Embers at Galdrilene

by Audra Trosper

  “I was captured and taken there.”

  Madeir’s expression was full of doubt. “Your name.”

  “I am Kalila, fourth daughter of the King of Markene.

  Stunned disbelief replaced the doubt on Madeir’s face. “You…how did you escape? How did you come by these scars on your arms and face?”

  Kalila flinched at the memories the woman’s question stirred. She looked away from the earnest brown eyes and stared at the ceiling of the vardo. “Shadows gave me the scars.”

  “Shadows?” Confusion filled Madeir’s voice. “How did shadows…never mind. You don’t have to speak of it if you don’t wish.”

  An uneasy feeling stirred in Kalila’s stomach. She slowly turned her head to look at the woman. “How do you know about the Kormai?”

  Madeir took a deep breath. “I suppose I can tell you. Given what you know and what you are. I am a mage. I can use magic. I was trained in Galdrilene where dragons of beautiful colors live.”

  Kalila stared at her. What was wrong with her that she kept running into people and things that shouldn’t be. Except, the multi-colored dragons had–something the woman said tickled her mind. “What do you mean given what I am?”

  Madeir smiled, the action emphasizing the lines on her face. “My dear, I have been a senior mage for almost ten years. I can sense budding mages. From what I can sense you have probably used magic at least once already.”

  “What!” Kalila started to bolt up, but Madeir’s firm hands on her shoulders held her back and she wasn’t strong enough to fight her. “I cannot use magic. I will not be evil. I will not be what my sister is.”

  Madeir shook her head. “You will not be like anyone, but yourself. Your actions are yours to decide. Magic cannot decide your path for you. If your sister chose the darker path it is not the fault of magic. I have used it for a long time, do you think me evil? Galdrilene can teach you to use your magic.”

  “I don’t want to go anywhere or learn anything about magic. I want away from it. I want to go home.”

  Madeir’s face softened. “Of course you do, child. It’s best if you learn to control your magic so you don’t harm others, but no one can be forced. You must always choose your path freely. Galdrilene will be there if you decide you are ready.” The healer stood and turned toward a small stove, its chimney pipe running out the top of the small box house on wheels.

  Kalila didn’t answer. She couldn’t use magic, that was just insanity. Or was it? She remembered the feel of the air around her, alive as it moved across her skin with a feather-light touch. Remembered the air telling her someone was going to steal a book. And she remembered trying to send a message on the air to the invisible person wishing them luck. Had that been magic? If it was...if she could use magic...then what? She should turn herself in for execution before she went insane from it.

  Did magic really drive people insane? Sadira was most definitely insane. But what about the others? They were just evil. And then there was Taela, who seemed neither evil nor insane. Taela who had tried to escape with her gray draclet. Did she succeed? And what about the others? Kalila had seen them in the air in the distance, fighting Ranit and the other Shadow Dragons. Were they evil?

  She couldn’t go home. Not if she might harm her family because she didn’t know what she was doing.

  A delicious aroma filled her nose and pulled her from her thoughts. Madeir helped her to sit and held a cup of steaming tea to her lips. Thirst overwhelmed her and she gulped the hot liquid, burning her tongue but not caring. The heat spread out as it settled in her stomach.

  “Now normally, I would have used a variety of herbs to heal your cold damaged fingers and toes, but since you know I can use magic would you oppose the idea of me using it to heal you? It will be far less painful. Luckily it was full dark before Tarin found you. He didn’t bother to look at any injuries, just wrapped you in his cloak and carried you to me as quick as he could.”

  The burning in her fingers nearly forgotten during the discussion now intensified as if just thinking about it made it worse. Did she want magic used on her? She eyed the woman warily. She’d never seen magic that didn’t cause pain. She’d never seen healing that didn’t cause pain. The screams of the people Kovan had healed echoed through her memory. Would she ever be able to shut them out?

  Madeir looked her full in the eyes. “I promise, I will not hurt you.”

  Kalila couldn’t suppress her trembling. She closed her eyes and nodded.

