Finding a way up the first part of the mountain was easy. Paths worn away by generations of hikers drifted up the first part of the way. They didn't go very far. Even before the dragons decided to come down to the moors, hikers were not stupid enough to venture very far. Pretty soon, I was higher than the castle, and I could see for miles. Snow-covered most of Draconis, so I couldn't get a good view of the normally red and purple landscape, but I could see Zhore in the distance with a number of other small villages dotted around. Seeing the kingdom before me made me think of Milo. He was out there somewhere. I'd been so worried about him leaving, but the truth was, he was much safer than me. While he was asking old ladies about spindles, I was out conquering dragons. As long as he didn't run into Derillen, which I doubted he would, he would be fine. Caspian was adamant that the woman in the wool shop couldn't possibly be Derillen, but I knew in my heart it was.
The gradient steepened as the terrain of the mountain changed. Snow-covered heather gave way to grey, craggy rocks, which I would have to climb. I pulled myself from rock to rock, finding paths when and where I could. Mostly, it was just scrambling rather than full-on rock climbing, but I had the snow and ice to deal with, too, which made every foothold treacherous. After three hours of climbing, I took a break and pulled out one of the chocolate bars I'd pilfered from the kitchen. I was still a couple of hours from the top of the mountain, but I wasn't taking any risks after what I'd seen the day before, so I sat under a rocky outcrop and tore open the chocolate. A blanket of snow covered Draconis, but the sky was clear, and the sunrise gave the blanket of snow a pinkish glow. Taking in my surroundings, I noticed a small door, incongruous to the landscape around it. I was curious until I realized what it was. I'd never seen one before, but I'd heard of them. It was a dwarf door, one of many hidden on the mountainside. The main entrance to the dwarf mines lay about five miles east of the castle, but the mines themselves stretched out throughout the Fire Mountains. These doors allowed access to and from the mines, whether for emergencies or just for the dwarves to admire the view, I did not know, but I knew to leave well enough alone. I was already on my way to fight one creature; I didn't want to start a fight with other creatures too.
For a start, they had more weapons than I did. Putting the chocolate wrapper back in my bag, I set off again. The incline was getting steeper, and my going was slower. With each step, my lungs strained, and my muscles burned like dragon breath. The air was thinner up here, something that I'd not thought about when I planned this little quest. Breathing became something I had to think about something I had to consciously put effort into rather than something I just did. At the rate I was going, I would end up killing myself, long before the dragons got to me. If I didn't expire from lack of oxygen, I was likely to slip on an icy rock and fall to my death.
I was just beginning to think this whole thing was a bad idea when a brilliant blue dragon flew right over my head. It circled around before coming in again, and this time, it dove right towards me.
I grunted at the force of the dragon's talons as it gripped me, pinning my arms to the side. The little air I'd managed to breathe left me as it squeezed tighter. We flew upwards, going at a much quicker pace than I had managed alone.
I struggled in its grip, straining to get air into my lungs as the smell of burning and sulfur filled my nose.
When it had reached its destination, it dropped me. I fell only two or three feet, but the shock of it had me tumbling over and over. Something blocked my path, causing me to come to a standstill. For a second, I felt relief until I saw what I'd come up against. It was the leg of another dragon. A dragon that was craning its head around to see me.
My heart beat so quickly, I could feel the rush of blood through my eardrums, and a shiver went down my spine. Looking around, I realized I was in some kind of hollow. A thrill of fear passed through me as I saw bones littering it. Big bones. Scrambling to my feet, I ran, trying to get away from the beast. In a riot of storm and smoke, other dragons, ten or more of them, circled around what I could only describe as a giant nest, all of them fixated on me. None of them moved in to attack. They just watched intently as I pulled myself up the curved edge of the nest to the rim. When I looked over, it became apparent why none of them had gone for me. I was hundreds of feet up with a steep drop below me. A fall would kill me instantly. I was in a dragon's nest, and not only was I their dinner, it seemed they were going to play with me first.
