by D. E. Morris
“Rowan decided to scout ahead,” Lilia told him. “Nyx followed her.”
Connor lifted a brow. “I'm surprised you didn't go with them.”
The winged girl shrugged and looked out toward the approaching island. “I don't know Gianara as you do, and I'm not as brave as Rowan is to go running headfirst into unfamiliar territory.”
“Reckless,” Killian corrected unhappily. “Fearlessness is closer to recklessness than bravery.”
Leaning into the wind, Connor stared ahead. “Gia knows Nyx.”
“But she does not know my daughter.”
“Not well, granted, but she knows who Rowan is. Plus, if she's with Nyx, she'll be fine.”
The three of them stood silent together, watching the blurred outlines of mountains and thick lines of trees take shape and gain more definition. When they were close enough to have one of the dragons pass overhead, Lilia watched with a shudder as it banked and caught the sun, bleached bones moving with no muscle or scale to cover them.
“We should drop anchor here,” Killian suggested. He glanced up to the captain to find the man standing stock still, a white look of terror on his face. “Perhaps we should have done so earlier.”
“They won't hurt you,” Connor promised, though his words had little effect on the weathered seaman. “All right, let's take the rowboat over then. It looks like the tide is going in so it shouldn't take us long.” They were quick in grabbing what supplies they brought with them, tossing everything into the much smaller boat in which they would row themselves the rest of the way. Before they were more than a few hundred feet from the ship, Connor saw the anchor being reeled back on deck and paused in his rowing. “Hey!”
Killian gave a glance back but kept his own rowing steady. “Let him go. If he feels safer farther out to sea, so be it. I would rather us have to travel a bit longer to get to him than have the poor man die of a heart attack while he waited for us.”
The sun was rising higher, making the mist they sailed into feel impossible. Humidity was so heavy within that all of them felt as though they were breathing with weights on their chests. When it seemed as though they would surely suffocate, they broke through the hazy mist and sailed into open waters with a crystal-clear view of the beach ahead of them. Rowan sat upon the sand, her trousers rolled up to her knees as though she were a simple farm boy without a care in the world, feet in the water, and face turned toward the sun. “Where's my dragon?” Connor yelled, more out of curiosity than anything else.
Rowan straightened just a little bit and squinted in the light to see their approaching boat. “I don't know. She disappeared somewhere when I was shifting.” Getting to her feet, Rowan brushed herself off before wading into the water. Once they were close enough, Connor tossed her a rope so she could pull them in. As soon as the bottom of the boat scraped along the mud, Killian hopped out with a splash to push the boat forward from behind.
“Here we are,” Connor announced, jumping the distance to shore before the boat had even stopped. Lilia gave a little shriek as the vessel rocked and gripped the sides in panic. Too busy taking in the island, Connor looked around as though it was his first time there. “Isn't it beautiful? Have you explored at all, Rowan? Have you seen Gia?”
“No, and no.” She tied the boat off to a log that had been driven vertically into the ground as Killian helped Lilia to shore. “I assumed Nyx flew away to find her.”
“She likely did,” Connor agreed. “There used to be buildings here and that's where she probably is. Hunters erected structures so they could live here as they cleared the island of dragons. Nature has definitely taken its toll on them, but we were trying to salvage what we could in the hope of rebuilding.”
Lilia looked up, taking in the wild untouched trees and the rocky spires that disappeared into the mist high above them. “Are you hoping to make this a permanent shelter for the dragons again?”
“Once this mess with hunting them has ended, yes, that is the goal.” He pointed toward a path into the woods that was hidden by overgrowth. “Come on. I'll show you what we've done so far.”
With Connor in the lead and Killian bringing up the rear, the group headed into the woods in a single line. Rocks and thick roots were everywhere, making the progression slow even for those that could see where they were going. Though there was enough moisture in the ground and in the trees that surrounded them for her to see well enough, Rowan still used a stick she grabbed from the brush to help her along the way. It was only a matter of minutes before Lilia did the same. “Now I wish I had worn trousers,” she muttered, holding her walking stick in one hand and the skirt of her traveling dress in the other. She was sweating so much that her long hair was sticking to her face. “Had I known we would be traipsing through the jungle...”
