He smiled, "Yes, Captain Kressin."
I swatted him away, mad that he had made me smile when I felt so horrible.
We had been sitting here for close to an hour, and nothing seemed suspicious. Apart from the occasional towns-person who came to purchase something from the shop, or just passing by going about their business, the street was empty. No Dragon Guard soldiers was a good sign.
"Okay, I'm going to go in," I said, hopping down from the wooden stool.
I had started stalking away when I felt his hands around my wrist.
My eyes met his dark orbs. "Be safe, okay?" His face was riddled with concern, and for a moment it felt like I was going farther than just across the street.
Pulling a smile, I said, "I'll be fine, promise." My words were a half-truth to my own ears. I couldn't be fine. Betheka's house held some of my most treasured memories, and all of hers. I didn't know if I was prepared for how all of this would make me feel.
But I soldiered on nonetheless.
Instead of going through her front door, I slipped through the easement beside her house, then hopped the fence into her backyard. The grass had grown a little too high, and her rosebushes were gnarled. Even her cabinet of potions was still there, a few sitting on her workbench. Her sickness had come on suddenly it seemed—she hadn't even been able to make her final preparations.
My heart ached. I was Betheka's last surviving relative and I hadn't been able to help her in her last moments. Reminding myself of the task at hand, I pushed myself to break away from the dark thoughts.
I tried her back door, expecting that I'd have to kick it open. But the heavy wooden door creaked open, and my heart-rate picked up.
Reaching for the scabbard strapped to my leg, I unsheathed my dagger and paced into the room. It was dim. Only the wan sunlight peeking through the overcast sky streamed through the windows, but it was enough for me to see that something had gone wrong.
My breath hitched.
Betheka's house had been ransacked.
Everything seemed upside down. Shattered vases lay all over, her flowers drying up on the floor. The kitchen table where we had shared so many conversations was overturned, two of the chairs split at the joints. Even her refrigerator was on its face, a smelly puddle of water leaking out from it. The deeper I went into the house, the worse the carnage got. All of the sofas were ripped open, the stuffing strewn about. Even the door to the hallway had been taken off the hinges.
Her house looked like someone had torn it apart in search of something.
Had they found it?
My heartbeat quickened to match my pace. Had whoever it was known she had a secret room below her house? Had they found it? I rushed to where I knew the door to the basement should have been.
But when I got there, it was gone. A fallen bookcase blocked the hallway.
Dragging my hand along the wall, I touched the space where the handle should have been. Where was the door? The wall looked as if nothing had ever been there. The ornate walls looked fresher than I had ever seen them.
Wait. Weren't these walls mauve the last time I was here?
My hand hovered over where the door should have been. I knocked the wall, and sure enough it was hollow. My lips twisted into a smile then. Even in death, Betheka had managed to outsmart whoever had ransacked her house.
My dagger went through the wall after a few attempts. Little by little I chipped away at the thin wall covering the door. How had she found time to erect this? To paint it? And how had she foreseen that someone would have torn her house apart?
When there was a big enough hole in the wall for me to fit through, I used the key she had given me to open the door.
The descent into the bowels of her home made tears prick my eyes. It felt so foreign to be doing this without her descending before me, complaining about her knees going bad. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I flicked the lights on.
The room was worlds different from when I had last been here.
Her bookshelf was empty, all of the books packed into two boxes that had Kaos written on them in Betheka's elegant scrawl. Squinting wildly, I tried to stop the tears from falling, but to no avail. The only things in the room that weren’t packed away lay on the small wooden desk in the corner of the room. There, I found a big vial of shimmering blue liquid and a piece of paper.
I picked up the paper, my breath catching when I realized that it was a handwritten note from Betheka. That made the tears fall finally, and I had to catch my breath before I could even read it. This all felt too familiar. Was it a genetic thing that made both she and my father feel the need to leave me posthumous letters?
To my grand-daughter,
I know you must be thinking that I'm a crazy, paranoid old lady. But if you're reading this it means that I'm a crazy, paranoid old-lady who also happened to be right about her suspicions this time. (If only all my hunches were as accurate as this!)
Even with all the pain, Betheka was still able to get me to smile.
I could wax poetic about a lot of things. My life has been a long and great one. My greatest joy was rekindling my relationship with your father in my later years. And to think that because of that I was able to know and come to love you. I looked forward to each of your visits, and talking with you was infinitely more enjoyable than bumbling about in this house by myself. Thank you for that.
This must all be so confusing for you, and this letter will explain it all. Just bear with me, it isn't very thrilling to compose a letter that you know your granddaughter will read when you're dead. In the boxes, you'll find my collection of books and journals. Maybe you'll find them terribly mundane, but they are filled with the knowledge that helped me become as "wise" as I am. You'll benefit from reading them in your spare time. There are books about dragon breeds and care, journal entries from my time studying alchemy and maybe even a few love letters, who knows. But you must read them, promise me that.
