by Kendal Davis
“Why aren’t they flying?” Olivia leaned forward to ask me.
They must pass through the portal more slowly than that. This, they must do on foot. I craned my blue neck to see if my suspicion was right. It was.
The portal was only just opening as we arrived. We could see it spin with blindingly hot energy as it grew ready for use. This action, the activating of a House portal, was deathly serious. Elterian law, in this age, decreed that a portal be used for diplomatic mission, or for other benign travel, but never for war.
We all believed we had left those days behind.
Yet in front of us were all the warriors of House Rubellus, following their Count into an attack on a world far too vulnerable against a dragon attack. Count Rosso was of the old school, a contemporary of my father, but not willing to retire while he could still dominate the dragons of his House. He led the way, stepping through the portal on his clawed dragon feet, followed by the worst, most backstabbing Guardsman I’d ever had at my table.
“Isn’t that Brick?” Olivia called out her question to me.
Yes. I spoke a single word into her mind, feeling a powerful regret at having underestimated him like this.
“Well? What are we going to do? How can we stop this?” Olivia was breathless. “Can we close the portal?”
No. We cannot control their doorway, only ours.
Olivia’s rising agitation was pelting my mind like marbles rattling in a can. Suddenly, when I thought I was close to shouting at her to calm down, her mental racket quieted. She was so still in her body and in her thoughts that I turned my head backwards to see if she was still there. If I lost her to a simple flying accident now, then I would have to admit I was completely incompetent to fill the role of Count.
Her mind was like the still surface of a pond now, unbothered by anything around us. I slowed my flight, making it as smooth as possible, while at the same time trying to catch a glimpse of what she was doing.
She held something shiny in her hands, low and protected on my back. Of course, it was the gold brooch. I had not understood when Laurel first mentioned it that this bright piece of jewelry would be important for more than identifying the traitor in my council.
Laurel had told us that she had given it to the dragon who tampered with my own House portal. Only now did I see that she had meant it to be with us when we reached the end of the chase. It was a charm, imbued with her hedge witch magic, not for the purpose of uncovering the source of the crimes committed by dragons, but for focusing energy to right those misdeeds.
Olivia looked down at the golden knot, her lips moving in concentration. She might have been praying, or meditating. Only I knew, through my contact with her mind, that she was working Laurel’s magic. She and Laurel had connected as two women with much to lose and little hope that dragons would bend from their archaic ways.
Now the two of them were working together in a way I had not foreseen.
Across the distance that lay between us here and the town on my own House land, these two human women were communicating. They were joining their minds within this talisman, with supernatural power that had nothing to do with dragons.
As I stretched my awareness to the charm, and through it, I realized that the magic in the talisman that Olivia held was stronger than my own.
As recently as this morning, I had believed that peasants had no magic at all.
But here and now, resting on my own blue-scaled back, was a charm that was more powerful than any magic I wielded.
Chapter 21: Olivia
The golden brooch had been unexpectedly cool and calm in my hands when Cobalt passed it to me. I rubbed the smooth surface with my thumb, thinking that the pin would serve as a good luck charm as we flew into this doomed fight with House Rubellus.
Indigo was trying not to share his assessment of the situation with me, but I could count just as well as he could. That was a battle-ready army down there. We were so outnumbered as to have no chance at all.
If any of the red dragons made it through the doorway to my planet, they would wreak unknowable havoc there. It was all I could do not to dwell on the picture of my beloved university bent under a war with dragons. The place was remarkable for its serenity. If red dragons filled the sky, there would be nothing left but a shell of the city. All of our world would become as desolate as the House Rubellus town we had just come from.
And as we watched, two crimson dragons stepped forward, through the portal. I knew from Indigo’s mind that the first was the red Count. The second dragon, I recognized as Brick. Their forms shimmered with light, and they began to disappear.
I understood that when they had fully vanished, they would be in my world. Their plan, their reason for traveling through the portal, was to destroy humans in the most vindictive way possible.
At the same moment that my heart sank in acceptance of our failure, the golden brooch began to hum in my hands. The vibration that my fingertips felt in touching it matched the thrumming presence in my mind. I had grown accustomed to Indigo’s touch on my consciousness. I welcomed it. It was like having his hands caress my secrets. Even when I didn’t want him to hear all my thoughts, I felt safer under his touch and I knew he would respect the doors I chose to keep closed.
This, however, was entirely different. It was as if Laurel had stepped into my home without invitation, as if she came into my living room and told me that she was going to spend the evening with me whether I liked it or not. She plopped herself down in my space and waited for me to give her my full attention.
And then, in a simple but elegant gesture, she opened her hands. Without words, she showed me the magic she held there. Her power was nothing like what I had thought it was when we visited her herb shop. It was not limited to charms for love or friendship. It had nothing to do with forgetting a romantic slight or remembering the location of a book. Those spells were for villagers, part of the pedestrian work of a hedge witch.
She was so much more than that.
