31. A Whole New World
~ GRACE ~
The huge, black dragon was shocking in both size, and presence. I’d seen him in Fyrehold, but only from a distance, when the king brought Donavyn and Bren’s dragons to the castle to show them off.
To see him free and roaring at Kham, who’d seemed so big to me already, but wasn’t as tall or thick, was terrifying.
I was afraid because Koa felt afraid and I wasn’t sure why. But I saw movements between the dragons that were similar to horses—the toss of the head, the flaring nostrils—and I wondered if they meant the same thing.
Kham kept arching his neck high, dropping his nose, nostrils flaring, sharing breath with the big black dragon.
Both dragons stomped front feet and flapped their wings in ways similar to those I’d observed in the king’s birds of prey. A warning. And a release of tension, I thought.
The sounds the dragons made were so loud and unique, I wished things weren’t so tense.
I wanted Koa to explain what they meant.
But even though I could feel her and she sent images at times, it was all a blur.
She didn’t use words and I couldn’t understand why she kept showing me Kham, over and over.
“She’s scared,” I whispered.
Voski shifted his weight at my side. “Don’t worry. She’s safe. Even if she doesn’t know it. Kgosi will handle this—Kham isn’t challenging him for the herd. He’s just standing for his mate.”
“What does he have to stand for?”
Voski raked a hand through his hair. “He has to submit himself and his will, I suppose, to Kgosi. And so will Koa. But that’s a choice they make in the herd.
It means that they come under his authority and protection—not that another male can take her.
It’s a herd hierarchy thing. Hard to explain,” he mumbled.
But I nodded. I thought I knew what he meant. Similar to the hierarchy in a horse herd. Every time a new horse was introduced, every other horse had to assess where they stood in the rankings. Sometimes it was easy. Other times, it caused aggression, or fights.
Kgosi and Kham touched noses and blew vapor at each other. But the part that worried me was Koa, calling and tossing her head. Dancing, and even leaping into the air, flapping, so her talons dangled a few feet off the ground, as if she wished to flee.
Kgosi growled again and raised his head as Kham lowered his, snaking his neck. But he didn’t advance on the black scaled dragon.
Then they both turned their heads to look at Koa.
Instinctively, I took a step forward.
Voski grabbed my upper arm and tugged me back. “You can’t go down there. It’s not safe.”
Kham groaned and Kgosi took a step toward Koa.
Then the other dragon, the smaller, gray one that had landed behind Kgosi, lifted her head and whistled. Koa went still as Kham rumbled.
Voski leaned into my ear. “You remember the dragons speak with images and feelings, not words?”
I nodded. Koa kept doing that because she was agitated, even though I couldn’t understand it all.
“Right now, Kham’s telling Kgosi why Koa belongs to him. And Kgosi’s telling Kham that he won’t take his female, but he requires her submission if she’s to link with the herd.”
I took a deep breath. I knew the dragons had been discussing that, and Koa had agreed to submit to Kham’s Primarch and become part of a herd. But that had been when she was calm.
Now, my dragon paced back and forth behind Kham, mouth open, panting, her wings fluttering with agitation. She looked back and forth between her mate and Kgosi, her tail lashing like a cat’s.
But then, to my surprise, as Kham took a step back, his neck still low, and ears flattened back against his skull, Koa took a hesitant step forward. And Kgosi, the black Primarch, began to emit a strange, heavy sound, that hummed in the air and in the earth under my feet.
Hengh-hengh-hength-hengh-hength…
The sound raised the hair on the back of my neck when some of the other dragons joined him—including Kham.
Koa, hesitated between steps, but slowly found her courage and approached the massive black dragon.
She hissed when Kgosi stretched out his neck, but the gray dragon behind him whistled and made a strangely soothing sound.
Koa, panting, stood stock still, trembling as Kgosi stepped forward and stretched his nose to her neck, his nostrils flaring, breath huffing.
No one spoke. The only noise was the dragons making that strange call.
Then Koa looked at the massive, black Primarch… and bent her head.
I didn’t like seeing her shrink. But it was barely a moment before her head rose again, and she hissed once more. Yet, even I could tell it lacked the fervor she’d had a moment earlier.
“What is she—?”
Kgosi lifted his head and called. Not a roar, but a deep, sonorous sound—and the other dragons in the clearing, and those wheeling in the sky above, all crowed and trumpeted, darting around and I felt Koa’s heart ease. Felt her happy.
