Inferno

by Julie Kagawa

  I suppressed a grimace. With everything that had happened on the island, and with a reprisal from Talon almost a certainty, it had been decided that the alliance between the rogues and the Order of St. George would continue, at least for now. None of us were particularly happy about it, especially Riley and Lieutenant Ward. But even they recognized the advantage in numbers, that we were stronger as allies than enemies. If Talon did send their vessels after us again, at least together we stood a fighting chance.

  Glancing in my rearview mirror, I saw the van that had been trailing behind me pull around and roll up the drive. Lieutenant Martin was in the driver’s seat, with Ward sitting beside him with his usual scowl on his face. I cast a nervous glance at the front porch, where several faces peered curiously out the windows, watching the convoy pull into the yard. Riley had sent word ahead, warning Jade and the others that the Order of St. George were coming, instructing them not to panic when the soldiers arrived. Hopefully, no one would.

  The van pulled to a stop beside my door, and the passenger’s side window buzzed down. “Sebastian.” Martin gazed at me, his voice tired. “Where do they want us?”

  “The farmhouse is full,” I answered, which was putting it mildly. With the arrival of the dragonells, the total number of rogues in the farmhouse now totaled thirty-four, and that wasn’t counting Ember, Riley, Mist and Jade. It was a big house, but every available room, couch and pullout bed would be taken over by dragons. Dragons who were exhausted, shaken, confused and still understandably terrified of the Order. Adding a dozen soldiers of St. George to a crowded, already volatile situation was asking for trouble. “There’s a bunkhouse around back,” I told Martin, who gave a solemn nod. “According to the owner, it hasn’t been used for years, and all the bedding has been taken by the rogues, but it’ll be a roof over your heads at least.”

  “We’ll make do.” Martin glanced behind him at the soldiers waiting quietly, and sighed. “This isn’t the worst we’ve endured.”

  “Not a very defensible position, Sebastian,” Ward remarked. Glancing at the farmhouse, his eyes narrowed in disdain. “If Talon attacks us here, we’ll be at a severe disadvantage. What measures have the lizards taken to ensure we won’t be overrun in the night?”

  “Talon doesn’t know about this place,” I replied. “After the Night of Fang and Fire, there was nowhere else to go. The rest of Riley’s safe houses had been compromised. Plus, it’s the only location that can hold a large number of dragons without them being seen by the general public.”

  “Still.” Ward shook his head. “No guards. No defensives. Not even a lookout. How do these lizards expect to fight if they are attacked?”

  “They’re not soldiers, sir.” I nodded to a pair of faces in the window peering out at us with wide, anxious eyes. “Many of them are teenagers. With few exceptions, none of them have been trained for war. Until very recently, if anyone did arrive on their steps with the intent to kill them, they ran. Because that’s all they could do. They didn’t stay to fight a battle they would lose, and they knew talking would be useless. We—St. George—taught them that.”

  Ward grunted. “That is still no reason to lower your guard,” he stated, unappeased. “Especially now. Talon is trying to destroy us all, and has an unlimited number of soulless abominations, or whatever you call them, to do it. If we must stay here, I want some measure of warning before Talon strolls in and slaughters everything.” He blew out a short breath and curled a lip, as if preparing to do something abhorrent. “I’ll have to speak to that blue lizard, and see if we cannot correct this oversight.”

  “His name is Riley. Sir.”

  Ward’s jaw tightened, but before he could say anything, Lieutenant Martin broke in. “We’ll be in the bunkhouse,” he stated. “Give us an hour to settle in, and then come speak with me, Sebastian. If you would.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The windows buzzed up, and the van continued around the farmhouse and out of sight.

  As I ran a tired hand down my face, a hollow thump came from the back of the semi, sounding suspiciously like a tail had been smacked against the wall in impatience. Ember, it seemed, had had enough of waiting around. Not that I could blame her; spending hours in the back of a tractor-trailer couldn’t be pleasant for anyone. Even though she’d been able to Shift back to human form, she had opted to stay with the four pregnant dragonells so they wouldn’t be alone for the journey. Of course, that also meant she’d spent two days in a dank, poorly lit shipping container as we’d sailed back to the coast. I hadn’t seen her in human form since we’d assaulted the facility, and I knew the accommodations for the dragons, while necessary, had not been ideal. I just hoped the red dragon had not reached the point of snapping at anything that got close to her.

  I opened the door and exited the rig, seeing Riley ahead of us, dropping down from his seat with Mist close behind him on the passenger’s side. He gave me a nod as he strode around the back of the semi. I returned it before walking to the doors of my own truck and pulling them back with a rusty groan.

  A cloud of warm, stale air billowed out of the opening, smelling of rust, grease and the faint, musky scent of dragon that was unlike anything else in the world. Ember stood in the frame, in human form and wearing the black Viper suit that masked her from head to toe. Her arms were crossed, and she gazed down at me with half teasing, half exasperated green eyes.

  “Jeez, Garret,” the girl stated as my heart jumped in both worry and relief. “Were you aiming for the potholes? You must’ve hit every dip from here to Florida.”

