by Rachel Aaron
“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Amelia said when he told her as much. “But we’re a species on the decline. A surprising number of us escaped through the portal to this plane, but the attrition since has been brutal. Between the clan wars and the infighting, dragons have been dropping like flies for the last ten centuries, and with the notable exception of Bethesda, we just don’t breed fast enough to keep up.”
“So this is it?” Julius said, looking at the crowd in the cavern, which now seemed pathetically small.
Amelia nodded. “It was a shock for me, too. I’d always suspected most clans were smaller than they pretended, but it wasn’t until I plugged myself into everyone’s fires that I realized just how bad the problem had gotten. Counting Svena’s whelps, there are only five hundred and thirty-two dragons in the world right now, and most of them are already here.”
Julius sucked in a worried breath. When he’d promised Marci they’d keep the Leviathan back, he’d assumed he’d be working with a much bigger force. What they had here didn’t even look like enough to cover the DFZ and Lake St. Clair, let alone the five actual Great Lakes. But just as he was getting worked up, Julius realized he was being an idiot. He wasn’t looking at all the dragons. There was still one major clan missing. One he’d never thought he’d miss.
“Where’s Heartstriker?”
Chapter 8
“Remember,” Fredrick said, clutching his Fang in his hands as he looked around at his gathered brothers and sisters. “We only have one chance at this. Julius is depending on us to bring the clan. Whatever happens, we must uphold that, but we will not return as servants. Agreed?”
The others nodded, their newly revealed golden eyes resolute. It was a sight to behold. Before he’d left, Brohomir had pulled Fredrick aside and handed him an envelope containing step-by-step instructions in Amelia’s hand for how to break Bethesda’s green-eyed curse. It was the same spell the Planeswalker had cast on him, but while Fredrick was no mage, his brother Ferdinand was. He’d cut straight to him, and then they’d cut to each of their siblings in turn, breaking the curse as they went.
Being free of the last vestige of Bethesda’s control over them felt as good as Fredrick had hoped, but he hadn’t expected all his brothers and sisters to share the Qilin’s eyes. In hindsight, though, Fredrick didn’t know how it could have been otherwise. They were the children of the Golden Emperor, the most magical dragon to ever live, with a fire that had been carefully tended for hundreds of thousands of years. Of course his mark would be on all of them, even if his luck was not.
But Fredrick had no need for luck. With his siblings beside him and their real mother’s Fang in his hands, he could make their future himself. This was just the first step, and Fredrick meant to step big, motioning for the others to take position behind him in the sterile, cement-brick underground hallway. When all his family was in place, Fredrick nodded at his sister Frieda, who was standing in front of the heavy steel doors at the hallway’s end.
The moment his head moved, Frieda hauled back and kicked the doors open, knocking both off their hinges and clearing F-clutch’s way into the bunker deep below the Heartstriker compound in the District of Columbia, where all the rest of the clan was waiting.
They were all there, too. Fredrick had known they would be. His new sword knew where every Heartstriker was, but it was still intimidating to see so many green eyes turn to look at him. Every Heartstriker in the family except for Bethesda and Ian—who were still at the mountain—and Julius, Amelia, Chelsie, and Bob—who were already in the DFZ—was packed into the warded bunker hidden below David’s Washington, DC, mansion. Conrad himself was standing on the riser at the front, addressing the army of dragons he’d gathered to fight the Qilin’s invasion.
The moment he had the clan champion in his sights, Fredrick started looking for the second most dangerous target, but the other knight of the Heartstrikers found them first, stepping out from behind the door Frieda had just kicked down with his Fang drawn and his teeth bared.
As always, Justin came out ready to fight. He stopped in surprise when he saw who it was, and then his mouth curled into a dismissive smile. “It’s okay,” he announced, lowering his sword. “It’s just the Fs.” He tilted his head at Fredrick and the others. “Where have you guys been? And what’s wrong with your eyes?”
