CHAPTER 19
“The three strongest emotions are the basis for the warm colors on the spectrum: anger, fear, and love.”
“Love?”
“Correct. Next to love is joy, followed by surprise and sadness. These make up all that we feel.”
—Recounting from the private diary of Jerris, Dragonbound
SERAE
Early Autumn, Tuskimon 1036
That afternoon, I tracked circles into my rug until my path left permanent marks. Callagh had left me hours ago after helping me prepare a traveling bag. I should have been resting. Instead, I paced.
Crunch.
I lifted my foot. Leaves? I’d long since relocated my fabric dyes and supplies to the lesson room. No bundles were drying on the makeshift line across the window. This was a mystery I didn’t have time to solve. I brushed the fragments aside and continued my circuitous path.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
An entire trail of leaves littered the path I’d paced down to the stone.
“Vaya’la! What is this?”
Only grumbling sounded in my head. I pushed into her mind. A teal pool lapped around my body as I dozed in the red afternoon sun. The water rippled. I huffed, and a cloud of mist flew into the air, settling in glittering specs over the vegetation surrounding the pool.
“Wake up, you useless dragon!” I shouted at her.
She snorted. “Magic bleeding.”
“Is it bad?”
No answer. I pressed into her mind again, but all I could hear was snoring.
“Great. Now I have to worry about this, too,” I said to the empty room.
The time to meet at the gates couldn’t come soon enough.
Except when it did, I was woefully unready.
I donned a set of Riht seafaring leathers, soft, flexible, and something I had never expected to put to real use.
The ensemble boasted leather pants, a long tunic, and a padded leather vest—all black.
There was no skirt, and it was the first time in my life I was walking about bare-legged and feeling free.
At the stables, Kappa waited for me. I snuck her two peppermint treats from the kitchen, and she allowed me to press my face into her long mane while she munched.
Then, I lashed my pack behind her saddle, fastened a quiver of arrows at my back, and sheathed two new daggers at my thighs.
I mounted swiftly from the ground without a block.
No skirts encumbered me, sitting astride.
No hairpins scraped my scalp. No glasses to fidget with.
I glanced down at my leather-wrapped forearms, remembering a very different day racing along the forest’s edge with Tam and Merria.
What a turn my life had taken—and yet I felt stronger and more in control of myself than ever. I nudged Kappa into a trot.
The eastern gate, like the other two, had been carved in the likeness of a dragon, but this time, the stone had been carved into a mighty dragon claw.
Talons dug into the earth, made of sleek stone pillars that joined together at the top in a wide arc, forming the palm.
The rest of the stone was carved with taut tendons, thick musculature, and scales covering the flexed claw.
In order to exit the gate, we had to walk between the dragon’s fingers.
The effect was so realistic, I half expected the claw to clamp closed, crushing us all.
Just outside the gates, our party congregated.
I scanned the blond heads surrounding us.
No Eldreth, but my eyes snagged over one particular copper head.
Wep wore his hair tightly braided instead of his usual knot.
I made my way to him, watching the moment his eyes flicked to my own rusty braided locks.
I was used to standing out in a crowd because of my hair, but I would never get used to the magnetism it created between us—the only two with red in an entire city.
“Your brother isn’t joining?” I asked by way of greeting.
“Did you want him to?”
“No,” I said before considering it, then saw my lifelight flicker with ultramarine. Guilt.
Wep smirked. “He was looking for you. Dane gave him another task.”
“Where are we headed?”
“You’ll see.” He led his horse to the front and called out to the gathered Riht. He spoke in Rihtish, and I understood most of it. It was a call to assemble two across and begin the procession down to somewhere, the last being a word I didn’t know.
Teke pulled up at my side. “Are you ready?”
I shook my head.
They grinned. “Me neither.”
“Do you know where we’re headed?”
“A hidden port east of the city.”
“There’s another one?” My brow furrowed. Dane had never mentioned a second port to Drakh in our lessons.
Teke leaned toward me and lowered their voice. “Only used in times of need. Whatever we’re doing tonight, it must be too urgent to set sail from Port Drakha.”
I swallowed the lump that rose in my throat and focused my sight forward. My anxiety over this mission was quickly festering into full-blown fear.
The path down to the hidden port began by crossing a small clearing until the forest overtook us, the trail growing rocky and steep.
