.

"Let me see it then." Jason asked and the marine handed him an Ipad with a live security feed on it. While Jason looked at the screen, Juno saw the young runner staring at the nearest egg with a keen interest, a strange look on his face. The hunter wondered at once what the soldier was thinking. Jason, however, was oblivious, staring at the video screen intently, his gaze narrowing. His attention was drawn at once to a young man in marine fatigues walking through the corridors with purpose in his eyes. At first, he could see nothing wrong with him, nothing to indicate he was any different from the other Marines wandering around, then the man looked up slightly at one of the cameras and Jason cocked his head at the side, commanding the feed to bring up a still shot of his face. There was something about it that didn't fit, a quality around the eyes. They held too much power behind them, far too much for a human. Calling to his brother, he showed him the feed, angling it so he could see. "It seems that we have company."

"Hmmm, I've never seen him before in my life." Juno said, the lie easy to conceal, and though his brother watched him for any reaction, Juno kept his features under tight reign.

"Well, lets give him a proper reception then." Jason said, looking over at the Marine runner. "Tell the guards to be on alert."

***

I had just begun looking for a way down into the underground parts of the facility when an alert klaxon sounded. It had been actually been easier than I thought to sneak into the facility. I had landed just inside the wire, reverting to my human form while still invisible. Then I had found a place where one of the patrolling sentries went out of sight of everything else. After knocking the guard senseless, I had swiped his equipment, using magic to alter it until it fit my body. Thus disguised, I had slipped into the facility during a shift change, and as long as I kept my gate slow and measured, I didn't draw any more attention than any of the other soldiers wandering around. Though I couldn't be sure of what the alarm portended, I decided that I couldn't waste any more time. Picking up my pace, I tried to look like I knew where I was going, running down the hall at top speed.

Just short of a corridor junction, I skidded to a stop, my instincts sending a warning shooting through my mind. Closing my eyes, I trained my hearing, carefully blocking out the alarm and the chatter of voices coming from all directions. Grinning to myself, I realized exactly why I had been stopped, a series of soft clicks reaching my ears as safeties on weapons clicked off. Getting a sudden idea, I reached up and made a couple of long tears in the uniform I was wearing, altering the fabric with my magic until it looked as though blood was dripping from the 'wounds'. Then, quickening my breathing to imitate pain, I dashed around the corner, staggering as I rounded the wall, looking all the world like a wounded survivor barely escaping from an enemy. The Marines manning the makeshift checkpoint up ahead had their weapons trained on me when I came around the corner, obviously expecting some strange creature to come into sight. But my ruse worked, their aim drifting off me, and back to the corner. Suppressing my grin, I stumbled past the barrier formed of overturned tables and sandbags, gasping and holding a hand to the red tear over my chest.

"I only just got away..." I gasped, and the soldiers crouched a little, their fingers half pulling the trigger of their rifles. I had originally intended simply to go on from there and leave them wondering what was happening, but the sergeant in charge of the checkpoint gave me a curious look, as if he could see something the others could not.

"Just got away from who?" He asked and I suddenly grinned. As far as ruses went, this hadn't been bad, but it seemed to have about run its course. The sergeant was about to continue when I suddenly shifted my hands into the anthro form, revealing my claws. Before any of the soldiers could react, I slashed with one hand, opening up the torso of the Marine manning the SAW at the center of the checkpoint, his body armor doing absolutely nothing against dragon claws. The other soldiers were dead long before they could react, and I had the sergeant pinned a foot off the ground with one clawed hand.

"Now that that is done with," I said, laying my crimson spattered claws against the Marine's throat. Marines had a reputation for begin tough and fearless, but this Marine's eyes were wide with fear and I couldn't say I blamed him. I must have looked like quite the monster to him, a human with draconian hands.

"What the hell are you?!" he managed to gasp, his hands scrabbling at my grasp, trying everything he could to break the grip of my claws. I gave him an A for effort, but it was a futile gesture, my strength many times that of his.

"None of that now." I commanded, giving him a shake and he immediately held still. Then, with a menacing grin on my lips, I transformed fully into my anthro form, and he went pale, swallowing nervously as my wings and tail ripped the uniform to shreds. "I am the father of the eggs that you and your comrades took from a mountain. I want them back and I want them now." His eyes grew even wider at this announcement but I wasn't done yet. "Now then, either you tell me where to find them, or you join your buddies."

"They are at the bottom of the facility," He said, confirming what I already knew. "There is only one elevator that goes down there. Take your first left, then your second right. The shaft you want is second from the left."

"Thank you." I said, removing my claws from his neck and laying my palm on his forehead instead. "Now, sleep."

He looked absolutely terrified as my spell washed over him, but then, his look of terror changed to one of pleasant drowsiness and his eyes rolled up into his head, his breathing becoming deep and regular. Taking care to set him down against the wall gently, I headed off, following his directions. It took me all of about five minutes to get to the elevators, the soldiers at the three checkpoints not hindering me in the slightest, their bullets ricocheting off the hard armor of my scaly hide, leaving only scuffs and mild tingling sensation behind. The elevator doors of the shaft the sergeant had indicated were made of heavy steel and titanium, but I could also sense that they had been strengthened by a powerful spell.

