by Jodi Meadows
Ilina glanced at Aaru, then me. “What was the question?” When I told her, she nodded. “Different species have different amounts of fire they can safely breathe for long spans, but don’t worry about Crystal and LaLa. They’re nowhere near their limits.”
At the sound of her name, Crystal squawked and began shoving her face through Ilina’s hair.
Aaru smiled at the dragon’s display, but when lightning struck and thunder crashed, the expression faltered and he glanced around the cabin. ::Big storm coming. Need protection.::
“What do we do?” I had no idea how to prepare the rickety cabin for a storm. My house in Crescent Prominence was always ready, as far as I knew.
::Windows.:: He turned to the first window near him and began pinning the curtains in place, just as the night lit up and the first great sheet of rain poured from the sky. I imagined water washing out our footprints. Carrying away small twigs and leaves broken in our passage. Disguising the smoke from our fire. This storm was exactly what we needed.
Ilina dragged me to the window on the other side of the room, and while we worked on that one together, she said, “I’ve been thinking about our plan. Where to go next. What to do.”
“Me too.” Now that we were free from the Pit, we could finally find the dragons that had been taken from the Crescent Prominence sanctuary. We could rescue them. “I think we should discuss it with the group first.”
“Why?” She lowered her voice and stabbed a pin through the curtain on her side.
“Because they should have a say.”
Sensing he wasn’t invited to this conversation, Aaru finished his window and began gathering up thin blankets to create a barrier against any water that managed to leak inside.
Ilina bent toward me. “We don’t need them anymore. As soon as Hristo is well enough, we should separate.”
“What?” I wiped a stream of water off my face. Surely I’d heard her wrong.
She sighed. “Look, we got them out of the Pit. That’s what you wanted. Your debt to them is paid.” She pushed a long, black curl behind her ear. “We can go anywhere, Mira. Before we found you in Bopha, Hristo and I came up with several places we can hide—you, me, and the dragons—where no one will know us or even care who we are. Three of us can disappear, but six? No.”
“I don’t want to hide.” I pinned the last piece of my curtain in place and stepped back. “And I can’t abandon them.”
“You wouldn’t be. Like I said, your debt is paid.”
My heart lurched, and numbers skittered through my head. Ilina and I so rarely disagreed, but here we were at odds. “I promised to get Aaru back to his family, and Chenda will be a useful ally—”
“For what?” She took my hand in hers. “You’ve said that before, and that’s why we agreed to free them, too, but the six of us aren’t a team, Mira. You, me, and Hristo—yes. We work well together. But the rest of them?” She glanced over my shoulder, her brown eyes darkening with determination. “They’re not our responsibility.”
“I need them,” I whispered. “I need all of you.”
She squeezed my hands. “I know you care about people, Mira. And that’s one of the best things about you. You truly care about others.”
I swallowed hard.
“But sometimes I think you care too much, and that can get you in trouble.”
I wanted to sink into the ground. She was right that caring got me into trouble, but I’d been born on Damina—in the light of the Lovers. My faith demanded that I care.
How was I to reconcile my beliefs with my desire for self-preservation? And what about all the times my caring got others into trouble? Where was the line?
“Sometimes you’re so focused on doing the right thing for everyone else that your best friends suffer the consequences.”
I felt sick. The last thing I wanted was to hurt my friends. But didn’t Gerel, Chenda, and Aaru count now? Maybe they’d never admit it, but . . .
Thunder growled, and rain lashed harder against the cabin, dulling our voices. On the far side of the room, Aaru used his toe to nudge a noorestone away from the wall.
“We have to separate,” Ilina said. “Or—”
::Something outside!:: But even before Aaru could finish warning us, a long, low growl vibrated through the cabin, and a bang rattled the door with such force that Ilina and I both jumped.
Had Altan found us?
But the next crash against the door came with a roar—a familiar sharp timbre and panicked quaver. LaLa and Crystal squawked and pushed off our shoulders, toward the rafters.
“Open the door!” I lunged for it, too. “Kelsine is outside.”
