Race for the Dragon Heartstone

by K. D. Halbrook

  Silver paid no attention to her lungs as they ached for air. She would catch Sagittaria, and she would get her heartstone back. But it was when Ferdi passed her, coming almost close enough to the Dwakka to grab its tail, that Silver realized that what rushed against her cheeks wasn’t water, but air.

  It was pulling her down into the vacuum of the deep sea. Bright, panic-laced dots burst in the corners of Silver’s vision. If she went much farther, the pull would be too strong for even Hiyyan to battle back to the surface.

  But under the panic, there was something else, a feeling deep in her chest, behind her lungs, that ached in a completely different way. It made her think of home.

  Silver wanted to go home.

  Home, Hiyyan said, his thoughts clouded over with images of molten earth and volcanoes. His chest ached with a familiar longing.

  This was Hiyyan’s home.

  Before Silver could suss out the thoughts crowding her mind, the pressure increased until her temples throbbed and she couldn’t think of anything at all. Just as suddenly, they were thrust out of the water and onto dry land. Silver sucked in a wild breath. There was oxygen here. But the air smelled funny, like when the Jaspaton miners got too deep under the earth.

  “Gases,” Silver said. She looked around. Ferdi and Hoonazoor were to her left, and Sagittaria was directly in front of them, staring out over some kind of precipice, a hot wind blasting her wet black hair away from her face.

  The water dragon racer looked back over her shoulder one time, raised her arm, and threw the dragon heartstone over the edge.

  “No!” Silver screamed. The heartstone skimmed the tip of the water, a sea that strangely flowed above their heads, and as it did, a shimmering creature—a huge fish—gobbled it up and swam off.

  “What—” Ferdi sputtered.

  “You have got to be kidding!” Sagittaria Wonder balled up her fists and sent her Dwakka into a run. They leaped as high as they could to catch the ocean and swam up, disappearing into darkness.

  “I’ll go after her,” Ferdi began, but Silver threw her arm out.

  “Look.”

  The fish, realizing the heartstone wasn’t a delectable ocean morsel, returned and spit the dragon heartstone back. It bounced once, then twice, then rolled over the precipice.

  Silver dashed to the edge and looked over. Black rock went down hundreds of feet to where rivers of lava swirled and splashed angrily. The dragon heartstone had landed on a small jutting of rock about halfway down.

  Hiyyan came up beside Silver and looked over.

  “Do you think we can get it?” Silver asked. “Safely?”

  Hiyyan cocked his head to the side, his lush white mane blowing back with the force of the hot air rising swiftly. Go. Get.

  Ferdi came up beside Silver, followed by Hoonazoor, who slithered over awkwardly. Like most water dragons, the Glithern struggled on land.

  “We won’t be able to get down,” Ferdi said. He turned to Hoonazoor and opened his mouth to speak, but he paused when he spotted a dark shadow in the water above them.

  Silver squinted as the backlit figure came closer.

  “Sagittaria’s back.” Silver swung herself up onto Hiyyan. “Climb on, Ferdi. We’re out of time.”

  The island prince got seated behind Silver and waved Hoonazoor in the opposite direction to delay the approach of the racer. She nodded and threw herself into the water. Then, Hiyyan spread his wings and dove into the hot, stinking mouth of the volcano.

  It was impossible to breathe. Poisonous vapors burned Silver’s throat, and the rate and angle of their descent frightened her. If she fell off Hiyyan, she’d fall into a pool of scorching lava, not a cool sea. She gritted her teeth and buried her face in Hiyyan’s mane, letting her watering eyes drain into his fur. Seated behind her, Ferdi gasped at air and tightened his grip on her waist.

  It felt like hours, but the drop to the perch took only seconds of free fall, plus one grand swoop on approach. Hiyyan landed gently, and Silver opened her eyes. Just in time to see a dark, ratlike creature emerge.

  “What in the world are you?” Silver cried out. She watched in horror as it lapped the dragon heartstone into its mouth with a long, sticky tongue and dashed into a tunnel.

  “By all the dunes!” Silver yelled after the horrible little creature. She gave chase. “Come here. Give me that back!”

