When She Reigns

by Jodi Meadows

  Blood rushed through my head, and I swayed. No, not blood. A roar. Wings catching on the air. Wind rushing past.

  If the eclipse was true, what else might be? The bones? The answers in the empire?

  “Why?” Ilina asked. “What does the eclipse have to do with anything?”

  “I think . . .” The words hardly felt real. “I think there may be a way to save the Fallen Isles.”

  Everyone jerked straight.

  “What?” Gerel’s tone was incredulous.

  “Why are you mentioning this only now?” Chenda asked.

  It was so much to explain. I couldn’t even make it fit right in my own head, because it was too big. Too wild. But finally I said, “I’ve been having these dreams—”

  A knock thudded against the door, startling everyone, and without waiting for us to answer, Tanhe burst into the parlor. Panic shook his voice. “You have to hide. The high magistrate’s guards are coming through, and they’re taking people.”

  THE DRAKONTOS CELESTUS

  ALL ACROSS THE ISLANDS, PEOPLE MOVED TOWARD the water.

  Most cities sat along the coast already, but a few had risen up inland, and there were plenty of farms and factories and mines and elegant country homes that had been built there simply because more space was available.

  Now, the poor from those inner-island communities traveled outward in rickety carts, on horses, but mostly on their own feet. They took only what they could carry, what they couldn’t bear to leave behind, and whatever was the most practical: a change of clothes, small trinkets from their ancestors, and food and water and noorestones.

  The wealthy traveled in carriages and horsecarres, or boats down the nearest river. They brought money, and lots of it, making plans to buy their way onto bigger ships and sell the smaller vessels to someone desperate.

  And there were plenty of desperate people.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THEY WERE SEARCHING FOR AARU AND ME.

  My heart jolted painfully as I lurched up and said, “Get your things. We’re going now.”

  “Going?” Confusion twisted Tanhe’s voice. “You don’t have to go. Just hide.” Without being invited, he moved deeper into the parlor and stared as Ilina grabbed LaLa and Crystal from the sconces and pressed them into their basket on the table. “Are those dragons? Have you been keeping dragons in here?”

  No one bothered to answer. He’d have been horrified to learn that—until a couple of days ago—we’d been keeping a prisoner in here, too.

  I hurried into the room Aaru and I now shared. My bag was under the bed, already half packed; none of us had truly believed this refuge would last.

  Quickly, Aaru and I shoved the remainder of our belongings into our bags—no folding, no thinking, just moving—and within minutes, the seven of us were in the parlor and thanking the owner for his hospitality.

  Ilina pressed a few more lumes into the man’s hands. “For your discretion.”

  He frowned but pocketed the money. “Why are you leaving?”

  I shook my head. Even if I’d wanted to tell him anything, there was no time. “Thank you for everything. Really.” Then I shouldered my bag and pushed out the door. It was painful to keep from checking the suite once more, to make sure nothing was left behind, but I was already moving down the stairs as quickly as I could, Aaru right behind me, and the others after him.

  “Where are we going?” Zara’s breath came short as we hurried down the stairs.

  “Fancy?” Gerel asked.

  I didn’t know exactly where I was going. Away. Fast. That was all that mattered right now. “I nearly lost control in the council chamber,” I said. “Aaru silenced everything. Now that the real guards have finished restraining the officials, they have time to search the city for us.”

  My boots rang against the tiled floor of the lobby as I headed for the door.

  “Everyone keep your head down.” Hristo hurried to my side.

  Outside, the air was hot and dry, as though the storm never happened. Puddles had evaporated, and now heat made the air shimmer.

  “There,” Gerel murmured, just as a pair of the high magistrate’s guards were walking into the building next door. We’d left the Fire Rose just in time.

  The seven of us—plus two dragons in their basket—hurried past the building the guards had gone into; hopefully, they wouldn’t search where they’d already been.

  We moved quickly through the crowd, catching snatches of discussion as we passed.

