Embers at Galdrilene

by Audra Trosper

  “Yes, they are coming. Two are on their way now. The others will come when we find them.”

  Sadira looked down into the canyon. “I’ll not be placed beneath anyone. I will have my rightful place.”

  “Of course,” Alden said soothingly. “I expected nothing less. You will be first among the Shadow Riders, but do not expect any who come to be loyal subjects. They will be much like yourself, ready to feel power within their hands.”

  Thunder rolled among the approaching clouds and the wind picked up speed, peppering them with sand. Sadira ignored it. “What are you?”

  “I am a Benduiren. I am what is left of a Shadow Rider after their dragon is killed.”

  “Is that the sacrifice you spoke of? The one I will have to be willing to make in order to hatch an egg? Will I end up looking like you?”

  Alden shook his head. “No. The sacrifice is half your soul. The draclet in the egg has no soul. You must give it half of yours so it can hatch–so it can live. Not everyone is strong enough to survive hatching a black egg. If you are not, you will die. Only if you successfully hatch an egg and your dragon later dies will you endure my fate.”

  The wind whipped her hair into her face. She pushed it back out of the way. “And why is that?”

  “If your dragon dies, it takes half your soul with it to the world of the dead. You will remain half in this world while the other half of your soul goes to the world of the dead.” He held out a skeletal hand, his black cloak flapping in the wind. “This is what is left.”

  “But only if the dragon dies?” She wanted to make sure she understood what might happen to her. She didn’t care what would happen to the dragon if she died.

  Alden nodded. “Are you ready to descend? Are you ready to make the sacrifice? Are you ready to see if you are strong enough?”

  She glanced at him. “You cannot force me?”

  “A few things remain the same for Guardian Dragons and Shadow Dragons. That the hatcher of the egg does so of their own free will is one of them.”

  “Guardian Dragons? There are other dragons beyond these eggs? Beyond this place?” She liked that even less than the idea of other black dragons.

  “Yes, in Galdrilene, the place where magic flows into this world, there are newly hatched dragons. They will seek to destroy the Shadow Dragons. They will seek to destroy the world as we know it.” He shifted and his voice took on a persuasive tone. “You, Sadira, could lead the Shadow Riders against them. You could be the one to preserve the way of life the nations enjoy today. If you have the courage to hatch an egg, you could lead the Shadow Dragons to Galdrilene and take control of the power that flows into this world.”

  “Where are the eggs? Lead me to them.”

  A smile slid across the shadowy face of the Benduiren and he led the way down into the canyon. At the bottom she followed him through the jagged mouth of the cave. The ceiling soared above them, disappearing into darkness. The cave was massive with golden, glowing balls of light set in the rock. The pale marble walls jutted out all around the cavern, creating shelves large enough for two good sized houses. They stepped up the walls, continuing until they disappeared into the darkness above.

  She brought her gaze back down. The polished, onyx floor contrasted with the pale walls. Benches filled with luxurious cushions lined the walls and beautiful arched doorways led off from the main chamber into lit passageways. An especially large arch led into what looked like an alcove. Golden scroll work and dark dragons climbed each side of the arch in a beautiful display.

  Then her eyes were drawn by another sight. Eight large eggs nestled in a depression in the middle of the cavern. Seven of them were inky black, the shells seeming to absorb the light rather than reflect it. The eighth was pale gray and carried a faint silver sheen to it.

  “Why isn’t that one black?” she asked, pointing at the gray egg.

  Alden shifted and appeared to shrug. “Occasionally, one is laid that is not completely black.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “We do not know. It happened rarely and we always destroyed them when it did.”

  “Why did you not destroy that one?” She didn’t like the gray egg. She didn’t know why, but something about it repelled her.

  “All of the Shadow Dragons were gone, we could not afford to destroy it. There are not enough even now,” Alden said.

  “How many of those Guardian Dragons you spoke of are there? How many hatched?”

  “I do not know. I know only that they hatched.”

  “Will they know when I hatch mine?” she asked.

  “Yes, they will know. But there is nothing that can be done.”

