Race for the Dragon Heartstone

by K. D. Halbrook

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  ONE

  Silver Batal, World Water Dragon Racing semifinalist, dug her fists into her water dragon’s snow-white mane, set her jaw, and narrowed her eyes at the smooth, glistening slide of ice before her.

  Ready? Silver thought to her beloved Hiyyan, communicating mentally with the Aquinder through their special bond. In response, the water dragon let out a roar and launched bellyfirst onto the icy slide. The fur collar on Silver’s cloak whipped against her ears and neck as the landscape around them blurred into a single shade of pale green. Hiyyan kept his head low and his limbs splayed out to the sides so that nothing slowed his speed as they raced over the ice on his smooth stomach.

  “You’ll never catch us!” Silver yelled, knowing the words would carry over her shoulder to Mele, once a cleaning girl at an inn in the royal city of Calidia, but now a friend and companion-in-hiding. Mele replied with a wordless battle cry as her own bonded water dragon, a Shorsa named Luap, slithered down the slide, almost completely flat against the surface.

  Silver laughed as Hiyyan added a triumphant cry of his own: “Huuunnnnrrrrggghhh!”

  It was a moment to relish: Girl hearts sprinted in time with water dragon hearts; their breaths came fast, shrouding their faces in soft veils of mist.

  Faster, Hiyyan, Silver urged her water dragon. We’re winners!

  Hiyyan grunted in agreement, flattened his stomach harder against the slick surface, and lowered his nose even closer to the ice.

  “Not too close. Your mane is sticking … slowing us down.” Silver glanced behind her. Mele and Luap were gaining on them. This was the first time Silver had raced against Mele, since the Shorsa had only just been freed from Calidia’s royal kennel, but everyone knew Shorsas were the fastest breed in racing. And even though they struggled to walk on dry land, Luap’s long, narrow body was aerodynamically suited for zooming through the water and, as Silver was now discovering, sliding across ice.

  “Ha-ha!” Mele’s triumphant laugh echoed off stone walls. A flash of multihued, pastel dragon hit Silver’s peripheral vision. They were neck and neck.

  Silver laughed back. “I’ve beat better racers than you before!”

  “Kwonk!” Luap snorted indignantly and glared at Silver.

  Hiyyan chuckled at the Shorsa and sent a happy wave of warmth to Silver.

  “You won’t this time!” Mele waved her fist in the air.

  The girls dissolved into giggles that bubbled up from their bellies.

  Let’s finish this, Hiyyan bond-said to Silver, pressing his wings more tightly to his side to minimize wind resistance. Silver grinned, even though the cold hurt her teeth. Hiyyan’s limbs were healthy and strong, well-healed after all the run-ins with cave monsters and enemy water dragons, and after the exhausting races of their last adventure. That was thanks to Nebekker—the old woman was a master of the curative arts.

  Yes! We are champions, my Hiyyan. No matter where we race.

  The winter world they’d called home for the past weeks sped by, so unlike Silver’s desert city of Jaspaton. A wind so cold it froze Silver’s hair to her temples sliced across their skin. Sharp, cool light bounced off the snow, searing their pupils. And the dark, moody mountains rose into the sky on every side of the valley they raced through. There had been many downhearted moments of late: of wishing to build warm fires but fearing the smoke would give away their position; of worrying their toes would turn blue in their soft boots that were meant for scorching sand, not snow; of a darkness at night so pure and black that Silver marveled she was even still alive at all.

  But none of those things mattered now. Today, the race thrilled Silver to her core, heating her belly like the great ceramic ovens Aunt Yidla baked bread in back in Jaspaton. The memory stabbed Silver with a pang of homesickness, but she quickly shook it off.

  “Watch out!” Silver and Hiyyan caught sight of a rock bursting through the ice at the same time and, together, banked to the left, swerving majestically.

  Scrisshhh. Silver’s heel grazed the solid surface of the icy river.

  “Argh!” Silver heard Mele call out.

