Dragon Force: The Complete Series

by Lucia Ashta

  I had the feeling the ‘mess’ would have unraveled whether I’d failed to hold Rosie in invisibility or not. “I can do it now. I can hold her invisibility.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Desperation tinged Rane’s voice. “We can’t come with you. If Traya and I reveal ourselves it’ll link back to you. We’d be the only trainees here. It’d be suspicious.”

  “Agreed, that’s why you need to stay here.”

  “That’s also why you need to stay here.”

  “Sorry. I have to do this.”

  “But why, Nir? Why do you always have to do things that put you in danger? There are a hundred forcers out there. Trained forcers. Let them handle this. Why do you need to go?”

  “I’m not doing anything. I’m just going to listen. I’ll be right back and I’ll relay all that was said so we can decide what we need to do to keep ourselves safe.”

  “As if we ever decide anything. You do whatever you want, whenever you want. It’s selfish. We’re a family, Anira.”

  His words contained a certain truth I wasn’t comfortable with, and they had me halfway decided to honor his reasonable wishes.

  Before that could happen, I started moving across the rock—and fast. As much as the truth in my twin’s words stung, I had to honor whatever was propelling me forward. Now more than ever, I had to respect the extent of my senses.

  If I’d touched faithum before, there was more out there. Following my intuitions was the first step.

  I forgot that another me, in another time, would have been afraid. I extended my invisibility around Rosie while I picked my way over the clearing, light on bare feet used to moving with minimal sound.

  A gap the length of my body opened between the two opposing forces, which covered the clearing. I edged in that gap only as far as I needed to go until I could make out what the chieftain was saying. Then I stilled completely so none of the people forming walls on either side of me might notice. I hoped no one would suddenly lunge forward, because if they did, they’d bump into Rosie and me.

  But the time for me to do what I needed to do, no matter what the risks, had arrived. I pushed away my guilty conscience and purposefully didn’t look back toward the cave where I’d left my brother and sister, and listened to every word that exited the chieftain’s mouth.

  I also heard everything he didn’t say. That was the worst part of it all.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Greetings men and women of the great Ooba tribe,” Chieftain Pumpoo began from beneath his shade, his arms reaching out to either side in front of him, forcing his emissaries to scramble to take half a step back.

  If he was expecting a response from the warriors of the Dragon Force, he didn’t receive one.

  “I come, as always, in peace. There’s no reason to worry. I am your chieftain, the one who has your best interest in mind, as my ancestors have before me. You can relax.”

  The charmers and tamers didn’t relax. They seemed to be waiting, as I was, for him to reveal the real reason for his ‘visit.’

  “Why are you here?” Dean asked.

  “Why, to ensure that peace continues to reign in our tribe, of course.”

  “We support peace. It is you who’s trying to create conflict within our tribe.” For Dean, apparently, the time for pretense had passed. “Why are you really here?”

  “You dare to question my motives?”

  “I do.” It was a matter-of-fact statement, and I admired Dean for it.

  The chieftain’s jaw jutted out for a moment before he regained his composure. “Then your actions are misguided, and you are not fit to lead the men and women who stand behind you.” He shifted to address the dragon charmers and tamers. “The man whom you’ve placed your trust in no longer deserves it. He’s lost sight of the way of our people. He has confused and misled you, and I won’t blame you for his actions. He alone should face the consequences of his erroneous choices, not you. All you’ve done is your best to protect our people.”

  “It is you who no longer deserves the trust we’ve placed in you.” Shula’s strong voice rang across the clearing, crisp as the brightening darkness around us. The sun had yet to rise, but it was only minutes away from doing so. Already it had begun to lighten the sky.

  Chieftain Pumpoo’s nostrils flared beneath the shade he took refuge under even when there was no rain or sunshine. But he proceeded as if Shula hadn’t said anything. “I don’t blame any of you for the actions of one man who’s lost sight of his sacred purpose, who’s turned that purpose into something foul and—”

  “Something foul?” Dean’s composure slipped for a moment before he roughly tugged it back into place. “If there is anything foul in this clearing, it’s you.”

  Pumpoo gasped, his emissaries echoing his shock at Dean’s impertinence. “How dare you—”

  Dean interrupted again. “The question is rather how you dare to come down here and pretend you haven’t been plotting against your people. How dare you act as if you care about the Ooba tribe when the only interests you seek to advance are your own?” Dean’s words grew in strength the more he spoke. I got the feeling he’d been waiting to speak these truths for a very long time.

  Chieftain Pumpoo sputtered, as if he were so shocked and affronted by Dean’s accusations that he didn’t know what to do. But it was all a show. I registered the subtle signs that his actions didn’t match his intentions. The fury in his eyes that promised revenge wasn’t aligned with his poor-me act. “How could you ever think that of me?” A small hand, limp as a dead fish, pressed against his chest. “When all I’ve ever done is think of all of you. All I’ve ever done is attempt to emulate my father’s example and guide you all to wellness and prosperity.”

  Dean crossed his arms across his chest. “What’s this really about? You don’t show up here with the entire Ooba tribe at your back to sputter nonsense. Spit it out already. What do you want?”

