“I don’t know.”
* * *
“I won’t let you kill yourself,” snarled June. She slammed Rakan to the sand they had smashed into when the Eld had intercepted their fall in the Rift after June had morphed and followed him in an attempt to save his life.
“You need to live,” answered Rakan in Draagsil, the very sound of which seemed to stoke June’s anger. She finally lost the last of her self-control. Her rök exploded and she no longer felt like June. She felt like Paaliaq, the Destroyer. She snarled and attacked him with intent to kill. Rakan stopped fighting and stretched his throat. The green dragon lunged and sank her teeth into him. If she wouldn’t let him kill himself when she was June, he’d let her kill him as Paaliaq.
She bit through his hide, but as soon as her poison began to ejaculate, she stopped. She lifted her head, his blood dribbling from her mouth. Slowly, she took in the scene around them. And then she roared in rage. Her head swiveled to face the Eld who sat on their thrones, watching the fight with unblinking eyes. A brilliant white flame burst from her jaws and her hide shimmered gold. For that brief moment, she looked like a Shield Eld. A ripple of anger and fear rose from the crowd. June morphed back to human, dressed in a flowing gold gown, her black hair billowing out like snakes ready to strike. She stretched her hands and white light crackled forth. She was creating a shield like the Elythia had around their home. The Draak stumbled back in chaos, a few unlucky ones crackling as their energy was sucked from their bodies. June thrust her hand out and a white tentacle flew forward. The tentacle split into five and latched onto the throats of the unresisting Elds.
Rakan morphed back to human and tackled June, breaking her concentration.
“Stop it,” she snarled. “They’re the ones who are making us fight. But they’re the ones who need to die.” June flung him to the side and resumed her attack on the Eld, channeling their energy back against them.
The Shield Eld deviated the attack from the other four Eld to herself, protecting them as her own energy waned. Rakan tackled June again. Her shield faltered as she flung him across the ring, freeing those who had been caught. Khotan suddenly appeared out of nowhere, his burgundy wings tucked in close as he dove for the kill.
“No!” Rakan yelled, struggling back to his feet.
June spun around but it was too late. Rakan’s gut wrenched as his father exploded his rök in a suicide attack. A brilliant purple light blinded Rakan. It was the color of the twins. “June,” he yelled. He staggered through the sand in the silence that ensued the explosion. She was alive, he could feel her. He fell to the ground next to where she lay sprawled under a motionless Verje.
* * *
Anna clawed at the burning sand. She gagged on the acrid smell of burnt dragon that made her eyes water. She couldn’t see anything with all the sand that was still suspended in the air. “Rakan,” she yelled. Someone grabbed her arm and everything disappeared. She was in the tundra to the east of Tromso, her nose and throat still burning. “No,” she howled, ripping herself free from Red. “Where’s Rakan?” She glared at Red, she hadn’t even realized he had been there. “Why did you bring me here? Take me back there.”
“Calm down,” said Red. “He’ll come.”
“What if he doesn’t?” she demanded.
But Red didn’t answer. He lunged forward and caught Ea as she shifted into being, falling over in pain. As Anna helped him lay Ea on the ground, June appeared supporting a staggering Verje. Erling and Lysa arrived next, in a flash of blue and pale green light. Their wings angled for flight. She felt a dragon approaching and her heart raced. Liv appeared, alone. Her energy crackled with electricity.
“Where’s Haakon?” asked Anna with a sinking heart. And Rakan?
Liv folded back her electric blue wings. “He’s trying to bring Rakan.” Her voice was disapproving.
Anna’s eyes narrowed. She still didn’t know what Liv really thought about Rakan. Or anything else. Liv stood still, in a half-trance, and Anna examined her. Her gown was pure white. Her wings were the same color as her eyes and her long hair spilled over her shoulders. She looked like an angel. But something underneath was hard and cold. Emotionless. If Liv thought the world would be better off without Rakan, Anna wasn’t sure she wouldn’t eliminate him. For the good of everyone else.
The back of Anna’s neck began to throb. They were close. They had to be. Finally, Haakon and another dragon who Anna immediately recognized as Yuli, appeared, holding a struggling Rakan between them.
