Fifty Four
Alara
Someone is touching my side.
Words are spoken in another language, the tone panicked.
Pain explodes through me, and I think I groan, my throat vibrating.
Someone touches my face, then hands are back at my side once more.
I blink my eyes open sluggishly, inhaling a deep breath as my vision slowly clears.
Someone is hovering over me, darker green eyes, pointed ears.
“Ni-yah?”
“Keep your eyes open for me, don’t close them sister. Fuck, don’t close them.”
I gasp, my back bowing as something presses into my side, and it feels like a sword has gone into it all over again.
“Breathe through it,” she says frantically.
Tears leak from my eyes as my side burns.
It’s agony.
“One more.”
I shake my head, not wanting the pain again—
“Argh!”
Hands hold my shoulders down, and my fingers claw at the sand, vision doubling.
I think I’m going to be sick, and just when I think I’m going to have to turn on my side, the pain slowly begins to subside.
“That’s it, this will hold,” Niyah says, moving hair out of my sweaty face.
I blink up at her, chest heaving.
“You need to stand, you need to move.”
A roar rattles the ground and Niyah’s head whips to it.
“What’s… going… on?” I ask as I’m helped to a sitting position, hand pressed to my side.
I look down at the bandage, red seeping through.
“He’s uncontrollable right now, we need to get you to safety.”
“Who’s…” I look up, and I suck in a sharp breath.
Fire. Destruction everywhere.
The stands crumble, the bodies of dragons and Dragorie, guards, and the crowd lay everywhere.
Fire fills the stands, the royal balcony, the board split in two at the back.
Burning colored cloths float in the air, people unmoving, blood splattering everywhere like decoration.
“Who did this?”
Niyah helps me to my feet, steadying me as a raven circles high above.
“Where is everyone?”
“We got the gate open and many escaped, dragons too. The royals ported but I managed to avoid it and came down to you.”
I swallow over my parched throat.
“Rohan. He…”
“He’s uncontrollable right now, sister, so we must get you somewhere safe.”
“He’s still alive?” I gasp, heart hammering in my chest.
“Yes.”
She pulls me along, holding my weight as I limp toward the open gate.
“Wait,” I gasp. “What do you mean uncontrollable?”
Something collapses behind us, and I flinch, gripping my side.
“Shit,” she says, gritting her teeth.
I notice now that her clothes are a little burned, ash marring her cheek, sweat beading her brow.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” she says. “Come on.”
We shuffle across to the gate, half of it marred, and I try not to look at the burned corpses, the unseeing eyes of dragons.
It all went wrong.
So very wrong.
We didn’t even stand a chance. No matter how we tried to plan, how we got some on dragonback, it didn’t matter.
Halen knew of our plan somehow, and we lost.
“Duck under,” Niyah instructs, pushing me through the gate, careful of the broken metal.
We climb over rubble from the Enclave into a sea of people and dragons outside.
The dragons are laid down in front, then the Dragorie seems to be behind them.
The people of Dracozar, who I’m assuming were in the stands, are running away from the Enclave, some limping along and looking back, faces full of fear.
We head for the dragons scattered around, looking like they’re recovering from Nighturn.
We wade past the first dragon, a blue injured one, and then I spot one of ours.
“Hedoric,” I say, as my sister helps me hobble over to him.
He has wounds all over him, eyes tired and full of pain.
I stroke his snout. “You did so well.”
Whines.
“I know, try and rest. I’ll find the others.”
Rumble.
We walk around some Highwing dragons, and some others I don’t recognize until I come to Magnus.
I stroke him, going in between him and Hakkon, the smaller green dragon now curled into him, telling them to rest. Their wounds look deep and I swallow over the lump in my throat.
“They really won’t hurt you?” Niyah asks.
“Never,” I whisper, tears stinging my eyes when we get to Solia.
Her blue body shakes, pain spearing through me and I see flashes of Doren in my mind.
“I know,” I tell her, sniffling. “I know.”