"You will find, my dragon friend, that those doors are quite impenetrable." A mocking voice said out of nowhere and I looked around in surprise, finally locating an intercom panel set into the wall just below a security camera that seemed to be tracking me. "It seems that you will have to negotiate with me if you ever want your eggs back."

The burning anger I had felt when I had first heart that dragon hunters had found my nest filled me once more and snarled, cocking an arm back before punching the door with all my strength, the steel surface giving an oddly satisfying clang at the impact. Despite the enchantments that strengthened the surface, the entire door bowed inward a little. Grinning again, I punched with my other arm and another crater appeared in the doors. Another hit and the doors groaned, sagging backward into the shaft far enough that I doubted that the car would ever stop here again. Looking around the edge of the door, a little surprised it hadn't given way yet, I noticed that cracks had formed in the walls that the doors were attached to. Grinning, I realized that the magus had thought only for the door, not the walls. Placing both hands on the door, I heaved against it with all my might, and the walls themselves gave way, the doors falling back into the shaft. Looking back up at the security camera with a superior grin, I flipped it off. An angry explosion of swearing come from the intercom panel before it suddenly clicked off and I shook my head. Such a mistake was more than enough to seal one's doom when facing an enraged Dragon Lord. The thunder of combat boots hammering the floor behind me made me turn around, waiting with an unworried expression as dozens of soldiers filled the corridor behind me, all of them training weapons on me.

"Put your hands up." One of them said and I did not answer. Instead, I simply smiled once more and took a step back, dropping into the elevator shaft.

The wind whistled past me for a good fifteen seconds, and I looked down in surprise. I had not realized just how far down the elevator went. I was so far down that I couldn't even see the top of the shaft anymore. But what I could see was the immobile elevator, resting on the bottom of its shaft and I bent my knees, bracing to land. A moment later, I hit the elevator roof, landing hard in a crouch, my body absorbing the impact like it was nothing. A hollow clang echoed up the I found myself smiling when I saw that the roof had bowed in below me. Before anyone could raise the elevator and make my fall useless, I swiped at the cables, severing the thick steel bundle like so much wet string. Then, I looked around, trying to see a hatch or something by which I could enter the disabled car, but there was nothing. Shrugging I walked to the center of the bowed in portion and punched downward, my claws bared. The sound of rending steel echoed up the shaft as I cut my way through the roof, dropping into the elevator on top of a section of car roof.

Beyond the doors, I could feel a large group of Marines waiting for me, and not wishing to be delayed any further, I closed my eyes, summoning my magic. Since I didn't know what enchantments were on the doors, it wouldn't do to try and magic them open. Instead, I concentrated the magical energy around my right hand, building layer upon layer of magic until it was encased in a gauntlet of energy. Laying my palm on the doors, I channeled the magic into them, wrapping them in more and more magic until their edges glowed brightly. To the soldiers on the other side, it would no doubt appear that someone was cutting around them with a cutting torch but that was not what I had planned. Taking a moment more to prepare, I released the spell, wrenching both sets of doors off their moorings in less than second. With a gesture of command, the doors were flung forward, flying like battering rams down the corridor beyond them. Despite the flying metal, automatic fire poured through the hole I had made, accompanied by the thunderous roar of heavy caliber machine guns.

Ignoring the bullets that skipped and whined around me, I walked easily from the elevator, giving the impression that I was in no hurry. Several Marines stood behind fifty caliber machine guns in the elevator foyer, and more had obviously been posted at various distances down the corridor. The flying doors seemed to have cleared the hallway pretty completely though. With a dismissive wave, I slammed the remaining soldiers up against the wall, ending the assault on my ears that their weapons were mounting and walked off down the hall, guided by familiar presences that were now so near. Moments later, I found myself standing outside a laboratory that bore no markings except for an electronic locking system that currently read 'Lab Secured.' Shaking my head in irritation, I cocked my fist back to punch the door, but the door suddenly opened before I could strike, as if inviting me inside.

Wary, I strode inside, allowing the airlock to cycle, already gathering my magic for a spell. When I was through the inner door, my eyes were instantly drawn to the eight eggs held within a strange device against the wall, energy arcing across its surface, forming a thin magic barrier that separated me from them. Only when I saw that they were unharmed did I deign to notice the two men who stood nearby. One was Master Juno, his face set in what looked like resignation, his eyes distant as if he was looking somewhere, anywhere else. Beside him stood a man that looked a lot like him, but older, his eyes strangely luminous in the dimly lit lab. Both carried no weapons, but I could sense powerful magic coursing within them both. What was more, their arms both bore a glowing mark that fueled the anger within me, strengthening the blaze until I was trembling once more, smoke curling from my jaws, but the older Hunter just smiled...