Vessel of the Gods Boxed Set

by Jada Fisher

  The god-woman gave them such an incredulous look that it did quite well at making Ukrah feel a bit guilty. “Trust the two of you not to remember your own nameday. It’s in about two and a half moons. I don’t like to rush things, so I’d like to talk out what you two would like soon so we can get that underway.” She let out a very soft laugh. “Huh, I never really thought I would get to a point in life where a nameday party would be such a concern. I really am becoming my father’s girl.” Her gaze softened at that, housing a bittersweet sort of longing that Ukrah wasn’t used to seeing on the god-woman’s features. But just as quickly as it was there, it vanished, and she was back to her normal self.

  “Alright, to bed the lot of you. I’m going to follow Helena and see if I can learn something before I pass out again. Night.”

  There was a chorus of responses from the three as well as a sleepy chirp from Voirdr, then they all headed to their beds. Ukrah didn’t even have it in her to change into her nightclothes, falling face-first into her bed while Crispin slid into his pressed up against the wall with a curtain around it. Although Mrs. Kaldonner and a few others had let it be known that they were scandalized about Crispin and Ukrah staying in the same room, Ukrah didn’t particularly care, and Eist just shrugged every time it was brought up. At least that was one battle that the desert girl wouldn’t have to fight.

  Voirdr, apparently having his fill of Crispin that day, slid into Ukrah’s bed and draped himself over her. Sometimes it made it hard to breathe because of his considerable girth, but the comforting press of him was nice. And it was with her arm slung around his neck that she drifted off, wondering at the fact that time was moving so quickly and sometimes she still felt as lost as when she’d begun.

  3

  Terrible Twos

  Voirdr was a brat.

  No, he was beyond a brat. He was like a teenager who also happened to have several hundred pounds on her and the ability to breathe fire.

  “Would you stop!” she snapped, jumping up and trying to grab her boot from where it was solidly lodged onto one of his teeth.

  Oh yes, this is definitely it. Exactly how you should be occupying yourself when there are more vessels to be found out there.

  “Would you shut it, Tayir?” Ukrah bit out, not even turning to look at him. Not that she even knew where he was perched. “If the magic whatever doesn’t tell me where they are, I don’t know what you want me to do about it.”

  It just doesn’t make sense that they haven’t awakened yet. Can’t you feel it? There’s something coming, and time is running out.

  “Time is always running out,” Ukrah muttered before jumping again. But Voirdr just reared up onto his hind legs, keeping her shoe just out of her reach.

  It was getting down to just about one month before their nameday celebration, and Ukrah wanted to make sure that her little guy wouldn’t be a terror during the event. So far, however, nothing along those lines seemed to be happening. Voirdr had turned into a veritable nightmare on four legs, albeit of the obnoxious variety rather than lethal.

  It was like a switch had flipped within him. He went from being a spoiled but happy chubster who just wanted to be held, to a rampaging miscreant who got into anything and everything.

  Suddenly, anything containing food in the house had to be padlocked, the larder trapdoor was reinforced and had a sliding bar to hold it into place, and things were bolted down and locked up. And still Voirdr found a way to destroy things.

  It was like he was determined to be a nuisance. He would trumpet around the house well before the crack of dawn, purposefully waking everyone up—including little Yacristjin. He had taken to tearing up pillows and down mattresses if he was left alone too long. Once, Athar had accidentally stepped on his tail, and while everyone was occupied, the dragon had peed on the W’allenhauses’ bed.

  That had been particularly mortifying, and Ukrah felt terrible about it. But Voirdr seemed to find any form of reprimand either funny or endearing, because it almost always ended with him purring and cuddling whoever was yelling at him. And the desert girl wasn’t about to raise her hand against him beyond a soft swat on the nose, and it was clear that soft swats weren’t going to do anything to curb Voirdr’s rampage.

  She had been in the middle of taking him out on some pre-flight training to try to tire him out when he’d tackled her, ripping her boot from her foot, and was now playing keep-away with it. Which was what led her to hopping up and down, trying to yank it from his mouth.