  “They have a lead on whoever caused the explosions last decan,” someone said.

  “That’s not what I heard. I heard there was a fire in the Red Hall and they’re looking for whoever set it.”

  There were more wild rumors, but in our rush, we didn’t catch them all. No matter what, it was bad news for us.

  “Where are we going?” Chenda asked.

  I’d led them around several corners, staying clear of the guards swarming through the city. Sweat gleamed on all of us, and my bag weighed painfully across my body, but I didn’t slow. “Nine.”

  Gerel shot a heavy glare at me. “We’re avoiding one enemy by going to another?”

  “She’s been hiding in this city for gods know how long. She can hide us, too.” I didn’t actually know that was true, but we were out of options. The Chance Encounter was gone, and we had no other allies—or even potential allies—in the city. Not ones with the ability to help us.

  And—I didn’t know how to mention it to the others without sounding crazy—I felt a strange and uncomfortable pull toward the empire. Not like I belonged there. No, I belonged here in the Fallen Isles. But like I needed to go there. Find something.

  The first dragon.

  It wasn’t long before we ducked into the shoe shop where Aaru and I had met Nine that morning. An older woman looked up, startled to see so many people entering, and all of us carrying bags. Hristo and Gerel both had weapons.

  “I don’t want any trouble.” Her voice was low, gravelly. She pulled out a leather envelope that rattled with coins. “Take it. This is all I have.”

  Hristo’s mouth dropped open. “We’re not here to rob you.”

  “We’re looking for someone.” I glanced around the shop; it was the same as it had been earlier—quiet, meticulously clean, with a single narrow walking space—but no imperial spy.

  The shopkeeper twisted her hands together and gazed around. “I’m afraid I can’t help you. There’s no one else here. Unless you think shoes have personalities. Some people do, you know.”

  I started toward the back room. “No one’s staying here?”

  “No.” A note of alarm filled her voice, and she came bustling out from behind the counter. “Why?”

  ::Nine isn’t here.:: Aaru’s tap came against one of the shelves displaying the shoes.

  I stopped in the middle of the shop and sighed. “Sorry. We shouldn’t have bothered you.” If Nine wasn’t here, then she was probably at the Red Hall again. And in that case, I was out of ideas.

  We couldn’t go back to the hotel. If the high magistrate knew about the Voice of Idris, then he’d look for someone visiting Anahera—an Idrisi—so hotels would be the first place his guards searched.

  The old woman came toward me and whispered, “Are they after you?”

  My shoulders stiffened. How did she know? Maybe she was Nine; maybe changing her appearance was something else her magical device allowed her to do. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” she said, “they’re rounding up a lot of people. No one really knows why, but everyone can’t be suspects for the explosions. Why, they took my friend Hemi. She owns half of the shops on Revis Avenue, but she’s afraid of fire. She had an accident as a child, you see, and . . .”

  The shopkeeper was still talking, but my thoughts shifted inward. I’d assumed Paorah was after Aaru and me. And maybe he was. But if he was taking other people—people who allegedly owned half the shops on Revis Avenue—then he must be moving forward with his ev
acuation. Before gossip had time to spread. Before people had a chance to warn others. Before those taken could even get their belongings—but perhaps soldiers could be sent for those later.

  “Do you think they finished their planning today?” the old lady asked. “I’m sure the high magistrate will put things back to rights, but I can’t imagine how. That’s why I’m not high magistrate, I suppose.”

  My voice was hollow. “He’s not going to save anyone but himself. Everyone else needs to start thinking about how to make things right with the gods.”

  I didn’t wait for her to respond. I left the shop, the others close on my heels.

  “What do we do?” Zara asked. “Can we go back to the hotel?” She sounded hopeful.

  “I don’t think that would be wise.” But it wasn’t wise to stand out here, holding all our belongings. The dragons would grow restless soon. They’d want to fly and play, and then . . . I turned to Ilina. “We let the dragons help.”

  “What?”

