Dragon Wings

by Konstanz Silverbow

He approaches, leaving Rohesia alone as he steps down until he’s on the same level we are.

  Max stares down at the half-crown in his hand, at the pearl in its center.

  And in that moment, I’m terrified.

  “Max, give me the pearl.” My voice shakes, and my hand is already out.

  He frowns, pulling back. “Why?”

  “She doesn’t trust you.” Séraphin clicks his tongue. “So much for that love. But let’s face it, you knew from the start that she didn’t love you. You were just hoping—but hope is a dangerous thing. What you need is truth.” He nods toward the crown. “Ask the pearl. Ask it that burning question you’ve always carried from the moment you walked into that terrible prison they call a home.”

  Max grips the crown harder and turns away from me.

  “Max—” I croak. My throat is dry, my stomach tight.

  And I can see it now, just a hint of it—the darkness around Max.

  “You?” Max gasps out, turning back. “You’re my father?”

  The pearl looks just a little blacker, a little more cracked, and there’s the smallest hint of blue in Max’s dark eyes.

  Séraphin spreads his hands. “I understand that you might hate me right now, but I promise you, I never would have allowed another family to raise you. It was not my choice, Max. Your mother took you and disappeared. Being surrounded by all of this—” He gestures to the rock walls around us. “It was too much for her. Until today, I didn’t know where to find you. Funny, isn’t it? The pearl holds infinite knowledge, but it always held back what I most wanted to know.”

  Max shakes his head. “I don’t need your lies.”

  “Oh, dear boy, don’t dismiss me too soon. I know your heart, your mind—I know your very soul. You may feel love for Alita on the outside, but within, we both know you resent her, as you’ve resented me. After all, you thought I abandoned you, and once dragons entered Alita’s life, she abandoned you. She chose to enter a place you couldn’t follow rather than being with you. She has been nothing but hurtful and dismissive of your feelings.”

  Séraphin smiles slowly, almost gently. “Don’t tell me that you would choose to let her keep hurting you when instead, I can give you everything you’ve longed for and more. I can open your eyes to a world where you can date whomever you want, control whomever you want. We will live as emperors. You can have your own dragon—a powerful beast to raze cities at your command. And where you rule, no one can hurt you, abandon you, or betray you.”

  Max looks to me and to Séraphin. I don’t want to believe they’re father and son, but seeing the resemblance, it’s hard to deny. And the pearl . . .

  “Max,” I whisper. “I didn’t abandon you. I never would. There were times when I couldn’t be there with you, but you know I love you. This man wants to destroy the world, not give it to you on a silver platter. Don’t fall for his lies. He’s trying to trick you.”

  I don’t know what else I can say to keep him, but I realize more powers are coming through. They were revealing themselves to me before we got down here in this tunnel. I knew this was goodbye to Max—I just didn’t know why. And now that I do, I wish I could go back in time and stop him from coming.

  I wish I had demanded that Rohesia’s family come insisted. Wren or Rhys, or anyone but Max.

  Max turns the crown in his hands, staring down at the pearl.

  “You did abandon me,” Max says, his voice low. “Ever since dragons entered the picture, I took a backseat. You made it clear to me that they were far too important to wait. For even one day.”

  “No, Max!” I reach for his hands, but he pulls away. “That’s not true. I’ve been focused on Yackros because he’s been in danger this whole time, but that doesn’t mean I loved you any less. I wasn’t abandoning you—you’re the only person in my life I tried to tell about dragons. You’re the only one I trusted.”

  “Right.” He looks up, and his eyes are dark as midnight. “After I pushed. After I prodded. You told me what you wanted to tell me, and you told me when it was convenient for you. Our whole relationship has been at your convenience.”

  It feels as though my heart is physically broken, but I beg anyway. “Please, Max. I love you. Please don’t do this. Please don’t make a choice you can’t turn back from. I asked you to come because I need you. I’ve always needed you. Why do you think I tried so hard to prove dragons are real? I needed you on my side because it was tearing me apart not having you with me.” I know it’s pathetic, at least in Séraphin’s eyes.