“Nothing,” Fredrick said calmly as his siblings fanned out to form a wall behind him. “They’ve simply returned to their natural color.”
That should have been the bomb drop of the night, but Justin didn’t even seem to be listening. He was too busy gawking at the Fang of the Heartstriker in Fredrick’s hand. “Where did you get that?” he demanded. “Where’s Julius?”
“He’s fine,” Fredrick said, lifting the blade. “This isn’t his sword. It’s Chelsie’s.”
“I know that,” Justin snapped. “You think I wouldn’t recognize the sword that stabbed me in the back? I want to know why you have it, and why aren’t you at Julius’s side? You’re supposed to be looking out for him! What are you doing here?”
“I would like to know that as well,” Conrad rumbled. He jumped down off the riser, and the rest of the clan parted like water as the giant dragon made his way to the back of the room. “I ordered everyone to gather here two days ago so we could prepare to take our mountain back from the Golden Emperor. You were exempt since you were watching Julius, but the rest of your clutch is still part of the family. Like every Heartstriker, you were all expected to appear when summoned, but only Frieda showed up.” The champion’s hard green eyes narrowed. “If this is rebellion, Fredrick, you picked a bad time. I can’t afford to be lenient when so much is at stake.”
“It is not a rebellion,” Fredrick replied, jaw clenching. “It’s true we have little reason to love Heartstriker, but Julius risked his life to prove that we are all family, and him we will never betray. He is the reason we are here now. Julius asked me to bring you all to the DFZ so that you may fight for the clan against Algonquin’s End.”
“Is that it?” Justin said, chuckling. “If that was all you wanted, why’d you kick the door down?” He waved at the dragons behind him, whom Fredrick now realized were all fully equipped for battle. “We’re already ready to roll. You didn’t have to get all gangster about it.”
“I didn’t think you’d be so prepared,” Fredrick admitted. “I’d heard nothing, so—”
“You didn’t think we would cower from a fight, did you?” Justin said, insulted. “What do you think we’ve been doing here? Having a party? We’ve been prepping to take back Heartstriker Mountain for the last thirty-six hours! We were just about to head home and kick some golden butt when we heard Amelia’s voice in our fires.” His eyes dropped again to Fredrick’s sword, and a grin spread over his face. “Now I get it. You’re here to bring in the cavalry! Julius sent you here with Chelsie’s dimensional can opener so you could ferry us to the DFZ, didn’t he?”
“He did ask me to bring you, yes,” Fredrick said, his voice growing hard. “But before I take you to join the others, my siblings and I have a requirement that must be met.”
Angry whispers rose from the crowd of watching dragons, many of whom were looking at Fredrick in the way he knew all too well: the disdainful glare that said he was wasting their time. That he was lesser, not even a piece on their chessboards. Seeing it now made his jaw clench. That look was why he’d had Frieda kick down the door, and he would not leave again until he’d wiped it off every one of their faces.
“Heartstriker has treated my clutch as slaves from the moment we were born,” he announced, his voice shaking with six centuries of suppressed fury. “Julius Heartstriker won us our freedom, but your thinking has not adapted. Now that I am one of the Fangs of the Heartstriker, I will not allow that to continue.” He raised his sword for everyone to see. “Before I take you to the DFZ to join the fight, each of you must swear on your fire to treat my clutch the same as any other in the family from this point forward.”
; He’d waited all his life to say those words, but they were met with laughter. Some dragons looked merely amused, while others mocked him openly. Justin was rolling his eyes, but Conrad looked dangerously insulted, reaching for the large Fang lashed to his back with a look of cold malice.
“You dare waste our time with this?” the champion growled. “Amelia was very clear. Every dragon is needed to defeat this enemy. As the greatest clan in the world, we should be leading that charge.”
“And our fires will be snuffed if we don’t show up,” added a dry voice as David pushed his way out of the crowd. “Amelia will do it, too. She’s never cared about anyone except Bob, and she doesn’t make empty threats.”
