“Is that General Honorspur in the field? How strange. I would have thought that a man of his position would be somewhere safe, not slogging through mud with his troops.”
“The General is honored to fight with them,” the Grandis said, but I heard the note of tension in her voice.
“Is he? Or did Starie use her eye-magic on him? Did she look him in the eyes and tell him what to do so that he thought it was his own idea?” I pulled myself painfully to my feet. “Has she been doing that to you? Maybe it wasn’t really your idea to bring her to Dominion City and announce her as the Chosen One.”
“Of course it was,” the Grandis said, but her eyes were on the field, watching General Honorspur and she was answering me as if I were her equal, as if I had the right to question her. No person at her level of importance would do that unless they wanted to talk – unless they hoped that I had the insight they needed to make sense of something they’d suspected for a long time.
“Was it your idea to bring an innocent girl – someone in your charge – to a violent magical ritual?” Her head shook almost imperceptibly. She probably didn’t realize she’d even moved. I pushed harder. “Was it your idea to let them-”
“The prophecies have been fulfilled in her,” the Grandis’ voice was quiet. Was she afraid that if she spoke louder she would shatter the lie?
I matched her quiet tone. “Which ones?”
She began to quote the prophecies, but out of order. I frowned as I listened. Was there a thread running through them?
“Corrupted in the last days and trickling from the earth,
Dying in a bloom of power
The old passes and the new comes
Mirror of the old but amplified
Greater than the power which gave it birth.”
“In dust and deception, I am made,
Bound by water and blood.
Who may retrain the dust storm or calm the call of water?
Who may feed the maw of the earth?
Is it not you, dark one?
Is it not your dusk descending upon us?
“Twice dead, she rises.
Her rising a sign of salvation.
Favor from the heavens.
Relief from the fires of hell.”
The Grandis paused for a moment. “She died that day. I’m sure of it. Died in body and in soul. Twice dead.” Her face went pale as she spoke the next words. “Twice blind but still seeing, The only bulwark against the dark”
“And what makes you think that she didn’t trick you into thinking those words applied to her?” I asked. “What makes you gamble your future on them.”
The whipcrack startled me. The tip of it hit me across the face, splitting the skin in a burning line. I shuddered, a cry escaping my lips. I almost missed her next words as my brain fought to maintain consciousness. My hand was holding my torn face, the other one gripping the crutch in a jelly-like wobble. Inside, my emotions warred against a sudden thought ‘oathbreaker.’
The lash did more than sting my face – it sent a stab of magic through my brain triggering every stray thread of guilt or shame that was lodged there. I felt, deeply, the guilt of being rescued when he fell. I felt the heavy burden of the deaths of innocents in Vanika, the deaths of soldiers in the warrens – my fault and every other breached covenant and willful deception of my short life. I shuddered under the weight of it.
Grandis Elfar waited until I recovered enough to look her in the eye. Her words were a hiss.
“I believe.”
Chapter Thirteen
Raolcan! I called mentally, bracing myself against the continued effects of the whiplash. I couldn’t allow myself to admit the guilt it forced into my mind. It would have no control over me.
I held my injured face, pushing back tears. Carefully, I unwound the scarf Ashana had given me when I became a Color, holding it against my right cheek. There was a split on the bridge of my nose, too, but most of the damage was to the cheek. It stung, but not as bad as the pain inside.
I’m here.
I gasped in relief, all thought of physical or mental pain evaporating at the feel of his mind. He was here! He was finally here! So many days of longing and hoping, of worrying and wondering and he was here!
I choked back my sob, scanning the sky for him. Grandis Elfar was already marching away, and the guards she had left drew in tighter around me. Magikas or not, they didn’t stand a chance against Raolcan!
He wasn’t over the battlefield. I studied it carefully, noticing the surge as Savette’s smaller force rushed forward and General Honorspur’s line opened up, letting them in like a flood.
He wasn’t over the towers at the back of the platform. Starie was on one of them, the Pipe held to her lips. My breath caught as I heard the sound of it playing out a tune I’d never heard before. If Raolcan was in the sky, was he being controlled by her?
Not in the sky. Not affected by the Pipe.
Then why was he so quiet? It wasn’t like my dragon to be quiet when there were people to mock and enemies to fight.
I looked to the north and my breath caught in my throat.
The Dominar had arrived. His army marched forward and without stopping for rest they hurried down the road toward the field of battle. In minutes, they would be there – reinforcing the already greater forces arrayed against the Lightbringers. There was no way Savette could stand against that! We needed to do something right now!
And then I saw him.
He was surrounded by Magikas, whips in hand.
They’d tied a chain around his neck – many chains, enough for each of them to hold one. And chains were wrapped around his eyes. No!
His head hung as he walked, his snout almost bumping along the ground. That was not my dragon – tied like that, humiliated like that. It must be a different purple. It was hard to see at these distances.
It’s me.
What had they done to him? How badly was he injured?
Not badly enough that I can’t walk.
Or fly?
My wings are not damaged.
