Dragon Tear (Agents of the Crown Book 5)

by Lindsay Buroker

  Jev, thinking the words were for him, turned to face her. But Zenia stood beside the dragon, one hand clasped around her gem and the other resting on the dragon’s scaled side.

  The chain still crisscrossed the dragon’s back, forcing her to stay in that prone position, her feet under her but her legs unable to straighten. Her long green tail had been curled tightly against her body, but now it stretched behind her toward the rear of the cave, the pointed tip flapping against the stone floor.

  Not, Jev told himself firmly, like a dog’s tail.

  “Was that all the dragon tear’s power?” Jev wondered, realizing the chains still glowed with the horn’s restraining energy. That had to mean the dragon herself was still powerless to perform magic, much less escape.

  “I think so. If Cutter were here, we could ask him.” Zenia smoothed her hand over the dragon’s scaled side. “She wants to get up, to fly out of here, but she’s still trapped.”

  The dragon laid her head on the ground, a forlorn pose if Jev had ever seen one.

  The clangs continued to sound in the valley. Jev looked for their source, but he couldn’t see whatever bell tower was ringing. Towers, he decided, spotting orcs racing through the streets with packs, most fleeing toward high ground. The clangs were sounding up and down the valley, reverberating from its sloped walls and the volcanos on the side.

  Before, Jev had only glanced toward the volcanos, but when he spotted white clouds of steam pouring from the one with the caldera at the top, he looked back. At first, he gaped, but then he laughed.

  “I think Cutter is busy enacting your plan.” Jev clenched his fist, relieved that at least one of their friends had made it out of that illusory sanctuary. “Unless that’s really about to blow. In which case, we need to free your dragon quickly and hope she can fly us out of here.”

  “I want very much to free her.” Zenia stepped around the dragon’s head and looked from the chains to the horn to Eysinor still standing with her back to the wall.

  Her head was down again, her horn almost touching the stone. She appeared defeated. Like she had given up hope.

  The dragon, on the other hand, lifted her head and watched Zenia curiously. Or maybe hopefully? Jev didn’t think the dragon understood their words, but if she could see into their minds, she might have gotten the gist.

  “You can’t remove the horn?” Zenia asked Eysinor.

  I tried when I first learned that it was being used like this, she spoke into their minds. I could not break the shaman’s magic. It is why I was forced to make a deal with him.

  “We should have asked the hydra to let the shaman remove it before it ate him.” Jev peered around the lake, but he didn’t see any sign of the hydra. It had retreated beneath the surface, and it had taken the orc shaman with it. A few bodies floated face-down in the water, other orcs the hydra had snatched in its maws and flung away, but Jev couldn’t tell if any of them were the shaman.

  He is dead, Eysinor informed them.

  “Is it possible some other type of magic could break the horn free?” Jev thought of his elven sword. He’d seen it dumped into the boat with the rest of his and Zenia’s gear. Though numerous orcs had fled the cave when the clanging started, they had leaped from the closest rocks and swum to the mainland instead of running back to that beach. Maybe his sword was still down there. “What if the orc shaman’s spell is mostly to combat unicorn magic specifically? If he knew one of your kind would come…”

  Eysinor made a skeptical-sounding whuff that reminded him of a horse.

  “We have elven magic along that we could try,” Jev suggested, though he didn’t truly know if a person’s race made their magic different from other magic. “Or dwarven magic.” He eyed the steaming volcano again. “Zenia, can you see if Cutter is up there? Maybe you could levitate him over here if he is? Do you have that kind of range?”

  Jev remembered that she and the dragon tear had levitated dozens, if not hundreds, of sleeping dwarves off their big ironclad before it had blown up. But she had been on the deck of the ship at the time. That volcano had to be four miles away.

  “Yes, Cutter is there, as are Hydal, Rhi, and Borti.” Relief leaked from her voice as she spoke, though she shook her head sadly when she added, “Only Horti didn’t make it. It looks like the group built some kind of contraption up there in the caldera. They’re not actively manning it. I’ll try to bring them down. Cutter would have more ideas about how to break the shaman’s hold than I do.” She waved at the embedded horn.