My face crumbles as her grief hits me. She’s lost her brother, there is nothing I can do to get him back.
We lost Agnar and Blaise, too.
I lean further into Niyah, and she seems to understand because she wraps her hand around me tighter, wiping a tear from my face.
“Nearly there,” she says.
I walk over what looks to be a piece of crumbled wall when I spot Tofa.
She’s covered in blood, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring off into the distance,
“Tofa?” I say, and she turns her head, eyes landing on me.
“Alara…”
Her face crumbles and then she’s on her feet, hugging me so tightly that I hiss, but I don’t care as she sobs into my shoulder.
“He… he… I…”
I know, I say, rubbing her back as the tears pour freely.
Calian.
He’s gone.
She’s loved him for so long, and when he finally tells her how he feels, it was too late.
My heart breaks for my friend and I hold her closer despite the pain, until she eventually pulls back.
“Are you okay?” She sniffles, wiping her face.
“I’m okay,” I whisper, holding her hand. “I’m sorry, Tofa.”
She nods, more tears trickling down her cheeks.
“I am too,” she croaks out. She points behind her. “Everyone… everyone left is over here.”
I nod. “Is Beau…”
She whimpers.
“Tofa?”
She shakes his head. “He didn’t make it.”
I don’t try to hold back the sobs anymore, and as she reaches for me again, much gentler this time, Niyah rubs my back while I cry.
Tofa pulls back first, wiping her face as she blows out a breath.
“He went out with honor,” she says. “Morana will welcome him proudly. Same with… same with Calian.” Her voice breaks on his name.
I want to curl up into a ball and wish this day away with the realization that I won’t hear Calian calling me Short Stack any more, or have Beau secretly giving me extra apples in the stables to feed Serah.
And he won’t be with the girl from Highwing that he wanted to be with.
Neither man got what they wanted.
I take a breath and grab her hand, pulling her along with Niyah and I.
When we reach the Dragorie, the first thing I realize is how many are injured. Everyone is doing their best to stop bleeding wounds, while others are carrying limp bodies and putting them over to the side.
The next thing I realize is that they have all separated by clan.
Firehorn is the furthest away and off to the side. Varan is next, the Dragonbond listening to a woman. Durruk’s clan follows, and he’s stroking a green dragon that breathes far too harshly.
Then clan Highwing.
They seem to be placing the injured in the middle, and as I look for Sigrid, I spot her on the edge of her clan, Dorkin with her as she ties a bandage around his bleeding arm.
I’m glad the Dragonbonds are okay, they’ve been kind to me, especially Sigrid.
Then my eyes fall upon clan Blackscale, or what’s left of them.
They too, are placing bodies off to the side, and I spot Beau straight away.
My legs want to buckle with the urge to fall to my knees in devastation but I lock them.
It will do no good here.
We walk to the clan, and those nearest look up, giving me soft, tired smiles, nodding their heads. Fiona is holding a torn tunic to her head, Bellamy is cradling Nora and a teary-eyed Melle close by. Adora is there, holding Olaf.
Calian is laying on his back next to them, eyes closed. I must make a noise, because Tofa breaks down again, squeezing my hand before she goes over and drops to her knees, her hand placed on Calian’s chest. Adora moves to rub her back.
More dragons are scattered behind the clans, and I search them.
“Do you know where—”
A dragon roars.
Drogonah.
I look up to the skies and see him ahead, gliding through the air, dark as the night that’s descending on us. He reaches the city, circling, and another roar pierces the air before a stream of fire is directed at it.
“Gods…” I breathe, legs weak.
“He hasn’t stopped,” Niyah says quietly as Kaldar steps up beside us.
“You’re okay,” he says, relief on his face. “I couldn’t find you in the rubble, I was fearing the worst, I thought you died, we all did. But it looks like you had help.” He nods to Niyah.
“Yeah,” I say. “Why hasn’t he stopped?”
