Dragon Mark

by Kit Bladegrave

  “How do you plan on doing that?” Thornhill tried to reach me, but Jared and Mr. Winchester both moved to stop him before my guard even took a step.

  “My memories, and Charlette’s. We want you to see what we’ve seen.”

  Selma looked to Morana, Mr. Winchester, and the other man whose name I didn’t know yet. “Are we all in agreement to see what they have to show us?”

  They all nodded as one and Charlette, and I stepped closer as she beckoned us.

  “Lost Heir, let’s start with you,” she said as she raised her hands to my temples. “Take a deep breath and relax. This will not hurt, but it may feel odd.”

  “What’s going to happen?”

  “I’m going to project your memories for all to see. Hold still and remember everything.”

  I closed my eyes, taking a few slow breaths to try and relax, but it was hard when I was worried about this meeting going according to plan, and Everest suffering back at that base.

  Selma’s hands stiffened and then pressed harder against my temples. I gasped at the wiggling feeling that something was crawling around inside my mind, but there was no pain at least. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know what they were seeing.

  My last few moments with Everest at the base, hearing her scream all over again. I dug my nails into the palms of my hands to fight back my rage and willed the memories to move on, but they lingered around Everest. The few kisses we shared here, falling asleep with her… and then I heard a dragon’s roar. Radnak’s. There were several gasps of disbelief around me, but my eyes remained shut. I heard Everest’s scream as she was attacked, and then we were back inside the ritual chamber, and the scream turned to Charlette’s as they tried to rip out her soul. The memories went on and on, farther back than I ever tried to remember, until they were seeing my time before I left the dimension of my people far behind. So much death and pain, so much it made my knees buckle being forced to remember it all.

  Selma sank to her knees with me, and when her hands finally pulled back, I fell forward on my hands, shaking my head to try and clear away the horrid memories that would haunt me forever.

  “So much… so much hurt,” she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You poor dear, your clan… your family and friends.” She reached out and rested her hand on my head, and I felt a warmth rush through me before she stood. “That is more than enough proof for me. Take them away. Now.”

  “Agreed,” three voices announced.

  Thornhill and Bethilda yelled and struggled as their own guards turned on them, tying their hands behind their backs and dragging them through the portal. Once they were gone, their yelling finally cut off, an eerie silence surrounded us. Jared held out his hand and hoisted me back to my feet.

  “You good?” he asked.

  “Yeah, just… those are not the times I like to remember, but now it seems everyone finally knows the truth.”

  Mr. Winchester, Selma. Morana, and the other man with golden eyes like a Sphinx, came over to stand before me. “It appears there is much we have to discuss,” the man said, holding out his hand. “Robert of the Golden Sphinx, at your service.”

  I shook his hand firmly. “There is plenty to talk about.”

  “First, that mark on Everest’s side,” Selma asked me softly, “it matches the one on your arm.”

  “Yeah, and I don’t know what it’s doing to her, but she’s in so much pain,” I whispered harshly. “Can you do anything for her? Please?”

  “I would like to try if you would allow me.” There was genuine concern in her eyes, and I nodded, waving Jenny forward.

  “Take her to see Everest, please, and if you can, send someone to let me know how she’s doing.”

  Jenny bowed her head then walked with Selma to the portal leading back to our base.

  Once they were through, I squared my shoulders and focused on a situation I could do something about right now, and that was explaining to the Council all they missed for the past few hundred years.

  “All this time,” Mr. Winchester said, breaking the quiet in the town hall, “we were told the Black Diamonds were merely extinct. And all they did was retreat to dimensions we knew nothing about. How could we have been so blind?”

  He’d warmed up to me even more after Jared explained my sister had died trying to protect his daughter. There was so much they hadn’t known, but the more I talked, the more I saw all their attitudes change.

  “To be fair, you weren’t there for this part,” I reminded him, and he half-smiled. “None of us were. From what I was told, the war got to everyone, and people were desperate for it to end.”

  “But the Shadowguards, why did they keep fighting?” Robert asked curiously.

  “That I don’t know, not even my parents did, but what I do know is the Black Diamonds managed to control our clan somehow, and even when they wanted to end it, they couldn’t.” I picked at a splinter on the edge of the table, wishing I knew more than I did. I had told them every little detail I could remember of what my parents told me, as well as the condition the Shadowguards were in now.

  “You said he controls three dimensions, yes?” Morana asked.

  I nodded. “And the Fell Gates, he’s there too, but I believe it’s still controlled by the Blood Moon Priests.”

  “And you have no idea how they came back into being?”

  I started to say no, but then remembered a brief conversation I’d had with Morg. “There is a theory that Radnak used the Descendants he turned to bring them back from the dead.”

  The dragons at the table snarled. “That is black magic,” Morana hissed. “He tainted them.”

  “He did, and he almost got Everest, too, but she didn’t let him. Helped get Charlette out.”

  “And you showed your true colors to do it,” Charlette sighed from across the table. “I still can’t thank you enough.”

  “I’d say I regret it, but how can I when the clan leaders are together with the Council, and my clan… my clan actually has a shot at being free?”

