“Yes, it is.”
“So, it doesn’t matter that the man in the mask is a snake, it doesn’t matter that the good man who used to wear has been deposed or that our nation is in turmoil and this will only make things worse. The only person with the right to wear the mask is the one inside it, right?”
“Yes.”
I sighed. “Okay then, why did you bring me down here?”
He lifted one eyebrow.
“Sorry.” I shouldn’t be snapping at him. I just felt ... frayed around the edges. I couldn’t even explain it to myself. I just felt like something was grinding at me. Like a stone in a shoe or a piece of sand in the eye.
He lifted the other eyebrow.
“I will show more respect.” I really should. After all, there was no one I respected more than Hubric.
“Good.” His expression was deadly serious. “Because I plan to join you in your treason. The mask isn’t the man - it’s true. But I think that you and I can find a way to put the right man in that mask. I’ve been thinking about it since Umtal. I just can’t see any other way to save this land. Now, say nothing to anyone else. Go to bed like a good apprentice, but know that I’m working on this, too. Together, we’ll find a way.”
Chapter Seven
“It’s like nothing I ever imagined.” Savette’s words were so awed that I barely made them out, but I agreed with her.
Before us, the black peaks of Haz’drazen’s volcanoes rose up from the landscape like black dragon teeth – the tops of some broken from the violent spurts of lava that sometimes rose up and flooded the mountain range. The slopes falling away from the jagged peaks were sleek with black sand and gnarled, stunted trees.
We were flying toward a very strange feature, a double-peaked dormant volcano with a wide shelf between the peaks. A massive arch made of stone – a dragon biting its own tail - was centered on the middle of the shelf. Its proportions were so gargantuan that a dozen dragons could have flown through in a cluster without breaking formation. I tried to follow the twist of the tail, which dipped down into the ground before rearing up again into the dragon’s mouth, but one edge of the pattern became another seamlessly and my eye lost its reference point as it twisted on in itself. A winding road led to the arch from the low land below, like a ribbon twisting through a ring.
We were not the first to fly to this place. Tents were erected across the shelf and down along the road. People, horses, and carts packed the road leading up to the structures, while the land all around was filled with dragons of every color, size, and shape imaginable – far more than I had dreamed even lived in the Dominion. On the twin volcano peaks, faraway figures moved just enough to pick them out on the landscape.
Dragons are there, too. Hundreds of us. We come at the request of our queen. Look carefully at the gate.
On either side of the gate, black dragons stood, tall and straight, their eyes ever vigilant. There were other dragons with them. Were they there to regulate who flew in and out of the gates?
The many wild dragons with us picked up speed as soon as the double peaks were visible – quickly outpacing us in their excitement.
They are on their way home. A feeling that fills the heart and speeds the wings.
Did Raolcan feel that way as we approached his home?
I can’t go further than the gateway. Not today, at least.
Perhaps we could enter his homeland together.
Not today.
He seemed very sure of that. Would we be denied entry?
Perhaps. It’s hard to say for sure, but humans are rarely granted entry into the Lands of Haz’drazen and you and I don’t have a good reason to enter. We will be dealt with at the door by the guardians and any emissary the Queen chooses to send.
I wished I could tell what he was feeling right now. And then, as if he was speaking to me, I felt a tiny gust of emotion – like a sad song longing for a distant past. It was the same feeling I felt when I remembered my own childhood, my own parents and siblings and home. I could never go back there, either. Not because they wouldn’t welcome me, but because there was no place for me there.
That’s how I feel. But this is how I feel, about you, Amel and it makes the sadness bearable.
And the next burst of emotion was one of sweetness and warmth and grass waving on a warm summer day with birds singing in the trees. It felt like a smile does from the inside.
I didn’t deserve that kind of love. Especially right now when I was in the middle of contemplating betraying the man I loved. He’d kissed me this morning and thanked me for understanding how important his brother’s freedom was before we mounted our dragons to finish the journey. I’d tried to smile, but my heart felt twisted inside me while Hubric watched us, his eyes hawk-like.
