“How can I not be? That’s what I was hired to do.”
“This relic is considered nothing more than a myth. After a thousand years, how could it be anything other than myth? Yet we have some among us who believe, who feel that the dragon heart must be real, especially considering what has been observed in the dragon fields of late.”
“And what has been observed there?”
“Life.”
“I don’t understand.”
The commander watched Fes for a moment. “The dragon fields have been barren for the last thousand years. In all that time, there has rarely been anything other than steam rising over the rocks, a reminder of the battle that waged centuries ago. The remains of the dragons have long since been picked over, the dragonwalkers having claimed anything of real value, but there has always been a hope that there might be something else.”
“The dragon heart?”
“What has been seen is activity, life, where none has been for many years. A single flower, and within it draws the power of those lands.”
Fes started laughing. “This is about a flower?” He looked at Alison. “You brought me here to help you find a flower?”
“Don’t laugh, Fes.”
“How can I not laugh? If this is all been about a flower, then you could have chosen any along the way. There are plenty of flowers that grow in the forest that we passed, or even along the planes here. Some of them are pretty enough.”
“It is not necessarily the beauty of the flower that will be impressive. For that matter, I suspect that few will find this particular flower to be of much beauty, but what it is, and what it has, is the fact that it has grown in lands that have not supported life in centuries. And it has grown and drawn life from the dragon fields.”
“Why is that important?”
“It’s important because the dragon fields carry with them the blood of the fallen dragons. They were the killing fields, the place where the dragons were slaughtered, or where they retreated when they were dying. Their blood seeped into the rock and seeped into the land, and for centuries, nothing has lived there.”
“What happens when you take this flower?”
“We don’t know. Possibly nothing. But the Bayars found it when they were searching the plains, and they were the ones to have reported it exists.”
“If they saw it, why would they not have claimed it?”
“For many reasons, but the simplest is that they weren’t certain what it meant.”
Alison watched him, almost as if knowing what he was thinking about. And maybe she did. Alison had always seemed to know him too well.
“It’s not the flower that you’re after though,” Fes said.
The commander shook his head. “The flower is the proof that the dragon heart exists. There have been others, but they are incredibly rare. Beneath the flower, far beneath the earth, there will be an item of great power. If we dig it out, if we can bring out the dragon heart, then we will be the ones who can use that power. It’s a marker, a symbol of the fact that the dragons are ready to return. With a dragon heart, we might finally have the power necessary to resurrect the dragons.”
Chapter Nineteen
The horse seemed to hate the fact that there were now two riding on its back, even though Indra was not particularly heavy. Every so often, Indra would look back at Fes and study him, as if trying to decide whether he was deceiving her or not. Fes would smile reassuringly and nod. What else was there for him to do?
In the distance, the mountains continued to loom, their whitecapped peaks growing ever closer. The chill that had come to the air was more pronounced, and with every passing day, he realized he was underdressed for the cold. He had known they were traveling north but hadn’t expected the bitterness to the air. Indra wasn’t much better, which was why has stayed close to her, wanting to at least allow her to take advantage of his body warmth, and she didn’t seem to resist.
Alison remained close—much closer than she had before he had decided to stay with Indra. They were making good time and had seen no further evidence of the mercenaries—or of Carter. With each passing day, Indra grew more and more restless. There was nothing that Fes could say that would reassure her, especially as he didn’t know whether they would come across her father again.
When they camped for the night, Fes worked with Indra and one of the other rebels to help set up a tent they had been offered. Indra refused to go with anyone other than Fes, and so there was a tent that he considered his and hers, and when it was erected, she began to place totems around the inside, stationing one in each corner.
A group of the rebels had taken the old man—the forger—away, bringing him to one of the villages along the western border. With his skill, they intended to use him to create relics they could sell. Fes wondered how many of the replicas were forged by the rebellion.
He glanced over at Indra, pushing those thoughts away. “You still haven’t told me anything about the totem magic.”
Indra glanced up. She was crouched in the far corner of the tent, placing a strange totem with arms spread over its head. “We don’t call it magic in Toulen.”
“Then what would you call it? Especially as it seems to allow you to create light.”
“That one did, but there are others that don’t.”
“What do you call it?”
“The dragon’s blessing,” she said softly.
Fes watched her. Everything had to do with dragons. “What about those?” He pointed to the totem that she placed along with the others.
“This one is the Watcher. It will alert us if there is any threat.”
“How will it do that?”
“It just will.”
“What about that one,” Fes said, motioning to another totem. This one was squatting, almost mimicking the posture Indra was in.
“That is a Protector.”
“And what does it do?”
“It protects, Fes.”
Fes snorted and shook his head. “And the other two?”
“They are both protectors, though they have a different way of offering their protection than that one does.”
“And how is that?”
