Chapter 21
Harper
We land in the clearing on top of the mountain shaped like a thumb.
It’s along the coastline, looking out at the wide ocean on one side and a sea of trees and mountains on the other.
The wind has chapped my skin, and my legs are sore from clenching Ebron, but I’m otherwise fine.
It’s midday, and the sun is warm against my skin, a pleasant feeling after the cold wind.
So, they’ll meet us here, I say to Ebron, sliding off his back and stretching my legs, but being sure to stay close to him, just like the princes advised.
I will not like being near the bone wyrms.
Me neither, I admit.
I can fight four or five of them and possibly survive, but protecting you from their poisons will be harder. I’ve never had to protect a human and fight before.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. We just stick to the plan. Stay close together. Don’t let them surround us. Deliver the message and get out.
I do not like the idea of a human other than you riding on my back.
It’s either that or a bone wrym comes with us.
He humphs angrily in my mind.
I pet his scales gently. I don’t like any of it, but we’re doing this for a purpose.
I know you don’t care much about the war and didn’t mind fighting the bone wyrm, that’s why we joined the academy after all, but you do want more male dragons, so your species doesn’t become extinct. Concentrate on that possibility.
He agrees, but not happily, and I don’t blame him. Something about this whole thing doesn’t sit well with me. Why did we have to meet here? Why did I have to come alone? Why is it so far from the dragon riders’ academy and any help?
What’s more, why now? Why is this the time that the Hollowborn finally want to make peace? They’ve never wanted peace before. The answer comes easily. It’s because of me. Because of me, Ebron, and prophecy.
The longer we stand here, the more restless I become.
I begin pacing beside Ebron, while he holds himself stiffly, ready for an attack.
The sun disappears behind heavy clouds, and a cool breeze replaces the warm feeling of the sunlight on my skin.
Time ticks by, but there’s still no sign of them.
Just a seemingly unending time to worry about how this will all end.
Suddenly, Ebron tenses beside me and stands up taller. He roars into the sky, and flames shoot from his lips. Dark shapes explode out of the clouds, and I back up until my back hits Ebron’s. The bone wrym fall from the sky in a perfect circle around us. Six bone wrym to my one dragon.
There’s too many of them.
And they’ve already surrounded us.
My heart’s in my throat as one of the Hollowborn slides from the back of their bone wyrm and makes his way toward me.
I see that he is the Hollowborn I already spoke to.
Although their faces are all painted the same, I could never forget this man’s face.
Even just the way he holds his large frame is familiar to me in an unexpected way.
“Dragon rider,” he greets with a solemn nod. “Do you come bearing an answer to my offer of peace?”
I draw my shoulders back and command myself to sound poised and confident. “I do.” Then I take a deep breath as all their eyes lock onto me. “King Stormvale has accepted your offer of peace with one caveat. He would like a marriage to solidify the two nations.”
He stiffens. “He has a daughter? I wasn’t aware.”
Oh, boy. “He doesn’t have a daughter, but he would like your leader to form a union with his three sons and… a woman.”
“A woman?” he asks, lifting a brow.
“M-me,” I stammer out.
He crosses his big arms in front of his chest, his gaze raking from my toes to my head. “So, in order to establish a peace agreement between the Hollowborns and the Dravari people, I would have to agree to a marriage with you and King Stormvale’s three sons?”
Wait, what? “You’re the leader?”
His face is an emotionless mask. “I’m the leader.”
Whoa. I didn’t realize that. I wouldn’t have expected it, nor do I know how to feel. It might be best that the person I have to marry is the only one I’ve had any kind of an interaction with. Or it might be the worst thing to ever happen to me, I don’t know.
But I quickly recover, focusing back on the task at hand.
“The king feels this would be the best way to ensure that the peace between our nations really lasts.” I hesitate, then push on.
“In the past, the only times there has been peace is when there has been a female dragon rider. The king believes that me being here is a sign that real peace can exist between our people.”
My hand twitches to reach for the dagger at my side as warning bells chime in my mind.
The golden-eyed Hollowborn leans closer to me, and his voice is an angry rumble. “I am King Sevrin Grimsbane of the Hollowborn, and I do not accept demands.”
“Uh, okay, so it’s… a no then?” I ask, taking a small step back.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Dravari?” he hisses, and there’s a feral quality to him that makes me nervous.
I’m confused. “I don’t know. I’m just here to offer the deal. If you don’t want it, I’ll go.”
As I turn to leave, he snags my wrist.
Behind me, Ebron makes a low sound that’s a growl of warning, and the bone wyn around us shift, their bones clacking together in an eerie way that sends a ripple of fear through me. Overhead, clouds move over the sun, making it even darker than it had been a moment before.
The Hollowborn shifts closer, leaning over me with his huge frame. “Perhaps we don’t even need the deal any longer, if we have you as a bargaining chip.”
“Wh-what? No.”
“A female dragon rider. A male dragon. Your people would do a lot to get you back.”
A cool calm washes through me, and I draw my shoulders back.
“Look, Hollowborn, I came here with an offer of peace, which you seemed to want. It was a fair offer. But if you choose to turn this meeting of peace into a meeting of war instead, that’s exactly what it’ll become.
I might not survive it, but I can guarantee that between Ebron, my dragon, and I, most, if not all, of you won’t return home, so think very carefully before you start something you can’t finish. ”
His bone-like face leans close to mine. “Is that a threat?”
“You bet your ugly face that that’s a threat.”
He looks incredulous. “Did you just insult a king?”
Around us, the men begin chanting, “Kill her. Kill her,” in low, angry tones.
Their voices rise second by second as a cold wind blows through.
Smoke escapes Ebron’s nostrils, and I feel his anger, but there’s no fear.
We came together to be warriors, and we’ve become warriors.
If we have to die fighting, we’ll die fighting.
Do what you have to do, even if it hurts me, I tell Ebron.
I will.
Their leader’s hand tightens on my wrist, and he says, “Say a prayer to the gods, Dravari.”