“It wasn’t like last time, though, not exactly,” Saffron said, and explained what had happened before when suddenly, in the middle of her dreams she had felt herself trapped by King Enric, where he had terrified her and tortured her until Jaydra and I had broken in.
“No, this time it was like any other dream. I was flying, I think, I usually dream of flying with Jaydra, but this time the dragon that I was on was flying me back towards the citadel of Torvald, and I remember thinking we had won.”
Dol Agur nodded, her face grave.
Saffron continued, “The streets were filled with people throwing roses and flowers, and we were greeted like heroes, and we went to the palace, where,” she looked at me, with a shadow of remorse and fear, “where you were, as the king, where you should be, and you started asking me questions of how fierce our campaign had been, and how had we ever managed to beat them with so few troops, and how far we had flown, only…” Saffron’s hand flew to her mouth in horror. “It wasn’t you, was it?”
“It was King Enric,” Dol Agur said heavily. “He has grown even more powerful than I had thought, if he can now control nightmare magic.” She shook her head.
“What is nightmare magic?” I asked, and Dol Agur cleared her throat and nodded at the scrolls.
“There are many different forms of magic in the world, with one of the oldest, most powerful being the magic between dragons and humans. Something special happens when dragons and humans exist together, or near each other, like the way certain herbs can be mixed to create astounding results, or if you forge some raw metals together you get something far stronger than both,” Dol Agur said, her voice thick with the dialect of the north, but as comforting and as crackling as a hearth fire all the same.
“But there are other magics that happen when other things are mixed. There used to be a force in the world called the Darkening. Have you heard of it?”
“I have,” I nodded. “I’ve read fragments of stories in the old books of Torvald about a malevolent spirit, some sort of magician who had crossed all of the boundaries of what is good and natural.”
Saffron shivered. “Sounds horrible,” she said. “Like King Enric.”
“It was horrible, if what the Record Keeper wrote is true,” Dol Agur said. “He only mentions the Darkening as an example though, that some people and some families, when they mix with certain places, lost knowledge, or peered too deeply into parts of the world where they shouldn’t, that is where dark magics can be born. One of those magics is nightmare magic.”
“And one of those families, I bet, is mine.” Saffron said, wiping a hand over her bleary eyes, as if she could wipe away the remnants of last night’s terrors. “The Maddoxes.”
Dol Agur nodded. “Yes. A lot of what the Record Keeper wrote were ways to try to understand and counter the Maddox magic, and that is why I knew about this infusion against dreams,” the older woman said. “The Maddoxes of old, when they first took power in the citadel, and our people fled, apparently used their nightmare magic to trick people into fighting for them and liking them—or fearing them. One of the things that the Salamanders knew was how to work against the usurper.”
“If only they had succeeded back then,” I muttered.
“And you would not be here,” the wise woman said. “Either way, we are where we are, and we have as good a chance now as ever. At least the dragons are remembering their bond with the humans again.”
“But I don’t understand how humans or dragons ever forgot,” Saffron said. I knew she found it unbelievable any human could look upon a dragon with anything but wonder and respect. I knew well that the people of Torvald when they thought of dragons and magic at all, they thought only either they were a silly fantasy, a story to scare children, or they had to be creatures of nightmares. Terrible, horrifying monsters.
“Yes, it seems almost impossible to understand,” I said, thinking of everything I had read and studied in my father’s forbidden library. “Everything about the citadel of Torvald, from the forbidden monastery-academy at the top, to the giant dragon enclosure, to the way the main streets are laid out, and even down to the names of some of the plazas, suggests dragons and flying. How could the Maddoxes so easily wipe our memory and change our perception of them? And how did you, the Stone Tooth people, retain that knowledge?”
