by Jensine Odom
“Why is this gift a forbidden magic, though?”
“It isn’t a gift, but a curse. All who possess this ability are Honorless,” Caedryn answers with conviction.
Something about that explanation rubs me the wrong way. It sounds more like propaganda. The fact that dragons can have this ability but it’s forbidden screams that there’s something more to the story, or something has been hidden. Something that maybe even Caedryn doesn’t know.
“What are the Honorless?” I ask, deciding to leave off the forbidden magic topic for now.
“All dragons are Honorbound to the Royals and are compelled to follow the laws upheld by the Royals, yet there are those that can disregard this compulsion, doing as they please. These are the Honorless.”
“And all these Honorless are Espers?”
“No. A few were, and we executed them before they could turn dragonkind against one another. Drustana hid her ability until it was too late for us to do anything about her.”
“Is that ability how Drustana’s corrupting the Knights and driving the other Honorbound mad?”
We believe so, yes. Alarr answers this time, reappearing beside me. She used her ability in combination with severing the Honorbond by killing the Royals.
“When I become a full dragon, will all dragonkind be Honorbound once more?” I ask, hoping it could be that easy.
Perhaps the Knights, but not the Baseborn. They are beastlocked. Their humanity is gone and cannot be restored. Alarr answers sadly.
“Why are the Baseborn beastlocked?”
“They needed to be awakened by Sylaena, as she was the High Royal. By killing my mother, and all the other Royals, she has condemned them to this fate,” Caedryn answers, rage and grief warring in his voice.
“So, all that’s left of dragonkind are the Knights and the Honorless?” I ask, a sudden sense of hopelessness washing over me.
That is correct. Alarr sounds just as hopeless as I feel.
“Even if the Knights are released, the Honorless still greatly outnumber us,” Turhion adds, joining us at the back of the group and making me jump a bit. I wasn’t paying attention, so I didn’t sense him coming.
“And we have to kill the Honorless, huh?” I ask, not really wanting to know the answer.
“Some Knights may die as well, if they remain corrupted,” Caedryn adds, our bond making my heart squeeze with sorrow.
“Not if I can help it,” I vow, sliding my hand down to hold his, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
Caedryn just gives me a somber smile, the kind you use with a child that doesn’t understand the dog is dead and won’t be coming back.
I know he doesn’t think there’s a way to save all the Knights, but I’ll find it. I’m also planning on saving the Honorless, but that idea’s staying secret until the time is right. Caedryn, Turhion, and Kerric are still too prejudiced against them at the moment, and I need more info to make a good defending argument. I don’t think ‘because I said so’ will really fly in this case.
“Xerxia?!” Tristin’s wail breaks into my thoughts. “Can we stop to eat?! I’m starving!”
I squint at the sky. The sun’s half past its zenith, and we’re about half way up the mountain, well past the last point we’ve ventured since the apocalypse.
“Yeah,” I reply, feeling a bit peckish myself. “Let’s stop up there, where the trees are thicker.”
Tristin howls with excitement and races Zebulon up the hill to the stand of trees I pointed out. They’re already digging into their chosen snacks by the time the rest of us join them, setting down our bags and weapons to lounge in the shade while we eat.
I take the other half of my burrito and a couple thick strips of Carl’s deer jerky and lay across two boulders beneath a tall pine, listening to the susurrus of the breeze through the needles above me as I eat.
Tristin’s finished with his food before I’m even halfway through mine, and the Knights are close behind him, only eating a little of the deer jerky themselves.
“I think we’re far enough away from Baldure and Alivia,” Caedryn says, standing from the rock beside me. “Let’s see if you can transform, Tristin.” He motions for Tristin to join him in the clearing near our resting spot.
“Finally,” Tristin yells excitedly, following Caedryn.
“Take a few deep breaths in and out your nose to relax your mind and body,” Caedryn instructs, and Tristin does as he says. “Good. To shapeshift, you must focus on your dragon form. This may be difficult for you, as you were unconscious when you first…” Caedryn trails off, amazed.
