by Jada Fisher
“There’s going to be an attack on Margaid,” Eist said as flatly as she could. For once, she didn’t like being alone. She knew her friends were no doubt right outside the door, having been rounded up by Yacrist, but they hadn’t been allowed in. Even Fior was barred outside, and she could practically feel him whining through the wall. She had a feeling that if she weren’t with allies, he might have busted down the doors himself.
“And you know this how?” a dragon rider asked, a large one with long, brown hair done in intricate braids that attached to his beard.
“I saw it.”
She knew there was no use dancing around the exact details of how she saw these things that she shouldn’t have been able to see, and yet she couldn’t avoid it. Admitting to magic, to breaking the law, could very well tank her entire dragon rider career.
It could send her to the dungeons.
It could sentence her to death.
How ironic would it be to have survived so many attempts on her life only to end up murdered by the very people she had been trying to protect? Certainly not how she had assumed she would one day succumb to the eternal sleep.
“How did you see it?”
“I… I see things?”
Elspeth’s eyes bored into her, strangely calm despite her intensity. It was even more unnerving considering her mount’s large head resting at one of the large, open windows at the top of the room, reminding Eist of that trial she had passed all those years ago.
“What kind of things?”
Her voice told Eist that there was no more room for waffling about, for trying to dodge around the truth.
“Things I shouldn’t be able to. Things I don’t always understand.”
“Magic.”
“Magic,” Eist confirmed.
A ripple of shock went through the room, and Eist felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She hated being the center of attention in this way. It felt far too vulnerable and exposed. She had always hoped that her exposure to the Dragon Council would be more along the lines of being accepted into their ranks rather than risking her freedom.
“I don’t understand how that’s possible,” Ale’a said softly. “Eist has been a student for four years here. Surely one of us would have noticed—”
“She has a witch’s eye!” someone else objected. “How could you not have noticed?”
“A witch’s eye doesn’t mean—”
“It’s not that,” Eist objected, cutting off the growing argument. “It happened…in the woods.”
“In the woods?” Keyln questioned. “What does that mean?”
“The attack,” Ale’a breathed. “When you almost died. He did something to you, didn’t he?”
Eist nodded. “Something about…whatever happened lets me see things that shouldn’t be visible. Sometimes I can tell where something I want is. Sometimes…it’s just like I’m being led somewhere I don’t understand. There are different colors, different, uh, feelings, I guess. I’m still figuring most of it out.”
“She’s talking about prophesizing,” Dryss whispered, sounding absolutely horrified. “She’s talking about forbidden magic.”
“This shouldn’t be possible,” someone else breathed behind her. “Magic isn’t real.”
“Of course magic is real,” Eist snapped, fed up with their denial. “There’s all sorts of books in our own library about it. Several of you literally watched people being warped and corrupted by dark spells! It’s as real as you or I.”
“Blasphemy.”
But Elspeth remained as unruffled as ever. “And these feelings told you that there would be an attack on Margaid?”
“No,” Eist answered slowly, trying to find the right words but feeling like anything she said would just make the situation worse. “I had a vision.”
“A vision.”
“Well, a dream, I guess.”
“And you believe this dream was a vision of the future?”
“Uh, no. I… I don’t think so.” Eist gathered her thoughts. If she was going to sacrifice herself to tell these people what was going to happen, then she was going to do it right. “I think what I was seeing was the sorcerer’s plans.”
“And why would you, of all people, see them?”
“Because we’re connected,” she answered honestly. “He’s made that very clear.”
“This is sacrilege,” the same dark-haired dragon rider bellowed. “This child speaks of oracles and visions as if we should just accept her perversions as truth!”
To Eist’s surprise, Fjorin stepped forward, nearly face-to-face with the man. If it were any other situation, she might have been a bit flushed at seeing two very burly, powerful men posture in front of each other, but the mood wasn’t quite right to really enjoy it.
Huh…becoming a fully-grown woman certainly made her think some strange things.
“This child saved several of us that you see before you and nearly fifty civilians. You want to call that evil?”
“Are we sure it’s magic?” Ale’a argued. “What if it’s something else entirely?”
“It doesn’t matter what good it wrought!” Dryss objected, shoving her way between the two large men. “Magic is forbidden for a reason. It is heresy, and the penalty for heresy is imprisonment at least. Not to sit here and debate how we can benefit from—”
“Imprisonment?!” Fjorin bellowed. “I would be some vile creature without her. I have known this child for little over a few months, but everything I’ve learned about her has proven how brave and strong she is! She is an asset, and ally, and the fact that we’re sitting here debating about it just goes to show how we’ve become so obsessed with protocols that we can’t even wipe our own as—”
“Protocols and rules are what make us the council. Otherwise we are no better than the rogue dragon riders concerned only with gaining wealth and power!”
It was rather strange to just sit there and listen to people talk about her as if she wasn’t there. Although Eist was pleased and surprised that Fjorin cared enough to defend her, it certainly wasn’t kind to her nerves to hear multiple powerful people arguing for her arrest or worse.