“Simple,” Dol Agur smiled sadly, and pointed to the stone ewer of water beside us. “It was the old Record Keeper’s belief, the one who wrote those scrolls and who traveled out here to study the ways of the old dragons, that the Maddoxes performed some type of spell, a ceremony perhaps, using their nightmare magic and whatever other dark arts they had, to drive a wedge between our species. Everyone who dreamed kindly of dragons, and of flying, as young Saffron did just now, would then have terrible, frightening dreams of the dragons eating them, attacking their homes, being monsters from fairy-stories.”
“And, as the Stone Tooth people were so far away…” I filled in the blanks.
“We were a little more removed from the magic, yes. The spell never really reached us, this far out, at the ends of the world. But it was the Record Keeper’s belief that the dragons themselves were affected, as well. That, without bonds to their human Dragon Riders and dragon friends, they became wilder, that maybe the spell even encouraged them to forget us!” Dol Agur shook her head sadly. “After all, just as something special happens when dragons and humans live together, what might happen when they live apart for a hundred or so years?”
“Yes,” Saffron agreed. “That makes sense, because it was old Zenema who saved me when I was but a toddler. She’s the oldest dragon on Home Island and might have remembered dragons and humans living side by side in peace. But she led her brood out, further and further west away from the lands of man, because she said humans had turned cruel.” Saffron yawned suddenly.
“Saffron is tired, and we should let her rest,” Dol Agur said.
“No,” Saffron murmured, looking at me for a moment before looking away. She was too scared to sleep again tonight.
“Saffron, it will be okay. The infusion—it will protect you from King Enric.” I looked over at Dol Agur. “Right?”
“Of course, as long as Saffron keeps taking it.” The wise woman said in a sharp tone that reminded me of Mother Gorlas. Those two will get on when they meet, I thought wryly as Dol Agur spoke up once more. “But still, I would like to stay with you tonight, if you wish it, Saffron. There is much you have told me that will require careful reading, and I may as well spend the last few hours of night studying!”
“Yes, Dol Agur, I would like that.” Saffron squeezed my hand. “Thank you Bower,” she added.
I nodded, yawning myself and giving Saffron one last worried look. The potion, or tea, or whatever it was had appeared to have some effect on my friend. She seemed more sluggish than her usual bright-eyed self. Nothing unusual given it was the middle of the night, but I hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come. How will she fight and teach the others how to ride dragons if she has to take the potion every night and it makes her sleepy? I thought briefly, before shaking my head and bidding them both a goodnight.
Walking back to my own stone room, I wondered if even I would be able to sleep again tonight. The thought that Saffron could be attacked again terrified me. It wasn’t just it was a danger to our quest. It was because she was my friend. What if the potion stopped working? What if Jaydra, nor I, nor Dol Agur woke in time? I lay down on my bed of blankets and furs with my mind racing, wishing I had some parchment, quill, and ink with me to record everything.
Part II
Casualties
9
Saffron, versus the Snow King
Even though it was cold on the mountain slope, I was warm with the heat from Jaydra, my sister beside me.
Dol Agur had been right, it seemed. The strange concoction she had given me the night before had sent me into a dreamless sleep so heavy and dark the like of which I had never before experienced. It was as clo
se to being dead as I could imagine, and I had woken up not refreshed at all, but feeling heavy and leaden. How am I going to lead a flight of dragons like that? I felt scared of what the potion might be doing to me.
Don’t say such things, den-sister, the dragon rebuked me as she nuzzled at my mind gently, and I sighed and patted her side.
“I’m sorry, Jaydra. I didn’t mean to suggest I really was dead. Just that I was so deeply asleep…” I tucked myself back into the thick hides the Stone Tooth people had assured me I would need, if I were going to even attempt to go out of the mountain. I had at first balked at such a heavy garment, it was like wearing an entire bear, or a family of bears perhaps. “I don’t know how you can tolerate it out here,” I said, grateful for the blue-green island dragon around me.
The fire within is always burning, Jaydra said, as if that clarified the matter.
Still jittery from the king’s nightmare magic, I had headed outside to spend time in the biting fresh air with my sister, just us two alone. In front of us, the world was a landscape of white and mottled grey. The highest mountains faded into the blurred distance like the world had lost all definition and meaning. It was a strange, almost barren landscape.
