Smoke and Shadow: An Epic Fantasy Progression Series (The Dragon Thief Book 3)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Why would that be?”

  “I’m not exactly sure,” she said. “It would be unusual, especially with an item like that, for only one person to be able to access the power within it, but perhaps it has something to do with how it was keyed to you, such as it were. Which is an anomaly by itself. Where did you say you got this?”

  “I got it from my brother’s wife.”

  “Interesting.”

  Which meant there was something interesting about Zara, something more than what he had already heard, and something more that he needed to know about her.

  Ty held onto the device, running his hands along it and wishing he had some way of controlling the dragon magic and some way of pushing power into it to figure out how to reach his brother. If he could even push a little bit of power into the artifact, maybe he could discover more about what had happened to Albion, and not just that, but how to get to him.

  Nothing changed.

  He frowned to himself. Why would the dragon help with this but nothing else?

  It was enough to irritate him.

  Only, he knew that it shouldn’t. He knew that he shouldn’t be too angry and upset with the dragon. It was only doing what it needed, doing what it thought was necessary.

  Something was changing.

  Gayal wrapped the shadows around them, and the vibration in the item began to increase. He could feel something about it guiding them. It intensified. And he knew which direction to follow.

  He frowned to himself. “North?”

  North meant toward the capital, but it also might mean…

  He thought he knew where they were going.

  “Ishantil.”

  What would be there?

  There was enough going on in the city, enough that had caused strangeness that he had encountered, that he shouldn’t have been terribly surprised that his brother would return to Ishantil, but why now? What was it that would have brought Albion there in this case? What would compel his brother to go?

  The power of the Flame. That might be all that it was.

  Unless there was something else, though.

  Ty remembered the way that the smoke dragon had responded to him when Roson had attacked. There was something else there, though. There had been the swirling fiery face that he had seen in the lava. Maybe that was only his imagination, but what if there was something else there?

  She frowned at him. “Do you really think they would go there?”

  “They must have. Where did you say you followed them?”

  “Several places throughout the kingdom.”

  “Were they places that were connected to the Flame? Places like the steam slope, Ishantil, the fire fields?”

  Even without asking, Ty thought that he knew the answer.

  She nodded slowly.

  The Flame.

  Whatever was going on had to be tied to that, only what were they doing?

  Chapter Nineteen

  They settled outside the city of Zarinth, the shadows still swirling, though a little bit less than they had before. They stopped on a road, a familiar place for him, especially these days as he had been in and out of the city so often. He stared into the distance.

  It was dark, and the only light came from the scattered markers for the Flame burning atop the temple deep inside Zarinth, and the faint glow almost impossibly far behind them coming off Ishantil itself.

  “I never get tired of seeing that,” Gayal said, looking toward the mountain.

  “I didn’t realize you liked it so much.”

  “I have always found it to be intriguing.”

  He smiled at her. “Intriguing?” A bit of wind gusted, though it was warm and carried with it the smells of Zarinth, a familiar odor that drifted to his nostrils, making him feel as if he were in a place where he had always belonged.

  It was strange feeling that way, especially since he had felt out of place within Zarinth when he had been here. It had always been a place where he had been somewhat welcomed, but at the same time it had been a place where he had felt isolated. Mostly that was self-inflicted. He hadn’t needed to be isolated, and there were those within the city who had wanted to tear him free from the isolation. There had been those who had wanted to help him. Not just those within the city like Bingham, despite how he hid the truth of that from Ty, or Eastley, but there were Maeve and Maggie, others who had wanted to help him.

  “Back to Zarinth to stop Roson James.”

  He had no idea what he had intended to do, only that he wanted to attack him for the dauvern. He had needed it. He hadn’t figured out why he had needed it as much as he claimed, especially given his obvious power. There shouldn’t have been any reason for him to have needed to take on that kind of item, nor should there have been a reason for him to have needed to draw upon the dragons, not if he had some actual way to reach the Flame on his own.

  “It’s not surprising that he would choose this place,” she said. “This is a place of the Flame much like the others. And whatever they intend must be tied to the Flame.”

  And now would be the chance for him to get his vengeance. That was what he was after. Find Roson James, and…

  He had to keep his eye on what they were doing. He couldn’t let that quest get the best of him.

  The shadows around Gayal stirred.

  Ty realized that energy was streaming away from her. He had seen it before, but now that he recognized it, he could see how she was pushing that energy away, the power flowing out from her, sweeping toward the city. It came across as tendrils of shadows, energy that streaked out from her before withdrawing, coming back to her.

  He had never seen anything like it before, certainly not with that much of an extension. When he had seen Dorian using something like that, it hadn’t been quite as pronounced or profound. There had been energy that he had used, sweeping out and away from him, but in this case the energy that she was using was different. It was powerful. She stared off into the distance, watching the city in front of her, and Ty followed the direction of her gaze, waiting.

