Chapter 23 #2
She’s not a small dragon, but Nilak looks shockingly tiny in the sky with that great yellow beast. I hope Stesha will remember that Kane will fight dirty, and he will not give up the advantage of the bigger dragon easily.
The two dragons circle overhead for some time, each belching fire intermittently, warning the other what they’re capable of. Neither dragon can maneuver quickly, so the first strike will be down to who makes the first mistake.
Either Kane or Auryn are impatient, or both of them are, as suddenly the yellow dragon moves in close, opens his jaws, and releases a torrent of dragonfire in Nilak’s direction. With a great lurch of her wings, Nilak shoots upward and twists away from the flames, protecting her rider. When the fire clears, her back legs and the underside of her tail are black with smoke, but she’s unharmed. She’s also furious. Faster than I thought possible for a dragon of her size, she dives for Auryn and sinks her teeth into one of his legs. He roars in anger and kicks out at her, but she lets go and evades his talons.
Auryn’s blood rains from the sky. A cheer goes up. My heart lifts for a moment, and I anticipate the blare of a Temple Mother’s horn ordering the riders and dragons to the ground, but of course nothing happens. This fight is to the death, which of course means the dragons will fight to the death as well unless one of them is grounded.
Before the crowd has finished cheering, Auryn flies upward and positions himself between the sun and Nilak, and uses the golden dazzle to momentarily confuse Stesha and Nilak. The white dragon attempts to evade him, but she flies in the wrong direction, exposing her flank to him, which is clear to all of us on the ground.
Auryn’s talons are out, ready to tear open Nilak’s stomach. I cover my face with my hands and peer through my fingers, frightened I’m about to see the beautiful white dragon gutted in midair. Zabriel seizes my hand and cries out in horror. But a strange thing happens. Auryn veers away, and we hear Kane’s angry shout. The white dragon tumbles forward, and then beats her wings frantically, heading north.
Auryn follows in close pursuit. In disbelief, we watch as the two dragons disappear over the horizon. The wingrunners don’t follow, as they were given orders to contain the riders of the wild flare. The wyverns settle onto the dust, keeping their beady eyes on Aurissa, Auriana, and Ragdyn.
“Where is Stesha going?” I ask Zabriel in confusion. “Or has Nilak panicked? Why did Auryn falter when he could have killed her?”
Zabriel shakes his head. “I don’t know what Auryn is doing, but Nilak would never defy Stesha. Stesha must wish to take the fight to a more open area. Perhaps lure Kane to the ground to protect the dragons. These are not the games I wanted,” Zabriel says in a low voice. “Riders killing each other to prove a point is beneath us. I should follow them and stop this, but I need to give our dragonmaster a chance.”
I reach up and place my hand on his arm, wishing to comfort him even if I don’t know the answer.
Zabriel glances around at the crowd. All the people from Lenhale and beyond who came to witness the games are uneasy and restless. We watch the horizon for any sign of a returning dragon. The moments are long and strained. The shadows move on the ground as the sun slowly traverses the heavens.
Finally, Zabriel can’t take it any longer. “I will go.”
The crowd cheers as they see their king heading for Scourge, but he doesn’t make it that far.
“A dragon!” someone shouts, pointing excitedly to the horizon. “A dragon is approaching.”
We all shield our eyes against the sun’s rays so that we may make out which dragon it is. At first it’s a dark speck, but I feel a sickening tightening in my belly as something about the shape—too large, too broad—tells me this isn’t the dragon I hoped it would be. Still, I hold my thumbs and hope.
The dragon’s scales flash yellow.
It’s Auryn, not Nilak. There’s no sign of the white dragon in the skies, only the hulking, hateful shape of Kane’s dragon.
The Temple Crone has been resting in a chair, but now she gets slowly to her feet.
“It is Stesha riding Auryn,” I tell myself in a whisper, hoping it to be true. “Nilak’s wing is injured. He has killed Kane and tamed Auryn so that he may return and fetch help for her.”
But as Auryn alights on the ground, we see that his rider wears black, not white. He swings his leg over the saddle and slides to the ground, limping as he makes his way toward us, and his black clothes shining with blood, but walking steadily and possessing all his limbs.
