I realized that for a second day running, Rayth had barely indulged in wine. I wasn’t sure if the slight tremor in his grip was due to that fact, or to the story he was telling.
Dawn found us back at the village green with our belongings packed, and Cheen saddled for flight. I looked at the group of well-wishers who’d braved the beast’s imposing presence to see us off. My family—the part of it that wasn’t in Rhyth, anyway. My friends. Priests from the temple who’d had as much of a hand in raising me as my guardians, in many ways.
I’d left to find adventure in distant lands, only for it to lead me right back to the place where I’d started. I… wasn’t sure how to feel about that right now. So, I gave and received hugs. I promised more in-depth visits when we returned with the others in a few weeks. I reassured those who were worried for me.
And then, we left.
The journey back to Rhyth was not as difficult as the journey from there to Draebard had been. I had a couple more days’ worth of healing under my belt, not to mention a couple decent nights of sleep. Aristede’s loss was still an open wound in my soul, but that wound had at least been lanced. I couldn’t say with certainty that it no longer festered… but it was better than it had been when I arrived.
And I had Rayth, now—in a way I hadn’t ever really expected to have him. How that would play out with the others remained to be seen.
Eburos’ southern port city loomed below us, and Rayth guided Cheen along the short stretch of coast that separated its outskirts from the plain of the Old Stones. We circled the site, and I frowned when I saw the notable absence of dragons there.
“Hey—where is everybody?” I shouted into the wind. A chill swept through me that had nothing to do with the weather, and I shivered, clasping my arms more tightly around Rayth’s waist.
“Hunting, maybe,” he called back, but I could feel the tension coiling in his spine. Cheen banked, spiraling outward rather than coming in for a landing. Rayth intended an aerial sweep to look for the others, I gathered, steadying my grip on him as my stomach swooped.
Favian had mentioned the wild sheep that lived in the rocky cliffs leading down to the ocean, so I wasn’t surprised when that was the direction Rayth took. We followed the jagged coastline around a jutting stretch of escarpment, and my eye was immediately drawn to a spit of pebbled beach. There shouldn’t have been any sort of human activity going on there. It was isolated from the land above by a sheer rock face—just a little stretch of barren land made up of sand and debris deposited by the tides over the eons.
And there were dragons on it. Lisha and Iyabo, and—
I blinked rapidly, certain I must be seeing things.
A human figure looked up as we flew closer, and immediately started waving his arms as though trying to get our attention. As if our attention wasn’t focused on the beach already…
Rayth’s chest heaved beneath my hands. “It can’t be,” I thought I heard him say.
As we swooped down, I recognized the waving figure as Nyx, looking windblown and disheveled. Several large fires had been lit on the tiny stretch of beach, and a golden-haired figure straightened from tending one of them—Favian, wearing breeches and a linen shirt under his heavy cloak, rather than his usual ochre-colored priests robes.
Somehow, they’d managed to drag enough materials down here to erect a windbreak, of sorts, and inside—
Cheen came in low and fast, making my stomach clench. At the last moment, powerful beats of her black wings slowed us enough that we didn’t crash into the beach hard enough to leave a crater. Another familiar figure emerged from behind the windbreak, running toward us.
I slid down from Cheen’s back onto shaky legs and met Eldris halfway, my eyes darting back and forth between his approach and the impossible sight behind him. He caught my shoulders in his hands, squeezing too hard—his face drawn into a gaunt mask. I stared unblinkingly past him, at the white dragon and the red dragon sprawled together in a heap inside the hastily erected shelter.
“How?” I asked blankly, gripping his elbows just as roughly. “How?”
He shook his head, his chest rising and falling erratically. Nyx and Rayth reached us at the same time, approaching from opposite directions.
“How can this be?” Rayth asked in a faint tone, staring every bit as fixedly at the dragons as I was.
It was Nyx who answered. “Lisha and Iyabo became very agitated last night. Eldris and I flew down to see what was upsetting them, and in the moonlight, we saw the two dragons in the water. The male was swimming toward shore, using his wings like giant fins, almost. He had Shantha’s neck draped over his back, like he was supporting her. They made it onto the beach and collapsed.”
Favian came up to join us, the evening light illuminating cheeks made ruddy by the wind. “It looks like you’ve gained two more dragons, little sister,” he observed. “We’ve spent the day flying supplies down using the others, to try and keep them warm and cut the wind.”
I turned back to Eldris, my jaw hanging open.
“But…” I tried, only to stop and shake my head sharply, trying to clear it. “But… this means…”
Eldris’ fingers dug into my flesh hard enough to leave bruises. “He’s alive, sweet thing. Somehow… somewhere… Ari is alive.”
finis
Frella’s adventures conclude in The Dragon Mistress: Book 4.
To read the back-story on Frella and her family in Eburos, purchase the following series box-sets and save almost 50% versus buying the books individually.
The Complete Horse Mistress Collection
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The Dragon Mistress 3 Page 20