Saffron and Jaydra were always together, once, the dragon said as we trudged through the thick snowfields, and I was struck by how sad she sounded.
“Sister? What is wrong? What do you mean, we were always together?” For a horrifying moment I thought she might be referring to Bower, that perhaps she might even resent him.
No. Not Bower. Not the new riders, or new dragons, Jaydra said, looking down at me steadily so that a small ridge of snow settled atop her snout. The thing you drank. It made you sleep so far away in your mind I couldn’t feel you.
I gasped, my knees feeling weak. Was that what had happened last night? Had Dol Agur’s cure worked to break my connection with Jaydra as well as King Enric? This was terrible.
“No, sister! I will never take it again, I promise.” I said breathlessly, throwing my arms around one of her great frosted legs.
With a gentle kick, Jaydra pushed me off of her, where I flopped into the snow and promptly sank a few inches under it.
“Pffft!” I burst up again, flapping and whirling my arms about me to try and gain my feet again. The heavy suit didn’t make it any easier.
Silly Saffron. I could tell the dragon was chiding me, but there was also a tone of sadness to her thought-voice. You will take Dol Agur’s medicine. Every night, until we are sure you won’t be affected by the king-nightmares again. I would rather not feel you in my mind but know you are safe, than know I have lost you to the evil king.
I felt young and incompetent, as my very own sister told me off, but I knew she was right.
“Okay,” I said, at last managing to get to my feet. But first, I wanted to try something. There was another reason why I had come out onto the mountain.
Saffron will try her magic now? Jaydra said, sniffing the air as she checked everything was clear. With an approving nod, she took a few steps behind me, so she would be out of the way but also able to snatch me suddenly if she needed to.
I nodded. It had been my idea to do this, despite the fact Bower had said he wanted me to stay inside the mountain today. I knew he would be having important meetings with the Stone Tooth chiefs, to try and negotiate a peace between them and the Three Rivers. I also knew he didn’t need me to worry about.
And besides, if I can manage to control my magic after all, then I might be able to win against the king. I might be able to use the magic against him, and not have to drink that terrible potion again.
It was a flimsy plan I knew, but I had to try.
The last time I had used magic, I had almost killed someone—the scout. But at least it worked. I stood in my giant white bear suit in the middle of the snow field, staring at the crude snowy figure I had made from lumps of compacted snow. It even had a few icicles sticking from its small head to imitate the king’s crown. My snow-Enric was lopsided and fat, which at least, I thought, made me laugh at the terrifying monster it represented.
The other time I used magic—before the rock fall—was at the battle. I had used my magic to attack the king, but all it had done was summon some kind of magical blizzard.
“So, that was a failure, I guess.” I muttered, trying to remember how it had felt to summon that energy, and what I had done to call it. To be honest, I didn’t remember too much from when I was using the power. Dol Agur seemed to suggest it was an ability, like flying, but she had also mentioned different types, like there might be a type of spell I had cast? I dimly remembered moving my hands and feet, and strange syllables falling from my mouth as I did it, but those energies had just come out of me instinctively.
I tried to remember the fleeting impression, moving my leg through the snow like it was an exaggerated side step, clenching and unclenching my hands to try and recall the feeling of it.
Almost! A faint flash of recollection, a feeling of power surged up through the ground and through my legs, like a gentle eddy of wind.
Very close, Saffron-sister, Jaydra encouraged me, though I could also tell she was worried.
“Strike!” I threw my hand forward at the snow-Enric as if I were throwing a stone pebble. Nothing happened. The snow-Enric remained stubbornly lopsided and fat and motionless. I felt drained and heavy, and now even a little cold.
Maybe Saffron-sister should rest more, wait to recover her strength?
