Taela stopped in her tracks as Sehlas rounded the far corner of the garden in the company of his man-servant. Three of his wives trailed behind him, all silent, eyes on the ground in front of them.
Everything in her being rebelled against such restraint. She didn’t care how well her marriage to the man would cement the relations of their nations; she would die if subjected to such a life. There must be a way out. Perhaps she could get him to change his mind, make him decide he didn’t want another wife right now.
Taela had never tried to manipulate the mind of another. The idea didn’t appeal to her that much, it didn’t feel right. But she couldn’t see any other way. If this didn’t work, she would either have to try running away or condemn herself to a life of misery.
Before Sehlas or those with him could see her, Taela stepped off the path and hid among a collection of carefully pruned and shaped greenery. She peered through the leaves at him and gingerly reached out for his mind and made the connection.
She wasn’t foolish enough to believe he might love her, or even have feelings for her. That was the stuff of books and tales told amongst women, not reality. But was it too much to ask that he thought of her at all? His thoughts were filled with the land rights and possessions he would acquire when they wed. She found nothing about her as a person. He saw her as a means to a gain, nothing more.
What she found, or rather didn’t find in his thoughts, firmed her decision. Taela reached further into his mind, taking firmer control, only vaguely aware of Sehlas stopping on the path to rub his temples. He resisted her urging. She gripped his mind tighter, felt a barrier, and pushed harder. It flexed but held. She needed him to change his mind. Maybe she needed to get the barrier out of the way. She focused all of her attention on it. It stretched, growing thinner. On the path, Sehlas clutched at his head and fell to his knees.
“If you put any more pressure on his mind, you will crush it. This is not the way.”
Taela nearly dropped her connection to Sehlas when she heard the softly spoken words in her mind. Shaken, Taela reached for the voice, tried to follow it to its source, but found nothing. The voice said she would break his mind if she put any more pressure on it, but how did she know it was true? People who could use magic were supposed to go crazy. Hearing disembodied voices in your head was definitely crazy.
She turned her attention back to Sehlas, still on his knees, holding his head while his man-servant fluttered around him anxiously. Would she crush his mind? Was the voice real? Taela took a deep breath to steady herself. She didn’t have a choice; she had to change his mind. She put more pressure on the barrier. It held for a moment then gave. She felt it snap.
In that moment, she regretted her decision to make him change his mind. She wasn’t sure what the barrier had been, but snapping it damaged his mind rather than allowing her to change it. The voice had been right.
She pulled away immediately. Sehlas lay on the ground, his limbs twitching. Her heart started to pound. She hadn’t wanted to ruin him. The man-servant yelled for help. It would arrive in moments. Already, a palace servant ran from the direction Sehlas had come. No one must find her here, skulking in the shrubbery. She moved onto the path intending to run toward Sehlas like everyone else. Not everyone had their full attention on the man on the ground.
The youngest of Sehlas’ attending wives, stared right at her as she stepped from behind the bushes. Their eyes met and a chill ran down Taela’s spine as sweat broke out on her forehead. The woman didn’t even glance at her husband, who lay twitching just a few feet from her. Instead she looked across the garden at Taela with a curious expression on her face. Taela reached out to the woman and felt in her mind a certainty that Taela was somehow the cause of her husband’s condition. The woman wasn’t sure how she felt about it yet.
Taela lifted her skirts and ran. Not toward Sehlas and the group gathering around him, but away from him and his youngest wife. Away from the knowledge in the woman’s mind. Away from the knowledge in her own mind that if she had listened to the voice, a man would not be lying on the ground in ruins.
She reached her chambers, slammed the heavy door shut in the face of a stunned maid-servant, and drew the locking latch down. Her legs started shaking and she had to sit on the short stool next to the door. She was going to die. There was no way she could sneak out of the palace and run away, though her mind raced through several scenarios anyway, each one less feasible than the last.