  Some vessel and would-be dragon rider she was. She couldn’t even get her shoe back!

  “Come on, Voirdr. You don’t want to be a pain, do you? What’s causing all this?”

  But he seemed completely oblivious to just how stressful he was, hopping around her and letting out little barks. Was she not spending enough time with him? Was this the fates’—or whatever was still alive in their world—way of telling her she never should have had a dragon in the first place? That she was a mistake?

  Ukrah felt her temper about to crack, and had no idea what would happen when it did, but before that happened, soft footsteps sounded beside her.

  Glancing away from Voirdr, she saw Fior standing there, looking on in disapproval. Voirdr didn’t stop at the other dragon’s presence, instead bouncing and continuing to bound around.

  “What am I doing wrong?” Ukrah asked the brindled dragon, feeling absolutely pathetic.

  Fior tilted his head, his crystalline eyes so sharp and bright. She was still amazed that the beautiful guy ever let her ride him while Eist was pregnant and recovering.

  Maybe you should just get rid of the thing. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.

  Ukrah was just about ready to tell him where to shove his tail feathers when Fior suddenly stood on his hind legs and let out a low howl. Ukrah could practically see how it rolled across the ground, moving the grass until it reached Voirdr.

  The red-and-black dragon paused and tilted his head before quickly shaking it off. Ukrah didn’t think she had ever seen Fior look so stern, and suddenly he was charging the much younger dragon.

  Voirdr wasn’t even paying enough attention to react, and the next thing Ukrah knew, Fior was crashing into his side. The two of them went tumbling, wings over back, until they ended up with Voirdr on the ground and the brindled over him, sharp rows of fangs bared.

  Oh, now isn’t this interesting?

  Fior let out another rumble, one that Ukrah could feel all the way up her spine, and finally the younger dragon seemed cowed. His eyes went half-lidded and his limbs went slack, her boot finally falling out of his mouth.

  They stayed there for several moments, seemingly caught up in some sort of silent dragon conversation that she didn’t understand, until finally, Fior slid off and trotted to the side.

  Ukrah went over to grab her boot, but it was so thoroughly full of dragon spit that she wasn’t about to put that on.

  “You, stay here,” she ordered, pointing at Voirdr, who was glancing uncertainly between her and Fior. “I’m going to see if Cassinda has any shoes that might fit. Behave yourself.”

  Stalking back toward the house with only one shoe on, Ukrah couldn’t help but think that the life of someone meant to ‘help balance the world’ would be a bit more glamourous.

  Fior’s lesson only did so much. There was no more peeing on things or tearing things up, but Voirdr still only listened when it suited him, preferring to play and play and play, and getting indignant when anyone wanted him to do anything else.

  He was still a cuddly little beast at night, going between Ukrah’s and Crispin’s bed, which made it pretty complicated for both Ukrah and Crispin, who felt like they were on their last legs with him. Even Helena didn’t really have a calming effect on him, her warm, honeyed presence just making him more likely to tackle and wrestle with someone instead of trying to play tug-of-war.

  “Oh, we have a visitor?”

  Ukrah looked up from where she was standing, Crispin taking his turn with
Voirdr so she could hold the baby while Eist scrubbed Fior. Of course, anyone in the manor would do that for her, but the god-woman insisted on doing it herself. Ukrah got the feeling that she missed her dragon half, considering all the time she had to spend with the baby. Plus, Fior seemed plenty interested in the baby as well, wanting to smell and cuddle it as much as Helena seemed to.

  Sure enough, there was a shadow blotting out the sun, one that quickly grew as the dragon descended. It didn’t even have to get close for Ukrah to recognize the unmistakable shape of the white dragon.

  It had been ages since they had seen each other, Elspeth only stopping by for a single visit soon after Yacristjin’s birth. She seemed to have taken exception to the name Eist had chosen, and after a heated, but quiet, conversation in Eist’s war-room, she had left quickly. Ukrah didn’t really know why the name gave several people pause, but she assumed that it wasn’t for her to know if the god-woman hadn’t told her.

