“I told you, I don’t know,” said another voice. That was Valerian. “Humans touch the stones all the time. There’s no reason that should have happened.”
“So what do we do now?” asked a third voice that was definitely Hiro.
“Keep her warm and comfortable,” said Valerian. “And hope she wakes up soon.”
Someone knelt beside her and took her hand.
Anne struggled to say something, anything, to reassure them. She was there, right there with them. She tried to move even a finger, anything at all, to let them know she could hear them. But her body would not obey. She couldn’t even open her eyes.
“Anne, I don’t know if you can hear me or not,” said Penelope. “I just want you to know you’re not alone.”
She gave Anne’s hand a squeeze.
Anne drifted once more into oblivion.
Anne was walking down a hallway, but she still wasn’t in control of her body. It was like she was looking through someone else’s eyes. She opened the door to the laboratory. She didn’t know how she knew it was a laboratory. She just did. The door bore an image of a dragon. The image seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. A plaque next to the door read: DR. ZARALA COLE.
Inside, a young man with pale white skin stood at the end of a long counter studying something under a microscope. He was tall and thin and had unruly dark hair. His lab coat was crisp and his loafers freshly shined. When the door clicked shut, he looked up.
“Ah, good morning, Dr. Cole,” he said.
“Good morning, Dr. Grey,” she heard herself say. “What were last night’s test results?”
The young man scowled and gestured at the instrument in front of him. “The same as all the others. We’re getting nowhere fast.”
“Did you run the results through the spectrometer?”
“I’ve run them through every piece of equipment in this lab. Twice. They always come out negative.”
He seemed about to say more, but held back.
“Was there something else?” she asked.
“I just… I think we need to reconsider adding a catalyst into the matrix. I’m certain if we just—”
“We’ve talked about this,” she said. “It would introduce an unstable variable into the equation, and the results would therefore be unpredictable.”
He became visibly annoyed. “I don’t deny there are risks, but the council is becoming impatient. We need to show some progress, or they’re going to start questioning the value of their ongoing support.”
“I understand your concerns, but the answer is still no. I’m sorry, Oswald, but that’s my final word on the matter.”
The young man nodded curtly and didn’t pursue the matter further, but she could tell he wasn’t satisfied. She would have to keep an eye on him, just in case he decided to take matters into his own hands.
As Anne drifted off again, she thought she heard a crow cawing.
Her last image was of a single black feather.
Anne opened her eyes. It felt like she’d been asleep for an eternity. She tried moving her hand, and to her surprise it responded. She fanned her fingers and then balled them into a fist. Next, she wiggled her toes. When she tried to sit up, however, she became instantly dizzy and collapsed back. Fortunately, someone had placed a cloak under her head for a pillow.
A face appeared above her.
“Careful,” said Valerian. “You’ve been out for nearly two days.”
“Two days?” exclaimed Anne. “But—but how is that even possible?”
“Be thankful it was only two. At first, we were worried you might not wake up at all. You’ve been breathing a lot easier today, though, and I figured it was only a matter of time before you came around.”
It all seemed like a dream now, fading away quickly.
Valerian helped her into a sitting position and offered her some bread and water. She was ravenous and immediately bit a large hunk off the bread. While she chewed, she examined her surroundings. The room they were in was smaller than the one where they had visited Emmanuelle.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Not far from where you collapsed. I… couldn’t stay there.”
“I’m sorry,” said Anne. “About your mother, I mean.”
“Thanks,” said Valerian.
“Where are Pen and Hiro?”
Valerian knelt and placed his hand on top of hers. “The Copper Knights have them.”
The bread fell from Anne’s hand. “What happened?”
“The maze isn’t as lifeless as it looks,” said Valerian. “Some of the rooms contain food. We were scavenging in an orchard not too far from here when the knights showed up and took Penelope and Hiro hostage.”
Anne’s eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t they take you, too?”
“I don’t know. I told you I escaped from them after they took Rokk and the sword, but the truth is once the airship landed, I simply walked away and they didn’t try to stop me. I can’t explain why.”
Anne frowned. With all that had happened, she couldn’t help but be suspicious of Valerian’s account. On the other hand, if he had wanted to, he could have simply led the Copper Knights back here and let them capture her as well.
“Where are they now?” she asked.
“Still in the orchard. It’s not far from here,” he said. “The knights have offered a trade.”
“For what? They already have the sword.”
“True,” said Valerian, “but they still need that.” He pointed to Anne’s gauntlet-hand, and she realized she’d had it clenched the whole time. She relaxed the fingers. In her palm lay the pulsing crystal that had emerged from Emmanuelle after she had died.
“What is it?” asked Anne.
“It’s a bit complicated. In the dragon meeting hall, there’s a large crystal formation—”
“I’ve seen it,” said Anne. “The queen sat on top of it.”
Valerian nodded. “It’s called the Heartstone. Whenever a monarch gives birth, they lay the child on the stone, and one of these smaller crystals forms inside the baby dragon. That’s why humans refer to the crystals as dragon stones.”