She put her face in her hands and gave into her terror, letting the hopeless tears come. A brush of cold stale air pulled at her, making her looked up. The sight of the figures standing in the center of her chamber drew a scream from her before she clamped her hands over her mouth. Tall and draped in black robes, their hoods hid their faces but not the glowing red of their eyes. Their sleeves didn’t quite cover hands that looked like bones covered in wrinkled, gray paper.
She stood, drawing a ragged breath. “Who…who are you? What are you?”
“We are Benduiren,” one said in a raspy voice.
“Benduiren,” the other echoed.
The first one spoke again, “I am Dreth, this is Bern, and you...you are in trouble.”
“In trouble,” the other echoed.
“We can help you if you want,” Dreth said. “We can take you away from here. We can give you the means to make sure no one can ever force you into a marriage you don’t desire. We can offer you a safe place to hone your magic so you don’t make mistakes like the one you just made. We offer you…sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary,” Bern echoed.
Fear, hope, confusion and indecision all pulled at Taela. What were these beings? What did they mean? The dark aura surrounding them made her uneasy and stole the moisture from her mouth. But they offered a way out. Maybe…
“No! Do not!” The voice in her head was back. It conflicted with the crooning hum in her mind. The hum encouraged her to accept the offer made by the two shadowy figures.
She didn’t listen to the voice last time and she should have. She opened her mouth to tell them no and was interrupted by sudden pounding on the door.
“Taela.” Her father shouted. “Taela!” he shouted again, louder this time.
Taela stood silent, afraid to answer the Benduiren or her father. Something heavy slammed into the door, making her jump. Terrified Sehlas’ wife had said something, Taela turned toward the Benduiren. Fear beat in her chest and clogged her throat. She swallowed hard. “Yes, I accept your offer.”
“Take our hands and we will go,” one said.
“We will go,” the other echoed.
The door shuddered under another crash. She grabbed their hands.
Everything around her stretched and snapped. Darkness rolled over her. She floated in a black void where nothing was and nothing had ever been except the tortured whispers filling her mind. Then that too snapped and desert heat enveloped her. Black dots swarmed in front of her vision. She wavered a minute before her body adjusted to the heat and her vision cleared.
Taela stood on the rim of a canyon. Above, the sun burned in a bleached-blue sky. Below, the massive arched mouth of a cave reared up from the canyon floor. On the other side of the canyon, a few paces from the cave, a small waterfall cascaded over the edge of the sheer wall. It formed a narrow stream that ran along its base. Small trees and flowering bushes grew along the edges of the water.
“Where am I?” Terror charged through her veins. She did her best to hold it in check while her mind grappled with how any of it could be possible.
“This is Kormai,” Dreth answered.
“Kormai,” the other echoed.
“This is where you will find all that you need. All it takes is for you to willingly walk toward your sanctuary,” Dreth whispered persuasively.
“Sanctuary.” Bern’s echo seemed to come from a great distance.
Taela peered down into the canyon. “Willingly?” The oasis of it looked inviting. Her fear ebbed, but she remained wary.
/> “We cannot help you if you do not accept it of your own free will.”
“Your own free will,” Bern again echoed his companion.
“What am I supposed to do?” she asked.
Dreth stepped next to her at the rim’s edge. “Give up half your soul, hatch the last egg, take your place as a black Dragon Rider. A position that will ensure no one ever forces you into anything again.”
“Dragons! Give up half my soul? Are you crazy?” They weren’t crazy, she was. This wasn’t right. Something felt very wrong. And yet, the hum crooned soothingly in her mind. It seemed like it asked her to trust it and that was even crazier.
“No one would dare to try and force a marriage on you if you had a dragon on your side,” he said.
She tried to reason. “But, they are all gone.” This couldn’t be happening.
“No, they are not. Seven have already hatched. The eighth egg awaits you. The draclet inside has no soul, it cannot hatch unless you give it half of yours. It needs you.” Dreth’s voice held a strange hypnotic cadence. She threw up a mental block to filter it so she could think clearly.