  She frowned. “Will they know how many?”

  “Yes.”

  Sadira thought of the power at hand and of the sacrifice of half her soul, desire and fear warred inside her. She stared at the eggs, unable to look away from them. A part of her trembled, a tiny part that was terrified. She crushed it ruthlessly and made up her mind. She would hatch an egg and she would not allow herself to think about it anymore. Thinking about it allowed the fear to grow. “How do I hatch one?”

  The Benduiren turned his red gaze on her. “Walk amongst them, look at them and decide which is to be yours. When you have decided, reach out your hand and touch it and the Hatching will begin. Be sure of your choice, not only in which egg, but in your choice to hatch it as well. Once the Hatching begins, it cannot be stopped.”

  Sadira nodded in understanding. “I am sure,” she said and walked forward toward the eggs. She didn’t need to walk among them; she knew which one she was headed for. Sadira didn’t know why, nothing about it looked different from the six other black eggs. She never even considered the gray egg. Something about one of the black eggs told her it was for her alone. Her egg, her dragon, her power.

  She approached slowly and reached out to lay her hand on the shell. Her fingers touched it. Searing pain shot through her. She screamed as it intensified. Her legs gave out and she collapsed next to the egg, unable to draw her hand away, unable to find a release from the agony that grew with each passing second. Deep inside, Sadira felt as if she were being torn in half, as if some integral part of her ripped away. Agonized screams tore from her lips as the pain consumed her.

  A web of cracks tore across the surface of the egg. With a last bolt of pain, her hand came free and the shell shattered.

  She lay curled on her side, her whole body trembling beyond her ability to stop it. Beside her a young dragon the size of a pony staggered away from its broken shell. Its ebony scales as dark as the bits of shell. Like the shell, the scales seemed to absorb the light filling the lower level of the cave rather than reflect it. The belly of the draclet was tarnished gold. She raised her eyes to the wedge-shaped head. The draclet regarded her with empty eyes the color of blood.

  Sadira struggled to her feet. She managed to hold herself upright though her legs trembled. “What is wrong with her?” Sadira whispered, her throat raw.

  Alden walked closer. “There is nothing wrong with her. You have done well.”

  “Why is she not black all over?”

  “The underside of a Shadow Dragon retains the color of what it would have been, had it hatched in Galdrilene.”

  Sadira, her voice still unable to rise above a whisper asked, “What do I do now?”

  The Benduiren pointed at a pile of rotting carcasses against the wall of the canyon just beyond the arch of the cavern. “Tell her to feed.”

  Sadira looked into the red eyes of the draclet. “Go Ranit, and eat.” Obediently, the draclet turned and waddled ungracefully across the floor and began feeding.

  Maleena screamed. Shadowed shapes clawed and tore at her. Mckale tried to fight his way to her, tried to block the shadows from reaching her, but every time he moved to shield her from them, they slipped past.

  Mckale snapped awake, confusion and chaos filled his mind as he tried to sort reality from the tatters of his dream. Nydara roared, shattering the
silence of the night. Tellnox joined her and the sound of it reverberated off the walls of the lair. Mckale leaped from his sleeping platform and raced toward Nydara’s lair.

  Again Nydara roared, a savage note in her young voice. The night came alive with the growls of the other draclets and then the deep bass of Mernoth’s thunderous roar. Mckale’s heart pounded painfully in his chest. Maleena’s terror filled him. He raced up the steps to her draclet’s chosen sleeping place and crossed the lair in long strides.

  Maleena lay crumpled next to her sleeping platform, her arms around her middle and her forehead pressed against the stone of the floor.

  Mckale knelt next to her. “Maleena, what happened?” he asked when Nydara quieted long enough for his voice to be heard.

  She turned her face, streaked with tears, toward him. “It hurts, Mckale. Oh Fates, it hurts.”

  “What hurts? Where?”

  “The vision. The Hatching. It’s terrible.” Her voice broke in a sob. Fear and pain beat at her, coursing through her body.

  He gathered her into his arms. “What Hatching?

