by Walls, Devri
“Who told her?”
Drustan just looked at him. Emane rolled his eyes, breathing in deeply through his nose. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I didn’t understand what he was trying to do until after I had already told her. I thought she had the right to know.”
Emane clenched his fists. “That selfish, self-centered—”
“Selfish?” Drustan interrupted, jerking up. “Is that what you think he is? Alcander is a lot of things and I can’t say I care for him much, but he was willing to sacrifice his happiness—willing to be alone for the rest of his very, very long life—”
“Thanks for that little reminder,” Emane interjected.
“—than to put that kind of pressure on Kiora. Do you understand what I am telling you? He was willing to let Kiora choose you over him without ever telling her that her choice would condemn him to solitude.”
Emane fell silent. “But why…why would he…”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but he loves her.”
Emane closed his eyes. “And she loves him?” His voice wobbled.
Drustan sighed heavily. “I do not know the depths of her feelings for you, so I cannot tell you if she cares for him more than you. I assume that is truly what you are asking. All I know is that for the bond to have formed between her and Alcander, there had to be some feelings on her part.”
Emane sat, hard. “And this mind-joining they did last night—that strengthened this bond of theirs?”
“That was a surprise. Taveans are very protective of their minds. To be honest, I am not sure I fully understand the mind-joining. All I know is they can see and feel—experience—the other person’s thoughts and memories. Kiora now knows more about Alcander than anyone else does.”
“And he her.”
“Yes.” Drustan perked up. “Although, if you would like a bright spot, that means Alcander felt Kiora’s feelings for you.”
This almost got a smile out of Emane. “Too bad it wasn’t enough to make him give up.”
“If the alternative was a life alone, would you give up?”
“Drustan!” Emane growled. “Go jump off a cliff.”
“I certainly could, you know. Not the best retort to a Shapeshifter.”
“Shut up.” Emane pressed his finger and thumb into the corners of his eyes. “Just shut up.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Suspicions Realized
KIORA DECIDED TO WAIT until after dinner to broach her suspicions with the group. The four of them sat silently around the fire, eating some rabbits Alcander had roasted. She had never felt so uncomfortable. Emane and Alcander were both obsessed with either the fire or the meat. Kiora stole glances at them, wishing she could turn her feelings off the way she could turn off her ability to feel threads.
After they had eaten their fill, Kiora cleared her throat. “We need to decide where we are going from here.”
Alcander tossed his rabbit bone into the fire. “We need to get the Lights.”
“Yes, but how?” Emane said. “Unless something happened while I was gone—” He stopped briefly under the irony of that statement. “We still only know where one is.”
“What do you suggest, Alcander? We just march in and take it back?” Drustan asked, smirking.
“Why not?” Alcander said. “We have waited hundreds of years to figure out where the Shadow hid the Lights. Kiora saw where one is, and retrieving one is better than nothing. Maybe one would be enough. Maybe we could avoid a war that would wipe out the rest of our people.”
Kiora paused at that thought. Avoid a war—was it possible? It tingled and burned through her with a bright hope, the thought was almost too good to be true.
“Alcander.” Drustan’s smile faded. “With all due respect, your desire to have the Lights returned is clouding your judgment. The Shadow was watching the Manor for Kiora to arrive. It is scrying all the dreams of the world. Wherever it hid the Lights is heavily protected.”
“He’s right,” Kiora said.
Alcander huffed. “What do you propose we do, then?”
“We need to find out who the Shadow is.”
“Why?” Drustan asked. “It doesn’t matter who it is—just what it’s doing.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Kiora said. “We know nothing about it, and the Wings can’t see it. There is only one way we are going to stand a chance of fighting it. We have to know what we are dealing with, and then we’ll find its weakness.”
“Fight it?” Alcander said. “We are lucky we survived trying to run from it. Kiora, nobody fights the Shadow.”
“Maybe that’s because nobody understands enough about it to know how to fight it.”
Alcander leaned forward. “No. It takes your magic, leaving you defenseless!”
“That doesn’t make you defenseless,” Emane said.
“What?”
“I said, it doesn’t make you defenseless. It means you have to fight differently.”
Alcander’s disgust was clearly written on his face.
Kiora spoke. “We need to talk to someone who can give us more information. I need to verify what I’m seeing.”
“What have you been seeing?” Emane asked.
“I keep dreaming about Jasmine.” Alcander opened his mouth, but Kiora rushed on. “I know you don’t believe me, Alcander, but I am dreaming about her for a reason.”
He glared at her. “Don’t pretend to know what I was going to say.”
“Well.” Kiora shifted uncomfortably. “It is all you have ever said.”
Emane smirked.
“That was before last night. I saw your memories; I saw your visions. It doesn’t make sense to me, except for one thing. The man you saw making jewelry for Jasmine—I have seen him somewhere before. I can’t put my finger on it, but he looks familiar. What is his name?”
“His name is Belen,” Kiora said.
Drustan jerked forward. “Belen?”
