Chapter 11
Icling to the column until their footsteps fade and the early morning stillness takes its reign.
My head spins with every drip of information Jace and Roe unknowingly offered.
Shadow’s at war with an unknown adversary vicious enough to claw at Jace Ashborne, even with his bonded Blightfang, Tenebris.
They’re searching for a guardian rider to claim the Astralwing egg. They think it’s me. Me.
The lowborn, nobody mercenary from Smoke. I’m in deeper shit than I expected. All the more reason to find the dragonstone, break the ward, and get the fuck out of here.
My palms tremble as I approach Morvayne’s Well, its blood-red water lapping gently against the stone walls.
Energy shivers down my spine as I skim the surface with a hesitant thumb.
It’s frigid to the touch, but the depths call to me.
Something ancient and familiar whispers my name—just as Finnick’s rune did.
The icy water numbs my joints as I plunge in deeper.
Even when my hands are beyond function, I sink further until the surface is well past my bicep, nearly to my shoulder.
The garnet water curdles with disturbed sand and sediment, turning its color a sickening shade of brown.
I fight the cold, shivering and skimming my hand across the stone bottom.
With the way Jace relaxed into the well, I thought it would be as warm as bath water.
Minutes pass and the murky bottom provides nothing of interest, save for a mistaken pebble or two. The temperature is unbearable—any longer and I risk losing a finger to an icy fate.
My skin is blotchy and cherry-red when I pull back, cradling the half frozen limb close. There’s no visibility through to the well’s bottom, and I’m out of time. Fuck.
I suck in two shallow breaths then release a long exhale before plunging my face under.
The water is fresh without minerals or salt to aggravate my open eyes.
Only sand and red moonlight, beaming in from the surface, greet me.
My whole body clenches around the shock, jerking me back toward the surface, but I force myself still until a numbness takes control.
The bottom is cut from various sized stone, mortared together and sealed by a coated sheen. At first glance, there’s only pebbles and fragments of sediment, but just to my left something glints in the ambient light. Yes.
I pull myself from the depths, wiping the droplets adhered to my skin before they freeze. When my hands fall away and my eyes open, my heart drops to my knees.
Seated just opposite me with pale, spidery legs and a cloak of black threads is a creature more beast than man.
His lips stretch into a wide grin, revealing rows of needle sharp teeth and a tongue split down the center.
I stand slowly and really fucking regret leaving that scythe back at the gardener’s shed.
“Hello there, little thing,” it says, cocking its head. Its eyes track each of my movements as I back away from the well. My spine thuds against one of the columns, supporting the weight of knees a heartbeat from giving out.
“Who…who are you?” I manage, brushing the smooth stone with my palms.
The creature rises from his haunches with inhuman grace, clicking its heels on the floor. A hooded cloak covers most of his body, but a scarred chest peeks out with each absurdly long stride.
“Oh, my apologies. I’m sorry to have frightened you. There’s no need for fear, my dear.” It holds out a hand. “I’ll try not to take offense that you do not recognize me. I realize you’ve only seen me in a much…grander form. My name is Tenebris.”
“Y-you…wh-what? You’re Ashborne’s dragon? How is that possible? Dragons do not shift. I…”
“Firstly, I am not Ashborne’s dragon. He is my rider, not my owner. I do not answer to any human, even the King of Shadow. Secondly, if you’d prefer I’m happy to shift into my other form.” Tenebris outstretches his palms like he’ll take flight and I throw up my own.
“Wait! No, no, this form is…fine.” I try not to wince or look too long at those rows of teeth. Gods, is he going to gnaw on my leg with those things? “And I’m sorry! I meant no offense.”
“All is forgiven. You’re nervous?” he asks, tipping his pointed chin. Tenebris approaches, splitting the distance between us. The earth shivers against each of his steps, like it, too, is horrified.
“You’re the first dragon I’ve spoken to in my life, so, yes a little bit.” Panic veers through me. If Tenebris is here…he’s most certainly alerted Jace already. My eyes dart from exit to exit, begging to formulate a plan.
“I won’t speak a word of this to my rider. Do not fret.” He chuckles a rasping half growl. “I’m simply here to offer my knowledge before you take that dragonstone and run from this place.”
My stomach churns. He’s going to hold this secret from his rider? I thought dragons couldn’t lie, just as riders swear their lives when they accept the bond. The pulse booming in my ears is more of a terrified rabbit than human. My heart might very well seize if it pumps any faster.
“What knowledge?” I ask, forcing my lips apart.
Tenebris tucks his hands behind his back and paces around the well. “You see, little thing, you can’t outrun what’s fated by the stars. My kind is all in agreement. We need the guardian to rise, and as such…we need her rider.”
“I’m not the guardian rider. Even if I were from Sovereign, I’m not of noble blood. I’m sorry,” I say.
Tenebris’s teeth flash in the dawn’s light.
“You cannot deceive a dragon, just as a dragon cannot lie. We pride ourselves in our candor and our ability to…cut through the bullshit as my rider so eloquently describes it,” he replies.
“Take the dragonstone, break the ward, escape from here, let our Astralwing hatchling stone, and the continent crumbles. But the cosmos will find you, no matter where you turn. You cannot hide from the gods.”
“You’re mistaken,” I say, but a piece of me refuses to accept those words as truth.
“In my five hundred years never once have I been wrong.” Cocky much? Also, five hundred years old? How damn long do dragons live? The creature looks barely thirty.
Tenebris kneels beside the well, skimming a clawed hand over its surface. “You will come to see the truth, whether it be by our devices or your own.”