  Even her vision of Kojen the first night they met hadn’t affected her like this. Whatever it was, Nydara saw it too and passed it on to the other draclets and Mernoth. Mckale reached out to Tellnox, who connected with him at once. The vision flooded his mind.

  He felt Maleena’s pain slowly fade away. She raised her head and looked at him with tear filled eyes. “The Hatching of a black egg. I saw it. I felt it.”

  Mckale looked up as Emallya and Bardeck joined them in Nydara’s lair. “Is it true?” he asked the older woman, although he already knew the answer.

  She nodded. “Yes, it is true. Shadows ride the dawn once more.”

  Mckale looked down into Maleena’s pale face then back up at Emallya “I thought I was her shield. Why can’t I protect her from this?”

  Bardeck answered, “You are her shield, but nothing can protect her from the visions. They are a part of her magic. Only time and Nydara maturing will enable her to handle them.”

  Helpless fury enveloped him. “So I just have to sit by and watch her go through this, I cannot help her?”

  “No more than I can help Emallya.”

  Mckale took in the ashen cast to Emallya’s face and the worry and strain creasing Bardeck’s. Bardeck had been watching Emallya go through similar things for hundreds of years. The look in his eyes told Mckale the older man understood exactly how he felt.

  Vaddoc, Serena, Kellinar and Kirynn joined them. Beyond the lair, the other draclets and Mernoth still rumbled and growled. Maleena looked up at the older couple for the first time since they entered. “You saw what I saw?”

  Emallya nodded. “I did, although perhaps not as strongly. You and Nydara are the strongest Spirit pair I have ever seen and my own visions have grown paler since the death of Rylin. You are feeling the effects more than I am.”

  “Will I feel this every time black eggs hatch?” Maleena asked and Nydara rumbled low in her chest.

  Emallya nodded again. “Yes, but to a lesser extent. The first time you feel black eggs hatch is always the hardest for some reason. As Nydara matures, she will shield you from most of the side effects of your visions.”

  Tellnox rumbled anxiously from the mouth of the lair and Mckale reached out to him, “Maleena and Nydara are well, calm yourself.”

  “They are not well. There is great distress in both of them. Nydara saw what her rider saw, she radiates alarm and fury to us all. Shadows lay across the future and there will be no peace as long as the soulless shadows fly,” came the sending.

  Maleena had stopped trembling and pulled away from him. Mckale watched as she crossed the chamber to comfort Nydara. It frustrated him that he could shield her from the emotions of others yet could do nothing to lessen the impact of the visions brought by her magic.

  Vaguely, he heard Emallya and Bardeck discussing what happened to his companions, though he paid little attention, his mind was elsewhere. There were black dragons again. In his mind, he saw the imprint memories from Tellnox’s hatching. He saw the evil of a grown Shadow Dragon in flight and felt a deep sadness and fear for the future.

  Vaddoc woke with adrenaline surging through his body. Something threatened his draclet. Namir’s distress and alarm filled his mind. The alarm sent out by Maleena’s draclet during the Hatching of a black dragon earlier in the night had his senses on edge. He rolled from the sleeping platform, pulling his scimitars from where they lay. His grip on the familiar hilts slowed the racing of his heart as he braced, ready to defend the young dragon.

  Namir was backed against the far wall, his leathery wings spread and his head drawn up high. In the gray, predawn light the source of the draclet’s distress was clearly visible. A young kitten stood in the middle of the lair, back arched and spitting. Golden colored and covered in dark orange stripes, it showed no sign of backing down and in fact seemed ready to take on the young dragon that could easily make a snack out of the small animal.

  Namir tried to move toward Vaddoc. The movement elicited a high pitched growl from the kitten and the young dragon froze.

  Vaddoc laughed and laid his swords on the platform, the tension in his body dissipating. “Are you truly afraid of that little kitten?”

  “It is ferocious! It may be small, but it is terrifying! What is it? Can you kill it?”

  “It is indeed ferocious and courageous beyond its abilities,” Vaddoc said. He rather admired the kitten’s bravery. “It’s called a kitten. The young of the small cats that inhabit human towns, cities and dwellings.”

