Chapter 5 Axel
Axel
When I hatched, Gordon was already the second in command among the earth blessed. The prince, at the time, was the largest and meanest of the earth blessed. He did quite a few things badly, but top of the list was forcing any blessed he disliked to be offered as food to the other blessed.
It was effective—he stayed in power because his enemies died.
At least, it was effective until he decided the pretty golden dragon, although I was still quite young, was a threat.
I’d shown a lot of promise from hatch, but as I grew, I could clearly do things that other earth blessed couldn’t.
Most earth blessed had something they were great at—manipulating metals, encouraging new growth in plants, tunneling, shaping stone, or using some combination of materials to defend against other attacks.
I could do it all.
As word about me grew, Uriah knew he had to take action.
The solution was simple, really. Each month, the earth blessed were expected to cull the older, the weaker, or the problematic blessed from their numbers—to feed the other blessed.
Before they started voluntarily culling, the strike, water, and flame blessed would simply attack when they got hungry.
It was chaotic, and there was a lot of collateral damage to all parties.
By the time I was born, submitting a list of fodder to the other blessed was already established practice.
When my name showed up on the list, I wasn’t even very surprised. Euphrasia was the only one I could address it with. I’m not sure what to do, I said. I can’t very well submit to the demand.
No, I doubt a simple execution would be enough to kill you, even if you were inclined to allow it, Euphrasia said. Not to mention, the prophecy says our people need you.
But I can’t disclose that, either. No one can know.
Which means it’s time. Euphrasia’s smile was soft. Uriah has been a terrible leader—you shouldn’t regret replacing him. You’re doing a service to the others.
A challenge for leadership requires a ratifying vote, however.
One of the earth blessed would have to support me when I challenged Uriah.
It was a practice that made sense. Otherwise, every blessed named on the list would challenge Uriah, and he’d be stuck fighting every single blessed who was sent off as a sacrifice.
But ratifying someone’s challenge was risky.
If the person you ratified didn’t win, you’d find your name on the chow list the following week.
What if no one supports me?
Euphrasia shook her head. Then I guess your double affinities will be revealed.
I had a very nervous heart when I challenged Uriah. On the one claw, if I challenged him as Axel and lost. . .that would be bad. The threat of dying should be enough, really. But if I challenged him and no one ratified my claim? I’d have to out myself.
That might be worse.
It was still my best chance. When all the earth blessed gathered to see that week’s tribute off, I projected loudly. Axel Earth Blessed challenges Uriah, Prince of the Earth Blessed, to a fight for leadership.
Uriah laughed.
So did his supporters, which was basically all the earth blessed in attendance. He might have been feared rather than loved, but that was a common theme among our people. No one was beloved. It’s not our way.
Will anyone ratify this upstart hatchling? Uriah looked with a scowl. Every blessed there knew that if they supported me, they might die, too.
When no one spoke up, I began to catch individual earth blessed’s attention. None of them wanted to die, so they all slowly shook their heads.
Until Gordon. I ratify Axel Earth Blessed. He didn’t stop there, though. He should not have been named. He’s neither old, nor weak. His challenge is just.
Gordon wasn’t quite as large as Uriah, but he was fast. He was also quite strong, and his strike was vicious.
I’d seen Gordon kill many earth blessed in challenges, and I’d seen him kill two water blessed and a strike blessed in altercations between our people.
Even if I failed to defeat Uriah, I thought Gordon might have a chance against him.
That day, I had no idea what inspired him to speak against his ruler.
Perhaps I should have known he had a good heart, but I didn’t really learn that until later.
On that day, I simply knew that without him, my secret would have become common knowledge.
My father might have killed me the second he discovered it.
I was an abomination, but Gordon’s support kept me alive, and after I defeated Uriah, ripping his head from his body, Gordon congratulated me on my success and asked to stay on as my second-in-command. He’s been by my side ever since.
I trust him.
He’s earned that trust by supporting me in everything for centuries. Together, we turned the earth blessed into a stable, strong group, in spite of the terrible lot we’d drawn of keeping the other blessed fed.
