As She Ascends

by Jodi Meadows

  Six landings.

  Desperately, I wanted to sit down. I wanted to think. I wanted to cry. But the procession continued without pause, because we had no way of knowing if the warriors were coming—if they were following down the stairs. The curve of the cliffs hid us from their sight, but just because they couldn’t shoot arrows at us anymore didn’t mean they weren’t in pursuit. And we had no way of knowing how many there were. I’d seen four. One was dead.

  That left three unaccounted for.

  As we moved, I kept glancing over my shoulder to check the line behind me, but people were only sobbing, not screaming, and I couldn’t tell whether that was a good sign or not.

  A thousand years later, we reached the twentieth landing and the boats, which would take us to the harbor. Ten boats sat ten people each.

  Like on the stairs, the rule of the boats was that whoever reached them first would take them to the harbor. Then, someone—hopefully Luminary Guards—would bring the boats back to get the others.

  The seats filled quickly, everyone in the beginning of the line eager to escape. Two boats loaded. Three. Four.

  We crept closer to the loading platform.

  Five boats. Six. Seven.

  Ilina and Aaru took seats on the ninth boat.

  People began loading onto the tenth boat. Hristo swung his backpack onto his lap and sat. The people directly in front of me followed.

  “Sit,” said the man behind me. “It’s your turn.”

  My whole body shook as I climbed onto the boat and took a seat, then stuffed my bag between my feet.

  There was only one seat left.

  I spun toward the dock. “Zara!” There wasn’t enough room for an eleventh person; she’d have to wait for the boats to return, and Mother had promised I’d protect her. How could I protect her if we weren’t on the same boat?

  But the man was already helping her into his seat. “Go in the light of the Lovers,” he said, and untied the ropes holding us to the dock.

  I wanted to thank him, but the words caught in my throat. Before I could shake them free, ten boats all cast into the sea, oars slapping the water in steady rhythms. The numbers ticked in the back of my head as Zara leaned her shoulder against mine.

  “Do you think they’re still alive?” she whispered. “They have to be, right?”

  I didn’t know how to answer. Instead, I lifted my eyes to Hristo’s, then looked beyond him to the people huddled at the base of the cliff stairs. Though I searched the faces of everyone left waiting, I couldn’t see my parents, or Hristo’s father.

  “I saw Mother use her gift,” Zara went on. “They wouldn’t have been able to hurt her while she was using it, right? They wouldn’t have wanted to.”

  There was nothing to say. It was unfathomable to me that the warriors wouldn’t have hurt her, but I didn’t want to say that, not to my sister, and not when she was clearly falling apart. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d voluntarily talked to me, let alone touched me.

  Slap . . . Slap . . . The oars hit the surface of the water. I didn’t look down, as though the doctor’s body might be floating here, staring up at us with dead eyes while we made our escape and she never left.

  Tears flooded my eyes.

  They’d killed her. And I had no doubt they’d killed my parents and Hristo’s father, too.

  Several faint plops interrupted the steady sound of the oars. I wiped the tears off my face and looked up.

  Three warriors stood on the stairs, just above the dozens of evacuees.

  “We have to go back!” I pointed toward the cliffs, but that only made the rower push faster.

  “We can’t go back,” he said. “We can’t fit everyone on the boats, and if we try, we’ll lose people to their arrows. We have to save as many as possible, and this is what we practiced.”

  Zara had her knuckles pressed against her mouth, eyes wide as she stared toward the dock we’d just fled. “The man who traded places with me—”

  “He knew what he was doing,” said a woman across from her. “We all knew there might be warriors on the stairs after us.”

  That was easy for her to say. She was safe on a boat.

  “We have to save them,” I said again, just as more arrows landed in the water, splashing short of us.

  They weren’t even trying to hit us anymore. They simply wanted to make sure we didn’t attempt to save the others, warning us away with volleys of arrows as they descended the rest of the way to the docks. If we turned around, some of us would die before we reached the rest of the evacuation line. And before we would be able to load everyone else onto the boats, risking capsizing, we’d all be dead.