Ravenna is gazing at Kane in incredulity.
Zenevieve is trembling with both hands clutched over her heart. She shakes her head over and over, not able to believe what she’s seeing. I can’t believe it myself. Stesha is the most ferocious fighter among the dragonriders. For Kane to return and not him, something must have gone horribly wrong.
The watching crowd rumbles in consternation. I can hear people start to wail and cry. There’s not one blue and white banner being waved in the air.
“Zabriel,” I manage to choke out as he returns to my side, but I don’t know what to say. My mate is glaring at Kane with burning red eyes. His scent is thick with fury and grief.
Red glistens on Kane’s face as he stalks toward us. There’s a cut on his forehead and blood has coated half his face. His black eyes flash with malice as he takes in the watching crowd. Hears their angry shouts, their disbelief, their despair.
I push through the crowd and stand before Kane, shaking with rage and grief. “What did you do? How did you do it?”
I picture Auryn tearing Nilak’s wing and the white dragon tumbling from the skies. Nilak perishing from the fall, but Stesha crawling out from beneath his dead dragon. He must have, because Kane has injuries. Did Stesha fight back even though he must have had broken bones? Did Kane murder him in cold blood for daring to covet his dragons?
Kane doesn’t seem to hear me. He doesn’t even look at me. The abuse and condemnation from the crowd has transfixed him, and he narrows his eyes in anger. Beyond him, Aurissa, Auriana, and Ragdyn have moved silently closer to Auryn and bared their teeth at the other dragons.
Zabriel is breathing hard, and he unsheathes his sword.
“You would heap insult upon my misery?” Kane asks him bitterly.
“Draw your sword.”
But I realize at the same time that Zabriel does that Kane has no sword.
A cry goes up from the crowd, shrill with hope and relief. “A dragon! It’s Nilak.”
We all whirl around to look. Approaching from the opposite direction than we expected her, Nilak swoops down and alights on the ground.
Stesha swings his leg over and slides to the ground, and we see that he’s carrying two swords. His and Kane’s. It appears to have been a vicious fight. Stesha’s white leathers are spattered with blood. Strands of his hair are nearly black.
But his face is flushed in victory and his eyes are sparkling.
The dragonmaster strides up to us and tosses Kane’s sword at Zabriel’s feet. “Forgive me, Zabriel. I had to fly a longer route home so that Nilak could express her joy.”
Zabriel’s anger has turned to exultation. “You scared us. I thought you were dead.”
Stesha glances at Kane. “Did you do it?”
Kane cuts his eyes away and seethes under his breath. “I concede.”
The two words are repeated all around us until the news finally reaches the crowd that Kane has conceded and Stesha and Nilak have won.
Stesha picks up Kane’s sword and offers the weapon to the other Alpha, hilt first.
Kane’s expression churns with rage. When he doesn’t reach for his sword, Stesha drops it at his feet, and their gazes are filled with hate. Far from clearing the air between them, the fight only seems to have deepened the animosity between the two men.
As if hoping to clear the air at least a little, the Temple Crone steps forward. “Dragonmaster Stesha, you have proven yourself worthy of the title of…”
There’s a panicked gasping sound, and someone breaks away from our group and dashes toward the dragongrounds. Zenevieve. I wonder if she’s running to Nilak, but Zenevieve races toward Calyx. The sleepy dragon raises his head and lifts his wings in greeting as she reaches him. Zenevieve climbs up onto his back, and a moment later the pale dragon takes off into the skies, Zenevieve’s long hair streaming behind her.
The Temple Crone frowns at the young woman, and clears her throat. “As I was saying. I declare our dragonmaster the winner of the Dragon Games. Step forward and…”
But Stesha isn’t listening. He pushes through the crowd and chases after his former ward, drops of blood scattering in his wake. He pounds across the dust, leaps onto Nilak, and soars into the sky in pursuit.
We all watch as the two dragons disappear from view. There’s a long, confused silence as everyone looks at each other, not knowing what to do or say.