The dragon’s voice sends a shiver crawling up my skin. It’s murky like the depths, but crisp like the dawn air. He’s predatory and protective all at once, and there’s a familiarity about him I can’t quite pinpoint, like I recognize him…maybe from another lifetime.
“I just want a quiet life. I’m nobody,” I whisper. Now, the bite of that truth is one that sinks in. “Maybe the guardian rider is out there, but it’s not me.”
Tenebris wrinkles a brow, watching me with inviscid intensity. “You are most certainly not nobody, Nova Lindwen.”
He plunges his hand into the well and retrieves a citrine stone no larger than a pebble. The gem hums in his palm, like it's reacting to the magic wrinkled in his snow-white skin. Tenebris offers the stone to me with outstretched fingers.
“The decision is yours, little thing, but you must know the weight of one choice over the other.”
I pluck the dragonstone from his grasp and back away slowly. My thoughts unravel like a spool off a shelf. I’m slowly realizing there’s so much still unknown in this world. There’s so much still unknown about me. My hands tremble, but I pocket the stone anyways.
“Can I ask you a question, Tenebris?” I risk a glance at his reptilian eyes.
“Of course. You’re free to speak what you wish. Just as I’m free to decline an answer,” he replies with a humored smirk.
“What gave Jace those wounds on his back?”
Tenebris draws in a long, steady breath.
“There are things in these woods once repelled by the guardian. Ancient, evil things. I pray you never face them,” he says, scanning the cliffside. “They hide in the rock, in the brush. We call them lurkers, and while we do not know where they’ve come from, we know they’re hungry.”
I still against the archway. The wraith that cadet spoke about back in Smoke….could he have come into contact with one of these lurkers?
“I haven’t experienced something so pathetic as fear since I was a mere youngling, but these creatures of malice…they are not to be underestimated.”
“And you’re searching for the rider because they’re slaughtering Shadow’s people?”
“Not just our people, little thing, our dragons, too.”
Oh shit…even the Blightfangs? “If they’ve infested your faction, what’s stopping them from crossing into others?” I ask.
Tenebris places a hand across his broad chest, and blood settles in my stomach. “You’ve seen the injuries my rider returns every night with. We’ve held the line, but without the guardian…”
“Ashborne is Shadow’s last defense?”
Tenebris nods, his sharp eyes somewhat somber in the light. “Along with the ward you now threaten to break. It keeps them from infecting the other factions, but not without failures.”
“Oh…” I whisper, eyeing the dragonstone.
“You are the first lead we’ve had in years on finding the guardian. Begging is below me, but I will ask you only once—help my rider and his companions find the guardian rider or the continent will face a worse fate than human war games.”
“I…” My lips part to continue, but the words escape me.
Take the dragonstone, break the ward, disappear into a faction knowing the continent might very well burn, me along with it.
Or…accept this imprisonment, play along, and most likely die at the hand of one of my many captors.
Fuck, neither option sounds even close to optimal.
“The sun will rise soon. You should be going. Remember, little thing, the decision may be yours, but the cosmos have already forged our fates.”
With that, Tenebris strides to the shrine’s steps and extends his palms toward the sky.
All-encompassing darkness takes hold, and I shield myself against the current of energy pouring from his skin.
Bones crack, muscle shreds, and after my next blink, a gargantuan Blightfang stands in his place.
Tenebris glances back, his crystal red eyes refracting dawn’s light like chiseled gemstones.
The dragon huffs and stretches his wings before lunging into the air.
I’m silent as he soars to the skies and disappears beyond the clouds.
What the actual fuck am I going to do…
Before I can think better of it, I retrieve the dragonstone from my pocket and return it to its watery home.
Trekking back to the main house feels like defeat. I can’t break the ward or I risk exposing the rest of the factions to the same fate as Shadow. Thoughts of the lurkers curdle my blood with each solemn step.
Although Tenebris could be manipulating the truth to aid in my decision to stay, I’ve heard of their haunting faces—void of all features—and the destruction they cause.
The earth, soil, even the air within Shadow’s borders is lifeless, like the lurkers have sucked every soul, pulse, and current dry.
I want my freedom, more than anything in this world, but I can’t doom others to their deaths.
Would a life stained in innocent blood truly come without weight?
No. I’ve killed plenty, but only ever criminals or those deserving of death.
So, I retreat back through the forest, past the strange fountain, and slip into the first-floor arboretum entrance.
Even with daylight streaking the walls in pinks and golds, the house is settled into sleep. I climb the stairs one by one, careful to tread lightly over the creaking old wood, until I’m exhausted from a sleepless night and healing injuries.
When my boots stop before the bedchamber door, my stomach plummets. The door is locked from the outside with no release on the handle. Only a key allows access. A key kept closely on Isra’s person.
There’s no chance of scaling the house’s exterior, not with the drop. A plea to the cosmos has me gripping the door handle, just to be sure. I twist the knob, and my heart skids to a halt when it clicks open.
That’s more concerning than if it had remained locked.
I scan the silent hallway, inspecting the alcoves and portraits for any sign that my captors have noticed my absence.
Maybe Isra, in the late hour, unlocked it thinking I was asleep.
Unlikely, but I’ll choose to believe it for the sake of my sanity.
I slip through the doorway and latch it shut before I’m forced to explain why I’m dressed in my stinking clothes and awake at this hour. I strip again to my underclothes and slide into bed, exhaustion burrowing into my bones.
My eyelids are heavy enough to forget the panic-stricken thoughts whirling through my mind, and for once I’m grateful to block them out. I close my eyes and nestle into the comforter. Even without bedsheets, the silken-down molds to my body. Fuck this is comfortable.
My thoughts dim until they blur and go silent.