Indra stood and wiped her hands on her pants. “It’s hard to explain. I’ve grown up with them, and I recognize there is power in them, though it’s probably different than the kind of power you are accustomed to.”
“What kind of power is that?”
“I don’t know. From what I heard, you managed to defeat a fire mage.”
“I didn’t defeat her so much as I kept her from attacking.” And even that didn’t feel completely right. Fes still didn’t know what had happened that day, or what she meant by calling him Deshazl.
“Sometimes that is enough.”
“I will help you find your father.”
“What happens if we don’t?” It was the first time that Indra had raised that question. It was the same question that burned within him. He didn’t know what would happen to her if they couldn’t find her father. Would she stay with the rebellion? Would she somehow make it across the mountains and back to her homeland? Fes didn’t think it would be safe for her to go alone, which meant that he would have to see her back to her homeland. After the promise he’d made to her father, he had to.
“I don’t know,” he said.
Indra watched him. “And here I thought you might lie to me.”
“It wouldn’t do any good to lie to you,” Fes said.
“Too often, people think to deceive those who are younger.”
“I don’t know everything that you’ve been through, but I do know that I will offer whatever protection I can while we are with the rebellion.”
“And what happens if you aren’t able to offer that protection any more?”
“Then I hope your protectors are able to keep tabs on you.”
Indra looked around the tent, her gaze darting from protector to protector before looking back at Fes. “It’s okay if you tell me th
at you don’t believe.”
“What’s there not to believe? I’ve seen what you can do with your strange lantern. Why couldn’t these figurines do something similar?”
“Because they aren’t figurines. I already told you. These are totems.”
Fes smiled. “Get some rest. I’m going to see what else I can learn.”
She made a small bed in the corner of the tent, the same corner that she had preferred the last few nights. When she was settled, she looked up at him. “You’re more than you let on, Fes.”
“Don’t tell them that.”
She smiled. “I think your friend already knows.”
Fes sighed and ducked out of the tent, looking around the campsite. Much like each night, it was an orderly arrangement of tents. He had found a way to ensure that his tent was set near the center, more for Indra than for him. Where it up to Fes, he’d prefer to be on the periphery, so that he could escape if it came to it. With Indra, he wanted to ensure that she was as safe as possible, which meant that he wanted to have her surrounded by as many people as possible.
He found Micah near the campfire. The other man looked up and coughed. In the days since the attack, Micah’s voice had begun to return, but it was raspy, and he wasn’t able to speak clearly.
“Does it still hurt?” Fes asked.
“About as much as it had before.”
“Has anything changed?”
Micah shook his head. “Not so that I worry about it. I’ll recover. That’s enough.”
“How much farther do we have before we reach the dragon plains?” Fes asked.
“A couple of days,” Micah said.
“And where do we go from there?”
“From what I understand, you spoke with the commander. We’re going, and if it works, then…”
If it worked, the rebellion would have access to some item of great power. Was that what he wanted? He didn’t understand the reason for the rebellion, not really. They opposed the oppression they believed the empire caused, but Fes didn’t have any experience with that oppression.
“Why?” Fes asked.
“Why the rebellion?” When Fes nodded, Micah turned to stare into the fire. “You know Anuhr, but you haven’t spent much time outside of the city, have you?”
“Not much. Why?”
“You’d see the price paid by the villages.”
“What price?”
Micah grunted. “The empire imposes a price for protection. Men are commissioned into the army and too few return.”
Fes had avoided it but knew others didn’t. “That’s their choice.”
“Is it? How many are lost fighting for the empire?”
“The empire hasn’t been involved in any fighting for a long time.”
Micah shook his head. “That’s what they want you to believe.”
They sat in silence for a while before Fes got up and started making his way through the rows of tents. Alison found him. “You need to come with me.”
“Where?”
“We think we have found where they're keeping Talmund.”
Fes looked over at his tent.
“I’ll have someone keep an eye on her.”
“That’s not what it was.”
Alison shook her head. “That is what it is, and while I am happy that you have finally found it in you to care about someone other than yourself, it’s strange that it’s for someone you barely know.”
Fes glared at her. “I made a promise to her father.”
“You and promises.”
“You’re only mad that I didn’t make a promise to you.”
“You’re right. I am mad about that. You knew that you wouldn’t be able to keep it.”
“I knew, which was why I never made any sort of promise to you.”
They reached the edge of the encampment, smoke from the cookfire hanging in the night air, and Alison led them to a pair of horses. They were already saddled, as if they were waiting for her and Fes. “Just us two?”
“This is going to be a quiet mission.”
“And by quiet, you mean your commander doesn’t know you’re doing this.”
Alison looked over at him and shook her head. “He doesn’t know.”
Fes glared at her. “What is this about?”