The Temple Crone claps her hands once. “Well, I suppose we must all celebrate for the dragonmaster in his absence. It has been a fine Dragon Games, and I for one am thirsty.”
It feels a little anticlimactic as we slowly return to the castle. Zabriel holds tightly to my hand.
“I thought Zenevieve would be happy that Stesha won and throw herself into his arms, not run away. But perhaps she is too overwhelmed that he nearly died.” I wonder what words of comfort he will offer her when he reaches her. That he fought so hard to win the Dragon Games to prove his worthiness of her, or that he merely holds her dear because she is his dead friend’s daughter?
Despite Stesha’s untimely departure and a lukewarm atmosphere without a victor to toast, the celebration warms up as the ale and wine start to flow. Many, many cups are raised to Stesha, Zabriel, and even me, along with all the other dragonriders and dragons.
Zabriel, his cheeks flushed with wine, picks me up in his arms and kisses me. “The people will talk about these games for centuries to come. History will remember the name Queen Isavelle and her quicksilver dragon.”
I smile as I wrap my arms around his neck, and my heart begins to lighten as I realize he’s right. The games are over, and they have given the people what they craved. Excitement. A spectacle. A victory for Maledin. “There will be songs sung about the fair and righteous Alpha king and his black dragon.”
“There will be one or two, but I have a feeling that white-haired bastard has stolen all the best songs.” But he’s grinning as he says it.
The revelries continue long into the night. I go to bed when the moon is setting, amid declarations from the dragonriders that they won’t finish celebrating until the dragonmaster returns and they can toast him.
I wake an hour after dawn to an empty bed, and smile to myself. Zabriel must still be with his dragonriders. After I get dressed, I peek into the Great Hall and see him singing along with a rowdy crowd to a song I haven’t heard before. If Stesha doesn’t return soon, they shall all fall down and sleep in the straw.
I walk along the battlements, enjoying the morning sunshine and the view over Lenhale. The dragons are resting this morning, all huddled comfortably together and grooming each other.
I’m smiling to myself when I see a familiar figure farther along the battlements, also watching the dragons. It’s Ravenna, the sunlight burnishing her red curls. I wonder if she’s looking for the wild flare. It must be a relief not to see them.
As I join her, I ask, “If Kane had drunk the poisoned tea, what would have happened to him?”
She glances at me and thinks for a moment. Her eyes are shadowed, and I wonder if she hasn’t slept all night. “Same as last time. Made his guts cramp and vomit so hard that he wished for death.”
“A clever way to deal with an Alpha like him. He’ll always be a little afraid of you.”
Ravenna looks down at her hands resting on the stone battlements. “I don’t feel clever. I feel very stupid, and I’m ashamed of myself. Sickeningly ashamed.”
I turn to her in surprise. “But why?”
“Zenevieve and the dragonmaster. I saw how she was sobbing as she ran for Calyx. She loves him, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, but unfortunately the dragonmaster’s feelings are more obtuse. He cares about her, but as a lover or friend I don’t know.” He could be breaking her heart right this moment, and the thought makes me want to shake him until his big stupid teeth rattle.
“I didn’t realize,” Ravenna says mournfully. “I said and did all those stupid things around the dragonmaster so I could make Kane angry, and now people are saying she has killed herself.”
“They’re saying what? ”
“The talk is that the Alphas were fighting over me. I couldn’t help being rescued by the dragonmaster, and I am so grateful for his kindness. I’m grateful to him as much as I am to you and Ma’len , but I’ve made everyone believe the dragonmaster has intentions toward me, and now Zenevieve believes it too. I’ve behaved badly. I’ve never been around people much, so I’m not surprised this has been a disaster. If something happens to Zenevieve, it will be all my fault.”
I stare at the horizon in horror. Zenevieve wouldn’t, would she? Is that why she flew away on an inexperienced Omega dragon, so he wouldn’t be able to stop her if she threw herself from his back?
Stesha followed her, I remind myself. Nilak would never let anything bad happen to the previous dragonmaster’s granddaughter. But to want to die over a broken heart? My insides ache with sadness for Zenevieve.
Ravenna glances at me sadly. “Which brings me to what I need to talk to you about. I must leave Lenhale. Today.”
