“I won’t tell a soul about this place,” I said. “You have my word.”
“Good.” Yalora seemed satisfied. “Now, come here and let me examine you.”
Bemused, I walked over to Yalora. She touched her snout to my forehead, and power washed through me, a tingling sensation that made me shiver. Suddenly, I was aware of how fatigued and achy I was, and I sat down heavily on the ground, my legs no longer able to support my weight.
“As I suspected.” Yalora pulled away. “You are still recovering. A few good nights’ rest should have you sorted, as long as you don’t do anything strenuous.”
She checked Lessie in the same way, then shook her head. “Lessie, on the other hand, needs at least two weeks to fully heal her damaged lungs. It was extremely foolish, what she did, diving into that miasma without any protection. But, under the circumstances, it was understandable. The two of you did us a great favor by destroying that piece of the dragon god’s heart, so, as far as I am concerned, you are friends to our kind. You may stay here as long as you need.”
“Thank you,” I said, doing my best not to show my dismay. Two weeks? We’d already been gone for nearly a month! I needed to know what was happening back at Polyba. I needed to know if my fellow dragon riders were safe, if Tavarian had secured the alliance, and if the Zallabarians had tried to attack us yet.
“Muza is trying his best to contact Tavarian,” Lessie said, sensing my distress. She curled up around me, tucking me against her giant body. “He will tell us as soon as he has an update.”
“Good.” That was the best I could hope for. Yawning, I leaned against Lessie’s warm, scaly hide and settled in. “I’m ready for a nap.”
“Sleep, then.” Yalora’s voice echoed in my head. I looked up at her through hazy eyes just in time to see her snap out her wings, preparing for flight. “You need your rest, and this is as good a place as any. No harm will come to you. You have my word.”
Nodding, I closed my eyes. The sound of beating wings and Lessie’s deep breathing lulled me off to sleep, and I slipped into the darkness, saving my worries for another day.
2
Lessie and I spent most of that first day at the treehouse, sleeping off our exhaustion and waking only to eat or to relieve ourselves. The next few days passed in mostly the same way, with the dragons leaving us undisturbed. Much as I wanted to get back to Polyba, I was grateful for the gift of solitude. It gave me time to think, to rest, to give my weary mind and body a break after what seemed like months of non-stop worrying.
On the fourth day, Lessie and I made another trip out to the lake so I could bathe and wash my clothes. We were just about to leave when three dragons soared overhead, circled the pond, and then landed a few feet from us, kicking up dust with their wings.
I coughed and brushed at my clothes and hair, trying not to be irritated at the fresh film of dirt that covered me. “Hey,” I said cautiously, eyeing the trio. Muza and Serpol I recognized, but there was a smaller dragon between them, this one with deep purple scales.
“Good morning, Zara.” Serpol inclined his head. “This is Roocian, my sister and Muza’s mate. She has been eager to meet you.”
“Oh!” I blinked, startled, and took a closer look at the female dragon. With blue-tipped spikes and crystal-clear aquamarine eyes, Roocian was one of the most beautiful dragons I’d ever seen. Her purple scales shimmered like a sea of amethyst, and I was struck by a sudden urge to run my hand across them. “I didn’t realize Muza had a mate. That’s wonderful!”
“The most beautiful dragon you’ve ever seen?” Lessie asked, sounding mortally offended.
“One of the most beautiful dragons I’ve ever seen,” I hastily corrected, running a hand down Lessie’s shimmering scales. “She still doesn’t hold a candle to you.”
“Wonderful?” Roocian’s voice rang out in my head, clear and bell-like. The scathing disdain in her tone shocked me, and I took a step back as she bared her teeth at me. “Would you think it wonderful, if you were mated to someone who you knew could die at any time simply because he is enslaved to a weak human?”
Muza growled at that, but Roocian ignored him. “You mean the dragon rider bond?” I asked, astounded. “Of course I know what that’s like. All dragon riders live with that possibility.”
