A thundering crash made me jump. The other two dragons stalked up the side of the mountain toward the cave, their footsteps shaking the ground beneath my feet. They were much, much smaller than the first one that had seen us, but they were plenty big enough for me. From nose to tail, they were almost as long as skyscrapers. They peered down at us, their amber eyes narrowed in curiosity.
“Mouslings have you found, Blackscale!” said one of them. “A sort that my eyes see for the first time. What manner of creature are they?”
I looked up at it fearfully, then did a double take. Its face was different. I had to look back and forth a few times before I realized what it was. All of them had different scale patterns on their faces. The dragon in the middle—the much, much bigger one—had pure black scales in an intricate pattern on its face. The pattern looked like a mask. The other dragons had sparse patterns of scales that were dark green, not black.
I ventured a guess that the one in the middle was Blackscale.
But if so, he didn’t answer the question. Instead, the last dragon turned to the one who’d spoken. “Are your eyes so fresh from the egg? Humans, they are called. Speak not if it is to tell us you have not seen them, even in a distant yesteryear.”
“Lady Sarah?” whispered Cara.
“They’re not attacking,” Sarah said quickly. “They seem curious. Hold your weapons.” We could understand the dragons because of our enchantment, but the Runegard couldn’t. The last thing we needed was for Cara to panic and tell the Runegard to attack.
The dragon who’d talked first grimaced, revealing its fangs—fangs that were at least as long as I was tall, probably much longer. Its neck twisted, sending its head flying through the air toward us. The Runegard flinched, and I felt Blade’s arm tense as he reached for his magic. But the dragon’s head stopped a dozen feet away.
“Long centuries and more has it been since humans wandered this far south,” it growled. “And rare it was even in those days. Are you mouslings truly humans, or are our eyes fooled?”
The big dragon—the one I thought was called Blackscale—finally spoke. “They will not hear meaning in our tongue. Let your eyes see their fear, great enough to soil themselves. Do you expect that humans should know Draconic?”
“Actually, we understand you just fine,” said Blade. “And nobody’s going to soil themselves.”
The dragons flinched. The smaller dragons roared, and I almost made Blade a liar. The Runegard stepped back as one, pushing us further into the cave.
Sarah held up her hands. “Hey, we’re friendly!” she said. “It’s okay!”
One of the smaller dragons took a step forward, and its head snaked out as if to scoop us all into its long throat. “Sorcerous trickery! Where did humans learn Draconic? Your tiny bodies will make for a poor feast, but we shall have them nonetheless.”
One of Blackscale’s massive limbs lashed out, the back of his claws slamming into the smaller dragon’s head. The dragon reeled away, taking a quick step to right itself before it fell over.
“Youth makes you rash and gives you a foolish tongue, Stormcloud,” growled Blackscale.
“Not to mention bad breath,” Calvin whispered. Normally I would have giggled, but I was too busy being terrified.
Apparently he wasn’t quiet enough. Stormcloud gave another roar and leapt forward, claws outstretched. I put up a wall of Mind without thinking. Stormcloud slammed into it like a freight train, and it shattered. I felt a lance of pain in my head at the impact.
Blade summoned a ball of flame and sent it rocketing at Stormcloud’s face. Stormcloud ducked the blast, but the flames singed some of the scales on the back of his neck. He screamed, more out of surprise than pain, and his eyes narrowed. He leapt forward again, and my body tensed to turn and flee into the cave behind us.
Blackscale struck Stormcloud again, the back of his claw slamming into the smaller dragon’s jaw. This time Stormcloud fell heavily to the ground. His head whipped around to glare at Blackscale, teeth bared in a hiss.
“Enough!” roared Blackscale. He stretched himself to his full height and unfurled his wings. His wingspan was wider than a football field. “You have feasted on the flesh of troll. Consume more and show your greed, unbecoming of a warrior. By my command as Elder, they will not be touched. Do you doubt my sincerity?”
Stormcloud was plenty big, but Blackscale dwarfed him. He cowered, shrinking into himself. “No, Elder.”
“That command is for the both of you, Nightclaw.” Blackscale said.
