Silver met Mele’s eyes again, but the girls didn’t have time to say anything further before Dasia reappeared with two mugs of freshly warmed chocolate.
“Can I check on Hiy—the Aquinder—before we go?” Silver said.
“I just spoke with Lers,” Dasia said. “They’ve settled in nicely. No need to worry! Lers is the best water dragon caretaker we’ve ever had here at the Keep.” Dasia led them up the stairs, her fat gray curls bobbing up over the top of her robe’s hood. “I think he likes them better than he likes us, if I’m being quite honest. Even the surly ones melt to pudding under his thorough care.”
They were led down a hallway lined with doors and yet more tapestries. For the first time, Silver noticed the images crafted with thread: They were portraits of desert rulers. Some Silver remembered from pictures in her school texts. Others she didn’t recognize. They were an unusual topic for art. The Desert Nations tended to create abstract art focused on shape and pattern, or sometimes they would portray scenes of animals in their habitats, like herd animals in pastoral valleys or water dragons on the seas. Images of faces were reserved for family members. Silver’s father had crafted many a simple pendant or bracelet to hold the miniature portrait of a loved one. He, she knew, even wore a ring whose clasp, once sprung, opened to reveal her mother’s beautiful face.
“I have put you side by side,” Dasia said to Silver and Mele. “I hope you like it. Isn’t brownish-red the loveliest color? Of course, the incident with the beets is the reason the bedding is dyed that shade, but a happy accident, I always say!” Dasia’s laugh was meant to be light; the end of it nervously rose an octave, surprising even Dasia. The Watcher cleared her throat.
“Good night, Silver.”
With a brief twist of her mouth, Dasia left Silver’s room. The Watcher woman had hardly shut the door behind her before Silver darted back into the hallway and right into the back of her friend. Mele let out a cry before Silver quickly hushed her.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Mele whispered. “How will we hide from Banaa?”
“Carefully! If a heartstone is out there waiting for me, I’m racing to it. I’ll be in the library until I fall over dead.”
“I’m shocked you aren’t already.”
Silver swept her gaze over her friend. “I could say the same for you. How did you make it here?”
“I sat.” Mele sighed. “After the trackers left me, I sat against a tree with Luap across from me because then nothing could sneak up on us, and we nearly froze waiting for daylight to arrive. When it did, and the river began melting again, we swam. Luap’s fast, but I’ve never known her to swim that fast before. We would have beaten you in any race, Silver Batal.”
“I can’t tell you how I felt when I thought…” Silver shook her head. “I’m sorry you were left.”
“And I was sorry you were taken.” Mele laughed. Then she raised her eyebrows dramatically. “But here we are now, so let’s just focus on the wild and wonderful secrets contained in those books.”
“Good ones, I hope. But first, I need to see Hiyyan.”
“And I know how to get you there. I’ve been visiting Luap.”
Mele led Silver to a door to the side of a fireplace and down a swirl of lightly white-frosted stone steps. Silver could tell they’d been recently scraped clear, but snow had started falling again. She peered around hopefully for another tiny Snowfluff dragon, but she didn’t see any. Mele slipped through the narrow opening between two sliding doors, disappearing into a plume of mist.
When Silver entered, she grinned.
In a room decadently decorated with thick piles of fur rugs, metal basins of spring water, dueling tile-bordered fireplaces on opposite sides, and, through the center, a bubbling brook brimming with fresh fish, lounged two content water dragons and one more, as comfortable as was possible under the circumstances.
“Hiyyan!” Silver ran to her Aquinder, throwing her healthy arm around his neck and relishing how his good wing automatically curled around her back.
Kirja opened her eyes to blink once at Silver, then rolled onto her back with a snort and a squirm as though to reach an itch. Mele rubbed Kirja’s exposed belly. Kirja let out a satisfied sigh. On another pile of rugs, Luap stretched her tail and yawned, then dipped her head into the brook, slurping up an easy catch. Mele took one hand from Kirja to pull apples from her pockets and roll them to the water dragons.
“Where did you get those?” Silver asked. “It’s frozen out there!”