  There were regrets in what happened since, especially with Everest. I swallowed hard, checking the time. Selma had been gone for nearly two hours, and no word had come, not yet. I was anxious to get back to her side, but we had yet to discuss what our next official move was going to be.

  “With the Council on our side,” Charlette said loudly as if reading my mind, “we would like to proceed with our next course of action.”

  “And that would be?” Mr. Winchester asked Jared, who was seated beside his father where he should’ve been all along.

  “Attacking an encampment they control here in the human world,” Jared explained and pointed to the map. “There are portals there that would lead us to the Fell Gates, and we think the other dimensions. If we can attack it and hold it, we’d have access to everywhere Radnak could be.”

  Mr. Winchester nodded slowly. “And the defenses of this encampment?”

  “Scouts have been sent,” Preston informed him. “They should be returning soon.”

  They’d been gone longer than we anticipated, but I refused to send anyone else in case those scouts had been caught and killed. My gut rebelled at the idea of losing any more of my people, but we needed eyes on that camp again if we were to attack it and win. It wasn’t the dragons there who concerned me, but the Priests. No one living knew much about them or what they were capable of. After what I’d seen at the Fell Gates, I was going to proceed with as much caution as we could afford.

  “You said you also have a prisoner in your charge?” Robert asked. “A Black Diamond commander?”

  “Nikolai. He’s Radnak’s main instrument of torture,” I sneered, wanting to pummel the bastard all over again for all those memories fresh in my mind. “He’s talking, but not telling us what we need to know. Like what this ritual with souls is about.”

  Morana tilted her head, and her eyes narrowed. “You said he’s only after the souls of the clan leaders, yes?”

  “As far as I could
tell, yes. Why?” I sat up eagerly, seeing the gears turning in her mind.

  “There has always been the notion that clan leaders are physically stronger. They’re harder to kill, heal faster, and have a certain connection to each and every dragon in their clan. Perhaps Radnak has found a way with these Priests to use that.”

  “But how?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I will have to talk to Selma more about it.”

  I wanted to at least keep discussing it, thinking an idea might come to life that would lead us in the right direction, when the doors to the hall burst open.

  Benji sprinted in, not stopping until he ran right into my chair, grabbing my hand.

  “You have to come.”

  “Benji? What’s wrong?” I was already on my feet and moving with him toward the door.

  “Everest, she’s awake, and she’s asking for you.”

  I spun around, searching for the other dragon that should be there just in case… no, no I wasn’t going to even think it. “Aiden. Everest’s awake.”

  He was on my heels a second later, and the three of us took off for the portal back to the mountain base. We stepped through, ran down the short hall that connected the portal entrance to the main living quarters, and I heard Everest before I even saw her.

  Mahlia and Selma were by her side, staring at the mark on her ribs, but Everest’s eyes were wide open.

  “Everest!”

  “Slade?” Her voice was so weak it cut me deep, and I rushed to hold her hand. “You… you made it… that’s good.” She glanced at Aiden. “Hi.”

  Aiden kissed her forehead, and I saw him choking back his own tears. “Hey, sweetheart.”

  “Well? Can you do anything?”

  Selma pursed her lips and lowered Everest’s shirt over the mark. “I’m afraid I can’t. I honestly don’t know how this mark hasn’t killed her yet. Slade… there’s nothing we can do.”

  My entire body went numb before I was growling, shaking my head, yelling at her to do something to save Everest. I couldn’t lose her, I wouldn’t lose her. Not now.

  Tears slipped from my eyes as I stared down at those dimming yellow-green eyes, so bright days before. Radnak was literally stealing away her life, and all I could do was watch.

  “No,” I whispered. “You can’t leave me. I won’t let you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she replied, gripping my hand as hard as she could, but there was no strength left in her. “But you have to keep fighting.”

  “No, not without you.”

  “Slade, your clan needs you… that’s why… that’s why I did this.” She winced, and her other hand went to her side. “You have to kill him. If not for your clan then for me, right?”

  Mahlia sobbed quietly across from me, Aiden holding her close as they watched their daughter fade away. Even Selma was failing at holding back her tears.

  The entire base had fallen silent as those Everest had helped since coming here moved closer, crying and staring in stunned silence.

  “Everest please,” I begged, “if you leave me, I’ll forget who I really am. I won’t have you to give me that push when I’m being an idiot, or… or have you make me laugh when the world gets too dark to go on. You’re stronger than I am, I can’t do this without you.”

  She lifted her hand to my cheek, and I leaned into it. “You have to. I’m sorry, Slade… so… sorry.”

  “Everest? No… no.”

  Her hand fell limp to the cot, and I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently, needing her to open those eyes, but she went completely still. Her breathing slowed and then stopped altogether.

  I yelled in anguish, holding her close, pleading with the gods to send her back to me, but she remained limp in my arms.

  “Wait,” Selma muttered and was on her feet. “Slade, wait.”

  “What? What are you doing?” I snapped as she rested her hand on Everest’s forehead. Her brow furrowed, and her jaw dropped. “What’s happening?”

  “She’s… she’s not dead,” she whispered.

  “What do you mean? Look at her.”

