She pulled Liandari up, dragging her by her upper body through the rubble of the street. Her veil slipped down, and the scent of acrid fear and musky dragon, tinged with cedar, smacked her in the face.
She made it a full pace before a piece of masonry as large as she was smashed down onto the street where Liandari had been only moments before. Marielle’s mouth fell open, her body freezing as she tried to grasp what had just happened. Anglarok was there in a moment, lifting Liandari’s legs and pointing with his head to an alley already filled with people.
“There, bring her there,” he shouted, his words barely audible above the noise of the street.
Marielle struggled against the wind, fighting to keep her footing as they worked their way to the mouth of the alley, pushing their way into the crowd there.
She thought she saw looks of protest on the faces there – this alley was already too full – but it was too loud to hear their words, too bright a red to see any other scents.
They huddled together in terror until, at last, the winds stopped, and sound returned to their District.
“I don’t think we’ll be leaving the city just yet,” Anglarok said grimly when he could be finally heard. Marielle nodded in agreement.
In the street, the rest of the harpooners lay dead, struck by that block of masonry that had narrowly missed Marielle.
And as they stepped out from the alley, plumes of smoke filled the sky in every direction.
The dragon had returned.
Xin was no longer safe.
21: Black Plumes
Tamerlan
By the time he was up the rope again, Tamerlan’s arms were on fire, his fingers tingling like he was losing circulation. He’d never climbed up a rope like that before. Certainly not without having eaten for days before. His head swam and his throat was dry when his hand finally reached up and grasped the top of the railing.
A pair of finer-boned hands grabbed his, heaving him over the railing where he fell in a slump. Oh, Legends, he was exhausted.
Yes! Call on us! Let us take you!
When he was weaker, they were louder.
We come when your strength fails, when your mind needs to be faster, your endurance stronger. Why do you deny us?
He could barely keep their voices apart in his mind as he fought his exhaustion.
“Drink this,” Etienne said, shoving a flask in his hand. “Stand back!”
Etienne’s legs were inches from him, almost as if he were standing over Tamerlan.
Tamerlan gulped down the water from the flask, his head clearing a little as the cold refreshment of water spread through him.
They were surrounded by a crowd of people, people with weapons and intent expressions. They looked like they were waiting for something, all their eyes trained on Tamerlan as if he were the salvation of their souls, the deepest joy of their hearts. He shivered.
“Well?” Etienne asked tightly.
Tamerlan reached into his shirt and pulled out the mask. It laughed at him even now.
“What is this?” Etienne hissed.
“Show us! Is it the amulet?” A voice called from the crowd.
“Come on!”
“You promised to show us!”
Etienne was looking at him with a grim look on his face, shaking his head. He whirled around, raising the mask up in the air as Tamerlan struggled to his feet.
“Behold!” he cried. “The treasure!”
“It’s just a mask!”
“That’s no amulet!”
“What is it?” a girl in a pretty red cloak asked quietly.
“A joke,” Tamerlan said and the crowd stilled, listening.
“It’s not very funny,” the girl said.
“It is if you’re Lila Cherrylocks,” Tamerlan said wryly.
Etienne shot a warning glance back at him. But it wasn’t like Tamerlan was giving anything away. Lila hadn’t been lying about the mask, and that meant she wasn’t lying about who really had the amulet last. She’d said it was Deathless Pirate. That, he would keep to himself.
He heard her name ripple through the crowd.
“Lila Cherrylocks.”
Yes! They call to me! They speak my name! Keep telling them of my wonders, alchemist!
At least he’d made someone happy.
I might know...
“She stole it many years ago,” Tamerlan said. “And now her mask mocks us in our hunt.”
“Lila,” the crowd muttered, but there were sparks in their eyes. By tonight, every place Lila had ever visited in the city would be ripped apart as they looked for the amulet.
My glory increases! My renown is great!
He shouldn’t tell anyone else about her. She liked it way too much.
Haven’t you heard? She said, slyly. Our power increases with the renown of the masses. I should have been smart like Grandfather Timeless and founded my own religion. Then I’d really be powerful.
Tamerlan didn’t even get to think about what she might mean. At that moment, a gasp rippled through the crowd. Etienne spun, his face filling with horror as he looked past Tamerlan.
Tamerlan spun just in time to see a guard tower along the southern wall go up in flame as the dragon sped toward their city.
“Jingen,” he gasped and Etienne echoed him.
Etienne rocked forward, his hands gripping the railing as he leaned forward. Whatever he was trying to do had no effect, but even with the dragon still far away, the wind of his wings made Tamerlan’s cloak flap in the wind behind him.
“We need to get off this bridge,” he said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. “His wings alone might destroy it!”
There were screams from the crowd and Tamerlan heard the sounds of hurrying, but though he tugged at Etienne the other man wouldn’t move.
“Come on! We’ll die here!”
“This isn’t working,” Etienne said, fists clenched and brow furrowed.
“Tell me about it!”
Tamerlan looked back at the approaching dragon and then at Etienne. Whatever magic he was trying to work wasn’t doing anything at all. And the man was going to die if he didn’t move. The wind of the dragon’s approach was already making it hard to hear his words.