  “I don’t want anything from you.” Pumpoo’s voice was composed but his tone, chilling. “You’ve clearly lost your damn mind. I’m here to offer the members of the Dragon Force that follow you in error an opportunity to repent and rejoin me, their rightful leader.”

  “If you want them to repent,” Dean spat out the word, “then you’ve already failed. They have nothing to atone for.”

  “They indeed do. They’ve sworn allegiance to me, their dedicated leader. They will apologize and beg for my forgiveness for the errors of their ways.” Pumpoo bent his head gracefully. “Being the leader that I am, with their interest at heart, I will, of course, forgive them and embrace them as part of the Ooba tribe.”

  “They owe you nothing.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Dean. They owe me everything. And they’ll give me what I deserve.” Pumpoo twitched. It was an action I doubted many other than Dean, and likely Shula, caught, but I did. He hadn’t meant to let his charade drop yet. His façade was slipping fast, and he hadn’t yet achieved what he intended. More calmly, he said, “I’ll give them the opportunity to atone for their sins.”

  I was certain he felt this was the right thing to say, which showed how little he really knew the people who stood against him.

  “We will not atone or repent or beg for your forgiveness or any other such nonsense. We are not your slaves. We alone are responsible for the weight or lightness of our conscience. If there truly is a Something Greater, then our actions are between us and such a force as governs us from above—not you.” Pumpoo started to say something, but Dean didn’t let him. “The only regret I have is not having stood up to you sooner.”

  Pumpoo slapped at the shade above his head; Jore and the second emissary scrambled to tilt it farther from his face. “You will be made to pay for your words. I will make you pay.”

  “You might try, but you will fail.”

  Pumpoo flared his nostrils again and jutted out his jaw. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.”

  “What did you think was going to happen? You’d just s
how up here and speak your poisonous words and sway everyone to your side?”

  “Of course not.” But it was evident that was precisely what he’d thought. He came here to put on a show—as he’d done thousands of times before; he anticipated he’d have the same success he’d always had.

  But Dean and Shula weren’t the same they’d always been. I didn’t think the rest of the tamers and charmers were either, judging by the determined and disgusted looks on some of their faces. It was as if some of them were seeing their chieftain in a new light for the first time.

  “I came here to offer the members of the Dragon Force the opportunity to disassociate themselves from your actions. You, I will see put to death. Your second in command, this woman or whatever she is, will die along with you. But I can spare the rest... if they see the errors of their ways.”

  “The only thing they’re seeing is the real you.”

  “The real me?” Pumpoo slapped at the shade again, harder this time. Jore and the other emissary exchanged nervous looks and raised the shade as far above their chieftain as they could while still keeping it overhead. “You have no idea about the real me.”

  Something snapped in the little man. An instability I’d never heard in his voice vibrated through it. He swept his gaze, eyes wild in the rays of the rising sun, across the tamers and charmers. “This is your last chance. Follow me and no harm will come to you. Follow him, and he will lead you to your deaths.”

  Some of the forcers fidgeted, but most of them didn’t move an inch.

  “Step forward now to indicate you join me, and you will be spared. Come over here, and I will understand that you followed Dean and his erroneous ways only because he’s persuasive, not because you ever opposed me. But you must do this now. I’m gracious and forgiving, but I can only offer you the opportunity for my grace in this moment. If you don’t step forward at this time, I’ll retract the offer, and you’ll be punished alongside your misguided officers.”

  The small man swept his eyes across those gathered in front of him several times, but in the end, no one stepped forward.

  “Then you’ve made your decision. And you’ll pay for it. You’ll pay a steeper price than you’ve ever imagined.”

  Dean, who seemed to be regretting his own words in the face of Pumpoo’s threats, put his hands up, palms forward, in a late gesture of peace. “Why all this animosity?”

  “It’s you who directed your animosity at me. I’m only ruling as a ruler must.”

  “Why have you declared us your enemy? Up until a few days ago we were defenders of the Ooba people. Why now make us out to be the opposite?”

  There was no way Pumpoo would answer Dean’s questions truthfully, nor did I understand why Dean would bother asking them.

  Pumpoo spun to address the villagers who stood, barely moving, behind him. “You know why the dragon forcers are no longer the sworn protectors of the Ooba, don’t you? They never were; they just pretended. Isn’t that right?”

  Answers rumbled across the villagers, and it was only then that I noticed that something was wrong. They were too still, too quiet. I realized they were accustomed to following Pumpoo and doing everything he ordered them to do. We all were. But this was different. This wasn’t normal.

  I scanned the faces of the crowd, seeing more easily now that the sun was climbing. There was something different about their eyes, a glassiness I could make out in the people who stood closest to me.

  It was as if their eyes were incapable of really seeing me, and the problem went far beyond my invisibility. I looked between the chieftain and the crowd, a dread spreading across my limbs like a paralyzing cold.

  Pumpoo once more threw his arms out wide and raised his voice, reaching all the way up to the first turn of the mountain trail that cut the rest of the trailing villagers from sight. “We know what the dragon forcers did, don’t we? We know they betrayed our most sacred purpose, that they betrayed us.”