But somehow, he’d fallen into their hands. Somehow, they’d wrapped him in chains and pulled him across the ground like one of the horses he despised.
I thought for sure that if he washed up further down the shore that Hubric would find him.
I didn’t wash up along the shore. I was plucked out of the water by a stray Ifrit. He brought me to Iskaris. Apparently, he has a list of people and dragons that he’d rather see tortured than killed.
Had he tortured Raolcan?
Beyond putting me in chains?
I held my breath.
No.
Then why was he so quiet? Why was he walking so strangely? Was he embarrassed that he’d been captured? Was he ashamed that he wouldn’t be flying to my rescue today?
I didn’t care about any of that! I was just glad he was alive!
It takes a lot of concentration for me to walk right now – although I’m getting used to it. It makes me less talkative.
Why?
There was no answer.
“He’s back.” Starie sounded smug as she joined me at the edge of the platform. It took me a full breath to realize that she meant the Dominar, not Raolcan.
She was still grasping the Pipe. She played a second set of notes and I clenched my jaw as dragons soared out of Savette’s gathered army and above them in Sky City, to swirl above the battle for a moment before diving down toward their own allies.
I flinched when they struck. I spun toward Starie, fists clenched.
She waved a finger at me. “Oh no, Amel. Remember? I can knock you out with a single glance.”
The dark light behind her blindfold flared for a moment and my heart stuttered in response.
“I don’t think your friend has noticed that you’re here. Let’s draw her attention, hmmm?” She smiled in her odd way and then her voice was amplified over the field of battle. “Savette Leedris.”
Below the battle seemed to
almost stutter to a halt as soldiers looked her way. I couldn’t tell if Savette was looking, but her light strikes stopped for a moment.
“Let’s make this personal!” Starie continued. “I have your friend. You have one hour to surrender, or I’ll cut her throat right in front of you.”
Sweat soaked me so suddenly that I shivered. I felt lightheaded, and not just from the blood soaking the scarf I held to my face, or that first head wound. I was trapped here. Leng was trapped. Raolcan was trapped. There was no way out this time.
And I still didn’t know what Raolcan wasn’t telling me.
Starie was going to beat us by seeking out own fears and using them against us. It was her reflection magic all over again, but you could hold a mirror up to another mirror, couldn’t you?
“What will you do when all of this is over?” I asked, breathlessly. Surely there was some way that I could reflect her back at herself.
“Rule.” Starie seemed unconcerned. Her gaze was on Savette. The light bursts hadn’t started up again yet, but now the Dominar’s forces had almost finished joining the Dusk Covenant army in the fields below.
“But what will you rule? The purpose of the Chosen One will be over. Magic will be mostly spent. The population of the Dominion decimated in this war. Your allies fearful of your dark gaze. You’ll never be certain if their thoughts are their own or only a reflection of yours. They aren’t your friends. They’re barely even your allies.”
The muscle of her jaw clenched and then unclenched.
“Shut up.”
I’d struck a nerve. But I’d have to keep on striking at it if I was going to defeat Starie Atrelan. If only I had Raolcan’s help. He was great at knowing exactly what to say to people. If only he’d just tell me what he wasn’t saying!
I’m blind. I lost the other eye, too.
Chapter Fourteen
I felt like I was falling. The bottom had dropped out of my world and I was falling through whatever was underneath the earth I stood on. Falling, falling, falling ...
My knee hit the stone and I wavered, barely catching myself with the crutch. This couldn’t be true.
It. Must. Not. Be. True.
I knew it was a mistake to tell you.
This is what he’d been hiding! Was this also how he had been captured?
It’s hard to fight blind.
I felt as if I were deflating. I was losing myself second by second, melting away like a candle thrown in a fire.
On the field below, Savette surged forward, toward the platform, toward me.
“Yes!” Starie’s sound of victory was barely audible.
I watched, helplessly, as she pushed forward, spreading her troops dangerously thin.
I felt ill. I would be the cause of her defeat. I’d already been the cause of Raolcan’s and of Shonan’s. I couldn’t bear one more. Memories of Vanika burning in the night flashed across my mind. So many dead because of me. So many defeated. I couldn’t bear even one more.
I’m a little insulted that you think I’m defeated.
I tried not to answer. Anything I said would hurt him. But I couldn’t help but think that he was lying to bolster my spirits.
Remember when I told you how I could compensate for one missing eye? I can read the minds of the people around me – I can even see what they are seeing if I concentrate.
That’s why he had to concentrate to walk.
Exactly.
And to fly ...?
I don’t know yet, but I expect it would be the same. You should have more confidence in me, Amel.
He’d never see another sunset. Never see a drop of dew on a flower, the spider-work of frost across a rock, the delicate flakes of a first snow.
Not with my own eyes – but I’m already getting better at this. In time ... who knows? It’s a little addictive to flick from mind to mind watching everything from a thousand pairs of eyes instead of just one.
My eyesight was blurry as hot tears splashed down my face. I sobbed raggedly, trying to control myself and failing. I thought the lowest point of my life would be the burning of Vanika. The wounds from that on my psyche still hadn’t fully closed. But this ... this was somehow more painful. It was worse than the slash of the Grandis’ whip.
