“Naveen? You’re awake.”
She turned to see the man sitting in the corner of the room. Cederic. Bags were under his eyes, his corneas were cracked with red. He hadn’t slept much. Naveen, on the other hand, felt rested.
“Did we survive?” she whispered.
“The wyvernriders came.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Did we win?”
“We fought them out of the city, but no, we didn’t win. This doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a short fight.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I was afraid it wouldn’t be.”
A man stepped into the room. He glanced at the two of them, then smiled. His brown skin glimmered in the torchlight. Muscles bulged through his leather armor. A fire burned inside of the pit of Naveen’s stomach. The man was handsome. He had large lips, a defined chin, green eyes, and close-cropped hair.
“I see you are recovering,” he said.
“Yes. Thank you.” She paused. “And you are?”
He smiled, sending chills down her spine. “Devarius.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Devarius.”
“Likewise.” He grinned.
Devarius strode across the room, passing Cederic, who glared at him with a twisted face, to sit on the edge of the bed next to her.
Chill bumps formed on Naveen’s arms.
Devarius frowned at her. “Are you cold?”
“A little,” she lied.
It wasn’t the cold that gave her shivers. She was quite warm.
“Here,” he said. Devarius reached to the bed, grabbing her blanket, and wrapped it around her.
“Thanks.” She blushed.
“I saw you.”
Naveen tilted her head. “Excuse me?”
“When I arrived with the other wyvernriders, I saw you. No one else was outside. Everyone hid. Except for you. I saw you behind one of the ballistae aiming for a dragon.”
Her cheeks reddened even further.
“Why were you out there all alone?”
Cederic’s fist clenched in her peripheral vision. His face reddened with anger. Was that directed at her?
“I didn’t think you would make it in time to help. I knew if the dragons kept attacking and saw we couldn’t fight back—they would bring the rest. They would just land and slaughter us all. I had to do something. I had to show them we could defend ourselves.”
Devarius nodded. “You were trying to buy time for us to arrive.”
“Yes.” Naveen hung her head low. She knew what she did was foolish.
“It could have cost you your life.”
“I know,” she whispered.
He reached over, cupped her chin, and brought her face up to meet his gaze. “What you did was brave.”
Cederic cleared his throat.
Devarius’ hand dropped from her face and he smiled. “Do you know, this man here hasn’t left your side?”
She glanced to Cederic for only a second before looking back to Devarius. “Are you truly a dragonrider?”
“Wyvernrider.”
“What’s the difference?” she asked.
He smiled. “Wyverns are a lot smaller than dragons. And they only have two legs.”
“Oh,” she said, a touch of disappointment in her tone.
“But,” Devarius reassured her, “they’re a lot swifter, and the ones with us breathe a lot more than fire.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes. There—”
“Do you have a purple wyvern with you?”
Devarius blinked several times before answering. “Yes, several. Most people don’t know dragons or wyverns have more than one color. Tell me … what makes you ask about a purple wyvern?”
She reached under her garments and revealed her necklace. A shimmering dragonscale glimmered against the torchlight.
“Is that a—”
“A dragonscale. Or, I guess it could be a wyvernscale.”
Devarius gently grabbed the scale and inspected it closer. After turning it around several times, he let it drop then looked into her eyes. “I saw you push that ballista bolt through the air.”
“Tell me …” Naveen whispered, “what abilities do the purple wyvern have?”
“Hmm?” he asked.
“You said the wyverns with you do more than breathe fire. Do the purple wyverns breathe fire?”
He shook his head. “No, they have strong breath.”
“They control the wind.”
“Yes, in a manner of speaking.”
She clutched the necklace tight.
“What is it?” he asked.
She took a deep breath before answering. “With this scale, I can control the wind around me. I can feel it, each molecule. I can call to it, bring it to me, then release it.”
“You believe it’s the scale, and not an inner ability?”
“There’s another.”
“Someone else can channel the wind?” he asked.
“No. He has a red scale.”
Devarius’ eyes bulged. “He can channel fire?”
She nodded.
“If it is truly the scales …” Devarius muttered.
“What?” she asked.
“We have a dragon’s carcass rotting in the courtyard right now. We can arm everyone with a scale.”
Naveen grinned.
“Are you feeling well?” he asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“I would like you to accompany a few of the wyvernriders to make sure the path is safe for my sister and the rest of our companions.”
“Your sister?”
“Zaviana.”
Naveen’s eyes widened. “Zaviana is your sister?”
“You know her?” he asked.
“She’s the one who helped us and brought us here.”
He smiled. “Will you help then?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Why me?”
He looked away, his cheeks darkening. “I believe your abilities may be useful to aid the others.”
She nodded, understanding. “If I can help, I will.”
“Meet me in the courtyard after you get ready.”
She nodded. “I will.”
Devarius stood, nodded to her and Cederic, then departed the room.
Cederic stood. “Are you sure about this?”
Naveen frowned. “What’s to be unsure of?”
“It’s dangerous out there.”
