Return of the Dragonborn: The Complete Trilogy

by N. M. Howell

  The dragons mounted up from their final rest and they took to the sky. They would not touch the ground again until they reached Arvall City. They did not know what they would find there, but they went to face their destiny bravely. Andie looked down on the lands they passed over, knowing they were probably filled with people who hated them, who wanted to see their blood running in the street. It had never occurred to her before that it might not matter to the world if the University had been spreading lies. For all she knew, the rest of the world hated the dragonborn as much as the University and would want them dead anyway. It was no secret that the dragonborn were incredibly powerful; people tended to fear things more powerful than themselves, regardless of whether or not those things or people posed an actual threat. And though the dragons were sweet, calm creatures by nature, their great size and intimidating appearance would put people off. What if the world didn’t care that the dragonborn hadn’t done anything? What if they were just looking for an excuse, any excuse to slaughter the dragonborn? And if a fight did break out, the dragonborn would have no choice but to defend themselves and then the world would see the true magnitude of their awesome power. If that happened, if the dragonborn were forced to take even one life, the world would never forgive them. Everything would be at an end. They would go to war and the dragonborn would kill thousands, millions, of the sorcerers and common folk in an attempt to save their way of life—and in the eyes of Noelle the dragonborn truly would be monsters.

  More than that, there was always the chance that the people would be willing to relent, but simply wouldn’t believe Andie. The loose, ill-conceived skeleton of a plot they did have revolved around Andie’s ability to persuade people that neither she nor the dragonborn posed a threat. She had to erase centuries of hate, propaganda, and engrained teaching. Even Andie didn’t believe it could work. Hatred of the dragonborn was one of those things that simply was. She had no idea what she was going to say.

  The land slid away underneath them. Rivers and lakes disappeared somewhere behind them. Things too small and far away to be distinguished flashed by, instantly forgotten. The sun fell lower and lower into the sky until it finally touched the land in the distance. Across the horizon, the great towers of Arvall City were coming into view, shining silver and blue against the land. The sky began to darken as they flew closer. The energy and the mood among the warriors seemed to change as they began to get close to the city. Everyone was bracing for the inevitable, whatever it might be. They slowed gradually the nearer they came and began to drop lower over the city. As they slowed, the sound of the wind and the dragons’ wings lessened considerably. Saeryn turned to speak over her shoulder.

  “The outcome doesn’t matter,” she said.

  “How can you say that?”

  “Because I only just realized it. No matter what happens, Andie, we are forever grateful for you being with us. Thank you.”

  Saeryn turned back around and then the dragon plunged. The phalanx of warriors followed closely and they were all diving through the air, descending on the city. For a moment, Andie was perfectly calm: the wind raced past her, the massive wings of the iridescent creature pumped up and down on either side of her, the city rushed up with its lights and actions, Saeryn’s long dark hair danced in the sky. And just for a moment, before they knew the result and before the conflict started, Andie felt the future was theirs, one way or another.

  But suddenly there was an explosion in the air and one of the warriors was knocked off of his dragon. The dragon quickly maneuvered itself back under him and he caught hold, but the first explosion was quickly followed by several more. The explosions were erratic and incredibly powerful. Because the dragons couldn’t see the explosions coming, they couldn’t maneuver around them and the situation quickly became dangerous. What was most terrifying was that the explosions were black and as cold as a freezing winter. It was smart. Any regular explosion wouldn’t have been able to distract a dragon or the warrior on it. Heat made them stronger. But a cold explosion could seriously harm them and with the sun going down it would be harder for them to heal.

  The dragonborn began evasive maneuvers, but they were all for nothing as the University’s trick continued to plague them through the sky. Andie noticed that there were less explosions the lower they went and pointed it out to Saeryn. Again, the dragonborn dove through the sky. The dragons flattened their wings against their bodies and the warriors flattened themselves on the dragons’ backs. They fell through the sky, hoping to reach safety. They finally broke the level of the city’s highest buildings and the explosions gave out. The dragons leveled out and headed for Brie. For the University.

  The explosions must have doubled as a warning system because as they came closer to the ground, Andie could see people in the streets below panicking and running inside. Cars were racing away, barely missing each other as they sped for safety. And then a horn began to blare. What should have been a quiet landing was turning into a fearmongering nightmare. Saeryn and the dragonborn warriors remained calm and pointed the dragons for the mountain. Andie grew less certain by the minute. Soon they had reached the foot of Brie and were beginning to incline as they began their ascent. The moment was almost upon them now and Andie couldn’t think of anything. Nothing at all. She was simply in expectation.

  But the University had planned ahead again. Slots opened in the mountainside and sorcerers behind shields of energy began casting spells. As the ill-aimed spells flashed by, Andie could feel the chill coming off of them. They really were beginning to learn. But the dragons easily dodged the feeble attempts and the warriors only cast defensive spells to protect their ascension. Andie was filling with energy. Her mind and heart were still blank, but she was suddenly aware of her own power. She’d stopped trying to understand why and how the University could be so evil, but if they wanted to go to war with her, with her people, she was prepared to do so.

