I grip the dragonstone in my hand and stand, facing the dragons as they descend on us. My Spirit wells in me, and the stone begins to glow in my hand, turning hot as it does. Then it shatters, and a burst of power punches into me with such force I lose breath. I see strands of my hair blowing in the wind and it has turned silver and glows. I look down at my hands and see they are glowing too.
And then light explodes out of me, like a star going supernova. My body lifts from the ground and into the air, and I realize I'm riding a dragon. My Spirit.
This is the first time Umi's manifested this size, and all at once we are connected, him and I.
His body takes form under mine, becoming solid. He roars and white lightning bursts from his mouth.
It incinerates two of the drakes, killing them instantly. The third dives out of the way, trying to fly around me, but my dragon lifts a claw and smacks it out of the air, as if it were a gnat.
The drake hits the cliff, its body breaking, and it falls to the ground.
I feel at one with Umi. His arm is my arm. His power, my power.
More drakes arrive on the horizon. At least a dozen.
I will burn them out of the sky.
I don't even feel human anymore. Just… power. All I feel is power.
The drakes form a V in the sky and come at me, ready to strike.
But a roar echoes through the mountains, shaking the ground once again. The red dragon has been watching from the peak, and as it bellows into the night, the drakes stop and turn midair, staying in perfect formation as they disappear into the night sky.
Was the red dragon controlling them? It certainly seemed to.
The red dragon stares at me for a moment, then turns and flies away, it's huge body getting smaller and smaller until it's no longer visible.
In an instant, the power I felt fades, and my limbs weaken. I fall off my dragon, who vanishes back into Spirit.
I'm losing consciousness as I fall through the sky.
Then something catches me, and different hands carry me, laying me gently on the earth. Above me, through fractured vision, I see my friends, and then the world turns blurry and fades out.
Twenty-Nine
An Ember In The Ash
My eyes peel open slowly. My head pounds and my heart beats frantically as adrenaline surges through me. Where am I? What's happened?
I lift my head to look around, to get my bearings. I'm covered in someone's cloak, my head on someone's lap. There's a fire burning. A cave. I'm in a cave with my squad.
Raven's face leans over me. "Don't move too quickly. You're still weak."
I nod as she helps me sit up. Every bone in my body, every muscle holding them together aches like nothing I've ever felt. I feel completely drained and utterly exhausted.
Landon and Mabel share a cloak on the other side of the fire. Both are sleeping. Bix is leaning against the wall of the cave, his eyes closed and Enzo snores loudly next to him, his head lulling onto the big man's shoulder. Zev is awake and watching me with a strange expression on his face.
"What happened?" I ask.
My voice seems to wake the others, and slowly they all sit up, stretch, yawn, and scoot closer to the fire.
"M'lady has awoken," Landon says, and I can't tell if he's mocking me or serious.
"Do you remember what you did?" Raven asks softly, her eyes flicking away from mine.
Fragments of it come racing back. The dragonstone shattering in my hand. The surge of power. Fighting off the drakes. I nod. "A bit, but I don't understand."
Zev cocks his head, still staring at me. "Your kind was thought to be dead. Killed in the Rising. And yet, here you are, the last of the High Dragons. You should be queen of these lands."
I suck in my breath and stare at them all. "Are you serious?" I flash to our classes on the history of this world. On High Dragons, and the power they wielded. The ability to use dragonstone to channel great power. Only a High Dragon born with the blood of dragons could do that. Only the royalty, but as they said, the last died off during the Rising.
"You killed those drakes like it was nothing," Mabel says.
"So what does this mean?" I ask, trying to wrap my head around this. Eyes turn to Landon, who seems most knowledgable of the nobility in this world.
"I don't know," he says. "By right you should be ruler. By blood, at least. But the High Dragons were deliberately killed off, their reign thwarted and stolen by Emperor Titus, first of his name, and ruler of all of Nirandel. He's banished the worship of dragons and publicly kills any Wall Worshiper he finds. The only permissible religion is the worship of him. If he knew you were alive, he'd assassinate you in your sleep and harvest your blood."