  Pumpoo swept his dark head back and forth, as if he were a magnanimous leader who wanted always to include every one of his people. As if his actions were about every single one of them, and only them. “They killed and butchered the dragons for their own purposes.”

  Killed and butchered? What the hell was he talking about?

  “They violated everything the Ooba stand for in their pursuit of that one thing most forbidden, because of the harm it can cause all of us. The dragon forcers, under the command of Dean and Shula, murdered dragons and stole their carcasses. And they did this because they wanted to pilfer their faithum.”

  Again, too little reaction from the people Pumpoo intended to whip into a frenzy as he’d done numerous times before. Soft murmurs moved through the crowd, but none of the shock and fury I imagined Pumpoo was trying to build.

  “They stole faithum because they now intend to use it against me, to usurp my leadership and command you to fulfill their foul purposes. This is why none of them can be allowed to live. They will be the end of the Ooba people.”

  “Enough!” Dean roared so powerfully that even Pumpoo whipped around to face him. “Enough of your theatrics and lies. We, the Ooba people, have had enough, whether we realize it yet or not. You manipulate and you lie, and that is what must now come to an end. If your death is the only way to achieve this, then so be it, but we will not allow a single man to destroy us and all that we truly stand for.

  “People of the great Ooba tribe, this man has deceived us all, even me. We never killed any dragons. We never stole their faithum. We never did anything but honor our connection to this land, to the life upon it, and to the Ooba people. I want peace, as you all do. But right now we have to destroy this man’s influence before he destroys all of us, and what we stand for. He has some kind of hold on you now, but once it breaks you’ll see that he isn’t who he claims to be. We, the Ooba tribe, deserve better.”

  “And who exactly is the person you suggest to lead them?” Pumpoo slithered. “You, I presume?”

  “Actually, no. I have no intention of leading a tribe. We’re capable of governing ourselves. We’re all equal. It is only you who’s made us believe otherwise.”

  “My ancestors have ruled this tribe since before we arrived here. Since we left the Original city to avoid persecution. Since the great seers shared their prophecies so we could avoid annihilation.”

  “We only have your word—and that of your ancestors—that any of that is even true. Maybe your ancestors took us away from the royal city because they wanted to rule without the interference of the Andaron Dynasty, because they wanted complete power over the Ooba tribe. Maybe every prophecy you’ve ever claimed a seer made has been of your own design. Maybe there are no seers. Maybe there aren’t even any raiders. None of us alive remember them. And maybe you’ve made us kill off any twins born to our people for some nefarious purpose of your own.”

  A hand squeezed my shoulder, and I jumped and bit my tongue to suppress a squeal. I yanked my head back to see Rane and Traya standing on either side of me. “What are you doing here?” I risked that one of the villagers might hear me, but somehow I didn’t think it would matter. There was something decidedly off about them.

  “Are you for real right now?”

  I opened my mouth to quip back, but closed it. Rane had a point. I put a hand over his on my shoulder and turned back to watch Dean narrow his eyes as if he were putting together the pieces of a very large and complex puzzle. “Maybe you wanted to remove all twins from existence because they pose a danger to you. Because you’ve been stealing the power of the Ooba and you’ve been studying the forbidden faithum to concentrate your power and ultimately use it against us.”

  There were hundreds of people in the clearing, but not a single one of them made a sound. The sun continued to rise in complete silence. All the birds and animals had abandoned the area because of the fire. Not even they were there to break the eerie stillness.

  I prepared for what I imagined would be Pumpoo’s denial. I imagined he’d mock Dean and
twist what the charmer said to make it seem as if he were the evil one here.

  But Chieftain Pumpoo surprised me, as I imagined he surprised every single man and woman gathered there—because there was no way any one of us anticipated what he did next.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Pumpoo yanked the shade from his emissaries’ hands and flung it off to the side, hitting people. He threw his head back and laughed.

  I didn’t remember ever hearing a sound that made my stomach turn as much as his laughter. There wasn’t a speck of joy in it. It mocked us, the Ooba tribe, for having fallen for his deceit. It proved he no longer cared what we thought of him—that worried me most of all.

  If the chieftain had decided he no longer needed to keep up his façade, it must be because he’d amassed enough power to achieve whatever he wanted without the support of the Ooba. That one likelihood had me frozen where I stood, clutching at Rane’s hand for comfort. I leaned back into his chest, Rosie still pressed invisibly against my legs, and waited.

  As Pumpoo laughed, a dark and unholy glow began to expand around him. I had no idea what exactly the glow was, but I knew one thing for certain, whatever it was, it spelled bad news for the entire Ooba tribe.

  The villagers behind Pumpoo weren’t reacting as I expected they would. It was true that they—we—had all been under the chieftain’s influence, but that didn’t mean we were stupid. With the display the man was putting on, the rest of our tribe should have been reacting in some meaningful way.

  But they weren’t. It was almost as if they hadn’t even heard a word he said, as if his laughter didn’t churn their stomachs as it did mine.

  His amusement ceased abruptly. Pumpoo snapped his head forward, eyes blazing and pinned on Dean. “You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?”

  It didn’t look like Dean did, but I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t think a single one of us there had any real idea of what was about to come.