Fifty Nine
Alara
Herja retrieved all the eggs, I counted three times to make sure, and now the dragons are all coming over, sniffing and purring at them until they wrap themselves around them in a protective spiral like clan Blackscale’s dragons once did to me.
“They’re not only protecting them, but they’re also making sure they have enough heat to keep them warm for their return to The Glade,” Rohan tells me.
“What if we get them back, but their mother is…”
“They still have a father, hopefully.”
I nod, and then I gasp. “Rohan, Sparks, the other dragons in the cavern!”
I grip his hand, eyes wide. Oh Gods, how did I forget?
“Don’t do that,” Rohan says, bringing my wrists to his mouth. “A lot has happened.”
“How do you always know where my mind wanders?”
“Because I listen.”
I frown. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Your silence is just as loud, Alara.”
I soften, my shoulders relaxing.
“Can we get them? Will we even be allowed back inside?”
Rohan looks back over at Drogonah. “Take him to the Enclave, we’ll be back soon.”
Drogonah growls before standing, picking Halen up in his claws. Then he spreads his wings wide, lifting off the ground a few feet, and his claw opens.
My eyes widen, and Rohan huffs as Halen drops to the ground with a bone-breaking thud.
“An accident, right?” Rohan calls to him.
Drogonah chuffs, head held high as he picks him up once more, and then he’s flying over the ruins of the Enclave before descending somewhere inside.
“What’s going on?” Sigrid asks, coming over with the other Dragonbonds.
“We’re going to get the other dragons in the cavern.” He looks around. “Escor, come.”
Escor, who was licking his leg, pauses, tongue mid-lick as his eyes go to Rohan.
But he doesn’t move.
“For fuck’s sake,” Rohan sighs. “Alara, get your dragon.”
I eye him. “Escor, come on, we have to get Sparks.”
That makes him jump up and run over, eyes alert.
“You can’t just pick and choose who you listen to, you know,” Rohan grumbles as we begin walking toward the castle.
Escor purrs, chest puffed out, and I shake my head.
“You’re trouble.” He licks me.
“Will we be allowed in the city?” Varan asks.
“We aren’t going to the city, but the outskirts to a tunnel.”
I grab his arm. “The one that connects to the cavern?” He nods. “You know where it is?”
“Alexandar told me.”
“You trust your brother?” Durruk asks.
“Not my brother,” Rohan grouches.
He really is his brother though, I think to myself.
“Maybe I should have brought Celeste,” Sigrid mutters.
Escor prances around in front of her, tongue out at the mention of Celeste.
“She would eat you alive, puppy,” she says to him, scratching his chin.
Durruk wiggles his eyebrows at Sigrid. “Just like you do.”
“I do like to feast,” she murmurs, a small smile on her face before she turns to Rohan. “Does Dorkin like to be eaten?”
My mouth drops open when he looks at her sharply. “I don’t know and I don’t want to know.”
He shivers.
“Hmm,” Sigrid says. “He would look so good all ruffled. Glasses askew, hair a mess…”
Rohan walks faster.
“I didn’t think you would be so shy, Rohan?” she calls, and the others laugh.
“I’m not shy, I just want to be able to look my advisor in the face without imagining you all over him!”
“Am I a horrid sight?”
“There is only one person I want to see, and it’s not you.”
My cheeks heat when the Dragonbonds look over at me.
Escor rumbles and bounces over to Rohan, pushing him aside.
“Watch it!” Rohan growls at the young dragon, and I know he’s eager to get to Sparks, so am I.
I wonder if he’s safe. If he’s hurt… if he…
Rohan comes back and grabs my hand. “Come on.”
“So this is where the bastard managed to smuggle dragons in,” Varan says as we walk through the cold tunnel.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“I can’t wait to see him die,” Durruk says. “I also wanted to punch Karag a time or two for his betrayal.”
“He was going to kill Alara, I’m not sorry for killing him,” Rohan says, tone deadly.
“I know,” he says. “I just can’t believe it.”
“I didn’t think he would stoop so low either,” Sigrid says. “But he did, and I’m glad he’s dead.”
They all nod, and then we emerge out of the tunnel and into the cavern.
And straight into the guards that have been posted down here.
They turn at our arrival, swords in hand.
“Oh,” Sigrid says, reaching for her blade. “It seems we have a welcome committee.”
“Who are they, Alara?” Rohan asks as the guards eye us warily.
“They took care of the dragons.”
“Hurt them, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Hurt you?”
My eyes connect with Verson who made me bleed that day.
“Yes.”
He nods, and then he charges forward, noticing the direction of my gaze.
“Wait—”
Verson doesn’t even have a chance to react before Rohan is on him, punching him in the face. The other Dragonbonds join in the fray, smiles on their faces and I stay back with Escor who growls protectively.
I look past the fighting to the cages, the dragons nowhere to be found, but I can feel their fear.
I walk down one side and begin to hum, my hands trailing over the cages with Escor at my back who releases a comforting purr.
Slowly, the fight dies down to silence as I reach the cages on the other side, and the Dragonbonds wait for me to finish.
I continue my hum, the lullaby I know and one by one, the dragons come to the front of their cages.
The leaders are all frozen at the sight of them.
“Fuck,” Rohan says.
I nod without looking at him.
“He really had them in fucking cages,” Durruk growls.
“They have keys,” I say, as I stop at a blue dragon, his eyes wary. “This is Escor,” I tell him, grabbing the keys Rohan holds out to me and opening the cage door.
The dragon growls, teeth bared.
“Alara…” Rohan warns.
I shake my head. “It’s okay. Give us space.”
Rohan steps back, Escor going with him as I enter.
