Chapter 196
Chapter 196
I’d spent my life with my two feet on the ground, my consciousness contained in my own head, so to lose both of those things at once was nothing if not disorientating. We flew through the air, far faster than any dragon, but it was the beasts in the air that stopped our progress.
A roar of outrage as claws ripped down our side, our hearts beating faster and faster as we tried to twist free of this fight. We are inside the mind of Stalwart , Glimmer told me. Glacier was the one that had torn into us, Obsidian, his jaws crackling with lightning, reared above us, ready to attack. Stalwart didn’t understand how it’d come to this. He’d dreamed of freedom, of a life with his rider, and somehow that ended with him fighting dragons he considered brothers, friends and now?—
No! I shouted but was then jerked forward.
These idiots didn’t know when to stay down. That was Darkspire as he advanced slowly upon a dragon that thrashed on the ground. It made piteous sounds of pain, both physical and mental. Its rider had been crushed when he fell from the air. He felt the bond sever. His claws raked the earth as he tried to right himself, but Darkspire continued to stalk forward, jaws opening, acidic breath bubbling inside him right before?—
No!
I was wrenched forward again.
Cloudy sprayed the parapets with fire as he flew past, the duke’s remaining guards pulling back their bows.
No!
Wraith had guards advancing towards him, thinking they had him against the wall, but he sucked in a breath, the air becoming crisp as the smell of ozone rose, as he?—
NO!
Our will was no longer contained by the weak vessels of our bodies. The duke had stupidly given each of his riders a dragonstone amulet and right now, each one of them lit up, becoming a conduit of our power.
We will not allow them to divide us, not when a queen is in need.
Cynane’s head lifted then, searching the now empty cave for signs of us.
Wyrmpeak, our home, is under attack. Will we spend our time squabbling here, or will we come to our queen’s aid?
The human soldiers’s weapons went clattering to the ground, but the dragons didn’t press their advantage. Rex tried to push his dragon on. He wasn’t the one in control, we were. Each dragon turned tail and took to the sky, making a beeline for the capital.
All but ours.
The roof of the duke’s palace shook as each one landed on the tiles, the balustrade, ready to get us out of here.
“We’re not going to make it in time,” Soren warned as they scooped Glimmer and me up, carrying us out to Wraith’s back. “We’ve got a day or two’s ride ahead of us at least.”
“NO!”
I thought that was my scream, but as I turned, I saw an outraged Beatrice rush forward. The knife in her hand shone in the lamplight, making clear her intent. My focus was everywhere at once and not where it needed to be, in my body, ready to end this fight myself. Instead, I watched blankly as she ran forward, ready to kill me. I needn’t have worried. Darkspire was querulous, having been deprived of a fight, and so he launched himself forward. His snakelike neck snatched the girl from the balcony and then whipped sideways, only to release her.
Not worth eating , he assured me.
For a second, I felt her fear, heard her scream, but I was pulling free of her mind before her body hit the ground, because there were more important matters to attend to.
Cynane.
She stared into the darkness, conjuring us from the shadows, and I wished it was that easy. Instead, our minds linked with hers. We felt her pain, her exhaustion, parts of her body already beginning to fail.
I am old. That statement was both a point of pride and pain. I lived for too long, waiting for you to come, Glimmer.
I’m sorry. My dragon’s voice was the smallest I’d ever heard it. I wanted this to be different. I tried. I tried so hard but ? —
I know. Cynane’s head dropped to the sands, the need to close her eyes and surrender to the growing darkness overwhelming. We all tried, but attempting something doesn’t guarantee results. Her flanks heaved as she sucked in breaths, the contractions to expel her eggs far weaker now. I just need to… stay here until Hadrian comes. He’ll cut my daughters free. If I just… stay here.
No…
My protest was far weaker now, and I was conscious we were in the air, the wind whipping at our hair. Soren held us tightly as we remained tied psychically to the queen dragon.
You are queen here, Cynane , we told her. Your strength is ours, as ours is yours.
“Glimmer…” Soren’s voice was filled with awe. “Pippin, Glimmer’s… You’re glowing.”
I didn’t need to open my eyes to see it, because I felt it right down into my bones. A golden light filled me, my dragon, and the aging queen up, driving out pain.
Push, my daughter. I knew that voice. Tanis’ voice was just as warm, just as beautiful, as the light that filtered through us. I know you have laboured for too long, but just one more push and you can rest.