Roocian tossed her head. “Yes, but you dragon riders normally only live for a few hundred years at the most. Dragons, on the other hand, can live thousands of years. And yet the ones bound to you selfish humans have to give up those years, simply because of that stupid bonding spell.”
“Roocian,” Serpol said in a warning tone. “It is not the fault of the present-day dragon riders. They are not the ones who created the spell. And if they didn’t bond to their dragons then those eggs never would have hatched.”
“If it bothers you so much, why did you mate yourself to Muza?” Lessie snapped, her temper fraying. “You knew what he was when you chose this, didn’t you?”
“I did, but that was before Elantia embroiled itself in another war and Varrick started putting his life at risk again!” Roocian snarled, snapping her teeth at Lessie. She leveled a glare at me that was so potent I was surprised I wasn’t incinerated on the spot. “Now the centuries I should have with Muza may be reduced to days. How am I supposed to lay eggs under these circumstances, when there is a genuine possibility that the hatchlings may never see their father?"
Lessie snorted. “I never saw my father, or my mother, and I turned out fine.”
Roocian drew herself upright. “You are not a free dragon. You will never know what it is like to be one of us.”
Muza growled again, the sound more threatening this time, and Roocian ducked her head, looking abashed. Obviously he didn’t appreciate that statement, since Muza himself wasn’t technically a free dragon either.
“You’re right, Roocian,” I said, taking a step toward her. She turned her head to face me, and I swallowed as she pinned me with that resentful gaze. “You have every right to be upset about Muza’s bond with Tavarian. We’ve all come close to death quite a few times these past months. But I’m not really sure what I can do to fix that. Tavarian isn’t going to go into hiding just to protect his and Muza’s lives. We have to defeat the Zallabrians and take the country back so they don’t enslave our dragons and use them for their own nefarious purposes.”
“Enslave your dragons?” Roocian sounded skeptical. “They are already enslaved. How can they be enslaved twice?”
“The Zallabarians have been stealing dragon eggs and kidnapping dragon-rider children,” I explained. “They plan on raising their own dragon-rider force, it would seem.” Why the autocrator wanted to do this, I had no clue. The Zallabarians on the whole hated dragons with a passion, and I knew from my time there that most of them would rather kill all the dragons than raise them for their own purposes.
“So you are merely saying that they will trade one master for another.” Roocian rolled her eyes. “It would be far better to simply free the dragons from their bond. That way the Zallabarians would not be able to use them, and they wouldn’t have to die prematurely.”
“Free them?” I echoed. “How?”
“By breaking the tie, of course,” Roocian said matter-of-factly. “My mother and Serpol have been working on a spell to do just that. We were hoping to test it on you and Lessie.”
“What?” Lessie and I instinctively recoiled. Dissolving our dragon bond? But how would we be able to communicate, to read each other’s thoughts and feelings, to know when the other was in trouble? We’d only been bonded for a year, but the concept of breaking the connection between us was unthinkable.
A giant shadow fell over us, and Yalora landed in the clearing, making the ample space quite crowded with so many dragons. “What is going on here?” she demanded. “Zara and Lessie are supposed to be resting.”
“I am talking to them about the spell,” Roocian explained. “They are going to volunteer.”
“Now wait a minute!” I snappe
d, annoyed at Roocian’s heavy-handed demeanor. “I didn’t agree to any of that! I’m still trying to wrap my head around the concept.”
“Even if she did agree, Zara and Lessie are in no condition to undergo an experimental magical procedure,” Yalora said in that severe tone mothers used on naughty children. “The two of them are still recovering from a near-death experience!”
Roocian bristled, and I imagined that between her and Serpol, she’d been the rebellious child. “I am not saying they need to do it now, Mother,” she said, sounding exasperated. “But surely once they are ready…?”
“The spell still needs work, and it is not the priority,” Yalora said. “We must first work on perfecting the shield.”
“Shield?” I asked. “What shield?”