“I’ve figured out my way around the Keep,” Mele said mysteriously before going over to Luap.
“I see you all have been treated terribly down here.” Silver laughed as Hiyyan scooped up his apple with a darting tongue and crunched through the fruit. “Where’s Nebekker?”
More medicine, Kirja said. Everything the Keep has. As before, Silver startled at how clearly the water dragon’s words came to her, even though they weren’t bonded.
I am poked and prodded and given sour things and also sweet things to drink. But I’m getting lots of tail massages, too. Hiyyan’s round cheeks rose with his smile, and he curled into a C-shape, gathering Silver close.
Lers and Nebekker entered, both with arms full. Lers fed the roaring fires with logs, while Nebekker set a series of jars on a table to join other vials and bags.
“Dasia said you were in your quarters, but I had a feeling you might be here,” Nebekker said. “Lers has something for you.”
Lers passed Silver a small metal tube with “Silver” etched in it. “This arrived long before you ever did. Was confused when it weren’t filled wi’ silver coin, but I understand now.” Then he tipped his chin at Hiyyan. “His wound is oozing. I hear a Screw-Claw got at yer boy?”
“Are you closer to finding an antidote?” Silver asked while removing and unrolling a small bit of parchment from the tube.
In case you make it here before my invite to the Islands does, stay put. I’ve sent help.
—Your Favorite Glithern Rider
Silver couldn’t hold back a grin. Ferdi! And he’s sent help. Hopefully an escort to his home nation. Protection as they traveled off the mountain. When would they arrive? Hiyyan must be healed before then.
“Not yet.” Lers stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I’ve told Nebekker here all I know about them Screw-Claws, but I’ll do more looking around tomorrow. Ain’t never looked for a Screw-Claw antidote, but there’s got to be some critter what’s evolved alongside them big beasts and developed a good defense. You let me know if you fancy coming out with me.”
“I’d prefer spending my whole life never seeing another cave beast,” Silver said with a shudder.
“Mrumph,” Hiyyan agreed.
“Besides, I have another cure theory I’m looking into,” Silver said.
“That’s good. Yer boy needs all the help he can get,” Lers said as he left the Dragon Den.
“What does he mean?” Silver asked Nebekker.
“He means these medicines aren’t working,” Nebekker said gently, her eyes glistening.
Silver blinked back her own tears, knowing Hiyyan would sense her worry. Instead, she sent Hiyyan images of the library, of the Ever, and of each of the Watchers’ faces, in turn.
Mele and I will search those books all night. There has to be a clue in there! I wish you could come. I miss you when you’re in a different room from me.
Humans are soft, Hiyyan bond-said.
Silver knew he was teasing her for missing him, but she wiggled her good arm as if he’d meant her squishy muscles. But not edible! she reminded him. We’re so grooooss.
What are you two laughing about? Speak to everyone in the room. How rude. Kirja glared at them but she couldn’t hold her stern expression for long before it dissolved into a teasing smile.
Silver smiled, too, but only briefly before her eyes hardened with determination. “Nebekker, you know something about the library. Where should we begin our search?”
“Perhaps w
ith someone we know had a heartstone: Gulad Nakim.”
Silver nodded. Interesting, she thought, that Nebekker didn’t mention herself. Was there a record of the moment Nebekker received her heartstone in the library?
“Okay. Gulad, it is. I’m going to figure this out, Hiyyan.” Silver stood, dug Nebekker’s heartstone from her pocket, and returned it to the old woman, then she turned on her heel and walked out to the cold steps, Mele right behind her.
“Enjoy snooping through those ancient books,” Nebekker called after them. “I delight in seeing cranky old Gavi foaming at the mouth.”
But before Silver and Mele got very far, they heard the sound of fast boots crunching through ice. Lers came around the corner, shouting, “They’re here, all of them!”
They’re here.
Silver’s heart began pounding. Whom did Lers mean? Sagittaria Wonder. Queen Imea. Arkilah.
“Get out of here, Silver!” Mele pushed her friend forward and flung her body against the door, arms wide, as though she could block a whole herd of Snuckers.