  Madeir laid her hands on her. Heat spread through Kalila’s body, gathering in her toes and fingers. The pain faded until it was gone. The heat moved on to the cracked and lacerated soles of her feet. It rippled from her toes to her heels. The pain lessened until it was nearly gone. Then the heat receded.

  She opened her eyes and looked at Madeir’s face. “Thank you.”

  The healer nodded. “I am sorry I could not do more for the soles of your feet. The cold damage in your fingers and toes was new and not too bad yet. But most of the injuries to your soles are older. Injuries left too long don’t heal right. Perhaps a stronger healer could do better.”

  “It was more than I ever expected. Thank you, for more than healing me.”

  Madeir smiled. “You should rest.”

  Sadira watched Oksana pace back and forth across the polished onyx floor. Alden stood silent against the wall, his red eyes tracking her every step. Even after several weeks Oksana’s unreasonable grief and anger over her sister’s death still radiated from her. Not even the two clutches of eggs laid by Ranit and Dusa could calm her emotions.

  Sadira found it amusing. The anger she would be able to understand better if it was focused on the right thing. She too was angry over a sister. Angry because the rotten piece of dragon-dung had escaped.

  But Oksana’s anger was directed by her grief. Sadira shook her head and hid her smile as the blonde glared at Alden with red-rimmed, blue eyes. She wasn’t afraid of Oksana, however, there was no point in provoking a fight with the woman. They didn’t need their numbers cut down anymore than they already were and if it came to a fight, she would kill the blonde with no hesitation. Granted they already had two more riders, but they were new and inexperienced.

  Sadira turned her eyes on Alden. He shifted as if uncomfortable under her gaze. As well he should be. She broke the silence, controlling her voice. Calm and quiet would instill more fear than an emotional outburst. Oksana hadn’t learned that yet. “You are brave to come out of hiding Alden. After your…mishandling of the Silver Rider. You cost the Shadow Riders a lot with your assumptions.”

  Alden’s skull-like features remained expressionless. “I had no way of knowing they would come in force. The Guardians stopped making rescue attempts long before the end of the War of Fire. There was no foreseeing the outcome.”

  “No foreseeing!” Oksana’s shriek echoed across the massive cavern. She stepped up close to him, her voice filled with rage. “Your mistake cost Paylana her life. How dare you act as if none of this is your fault.” Her voice rose with each word. “You didn’t listen to me when I said we should leave her in the desert. You didn’t listen later when I said we should kill her and be done with it. Now Paylana is dead. And you are to blame.”

  Sadira laid a hand on the woman’s arm. “Easy Oksana, don’t kill him yet.”

  Alden sneered as his red eyes settled on her. “Kill me? With what, your shadows?”

  She threw back her head and laughed until tears ran down her face. It sounded maniacal. She didn’t care. He truly thought no one had seen Dreth die? Bern was still alive, if broken and bent. But she’d seen the other turned to ash.

  Alden’s sneer turned to a glower. Sadira wiped the tears and took a deep breath to calm the laughter. “You do think we are naïve and stupid don’t you? You may have hid from the battle with the Guardians, but the rest of us were there.” She leaned close to him. “I saw Dreth burn. I watched the silver dragon turn him to a pile of ash. My shadows may not hurt you, but a sin
gle command from me and Ranit will end you.”

  Fear crawled across the stretched parchment face. “You wouldn’t. You need me.”

  Oksana snorted. “What do we need you for? We have had to learn our magic for ourselves. You can’t read the book and thanks to you, we only have one of those now. You are inept, unsuitable to lead, and a coward. Paylana died weeks ago and only now do you crawl out from under your rock and show yourself again.”

  A faint smile crossed his face. “And who will lead you? Sadira? Kovan?”

  Sadira saw through his attempt to divide them. Would Oksana? He’d deliberately left her out of the possibilities because he knew it would grate on her pride. Sadira smiled back at him. “We don’t need a leader. We are not sheep, we don’t need a dog to herd us. Because of you, we are down two Shadow Riders and countless Kojen. No, Alden, I don’t think we need you.”