The vial of blue serum is special. For me to explain what it is to you, I'll have to talk about something I suspected from the day you told me how you really met Ignimitra. I was baffled that Vulcan allowed you to live. Of course, I'm happy that he did. The question still stands, though. Why would he, when he is notorious for getting rid of anyone who stands in his way? I chalked it up to him knowing more about Ignimitra than any of us do. And all the recent events have confirmed it in my mind.
It is often theorized that Shadow Dragons are the original dragons, and the people of Kagetora, the original dragon tamers. Who knows? One undeniable fact is that Shadow Dragon bonds are stronger than those of the other four dragon elements. In death, not only does the tamer die, but so does the dragon. I think that Vulcan spared your life because he wanted to spare Ignimitra too. The fact that you survived the dragonsnake poisoning was the icing on the cake for me. She does in fact have Shadow Dragon blood.
I wish I could have sat you down over some tea to reveal all of this to you. A letter isn't the best medium, but things have escalated beyond my control. I was supposed to reveal all this to you gradually, but I've run out of time. Vulcan is after Ignimitra, and I think he wanted to test on her all along. After all, why would he promote you so suddenly, if not to isolate you and have you closer to him? What he didn't count on was you discovering his wretched experiments before time.
He didn’t count on you telling me either. But I’m happy you did, because that is how I am able to help you and Ignimitra. I did some digging around what his new Alchemist is doing. It’s only a matter of time before Vulcan finds out that I’ve been sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong. Hopefully by then, I’ll be dead and you’ll have this letter. I suspect he will try to speed up his little plan to test on Ignimitra when he does.
The blue serum is the antidote to the super-dragon serum Vulcan and Alchemist Huxin are trying to create. It will protect Ignimitra, but you must administer it to her before they try to test on her, otherwise she stands the risk of having her mind corrupted, and her
body forever altered by their serum. When you give it to her doesn't matter, it only takes a few minutes for her body to develop immunity. Handle it with care, Kaos. Do not let even a drop of it touch your skin or anyone else's, and do not inhale the vapors. You may survive it because you are immune, but it will surely kill everyone else the way it killed me.
My granddaughter, you have your father's wits and your grandmother's fire. You can be the change the world needs to see. I have done my part to help you, you must continue on your own. Do not mourn for me, my child. Live for me instead.
With all my heart,
Betheka Bankola
I couldn't even bring myself to cry. It felt like my tear ducts had been stopped up, flooding my body with water, and I was drowning in the middle of her basement. Tucking the letter from Betheka away in my clothes, I picked up the serum carefully and started my exit.
Avek and I could come back for the boxes later. Right now, I had one objective.
Save Ignimitra.
"I WAS JUST ABOUT TO come in after you," Avek said, his eyes traveling to the potion I cradled in my hands.
My gait was brisk, "Come on, we need to get back to my house."
He followed me, looking around suspiciously.
"What happened?"
There was no time. "I'll tell you on the way.”
My legs were burning from the need to run. But I couldn't. Spilling this potion would jeopardize any chance I had of helping Ignimitra. And if it happened to spill on Avek...gosh, I didn't want to think about it.
Betheka's letter—it was like a weight in my pocket—had struck an urgency into me that burned around the lethargy of sadness I had been feeling. It was as if she had given me a purpose, a mandate, something that I could channel all my feelings into. And to think that she had been able to foresee all of this and come up with a plan was testament to how amazing she was.
I was honored to have some of her blood coursing through me.
"Well?" Avek pressed.
Our boots squelched on the wet stone pavement as I led him through a narrow side street that connected two bigger ones. It was quiet here, lonely. The buildings had no windows overlooking the street, so the chances that we could've been overheard were slim.
"Betheka made this potion for Ignimitra," I said, my lips throbbing over the words. "I have to give it to her quickly, before they use her in their experiment." I squinted hard, trying to get rid of the image of the black dragon I had seen. It haunted me, and the possibility that Ignimitra could be next in line for that made my blood go cold.
"Hm," Avek said, thinking through what I had told him. He had a hand on my shoulder, steadying me as we went along. "And is it unstable or something? Why are you holding it like a baby?"
I looked down at my hands cocooned around the vial.
"It's deadly," I said. "If it spills on someone, it'll kill them." Recognition soured my mouth. "I think—" My throat worked but no words came out. "I think Betheka died making this. She said that if it spills on anyone, they'll die the way she did."
Avek didn't respond, and I was happy he didn't. Everything was already too much. To talk about the fact that Betheka had traded her life for my dragon's...I didn't want to think about that, at all.
Another side street later, we were speed walking down the broad road that led to my house.
Ignimitra! I called out to her.
There was no answer. My heart was a stone in my chest. Surely, she was close enough to hear me. But knowing her, all that playing in the rain must have exhausted her. When we got to my house, Avek opened the wrought iron gate for me, and the two of us skittered to the back yard, dodging puddles of muddy water that had begun to gather in the grass.
Ignimitra—
The thought didn't even finish forming in my mind.
She was gone.
I WAS FROZEN IN TIME, staring open-mouthed at the empty yard.
The wet earth told the tale of a struggle. Ignimitra’s footprints were all over—her four-taloned feet were distinctive. Dotted among her own were other footprints. Bootprints that weren't mine, or Avek's. In one corner of the yard, the footprints had encircled Ignimitra's, then hers disappeared.
