The Dragon Gods Box Set

by Resa Nelson

  “Frayka got away,” Ti said.

  “I tried so hard,” Asu Chu said. He whined like a young pup. “I did everything I could think of. I don’t know how I lost Frayka.”

  “Truly? You don’t know?”

  Asu Chu paused and considered his options. Whining and complaining had served him well all his life. Sometimes it annoyed people to the point where they stopped questioning Asu Chu just to make him stop complaining. Sometimes his tactic succeeded in distracting people from the original question they asked, which they soon forgot.

  But Ti wasn’t one to fall for such pedestrian tricks. She never allowed whining or complaining to distract her from whatever knowledge she wanted to extract.

  It’s pointless. I might as well tell her the truth, because she’s going to figure it out with or without my help.

  Asu Chu stared at his hands while he wrung them. “Frayka is clever. When I first saw her in the mountains, she ran down to a village. I think she found someone to help her in that village. Someone must have hidden her or put her on a path out of town right before I arrived. I think I got close to her trail. Maybe she had just enough time to get away.” The more he thought about Frayka, the more her evasion riled him. Asu Chu sat up straight and looked directly at Ti. “And another thing! Someone versed in magic must be helping her, so it’s not my fault.”

  “Helping her?” Ti scrunched her nose in puzzlement. “How?”

  “Well, there’s what happened on the mountain, for one thing,” Asu Chu said. “We all saw someone who looked like Frayka, and the guards chased her. But I’m not convinced that ‘someone’ was even mortal, because the guards couldn’t catch it. The mystery woman disappeared even though the guards chased her to a place where it would be impossible to lose sight of her.”

  Ti didn’t appear convinced.

  Seeing her doubt lit Asu Chu’s desire to prove himself. “And another thing!” he protested. “When I got down to the village, the ice man I conjured had already killed a woman wearing some of Frayka’s clothing! Frayka must have known it would happen and gave the woman clothing because she knew it would fool my ice man.”

  “Well,” Ti said. “Frayka does have portents like her great-grandmother. She must have had a portent showing you would make a killer out of ice.”

  “It’s more than portents,” Asu Chu said. “I think it’s something stranger and more suspicious. Even if someone helped her get out of the village, it didn’t take me a terribly long time to get down to the village once the guards came back from their wasted chase. How could she get away so quickly? Why wasn’t it easy to find her?” Asu Chu huffed. “I find it all very suspect.”

  “If there’s magic at work, who do you think is doing it?”

  The question startled him. “I don’t know.”

  “Well,” Ti said. “It could be you or it could be your father.”

  “No!” Asu Chu said. His shoulders sagged at the sting of his closest friend’s words. “I would never betray you! I would never work with that Northlander woman.” He considered Ti’s suggestion. “I don’t know about Father, though.”

  “I do,” Ti said. “In your absence, I made amends with your father. He has helped me greatly. He now gives me the same loyalty that he gave to my father.”

  Asu Chu blinked hard, calculating different possible answers in his head. “But if it isn’t me or my father, who else could be working magic in the Wulong Province?”

  Ti leaned back in her chair and gazed at Asu Chu as if she were in the royal cook’s kitchen and considering what to have for dinner. “Who indeed?”

  CHAPTER 8

  Knowing TeaTree watched over Dagby in their new home, Frayka found comfort walking through the Seahorse Island village with GranGran at her side. Not counting TeaTree, the absence of men had a calming effect. Frayka felt safer and more relaxed knowing she didn’t have to stay alert for threats of being captured as a bride or charged with a crime that made no sense to her.

  “I thought about what you said,” Frayka said. “About how the dragon gods are around us all the time. So, I tried talking to the dragon god of water at the edge of the ocean. I asked him to raise the Gate of Water. But nothing happened.”

  “I told you there is an easier way,” GranGran said.

  “I know. Using my portents. But my portents won’t come to me.”