  “Good. Will you be all right here if I run down and get my sword?” Jev studied Eysinor but didn’t sense that she would cause trouble. Why would she? She had nothing left to lose, and by helping them, or at least staying out of their way, she might gain something.

  “I think so.” Zenia looked at the dragon, and the dragon looked back at her, her large head level with Zenia’s even though her body was pinned under those chains.

  Fortunately, the dragon seemed to have put thoughts of eating people out of her mind.

  Zenia closed her eyes to concentrate. Jev grabbed one of the abandoned orc swords and ran out of the cave and down the slope to the beach. No orcs remained on the island to confront him. The entire population of the valley was responding to the steam filling the southern sky by fleeing from their homes. Further, the air smelled of sulfur. If Zenia hadn’t confirmed that Cutter and the others were responsible for that smoking volcano, Jev would have been tempted to join the orcs in fleeing the valley.

  When he reached the boat, he retrieved his sword, his pack, and Zenia’s weapons and pack. Glad the orcs had brought everything along instead of leaving the gear in the jungle, he ran back up the slope to the cave. His thighs and lungs burned from the effort, and he paused for a short rest at the last switchback.

  That was when he spotted a dwarf flying through the air. Rhi, Hydal, and Borti floated after him. Hydal and Borti flailed and shouted with alarm as they sailed over the lake. Cutter curled up in a tight ball, his hands covering his face. Rhi was the only fearless one. She floated casually in the air, her arms outstretched with her bo in one hand, as if she were a bird gliding on the currents.

  As Jev reached the now-empty hut outside the cave, his comrades alighted beside him.

  “Nice of you to come,” he told Hydal, whose eyes were rounder than a full moon.

  The answer Hydal squeaked out wasn’t decipherable. He dropped to his knees and patted the ground, looking like he wished he could hug it.

  Cutter recovered more quickly and thumped Jev on the shoulder. “Did you like our distraction?”

  “It was quite fine. Thank you.”

  “Did it help?” Cutter peered into the dim cave.

  “With the orcs, yes.” Jev headed inside, waiting until later to relay the story. “But we still have a problem.”

  Zenia was still in the same spot, and she smiled when she saw Jev and their friends. “You’d asked if the dragon tear is more powerful when it’s in closer proximity to the dragon, Jev. The answer is yes.”

  Jev nodded, assuming that meant she hadn’t had trouble levitating everyone across the miles. He headed for the horn and chains, with the others trailing after him, but Borti saw Eysinor and stopped abruptly.

  “Betrayer!” Borti roared, pointing at her. “She’s the reason my brother is dead.” He raised his mace and charged at her.

  Jev was too startled to react. Eysinor’s horn flared with light, and Borti bounced away before he reached her. His weapons swung through empty air. He twisted as he flew backward and landed on his feet, clearly intending to charge again.

  This time, Jev had time to react. He ran over and gripped him from behind. He doubted Borti could kill a unicorn, but they might need Eysinor to figure this out.

  Rhi cursed and paced while glaring at the unicorn. She didn’t run in to attack, but she clearly wanted to.

  Borti struggled against Jev’s grip, and his strength was too much to handle. He managed to shove Jev back. Zenia stre
tched out a hand, and the dragon tear did something, for Borti halted, his arms growing unnaturally still. But his lips reared back, and he was able to snarl and speak.

  “Horti's dead, Jev. The orcs came out of nowhere and surprised us in that trick of a sanctuary. They got him in the chest before we knew what was happening. They were all around us, too many. We had to run instead of fighting. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay and die at my brother’s side.” The words came out choked and barely distinguishable. He glared at Cutter and Hydal, as if they were the only reason he’d been dragged away against his wishes.

  Jev shook his head bleakly and said, “I’m sorry, Borti.”

  He couldn’t think of anything that would be more comforting and was chagrined anew that Eysinor had tricked them all. He made a fist and brought it to his mouth, frustrated and completely understanding Borti’s desire to lash out at her.

  “Cutter,” Zenia said, “that unicorn horn is providing the power—the magic—to keep the dragon prisoner. To free her, I think we need to figure out a way to pull it out of the stone and away from the chain. Maybe that’ll release her.”