  He reaches forward, touches my cheek. “If I asked you to leave the world of dragons behind you, to walk away forever and live your life with me, would you do it?”

  I could tell him yes. I could convince him that I would, but I can’t. Yackros would never ask me to make that choice—he spends all his time telling me not to sacrifice my friends, my family, and, for heaven’s sake, even my math homework. And I realize now, far too late, that Max has never wanted to give me a choice in anything. He didn’t want to believe in dragons because he didn’t want there to be room in my life for anything but him. He told me what to believe, and who to see, and what to do.

  I pause, trying to figure out something I could say to change his mind except for what he wants me to say.

  “Alita! We—” Rohesia cries out before gasping like she’s being choked. She’s leaning forward as though trying to get to me, but somehow rooted to the spot.

  I have to make my own choice, even if it isn’t the one Max wants.

  I take one calming breath, knowing there’s no going back. “I love you, Max. I always have, and I always will. But you know you’re asking something of me that I just can’t give. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for all the pain I’ve caused. I hope that one day, you will realize that. You know I’m going to ask, so bear with me—please don’t do this. Please don’t throw away your life, your family, everything you’ve worked so hard for all for one man you’ve known for one minute.” I hold out my hands for his, daring to hope.

  He nods with every word I say until I finish, and for a moment, it’s just the two of us. Nothing else going on. No war, no villain. No pearl. And then it ends.

  “Take what you really want,” Max says, handing me the pearl. “It was never me.”

  He turns away, walking toward Séraphin. I look down at the pearl in my hands. The power I felt before grows stronger, singing in a corner of my heart. A tiny heart of blue shines from the center of the pearl.

  I glance at Fyazum, a level below us, and I feel something in the air shift.

  “Well, I almost have everything I want now,” Séraphin says, giving Max a familiar one-armed hug. “Only the pearl remains. But I presume you won’t suffer the loss of two people tonight. The pearl for Rohesia?”

  “Don’t—” Rohesia shouts again, choked by some invisible force.

  I stare down at the pearl in my hands. The force that controls the dragons. The force that could lead to Yackros’ death if left in the wrong hands.

  But Séraphin is right. And I know Yackros wouldn’t want me to do otherwise.

  I approach him and stop just short. I look at the pearl again, running my hand over the details, feeling every scale, every jewel.

  And then I hold it out for him to take.

  He grins. “Wise choice, Little Wingless.”

  He grabs one side. Just as he does, I step forward. Just as Wren taught me, I stomp on Séraphin’s foot at the same moment I slam both palms up into his chest.

  “You’re welcome!” I snarl.

  He falls, head slamming back on the rock. The pearl goes sliding away, but it’s the wrong direction, and I only have time to choose one. I rush up the steps to Rohesia, untying the ropes on her arms. She clings to me, and I help drag her to her feet.

  Max is kneeling beside his father as Séraphin groans and cries out in anger.

  “The pearl!” he shouts. Max scrambles after it.

  Fyazum roars, shaking the entire room.

 
“Come on!” Rohesia grabs my hand and pulls me after her. She doesn’t slow down as we approach the edge, but instead, we leap, my heart and lungs nearly leaving my body doing so, and land on Fyazum’s back just beneath his shoulder blades.

  “Go!” Rohesia yells just as Séraphin gets to his feet, blasting jets of green toward us from his hands. I duck, barely avoiding it.

  Fyazum climbs into the air and the mountain top shimmers, just as the wall did, disappearing and showing the sky, as black as Max’s aura, Séraphin’s heart, and the way I feel inside.

  We soar into the clouds, which are freezing, an unexpected surprise. I’m gasping, holding on for dear life, hoping I don’t just slide off with all the moisture in the air and plunge to my death. Rohesia seems far calmer, though she’s probably used to this, whereas I am not.

  I rest my head against the back of her shoulder, hoping she doesn’t mind, unable to get up without the wind punching me in the face. It’s all I can do not to lie down and cry until there are no more tears left.

  What was an hour-and-a-half drive becomes a fifteen-minute flight and we’re circling the Dragoon Mountains. We land near where I would normally park my car, which suddenly seems like a lifetime ago.