The other dragon bowed his head reverently, showing his dark green scales that ran down his neck in a spiral pattern. “Of course, Elder. They will see no harm.”
You may live through this after all, said a voice in my head. You are very lucky to have met Blackscale.
My lips formed a thin line. Meridia. She’d been nagging us ever since we’d rescued her. From the looks on the others’ faces, she’d spoken to all of us.
“Was it luck?” said Blade sullenly. “Thought all you people believed in some sort of fate.”
Destiny, you mean. They are not the same.
“They’re the same where we come from.”
Blackscale had been at Stormcloud, but at Blade’s words he turned back to us. Wait, he? I thought. How did I know he was a guy? He could just as easily have been a girl.
“So,” growled Blackscale. “Twelve humans in lands that have not felt your footfall in many centuries, speaking the tongue of the wyrm. And some of you, it seems, are wizards. A riddle, to be sure, such as I have not heard in many a long winter’s chill. How came you to know our tongue?”
Sarah straightened her back and held her head high. “We are the Realm Keepers, and we have come to Wyrmspire to seek aid.”
Blackscale’s head raised slightly, but he remained silent. Beside him, Stormcloud and Nightclaw merely blinked.
“The Realm Keepers?” rumbled Nightclaw, turning to Blackscale. “Elder, have we not heard the tales of the Realm Keepers since we were egglets? Do they not belong in the stories? They cannot be made flesh before us.”
Blackscale’s amber eyes never wavered from us. “Always more than tales they have been, young Nightclaw,” he said. “In the flesh they may stand before you now. If, indeed, these words are true and not some conjurer’s trick.”
“They are true,” said Sarah. “I am Sarah, the Keeper of Earth. We’re the Realm Keepers, and these other six are Runegard, our bodyguards.”
“Wizards of the six elements you may be,” said Blackscale. “But Realm Keepers you may not. Robes of office they are said to wear that I do not see upon you. Emblems they bear that you do not.”
I gave Sarah an uneasy look. We hadn’t brought our Realm Keeper robes because this whole trip was supposed to be in secret. No one was supposed to know we’d left Morrowdust. How could we prove we were the Realm Keepers?
And then I remembered.
“The stones!” I blurted it out before I could stop myself.
Blackscale’s gaze fixed on me. Sarah looked at me over her shoulder, brow furrowed.
“The runestones,” I said, more quietly. “We brought them.”
Recognition crossed her face, and Sarah reached into the pouch at her belt to withdraw her runestone. One by one, each of us did the same. My stone felt warm in my palm, and I could feel it vibrating with suppressed power.
We held the stones up so the dragons could see them. Blackscale remained motionless, while Nightclaw leaned in to get a better look. But Stormcloud gave a loud snort.
“Rocks? You hope to convince us with rocks?”
“Silence, youngling,” hissed Blackscale.
Then he did something that made me gawk. He took a careful step back and craned his long, serpentine neck down until his nose nearly touched the ground. His eyes closed for a few seconds. It was a pose of vulnerability, like a human bowing.
Not that I was sure he was really “vulnerable” to us, even with our magic.
“I am Black
scale, Elder upon the Council of Wyrmspire,” he said. “Welcome do I bid you to my home. What protection I may give, I pledge.”
There was an awkward moment of silence.
Step out, you fool, and bow. The voice was Meridia’s.
Sarah quickly stepped out from between the Runegard and bowed in response. Again, there was a silence that stretched just a bit too long.
Introduce yourself! snapped Meridia.
“I am the Sarah, the Keeper of Earth,” Sarah blurted out. “Thank you. We’re very happy to see you.”
Nightclaw had touched his head to the ground almost in the same instant that Blackscale did, but Stormcloud hadn’t moved. Blackscale turned to glare at the smaller dragon. After a moment’s hesitation, Stormcloud finally touched the tip of his snout to the dirt.
Nightclaw lifted his head to peer up at Blackscale. “Elder, what meaning can we find in this? If in our legends the Realm Keepers live, here they must not have been in many tens of centuries. Reason must have provoked them, but what?”