Gritting his teeth, Tamerlan grabbed his belt knife, slashed the safety rope around his waist, sheathed the knife and then turned to Etienne. He’d have to act. The other man was too obsessed with whatever he was trying to do.
Grabbing the smaller man in a bearhug, Tamerlan pushed forward, knocking Etienne off his feet and then hurtling to the nearest end of the Bridge.
Screams filled the air around them.
Tamerlan glanced over his shoulder in time to see the dragon’s head plunge down into the city and snatch up a tall building up in his jaws, cracking and crunching it, as masonry fell from his jaws. Houses and streets still clung to his back, bits of their structures raining off of the creature like dust from a shaken mat.
Tamerlan gritted his teeth, his heart pounding in his head as he turned his back on the dragon completely and plunged forward toward the end of the bridge. The structure was shaking under his feet, swaying with the wind of the dragon’s every flap.
He followed the screaming crowd toward the heart of the University District, his feet pounding on the wavering ground, his arms trembling as he bore the other man to safety.
When his feet finally found street cobbles and left the bridge. he stumbled to a halt, releasing Etienne.
Behind him, a cracking sound met his ears and then the sound of rock on rock. He spun to see the center of the Bridge cave in.
There wasn’t time to investigate or wait for the next thing to happen.
“Come on!” he yelled, plunging toward where the buildings were the thickest, where maybe, possibly, they could escape the devastation of the winds.
Tamerlan dove into the first narrow alley he found, turning to help Etienne in behind him. He stayed anchored in that spot, bucking the high winds and reaching out pulling in o
ne person after another to this tiny shelter until suddenly, there was a powerful force of air pushing down on them and then nothing.
Nothing but silence and sobs and ringing ears.
They stumbled out of the alley together.
It was hard to see very far into the city here among the clustered buildings, but one thing was easy to see – plumes of smoke filled the air in angry black swirls.
The dragon Jingen was back.
Their time to stop him was running out.
22: Spiral to Destiny
Tamerlan
It was long hours before they reached Spellspinner’s Cures again. Long hours of helping to douse fires, gather the injured, and clear the streets. The hunt was on hold. Every face that Tamerlan and Etienne passed was full of wariness. Was the dragon going to return? Had this only been the beginning? The same question rang in Tamerlan’s head as he looked up to the sky every few minutes.
But the dragon had not returned, and the city had slumped into quiet waiting as dusk descended.
They opened the doors of Spellspinner’s Cures to a burst of voices and bustling people. Women in white aprons trotted briskly across the shop floor carrying bowls and pestles, jars and bales.
Allegra glanced up from her counter with a harried look in her eyes. “No room for you here today. Go next door. Marielle will sort you out.”
“Can we help?” Tamerlan said, sagging against the doorpost.
She snorted. “You’re in no state for that. You should be in bed. But your bed is full. Every bed is full, and the storeroom besides, and I have orders for poultices and feverfew and healing teas from every District. Two untrained fools would only get in the way.” She wiped her brow wearily before her eyes narrowed again. “Out!”
Etienne pulled Tamerlan away and to a small door in the side wall.
“It adjoins with the inn,” he said tiredly, leading Tamerlan through a long corridor and up a flight of stairs to a door that looked like every other door in the hall. Even in the inn, a quiet hush had fallen.
Etienne knocked while Tamerlan watched the hall warily. He’d seen sorrows today that he wished he could forget. People trampled in terrified crowds. The ruins of people’s livelihoods. A child’s shoe left in the middle of one street had him the most worried. What had happened to the child? Was he safe – or was he one more victim of this madness?
And over it all was a tone of guilt and urgency. Guilt, because he was the one who freed Jingen and started all this. Urgency, because he must be the one to end it.
He’d meet Jhinn tonight. Together, they’d try to call the Legends and find the amulet. He swallowed down the thought that it might be worse to call them than not – after all, they were the ones who had landed him here. But what other option did he have? The dragon was the size of a city. Nothing short of magic would stop it now.
He just needed to get away from Etienne’s watchful eyes. He’d have to wait until the other man was sleeping.
The door swung open and Marielle’s eyes grew wide at the sight of them. Her dark hair was rumpled, little strands of it loose around her face, and smears of dust were on her forehead and around her eyes. The bottom half of her face was clean – protected by the scarf that hung loosely around her neck. Her breeches and white shirt were torn and dirty.
Tamerlan paused, captivated by the sparkles in her purple eyes. No matter how frazzled or ruined she looked on the outside, those eyes were always bright and intelligent. He’d know them anywhere. He wasn’t sorry that he’d saved them. He was sorry for everything else, but not for that.
“The Harbingers?” Etienne asked, pushing past him into the room.
“Liandari is resting in her room,” Marielle said, pointing to one of the closed doors as she shut the main door behind them. “And Anglarok is tending to her. Her head was injured in the attack. Allegra says she will recover, but she hasn’t woken up yet. The nameless ... the others ... died in the dragon attack.”
Etienne nodded briskly, patting her on the shoulder. “Tamerlan and I will take their rooms for tonight. We have work to be about tomorrow.”