CHAPTER SIX
ILINA REACHED THE DOOR BEFORE I DID, AND WHEN she threw it open, the young Drakontos ignitus charged in, slinging mud and water across the floor. She was the height of a large hound, with her shoulder up to my hip and a wingspan wide enough to support her muscular body in flight.
Above, LaLa hissed and spurted fire, but Kelsine ignored her. Instead, the bigger dragon stopped directly in front of me and heaved a sigh as she lowered herself to the floor, exhausted.
Aaru shut the door, muffling the noise of the storm, but he didn’t take his eyes off the third dragon in our cabin, while Ilina, predictably, moved around the perimeter of the room to get a better look. She kept her movements slow but deliberate so that when Kelsine noticed her, there’d be no shock or rush to attack. If Ilina knew anything, it was how to approach frightened dragons. That was a lesson learned early in the sanctuary.
But even as Ilina came into Kelsine’s line of sight, the dragon didn’t seem to care. Slouched at my feet, she blew a smoky breath and lifted her eyes toward me. LaLa squawked again, and Crystal bounced from side to side, little puffs of flame darting between her teeth.
::Is she all right?:: Aaru tapped lightly against the door, just loud enough to be heard over the drive of rain.
“I don’t see anything wrong with her.” I crouched before the young dragon and offered my fingers for her to sniff. “Besides exhaustion.”
“No injuries,” Ilina said. “At least that I can see without getting closer.”
Cautiously, as though our alliance in the Pit might have been some sort of fluke, Kelsine picked up her head and stretched to meet my fingertips. Her nostrils flared as she inhaled my scent, then dropped her jaw. A breath of smoke tangled over my fingers, then dissipated into the rafters.
LaLa hissed again, hunched over her perch as though ready to stoop toward the larger dragon. A bad idea for all of us.
“Don’t be jealous.” I kept my voice soft and level as Kelsine butted her head toward my hand. Cautiously, I ran my fingers over warm, slick scales. “Ilina, I think she’ll let me pet her while you take a quick look.”
::Careful.:: Aaru still hadn’t moved from the door. That was probably smart, because Gerel would return soon and the last thing we needed was for her to barge in and frighten Kelsine.
“I’ll look.” Ilina padded closer while I rubbed Kelsine’s snout and up between her eyes.
She was a beautiful creature, all opalescent brown scales, still years from turning red with adulthood. Nubby facial horns scraped my palm as she adjusted herself to force me to pet where she wanted: along her cheeks, under her chin, and down her long throat where the scales glimmered the shade of sun-bleached sand.
Ilina knelt beside Kelsine, resting one hand flat on the dragon’s flank while she worked. “No missing scales,” she muttered. “There are a few chips, but they’re older scales and will be shed soon. The damage wasn’t necessarily sustained yesterday or today.”
My heart ached for the young dragon as I stroked down the side of her throat. “Poor Kelsine. You’ve had a hard life.”
A deep, grumbling purr rumbled through her body.
“I can’t see Altan or the other warriors abusing her.” I petted the dragon’s cheeks again.
::I can see Altan abusing anyone.::
When I glanced up, Aaru wore a
dark mask of emotion—anger or hatred or hurt; it was hard to tell with him. And Aaru had every right to hate Altan, so I didn’t say aloud that in spite of all his many faults, Altan cared about dragons. It seemed more likely to me that Kelsine had sustained these injuries when the adult dragons had been taken from the Heart and she’d been hidden.
“Let’s see her teeth.” Ilina shifted to kneel next to me, her movements confident and competent as she pulled open Kelsine’s mouth to peer inside. “Very good,” she murmured. “Looks like they’re all accounted for, and I don’t see any broken or damaged.” She released Kelsine’s mouth and petted between her forehead horns. “You’re a good girl, Kelsine.”
Above, Crystal let out an annoyed squawk and flew into a corner. LaLa followed in a flutter of gold wings and disgusted chirping.
“I think they’re mad.” Ilina smoothed her hand down Kelsine’s neck.