  When I looked at Hristo and Zara in my boat, and my other friends in the boat ahead of us, I knew I couldn’t risk them. Not for a rescue mission that would never succeed.

  Still, the fact that none of us would even try . . .

  I bent over my legs, linking my hands over the back of my neck, and focused on my breathing. Doctor Chilikoba would tell me to breathe.

  Doctor Chilikoba was dead.

  Maybe my parents were, too.

  Oars hit the water again and again, and seagulls cried, and people screamed on the docks as they died.

  At my side, Zara’s position mirrored mine as she sobbed openly.

  Mother had promised her that I would protect her.

  Shaking, I wrapped one arm around my sister and pulled her close.

  THE PORT BUSTLED with prominence evacuees rushing to find friends, families scrambling to reconnect, and Luminary Guards struggling to produce order from this chaos.

  The moment we disembarked our boat, Hristo found a guard to take it back to the central prominence, but we all knew it was too late for those we’d left behind. The warriors killed indiscriminately.

  There was one benefit to the chaos: we found the Chance Encounter, her red sails furled against the wind, and we climbed the gangplank without anyone questioning us.

  “Another one?” Captain Pentoba frowned as Zara wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Where am I supposed to put all of you?”

  “Chenda and Gerel?” Their names barely squeezed from my throat. “Are they here? Have they come?”

  The captain shook her head. “I haven’t heard from them.”

  I wished we hadn’t parted ways in such anger. What if I never saw them again?

  “What happened over there?” Captain Pentoba motioned toward the city. “We heard an explosion and then people started coming down off those cliffs.”

  “Attack.” The Chance Encounter swayed under my feet, familiar and comforting now, but we weren’t out of danger yet. Altan’s warriors had followed us here. It was likely they’d been the ones to attack the council house. “Have you seen a Khulani ship?”

  “Cargo vessels, yes. They’re here in port. But if you’re asking about something warriors might have come in on—”

  I nodded.

  “—Then I haven’t seen anything. That doesn’t mean they’re not here, though. There used to be a port just south of the prominences, but it hasn’t been in use in decades. Not since this one opened. A company of warriors could defeat the detail stationed there without blinking.” Captain Pentoba gave a sharp whistle, and One ran up behind her. “Tell the crew: we sail now.”

  “We should wait,” Zara said. “My parents might be coming. Hristo’s father, too.”

  The captain tested the wind and shook her head. “We’ll lose the advantage if we don’t go now. One, pay the port fee and let’s get moving.”

  He hurried to obey.

  My heart wrenched at the thought of leaving them behind, but she was right. Waiting meant giving the warriors more time to organize against us. Altan would have predicted we’d head straight to the Chance Encounter. He was probably on his way out of the old port, not caring if he left warriors behind.

  Zara spun to glare at me. “We can’t leave without Mother and Father. Don’t let the ship leave.”

  As though it was m
y decision. “Mother promised you that I would protect you, not follow your orders. She also didn’t say anything about waiting for her. You saw what happened on the cliff: we don’t know if they’re alive.”

  Zara shoved me, making me stagger back two steps. “Don’t say that!”

  “Neither Mother nor Father came down the stairs. Not Hristo’s father, either.”

  “That doesn’t mean they’re dead!” She shoved me again, but this time I was braced for it.

  Still, I glanced at Hristo. “Take her somewhere out of the way.” Of all the people she might consider listening to, he was the only one on the ship.

  He nodded, and a moment later, he had Zara halfway to the forecastle.

  “That was insensitive about Hristo’s father,” Ilina said.

  I closed my eyes and breathed. She was right. I should have watched my words. “I’ll apologize when we’re on the ocean again.”

  She nodded and grabbed my bag to loop the strap over her shoulders, next to her own belongings. “Good. For now, I’m going to take these to the cabin and check on the dragons. Maybe the captain can leave word for Gerel and Chenda—”

  The bags sagged in her grip as she stared over my shoulder.

  “Fallen Gods,” she breathed.

