47. Chapter Forty-Seven
~Kalo~
The yellow dragon led us into the mountains, the orange one flapping along behind it as we jogged along the ragged ground to keep up. At last, it came down for another landing just in front of a large opening at the base of one of the hills.
The entrance was large enough that even the bigger dragon only had to duck a little to enter, but the true scale of the place became apparent once we got further inside. The tunnel widened steadily until it opened into a cavern so vast that I briefly forgot to breathe.
Gold glittered everywhere. Not in neat piles like the treasure hoards of human stories, but woven throughout the cave itself. Veins of the precious metal ran through the stone walls, catching the light from clusters of glowing crystals embedded in the ceiling.
And there were the bones, thousands of them arranged into intricate patterns.
Some looked human, while others belonged to creatures I couldn't even identify.
"That’s comforting," Leo muttered beside me.
His hand brushed mine, and I could feel the tension radiating off him. “What did you expect? A luxury hotel?” I teased.
My words had the desired effect as something close to a smile pulled at his lips.
“No, but we're walking into an enclosed space controlled entirely by an unknown species.
We don't know the exits, we don't know how many dragons are here, and we don't know where they'll position themselves if things go wrong. We have no escape strategy.”
Leo loved a plan, and not having one obviously put him on edge. I reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “You’re not wrong, but we’re the ones asking for a favour here. I don’t think we’re in a position to demand that they come outside instead.”
That earned me a reluctant grunt of agreement just as the large tunnel opened into an even more massive central chamber. Dozens of dragons occupied the space. Some lounged atop ledges carved into the walls while others curled around clusters of glowing crystals.
Every eye turned towards us as our guide led us to an elevated stone platform where a dragon even larger than herself rested. Its scales were deep red, darkening almost to black around the edges, and one golden eye opened as we approached.
Power rolled through the chamber, and from the way Leo recoiled, he obviously felt it too. Whatever authority this dragon king had, it affected us all equally.
“What is this?” his deep voice rumbled, nearly making the ground beneath our feet shake.
In its wake, another sound caught my attention, a faint thump, thump, nearly below the threshold of my hearing.
I glanced around at the rest of the group to see if anyone else had noticed it, but everyone’s attention remained riveted on the dragon king instead. Perhaps I was simply imagining things.
Vaughan stepped forward, bowing his head in respect while keeping his shoulders straight, doing his best to match the dragon’s gravitas. “We've come because of the heart of the fae prince, Tarron, that we gave to you a few weeks ago. We need it back."
Several dragons hissed, but the king didn’t move. “Why?”
"We intend to deliver it to Death."
The dragon’s head tilted in what appeared to be interest. “Death has shown no interest in the heart. Why should he care now?”
Just like Visenya, he spoke of Death as if he knew him, and it was Visenya who answered him.
“He will come because I will call him.”
A murmur spread through the assembled dragons, and the king’s eyes narrowed. “You are a reaper.”
"Yes."
"Interesting." The dragon leaned forward, its neck extended as it peered down at the elf. "Tell me, reaper: do you know the lives you take?"
Visenya’s glowing eyes dimmed just a little. "What do you mean?"
"Their stories. Their experiences. Their memories. Do you see them before you claim them?"
"No. They’re anonymous to me."
A low growl rumbled in the king’s chest. “What a waste.”
The words surprised me, and Evalina also frowned. “A waste?”
The king gestured broadly in our direction with one razor-sharp claw. “The most interesting thing about mortal creatures is their memories. Your lives are short and fragile, filled with change. Every one of you sees the world differently, but then you die and all of it vanishes.”
“They pass into the afterlife,” Visenya corrected.
“Perhaps.” The dragon sounded unconvinced. “But the memories themselves are lost to this world.”
Thump.
Thump.
The sound returned, and again, no one else seemed to notice. I took a quick glance around, careful not to turn my back to the king, but I could see no obvious source of the unusual, rhythmic sound.
Forcing my attention fully back to the conversation, I addressed the king. “Are dragons immortal, then?”
"Not truly." A brief smile revealed rows of enormous teeth. "But we live long enough that the distinction rarely matters. We don’t have the same sense of urgency mortals live with every day."
Calista stepped forward, pulling the box from her satchel. “That’s exactly why we brought you this.”
The dragon’s gaze narrowed, and all around us, others stirred, as if they could sense the object’s magic just as I could. When she opened the lid, revealing the crystal inside, there was more than one gasp.
“It contains a lifetime of memories. We’re willing to trade it for…”
Before she could even finish the sentence, the king’s long tongue darted out and wrapped around the small crystal, pulling it into his mouth before anyone had registered what happened.
Light exploded behind his eyes, the scales in his face reflecting colours that hadn’t existed a moment before, and his body went entirely still.
I found myself holding my breath as the seconds passed with no movement and no sound other than the distant thumping.
Finally, the king slowly exhaled, his eyes and scales returning to their normal shade. “Extraordinary.”
The word carried genuine reverence, and Leo shot me a questioning look. Was that a good sign? I had no idea.
"What did you see?" Evalina asked.
"A completely ordinary man who loved his wife. He worried about the weather. He hated his neighbour's dog and was terrified when he was about to die. And now, I know what that felt like.”
Around us, the other dragons murmured in a mix of contentment and envy, and I thought I understood why. The dragons didn’t want the memories as information. They wanted the experience.
The dragon turned his gaze back to Calista. "How many more do you have?"
She and Vaughan exchanged a loaded glance. “No more,” she admitted. “That was the only one. Creating them is extremely difficult.”
All the warmth vanished from the chamber, and several nearby dragons rose to their feet. “You came to take the prince’s heart and that was all you have to offer? Leave.”
“No, wait,” Leo called out. “This is a matter of life and death. We need to have a proper negotiation.”
“Leave.”
The repeated word echoed through the cavern, and the guards began advancing. Leo glanced around us, no doubt preparing and calculating our next strategy, but the answer was perfectly clear to me.
“I can give you more.”
My pulse hammered in my ears as the king’s eyes narrowed on me. Perhaps it had been my own heartbeat I’d been hearing all along. “More crystals?”
I shook my head. “No, but I can give you more memories. There are thousands of years inside my mind. Entire civilizations and languages, dreams and failures, wars, victories and love stories.”
It was a flood of experiences so vast that I barely understood the full scope of it myself, and did my best to never dwell on it, lest it overwhelm me.
“And you will share them?” the king pressed.
“Hand over the heart first, and then we can talk.”