  A triumphant smile spread across Oksana’s face. Sadira smiled inwardly. Without realizing it the blonde was already letting her take the lead. Kovan would oppose her and she would have to resort to working with him. But Oksana and the rest would do what she and Kovan said. She turned an indulgent look on Oksana. “It was your sister, your grievance. It is your revenge. Deal with him how you see fit.”

  Oksana looked up at the black dragons arranged on their shelves. “Dusa, come to me.” The massive black lifted herself from the ledge and landed next to her rider. “Kill him.”

  Dusa drew in a lungful of air. “No!” Alden’s eyes widened. “You can’t do this!”

  Oksana cocked her head at him. “You are right. I can’t. Not this way. It would be too quick. Dusa, start with his feet and work your way up. See how loud he can scream.”

  Anevay stirred awake. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, confused for a moment. She’d fallen asleep in the records room again. It seemed in the past few weeks she spent more time in there researching than anywhere else. She sat up and arched her back, trying to relieve the ache from sleeping in the chair. The orb on the wall still glowed strong, but the candle on the desk she used for more light while reading burned low. It must be the middle of the night.

  A slight energy rippled through her mind. Quiet and unobtrusive, she felt the feather-light touch. Is that what woke her? She rubber her temples and sighed. A ringlet of her long, black hair fell across her face. She pushed it away in irritation. Real sleep in a bed is what she needed. Yawning, she looked at the scroll on the desk in front of her. She had to find the answer.

  Anevay had researched tirelessly since the battle with the Shadow Dragons several weeks before. Spent endless hours reading the detailed accounts of the War of Fire. That war had ended badly and only a mistake kept it from ending worse. The Shadow Riders came close to winning the War of Fire. Now, five hundred years later, it seemed history would be doomed to repeat itself.

  The Shadow Dragons were already reproducing again. Two black eggs hatched in the last three months. The Silver Riders felt each one. Only one clutch of twenty-one eggs had been laid in Galdrilene. Nydara fired them only a week ago. The eggs had yet to send out a call although the shells had hardened in the last few days. Until they sang to their intended rider they would remain unhatched for however many years it took.

  She sighed, her eyes drifting over the age worn parchment. Somewhere, in the history of the War of Fire, there was a key to winning this new war. Something that seemed small and insignificant to others. A clue that would lead her to the weave she needed to make. A weave to eradicate the Shadow Dragons forever.

  Anevay rubbed her eyes again. If only it wasn’t so easy for the Shadow Dragons to reproduce. What did it say about the world that Shadow Riders were so easy to find now? How were there so many people willing to give up half their souls for power?

  Energy flowed softly through her mind again, a quiet hum. She propped her elbow on the desktop and massaged her forehead with her hand, her eyes still on the scroll. She shoved aside her exhaustion and focused on the task at hand. Her talent beyond healing was the ability to create new magic weaves. It rested on her to find the needle in the haystack. The one that would save Galdrilene and the Guardian dragons. The one that would save the world.

  The hum of energy wove through her mind again; soft, sweet, insistent. Anevay sighed in frustration. She couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. Maybe a break would help. A brief walk in the fresh air. She stood, pulled her cloak around her shoulders and left the room. A short hallway brought her out in the Great Hall.

  Only two orbs burned at either end of the massive hall, leaving the passage between the two sets of tall, heavy doors cloaked in darkness. The doors leading to the city were closed, but those on the other end stood open. The light of the full moon spilled across the broad, inner terrace.

  Anevay rubbed her hands together, shivering slightly in the cool air of late spring. Beyond the terrace, in the caldera, the lake reflected the bright face of the moon. Again, the humming energy filled her mind. Crooning softly. She strode past the doors and out onto the terrace. She turned her face into the wind and let the it wash over her.

  The need to get back to work tugged at her. But for some reason she walked across the caldera instead of back through the doors. The rim of the horseshoe-shaped caldera was dark at this hour. The low rumble of dragons sleeping in their lairs drifted on the breeze. She walked to a door set in the side of the rim’s wall. Maybe she would check on the eggs.