The problem was, I wanted Leng to be happy. And I wanted Shonan to be safe. But I also wanted all the little children of the Dominion to be safe in their own homes, their lives untouched by war, evil and the work of Ifrits. It felt like both things had a grip on one of my hands and they were pulling, pulling, pulling until it felt I might break in two. I’d been chewing my lip all morning as I thought of it. I’d hardly even noticed our flight until just now when Savette spoke.
It’s a heavy decision.
What would Raolcan do if it were him?
Why don’t you ask me that after we hear what my brother has to say?
Your brother?
I see him down there - the splendid White checking that long line of dragons approaching the arch.
That was a good thing, right? He would be on our side.
He’s a White. They see things in shades of grey. It’s hard to know where they’ll land on an issue but trust me in this – he won’t see things the same way we do.
We?
I also want to see Iskaris and Starie brought down. They are like rot in a root.
As we drew nearer to the mountain, the long line of people crowding the arch became easier to distinguish. Most wore Dragon Rider leathers and accompanied their dragons. At least fifty Reds stood in formation like a military unit and groups of Whites or single Greens also stood in the line or milled in the crowd. It was like they all were trying to speak to the dragons at that arch – whatever it was.
The “Dawn Gate” or “Dawn’s Gate” or “Gate of the Dawn” depending on who you ask. A place with history.
What sort of history?
The first real treaty between Haz and Haz’drazen was made here. The gate is the proof of it and also a tool. You cannot enter the lands of Haz’drazen without going through this gate or the warrens. There is no other way.
I looked around at the wide-open skies around it. I could see why people on land couldn’t come any other way. The mountains were steep and rugged, but there was nothing preventing me or anyone else from flying past in any way that we chose. Strangely, the road ended on the other side, but we didn’t need a road.
There’s a ... bend ... here.
A bend?
A bend in what is real. These volcanoes - bubbling up like a seam across the earth - divide one thing that is real from another thing that is real. Here, magic overflows, heating the rock, bubbling it up like mud, and twisting the world slightly. You can’t get through the twist without the gate. You’d fly toward the south, only to find yourself turned around again.
So, the land of the dragons was protected – perhaps even forever – from the evils of the outside world.
There is a lot of world behind that bend in the world – maybe even more than there is on this side. The Dominion feels very large to us, but it’s only a fraction of what is in the world.
The thought of a world so much bigger than I initially thought made me feel tiny in comparison. I stared off at the Dawn Gate and thought about the bend in what was real behind it. I wanted to go through that gate and see what it was like. Would I be disappointed? Would it turn out to be the same over there as it was here?
It’s ... more potent. Like everything is just more. More
dramatic, bigger, more powerful, fuller. Honestly, I think humans are safer on this side. There’s enough “more” in your life as it is, Amel.
The wild dragons who had traveled with us flew straight to the arch with their knot of Black dragon prisoners. There was a bit of flurry at the gate as those humans in line protested the wild dragons dashing to the front, but a White Dragon reared up and settled the crowd down and the wild dragons disappeared through the arch, prisoners in tow, as if nothing had happened.
Why were they allowed inside so easily?
No humans. All dragons have free passage into our lands. It is only those with humans who must give a reckoning.
What sort of reckoning?
Time to find out for ourselves.
Chapter Eight
Hubric angled Kyrowat to land - not at the door, but at one of the camps on the side of the volcano. I strained my eyes trying to see if I could make out why. A cluster of dragons was gathered around a small fire and a dark pavilion there.
That’s an old friend of Hubric’s. Denu Blunthook of the Purple and his dragon Vincaud. With him are Jenanta Firethrown and her dragon Sareshy of the Gold and Kerch Bandcloth and Olarmas his dragon of the Black. They are old friends despite being of different colors. They came up in the same wave of Dragon School – like you and Savette.