  She grabbed my hand and pressed it to Everest’s neck. There was a slight thud about thirty seconds apart.

  I laid her back and waited to see if her chest rose or not, and after holding my breath until I thought I would pass out, saw it rise just enough to let me know she was breathing.

  “Whatever’s happening to her,” Selma said slowly, “I can’t see, but she’s changing. And there’s a force within her,” she placed her hand at Everest’s temple, “it’s… it’s fighting back.”

  I rested my hand on the necklace at her throat and flinched to feel how warm it was. “The necklace, it’s warm.”

  Mahlia sniffed hard, wiped her face on her sleeve, and leaned over to feel it. “She told me the necklace, it reacted in ways I never experienced. It warned her of danger… talked to her in a way.”

  “Is it possible it can heal her?” I asked desperately, looking from Mahlia to Selma.

  “It’s possible her power shut down her body, so it could work on repairing the damage done to her physically and mentally,” Selma replied, “but it could be days before she wakes. Months even.”

  As long as she woke, I didn’t care. “I want someone watching her around the clock,” I ordered Jenny. “Everest is never to be left alone. Not for a second.”

  “I’ll see to it,” she promised me.

  I refused to let go of Everest’s hand for the rest of the day, only leaving her side when nature called. Tank brought me something to eat, and after I turned it down the first few times, he threatened to shove it down my throat, warning me I needed to keep my strength up for the fighting ahead, and for Everest when she woke again.

  And she would wake.

  She had to, otherwise, what was the point in being here anymore?

  Nine

  Everest

  “Everest, open your eyes, Everest,” a gentle, but firm voice ordered.

  “I want to sleep,” I replied, finally able to relax now that the pain was gone. I felt so much better and at peace.

  “Everest, your journey is far from over, my child. Open your eyes now.”

  Reluctantly, I did, and frowned.

  I stood on a beach, sand dunes stretching in either direction. Waves crashed to shore behind me, and the sun was just setting, its rays pouring across the sky for the remaining few hours of daylight. I swore I’d heard someone talking to me, but there was no one around. I was alone.

  “What am I wearing?” I glanced down at the white, flowing dress that dragged along the beach as I took a few steps. “Either I’m dead, or this is a really strange dream.”

  My heart ached, thinking of Slade. I’d left him behind, but at least I’d saved his life.

  “You’re going to do much more than that. Come, Everest.”

  There was no one around me, but that voice, she sounded like she was right in front of me.

  I glanced around, took a few more steps, then startled when torches lit up a path along the beach, one after the other. They trailed up the sand dunes and disappeared behind a large rock outcropping.

  “Okay then, let’s follow the voice inside my head,” I mused, hiked the dress up so I wouldn’t trip over it, and started along the path.

  The sand was warm beneath my feet, and I wiggled my toes in it a few different times, never having actually been on a beach before. When I neared the rocks, I turned around for one last long look at the setting sun, then continued on the path. As I came around the rocks,

  I saw a fire crackling happily away, and a woman standing on the other side of it, wearing a similar outfit to mine.

  But it was the necklace she boasted that had my mouth dropping.

  “You… you’re a Descendant?”

  She tilted her head, and her long, red hair fell over her shoulders, turning various shades of gold and auburn as it caught the firelight. “Not quite. I am one of the original six, Everest.”

  “What?” I gaped at h
er, and she smiled wider. “The voice in my head, that was you? And the necklace, whenever it tried to tell me something… I knew I wasn’t crazy. I knew it. You were talking to me this whole time.”

  “That I was,” she agreed, “but I’m afraid the time has come for us to take more extreme measures.”

  “Meaning what?” I asked, thinking I should be more afraid, but instead, I was calm around her.

  “Meaning when you threw yourself in front of the attack meant for Slade, one that would have drained him of life and made it far too easy for Radnak to steal away his soul, you damaged yourself and as such, we’ve had to put you in a sort of magical coma to heal you.”

  My shoulders slumped. “Right, well at least I’m not dead.”

  She laughed quietly. “No, you’re not dead. You are much harder to kill than you realize, Everest.”

  “So what, I just get to hang out here on a beach until I’m all patched up? I can’t do anything?”

  “That’s partly true. You will be unable to help the others out there, but there is much you need to learn. That’s why I’m here. To show you the truth the rest of the world never got a chance to know.” She stared into the fire, and her happy gaze turned bitter. “To show you the traitorous act that started the war so many years ago.”

  “I thought the Black Diamonds and Shadowguards just attacked?”

  Her lip peeled back in anger before she took a deep breath and seemed to calm herself down. “They did, and for many years during the war, we never questioned their actions. But after, I’m afraid we learned the truth too late, and it’s been lost in time.”

  “I want to see it,” I told her firmly.

  “Are you certain?”

  “If it’ll help the others whenever I wake, yeah, I’m sure.”

  “Very well then.” She walked around the fire and held out her hand for mine. “Come with me, and I hope you’re not scared of heights.”

  “Wait, what?”

  I yelled in shock as she stared upward and then we were flying high into the oncoming night sky. I squeezed her hand hard, glancing down and let out another yelp of alarm.