“It’s also dangerous in here. No matter where we go right now, the Dragonia Empire will follow. People need my help. I will not turn my back on them.”
He huffed. “Just … be safe, all right?”
“I will.”
He leaned in, grabbed her in a hug, then released her and walked out the door.
Naveen smiled after him.
After getting dressed in her leather armor and making sure she secured her sword to her belt, she stepped outside. She didn’t know what she expected, but what she saw took her breath away.
The fires were all gone, replaced with snow-covered grounds. People practiced archery and sword fighting in the courtyard. Others roamed the streets, laughing and talking to each other. It looked completely different. Saefron was no longer a dead city. It was bursting with activity, with hope. She saw wyverns everywhere. Several walked along the ground, but others were flying in the sky. She glanced up and saw hundreds of them flying over the city. At first, she was scared, thinking they were dragons, but she remembered what Devarius had told her. All the creatures above the city had only two legs. She continued walking forward to the courtyard.
When she neared her first wyvern, she inspected the creature. It was a third the size of a dragon, if not a little smaller. She held out a hand. The wyvern tilted its head, bent down, sniffed her hand, then licked it.
She laughed.
“There you are,” Devarius called.
Naveen smiled at his approach.
“I want you to meet my good friend, Paedyn. He will be leading the retrieval party.”
/> Paedyn, a handsome pale man, stepped forward. He had short dark blond hair, long eyelashes, and thick lips. A smile came across his face as he bowed to her.
“Nice to meet you,” she said.
He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “The pleasure is mine.”
“All right, Paedyn, go easy on her. You have a mission to complete.”
Paedyn raised his brows at Devarius. “All right, are you ready?”
He pointed to a large red wyvern.
“Ready for what?”
“Well, we can’t exactly walk there. We’ll have to fly.”
Naveen’s eyes bulged. “Fly?”
Paedyn laughed. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to fly alone. You’ll be riding with me.”
“I will?”
Paedyn grinned. “Yes. I suggest you hold on tight.”
Naveen gulped.
24
Zaviana and Lilianya led all the warriors into the mountains. They were careful to scout ahead to make sure they wouldn’t run into the empire. Zaviana had a good memory, but they were going a different way into Saefron, and she relied on Lilianya’s guidance for directions.
The crates slowed them down significantly. Devarius had been smart enough to not make the crates too long, making a single man able to carry one, but with over thirty crates of wyvern oil, it was a slow process. Especially since the oil was so fragile that if a single vial was dropped and its contents spilled, it could be catastrophic for everyone.
After hours of relentless traveling, they arrived on the eastern side of Saefron. They were still a ways out, since they had to travel far through the mountains to the east to avoid the empire gathered on the southern border of the city. They still had to reach the northern side of Saefron.
Lilianya had them stop to take a break. Zaviana checked on all the men, including the valuable crates. Before she could finish her inspection, clanging metal echoed in the distance. A raiding party of over a hundred empire warriors charged them. Zaviana unsheathed her sword. The warriors with them drew their weapons, though they weren’t as prepared to battle, and many were fatigued. Women who weren’t warriors ran to the center to the protection of the warriors. Zaviana’s blade met a warrior’s. He slammed his sword to her left, then right before pulling back and slamming an overhead strike. Zaviana spun out of the way, grabbed a dagger from her belt, and threw it into the attacker’s neck. The man collapsed to the ground.
Another man approached; he wielded a spiked ball mace instead of a sword. His attacks were harder to fight against. Her sword rolled over the spherical weapon several times. Even though the length of his weapon was shorter, its bluntness made it a much stronger weapon than her sword. When he slammed the mace toward her, and she intercepted it with her sword, vibrations tore through her entire body, causing her to stagger and drop to the ground. The man pounced on top of her, slamming his weapon down. She rolled out of the way, but the tip of one of the spikes tore into her armor and scratched along her right shoulder. Zaviana stood, fell backward slightly, then felt her shoulder. Blood smeared across her hand. She gritted her teeth.
Looking to her left and right, she noticed no more warriors were there to fight her, so she paused and channeled the energy around her. She focused it to the warrior, whose eyes widened in fear as flames spiraled at him. He shrieked. Zaviana stepped forward, stabbing her sword through his chest.
She took a step back and looked at the scene before her. Several of the men and women warriors with her had fallen, but so had many of the empire soldiers. They outnumbered the empire three to one, but several of their company weren’t warriors. They’d needed blacksmiths, leatherworkers, and several other tradesmen to come with them to help make materials to fight back.
Zaviana did a quick count and noticed less than thirty opponents remained. They could do this. She stepped forward, feeling the energy all around her, all the particles floating in the air. Her hand moved forward, a blue glow surrounding it. Warriors stopped what they were doing to watch her. Several of them broke ranks to charge her. She released the energy. A glow arched like a rainbow from her palm, separating like lightning as it touched each of her opponents. When the blue energy touched them, they froze inside a thin layer of ice.
