Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Merrill had heard Katla’s tale from Henry , but it had only been the basics. Listening to her speak of that dreadful day had put him into the memory with her. He understood her hatred, animosity, and bitterness. Every Dragon King did. Because they had lost everything, too. While Katla had focused on the dragons for revenge, the Kings had fixated on the humans.
Yet neither the dragons nor the humans were to blame. The fault lay squarely with the one who had instigated both. Villette .
Merrill inwardly winced when Katla dashed away a tear so he wouldn’t see. The old Merrill would know what to say to alleviate her sorrow and self-loathing. Instead , they sat together, listening to the fire pop.
“ I know that was hard. Thank you, lass,” he murmured.
She sniffed and nodded but kept her gaze on the fire. He recognized that she needed to be alone with her thoughts. He had pushed her to dredge up those memories and regretted it. For just a moment, he had been the old him. Then , when she needed comforting words, he was left wanting.
Merrill noticed the bairns huddled together for warmth. He rose, magically materializing blankets in his hands. After he’d tucked the blankets around them, he glanced at Katla . She had a faraway look in her eyes. He wondered if he should leave, or at least watch over them from a distance. Katla didn’t trust him, and she had every right. No amount of denial and assurance could make her believe that he hadn’t come to exact justice for the dragons.
His gaze slid to the bairns. They were only some of those who’d borne the brunt of Villette’s endeavor to wipe out those with magic. Merrill had seen enough wars to last an eternity. And there were never really any victors. There was just death, destruction, and loss. But there was no getting out of what was coming.
Villette might have joined with the Kings to put an end to Miena , but that in no way meant she’d had a change of heart. Villette’s loathing ran too deep. And she had stirred up too much discontent across Zora , not just with dragons but also against anyone with magic. Generations had been educated to hate and fear. And that wouldn’t stop with Villette’s death. The seed hadn’t just been planted, it had sprouted and spread like a contagion. And , like any disease, it had to be eradicated.
Which meant war.
Merrill wanted to remain, but he needed a good excuse to convince Katla . And he had it— Villette . Their common enemy deserved to face those she had wronged to be punished. It undoubtedly meant that he would have to open himself to Katla and share things he didn’t want others to know, but it was worth it if he could stay near her.
He studied the bairns. She was right that the woods were no place for them. He might be able to persuade her to bring the children to Iron Hall . The bairns were the reason she remained in the area, after all. Once they were seen to, Katla could set out to find Villette .
Merrill felt a push against his mind. He opened the mental link at the sound of Varek’s voice. “ Aye ? Is everything all right at Iron Hall ?”
“ Everything is fine,” Varek said. “ I’m checking on you. You didna return.”
Merrill rubbed the back of his neck and turned away from the fire. Varek was his best friend, the one dragon who knew him better than anyone. And yet, he couldn’t tell Varek how he really felt. His friend would want to help, but no one could help him. This was something he had to do alone. “ Stonemore is as bad as we feared. You should also be aware that I had an altercation with some priests.”
“ I’m no’ surprised. They’re looking to show their might.”
“ It didna go as planned.”
Varek chuckled. “ I bet it didna. I wish I could have been there. Their hold on the city shouldna last long.”
“ I wouldna wager on that. I’ll be surprised if they doona retain control.”
Varek grunted. “ You may have a point. So , want to tell me what’s really going on?”
“ Leave it, brother.”
“ I can no’. You have been there for all of us when we needed it. Let me be here for you.”
Merrill ran a hand down his face and sighed. “ I appreciate the offer.”
“ But ?”
“ I’m no’ the dragon I was. I can no’ find the words to offer comfort or wisdom. I can no’ even find it in me to smile. I’m broken.”
“ You’re no’ broken, brother. You’re suffering. It’s finally coming to the surface. You know how low I sank, and you refused to let me go through it alone. I willna allow you to deal with this on your own.”
“ But I need to.”
Varek was silent for a moment before he exhaled. “ Merrill ? —”
“ I know what you want to say, and I’m telling you no’ to. There is nothing left of the dragon I once was. You have no idea how hard I fight against ire at every moment. It nearly took me at Stonemore with the priests.”
“ But it didna.”
Merrill looked at Katla . It hadn’t because he had seen her. It hit him then that the entire time he’d been with her and the bairns, the anger hadn’t reared its head. “ It could have. Had it, there wouldna have been anything left of the city. You and the others would’ve had to hunt me down.”
“ It willna come to that.”
“ You doona know that. Neither of us does.”
“ I know you. You’re a good man!”
This was why Merrill hadn’t wanted to tell Varek anything. He put his back to the fire. “ Maybe it was always meant to happen. Maybe coming to Zora instigated the release of all I had locked away. The why doesna matter. It happened. And I have to sort through it.”
“ If this is about you and Villette , no one is upset.”
Merrill felt a familiar anger begin to bubble within him. “ You should be.”
“ Come back to friends. Perhaps you need to return to Earth and Dreagan .”
“ It willna matter what realm I’m on. Let me do this the way I need to. Please , brother.”
Varek released a long sigh. “ All right. If you need me, I’m here.”
The tension melted out of Merrill . “ You’ll be the first I reach out to.”
“ I’ll hold you to that. Stay in touch.”
“ You have my word.”
Merrill severed the link. He probably should’ve spoken to Varek before leaving Iron Hall . After what he’d put his brethren through, Merrill at least owed them an explanation. But he had left without a word. Again . What did that say about the person he had become? More than he wanted to delve into, probably.
