Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel)

by Barbara Kloss

  No fire. Not even a spark.

  Vera huffed somewhere behind me.

  A small pulse of energy passed from Alex to the logs, and a sudden wave of heat warmed my face as they ignited. It was so easy for him. So natural, like breathing.

  "It'll come," he whispered. He touched my knee before standing, and then walked over to Parsec, his black stallion. Calyx and Nimarra stood beside Parsec. Nimarra was Vera's horse—a beautiful, chocolate brown mare with eyes like obsidian. I liked Nimarra, though she didn't like me. In fact, she was very much like a cat. You could stroke her mane exactly twice, but try for a third, and you might just lose a few fingers.

  The perfect horse for Vera.

  I hugged my knees and stared absently at the fire. This would make our third night out in the middle of the woods. The temperature was dropping fast, and when I looked up, I noticed the underbellies of dark gray clouds through the giant pines. It would probably snow tonight. I picked my cloak off the ground and shrugged into it.

  Alex dropped my bindingbooks beside me.

  "Thanks," I said.

  "Sure." He sat beside me and stretched his legs before him.

  Both nights since we'd left the castle, I'd checked the bindingbooks to see if either Stefan or Fleck had written. I was anxious to hear from them—to know if they were all right. Fleck was with Tran, so I wasn't as concerned about him, but Stefan…

  I trailed my finger over the dragon crest embossed on the cover of his bindingbook. Ever since what had happened during the games, my grandfather, the king, had shut himself away in his chambers, admitting no one but Headmaster Ambrose. I didn't mind my grandfather's absence—in fact, I'd welcomed it—but a kingdom couldn’t be without its king, so my brother had been forced to step in as acting regent. This responsibility had fallen prematurely, as far as Stefan was concerned, but I knew deep down that he was ready. He had been trained all his life for this role, and this kingdom was fortunate to have a man like Stefan acting on its behalf.

  It didn't stop me from feeling guilty, though. Guilt that I'd abandoned him at the castle while he'd been hurting and despairing. But I'd also known I needed to do this. Stefan and I each had to deal with the repercussions of recent events; his method was diplomacy and my method was something much more physical. Action helped distract me from the pain of the gaping hole inside of me.

  I sighed. I missed my brother. I missed his dimpled smile and his paranoiac protectiveness. Surprisingly, though, he hadn't told me not to go on this mission. He'd almost seemed eager for Alex and me to leave.

  I looked up at Alex, who stared at the fire while holding Cicero's compass in his hands. Cicero's compass was a curious object. It had two arrows: one to give direction and the other to give purpose, and a perimeter filled with runes and strange symbols. I'd never had much luck with it, but Alex had brought it along. Even now, the arrows on the compass were slowly turning round and round and round in opposing directions. His thumb absently pushed the clasp in and out, in and out, and when he felt my gaze, he stopped fidgeting with the compass and looked into my eyes.

  "You've been quiet," I said. It was true. Ever since we'd left the castle, he had withdrawn into himself more with each passing day. I hadn't asked him about it yet, because I wanted to give him his space in case he'd needed it. But it bothered me. I wished I could crawl into his head and read his thoughts. Or maybe it was a blessing that I couldn't.

  Alex studied me a moment then shut the compass with a sharp click. He smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes. "Hungry?"

  I guess he still needed that space. "Starved." I smiled, hoping to help ease whatever was gnawing at him.

  He stood and walked back to the horses; our food was still tied to their saddles.

  "I'm going to find some water," Vera announced and set off before either of us had a moment to say anything.

  So, I set to Stefan's bindingbook.

  For some reason I was unusually nervous about opening it. What if he hadn't written? Or what if he had written and he had bad news? I wanted to know the bad news just as much as I didn't, because out here I couldn't do anything to help him. I would only worry, and worrying never gives any good gifts. Worrying only gives headaches and panic attacks.

  Very slowly, I lifted the cover and glanced at the first page.

  Blank.

  I pursed my lips and let out a short, irritated breath.

  "Nothing?" Alex handed me a few pieces of dried meat and resumed his seat beside me, close enough that our thighs touched.