While Caedryn was talking, Tristin began to glow purple. The air around him shimmered, rippling like a mirage, then cleared, revealing a large purple dragon.
“I gots this,” Tristin says confidently, gazing at Caedryn with his magnificent green eyes.
Caedryn smirks at him. “You can also do partial transformations, with practice. I will show you.”
Caedryn begins to glow, the air around him shimmering like black glitter smoke. Instead of revealing a full dragon when it clears, Caedryn’s somewhere in between. Still mostly human shaped, his body’s covered in scales, save for his face and part of his chest. His eyes are that of his dragon form, four-pointed star pupils in the middle of gleaming silver.
Two horns adorn his head, sweeping back in a graceful curve like his full dragon form, his raven hair falling loosely between them. On his back are a huge pair of wings, silver membranes glimmering in the sunshine, and his tail flicks like a cat’s.
Before I have any more time to admire him, though, he changes to his full dragon form. Turhion and Kerric join them now, both shifting as well.
Compared to those three, Tristin’s a brute. He’s not any taller, but quite massive, with a thick, muscular body and a head that resembles a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Where the others have elegant scale ridges on their face and necks, Tristin’s are flat, like armor plating, and two massive horns curl around each side of his head like a bull’s. His scales are no less spectacular, being a deep royal purple with a bright green shimmer as he moves in the sunlight, and a pattern that resembles a Diamondback.
“Let’s see if you can fly,” Turhion challenges, and after getting a nod from Caedryn, takes off.
Caedryn and Kerric follow Turhion into the sky, roaring challenges with him. A toothy reptilian grin spreads across Tristin’s face and he rears up, answering their calls with a deafening roar of his own, sounding like Godzilla. He stretches out his huge wings, barely clearing the trees around him, and flaps them a few times experimentally. Crouching now, he leaps into the air and takes off with a loud boom, slamming us with the following gust of wind.
Just like that, he’s flying. Not very gracefully; he looks more like a really huge bat than a dragon right now, but within a few minutes it’s as if he has been doing it his whole life, diving and banking like a pro, even doing a barrel roll or two. The show-off.
After another minute or so of flying, all the Knights return to the ground, Tristin’s landing a little less practiced than the others, sending a large cloud of dust billowing out as he lands heavily, the thud rattling the trees around us.
“We‘ll teach you more once we reach our destination for the night,” Caedryn says, smirking as Tristin shakes himself off and releases his dragon form, joining the rest of us back in the shade.
I slide off my rocky perch, my feet hitting the ground with a plop, and Caedryn catches me as the inertia nearly throws me on my face.
“Thanks.” I smile up at him when I catch my balance. “If everyone’s ready, we should get going,” I say, picking up my bow and backpack.
Zebulon and Mary groan as they reluctantly leave their comfy spot in the grass beside my boulders, both lazily slinging their packs across their shoulders, and the rest retrieve their things. Alarr appears from the trees behind us, surprising everyone but me, and we get back on the road.
Go Higher
HAVING been freshly fed and rested, we set out with a ne
w vigor. The road up to this point had been fairly clear and easy going, with only a few areas where trees had fallen. Now we’re reaching the mountainous switchbacks, where the rocky cliffs that had risen on either side of the road now cover it; the measly chicken wire and concrete doing nothing to hold back the Earth in her violent rage.
The first few instances aren’t so bad. We either skirt around the rubble or just do a little bit of rock scrambling, but the higher we get, the harder the climbs become. Now we’re facing a nearly vertical, forty-foot-high mound of dirt and rocks.
The terrain to the left isn’t any better. If anything it’s taller, and the ground drops abruptly away on the right, a few trees clinging precariously by their roots.
“We’ll have to climb,” I inform everyone, making sure my backpack, bow, and quiver are secured to me.
“Are you crazy?!” Zebulon asks, looking up the craggy hill as a rock tumbles down its side to crash on the pavement beside him.
“We need that bird’s eye view at the Crest.” I take a breath and step up to the steep hillside.
Finding a couple sturdy footholds, I begin my ascent, leading by example. With all my concentration going to making sure I don’t fall, I can’t spare a glance at the others down below, but the scraping of rocks and intermittent swearing of my brothers tells me they’re following.