Kyrowat landed delicately beside the other Purple, preening his wings as Hubric dismounted with a grunt. Ahlskibi and Rasipaer landed nearby him and Raolcan was right on their heels.
A robust man with a sun-lined face waved to Hubric from the pavilion where he and the others were sitting. “Four Purples in one place? You almost gave me a heart attack, Duneshifter! Come get some caf and explain this nonsense.”
That’s Denu.
“I was thinking of going first to the gate.” Hubric stretched, but he offered Haskell a hand down from Kyrowat and his eyes were fixed on the steaming pot of caf.
“It will take you all day and they still won’t see you. Go down in an hour and leave one of these younger ones in the line to hold your spot. That’s what we did. My apprentice is down there now, sweating and playing cards with Reds and losing everything he owns, poor fool. He should have been a Red. He seems to prefer their company over mine.”
Leng and Shonan followed Hubric as Savette and I dismounted. I listened to them with care as I unhooked my crutch from Raolcan’s saddle. There was almost a festive air about them despite the feeling of the times. Leng must have felt the same way.
“Isn’t there a war north of here?” he asked when he drew closer.
“Is that Leng Shardson? We heard word of your exploits in Saldar. Excellent work!”
“You’re in a pavilion, drinking caf and playing cards,” he said disdainfully.
The woman – Jananta – threw her cards down and stood up, looking Leng up and down. “You’ve been a full Dragon Rider for how long? A year? Maybe two? Don’t you remember your studies, boy? Our dragons are Haz’drazen’s. When she says to report in and confirm their loyalty, we come. I was working on negotiations for a better supply chain when the crazed Top Rider of the Purple flew into Dominion City on the back of a dragon not her own. She wouldn’t be silenced. ‘The Queen demands all loyal dragons report immediately and be counted.’ Those were her words. You must know that, or you wouldn’t be here, either.”
Leng’s lower lip jutted out stubbornly. “It’s just not a party. It’s a necessity.”
“So, what?” Jananta asked. “Are we supposed to sit here looking dejected while we wait? No, thank you. Negotiations are a thankless job. I’m enjoying a brief break from the stress of it all, and if you had any sense you would, too.”
“Ease up on the boy.” Denu’s smile was warm. “We were all that idealistic at one point.” He waved Leng closer. “It’s fine to be passionate. Don’t lose that. But we have good news to celebrate. The Dominar is back in Dominion City, the Chosen One is on her way here, and with the aid of Haz’drazen, we’ll beat back our enemies in no time and be done with this war!”
“Is that what the Reds are saying?” Hubric asked, pouring himself a cup of caf and waving to the military-like ranks of Reds in the line below and waiting on the mountainsides. He seemed very at ease as he settled into one of the folding chairs of the pavilion.
“Reds always fear the worst,” Kerch, the black rider said. “And there are rumors that some oppose the Chosen One, though who would do that, I don’t know. We need her if our Dominion is going to survive this war.”
“And is Haz’drazen asking any dragons to enter her land, or is she simply taking their oaths of loyalty and sending them away?”
I limped closer, Savette walking slowly at my side. I felt tense and watching Hubric’s false air of relaxation and Leng’s straight back were enough to make me worried. If these Dragon Riders thought our hopes lay in Starie, then it was likely that the rest of the Dominion did, too.
“She’s bringing loose dragons in,” Kerch said, “I didn’t even know so many were flying around out there! But the rest of us have to wait and let our dragons re-swear our allegiance - or whatever they’re doing - to the Queen’s emissary and then we can be on our way. The dragons have a system, it’s just a matter of waiting our turn.”
“Why don’t you send some of these young ones down to claim a place for you in line, Hubric? That’s the way to get things done.” Jananta was seated again, dealing Hubric into their game of cards.
“Probably a good idea,” Hubric grunted, not looking at me. “Find us a spot in line, Apprentice.”
I knew this act by now. With a nod, I turned and began to hobble down the side of the mountain toward the road. They continued talking behind me.