“What does that have to do with the quest?” asked Anne.
Valerian swallowed. “The crystals emerge from the dragon upon death, as you saw with my mother. Because of that, dragons refer to them as a dragon’s last breath.”
Anne gasped and whispered the second line of the quest riddle. “Anoint it with a true heir’s final breath.”
“Exactly.”
Anne looked at him. “Do you have one inside, too? One of the dragon stones?”
Valerian nodded. “That’s the real reason the queen banished my mother. Because she dared to lay me, a half-dragon, on the Heartstone. I was going to use mine to anoint the sword.”
“But to get your stone, wouldn’t that mean you would have to…”
Anne left the rest unspoken.
“Now you understand why I needed the Copper Knights,” Valerian said. “To complete my mission, once I was… no longer able to.”
Anne shook her head. “We can’t give them your mother’s stone.”
“But your friends—”
“We’ll think of a way to help them, but if the knights reforge the Three-Handed Sword, I think there’s a good chance they could kill the queen, no matter what she believes.”
Valerian thought about this. “Once we give them the crystal, there would still be time to stop the knights. They can’t repair the sword just anywhere. My mother’s notes mentioned the location of the one forge capable of remaking such a weapon. We need only beat them there and destroy it.”
“But they’ll have a head start,” said Anne.
Valerian grinned. “There’s another archway near the orchard that the knights don’t know about. And it so happens that it leads to the tier where the forge is located.”
Anne felt torn. It was a huge risk giving the Copper Knights a dragon stone. On the other hand, she couldn’t abandon her friends
.
“Do you believe them?” she asked. “The Copper Knights, I mean. Do you believe they’ll honor the trade?”
Valerian hesitated. “I honestly don’t know. But what choice is there?”
“Well, I don’t trust them. It’s sure to be a trap of some sort.”
“So what do we do?”
An idea formed in Anne’s mind, and a smile slowly spread across her face.
“Easy,” she said. “We spring the trap.”
Valerian took the lead as they made their way along the black tunnels of the maze. After a dozen or so turns, Anne couldn’t tell which way they were going. But Valerian continued forward without hesitation. After about ten minutes, he finally slowed and pointed down a side tunnel.
“That’s our exit,” he said. “At the end of that corridor, there’s a small chamber. The archway is in there.” He took off his bag with the eye in it and handed it to Anne.
“You’re trusting me with this?” asked Anne.
“Completely,” said Valerian.
He took them down several more corridors, and Anne did her best to keep track of the sequence of turns, just in case she needed to find her way to the exit on her own. Finally, they entered a large cavern that contained a grove of apple trees. The Copper Knights were waiting at the entrance to a tunnel on the opposite side. Penelope and Hiro were there as well, with their arms tied securely. Anne couldn’t contain a smile upon seeing her friends.
Also standing with them was Rokk.
“Rokk, you don’t have to do this,” said Anne. “Remember your encounter with the Matron? How you resisted her? You can do that again. You can resist the Copper Knights.”
Rokk remained unmoving. He didn’t so much as look in her direction.
“You’re wasting your breath,” said one of the Copper Knights. “He’s with us. Now give us the stone.”
“First release our friends,” said Anne.
The knight nodded, and another knight undid their ropes.
The first knight pointed to Valerian. “Now the stone.”
Valerian hesitated but brought out the glowing crystal. He and Anne walked to the center of the grove and waited. Rokk escorted Penelope and Hiro to meet him. Valerian placed the dragon stone in Rokk’s massive hand. A green beam shot out of Rokk’s eyes and scanned it.
“Well?” said the first knight.
“Analysis complete,” said Rokk. “This is a true piece of the Heartstone.”
“Excellent.”
The knights raised their staffs and advanced on Anne, Penelope, and Hiro. Rokk didn’t move or join them, but he didn’t stop them, either.
“Wait,” said Valerian. “We had a deal.”
“And we kept it,” said the first knight. “The deal was the safe return of your comrades in exchange for the dragon stone. We made no promise about what would happen after the trade was complete.”
“Fair enough. But of course, neither did we,” said Anne, and she turned to Valerian. “Now!”
It happened in the blink of an eye. One moment Valerian was standing there, and the next moment a large red dragon stood in his place. The dragon opened its mouth and spewed out a jet of red flame, forcing the knights to retreat.
“Run!” boomed the dragon. “Get to the archway!”
When Anne hesitated, Penelope grabbed her and Hiro and hauled them toward the tunnel that Anne and Valerian had come from. Once out of the cavern, Anne took the lead, and the three of them sprinted down corridors and around corners, zigging and zagging, with Anne doing her best to remember the correct route. Valerian’s roaring became more distant. Anne could only hope he was okay.
Soon they reached the side corridor that Valerian had shown Anne, and they ran down it at full speed. At the end was a much smaller cave with an upright stone archway. Anne hurried over to the black stone pillar next to the archway and took Emmanuelle’s eye out of the bag.
“Activate archway,” she said.