I reach for her hands and grasp them. “Whatever is happening between Stesha and Zenevieve is not your fault. He has ignored her for months while making Zabriel swear to protect her. He has driven her to despair, not you.”
“It’s not just that. Kane will not leave the city while I am here. I will draw him away so that you and the residents of this city will finally know peace once more.”
“But we need you. I need you,” I plead with her.
“What you need is the wild flare to return to the east so that the king may focus on what comes next. King Zabriel has united Maledin. Now he must kill his brother, once and for all. The burden is a heavy one for him to bear, and it will not be an easy task to find and kill an ancient necromancer.”
I squeeze her hands, gazing at the freckles dotting her wrists. She’s right about Kane, but I will not see her leave believing she is in disgrace. “You have done nothing wrong. Kane and Stesha are responsible for all the bleeding flesh and broken hearts.”
Ravenna doesn’t answer.
“Where will you go? You can make your home in Amriste. I know Biddy will enjoy your company.”
She smiles sadly. “You heard what Biddy said. My path leads me in another direction.”
“To the east?” I ask, and she nods. That means closer to Kane.
Ravenna speaks quietly. “Wherever I make my home, Kane will always be flying Auryn overhead, being as loud and disruptive as he can. I won’t be rid of him until he is dead. I won’t kill him, as I know you have worried I might do, so I must hope he kills himself through misadventure. There are hexes that will drain away a person’s luck and make death likelier…” Shadows flicker in Ravenna’s eyes, telling me of her despair and dark thoughts. “Many nights I’ve laid awake thinking of ways to murder the man whom I’ve been fated to, but that is a dark path for a witch.”
“Zabriel and I can…”
Ravenna shakes her head. “You and Ma’len have done so much for me. I have never been freer in my life, and I will make good use of that freedom. The eastern villages are remote, and perhaps they’ll be so grateful for a healing witch among them that they won’t mind the bad-tempered yellow dragon and the angry, frustrated witchfinder following me wherever I go.” She smiles a little. “Perhaps those villagers might even be proud to be under the protection of a wild flare. No other region in Maledin but Lenhale has a flare.”
If Kane protects them, rather than trampling them underfoot in pursuit of his Omega. It’s clear that Ravenna has been thinking about this for a long time. Though it hurts my heart to say so, I finally concede. “Whatever you think is best, you must do it. It’s your path to walk.”
We hug each other fiercely until I have to reluctantly let her go. I watch Ravenna make her way through an arch and into a courtyard as the sunlight glints on her red curls. I know little about the villages in the east, but they must be filled with hardy people if they are able to farm in such a difficult region. I hope they will welcome Ravenna, or at least treat her with respect.
To my shock, a short distance away, a figure peels out of the shadows cast by a high wall. My stomach drops as I realize how thoroughly Kane concealed himself during our conversation. He glares at me with flashing black eyes, filled with hate, and then turns and follows the witch in a swirl of cloak.
Days pass, and Stesha and Zenevieve do not return. The castle feels empty and silent without the two of them, Ravenna, and the crowds who watched the Dragon Games.
Santha and Posette keep me company and help me prepare for the baby, and Fiala and Dusan are always around as well, but I miss Ravenna and Zenevieve dearly.
I thought I had nine months of pregnancy, so it comes as a shock to learn from the Temple Mothers that Omega pregnancies are shorter than human and Beta pregnancies.
I pace up and down with my hands pressed against my aching lower back, trying to come to terms with the fact that I’ll be going into labor sooner rather than later.
Exercise has been recommended to me, so twice a day I walk down to the dragongrounds and check on Esmeral. More often than not, as the days progress, she’s in the nesting caves, looking as hot and restless as I feel. She lays with her head on my thighs, huffing in frustration.
“I know how you feel,” I murmur, stroking her snout.
Finally, one afternoon I come down to the nesting caves and find that she’s laid a clutch of eggs. She’s been bathing them in dragonfire and they’re too hot to touch, but she moves aside a little so I can count them.
“Four eggs,” I exclaim in delight. Four pale, stone-shelled eggs, each the size of one of Zabriel’s fists.
