I like that little Blue dragon.
And hadn’t he carried me on his back?
For Heron.
And hadn’t he and Heron been the best of buddies?
Exactly. Which is why I don’t like what you do to him. You act like he should come when you call and do as you say. You make him work all the time for your agenda and your plans and you never even ask him if he has plans of his own.
I felt the breath whoosh out of me. I really didn’t think about those things, did I?
“I thought he wanted to come with me. I had no idea he felt this way,” I said, barely managing to speak I was so overwhelmed by this revelation.
Of course, he doesn’t feel that way! He’s incredibly self-sacrificing and loving. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be offended on his behalf. You were jealous of me! You didn’t want us to be friends!
I hadn’t thought he’d known about that!
You said it around me. Did you think I was deaf? Or just a stupid dragon who couldn’t tell what people were saying around him?
My mouth dropped open and I shut it with a snap.
“I’m going to get some firewood. If you need to rest to heal, you might like a fire,” I said sourly, grabbing some driftwood as I spoke.
You can go wherever you want, human. I can still talk to you. If it wasn’t for you, then Heron wouldn’t be in trouble right now, but no. You had one job and you can’t even do that!
What did Heron see in this dragon? He was awful!
“What are you talking about?” I asked, laying driftwood down near him to begin to prepare a fire. “Do you know what happened to Heron?”
We were waiting around that pool you went into. Horrid thing. Smelled of dead humans. The little one was anxious. Kept trying to leap into the pool. All I could do to keep him occupied. Heron was watching, too. He worries too much about you. Why care so much about a human female? He can choose any female he wants, and she will love a noble man like him. He doesn’t need one who always drags him into trouble.
“Could you get to the part I didn’t already know?” I crossed my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes at him. I didn’t like that part about ‘any human female he wants.’
Then the human riding Tharrac starts yelling, pointing at the sky and Tharrac is upset. He says something doesn’t smell right. He says we were led into a trap. Can I smell the body in the woods? He’s right. I can smell a dead human. And now he’s really upset. His rider is mounting. He’s in the sky. There are enemies everywhere. They look like dragons, but they don’t smell like dragons and I can’t hear their mind voices. I’m trying to get Heron’s attention, but he’s worried about the Trouble Girl in the pool.
They’re here! I smell them everywhere – so many! I’m calling to Heron. He needs to mount up! We need to go! Now!
He thinks he should go, too, to protect the young one, but he doesn’t want to leave Trouble Girl in the pool. I tell him he’s crazy. And of course he is, with those crazy eyes that get all big and soft when he thinks of Trouble Girl.
And then he’s finally listening to me and he’s trying to grab the dragonlet, but the young one is leaping away. He doesn’t want to be caught. There are screams above. Tharrac is happy. He had singed the tail of an enemy. There are so many. He will have more chances to flame and bite and tear!
I can hear a whine escape from my throat. I want to be up there with him flaming enemies.
But wait! There is one diving down toward me!
No, not me, toward the dragonlet.
I try to warn Heron, but I’m too late. A girl with flaming hair leans down from the saddle of her not-Red dragon. It’s a Manticore. I know those. They are my enemy!
I flame toward them, running fast, but though I singe the Manticore’s tail, they are faster. They have the draognlet. They leap into the sky.
Heron is screaming.
Get on my back, Heron! Mount! Good, he’s mounting!
We leap into the sky. We are chasing after the dragonlet.
Tharrac is screaming. Something bit his tail. I can hear his curses loudly in my mind. I whine but Heron doesn’t think we should go help. He thinks we need the dragonlet first. I want to save the young one, but we need help.
He doesn’t listen. He demands we chase the dragonlet. I’m flying as fast as I can, but there are too many of them and the human girl with flaming hair is dodging between the other Manticores as she tries to escape. To follow, I must dodge, too.
They are all around me.
Heron?
Heron?
I felt his weight leave my back and now I can’t see him.
I spin.
I roll.
He’s in the arms of an enemy riding a huge Red dragon – I mean Manticore – their disguises are good!
I scream and attack, but two other Manticores dive between us. They have me by the tail. They have me by the neck.
No, Tharrac! Go after Heron and the little one! Don’t stay to help me!
I am fighting. I use every trick I know.
I’m winning, but they are too far ahead of me, now. Even if I win, I might be left behind.
Tharrac is torn. He needs to stay and help. He needs to chase. I tell him to chase and he goes. His mind is fading from distance.
One of the Manticores falls, splashing into the sea. I’m fighting another one, but it’s harder in the darkness. I’m flaming wildly. Something has my tail. My ribs feel like they’re broken. My wing can’t flap right anymore.
I flame one last time and fall...
I’d sunk to the sand at some point while he was speaking – though I couldn’t remember when. His story hit me like a blacksmith’s hammer between the eyes.
Atura had Nasataa and Heron. And they were a day ahead of us. There was no way we could catch up.
In front of me, Olfijum closed his eyes as he finished his story. A moment later, his snores were already echoing out over the bright beach. Something twisted inside me – fear like I’d never known before.
If something happened to Heron or Nasataa, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I wouldn’t want to.
