Chapter Thirteen #2
My chest rises and falls in a violent wave.
Finally I look away from him, my jaw tight.
I stare at the gods eyes for so long my vision blurs.
Then, I squeeze my eyes shut, put my hands over my ears, and scream.
I scream and scream into the endless darkness, knowing I’m the only one who can hear it and the release of it builds until it’s something else, until it’s no longer despair, but rage.
Rage at what he stole. Rage at what he has done.
I whip my hands from my ears and whirl around in front of this man who has taken everything from so many.
From me. His face is set in that same neutral mask it always is, his gaze somewhere off in the sky.
Fast as a viper, I wrap my hands hard around his neck.
I expect them to pass through, but I meet resistance at the contact.
My eyes widen and I thrill as I squeeze until my knuckles turn white, but his skin doesn’t depress at my touch.
My teeth bared, gritting tight, a snarl ripping from my throat, I squeeze harder, delighting in the feel of my fingers wrapped around his throat.
When I glance up, he’s looking at me. I know he doesn’t see me there.
He doesn’t even know what’s happening. He doesn’t know my rage.
He doesn’t know anything about me. The thought sweeps through me so fiercely, I can’t stand to look at him any longer.
I let my head drop, thumping against his chest, hands still wrapped around his throat.
I breathe hard until the anger withers away once again into despair.
“Why? Why you?” My words stumble on a sob. The fates could bind me to anyone, and yet they chose him.
I give one last lingering squeeze before I finally let my hands slip away and I wilt back, sitting heavy on my heels in front of him until my body curls into itself like a seed. I put my face in my hands, and weep.
Dawn is near when I wake, and I feel that no time at all has passed since I laid my face in my hands and cried before the Sar Dyēus, to opening them now.
I’m in the enclosure once again, only this time, I’m still a dragon.
The only sounds are the soft rustle of leaves and the distant flap of wings in their last flight before morning.
I twist my neck to the wall next to me where, in the next enclosure over, Ninon should be.
I hear no grunting or scuffing of claws. I hear nothing at all.
Panic grips me and squeezes tight. Ninon?
I’m not expecting an answer, and so after a beat, when there is one, I jolt upright.
Kaisa?
As if I’ve had this body my entire life, my motions are graceful as I glide out of the enclosure, around the corner, and come face to face with Ninon.
Still covered by chains, but gorgeous and awe-inspiring in her dragon form.
Her scales are like the twilight sky, a purple so deep you could see the first few winks of the stars within it.
Her mane is inky black, her antlers a lightning strike against the dark. I sense, more than hear her gasp.
You’re beautiful, she tells me.
So are you, I tell her.
Then, somewhere we cannot see, the sun crests the horizon and in a soft mist we melt into our humanity.
Ninon crouches on her hands and knees beneath the netted chains and I pull the keys hanging from the wall and rush to release her.
Flinging the chains off her back, I pull her to me and hold her. I hold her and I cry.
“What happened?” she asks, a trickle of alarm in her voice.
My arms tremble as I clutch her to me. I want to tell her I don’t think I can do this. I hold her tighter instead of letting the words slip from my lips. She squeezes me back, compressing my ribs against my lungs.
“Are you all right?” I ask, finally pulling back.
Her smile is as bright as the dawn of the new day. “I did it.”
“Yes, you did.” The rush of new tears sting my eyes. I imagine never seeing this face again. I imagine being too late for her to spread her wings in flight. I won’t let that happen. The sooner the cycle is stopped, the safer she’ll be.
So wrapped up as I am in Ninon, I don’t even hear Atlanta’s approach. “Oh good,” she says. “You got her out.”
I clear my throat and release Ninon. “She broke out of the savagery, sometime early this morning.”
“Is that so?” Atlanta asks, a smile broadening her face. “Well then, congratulations. You both will have an exciting night tonight.” She shifts her attention to me. “And you? How was last night? Any more bad dreams?”
Even if I hadn’t overheard them last night, it’s clear what she means—what Ozias knows, she knows.
Instead of putting me off though, I respect her candor.
Which is more than I can say for myself.
I’m suddenly met with an overwhelming sense of shame.
I open my mouth and the words won’t come.
A creeping sensation works its way up my spine, curling around my throat.
I’ve felt this before, any time I thought of falling pregnant with Alixor’s brood.