Turning, I saw the dragon I'd originally backed into. A huge red beast with long eyelashes and big teeth, although its mouth was closed. With my back to the rim of the nest, there was nowhere for me to go. My options were to jump over the edge to my death or to stay and have it eat me alive, burned to death, or pulled apart by sharp talons. None of those options appealed, but as fear was gripping me to the floor of the nest, it seemed my nervous system would decide for me.
"Dragon balls," I hissed, pulling myself right to the edge. Below me, another couple of dragons flew. They were so low down that they looked tiny, and yet from the castle, they looked so high up. My hand gripped the edge, and something cold touched against it. My sword! I had my sword. I also had magic. Magic had saved me from the dragons before, it could do it again, but while I dialed back my nerves, the sword would have to do. Pulling it out, I leveled it at the red dragon. Immediately, the surrounding dragons flew closer, but the red dragon shot warning looks at them, and they flew back again. Was it warning them off so it could eat me itself?
Remembering my stance, I moved cautiously towards the dragon. It watched me closely but made no move. It could have roasted me at any point, but it chose not to, and when I was within hitting distance of it, and it still hadn't moved, I was left immobile with indecision. My nerves had dropped a little. If I'd wanted to, I could have reached forward and pet its snout. I was here to kill it, or at least I thought I was, but no. I'd come up here to understand the dragons. I couldn't understand anything if I killed them. It blinked as I stood right in front of it, probably wondering what my next move would be.
You and me both, buddy, I thought.
I didn't know what to do, but killing it was no longer an option. I could kill in self-defense, but I could never attack something that was not attacking me. Instead, I did the unthinkable. I put my sword away and bridged the distance between us. Taking a last step, I held out my hand and touched the tip of its nose. It closed its eyes and then opened them again. This creature was no threat to me.
"We wondered when you would come to see us."
My heart pelted around my chest at the voice behind me. There had been no one in this nest a minute ago, I was sure of it. I turned to find a man, or at least, he was almost a man. The top half of his body was human if you could call a man with long blue hair human. Brilliant blue scales that shimmered in the sun covered his bottom half. His legs were the legs of a dragon, and I knew this was the dragon that had brought me up here.
"You are a...What are you?" I'd asked the fae the same question only a week ago. He didn't take too kindly to it. Hopefully, this man would understand my confusion. Unlike Caspian, who had growled at the question, this man smiled widely in response. He came forward and held his hand out for me to shake.
"I am Vasuki, the king of the dragons, and you are my new queen."
I must have stood there, my mouth hanging open, because he carried on talking.
"Things in your world are changing, and in turn, they affecting ours."
"I can't be your queen," I bleated. "I'm already in a fake relationship with someone I've inadvertently developed a crush on, and I'm almost, not quite, but probably engaged to someone else. My love life is tangled enough without turning my weird love triangle into a love square."
Vasuki laughed, though there was no joy in it. "I apologize for laughing, but you misunderstand me. I am already with a partner. Although we do not follow the human constructs of marriage, I am very much partnered with her for life, and she is the love of my life. I do not wish for your b
ody, nor your soul. I only wish your council and your magic."
"I'm not too sure I can give you those either," I said, confusion in every word. "Can you tell me what is going on?"
He moved forward and took my hand. He was so unthreatening that I let him. On my other side, my other hand was taken by someone else. It was the red dragon with the huge eyelashes, but now she was a beautiful woman, or at least, half-woman for she was scaled from the waist down like Vasuki. Her hair was a magnificent crop of ombre, ranging from orange at the root to flaming red at the ends. The pair of them were so beautiful, they took my breath away, and the sooty smell followed them, even after their change.
"This is Emba," He said, introducing the red-headed woman to me. She smiled a dazzling smile and nodded her head slightly.
"Things are changing in your world," Vasuki repeated. "Normally, we do not care about the goings-on of humans, but unfortunately, it has invaded our world. Not once have we allowed a human up here, but you are different. We are hoping...I am hoping that you will do us a service."
