Legend's Awakening

by Jensine Odom

  “Yes, Chieftain,” Kalos replies, taking his shirt off, revealing his warrior’s physique and the deep gray V of his dragon mark on his torso.

  The ring of people forms again, this time around the two young men. They take a few test shots at one another, then go to the ground grappling as one gets a hold on the other.

  “He’s a fine lad, isn’t he?” Calder asks me, vague about whom he’s speaking of.

  I can guess who, though, and what game Calder’s playing. “He is, but I’m already soulbound.”

  Calder gives me a sly grin. “You can’t blame an old man for trying. What about her?” He waves towards Zaara.

  “You’d have to ask her,” I answer, realizing I don’t know. “Why are you so quick to set your son up?”

  Suddenly very weary, Calder glances at Hadrian. “I have led this clan for ages. It is time for that responsibility to become Hadrian’s, and it is easier when the burden is shared.” Calder smiles, reaching an arm around Brigid’s ample hips as she joins us.

  “I understand.” I can’t help but smile at the happiness those two share, leaning into my own partner in crime.

  “The boy just doesn’t seem interested in any I put forth.” Calder shakes his head.

  “Have you thought about asking him if he already has a soulbound?” I ask, watching the two men as their fight is concluded, Kalos coming out the victor. It’s subtle. Just a little look here. The lingering congratulatory touch there.

  “He would have told me if this were true,” Calder shoots back a little too quickly.

  “Have you made it known Hadrian can speak to you of such things?” Brigid points out.

  “No,” Calder admits, glancing towards his son. “Do you think he has a soulbound?”

  “Why don’t you ask him yourself?” I suggest.

  Calder sighs, then squares his shoulders. “Hadrian!”

  The young man stops what he’s doing immediately and moves on his father’s order, walking up to stand before him. “Yes, Father?”

  “What do you think of a match with Xerxia?” Calder asks.

  Hadrian’s eyes go wide, not out of surprise but horror, and he glances quickly between his father, me, then Caedryn. “I thought she was already soulbound!”

  “I am,” I assure him, glaring dubiously at Calder.

  “Are you?” Calder asks Hadrian next.

  “Yes!” Hadrian’s horror grows as he realizes his mistake. “No!”

  “Who is it, Son?” Calder asks, not sounding angry, but also not sounding happy about it, either.

  Hadrian just drops his gaze to the ground, refusing to say another word. This interrogation’s over. Brigid crosses her arms, giving Calder a hard look, and I step up to the plate.

  “That could have been handled better,” I chide, narrowing my eyes at Calder. “What your father means is do you have someone to share your life and love with?”

  Hadrian nods, but just barely, and I glare at Calder.

  “I promise you, I am not angry,” Calder reassures his son, softer now.

  “The time has come to tell him, Hadrian.” Kalos steps beside Hadrian for support.

  “You knew of this as well?!” Calder gasps.

  “Yes, Father, because Kalos is my soulbound,” Hadrian confesses, squaring his shoulders.

  A huge grin breaks across Brigid’s face, and Calder just looks stunned, like he should have seen this earlier. After a moment, he steps forward and hugs Hadrian, surprising us all. I didn’t think he was a hugger.

  After Hadrian, he turns his odd affection on Kalos, embracing him as well, then looks to me.

  “You’re not going to hug me now, are you?” I ask, unsure.

  Calder actually laughs, shaking his head. “No, I simply want to thank you for opening an old dragon’s eyes. Hadrian, I am glad for you to have someone you can share this burden with.”

  “What burden?” Hadrian asks, his shock growing.

  “Son, your mother and I are stepping down. You are now Chieftain, as well as Kalos.”

  “Did Drustana not forbid Chieftains, and your ability to name the next in line? The penalty is death!”

  “In case you missed it, I liberated you from Drustana, and her tyrannical ways. You’re free to do as you always have, including naming the new Chieftains.” I smile at Hadrian and Kalos. “Congratulations!”

  “You’re allowing the clans to remain? I thought you wanted to unite us.” Hadrian’s really confused now.

