Dangerous Gift

by Tui T. Sutherland

  “Let’s go flying,” Thorn suggested. “We can figure out what we think before the other queens get here.”

  “I don’t know how to figure out what I think,” Snowfall said, standing up. “Should I get my guards?”

  “Nah. Just you and me,” Thorn said. “I mean, who would dare attack us? Brain-dead beetles who want to be crushed, maybe!”

  Snowfall laughed despite herself. Flying away from everyone was exactly what she wanted to do right now anyway.

  They lifted up into the sky, letting the late-morning sun wash over them, and soared toward the peaks. Snowfall inhaled the smell of distant snow … along with the scent of not-so-distant scavengers.

  More than one scavenger? She glanced down at Winter’s little enclosure. The creature in there was sprinting around the space again, making lots of funny squeaking noises. But Snowfall’s nose told her that wasn’t the only scavenger nearby. And … were those tree branches moving in more than the wind?

  Snowfall shrugged. She had never cared about scavengers, and she wasn’t about to start now. She tilted her wings and followed Queen Thorn into the clouds.

  Queen Thorn didn’t make Snowfall talk or ask a bunch of questions or lecture her on queenliness. They just flew, and hunted when they got hungry, and flew some more, until the sun was high in the sky, warming their chilled wings.

  Snowfall felt her head clearing of the post-vision Blue haze. Her own thoughts sharpened and felt real again.

  Thoughts including, is that going to keep happening? Visions in the middle of the day?

  What if one happens while I’m flying? Will I just fall out of the sky and die?

  Will they ever stop, or will they start coming more and more frequently until my mind is never my own anymore?

  She shivered. What was the point of this magic? Was it set to get worse and worse gradually … maybe so the original animus would have had time to escape the kingdom before the queen went mad?

  And what was happening with Blue now? Or Bryony, or Tau? If only she could compel the ring to give her visions she actually WANTED. USEFUL visions, instead of walking nightmares she couldn’t do anything about.

  “Ready to go back?” Thorn asked, swooping up beside her.

  Snowfall made a face. “I can’t wait. More interrogation! How thrilling!”

  “You just shut them down whenever you need to,” Thorn suggested. “You are a queen. But remember that of course they’re curious and worried about their friends, so that’s why they want to know more.”

  “Yes, yes,” Snowfall grumbled. If Blue had known Snowfall was inside him, he would have been over the MOONS to give her a message for Cricket. The least she could do for that poor trapped dragon was reassure the HiveWing he loved.

  Another intertribal romance, she thought, shaking her head. Were they more common than she realized? She’d always assumed IceWings would NEVER choose to be with dragons outside their tribe. But then, the dragon who’d brought them the first two earrings had been a hybrid IceWing-SeaWing from Possibility. And now there was Crystal and Gharial … so it did happen.

  Hybrids. Winter mentioned them. In the chaos yesterday, she hadn’t really registered it, but now she remembered. He’d said, we have a lot of hybrids here. That meant dragonets whose parents were from two different tribes — like the ones she’d spotted yesterday. Probably a MudWing-SeaWing, and at least two SkyWing-SandWings, and maybe a SkyWing-NightWing? No wonder those dragons wanted a new city to live in — how could they ever return to their kingdoms, or choose one tribe while abandoning the other?

  Snowfall had to admit to herself that she would have forbidden Crystal to see Gharial if she’d known about it when she first became queen. And he wouldn’t have been able to cross the Great Ice Cliff alive. He still couldn’t, so even if Snowfall gave them her blessing, they’d never be able to come to the Ice Palace.

  She followed Thorn as they descended into the central clearing of Sanctuary, where Sundew and Tsunami were yelling at each other, surrounded by a wide-eyed audience.

  “You could save us!” Sundew shouted. “It would be so easy for you!”

  “I DID SAVE YOU!” Tsunami shouted back. “You’re here, aren’t you? And alive?”

  “I mean everyone back there!” Sundew waved one wing at the western horizon. “All the mind-controlled dragons! You could save them with one spell!”

  “That’s — what?” Tsunami sputtered. “A what now?”