  “Greetings, Eist, Ukrah, it’s been a while.”

  “It has,” Eist said, cautious but not unfriendly. That made Ukrah feel a little bit better, because she wouldn’t know what to do if her sponsor and mentor was at odds with the other half of her dragon’s matching. Assuming that Voirdr and the white dragon matched someday. She supposed it didn’t have to happen, but in some ways, it felt like an inevitability. “Sometimes, I wake up and a whole week has gone by.”

  “I understand that sentiment. Do you have time for a visitor’s call, or should I try another time?”

  “No, we have plenty of time. I was just scrubbing Fior’s scales. We haven’t been able to just be with each other for a while.”

  “Oh, I’m sure. Never had a babe myself, but they certainly do seem to require a lot of work.”

  “Probably why most women dragon riders choose not to have them.”

  “Yes, you and your mother are similar in that way, I suppose.” Elspeth finally slid to the ground, giving the side of her dragon a quick kiss. “Do you want any help? If I recall right, he certainly likes scratches right where his skull meets his neck.”

  “Sure, if you’re so inclined.”

  Ukrah almost heaved a breath of relief before cutting herself off. Despite the terse conversation the last time, the two women seemed to be on good footing. That was one less things she had to—

  Several things happened at once. First, a black-and-red streak came hurtling toward Elspeth, Crispin yelling and dashing after it at a much slower pace. Then the white dragon moved, her head snapping to the side. Ukrah barely had time to blink when suddenly Voirdr was pinned to the ground by the much bigger dragon’s open mouth, her teeth shining brilliantly against his darkening flanks.

  She wasn’t biting into him, wasn’t hurting him, but the threat was clear. Suddenly, all the relief Ukrah felt was gone, and she was dashing up to the dragons.

  “Spirits! I’m sorry! He doesn’t— I mean, he—”

  But Elspeth was already walking up with her hands on her hips. “And what do you think you’re doing, young man?” she snapped, her lavender eyes right on Voirdr. Seeming to sense that her physical force wasn’t needed anymore, the white dragon straightened, but the young hatchling stayed where he was on the ground, staring up in pure terror. “What, you think just because you’ve gotten so big so fast that you don’t have to respect us? That because we’re small and fleshy that we’re your playthings?”

  Her tone was one that Ukrah had never heard before, not even when she was disappointed in the council. It was all barbs and bites and warnings. How a particularly strict parent might sound after their child disappointed them.

  “That’s not how this works. We are all allies together, and Ukrah there is your partner. You are equals, two halves of a whole. But right now, you are just a baby and we are not, so you need to listen to us and behave. Do you understand? I know you do.”

  Voirdr let out the most strangled little warble, and Elspeth just nodded before looking to Ukrah. “He’s really gotten big,” she said more pleasantly. “This happens sometimes when their body grows faster than their brain and they haven’t developed enough yet to understand the consequences of their actions.”

  “Oh, you saw this in the previous black dragon?”

  “No, he was older than me and already seven years old when I met him. But my—his rider told me plenty of stories. And through the years, I’ve seen this happen with a couple reds. He just needs a firmer hand.”

  “I’m sorry!” Crispin shouted breathlessly, finally reaching them and breathing hard. “Is everyone okay?”

  “And speaking of growing,” Elspeth continued with a playful smirk. “This can’t be Crispin in front of me, can it?”

  Of course it was Crispin! What kind of strange question was that? But then Ukrah looked at the lad—really looked at him—and realized that a lot had changed in the months since Yacristjin’s birth.

  He had grown about a full head, now standing even taller than Ukrah. He had filled out as well, a few muscles evident on him and his frame looking less like a walking skeleton. His blond hair had grown out too, touching his tunic collar instead of the jagged cut she had first seen him in. Was he going to grow it out like Athar’s long, long braid? Or keep it shorter as Eist did?

  “Yes, it’s me, ma’am. Is Lady Ale’a with you?”

  The leader of the Dragon Council chuckled, and Ukrah felt that same lick of jealousy within her. “No, she’s busy helping the students prepare for their physical training. But I’ll be sure to tell her that you miss her.”