  I glared at the blank page. "No."

  He glanced sideways at me. "He'll write, Daria. He's busy right now."

  "And? I'm his sister and for all he knows, I could be dead right now." I shut the cover and dropped the book rather unceremoniously on the ground beside me.

  Alex arched a brow. "But you're not."

  "A fortuitous circumstance for him," I replied. "I'm not asking for him to write a novel. A simple 'hi' would do. Or even an 'I'm alive' or 'I miss you being around here to make my life miserable.'"

  Alex chuckled while he chewed.

  "Honestly," I continued, tearing off a bite-sized piece of meat. "It's been two full days; how busy can he be?"

  "Quite busy, I imagine." Alex swallowed. "An entire kingdom has just been dropped into his lap and he has no one around to help him manage it."

  "No one." I grunted. Stefan had the entire guild to help him manage it and more advisors than he probably wanted. Which only supported the suspicion that had been slowly creeping into the back of my mind: Stefan hadn't written because he was afraid to tell me what was happening.

  It would be just like him, wanting to protect me from the truth. Not wanting me to worry so that I could have the confidence to keep moving forward. He would support me if it killed him in the process.

  "I think he hasn't written because something bad has happened and he doesn't want me to worry about it," I said.

  Alex grabbed a stick and poked at the fire. "Well, then, he's not doing a very good job, because you're worrying about it anyway."

  I chewed on the meat Alex had given me, which, according to him, came from some kind of rabbit found only in the forests of Valdon. It was tough but tasty, if not a little heavy on the pepper, and I took a sip from my canteen to wash it down. I had to crane my head back far because it was almost empty. "Do you think he'd tell me if things were getting worse?"

  Alex set down his stick and leaned back on his arms, watching the fire. "Probably not." He paused, the firelight flickering brightly in his eyes. "But he believes in you, Daria. He believes in what we're doing. He wouldn't have allowed us to leave otherwise."

  I twisted the cap on my canteen and wiped my lips. "Three more days?"

  "Assuming the weather holds." He squinted at the sky. "Then we should reach the Narrows."

  The Narrows, I'd been told, was a sort of natural rock bridge between two mountain peaks, and it had been named the Narrows due to its width of a few feet and an encouraging rail of sheer cliff on either side. I wasn't looking forward to it. Even Calyx got all jittery when Alex mentioned it.

  The Narrows was also the link from Valdon to the outer plains of Gesh, and from there it would be another week—tops. There might have been a different, faster way to Gesh, but we needed to stay as invisible as possible, and this, Vera assured us, was the most invisible way. No one used the Narrows—especially in the middle of winter.

  We sat in a somewhat comfortable silence, listening to the fire crackle and wood snap and pop while the wind whispered through the trees. It was a lonely sound, a cold and melancholy sound, and it made me think of my father.

  Nothing would ever fill the void his absence had left, nor did I want it to. And not a day had passed that I didn't think about him. But he was no longer there. Not anymore. I couldn't run to him for comfort or find security in his strong embrace.

  I couldn't tell him how much I loved him.

  I could wait as long as I wanted, but he would never come bac
k. For the very first time in my life, he had traveled to a place so far it was completely beyond my reach.

  Alex glanced back at me. The look in his eyes was tender, comforting and loving. I smiled at him and he smiled back, and it helped me deal with the pain. I didn't think a person could ever be the same after losing a parent. I was who I was because of my father, because of his unconditional love and support and faith. From the day I had come into this world, he'd helped mold me and shape me into the person that I had become, and in me, he lived. He would always live.

  The shadows were dark now, and Vera still hadn't returned. I glanced over at our horses idly standing nearby.

  "What is it?" Alex asked.

  "Vera's not back." I scooped up the bindingbooks and stood.

  He looked up at me. "Where are you going?"

  "To find her."

  Alex grabbed my ankle. "I'm sure she's fine. Vera knows what she's doing."

  That comment hurt a little, though I didn't want it to. He hadn't in any way intended for his words to make me feel a sense of inferiority, but they did. I snatched up my canteen as well, forcing a smile. "Good, then she can show me where to fill this."