“Rakan.” She rushed over to him. “Are you alright?”
“Anna,” he said. “How’d you get here?” He shrugged off the two other dragons. “You can let go now.” Yuli backed off right away, but Haakon hesitated.
“He’s dead,” said Haakon. “You can’t help him. And going back there will only get you killed.”
“I know that,” snarled Rakan. He pushed Haakon away. “Leave me alone.” Rakan crushed Anna against his sand-covered chest. The pain that pulsed around him like fire overwhelmed her. His mind touched hers and she saw flashes of the burgundy dragon in both human and dragon forms. And then she understood. It was his father. Pain engulfed her. She clutched Rakan. He grabbed her head with both hands and kissed her brutally. Anna tried to pull away but his hold was too strong. For a split second, she felt another dragon in Rakan’s consciousness. He snarled and it disappeared. He eased his hold on her. “I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely, his body still as tense as a coiled snake. “Yuli was right, I was hurting you. And you’re cold.” A pale blue cloak appeared out of nowhere, covering her. “Although I prefer the dress by itself,” he added in her ear.
Anna slumped against him, feeling his warmth that she thought she’d never feel again. “Why did you fight?”
“Because neither of us would let the other die. But it would’ve been better if we had.”
“No. Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that…” her voice trailed off as Rakan’s pain resurfaced.
“My father killed Sverd,” Rakan said, his voice barely audible. “He unintentionally killed an Elythia because Verje shielded June. And Sverd took the attack to protect his Pair. And died. The truce is broken. The Draak and the Elythia will fight again.”
Anna glanced at Ea. She was still unconscious in Red’s arms. “Did an Elythia attack her?”
“Yes. She was protecting Erling, but I guess not all the Elythia realized it.”
Red snorted. “It’s more likely she was attacked by an Elythia who did. And wanted to kill her because of it. Very few of them are happy that their future ruler chose a Draak to pair with.”
“Red’s right,” said Haakon. “When Paaliaq and Erling tried to unite the two groups before, it didn’t work. Most would rather exterminate the other group.” He took Liv’s hands in his. “And now that you’re no longer banished, they’ll try to kill you for having refused to pair with Erling.”
The clear sky of late May made the tundra look like a pastel postcard. But all Anna could smell was death.
June looked up at Rakan, still cradling Verje’s head in her lap. His purple eyes were wild with pain. “The Eld wanted us to fight. But I didn’t realize that when they showed me the Rift. But they were wrong,” she said, her voice harsh. “The Rift isn’t destroying the world. It’s uniting it. It’s bringing the Draak and the Elythia together.”
“From their point of view,” said Liv, her voice flat and clinical, “it is destroying their world. They want to keep the Draak and the Elythia apart. As do the Ascended.”
Erling’s cobalt blue wings stretched menacingly. “If June and I finish opening the seven gates and become the Ascended, we can stop this war.”
June shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what the Ascended want. The Eld will still make the Draak fight and the Elythia won’t have any choice but to defend themselves.”
“You can’t become an Ascended until you free the röks that are linked to yours,” Rakan said. “As it is, they suffer every time you go in the
light.”
“But I don’t even know who they are,” June said, panic creeping into her voice. “Or why they’re linked to me.”
“But are you Paaliaq or not?” asked Anna confused.
“I don’t know,” answered June, meeting Anna’s eyes. “But I’m no longer sure it matters. If I can do something to stop their suffering and end this fight, I will.”
Verje struggled to his feet. “It’s the only reason I didn’t follow my Pair in his death. I will finish the work we were meant to do. I will bring Erling to the throne of the Ascended. And only then will I allow myself to go beyond and join Sverd.”
“But I don’t know what to do,” June said. She looked so fragile and unsure sitting on the tundra, her head tilted down, her hands in her lap. It was hard to imagine she was the same person who had faced the Eld and tried to kill them.
Erling knelt in front of June and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Access Paaliaq’s memories. And maybe you’ll see how to free her kais.” Erling stood and pulled June into his arms. “We can’t let Earth be torn apart like the Red Planet. And I can’t lose you again.”