  GranGran clucked. “I also said that you must learn to trust your portents. Right now, they refuse to come because you told them to leave you alone. You did that when you thought they would place you in danger. But the portents will never come to you unless it is safe to leave your body. As I already told you, once you learn that lesson, your portents will return.”

  “Fine,” Frayka said. “I trust my portents. I ask them to come to me.” After a few moments of silence, Frayka said, “See? They won’t come.”

  GranGran laughed. “If only everything in life could be that easy! Your portents aren’t like some dog you can train to obey. The portents are a living, breathing thing. If you fail to respect them, why should they respect you? What incentive do they have to come back to you?”

  Frayka looked up at the fiery mountain that hovered over the entire island like a worried mother. She considered how her portents had always felt like a close friend, one who never betrayed her.

  Until now.

  “You’re right,” Frayka said. “Everything you say makes sense. But I don’t have time to wait for my portents to decide when to return to me. I know talking to the ocean doesn’t work—I need my portents to reach the dragon god of water and convince him to open his gate.”

  “No need to rush. It’s best to let all unfold in due time.”

  Frayka shook her head. “Not if infants are disappearing. This island is in the outermost regions of the Wulong Province, and that’s where babies have gone missing. I have to protect Dagby. That means I need to get all of the dragon gods to work with me soon so I can take Dagby back to the Land of Ice where she’ll be safe.”

  GranGran hesitated, as if pondering the situation. “TeaTree is an experienced traveler. I’m sure he would be happy to take the child to your people.”

  “No,” Frayka said. “I’m her mother. I’m the one responsible for protecting her. If TeaTree took her and something bad happened, I couldn’t live with myself. It would be my fault for giving my duty away to someone else. I won’t fail my daughter.”

  The fiery mountain rumbled.

  Frayka and GranGran paused, but the ground remained steady beneath their feet.

  A wisp of black smoke emerged from the mountaintop.

  “Are we safe here?” Frayka said.

  “Safer than you think.” GranGran pointed at the mountainside. “See how the molten streams diverge away from the village?”

  “Yes.” It was one of the first things Frayka noticed when she arrived on Seahorse Island. The thin streams of lava flowed down toward the sea, not the land.

  “That is no accident. It is by the hand of the dragon goddess of fire. She shaped ridges to contain and divert the flow. Fiera does it to protect all who live here. Never doubt that we are safe on this island.”

  “Alright,” Frayka said in a half-hearted voice.

  I don’t feel alright.

  “I see,” GranGran said, as if she read Frayka’s thoughts. “Perhaps a walk alongside the mountain would do you good.”

  Despite GranGran’s explanation of why the rest of the island remained safe from the diverted streams of lava, Frayka saw no reason to go anywhere near the mountain. Fiera had made it clear she would have no time for Frayka until the god of water agreed to help. Why visit the fire goddess’s domain until then?

  Frayka made a noncommittal noise in response to GranGran’s suggestion.

  “Go,” GranGran said. “You have been through many months of hardship. You must be exhausted. Go take a rest in a place where no one will disturb you.”

  That notion made sense to Frayka. Her arrival in the Far East had been fraught with pe
ril, from being captured as a bride to being charged with a crime to being banished to the Hall of Concubines. Her attempts to find Njall had failed, as had her mission to slay a serpent dragon. Although she’d enjoyed some much-needed rest in Wendill’s company, she had also worked hard all those months. Finally, there had been the harrowing journey to bring Dagby to a secure place where no one would harm her.

  “I will return to the house,” GranGran said. “And I will help TeaTree watch your child.”

  “Thank you, GranGran,” Frayka said. “That’s a fine idea.”

  * * *

  Frayka walked alone along the gravel path that separated the base of the mountain from the rest of the island. A strong sea breeze whipped her long black hair away from her face. The distant edge of the ocean blended in with the blue horizon. The air by the mountain smelled dry and acrid.

  It seems like a long time since I had a moment to myself.

  As much as Frayka would prefer to be in her home in Blackstone in the Land of Ice, she appreciated her time in the Far East.