  “A spell.” Sundew clenched her fists. “The dragons on this continent have real magic,” she announced to the LeafWings around her. “It’s not only seeing the future and invisible armies. They can cast any spell they want. They could make a spell to free all the dragons in Pantala, but they won’t! They’ve been hiding their magic from us!”

  “All right, hang on,” Tsunami said over the mutters from the crowd. “That’s a highly confused understanding of the situation.”

  “So un-confuse it!” Sundew barked.

  “We don’t all have magic!” Tsunami turned to Riptide, who had come up to stand supportively beside her. “Back me up! Hardly any of us have magic!”

  “It’s very rare,” Riptide agreed. “Once in a generation, often less. Or at least, it’s supposed to be.”

  “So right now you have, what?” Sundew demanded. “One magician? Two?”

  Tsunami scrunched up her snout. “We call them animus dragons,” she said. “And … four, we think, more or less.”

  FOUR? Snowfall tried to think. Did she know about this? There was Jerboa, and there was some animus dragon at Jade Mountain — she assumed a SeaWing — who’d cast the empathy spell. So who were the other two? What tribe did they work for? That was outrageous. Animus dragons all over the place! And none of them IceWings! No one was safe!

  “So bring us one of them,” Sundew said in a steely voice, “and have them cast one spell for us.”

  Tsunami’s eyes slipped sideways into the crowd, but Snowfall didn’t catch who she was looking at.

  Whoa. Is there an animus dragon here right now?

  “Here’s the thing,” Tsunami said slowly. “Animus magic has stopped working. Nobody knows why. That’s why I didn’t tell you all about it — because even though we want to help you, we can’t do it with magic. We just can’t.”

  “That sounds like another lie!” Sundew yelled.

  Snowfall saw Queen Hazel in the crowd of LeafWings; at the same moment, Hazel caught her eye and gave a little start, as though she’d forgotten she was a figure of authority around here.

  “Hey, hey,” she said, stepping in between Sundew and Tsunami, her green wings spread out like giant leaf curtains. “It could be true, Sundew. If their magic isn’t working, why would they tell us about it?”

  “If their magic isn’t working, why is she making armies invisible and having visions of Pantalan dragons?” Sundew asked, pointing at Snowfall.

  Oh, great. Now the hundreds of puzzled eyes turned toward Snowfall.

  “’I’m using old magic,” she answered, holding up her talon with the ring on it. “Enchanted a long time ago. Those still work — it’s only new spells that don’t. Apparently. If we take the animus dragons’ word for it.”

  Tsunami frowned at her and Snowfall scowled right back.

  “The queens are starting to arrive,” Riptide said, brushing Tsunami’s wing with his own.

  A wing of dragons was soaring down toward them, and farther off in the sky, Snowfall could see another group approaching. Everyone turned to look at them, whispering and murmuring — who would get here first? Would they come with any friends or family of the Sanctuary dragons?

  Time to put on my super-queen face. My “the Ice Kingdom is JUST FINE THANK YOU” face. No advice needed, don’t tell me what to do, I am an excellent queen who can handle — who can — what’s — oh no —

  It was happening again. Darkness was crowding in around the corners of her eyes. Snowfall looked around wildly, spotted Winter, and sank her claws into his tail.
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  “Yowch!” he yelped, whipping around to look at her.

  “Get me somewhere safe,” she hissed. “Don’t let them see!”

  He didn’t argue, didn’t ask questions, didn’t stand there with a dopey bewildered look on his face. He grabbed Qibli and the two of them spread their wings around Snowfall, hooking their arms under hers and carrying her away from the circle of dragons. With everyone looking up at the sky, Snowfall had to hope they wouldn’t notice her being spirited away … but she only had a moment to worry about it before …

  * * *

  Tall grass brushes her wings and tickles her snout. She crouches lower, spreading her long wings. She’s lucky they’re a dark color, so it’s easier to creep up on the Hives at night.

  The dragon city towers over them, light glowing from the windows and archways on the higher levels. But she can’t hear anything — voices, music, any of the sounds that usually carry across the savanna at night. It’s too quiet.

  And nothing moves in the webs overhead. They’re empty and still, like she’s never seen them before. All the SilkWings … where are they?