I didn’t understand what happened. I couldn’t see any change. But the black dragon walked past her. He gave a low, bark of a call at Kham, who turned to follow him, and the two of them ran, launching up the side of the hollow and into the sky.
Then Koa and the gray dragon touched noses for a moment, before the gray tossed her head and whistled. She followed the males—and Koa ran after her.
Dragons from all directions, poured down into the hollow and launched, all of them calling and singing.
I put a hand to my chest as something settled. Something deep, warm, and soft.
It was a strangely emotional moment. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but Koa was suddenly no longer afraid. She was delighted. And something within her that had always felt a little bit fragile, suddenly felt solid.
As the males wheeled over our heads, closely followed by Koa and the gray, Voski laughed.
“Look at him. Preening like a cock.” The handsome man he’d introduced me to chuckled as well. But then Voski caught me looking and his brows shot up. “I, uh, meant a rooster, of course,” he said.
I grinned, though my cheeks felt hot.
Even I knew that joke.
The dragons collected in the air, wheeling together overhead—then followed Kgosi off over the woods, toward the mountains.
A little burst of nerves broke in my chest—would Koa come back?
But Voski tugged at my sleeve and when I turned, even though his face was blank, his voice was gentle, which was very rare.
“They’re all flying together. To celebrate and learn each other in the link. You don’t need to worry. They’ll be back in an hour.”
I put a hand to my chest. My heart felt like it might beat out through my ribs. “Thank you. I’m glad.”
He opened his mouth, but the man at his side clapped him on the back and spoke first. “So good to have you back, Vos. You two must be famished. And no doubt need to sleep for a couple days, but we’ll need you for an hour or two.
I’ll have some food brought to us, though, don’t worry.
” Then he looked directly at me. “I know you’re tired.
We’ll make this as quick as we can. But we need to hear what Voski’s learned while he’s been away.
You can come with us, and then we’ll find you accommodations and a bath,” he said with a kind smile.
I almost groaned at the thought of a deep, hot bath. I nodded. I didn’t feel sleepy at all, but my heart still pounded. I knew when Koa returned and I felt safe again, I’d be desperately weary.
Voski’s gaze slipped back and forth between me and his friend, a strange expression on his face. But he beckoned me to follow them when the other man—Ronen, I reminded myself. Voski’s squad leader—turned and started for the large building off to our left.
I felt the eyes of all the other men follow us. There were dozens of them scattered around this clearing, and near the doorways of the huge building that must be a stable because the doors were large enough for dragons to walk easily in and out.
Some of the men stared directly at me. Others, eyed me from the side, as if they were nervous.
One or two scowled like they were angry.
But no one spoke to me, and as we passed out of the grassy area and past that massive stable building onto the paths beyond it, Voski kept checking that I kept up with them.
I couldn’t stop staring.
Dragons flew high in the sky above. Dozens of them. Here and there, more rose from among the trees, or in the hills, flying off to join the cluster in the sky that was growing smaller and smaller as they flapped away.
Here on earth, boys and young men dressed in work clothes, clustered around the doors into the stable. But everywhere else, there were men.
Tall, short, stocky, slim, heavily muscled, and lanky—though even those ones looked like honed steel— and every one of them dressed like Voski, in dark leathers that hugged them like a second skin.
Young, or old, they all held themselves with confidence, and when they moved, it was with the strong, casual stride of a stallion in his field.
Certain of himself and his ability to deal with whatever might come.
They were everywhere.
They were the men who rode dragons.
And I was here with them. This would be my world. I stifled a joyful giggle, though tears pricked the backs of my eyes, because this was impossible.
Yet, it was everything I’d hoped.
Even the thought sent my heart spinning, because it couldn’t be. Could it?
Nerves bubbled in my belly, and my lungs grew tight.
But then, Voski touched my arm again, directing me through a gap in a rock wall to a paved path beyond it.
The skin at my elbow tingled where he’d touched. And when he looked aside to make sure I was still following, I couldn’t help but smile.
None of these men had Voski’s savage elegance. None of them tugged at my chest as he did. If one of them leaned into my ear and whispered I imagined I would shiver with fear, not want.
But as I beamed, Voski averted his gaze and tipped his head, trotting after Ronen, urging me to follow.
He never smiled. Which made me desperately sad, though I had no right to. He’d been very clear.
I sighed, and adjusted my earlier thought.
Being here in Vosgaarde at the Dragon Keep wasn’t everything I’d ever hoped for.
But, it was almost.