“Um, hello?” said Calvin. “You could just ask us. We’re right here.”
Nightclaw’s head swiveled around to stare down at us. Not aggressively, like Stormcloud, just…curious? Maybe? It was hard to tell what any of the dragons were thinking.
“Forgiveness you must grant young Nightclaw,” said Blackscale, his voice a deep rumble. “None but dragons have Wyrmspire seen in a long age of the world, and none but dragons do the younglings know of. Manners becoming of the Realm Keepers is beyond her knowledge.”
Her, I thought. So Nightclaw is a girl. How the heck are you supposed to tell?
“Of course. We understand completely,” said Sarah.
Bow! said Meridia.
Sarah bent faster than a falling tree, then turned to the rest of us. “Cara, put your weapons away.”
Cara didn’t move for a long moment as she looked warily up at Blackscale.
Sarah’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Cara, be polite. Besides, do you really think your sword is going to stop them?”
Cara’s eyes slid to Sarah. After a tense moment, she nodded to the other Runegard. They lowered their shields, and I felt their tension seep away. Six sharp hisses filled the air as they sheathed their blades.
Blackscale’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the twelve of us. “There is something else among you,” he said. “Something more than the humans I see before me.”
Sarah looked around, confused. I felt a twinge of panic. What was he talking about?
He means me, said Meridia. Step forward, Keeper of Fire.
Blackscale’s eyes widened slightly—he must have heard her. Blade nudged his horse forward slightly.
Elder Blackscale of the fourth high family of Wyrmspire, said Meridia, her voice echoing in all of our minds. Greetings, after these many ages.
“Meridia,” said Blackscale, the word slow and ponderous. “You travel with the Realm Keepers? Then this is no simple errand they are upon.”
“No, Elder Blackscale,” said Sarah. “We desperately need the dragons’ help.”
“I cannot speak for all of my people,” Blackscale growled. “But a pledge have I given, a pledge shall I uphold,”
Nightclaw’s head jerked in surprise, while Stormcloud burst out into a laugh. It was so loud, I almost leaped out of my skin.
“Help?” roared Stormcloud. “Help, for the humans? Base mud crawlers, arrogant mouslings, you come crawling to us and beg for help? Your bidding holds no sway with us. Your troubles even less.”
Sarah’s nostrils flared, and she stomped her foot on the ground. The ground rippled beneath her boot, and great cracks erupted in the stone.
“We didn’t walk halfway around the world for a few Shadows,” she said. “Chaos is marching on our lands. We’re surrounded, and we can’t win by ourselves. Maybe you don’t care about that now, but you’ll care when Chaos turns around and comes for you.”
Stormcloud bared his fangs, but Blackscale struck like a lightning bolt. The older dragon’s tail lashed out, cracking across Stormcloud’s face and casting him down the mountainside.
“I gave them my protection as your eyes bore witness,” said Blackscale. “Your threat to them threatens my honor.”
Stormcloud slowly regained his feet. His breathing was heavy, and he would not meet Blackscale’s eyes. But he nodded slowly.
Blackscale turned, clearly dismissing him, and addressed us again. “You ask more than you know, Sarah, Keeper of Earth.” His tongue fumbled with her name, pronouncing it sah-rah. “Wyrms there are who would regard you as I do—the Realm Keepers, beyond threat and deserving of respect. But many more there are who would see you merely as a curiosity, nothing more. And still others there are who have been raised with hatred for all humans in their heart. The Schism is ancient, and not all have been able to forget it—while others lay false blame to its origins.”
“What’s the Schism?” I whispered under my breath.
“It’s when the dragons and the humans broke up,” Calvin whispered back. “Whatever broke the alliance. Apparently they had a disagreement or something.”
That is putting it quite mildly. Meridia’s disembodied voice echoed in our heads.
“Thank you for your warning, Blackscale,” said Sarah. “But we have to try.”
Blackscale dipped his head. “So be it. To Wyrmspire we will take you. Fear no trolls as you traverse the lands—a wide berth they shall grant you when they see our shadows upon the ground.”
Do not ask if you can ride them!