  “Was this your Hive?” the small, dark orange dragon beside her whispers.

  “Yes,” she whispers back.

  They should have come here first. All her Chrysalis friends … her parents … is she too late to save them?

  She studies the map of Pantala in her head. They’d recruited SilkWings from Yellowjacket Hive, Wasp Hive, and Jewel Hive to bring to the Poison Jungle; those had gone across the sea with the escaping dragons. The SilkWings from Bloodworm Hive vanished into thin air after the Hive burned. No one knows where they are, but they can’t be dead — no bodies and no survivors has to mean they all escaped somewhere, doesn’t it?

  She’d sent two dragons to Tsetse Hive, so it had only made sense for her and Cinnabar to fly the other way, stopping briefly at each Hive to warn whoever they could, then straight on to Mantis Hive. It was as far from the Poison Jungle as one could get — her wings were still sore from the frantic, full-speed flight. Which meant there was a chance of getting there before Queen Wasp’s zombie minions.

  And she’d been right. They’d found Mantis Hive empty of HiveWings. Bewildered SilkWings milled about its halls or rested on the webs, enjoying the unexpected days off while also wondering where everyone had gone.

  Every HiveWing had left, even the smallest dragonets. Wasp had summoned every single one to the battlefield outside the Poison Jungle, determined to crush the LeafWings once and for all.

  She clenches her talons. Those HiveWings hadn’t had to lift a claw. The LeafWings, and the SilkWing allies she brought them, had lost before they even started to fight. They’d run away. And now Queen Wasp and the breath of evil were able to infect SilkWings, which meant the entire tribe might lose the last bit of freedom they’d had.

  “Stop, Io,” Cinnabar whispers, brushing one of her wings lightly. “Stop worrying. We got everyone out of Mantis Hive and safely into hiding. We’ll save the SilkWings here, too.”

  “It’s too quiet,” she whispers back. “The HiveWings must be here. I bet they’ve got all the SilkWings trapped in there with them.”

  “Even if that’s true,” Cinnabar whispers, “they can’t have put all the SilkWings in the Hive under the mind control yet. They don’t have enough of the plant to do that. They’ll have to grow more, and Sundew said that without Hawthorn or her, it’ll take a while.”

  “Not as long as it should. Some of the LeafWings Wasp trapped have a little bit of leafspeak — they’ll make it grow faster. And if the HiveWings keep all the SilkWings imprisoned until they have enough …”

  “We’ll get them out. That’s why we’re here.”

  Io sighs and looks up at the ghostly webs again. They’re swaying slightly in a far-up breeze, silvery pale in the light of the three moons. Empty.

  How are two dragons supposed to save all the SilkWings in Cicada Hive?

  They’ll help us, she reminds herself. My friends will rise up when they realize it’s time for the Chrysalis to break free.

  “The map is safe?” Cinnabar asks.

  “Hidden,” Io promises. “Where we agreed.” Even if Queen Wasp captures them and steals their minds, she can’t access their secrets. The map to the other continent is somewhere that only Io or Cinnabar can find with their minds free. Wasp won’t even know it exists.

  Cinnabar smiles, and her wings rustle in the darkness.

  “Then let’s go rescue our tribe.”

  Snowfall floundered back into her own mind shouting, “It’s a trap! Don’t go in there!” She threw off the talons holding her down and tried to lunge into the air, but she was so disoriented that she crashed into somebody’s wings and landed back in a soft pile of pine needles.

  “Your Majesty,” said Winter’s voice, and somehow that was disorienting, too, her own cousin calling her that, when that voice and that name should only connect to Queen Glacier.

  “Don’t worry,” Qibli said, touching one of her talons lightly. “You’re back. You’re Queen Snowfall again.”

  “They’re going to catch her,” Snowfall said breathlessly. “Cicada Hive is full of Wasp zombies lying in wait for Io and Cinnabar. I have to tell them. That’s where Blue is. They can’t go in there.” She struggled up again and then stopped, standing with her wings outstretched along the ground, trying to breathe.

  “I can’t tell them,” she said. “There’s no way.”