The magic that Laurel showed me now, that she laid out in my mind as I sat atop a blue dragon in the desert, was as wide and broad as every feeling that had ever existed in a human heart. She was showing me that all of those emotions could come together simultaneously.
They flooded from her like a rushing river.
I gasped. It felt like an entire world was washing over me. “Indigo, can you feel this?” I called out to him aloud, knowing that I risked attracting too much notice from those on the ground. I braced my hand against his scaled spine to keep from falling.
Indigo’s answer was dark and husky, and I knew that I had every atom of his attention on me. All of them are listening to you now. Every one of us.
His voice was tinged with a new respect, bordering on awe.
“I think I know what I need to do.” I could hear my voice shaking, but I persevered. “Indigo, I can feel the magic that Laurel placed here with me, and I understand it now. She’s had a plan all along. You dragons have been going about this the wrong way for centuries. Don’t you know that?”
What do you mean? His touch on my mind was grave.
“The dragons of Elter have tried to control their passion by slicing it up into different categories. The Founders of your houses must have thought it was safer that way. You would not run wild, or devolve into animals, if you were constrained by the limits of your ability to feel.”
He sent me a virtual nod of assent.
I was louder now, no longer afraid of being heard. “It isn’t the answer! Not if it means you have to take from peasants the way you do. Don’t you see?” My words were garbled as they tumbled from my lips, but I knew he understood me.
I think so. But how does that help us now?
“I can stop them. I can close their portal with this much power.”
And what then? A battle? If that is what it will take, then we will end it here. He was firm, true to the honor of his bloodline.
“No, we can teleport from here, with magic this strong. The four o
f us can return to House Caeruleus. The other dragons will follow in flight. They do not mind a skirmish, but you must not be part of it, not as Count.”
Everything you say is the opposite of what I believe we can do.
“Yes. That is why we are here.” I looked down at the brooch, then raised my eyes again in concentration. Laurel had given me this magic because she thought I was capable of wielding it.
I had to try.
I sent a wave of energy with my mind toward the phalanx of red dragons. The portal became still. It no longer whirled with fire. The light died out of it, sputtering and sparking. As it faded, the two dragons who had been about to enter my home world abruptly shrank into their human shapes, then disappeared. They had transported, but they were constrained to their two-legged forms.
I would deal with them later.
The rest of the dragons of House Rubellus turned, bellowing their fury at us. They lifted into the air, breathing fire already. In a terrifyingly precise flight formation, they flew towards us to attack.
Their Count was gone. He had passed through the portal.
My knowledge of dragon politics was slim, but I read in Indigo’s mind that if both he and Count Rosso were absent from the battle, it would be quick and mean little.
The dragons would back down from the conflict, viewing it only as sport for immortals, if it had no lasting meaning to their House.
With my last shred of strength, I reached into the golden knot one more time, and washed its power over the four of us. The two blue dragons, and Kat and me, blinked out of the desert of House Rubellus.
In a flash, we reappeared as two men and two women, in the street in front of Laurel’s herb shop. The men stood awkwardly, ill at ease. For the first time, these dragons were shaken by the actions of humans. We had just broken all the rules of their dragon magic.
As I watched, though, they began to recover. Dragon shifters were nothing if not resourceful. I could see Indigo’s thoughts on his face as he considered what these new abilities would mean to his world.
He smiled at me, his twinkling eyes making my heart beat faster. “No, it is not that you see it in my face, dear one. You have been reading my mind all day. I don’t know how, but you have your own magic.” He touched my curls to nudge them out of my eyes. “Not dragon magic, and not the power that Laurel gave you, either. You are something quite unique.”
Laurel hurried out of her shop, wiping her hands on her apron. “I could feel you using the charm! I was inside, drying rosemary, and all of a sudden, it was like you were drawing some new sort of power from all the dragons at once.” She looked around in confusion. “Not from the peasants, though. How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I thought you would. I thought I heard you telling me to do it.”
She shook her head at me ruefully. “I made the charm with the hope of something new, but I was not consciously directing it today. My hope was that we could unite the dragon Houses. The golden knot seems to have taken on a life of its own, beyond my awareness.”
Indigo broke in. “If we can muster this much power in a new way, without taking life from the peasants, then everything will be different for us.” He swept his hand toward the sky. “Look, it is full dark. The day has ended, without the counting ceremony.”
“Just as you said,” I allowed. “I wasn’t sure if I believed you when you vowed to end it.”
“I know.”
Kat spoke up. “What does that mean, though, if you did not do it? Won’t it happen tomorrow?”
Indigo frowned at her. “No. It means that I have broken the law of Elter. I have no other way to say it, and no excuse for my actions. My people will no longer support me as Count.”
Chapter 22: Indigo
Olivia bit her lip as she considered what I’d said. I knew she was rejecting the sense of fatalism that had sprung into my mind. I might believe that my time as Count was over, but she would never admit that, not until she had to.