  I masked a relieved smile and held out my hand. Without pause, Ember took it and hopped down from the truck, right into my open arms. I pulled her close as her arms circled my neck, and we stood like that for a moment, the late-afternoon sun beating down on us.

  “We made it,” she breathed into my neck. “We’re home.”

  “Yeah,” I murmured. Home. That was a strange thought. For years, the Order had been home, the soldiers of St. George my family. And then, for a while, I hadn’t known where I fit in. I was adrift, an outsider, mistrusted by dragons and hated by the Order that raised me. Now, I was certain I’d found my place. This was where I belonged, with Ember and Riley and a bunch of rogue dragons.

  Ember pulled back to gaze at the farmhouse over my shoulder. “And the house is still standing,” she remarked. “It didn’t explode or burn down while we were gone, so that’s a good thing.”

  Four scaly bodies were curled up at the back of the container, so entwined with each other that it was impossible to tell them apart. “Everyone okay?” I called into the darkness.

  Glowing dragon eyes peered at me, wary and mistrustful. I spoke as gently as I could, opening the doors a bit wider so that the light spilled into the truck. “Come on,” I urged. “Everyone follow me. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying. Don’t worry about being seen—we’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. You’re safe here, I promise.”

  Slowly, the pile of dragons uncurled. Cautiously, they edged out of the truck, then gazed around in wonder, eyes wide as they took everything in. I reminded myself that they hadn’t left the island in years, perhaps decades. The tight confines of the facility was all they knew, so the outside world was probably very strange and exciting. Ember watched them from a few feet away, her expression shadowed with sympathy and understanding. Perhaps she saw herself in them, wide-eyed and eager, from very long ago. Before her world was consumed with fighting and war, blood and death. Before she was forced to leave that ordinary girl and ordinary life behind and become a soldier.

  “This way,” I told the group, and they followed us across the yard to the barn sitting at the edge of the pasture. Shoving the doors open, I led the small group of dragons into the cool barn. The individual stalls had already been prepared, and fresh straw, water and blankets lay in each of them.

  Upon seeing the inside of the barn, the
dragonells relaxed. Without any prompting, they each took a stall and began rooting around in the hay, as if making a nest. Nothing was said about the lack of proper accommodations, of being forced to stay in a barn. I suddenly had the feeling that such housings were normal for them, as normal as a room with a bed. I saw Ember clench her fists at her sides, anger radiating from her skin.

  “Last time,” she whispered, as if making a promise. “This is the last time you’ll have to do this, I swear it.”

  A shadow fell across the doorway a moment before Jade entered the barn. The dragonells jerked up, their eyes going wide with fear and awe, recognizing a much older, vastly powerful Adult. The small Asian woman gazed back at them serenely and inclined her head.

  “Don’t be afraid,” she said, her soothing voice flowing over them like water. “You have nothing to fear from me, or any of the dragons in this circle. We will do our best to protect all of you, so rest easy. You are safe here.”

  Once again, the dragonells relaxed, sinking back into the straw, though they still kept an eye on the Eastern dragon as she turned to face me and Ember. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she told us, returning Ember’s smile. “And that the mission was a success. I only regret that I was not there to aid you. The loss of any life is a heavy burden. I would have shared it with you if I could.”

  Ember’s face darkened, probably remembering Scarlett, as I thought back to the other soldiers who hadn’t made it off the island. Nine men had been killed in the assault when the monstrous green dragon showed itself. Nine soldiers we had to leave behind. Three of them had been from the Western Chapterhouse, men I had known and fought beside. It was a relatively small number, but now with the Order so scattered and broken, the loss of every soldier was devastating.

  “Thanks for staying here, Jade,” Ember said. “And for looking after the rest of them. Any trouble with Talon?”

  “No. The organization has been unnaturally quiet the past few days. It is worrisome.” The Eastern dragon furrowed her brow. “I believe this is what you call the calm before the storm.”

  I had the dark, ominous feeling she was right.

  Dante

  “The Elder Wyrm has called for you, sir.”

  I barely heard the voice coming through my speaker. I was numb. Nothing felt real anymore as I stared at the words on my computer.

  True. It was all true. The experiments, the start of the vessel program, everything the letter hinted at. Ember and I were clones of the Elder Wyrm. But it was worse than that. According to the scientist’s notes, Ember was the one they’d wanted to create: a near-perfect replica of the Elder Wyrm. I was an afterthought, a backup plan. Something that was allowed to exist only to give my twin a better chance at life. Because Ember was the vessel intended for the Elder Wyrm to achieve immortality. Or at least another thousand years.

  “Sir? Sir, are you there?”

  I shook myself out of my daze, answering the call out of habit. “Thank you, Ms. Brooks. Please inform the Elder Wyrm that I am on my way.”

  Slumping back, I stared at the file for a few seconds longer, then deleted the entire thing. No point in keeping such incriminating evidence sitting on my computer, and I had confirmed what I’d set out to find. It was too late to unsee the file, to return to blissful ignorance. I could never unlearn what I knew.

  Ember was the Elder Wyrm’s vessel.