“When Muza told us there was a possibility the dragon god would return, Serpol and I began work on a shielding spell that would protect us from his influence. I was alive during the Dragon War, and I remember what it was like to be under Zakyiar’s control. He was a terrible taskmaster and allowed us no autonomy or free will. If he came back, he would use his powers to enslave us again. The shield will prevent that from happening.”
“Well, that’s good, but now that I’ve destroyed part of the dragon god’s heart, there’s no way he’ll be able to come back,” I pointed out. “How exactly would this bond-severing spell work?”
Yalora stared at me for a long minute before answering. “Serpol and I have studied the bond between Muza and Tavarian extensively. The original mage who cast the spell was foolish and self-centered and did not consider the ramifications of bonding dragons and mages so closely. Unfortunately, the magic is very powerful, and there is no way to undo it completely. However, we could alter it and replace it with what I like to think of as a friendship bond.”
“Friendship bond?” Lessie perked up. “That sounds much better than breaking the bond completely. What would it entail?”
“It would be more like a mutual support pact,” Serpol explained. “It is actually quite similar to the mating bond between dragons. The two of you would still be able to share thoughts and feelings through the mental link, but you would no longer be soul-bound, and Lessie would be able to converse freely with other humans, like we can. This would also mean freeing Lessie from the compulsion to act on your will. You would no longer be able to force her to obey your commands.”
Lessie and I exchanged looks. “Zara has rarely exerted that sort of influence on me anyway,” she said, “so it doesn’t seem like we’re losing anything if we go through with this.”
Muza huffed loudly, nudging his mate, and Roocian turned to him, engaging in silent conversation.
“Muza doubts the spell would work and says it isn’t worth the risk in his eyes,” Lessie relayed to me. “He feels that Tavarian is a great partner and doesn’t mind being bonded to him,” she added, and Roocian bared her teeth. “Since the spell requires the consent and presence of both parties, Muza would have to talk to Tavarian about it, and he doesn’t want to bring it up. He thinks it would be insulting to their partnership.”
I frowned. “I don’t think Tavarian would be insulted at all.” More likely, Muza felt guilty about severing the bond. But wouldn’t it be easier on both of them if he did, since they couldn’t be together? Whenever I was away from Lessie, I ached fiercely for her presence. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like for Muza and Tavarian being separated all these years. Perhaps changing the bond would make it more bearable.
“Zara and I would like to volunteer for the experiment,” Lessie announced.
“We…we would?” I gaped at her. “Lessie, are you sure?” Sure, it sounded good in theory, but this was all so sudden! What if something went wrong? What if we regretted it?
“Zara,” Lessie said, nuzzling my side. “I nearly died at the Hellmouth and would have taken you with me if not for Serpol and Yalora. What is the point of rescuing you or coming to your aid if putting myself in danger only means we will both die? Wouldn't it be better if we were both freed from that burden? Look how many times Salcombe was able to control you because you didn't want me to die along with you. This soul bond is a terrible weakness. It will be much better for both of us if we can eradicate it."
I wanted to argue, but I remembered how I’d nearly been gored by that boar a few days ago. If Lessie hadn’t come to the rescue, we would have both died. And that hadn’t even been in battle. By our very nature, the two of us lived dangerous, unpredictable lives.
“Besides,” Lessie added, a little slyly, “if we can prove the spell works, then Muza won’t have any reason to pussyfoot around the subject. He and Tavarian can do the procedure, and then he and Roocian can raise a whole brood of dragonlings together.”
“Exactly.” Roocian sounded pleased. “I am glad to see someone around here is sensible.”
“You two would make stunning babies,” I said, admiring them. They made a handsome pair, Muza with his silver scales and black-tipped spikes, and Roocian with her amethyst and robin’s egg blue. I wondered if the dragonlings they made would each take after one parent or if there would be a mix of their characteristics. Purple and silver? Blue and black? Something else? I wished I knew more about how dragon genes were passed on.
Muza chuffed an amused sound, and I caught the wistful look in his eye.
“You really do want to be a father, don’t you?” I asked, feeling sympathetic for him. How long had he and Roocian been together? He must have felt so conflicted when they’d been mated, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to be there for the rest of her life. If Lessie and I could help him change that, this would all be worth it.