Meridia screamed it so loud that I winced. I glanced at Calvin to see him standing there with his mouth open and a single finger held up, like he’d just been struck by an idea. He froze. Then he looked sheepishly at the ring on Blade’s hand and closed his mouth.
“Just an idea,” he mumbled.
Sarah shook her head in disgust.
WYRMSPIRE
SARAH
I WATCHED AS THE THREE dragons took to the air. The backdraft from their wings nearly knocked me from my feet. Then the air stilled, and they were gone. I took a slow step from the cave and looked up to see them wheeling in the sky above.
“Okay, mount up,” I said, trying to keep my voice solid. The others didn’t need to know how terrified I was, how much I’d worried that I’d say the wrong thing and kill us all.
“All I’m saying is, why couldn’t we even ask?” said Calvin, looking around with a shrug. “They could carry us. Look at them. They’re huge! They could probably carry the horses, too.”
“Calvin, they’re people—sort of,” I said. “You’re telling me you wouldn’t be offended if we met a Dwarf and he asked if he could ride on your back?”
Calvin’s eyes shot wide. “Oh my God, that would be so cool! Can you imagine me carrying a Dwarf around piggy-back? I wish I could get a picture of that.”
“Too bad there aren’t any cameras in Midrealm,” said Miles.
I ignored them and leapt into into the saddle.
“Runegard, ride on the outside,” Cara barked. “Watch for trolls or anything else that may approach the Realm Keepers.”
“It should be fine, Cara,” I said. “Blackscale said they’d watch out for us.”
Cara shot me a look. “Forgive me, Lady Sarah, but the dragons have not pledged their lives to your protection. We have. And one of them seems quite intent on devouring us all.”
I sighed. “Just don’t do anything to tick anyone off when we get there. We may not know a lot about them, but I know I don’t want them angry.”
“You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry,” Calvin growled.
Miles stared at him. “No, you did not just do that.”
In just a few minutes we’d reached the flat lowland that led to Wyrmspire. Earlier I’d seen boulders dotting the landscape, boulders I now knew were stone trolls in disguise. But now the place was completely clear. Blackscale was right: the trolls had fled the shadows of the dragons on the ground.
The g
rass grew sparse as we closed on the mountain. Soon the ground was all thin, rocky soil. I became aware of a distinct chill in the air.
“Let’s layer up,” I said. “It’s only going to get colder the farther we go. I don’t want to have to stop again before we get up the mountain.”
I pulled another thick woolen tunic from my saddlebags and slid on the fur-lined leather gloves I’d picked up in Morrowdust just before we left. The smell of leather reached my nose. It made me homesick for the city, which surprised me. Next I had a thick jerkin of semi-stiff leather, and on top of it a cloak and cowl that had fur around the edge. Glancing up, I saw that the dragons had circled back to wheel above us, keeping watch.
“Here, Lady Sarah,” said Cara. “Let me show you something I learned on a campaign once.”
“Okay,” I said hesitantly.
She stepped up and gripped the edge of my hood, pulling the fur right in front of my mouth.
“Breathe,” she said.
I gave a deep sigh, my breath misting in the air. Instantly the heat spread throughout the fur, wrapping around my chin and surrounding it with warmth.
“Oh, that’s great,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” said Cara. She didn’t smile, but I saw a crinkle along the edges of her eyes.
She went to Calvin and showed him the same trick. His eyes went wide and fixed on her hands as she tugged on the fur. She had surprisingly slim hands, with wiry muscles beneath the skin. I thought it was hilarious that after all this time, Calvin was still so intimidated by her.
There were no incidents by the time we pulled up at the mountain’s base an hour later. The clouds around the mountain’s peak had lowered, and we’d lost sight of the summit. There was a steep ridge before us, and a road ran up its center. It was made of stone, carefully laid with square blocks and edged by thick stone railings.
“Um…that’s not for dragons,” said Miles. “They can fly.”
“It must still be here from when humans visited,” I said. That meant it had to be hundreds of years old at least—had it been here before Malus first made the long trek to Wyrmspire?
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 50