Conrad nodded. “Time is already short. If we fail to answer the summons, not only do we risk our fires, we cede our place at the top. They will call us cowards!” He bared his sharp teeth. “You are gambling with our honor, and you dare to ask for our respect?”
“We are not asking for respect,” Fredrick snarled, stepping forward to meet the tall knight eye to eye. “All we want is to be Heartstrikers, same as any other! I was just in the DFZ. I know exactly what is at stake, but I also know that the end of the world is the only thing big enough to make you stubborn snakes listen. If we Fs did our part and quietly obeyed, things would just go back to how they always were the moment the crisis passed. Now, though, you must listen to us, and that is why, before we go anywhere, I want a binding promise from each of you that F-clutch will no longer be treated as servants, but given the same rights and deference granted to any other dragon in this family.”
“Why should we give you anything?” Conrad demanded, crossing his massive arms over his massive chest. “You say you want to be equals, yet you come to us like enemies with threats and demands. But your blade is empty, eldest F.”
“Quite,” David agreed, holding up his sleek black phone. “We’ve been hearing about Svena’s portal from other dragon clans for the last half hour, so if you were counting on playing the ‘I’m your only way’ card, that ship has sailed. We don’t need you to get to the DFZ.”
“You don’t,” Fredrick acknowledged. “But we don’t need you, either.”
He opened his hand, letting his Fang fall to the bunker’s cement floor. The sword landed with a crash that made everyone flinch, even Conrad. But though it was still rocking loudly against the hard floor, Fredrick made no move to retrieve it.
“I picked up that sword for Chelsie’s sake,” he growled. “But that time is passed. We are happy to fight for a clan that accepts us, but if you can’t promise that, then my siblings and I will leave Heartstriker.”
“You can’t do that,” Justin snapped. “No one leaves the family unless they get kicked out.”
“Try and stop us,” Fredrick snarled back, drawing himself to his full height. “Can you not see what’s standing in front of you? We are no longer sealed dragons. We’re Fs, the largest of Heartstriker’s remaining upper alphabet clutches! In the whole clan, there are only ten dragons older or bigger than we are. Nine if you don’t count Amelia, whom I’m sure no longer considers herself a Heartstriker. But there are twenty of us, full-grown dragons ready to fight.”
He blew out a line of smoke, letting Conrad see just how big he was beneath his human mask. And he was big. As the eldest son of the Qilin, Fredrick was well aware that he was much larger than he should have been given age alone. The rest of his clutch was the same, but none of them had had any idea of their true size because of the seal. Yet another thing Bethesda had stolen from them. That time was over, though. This was a new age, one where they had the power, and while the timing was unfortunate, Fredrick refused to let another minute pass without forcing the rest of the clan to acknowledge that.
“You are the Champion of the Heartstrikers,” he said, tilting his head up slightly so he could glare at Conrad. “You value the power and prestige of the clan above all else. I’m sure you can find your way to the DFZ without my help, but do you want to? Because we have no end of places we can go as free dragons. If you want Heartstriker to remain the top clan in the world, though, you need us.”
By the time he finished, Conrad was growling so loudly he was shaking the cement. It was a terrifying sound, because as big as Fredrick was, Conrad was bigger. Putting him on the spot like this was a dangerous gambit, but Fredrick and his siblings had all agreed they’d seize this chance with both hands or not at all, so despite the sweat trickling through his black hair, Fredrick held his ground. But then, just when the knight looked ready to call his bluff, David stepped in front of him.
“We’ll take it.”
Conrad jerked back, glaring down at his younger brother, but the draconic senator from New Mexico waved the look away. “Now’s not the time to be inflexible, Conrad,” he said, flashing Fredrick a smooth smile. “If you think about it, we’re getting this for a song. Our clan has treated the Fs worse than humans for six centuries. Once they got unsealed, I was sure they’d be out for our blood, but apparently they’ve fallen into Julius’s gravity just like all the rest of the upper alphabet, because they’re not demanding retribution. They’re not even asking for an apology. All they want is a binding promise that we’ll treat them ‘equally.’ A promise I have no idea how they’ll enforce since it’s a proven fact that most Heartstrikers treat their siblings like dirt.”