  “Alita, dear, you need to get down. Show us the way,” Rohesia instructs.

  Fyazum extends his wing, creating a slide. It’s not nearly as painful as I feared, which is comforting. I was worried about how stabby it would be. But it’s smooth sailing and I land on my feet comfortably, though the need to collapse is still there. I am mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.

  Thunder roars, and it takes a moment to register that it wasn’t thunder at all. I shake my head, trying to clear the brain fog, and start down the path toward Runavelius’ entrance.

  I walk past the log, disconcerted to have a dragon following me. That’s never happened before. But onward I go, only stopping at the edge, where I know I cannot get in any longer.

  “What is the matter?” Fyazum asks, his voice much higher than Yackros’.

  “I’ve been banished. I can’t enter Runavelius any longer. You’ll have to go without me.”

  “Oh, dear child, how mistaken you are. I sense you are bound to a dragon within those barriers, which means you have an open invitation to enter.” Fyazum speaks quietly. Regally.

  “But Guthrie . . .”

  “Oh, Guthrie did the banishing?” His eyes seem to twinkle. “Then you should definitely be hesitant to believe in it.”

  I turn back around and take a step forward. There’s a shimmer in the invisible barrier, and I’m inside the magical forest of dragons again. It feels like taking a long, deep breath after not breathing for a while. I’m home. I take it all in, amazed once again by the astounding beauty and how majestic everything seems here compared to the outside world.

  I keep walking, though I wish to visit the meadow. There will be time later for that. And it would hardly be the same without Yackros.

  We reach the edge, where rock meets woods. I can hear the pounding steps as dragons move about and I don’t know what to expect, but I imagine it won’t be pretty. Onward we go, Fyazum by my side.

  We part the trees and face at least a hundred dragons, some done up in armor, others wearing nothing special of any kind. In front of all of them stands Ruxsiu, gold armor over his scales.

  He snorts smoke, his tail slamming into the ground so hard, I’m amazed he doesn’t bruise himself.

  “Your Majesty,” he sneers, “it has been some time since we’ve seen you. After all these years, I’d hoped you had simply died. Now I see that I must kill you.” He grins a toothy smile.

  As if he didn’t know exactly where the king was and what was happening.

  Rohesia appears beside me, her hand on my mouth to keep me from making a noise as she pulls me back into the woods. I don’t even know how she got off Fyazum without anyone noticing. “We must get you to the dungeons. Yackros needs you. He is far too weak as it is.”

  I want to be here for this, to watch as Fyazum puts Ruxsiu in his place. But what I want even more, more than anything in the world right now, is to be reunited with my dragon. It’s been too long, and I’m feeling unlike myself. He’s so close, and yet still so far away.

  With a fleeting glance, I look at the two dragons circling each other, talking of the past while Fyazum reveals what happened years ago, and follow after Rohesia, who’s already several feet in front of me.

  “Rohesia!” I whisper-shout her name.

  She turns back, looking at me oddly.

  “What?” she asks, sounding exasperated.

  “How do you know where Yackros is if you’ve never been to Runavelius? You said you didn’t know where it was.”

  The fear of betrayal stings at me. Perhaps more so now, after losing Max, but still, the pain grips at me, threatening to choke me. Could Rohesia be my enemy too? In some ways, it would be easier to believe than Max, and at the same time, just as hurtful. But for so many different reasons.

  “Girl, what are your tears about?” She rushes to me, wiping the drops from my cheeks with her sleeve. “Fyazum showed me the way when we circled above the forest. Of course I haven’t been here, but that doesn’t mean I’m leading you astray.” She wraps her arm around my shoulder and pulls me alongside her. “We saved my dragon. Now let’s go save yours.”

  I take a deep breath and nod, swallowing back the rest of my tears.

  I follow her lead, deeper into the forest than I’ve ever been. The war of dragons is raging on around us. I wonder if everyone in the surrounding area outside Runavelius can hear what’s happening right now. Does it sound like thunder, or do they fear the monsters in the mountains?