Cobalt, as well, looked uncertain. “I’m not sure that this counts as breaking the law. We were in battle. Or close to it,” he amended,
“All in the name of saving a peasant’s life,” I answered. “There is little that can offer excuse for any of the changes I have made to our House today.”
Olivia stamped her foot in frustration. “Why are you so slow to see things? There is nothing but honor in your actions! Don’t you remember telling me that you were bound to that trait? It is not optional for you. Admit it. You have no choice but to fight for the honor of your house. All you have done is in service of that ideal.”
I considered this, wondering if she was right.
“What if this is what your Founders intended?” Olivia still spoke urgently, trying to convince me of her position. “All along, what if this was the role you were meant to play? You were constrained by your House Gift, but your destiny was to reshape your world. You have made it so that those dragon Gifts are no longer necessary.”
Laurel cleared her throat. “I think that you will find that if you go to the town square, the people will assemble to listen to you. Neither humans nor dragons have abandoned you.”
Yes.
I would see this through.
Whatever the Founders had meant by my Gift, I would keep going until I knew. I reached out for Olivia’s hand, and grasped it firmly. We walked, all five of us, toward the town square. It was dark, but I created light around us to help us all find our way. As we moved, the people of the town gathered to follow us. They were silent, but watched us with interest. They gathered behind us, keeping pace at a distance, never wavering from our path.
They knew who I was.
And, finally, without question, I did as well.
As we reached the platform where we had all sat watching the peasants only that morning, the air filled with the bright, glowing colors of all the dragons of my Guard. The noise of dragon wings beating at the air was unmistakable, and it brought joy to my heart.
We had teleported home, with the magic of Laurel’s golden brooch, but they had flown. They had made their way to the safety of our land, escaping the wrath of House Rubellus. Immortal beings, with no human passengers, they did not fear battle. Nevertheless, they had come back to our land immediately, sure that their correct place was at the side of the Count.
I was still their Count.
It was the cornerstone of my being.
I stood on the ceremonial platform, raising my voice to speak to my people. A steward approached me with my neatly folded blue cloak, shaking it out and placing it on my shoulders. It was right that I should appear in front of my people in the colors of my House. It was, for this gathering, imperative that I wear the cloak that I had left on our landing stones when we flew to House Rubellus. In donning that recently folded fabric, I was making a vow that I would always retain the integrity to come back to myself.
I spoke in a voice that carried throughout the square. For once, I was not ashamed to be on this platform, or commanding this ceremony. I was no longer filled with unease about my place in the world, as I had been when my father, as Count, had performed the sacrifice that stole life from humans in order to grant magic to dragons. I did not need to wonder if that was wrong, for I knew without question that it was. My mission today was to command that it cease forever.
“People of House Caeruleus. I am your Count. I take that position seriously, with my honor, and for your honor. We will no longer perform the ceremony that counts your number and selects the oldest for sacrifice.”
I had expected some sort of cheer, but the square was completely silent. I saw Laurel standing amongst the people. She was easy to find, as she glowed with her witch magic, more than she had even this morning.
I declared it again. “There will be no sacrifice!” I felt confidence fill me as I said it once more. Finally, it was sinking in for the crowd that I meant what I said. “Dragons will not take your lives to make magic. No more! No counting ceremony or sacrifice
, ever again.”
In the moment of time before the cheers began, before the crowds began to cry and embrace, I felt Olivia at my side. She stood so close to me that she leaned against me, paradoxically giving me the support I had never known I needed. She clasped my hand with both of her small ones.
“There will not be a ceremony or a sacrifice,” she murmured. “But House Caeruleus now has the Count it was meant to have.”
Chapter 23: Olivia
After the crowd had cheered at Indigo’s announcement, after he had beamed with pride and held me to him, he teleported us both back to his Great Hall. Most of the other dragons were still in the town, enjoying the festive atmosphere there, so the large room was almost empty. I looked around, seeing it with new eyes. When I had first come to Elter, to the stronghold of House Caeruleus, I had believed this to be a harsh, forbidding place, despite the touches of luxury that abounded here.
The mountain that was the home of Indigo and the other blue dragons could never have struck me as cold, for it was dry and sweltering in this land, always. That would be one thing that I would miss when I went home. The itch of sand everywhere, the warm breezes. The arid heat was my least favorite thing about this place.
However, I realized that I had once perceived the Great Hall as a place whose occupants had no real feelings. It had struck me as cold in that sense. The stronghold had seemed like the home of heartless aristocrats who existed only for the sake of dominating their peasants and amusing themselves with foolish magic that was as simple and useless as offering us each our own preferred beverage.
Now, everything was different.
For me, for Indigo, and for his people.
He was free to follow his conscience. He could be the ruler he wanted to be, no longer struggling with a responsibility that had proven to be a curse for him. Now that he knew how to listen to the people in his town, to really see and hear them, they could assist him with his task of creating dragon magic in an entirely new way.