  “I didn’t say—”

  “Anyway, not to be presumptuous, but once we’re done giving Fior a good once-over, are any of you hungry? I was too busy to break the fast this morning, and I find myself a bit peckish.”

  “Please, you don’t know what the word peckish means,” Eist laughed. “Crispin, go tell Mrs. Kaldonner that Elspeth is here so she has time to prepare something.”

  “You make me sound like a dragon.”

  “Who knows, you might be. I’m pretty sure I saw you swallow a chicken whole once.”

  “Only during my monthlies.”

  “Alright, I’ll go tell Mrs. Kaldonner!” Crispin said quickly, rushing right back the way he came.

  And that was how Ukrah ended up watching the god-woman and the leader of the Dragon Council wash a very happy brindled dragon while the baby in her arms dozed.

  Despite the two women taking their time, Fior’s scrubbing seemed to end too soon. But, because he apparently was the epitome of maturity, he only pouted for a couple of minutes before shaking himself off and returning to the other brindles in the barn. No doubt going for an afternoon nap since he was so relaxed.

  And it turned out Eist was only mildly exaggerating about Elspeth’s appetite. Granted, the woman hadn’t eaten a morning meal, but she certainly was able to wipe out almost everything that Mrs. Kaldonner had made, out-eating both Eist and Crispin.

  Although Ukrah’s own appetite wasn’t exactly meager either. She’d always been a good eater, but lately, it was like she was never satiated, always on the edge of being hungry.

  In fact, on top of her stress about Voirdr and finding the other vessels, her body hadn’t exactly been kind to her. She felt like she was always in pain, with her joints hurting and her skin feeling too tight. In several parts of her body, she’d developed these tiny little fissures across her tanned flesh, almost like pale lightning. Several times, she’d been tempted to ask what they were, but usually she was too distracted by a magic lesson or something else.

  And that was nothing compared to the strange squeezing feeling she had every now and then in her abdomen. It reminded her of when she had once been struck by an illness that had run through her whole tribe, except a bit…throbbier, if that made any sense.

  Out of nowhere, she was beginning to understand why grown folks were always complaining. So far, everything was in a steady decline, and she wasn’t even sixteen summers yet.

  “So, now that we’re all fe
d, maybe Voirdr can spend the day here with some brindles and we could go for a ride.”

  “Well, I need a couple moments to pack up her satchel—”

  “Actually, Crispin,” Elspeth interrupted gently. “I thought that Ukrah and I might fly the countryside by ourselves. Just to touch base, dragon rider to dragon rider.”

  Crispin’s eyes went wide at that, his lips pressing together. “You want to go…alone?”

  “Yes, I hope you don’t mind. It’s just we have a bit to catch up on, and I’d like for Sleipffynor and her to get a chance to bond. I know you two are close, but perhaps the three of us can ride together another time.”

  Crispin looked pleadingly to Ukrah, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. The last time they had been separated off-manor, the boy had gotten kidnapped and nearly beaten to death while she had been run through with a sword while rescuing him. Sometimes, her abdomen still ached from the wound, and her skin would occasionally tug painfully during training.

  “Just this once,” she murmured, reaching out and placing her hands over his. Only then did she notice his long, elegant fingers had grown too, branching hers even more than they had before. “I’m sure I’ll be safe with the queen of the dragons and her rider with me.”

  “Yeah, of course.” She could tell that he was trying to sound nonchalant with his tone, but he didn’t quite make it. “I have some things I need to catch up on here anyway.”

  “Then it’s settled. You won’t need a pack. I can’t imagine we’ll be much more than an hour or so. A waterskin might be advised, though. It’s been quite dry lately.”

  “The change in seasons,” Eist said while she worked on burping Yacristjin. “It makes Athar’s knuckles crack like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Ukrah nodded, getting up to go fetch the skin and fill it from the water barrel. Granted, that also took a lot longer than usual because they’d had to put a locking mechanism on the top of the barrel to stop Voirdr from sticking his whole head into it.