Then Mele caught sight of something over Silver’s shoulder, her eyes going wide. Before Silver could turn, darkness covered her face. She felt a heaviness on her back and shoulder muscles, and the ground fell away.
THIRTEEN
“Silver!” She heard Mele cry.
“Mele!” Silver’s legs kicked and flailed, tangling in the blanket that had been thrown over her. Fear rushed like a spring river. What held her? Where were they taking her? “Let me go!”
Images of foul prisons, of being thrown into the sea, of being eaten by a Dwakka all came to Silver in her panic. She didn’t know how long she was in the air—or how high, or how far she was taken, nothing—but eventually she was dropped to the ground and the blanket was whisked away.
She jumped to her feet, ready to fight, and surveyed the dank and dark place. The skin on her arms puckered in the cold, and her feet sank into soft ground. There were trees, millions of evergreens blocking the sky, but no snow. Silver couldn’t be sure she was still anywhere near the Keep. She was sure that she was alone, the teasing sway of the trees the only hint of other life.
“Hello?” Silver called out. She tried to sense Hiyyan’s thoughts to see if he was nearby, but she didn’t pick up anything.
Before her, Silver saw two paths, both shrouded in mist. Instinctively, Silver looked for Hiyyan and, when her Aquinder wasn’t found, for Mele or Nebekker. Anyone who could explain where she was and how she’d gotten there.
A branch crackled in the tension of the stillness, and Silver pirouetted, her chest painfully sucking air, her eyes scanning every shadowed nook and cranny of the forest. There was no other movement.
She knew Brajon would give her an earful for not gathering more research, but Silver picked a path for no other reason than it seemed slightly brighter. As she walked, her steps were sometimes clear and sharp. In other moments, a fog seemed to take over her brain, and she seemed to walk for long stretches without realizing she’d gone anywhere at all.
Silver wished Hiyyan were there with her. She imagined reaching out her palm and patting his side. She put out her good hand and jumped when her fingers brushed scales.
“Hiyyan!” Without warning, he was there. “Where did you come from? Have you been here this whole time? I’m so glad the trackers didn’t catch you!”
His expression was as puzzled as hers must be, but no words bubbled up in Silver’s mind. Her eyebrows drew together. No communication … but at least Hiyyan was walking.
The fog grew thicker suddenly, and Silver saw a figure emerge from the mist and walk toward them. Silver shrank back for a second, then her wariness turned into confusion.
“Father?” Silver called out. Her heart leaped.
He’s forgiven me. He’s come to help us.
Silver ran to Rami Batal but stopped short of flinging her arms around him. He was exactly as she remembered: tall and stoic, his sharp jawline softened by his long black hair, which was held back by a thin gold circlet. His thick eyebrows were drawn together, eyes unreadable as he glanced over Silver.
“Silver, where have you been?” Rami Batal said. He spread his hands wide, and his body slumped, seeming to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Queen Imea didn’t accept my scepter. Now it’s up to you to return glory to the Batal family. You’re the last hope we have, my brilliant girl.”
Silver’s breathing came fast. The fog in her mind cleared momentarily, and she realized she couldn’t be in the forest near the Keep. Not if Rami Batal were here.
Am I dreaming? Delirious? Or, am I …
Silver refused to finish her thought. Instead, she met her father’s eyes.
Before Hiyyan was part of her life, Silver’s father had raised her to believe her place was upholding the Batal family dynasty. But Silver had rejected her father’s dreams and broken his heart when she decided to become a water dragon racer. How could she now pick up the pieces and return the Batals to their former glory?
“I don’t have anything to show the queen,” Silver said, holding her empty palms out to her father.
Rami Batal studied her hands and frowned. “Your fingers are nearly frozen. A jeweler’s hands are their tools. You spent all your time dreaming of water dragons, but now you can’t even take care of the one bonded to you. You fail before you begin, every time.”
Dizziness overwhelmed Silver, and she fell to her knees. “I can’t do anything to make you proud,” she whispered.
“Rami.”
Another voice came to Silver. A softer one, missing the thick lashings of disappointment in her father’s voice.