Cynane wanted to protest. Aches, pains came flooding back, but she shuffled to her feet. The change in position seemed to shift something in her, the contractions beginning again, but this time we leaned into the pain. It wasn’t something to hide from. Each stab was our body working to birth the future. Golden egg after golden egg landed in the sands until, with a scream, the final queen egg was laid. Cynane collapsed down beside them, using what strength she had left to mound sand around the eggs.
Instinctively, she knew the air was too cool for newly born queens. She climbed into the nest, careful not to dislodge an egg, the feel of the dragonstone pebbles reassuring against her skin. All of her memories, all of her experiences, they would never be lost while these stones remained. Her daughters would grow and become strong, fed by their collective memories, free to choose their own paths, armed with the knowledge of what their foremothers had done. She let out a sigh, all the tension bleeding from her body and then…
She was gone.
The bay was littered with wreckage as we flew into the capital many hours later, but it wasn’t the ships or even the city I was focussed on. The moment Wraith’s claws touched the keep roof, Glimmer and I were sliding out of the saddle and racing down the steps, taking them two at a time.
She was gone. I knew that, and yet I couldn’t stop my feet from moving. The heat of the hatching sands seared the soles of my boots, and yet I strode forward, not to find Cynane, but a wall of armed people. Men, women, they raised their crossbows the moment we got close, staring the two of us down.
“Hang on…” I knew that voice, though Marcus was slurring his words now. “Hang on, this one. She’s all right.”
“Many thanks to you, Marcus Lighthands,” I said, sketching an ironic bow. “Now…” I swallowed and swallowed, but there was no moving the lump in my throat. “Can I…? Can I see her?”
Somehow I knew Cynane was still here. I’d know if she was gone, that’s what my heart told me and when the crowd parted, dragons shuffling out of the way, I saw it was true. Cynane lay beside Tanis’ nest, as if just sleeping.
Pippin…
A small sound of distress and Glimmer was marching forward, leaving me to trail after her.
It was then I saw the sacrifice Cynane had made. All the gold had faded some time ago, her body too thin after bearing all these eggs.
“Queens…?” I whirled around to see that my men had followed, and they stared wide eyed at the nest. Hadrian shifted from where he was coiled around his daughters’ eggs, staring down the lot of them through slitted eyes. “They’re all queens?” Draven asked.
“Yes, and don’t go getting any ideas.”
Marcus flipped a crossbow up and then aimed it at his king, a clear act of treason. No one said anything about that, not when Lance and the other former cadets appeared from between the dragons, their own weapons in hand. Glimmer chirruped when she saw their dragons as well, but that did nothing to defuse the tension.
“I hear I have you to thank for saving my city.”
Draven strode forward, completely unfazed at so many weapons being trained on him.
“Might have something to do with that.” Marcus shrugged. “Seemed like someone had to.”
“He’s a hero,” Lance insisted.
“You as well, lad.” Marcus gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Cutting down that bastard who tried to take me out was a stroke of genius. You’re as good a swordsman as your da.”
He didn’t see Lance’s cheeks colour with pride, instead fixing Draven in his sights.
“So how about a knighthood?” Draven asked. “In recognition of your service.”
Marcus smiled slowly, those gold teeth flashing in the dim light.
“How about making me prime minister?”
I watched Draven frown at that, but Marcus’ focus shifted to a boy who came running across the sands.
“The pyre is ready, Marcus,” he said, tugging his cap, as if talking to a gentleman.
“You’re just in time.” The smile faded from Marcus’ face and he dropped the crossbow in favour of a bottle of rum, taking a long drink from it before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’ll forgive me, but I requisitioned the grand square. Every bit of wreckage we’ve been able to find from those fucking Harlstonian ships has been collected there. A fitting pyre for a grand lady, I reckon. Hoping you don’t mind.”
We didn’t get a chance to reply. Hadrian moved, and another dragon took his place, curling around the eggs, casting us one long look to make clear what a mistake it would be to approach, as Cynane’s mate reared up, hoisting the body of his queen in his arms.
“A grand lady…” someone murmured as we walked past.
“Died for us…”
“He left her side…”
I felt like a legend was being born around me, the stories people were creating in response to Hadrian’s passing no doubt to be told over and over again after this day. Right now, though, all I could do was focus on him. His set jaw, his grim, staring eyes, I knew grief when I saw it, and right now, Hadrian was lost in his.