Anna clutched Rakan as a wave of pain rippled out from Erling and June.
“But I don’t know how to access her memories,” June said. Her voice wavered. “What if I can’t?”
Haakon snorted. “What makes you think you’d be doing it alone?”
June looked at Haakon and Anna could feel the mental connection that flared between the two.
“I know where the memories are,” said Lysa, her eyes only half-focused on their mixed group.
The sudden silence of an Elythian shield slipped over Anna and she looked at Liv whose eyes were brilliant orbs of light. It was her shield.
“Why didn’t you say so before?” Liv’s voice echoed in the shield. “We’ve wasted too much time as it is. Your duty would have been to help us.” Liv’s crystal calm voice felt like a cold knife slicing through her flesh. Anna tightened her grip on Rakan.
Lysa answered, apparently unconcerned by Liv’s disapproval. “Because I didn’t know to look for it.” She smiled shyly. “I think that’s my skill. I can’t see in the past or in the future like the Ascended. I see what needs to be found. No matter where or when it is.”
“Where are they?” asked Anna. She dreaded the answer. Wherever it was, her gut knew it was far away.
“On a Fragment. Where part of Paaliaq is… frozen.” Lysa paused, her eyes unfocused. “Interesting. It’s as if she’s neither dead nor alive. Maybe that’s why no one ever found it.”
“Then we’ll start by going there,” said Erling, standing up. He offered June his hand as if they were about to open a ball. “Will you do this with me, June?”
June put her hand on his. “Yes.” She looked at Rakan. “Will you join us?”
Rakan looked around the ring of Elythia and Draak that surrounded them. Liv and Haakon, June and Erling, Red and Ea, Verje, Lysa and Yuli. They weren’t numerous enough to stop the war. Even if Erling and June became the next Ascended, there would still be the problem of the Draak, urged on by the Eld. But maybe if they could free Paaliaq’s kais they could find a way to protect Earth. And Anna. He held her as tightly as he dared.
“Yes,” Rakan said. “I will join you. And no matter what happens, we need to find a way to protect Earth.” His rök resonated in his chest. It was the right thing to do. He no longer belonged to the Draak. “How long will it take to unblock the memories?”
June leaned against Erling. “I don’t know. I think it depends on how much pain I can take.”
Haakon cleared his throat. “How much we can take.” He looked at the group. “We’ll all have to do this with her. It’s too dangerous on her own.”
Anna felt a shiver run down her spine. She had felt what Haakon hadn’t said: June was willing to try to see the memories, but what she needed to do was accept them. As hers. And Haakon believed she was in denial of her true self. Anna looked back at June. She didn’t feel in denial to her. And the glimpse of the green dragon they called Paaliaq didn’t feel like June.
“Can I come with you?” she asked. June was going to need a friend who had no stakes in her identity. Haakon and Ea wanted to find their Kairök. Erling his Pair. She caught Lysa’s eye. Maybe Lysa could help.
“No,” Rakan said. “The atmosphere on the Fragments isn’t suited for the human form. That’s why the Draak haven’t been able to breed there. We can only stay human for a few days before we have to morph back to our dragon forms.” He pressed his lips against hers. “But I’ll come back.” He couldn’t live without her. She was his mate. And would always be.
June turned to Erling. “I need to take care of a few things first. I can’t just leave my host family without letting them know I’m going.”
“I can protect you,” said Verje. “Our shields are still in place. But you don’t have much time. Fritjof’s supporters are probably already planning an attack on the Draak.”
Erling turned to the rest of the group. “We’ll join you on the Fragment as soon as we can. But you should go and shield it now.” He turned to Haakon and Liv. “You know what to do.”
Haakon nodded and Liv bowed to Erling. Blue and green light flared, laced with purple, and Erling, June and Verje were gone.
Haakon turned to Red. “Ea needs to be cared for,” he said. “You should stay with her.”
“I wouldn’t have come anyway,” said Red. “Earth is my home. I belong here.”
Haakon bowed. “I know.” He turned to Rakan. “We should go.”