The stone opened, and the glass sphere appeared.
“Please stand by for retinal scan,” said the voice from the sphere. Anne held up the eye, and the red beam swept over it. “Identity verified.”
The archway opened. The other side of the barrier showed a grassy field.
Penelope stepped in front of the archway and motioned for Anne and Hiro. “Come on,” she urged. “Before they catch up.”
Anne shook her head. “We can’t leave without Valerian.” She pointed at Hiro. “Be ready with your Minor Exploding Spell.”
“That one isn’t in this month’s issue, either. The catalog does have a Tremor Spell, though.”
“Use it. If they’re chasing him, that might be our only means of stopping them.”
As the seconds ticked by, she became increasingly worried that they had miscalculated, and feared they would have to leave Valerian behind. She didn’t want to, but Valerian had made her swear to it. Getting to the forge and finding a way to prevent its use was their top priority.
Just when she was about to give up, there was a commotion from the other end of the corridor.
“Incoming!” yelled Penelope.
Valerian, back in his human form, stumbled around the bend. Anne and Penelope rushed over to assist him.
“They’re right behind me,” he mumbled. Anne heard clanking footsteps approaching from the corridor.
They helped Valerian to the archway.
“Now, Hiro!” shouted Anne.
Hiro quickly read the spell from his catalog.
The ground shook.
The walls crumbled.
And the cave collapsed.
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The Sign of Zarala
Anne, Penelope, Hiro, and Valerian made it through the barrier just in time, followed by a clatter of falling rocks.
“Deactivate archway!” said Anne.
The archway behind them closed.
They were standing in the middle of a field of gray grass. The sky was overcast and gray. The rocks were gray, including the stones used to construct the archway (but excluding the ones that had fallen through the archway with them). Ahead of them, far in the distance, was a range of cold, gray mountains. In the other direction, much closer, was a collection of tall gray structures. It all looked familiar. Too familiar, in fact.
Jeffery appeared in a burst of light. “It’s about time. I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic in there. Those gauntlets aren’t exactly designed for comfort, you know.” He looked around. “Hey, haven’t we been here before?”
That was precisely what Anne was thinking. During their first quest, they had visited a cold gray tier just like this one. It was known as a dead tier. Dead tiers were the result of a failed Level Twelve quest, and no life grew on one ever again. This did not, however, mean there were no dangers, and Anne recalled only too well being chased by a swarm of mechanical dragonflies. The memory made her shudder.
“Do you really think this is the same dead tier we visited during the last quest?” asked Hiro.
Jeffery shrugged. “I don’t know, but how many of them can there be?”
“Anne, over here,” said Penelope.
Penelope was kneeling on the ground next to Valerian, who was lying flat on his back. Anne rushed over. His face was pale, and when Anne placed her hand on his, it felt cold and clammy.
“What happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know. He just collapsed.”
Anne gently shook his shoulder. “Valerian, can you hear me?”
After a moment, Valerian began to stir.
“I’m okay,” he rasped. He sat up slowly. “I could go for a drink of water, though.”
Hiro handed Valerian the water skin from his pack, and he took a long drink. After a few minutes his color seemed to return, and he stood up again.
“Sorry about that,” he said. �
��I’ve never tried to hold my dragon form for that long.” He looked around. “Did everyone get out?”
“Yes,” said Anne. “Thanks to you.”
He smiled. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
“So where’s this forge, anyway?” asked Penelope.
Valerian scanned the horizon and pointed to the structures in the distance. “The city. The forge is there.”
They headed out, with Anne and Valerian taking the lead and Hiro and Penelope following behind. Jeffery scouted ahead and reported back every few minutes on the upcoming terrain. Unsurprisingly, it was all gray. The only nongray point of interest came from the city itself, where there were intermittent flashes of light.
Around midday, after nearly two hours of walking, they stopped in the cool shade of a gray oak tree. Valerian shared some edible fungi he’d gathered while in the maze. It was tough chewing, but it had a nutty flavor that was not unpleasant.
“By my calculations, the knights are probably out of the maze by now,” said Valerian. “They need to travel here by airship, though, so we should still have lots of time.”
After everyone had eaten their fill, they set out again. It was another hour of walking before they reached the outskirts of the city. The buildings were impossibly tall. Anne had no idea how someone could construct something so large. The flashing lights turned out to be reflected light. Each building was covered entirely in mirrored glass, which reflected sunlight in all directions. The farther into the city’s interior they went, however, the darker it became. And colder.
“Look there,” said Valerian.
A small brown bird perched on the doorframe of one of the buildings. The bird didn’t make any sound, but it peered at them curiously.
“Where did that come from?” said Penelope.
“Jeffery, I thought nothing could live on a dead tier,” said Anne.
“I didn’t think anything could, either,” said Jeffery. “Of course, if you’d let me eat more books, I could provide you with more thorough and up-to-date information.”
“Nice try,” said Anne.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Hiro.
The Adventurer's Guide to Dragons (and Why They Keep Biting Me) Page 14