I pulled back from the two of them, remembering the charred remains of the guards being lined up in the castle grounds.
"You killed people," I choked. "You killed the castle guards. My father is gearing his men up to come and attack you."
Vasuki threw a knowing look at Emba before turning back to me. "That was not us...at least, it was none of my doing. Please hear me out. I am no threat to you, nor is my dragon clan. I will promise you safety and safe passage back down the mountain if you listen to what I have to say. It is as important for you as it is for us."
I nodded my head slowly. It was hardly as if I had any choice in the matter, but I let that slide. I was intrigued by what he had to say.
"A couple of weeks ago, a massive shift in magical energy occurred. I doubt if humans felt it, but magical beings are sensitive to such things and dragons probably more so than most. I feared that things would go back to how they were many years ago. I felt a darkness that was all too familiar to me. I hoped that it was nothing, that the change was just some natural shift in energy, but then the humans started coming. Many years ago, we were hunted almost into extinction. Humans were afraid, angry. People were hurting other people, all because of the darkness, and they didn't stop there. Greed was prevalent. Humans came up the mountain. They stole from the mines, and they stole eggs from us and hunted us as trophies. The darkness affected us too, and we began to fight back. It was only when the princess of the people woke up from a slumber that things got better for us. Her father, the king, made the journey up the mountain himself and made it clear that he was outlawing dragon hunting. He told us we would be free, and as long as we stayed on the mountaintops, no one would bother us again. He was true to his word until the darkness came back a couple of weeks ago. The humans blamed us, although we know no more about it than they do."
"The king was my grandfather," I told him. "The princess who slept is my mother. She is cursed once again and now lies in slumber at the castle."
A curious look passed between Vasuki and the red dragon.
"That cannot be," he said, confusion in his voice. "You are not the same as him."
"I'm adopted," I explained. "My parents adopted me eighteen years ago."
Comprehension dawned. "Ah, I see. That makes sense. You are a lucky woman. Your grandfather is a good man."
"My grandfather died many years ago."
Vasuki bowed his head. "I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences. We do not keep up with what happens down there unless it affects us directly. As I said, it became illegal to hunt dragons, and until now, we have not been harmed. Unfortunately, in the past two weeks we have had many instances of humans coming up the mountain. Our eggs are being stolen again. Lives are being lost. I wanted to come down and speak to your grandfather, but my kind is not welcome down there, as you can imagine. I had planned to wait a week or so more, keeping extra guard over our eggs, but some of the dragons disobeyed my orders and took it upon themselves to give the humans a warning. I did not ask them to do it, and they will be punished for their actions. I do not believe in an eye for an eye. That way, everyone ends up blind. We are a peaceful people and do not wish to harm humans."
"My father has been erecting a wall to keep people off the mountain, but it will take months to build, even with all the men he has available."
Vasuki smiled curtly. "It seems your father is a good man as well. Please tell him we mean no harm, but we cannot have more humans on the mountain. I will talk to the dragons responsible for killing your guards, and I will make it clear that I don't want it to happen again, but I cannot chain them down. They are angry and mistrustful of humans. The dark energy is making everyone edgy."
"I can understand why," I said. "I'm sorry that we humans are doing this to you. I can ask the media to tell the people you are shifters. I doubt anyone would want to steal your eggs if they knew that."
Vasuki shook his head roughly. "That is where you are wrong. Dragon eggs are valuable, but Dragon shifter eggs are the most valuable of all. We are a rare species, and our eggs are priceless in certain markets. Only your grandfather knew the truth about us. I have to trust that you will keep our secret and only tell your father and no one else."
I nodded. "If you are sure."
"I am sure." He paused before speaking again. "May I ask you why you came up to see us? I see that you are carrying a sword that bears our image. A high honor, indeed, although I would expect nothing less from our queen."