  “Regardless where Nine is at the moment, we can find her ship. It isn’t in the port—or we would have seen it when we were first looking for her—but it must be somewhere. We should wait for her at her ship.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t have one,” Hristo said. “Someone could have brought her here and left with the ship so she wasn’t spotted.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe, but if you were a spy in a hostile land, in a place where islands are starting to get up, would you want to be left here without a means of escape?”

  Hristo frowned. “Isn’t that exactly our situation now?”

  “Yes!” I cringed and lowered my voice. “But imagine us with more resources.”

  “I’d have a ship,” Zara said. “And a second ship just in case someone discovered the first. And a third in case someone discovered the second.”

  Gerel snorted. “Very thorough, Little Fancy.”

  “So you want the dragons to look for the ship.” Ilina gazed down at the basket where, already, I could feel the two raptuses shifting with eagerness. They wanted to get out. They wanted to work. “How will we know what the ship looks like? How will they tell us if they’ve found it?”

  “I’ll show them,” I said. “And they’ll show me.”

  Her expression was unreadable, but she nodded. “Then let’s do it somewhere everyone won’t see us.”

  Aaru reached for my bag. “We’ll wait here. I’ll watch for Nine in case she comes back.”

  I nodded and went after Ilina, ducking into a small fenced-off garden that didn’t seem to be growing much of anything. “All right, little dragon flower. Careful on your way out. We don’t want anyone to see you.”

  Ilina pulled open the lid, and both dragons shot into our arms. I stroked down LaLa’s spine as she curled up against my breastbone with a throaty purr. On the other side of the basket, Ilina was kissing Crystal’s nose.

  “I think the best thing about these two is”—she paused—“everything, I guess. But one of the many best things is how they’re always so happy to see us, even though we were just holding them an hour ago.”

  “Their excitement is so good for our egos.” I grinned and turned to LaLa. “We need your help, sweet lizard. We need you to look for something for us. And tell us when you find it.”

  LaLa and Crystal were hunting dragons, and we’d been working with them for years. They were good at finding prey and leading us to it, but this was bigger. A ship. A spy. A hunt without a vole on the other end.

  But as I described the black ship aloud, I held the image in my mind and tried to send it along the connection LaLa and I shared.

  The dragons hadn’t stopped nuzzling us—they were mindful of their sharp scales, of course—but before I was finished describing the ship, LaLa leaped out of my arms. Crystal shot up behind her.

  They flew quickly—they were Drakontos raptuses, one of the fastest species in the Fallen Isles—but probably not so quick that someone didn’t notice them. So Ilina and I hurried out of the garden and returned to our friends, moving everyone away from the shoe shop.

  “Do you think they understood what you wanted?” Hristo asked as we walked.

  “They didn’t seem to be paying attention.” Ilina sighed and looked up, but the dragons were no longer in sight.

  But just as I was about to voice my agreement, an image flashed in my mind:

  A small black ship. Sharp rocks. Steep red cliffs. And the path I would take to get there, if only I could fly.

  Chenda touched my shoulder; I’d stopped walking. “Are you all right?” Concern laced her tone as she gazed down at me. “You didn’t eat much. . . .”

  “I’m fine,” I breathed. “Better than fine. I know where the ship is.”

  IT WAS A long walk from the city to the small cove where Nine had moored her ship. By the time we arrived, the sun was dipping deep into the western sky, and the god shadow swung heavy over the cliffs. A faint chill followed.

  Aaru stepped close to me and twisted our fingers together. Warmth rushed off his body, curling around mine. My shiver of excitement felt wholly inappropriate for the moment, but I couldn’t forget the way he’d touched me earlier. Maybe he couldn’t, either, because his throat jumped and he glanced at me to see if I’d noticed.

  I squeezed his hand and wanted to say something reassuring, but then our narrow path led us around a pillar of red rock and we caught sight of the black ship.