  He started to get up. "I'll do it—"

  "No." I cut him off, placing my hand on his shoulder and holding him down. "I need to move anyway. I'm not used to being in the saddle all day, and my legs are stiff."

  He studied me a moment, and then his eyes trailed to my leg where my dagger rested in its decorative sheath—a sheath that had been ornamented by an obsidian rook. The rook had been a gift, but I refused to let my mind wander anywhere near the giver.

  Alex released my ankle with a sigh. "Hurry back, all right?"

  I rolled my eyes then asked, "Want me to fill yours, too?"

  He shook his head. "I'm good, thanks."

  I shoved the bindingbooks back in my pack, stroked Calyx's nose, and headed into the trees. The minute I left our sphere of warmth, I felt an overwhelming sense of cold. It went beyond the cold of winter and the chill of impending night. Except for the wind howling through the treetops, the forest was quiet, and the deepening shadows made it difficult to see.

  I didn't care how capable Alex thought Vera was; it was unlike her to be out like this. I made my way around an outcropping of giant rocks and reached a narrow stream. Clear water bubbled over smooth stones gathered in a shallow crevice in the earth.

  But there was no sign of Vera.

  "Vera?" I called out.

  Nothing.

  The wind howled again, and the trees around me creaked as they bent and swayed. My heart beat a little bit faster. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

  "Vera?" I tried again.

  "Yes?"

  I jumped and spun around, my heart pounding. Vera stood right behind me with her brow arched like a gull in flight, and she had her canteen in her hand.

  "Is everything all right?" she asked.

  Adrenaline flooded my body while I tried calming myself. "Yes. I'm fine, I was just… I thought something…"

  "Worried?" Her smile was wry. "It's not me we need to worry about, princess."

  I filled my canteen and my heart steadily calmed. The water was so cold I was surprised it hadn't frozen over yet. Perhaps tonight it would. Once my canteen was full, the two of us headed back to Alex and the horses.

  Vera still wore a smirk upon her face, like the thought of anything bad happening to her was the most preposterous thing she'd ever heard. But I still felt unsettled. Maybe it was because she'd scared the living daylights out of me. Or maybe it was because there really was something out there.

  We reached the glow of the fire just as the last bit of daylight disappeared. Alex looked between us, and when his eyes settled on me, he looked very relieved. Vera said something, but I didn't hear what. My focus had been stolen from me and redirected toward movement in forest. The faintest patches of cold, sliding through the night like ghosts.

  "Guys…"

  "—brought an extra blanket," Alex was saying.

  "I'm fine, Alexander." Vera rolled her eyes. "Give it to the princess. She's delicate."

  "Guys!"

  Both of them looked up at me.

  "There's something out here."

  Alex took a few steps forward, and his eyes narrowed as they fastened on the darkness behind me.

  Vera grumbled, annoyed. "There's nothing—"

  Calyx brayed as the other two horses shifted, jerking their heads up and down.

  Air whizzed and I dodged just as something whirred past my ear, sinking in the tree beside me. There, protruding from the bark, was a black shaft with very familiar black feathers.

  Shadowguard.

  Chapter 2

  A Different Path

  Shadows materialized in the darkness.

  Black armor glinted as the shadowguard moved steadily and silently through the trees, pressing in toward us. There had to be at least of dozen of them, moving closer and closer. We were surrounded. In the firelight, I could see a few bows drawn, shining black arrowheads pointed at us, daring us to move.

  "To the horses, on my mark," Alex said low enough for only Vera and me to hear.

  The horses were shrieking now, raking at the ground. They wanted to run, but they were Gaian horses; they wouldn't leave us. Not that they could penetrate the approaching circle of shadowguard.

  And they were pressing in. They were just a few yards from our horses now.

  "Alex," I said through clenched teeth.

  "Wait…" he said. Energy swelled from him, hotter and hotter until it exploded through me in a blast of sizzling air.

  A wall of bright blue light stretched between the shadowguard and us, reining us in like the fence of a corral.