  “It has a bite,” Jev warned, shaking his wrist in memory of the fiery pain he’d felt when he brushed his skin against it.

  Cutter walked a circle around the horn, eyeing it thoughtfully.

  “The troll shaman said Kor is being invaded right now—today,” Zenia added. “We need to get out of here and back home as soon as possible.”

  Jev grimaced at the reminder. He hoped the troll had been lying or at least exaggerating, that he couldn’t have truly known an invasion was going on more than a thousand miles away.

  As Cutter squatted down to examine the green glowing horn and the chain more closely, Zenia looked at the still-seething Borti.

  “I’m sorry, Borti,” she said quietly.

  He shook his head fiercely. “Don’t be sorry. Let me kill her. She deserves it for tricking—” His voice broke on the word, and he shook his head again, his tone shifting from anger to anguish. “Why’d she have to seek us out? Why couldn’t she have left us alone? We would have been wary if we’d been alone. We wouldn’t have relaxed so they could sneak up on us.”

  “The orc shaman made a deal with her,” Jev said, since Eysinor did not answer, “one she couldn’t refuse.” He sighed, definitely not on the unicorn’s side, but more inclined to blame the orcs than her. “It was their fault.”

  “You don’t make deals with orcs,” Rhi growled, her knuckles white where she gripped her bo.

  “Everyone knows that,” Borti added, the veins standing out on his neck as he continued to struggle against the magical power holding him.

  Jev wished there was some way to help him. He hadn’t known Horti well but regretted his death and felt cheated that he had been separated from the others and hadn’t been able to help defend them. Even though Targyon had sent the twins along to help Zenia on her quest, Jev felt responsible for them, as if they were Dharrow men and it had been his duty to protect them and ensure they returned home safely. And he had failed.

  “The chain is a lot weaker than the horn,” Cutter said.

  Jev pushed his wishes aside, knowing nothing would come of them, and focused on his friend. “What?”

  “I touched the horn—” Cutter waved his magical hammer, “—and got a shock of magic that ran right to my heart. I’m not sure what the shaman did, but it’s practically buzzing with power. The farther you get down the chain from it, the less power there is.”

  Cutter walked around the dragon, casting her a few wary glances, and to the last stake that had been hammered into the ground. The blunt end stuck up behind her right haunch.

  “This is the spot to strike,” Cutter said.

  “Strike?” Jev asked. “With what?” He was half-tempted to volunteer Eysinor’s horn, but that wouldn’t work if it was attached to her forehead.

  “Something magically strong. Bring your sword.”

  “Why not your hammer?” Jev drew the blade from its scabbard and said the elven word to ignite its power. It flared with silver light.

  “It’ll take both, I think.”

  Cutter held out his hand, and Jev rested the hilt of the sword in it. The blade’s glow dimmed but did not disappear entirely. Cutter slid the tip into the last link in the chain before it attached to the stake. It didn’t fit fully. Cutter nodded, as if that was what he wanted. He pushed the tip to the ground, then touched the flat of his hammer to the pommel. His tool also glowed faintly.

  “We may lose both of our weapons,” Cutter warned before taking a swing.

  Jev nodded. “If we free the dragon, it’s worth it.” He almost said that they would gain a weapon far more powerful, but he still didn’t know if that was true, if the dragon would stay with Zenia and continue to work with her or if, as soon as she was free, she would take off over the mountains.

  “Brace yourself.” Cutter raised his hammer. “There may be some backlash.”

  Rhi shifted to stand in front of Zenia. Zenia shook her head, grabbed her arm, and pulled her so that they both stepped back. Hydal watched from the cave entrance, his face more wan than curious. Maybe being levitated by a dragon made him seasick. Or airsick.

  The dragon’s head turned on her long neck to watch Cutter. Probably to make sure he didn’t swing, miss, and thwack her tail.

  The hammer cracked down with such an echoing bang that Jev flung his hands over his ears. White light flashed, burning his eyes, and he turned his shoulder toward the sword, half-expecting shrapnel to fly into him.

  Something did strike the wall a few feet away, and he jumped. A clatter sounded as whatever it was landed at his feet, but it took Jev a moment before his vision recovered and he could see it.

