As She Ascends

by Jodi Meadows

  Altan—who’d likely abandoned us the moment he’d ran off—had mentioned the gash, but I’d been unprepared for how big it was. And through it, beyond the glare of the noorestone glow, deep purple and red washed out the stars. Morning encroached. We had to find Ilina’s parents.

  We had to help these dragons.

  “Ilina, we—”

  “I know.” Tears crowded her voice. “I know. Maybe we can find a way—”

  “Who’s there?” A woman’s voice came from the far side of the chamber.

  Ilina looked up, sudden hope lighting her eyes. “Mother?”

  And then:

  1.A wave of absolute desolation rushed toward me: emptiness in its purest form.

  2.Aaru caught me as I wilted to the floor.

  3.Brash, angry voices carried through the tunnel as guards broke through Hristo and Gerel’s blockade.

  4.The entire world shuddered as the earthquake finally hit.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  AT FIRST, IT WAS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER TREMOR.

  The world shook.

  Someone screamed.

  Aaru pressed his body against mine, keeping his arms tight around my shoulders. Steadying.

  And then it passed. The great rumble traveled beneath us and was gone, rippling farther away from its center. To the others, it must have seemed like such a small thing. All that raving and fire from the raptuses and Hush—and we’d gotten nothing more than a few shifting moments.

  But none of them could feel the dragons. The worst was yet to come.

  Hearts fluttered and not one dragon moved, but inside, they were maelstroms of unending torment. Of walls and hunger and starless night. This sickness had plunged its tendrils into dozens of dragons, and it refused to release its grip.

  Now I was caught in it, too. Breathing the same air as the dragons, sharing the same space, a great wave of misery kicked me sideways of my own emotions. I was caught in the undertow of draconic feeling: immense and perfect grief for the world as it began to fall apart.

  This tremor wasn’t over. Not nearly.

  But as I opened my mouth to warn the others, a low, anguished groan fell out. Not my voice. Not any human’s voice.

  “What happened?” Ilina rushed for me, and I felt Aaru shaking his head in confusion.

  I tried again to warn them, but it seemed sharp needles stitched my voice silent. Bright flares cast unfamiliar shapes across my eyes. A cage fell around my thoughts, trying to cast me back in the darkness of the Pit.

  Stolen into captivity, separated from the sun and sky: one dragon had gone wild with fear and hunger. He’d cried out for others to help, stretching his mind to theirs, and that was when the sickness spread, beginning with his own species. Sickness of the body, sickness of the mind: it was all the same to the children of the gods.

  And now my connection to dragons made me just as susceptible.

  I would slouch to the floor, hissing air through tight lungs as my skin turned loose and gray. I would become like these dragons. Dying.

  No.

  No, I would not let myself become trapped in my own mind. Nor would I leave the dragons to suffer alone.

  With a soft bellow, I wrested open my eyes. Understanding flashed as I took in the situation around me:

  Ilina held her palm to my forehead, her skin cool against my burning.

  Aaru cradled me in his arms. His heart beat hummingbird-quick against my cheek as he gazed down at me, concern written across his face.

  Chenda stood above us, her eyes darting from the tunnel to the small figure rushing through the maze of dragons. Ilina’s mother. Tereza.

  “Go see her,” I told Ilina. “We’ll need her help if we want to free these dragons.”

  My wingsister hesitated, but I hid the throbbing in my head behind a clenched jaw and steady glare. Then she nodded and pushed away from us—toward her mother.

  I wanted to take a moment to breathe, but I pulled myself up straight, blinking to clear the last echoes of dark walls from my mind.

  Aaru bit his lip. ::Thought you were dying.::

  “I’ll be all right.” I forced a smile. “Thank you for catching me.”

  He squeezed my shoulder.

  “We should consider running.” Chenda offered her hands, and I let her pull me to my feet. “We’re outnumbered.”

  As Aaru stood and took my hand, I looked toward the tunnel. Chenda was right: eight Anaheran guards in flame-blue jackets rushed toward us, with Gerel and Hristo on their heels. My friends must have been knocked away during the tremor because they didn’t appear hurt—thank all the Fallen Gods—but even if I could wake up every single dragon right now, we’d still be in trouble.