  With Hiyyan and Ferdi on her heels, Silver swooped and swerved through the dark tunnel. As the orange lava glow behind her faded, she bumped into walls with her shoulders and toes, bruising herself all over. Around another bend, and then one more, where the light grew again. Silver threw her arms out and skidded to a stop in a room that was entirely missing its floor. A handful of pebbles flew over a cliff, dropping into the lava below.

  “Argh!”

  Hiyyan froze, but Ferdi couldn’t stop, barreling into Hiyyan before knocking into Silver just enough that she teetered on the edge of the precipice for one heart-stopping moment before, finally, going over.

  “Silver!” Ferdi screamed. He threw out an arm and caught Silver’s wrist.

  “Ungh,” Silver groaned as her shoulder was wrenched out of its socket. Even as she swung wildly, she realized she recognized her surroundings. The heat, the orange glow, falling into the depths of the molten earth. She had just dreamed about this place!

  “Hold on, Silver.” Ferdi carefully stepped closer to the edge and held out another hand. Hiyyan whimpered. “Stay back, Hiyyan. There isn’t enough room for you to maneuver without singeing your wings.”

  As if on cue, the hot earth popped and sent a shower of sparks and lava toward Silver. One caught on the bottom of her boot. The acrid smell of burnt leather took her breath away. She peered over her shoulder, then wished she hadn’t. The lava was so close it stung her eyes.

  Still, Silver ground her teeth together. “Where’s that rat?”

  Ferdi grunted. “Honestly…” He wiggled his empty hand, reminding Silver it was there. “It’s the last thing we should be worrying about.”

  Silver heaved her dangling arm up, but it was several inches from meeting Ferdi’s.

  “Scramble!” Ferdi said. “Isn’t that what desert foxes do?”

  Sweat poured down Silver’s face. Ferdi, too, glistened with heat and effort, his eyebrows drawn but his eyes frantic, tears spilling over from the sulfurous air. His dark hair blew back from his face, and he clamped his teeth together, too.

  “Please, Silver,” he whispered. “I can’t … guhn.” Ferdi’s boot kicked gravel into Silver’s face as her weight pulled him closer to the edge.

  They would both have kept flailing if Hiyyan hadn’t started sending rolling waves of calm to Silver.

  Live. My Silver, my human, my friend.

  Silver pressed her lips into a thin line and caught Ferdi’s eye, holding him in her gaze until his expression softened.

  “Okay,” he whispered. “Slow and steady, Silver. Swing left and right, left and right, just like that, almost got it…”

  The toes of Silver’s boots dragged across the volcano wall, leather sizzling, as she swung back and forth, and then with a rush of energy, she threw her arm high. Ferdi caught her forearm with a snap, holding on with everything he had. He fell onto his belly, and Hiyyan immediately wrapped the end of his tail around Ferdi’s ankles to drag them back from the edge.

  Ferdi stood, pulling Silver up with him, and hugged her tightly.

  “Thank you,” Silver gasped.

  “I’ll never let you fall,” Ferdi murmured into her singed cloak.

  Together, they turned and looked at the small ledge that ran around the opening to the tunnel on the other side. The rat could have gone only that way.

  “Is there enough room to get you across?” Silver asked Hiyyan. While she and Ferdi could possibly scrape along the wall ledge, it would be impossible for Hiyyan to follow them on foot. But Silver would not leave him behind.

  As if reading her thoughts, Ferdi said, “He’s going to have to try.�
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  “Go first, Hiyyan, fly, then we’ll follow along the ledge. Leap, then flap, hard,” Silver said.

  Hiyyan nodded, let loose an echoing roar, and launched. There was a half-second of drop, then Hiyyan’s wings thrust against the air. He sailed over the opening with more ease than Silver expected.

  Satisfied, Silver and Ferdi pressed their backs against the wall and scruffed their way along the ledge. The gases made Silver light-headed, but she turned her toes out and kept going. On the other side, Hiyyan used a wing to pull her all the way to him.

  “It can’t be that easy,” Silver said wryly as she hugged her Aquinder with relief.

  “Or maybe we earned a break,” Ferdi said, countering Silver with his optimism.

