Ten
Rohan
“Make sure to get your bets in while you can!” The king tells the crowd. “Now, bring in the dragons!” Kaldar, Adora, Emmy, Leon and I wait at the edges of the Enclave. The sand blows softly in the breeze as I look around, scanning the stands.
They’re excited, hungry for the blood we will spill.
My spine snaps straight when guards make a large circle in the center, and then in the next moment, Hakkon, amongst other dragons, comes into view, metal muzzle in place, but free of the netting that prevents them from flying away.
“Asshole,” Kaldar growls, and the others agree.
The dragons growl, eyes on the stands.
The guards that appeared with them step back, a stone clasped in one hand.
“Port stones?” I wonder.
“Must be,” Adora says.
Port stones, once filled with magic by witches, can take you and anyone you’re in contact with to another location. A single port stone can be used twice before the magic is depleted within.
“How did he get enough of them to be able to use them in The Games?” I ask aloud.
“Does he have a witch, maybe?” Emmy asks, and I look at her.
“Not that I know of.”
“One of his kids, then?” Leon looks up into the royal section.
I shake my head. “I have no idea, but if he has port stones to waste on transporting dragons, that means he has ease of access to us in the den.”
“And elsewhere,” Kaldar adds. “Like out in The Glade.”
My fingers twitch.
Is that how the eggs are being stolen?
“Doesn’t explain how anyone even got close to an egg without being ripped apart by its mother or father first. Or any other dragon nearby. They protect them all.”
Hakkon growls, wings flapping, blood dripping to the floor. He swings his tail around, hitting a guard and sending him flying through the air, eventually crashing into the sand. Another dragon slashes at him with his claws, roaring in his face the best he can with the muzzle.
Guards shout, the crowd gasps and I eye the ledge at the top of the Enclave, the ballista’s full of Nighturn taking aim.
“Control them!” Halen shouts, looking down at us while the guards flee from the angry dragons.
“Hakkon, come,” I call, panic making my heart pound.
His head snaps my way, and he instantly takes flight toward us as the crowd oohs and ahhs.
I grit my teeth and walk forward, palm out. Hakkon lands before us, kicking up sand and he moves closer, purring a sad sound when the metal restricts contact.
“I know,” I tell him, moving to the side of his head and stroking under his ear instead.
“You got this,” Kaldar encourages, holding onto the muzzle bars and shaking it a little. “The quicker we get this done, the sooner we can go back to the den and get this thing off of you.”
He rumbles and Kaldar nods, looking over to the others. I follow his gaze.
The other dragons have gone to their own clans, seeking comfort as the guards that came with them move off to the sides.
The crowd cheers, the sound loud and Hakkon shuffles, tail swishing, agitated.
“Now that the dragons are here,” Halen says to the crowd. “Let the first game begin. Dragorie, stay in your place.”
I bare my teeth in his direction and wait.
Nothing happens at first, just silence, but then, in the center, rock starts to protrude from the ground.
“Gods,” Emmy breathes, watching as a cliffside rises from the middle, sending sand flying in every direction, the rock looking sharp, and steep.
“We have to climb that?” Kaldar asks, as it continues to rise.
“I guess so.”
“Shame no one can ride Hakkon up.”
“That would be too easy, but you know only the bonded can ride their dragon,” I reply, watching as the formation nearly reaches the top of the Enclave, where the metal is in place to stop dragons from escaping.
“How did they do that?” Leon asks, and I look to the royal section again. The crowd chants with excitement, the children now standing at the half-wall next to Halen.
“I don’t know.”
“Now, we need to add some extra difficulty, don’t you think?” Halen boasts, and the sky darkens, turning stormy. Lightning casts in the sky, loud and thunderous, the wind picking up.
“Oh great,” Adora mutters, hands on her hips.
“Now,” Halen shouts, “Begin!”
“Let’s go.”
The crowd cheers as we run to the cliff, spotting the other clans doing the same.
“Stay together,” I tell them when we reach it, gripping the stone and instantly feeling how sharp it is. “Hakkon. Stay down here until we are further up.”
He rumbles a reply and we start our climb, hoping we get there unscathed.
“Careful, the rock is loose here,” I shout to Emmy, and she nods, relaying it to Leon at her other side.
We’ve been climbing for what feels like hours, nightfall descending upon us. It took us too long to realize that the cliff is actually sinking, forming new stone above like a never-ending rotation. The rock is steep and sharp, made to challenge its climbers.
The Enclave is alive with cheers and screams, calling for our blood as sweat drips down the side of my face, body aching.
I grab onto the stone above, making sure my grip is strong and move further up.