  We run, surrounded by exploding trees, ear-splitting roars, and debris falling everywhere as what I imagine to be hundreds of dragons engage in battle. Is anyone on Fyazum’s side? Guthrie will be. What if Ruxsiu controls all the rest? What if we saved Fyazum only to lose?

  Upon reaching a small alcove in the rock at the edge of the tree line, I can feel a darkness, something palpable, so desolate of all things good. The cave’s entrance is a doorway so small, only a human could fit through it.

  Glancing at Rohesia, I see the same lost look in her eyes. “I don’t know that I can enter there, Alita.” She sounds so torn, almost relieved not to have to get closer, yet awful for leaving me to take on this leg of the journey alone.

  I don’t have time to ask why, to be upset, or to attempt to convince her otherwise. Squaring my shoulders, I face the door head-on and step forward, knowing my dragon is somewhere down there all alone, possibly injured, certainly consumed by anguish, and he needs me.

  “Alita!” Rohesia calls as I step into the shadows.

  I don’t look back. I can’t.

  Down I go, surrounded by nothingness, no light to guide my way. I reach out, hoping I’ll feel anything before I run into it face-first.

  I want to call out to Yackros, but I’m afraid of what else might be down here and how they would answer. Is this a lost cause? Am I only walking into a trap? So many desperate thoughts race through my mind.

  And like a switch has been flipped, there’s music in my head as scenes of happy memories play.

  The first time I met Max. Our first date. Our first kiss. Finding Runavelius. Meeting Yackros. Discovering dragons exist. Playing with Hanna as a child. So much joy, nothing in the world could touch it.

  Except right now. Each happy thought is replaced by a horrible one. Fighting with Max. Losing Hanna as a friend. The moment in the kitchen when my mother took away my drawing. Being discovered in the meadow with Yackros. Breighad picking me up like a stick and running to Ruxsiu.

  Nearly dying. Losing Yackros. Being forced out of Runavelius. Max’s betrayal.

  I sink to my knees. The emotional toll of reliving these moments is unbearable, and the physical strain leaves me breathless. Every part of me hurts all over again. My heart, my back, my shoulders, my arms.

  I’m back in
that dragon’s grasp, being crushed by the force of every horrible memory resurfacing at once, bringing all the pain with them.

  “Help,” I mutter aloud. I want to cry. My eyes hurt as though I have been, but no tears will come.

  “Alita?” I hear my name, and goose bumps coat my arms. But it must be in my head because I’m alone. Completely alone. I lost everything.

  “Alita!” The voice repeats my name, shouting it with such force, I’m shaken from my stupor.

  “Yackros?” I ask, daring to hope a little longer.

  “You are not alone, Alita. This illusion cannot stop one so determined as you. Get up, my Little Wingless.”

  I cover my mouth with my hands, overcome with great emotion, far too many things to distinguish what I’m feeling right now.

  “Yackros?” I ask again, looking up to see beautiful, gleaming bronze.

  “From you, I much prefer Sparkles.” There’s a light chuckle.

  Forcing myself to stand again, I dash forward, falling against my dragon. Warmth and light replaces the cold mustiness of this cave, and like magic, there is light.

  “I found him, Sparkles. I found Fyazum. And he is here now. Fighting to reclaim his throne.” I want to sound proud because of how much I accomplished, but it’s more dismayed.

  “And the pearl?”

  “Séraphin still has it. I had to give it to him in order to save Rohesia.”

  “We must get it, Alita. We must save it.”

  “I know. He’s probably already here to help Ruxsiu. But I had to save you first.”

  “Thank you.” His tail whips around his body, patting me on the head. “Now we can save it together.”

  Yackros tells me which direction to go, but walks behind me. I wish I could walk beside him, but it seems there are actual walls around us, and the caverns are too narrow for the both of us. Of course, he insisted that I walk ahead of him for numerous reasons, the top of the list being that he didn’t want me to get hit with his tail, and he didn’t want to slow me down. I feel like I’m only slowing him down, but given his weakened state from being in captivity so long, I do as he asks.