“Can you siphon off magic from this dragon? Maybe you can weaken it” Tamerlan asked and the other young man’s eyebrows rose.
“There needs to be an open wound.”
“Isn’t there one? Why would Jingen have one but not H’yi?”
He shook his head, “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought of it. I was trained early on not to touch the magic of the dragons in other cities. Only Jingen.”
“But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it, does it?”
He frowned. “I suppose not. But not from here. I’ll have to find the rend in the dragon’s scales and touch the wound to make a connection.”
“Or perhaps you only think that because you’ve never tried anything else.”
“Perhaps.”
“And then you can draw as you need.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“This worries you?” Tamerlan was incredulous. “It didn’t seem to worry you to draw on the dragon Jingen or to slaughter girls to keep that system working for you.”
“That was different. That was managing something known and well documented. This ... well, it could have unintended consequences.”
Tamerlan snorted and was surprised as Etienne grabbed his shirt and shoved him against a building wall. He glanced at Marielle, but she was distracted, sniffing the air at a crossroads up ahead.
“We need to come to an agreement, boy,” Etienne growled. “We’ve already agreed to work together. We’ve already agreed that we want the same things, so why don’t we try to figure this out rather than constantly sniping at each other?”
“That works for me,” Tamerlan said stiffly. It seemed like Etienne really was affected by the Grandfather. He was usually cold as these snow-laden winds, not hot-headed and hasty. “But does it work for the Grandfather?”
Etienne sneered. “I don’t know, does it work for Lila Cherrylocks? Or Ram the Hunter? Or whoever else you have in that blasted head of yours?”
Tamerlan shoved his hands away. “They don’t control me.”
“And the Grandfather doesn’t control me.”
He seemed like he meant that, though he might not know what he meant. Not really. Tamerlan would have to watch him – would have to be wary of what the Grandfather might push him to do.
Do you really think you mortals could stop one of us if we took you over completely? Lila asked. You should stop fighting us and learn to negotiate instead. Give me what I want, and I will give you what you want.
“Then maybe we can find a way to make them work for us, rather than against us,” Tamerlan said.
Exactly, Lila hissed in his mind.
“Maybe we can find a way to discover which of the Legends have Anglarok and Liandari,” Tamerlan continued, ignoring her. He didn’t plan to give her whatever it was she wanted. But they could use the whispers and hisses to gather information. “Maybe we can figure out how Ram first bound the dragons. Maybe we can figure out how to do it again.”
Etienne was nodding. “Can you ask?”
“I’ve asked.”
“Ask again.”
I’ll tell you what, Lila said in his mind with an amused tone. Smoke, and we’ll tell you something.
But what would she tell them? Would it be something worthwhile?
Maybe. Smoke and find out.
And then he would be down one of six chances to smoke at all.
Keep me – smoke them all with me, and I’ll get you out of this city.
That wasn’t currently his priority. The ground lurched under him, reminding him how false that claim was.
“Well?” Etienne asked.
“They won’t tell me anything worthwhile.”
Liar.
“Me neither,” Etienne said. Was he lying, too? “So, we go to where the knowledge is.”
“A library?” Tamerlan asked, brushing the soot from his cloak as best as he could. He couldn’t help the thrill that filled him at the thought of exploring one of the Libraries here unhindered. Would any of them still stand after the fire? And would they contain any books? Surely in the months since the city was destroyed, someone would have returned and raided the books.
Ahead of them, Marielle set out again, heading down a wide street. They needed to catch up with her. They were deep in the Spice District and the buildings here were little more than burned-out hulks. There had been too much inside them that was flammable. Too much tinder for the fire.
“Yes, a library,” Etienne said. “And Tamerlan?” Tamerlan spun to look at him as he finished what he was saying. His eyes held a look of vulnerability that was curiously unlike him. “We need to trust each other. We’re all there is – the only hope for all the Dragonblood Plains.”
Tamerlan hesitated, but after a moment, he nodded. He spun back to the crossroads, intending to trot after Marielle, but her silver cloak was nowhere to be seen.
She had disappeared.
5: Blood is Not Thicker
Marielle
A clammy hand wrapped around Marielle’s mouth but it was hardly needed – not with the kiss of a dagger at her throat.
“Don’t say a word,” a voice said, breaking slightly as he spoke. He pulled her backward and she let him. Tamerlan and Etienne were not far behind and they would be here in a moment. Even if they were not, the moment the dagger was removed, she’d be able to defend herself. She could smell the fear rolling off her attacker in waves. Fear, and something else ... what color was that? What scent was that? It was faint. Barely there.
Cranberry! That’s what it was. A faint scent of cranberry guilt. He wasn’t going to kill her outright.
Her attacker spun her around, pinning her against a nearby blackened wall. It crumbled slightly behind her back, not strong enough to fully support her weight.
“Who are you?”
He was young – sixteen at most, skinny and vulnerable. But it wasn’t his youth that shocked her. I was his face.
He looked exactly like Jhinn - the same shape to his young face, the same bright edge to his eyes, the same tang of brilliance in his scent. And yet – there was something about the twist of his mouth and the way his breath stank of flagleaf that told her that he wasn’t the same. He was on land, for one thing. And Jhinn would never do that.