  The lead guard’s eyes fell on me as he ran into the arena. “Surrender!”

  I would do no such thing.

  Hundreds—maybe thousands—of ancient noorestones hummed against the back of my thoughts. I started to reach for them, but the

  world

  wrenched

  sideways.

  An immense roar ripped through the ground, throwing two of the guards to their knees. The others shouted and braced themselves as a crack opened across one of the gleaming white walls, and a broken column crashed to the ground. Stone shattered. Shards shot out, slicing into unconscious dragons who could not react. Shrouds of dust shivered through the air, dimming the noorestone-lit arena into a trembling gloom.

  This.

  This was the earthquake the dragons had tried to warn us about.

  Aaru took my hand and moved toward the exit—but even with debris clouding the air, we’d be easy targets for the guards.

  I dug in my heels and pulled him back, but it didn’t seem any safer here. The dome shuddered all around, its rumble deep and dangerous and growing. Maybe I could still use the noorestones’ power to defend us, but these crystals were so, so old, and connected to Noore in a way I couldn’t understand. An attempt to tap into the power here could be perilous. And during a bone-trembling earthquake? I didn’t dare.

  Aaru’s eyes were wide, dark with memories of past tremors. He lifted his gaze to the slashed-open ceiling, the terror on his face as clear as any spoken words.

  Staying here could get us crushed, but we couldn’t escape through the wall of guards.

  And I would not leave without the dragons.

  From beyond a Drakontos rex, Tereza beckoned us deeper into the chamber. “This way!”

  Aaru’s jaw clenched, but when I tugged, he followed, keeping his fingers laced tightly with mine as chaos built throughout the shuddering arena.

  A man screamed in the tunnel. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see Gerel driving her sword through his side. Bile crept up my throat as Aaru pulled me faster after Tereza, around motionless dragons and over their splayed limbs. With the ground shifting beneath us and the world roaring around us, it was hard to move quickly, carefully, but the sounds of battle in the tunnel spurred us onward.

  Another tunnel, bigger than the first, gaped across the arena. More guards poured through, accompanying dozens of men drawing metal carts, each big enough to bear a full-grown Drakontos titanus.

  Rage shifted inside of me. Even with the earthquake, this evidence of our gods’ fury, these people intended to carry out their plans for these dragons.

  But if they weren’t going to the empire, then what was the purpose of all this?

  “Down!” Tereza ducked into the curve of an emerald Drakontos maior’s forelegs and belly, dragging Ilina with her. Aaru and I followed, with Chenda just after. A blanket of shadow fell over the space, thin thanks to the light coming from all around, but better than nothing.

  Dirt-heavy air squeezed into my lungs, aching as the earthquake rolled beneath us. Stone screamed as it was hewn apart, with entire columns beginning to crumble.

  Never had I felt an earthquake so strong, or one that continued for such a long time. Wherever this quake was centered, it must have been close. Maybe Anahera herself.

  A
bruptly, the noise of the fighting and the earthquake went quiet. Not muted, but muffled. Relief set over Aaru’s face, in spite of the focus needed to maintain this bubble.

  Chenda sent a small nod Aaru’s way, acknowledgment and thanks.

  Tereza turned on Ilina, like the magic and tremor and fighting meant nothing to her. “Explain. Now.”

  “Where’s Father?” Ilina scanned our surroundings, unaffected by her mother’s glare.

  “Flamecrest.” Tereza’s voice cracked. “The High Magistrate sent for him.”

  “Can we get him back?”

  “Can we not change the subject?”

  “We came to help—”

  Tereza’s expression darkened. “I told you if they ever came for us, you were to stay away. Was I not clear?”

  Ilina tilted her chin. “The dragons. We came to help the dragons.”

  Her mother’s glower deepened, but it was a mask. Beneath it, real terror filled her eyes.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?” Ilina said. “We’re here and that’s not going to change because you’re mad.”