Esmeral nudges them happily with her snout. Scourge is at the entrance of the caves, which is too small for him, and he’s making a deep, pleased, rumbling sound within his chest.
There’s no dragonmaster around for me to ask questions, but Zabriel tells me that they may hatch in just a few days, but can sometimes take weeks or months if the mother senses peril.
I gaze up at him in shock. “But we are in peril. Esmeral knows that Emmeric is still out there and that you and Scourge may be called into battle.”
“I don’t know if Esmeral’s instincts tell her that her hatchlings are safe to emerge now or later. Esmeral herself might not even know. We will have to wait and see.”
I clasp my belly with both hands. “What about our little one?”
Zabriel chuckles and pats my belly. “Our little one is coming whether we’re ready or not.”
Gods, please let there be peace in Maledin long enough for our babies to be born. Emmeric always chooses the worst moments to rear his head.
But this time, the gods are favoring us.
Esmeral’s hatchlings chip their way out of their hard, pale shells just three and a half days later. Zabriel is with me, and so are Fiala and Dusan, as they all come out hissing and baring their tiny little teeth. Two of them are black with turquoise tips, one is black with gold tips, and one is pure gold. After a few clumsy minutes, they’re up on their little feet and running around. Esmeral gnashes up chicken necks with her sharp teeth and feeds small pieces to the baby dragons, who all wolf down the raw meat in seconds.
The golden hatchling curls up on my knee and goes to sleep. She’s so dainty and beautiful that I can’t help but wonder hopefully—Omega?
The other three hatchlings swarm up Zabriel’s legs and chest. One of them is tangled in his hair, and he laughs and sits down on the ground next to me. “I’m no dragonmaster, but these are four healthy, strong little dragons. Esmeral, you are a queen among dragons.”
Esmeral rests her head tiredly on his shoulder and sighs heavily. Her attitude is so human that I can’t help but smile. I don’t believe she’s slept for more than a few moments for over a week.
My mate reaches up and strokes her snout. “I worried for you when your designation emerged. Maledin’s newest Omega, and the flare was at war. All the dragons were restless, violent, and scared, which is the worst time for them to welcome a new Omega. But you won them over, Esmeral.”
With my belly large with child and the most beautiful hatchling I’ve ever seen asleep in my lap, I feel very warm gazing at my beautiful dragon and loving Alpha.
The hatchling Zabriel is holding sinks its sharp little teeth into his thumb.
“Ow.” Zabriel flinches a little as he disentangles the hatchling from his flesh. “Feisty little creature. What a bite you have. You’re going to grow up to be just as ferocious as your father, aren’t you?”
“I wish Scourge could come in here and meet his babies.”
“Scourge will be happy that they’re well protected within the nesting caves, and he’ll stand guard until Esmeral is ready to bring them out to him.” Zabriel kisses me softly. “I must congratulate Scourge and then return to the castle. Fiala, Dusan, send for me at once if the queen goes into labor.”
“Of course, Ma’len ,” Fiala says, smiling at two of the hatchlings that are play fighting together.
I stay with the hatchlings for a long time, speaking softly with Fiala and Dusan as Esmeral takes a nap. Sometime later, we hear the beating of wings as a dragon circles to land. It sounds like a large one, and there are cries of greeting from the flare.
Could this be Stesha and Zenevieve at last?
Dusan goes to the cave entrance to see, and then calls out and waves both arms over his head. “Dragonmaster.”
A few moments later, Stesha ducks his head and enters the cave. “What is it? What has happened?” But he can see for himself as his eyes adjust to the dim light. “Esmeral has had her hatchlings? Let me see them.”
He kneels down in the dust and examines the four little dragons with practiced hands and eyes. “Two males. Two females. All in excellent condition, and as strong as their mother and father.”
“This little gold one. A female? An Omega, perhaps?” I ask him.
He puts the golden dragon back on my knee and she curls into a tight ball and goes to sleep again. “Time will tell. But yes, a female. One of the loveliest hatchlings I’ve ever seen.”
