68. Aurora
AURORA
That night I had the strangest dream.
I had fallen asleep in Ryse’s arms, knowing full well it might be our last night together. I had begged him to make love to me, but he steadfastly refused.
“I might get you pregnant,” he said, frowning at me. “And then what if something happens to me? I won’t leave you in that position, little one.”
“Nothing’s going to happen!” I had insisted, clinging to him tightly. “Please, Ryse—I want to be with you before the battle.”
“You are with me. I won’t risk leaving you pregnant and alone,” he’d told me sternly, even as he wound his arms around me, drawing me closer.
“If something happens to me, keep your secret as long as you can, sweetheart. Burn Elleena’s journal—it talks too much about how Golden Queens only bond with women.
Keep yourself safe and always wear your pendant. ”
And with that, I had to be content. For though I felt his hardness branding my hip, he refused to make love with me on the eve of battle.
It was Elleena who I dreamed about, when I had finally drifted off into a troubled sleep. In my dream she was a short woman with wise gray eyes and brown hair in a long braid down her back. She was standing on the Flight Terraces beside a perfectly huge Golden Queen.
“Oh, is this F’reya?” I asked, coming up to her.
“Yes, this is my baby.” She smiled and stroked the enormous dragon’s head—which was three times as big as she was.
F’reya snorted softly and nodded at me in greeting, and I nodded back.
“And this must be your own queen,” Elleena said to me. She looked to my left and I saw that L’eesha was standing there, though I hadn’t seen her earlier.
“Yes, this is my L’eesha,” I said proudly. “She hatched from the smallest golden egg.”
“I know, for my F’reya laid that egg.”
Elleena smiled at me as she spoke, and I felt a shock of recognition coming from L’eesha.
“MOTHER!” She exclaimed, rushing over to F’reya, who nosed her affectionately.
“I didn’t know they were related,” I said to Elleena.
“It is because they are that I am able to come to you,” she said. Her grey eyes were suddenly serious. “I am speaking to you by the power of our dragons’ ancestral bloodlines—through the sacred memories of the Golden Queens.”
I stared at her in awe.
“I didn’t know that was possible.”
“There is much you do not know—much I wish I had time to teach you. But alas, there is no time,” she told me. “My child, the Madlings are coming. Tomorrow’s battle will be fierce.”
“I know.” I suddenly wanted to cry but I pushed back the tears that threatened. “I’m afraid…afraid we’re not ready.”
“You’re not,” Elleena said bluntly. “But you can still turn the tide. The Madlings have a weakness—something that the people in your time have forgotten.”
“What? What is it?” I asked anxiously.
“They are blinded by the sunlight,” she told me.
I frowned.
“That’s their weakness? But they fly by night and day —we’re expecting them tomorrow morning.”
“That’s because they don’t hunt by sight,” Elleena told me. “They hunt by fear—they can feel the negative emotions of others—the same way you can feel the emotions of dragons, my child. And they can send emotions too—the way your L’eesha can send feelings and emotions.”
I shook my head.
“But…how does that help us? I’m sure everyone will be afraid tomorrow.”
“They will—fear in battle is natural and the Madlings will make it worse. But let me tell you what you must do to defeat them.”
She leaned close to me and spoke in my ear…