Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

Thala screamed an oath at Baltic. “You will not triumph again! Not after all this time!”
    “Mate, stay back,” Baltic ordered as Thala lunged at him, her hands dancing in the air as he sidestepped her.
    I gaped at the gestures she was making, recognizing them. “Baltic, she’s-”
    He, too, must have recognized them, for with a roar of fury, he sprang on her again ... but she had finished casting her spell, and this time, it was Baltic who went flying.
    Right over the edge of the cliff.

Chapter Seventeen
    T ime as I knew it stopped. No, the world stopped. The universe stopped. I stared in dumbfounded horror at the empty space at the edge of the granite cliff where a nanosecond earlier, Baltic had stood.
    “My sword, if you don’t mind.”
    I continued to stare at the spot, my brain unable to process what it had just witnessed. With another oath, Thala ripped the box from the leather strap. I took six steps forward until I stood at the edge of the cliff.
    “Baltic?”
    The word came out as light as the wind.
    “Baltic?”
    “There she is. Ysolde, you’re a hard woman to track ... . Erm ... where are Baltic and Thala?”
    “Look, there’s Thala, running that way. Drake-”
    “You stay here, Gabriel,” Drake said. “István and Pavel and I will go after her.”
    “Are we chasing someone? I love a good chase. I love it even more when I catch the prisoner and can take her back to my palace, to my toy room, where I-”
    “That’s enough, Magoth,” May said. “You can go with Drake if you behave yourself.”
    “I will stay and guard my beloved one,” Constantine announced. “Unlike some, I do not need to take prisoners to enjoy myself.”
    I peered down into the dark depths of the ravine. There was nothing-no flicker of color or movement, just ... blackness. “Baltic!”
    The scream was horrifying to hear, filled with agony of such depth, it brought me to my knees.
    “Holy shit! Ysolde? Are you OK? That was the single most horrifying noise I’ve ever heard. Oh my god, May, she’s going to throw herself over.”
    Hands jerked me back from the edge as I was about to leap down and find Baltic.
    “What happened? Ysolde, what happened?” May’s voice was filled with concern.
    He couldn’t be ... I shook my head. I couldn’t even put into words my worst fear.
    A black shape stood next to me. “Oh man, did what I think happen just happen?”
    I looked down at Jim as it peered over the edge of the cliff, then backed up hastily. “Man, it did. I never thought the dread wyvern could be killed twice, but I guess I was wrong.”
    “No,” I said as Aisling gasped in horror.
    “Who’s wrong? What’s happening?”
    I ignored the voices behind me, shaking my head as I focused on Jim. “No, you’re wrong. He’s not ... He can’t ... He didn’t ... ”
    It was the sympathy in the demon’s eyes that made me realize the horrible truth.
    Baltic was dead. He was gone, just like that, one minute standing before me, demanding that Thala give him the sword ... .“No, that’s wrong. Not Thala.”
    “Who’s not Thala? What is going on?”
    It was Constantine’s voice that spoke.
    I continued to stare at the demon as my brain tried desperately to pull together the pieces of a puzzle I didn’t know existed until that day.
    Hushed voices murmured in the background.
    “Baltic’s dead? Are you sure? Ysolde, my darling, my love, allow me to comfort you.”
    I shoved Constantine away without even thinking about it, aware of something behind me, a presence that seemed to compel me to turn.
    “He’s dead,” I said, ignoring everyone and everything that wasn’t at that moment important.
    The First Dragon just looked at me.
    “He’s dead,” I repeated, a bit more forcefully, striding toward him until I was a foot away.
    I was on fire, literally on fire, but even that didn’t distract me. I had one mission, one goal, one purpose to my being, and I would not let anything, not even the First Dragon, stand in my way.
    He inclined his head in acknowledgment of my statement, his eyes, his damned all-knowing eyes, simply watching me as if I were a particularly interesting form of insect.
    I punched him in the chest, just to see some sort of a reaction in his face or eyes. “Resurrect him.”
    There were a couple of gasps behind me.
    Slowly, the First Dragon closed his eyes.
    “Resurrect him!” I hit him again, harder this time, my fire burning so bright, it spilled out of me and crawled over