“And I have to go of my own free will?” Somewhere deep inside, her sanity screamed at her, telling her she didn’t belong here. She ignored it. She was here now and it couldn’t be changed.
“Yes, your own free will.”
“Your own,” Bern echoed.
“And if I don’t?” Did she really want to know?
“We, of course, will not force you,” Dreth’s voice took on a matter-of-fact tone.
Taela heard the lie that wasn’t a lie in his words. He said it had to be her choice, however, there really wasn’t any choice at all. If she refused they wouldn’t force her, but she wouldn’t leave here alive. She either chose to hatch the egg and join the dragon insanity or they would kill her.
Taela tried to swallow, but the heat and renewed terror dried her mouth and throat too much. “Where do I go?” she croaked. Taela tried to bury the fear as the croon urged her forward.
“Follow us.” The cloaked figures led the way down a narrow, twisting path that brought her to the entrance of the cave.
A woman walked toward them. Her dark beauty didn’t hide the terrible evil in her eyes or the darkness in her mind. Two other women, who looked identical to each other, and four men followed her. All of them had minds gripped by darkness and all of them kept a wary eye on the dark beauty. Taela touched each of their minds lightly seeking as much information as she could before the pain stabbing at her head made her stop.
Taela took a deep breath and returned her eyes to the woman in the lead. The hair on the back of her neck tried to stand up. She flinched away from the dark thoughts in the woman’s mind.
The woman looked past her. “Dreth, Bern, it is good to see you back and bringing someone with you.”
“We bring a rider for the last egg, Sadira.” Dreth replied. “This is Taela Shamirrin, first daughter of the King of Haraban.
“A rider,” Bern echoed.
Sadira turned and smiled. The smile never touched her eyes. “I am Sadira Arrivin, once of the ruling House of Markene, now rider of the black dragon, Ranit. Come into the cave. Alden will arrive shortly and then you can hatch your egg.”
She followed Sadira past the others and into the cave. The pale walls jutted out in shelves. Fear pooled in her stomach at the sight of seven perching black dragons. They stared down at her with eyes that ranged from the color of blood to a sickly green. She suppressed a shiver and looked away.
Then she saw it. A pale egg lay in a large, sunken circle in the middle of the polished onyx floor. One moment it appeared gray, the next it shimmered silver. It drew her.
Sadira called three women to her, distracting Taela from the egg. The women walked toward Sadira the way a beaten dog approaches its master, terrified to come close, but more terrified of the consequences of disobeying.
Sadira ran her hand down the cheek of one of the women and smiled. “These are three of my younger half-sisters. Because my father married their mother they were supposed to inherit the wealth and power of the ruling family, while I was relegated to nothing. They had all the future and potential of princesses of Markene. Now they are my pets.”
Taela touched their minds and suppressed a shiver. If Sadira knew she was royalty and still expected certain treatment, two of the three surely did not. Their minds were wrapped in almost constant terror and they lived to please their mistress.
Sadira spoke to them, “Larna, Drisa, go fetch some water for Taela here, she will need it after the Hatching.” The two sisters hurried from the massive cave, disappearing down one of the many halls that opened into the cavern. They pulsed with relief at being away from their half-sister even for a few moments.
The third woman, barely more than a girl, watched them leave. Ropy scars ran down the side of her face from temple to jaw line and down onto her neck.
Sadira smiled coldly at the remaining sister. Dark oily shadows flowed from Sadira’s hands and coiled about her head and neck like snakes. “My shadows ensure the obedience of my pets though Kalila still resists me. She can be very…disobedient.”
Waves of hurt and terror rolled off Kalila. Taela’s stomach turned from the onslaught. She saw in the girl’s mind what Sadira could do with her power. Even so, Taela felt a spark of spirit, determination, and defiance in Kalila, and…something else.
Sadira turned and laid her hand on Taela’s arm. Her mind splintered into a thousand shards of pain. She gasped and pulled her arm away. Sadira looked back in surprise. “Is there something wrong?”