“Yes,” Kiora said. “You know him?”
“Of course I know him. He is the father of all Shapeshifters.”
Alcander shook his head, annoyed with himself. “Of course.”
“He is a Shapeshifter?” That didn’t fit with what Kiora had seen at all.
“He was our father, yes. But he was above what any of us could ever hope to be.” Drustan leaned back, his voice taking on a mystic tone, weaving a tale that was clearly important to him and his people. “Belen’s magic was unrivaled, save that of the Creators. He was a master of magic and potions, as well as working metal with magic. The things he could create and do were so dangerous that Belen destroyed most of his own records. But that wasn’t the most remarkable thing. When Belen shifted, he could shift his thread as well.” Drustan paused for dramatic effect, but Kiora and Emane looked at him blankly. “His thread became what he was. If he shifted into a sparrow,” he said excitedly, “a non-magical sparrow…”
“His thread would be untraceable as a non-magical being,” Kiora finished.
“Exactly! He could go anywhere, be anyone. It is a luxury we Shapeshifters could only imagine…except, of course, among the humans. Now do you understand why Witows were such a draw for us? For once we could masquerade as another without our thread giving us away.”
“I never did understand that tale.” Alcander scoffed. “How could Belen have such powers and pass none of them on to his children? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Had Belen not interfered, he would have passed his abilities on to us. It is said that Belen realized the danger he posed. Having the ability to become anyone at will allowed him a dangerous advantage.” Drustan shook his head. “He would win, no matter what he sought to do. He would be undetectable and nearly invincible. After Nestor died, he decided to strip himself of some of his powers.”
“Ridiculous!” Alcander said. “Why would you give up powers that were rightfully yours?”
“Well, Alcander, you have seen the damage the Shifters have already done. Can you imagine
what would have happened if Belen’s power was in all of us?” A shadow passed over Alcander’s face. “That’s right. There wouldn’t have been anything left for a Solus to save.”
“Too bad we can’t talk to him,” Kiora said. “If only there was someone left from the time of the Creators for us to talk to.”
“We live for a long time, Kiora, but we don’t live forever,” Alcander said.
“I had another vision,” Kiora said. “And I have a theory. Jasmine’s eyes are exactly the same as the eyes that are finding me in my dreams.”
Drustan frowned. “You think Jasmine is the Shadow?”
“I think it’s possible. But everything is coming in such tiny pieces and the visions are out of order—it’s hard to know anything for sure. But if I am right and Jasmine is the Shadow, we might be able to deal with her.”
Alcander shook his head.
“Just listen. If Jasmine is the Shadow, that means we know where she is getting her power. She is pulling it from the Lights she stole. If we are right about that, maybe we could do what you are suggesting, Alcander.”
“Get the Lights?” Emane asked.
“Yes! What if we took the Lights back? We take her power. We could weaken her to the point that she would not be able to wage a war.”
“She still has most of the land following her,” Drustan pointed out. “She could lead a war without having to fight herself.”
“Yes, but would they still follow her if her power was gone?”
“Trying to avoid a destiny is never a good idea, Kiora,” Drustan warned. “Decisions should be made by the situation, not by a desire to get around it.”
“Drustan! You saw Lomay’s vision in the cave. Thousands will die. If we could avoid that, how can that be bad?”
She could see Alcander’s hope. She had seen his thoughts, his pain. This was what he had always hoped for—avoiding more loss to the people he was trying to save.
“I don’t see why we are arguing about this,” Emane said. “We don’t even know if Jasmine is the Shadow.”
“Exactly,” Kiora said. “Our approach to the situation will obviously change if we know who, or what, we are dealing with. Lomay’s vision shows us fighting a nameless, shapeless shadow. What if that changed? What if we were fighting something that wasn’t unknown? I might be wrong—maybe the Shadow is not Jasmine. But we need someone to talk to, someone who would know.”
The silence amongst the group was almost deafening. No one had any of the answers she needed. Kiora pulled her sapphire pendant from underneath her shirt, Morcant’s scale coming with it. “I wonder if Epona would know anything,” she mused, spinning the stone between her fingers.
“If Lomay doesn’t know, I am sure Epona would not either.” Drustan’s eyes flicked over to her as she put both the scale and the pendant back beneath her shirt.
“Dragons!” Drustan said with a jolt, sitting up straight. “Dragons!”
CHAPTER SIX
The Queen
ALCANDER’S HEAD SNAPPED UP before his eyes clouded with uncertainty. “No, Drustan, they will kill her.”
“She would know. Wouldn’t she?” Drustan demanded.
“No, Drustan!” Alcander repeated. “I don’t even know if she is still alive, and even if she is, they would never let us near the island.”
“What are you talking about?” Kiora asked.
“Dragons are not immortal,” Drustan said beneath Alcander’s glare. “But their life spans are unrivaled. Before the gate closed on Meros, the Dragon Queen was still alive. The first and only queen.” He looked to Alcander. “And she is still alive, isn’t she?”
