15. Deal with a Dragon
Deal with a Dragon
My adrenaline coursed through my veins as I pushed through the crowd and emerged on the other side. I moved as quickly as I could to the edge of the village without looking like something was going on. Darting behind one of the large barns with bleating sheep, we waited for the others to show up.
Zan tried to get me to tell them what was happening, but I refused.
It was easier to give the information once to all of them.
Besides, I still needed to hear back from Vasin on what the hell was happening.
Anxiety prickled along my skin, making it hard not to fidget, but I did my best by wrapping my arms around myself to keep them still.
Finally, Jade appeared with the others, all of them looking worried.
Unfortunately, Phillip came along with them.
“Cassarah, what the hell is going on?” Cole demanded, coming to stand right in front of me.
“They’re gone,” I answered.
Cole placed one hand on my shoulder, and the other gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Who’s gone? You’re going to need to spell it out for us.”
“The clan leaders, Gavin’s parents, and Naytan, the second-in-command of the military here in Sheca,” I explained, his touch grounding me. “What if they are going to the Lost King? Giving me and Sheca up in exchange for getting their kingdom back and me gone?”
“Slow down, Cassy-bear,” Dayson murmured, stepping up behind me and putting his hands on my waist. “We don’t know anything yet other than they aren’t here. Do we know where they went?”
“Vasin is looking for them. He can fly unseen now that it’s dark out,” I answered.
“Okay, that’s a good start. Now why is this freaking you out so badly?” Dayson questioned. “You’ve faced a lot of things and not been this bothered, why now?”
I tilted my head back to look up at him, letting it rest on his chest and taking a moment to soak in his strength.
“If they destroy Sheca, it will have been all my fault. There will be no one left to stop him. Us coming here was our last hope to survive through this war, and I don’t know who I can trust.”
“You can trust in me, Queen Cassarah. I was present during a few of these talks. What do you need to know?” Phillip asked, stepping forward. “I believe an alliance with you is the best thing for me, my kingdom, and all our people. Tell me how I can fix this.”
Stepping out from between my two guardians, I faced the young crown prince, searching his face but only finding it full of earnestness. “What was their plan?”
“Originally, it was going to be Garold staying behind with those of the Bronze Reapers and Jade Talon, and they seemed to think they could get the Wind Fists as well. If they could have a large enough group, then they would have a spy go along with you to find Sheca. If it were worth the trouble, they would attack it and take it over for themselves. Then you showed up with a hundred dragons and made a very compelling argument about how that plan wouldn’t work if they wanted to avoid the Lost King.
Ballard has been arguing with them the entire time, but he is only one person and doesn’t have the same standing as he used to, according to them,” Phillip shared.
“I honestly don’t know where they went tonight.
There was no new plan in place. There had been talk of stealing the key from you, but you’re too well-guarded and always wearing it.
That doesn’t matter now that you’ve opened the castle.
I don’t see how they can make a case for you not being the rightful ruler of this kingdom. ”
“Cass, I found them. They are just outside the valley headed for the border of the Unclaimed Dragon Lands. I think I know what they are doing, and we need to get there before it can happen. I’m coming back, but you’ll need to get all your people on a dragon now.”
“Zan, who can we trust here that are dragon riders? We need to get to the Unclaimed Dragons Lands border quickly,” I explained.
He took a moment to think that over and nodded. “Give me a moment to find them, and I will be right back. Come on, Ezzu, it’s time to go hunting.” The little gold dragon gave a battle cry before she leaped off his shoulder into the night sky with Zan hot on her heels.
“What did Vasin tell you?” Jade commanded.
“Back off, man. Give her a minute. Can’t you see this is freaking her out?” Dayson growled, stepping in to block Jade from me.
This couldn’t be happening now. I needed them to all work together, not stand here arguing.
“Enough! We can’t do this right now. Whatever issues you have with each other, you’ll need to deal with later on your own time.
Right now, we need to stop whatever chaos the clan leaders are trying to cause. Anyone have a problem with that?”
“No, Your Majesty,” Abbott answered, shoving the two men apart. “As your guardians, we shall do our duty to you and the people under your protection to keep them all safe.”
Hearing Abbott’s tone, I remembered all too well from our days of training together, I wasn’t surprised when they all agreed with him.
“Wonderful. Now, Jade and Paxton, will you please call your dragons? We need to get moving as soon as Zan is back.” The gentle whoosh of air above me was I all needed to know that Vasin was back and preparing to land. “Don’t be alarmed… it’s just Vasin.”
Wind whipped around us as he dropped to the ground in more haste than I had seen from him before, shaking the ground under our feet. “Cass, climb on and bring another with you. We don’t have time to lose.”
“Zan should be back with others—”
“No time, let’s go.”
Rattled by his intensity about this matter, I grabbed who was closest to me—Dayson. “You’re with me. Let’s go.”
“Cassarah, where are you going?” Jade called after me.
“Vasin said we have to go now, and I’m not going to argue with the dragon. The rest of you will be able to catch up to us easily enough once Zan and the rest get here,” I answered as I climbed up on Vasin.
My ever-cautious dragon didn’t even wait for me to buckle the first strap before he tossed himself into the air and shot off in the direction we needed to go.
Dayson wrapped his arms around me as I was flung back, not ready for the speed Vasin was going.
