Chapter 59 #2
Four Stormstrike hatchlings tumbled through the grass close by, amethyst wings flaring as they chased one another through sprays of sparks.
One launched itself at another’s neck. A second tripped over its own talons, screeching as it rolled halfway down the slope.
The smallest had its jaws clamped around Veyrix’s tail, shaking its head from side to side.
Skylash snapped her fangs together.
All four hatchlings froze. One still hung upside down, wing talons hooked in its sibling’s jaws.
Veyrix’s low rumble stirred the grass, and Vesryn nodded as he listened.
Then the prince turned, his gaze finding Serenna first. In the days since the battle, they’d woven their Wells back together again by choice.
Now the restored bond warmed from his attention, familiar and newly made at once.
His eyes rested on her before drifting to Sharyne bound against Fenn’s torso.
Serenna approached with Fenn at her side, leaving the spires and their whispers at her back.
“Are you sure you don’t want a portal?” Serenna asked Skylash, glancing toward the dragons still tangled in the grass. “The hatchlings—”
“They will gain strength in the sky,” Skylash hissed. “They’ve been coddled far too long in the desert with that Emberhart whelp.”
Serenna pressed her lips together.
There’d been twenty-two hatchlings safe in the nursery at Asharyn. Twenty-two, with wings too large for their bodies and storm, frost, and fire already kindling beneath their scales.
Now only fourteen remained.
Fourteen, though some part of her still counted helplessly for the eight that should’ve followed. She didn’t know where Galaeryn’s portal had cast them or if they’d emerged somewhere without sky. Vasharax’s absence hurt worst of all, a missing ember her mind kept reaching for and finding only ash.
The druids kept saying that they’d saved the realms, but Serenna could still count all they hadn’t.
Vesryn’s fingers brushed the back of her hand, his touch lingering just long enough to blunt the ache.
“Where will you go?” he asked Veyrix. “Back to the Aetherveil?”
“Perhaps,” the dragon mused, scanning the sky. “These lands appear to have rearranged themselves in our absence. Very inconvenient. And I’m sure Skylash will have opinions about where we should claim our new domain.”
Skylash’s violet gaze pinned on him. “While you were busy sleeping in your chains, I scouted most of these realms. My opinions are earned.” Her head swung to Serenna. “And before you ask, I would not deign to tell the likes of you.”
Serenna put her hands on her hips. “How gracious of you to preserve the mystery.”
Skylash lifted her lip until an ivory fang gleamed near Serenna’s shoulder.
“You possess my boon and mistake it for an invitation. Do not think I failed to notice you gave the tide what was promised to the storm. I have yet to determine what breaking our bargain should cost you. When your little services are required, you will heed my summons.”
“Of course,” Serenna muttered. At least Skylash had decided to postpone the execution for not turning all of the Unbound eggs. “I’ll eagerly await our reunion.”
Lightning flickered in Skylash’s eyes before she shoved her snout between the two tangled hatchlings and nosed them apart.
“Enough,” she growled. “We fly.”
Her vast shoulders rolled as she hauled herself down the slope, wing talons hooking in the grass. The hatchlings scrambled after her, tripping over their wings as they snapped at one another’s legs.
At the hill’s edge, Skylash hurled herself skyward.
Her first downstroke struck the hill like thunder, flattening the grass and driving the air from Serenna’s lungs. Amethyst wings swept wide across the morning, the injured span hitching once before the next stroke steadied her.
The hatchlings launched into her wake, smaller bodies tossed wild by the violence of her ascent. Then, one by one, they tucked into her draft, clustered close behind her wings.
Skylash circled once over the lake, and heads lifted along the shore as her shadow swept across them.
Then she turned north with the hatchlings until only Veyrix remained.
“Skylash performs disdain best for an audience,” he said as the last sparks vanished into the haze. “Once the storm has no one left to impress, she will remember the hatchlings have short wings.”
Serenna shook her head. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Veyrix chuffed, the wind taking the shape of laughter before he lowered his snout to Vesryn. “Think on my offer.”