::Why?::
“Aaru asked why.” I stood and gazed at the small dragons in the corner while I answered his question. “They get jealous quickly, like cats. LaLa and Crystal have watched us work with lots of different dragons in the sanctuary before, but going back and forth with us made them feel special. This is the first time another dragon has come into our collective territory.”
Ilina was nodding. “That was my thought, too. They haven’t seen us in months, and they believed this was our cabin, and our time to reconnect. They see Kelsine as an intruder.”
Aaru gazed upward, where LaLa and Crystal made small chirps and chatters at each other, having their own private conversation with their backs turned toward us. ::I didn’t realize they could feel like that.::
“Of course they can feel like that,” Ilina said when I interpreted. “They’re very sensitive creatures.”
Aaru stepped back, expression falling into blankness.
“He didn’t know,” I said. “He’s never met a dragon before. Have you ever met a dragon?” I glanced at Aaru, suddenly realizing I didn’t actually know.
He held up one finger. ::It was not a good meeting.::
I relayed what he said, and Ilina frowned, but nodded. “Our dragons have feelings,” she said. “Kelsine, too. And we’re going to have to figure out what to do with her.”
“I don’t want to leave her here where the warriors might find her. We should take her with us.”
“Take her with us where?” Ilina shook her head. “And for how long? We can barely care for ourselves at this point, let alone a juvenile Drakontos ignitus.”
“Then she needs a sanctuary.” I held Ilina’s gaze, my heart pounding. “You said you wanted to talk about what we do next, and I don’t want to hide. I won’t.”
“You want to help dragons.”
I gave a single nod. “You know that’s what I want.”
She closed her eyes, pulling inward to think. Heartbeats thumped by: seven, eight, nine . . . Thunder crashed outside, and rain slammed ever harder against the cabin. “You’ve been to the First Harta Dragon Sanctuary, right?”
“Twice. The keepers are good people. The sanctuary is well maintained.” A knot of tension in my chest eased. “They will take Kelsine, I’m sure of it.”
“And the Chance Encounter is waiting for us in Lorn-tah. If we can get to the port, it should only take a day or two to reach Val fa Merce. Of all the ports in the Fallen Isles, that is the one we should head to first, anyway. We’ll need new identification, and I hear Val fa Merce is the best place to get that.”
“How do you—”
“Which we’ll need for getting into other ports, and when we rescue the other dragons, they’ll need somewhere to go, and the First Harta Dragon Sanctuary is as good a place as any. But we should warn them.”
“They might not have the space to hold that many big dragons long term, but we can contact other sanctuaries too.” Already, Ilina was thinking through every keeper she knew and who she could trust to care for the dragons she’d grown up loving. “All right. I’m with you. We’ll take Kelsine to Harta, then go after the others.”
“How hard can it be?” I laughed, knowing full well it would be next to impossible. But if we didn’t make the effort, who would?
“Right.” Ilina grinned. “Easy as the moons rising.”
“What if—” I hesitated.
Ilina’s smile fell. “I know. What if Crescent Prominence wasn’t the only one?”
“Right.” The word felt hollow. “After all, the dragons in the Heart were removed, but those might have been just because they weren’t supposed to have dragons in the first place.”
Ilina didn’t look convinced. “Maybe.”
“Still, we have to try, right?” I offered a brave smile. “It’s better to know one way or another. At best, we go to Harta and have a place to take dragons. At worst . . .”
“We know there’s no one else we can trust,” she finished. “Only ourselves.”
I knew she still meant her, Hristo, and me—not the others—but I nodded. Ilina would come around to the others. Hristo would join us wherever we went. And the moment treats were offered, LaLa and Crystal would forgive us for being kind to another dragon.
With dark, thoughtful eyes, Aaru watched from across the room. ::You want to rescue the dragons taken from your sanctuary?::
“Yes.” My heart caught in my throat. “More than anything.”
Aaru lowered his head in a single nod. ::I understand.::
I chanced a smile, turning my face as the scar pulled, then I stepped over to the fire. When I called for Kelsine, she crept to me and curled up next to Hristo, falling asleep so quickly it seemed incredible she didn’t take us all with her.