  Mele and Luap weren’t so fortunate. Hiyyan’s large body blocked the rock from view until the last second, and the Shorsa didn’t see it. Luap bumped against the edge of the rock and ricocheted across the flow of the ice-stream toward the riverbank before finally righting herself once more.

  When one quick look assured Silver that her friends were all right, she faced forward again and pumped her fist in the air. “This race is ours.”

  They were almost to the marker they’d set as the finish line: an evergreen tree so harassed by wind that it leaned all the way across the frozen stream like an arch.

  “Go, go, g—aaahhh!” Silver lurched out of her seat as Hiyyan hit a rough patch in the ice, his belly sticking long enough to pull down his head and send them both sideways. One dragon wing pitched skyward as Hiyyan scrambled to regain balance. Silver slammed into the ice as Hiyyan’s weight dragged her across the frozen river.

  “Unnggghhhh!” The ice scraped painfully along her thigh, but Silver held on tightly. She would not give up so easily, not even during an unsanctioned race between friends in the hinterlands.

  “Let go!” Mele shouted.

  “Never!”

  Using all her strength, Silver clawed her way up Hiyyan’s mane. His claws, in the meantime, scraped against the ice, emitting a screech that sent shivers up Silver’s spine. She didn’t know which was worse: that sound or the way the sharp ice continued to slice away at her upper leg.

  “Knawwwnk.” Luap reached Silver and honked at her. Mele and her water dragon scowled at Silver.

  “I’m not letting go!”

  From Luap’s back, Mele leaned over, her hair whipping behind her, the strands nearly frozen together. “Silver, stop!”

  Silver gritted her teeth even harder. Mele could be more stubborn than a lazy herd animal, but when it came to racing, no one was more motivated than Silver. After all, hadn’t it been Silver’s love of racing that had gotten them into this mess—hiding in the mountains from Queen Imea with a supposedly extinct breed of water dragon plus one stolen Shorsa?

  Despite living in fear of being found, Silver had been watching this particular spot in the mountain-valley wilderness for the last two weeks, ever since the first thin slivers of ice appeared at the edges of the narrow, steeply south-running stream that was an offshoot of the main river. As winter marched on, those icy ribbons had widened until Silver could walk across the frozen water one bank to the other. On this day, though, clouds had rolled in, bringing a slight warmth, along with a brief drizzle that had slickened the ice until it looked like hard candy. They’d never get another chance like this to race.

  “No way! This isn’t over until the finish line.”

  “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “Keep racing!”

&n
bsp; Mele’s eyes flashed, but with anger or mirth, Silver couldn’t tell. “Suit yourself. Enjoy losing!”

  The Shorsa and her rider sank low to the ice again and sped forward, leaving Silver and Hiyyan behind in their mound of ice shavings.

  “Grrruuullll,” Hiyyan growled after them. As Mele and Luap slid past the finish line, Silver finally released her hold on her Aquinder and flopped onto the ice, breathless.

  “Some champions we are.” A shadow fell over Silver as Mele returned. “Go ahead, gloat all you want.”

  Mele shook her head. “You are so competitive. Here, let me see your leg.”

  “It’s fine.” But now that the thrill of the race was over, the sting of scraped and frozen skin was settling in. Silver gnawed on her bottom lip, and Mele winced as she peered at the raw spots through torn cloth.

  “Let’s get back to Nebekker so that she can tend to this.”

  Silver scrambled to her feet. “No, let’s go back up. I want a do-over. We would have won if not for that rough patch.”

  “Obstacles are part of racing.” Mele shrugged.

  “I know we can beat you!”

  “You lost, Silver. I guess a desert fox like you isn’t suited to these frozen lands.” Mele raised an eyebrow loftily and turned away. She and Luap continued down the ice stream toward the mountain caves the renegades had been hiding in.

  “Rude!” Silver scooped up a handful of snow from the stream bank and tossed it in Mele’s direction. The wind, with its own infuriating little laugh, blew the snow back into Silver’s face.

  Even Hiyyan had to chuckle at that.