  I turned around, too, as whispers and curses rippled across the deck.

  “Seven gods.”

  “What is it doing?”

  Wings.

  Above the city proper, an immense blue-green Drakontos titanus gained height and arched back her neck to let loose an enormous shriek that echoed around the cliffs and over the water. She was thunder. She was lightning. She was rage.

  Chills crept up my spine as the roar carried across the harbor.

  “Dear Damina.” Ilina stood at my side. “It’s Hush.”

  ::She’s beautiful.:: At my other side, Aaru was completely motionless, save his tapping on the back of my hand. ::Where did she come from?::

  “I don’t—”

  Before I could finish, Hush twisted and dived toward the city. Her body cut through the column of smoke coming from the council house remnants, and then she breathed in.

  It was always clear when a dragon inhaled into their second lungs: the breath was longer and deeper, and their chest expanded. Hush’s did now, her dark scales glistening with a golden shimmer in the midday sun.

  When she breathed out, it was with fire.

  All around port, the awe shifted into terror as one of the largest dragons in the Fallen Isles set fire to Crescent Prominence.

  “No!” The cry came from me, but also from hundreds of others. At once, a stampede of terrified people rushed on and off ships, with several being shoved into the water in the chaos.

  “Get to sea!” Captain Pentoba cried. “We’re leaving now!”

  Flames erupted from the city, with plumes of smoke not far behind. It billowed into the sky, then scattered apart with Hush’s heavy wingbeats as she ascended and took another deep gulp of acrid air into her second lungs.

  Even from here, the rush and roar of fire was incredibly loud, and the sky over the city glowed orange and black. All around us, people asked why, why, why, as though they couldn’t tell she was angry.

  Aaru, Ilina, and I rushed up to the foredeck, keeping out of the way of crewmen running back and forth. We were just in time to see more escape boats reach the harbor, and people leaping out to find their loved ones and stare at the sky. Screaming and crying and begging filled the air as Hush let loose another breath of fire on the city.

  I didn’t see my parents out there. Or Hristo’s father. I didn’t see my family’s chef or maids or anyone else I knew.

  My heart broke.

  “We have to go!” the captain shouted from somewhere on the main deck. Rigging groaned and lines hissed. Sails snapped taut, and the Chance Encounter began to slip from her berth.

  But we were too late.

  A long, slender ship was already moving north, her blue sails painted with Khulan’s mace and the Drakon Warrior silver claw.

  “Faster!” shouted the captain, but it was clear now that there was no way we would escape this harbor without their notice.

  Altan was aboard that ship: of that I had no doubt. Worse, he would recognize the Chance Encounter from Lorn-tah, and he’d know I was here—trying to escape before his warriors could capture me.

  Or kill me.

  I had no idea what he wanted anymore. Me, yes, but alive or dead? In the Pit, he’d been angry that I’d stabbed him. He’d been ready to kill me. But in the tunnel by the dishonored camp, he seemed more interested in keeping me alive.

  But the arrow that had taken Doctor Chilikoba . . .

  Whatever Altan wanted from me, it wasn’t good. He didn’t mind slaughtering the Luminary Council and everyone else in the building. He didn’t care if my neighbors were murdered as they fled their homes. And he didn’t care that my sister was on this ship.

  He would kill everyone in order to get to me.

  Bolts of betrayal and anger struck in the back of my mind; how could Chenda have thought we might work with him?

  And if he was here, then where were they?

  Before I could worry more, Hristo ran onto the foredeck. “I locked Zara in a cabin. She’s furious, but if there’s a rampaging dragon—”

  “I don’t blame you at all.” I hugged Hristo. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

  “Look!” Ilina pointed toward the city again, where Hush screamed into the sky. She was coming toward us, pausing only to set fire to new streets. “Good Damyan and Darina.”

  My heart pounded as Hush stormed through the sky, blazing over the city as she flew toward us. And at our backs, the warriors’ ship prepared to block the harbor entrance and prevent us from leaving.

  “You have to do something,” said Ilina.

