7

Ianto sat stoically as Rhys tended to the wound, "Man, that is deep."

"So you left him?" Gray asked with annoyance, the young prince standing with his hands on his hips as Andy looked nervously from him to Ianto, now wondering if telling his other Master was a good thing or not.

"He ordered me to" Ianto said tonelessly, "He told me to leave and that Gorth would cover him now."

"Well…tell me you at least got some licks in" Gray sighed, leaning in to watch the healing salve be applied.

"Yes your highness, his thigh will be burning by now but he is a big man and…"

Gorth entered the stables, the mount flying low as it crashed through the doors and a wing folded in the wrong way as it hit the ground, Gorth already off it and screaming with rage as he headed for Ianto with his blade raised.

Gray was rendered immobile with fear as he watched the spectacle, Ianto turning to rise and step forward to meet the challenge as both men slammed together with blades flashing.

The boom was loud as Myfanwy barked, a sound most dragons are incapable of, as only those of the old blood can do so and the other dragons responded by attacking, Gorth screaming as he was torn away from Ianto and flung into the middle of the keep, the dragons descending to tear him to pieces as his broken mount writhed in agony from its own wounds inflicted by the cruel rider.

Jack and Jasmine rode into the keep, their horses struggling to breathe as they stood shaking wit fatigue and Jack was off his mount running for the writhing mass then seeing Ianto running for the poor dragon dying to one side as others started to make a weird noise.

A cry of mourning.

The poor thing was in pain, blood pumping from the torn wing and it looked at Ianto as if imploring him to end its suffering as its rider's noises of death stopped.

"You were not bonded" Ianto said as he tried to find the main vein for the wing, "He was a pig and although he rode you, tell me you did not bond to him. Come on sweetling there is hope. Hope for you if the bond was not true."

Chapman ran to kneel by the stricken bird and he slapped a poultice on the wound, plugging it and stopping further blood loss as Ianto frantically fought to save it, his eyes watching Ianto's' hands as they slid over the leathery flesh and he whispered under his breath.

"Not just Mara" Chapman breathed as he watched Ianto work, "you are of the blood."

Ianto tuned him out, using what power he could to heal and comfort, taking the pain from the dragon into his own body and wiling it to seep into the soil as dragons shuffled back like it might infect them.

"What's going on" Jasmine asked with wide eyes as Jack's parents stood watching as well, "What's he doing?"

"Casting" an old rider grunted, "He is trying to save the poor worm from your rider's death. If the bond was not true, he has the power to renew the bond with him instead. It would mean he had to dragons, something rare but not unheard of. The dragon is dead within hours otherwise."

"But it is our dragon" she said with sudden anger, "You would take it?"

"If the cost of the dragon is worth more to you than the fact your idiot rider just killed them both then we will offer one of ours in return" Jack said with anger, "Give me back my ring and take a dragon instead. For I cannot wed someone who sees the worth of something instead of the life of someone."

"I didn't mean it like that" she wailed, seeing the anger in her father's eyes if she has to tell him she lost the dragon, rider and her betrothal. "I am upset, I do not see this…this…horror every day ya know!"

Jack stared at her and then nodded, "If we are to wed, he would have joined my stables and had his throat cut within days ya know. He was cruel."

"Yes, I know" she nodded as she saw that she was forgiven and she glanced at the young man still tending the dragon, frowning as she saw that it was not the dragon her intended was defending. It was him.

"Him" she said firmly trying to take control, "I shall choose him as my shadow."

"You can't" Jack said with shock, "he is already mine and bonded. Besides, he now had two dragons to wrangle, he will not be able to fly with either of us for a time. You need one now…ah…Femk. You, get your dragon and see if there can be a bond to her."

She watched the woman light up with glee and run for her dragon and felt the flash if anger as she was not only outranked by her future king but also given a female rider to ensure there could be nothing untoward between them.

She looked again at the young man and his beasts.

Her true threat.