“Without the priest, everything that we do will fail. It will be my fault. I was tasked with getting the necessary help, and I thought that you…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Talmund wanted you along, so we brought you alone.”
Fes considered Alison for a moment. Was she doing this because she worried that he would betray them? He wouldn’t put it past her to do that, especially as he had betrayed her before, and the fact that he had never made a promise to her that he wouldn’t betray her again this time.
“Do you even know where Talmund might be found?”
“Scouts report movement to the northwest.”
“What kind of movement?”
“The kind of movement that indicates that Carter and her mercenaries might be there.”
Fes breathed out heavily. If Carter were there, maybe they would find the priest. Maybe they would find Theole. It wasn’t the kind of mission that only two of them would be able to do. “You’ve cautioned me about going off on my own, but that’s what you’re talking about. Don’t play me.”
“I would ask the same of you, but I wouldn’t have any guarantees, would I? Not without a promise.”
“I promise not to play you tonight,” Fes said.
Alison glared at him. “Fine. I won’t play you either. The commander was going to continue moving north, which means that he intends to leave Talmund with Carter. He intended to have scouts continue to follow, but I don’t think he intends to go after him. There is no plan to rescue him.”
“Why not? I thought that Talmund was the only one who could find this flower?”
She glanced back toward the camp before meeting his eyes. “The commander thinks he now has another way of finding the flower and the dragon heart.”
Fes found that surprising. Everything he had heard so far had led them to believe that the priest was important for this.
“What changed?” When Alison didn’t answer, Fes looked over at her, holding the reins for the horse in hand but making no movement toward it. He wasn’t about to climb into the saddle until he understood what was going on. What was Alison getting at? “Alison?”
“You changed, Fes. When you came across that fire mage, and she called you Deshazl, the commander no longer thinks he needs to have the priest to find the dragon heart.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he’s got it in his head that you will be able to find it.”
Fes started to laugh but cut off when he realized that Alison wasn’t laughing along with him. “How would I be able to find it? I haven’t seen the flower, and I wouldn’t have any idea of how to find it so there wouldn’t be any way for me to help discover this dragon heart.”
“You haven’t, but if you are Deshazl, you would be drawn to it. And considering that you have this connection to relics, I believe it.”
“Why?”
“The Deshazl are descended from the dragon lands.”
“Like the Settlers?”
He’d seen what he had been able to do against a fire mage. That was power he shouldn’t have, but either his daggers did… or he did. And there was the way he could use his anger—his rage—to do things he didn’t think should be possible.
“This is different than the Settlers. This is about those who lived in the dragon lands, lived on the dragon fields, before the dragons retreated and perished. From what the commander says, the Deshazl had a special bond to the dragons, one that was even greater than the Settlers.”
“And how is this different than what the priest was describing to me?”
“Because this is more than a sensitivity to dragon relics. This is more than the ability to identify those ancient artifacts. This is about power that burns wit
hin the Deshazl.”
When she mentioned burning, Fes frowned. “I don’t have anything burning within me,” he said.
“Probably not. The Deshazl are supposed to be long extinct. More likely than not, the fire mage had it wrong. It’s probably about those daggers that you carry, especially since they’re dragonglass. What matters now is that the commander believes that you can help find the dragon heart.”
“And that means he will abandon the priest.” Alison nodded. “And the priest is important to you?”
“He’s important to Horus, Fezarn. Is that what you want me to say? If we fail…” Fes didn’t need her to explain. If they failed—if she failed—there would be no returning to Anuhr, nor to working with Horus. “Do you want me to tell you the commander is willing to leave him to Carter to get ahead of the mercenaries and find the dragon heart first?”
What should he do?
He’d abandoned her once before. Would he do it again?
As he looked at her, the expectant expression in her eyes, he knew he couldn’t. “I’ll help you find him.” It was growing darker by the moment, and within a short period of time, he suspected that it would become too dark for them to navigate. What was Alison thinking, having them head out like this? “Will you really make sure that somebody watches after Indra?”
Alison nodded. “I have connections here, Fes. I’ll make sure she’s looked after.”
That was all that he could ask for, and if she really would help, then he would do this for her. Alison deserved that much from him. “It seems that you want to go now.”
“I need to go now. If we wait too much longer, any rumor that we have of where to find him will be lost.”
Fes took a deep breath. He didn’t like the idea of heading out into the night, especially not if it meant that he was going into the dragon plains. “How much do you know of the dragon plains?”
“Enough to get us across. And if you’re with us—and have some way of crossing…”
Fes stared at her for a moment. It would have to be enough, wouldn’t it?
He saw the beseeching look that Alison gave him, the expression that practically begged that he help. It was the same way that Theole had looked at him, demanding that Fes offer a promise. As with Theole, it was a promise Fes was determined to keep.
Dragon Bones (The Dragonwalker Book 1) Page 22