“I don’t know. It’s likely, yes. But our relationship with dragons is not good. It’s—”
“It could have something to do with the fact that you eat them,” Emane pointed out.
“Eat or be eaten,” Alcander said, shrugging. “They prey on us. What do they expect?”
“This queen,” Kiora asked, forcing them back on topic. “She lives in Toopai?”
“All dragons live in Toopai.” Alcander huffed. “That’s why seeing one is so rare. We find the occasional rogue dragon that has been kicked out of the community, but other than that, they stay at Toopai. There is protection in numbers.”
“Who are they loyal to?” Kiora asked.
Alcander’s chest jerked in a silent laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“The idea of a dragon loyal to anyone other than themselves,” Alcander said.
“They don’t fight?” Emane asked.
“They did for a while. The dragons would bounce back and forth between us and the Shadow. But the Shadow got angry with them, tried to have them exterminated, and…”
“The threat of extermination cured their fickle ways,” Kiora finished, remembering what Morcant had said to her.
“How did they survive the Shadow?” Emane asked.
“You forget—they do not need magic to fight. Therefore, the Shadow’s power is useless against them. They retreated to the island of Toopai. It was the first time the Shadow’s forces were at a disadvantage. There were too many dragons, and the terrain was not suited to anyone other than the dragons that live there.”
Kiora pulled the scale back out, rubbing her thumb over the top of it, staring thoughtfully.
“Kiora. No,” Alcander repeated.
She looked carefully at him. “Alcander, is there anyone else who can help us?”
“What if this Jasmine isn’t even real? What if she doesn’t matter?”
“I told you already, I would not be dreaming about her if she didn’t matter. But fine, Alcander. Let’s say for argument’s sake that she doesn’t matter. We need to understand what the Shadow is, where it came from. We need someone who has been here since the beginning. So I will ask you again, is there anyone else?”
Alcander glared at her, his blue eyes ice shards. “No,” he said finally, looking away. “There is no one else.”
“Wait a minute,” Emane interjected. “You said you weren’t even sure if this Dragon Queen was alive.”
“I’m not.” Alcander’s lips pressed tightly together. “An excellent point that perhaps you should listen to, Kiora.”
“No, an excellent point is that the queen is the only one that might be alive. Everyone else is dead.” Kiora set her chin defiantly.
“She’s right,” Drustan said. “That is an excellent point.”
Emane whirled on Drustan. “You think we should be flying into a colony of dragons that wants nothing to do with humans unless they are on a menu?”
“Don’t yell at him, Emane,” Kiora chided. “I don’t see any other way. The Wings are useless. And unless we want to travel back to the camp to see if Lomay managed to save the Wings of Tavea, we can’t check to see if the queen is alive or not. We don’t have time to figure this out through my visions.”
“You don’t know that,” Emane said. “You could have one tonight that explained everything.”
“You’re right,” Kiora said softly. “I don’t know, which is why we can’t count on my visions right now. How many people are going to die while I am waiting? Right now, everything is meaningless—little bits and pieces of a riddle I don’t understand.”
Alcander’s chest heaved in silent, irritated breaths. His eyes shifted between Kiora and the rocks behind her head.
“I am doing this for your people, Alcander. Help me help them.” It was a dirty tactic, but she didn’t care.
Alcander growled, pushing himself to his feet. “We can’t just march in there and ask for the queen. Toopai is an island.” He pointed toward the west. “It’s located so far in the middle of the ocean that almost no one can bubble the whole way there, which is what they want—it leaves your thread open for them to read miles out.”
“Kiora could probably make it,” Drustan said.
Alcander glared at him. “And you have to find someone who is strong enough to fly you that far without needing to stop.”
<
br /> “I could make some adjustments. If I was just flying with Kiora—”
“Just flying with Kiora?” Emane shouted. “Are you crazy? I am not sending her anywhere near a colony of dragons by herself.”
Alcander took a step toward Drustan, speaking over the top of Emane. “If you think a Shifter will be welcome on Toopai, you are crazier than I thought. They would have you out of the sky before the island was even in sight. And as for you—” Alcander shoved a finger at Emane. “They would eat you without a second thought. Your lack of magic would be a free pass as far as they are concerned.”
“Oh, and I suppose you could go with her?” Emane snapped, rising to his feet.
“No, I’m about as welcome as Drustan. That’s what I am saying—we cannot go to Toopai.”
Kiora slowly stood, moving between Emane and Alcander. “We can’t. But I can.”
“Kiora!” Alcander grabbed her by the arms. “What makes you think you can do this?”
“I don’t think I can. It’s just a…”
“Feeling,” Emane finished. “Just another feeling that will throw you into another near-death experience while the rest of us are just supposed to sit around and hope that your feeling was right.”
“This is ridiculous.” Alcander looked like he wanted to shake her. “You can’t fly out there by yourself, and it’s too far to swim. It doesn’t matter what feelings you have—it’s not an option.”