  “Um,” Qibli said, looking at Winter. “Maybe there is?”

  “Don’t you be needlessly optimistic at me,” she snapped.

  WHY? she screamed at the ring in her mind. Why would you show me this when there’s NOTHING I CAN DO?

  They were outside Winter’s scavenger enclosure. The scavenger inside was squeaking loudly, like an overwrought squirrel. All around them, the bushes rustled in the wind, or maybe because of something else. Snowfall squinted at one of the trees and thought she saw something move that was bigger than a squirrel.

  But then Lynx came darting through the woods and sprinted up to Snowfall’s side.

  “Are you all right?” she panted. “Who were you this time?”

  “Someone very doomed,” Snowfall bit out, frustrated. “Never mind. Are all the queens here?”

  “Everyone but Queen Coral,” Lynx said. “They’ve agreed to start without her, if you’re ready. Are you ready?”

  “I’m fine,” Snowfall said, waving away Winter’s talons as he tried to help her up. She didn’t have to tell anyone that her heartbeat was still racing. Or that part of her was still inside the heat and smell of the savanna night.

  Calm down. You are not currently creeping into a giant, terrifying dragon city full of mind-controlled monsters with bug powers.

  But Io was — or would be — or already had? Snowfall shook herself. She had no idea how to figure out the time frame for her visions. That one might have happened days and days ago.

  Io might be dead already. She flinched at the thought, then shot another glare at her ring. You’d better not be sending me visions of totally dead dragons.

  The other queens were assembled in the mouth of a pebbly cave halfway up one of the mountain peaks. The wind whipped around the snowcaps above them, but the spot they’d chosen was an oasis of quiet. Each queen had brought one advisor as backup, and Snowfall debated all the way up the mountain about whether it was idiotic to bring Lynx, who was clearly still a dragonet, instead of one of her guards.

  But Queen Thorn had summoned Qibli to join her, and he was about the same age as Lynx, surely. Queen Ruby’s choice was a quiet older orange dragon who took notes the entire time in a kind of miniature scroll; Snowfall never caught his name. Queen Moorhen had a MudWing with her who looked so much like her that Snowfall nearly bowed at the wrong dragon — a sister, she guessed, remembering the way MudWings were about family.

  And of course there was Queen Glory, with her floppy yawn-noodle of a sloth curled around her neck, as usual. She’d
brought a fidgety NightWing with her, which Snowfall didn’t like, but she thought it was an interesting choice. Why not a fellow RainWing? What did the RainWings think of Glory choosing a NightWing over them for this council?

  Perhaps nothing at all. Did RainWings actually have opinions?

  Queen Hazel was there, too, with Cricket and Luna. Sundew had been left down in the village, most likely because Hazel didn’t want her to do any more shouting in front of the queens.

  Tsunami, Riptide, and Moon were the final three dragons in the council. If Snowfall hadn’t been the last one to arrive, she might have complained and tried to get them kicked out, but it was too late by the time she got there. Well, fiiiiiiiine. Probably it made sense to get a report from one Pyrrhian dragon who’d actually been to Pantala.

  Although there’s also me. I could tell them WAY too much about what’s happening on Pantala right now. She shivered a little, thinking of Io again.

  The other queens exchanged polite greetings with Snowfall, the kind that would normally make her freak out about what they really meant and what they thought of her and whether they talked about her when she wasn’t there.

  Today she could barely even concentrate on saying the right things back to them. So what if Queen Ruby’s smile looked suspiciously judgmental? Io and Cinnabar —

  Wait.

  Didn’t Cinnabar say … something important … right at the end of the vision …

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Tsunami standing up and calling the council to order, as though SHE was ANYBODY AT ALL. (All right, fine, she was a royal SeaWing princess, so technically she could be standing in for Queen Coral, BUT STILL it was VERY PRESUMPTUOUS.)

  Tsunami told a long story about how Luna had been swept across the ocean in a storm, carried by her silk, and how that was their first sign there were dragons on a lost continent out beyond the sea. She explained that she and her brother had decided to swim across the ocean to find them — and to find out whether Luna’s stories were true, that there were dragons over there who needed help.