“Hi, remember me?” He growls, and I smile. “I know you do. I’m here to get all of you out. I told you that once, remember? And this is Rohan.” I point to him as he watches me, arms folded. “I told you he would come, and he brought one of his dragons with us, Escor.”
“Not my dragon anymore,” he mutters.
Escor creeps forward, ears low, purring.
The blue dragon eyes him, and then whimpers, looking toward the end.
And I know what he sees.
An empty cage.
No hanging dragon.
I can’t bear to even look at it.
“Herja,” I say, and its head swings back to me. “She went home,” I croak out, feeling Rohan’s grief. “Back to where she belongs, and we’re going to take you home, too. At The Glade, where dragons roam.”
Escor purrs gently, sticking his head in the cage and the blue dragon lets loose a whine.
“I know.”
I reach for the muzzle on his face and unclasp it slowly.
“Be good, okay?”
The blue dragon purrs.
“Good boy.”
I undo the muzzle slowly, one little clasp at a time and then, it’s off.
The dragon shakes his head back and forth, opening his jaw wide.
“Better,” I breathe, and he whines. “Okay, leg next?”
Rumble.
I go to his back leg and reach for the cuff on his ankle. Finding the right key, I manage to slot it in and turn, the shackle opening and dropping to the floor.
The dragon runs, knocking me over unexpectedly and heads for the cage door.
“Alara!” Rohan shouts.
“I’m fine!” I call, slightly winded.
Escor moves out of the way, letting the blue dragon pass slightly before he puts a paw on him and shoves him down, snarling in his face in reprimand.
“Rohan, stop him!”
“No, he needs to learn it’s not okay to do that.”
“But…”
“No buts, Alara,” he says, coming over to me. “Are you hurt?”
I take his hand. “No, I’m okay,” I answer, looking at the dragons.
The blue one stills under Escor’s claw, whining.
Rohan grabs my chin. “He’s not hurting him.”
I deflate, nodding.
We wait until the blue dragon calms, which he does fairly quickly.
Escor releases him, and the dragon stands, shakes himself out and then sits next to him, head down.
I go to him, stroking his snout.
“Good boy.” I pass the keys to Rohan. “Help get the others?”
He nods, and the Dragonbonds split up while I go to the back door, my gaze still avoiding where they kept Herja.
I open the door in a rush. “Sparks?” I call, looking around the room.
All eggs are gone and the cages that were stacked at the back are now all over the floor.
I rummage through them.
“Sparks?” I call, panic now sitting heavily on my chest. “Oh Gods, where are you, Sparks?”
I whirl around, looking everywhere but come up empty.
My throat tightens.
Then Escor lets out a cry.
Eyes wide, I rush out the door, chest heaving, only to come to an abrupt stop.
There, in the center, Escor nudges and licks a tiny red dragon, purring and chuffing, his tail bounces up and down.
“Sparks!” I rush over to them, and the little red dragon looks up at me and jumps into my arms when I reach them. “You’re okay!”
I hold him to me as he purrs, and Escor surrounds us. I close my eyes in relief.
“Oh thank Elvanan,” I breathe.
“Not Morana?” Rohan asks, his tone quiet and I peel my eyes open. He’s right there, standing before me, eyes on Sparks.
“That’s for you to say,” I sniffle, turning Sparks and holding him out to him.
“You got big,” Rohan says to him quietly, and then he takes Sparks from me, nudging his head with his. “I’m glad you’re okay, you little menace.”
Sparks growls at him, but it’s playful before he gives him a small lick on his cheek.
“No more of that now.” Rohan clears his throat and passes him back to me.
I hold him closer, feeling his heat. He’s a little underweight, but we can fix that.
“We have him now,” Rohan says, brushing some hair behind my ear.
I nod. “We do.”
“Um, what are we going to do about all these dragons?” Sigrid asks, and we turn to see her surrounded by them, the others too.
“I want that one,” Varan says, pointing at a blue one.
“You can’t just pick and choose,” Durruk says, but he’s petting a green one at his side.
“They will choose,” Rohan says, crouching down next to a red one, holding out a hand, palm facing out until the dragon’s snout fills it. “We take them to The Glade and they get to choose where they go.”
We arrive back at the Enclave to a wave of dragons. They all greet the smaller ones. Every single one.
The younglings are nervous at first, shying away but they follow Rohan and Escor, trusting them somewhat as I hum and soon, they are loving being the center of attention.
“It’s really nice to see,” Tofa says, and I nod.
“So many,” Niyah murmurs from my other side.
“There is plenty of room in The Glade,” I assure her. “We just need to get them there.”
Sparks wiggles in my arms, and I put him down.
“Where are you going, Sparks?”
He walks over to the other dragons when Solia, Hakkon, Hedoric, Vex and Magnus all break away and run over to him, purring and chuffing.
Sparks rubs along them, his little ears perked up high as they all talk amongst themselves.
Tofa sniffles at my side and I rub her back. “I wish he could have seen this.”
I nod, unable to say anything, knowing who she’s talking about.
A lot of them should’ve been here to see this.
Sparks is on his belly between the dragons when the roar sounds.
We look to the Enclave to see Drogonah rising from it, and then he’s landing amongst dragons with a growling thud.
Sparks chuffs, running over to him on little legs and Drogonah pushes his way forward, his large snout dipping down until Sparks is right there.
Drogonah rumbles, laying down, his big body shoving others out the way without a care. Sparks goes between his front legs, climbing along one and then stretching up on his hind legs to reach Drogonah’s snout to lick him, and surprisingly Drogonah allows it, giving Sparks a continuous rumble.
“He’s never living this one down,” Rohan says, arms wrapping around me as Drogonah’s tail curls in front of him, keeping Sparks exactly where he is.
“No,” I say softly, smiling. “He’s not.”