  Strangely, the dragon-bone item that Zara had given him continued to vibrate.

  It had intensified the closer they had come to the city. Now that they were this close to Zarinth, he could feel that vibration rumbling through him. It was almost as if the vibration was meant to draw them forward, to force them along and into the city.

  “I can’t wait,” Ty said. He started forward and Gayal hurried after him, reaching for him, but he shook her off. “I can feel the energy from this,” he said, holding out the dragon-bone relic. “I don’t exactly know what it is or what it means, but I can tell that he is in the city.”

  “If he’s in the city, then you can wait for him.”

  “What if my brother needs my help?” He cocked a brow, looking at her. “What if he is there, waiting for me, and doesn’t even know that he needs my help?”

  “Your brother is the Dragon Thief,” she said.

  “That’s just it. He is the Dragon Thief, and I know that he can protect himself and that he doesn’t need for me to get there to help him, but…” How could he tell her that Albion was the last of the family he had? With his parents having disappeared, his brother was all he had left. He had to do whatever he could to help him.

  He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had to get there, that whatever energy was coming through the vibrating dragon bone suggested that Albion needed to be found.

  They headed into the city. Returning to Zarinth felt strange. Ty hadn’t been away from the city all that long, but it had been long enough to have changed. Not only had his understanding of his role within the kingdom changed, but his understanding of who he was and what he could do had changed. He might still be a thief at heart, but he didn’t identify as a thief anymore. Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe he still was a thief, and everything else was a lie, but Ty couldn’t help but feel as if he needed to do what he could in order to protect the dragons.

  The vibration of the dragon reli
c persisted as they entered the city.

  “What do you think we’ll find here?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Gayal said. “The last time I was here, we couldn’t find you fast enough.”

  Ty looked at her. “I didn’t realize you were looking for me.”

  “We knew that you were after the dauvern, and that if you found it first you would pose a danger. We understood that Albion had sent you after something that was disconnected from his assignment.”

  Ty snorted. “He’s always been after his own purpose.”

  The Tecal had thought that they could use Albion, while Albion had intended to use them at the same time. At least Ty could respect his brother for that. Now they were back here, Ishantil, a place of the Flame. Tied to something.

  “Zarinth is close to Ishantil. It is close to the power of the Flame. And if we’ve learned anything, it’s that these others believe that the power of the Flame is impressive and incredible and need to be controlled by them.”

  “Why would they bring the dragons here?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Perhaps they thought to strengthen the dragons and to use them to capture the power from it.”

  “And you think that’s what they were doing at the steam swamp?”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  They weaved through the streets.

  Zarinth was a large city, though not quite as large as Carn. It didn’t have the shadows cast across it the same way from the Dragon’s Jaw, though the presence of Ishantil created its own shadow. There was an energy to that, an occasional trembling, but now there was none. The buildings on the outskirts of the city, farthest from Ishantil, were more like those of Carn, all built of wood, whereas those closer to the volcano were made of obsidian and other volcanic rock.

  The streets were dark, and it reminded him of when he had been a thief, wandering the same streets. At that time, it had felt very different to be in the city, making his way around the streets and knowing that he could move quietly and quickly and not fear repercussions.

  Now he could move for a different reason. He still didn’t fear the repercussions, having come with one of the king’s Tecal on behalf of the king. He didn’t think they had anything to worry about, but the same time maybe that was a mistake.

  Ty looked over to Gayal. He found that she was holding onto that length of bone they had found. There wouldn’t be anything she could use that bone for, which suggested to him that her reason for holding onto the bone was different. It was tied to some irritation. Or perhaps another emotion.

  “You’re not telling me something.”

  “Because I’ve seen something like this before. I was far to the west, near the lava flows of Pash when I came across it. It was chasing Roson James and found…” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and pulled something out of her pocket.

  It was another dragon bone, charred and burned much like the one that they had taken from the steam swamp. “It was the same. I didn’t know what it was, and then I lost the trail.” The irritation in her voice struck him, and he recognized just how much it irritated her—a Tecal—to have lost a trail of anything. “I returned to the capital, and when I did, that’s when I found what happened to Dorian, what happened to the city, and realized that the remains that I had detected must have been the remains of one of the king’s dragons.”

  “Why are you only telling me this now?”

  “Because it doesn’t matter. Until we find them, until we can stop them, we won’t know.”

  “If they are stopping in other places that are powerful with the Flame, what other places in the kingdom might there be?”

  “There are many places within the kingdom that are powerful with the Flame. I’m sure your brother has spoken of those.”

  He paused outside of the temple. Ty could feel the vibration of the item that Zara had given him. It reminded him of when he had been here last, how he had been chasing the dauvern on behalf of his brother. Now he was just chasing his brother.