  "Now!" Alex yelled.

  We sprinted to the horses. Shadowguard loosed arrows, but when they hit the wall, they ricocheted back into the trees. The wall was already beginning to fade when we leapt into the saddles, and it vanished completely right as we kicked our horses into a run. And we ran them right through the enclosing circle of shadowguard.

  We bounded into the woods, jerking around trees at speeds bordering suicidal. It took all my concentration to hang on to Calyx. I leaned into him, mirroring his movements while low branches ripped at my cloak and hair, slapping my face like tiny whips. I had no idea where we were headed, but we stuck together, hooves pounding in the night while we tried losing the shadowguard.

  But apparently, they'd brought horses.

  They rode steeds black as night, snorts and snarls audible amidst the thrum of beating hooves. It was as though a storm barreled through the forest, a black fog rolling in from behind and stretching deadly fingers on either side of us.

  Another arrow whizzed.

  I leaned left as a whoosh of air grazed my cheek, and the arrow vanished into the blur of trees on my left. Alex and Parsec were a few strides in front of us. He glanced back to make sure Vera and I followed, and then he and Parsec leapt over a fallen tree.

  They landed fluidly upon an open road that cut perpendicular to the path we'd been running, and Alex veered Parsec left. Calyx leapt right after, and I braced myself for impact. A few seconds of flight, and we hit. We struck ground harder than I'd expected, and I slammed into the saddle as pain shot up my tailbone and spine. A soft thud sounded behind me as Nimarra landed.

  The night erupted with "hyas" and the rolling thunder of horse hooves, and I looked back. Behind us, a little farther down the road from where we'd emerged from the trees, about a dozen more shadowguard galloped after us.

  "Alex!" I yelled.

  "I know!" he yelled back.

  Fear clawed its way through me, but it wasn't just my fear. Vera's was there, too, swelling and twisting inside of me. We could not escape so many of them. Our only chance would be to outrun them, but at the moment, that wasn't looking so good.

  Energy surged from Vera. A spark illuminated a few feet behind her, then arched through the air toward the pursuing shadowguard. The spark diff
used as it soared, opening up like a net, stretching toward the shadowguard in front, who had an arrow nocked. The shadowguard's arrow loosed just as the net collapsed, encapsulating both he and his horse.

  "Vera, down!" I yelled, and Vera ducked right as the stray arrow zipped over her head.

  The shadowguard, whom Vera had wrapped in light, jerked and struggled to break free while his horse's high, keening scream tore through the darkness. And then both rider and horse exploded in a cloud of light and black shards.

  They were gone as though they'd never existed.

  But the rest of the shadowguard kept coming, and by the looks of it, they were gaining on us.

  Out of nowhere, a black mass rammed into my side and Calyx brayed, jerking so hard to the right I almost slid out of the saddle. I cinched my legs down and gripped the reins as though they alone were my string of fate. Calyx struggled against our attacker, pushing back against the shadowguard's horse with my leg jammed between their saddles. My fingers ached and my arms felt like they were about to rip from their sockets. I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

  My attacker and his horse suddenly exploded into millions of black shards. The pressure on my leg evaporated as the shards fell like rain and vanished into the ground. Calyx steadied, and with gritted teeth, I pulled myself upright. My shoulders throbbed, and my leg felt like it had been flattened into a pancake.

  It was in that moment I noticed our road forked.

  "Left!" Vera yelled at Alex, who was still in the lead.

  A burst of energy erupted behind me and I looked back. This time, an entire volley of shining black points was moving through the air toward us.

  Not good.

  "Arrows!" I yelled.

  "Daria, take the lead!" Alex said, and without waiting for a response, he slowed Parsec so that they trailed behind us. The air around him warped like a thick haze, making him look like a mirage in the heat of summer. Energy pulsed from his body, and a wall of light diffused across the trail like some transparent veil strung between trees, separating us from the shadowguard once again. The first of the volley of arrows hit the wall and dissolved on impact. One by one, the veil of light absorbed their arrows, but once the shadowguard caught up to the wall, they easily ran through and the light dissipated like vapor.