“It'll cool off as the day wears on,” Connor promised, his thin shirt wet against his skin. “At night it gets downright chilly, even on the hottest summer days.”
“I hear waterfalls,” Rowan mentioned, stepping over a curved tree root.
“The island is riddled with them. There's a spot farther north where it's nothing but hundreds of levels of flat rocks with water pouring down them. The dracklings like using it as a slide.”
“There are dragons here right now?” Lilia asked. “Would you believe that I have never really seen one up close aside from Nyx?”
“There are two families of earth dragons here, last I knew. You saw some of them flying. Three drakes, two dams, four dracklings and three hatchlings. One of the drakes is from an earlier clutch the pair with the hatchlings had.”
“Where is the rest of the clutch?” Lilia asked.
Connor shrugged, holding back a long thin branch that reached out into the path. “Either he was an only child, which is rare, or his siblings were killed.”
Killian took Rowan's hand to help her as the path took a sharp turn upward. “Why do you think they were killed?” she asked, careful with her footing on the rocks.
“Earth dragons almost never have a clutch of less than two eggs, usually two or three but they can have up to five at a time. Out of all the dragons, their shells are the most vulnerable once the eggs have been laid. They're thin and leathery, and just as spongy as the soft spot on a newborn's head. As soon as the dam drops the eggs, the drake has to dig down into hot sand where there is full sunlight and cover them, essentially letting them bake. The shells harden as they grow inside the eggs. If a predator gets to the eggs before they can be buried, it's an almost guarantee the hatchling won't make it.”
Killian looked up the steep path at Connor, catching his eye when the younger man turned to make sure everyone was still behind him. “You are quite knowledgeable of the creatures.”
He shrugged as though it was no big deal. “You have to be when you work with them all the time.” Pausing, he took a moment to catch his breath. “We're close. It should be just...” Trailing off, his eyes caught something in the forest beside them. He grinned and looked down at Lilia. “So you want to see a dragon other than Nyx, eh? Here's your chance.” Her eyes widened and she looked around, frantic, as Connor went back down the way they'd come. He stopped just a few feet below where Rowan and Killian stood and waited. When nothing happened, he put his hands on his hips. “Come on, old man. I see you in there.”
Suddenly, the forest came alive. Trees swayed back and forth in an invisible breeze, distinct cracks of limbs and branches being bent and broken echoing before them. “Easy,” Connor laughed. “We're trying to restore this place, not tear it down.” A giant head covered with scales of varying shades of green moved close enough so that it could be seen among the trees. It peered at them with one slitted orange eye and flicked its tongue out in front of it. Lilia stumbled back as it came closer, her wonder turning to fear at seeing the wild animal so close.
“It's okay,” Connor promised, laughing as Killian helped Lilia back to her feet. “This is Aristaeus. He wouldn't hurt a fly. Come here, boy.” The dragon leaned forward as C
onnor stretched out his arm and touched his maw to his hand. “Aristaeus is nearly thirty years old, quite the feat for a race that the males are lucky to make it to twenty-five.”
Rowan came forward, beaming, and reached up to touch the dragon as well. “He's so big! I think he's bigger than Ashlynn! How do you know how old he is?”
“Full-blooded dragons are always bigger than Gaels,” her father told her, staring up at the beast with a muted look of adoration on his face. “The Elementals are the exception. Age you can tell by the rings on their talons.”
“Like a tree trunk!”
“Precisely.” After assuring Lilia was stable on her feet, the older man couldn't stop himself from making his way toward the dragon as well. As Killian placed a hand against the side of his face, the dragon gave a lazy blink. “What a magnificent creature.” He glanced at Connor. “You have named him?”