“I’m with you,” Ilina said again. “We’ll take Kelsine to Harta, and then we’ll save the other dragons.” She clicked and reached for Crystal, who whistled and dived into Ilina’s arms.
We were going to be fine.
“YOU WANT TO go to Harta for a dragon?” Gerel had returned from setting traps outside the cabin, and naturally she had questions: where had the third dragon come from, and what did we intend to do with her?
“One of Altan’s dragons, at that.” Chenda sat near the low fire, opposite the sleeping Kelsine and Hristo. Freshly scrubbed, her deep umber skin practically glowed.
“She’s not Altan’s dragon anymore.” I paused my braiding of Ilina’s hair to pet Kelsine. Our baths hadn’t been nearly as luxurious as Chenda’s, what with the extra dragon needing to be watched, but we’d gotten soap on all the important places, including the tattered remains of our clothes. Unfortunately, all our extra blankets were being used as dams against the encroaching rainwater, so we sat in our damp clothes and hoped the fire helped dry them. “Kelsine is with us,” I said. “We’re going to take care of her.”
Ilina started to nod in agreement, but stopped herself; I still had handfuls of her hair.
“This is a bad idea.” Chenda glanced at the sleeping dragon. “Surely there is something more important you could be doing.”
“Helping dragons is the most important thing I can do.” I finished Ilina’s second braid and then turned around for her to do mine. We were aiming for fast and simple—just enough to keep our hair out of our faces for a few days—but even so, it felt so wonderful to be (mostly) clean and to let my best friend braid my hair.
“There’s still noorestone dust in here.” Ilina’s tone was a frown. “Did you even try to get it out?”
“What?” I pulled a strand over my shoulder, waiting to hear her laugh and say she’d tricked me, but no. She was right. Tiny particles of noorestone still glowed against the black curls. “I did try to wash it.”
Maybe noorestone dust was like cat fur: everywhere, always.
Aaru regarded us with a lifted eyebrow and upturned mouth. ::Cannot understate how much dust there was.::
“That’s true.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around my knees while Ilina got to work. Noorestone powder in my hair didn’t matter. Not here. Not with these people. They weren’t Mother, and I
wasn’t the Hopebearer to them—just Mira.
Just Mira.
Thunder crashed again, shaking the cabin, and wood groaned against a gust of wind.
“Well,” Chenda said, “how do you propose to help dragons? We can’t even get off the island, let alone to Harta.”
Ilina was suspiciously quiet, so I said it: “We have a ship waiting for us.”
“A ship.” Chenda raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps Kelsine will fit on a ship bound for Harta. Perhaps you can get her to the ship. But what about the others? There are far larger dragons you’ll want to rescue, correct?”
Heat crawled up my throat and cheeks. “All the species of dragons taken from our sanctuary were larger—”
“How will you fit three Drakontos rexes on a single ship without proper precautions? How will you make the dragons trust you enough, after what they’ve been through?” Chenda glanced at Gerel for help, but Gerel was hemming a sleeve cut off one of the jackets. The set of her shoulders indicated she was listening, but trying not to get involved. Chenda let out an annoyed breath as she turned back to Ilina and me.
“We’ll make it work,” Ilina said after a moment. “We could even steal the ship the dragon thieves have been using.”
“And sail it with what crew?” Chenda asked.
“Mira is the Hopebearer,” Ilina said. “And the Dragonhearted, according to some people. We will find a crew willing to sail for her.”
Chenda shook her head. “You are thinking like children playing at a grand adventure, but these plans will get you killed.”
“They’ll be less likely to get us killed if you’re with us,” I said.
Ilina tugged my hair in irritation.
Chenda leveled her gaze on me. “Indeed, because I would advise you to seek help from the Luminary Council.”
Before she even finished saying the word luminary, I was already shaking my head. “The council betrayed me.”
“That’s what you said before.” Gerel looked up, lured into the conversation at last. Whatever she was making was nearly finished, with a long strap that stretched from one end of the sleeve to the other. “But the Great Abandonment—”