  The croon in her mind intensified. Elation rippled through her. Elation? What was she so happy about? Her hand froze on the latch of the door. Her lungs refused to work. The energy in her mind–the hum–it was happy. Her breath left her in a rush and tears welled in her eyes. It wasn’t energy she felt. It wasn’t just a random sound in her mind from too little sleep. She heard the Dragon Song. One of the eggs sung to her.

  Anevay pulled her hand away from the door. She couldn’t go in there right now. The pull of the egg would be irresistible. She wouldn’t be able to stop herself from hatching it and there was a protocol for this. Still, she stood in front of the door, unable to walk away.

  “Anevay?” Maleena’s soft voice called out of the dark behind her.

  She turned. Maleena stood a few paces away swathed in a heavy cloak. Her long, chestnut hair blew around her in the wind. “What are you doing out here in the dark?”

  The other woman smiled and walked closer. “I could ask the same of you. I would expect to find you sleeping in the records room not standing in the dark staring at a door.” Maleena glanced at the door. “One of the eggs is singing, I felt it. It woke me. Nydara senses it too.”

  Anevay returned her smile. “I know. I was sleeping in the records room. The Dragon Song woke me.”

  Maleena’s eyes, dark purple in the light of moon, widened. “You?” Excitement filled her voice. “One of the eggs calls to you? Oh, Anevay, how wonderful!”

  “I made it all the way to the door before I realized what it was. I know I can’t go in yet, but at the same time, I can’t bring myself to leave.”

  Maleena smiled. “You don’t have to leave. You just have to go in by the other door.”

  “Don’t I have to wait for Emallya?”

  “Emallya will already be awake, she will sense it too. So will Taela. Soon, the hold with be awake with the news. You only need to wait long enough for food to be made available for the draclet, and for Emallya and Bardeck to be ready.”

  A lump filled Anevay’s throat. She wouldn’t have to wait until the next day. “Thank you, Maleena.” The tiny woman smiled at her again then hurried toward the Great Hall.

  High above, on the ledge jutting out from their layer, Maleena’s silver Nydara and Mckale’s green Tellnox stretched their wings and yawned as they woke from their sleep. Anevay dragged herself away from the small door. When it was time she wouldn’t go in through it anyway. She might as well wait inside where it was warmer.

  The Dragon Hold slowly came alive as word spread of the impending Hatching. Anevay sat at a table in
the kitchen cavern. A junior cook moved about the dark kitchen, stirring coals up in the ovens. Anevay yawned. If the ovens were already warming dawn would only be a couple of hours away. How long had she slept at her desk in the records room? It couldn’t have been long. An hour? Maybe a little more.

  Marda came bustling through the kitchen, ordering instructions at a group of men looking like she had dragged them out of bed only moments before. Knowing Marda, she probably had. Whether dragon or human, Marda never let anyone go hungry.

  Anevay took a deep breath, a sudden flutter in her stomach. She was called. In a short time, she would hatch an egg. The hum in her mind crooned happily. For some reason when Anevay had contemplated her future she had never considered being called. It hadn’t bothered her, she was a happy being a mage. But she wouldn’t trade the sound of the Dragon Song in her mind for anything.

  She folded her hands on the table and laid her head on them, closing her eyes. The croon, quiet and soothing, filled her mind.

  A touch on her shoulder woke her and she blinked up through bleary eyes. Taela stood with a smile on her face that reached her dark blue, slanted eyes. “It’s time if you are ready, Anevay.”

  Anevay stood. “Already?”

  Taela laughed. “You’ve been asleep for a little over an hour. Emallya, Bardeck, the dragons and the other riders are awake. Food has been placed for your draclet. All we wait for now is you.”

  Excitement growing within her, Anevay flashed Taela a smile, glad the other woman was there. She remained close friends with Kellinar. When Taela became Kellinar’s bondmate, Anevay felt an immediate connection to the woman. Taela became the sister Anevay never had.

  “Emallya and Bardeck are ready then?” she asked.

  Taela nodded. “They await you in front of the hatching doors.”

  Anevay smoothed her dress, suddenly nervous. What if she was wrong? What if she really was sleep deprived and only thought she heard the song? Anevay took a deep breath and let it out. Such silliness. She’d grown up in Galdrilene, she knew what the Dragon Song was.