That comment drew a laugh from the crowd, and David’s smile widened. “You want to be treated like normal Heartstrikers? Fine.” He extended his hand to Fredrick. “I swear on my fire to treat you with the exact same callous disregard I give to every other sibling who hasn’t proven themselves useful. And since I’m the highest-ranking Heartstriker present with the exception of Conrad and Justin, I also swear on my fire to make all of our lesser siblings do the same on pain of my displeasure. That way we won’t have to sit here and wait for you to squeeze a separate oath out of every single dragon while the world crumbles around us.” The crowd laughed again, and David’s green eyes twinkled. “That good enough for you, prince of the Fs?”
Fredrick didn’t answer at once. He was too busy replaying David’s words in his head, frantically looking for the hook or double cross he knew had to be there. For once, though, the most political Heartstriker seemed to be playing him straight. From the way he was bouncing on his feet, David actually looked even more eager to get to the fight than Justin, which was out of character enough to make Fredrick extra leery.
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Because I have a lot of plans in the air, and I’d rather the world didn’t end before they came to fruition,” David said. “I’m also chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, and I’ve already pulled every string I have convincing the president to scramble all of our forces to the DFZ’s defense. That’s a lot of political capital wasted if I’m not there for the victory photo op.”
Fredrick sighed. There was the David he knew. In a way, though, his blatant maneuvering for power was reassuring, because it meant he was serious. If David saw Fredrick and the others as the means to his ends, he’d keep his promise to the letter, and he’d force every Heartstriker below him to do the same. That was as much as Fredrick could hope for, and he found himself reaching out for the older dragon’s hand.
“We’ll take it,” he said as they shook.
“As you should,” David said, squeezing Fredrick’s fingers painfully before looking over his shoulder at Conrad. “Your turn. Quickly now.”
“I will swear nothing,” Conrad snarled, looking down his nose at Fredrick. “Knights do not give in to threats. But I will give you my word that if you fly with us against the enemy, I will treat you all as Heartstrikers. Nothing less, nothing more.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Justin piped up, standing as tall as he could at his older brother’s side. “Now can we get going? At this rate, Julius will probably trip over something and kill the Leviathan by accident before we even get there, the lucky bastard.”
Fredrick glanced at his siblin
gs. When they nodded their agreement, he turned back to the knights. “We accept.”
“About time,” Justin growled, drawing his sword. “Take us to Detroit!”
Fredrick nodded and bent down to pick up his sword. When his hand wrapped around the hilt, though, David placed his elegant Italian leather shoe on the blade. “Not with that,” he said when Fredrick glared at him. “I know how Chelsie’s blade works, and if we have to wait for you to ferry the whole clan over by twos, this will take forever. I have a much better idea.”
Fredrick snatched his sword out from under the older dragon’s foot with a growl. “What?”
David lifted his phone again with a smirk, dragging his fingers through the invisible AR interface before raising the speaker to his ear. “Mother?” he said when the call picked up, his smirk transforming into a full-on grin as he met Fredrick’s eyes. “It’s me. I’ve got them.”
Fredrick didn’t need to hear Bethesda’s cackle on the other end. He was already wincing, sliding his sword back into its loop on his belt as he hoped against hope that he hadn’t just made a terrible mistake.
***
Julius paced nervously back and forth beside his ruined front porch. A few feet away, Amelia, the Qilin, Svena, Arkniss, the infamous Marlin Drake, and all the other heads of the newly arrived clans stood in a loose circle. In a concession to the now-cramped space, all of the dragons had donned their human forms, which just made it easier to see the angry impatience on their faces as they waited for the one clan that had not yet arrived.