He was all business, striding off to the door Marielle had pointed to. Marielle’s eyes trailed after him as if she were hoping for more, but there wouldn’t be more. Tamerlan and Etienne had failed to find the amulet.
“This is yours,” Marielle said, after a long moment, reaching into her boot and pulling out a folded piece of paper.
Tamerlan took it, but he didn’t want to look at it. He didn’t want to take his eyes off her tragic beauty for even a moment. He’d seen too much ugliness today. Why couldn’t he just enjoy something beautiful for a moment?
Even rumpled and disheveled there was just something about Marielle that enchanted him. Maybe it was the curve of that top lip of hers that seemed to be begging for a kiss. Maybe it was the way that she always seemed to be standing on her tiptoes, leaning forward, like a hunting hound sniffing the air for the quarry. Maybe it was the looks she gave him – sharper than a knife. She was edges and curves, alertness and softness, focus and forbiddenness all folded into one.
Even now, as he looked at her, he saw her as someone else, a great queen rising up out of the sea. A Legend walking – a winged helmet on her head, and angel wings on her back, and a bright sword in her hand. The foam of the sea would pour off her head and drip down her long hair and her eyes would sparkle as the sun rose behind her. She would say something strong about justice and truth and raise her sword and all men would gather under her golden banner.
“Tamerlan?” she asked, an edge to her voice.
“Mmm?” And he would stand at her side, her protector and guard, happy to lay down his life in her service.
“What are you staring at?”
He blinked, the vision melting away.
“Nothing. Sorry.” He could already feel his cheeks heating. Now was not the time for daydreams. He looked down at the paper she had handed him. It was the recipe from the ancient book – the one that had started it all. He was a little breathless when he spoke. “Where did you find this?”
“In your rooms in Jingen. When I was investigating you. I thought that perhaps you would like it back.”
He swallowed, looking up to give her a gentle smile. “It was kind of you to keep it for me. Will you hold on to it a bit longer?”
“Why?” she asked, moving to the wide balcony on the other end of the room.
Tamerlan followed her, looking out across the city as the last glimmer of gold slipped down over the horizon. Choking smoke hung over the city, but in the distance, the first fire lantern went up, a tiny firefly spark in the distance. The first sin burned up. The first hope of redemption sent up to the heavens.
After a moment, Marielle slipped back into the rooms, but Tamerlan was riveted to the balcony, his eyes searching hungrily for the next lantern and the next and the next. If only life was so simple. If only everything could really be forgiven just because you wrote it down and burned it up.
Marielle slipped in beside him, her footfalls soft. She carried paper balloons and candles.
“Do you want to celebrate Dawnspell with me?” she asked, a look of wariness in her face.
“Yes,” he said. Perhaps, she would slay him with her gleaming sword one day. Perhaps her justice would be his redemption – her hand the executioner’s. He’d embrace that if it ever came. But for now, he would write on paper and send it to the sky with the last shreds of hope he possessed.
He didn’t know what she wrote on her paper lantern. He didn’t sneak a peek at it as she lit the candle and sent it up. Whatever guilt Marielle carried could not be very heavy. She’d done nothing in her life but live for good. She’d even been willing to give her own life for Jingen. She was innocent.
He put his charcoal to the paper and in big letters, covering the balloon, he wrote one word. One word that summarized his guilt and shame. One word for which he would never be forgiven. No matter how many prayers he sent up, no matter how many tears he s
hed. And with a sigh, he lit his candle and watched the orange glow outline the word he’d written as the fire lantern sailed into the sky to join the thousands of others just like it.
JINGEN.
His shame.
His sin.
“I swore an oath to justice with Queen Mer’s People,” Marielle said as if confessing some great hope. “They gave me a tattoo.”
Tamerlan felt a ghost of a smile playing around his lips. He remembered seeing that tattoo peeking through her collar when she slept – so sweet, so caring – at the foot of his bed.
“I’m going to find King Abelmeyer’s Eye,” he said in return. And it felt like a vow more than a confession. Because anything he said to Marielle in that moment would have felt like a solemn vow. She was the avatar of goodness.
“I think they know what justice is,” she said. “They came here for it. It’s why their ships are waiting. They’re waiting for news of where to strike. Where to bring their retribution. And I want to be on the side of justice.”
He nodded in the orange glow of the tiny lanterns floating above them. More sailed into the sky as the people of Xin pled with the heavens for absolution.
“I just want to stop that dragon. I just want to make the world safe again,” he said, feeling like he was still standing on sacred ground, so close to his shining muse.
“Do you think a person can find redemption in this life?” Marielle asked him.
It was so much like the question he’d asked her yesterday. And as she looked up at him with desperate eyes, he wondered why she was asking him that. She’d already told him that she didn’t think he could be forgiven. Was it possible that she thought she needed to be?
“You have no need of redemption, Marielle. Nothing that happened on Summernight was your fault. That was all mine. All of the guilt rests with me,” he said gently, smiling down at her worried expression. Boldly, he reached forward and brushed the loose hairs from her face. She flinched back. But he didn’t let his smile waver. “And if you did, I am certain you would be given it.”
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