There he went again calling me his queen. He had yet to explain why. "I came up for information. I had a feeling that you had something to do with the shift in magical energy, but now I know you do not. Why do you keep referring to me as your queen?"
Milo had called me the queen of dragons a few times, and now it seemed he wasn't wrong. The irony of it didn't escape me.
"Do you not feel it?" he asked, gazing at the air around him.
I felt a lot of things at the moment, but whatever it was he was referring to, no, I didn't.
I shrugged, not knowing how to answer.
"You have a very deep connection to us," he said. "The magical ability you showed the other day drew our kind down from the mountain. You called to us. There is something I must tell you that you may not already understand. You said earlier that you were sorry that we humans did this to you. That's how you phrased it. We humans. You are not human. You are something much greater."
I blinked, unnerved by his words. "What do you mean I'm not human?"
I mean, what else could I be? I looked human, I talked like a human, I walked like a human. I'd already established that I wasn't fae and there was no way I was a witch or a vampire. He was wrong. he had to be wrong...but...
Caspian had said something similar. I was magic, a skill that humans didn't possess except the mages of Enchantia. Was it possible I was from there originally? Why would my parents adopt me from a place so far away when there were plenty of orphans here in Draconis? But then, I couldn't be a mage either if Vasuki was right. Mages were human. He was saying I wasn't.
"My eyes!" The gold ring around my irises had always marked me apart from others.
"Yes, your eyes are unusual." It was Emba who spoke. I'd not heard her speak before. Her voice was rich like honey, and she had the same accent as Vasuki." I have never seen anything like them. We do not know what you are, but we know you are special. It is foreseen that you will bring prosperity to our kind."
"Foreseen?"
She nodded. "We have a limited sense of the future. We do not see things as such, but we feel the vibrations rippling back. We are in for dark times, but there is a hint of the light in the distance. We believe that you are part of that. We feel a great affinity to you, one that has nothing to do with the fact that you are royalty."
"Indeed," Vasuki agreed. "We would not have known your royal status unless you told us. You are a queen of the people, as well as a queen of dragons. We bow down to you."
"I don't understand," I said.
"Neither do I," Vasuki admitted. "I cannot answer your questions, and I am sorry. All I can tell you is that your magic draws us to you. You are very special to us though I don't even understand it fully myself. We rarely bow down to others, but our bond with you is strong."
As he spoke, the other dragons that had been circling flew in and dropped their bellies to the ground as they did before. Looking around, the sight baffled me, but I now felt a kinship with them I'd never thought possible. Not that I'd thought dragon shifters were possible either. Just then, a smaller dragon nudged me harmlessly in the back of my leg with its snout. It was the most beautiful dragon I'd ever seen with brilliant iridescent purple scales that changed color in the sunlight. It looked up at me with mischievous eyes and made a cute little barking growl sound.
"Yes, Nyre," said Vasuki to the little dragon. He pronounced the name Ny-ree. "You may take her back, but fly straight back, you hear? Don't go too close to the castle. You won't be safe, but your small size will make it harder for the castle guards to see you."
The small dragon half-hopped, half-flew up and rested on my shoulder. It was barely bigger than a puppy. How was it supposed to fly me down the mountain?
The red dragon stood back up from her kneeling position and kissed my hand. "My daughter has always had a fascination with the human world, and even though you are not human, you are still part of it. I think she likes you. It would be a great honor to us if you let her take you down the mountain."
"You mean, fly on her back?" I asked, looking at the small purple dragon on my shoulder nervously. I doubted I'd fit on its back.
"No. Nyre will know what to do. She is a proficient flyer and stronger than she looks." Vasuki said. "I trust that you will pass on my sincere condolences at what my brethren did to your people. I will do my utmost to stop it from happening again. If your father is building a wall, I will pass the message on to the perpetrators. If he and his men come up the mountain, I will set defenses, but will not attack first. I will, however, fight back if need be."
Heiress of Embers Page 4