"No," my voice was barely a whisper.
There was no way. Forcing my legs to move, I moved closer to the corner where the ambush happened. I noticed another set of prints, these as big as Ignimitra's—but they were three-pronged. That didn't help me one bit, all Fire Dragon breeds had three talons on each foot.
Perhaps if Betheka had been here, she would be able to tell the kind of dragon that left these prints. But what did it matter? I didn't have to guess who had taken Ignimitra and why. The Headmaster had made his intentions known at the last Assembly.
My head felt like hot lava. Every thought seemed like it was burning through my skull. Why was I such a failure? I couldn't protect Betheka, I couldn't protect Ignimitra. Sinking to my knees, I ran a hand along Ignimitra's footprint. It might have been my mind, but her footprint was still warm. This couldn't have happened long.
Maybe if I had run—
"Kaos!" Avek's voice cut into my head. I didn't move or look up at him.
He approached quickly, his boots squelching urgently in the mud.
"Kaos, I know where Ignimitra is," he said.
That made me look up at him, but I didn't believe it. I didn't want any false hope.
Avek's face was riddled with confusion and concern, kind of the way I imagined I looked right now. For a heartbeat, I imagined that he understood what I was feeling.
"Where is she?" I croaked.
"I found this note on your kitchen table." He stooped down so we were on eye level.
He held a red paper, embossed with the emblem of the Fire Drakken. It was written in chicken scratch that I had to squint to decipher. It read:
Captain Kressin:
By volunteering your dragon to His Majesty's Dragon Enhancement Program, you have proven your commitment to your country. All of Pyralis thanks you for your patriotism. We have taken Ignimitra in for preliminary examinations in preparation for her admittance into the program.
Headmaster Major Vulcan Archer.
My heart fell to my knees.
Chapter 16
"This is bad."
Avek's jaw was set, his lips a hard line. It had been a while since I had seen this side of him, the Avek who was focused on one thing, and one thing only: the completion of a mission. Truthfully, I had missed it. And I was mad at myself for even finding time to admire him when Ignimitra was in such grave danger.
We sat in my kitchen, the note and vial on the table between us. The back door was open, and every now and then I foolishly glanced out hoping to see Ignimitra there. But she wasn't there, her absence a reminder that I had failed her.
Pressing my hands into my eyes I said, "I've lost her, Avek." My eyes were damp, and my body ached all over.
I had been put through the wringer the past week—emotionally, mentally, physical. That was probably the only reason why I wasn't doubled over on the floor crying my eyes out right now. There weren't enough tears left to cry.
Avek's hands on my forearms stopped me from falling into the dark place.
"No, you haven't," he said firmly. "We still have a window."
Moving my hands, I found that his eyes were as hard and sharp as cut steel. He was a man determined. He felt how I should have been feeling.
"A window? We don't even know where she is," I began. "And even if we did, we can't just waltz in."
Avek sucked in a breath, chewing his lip.
"We break in."
I quirked an eyebrow. "Break in?"
"We break into the facility where they're keeping her," he spoke quickly, as if his lips couldn't move fast enough to keep up with his brain. "And we make it look like an enemy attack."
I wasn't following well, and I'm sure it showed on my face. "There's no enemy here," I protested. "It would a dead giveaway if the night they take Ignimitra their facil
ity is ransacked." I held up a finger. "And that's if we can even make it in."
Things were hopeless.
Avek wouldn't have it.
"Kaos, I didn't tell you my stories in captivity because I could tell you were struggling with it," he began, running his palm along my forearm. "Believe me when I tell you, things aren't as safe here as you think. For one, our flight path had been leaked to the Astraphotians, that's how they knew how to attack us."
My jaw slackened. "That means..."
He nodded, "We have sleeper agents among us. That's why I think it won't be hard to frame them for what we want to do. We just have to make it look convincing."
It was a wild thought, but it seemed plausible somehow. I was desperate to save Ignimitra, but maybe this could...work. Avek continued.
"Headmaster Archer knows this. I know him. He’ll believe it was an outside attack before he will think it’s us.”
The smug look on his face when he threatened me came back to mind. He thought he had me cornered. Avek was right. We wouldn't be suspects.
"Okay fine," I said, finally allowing myself to follow his train of thought. "You and I can't do this alone," I motioned between us. He was still recovering from his injuries, and without Ignimitra's fusion bond I was just an average soldier. Mediocre if we were really being honest.
"We need a team," Avek said. "Around two or three more people we can trust.”
It only took a second of thought for my mind to settle on my two picks. "Solra and Irikai," I said.
He nodded. "And I think Jules will be a good fit." The mention of her name unsettled me just a bit. Sure, I figured we were friends now. It would take a while for me to get over the feelings that sprung up when either of them mentioned each other.
"Jules?"
"She owes me a favor." He smiled. "Plus, she's in Intelligence. If anyone knows where that facility is, it will be her."
I huffed, bringing two fingers to prop up my chin. "That's good then."
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