  They cleared the precipice and found that the large lot in front of the University was completely full of people. The civilians screamed and ducked as the dragons came soaring up over them. The warriors did a single lap and then landed wherever they could: on top of the University, away on the side of the mountain, and some stayed flying above. Andie and Saeryn dismounted and walked to meet the crowd.

  “Saeryn?” Andie whispered.

  “Yes?”

  “I think I’m afraid.”

  “So am I.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  As they approached, the other dragonborn warriors began to fall in behind them and the more they walked, the larger their group grew. The crowd that had already gathered began to back up, to clear out of the warriors’ way. Andie and Saeryn each kept a wary eye on the people, unsure of what they might do now that they were face-to-face with the threat they had heard so much about. The response was exactly what Andie had suspected: absolute fear. Andie looked around, trying to gather information about why all the people were gathered, but it wasn’t hard to discover. There were massive banners strung up all around, posters, and signs with the event. They were there to celebrate the reopening of the University.

  Andie looked over and noticed for the first time that all the damage that the University had sustained was fixed and the black marble looked stronger and more sinister than ever. She hadn’t realized before, but even SKY 6 had been replaced with a new model and the rails had been repaired and burnished. There was a gated area not far from where they were, and she could see a massive collection of fireworks waiting to be released for the ceremony. There were heads of state standing on a platform in the direction they were heading. And so was Chancellor Myamar Mharú. He didn’t seem at all surprised to see them and only then did Andie realize that they had played directly into his hands. He had planned all of this from the start, knowing that blowing up the ship would force them to escalate their timetable and come to face him. Andie felt like a complete idiot.

  “I told you they would come,” the chancellor began. “I told you they couldn�
��t resist the opportunity to show themselves, to menace us, to do everything in their power to end our way of life.”

  “I believe you have that backwards, Melpomene,” said Saeryn, in that authoritative yet gentle voice that only she could manage. “It is my people who have been hunted and slaughtered, and I am ashamed to see that nothing has changed in the centuries that have passed.”

  The crowd began to grow enraged, afraid, at the very sound of her voice.

  “We did not come here for war, though we are prepared for it if that is what you prefer. We have only come to expose your propaganda for what it truly is: a snake pit of lies. We have been in this world for months and yet you cannot name a single crime that we have committed.”

  “A single crime?” the chancellor mocked, feigning disbelief. “The list of your horrific accomplishments has no end. You broke the laws that govern our world and breached time through an illegal portal. You slaughtered the innocent people working in this University who only tried to reason with you. You murdered hundreds of dignitaries and heads of state in the mirror hall—the great leaders in this land. You came back again some weeks ago and wreaked even more havoc and how are we supposed to know what chaos you’ve been creating around the world?”

  “If we were truly so bloodthirsty would we have landed our dragons and come to walk among you?”

  “It’s your own arrogance that put your feet on the ground.”

  “More lies, I’m afraid. We escaped that portal because your ancestors trapped us in there and our entire race was almost exterminated from the face of the planet. Once we were out, we were immediately under attack and though we wish there had been another way, we had no choice but to defend ourselves. Since then we’ve been living in the mountains, far from here. If we’re so horrible why have you heard nothing of us for months? And we never returned to this mountain until right now. The people who were here were rebels fighting to bring peace and you slaughtered most of them while they ran for their lives. I believe that is what you meant to say.”

  The crowd continued to bubble and get angry. Andie kept her eyes on them and the warriors were always ready for anything.

  “My name is Saeryn. I am the Queen of the dragonborn. I assure you, my people do not want war. As you can see, we haven’t even brought all our ranks. This is only a small party that has come here seeking a resolution.”

  But the crowd seemed to have hardly heard her. They did not see a Queen, only the embodiment of every nightmare and cautionary tale they had been told since they were children. And those who hadn’t heard the stories were afraid because everyone else was. Someone in the crowd threw a stone, but Andie blocked it with her magic. More stones followed, but the warriors kept them all at bay until the crowd died down again.

  “They will not hear me,” Saeryn said, turning to Andie. “I pass the torch to you, savior. If you cannot placate them, it will mean war.”

  Saeryn took several steps back and let Andie come forward. The chancellor laughed.

  “What kind of Queen lets others fight her battles? Are you afraid?”

  “I find it hard to believe that you of all people are going to stand there and accuse someone else of cowardice,” Andie said. “All of Noelle knows that you lack the courage of a child.”

  “Remind me again who you are,” he said, grimacing. “You seem... inexperienced for a rebellion.”

  “My name is Andie Rogers and I was once a student at this University. My father was a sorcerer, but my mother was dragonborn and she passed that magic to me. I am a part of both worlds and I can assure you all the true enemy here is not the dragonborn, but the University. When I was a girl, they came to my house and they beat us. They took my mother and nearly killed my father. I never saw her again. Some years later, they arranged for my father to have an accident and nearly killed him again, though that time he never fully recovered. Does any of this sound familiar? Have any of you ever had someone taken from you, threatened, killed? I know they try to wipe our minds when they’re finished, but at least some of you must remember.”

  There were many uncertain mumblings coming from the crowd. They hardly seemed convinced, but at least they were listening.