What I see now is different – like if the world were colored by emotions. Like if you could taste and smell the things you see – even from far away. I can see you up there. You need to stop looking so indigo.
Indigo?
You look like you might throw yourself off that platform.
I swallowed. Would it really hurt anyone if I did? It might actually save this war.
It would kill me. Do you think my life is worth nothing just because I can’t use my eyes? Don’t insult me! Is your life worth nothing because of your leg? You’ve done things that no one with two working legs could do. It’s not over yet, Amel. Not even close.
I swallowed. Beside me, Starie whooped and threw a whip to a Magika nearby. He closed in tighter to guard me.
“I’m going down to face her,” Starie said, the darkness flaring from behind her blindfold. “One on one. Dark versus light. It’s time to finish this once and for all.”
“You should take a cluster of Magikas with you,” Grandis Elfar said, walking up from behind us.
“You know it’s better for me to go alone,” Starie said, coolly.
A vein bulged in Grandis Elfar’s forehead. She didn’t like Starie telling her what she knew. Had I planted enough seeds of doubt? Would she stand against her protégé?
“It’s better not to risk our Chosen One,” Grandis Elfar said, licking her lips. She refused to meet Starie’s blindfolded gaze. “Stay with the hostage and I will go down and convince Savette Leedris to come to you. Alone.”
“Look me in the eye and say that again.”
It was working!
“Without you, this alliance will fracture,” Grandis Elfar said, still not meeting Starie’s gaze. “The Generals follow you. The people have faith in you. Only you can fulfill the prophecies and lead us to a new era. If you go down there and die for no reason, all of that is lost. Look,” she pointed toward the Dominar’s army. “Even the Dominar is moving to higher ground.”
I followed her pointing finger. A formation of Silver Dragons flew toward a single room-sized platform dangling from the edge of Dominion City. Instead of walls, the sides of the round room were made entirely of arches. They must have been huge. As I watched, the figure of the Dominar on his dragon grew smaller and smaller until it reached the hanging room and entered through the arches on the side.
“I’m not the kind of coward who directs battles from a safe Observatory,” Starie said, coldly.
The Grandis face darkened as Starie spun suddenly and crossed the distance between them, grabbing Grandis Elfar by the scarf and pulling her in so they were almost nose to nose. They were close enough for me to hear her, though her voice was barely above a whisper.
“And what about when all of this is over, Grandis? What about then?”
Starie was waiting for the Grandis to meet her eye. I could tell she was, but the seeds of doubt were too deep. The seconds stretched, and when the Grandis refused to meet her gaze, Starie pushed her away.
“Look after the prisoner,” she ordered. “If the hour passes without their surrender – or if I fall – kill her. At least you’re good at doing that.”
She stormed away, fury filling her face.
Chapter Fifteen
The look on the Grandis’ face as Starie walked away made me shudder. I had one hour with this woman. One hour to escape or I would die. Or worse – Savette would surrender.
Allies are almost here.
I looked to the north, but my dull human eyes couldn’t see anything coming from that direction. Above us, though, the Silver dragons still circled below the Observatory. From here, I could just make out the silhouette of the Dominar in the arches. I didn’t know how he was signaling the army below, but they were moving differently sinc
e he arrived. If I had the Pipe those few dragons wouldn’t be enough to stop me.
Focus. One thing at a time.
“Grandis Elfar?” I needed her attention if I was going to do anything now.
The Grandis turned to look at me, the battle laid out behind her. I saw a pair of silver dragons drop from their place surrounding the Observatory and dive toward our end of the battlefield.
“Don’t speak to me. I know what you’ve done. You’ve sown division among us. The Chosen One wouldn’t be running headlong into battle with minimal guards if it hadn’t been for you. Look!” She dragged me up and forward, grabbing the scarf around my neck and shoving me to the edge of the platform so that I was leaning precariously over the edge, held only by her grip. “Look and tell me what you see!”
The Silver Dragons plummeted toward us at full speed. Were they coming for Grandis Elfar? For me?
“Tell me!” she demanded.
I choked against the scarf wrapped around my neck, gagging and gasping. She pulled me back from the edge – only enough to catch my breath in quick pants. As soon as I could form words I began to talk. I started at the western end of the battlefield.
“The Lightbringers are fading in strength. Some of them have retreated to Sky City, those who remain on the ground are only the most devoted ... or the dead.”
“Go on.”
“Savette has plunged too far into enemy lines. Her soldiers are almost cut off from their own lines, fighting a battle on all sides. Starie is moving toward her, but there is a lot of ground to cover. She’s barely left the platform. The battle is still hot across the entire field. It hasn’t stopped just because those two have a vendetta to deal with.”
“Continue.”
“There are two Silver dragons. They’ve reached the base of the platform and-”
They were taking the prisoners! That was Ashana they’d loaded up on one of them and there! There was Leng, his hands bound, his eyes searching frantically for me. Where were they taking him?
Dragon School: Starie Night Page 5