“Mother.” Silver looked up. Sersha Batal stood before Silver, draped in a gold gown just a shade lighter than her skin. Her dark hair fell in thick waves over her shoulders, and her wide eyes were rimmed in kohl. She was as queenly a sight to Silver as Queen Imea had ever been.
Sersha reached down for Silver’s hand and drew her daughter to her feet.
“I would have helped you, had you only trusted me,” Silver’s mother said. “You are a spring desert storm, Silver. Fresh and cool but still more gentle than a summer squall. You are not ready to face the world.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Silver said. “The world came for me.”
“And now it comes for all of us. Queen Imea will stop at nothing to get the Aquinder; then what will be left of Jaspaton, of your family?”
“I’ll never lead the trackers to Jaspaton!”
“And so you’ll never come home to me?” Sersha asked with a sad smile. “Our children grow up and leave us too quickly.”
Rami and Sersha Batal held their hands out to Silver.
“We know that Nebekker took you away and that you made a mistake. That’s all behind us now,” Silver’s father said. “You can come home. Leave all this fear, this cold, this running away.”
Silver let out a relieved breath. She hadn’t realized before how much she wanted to go home. With a wide smile, she fell into her parents’ arms.
“Come on, Hiyyan. Let’s return to Jaspaton.”
“No.” Her father pushed Silver back to arm’s length. “He can’t come with us.”
“He’s too dangerous,” Silver’s mother added. “An illegal breed! Look at all the problems he’s brought you.”
“You mean, the problems I’ve brought him,” Silver said as she took a step back, reaching behind to brush her fingers over Hiyyan’s scales. He steadied her wildly beating heart. “I can’t leave him.”
“Take care of yourself, Silver,” her father said.
Silver moved to Hiyyan’s side and wrapped an arm around his neck. “Taking care of him is taking care of myself, too.”
“So you’re choosing the water dragon over us again?” Silver’s father asked.
Silver looked up, expecting that anger and disappointment she remembered from the last conversation with her father. But there was only sadness, and that cut deeper than anything else.
> “I’m not choosing,” Silver said. “But Hiyyan needs me now.”
“You can’t have everything. Pick. Him or us.”
“Don’t make me pick,” Silver said. “Please.”
Silver’s mother wiped the tears off her cheeks. “You already have, my girl. Good-bye.”
“Wait!” Silver reached frantically for her parents, but they disappeared like mist through her fingers.
Were they ever really there? Silver turned in a slow circle, focusing on the solid ground beneath her boots and the cold air searing her lungs. The forest was real, and she was real. Were dreams real? Silver’s head pounded with confusion. That was certainly real. She pressed her fists to her forehead.
“Think, Silver. You know your parents can’t really have been here, or have disappeared. It’s an illusion or a game of some sort. Why? From whom?”
She faced the pathway once more. There was a thin, whistling air of loneliness on the forest path. But how could she be lonely? She had Hiyyan with her.
Hiyyan mewled. A sharp pain ricocheted through his wing joint, and through Silver’s arm, too. She winced.
“It will be all right,” she said to Hiyyan. But seeing her parents like that … seeing their sadness over her choices … nearly extinguished the little flame of hope that burned in Silver.
Silver pressed her back against a tree trunk, hoping the cold would shock feeling back to her arm. She’d hurt so many people along the way already. Would it ever end? Why was she working so hard to find a dragon heartstone when what waited on the other side was even more heartbreak?
“No,” Silver said, shaking her head. The fog was settling in her mind again, making her thoughts sluggish. “I can’t think that way.”
She reached for Hiyyan and curled her fist in his mane.
* * *
“IT’S A TRIAL,” Silver breathed. “I know it is. Like in the old desert fables. But I don’t know if I’m passing or failing. Or who’s testing me. Hiyyan … I don’t even know if you’re real or part of the mirage.” Silver pressed a palm, a cheek, against her water dragon. He certainly felt real. Smooth and warm. “Either way, we must find a way out of this forest. Let’s go.”
Race for the Dragon Heartstone Page 11