The horses had no issue navigating the trail, despite the trees blocking our view ahead.
The sun had not yet dipped behind the mountains when we descended into a tiny village nestled in a nook between the cliff face and an inlet on the far side.
A lone longship was docked at the pier. Unlike the cargo ship I had ridden to Drakh, this one sat low to the waterline, with no deep hull or cabins underneath.
It was a ship meant for speed, carrying only warriors and their supplies—an instrument of death.
Its sails had already been dropped and loosely tied.
Within minutes, the craft would be ready to set sail.
Teke and I dismounted, and they showed me where we would stable our horses until our return.
“Have you been here before?” I asked.
“Not as a warrior.”
“How long will we be gone?”
They shook their head with a shrug.
We caught up to the rest of our ranng, along with seven or eight other groups assembled along the pier. The air buzzed with speculation.
“They found a Volaachi ship,” one man surmised to his companion, a woman with four braids long enough to tuck into her belt. “We’ll be capturing it and bringing it home—mark my words.”
I didn’t understand her reply, other than the word assumptions.
Lex nudged my shoulder. Like most of us, he was head to toe in black leathers. The braids in his hair were tighter than usual and gathered into a single tail at the base of his neck. His face was alight with excitement as he scanned the gathered crowd.
“What do you think of them?” he asked, indicating the pair standing together. They were tall and slender with the same blond hair and tawny skin. When the woman turned, glancing up the pier, I saw her eyes were a rich, chocolatey brown.
“Are you asking for you or me?”
“Me, of course.” He flashed a toothy grin.
“Way out of your league. Do you think they’re siblings?”
“Dragons, I hope so.”
“Not likely to take you to bed together, then, are they?”
He frowned. “Good point. It’ll have to be two different nights then.”
I snorted, and as the conversation continued, the weight on me lightened.
Lex pulled Raif into our game of conjecture on the purpose of our mission, and Teke joined too.
After a few minutes, Helene was listening in but held her silence.
Lispen was dutifully ignoring us, as was Ivank—until Lex proclaimed that our goal was to find a mountain troll large enough for him to bed.
He made a swipe at Lex’s shoulder, but Lex spun away with a laugh.
Instead, he fixed Lex with a glare and said, “Just because I refuse to bed you doesn’t mean there’s no one else. Ask Serae, she’s met several women who have enjoyed my company.”
“I have?” My mind exploded with possibilities. “Ohh! I have.” I had thought Ivank was well known in the town, but in hindsight, it was almost exclusively women who called out to him.
“Leave Serae out of this, or I’ll tell Wep you’ve—” Crunch. Lex looked down, then up into the sky, then at my pack. “Did you bring leaves with you?”
Shit. My palms began to sweat. “Uh, why would I do that?”
He shook his head.
“Warriors of the Riht, attend!” Wep’s voice sang over the crowd.
He stood atop a stack of barrels at the end of the pier.
He wore a mix of leathers and mail, strapped with weapons from his back to his boots.
He looked out over the assembly waiting to board, meeting the eyes of every warrior and demanding our full attention.
“We set sail by nightfall. Our task lies along our eastern coast. Word has reached us of a Volaachi ship that has landed along our coastline. They’ve made camp for as many as three days.
Our latest messenger reported they are cutting down trees and beginning to erect shelters.
Our task is to rid this blight from our land. ”
Cheers of agreement rose around us.
“There were no more than one or two dozen seen. We have the advantage of numbers and familiarity with our lands and seas. The Volaachi must be taken down swiftly and completely.”
He paused, and the murmurs of assent this time were grave.
“How many of you have seen dragori before?”
Up until that point, I’d been following along well with the Rihtish, but this was a word I didn’t know. I looked to my ranng, who all wore matching grim expressions. Raif alone raised his hand.
Wep continued, “They are monsters, make no mistake. For those of you seeing them for the first time, know that they are creatures of twisted magic. If they have a soul, it has long been consumed by their bloodlust. Show them no quarter, for they will show none to you. If given the chance, they will never spare a life. They deal only in death, so death is what we must give them.”
Cheers broke out again.
“If any among you feel you are not able to take on this burden, stay back now. There is no shame in knowing your limits. Those who are ready to take up the mantle of protecting the Riht… BOARD!”