  With a snort, Silver peered into the darkness of the new tunnel. One good thing, she decided, was that the rat had nowhere to go but ahead. But how to get the heartstone back from the critter?

  Hiyyan was reading her thoughts. In reply, he grinned mischievously, his double row of razor teeth glinting in the low light. Silver laughed, shaking her head. “Come on.”

  But before they could enter the tunnel, a voice soared across the noxious air. “Desert Fox!”

  On the other side of the room, Sagittaria Wonder snarled her frustration. Her hair was a mess, singed in places, and her riding suit was torn from the effort of scaling the volcano to follow them.

  “The crossing’s impossible for her,” Ferdi said.

  “For her dragon.” Silver shook her head. “But never underestimate Sagittaria Wonder. Hurry.”

  They pursued the rodent until they came to a wall. Nowhere to go, left or right. Silver hardly cared, because standing defiantly on two legs up against the wall was the rat. That feeling of home flushed her veins thoroughly again.

  “You’re caught now,” she said. Silver unwrapped her scarf and scooped up the rat in one quick movement. Her hands danced to avoid the creature’s nipping teeth. “Stop that. All I want is my heartstone back.”

  “You’re going to wait for it to, you know…” Ferdi said. “Dispel it?”

  The island prince was so squicked out that Silver couldn’t help but giggle.

  “You’re very princely right now,” she said. She stuck her nose in the air and lifted the register of her voice. “Oh ho, I’m much too grand to speak of bodily functions.”

  Hiyyan snorted until Ferdi was pink with embarrassment.

  “Have your fun, Silver Batal, but I’m not the one who’ll be combing through that creature’s excrement when the time comes.”

  “Hiyyan offered to make a snack of it, so we might get the stone back quicker than—”

  As though the rodent could understand Silver’s words, it squeaked and leaped from Silver’s arms, huddling against the wall, shaking. Silver lurched for it, bumping her shoulder hard against the rock.

  Without a sound, the solid rock face gave way.

  TWENTY-ONE

  Silver toppled over in a heap, almost snagging the rat before it scurried away into the new space revealed to the trio.

  “Mrow?” Hiyyan blinked his big, dark eyes.

  Ferdi pushed the opening wider, like a set of doors. But it was Hiyyan who bustled through first, stepping with a noble brilliance that Silver had never seen from him before. His head was held high, his wings pulled tight and straight against the sides of his body, his tail curled off the ground. With a grace that would put even Prince Ferdi to shame, Hiyyan bowed his head low for a moment, then stood upright once more, his gaze focused and unwavering.

  Silver came around to see what had caused this change to come over Hiyyan.

  The room that had opened before them was vast and gleamed with obsidian laced with precious stones. Around the edges of the room, water dragons of all sizes, colors, and breeds lounged on cushions or against glimmering black walls.

  Despite her exhaustion, Silver’s heart leaped with joy at the sight of them all, the same as it had the first time she’d seen real water dragons. Adorable Abruqs, despite not being under the queen’s command, couldn’t keep themselves from perking up at her entrance, their noses raising to the ceiling. A Dwakka with two pleasant faces instead of the usual one kind, one angry, scratched its back against a rock. Through the center, a hot spring flowed, clouding the space with steam, and inside the stream, Silver could just make out the spine of a Glithern. There was even a Droller in the back, its huge size no match for the cavernous room. It was the first time Silver had seen one without all the transport trappings that weighed down the Calidia Drollers.

  And then, on the opposite side of the room, just visible through the mist, Silver made out a stone dais inlaid with four smooth gemstone circles, each with an elaborate geometric pattern.

  And on those circles, four water dragons perched.

  Ferdi couldn’t keep back his shout. “Are those more Aquinder?”

  Laughter rippled around the room.

  “They are. And I know them.” Silver faced the female Aquinder. “You gifted me the dragon heartstone.”

  And already you have lost it, said Dortaal, the old Aquinder, his song full of grit and judgment.

  Not lost. The female Aquinder, Kyan, rolled her eyes, rose from her circle, and tracked her nose along the floor. With satisfaction, she reached into a small opening in one wall and pulled forth the ratlike creature that had swallowed the stone.