“No,” I said, feeling frustrated, as I tried again. This time it was easier to recall the movements, and that fluttery feeling in my stomach moments before the power welled up and returned—
“Strike!” I snarled again, this time actually feeling something surge through me. It rippled from the ground, up my body through to my arm, but it wasn’t controlled, I was suddenly spun around and buffeted to the floor by a sudden force which had seemingly come from nowhere.
I spat out snow and ice, my face stinging from the sharp cold. I felt stupid. My mood was ugly and I wasn’t sure just who I was more annoyed at, myself, Enric, or Jaydra, for disrupting me.
Saffron-sister? Jaydra’s mind brush against mine, and instantly I tried to push it back in a fit of pique. Why was she always trying to get in the way of my training? I raised my hand again to accuse her or tell her off, as my belly filled with dark fire, when suddenly I saw the look on her face.
A dragon’s face is hard to read unless you know her well, and there was no dragon I knew better than Jaydra. She was hurt and heart sore, and it was all my fault.
“Oh my sister! My beloved sister, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry at you!” My anger dissolved into a cloud of regret and shame as I stumbled over to her and threw my arms around her neck. Instantly, her forgiveness washed over me. Although dragons can have hot tempers and make up their minds quickly, they can be just as easy to forgive, as they do not live inside their worries, thoughts, and regrets as we humans do.
Saffron-sister is not herself, Jaydra cautioned me. Perhaps that is enough practicing magic for today.
“Yes,” I agreed. “You are too wise, sister. Thank you. Thank you for looking after me, even when I am too stupid to appreciate it.”
You should talk to the human queen of these Stone people. The older one, Jaydra advised, huffing warm air over me to keep the freezing chill off.
“Queen? The Stone Tooth and the Three Rivers peoples have no queens. There’s Dol Agur, if that is who you mean,” I said.
She is still a sort of queen. A little queen, perhaps, Jaydra considered. They look to her for answers, and she holds the family together.
“Yes,” I agreed. “You are right, again. Perhaps there is something in her Record Keeper’s books and scrolls about controlling magic.”
Or stopping magic, Jaydra said pointedly, swishing her tail behind us as she led the way back to the warm mountain. The statue of snow-Enric exploded in the first swipe, leaving nothing behind but a pile of cold-hearted snow and
ice.
10
Bower, the Stone Council
At my reckoning, less than a hundred people were in attendance at the Stone Tooth Council, but it was still noisy and boisterous until Dol Agur banged her tall wooden staff against the floor of the council cavern, and those who had a spot on one of the stone benches encircling the room immediately sat.
Seeing as I was used to the arguments and outright playground politics of the Torvald court, the Stone Tooth Council meeting was refreshingly straightforward. Not only the chiefs, all older women, like Dol Agur, from each family group came, but also prominent members of the wider community. The circular room was standing room only, and I supposed news of the arrival of dragons, strangers, and prisoners had gotten around.
When Dol Agur bellowed “Stone Tooth!” across the echoing room, it didn’t take long for people to listen. “Stone Tooth! As you know, I, Dol Agur of Agur family, have long been interested in the lore left by the Record Keeper and the history of the dragons. It is with this authority that I speak, and introduce Lord Bower Flamma of Torvald, the rightful ruler of the citadel.”
There was a rising whisper of noise from the assembled families.
“They have heard of Torvald, and Flamma, you see,” Dol Agur turned and said to me in a quieter voice. “How could they not, living here?”
I looked around the hall, seeing more than a few faces with deep, concentrating frowns on their faces. “Well, I guess Torvald stirs up some pretty bad memories for them,” I whispered, earning an agreeing grunt from Dol Agur beside me, before she stepped forward to address the crowd once again.
“Lord Bower comes with a request for the Stone Tooth peoples: he asks that we join him, and the Three Rivers peoples, and the dragons, in their fight against the dark King Enric,” Dol Agur shouted.
There was an eruption of noise from the room as people gasped, shouted, spoke, cheered, or jeered at my proposal. Instead of responding, I looked around the room to gauge the feeling of the crowd.
Dragons of Dark (Upon Dragons Breath Trilogy Book 3) Page 7
