Thirteen
Alara
I’m going to see the dragons again.
I may not be in the Wilds anymore, but the reason Rohan asked me to learn to speak with his dragons was to find out who is stealing the eggs.
That task hasn’t stopped.
I meant it in The Glade when I told him I wanted to do it for the clan, for him, and I won’t go back on that, no matter what has transpired between us. More is at stake here.
The night air clings to me as I make my way through the clan silently, warmer now that spring has arrived.
I knock on the door when I arrive at the gate, the guard within grunting something before the gate opens to the dragons.
I go through without being noticed by other clans, and head down the dirt path, humming to calm myself, and them.
When I reach our dragons, they rumble in greeting. They always liked it when I hummed the lullaby to them.
“Hi Agnar,” I say as I pass him, and then I spot Alter, still sleeping with his tail curled under him, and my chest aches.
“You’re a good dragon.” He peels his eyes open at my words, and purrs as I stoke his face. “Rest easy, friend.”
I continue on, greeting the others. “I know you want to be next to your brother,” I tell Soren as she huddles in the back.
She purrs, and more purrs come from further down. Doren.
“Don’t lose hope.”
I go to Vex and Blaise next, both still asleep while Hakkon, Magnus and Hedoric purr to my hum, watching as I pass by.
Doren, much like his sibling, is curled up at the back too. “I know.”
Purr.
I carry on and head to the back until I reach Escor.
He sits up when he spots me coming, that tail of his bouncing, his tongue hanging out.
“Hi.” I smile, reaching through the bars and stroking below his ear.
His back legs lift a little, scratching air.
I eye Drogonah next to him. His back is to me, his body rising and falling with each breath and after one last pet for Escor, I move over to his cage.
I don’t stop until I’m in front of him, and he turns his head, a single eye on me.
“I don’t have much time until Rohan comes to find me,” I tell him. “Will you answer something for me?”
His lips peel back a little.
“The sooner you do, the sooner I’ll leave you alone.”
He huffs, raising his head, claws scratching the cage floor.
“If I speak with the other dragons, do you think they would help me?”
Rumbles.
“I need to know if a Dragonbond’s dragon is helping steal eggs.”
He pulls his gums back and growls, lifting his head.
“I don’t like the thought of it either, but it makes sense. How else are they leaving The Glade? How else did the king get them?”
All the dragons growl at that, and I feel it vibrate through my chest, my fingers tingling.
“He has younger dragons underground, younger than Escor, and Rohan says the only explanation that makes sense is if they were the missing eggs.”
All the dragons are standing to attention now, their heads low, ears back.
“I know, we need to get them out, so.” I look back at Drogonah. “Will they help me?”
He huffs… but I feel his nervousness.
“I’ll be careful.”
Drogonah looks past me to the other cages beyond and he dips his head, a purr coming from him.
“Okay,” I breathe. Nodding. “I can do this.”
He eyes me, and I put my hands on my hips.
“I can.”
He taps his tail and then sits up straighter, looking at the other dragons and releases a furious growl.
I turn and see the ones closest to us cower, their ears flattening.
“I don’t know if that helped or not,” I mutter, feeling their fear.
With one last look, I take a deep breath and move to the other cages, the ones that aren’t clan Blackscale.
I don’t know who they are exactly, but I see the squiggle of writing at the base of their cage. It must be their name.
I pass a red one who snarls at me, and I make sure to keep my distance.
She’s not angry, she’s scared.
I pass two blue ones next that feel the same, and I start to hum again, hoping to calm them.
A green one sits at the back of another cage, his chest pulsing with a glow, like he can’t control it and my hands itch to go to him and make sure he’s okay, but I’m not sure he would appreciate it.
Neither would the one next to him that’s snarling at me.
I have to wonder if the bars of the cage hadn’t prevented them from breathing fire, if I would be ash right now.
I breathe through the emotions of the dragons as they pour into me, the same feelings of our own and then I stop at the white dragon.
“Hello, Celeste.”
Her eyes open.
“I’m sorry you’re here.”
Purr.
“I’d hoped we would meet again under different circumstances.”
“Well, if it isn’t the elf.”
I turn and smile hesitantly.
“Sigrid,” I say, moving back a little, and she eyes the movement.
“I won’t hurt you.”
“You won’t?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I am aware of the deal your Dragonbond made, but the king is the evil here, not you, Rohan or us.”
I nod, shoulders relaxing. “I was walking through to see if I can get answers about the eggs.”
“Ahh,” she nods. “You will have to go deeper. Highwing dragons are in this part. And as I don’t have anything to do with the eggs, neither will they.”
I look beyond her to the other cages.
“So many.”
“We have a lot all together.” She turns and looks too, moving closer to Celeste and stroking her. “It would be like a smaller meeting at The Glade, but you know, without all the cages and doom and gloom.”