Dayson seemed to have managed to get at least one strap done, keeping him attached to Vasin as we flew at crazy speeds.
“Vasin, you need to tell me what is happening. I can’t go into this blind. I need you to give me something to work with here,” I begged, feeling my pair-bond’s panic.
“Naytan told them the secret about dragons and where the magic or as you call it, Birthrights, came from. If they are at the Dragon Lands, it means they are looking to trap dragons into an agreement with them so they can gain power. We can’t let the cycle repeat itself when we are so close to being free like we once were. ”
“None of that makes any sense,” I argued. “What is the secret?”
“The reason your Birthright is so strong is because I bit you. The venom from a dragon is what transfers the magic into a person, but the only way they survive it is to be bonded together for life. If the dragon rejects the person, it will kill them and the person they bit… only for the dragon, it doesn’t happen right away.
The human will die instantly, but the dragon will become wild, and their minds will slowly begin to rot, turning them into mindless beasts, vanishing into the Dragon Lands where they will die years later.
This is why there was an agreement with the dragons that we could choose whether we wanted to be bonded with a human.
We were supposed to keep our freedoms like the dragons do here to live our lives and help when we are called on, but the other kingdoms turned us into slaves to win their wars. ”
“How could they control a dragon?”
“By controlling our pair-bond. When we pick a person, our souls speak to one another, and we truly are bonded to that one person for life. If anything happens to you, then the same fate will befall us as if we had refused the bond, killing us slowly. If you and I had been a normal dragon and human bond, then we would have been sent to a training camp where they brainwash you into believing whatever they say, keeping you in line with what they need from us.”
“Birthrights have been dying out, though, and the queen seemed genuinely scared when you bit me.”
“That is because we figured out we could still bond without adding in our venom, allowing our souls to bond instead. Once the magic died out from all the people, then there would be no pull to continue bonding with humans. It’s why fewer of us have chosen someone.
There isn’t a connection to our past through the lingering magic in your blood. ”
“So the magic of my ancestors called to you?”
“In a way, yes. You are still the one and only person whose soul calls out to me in a bond that can’t be ignored, but it is far stronger because you have the magic already boosting the call.
Before the first person was ever bonded to a dragon, there was no magic in the world.
We introduced that when the first dragon met the first king of the mercenaries.
They built a friendship over time, and the bond grew naturally, but the dragon felt compelled to keep his friend alive longer and knew the magic would preserve his life.
So he bit him, and they created the first pair-bond known to dragonkind, allowing us all to create a bond and our linked memory through the ages. ”
Whatever I expected Vasin to say as he explained what was going on, this was nothing I could have imagined.
Dragons were the source of our Birthrights—I mean magic—seeing as who we were born to no longer mattered since they weren’t the one to provide the magic.
Could this be why I have a link to Miranda?
Was it because of the magic lingering in from my ancestors so I had a shared memory like the dragons do?
Then a thought struck me, and I understood why Vasin was so worried about what was about to happen.
“Vasin, are they going to the Dragon Lands to try and gain magic from being bitten?”
“Yes, Cass, that is exactly what they are trying to do.”
“How, though? Don’t dragons know the dangers of doing that? Isn’t this the whole reason they are trying to break away and live in the Dragon Lands?”
“If any of them hold magic within them, it makes the call to your pair-bond extremely hard to ignore. Imagine if I turned away from you, knowing what we could and do have, the need not to be alone is so strong it ruins us every time. Part of me thinks it’s the feeling the first dragon had when he chose to build this bond with the first king. ”
“I would guess since Izel has a Birthright that Xio would too, but I don’t know about Garold.”
“I do believe that is his son sitting behind you…”
Shaking myself out of our mental conversation, I leaned my head back against Dayson’s shoulder so I could yell into his ear. “Do you know if your father has a Birthright?”
“Not really, unless you count being able to start a fire no matter what stones you strike together as a Birthright,” Dayson answered.
“Did you get that ability too?” I pressed.
“Sure did… comes in handy when you’re out on jobs but not really all that helpful in real life.”
Dammit, it looks like two of them had magic enough to call to a dragon.
Wait, is that how Tahir and Jade ended up together?
His Birthright was much stronger than anyone else’s I’ve seen in a long time.
So many things were now making sense as I fit the pieces together.
Could I do more with my magic then produce a bow?
I can break spells, but I never considered the fact that I might be able to do more with it.
Would the Dragon Castle hold answers to this?
“Cassy-bear, what’s going on?” Dayson challenged. “I can feel how tense you and Vasin are.”
“There is a lot more going on with dragons than we ever realized, and the clan leaders are about to destroy decades of progress,” I answered. “Just trust me when I say we need to make sure they don’t have a chance to bond with a dragon.”
“Bond with a dragon? They can do that? I thought it only happened at hatchings.”
“Day, I don’t have time to explain more. We’re almost there, and it’s going to be two of us against the lot of them and their dragons. Vasin is good, but he is still growing and hasn’t gotten his fire yet which puts us at a slight disadvantage.”
“Just slightly, you say? Well, I eat those odds for breakfast. Don’t underestimate me just yet, Cassy-bear. I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve,” Dayson assured me with a smirk and a wink.
Let’s just pray that will be enough until the others show up. They are going to kill me when they find out what’s going on.