Taela shook her head. “No, I’m fine. My head hurts sometimes, it’s nothing.”
Sadira watched her with cold, calculating eyes. Maybe she thought her too soft and didn’t have what it took to be a Shadow Rider. Taela didn’t dare touch the woman’s mind to find out.
Another black cloaked figure entered the cavern. Sadira glided forward. “Alden,” she greeted the figure as he approached. “I have news. An eighth rider has finally been found. She is Taela, first daughter of Haraban.”
“Such good news,” Alden said.
Sadira looked back at her. “We shall see.”
“We almost gave up finding an eighth rider,” Dreth said.
“Almost gave up,” Bern echoed, his voice a raspy whisper.
“Come then Taela,” Alden continued as if the others hadn’t spoken. “Hatch your egg. Share your soul. Or not. As you choose.”
He added that last on, but it wasn’t much of a choice. If she refused she would die. Or worse, become one of Sadira’s handmaidens. Taela walked across the cavern, her eyes on the pale gray egg with the silvery sheen. It was tugging at her again. It seemed to thrum and if she strained, she could hear the faint crooning in her head.
As she came near the gray sheen rippled and in the second she reached out her hand, the egg appeared more silver than gray. Her fingers touched the surface of the shell and the cavern swirled into a confusing kaleidoscope of images. One moment dragons that glittered like jewels flew at her with orange flames spewing forth, the next, dragons the color of black despair spit acid green fire at her.
Pain shot through her, drawing an involuntary scream. Her very essence was being torn apart. Instantly, Taela regretted her decision. She didn’t want to be a Shadow Rider and lose half her soul. Darkness and hatred didn’t cling to her heart and soul like an evil blight.
And in that moment of acknowledgement, everything shifted. The pain faded and in its place, emotions rose up so strong they overwhelmed her. No longer did jeweled dragons fly at her, instead she flew with them. Below her lay a beautiful city centered around a massive crater with a lake in the middle. The images swirled and in despair she saw a battlefield where jeweled dragons laid among the dead and dying in the field.
The images flickered in a disorienting array. On her hands and knees, she sobbed as tears rolled down her face. In front of her, a silver draclet, its scales dulled as if a shadow la
y across them, gazed at her. In her mind, she felt its hunger and confusion.
They were in danger. She and the draclet both. Shadow Dragons didn’t have a mind of their own because they had no soul of their own. They were an extension of their riders, like an arm or a leg. She had been in the minds of the other riders and knew they felt nothing from their dragons. But she hadn’t given half her soul to the draclet. This draclet had a mind and a soul of her own. It blended with hers until they were one. She was not a Shadow Rider, her draclet was not a Shadow Dragon.
She reached out to the draclet with her mind and felt an instant connection. “Paki,” she sent urgently. “We are in great danger. Do not act as if you can hear me or act as if you care about me or we will both die.”
Paki gazed back with her dark blue eyes. “I understand.”
The breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding rushed out of her chest in relief. The draclet understood her. Paki was careful to not look around or look too interested while Taela climbed to her feet. She scrubbed her hands across her cheeks and straightened her dress while her mind scrambled with what to do.
Paki would have to do her best to act like the other dragons and she would have to work to mislead Sadira and the rest. Her magic would make that a little easier. She reached out to Paki again, “There is nothing we can do for now. We are going to have to do our best to behave like the others. Until you can fly, we are trapped here. I’m sorry Paki.”
“I am not,” came the return sending. “I am different than I should be. I can feel it. There is some sort of magic on me, but it didn’t work right. I have always felt it was weak in me although I don’t know why. I have struggled against it for as long as I have been. I can feel it running strong and sure in the other dragons here. If there was evil in your heart, if you had been willing to give up half your soul for power, the magic would have won. My soul would have died. Half of your soul would have been torn from you to replace it and I would be a Shadow.”
Embers at Galdrilene Page 30