The ascent isn’t as hard as rock climbing, but it’s no easy task either, having to deal with treacherously loose rocks and soft, not quite settled dirt. By the time I reach the summit I’m sweating.
Finding a somewhat secure spot to stand, I wipe my brow, gazing at the descent while I wait for the rest of the group to join me. Caedryn’s in the lead, and right as he reaches the top, easily pulling himself up, the sturdy rock beneath my feet becomes not so sturdy.
“Xerxia!” Caedryn reaches for me just as the rock drops away, sending me swiftly sliding down the other side of the hill.
With a surprising lack of panic, I navigate around the sharp rocks and splintered trees sticking out of the dirt, barely managing to keep my feet beneath me in the soft dirt, but the worst is yet to come. Larger boulders jut out below me, rapidly approaching and promising pain. Lots of pain.
In a snap decision I don’t remember making, I plant my feet and push off the hill, sending myself airborne and sailing quickly for the ground. There’s no way I make it out of this without a broken bone or two.
Like a self-assured cat, though, I land on my feet, bending my knees to take in some of the impact, and my bag slams against my back, nearly toppling me over. My legs are intact, tingling like I just jumped off a playground swing set, not a thirty-foot drop. Stunned, I stare at the small indent in the ground below me feet.
“Are you all right?” Caedryn asks, landing beside me with a thud and holding me by the shoulders, glancing me over with concern.
“Yeah,” I reply with a giddy laugh, and he pulls me into a relieved embrace.
“I’m a God,” Tristin roars with enthusiasm as he lands hard beside us, sending rocks scattering with the heavy impact.
“We are not Gods,” Turhion corrects him harshly, landing nearly soundless despite his size. “We can be killed.”
“Well no shit,” Tristin returns sarcastically.
Turhion turns fully on Tristin, the air actually crackling with red sparks, and I step up between them.
“Easy, Turhion.” I lay a hand on his thick arm, stopping him from following through with whatever he was intending, then turn an ineffective glare on Tristin. “He knows he’s not really a God.”
“That term has a different connotation in this new age,” Caedryn adds helpfully.
Turhion simply nods, his tense muscles relaxing slightly beneath my palm, then walks a few steps away.
A moment later, Kerric, Zebulon, and Mary reach the ground, the latter two grunting as they jump the last few feet from a large boulder. Mary swats at her pantlegs, sending out little clouds of dust, and Zebulon straightens Dagabrjota on his hip.
“I winned,” I tease them as they join us.
“You cheated,” Zebulon corrects.
“I did not,” I reply with mock indignity.
“Yes, you did,” Mary half laughs. “You jumped!”
“In my defense, I fell.”
“Same difference.” Zebulon waves dismissively, a smirk on his lips.
“Whatever.” I roll my eyes playfully. “Is everyone ready to go, or do you mortals need a break?” I tease Zebulon and Mary.
Mary makes a face and sticks her tongue out. “I’m ready to go whenever you are, your Majesty,” she teases, then looks around pointedly. “Where’s Alarr?”
I am here, Alarr replies humorously, walking from the trees a few yards ahead of us. I have been waiting for you.
“Oh! What?!” Zebulon yells, flailing his limbs around. “Technically Alarr won!”
Now it’s my turn to scrunch my face and stick my tongue out. “Whatever! Let’s just go.” I dramatically turn my back on their playfully gloating faces and walk off.
Alarr disappears back into the trees and my Knights move into formation around me as we move higher. Caedryn’s on my right, eyes scanning the far horizon for any signs of trouble, and Turhion’s on my left, watching the tree line suspiciously. Kerric’s bringing up the rear, and I find myself checking his bright energy in my awareness often, making sure he’s okay; I’m usually the one in the back, keeping an eye on everyone.
Tristin’s in the lead of the procession, not taking his duties as seriously as the others, playing games with Zebulon.
“I spy with my little eye something—brown,” he declares.
“A rock,” Zebulon guesses sarcastically monotone, and the two fall into a fit of giggles while Mary just shakes her head.