  “Just because you have your clans doesn’t mean you can’t have respect for your fellow dragon. There will be rules, obviously, like no more raiding, but I think that’ll settle itself since you won’t be fighting over finite resources. You’re not Outcasts anymore, you’re just dragons, like all of us.” My little impromptu speech gets cheers from all the dragons that have gathered.

  “This is why we will follow you,” Hadrian tells me, smiling, and kneels. “My first order, as Chieftain, is to pledge my clan to you. We will follow you until the end of time.”

  All the dragons around me kneel, including Calder and Brigid, catching me off guard, and I can’t do anything but stare stupidly for a moment.

  “This is why you are Shiirah,” Malakai comments, pulling me back to my senses.

  “Thank you, Hadrian. Now, let’s get this day started so we can move one step closer to defeating Drustana!”

  Everyone cheers again and the camp jumps into motion as it begins to mobilize. After a few short moments we’re ready to go. I take the lead, with Caedryn beside me and Turhion covering my back, and together we head out.

  Right as we reach the edge of the clearing, motion in the tree line catches my eye. Volpe growls, his hackles standing on end, and I have us stop just as several archers appear out of the trees, pointing nocked arrows at us, followed by more archers. Yipping in fear now, Volpe darts behind me.

  Normally, arrows wouldn’t make me flinch; I can just quick shift and be invincible. However, these are no ordinary arrows. I’ve seen them before, and know firsthand what Dragon’s Bane can do. As it is, all I have left is to surrender, and put my hands in the air, stepping slowly back towards the safety of my people.

  “Stop where you are,” one of the archers demands, and I obey.

  “Who are you? What clan do you hail from?” I ask.

  “I could ask you the same,” a sultry voice answers from the trees, followed by the appearance of a woman.

  She’s not as tall as me, slender, and scantily clad like some Amazonian Queen. Her jet-black hair falls in a curtain halfway down her back, and her dragon marks glint in bands around her upper arms like golden warpaint. Her face is familiar, but I can’t place it right now.

  “I don’t know you.” Her golden eyes bore into mine, and she saunters around me. I can feel her weighing me, with a small twinge of curiosity when she notices Volpe at my heels. Next, she circles Caedryn, trailing a finger across his cheek. “I know him, though. Which can mean only one thing.” She comes to stand before me again. “I’m glad to finally meet you, Sister!”

  Surprise!

  I’M frozen in place as the woman throws her arms around my waist, hugging me tight, her excitement battering me.

  “Lower the Dragon’s Bane.” She waves the archers down.

  “Who are you?” I finally manage.

  “Amarya?” Sylaena speaks up, confusion and awe in her voice. “We were told you were dead, killed by an Honorless on your transformation day.”

  “Can someone please explain what’s going on here?!” I interrupt.

  Amarya laughs, the chiming sound so familiar. Then I realize it’s Allowyn’s laugh; a little deeper, but it’s the same. And Amarya looks like Allowyn, only darker and curvier.

  “You’re really my sister! Or, at least, you were Allowyn’s.” I frown, unsure how to put it.

  “I am your sister. We may not share blood any longer, but my soul knows yours,” Amarya replies. “I was born many decades before Allowyn. I was to be a Knight, like Father. T
hen my friend who I grew up with was executed, simply for being an Esper. She had done nothing wrong. Wanting nothing to do with my clan, or any Honorbound, I decided to never return from my first transformation. Mother and Father must have found it easier to lie about my death than to admit their first born was Honorless.”

  My heart squeezes at the pain in her voice. Involuntarily, I reach out, reassuring her with a squeeze of her arm. “You’re not Honorless.”

  That gets me a quick glance of surprise. “I am. I can’t even sense you.”

  Amarya’s testing me. She wants to know how much I know. Time to give her another surprise.

  With a few exceptions, no dragon can sense the Royals. This gets me the full jaw drop, and Amarya just stares. “Yeah, I changed pretty much everything.”

  I had dreamed of the day we could be together, and I wouldn’t be killed for what I was, Amarya replies.

  It’s my turn to be surprised. “You’re an Esper,” I breathe.

  “Yes. It would seem it runs in the family. Our aunt, Sitrian, was an Esper as well.”

  “She still is.” I can’t help but smile.

  “Sitrian lives?” Amarya can’t seem to believe it.