  “I was never much of a religious person when I was in Zarinth.”

  Gayal watched him. “Do you think that the Flame cares?” She shook her head. “All that matters is that you follow what the Flame needs.”

  “That sounds like something my brother would say.”

  Gayal shrugged. “Did he tell you about when we met? He had potential to become one of the Dragon Touched, or he could have been had he not gone to join the priesthood.”

  “They call themselves the Order of the Flame. The real Order.”

  Gayal nodded. “They do, which is why it’s unfortunate that we keep referring to the men we are hunting as the Order of the Flame. The priests who celebrate the Flame are different. I’ve not met any that I feel don’t serve the Flame. They all feel that they are serving in the way that they need, that they all are offering themselves to the Flame, providing what the Flame needs, and none of them would try to misuse that power.”

  “Even if it might bring them more power?” He looked over at Gayal. “These men have taken the dragons. If they think that they can somehow tap into that dragon power more directly, then perhaps they would do exactly that.”

  She clenched her jaw. “It’s unfortunate. Most within the kingdom don’t view the priests as favorably as I do,” she said. “I think that comes from my upbringing. I have always known that the priests value the power and life of this place, and because of that I have never doubted there was a need to better understand them.” She glanced over at him. “The priests celebrate the power of the Flame, but it’s no different than the power I utilize or that you can learn to utilize.”

  “It’s different,” he said. “The power of the Flame that you talk about is so different than what I was raised to worship.”

  “How is it, though? The power that you were raised to worship would be the same power that connects us all. It is an energy that binds us, that bridges all of us, that gives life, and it provides a connection to more life. It gives us a connection to something real.”

  There was something about the way that Gayal spoke of the Flame that reminded Ty somewhat of what he had heard his mother telling him. He could almost remember her seated in front of the relics, talking about how they might come back.

  Gayal led them on, following the road around the courtyard and through the city.

  Lanterns glowed in some of the windows, illuminating them. Occasionally, shadows would drift across doorways, in front of the windows, before fading and disappearing. He wondered how much of that was her shadow dragon and how much of that was something else.

  How much easier would things have been for him had his parents remained?

  He had considered those questions before, but lately they had been lingering for him more than they had.

  They made a turn, heading toward Ishantil, when he noticed a hint of more shadows fluttering.

  He glanced over to Gayal, to the dragon cloak, but they were calm.

  Maybe it was because this was Zarinth, and he was familiar with the streets, and he knew that if he were to run, he would have someplace to go. Even back to his old home, or he could go back to Bingham’s old home, or even to Olivia—if he dared trust her—or any of the other people he had known when he’d lived here.

  “We’re being followed. Shadows,” he said softly.

  “Where?”

  “All around us.”

  They were moving toward them.

  As they did, some part of him fell into a comfort that he hadn’t had before. He recognized something buried within him, and for the first time he wondered if perhaps that was tied to the smoke dragon, and perhaps if there was some way for him to hold onto that, and maybe he could use that in order to better understand how to connect to him.

  As the shadows moved toward him, he looked over at Gayal, where her own shadows were swirling. He wasn’t alone. Not like he had been the last time he had faced the false Order of the Flame. Or the time before that. Now Ty didn’t have to be
alone.

  But he hadn’t been then.

  The dragon had been with him.

  Maybe it hadn’t reacted the way that he wanted, but he had to move past that to find some sense of peace and calm and understanding about why he might not have responded to him. It wasn’t as if the dragon refused to help.

  It was just that time. That night when the shadows had come for him. That night when he had been wrapped in a different sort of shadow.

  He frowned.

  What if that was the reason?

  He’d been holding onto one of those strange items, the orb that had radiated the shadows, and maybe the dragon couldn’t react at that point. Maybe there was something about that power that worked against the dragons.

  He focused, feeling for the energy of the dragon, whispering softly to himself. “Is that it?”

  Gayal looked over at him. “Is what it?”

  The fluttering of heat in his belly came again, and it seemed as if the dragon was responding to him.

  It was comforting in a way. It was almost as if the dragon had always been there, as if the dragon had been a companion, keeping him company.

  One of warmth. Comfort. It was one where he felt as if he finally had some way of ensuring not only his safety, but also the dragon’s safety.

  That was what it was about.

  Companionship.

  The dragon had needed him, not only for whatever host he had to serve for it, but because it had been lonely. That had to be the reason that it drifted away when he was asleep, leaving him with dreams and memories of where he had gone, searching for others—and failing to find them.

  Ty would never have thought that he needed the dragon the same way, but perhaps he did. He also needed the companionship. He needed the comfort in the understanding and the knowledge that the dragon would react, and it would provide what he lacked.

  Heat flowed through him.

  He recognized that heat. It was the same heat he had felt when the dragon had healed him. When he had feared losing him.

  He breathed out, and a streamer of smoke went with it.