  This will only hurt for a moment, Kyan said. Suddenly, she squeezed the rat’s belly. With a strangled hacking sound, the creature spat the dragon heartstone out and across the floor. Silver ran to retrieve it, wiping the gunk off it with her scarf and tucking the stone as deep into her pocket as she could. No one was taking it from her again. Not Sagittaria, nor these dragons.

  We want you to have it, the Glithern named Ssun said exasperatedly. That’s why we gave it to you in the first place.

  “Just making sure,” Silver said. No, sang. Once more, she was capable of speaking in the water dragons’ own language.

  Ferdi gave her a look of surprise and admiration. “You…? How…?”

  “I can fully communicate with water dragons. My heartstone gift.”

  “What are they saying? Who are they? What are their names?”

  “They are the water dragon council. Kyan, Ssun, Ge, and Dortaal.” Silver pointed to each in turn. Three water dragons nodded a greeting, while Dortaal simply twitched his nose in disgust.

  Silver shoved her hand in her pocket and rolled the heartstone around in her palm, where it grew warm. “You say you want me to have the heartstone. But what is a dragon heartstone really?”

  Intruder. Ge, the Padahu, narrowed her eyes at the space behind Silver.

  Silver and Hiyyan spun around. Sagittaria Wonder, her temples dripping with sweat, entered the room.

  “You found us,” Ferdi said. Hiyyan growled.

  Immediately, four Abruq circled Sagittaria, forcing her to stay near the entrance.

  “Not easily,” Sagittaria growled. Her breath came quickly as she assessed the room.

  You brought her here, Dortaal roared, glaring at Silver. Everyone flinched at his anger.

  “I didn’t!” Silver protested.

  You led her here, Dortaal amended.

  “I didn’t…” Silver clenched her fists. It was her fault Sagittaria was in the chamber. Hers, and that horrid rat’s. “I didn’t mean to.”

  The girl does not control who follows her, countered Ge.

  We should never have given her the heartstone. She should never have bonded with a water dragon!

  But she did, Kyan said smoothly. And we weren’t the ones who made these laws. We only do our best to understand and enforce them.

  The other one was a better choice, Dortaal growled. She went into hiding like a smart human.

  Silver knew they meant Nebekker. “But even she couldn’t stay hidden forever.”

  Thanks to you, Dortaal said.

  Hiyyan’s muscles tightened. Silver probed his emotions, realizing that he wanted to ple
ase the council, but he bristled at the way they spoke about Silver. Eventually, he moved ever so slightly closer to Silver, and she felt a protective energy surround her.

  They made different choices, Kyan countered. And I think you forget that Nebekker went into hiding as much to live quietly with her heartstone as to protect her heartstone. What use is that to us? Besides, I think the timing is right for this young one. The hidden world of the water dragons can’t stay that way forever. Even now, the core trembles. How long until that tremble becomes a quake? Trials and tragedies are brought to us by many forces, all older than we are. And so it just might be this youthful one on which pivots the fate of our lives.

  “What are they saying?” Sagittaria Wonder pointed at Silver. “I know you understand them.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Silver lied.

  There is no need to hide our words, Silver Batal, Kyan said. Nor to hide the gifts the dragon heartstones bestow upon their bonded pairs. For too long we have dealt in mystery. Too long have we hidden from the world. Peace between our kinds shouldn’t be so difficult.

  Ferdi edged into the space between Silver and Sagittaria, as though readying himself to defend Silver.

  “They said they want us—humans—to understand the dragon heartstones,” Silver explained.

  Kyan smiled, her patient eyes contrasting with her double row of sharp teeth. You understand them better than any other, don’t you?

  Silver slipped a glance at Sagittaria and rubbed her tongue against the back of her teeth.

  “At first, I thought all the heartstones were healing stones. But then I realized it’s not that. Mine didn’t work that way, after all. But Nebekker always had talent with healing. Long ago, Gulad Nakim knew the Land and Sea Wars were coming—he could foresee things even as a kid. And I had a natural talent for communicating with water dragons. Which means…” Silver swallowed, her feet shifting against the ground. It felt wrong to reveal the secret she’d discovered. “The heartstones enhance our natural gifts. And that’s different for everyone. At least I guess it’d be. I only know about the three heartstones.”