  It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I never knew such cruelty could exist. It has changed me, but maybe that’s a good thing.

  Frayka thought about how she’d spent her entire life assuming that all women throughout the world enjoyed the same freedoms as Northlander women. She assumed all men respected women just like the Northlander men had no reason to think of Northlander women as anything but their equals. With every day that passed, she took more pride in being a Northlander.

  Knowing that other people in other countries can think so differently is enlightening.

  Frayka looked back over her shoulder at the village and all the women working in it.

  I wonder if there’s anything we can do to help them.

  Or if we should just leave them alone and let them face their gods and suffer the consequences for the wrongs they have done.

  The fresh ocean air made Frayka sleepy. She climbed a few steps up the mountain and found a smooth patch of ground.

  I’ll lie down for just a moment.

  The ground felt surprisingly comfortable.

  Not realizing that she now dreamed, Frayka found herself back in the Temple of Limru, where she and Njall had stopped in the Midlands. A circular wall of stone topped with a wooden lid faced her.

  It’s the Dragon’s Well. Njall and I drank water from it.

  Dagby squirmed against Frayka’s chest, still wrapped up in a cloth tied to her body.

  The wooden lid rattled.

  The well! What better place to find the dragon god of water!

  Frayka rushed to the well and heaved its heavy lid ajar. She pushed the lid far enough away to let her lean over the side of the well.

  The water’s surface sparkled far below. The inner stone wall of the well had worn smooth and slick with age. Frayka leaned forward, reaching with both arms.

  “Dragon god!” Frayka called. “I need your help!”

  A beam of sunlight glanced past her shoulders and danced across the lapping water.

  But a sudden shift of weight and a loud splash made Frayka realize that Dagby had slipped free from the cloth binding her to Frayka and fallen into the well.

  “Dagby!” Frayka shouted in a panic. She edged forward as far as she could without falling in, knowing that once in the water it would be impossible to climb out.

  Dagby splashed in the water and screamed.

  Frayka stretched to her limit, but her fingertips fell just short of reaching her child. Frantic, Frayka yelled, “Dragon god! Help me!”

  Beads of water splashed up and hung above Dagby’s head. A disembodied voice said, “Help her yourself.”

  The beads of water hanging in the air dissipated into the kind of mist that Frayka usually saw at the beginning of a portent.

  “I can’t!” Frayka shouted. “My portents deserted me! I have no power without them!”

  The disembodied voice spoke one more word: “Try.”

  Making a last and desperate effort, Frayka swung her body on top of the well’s ledge. Facing the smooth stone wall, she grasped its edge with her hands and lowered her body, feet first, toward the water. Elated at the cold touch of water, she wedged her feet around Dagby’s body and bent her knees to lift her out of the water. Frayka then pulled up and hauled herself back onto the ledge with Dagby in tow.

  Dagby coughed and cried. Eventually, she fell asleep against Frayka’s chest.

  Frayka woke up on the mountainside with a start, reaching for Dagby. It took a while for Frayka to remember where she was and to understand she’d been dreaming.

  Dagby is safe. GranGran and TeaTree are with her.

  Frayka clung to everything she could remember about the dream before it escaped her. Her fear for Dagby. Her worries about her portents.

  Frayka wondered if she’d succeeded in reaching the dragon god in the dream. After all, someone in the water had talked to her. Someone had told her to try when Frayka thought all was lost. Could it have been the dragon god of water? Or something else?

  Still gaining her bearings in the real world, Frayka took a few steps toward the ocean. When she reached the gravel path around the base of the mountain, she thought about what GranGran had told her.

  The dragon gods are everywhere. Fiera is on this mountain. Kikita’s essence is in the air. Wendill rules everything beneath my feet.

  And the dragon god of water is as close as the sea.

  Even though Frayka had saved Dagby in nothing more than a dream, it gave her hope. If she could figure out how to save her child in a dream, then surely Frayka could find a way to save Dagby in real life.