I shiver at that. At all of it.
Enzo finally speaks. "What do you know of your early life? Of how you got to Gai?"
I tell them of my mother, how she was from another country—or so I thought. Of how she didn't speak about her past. About Pat and the kids.
And then I tell them how I came to be here. About Pike and Kara and the horrible things that happened. "The bones you saw… those were the bones of Kara, the little girl I raised since birth. Pike killed her."
"Ashwraiths," Bix whispers. "It is true. All of it is true."
"You must have been taken from this world during the Rising, and sent to Gai for safety. Your mother saved your life." Zev says.
"But wasn't the Rising thousands of years ago?" I ask, confused by all of this.
"Time is an illusion," Zev says, echoing the words from my dream. "Since time moves differently between worlds, you could have been taken to Gai and raised there, where only twenty-something years passed, while here, thousands of years passed. And now you're back."
"So… time here moves faster than time on Gai?" Enzo asks. This is a new concept for us both.
"It can," Zev says. "Honestly, have none of you read The Time Maker's Dilemma, by Russgrand Norlic?"
We all stare at him blankly, and he rolls his eyes and sighs. "Ok, here's the short lesson. On each of the Nine Worlds, time is internally consistent. But when crossing over from one world to another, you aren't just making a vertical jump, you are piercing the fabric of time itself. Anywhere from a minute to a thousand years could pass while only a second has passed for you. Or a lifetime passes for you when it's only been a few weeks elsewhere. There is no method to it, much to the dismay of those who study this. One theory is that every time someone travels between worlds, it changes the flow of time in all worlds, thus it is impossible to map or track reliably."
"So… this is real? I'm a High Dragon?" It feels… surreal. Unbelievable. My mother seemed pretty human, so that means my father must be High Dragon. Is that why she never spoke of him? Of her life before? Who is my father, then? What happened to him?
"None of us can ever tell anyone," Landon says, his face hard, his eyes intent. "Sky saved our lives. The least we can do is not get her killed."
"Agreed," Mabel says, surprising me. They each in turn nod their heads, vowing to keep my secret.
I look at them and wonder what happens next. Not just the immediate next of where do we go and how do we survive, but beyond that. I don't feel any different. I'm still the same old Sky. But they are looking at me with new eyes, seeing things in me I don't fully understand. Enzo is the only one who looks at me the same. He and I, we are from the same world. Or at least, raised on the same world. I realize with a start that I must have been born on Nirandel. This, then, is my home. How strange. But Enzo and I, we weren't weened on stories of High Dragons. We do have royalty though, and I can see Enzo's face shift as he realizes that's what I am.
I shift the conversation to something else, needing time to contemplate all this. "What of the injuries. Landon, Enzo, how are you?"
"We've both healed fully," Landon says. "The regeneration is complete."
"And everyone else?"
They all nod and murmur that any injuries sustained have healed.
"How long until daybreak?" I ask.
"About three hours," Raven says.
"Then we stay here until sunrise," I say, and I realize how natural it feels to assume the role of leader.
They agree, and in exhaustion I sink against the wall of the cave and accept a drink from Raven.
"Any news of Vane?" I ask.
"None," Landon says.
I sigh. What I'm about to say will likely not sit well with this group, but it has to be said. "I know we were heading to the Wall when all this happened, but I expected Vane to catch up with us. If he hasn't… we have to go back for him."
"Are you nuts?" Zev asks. "We're on the wrong side of the Wall, and sitting ducks for hungry dragons. You saw how they attacked. You saw the red dragon. It was controlling them, organizing them, I'd bet my books on it."
Landon nods. "I've never heard of anything like this before. It shouldn't be possible."
"But then it left," I say, remembering the look the red dragon gave me before flying off.
"Maybe because it knew you were High Dragon?" Mabel asks.
"Or maybe because Sky summoned the biggest Spirit ever seen," Bix says proudly. "Your dragon, it is huge. Very honorable Spirit."