More voices started to pitch in, shouting from behind Eist. Ones she could hardly recognize. She hated to think of how many she wasn’t hearing behind the shouts, too low for her terrible hearing to catch.
After fighting so hard for her life several times, it was bizarre to just sit there and wait. She could feel sweat prickle at her brow and her stomach twist harshly. Everything in her was begging her to run, but she knew that she needed to stay put. She had to stop the attack on Margaid. She could feel in her bones that the coming battle was going to be a turning point. One that couldn’t be undone.
Even if it cost her life.
“Since when were the rules something for interpretation! We burn her, as we are always supposed to do with magic practitioners. There is no gray area.”
“Burn a child!? She’s barely into her fourth year, and the only reason she even has these abilities is because we failed to protect her!” Eist didn’t know who that voice belonged to, but she was grateful for them. “We don’t even know if these abilities are true or if she’s been tricked.
“And are we really in a position to be turning down such a gift? If not for her, more of our kind would be converted, I have no doubt.”
“We all know that there is no magic. It is these unnatural powers that are warping the natural order of things and allowing these dark machinations to seep into our realm!”
“You mean the Blight,” Eist said quietly. “And no, that’s not true. Our world has its own type of magic, a kind of energy-wielding that is most powerful when our realm is happy and whole. Getting rid of magic has only weakened us and allowed more of the Blight to slip through.”
“The Blight is dead!”
Eist rolled her eyes and gave the closest objectors a look. “I think none of us are dumb enough to actually believe that, right?”
“This is ri
diculous!” another cried. “She is a child! Why are we even entertaining these notions when she outright admits to corruption? Magic is vile, evil, and twisted. It has always been a source of malice to our peop—”
“No.”
Elspeth’s calm voice cut through the furor and all eyes flicked to her. Eist felt something in the air shift, something she couldn’t quite name.
The woman sat there, impassive, before slowly standing. She took a deep breath, as if whatever she was going to say was quite difficult, then finally words fell from her lips.
“Both of her parents were gifted as well.”
“Gifted?” someone questioned so quietly that Eist barely caught it.
“They used magic. They said things they shouldn’t have, knew things they couldn’t have, and cast spells that were outlawed. If it weren’t for their magic, and their visions, we would have fallen to the Blight many, many times.”
Eist could feel the shock run through the room. She wished she could share it too, but that woman she had seen in her vision all those years ago had already told her that her parents had the gift, and that they had sent it to her when they died.
“How…how is that possible?”
“I do not pretend to know how they came by their gifts. They never divulged. In fact, they sought to keep their abilities a secret, no doubt for the same reason that Eist here has hidden hers. They feared repercussions from the same people they were trying to save.
“The only reason I know at all is because something back then is uncannily similar to what has happened this night,” Elspeth continued. “They woke me before dawn, speaking of the betrayal of my partner.”
“The black dragon…” Eist murmured. She thought she had spoken quietly enough not to be heard, but Elspeth nodded gravely.
No one really talked about the dark dragon and his rider, how he had been corrupted by the Blight and turned against them all. It had been her parents who had ousted him then, faced him head-on along with Elspeth and her white dragon.
It had been a terrible battle, the very same one that had destroyed several parts of the castle. Several of their allies had died, and that was when Eist’s mother had earned the two scars across her face.
“I did not believe them at first. There was no way Imreldis would betray me. We’d been together for centuries. We were there for the first Auber as the Lord of the House. We helped solidify the structure of the council after the final war with the Blight left us so few.
“But they took my hand, and it was your mother who looked me in the eyes and told me all sort of secrets that I had never whispered to a single soul. That was when I knew, and I promised to protect them if they protected everyone else.”
“You’re telling us that you not only broke multiple laws, but you protected those who spit in the face of our code?!”
“All of us are only here because they broke the code!” Elspeth snapped. “It was Myridepf and Pravik of W’allenhaus who gave their lives, their souls, to deliver the final strike that banished the Blight!”
Something about her phrasing caught Eist’s attention and she leaned forward. “What do you mean, their souls? I thought they died in battle with everyone else.”
The woman stiffened before guilt flicked across her face. It lingered there a moment before disappearing entirely into her smooth mask. “It was a spell, one I barely understood. From what I did know, it used the energy within them and the resurrected black dragon and rider to create a sort of…prison, I suppose, out of time and realms. Removed from everything.”
“The energy within them? You mean…their lives?” Eist tried to contain the emotion in her. She’d dreamed and thought about her parent’s final moments for ages. She’d imagined it dozens of different ways, with them going down in a blaze of glory, weapons drawn. With their twin dragons summoning storms and shooting lightning in a righteous maelstrom.
But never, never had she contemplated them sacrificing themselves in some sort of ultimate spell to banish their greatest enemy.
