It did – though not quite that far. Most of these dragons stayed here in the north after they came to my summons along the coast so long ago. Others were in the warrens moving into place to support our new treaty with the Dominion.
Dragons fought and won everywhere that I looked – a cloud so great that it felt as if an entire city’s population had come down on this one place. My head swam, and I rolled on my back, trying to clear it. I couldn’t feel my leg anymore.
I’m here.
He stood beside me, crouched down as if he were protecting my fallen body.
It will take Ephretti a while to get untied and organize the remaining captives.
And, of course, she would. If anyone could whip frightened people into a formidable force it would be Ephretti. But her dragons were dead.
What did it mean that the dragons had come for me?
Nothing winged can resist that Pipe. I feel it pulling at me, even now. You are like the Lame Piper from the story, playing a song too beautiful to resist.
I didn’t like that. I didn’t want him to be a captive to anything - not to Dragon School, not to me, not to the Pipe.
We all serve something, Amel. And you know I’ve been clinging to that prophecy. But have you realized that if it is about me, then it is about you, too?
“He loses half the sun to save the world.”
That’s my eye, obviously. And worth it, by the way.
“His crown he lays aside to choose one star, from a sky of stars.”
That’s you. My guiding star.
He had that backward. He had always been a guide to me, not the other way around.
Everyone needs a purpose. You guide me by being my purpose. Keep listening.
“One part, one place, one role: to be a mountain and an anchor in the storm.”
See? What’s better than holding on to you when you’re always so set on flying right into danger?
“Hope for the hopebringer, light for the lightbringer, wings for the lame.”
That’s me – but that’s also you. You’re not just a Lightbringer, Amel. You’re a hopebringer, too. As we fly south with this army of dragons, you’re going to bring hope.
He was nice enough not to mention the ‘lame’ part. The thing I loved best about Raolcan was that he was always so full of hope and faith in me. Who would still have a faith like that after losing an eye? While he watched his person slowly dying on a cold rock floor? Only Raolcan.
I could feel that I was slipping. I could feel that the wound was worse than we thought. My strength was ebbing away. I couldn’t lift my head anymore.
I saw a vision of Leng and Hubric. They were together! And then it was gone again. Even the gift of the Troglodytes was fading.
I’d blown the pipe. I’d saved my friends, but it was too late for me.
That was fine. I’d lived a good life. I’d played my part. I was never meant for more than a supporting role.
No.
Wait. That wasn’t Raolcan. A vision of Savette swam – gossamer and unreal – before my eyes. But just like before, she was looking right at me, speaking as if I was there with her and not the shocked people staring at her from around a map.
You’ve misread the prophecies if you think that. Your time has not yet come. We need you, Hopebringer.
I felt her stretch, saw her raise her arms. Light filled my mind and then I realized it was real. It filled the Healing Arches around me, shook me like a Magika in the jaws of a Red Dragon and spat me out. Could the visions of the Troglodytes link us beyond just seeing what each other was doing?
You are healed.
Could it be true? I lifted my head, surprised to see Tyallmae lifting his, too. I could move again. I had enough strength. He surged forward, barreling almost into a stunned Ephretti and with that, hope burst into my heart with the power of floodwaters. She’d healed him! Even though she was nowhere near here, somehow her power had surged through these arches anyway. Just like the last time when she’d brought Raolcan back from the dead!
I lifted my head and sat up, my breath catching in my throat and fear – fear that I might be wrong, that it might not be true – filling me. The bandage had fallen off my hand, but the skin was flawless, whole and beautiful. I ran my hands down my leg. It was fine, the arrow lay broken on the ground beside me.
Trembling, wide-eyed, I looked to Raolcan. I couldn’t see his face from here. He was gazing out beyond the arches. Wait until he saw me!
I scrambled to my feet, pitched forward, and crashed to the earth. My lip split on the stone and I spat blood as heavy realization filled me.
The arrow wound was gone.
Healed with the power of the arches.
And something else felt different.
You’re healed of the effects of Silla. You are free of Jalla’s hook.
But my leg ... my bad leg. It was exactly the same as it had been all along. And the other one hadn’t taken my weight, either.
Bitterness filled me. Was it some kind of joke? Because I certainly wasn’t healed. Lying here on the ground, my mouth full of blood and dirt and now BOTH legs ruined. I was certainly not healed.
Give it time. Who knows what Truth has come through your healing?
It wasn’t supposed to work that way! It was supposed to give me what it gave everyone else – instant and complete healing! I rolled onto my back, staring up at the sky and laughed until tears rolled from my eyes.
As if this was healed! If I’d been given my choice I would have drunk Silla for the rest of my life and lived in those ridiculous deserts with those insane people and their multipuses - just not this. Not both my legs. It was the cruelest joke I could imagine. The cruelest thing anyone had ever done.
And you have the Pipe now. You are the Piper of all Winged things.
Me. The most immobile person in the Dominion was now the commander of the most mobile and glorious creatures? I bit my lip, tasting blood, and I wasn’t sure if I was despairing or laughing, or furious.
Roll over! This time it was Raolcan in my head. Savette was gone, like a puff of smoke.
I rolled over.
Look.
As far as I could see across the wooded valley rank upon rank of dragon stood, wings tucked to their sides, heads bowed low to the ground. The fighting was over. They had won, and they waited for me now.
They honor you. Our Piper.
I owed it to them to keep on hoping and to find a way to end this war. I looked up at Raolcan.
He looked back at me with a single, burning eye.
I’ll be your wings, Hopebringer.
At least he didn’t call me ‘Lame Piper.’ I didn’t like that name.
I think I’ll call you Dragon Piper when we’re being formal, and spider all the rest of the time.
Continue the journey in Dragon School: Dragon Piper
Behind the Scenes:
USA Today bestselling author, Sarah K. L. Wilson, hails from the rocky Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario where she lives with her husband and two small boys. Her interests include the outdoors, history, and philosophy. Her books are always about fantastical adventures in other worlds.
Sarah would like to thank Harold Trammel, Eugenia Kollia, and Sarah Brown for their incredible work in beta reading and proofreading this book. Without their big hearts and passion for stories, this book would not be the same.
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Dragon School Reading Order:
Dragon School: First Flight
Dragon School: Initiate
Dragon School: The Dark Prince
Dragon School: The Ruby Isles
Dragon School: Sworn
Dragon School: Dusk Covenant
Dragon School: First
Message
Dragon School: Warring Promises
Dragon School: Prince of Dragons
Dragon School: Dark Night
Dragon School: Bright Hopes
Dragon School: Mark of Loyalty
Dragon School: Dire Quest
Dragon School: Ancient Allies
Dragon School: Pipe of Wings
Dragon School: Dragon Piper
Find them all on their Amazon series page.
Why Novellas?
I love watching television series. I don’t really like movies, because they’re simply too short of a story arc for me. I prefer long, drawn out stories in smaller, bite-sized episodes. Dragon School is my book version of the television dramas that I love. I’m writing the type of series I want to read – long and rich but with short episodes I can read in a single evening. I hope that you’ll enjoy this format as much as I do. I am planning approximately twenty episodes for the first season. The first season will be a complete, self-contained story. There is a second season planned for 2019 that will continue in the same world and timeline with a new main character and dragon. Stay tuned!
Dragon School: Pipe of Wings Page 7