Like being trapped. I can’t be pulled from this task simply because my mind likes to conjure an image of the dragon king.
I will keep Ninon safe. I will keep my distance from the Sar Dyēus at all costs. I will do what I must.
“No.” The lie tumbles from my mouth. “No dreams.”
Atlanta regards me for a passing moment, then nods. “Good. Let me know if they return. I’m somewhat of an expert in…bad dreams.”
“Of course.”
Satisfied, Atlanta nods again. “I’d like to show you both something before you rest, if you’re interested.”
Ninon and I exchange a quick glance and nod our approval.
Atlanta leads us through the Realm, but instead of bisecting the main square to the Alcazar, she takes us westward.
Here the trees are dense for a good kilometer before they thin out again and we’re met by a towering rockface wall that looks as if it was pulled from the ground and flattened at the top.
Every few meters there are arched openings to the Sere beyond.
Along the edge of the wall is a steep staircase that looks as if it leads to a structure perched atop the high wall.
"What’s the point of a wall if you’re going to have so many openings?” I ask.
“The openings allow us to send our people out to hunt and for Nevobans to enter” Atlanta explains as she begins her way up the steps.
“Plus, it has an added benefit of providing vantage points around the Realm to keep an eye on what goes on beyond this place.” I suppose that makes sense.
It’s not like a wall would keep out a hoard of dragons anyway.
As we climb, Ninon’s breathing becomes heavy.
“You all right?”
“Yes,” she sighs. “I’m tired after last night, but I’m fine.”
Ahead of me, I see Atlanta looking back at Ninon, her face taut, but she doesn’t suggest stopping. “I think what you’re about to see will be of particular interest to you, Ninon.”
The promise of intrigue perks Ninon up and she keeps up better after that.
Wind sweeps our hair back as we reach the top, the Sere awash in gold as the sun rises from its resting place. Long shadows of the rock monuments and large wooden structures I’ve never seen before rake the ground.
“Those are Dyēus’s battlements,“ Atlanta informs us.
“The ones closest to Nevoban’s hunting grounds are not nearly as large as those,” Ninon says and we exchange a glance.
“Have you ever seen these from Dyēus?” Ninon asks me.
I shake my head.
“You wouldn’t have,” Atlanta informs us.
“Like our concealment to keep them from seeing our fortress, they use an additional concealment barrier to shield us and their encampments from view so the Nevobans can’t witness who we truly are and what they do to us.
The small bases you see make it seem like Dyēus is so powerful it needs little to control such an impressive enemy. ”
I huff my annoyance at the effectiveness.
Atlanta continues. “They move their units in erratic patterns, typically during the day, attempting to keep up with the exits Ozias creates in the barrier around the Realm. They use any chance they have to ambush us.”
“Exits?” Ninon questions before I get the chance.
“We need the draconem who can shift during the day to go out and procure meat and fish. If they pass through the barrier, they’ll trigger the curse, so in order to let them continue shifting at will, Ozias erects specific entry and exit points.
Lately though, Dyēus has gotten more aggressive in their movements, and too many of our people have been trapped out there. ”
Understanding dawns on me swiftly. “For Dyēus to take and turn into soul collectors.”
Atlanta nods. Then, another thought occurs to me. “Why didn’t Ozias open the barrier when he brought me here?” If I didn’t trigger the curse when I entered, then wouldn’t I be able to come and go as freely as those who hunt?
“You needed to cross the barrier to destroy the mark and release your dragon. Even if you hadn’t wanted it released, Ozias was doing too much when he brought you in for that to have been an option.
It was a race against time, and his magic was already working as a shield to keep you both safe from Dyēus’s ground forces. ”
“That’s a lot of trouble to go through to bring me here,” I muse.
“He’s putting a lot of faith in your success.” Atlanta must see the anxiety on my face because she throws me a quick wink. “But no pressure, right?”
“Right,” I agree with a shaky laugh. My head swims with all the information I’ve learned since remaining conscious in my dragon form these past two days.
This curse that forces the nightly transformation of the rogues must be stronger than the one the Sar Dyēus places on us Nevobans if it can unleash our dragons, and I can’t help wondering why that is.
Especially if Dyēus knows that the Nevobans escape here from time to time, which they must if they’ve crafted such lies to keep us away from here.