  “These are the misguided and troubled thoughts of a child,” the chancellor said, not losing a step. “If we’ve ever come to your homes it’s only been in service of you. You saw the devastation of the University. Many of you were there that night when we lost so many lives. And it was all because of them.”

  “Really?” Andie sneered, nearing the platform. “Tell me, if the dragonborn had only just escaped the portal, how were they able have that room filled with poisonous flowers a week before?”

  There were gasps in the crowd. They seemed to genuinely want to hear the chancellor’s response, but he did no more than smile.

  “What’s happening now is the same thing that happened hundreds of years ago,” Andie continued. “You’re letting yourselves be driven by hate and other people’s greed for power. Ask yourselves: what have you ever seen the dragonborn do? What evil have you witnessed? Nothing. Everything you think about them was told to you. I know we’ve all grown up hearing the stories and fearing the legends, but that’s all they are is stories. I have lived among you and now I live among them, and though the cultures are different, neither is evil. We could have had our dragons rain fire from the sky, but we didn’t. Our magic is stronger than yours and we could have come and started casting instead of talking, but we didn’t. That kind of violence is not what we want. All we want is to carve out a piece of the world for ourselves and live in peace. We don’t want anything from anyone, especially not a fight.”

  “That’s a very moving speech, little girl, but I hardly think that stories could persist for hundreds of years if there weren’t truth to them. Now, people you’ve seen what kind of carnage results from a world with dragonborn. Read your history books. Look at the painted walls of our corridors. These dragonborn are an ancient evil and they’ve returned to finish us. Don’t be fooled by this simple child’s inability to know right from wrong.”

  “I noticed that in all your aggrandizing, you’ve never once given definitive proof that my people have done something they shouldn’t, or that they’ve done anything at all.”

  The chancellor tried to hide his frustration, but his political mask was cracking. He hadn’t planned to be caught out like this, exposed. Andie looked at him and could tell that his plan was beginning to falter. He was losing his footing.

  “No one has known where the dragonborn have been for months,” Andie continued, growing more confident. “We could’ve attacked you, burned your lives down while you slept and gotten away with it, but we came here looking for a better future. We don’t want to have to hide. If you don’t want us living among you, we understand, but please allow us to live. There’s so much we could teach you, so much we could learn from you. My people have come from a time when everything was different. The new world is foreign to them and they’re afraid. We’ve done nothing, nothing at all.”

  Much to Andie’s surprise, it seemed the crowd was actually listening to her. She paused, afraid to go on and ruin the goodwill she’d garnered, but also afraid to stop before she had them fully. She decided that the best thing to do was tell them not about what the dragonborn hadn’t done, but about what the University had done.

  “It might interest you to know that Chancellor Mharú turned two of our friends into spies. He consistently had them place us in danger. Just a few days ago, one of them blew up the ship we had been traveling on. Eighty-seven of my friends were killed and all because this man’s greed was insatiable. If you don’t stop him, there’s no telling what he might do.”

  Andie leveled a finger at Chancellor Mharú. Before anyone knew what was happening, the crowd had turned to the chancellor and was waiting to see what he would say in his defense. But all he did was stand there, his eyes locked wide in surprise and rage, his legs beginning to shake in front of all the people. Andie almost sm
iled—the faces of the crowd began to change and the murmurs began to build. She could tell they weren’t yet fully convinced, but the longer the chancellor stood there dumbfounded, the worse his chances grew. Andie looked to Saeryn and the two shared a hopeful look. Then the chancellor began to laugh. Andie nearly toppled at the sound, confused as to how he could find anything funny about this situation.

  “You know, I really couldn’t turn him,” the chancellor said with a smile. “I had to resort to more... arcane methods.”

  “Him?” Andie asked, confused.

  “Yes. Your traitor. Oh, wait... do you mean to tell me you still haven’t figured out who betrayed you?”

  “It was Lilja and... a girl I used to believe was my friend.”

  “No, no, no, no, no. I always knew you’d catch Lilja sooner or later. She never wanted to cooperate, you know. But once we threatened her family and her friends, well, she started to see things from our side.”

  More gasps went through the crowd. The chancellor paid them no attention and though Andie was glad the tide was turning, she was hardly able to focus on anything outside of the chancellor’s words.

  “But the other one wasn’t a girl. It was a man. The one with that godawful name. Something so short and stupid I always forget. Marvo. That’s it. You see, I knew he would be perfect. Old, human, ridiculously likeable, and an intensely close friend of yours. Not to mention the leader of your little rebellion. The absolute perfect candidate. See, I captured Marvo long before you ever even saw that stupid portal. We were watching you from the beginning, Andie, and when we got wind of what you were searching for in Leabharlann I started making a plan in case you ever managed to free those abominations. Me and a few of my associates kidnapped your Marvo and performed some very old magic on him. It allowed me to periodically act through his body, influence his decision-making, even make him perform spells on occasion. Things like having him decide to stop looking for a way out and bring you all into an ambush. Or having him read your mind whenever you touched him. Or sending my magic through him to send you back here to the University, though, admittedly, that particular spell backfired. Or, my personal favorite, exploding him with a wave of collective magic too large for his body to handle and killing scores of your friends in the process.”