  He walked over to the kitten, lifted it up by the scruff of the neck and settled it in the crook of his arm. It kept its wide orange eyes fixed on the draclet even while it purred. “I am surprised you have no knowledge of them. What about all of the memories you hatched with?”

  Namir eyed the kitten warily. “There is nothing in my memories of such an animal.”

  “It cannot hurt you Namir. Even with your soft scales, it cannot hurt you.”

  “It acts as though it can.”

  “And if pressed, it might try. Or, more likely, it would run.”

  The gold extended his long neck, reaching out toward the tiny kitten with his snout. The kitten’s ears went back and it growled. Vaddoc placed the kitten on the ground. With a parting hiss, it darted from the lair.

  Namir flinched when the kitten passed him on its way out, drawing another laugh from Vaddoc. He walked over and gave the young dragon a pat. “Come on you. It is extremely early, but we are wide awake now. You might as well go and get something to eat and take a swim. I am going to see if I can find anything to eat at this time of morning.”

  Together they walked out of the lair. In the still, crisp air of late spring, the undisturbed surface of the lake reflected the pearl gray of the sky. Bright flowers bloomed in contrast against the dark wall of the crater. Namir turned and headed for the far edge of the crater floor to feed.

  Vaddoc turned the opposite way toward the large open cavern that housed the kitchens. He walked up the rise to the inner plateau. The fires already burned and the kitchen cavern teamed with undercooks as they made preparations for the day’s meals.

  He bypassed the kitchen cavern and slipped through a small door a few paces beyond. The events of the night before weighed on him and he didn’t want to eat in the middle of busy food preparation. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

  In less than a minute he was in the passage outside the door of the little private dining room where they took their meal that first night. Kellinar had ferreted out the secret passage and it was much easier to find now.

  The servants saw him pass by the kitchen, they would know to bring his food here. He would happily dish up a plate and carry it to the private room himself, but none of the cooks or servants would allow it. Marda almost had a fit the one time he suggested it.

  Kellinar and Kirynn already sat at the table, eating. Vaddoc nodded to Kellinar as he walked into
the room. Kirynn mumbled, “Morning,” around a mouthful of food.

  Vaddoc sat in the nearest chair. “You two are up early.”

  Kellinar yawned. “After what happened last night, I think it’s amazing any of us got anymore sleep. It took me forever to get Shryden calmed down. Even when he did calm down and sleep, he was restless and his thoughts disturbed. It didn’t make for easy sleeping the rest of the night. We finally gave up trying to sleep not long before your Namir raised his alarm.”

  “You know about that?”

  Kirynn nodded. “He projected his alarm to all of the draclets and their riders.”

  Vaddoc groaned. “I am sorry. I was unaware he broadcast it out like that.”

  “Well silly as it may seem to us, the kitten was a complete unknown.” Kellinar chuckled then sobered. “After the Hatching of a black egg last night, I think it’s pretty reasonable Namir over reacted.”

  The door to the dining room swung open as Serena, Mckale and Maleena shuffled in. They appeared as tired as Vaddoc felt with the exception of Maleena. She looked beyond exhausted. The pale cast to her face accentuated the dark smudges under her eyes.

  Mckale hovered near her, worry in his eyes. She laid a hand on his arm and said quietly, “Sit and eat. There is nothing here to threaten and no amount of you not eating is going to cure how tired I am. Only sleep can do that. Perhaps later today, Nydara and I can find that sleep.” Mckale relaxed slightly and sat down with Maleena next to him.

  Several servants entered bearing trays of food and drink. Vaddoc helped himself to the thin strips of crispy bacon, several boiled eggs and a cup of coffee. He drizzled some honey into the cup and stirred it around.

  He noticed an undercurrent among the servants as he watched them bustle around the room. A tightness around their eyes and smiles that didn’t quite hide the worry in their expressions. It appeared word of a black egg hatching had spread quickly through the Dragon Hold. He glanced at Maleena. Her expression was calm, almost serene. Yet he saw the same tightness around her tired eyes.