The prince’s expression surrendered nothing, but the bond carried the quiet, settled weight of a choice already made. “I will.”
Veyrix studied him a moment longer, the breeze combing through the pale frills along his spine. Then he turned and loped down the slope, wing talons skimming over the earth.
At the hill’s edge, his wings snapped open. A current gathered beneath him, grass bowing away in rippling rings as wind coiled under his body. Then it caught his weight and lifted him clear of the earth.
Veyrix rose as if the sky had drawn breath and taken him in. His sinuous body arced as he turned north after Skylash.
Serenna stood between Vesryn and Fenn, Sharyne asleep against Fenn’s chest, and watched until Veyrix dwindled to a dark speck against the sky.
She glanced at Vesryn. “What was his offer?”
A breeze dragged silver hair across his cheek. “In time, he’ll need druids of his own.”
Before she could press, wingbeats stirred the grass behind them.
Cinderax swept over the hill with the Emberhart and Tidecrasher hatchlings scattered behind him.
Serenna’s gaze slipped through the spaces between them, searching for Vasharax, for the flash of wings that never soared into view. Her fingers curled hard into her palm until she could make herself look at the ones who remained.
Kaedryn crested the hill behind the dragons with Velinya beside her and a contingent of druids following.
Kaedryn’s battle armor was gone. White ribbons streamed from her raiment, and for an instant Serenna saw the female she’d first met in Asharyn, before either of them understood what the war would demand.
“The last of our forces have returned to Asharyn,” Kaedryn said.
Serenna drew an unsteady breath, sensing the farewell. “Already?”
“We have much to rebuild.” Kaedryn glanced toward the shore, where Saundyl and his wife stood conversing with Magister Thalaesyn and Mara as the others bound for Vaelyn filtered through a portal.
“Our market stalls are splintered, the canal is fouled with soot, and many homes have no door left to close against the night.”
Her crimson eyes returned to Serenna, and her voice softened. “Asharyn will heal. And your rooms in the palace will always be open.”
Red canyons piercing the purple dusk rose in Serenna’s mind, turquoise water gleaming through canals carved into stone, and allies who’d chosen them before victory made loyalty convenient.
Asharyn had ceased being merely the place they’d fled to survive.
Somewhere among those cliffs, Serenna had first learned to trust her wings.
One of the Emberhart hatchlings clawed at Velinya’s legs. Without glancing down, she scooped the dragon against her side, its tail curling around her arm.
“Some of us have chosen to return and help rebuild,” Velinya said. “Along with a number of humans as well.”
Fenn paused from brushing a copper strand of hair from Sharyne’s face. “Humans in Asharyn?”
“Some have no hearths waiting for them across the realms,” Kaedryn said. “Others have no wish to return to empty villages. But many know how to tend fields. If Asharyn is to become more than a hidden refuge, we will need those who know how to coax life from the land.”
Cinderax settled in the grass at their feet, smoke curling from his nostrils. “A refuge will become a stronghold if its gates open.” His ancient gaze shifted toward the human lines along the shore. “My ancestors once offered the scalebound gift to all who proved worthy. Humans and Aelfyn alike.”
“You’ll extend your boon to others?” Serenna asked.
“Perhaps in time,” Cinderax rumbled. “Asharyn could become the place where old ways are remade by new blood.”
Serenna could picture what she’d never thought possible—free dragons sunning themselves on desert sand while humans, elves, druids, and wraith learned how to live beside one another without being forged into enemies first.
Kaedryn inclined her head, claws interlocking over her heart. “We will meet again under another dawn.”
Her Starshard flared within the jewelry of her palm as she raised one claw. A portal opened beside her, desert heat spilling through the void.
One by one, the druids passed through. The hatchlings followed in a disorderly scatter of wings and scales, Cinderax last among them.
At the threshold, the dragon looked back. “Come when you are ready. Asharyn keeps a flame burning for those who return.”
Serenna nodded. “We will.”
The portal closed, the desert warmth slipping from her skin. Lake wind rushed into its place, cool and damp against her cheeks.
Vesryn spoke quietly beside her. “You should see him off.”