  “You are pushing me.” The sharp words and tone were a show, though; Tereza’s expression softened as she pulled Ilina into a fierce embrace. “Oh, Ilina. I missed you so much.”

  I lowered my eyes, chest aching with the opposing ways our mothers greeted us after an absence—and stinging with the knowledge that mine might not even be alive now.

  Aaru watched them, naked longing in his expression. I reached for his hand and squeezed; I would get him back to his family. I would.

  “I’m going to help Gerel.” Chenda stood, taking her shadow with her. “Figure out what you need to do and do it, if you still can.” As the floor gave a wild jerk, she reached out to steady herself—but stopped short of touching the dragon. Respect? Fear? It was hard to say.

  As Ilina explained our original plan to her mother, I watched Chenda stagger between the dragons, her shadow leaping ahead of her. Light from all directions made her shadow pale, weaker than in the Pit, but still it served to confuse and distract a pair of guards attacking Hristo and Gerel.

  “We thought if Mira could wake them, they’d just fly away,” Ilina said, “but there’s something wrong. Every time she tries, they take her down, too.”

  “You thought Mira could wake them.” Tereza shifted her gaze toward me, her eyes a deep, warm brown, steady, even as the world trembled. “Did you think you could?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, pressing my palm against the emerald dragon’s scales. They were cooler than they should be, with ragged, chipped edges. Even so, a faint, shivering connection spun between us. He knew I was here to help. He wanted me to help. I climbed to my feet, bracing myself against the dragon as the floor shuddered. From this angle, I could just see the way his back pressed against a broken column; his spine ridges scraped one of the embedded noorestones with every labored breath. “I can feel his pain and fear.”

  “Mira, is that wise?” Ilina started to shift toward me, but the world gave a heavy jolt and she had to catch herself. “What if you can’t break free this time?”

  “I know how to help them.” I pulled myself straight. A strange joy bubbled in my chest. “Look up.”

  Above us, a roar shattered the sky, followed by thundering wingbeats.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  An immense, blue-green shape passed over the break in the ceiling.

  ::Hush?:: Aaru stood next to me, his eyes trained above.

  “Yes.” I lifted both hands into the air just as two small moons streaked into the arena, cutting through the dusty gloom. LaLa thumped onto my fingers, talons squeezing as fire burst against her spark gland. The back of my throat tingled with hers. “Hello, my precious dragon flower.” I kissed her nose.

  Ilina caught Crystal just as the silver dragon spread her wings to slow. “What are you doing here?” She pulled Crystal close, but the pair had other ideas.

  Both dragons pushed off, zipping toward a team of blue-jacketed guards and ignoring Ilina’s protest.

  Dragons, even little dragons, did not like to be told no.

  “They want to protect the others.” I smiled at her. “We’re their trainers, not their mothers, and we’ve trained them to be brave.”

  Before Ilina could argue that, a great thud crashed above us, and talons curled in through the tear in the ceiling. Chunks of stone cracked and crumbled under Hush’s grip.

  “We need to get out of here.” Ilina peered around the arena—at the men struggling to load dragons onto carts, at the guards fighting Gerel and Hristo and Chenda, and the entire building still shuddering under the onslaught of the earthquake. “The dome will fall in.”

  “Go.” I took Ilina’s shoulders. “Get the others and lead them out. Everyone needs to get clear, because I’m going to wake the dragons.”

  Worry filled her eyes. “Are you sure you can do it?”

  I nodded. “I know what to do now.”

  She bit her lip, then rushed forward to hug me. “I trust you.” Then, she took her mother and they hurried between the unconscious dragons.

  I turned to Aaru.

  ::Not leaving you.:: A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth.

  “Good.”

  ::How will you help the dragons?::

  “Watch,” I breathed. Suddenly, it was so clear.

  1.The cut on my cheek.

  2.The gash on my shoulder.

  3.LaLa’s wing.

  4.And every dragon I’d ever known hoarded the glowing crystals in their dens.

  I didn’t stop to second-guess myself.