I sit up proudly and caress the golden scales with a smile on my face. Esmeral has opened one eye so she can watch who is handling her babies. “Did you hear that, Esmeral? This little golden baby is one of the loveliest the dragonmaster has ever seen.”
He smiles slightly. “But of course, Nilak hasn’t had her hatchlings yet. She herself was a stunning young dragon.”
“Nilak?” I exclaim. “She’s going to lay a clutch of eggs?”
“In time I believe she will. Pavel’s dragon has shown interest in her, but so far, she’s refused him as a mate. Lethis is out there now trying to groom her wings.”
There’s a loud, angry hiss from outside the caves that sounds very much like Nilak.
“Good luck to him,” I murmur under my breath. Lethis will need it. Even though he’s an Alpha and bigger than Nilak, she’s a force of nature.
“These two slightly larger ones, I think they may be Alphas.” Stesha points out one of the black and turquoise hatchlings, and the black and gold hatchling. These are the two that won’t stop play fighting.
We watch them together for a while, and then I work up the courage to ask the question that’s burning on my tongue.
“Where’s Zenevieve? Is she with you?”
“I presume she’s going to her rooms. She mentioned being tired,” he says blandly. He himself looks exhausted, and I can’t tell from his face if it’s the happy kind of tired or the heartbroken kind of tired.
“You and Zenevieve have been gone for days and days. Did anything important develop between the two of you?”
Stesha fixes me with a silent glare. Then his attention is snared by the shimmer of tiny scales. The golden dragon is gnawing on my finger, but she isn’t biting very hard.
“You’re allowing her to bite you? Stop that at once.”
I laugh and shake my head. “It’s not as though she can help herself.”
“They mustn’t learn bad habits. This is a critical time in their development.” The dragonmaster sits down on the ground and shows me the best way to handle hatchlings, but it’s not long before they’re gnawing on his boots, his cuffs, his ankles.
Stesha moves his finger through the dust, and a hatchling chases after it. He draws his finger in circles, and the little dragon romps around and around, making me laugh. Stesha’s lips twitch.
“Some of the more spirited hatchlings I’ve encountered, but it’s to be expected with parents like theirs.”
“And so cute! Look how adorable they are.” I pick one up and smoosh it against my cheek. It immediately gets tangled in my hair.
“These are battle dragons, not pets,” Stesha tells me sternly as one climbs up his chest, turns in a little circle, and goes to sleep. One by one, the other dragons clamber on top of him. Stesha settles with his back to a rock while Esmeral tiredly watches her offspring.
As stern as he acts, I know Stesha loves baby dragons. I’ve seen him carrying them around and playing with them plenty of times. Under the weight of Esmeral’s hatchlings, he starts to look sleepy, and his eyes drift closed.
“I’m so glad you survived the battle with Kane,” I whisper. “Zabriel and I were so worried.”
He opens one pale blue eye and fixes it on me.
“Yes, yes, I know what you’re going to say. Our worry was not necessary. Our worry offends you.”
Stesha closes his eye again. “I was going to say thank you to you and the king for having faith in my decision to accept Kane’s terms. Where is Kane now?”
I sigh heavily. “Ravenna left for the east as soon as the games ended. Kane followed her, and the rest of the wild flare went with him.”
“Then she perhaps saved many lives.”
I suppose he means by forcing Kane to leave the city and follow her into the east. “While risking her own. I don’t know if she still lives. If she suffers.”
He’s silent for a long time. “The kingdom’s Omegas are all walking harder paths than they ever have before.”
“But we are tougher than we look,” I remind him.
“I am grateful that you are right.”
“What happens now for our illustrious, games-winning dragonmaster?”
Stesha smiles slightly with his eyes still closed. “First I must be crowned with my laurels, so I hope you haven’t thrown them away. I have many plans, Queen Isavelle. But right now, at this moment, I am staying here. The dragonmaster must bond with Maledin’s newest hatchlings.”
He doesn’t look like he’s bonding. He looks like he’s having a nap under a blanket of baby dragons, but I suppose that’s more or less the same thing. I leave him with Esmeral, and she watches over the exhausted dragonmaster and all her offspring as they sleep.