  “Yeah. She was really good at hiding her ability. She went with my other team to Baldure’s clan. Actually, Destaya’s clan now.”

  “Baldure is dead, then?” Amarya keeps her tone even, but her hearts aching.

  “No. He’s my Champion, and a Vanguard to boot, as is his sister.” I try to feel out how much she cared for him. “I’m guessing Baldure’s clan is the one that took you in?”

  “Yes. Baldure was the one who found me wandering while he was out hunting with his sister. His clan took me in as one of their own.”

  “They did that for a lot of the Outcasts from our clan,” I comment. “Destaya was one as well.”

  “How is it you come to possess the Dragon’s Bane?” Malakai asks suddenly, suspicious.

  “That was my price for my allegiance to Drustana. She may have had sweet words that resonated with me, but I never truly trusted her. When I learned of her plan to kill the Royals with the Dragon’s Bane, I fled.”

  “You saved them a fate worse than death,” Sylaena commends Amarya.

  “How are you not dead?” Amarya asks Sylaena.

  “She ran away, leaving us to our fates, but had a change of heart,” I answer, not bitter, just truthful. “If Drustana had used the Dragon’s Bane, what would have happened?” I don’t know if I want the answer.

  “Your soul would not have reincarnated but been destroyed. That is the magic of Dragon’s Bane, and the curse,” Sylaena answers.

  Amarya looks aghast. “I didn’t know it destroyed souls!” She kneels before me. “Forgive me for threatening you with the Dragon’s Bane?!”

  “It’s alright. You didn’t know what it did. Why did you use it, though?”

  “I was unsure why the camp was mobilizing. Drustana has been acting erratically recently. If she was here, I had to take the opportunity to strike,” Amarya answers fervently, standing once more.

  “Well, today’s your lucky day! We’re moving on to the next clan, hoping to turn them, then the next. After that, we move on Drustana, using her own army against her. Want to join us?” I gesture at the small army waiting behind me.

  Amarya’s huge smile is the answer. She whistles and many more people begin to trickle from the trees around us, nearly doubling the force I have already. Some have Dragon’s Bane, others don’t.

  I glance uncertainly at the sickly glowing arrows. “One thing, though; you can’t use the Dragon’s Bane in the fight to come. The dragons we’ll be fighting are Knights Drustana has corrupted, and I’ve promised we’ll try to save them all.”

  “As you wish.” Amarya nods once. “Dragon’s Bane away,” she calls to her clan, and they put the arrows away, tucking them into special quivers made of a strange black material.

  “Hold on. Let me see one,” I order, and the nearest archer hands one of his over. It’s oddly cold, and my stomach turns on contact, but I fight through it, wrapping my hand completely around the shaft. The deadly magic flares as the arrow vibrates in my hand then shatters, turning to nothing more than dust that blows away in the breeze, and an accumulative gasp rolls through the clans. “I’m a Purificent,” I answer Amarya’s shocked face. “Give me all the Dragon’s Bane.”

  “You heard our High Royal,” Amarya turns to her clan, and all her archers come forward, kneeling respectfully to lay their quivers at my feet.

  “It’s Shiirah, by the way, not High Royal” I correct her with a grin.

  “Shiirah?”

  “It’s an old term, similar to Queen, and I figured since I was changing things, I might as well change what my people call me.” I shrug.

  “I like it,” Amarya agrees. “Shiirah—” Amarya looks unsure. “I’m afraid I never learned your name.”

  “Xerxia.” I smile, dipping my head.

  “Shiirah Xerxia.” Amarya smiles back. “We will follow you proudly.”

  I accept, then turn my attention to the pile of Dragon’s bane in front of me. Even though the Wisps amplified my power, I’m going to need some extra to destroy all of these. Answering my silent call, Caedryn steps beside me, along with Zaara, and they nod.

  Pulling our minds together like Alivia showed me, I join our three souls together, the combined power surging through me like floodwaters. Riding the wave, I kneel and place a hand on the pile of Dragon’s Bane.

  Where one arrow only slightly affected me, this amount nearly makes me puke. It’s like someone punched me in the gut and is squeezing my organs. Hard.