“I should ask you the same question,” Marielle said.
“The dagger does the asking. Now, pretty Scenter. I need you. Come with me. Quietly. I have friends and if they hear a sound from you – one tiny whimper – they’ll leap from the shadows and slaughter those two friends of yours. You wouldn’t like that, would you?”
Marielle hesitated.
“The dagger’s been dipped in Mandrake Oil. You know what that is, right? One tiny prick and your scent will be gone forever – with your life. Care to risk it?”
Marielle swallowed. She might be able to beat this boy in a fight. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been given basic unarmed combat training. But if he was telling the truth about the Mandrake Oil, then one slip and she’d be dead. It wasn’t worth it. She should wait until the odds were better.
She wasn’t sure if he was lying about having friends in the city who could attack Tamerlan and Etienne, but if he wasn’t, then that was a risk, too. Though they’d be getting a lot more than they bargained for if they attacked those two. She still shuddered at the memories of Tamerlan fighting with the aid of the Legends. He was unstoppable.
“Watch your step. You don’t want to trip,” the boy whispered, shoving her away from the wall and down an alley.
He led them through the alley to the edge of what had once been the canals. The stink of mud and refuse filled her nose so strongly that she could barely smell anything else as he maneuvered her to a bridge and forced her to cross.
They were in the Government District of H’yi – even the fires hadn’t wiped out the gilded pillars and carefully cut stone of this District. Most of the buildings here were still intact, or at least, though they crumbled from the constant flexing of their foundations, they had not
been consumed by the fire.
“In here,” her captor said, shoving her roughly into a nearby building.
There was no ceiling or roof left on the building, only stone blocks and shattered clay tiles in tumbled heaps across the floors. Whatever had been in the middle of the room was so heavily buried that it would take weeks of work to clear away the rubble and reveal it. But the walls remained mostly whole and one of them Marielle saw a map of the Dragonblood Plains.
Her eyes clung to it, even while she realized she could see other things in the corner of the building – supplies in a heap. Perhaps the boy was using this as a storehouse for goods he’d raided throughout the city.
He hovered over the stack, cursing in surprise, all but forgetting Marielle as she stumbled toward the map. With a shaking hand, someone had added more to the map in charcoal. Like most maps of the Dragonblood Plains, it showed only the five cities and the nearby islands, ending where the sea grew great and powerful. But whoever had drawn on the map had extended the map across the wall to show the eastern shore of the sea. Cities were marked – especially Quavitlos of Mer, rumored to be the capitol of Queen Mer’s people across the sea. And the coastline looked oddly familiar. Marielle squinted at it.
Where had she seen that before?
On Anglarok’s tattooed skin! This was his homeland. And either he or Liandari – or someone else – had drawn the map on the wall.
“Gone,” the boy shuddered from the corner. “All gone!”
“What is gone?” Marielle asked coolly.
“The fuel and fire! The lanterns!”
That meant that one of the new avatars of the Legends now had the ability to start a fire. Marielle felt a tingling in her fingers at the thought. Fire. What would they do with that? Did they still think they could kill the dragon? While it flew with them on its back?
She looked up at the noonday sun through the fallen roof. No matter where they were flying to, they had to get there soon, didn’t they? It couldn’t take long for a dragon of this size to go anywhere.
As if responding to her thoughts, the dragon spiraled, banking to the side so that the ground under her dipped wildly to one side and the gap in the roof above seemed to no longer show the noon sun, but instead, the mountain ranges beyond. They were close. Very close. Was that the dragon’s destination?
A loud call sounded in the sky – like the cry of an eagle – but it was no eagle’s cry. Through the tunneled vision of the building’s missing roof, Marielle saw the distinct shape of another dragon flying nearby. A dragon so large that it must easily equal that of the dragon she rode. And on its back, a muddy city rested like thick barnacles. Algae slicked the roof of the Seven Suns palace and wild, waterlogged vines clung to the broken bridges and crumbled buildings. Marielle gasped at the sudden memory of entering that palace – so large, so intimidating! – only months ago. The Sunset Tower was missing entirely – sheered off somehow in all that had happened since the city’s fall only months ago.
“Mer’s spit!” the boy gasped, his arms limp at his sides as he looked at the same thing she was seeing.
She took that moment to leap, reaching for his throat.
6: Rajit
Tamerlan
“She disappeared into that building,” Etienne said with a calculating look on his face. “Did you see the boy who had her? He could be Jhinn’s brother, they look so much alike.”
They’d followed them through the streets and over the bridge into the Government District. Terror caught in Tamerlan’s throat. Just when he’d been starting to relax enough to let Marielle be as free as she wanted to be and then this happens! He’d never forgive himself if –
“Tam? Are you listening to me?” Etienne asked. “Do you see signs of anyone else around? Allies?”
Tamerlan swallowed. “There are tracks in the soot leading out from the building. His. For the most part, I think. But there are unfamiliar tracks leading out from that pile of rubble in the alley.”
“But they all go away,” Etienne agreed. “No one else goes inside. Not without coming out again. So, he’s probably alone with her in there.”