“Just curious, but how do you kill a dragon?” I ask no one in particular.
“In our full forms, only another dragon or special weapons can kill us,” Turhion answers.
“Or a very well-placed dagger in the throat, just under the jaw,” Kerric adds, lifting his head and pressing a finger to his exposed throat. “You’ll most likely be dead before you can get that close, though,” he adds.
I give a short laugh. “You’d be surprised. I managed to get in close enough to cut Turhion’s face, and Tristin stabbed Sitrian’s.”
“You were the human that injured me?” Turhion asks, touching the scar.
“Yeah. I’m sorry, for what it’s worth.”
“Don’t be sorry. Had you not injured me, I would have killed you.” Turhion offers a reassuring smile.
“What are your weapons made of?” Kerric asks, curious.
“Meteorite,” I answer, but Kerric looks confused. “Metal that fell from the sky?” I try, and this seems to register.
“Starmetal.” Kerric nods. “That’s why you could injure Turhion, and Sitrian. Some of our weapons are made of starmetal. Caedryn’s sword is one. The last, for I fear the others are lost to us.” Kerric shakes his head at the loss.
“So, we’re nearly invincible in full form, but what about our human and partial forms?” I ask, changing the subject.
“We’re stronger than regular mortals in this form, but can still be killed in some conditions. As for our partial forms, it depends on how squamous you are,” Turhion answers again.
“Got it. Human; squishy. Dragon; godlike.” I shrug, flashing a mischievous smile, and to my surprise Turhion actually smiles back, relaxing into the joke.
“Forgive me for the way I spoke to your brother earlier,” Turhion says suddenly, bowing his head in shame. “I was quick to judge.”
“You’re forgiven.” I touch his shoulder reassuringly. “I understand why you got heated.”
“Why did you get so mad at me?” Tristin asks, turning to walk backwards.
“The last dragon to claim they were a God is the reason why we’re all in this situation,” I answer for Turhion.
“Oh. Gotcha,” Tristin says, nodding slowly with comprehension, then turns b
ack around.
“Speaking of which. Do either of you two remember where Drustana is?” I ask, looking hopefully between Turhion and Kerric.
“We wouldn’t know where she resides currently. The last time we were with Drustana she had just led us to this land and sent us across the newly ravaged world with orders to find and kill you. That was some time ago, and I imagine she would have moved on by then,” Kerric answers.
“She most likely moved farther inland. Where we first arrived was a wasteland; toxic to most other creatures,” Turhion continues. “We shouldn’t concern ourselves with finding Drustana, though. When you become a full dragon, all Honorbound will sense you, and Drustana will come for you.”
“Well, that’s just great,” I comment with a sarcastic edge. “When I do come into my full power, won’t the Knights just turn on Drustana?”
“Maybe if the Knights are released with your transformation, but Drustana’s hold on them is powerful; her darkness clouds their minds,” Turhion says, speaking from experience, and I know he tells the truth. I felt the power of Drustana’s darkness for myself when I released him and his brother, as well as Sitrian.
“So, I shouldn’t bet on the Knights miraculously coming to their senses, but I can bet on Drustana using them like giant, glittery bloodhounds to hunt me down?” Both Turhion and Kerric give me a strange look, and I laugh. “That was a redundant question. Just agree.”
They nod in slow agreement, but continue to look at me like I’m insane, which only makes me laugh harder.
“Xerxia,” Tristin screeches from the road ahead as we make our way around the hairpin. “Now what’s the plan?” he asks sarcastically, pointing at the one-hundred-foot-wide chasm that now blocks our path.
I walk up to the edge, kicking a rock into the canyon, and watch as it tumbles down the cliffside, crashing loudly into the walls. I knew the mountain would have shifted with all the earthquakes we had, but I would’ve never guessed it would try to split like an amoeba!
The cleft runs from the top of the mountain, along the old Sandia ski area, to nearly the bottom, essentially turning one mountain into two. Trees cling desperately to any sturdy ground along the edges, refusing to fall into the abyss, but it’s only a matter of time before the split completes itself. I wonder if we’ll be here when that happens?