I pat the big man's hand and smile.
"Nothing has changed," Mabel says. "Vane told us to leave. We leave. We are barely trained to fight hatchlings, let alone a thunder of drakes led by what we saw last night."
"And so we leave him behind to die?" I ask, looking into each of their eyes. "He has a wife and daughter back home, did you know that? When he speaks of her his eyes light up and his face softens. He loves her deeply. She waits for him. They both do. Would you steal him from his family?"
They don't say anything, and I can see their determination wavering. "I was a fire fighter before coming here. I risked my life nearly every day to save strangers from burning buildings, or stop forest fires from spreading. We never went in alone, and we never left someone behind. Vane risked his life to give us a head start. We can't leave him behind."
I pause, trying to asses their mood, their emotions, before I lay down my final argument. "And besides, Mabel is wrong. Something has changed. We now have a weapon we didn't before."
I see the moment their eyes register understanding, and I smile, showing more confidence than I feel. "How many still have the bags of dragonstone we were told to collect and carry back to the Cliff?"
They each rummage into their cloaks and pull out what they have. "I can use them," I say, collecting what I can carry in my own pouch, and giving back what I can't. "I can protect us, and Vane too."
"He's likely already dead, and we will be too if we don't go for help," Enzo says.
"Something tells me that man is harder to kill than a dragon," I say, and someone chuckles in response.
"Shouldn't we at least send someone back, to fetch help and alert the Cliff to what's happened?" Mabel asks.
"I shall go!" Bix says. "I am best tracker and can find the Wall and bring help."
It's not a bad plan but… "I'm the only thing we know can kill the dragons. If we separate, we're more vulnerable." I look at Bix. "Plus, you are the best tracker, which is why I need you to help us find Vane."
He nods in agreement, pleased that he is that important.
"And… wouldn't the Cliff know something's wrong?" I ask. "We were supposed to be back by now. Some of our horses bolted, and maybe they made it back. Either way, surely they would be sending help soon?"
I'm sure about that last part, as I have no idea how things are handled in situations such as these, but it's what I would do in their shoes.
I look to Raven. "What do you think? You're the leader."
She shrugs, looking around at everyone, then back at me. "I'll follow you."
Landon nods. "I'll follow you too, Sky."
Bix, Mabel and Enzo all lend their verbal support, and then all eyes turn to Zev.
He rolls his eyes and sighs. "Fine. It's a death march, but if we're going to die, we might as well do it together."
I hope he's wrong about that, but I'm glad we are all in agreement. Still, we have a few hours. So we each put into a pile what little food and water we have left and we divide it amongst everyone. It's not enough, and my stomach feels hollow—empty—even after filling it with what I can. But it will do to keep us moving and give us some energy.
"Does anyone know what's edible in these woods?" I ask, as I chew the last bit of dried meat and wash it down with a sip of water. None of us can afford to use all our water until we find another source.
"I've memorized all the books of herbology in my mother's library," Zev volunteers. "I assume the Ashlands would have similar vegetation as outside the Wall."
"You've memorized them?" I ask, stunned.
Zev nods. "It's not hard. I just look at it and it flashes in my mind, staying there permanently."
"On Gai we call that eidetic memory. Though if it's real at all it's quite rare," I say.
"I've gotten pretty good at scrounging," Mabel says. "No books to study, but living on the streets gave me a good instinct for what's edible and what's not."
We all look at her wide-eyed. "You lived on the streets? I thought you were of noble birth," Landon says.
"I had a family name, early on, but my father squandered our wealth gambling and whoring," she says softly, pulling her knees to her chest and staring at the fire as she speaks. "Eventually we had nothing. He died, and my mother… well, she took her own life from shame, and I think, a fear of living without. My sister and I were just children, and we ended up on the streets, struggling to stay alive. Eventually we joined the Band of Thieves, and they protected us and taught us how to survive. But the Band of Cut Throats were a constant threat, encroaching on our territory and employing much more vicious and deadly techniques to rule. It was during a fight with them that I was badly injured and left for dead in the alleys. My sister, she'd already left. I'd… I'd traded some favors to get her a job as a maid in a noble house, to keep her safe. Anyways, that night, I became a Twin Spirit, and then the Ashlords found me."