  His sword. Part of his sword.

  It had broken off a couple of inches above the hilt, and the blade no longer glowed.

  Cutter stood a couple of steps from the stake and the chain. The broken chain.

  “It worked?” Jev turned to look along the length of the chain. It still stretched across the dragon’s back, but it wasn’t as taut, and it no longer glowed.

  “It worked.” Cutter lifted his hammer and looked at it.

  As far as Jev could tell, it remained intact. The other end of his sword lay nearby, that half also no longer glowing.

  Cutter lowered his hammer and looked over, his eyes apologetic. “Sorry, Jev. I didn’t know my hammer would survive and your sword wouldn’t.”

  The chains rattled as the dragon flexed her muscles, experimentally straightening her legs for what had to be the first time in months. She tentatively spread her wings as much as she could in the cave, revealing cuts and burn marks that must have been inflicted by the orcs.

  Jev scowled at the signs of torture and nodded curtly at Cutter. “Don’t worry. It was worth it.”

  Zenia and Rhi backed to one wall as the dragon shook her wings, causing the chain to slough off. She lowered her big head to examine the part that attached to the unicorn horn. An instant later, the entire length of chain glowed orange and burst into flames before turning to ashes.

  Jev gawked. “I didn’t know metal could burn.”

  The dragon looked over her shoulder at him, and there seemed to be a satisfied glint in her eyes. Then she walked toward the entrance of the cave, curled her talons over the slight ledge, and sprang into the air.

  She wobbled at first, her wings flapping furiously, like a baby bird leaping from the nest for the first time. But she soon remembered how to use those long-disused muscles. Her wingbeats smoothed out and carried her toward the mountains where she banked and disappeared behind the volcano still sending clouds of steam into the air.

  “Er.” Cutter scratched his jaw with his hook. “Is it still worth it?”

  “Is she coming back?” Rhi looked at Zenia.

  Zenia hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

  Jev rubbed his face. He couldn’t blame the dragon for stretching her wings, but if she didn’t
come back and use her magic to help their group get home quickly, it would take them weeks to return to Kor and find out if the kingdom was in trouble. Weeks of Jev worrying about his family and friends back home.

  Eysinor stepped away from the wall but paused, checking on Borti. Jev didn’t know if Zenia was still using the dragon tear to hold him, but he was gaping in the direction the dragon had gone, much like Rhi and Hydal.

  Eysinor walked toward the green horn, her hooves clunking softly on the stone floor. The horn was no longer thrust in perpendicular to the ground. It sagged over to one side. It didn’t appear to be damaged, like the incinerated chain, but it no longer glowed with its inner magical power.

  She closed her eyes, and the horn lifted from the ground.

  You have broken the hold, she spoke silently into their minds, awe tinging the words. I did not think… Had I known a dwarf with a hammer could break the spell… She stared glumly at the ground.

  “Not just any dwarf or any hammer.” Cutter waved his fine tool. “This was augmented by Master Grindmor herself.” He lowered it and shrugged. “And I confess that it was just the tool used for the job. It was the elven sword that broke the bond, sacrificing its power to nullify the unicorn horn’s power. I sensed—and this’ll sound odd, because it’s just an inanimate object—that it wanted to sacrifice itself for a noble cause. Or maybe it’s that it wasn’t that happy being wielded by a human.” He shrugged again. “Sorry, Jev.”

  “It’s all right. I can’t say that I truly felt connected with it. Not like Zenia and her dragon tear.” Jev smiled at Zenia, but she wasn’t looking in his direction. Her gaze was locked on the cave entrance.

  He hoped she wouldn’t be devastated if the dragon didn’t come back. Dragons were independent souls and creatures of the wild, so they never should have expected—

  “She’s coming!” Zenia blurted.

  “The dragon?” Hydal, who stood closest to the entrance, peered out in all directions. “I don’t see her.”

  “She’s coming,” Zenia said with calm certainty.

  Eysinor, with her mother’s horn somehow tucked into her mane, headed toward the entrance. I must leave and complete the ceremony to set my mother’s spirit free, so she can find Shakayra, but I thank you for helping me with this matter.