He looked over his shoulder toward Katla . She hadn’t moved from her spot. He wanted to go to her. Instead , he walked to the stream and stood at the water’s edge. Zora’s double moons were a sight to behold. They were near enough that you could stare at both together. One was closer to the planet than the other—much closer than Earth’s moon was to it. He studied each before taking in the vast sky of stars and contemplating the enormity of space.
At one time, his ancestors had flown through the universe with the Star People . What they might have seen and experienced was overshadowed by the fact that the dragons had been slaves, bowing to the whims of a more powerful race. If it hadn’t been for Redis , who’d freed his ancestors, the dragons would likely still be in the service of the Star People .
Merrill closed his eyes and tuned out the sound of the water as his hearing expanded, moving through the woods and over the border to his kin. He listened to the dragons call to one another for several minutes, imagining that he was with them. It took him back to the time when his clan was still on Earth .
It didn’t take anything for him to delve into the past and think about flying with other Oranges around him. Of how he used to sit atop the highest region and stare out across the land the magic had deemed him worthy enough to rule. Of what a sight it was to behold when a large grouping of Oranges flew together. Oh , how he missed his clan and family.
Merrill felt Katla before he heard her. He waited for her to speak, but when she began to turn to leave, he bade, “ Stay .”
“ I don’t wish to disturb you.”
“ You are no’.”
“ What are you doing?” she asked.
Merrill grinned. “ Listening to the dragons.”
“ You can hear them?”
The surprise in her voice pleased him. “ I can hear their wings flap as they fly, and their roars as they call out to others.”
“ What are they saying?”
“ Dragons doona speak as humans do.” He opened his eyes and turned to her. “ We speak through our minds.”
Her head tilted to the side. “ You read minds?”
“ That would be an invasion of privacy. We have the option of ignoring someone. If a dragon wishes to speak with me, they say my name. I hear it in my head. Then , I can open the link to allow communication or keep it closed.”
“ That’s incredible,” she murmured.
“ The link stretches over vast distances, as well.”
She glanced at the water, her lips twisting. “ I had no idea. I always assumed the roars were words.”
“ There are many reasons for a dragon to roar. Sometimes , it’s for intimidation. Or perhaps to get another’s attention. There are nuances in each, but not for conversing as we are now.”
“ The roars all sound the same to me.”
He jerked his chin to her. “ I think it’s how a human’s ears are constructed that prevents hearing such depths.”
“ But you can.”
“ I may have your form, but I retain my dragon senses.”
She raised a brow. “ Which are?”
“ Highly enhanced. I can hear things miles away. We’re able to see as clearly in the dark as we can during the day, but we can also see far into the distance. We discern smells that humans and even some animals wouldna be able to pick up.”
Katla held his gaze for a heartbeat. “ What do you look like? In your true form, that is.”
“ Are you asking me to show you?”
“ Nay ,” she said hurriedly. “ I’m wondering what color you are.”
There was still a great deal of fear within her about dragons. He wouldn’t have shifted anyway. This wasn’t the place. “ Orange .”
“ And you choose this form?” she asked, motioning to his body.
“ I didna choose it. It was bestowed upon me. On all the Kings .”
Her brows snapped together in puzzlement. “ By the Star People ?”
“ Nay . The magic of Earth . However , it could conceivably be Redis’s magic. He’s the Star Person who created our world and set my ancestors free. In his last act to keep the realm hidden, he gave up his life to do so. It worked for a long time, but Villette eventually found us. And when she put the Druids on Earth , things changed. Con called the Kings together after their arrival. We had no way of communicating with the mortals. They were terrified at having dragons around them.”
“ I can imagine,” Katla said.
“ We were trying to figure out how to speak to them when we suddenly shifted forms. This was the body the magic gave me.”
She walked a step closer to the shore. “ You never wanted to change it?”
“ I can no’. Just as I can no’ change what I look like as a dragon.”
“ Then you were able to talk to the humans?”
Merrill turned his head away as he let his mind drift back through the memories. “ Our magic allows us to learn languages quickly. Once we could understand and speak their language, we learned that they had no memory of how they had gotten to Earth or where they had come from. They knew nothing of our world or its dangers. Had we let them go about things on their own, they would’ve died within hours. We made a vow to protect the humans. And that promise led to our ruination.”
“ I don’t understand.”
Merrill had known he would have to share about his past, but that didn’t make the truth easier to impart. He had never told anyone about this. It didn’t matter that it had occurred millions of years ago. To him, it was still fresh, still painful.
“ You don’t have to tell me.”
“ I want to. Because I want you to understand.”
She nodded once and waited for him to continue.
“ We carved out land for the mortals. We showed them how to hunt and fashion weapons. We aided them in every way. When their numbers grew, we gave them more land. The Kings split our time between our clans and the mortals who had settled in our territories. We explored life in these bodies, and even took mortal lovers.” Merrill inhaled deeply before releasing it. “ It was as close to harmony as our two cultures ever got. Yet it wasn’t enough for the humans. They wanted more. Then they demanded more. Most respected the boundaries we set, but others pushed and pushed and pushed. Smaller dragons were hunted. In retaliation, some dragons hunted the humans.”
Merrill knew how it sounded, but he couldn’t care. Talking about the past had opened old wounds. And with them, the fury he fought to keep from exploding. “ The lines blurred between who was right and who was wrong. Perhaps we should’ve seen how things would eventually turn out. Or maybe we believed that, as Kings , we could control everything. And that might have been the case with a dozen or so humans. We lost that ability when their numbers swelled to the tens of thousands. Things came to a head when Ulrik , the King of Silvers , fell in love with a human.”