Five men stood frozen in ice in front of Zaviana. She charged them, slicing her sword against each one to shatter them into pieces. After she was done, she inspected the surrounding area, expecting more men to come her way. None did. The remaining men who weren’t engaged in battle turned around and fled.
“Fight!” Zaviana called. “Stop them!”
Her allies charged after some of the men, and others were stopped with arrows. Zaviana blasted a few with a yellow energy, which turned into lightning as it struck them. They stopped most of the men, but one escaped. Zaviana ran after him, but he was too far away, and he disappeared through a mountain pass. She fell to her knees, sheathing her sword and running her fingers through her long black hair.
Lilianya walked over to her. “Zaviana?”
“One of them escaped.”
“It’s fine. We defeated most of them.”
Zaviana shook her head. “No, he will warn the others. They will come. We can fight a small skirmish, but what can we do against a few dragonriders?”
Lilianya’s eyes widened. “We need to go.”
Zaviana nodded. “And we need to hurry.”
25
Paedyn spotted Zaviana and the others on the eastern side of Saefron. They weren’t close to the city, but on the other side of a meadow, approaching the city from a distance. Smart. He motioned to the five other wyvernriders behind him, and they began to descend. Naveen gripped him tighter. He smiled. A bug flew into his mouth. Paedyn gagged.
When they reached land, a decent ways ahead of the party, Paedyn climbed off Pyro and headed toward them, a hand waving in the air. At first, they were cautious approaching, but soon they pressed forward excitedly.
“Thank the Creator you’re here,” Lilianya said when she approached.
Paedyn raised his eyebrows. “I knew you missed me.”
Lilianya rolled her eyes. “You wish.”
“Every shooting star,” he replied.
Naveen turned to him, then looked at Lilianya. “Is he always like this?”
Lilianya’s lips pressed together as she shook her head. “Sadly … yes. You know, if he wasn’t so arrogant, he might be all right.”
“Did you just say I am handsome?” Paedyn asked.
“No,” Lilianya said.
His eyebrows lifted and fell several times. “I think you did. I just can’t help it. Every one wants to be with me.”
Lilianya rolled her eyes.
Paedyn nudged his wyvern with his elbow. “I think she likes me.”
I don’t think so, a voice said in his head.
Paedyn’s eyebrows raised. “You can talk? I mean, I know Devarius said his wyvern could talk, but you never did. Why haven’t you talked, I mean, until now?”
Usually you do enough talking for the two of us.
“Hey, careful now, that was almost offensive.”
Almost?
“Well, you know, it takes a lot to offend me. That’s so weird.”
What is weird?
“I thought you were a girl. But your voice is totally not girlish.”
I am most certainly not a girl.
“I don’t know. You’ve always seemed girlish to me.”
I resent that.
“I guess you’re just a girlish boy. That’s fine, you know.”
I knew speaking to you would be a mistake.
“A mistake? Why would you say that?” Paedyn asked.
Because now, you’ll never shut up.
Paedyn grinned, then shrugged.
Paedyn turned to the others. They were all looking at him with raised brows and twisted faces. It almost looked as if they thought he was insane. Surely that couldn’t be it though. Perhaps everyone’s face was simply disfigured. He bit his lip.
“How is everyone doing?” he asked.
“We were attacked,” Zaviana said as she approached.
Paedyn’s eyes grew wide. “Is everyone all right?”
“We lost fifteen.”
His mouth twisted with distaste.
“One of them escaped.”
Paedyn stared blankly at her.
“He’s most likely warning the others to come find us.”
“Right. Dragonriders. We don’t like dragonriders. Is everyone ready?” he asked.
“Where are we going?” Zaviana asked.
“North,” Paedyn responded.
Zaviana rolled her eyes.
“Follow me,” Paedyn said.
He turned around and led them further north. His wyvern, Pyro, walked along at his side. The other five wyvernriders were dismounted with their wyverns following on foot. They traveled through the forest. The sun began to fall into the western horizon as snow started to fall.
“More snow,” Zaviana muttered.
“Fear not, snow is our ally.”
“Ally?” she asked.
He smiled as she stepped to walk by his side. Paedyn hadn’t realized how attractive Devarius’ sister was. He wondered if they truly were siblings. Devarius didn’t look that good. His face was rough, leathery, with a bit of wrinkles when he smiled and raised his brows with excitement. His sister, however, had smooth dark brown skin, the same color as an oak tree. Her hair fell past her shoulders, straight, and gleamed under the light of the sunset. Zaviana’s lips were, well, large and moist. Shivers traveled up Paedyn’s spine. This was his friend’s sister. He shouldn’t look at her that way. Her hazelnut-color eyes should have no place in their mission. Was that a freckle in the right one? He shook his head. What did she ask?
“Hazelnut?” Paedyn asked.
“Excuse me?”
“I like hazelnuts. They’re delicious. Have you ever tried one?”
Her eyebrows wrinkled. “What does that have to do with snow?”
“Oh. Sorry. For some reason I started thinking about hazelnuts. I can’t recall why.”
Dragonia- Dragonia Empire series Box Set Page 29