The cave falls silent as the tragedy of her story sinks into us.
Landon positions himself closer to her and puts an arm around over her shoulder. "You were brave. And smart. The Ashlords are lucky to have you."
There are tears in her eyes when she looks up at him and smiles. "I thought if you knew you'd hate me."
He laughs sardonically. "I have no right to judge anyone after the atrocities my family has committed."
I remember back to the night of the wedding, what Landon said of his family. And of the woman he left behind to join the Ashlords.
So much pain here. Enzo with his dead family. Landon with his lost fiancee and dreams of righting wrong. Mabel with her street life, and who knows what else. Bix seems to have had it the easiest, but even he suffered shame and sadness for not living up to what his tribe expected of him.
My eyes turn to Zev, who remains an enigma. He and Raven are the only two who haven't shared their stories, other than Naoki, who was with us only a few days and never had a chance. I often wonder how they're doing, and sometimes see them in the halls scurrying to their next job, and I feel a sadness wash through me that there's nothing I can do to make their life better.
Zev catches my eye and presses his lips together. "All right. I guess it's my turn to get all maudlin for our little squad bonding moment." His voice is sarcastic, but there's something in his face that makes me think he's grateful to have someone to share this burden with.
"I was from a noble family," he says. "From the Dragonbreath Islands of the east. My family clan was one of the largest and most powerful of the islands, and valued hunting in the great waters and trading stories over fire pits at night. I never fit in, but I was the oldest son and there were many expectations for me to fulfill, in particular, who my bride would be. I was set to marry a woman from another family of equal name and rank, one I had grown up around. But she wasn't the one I wanted. She wasn't the one I lov
ed." He stares into the fire, his voice wavering. "It was her brother, Danir. He and I… we were lovers. We… we had a fool's plan to run away together. To find a small village far from our islands and make a life planting food and drinking mead until we grew old together. I would collect books and read, and he would draw and play music, and we would lead a simple life where no one would bother us."
He looks up, waiting to see if we say anything. Perhaps waiting for judgment, but I scoot closer to him and place a hand on his arm, showing him that I care. And that I don't judge him.
He nods and continues. "We were found out, of course. It was his sister. She caught us in a… compromising position one day in the barn, and she ran to tell her parents. They were furious, as were mine, and they arranged to teach us both a lesson. That night I was dragged from bed, a hood shoved over my head, and taken to the dungeons, where I was hung from chains and beaten for days. I was given only enough water to not die, and no food. I was cut and whipped and tortured, until it finally happened."
"They did this to you on purpose?" I ask, shocked.
He nods. "It's not uncommon. Many noble houses deliberately turn a disappointing heir into a Broken One. Sometimes they become a Twin Spirit, and serve the Ashlords. Sometimes they become a Corrupted One and are killed. Either way, they are no longer a problem."
"That's… that's horrific," I say, appalled.
He nods. "That's how I ended up here."
Tears fill my eyes. "What happened to Danir?"
He drops his head, and his voice cracks. "He became a Corrupted One. Even in this, the gods wouldn't let us be together."
So he's dead, and Zev is here.
Bix pulls out a flask, but it's not the one that's been holding his water. "In the Frozen Mountains we never go to a fight without the fire of the gods." He takes a swig and passes it around. Mabel is next, and she nearly gags. "By the gods what is that?" she asks, wiping her lips and crinkling her face.
"It is fire of the gods," Bix says, as if it obvious.
Zev hands me the flask and I take a drink and feel it burning down my throat and into my stomach. I worry it will burn a hole right through my body and come pouring out of me, along with all my organs. "Holy hell, that's fire all right, but whether from gods or devils I'm not sure," I say, passing it on.
Of Dreams and Dragons Page 24