“An apprentice in black leathers? Let’s hope you have a good explanation for that one, Hubric!” and “Why so many passengers? I thought Purples traveled light.”
Friends or not, I’d rather be headed for the line than wasting time with them. Didn’t they realize how urgent things were all across the Dominion?
“Hold up,” Leng said, trotting toward me. I stopped, but when he reached me, he glanced back at Shonan. He frowned, as if worried about leaving his brother there. It was strange that he was so protective. After all, Shonan had managed the Dominion for years without his brother watching him like a hawk.
People don’t see their family that way. To Leng, Shonan will always be his older brother – just a lanky teenager who was snatched away one afternoon.
“Will you walk with me, Shonan?” Savette asked in the distance. “I need to gather some herbs here.”
Leng ran a hand over his bald head before turning reluctantly back to me.
“Come on,” I said eventually. “If he’s safe with anyone, it’s with her.”
I didn’t want to mention that half the trouble I’d run into so far was from being with Savette. It was nice just to walk with him as we met the line of dragon riders and then trudged along it to the back. I heard snatches of conversation as we passed rider after rider and dragon after dragon.
“She’ll be here any day now. I can’t wait to see her. The Chosen One! She’ll save us all!”
“...says she’ll kill the imposter when she finds her. Imagine that? Going around pretending to be the Chosen One when you aren’t.”
“came at the right time, didn’t she? Just when our Dominar was missing, she was there to keep us strong. And now that he’s back, she’ll show that dragon queen who really runs things. It wasn’t Haz’drazen who was written about in prophecy.”
Every mouth was full of Starie and despite the fine weather and the rest I’d had from being chased and hunted, my heart sunk further and further the more we walked.
“It’s all a lie,” I whispered to Leng. He took my hand, a worried look on his face.
Didn’t he believe me? Didn’t he see that Savette was the Chosen One, or was he as easily led as the fools all around me? I felt a swirl of doubt in my belly – not about Savette. I was as convinced of the truth of who she was as I
was of Raolcan’s love for me. But what about Leng? First, he didn’t want to pursue getting his brother back on the throne and now he didn’t believe Savette was the Chosen One? I thought we saw the world the same way. I thought that maybe we could be a team. Had I misjudged him?
I bit my lip as we continued down the line, jumping slightly as a Green dragon ahead of me coughed out a fireball.
“Try not to look like the world has ended,” Leng whispered.
But here, as I looked from smiling face to smiling face – friends, allies, my countrymen – I couldn’t help but feel like maybe it was ending. I didn’t fit with these people. Their sanguine attitude in the face of the destruction of our Dominion didn’t sit right with me. Acid burned in my throat and queasiness rocked me. I was too hot. I needed a breath of fresh air.
The world spun slightly and then I was blinking my eyes open, while strong hands pressed my shoulders down.
“Keep your head down and it will pass. Probably should have drunk more water,” Leng said above me. “No, she’s fine. Just needs a moment. That’s very generous, thank you.”
A cup of water was passed down to me and I drank, trying hard not to think about what was happening around me. If I thought too hard, I’d end up faint again. Leng bent down to take the cup, leaning closer to my ear than he needed to and whispering.
“Keep your arm hidden until we’re alone.” He unwrapped a scarf from his neck and handed it to me. It smelled like him – outdoors, fire, and salty breezes all mixed into one scent.
I glanced down at the black leather encasing my arm. A light was shining out of the cuff, far too bright to go unnoticed.
Chapter Nine
Hastily, I wrapped the scarf around my wrist, tying it tight. I glanced around furtively, but no one had noticed. Leng wrapped an arm around me and hugged me in close until we eventually reached the end of the line of dragons waiting for their turn at the gate. The road behind us was still busy with horses and people setting up tents and moving supplies or hawking food and other supplies. Someone ambitious had set up a board and a tent with a few barrels to sell ale to those coming and going. I craned my neck to look for where we’d left Hubric and the others, but they were far in the distance now.
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