Free Hip Deep in Dragons by Christina Westcott

passion fanned those sparks into an edgy inferno. He tightened his embrace, and fitted our bodies together like two pieces of a puzzle clicking into one. Too soon, he lifted his lips and cradled my head against his chest. I could hear the rhythmic pounding of his heart along with that curious, buzzing rumble in his throat.
    He whispered, his lips stirring fine hairs against my forehead. “All those years, I told myself you were only a childhood playmate, that what I felt for you was little more than friendship. Even when I came back to Vayron, watching you from a distance, I still thought it only harmless childhood memories, but many a night on a cold trail, I fantasized about you. When I saw you yesterday, I knew what I felt went far beyond casual feelings. That’s why I ran at first, afraid that if you smiled at me, I would never be able to walk away. But in the end, I could not do it, I needed to see you once more face to face. ’Tis foolish but…”
    That eerie wail split the stillness again, silencing him. I felt his heart accelerate. When he pulled back, his green eyes were as flat and cool as polished agate. “You have to leave. Now.”
    Over the treetops, a vast, dark shape lifted, wings beating the air. Robby muttered a growling litany. Motes of light whirled around his upraised hand as he worked an incantation to hide us. The unnatural silence stretched on, as if the world feared to make a noise. Then the dragon turned eastward, its wing beats receding in the distance as it flew deeper into the glades.
    The spell dissolved around us. Robby took my elbow and pulled me to the door of the Jeep. “You have to get out now. This may be the only time I have to get to the nest and destroy it. When Shakagwa Dun has no reason to stay here on this world, it will return to Mycon, and I can close the Gate it came through. While I do that, I need to know that you are safe and far away from this danger.”
    “But what if the thing comes back while you’re at the nest? Will you have enough magic to face it, too?”
    “I do not see as I have much of a choice.” He looked away, but not before I saw apprehension flickering far back in his eyes. He was, I recalled, only an apprentice wizard.
    “The chocolate.” I suddenly remembered that bag of candy. “Will that help?”
    His grin was sheepish. “Aye, it would have. If I had not already gobbled it all up.”
    “But I have more.” I twisted out of his grip and dashed to the back of the Jeep, opening the tailgate and flipping up the lid on the cooler to expose sandwiches and fruit. From the tote, I produced several bags of potato chips and a handful of energy bars.
    “Will this help?”
    I was heartened by the twinkle in his eyes as he ripped open the chip bag. He answered me between mouthfuls. “Aye, this helps somewhat, but with no ambient magic in this world to call upon, I shall be limited to only the energy inside me, and I fear I will burn through that quickly. I canna eat enough to fuel more than a few workings.”
    He grabbed a sandwich and stacked the ice chest and tote bag on the ground. “Leave these with me, but you have to go now.”
    With the cooler out of the back, I noticed the gas can lashed against the inside of the Jeep with a bungee cord.
    “What if you could destroy the nest without using magic?”
    He glanced up from his half eaten sandwich. “Laura, why do I get the feeling you are trying to talk me into something I know I will regret?”
     

Chapter Six
    Elongated by the late afternoon sun, our shadows stretched ahead of us as we struggled along the game trail, the can of gasoline slung between us. Mud squelched beneath my boots, and burrs snatched at my legs as we pushed through the grass. Robby halted again, forcing us to put down our burden so he could scrub his hand against his thigh, as if the touch of the metal irritated his skin. He picked up his side of the can again and we continued.
    “This comes perilously close to violating the