  One step back. One deep breath. I closed my eyes and opened my mind to the ruin’s noorestones.

  They were two thousand and thirteen blazing stars scattered across the sky of my thoughts. No need to count their number; I simply knew.

  All across the shuddering building, light pulsed and breathed, shining from the arena, the towers, and the forgotten corners of these ruins. I reached, and the power stretched toward me as ghostly filaments of blue-white light, soft and hesitant and warm. They hung around me like a lace gown made of shining silk threads. Beads of hot white illumination hung suspended for a mere breath, then slid toward my heart.

  The world shivered. The dragons slumbered. The power of Noore filled me.

  My light reflected in Aaru’s midnight eyes, but he wore no worry, no fear, no waiting with his silence. He understood, as well as I did, that this was nothing like the Pit, or the tunnel, or the theater. Now, I knew how to contain the energy. I knew how to control it.

  Power wrapped around my arms and chest and legs. I breathed it all in until it filled my heart and pumped through my veins. Muscles rippled down my back, and noorestone fire spread around me like plasmic wings.

  The dawn-scraped sky beckoned, but I had work here on the ground.

  I began with the emerald dragon, pressing my palms against his flank, opening my thoughts wide to his.

  Dark threads of anguish twisted through his mind. I could feel it all: the walls, the hunger, the desperation. He’d suffered so much at the hands of humans.

  No longer.

  I burned away the walls caging his mind. I fed him the power of noorestones, sip after hot sip, strengthening his body. And I whispered a prayer because he could not: “Give him peace. Give him grace. Give him enough hope in his heart.”

  The emerald dragon’s scales warmed under my fingers, and all around us, others began to stir; my light traveled throughout the arena, healing the same way the sickness had spread.

  Above, Hush released a mighty roar, orange and white flames dragging from between her teeth. She spit fire toward the road where more carts and wagons waited to steal her brethren away. Through her eyes, the guards were insignificant rodents, a dozen of them fighting one man in a warrior uniform, wielding only a knife.

  Hush released another bellow of flame, setting the last of the wagons ablaze before she swung her head back around
and peered into the arena, catching sight of Gerel attacking a guard, and Hristo blocking a blow meant for Chenda, whose shadow was away. LaLa and Crystal—tiny to Hush’s great eyes—flittered about, blowing streaks of fire to discourage guards from closing in.

  Then there was Ilina with her mother, both of them tearing out of the building as fast as two humans possibly could. They stumbled around fracturing columns, over fresh cracks in the floor, and past debris falling from the ever-widening gash in the ceiling. When the others noticed their escape, they followed without hesitation, abandoning battles. Guards exchanged confused looks, but as a chunk of stone slammed to the floor nearby, they took off at a run.

  I pulled back to my own eyes, urgency pressing against the back of my thoughts. The tremor was beginning to ease, but Hush intended to finish its work by ripping open the ruins—her sisters’ and brothers’ prison.

  The noorestone light would spread between the dragons and burn away their sickness, but not before Hush tore down the building. I could try to calm her, but after all she and the others had been through, who was I to rein in her anger?

  “We have to hurry.” I turned to Aaru, who was gazing at me with something like awe. “Stay close.” Now that the dragons were awakening, they needed to see him as my friend.

  He nodded, but kept a safe distance from the nimbus of light surrounding me. That was probably wise; neither of us could know what would happen if he touched it.

  My chest. My limbs. My very blood was hot with power as I found Lex, my ruby-scaled Drakontos rex. I placed my hands on her wide cheek and throat so that my noorestone fire flowed directly into her. “I’ve come for you,” I whispered. “It’s time to go home.”

  Under my fingers, Lex warmed and rumbled, stirring from the floor where she’d lain prone for so long. Her wings rustled and her teeth ground as she tested her body, and then one huge eye opened to focus on me.

  “Hello, sweet Lex.” I leaned forward and kissed one of her ragged scales. Heat bloomed beneath my lips, and everywhere I stroked along her neck. When she started to pull herself up, I took two long steps backward. “You’re free now.”