“Not…just their lives as I understood it. But everything about them. Their essence, their…energy, I think was how your mother explained it. I do not pretend to comprehend entirely what she meant by that, but she made it clear that it was different than death.”
Anger burned within Eist, hot and bright.
How dare they.
How dare they!
Her parents had died, had given up everything for all of them, and now they were standing around bickering whether to kill her!? Not to mention the idiotic fact that they were still so set on pretending that the Blight wasn’t trying to break free from exactly what her parents had sacrificed everything for! How stupid could they be?!
“This can’t be possible,” someone breathed. Eist didn’t even care who. Did it even matter? Her blood was pounding in her ears, urged on by her rage, and she could feel her heart thumping away like it wanted to punch its way out of her ribs.
“You think I would lie to you?” Elspeth said oh-so-carefully. “If the daughter of the W’allenhaus comes to us speaking of dreams or visions, then we must listen!”
“How…” Eist heard herself murmur before she could think better of it. “How could you keep this from me?”
The leader of the council looked at her like she was surprised at the response. She blinked a moment, then answered as calm as ever. “How would it have benefited you if I told you?”
“Knowing the truth of how my parents died! Not thinking that I was going mad or being scared of the things I’ve seen. I’ve wasted so much time being afraid of magic, thinking that was the road to darkness and the Blight, but suddenly, I’m finding out that my parents actually used magic for good! That would have made a huge difference in the four years that I’ve been here!”
Elspeth took a breath, like she was going to object or reprimand Eist, but a melodic, sighing sound issued from above, and the great white dragon’s head descended gracefully. Shining alabaster, she pressed her long, elegant snout against Elspeth’s side, a few more gentle lilts issuing from her.
“I know you have been our leader for centuries now, but I cannot let our law be corrupted so!” Dryss cried out, stepping forward and drawing her blade. Roars filled the air, and it seemed suddenly as if things were about to erupt.
And Eist was in the middle of it.
“I will strike this heretic down!”
“Do not touch her, Dryss! I command you!”
“If you will not uphold the law, then I—”
She never finished her sentence. There was a booming crack and the massive wooden doors flew off their hinges.
Eist jumped to her feet, pulling up her fists as Fior bounded to her, her friends following suit with all of their dragons. Their eyes were wide, and she could feel their questions, but she just shook her head and caught the shortsword that Dille tossed to her.
That seemed to be the spark to start the fire, and several riders rushed forward, but everything came to a screeching halt as the white dragon looked forward and let out the mightiest roar that Eist had ever heard.
She’d hate to think of what it might sound like if she possessed all of her hearing like everyone else. Even still, she had to clap her hands over her ears and crouch down against the ground.
When she stopped, there was a brief moment of silence as everyone stared in a shocked sort of wonder, and then the other noises picked up.
There were answering roars and growls, followed by the sound of dozens of heavy feet setting down on the roof all at once. Smaller dragons poured in the open windows above—bronze, silver, gold, and green. Even a few blue dragons were trying to wiggle in. They kept coming until they were practically covering the entire roof. There had to be at least thirty of them there, answering the call of their queen.
“Thank you,” Elspeth breathed, pressing a kiss against the dragon’s large, alabaster head. Her face, however, hardened when she looked to the rest of the riders. “As for the rest of you, there is no room for dis
sent. You are either with me, or you can remove yourself from the council. Prepare yourselves. We ride at nightfall for Margaid.”
There was another beat as everyone seemed to wait to see if anyone would object, and then Elspeth addressed Eist and her friends, who were still gathered in a tight circle, weapons drawn. If Fior had fur like a dog, his hackles would have been standing right up.
“You lot stay here. I know we have much to discuss, but it will have to wait.”
“You can’t just leave us here!” Eist objected. “We have to go with you!”
“Eist,” Fjorin said calmly, walking up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. While it might have been condescending from anyone else, from him it seemed like a genuine gesture. One of kinship. “You obviously have talents that none of us do, and see things in a way we can’t understand, and for that, you are invaluable. But while those gifts lend themselves well to a sneak attack on a small camp, you are untested in a grand battle. And if this fight is as great as you dreamed, then it is not something you should experience untested as you are.”
Ale’a nodded behind him. “You’re just not ready, Eist. Please, let us protect you while we check this out.”
Eist let her gaze slide to Elspeth, who didn’t look very pleased about anything. “I would prefer to not have to order you.”
“Fine,” Eist groused. She could certainly use some time to rest and update her friends on everything that had happened. “But be careful, please.”
“Of course,” she said with a wan smile. “Maybe, if we’re lucky, things won’t be as bad as you have foreseen.”
Eist stared up at the ceiling of her room, completely unable to sleep. She tried to tell herself that it was just all the breathing of her friends around her, but she knew that wasn’t what kept her up.
In fact, it gave her considerable comfort to have Dille, Yacrist, Ain, and Athar all crowded into their dorm, blankets and straw mattresses thrown across the ground to make a sort of communal bed. It made her feel warm, and protected, even if nothing else about the situation did.