We got caught up in the mass of people streaming out of the hatching sands, following them down the hill and into the main square. No market was held today, and as Marcus had said, a mass of wreckage had been pulled from the water and left to dry out on the cobblestones, forming a massive pyre. Red and orange dragons were drying it out with short bursts of fire, but they pulled back when Hadrian stepped forward. He nodded to them in recognition and then laid her down.
Dragons were not people, just as we weren’t dragons, but I couldn’t help but think of a groom laying his bride down on the marital bed, as Hadrian laid Cynane down on her pyre. This bed she would never rise from, though, and as a result, the whole crowd went quiet.
“We gather here to say goodbye to a great lady.” Everyone turned when Marcus entered the square. “A veteran of the War of Two Queens, Cynane protected the wild dragons, and when we were under attack, us as well. She knew she was dying…” His voice broke on that, my own ragged breath turning to a silent sob. “And yet she sent her mates out to smash those curs in their poxy ships. She took her last breath alone.” He turned to the queen dragon’s prone form. “But she’ll never be forgotten, not by humans, not by dragon kind. Farewell, great lady.”
He turned and poured his rum onto the pyre, but before the fire dragons could set fire to the pyre, Hadrian moved to the head.
We dragons are different to humans. We know the other half of our heart the moment we see them. Mine was Cynane. I loved her when we were both hapless hatchlings, staggering around in the nest. I loved her when she grew to maturity, flying higher, faster than any other queen dragon. I loved her in times of war and times of peace and I will love her for an eternity afterwards, because when it’s my time to go, I know my soul will be with hers. When his eyes lifted to the sky, so did everyone else’s. Hers will be the brightest star in the sky, leading me home to her. Farewell… His claw rose, and he went to touch her, then stopped. Farewell, my love. Rest now, for our time will come again.
“Why are they burning the queen dragon, Mummy?” a little voice asked. I saw a young girl standing close to us, her hand clasped by her mother. The woman shot me a sheepish look, then turned back to the pyre.
“Everyone has a way of saying goodbye to those people we lose. We buried your pa in the big cemetery down in Cheapside and we go there on rest days to lay wildflowers on his grave. Dragons?—”
Burn their dead, freeing their souls from the body that served them their entire life. The heat was palpable, a wall of it forcing all of us to take a few steps backwards, but as I watched them burn Cynane, I saw her body turn to red gold all over again, her scales burnished, right before they crisped up and were incinerated.
She was a great queen , Glimmer said in a sober voice. For the first time, I heard a little doubt in her tone. I must become the same in her absence.
You will, my love. You will.
The crowd dispersed, and we walked back to the keep in a far more sober mood.
“We need to get Zafira’s clutch down to the hatching sands,” Draven said.
“Oh, so we’re going to pretend that Marcus wasn’t just grandstanding in front of everyone down there?” Ged said. “And what the hell is a prime minister, anyway?”
“The head of a government under a constitutional monarchy, idiot.” Soren clipped him on the back of his head. “Did you not listen at all during your lesson?”
“Mine were mostly on what kind of animal brains works best to tan leather,” Ged replied. “Never expected to be in the middle of some power struggle between the king and the king of thieves.”
“Let's see if the wild dragons will allow Zafira’s clutch to be placed in the same nest.” Draven sounded so very tired, the lines in his face plain. “Then, after a very long sleep, we can talk about the government.”
Of course we will care for the young ones. Hadrian seemed almost offended we would even ask as he settled back into the nest. But know this, little king. These stones. He pushed one with his claw. They contain the collective wisdom of dragon kind. The hatchlings that leave these shells. He pointed to the open box of eggs, the rest of us inspecting each one carefully, feeling for heartbeats and searching for cracks. They will not be the biddable creatures you are used to.
“Perhaps not.” Draven nodded. “That may be a good thing. Things are changing, faster than I anticipated. We may need a very different kind of dragon capable of meeting that challenge.”
We left them to it. All of us were dead on our feet, but it was more than that. We weren’t needed here, and so we were free to plod upstairs, scrub ourselves properly clean for the first time in weeks, and then fall into bed in the room we shared in the keep. I could barely lift my head to even kiss them, but when I nestled down into the bed, it was in their arms. My consciousness clung to that, even after sleep started to steal me away, because who knew how long I had with those I loved. I saw Cynane burn inside my mind’s eye, felt Hadrian’s pain as my own, and then was gone to sleep.