“Yuli will go with you. I’ll join you once I’ve said goodbye.”
Haakon looked around the tundra. “The shield won’t last very long without me. And yours won’t stand up to the skill of the Old Dragons. You’ll both be easy prey.”
“I know,” Rakan said. Normally, the shield would disappear with Haakon, but he was stretching it so that they could say goodbye. Rakan bowed. “Thank you, Haakaramanoth.”
Haakon shifted and Yuli followed. “Be careful,” she said. “Even a High Master can’t keep the shield for very long from that far away.”
“Stop worrying,” Rakan said. “I won’t risk anyone’s life.”
“Not on purpose, no. But—”
Rakan shut her out for the moment. He wanted Anna for life. Not just a few more minutes. He wouldn’t take any risks. With her life or with Yuli’s.
Red stood, Ea’s unconscious form in his arms. “Ea needs more help than I can give her here,” he said. “I’ll feel the shield go down, and I’ll protect Anna when it does.” He turned to Anna. “I’ll put a trigger in the shield so that you can call me when you want me to come get you.”
Rakan growled. “I’ll kill you if anything happens to her.”
Red smiled. “And I’ll kill you if you don’t come back.” He nodded briefly and disappeared with Ea in his arms.
“I’d rather come with you,” Anna said.
He stroked her cheek. “Your place is on Earth.”
“My place is with you.”
“Once this is over, our place will be here, together.” Rakan felt Yuli rematerialize on the Fragment. “The shield will fade soon.”
Anna’s arms jerked around Rakan. He brushed her hair back and kissed her gently. But she responded with a savage passion that ignited his own. His rök throbbed in pleasure and he ran his lips down her neck until he felt his mark warm under his teeth. A guttural groan escaped from her throat as she arched her neck for him to bite her. But it wasn’t enough. He needed to take her, to possess every inch of her supple body that molded into his. He gripped her hips and pressed into her. “Will you accept my fire?” he asked, his lips moving against hers.
Anna nodded and he felt her mind slip forward and meld with his. His rök expanded and shimmered. He arched back. His fire gathered within until it could be contained no longer. It exploded out, enveloping them both in his coral-colored blaze. Rakan kissed her as the fire flared around them. He felt a twinge
as the shield began to waver. Reluctantly, he pulled back. He reached out and caught a flame, cupping it in his hand. “This is my fire,” he said. He passed his other hand over it, encapsulating the flame in a Maii-a shaped crystal drop. He attached it to her gold chain. “I’ll be able to feel you through it.”
Anna wrapped her hand around the little coral flame that danced within the crystal. “I can feel you,” she said, closing her eyes. The flame was the same color as his Maii-a, the color of his eyes. The color of her stone. “It is you.”
“As long as the flame is alive, you’ll know that I live.” Rakan leaned forward and kissed her as the shield disappeared. “And as long as I’m alive, I’ll always love you.”
Rakan dissolved in her arms and she grabbed at the air, but there was nothing there. She sank to her knees and held the flame that was all she had left of Rakan.
“I love you,” she said. Her words dissipated across the sea of open tundra that stretched to the horizon. The flame pulsed in her hand and she held it to her heart. Come back to me.
She sat like that until the evening grew cold, watching the tundra that had seemed lifeless until she had felt it through Rakan. She stood and called Red in her mind. She’d make him teach her how to manipulate matter and how to fight. If there was going to be a war, she wasn’t going to stand still and do nothing. She’d find a way to help. It was her world too.
The End
About the author
Born in the US, Dina von Lowenkraft has lived on four continents, worked as a graphic artist for television and as a consultant in the fashion industry. Somewhere between New York and Paris she picked up an MBA and a black belt. Dina is currently the Regional Advisor for SCBWI Belgium, where she lives with her husband, two children and three horses.
Dina loves to create intricate worlds filled with conflict and passion. She builds her own myths while exploring issues of belonging, racism and the search for truth... after all, how can you find true love if you don’t know who you are and what you believe in? Dina’s key to developing characters is to figure out what they would be willing to die for. And then pushing them to that limit.
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