  “Me?” But even as Ilina began to nod, I knew what she meant:

  1.Almost a year ago, I’d tripped over a dragon’s dinner in the sanctuary. Siff had been ready to gore me, but then I’d reached out for her and she’d stopped.

  2.On the docks of the Shadowed City, Lex had been scared and angry and hurt, and she’d been ready to set fire to everything around her. But I’d gone to her, and she’d calmed.

  3.Then there was Kelsine in the Pit.

  4.And the ghosts of connections with the sedated dragons in Harta.

  “They call you the Dragonhearted for a reason.” Ilina squeezed my shoulders. “I don’t know how you do it, but every time I think it’s impossible, you make them love you.”

  “All right.” I didn’t know how I was supposed to do this. Hush was immense. Wild. Just because she was a sanctuary dragon did not mean she was a tame creature. But if I didn’t try, everyone here would burn.

  Another polyphonic roar echoed across the harbor, closer, louder, hotter. Dark wings spread across the sky, eclipsing the sun. Crewmen dropped back their heads to gaze upon the biggest dragon they’d ever seen.

  “Sail!” Captain Pentoba screamed.

  Fear pulsed through my heart, and the noorestone powering the ship hummed through me. I could feel it. I could feel all the noorestones on the ship—all one hundred and forty-four.

  Wind gusted with every beat of Hush’s wings as she landed on a huge outcropping of rock. People fled in all directions as she inhaled into her second lungs.

  I had to stop her, but I didn’t make dragons do anything. If my encounters with dragons were different than most people’s, it was only because I wanted to understand them. Because I empathized with them.

  Something in my heart shifted, and I stepped away from my friends. “Oh, Hush.”

  Terror slipped through me as the dragon swung her head around, flames dancing between her teeth, but she didn’t blow the fire.

  In the periphery of my vision, a noorestone glowed brighter; I didn’t look away from the Drakontos titanus.

  Aaru had been right earlier: she was a beautiful creature, with sharp ridges of scales across her face an
d around her eyes, and horns as long as I was tall. She glimmered golden where light hit, like sun over dark waves.

  “You’re angry,” I whispered, reaching for her. “You have that right.”

  Her sanctuary had been raided. Other dragons had been stolen. It was a wonder she had escaped that fate. How terrifying it must have been for her, coming home to their absence. Hearing the council house explode. Seeing the chaos of people everywhere.

  And perhaps she was sick, too, like Tiff and the other large dragons at the First Harta Dragon Sanctuary. This illness, whatever it was, caused dragons to exhibit all sorts of strange—sometimes violent—behavior.

  Hush needed our love, not our fear. Our respect, not . . .

  Warning bells pealed as police and Luminary Guards swarmed in, bows raised toward the great dragon. Two clangs. Three. Four.

  And we were moving farther away. The Chance Encounter cut through the water, faster and faster; every noorestone nearby shone with hot blue-white light.

  “Hush, fly!”

  ::The noorestones. We must go faster!:: Aaru spun me and pointed toward the Khulani vessel, positioned to block us in. We’d have to stop or risk ramming into their port side.

  Faster, he’d said.

  I gripped the rail and closed my eyes, blocking out the tolling bells and rushing water and people shouting and great flaps of wind . . .

  I blocked out everything but the noorestone sitting in its cage in the center of the ship. Even from here, I could feel its facets—twenty-one of them—and the fifty-seven places it touched steel bars and copper wires.

  And then.

  I pushed.

  The hum of the giant noorestone intensified as it gave more and more power to the ship. Faintly, I could feel Aaru’s hand on my arm, his fingers tapping messages of encouragement. I could feel gusts of wind and the spray of waves caressing my face and tangling through my hair. But those were faraway sensations, growing dimmer against the light pouring from the heart of the Chance Encounter and the other hundred and forty-three noorestones ensconced in this ship.

  Light erupted from every gap in the wood: a beacon, a promise. I didn’t need my eyes to see it, because my heart beat in time with the ship’s and I could feel it.