  “Thanks, you overgrown lizard,” Silver muttered.

  TWO

  Two days after her ice-race loss, Silver stood at the edge of a mountain cliff and shaded her eyes against the reflection of light off the low-lying clouds. Hiyyan’s mother, Kirja, with her bold blue and white markings, should be easy to see against the monotony of gray that surrounded the mountains, but there was no sign of the rare Aquinder dragon on the horizon. Silver turned in one last circle, but still no Kirja. No anything, and for a band on the run from the Desert Nations queen and her ilk, that wasn’t a terrible thing.

  It had begun snowing again. Between that and the many feet of packed ice beneath her boots, Silver’s toes were going numb. She scrunched her shoulders around her ears as a wind whipped through. Silver was still wearing her riding suit even though there was no chance of joining a race anytime soon. The material, woven from Kirja’s lush underbelly fur, staved off some of the cold of the harsh mountain climate. Silver had begun collecting Kirja’s shed fur when she started the journey into the mountains nearly a month ago, and she had just enough to make herself a pair of warm socks, too. If only her restless fingers would calm long enough to work the fibers.

  For now, though, the throbbing in Silver’s feet meant it was time to seek shelter again. Kirja would be back soon. It was only another trip to Herd Valley, just outside Jaspaton, to gather supplies and news. She’d done it before and would be all right. She just had to be.

  “Can we start a fire now?” Huddled under a blanket in the back corner of the mountain cave, Mele huffed at Silver. After all the trudging Mele had done through the cold, her wide-set eyes were no longer glinting with laughter. Now they narrowed crankily at everyone.

  “Not until we get word from Kirja,” Nebekker said from the opposite side of the cave.

  The old woman Silver had befriended in Jaspaton, before she’d even met Hiyyan, relaxed beside the Aquinder, sharing the warmth his body threw off. Nebekker was wrapped in the furs of the mountain animals Kirja and Hiyyan had hunted in the first two weeks of their hiding from Queen Imea and her trackers. Silver wrinkled her nose, recalling how Nebekker had smoothly cleaned the hides, covered them with the salt Kirja had fetched, and then left them to cure for days, the smell finally dissipating after about a week. The warmth was worth it. And the water dragons had enjoyed the fresh meat, but without a fire, the humans were stuck nibbling on crackers and ice-burnt dried vegetables.

  “I wish I’d never come with you,” Mele snapped, digging even deeper into her blanket. The days when Kirja went scouting for signs of trackers, or hunting for what little edible animal life roamed the harsh landscape, always made Mele snippy. They were hungry, they were bored, and they questioned all the choices that had led them to the northern mountains. “Luap and I were fine in Calidia.”

  Luap tipped her chin up and down in snappy agreement with her bonded human.

  “You weren’t together in Calidia,” Silver reminded her. “The queen had Luap trapped.”

  “We should have gone straight to King A-Malusni,” Mele said. For the thousandth time.

  “We aren’t guaranteed his protection,” Silver replied. For the thousandth time. Until they had the protection of the Island Nation’s king, they were waiting it out in the mountains. Silver and Hiyyan were wanted: she, for using camouin, an illegal substance that camouflaged anything it touched, and he for being an Aquinder, a banned breed of water dragon.

  But as soon as Ferdi sent word to her cousin Brajon that the coast was clear, Brajon would relay that message to Silver and they’d head east, where a king just as powerful as Queen Imea could help them out.

  Mele glared at Hiyyan for a moment, then turned her attention back to Silver. “You aren’t.”

  Anger warmed Silver’s belly the way a fire never could have, and she clenched her fists. A few feet to her right, Hiyyan stood, his body warming, too. Silver felt a flush of gratitude that she and her water dragon were of the same mind, always prepared to defend each other.

  “Things are changing,” Nebekker said, cutting in just as Silver opened her mouth to shout at Mele. “Especially for those with water dragon bonds. You may not be wanted the same way Silver and Hiyyan are, but for the moment, you are safer here than under Queen Imea’s nose, Mele.”