I clenched my teeth, put my own head in my hands and tried to think. Where would they be going? And how could I catch them in time to save my baby dragon and my very best friend?
Chapter Three
If I’d been a quitter it would have all been over there, but I wasn’t. I sat for about ten minutes and then I stood myself up and finished building the fire for Olfijum. He’d need his rest. The moment he woke up again, we were going to be flying.
If he’d take me. But I couldn’t think about that. I’d just have to hope that he would. After all, people were often cranky when they weren’t feeling well, but they cheered up after a little rest. Maybe he didn’t really hate me. Maybe he just needed his rest.
I checked his saddle – still fine – and the saddlebags. The waterskins were full and there was a little hardtack. It was soggy after Olfijum’s swim, but it would do. I ate and drank and then I opened up my own belt pouch. The little book Hubric had given me was soaked. I needed some way to keep my stuff safe if I was going to be spending all this time under water. Maybe I should coat the pages in beeswax or something. But that was a problem to be solved another day.
The key I’d selected from the room in the cave was still there, too. Still just as dull and ordinary looking, but still there. I didn’t know if there was any point to keeping it, but hey – maybe I’d get lucky and it would fit a lock someday. Though it clearly wasn’t one of the keys to the Haroc. Atura and I had both been wrong about that. Those keys were keys of the mind.
I opened up Jeriath’s pouch with more care. What would I find in the belt pouch of a traitor? It was surprisingly mundane. There were a knife and flint. A little tinder – wet now. A candle. A token embossed with a spiral with a line going diagonally through it. Weird. Did that have to do with this Dusk Covenant he was a part of?
I found the map and the letter next. I opened the map with
care since it was wet, but it was drawn on something like leather and seemed remarkably unaffected by the water. That was good. Anything around me was bound to get a good dunking.
The map was a surprise. I had expected it to be a map of the Lands of Haz’drazen, but it was not. Instead, there were other countries – The Dominion, Baojang, Ko’Torenth, the lands of the Rock Eaters. There were marks on the map, but they meant nothing to me. Maybe the letter would explain better.
I pulled out the letter, but it was too wet to open. I’d tried doing that with paper before and it had never ended well. I’d just have to wait for it to dry. Carefully, I laid the letter by the fire as I refolded the map, fed the fire and prepared to journey again. Olfijum would have to wake up again. And he’d have to take me to find Heron. After all, even if he didn’t seem to like me much, he liked Heron, right?
I was a little shocked that he didn’t like me. All dragons seemed to like me. What was wrong with this one?
Eventually, the paper dried enough to open the letter. The ink had run, but there were still bits and pieces of it left. The early paragraphs started:
Jeriath,
As we promised at ... important information regarding ... keys. Do not ... Dominion. Take care ... KoTorenth ... great danger of ... golems and the truth of the rods. The Draven ... Baojang.
Frustrated by the big patches of ruined letter, I tucked it away and leaned back in the sand. I must have drifted off because when my eyes opened again, clouds had gathered in the sky. I let my eyes wander over them as I yawned ... and then gasped.
Was that a dragon flying toward the smoke? I thought I recognized the curve of the tail, the motion of the body in flight. I folded the letter back up and stood, shading my eyes as I stared out into the sky.
It was a dragon!
Light glinted off his bright scales.
Did he have a rider? It was hard to tell. I swallowed, finding patience hard as I waited.
Was this friend or foe? Was he here to destroy us or to help us?
I hefted the Dragon Staff and prepared myself. If it was an enemy, I would just have to fight to protect Olfijum as best as I could.
Even if it meant giving my life for a dragon who seemed annoyed that I even existed.
Chapter Four
“Samrin!” I screamed the minute I could tell who was on that dragon. “Over here! Over here!”
Do you mind? Your voice is shrill.
I ignored Olfijum. Hope – strong and full of relief – filled me. He was alive! And if he was alive, maybe Heron was, too!
I stood on tiptoes trying to see if he was on Tharrac’s back. I scanned the air all around him for Nasataa. Were they with him? Were they okay?
I told you they were taken by enemies. Do you really think that old dragon and his little human could get them back on their own?
I rounded on him.
“Olfijum,” I said, lowering my face until I was nose-to-nose with him. “I’ve had just about enough of your grumbling and your negative attitude. So, you don’t like me? Who cares? Get over yourself! I’m going to find a way to save Heron and Nasataa. You don’t have to help if you don’t want to. There’s nothing holding you here and if you hate us all so much, then you can just go!”
I straightened, crossing my arms and trying not to look over my shoulder again at Samrin. I couldn’t wait for him to arrive! But I had to deal with this first. I could hardly save my friends if one of my allies hated me so much he was willing to sabotage my efforts. Did he hate me that much? I tried to push down the sadness and rejection that thought sparked in me.
He sighed – a long, dragony sigh.
I don’t hate you so much. I just don’t like you.
“But can you put that aside and work with me?” I asked. “Heron and Nasataa need us.”
He didn’t answer, just giving me a long look. There was a thump as Tharrac landed on the hard sand behind us and I spun with a sigh of relief.