“I name them all,” he reported proudly. “Gia's been giving them numbers as we move different families in an effort to keep track of who is where, but I like naming them after all the old southern kingdom gods. Drives Gia crazy, but I don't really care.” He turned his attention up the path. “You can come down, Lilia. He won't hurt you. Poor old guy has so few teeth left that the others have to chew his food for him before he can eat. He won't bite.”
She started down, hesitant, when a deep, sultry voice from above huffed, “I should have known it was you.”
Everyone turned to look up. Standing much farther up the path than they had yet gone was a tall, muscular woman with a multi-colored mohawk atop her head. Her dark skin was covered in tattoos, all the way down to her fingertips. “Gia!” Lilia gasped, looking away. She was wearing trousers that were rolled up like Rowan's, but instead of a shirt or even a tunic, she only had a long strip of cloth wrapped around her chest several times to cover herself just enough.
“It is skin,” Gianara scolded. “You have it. I have it.”
“But not everyone wants to see it,” Lilia muttered under her breath, keeping her eyes averted. Louder, she told her, “What you are wearing is highly immodest and not ladylike at all.”
“It is called a sarashi. Ask Misuzu. I am certain she has worn the same thing on days that were hot, especially when she was not expecting to see anyone else.” She turned a heated gaze on Connor. “It is lucky your dragon found me first, or there would have been more of me to see.” Looking at Aristaeus, her brow wrinkled. “Kela!” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “Kela, ianter! Sii'!” The dragon grumbled low in his throat and turned away in a slow, lazy motion.
“It understands elvish,” Killian wondered softly.
“It understands my tone,” Gianara corrected. Once more, she glared at Connor. “You will ruin them just as you have ruined my drackling. They are not pets!”
“I didn't ruin Nyx,” Connor replied lazily; clearly this was a conversation they'd had before. He looked at the others with a slight roll of his eyes. “Gia thinks Nyx acts more like a house cat or a dog than a dragon, but she obviously hasn't seen her eat.”
Gianara made a sound of disapproval before turning and heading back up the path. Taking her departure as a sign to follow, the others trailed behind in silence. Despite her obvious irritation, she waited higher up at what seemed like a crest, watching Rowan especially as though to make sure the others were helping her properly. Once everyone was all caught up, she led them through an especially thick section of brush before the foliage gave way and they found themselves standing high above a valley that stretched out for miles before them. The mountains continued on each side of them, appearing to wrap around the valley with strong arms of protection. A single dragon was perched on one of the ruined and overgrown shelters far below, too dark to be any of the earth dragons. Only one hut among them looked semi-cleared of the choking vines that were claiming the rest of the structures.
“That is a long way down,” Lilia lamented. “If only all of us could fly.”
“I could call Aristaeus back,” Connor offered, his teasing grin hardly dimming when Gianara narrowed her eyes at him. “Lilia, you can fly. Gia can shift to carry Rowan and Killian, and I'll take my own dragon.”
“Where do you propose that I shift?” the tattooed woman asked.
He looked around, a thoughtful pout on his face. “What about over there? Down a little way to the right. That looks like a big enough clearing for you.”
“How long do you plan on staying?” she asked in an undertone as she headed down the hill.
“Not long,” Killian promised. When he looked to Connor with reproach, the younger man only gave a sloppy shrug.
“She loves me.”
“That is apparent.”
As Gianara made her way to the spot Connor indicated, he pulled his pan flute out once more and played the same four-note tune he'd played on the ship. This time, Nyx turned her head toward the sound and took to the air immediately. The sound of rustling brush and a tree being pushed made them all turn to watch Gianara finish her transformation. Her scales, once copper in color, were duller than they were before, patches of rusty red and light brown scattered across her body. “I can't wait to see if that happens to Tiyal,” Lilia said.
Rowan raised her brows. “What happens?”
“You know how Gia's hair is oddly colored?” Connor asked. “She's always attributed it to her elven blood mixing with her Gaelic blood. Well, her scales seem to change colors, too. She's still mostly orange, but not completely.”
“You think it will be the same for Tiyal since he's elvish and Gaelic?”