  Fighting the bile back down, I focus on breaking the dark magic. A deep humming reverberates through the ground around us, shaking the very air and lifting the loose hairs around my head. The humming stops abruptly as the mass of Dragon’s Bane simply dissipates, a heap of black ash sitting as the only proof to its existence.

  I release Caedryn and Zaara, letting our minds slowly drift apart, and stand, our combined power still buzzing in my veins. A rogue gust of wind swirls across the pile, blowing away the black powder.

  “Now no one can wield that power,” I proclaim. “Alright, let’s get going. Amarya, your people can join the rest; you lead with me and the other Chieftains.”

  One moment, Xerxia, Alarr moves up beside Amarya, just resting his nose against her chest. A moment later there’s a new tingle added to the base of my skull. You are now a Knight, Alarr confirms.

  Amarya leaps forward, throwing her arms around his thick, scaly neck. “Thank you!”

  There’s a sudden pull in my chest that nearly yanks me to my knees and a pang of horrified surprise, then nothing. Caedryn and Zaara clutch their chests in a similar manner, their eyes going wide. That was one of the Vanguard!

  I try to reach out with my mind, but the others are too far away. I can’t hide the panic in my voice. “We need to go. Now!”

  ✽✽✽

  We move through the trees as fast as a group of our size can, but have to slow once the first energy signatures reach my awareness. None of those that I can sense seem disturbed. They seem bored, actually. I don’t know if that means my friends are dead, or if they never made it. What if they were ambushed before they even got here? I need to get closer.

  Taking Caedryn, Zaara, and Turhion, I leave the rest of my small army tucked back in the trees and move quietly in. After a few more moments I can sense Baldure and the others. The tension in my shoulders drains away. They made it here, and they’re not dead. They’re at ease, standing in the clearing with many more dragon energies I don’t recognize.

  Before making myself known to all, I reach my mind out to the Vanguard first. What’s happening?!

  Xerxia! Baldure’s relief and joy fill me. Come into the camp. We have this clan!

  You also have some explaining to do. I reply with a hint of a smile. Everyone, let’s move in. Baldure says we have this clan. I relay to the army waiti
ng behind me, and we make our way into the clearing.

  At my go ahead, Volpe zaps past us and bursts into the clearing with a happy yip, and Baldure turns around with who I’m assuming is the Chieftain. He’s not tall, but then again no one looks tall beside that behemoth. He’s not bulky, either, instead more of a lean, athletic build, with dark shaggy hair and a hawk nose peeking over a scruffy beard. What Did Jethran say his name was?

  “Xerxia, this is Rogarr,” Baldure introduces.

  His eyes darting between Sylaena, me, and my crown, Rogarr bows, if a little stiff. “Shiirah,” he says eloquently.

  “Chieftain,” I return with a nod of respect. “I take it Baldure explained this?” I gesture to Sylaena, standing a few paces back.

  “Even had he not, she stands behind you, and you wear the crown of the Shiirah. Well, I might add.” A tiny hint of flirtation drifts from him. “Is this the Shah?” he asks, failing at hiding his jealousy as he glances at Caedryn.

  I’m going to assume Shah is equivalent to King. “Caedryn is the Knight-Commander, and my soulbound.”

  With that last word Rogarr loses all the wind in his sails, dipping his head to Caedryn. “Commander.”

  “Now that we all know each other,” I comment, changing the subject. “Care to tell me why you turned the clan without me?” I look specifically at Baldure.

  “You were late,” Tristin yells playfully between dodging excited kisses from Volpe.

  “Jethran saw an opportunity,” Baldure counters, shaking his head at my brother. “We couldn’t wait any longer for you or we would miss it. I knew we would succeed if we moved.”

  “Good job,” I commend him, getting surprised looks from those of Rogarr’s clan around us.

  “Why were you delayed?” Alivia asks.

  “We had a minor setback at Calder’s camp.” I motion for Amarya to join me in the front.

  “Amarya,” Baldure gasps.

  “Baldure,” Amarya returns evenly, nodding.

  Alright, there’s some history here. The tension between them is palpable. Baldure’s emotions batter me as he stands there, eyes wide. He’s surprised, but it’s tainted with the pain of utter sadness, and maybe a little betrayal.