“It would.” I eye the top of the walls, seeing the many guards up there. “Are they always around?”
She looks up. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want them to breathe fire out of their cages.”
“That’s happened?”
“At first. They don’t like being caged up.”
“They aren’t meant to be.”
“No,” she sighs. “They aren’t. They get to roam a little further down.” She points to a small forest to the right of us, past the Blackscale dragons. “We have to get the key from the guards first, and not all of them will allow it without… compensation.”
I blink in horror at her.
She can’t mean…
She waves me off. “My dragons deserve to have as much time out of this evil contraption as possible.”
Movement in the distance has us both looking as a man approaches a dragon. A red one.
The dragon whines, and I hear his murmured words.
“If only he wasn’t an asshole,” she mutters, shaking her head.
“Karag?” I whisper, not wanting him to know we’re here.
“Yeah. He’s old, set in his ways, but he cares for the dragons, too.”
“You don’t think it’s him who may have taken the eggs?”
“I didn’t say that,” she says, leaning back against the cage. “We can’t rule anything out.”
“Alara!”
“Oops, looks like your time is up.” Sigrid smirks, leaning against the cage.
Rohan storms over, scowl on his face.
“We’ll speak soon.” She begins to walk off, then stops. “Oh, by the way, did you know Darcia is back?”
“What?” I ask as Rohan appears at my back, hand on my hip.
“Yeah.” She gestures to Karag. “He took her in with his clan. If you want me to deal with her, Rohan. Just say the word.”
“She will be dealt with,” Rohan rumbles, anger in his tone. “But right now she is the least of my concerns unless she dares to show her face to me.”
She nods. “I see, oh,” she says, turning to walk off. “If you see Dorkin, tell him to come see me.”
Rohan spins me to face him. “Don’t wander off on your own. I was gone for a moment and you weren’t there.”
“I came to see the dragons.”
“And I just nearly tore through all of the camps to find you.” He takes a breath and closes his eyes. “Don’t do that again.”
The order is harsh, but I see the panic in his face.
“I won’t.”
“Good. Now come.” He begins to walk forward, and I follow.
Rohan mumbles to himself, agitated, and as we pass Drogonah, he glares at him like it’s his fault I was here. The dragon lifts his head and looks away.
Rohan stops suddenly at the base of the hill, his fingers twitching and then he’s grabbing my hand as we ascend.
My cheeks heat as he guides me back up the hill.
The weight of his palm is nice against mine as we fit together perfectly.
He squeezes my hand, and I squeeze back, ducking my head.
“So shy,” he murmurs, and I smile softly.
“Where are we going?”
“To eat,” he says. “I want us all to eat together every moment we can.”
Because it may be our last.
The thought jars me, and I squeeze Rohan’s hand tighter.
We come back through the gate, eyes on us as we make our way to the central point of our area.
Everyone is here, bowls of what seems like stew in hand as they sit around the fire.
“Ewf!” A small bundle barrels into me, and I let go of Rohan’s hand and laugh, bending down and hugging Melle close.
“Hiya,” I say, grinning as she pulls back and touches my hair. It’s so good to see her, though I wish it wasn’t here.
“I mwissed you.”
My heart melts.
“I missed you too,” I whisper, stroking her hair.
“I helps with fwirewood.”
“You did!” I gasp dramatically. “Oh, so strong!”
“Yep!” She nods, proud of herself as Nora comes over.
“Alara,” she says, holding Melle’s hand.
“Hi.”
“She has been asking about you every day.”
“You have?” I ask Melle, my throat tightening.
Melle frowns. “You were gwone.”
“I’m sorry. I’m here now.”
“Yay!”
I chuckle, and Rohan pats her head.
“Let’s eat.”
She runs off, and Nora shakes her head fondly at her before following.
Rohan pulls me over to a log and sits me down.
“I’ll be back.”
I nod and look around. I thought I would get some scowls, maybe some frowns at my arrival, but everyone I look at smiles at me, some nodding and it feels… nice.
Like I’m welcome with them now. Like I have a… family.
I bite my lip at the feeling. It’s not one I’ve felt before, even with Effy as fear was constantly wrapped around my throat, but this feeling now is one I want to keep.
“They’ve been worried, too,” Rohan tells me, sitting down and passing me a bowl.
I was right, it’s stew.
“It’s a nice feeling,” I tell him.
“What is?”
“To be missed. To be wanted somewhere.”
I feel his stare on the side of my face as I lift the bowl and take a sip, the warmth of the broth sliding down my throat.
“You’re always wanted with us, Little Whisperer. I claimed you, remember?”
How could I forget?
In more ways than one.
My cheeks flush, and he hums.
“I see.”