Mist has started to swirl around us at the height we’re at, making visibility low and some rocks slippery and hard to grab on to.
Adora is a little below me, Kaldar with her. Hakkon is flying nearby, but with the thickness of the mist, and the setting sun, I can’t see him clearly.
But that also means no one else can either, and I’d like to keep it that way.
My mind goes back to the conversation with Alexandar.
His words rattle around my skull as I climb, trying not to let them distract me, but how can it not when he’s been talking to another elf.
He converses with her at the boundary, and he told me that the elves have agreed to come to Dracozar.
Why? I’m unsure, but it could be the way for Alara to leave. To be safe.
Could I even let her go?
“Rohan, watch out!” Kaldar shouts, and I look up, moving just in time to avoid the rock crashing down toward us.
Fuck, don’t get distracted, Rohan.
“Try not to let that hit you,” Karag’s voice comes from above somewhere, angering me further.
“Fucking asshole,” Emmy says, climbing next to me, Leon still at her side.
“Just be careful, go up to the right, away from him,” I say.
If he tries that again, I’m going to grab his ankle and pull him down.
We move over, my fingers digging into the sharp rocks, conscious that with one wrong move and we’ll fall to our deaths.
From what I can tell, clan Firehorn is ahead of us. Greenhorn below. Rivertail is to the right and I lost Highwing a little while ago.
Sigrid and her members are in a better position than us here. In Daggerfall, where they reside, they live among the cliffs, but with the low visibility and the slipperiness of the rocks, it’s anyone’s game.
Sweat drips off of me, my fingers bleeding and the others are not fairing any better.
Emmy grimaces with every movement, Leon is panting like he can’t catch his breath, and Kaldar, fixated on Adora, keeps nearly slipping, while Adora is struggling to find her grip.
These are the best climbers I know, but we didn’t take into account the mist.
“Shit,” Adora hisses, losing her grip. Kaldar quickly grabs her arm, teeth bared as he holds his own weight to steady her until she sets herself right again.
“That was close,” she breathes.
“Okay?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“Fuck, be careful Adora,” Kaldar says. “Concentrate.”
“I can’t see well.”
I look up and grimace, glancing at Emmy and Leon.
“It’s like we’re climbing blind,” Emmy says. “This isn’t like the dragons’ mountain at home.
“Nowhere near like it,” Leon breathes.
“I know.”
Someone screams in the distance, and we all freeze, waiting.
When the scream dies down to nothing but cheers from the stands, we all look at each other.
They could have fallen or been pushed, either one is an option.
This cliff is going to kill us one way or another.
“Hakkon,” I call. Holding onto the cliffside with one hand, I turn and look around.
I see nothing at first, but then the subtle glow of his chest appears.
I breathe a sigh of relief until in the distance, another chest glows. This time, it’s not alone. It fights with another.
“Why are they fighting?” Kaldar asks. “You said the Dragonbonds agreed to not harm them.”
“We did.” I watch as a red dragon claws into the green one. “But we never said anything about dragons fighting dragons.”
“This isn’t right,” Adora says, and I agree.
Violent growls reach us, and I wince as chunks of flesh start ripping from the green one.
Fuck.
“Stay to the right with us, Hakkon.” He rumbles in response, moving to position himself appropriately.
No one is touching my fucking dragon. Man, woman or beast.
“Go dark,” I command, and his chest dims, the thick mist covering him completely. Only the soft beat of wings can be heard if you really listen for it.
“We need to hurry,” Kaldar says, keeping behind Adora as we press on. “We’ll come last at the speed we’re going.”
I know.
I look up and spot an overhang above.
“There, we can rest for a little while and then give it our all to the top.”
They nod and we eventually make it to the ledge, everyone’s legs shaking.
“Fuck, let me see.” Leon says to Emmy. “Too much blood.”
“A sharp bit went into my leg,” Emmy hisses, and Leon produces a bandage and wraps it around the wound.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kaldar asks.
“I didn’t want to slow us down.”
I grit my teeth and wipe the sweat from my face. Peering down, I don’t see anyone or anything, including the fighting dragons.
“We need to keep moving.” I look at Emmy’s bleeding leg and grit my teeth. “Just go as fast as you can.”
Her brown eyes are resigned, but she nods.
We both know she may not make it.
“May Morana guide you,” she whispers, and we all echo it.
“Let’s go,” Adora says, and we make our way up again.
For hours.
Emmy slows significantly, Leon forever at her side as the dark of night fully envelops us.
The stands have been cheering occasionally, the growls of dragons floating past us.
With the cliff sinking and rotating to the new stone being produced, we don’t know how much longer we have to go to the top.