Tamerlan held his sword a little higher. No need to smoke. The two of them could fight one boy if they had to.
Don’t fool yourself. He’s one of Mer’s and they are all mad.
How were they mad?
Lila?
No answer.
The Legends took far more from him than they ever gave - and that included information.
The world tilted suddenly, leaning dangerously to the side and Tamerlan stumbled as he tried to keep his footing. He was knocked into a wall where he reached out to clutch the stonework and hold on tight.
Would Jhinn survive a move like this? Would his dam hold?
“The mountains!” Tamerlan gasped as the snowy peaks – far too close! Came into view with the dragon’s banking maneuver.
“And Jingen!” Etienne gasped. “I can feel him! I can feel his magic so close.”
“Jingen?”
And then another dragon flew across their vision, blocking out the sight of the mountains, a dripping, moldering city still clinging to his back and wings.
Etienne’s face was twisted in concentration. Was he trying to take Jingen’s magic as he so often had before? He said you had to be near, but how near did he have to get when he was so familiar with Jingen?
Etienne fell to his knees as Tamerlan looked anxiously back and forth between Etienne on the ground and door of the building Marielle had been dragged into and the sky where Jingen roared past. Too many dangers, not enough time!
Jingen’s cry was like a deadly eagle and his tail whipped so close to H’yi that Tamerlan could have sworn he saw a building dislodge and plummet past them. He grabbed Etienne by the collar.
“Come on, Etienne! Before we lose her!”
The other man didn’t move. He’d fallen to all fours now, his hands splayed out over the ruined street.
Should Tamerlan pick him up and carry him? But if he did, then how would he fight Marielle free? Should he leave him? But what if Marielle and her captor had escaped out the back? Then he’d lose track of Etienne, too.
Cursing, he sheathed his sword. This was not a good plan. He lifted Etienne with sheer force of strength, slinging him up onto his back where he could hold one arm and one leg over his shoulders. Etienne was heavy, weighing Tamerlan down as he jogged across the street, hoping to make it to the door of the building before the dragon twisted again and rocked the city with his movements.
City of H’yi Cartography, was scratched on a plaque beside the door. He needed to get in there, but not without a weapon in his hands. He shifted Etienne to maneuver him to one shoulder.
Should he smoke? He could use some supernatural energy right now.
Do it! We’ll save your girl. We’ll kill the dragons. We’ll end this!
That was Ram. But he knew better by now. When called, a Legend had immense power. He wasn’t going to give any of them that power. Not unless they gave him what he needed.
He was fighting a battle he didn’t understand for stakes he didn’t know. How could he win at that? His only bargaining chip to get some answers was himself. If they wanted him – even for a few hours, then they needed to pay something, too.
Isn’t it enough that we give you everything you want?
It wasn’t enough. Not nearly.
He wrenched the door open and startled when he saw Marielle standing with a dagger at a boy’s throat. He looked her over, anxious to be sure she was safe.
He breathed a sigh of relief. She was whole. There was no blood – though she was dirty and rumpled and her shirt was torn across one shoulder. She shrugged her fur cloak to cover herself as if conscious of his eyes searing across her skin and he smiled gently.
“Looks like you didn’t need me,” he said. She was skilled, powerful, and determined. She really didn’t need him at all. And while that made him proud, it also made him sorrowful – because if she didn
’t need him then why stay with him? Why not go her own way? She, after all, was the Scenter. He was only a hopeless addict. She’d be better off far from him – and at the same time, he’d never ask her to go.
“What happened to Etienne?” she asked. Her dagger didn’t even waver from the boy’s throat, though he was sweating. She looked beautiful when she as powerful like this – her purple eyes blazing, her dark hair slipping from the braid she wore in little wisps.
“I think he’s stealing power from Jingen – the other dragon. I don’t know if it’s working.”
But though he was answering her, all he could see were those purple eyes and that confident stance.
She cleared her throat as if she could feel that he wanted her and it made her uncomfortable. “Remember when Jhinn said he saw his brother in the streets?”
“Yes,” Tamerlan said. Jhinn. He needed a way to save him, too. Some way to move water ...
“Doesn’t this look like he could be that brother?”
“Jhinn of Queen Mer’s people?” the boy asked soberly.
“Yes,” Marielle said, hope glimmering in her eyes. She wanted to save Jhinn, too. “Are you his brother?”
“His brother is dead,” the boy spat.
“What was stolen from you here?” Marielle asked, pointing with the dagger for a moment to a stack of blankets and other supplies in a heap to the side.
“Fire supplies. Lanterns. And a shell,” he said. “A shell I found. It’s mine.”
Marielle’s eyes met Tamerlan’s and they opened wider with understanding.
“One of the Retribution was here,” she explained. “We’re on their track.”
“Then we need to keep going,” Tamerlan said. “They can’t be too far ahead.”
He paused for a moment and then sheathed his sword, freeing his hand to fish the yellow conch shell out of his belt pouch.
“This is yours, I think,” he said, offering it to her.
She gasped as soon as she saw it. “Thank you.”
Her grip was greedy as she grabbed it away, as if she couldn’t wait to use it.
Bridge of Legends- The Complete Series Page 63