  Mele turned her face away. “Freezing to death doesn’t sound safer to me.”

  Silver slowly relaxed her fists and tried to keep her voice even. Fighting with her friend never got them anywhere. Besides, Mele had given up just as much as anyone else to be with her water dragon. Maybe more. All because of Silver. “Kirja will return soon, and she should have word from Brajon. The bundle we sent down will have bought us some time.”

  A week ago, the travelers had stumbled across a smattering of still-fresh bones in the snow. Human or animal, they couldn’t quite tell—nor did they want to try to guess—but Silver had the idea to bundle a few up with fabric torn from their clothes, and even some bits of Aquinder fur. Kirja had flown it all down to Herd Valley with a note: This is us.

  Would Brajon understand that, after he secretly assured the Batals that she was all right, he was supposed to spread word that Silver and her companions had perished at the hands of some carnivorous mountain beast? Had he even managed to arrange a mock funeral? That would be the kind of theatrical event Brajon loved. Most important, would it convince anyone looking for them that Silver and Hiyyan had perished in the mountains?

  Silver was doubtful, but the bundle was only one part of their attempts to hide. Nebekker had been working on animal hide costumes so they’d look like a herd of goats climbing, but what Silver wouldn’t do for a bagful of camouin! It wasn’t like she could get into even more trouble using it. And Mele, former inn-cleaner, was doing a great job of covering their tracks when they moved.

  But Silver knew it wasn’t enough. Now that Queen Imea was aware of the existence of living Aquinder, long thought to be hunted to extinction, she was surely searching for them. Sagittaria Wonder, the greatest water dragon racer of all time, might even now be on the hunt in the mountain caves. Silver gritted her teeth and huffed her frustration. They had to get to King A-Malusni as soon as possible. Hiyyan sat again and pressed his big head into Silver’s side, nearly knocking her over. She exhaled and wrapped her arm around his mane, the touch calming her.

  “Here.” With one gravelly word, Nebekker tossed a ba
lled-up object to Silver.

  “Socks!”

  “You and your excellent fiber working skills weren’t making progress with them, so I thought I’d finish them up for you.”

  Silver smiled and squished the fabric between her fingers, delighting in the luxuriousness. She’d never known a fiber as soft and insulating as Aquinder fur.

  “And for you,” Nebekker continued, sliding an even larger bundle to Mele.

  Mele squealed. “Socks and mittens!”

  Luap stuck her snout into the bundle, as though hoping for something, too.

  “Sorry, Luap. I’ll make something for you and Hiyyan next,” Nebekker said.

  “You are full of secrets, Nebekker.” Silver tugged her boots off and exchanged her old socks for the new, wiggling her toes and grinning. “They’re perfect.”

  “I could explore a whole world of ice now,” Mele agreed, pulling the mittens on and pressing the palms against her cheeks.

  “Let’s—”

  “—not, though,” Mele finished for Silver.

  Silver laughed and looked back to the cave entrance, lifting her feet in the air. She felt light and eager for adventure. Hiyyan forced his head under Silver’s arm and gazed up at her with a glint in his eyes. They both wanted to get out of the cave. “The more we know about the world around us, the better off we’ll be once we get word from Kirja.”

  “True,” Nebekker said cautiously. She reached into a basket, frowning at what little food she brought forth in her hand. A bit of dried meat, a jar of pickled sea vegetables, some grains and bread crumbs.

  Silver looked away, guilt springing into her chest. It was a good thing the water dragons could hunt for their meals. Hiyyan had even begun carefully bringing fish up through the river hole they’d drilled with Silver’s jeweler’s tool. He’d flip them onto the ice for the humans to eat, but nearly as many flopped back into the hole before Silver could wrap her half-frozen hands around their slick bodies. Besides, Silver craved pillowy bread, juicy fruits, sweet cakes. What she wouldn’t do for a steaming bowl of chicken in sour cherry and pine nut yogurt sauce! Anything other than partially frozen, tiny nibbles of bony, raw fish and a spoonful of cold, soaked grain.