  It was a single-masted thing, bobbing gently as the tide moved out, and it gleamed like oil against the sea and stone. For a moment, I wondered if it was safe with the low tide, but it was so small that maybe it wouldn’t matter.

  The cabin window was dark, which probably meant Nine wasn’t here yet, and we had a long, boring wait ahead of us.

  As the sun finished its descent, a few seagulls cried above, squawking irritably. Below, piles of white feathers were scattered beneath the red rocks where Crystal and LaLa perched, their stomachs round after an enormous meal.

  “Well.” Ilina leaned her weight on one hip. “I see two dragons who won’t need treats for at least a decan.”

  The dragons looked at each other and chattered quietly.

  The piles of seagull feathers made me think of Kelsine. We hadn’t seen her since Altan found us in the dishonored camp outside Lorn-tah, but before he’d arrived, the young dragon had been playing in a rain of white feathers while LaLa and Crystal hunted for the people who lived in that camp.

  Aaru was watching my face. ::I’m sorry.:: His soft quiet code came against my knuckles. ::I should have found out where he sent her.::

  Before he could slip his hand from mine, I squeezed. I wanted Kelsine with me, but it wasn’t Aaru’s fault that Altan had been an uncooperative prisoner. If we were going to have a contest of taking blame for her absence, then I would win: in the tunnels, I should have made sure she was with our friends, not trying to fight on my behalf.

  I clicked for LaLa, and she flew to sit on my shoulder as we rounded a bend and came along the black ship’s starboard. There was no gangplank to climb, and no other way to get onto the ship without wings. “She’s not in there, is she?” I asked Aaru.

  He cocked his head and listened. Then nodded. “Cooking.”

  “Oh, good.” Hristo pressed his palm to his stomach. “I’m hungry.”

  I nudged LaLa. “Go make noise she can’t ignore.”

  She pushed off, Crystal on her tail, and the pair began screeching and clawing at the cabin door and window, while the rest of us sat on the rocks to rest our legs. But several minutes later, Nine finally emerged onto the main deck, dodging two small dragons, and glared around.

  “Some spy,” I said above the crash of water on rocks. “We could have been anyone.”

  “What are you doing here?” She propped her fists on her hips. “I told you that I’d come find you when I had something.”

  “We had something first. Let us on.”

  She sighed and touched the railing, and a long ramp slid out from the s
ide of the ship and settled onto the rocks. We boarded one at a time and followed her into the small cabin, then down the hatch into the lower deck.

  Lights glowed along the dark walls, but they weren’t noorestones. Instead, sharp, slashing symbols carved into the metal danced orange-white, like fire. It was strange, getting used to the flickering light, but the lower deck had enough of the symbols to fully illuminate the space. It was split into three different sections: a cargo hold, a brig, and a clear area in between; the mast drove through its center and into the ship’s hull.

  “Sorry there’s not much space.” Nine gestured around the lower deck, then motioned for us to sit. “These skimmers aren’t meant for hosting parties, but I don’t want you all on the main deck in case someone else happens to find me here.”

  LaLa and Crystal fluttered around, inspecting barrels and crates until they found the glowing symbols. Together, they flew to a porthole close to a symbol and balanced on the bolts of metal while they sniffed the source of the light.

  LaLa bumped it with her nose and the light went out.

  She turned to Crystal in alarm, and the silver dragon nosed the symbol as though to check if it was dead.

  The light came back.

  Both dragons chittered excitedly, and then they turned the light off again.

  Then on.

  Then off.

  “Great.” Gerel covered her face with her hands. “I have never been happier to have dragons around.”

  “The fate of the Fallen Isles depends on them, you know,” muttered Chenda. “These majestic creatures.”

  LaLa pecked at the markings excitedly, then looked around to see if anyone had witnessed her domination of light.

  “Pretend like you don’t notice.” I dragged my hands down my face. “If you ignore their bad behavior, they’ll get bored. Eventually. But if you reward them with attention, they’ll think it’s a game.”

  Nine just rubbed her forehead. “Who are all of you?”