“I guess we'll have to wait and see.”
Nyx swooped down from above as if to land, then doubled back and shot upward when she realized there was no room for her. Though she was less than double Gianara in size, the trees behind them and the steep decline before them left her little comfortable space to go for Connor to mount. She did a tight loop in the air before dropping back down again, spreading her wings to catch the air current that would slow her decent. When she was low enough to the group, she reached down with a foreleg like a human helping someone up. Connor grabbed onto her talons and pulled himself up, scaling her leg and shoulder to place himself on her back as though it was something he did all the time. “See you at the bottom.” He leaned to the side, making Nyx bank and turn back down for the valley.
“Wait for me!” Lilia cried. As had happened on the boat, a white light grew around her, enveloping her body completely. It hardly had a chance to fade away before she was racing through the sky after him in her colorful bird form.
Killian pursed his lips, watching the pair disappear ahead of them. “I know, Da,” Rowan said, hearing her father sigh. “He's not always like this. I think he's just showing off for Lilia and for us. This is where he feels he most belongs. I'm sure he'll relax soon.”
With a slow nod, Killian kissed her forehead. “I pray that you are right. I did not sign up for babysitting when I agreed to this venture.”
By the time everyone was at the base of the mountain and had their feet firmly on the ground, the humidity had burned off enough to be comfortable. When the occasional breeze rippled through the long grass of the valley, it was even a little chilly. Nyx flew away, likely off to hunt, as the others followed Gianara into her partially rebuilt home. It was modest and small, and reminded Connor a great deal of the apartment that he, Cailin, and Jaryn shared while they were on Ironedge. The last time he'd been there, only the main room and the kitchen had been usable, but now there was a hallway back to some other rooms that were repaired and cleared of nature.
“You've done some work,” he said with appreciation.
Gianara put a kettle over the fire and nodded. “I would like to get as many of the buildings restored as possible before we bring too many dragons here. Their transition will be jarring enough without having to live with the sounds of construction.”
“You may yet have more time,” Killian told her. It had been at least a year since Gianara had been to Si
ness and there was a great deal to catch her up on. Connor trusted her implicitly, but Jaryn warned them all to be careful in what they chose to share with her. Though she was not against them, she was certainly not with them. She'd been playing by her own rules for so long, being the master of her own life, it was no wonder it was a life she chose to continue. There were random occasions that had brought her to Siness for help and when they had reached out to her, but other than that, they were quite separate.
Killian filled her in on the few relocated dragons they had worked together to protect that he'd kept tabs on, and as everyone sat down to have tea together, the group told her about everything that had taken place during the games. Connor was the only one present who had been in the summit meetings as well, so he had some information none of the others had been privy to. The subject of Gaels and dragons had been brought up several times over the week of meetings and discussions, always by a high ruler, but the lesser kingdoms banded together to change the subject rather frequently.
When she was told about the explosion, Gianara sat with angry, rapt attention. She and Connor remembered all too well what it was like to be near the explosions on Mirasean. She asked question after question, trying to glean as much information about the situation as possible. When she learned that Mairead had been injured in the blast, she was especially upset by the news. Upon their initial meeting, the two women grazed one another in passing in their shifted forms, and an odd sensation like a strike of lightning had passed through them. Neither could explain it then, and five years later it was still a mystery that plagued her.
“She already had such scarring,” Gianara lamented quietly. “How is she now?”
“Better,” Lilia told her, “and in some ways she is worse. It seems as though every little thing frightens her now. She is jumpy and cautious all the time. Her burns have mostly healed, but I fear her spirit will take a great deal longer.”
Looking to Killian, Gianara said, “She should be moved. I have suggested it before, knowing there are a few openly Gaelic in Altaine's employ, but you must clearly see it is a necessity now. Mairead may have been a target. She and Cailin both may no longer be safe under Ashlynn's wings, such as they are.” There was a slight downturn of her lips, suggesting her opinion of Ashlynn was not that high. “All of this started because of her. She should let them go where they can be safe.”