“Samrin!”
“Seleska!” He seemed pleased to see me despite worry lines on his face. He was coated with dust, swaying slightly in the saddle. “You found the key.”
I nodded. “But while I was finding it, I lost something much more precious.”
“The dragonlet,” he agreed. “I gave chase, but there were too many of them. They fought us off – not hard enough to injure us badly, but enough to keep us away. I think they feared drawing the notice of Aswaram Tagnis.”
Tharrac shuffled over to stand by the small fire, setting his head on his paws before closing his eyes.
“Who?”
“The Dragoon assigned to lead them.”
“He didn’t see you trying to get to them?” I was surprised by this. How would they hide a battle?
“He was out in front with a pair of the Red dragons – Manticores perhaps. The ones who had attacked us held back – far enough back that there was no way he could have known they were fighting me.”
“But he knew they were fighting someone,” I said grimly.
Samrin shook his head. “He was ordered not to stop them unless he could prove they were hurting citizens of the Dominion. He couldn’t have seen enough to know that.”
“So he won’t help,” I sighed. But then a thought occurred to me. “But they also won’t be able to kill Heron or Nasataa – not with him there with them, right? How long will he be with them?” I glanced at Olfijum who was watching us with interested eyes. “How long will you be with us?”
My voice quavered on the word ‘us’. Maybe Olfijum wasn’t planning on staying with me.
Of course, I am. I will see Heron safe again. After a moment he added. And I wouldn’t leave you stranded here.
“To the border of Ko’Torenth,” Samrin said. “I was ordered to take you that far.”
He sounded exhausted.
“How far is that from here?” I asked.
“Three days flight. Two if we did not stop to rest.”
I felt hope rising in me.
“But both the dragons are exhausted,” Samrin said with a grimace. “And I can barely stand. We flew too long and hard and we must rest. Will you stand guard for us, Seleska?”
“Of course,” I said, but my heart was sinking.
We were a full day behind them and that left only two days until they would reach the border of Ko’Torenth. If they got there before we found them, they could suck Nasataa and Heron’s souls out and put them in rocks. And if that happened, I would never forgive myself.
I chewed my lip, trying to think, as the others settled back down to sleep and I stood guard. Worry filled me and it got no better as the hours passed. The rock in my own belly flared hot as I took out the map and letter trying to make sense of it again. The parts I could read seemed like instructions to find something, but they didn’t make any sense. They were in a code of some kind, I thought – a poetry code not entirely unlike the prophecies. But with the spots of them missing and the text already hard to understand, it left me frustrated. I was no further to understanding that map than I had been when I started.
Spots on the map were marked by tiny red arrows. Some pointing up, others left, or right or down. You would think that the maker of a map would use all the same symbol to symbolize something. One of the spots was on the mainland not far from here, but you’d have to know the area very well to find it. The arrow pointing to the spot was nearly the size of the dots marking cities.
Useless.
One of the arrows held my attention for a long time, but it wasn’t until a bird called and I looked up into the sky that I realized why it held me. When I blinked into the open sky the afterimage of the red arrow went white over my vision for a flash of a second. It was an arrow pointing up. And it looked just like the key I’d seen.
Was it possible that this map had anything to do with the keys?
Chapter Five
“We’re close now,” Samrin said quietly. We’d woken up on the beach and set out the same day, barely stopping for more than the time it
took to buy food from the small farms along the way or fill our waterskins at lakes and creeks along our path. I’d grown used to the dark green landscape of the Dominion, though it felt wrong to be so far from the sea. Miles upon miles had passed under us, all the same by day or by night. Trees. Mountains. Plains of wildflowers. Trees. Mountains. Plains.
It was beautiful, but it wasn’t home. I missed swaying palms and roaring surf.
Something loomed in the bright gold of the dawn – something I’d never seen before.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Woelran. A sky city,” Samrin said grimly.
I’d heard of the legendary Dominion sky cities, of course, but I’d never seen one. The massive city sat in tiers on the top of a wide platform, held up by a single central pillar of what looked like massive metal cables.
“It’s held up by skysteel and magic,” he said.
“It’s huge,” I said, awe filling my voice. We’d been flying for two days but Samrin had avoided cities or populated places and Olfijum and me had followed his lead. “Like nothing I’ve seen before.”
I glanced back to be sure Olfijum was still behind us.
Yeah, yeah, I’m still here.
He sounded cranky. He didn’t like that Samrin had ordered me off his back at our last stop, stating that the younger dragon was flagging under the added burden of my weight. I would have thought he would be relieved not to be carrying me anymore.
If I’m going to spend all my time worrying about Heron, it helps to have someone else nearby worrying, too. Misery loves company.
And I was still worried, despite my awe.
A flight of birds kicked up from the city, but otherwise, it was perfectly still.
In front of me, Samrin shuddered.
“What’s wrong with it?” I asked quietly, suddenly feeling the need to whisper.
Something is wrong.
“Woelran fell during the Golem Wars,” he said quietly. “It’s uninhabited now. A ghost city.”
It was my turn to shudder. “What happened to all the people?”
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