  CHAPTER 9

  Njall steered the small Northlander boat he’d repossessed from the Zangcheen harbor down the narrow river he’d found using the map from Jojen. Spindly trees clung to steep banks. Birds chirped while flitting among messy nests that looked like tangled clumps of dry grass.

  He shivered in the shade, anxious to feel the morning sun on his skin.

  When he’d sailed far enough away from Zangcheen to feel safe, Njall pulled the boat onto the bank and gave the map a closer look. Most of its black ink showed cracks, making him think that someone drew this map many years ago.

  Maybe Jojen knew where to find it. Or maybe the map already belonged to him.

  On closer inspection, Njall noticed one edge appeared to be freshly sliced by a blade of some sort.

  This must have come from a larger map. Jojen cut off this section from it.

  Although Njall had become fluent in speaking Far Eastern during the past months, he didn’t know how to read or write the language. He ignored the words on the map and studied its topography instead.

  A small and simple drawing of the royal palace made up the center of the map. A circle around it denoted the royal complex, and other lines showed the boundaries of Zangcheen. The Wulong Province surrounded Zangcheen with mountains to the north and barren plains leading to the Mountains of Dawn to the east. River-ways dominated the south.

  A line drawn in fresh ink illustrated a path winding through those river-ways and then down south to another mountainous region.

  Njall considered what the map could mean. When Jojen set him free, the royal guard told Njall that Frayka saved his life.

  That’s why he helped me. He said to tell Frayka that his debt to her is paid because he helped me.

  Njall believed that meant one of two things. Either Jojen intended to give Njall the opportunity to return home to the Land of Ice—or Jojen wanted to help Njall find Frayka and reunite with her.

  The map made it obvious. The route Jojen had drawn took Njall south of the sea that led back to the Land of Ice.

  That means Frayka is alive. Maybe she’s free. Maybe she needs help. She could be alone or with GranGran and TeaTree.

  Now she can be with me again.

  Njall paused and remembered the reason why they’d come to the Far East. Frayka had been tasked with finding the dragon gods of the Far East a
nd making peace between them and the Northlander gods. Because so many months had passed, Njall worried.

  How is it possible that Frayka hasn’t found all the dragon gods by now? Wouldn’t she have found a way to release me from the Hall of Concubines if she’d succeeded? She wouldn’t go home without me. Maybe she’s having a problem with the peace-making.

  Finally, Njall decided that he didn’t know enough to make a good guess about where he was going or what he might find once he arrived. He believed the best strategy would be to follow the path Jojen laid out and be ready for anything. It looked like two landmarks would come into sight soon: new black ink illustrated something with the shape of a crescent moon and a single tree that appeared to have a trunk with a passageway carved through it.

  When I find these landmarks, I’ll figure out what they mean and what to do next. But first I have to find them.

  Before casting off, Njall filled his water skin from the clear waters of the river and ate some of the pod nuts he’d stolen from the Far East ship in the Zangcheen harbor.

  He kept an eye open for food growing on the banks during his travels. Although the barrels once stored on this boat had been lost at sea months ago, the vessel had plenty of space to store whatever Njall might find.

  After sailing a few days down the river, Njall heard the cries of gulls one morning.

  I can’t be far from the ocean. Gulls don’t come far inland.

  That worried Njall. He’d kept a sharp eye open to spot the landmarks on the map: a crescent shape and the tree with a split trunk. Noting the river’s straight path and calm waters, Njall sat and studied the map again. The landmarks were located somewhat close to the place where the river emptied into the sea, but he thought they would have appeared by now.

  The gulls’ cries grew so loud that Njall looked up. The white birds hovered over the river just ahead. One plunged toward the water, splashed violently, and then flew up with a fish caught in its talons.

  The other gulls mobbed it, flying past the successful gull with feet reaching for its prize. Squawking in protest, the gull clutched its fish and soared into the trees crowding one bank to escape its foes.