“Because of Rohan,” Kaldar says, and I look at him sharply.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s lost to rage, to anger, and that means Drogonah is too.” He turns to me, eyes full of something I have never seen on him before. Fear. “I don’t know how to bring him back. He saw you go down and it’s like he went with you.”
I swallow over the lump in my throat, clutching my side.
“Is Rohan there?”
“I saw him walking toward the castle, I wanted to go to him but…” He looks over at Olaf and Adora. “I know I won’t be able to bring him back. I couldn’t last time.”
“Last time?”
“Yeah, after his mother died.”
My pulse speeds up. “It’s okay.”
Drogonah releases another roar, and all the dragons around us tense, eyes locked on him.
They are fearful of the rage-filled dragon, too.
“It all happened so fast,” Kaldar says. “You got hurt and Rohan… he just… he exploded, and so did Drogonah.”
Did Rohan spread the fire or did I imagine it?
“You need to rest with the others while we figure out what to do. Come and sit—”
“No,” I say softly, but there is steel to my tone, eyes on the burning city in the distance.
“No?”
“I have to go to him.”
“He’s not in control right now,” Kaldar stresses. “He could hurt you.”
“Listen to him, sister,” Niyah urges.
I look down at my bleeding side, at the blood on my palm.
I would let it all burn to the ground and not let a single flame touch you.
A thorn protects its rose.
It means nothing if I don’t have you.
“He would never hurt me,” I tell them, the truth of the words spreading through me.
Niyah’s eyes bounce between mine. “How can you be sure of that?”
“It’s the only thing I am sure of.”
She bites her lip, much like I do my own, but then she nods.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Kaldar says, eyes wide. “You can’t seriously be considering this?!”
“I’m not considering anything,” I tell him. “I’m going to get him back.”
“Alara.”
“I need you to trust me!”
Kaldar stares at me for a moment, then sighs.
“Don’t make me have to try and kill him,” he says quietly. “If he hurts you, Alara, he would want me to do it, and I don’t want to do it. I don’t even think I can.”
My throat tightens. “He won’t hurt me,” I repeat.
He blows out a breath. “Okay, let me tell Adora and Olaf and then we’ll go.”
I’m already shaking my head. “I’ll go alone.”
“Sister,” Niyah protests.
“Trust me. It will do no good having others there, it will split his focus.”
She runs a hand down her face. “How will you get there? I don’t have any port stones, only the king carries them and I’m sure he used the only one he had on him to escape.”
I look amongst the Dragorie, a small smile upon my face when I finally spot him.
“Just make sure they are safe until we return, can you do that?”
She hugs me, and I hug her back just as tightly, mindful of my side.
“Go,” she says when she lets go.
I straighten my shoulders and turn, walking through Dragorie and dragons, until I come across one who is just now waking up.
He blinks up at me, gathering his bearings and getting to his feet. He limps over to me as I clutch my side, his snout going to my neck and I hold him, soaking in the warmth of his scales.
“Are you well enough?” I ask him.
Purr.
I pull back, looking into his eyes, hands on either side of his snout.
“We need to go and get them back, will you help me?”
Placing a hand on his chest, I feel his answering rumble, his nerves and relief, his fear and worry.
Drogonah roars once more, and his head snaps that way on a whine, the other dragons echoing it as they too try to stand, but the Nighturn is too much for them.
“Let’s go.”
He turns, lowering to his belly and without thought, I climb on his wing. He lifts it higher for me, helping me and I grab hold of his smaller spikes.
I sit on his back with a wince, breathing through the pain shooting through my side.
More blood seeps through the bandage Niyah must have put on me, but I press on.
We need to go.
I look back at Niyah and Kaldar, to the rest of my clan that is now standing, hands on heart. To the other clans watching on, Sigrid, Durruk, Varan, nodding their heads to me.
I nod back, facing forward once more toward the burning city.
Toward Rohan.
Escor moves under me, shaking his leg out a little and I adjust on his back, the warmth of his scales soothing me. I grab a hold of some spikes as his ears flick back.
“Fly, Escor.”