  I felt my feet carrying me from my office, trekking the familiar path to the elevators, as I’d done countless times before. A senior executive, Mr. Roth, I thought, met me as he left the elevator box and asked a question. I answered without thinking, smiling, not even hearing what I told him. He nodded in return and continued down the hall.

  Alone in the elevator, I stared at my reflection in the mirrored surface, still trying to process all that I’d learned. My sister and I were clones, created in a lab, just like the vessels. I was the heir of Talon, but only a fail-safe. Ember was the indispensable one. Now I knew why the Elder Wyrm was so determined to get her back.

  The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. In a daze, I walked past the front desk, turned the handle of the double doors and stepped into the Elder Wyrm’s office.

  “Hello, Dante.” The Elder Wyrm’s voice, brittle and cold, snapped me out of my trance. For a moment, I was certain she knew about the file and my conversation with Dr. Olsen. Her expression was hard, her eyes terrifyingly blank as she rose from her desk and came forward.

  “We have a situation,” she stated as I wondered, perhaps illogically, if she was going to kill me then and there. I forced myself to breathe, to appear casual, though a cold sweat had broken out on the back of my neck and my legs were trembling. Thankfully, the Elder Wyrm didn’t seem to notice.

  “Cobalt has struck again,” the CEO went on, her voice filled with bridled rage. “I received word a few hours ago that he and a small regiment of soldiers stormed the breeder facilities, killed most of the guards there and escaped with the resident females. Director Vance was slain in the battle, as well as the oldest breeder, a pregnant female named Scarlett. We have lost the facility.”

  Stunned, I had to put a hand on the sofa back to steady myself. I knew what the facility was: a place where Talon’s females could live and lay eggs without fear of discovery, but I hadn’t known where it was located. Very few dragons did.

  “How?” I asked. “How did they find it? And manage to defeat the security?”

  “Reports are vague,” the Elder Wyrm said. “It was chaos on the island that night, but there are accounts of several human soldiers aiding the outlaws, as well. It appears that Cobalt has recruited the help of a few rogue soldiers of St. George.”

  “What?” I gasped, appalled and horrified. “That’s impossible. We destroyed them all. And the Order would never agree to help our kind. It goes against everything they’ve been taught.”

  “Yes,” the Elder Wyrm agreed. “Unless, of course, their survival is on the line. Then they will agree to any alliance, make any deal to save themselves. It is human nature, something I have seen time and time again. There is nothing they will not do, no ideals they will not abandon, if their existence is threatened. Not even St. George is exempt from human frailty.

  “Regardless.” The Elder Wyrm’s eyes narrowed, glittering dangerously. “Such a blatant attack on Talon facilities cannot be allowed to stand. Both groups have gotten desperate enough to unite against us, and that makes them dangerous, simply because they are willing to do anything to survive.” She walked to the window to stare down at the city. “We cannot afford any hiccups this late in the game, Dante. It is time we destroyed Cobalt, these rogue soldiers and whoever stands in our way.” She paused a moment, her cold gaze scanning the city below. “We need to draw our enemies into one place,” she went on. “Present them with something so huge they cannot ignore it, and then crush them once and for all when they appear.”

  My stomach dropped. I knew what she was talking about. Exposing it was risky, so very risky, but she was right; something so huge could not be ignored by Cobalt or the Order once they knew of its existence. Even if they knew it was a setup, they would come, drawn into the trap, and we would be there to destroy them.

  Including Ember.

  As if sensing my thoughts, the Elder Wyrm turned from the window, meeting my gaze head-on. Her eyes, ancient and all-knowing, glowed green in the shadows. “We are close, Dante,” she said softly, her voice causing the walls to tremble. “So close to achieving our dream, a world where our kind can live freely. A world where dragons will never again fear the Order and all humans pushing us toward extinction. We cannot falter now. We must see this through to the end, no matter the sacrifices that will come of it. Do you understand?”

  I took a deep breath so that my voice would be steady when I answered. “I understand. What would you have me do?”

  Ember

  The first week back at the fa
rmhouse was...interesting, to say the least.

  Things were, of course, unbelievably crowded. With the arrival of the dragonells from the facility, the total number of rogue dragons on the property had exploded to thirty-eight, not counting me, Riley, Mist and Jade. It was a big house, but every available room, couch and sleeping bag had been taken over by dragons. Dragons who were exhausted, shaken, confused and understandably terrified. It had been a rough, painful trip back to the States. I hadn’t been able to Shift at first due to that bastard Vance snapping my wing, and I’d spent two days in a dank shipping container with the four pregnant dragonells, drifting in and out of a fragmented sleep as my limb slowly healed. I’d sensed both Garret and Riley there several times, both of them worried as they hovered over me. Once, I’d thought Riley had a baboon mask on, but I was pretty certain that had been a dream.

  By the time we’d reached the States, my wing had healed enough for me to Shift back to human form, but I’d opted to stay with the dragonells for the rest of the journey. And so the final leg of the trip was made in the back of a semi truck, many hours from the coast to Riley’s remote safe house, gritting my teeth against every bump, dip and pothole that jostled my still-aching wing. I’d never been so happy to be done with a trip in my entire life.