Plus, now that I knew free dragons could speak freely, I realized how annoying it was that Muza and Lessie couldn’t. How much easier would our lives be if humans and dragons could converse without having to filter the messages through their partners? It would be especially handy in the war, where time was of the essence.
“Not to mention it would remind the other humans that dragons are intelligent beings,” Lessie said. “Too many of them think we are stupid, mindless creatures, mere commodities that can be used to do their bidding.”
“Right.” I turned back to Yalora. “I’m in agreement with Lessie. We should do it.”
As the dragons discussed the logistics amongst themselves, I leaned against Lessie and pressed my cheek against her warm hide. In the back of my mind, a warning itched that this might very well shorten my life span. But if this spell ensured that Lessie got to live a long, happy life, then Yalora could take as many of my years as she needed.
3
Over the next week, Lessie and I focused on recovering, exploring the island, and learning as much as we could from the dragons. Well, Lessie was the one who did the learning. When she wasn’t sleeping, she spent much of her time with Serpol, practicing techniques to shield her mind from the influence of the dragon god. Despite my assurances that Zakyiar wasn’t coming back, the other dragons weren’t convinced. The older ones who had lived through the Dragon War were especially paranoid.
“Zakyiar may not be able to resurrect his body now that you’ve destroyed one of the pieces of his heart and entrusted the other to the death god,” Yalora said to me at one point over dinner, “but his disciple still has three pieces, and that is more than enough to do significant damage. We must be prepared for any eventuality.”
His disciple? I thought as I trekked through a jungle on one of the islands, following my treasure sense. It told me that there was a bevy of pearls here, hidden inside oyster shells, which meant there was a cove nearby. Yalora must have been referring to Salcombe. Part of me had hoped he’d died in our last confrontation, but the rest of me knew better. Even a hurricane on the high seas wasn’t enough to stop Salcombe, not when he had three of the pieces of heart with him. The dragon god had probably protected him…
“But what if he didn’t?” Lessie pointed out. “Or, maybe he did, but what if Zakyiar is angry at Salcombe for his failure
? After all, he will never be able to reunite all the pieces now. It’s possible he’s deserted Salcombe and left the old man to waste away. Without the dragon god’s powers, his health will fade, especially at the rate he’s been pushing his body.”
“True.” The thought of Salcombe holed up somewhere, forced to suffer as his body decayed, filled me with great satisfaction. But I knew better than to trust in that fantasy too much. I’d believe Salcombe was dead when I saw it with my own two eyes.
The sound of waves crashing against the shore distracted me from my thoughts, and I quickened my pace. The air changed, becoming brinier, and my treasure sense chimed louder. Trees parted to reveal a small cove sheltered by a protective circle of rocky outcroppings. The sand was pure white, the water was a teal almost too beautiful to be real. Entranced, I tugged off my clothing. The sand felt good against my bare feet, soft and powdery, and for a minute I was tempted to flop down and fall asleep there in nothing but my underwear.
But the pearls tugged at my treasure sense, beckoning me closer. And I’d never been one to resist the lure of treasure.
I set my clothes on a sunny rock, then used a strip of cloth I’d torn from my shirt to fasten one of my daggers to the outside of my leg. I wasn’t making the mistake of going into the water unarmed, not after that incident with the boar.
I waded into the ocean, savoring the feel of the warm water lapping against my bare skin. Maybe later I’d do some laps, float on my back and stare up at the sun while it baked my already tanned flesh. My body thrumming with eagerness, I sucked in a deep breath of salty air and dove beneath the waves.
The sounds of the open air disappeared, replaced by the pressure of the water rushing past my ears as I swam. The salt stung my eyes, so I tried keeping them closed at intervals, but it was so damn beautiful down here. Colorful fish darted between fronds of seaweed and shells of all shapes and sizes sparkled on the floor. The oysters weren’t far, only a few more feet down.
Secret of the Dragon Page 2