That’s part of the reason his insubordination over this human rankles so much. You should bond Liz to keep her safe. If it had been anyone else who worried more about the well-being of my formerly-bonded human than me, I would have removed their head.
This isn’t about her. It’s so much bigger than a human.
“He’s right,” Liz says. “I’m absolutely positive that once Hyperion hears this news, he’ll round up all the dragons he can and attack human settlements, forcibly bonding brights until all the blessed have a bonded human.”
As he should. My irritating, winged human actually just pointed out something interesting. For the first time ever, we’ve found a way to feed all the blessed. . .without killing any others of our kind. Maybe this isn’t as terrible as I thought. We just need to round up enough humans.
You can’t just bond any human, Gordon says. Only the bright humans can be bonded—and we’re not sure whether the earth blessed can even bond humans. They couldn’t before.
“And I know you don’t remember this,” Liz says, “but before we left Houston, you forced the dragons to release any humans who didn’t agree to the bond—you gave the humans the choice they never had.”
The humans did use the ones we left behind to kill the blessed they were bonded to, Gordon says.
“Which was only possible because they shouldn’t have bonded humans who didn’t want to be bonded in the first place.”
Ensnaring Liz must have impaired my judgment. Leaving bonded humans behind was a major error in judgment. It left all their blessed vulnerable.
Liz looks like she wants to argue, but she doesn’t.
Let’s go, I say.
“If you allow the blessed to forcibly bond my siblings, you’ll regret it,” Liz says.
Oh? I look her up and down. She’s fierce, for a human, but so small, and so weak, I can’t really credit her threat, even with my swords.
“I’ll kill myself if you allow it, and then who will you chuck into the volcano to retrieve your precious heart?”
She threatened the same thing before, Gordon says.
Liz rounds on him. “Whose side are you on?”
Axel’s. Gordon frowns. Always Axel’s.
Liz huffs, like she can’t believe he’s saying that. “He doesn’t even remember whose side he’s on.”
Ignoring her muttering, Gordon continues. When you first bonded her, she threatened to kill herself, thereby weakening you when the humans attacked, unless you kept her siblings safe.
And I agreed?
Gordon slowly nods.
That was a bad decision on my part, wasn’t it? I watch Liz carefully when I say, I think that this time, I’ll do the opposite. Any blessed here can bond her siblings—it’s a matter of life or death.
Liz crouches and then launches into the air, her wings pumping. Apparently she plans to protect them against more than ten thousand blessed all by herself.
Gordon and I follow, and I can’t help my curiosity.
What in the name of the heart does this little person think she’s going to do?
She has no power, no real leverage at all.
If she actually tries to kill herself, we can probably stop her, and if she succeeds, we’ll find another way to reach the heart now that we know where it is.
Once Hyperion and the other blessed learn it’s her fault the earth dragons can no longer reproduce, they’ll be more than happy to end her short and insignificant life.
Everyone’s already gathered, thanks to the planned mating, so when we arrive, Liz lands in the center of the dais, next to her siblings. She wasn’t wrong in her guess. The blessed are already clamoring to bond them.
They all fall silent as Gordon and I land beside Liz.
We’re still learning about everything that happened in the volcano, in our ongoing pursuit of the heart. However, it appears that earth blessed can no longer consume any sort of food—only a blessed who has ensnared a human can.
And we have four right here, Asteria says. Four brights—you can witness how it works to ensnare one.
“That would be a mistake,” Liz says. “Many of you will recall our Thanksgiving celebration. It was the first time I talked to most of you about the importance of humans having a choice in the bond.”
That was fine when blessed didn’t really need bonded humans except for our own convenience, Asteria says. But now it’s a matter of life and death.
It’s the same thing I said moments before, but for some reason it sounds wrong to me. For the humans, it would change their entire life.
“What’s a life without choices?” Liz launches into the air again, flying around above the blessed.
“Every single human you will bond will have family, friends, connections, and a job. Every single one will be forced to give all of that up for you. Their lives matter as much as yours—you should be asking if you want them to sacrifice all that to save you.”
No one seems to appreciate her sentiment, because she’s wrong.