by Shae Ford
Kyleigh said nothing. She snatched Harbinger from the ground, never once taking her eyes from the halfdragon — and he never once took his eyes from hers. Not even when she’d pressed the tip of the blade against his throat did his stare waver.
Instead, he roared.
Red singed his flesh for a moment. Flames sputtered weakly inside his gaze. His chin fell back to his chest and he roared again. He seemed to forget Kyleigh was there: he roared at the mountains, at the skies — at something larger and greater than anything that might walk the earth. She’d begun to fear that he would lunge for her again and raised Harbinger high.
“Gah! Ah!” His roar rose in pitch; his rumbling voice gave way to the cries of a young man. The halfdragon dove aside and plunged his hand into a puddle on the cave floor.
Steam rose in a hissing cloud. His other hand shook as he wiped the cooled blood from his fingers. Kyleigh watched, not daring to breathe, as the red of his collar flickered and went out — becoming cool iron once more.
“What was that? What happened?” the halfdragon said, still in the voice of a young man. He rushed to his feet, cradling his wounded hand against his chest. His chin swung to Kyleigh and her stomach flipped when she saw how his eyes had changed.
The flames and the yellow were gone from them, replaced by a stark blue.
He looked as startled as she did. He seemed to forget his hand as he took a half step towards her. “You … you’re like me, aren’t you?”
A gasping laugh burst from his throat and before Kyleigh could move, he’d grabbed her hand.
He smiled at her, and she was shocked to see relieved tears brimming along the crease of his eyes. He clutched her fingers tightly to his palm — as if he’d have thrown his arms around her in an instant. “I thought I was all alone! I thought I was the only one left. But here you are, sister.” He smiled widely, squeezed her hand tight. “Here you are.”
Kyleigh didn’t know what to say. Her face had swollen so horribly around her wounds that her head felt like one enormous, throbbing mess. The young man’s face blurred at each throb, his curious smile slipping in and out of focus.
The dragon in him was an old and tired thing — a spirit full of strength and pain. But this young man seemed the opposite of him in every way: his eyes were light in spite of his wounds, he clutched her as if they’d been friends for ages. And as much as she’d wanted to slaughter the dragon … she couldn’t wish this boy any harm.
“I’m Devin.” He bent to a less formidable height. “Who are you?”
She focused through the pain long enough to mumble: “Kyleigh.”
“Kyleigh ...” His eyes brightened for a moment. Then they fell dark. “What happened to your face, Kyleigh?”
When she didn’t answer, he scowled.
“It was him, wasn’t it? He’s always hurting people — I hate him! I want him out!” His hand tore from hers and went to his head. He tugged on the dark crop of his hair, as if he might somehow be able to rip the dragon from his skull. “How do you stand it? How do you stand having them in there — hurting everybody, ruining everything? How do I …? Oh, no.”
A weak red light began to glow inside his collar. He stumbled away from her, grimacing and clutching his throat.
“Oh, it’s happening again! I can hear the voices.” Devin bit his lip hard and grabbed the blistered tips of his fingers with his good hand. He squeezed until the color fled his face and tears rolled down his cheeks. But under his pain, the collar’s light went out.
Kyleigh knew what was happening. She might not have cared for the dragon, but there was something about this boy that made her heart lurch. “Wait — don’t leave!” She struggled forward as Devin bent to duck out the cave’s mouth. “I can help you!”
“No, you can’t. No one can. I’ve done too many horrible things. I’ve hurt far too many people. My only chance is to get as far away from that mage as possible. I have to run …” The stark blue sharpened suddenly as he focused on something behind his eyes. “I know where to go … I see it in my dreams, sometimes. They can’t follow me there. I’ll be safe.” He smiled hard. “And you’ll be safe too, sister.”
It happened too quickly. Kyleigh hardly had a chance to protest before he threw his arms about her and whispered:
“Goodbye.”
CHAPTER 18
A Different Ending
Kael watched as she fell like an arrow from the sky. A blast of wind, a streak of ash, and Kyleigh was gone — darting back into the thick maw of the clouds.
The black dragon’s wings snapped open and sent out a violent burst of air. Its wicked yellow eyes burned into the spot where Kyleigh had disappeared; its collar screeched like a pot coming to boil. Its powerful limbs coiled beneath its rumbling chest.
There was no time to think. Kael grabbed the dragonsbane dagger from his belt — the only weapon he had that might possibly reach the black dragon in time. He took his aim just as its great wings unfurled, blinding him with a haze of ash. No sooner had he managed to lock onto one of the dragon’s eyes than its wings snapped violently down.
The blast knocked Kael’s body aside. He rolled backwards in a wave of overturned earth, holding the dagger out to keep from accidentally skewering himself. His armor clanked as the world spun by. Somehow, he managed to latch onto the surface of a jagged rock and stop the earth from spinning. He held on tightly as the wave of grit and rock crashed over him. Only when the winds had passed did he dare to open his eyes.
“Find the Dragongirl! Bring her to me!”
Ulric’s voice boomed through the air above the Cleft, and Kael suddenly understood. The silver chains around the archmage’s wrist had called the dragon down. It was tied to his voice, as Titus’s beasts had been tied to his will.
The black dragon was gone: he’d vaulted his great body miles above the clouds, and Kael knew he had no hope of reaching him. But Kyleigh was impossibly fast. She’d been nothing more than a blur when she fell to strike the dragon. He knew she could outrun him easily.
And while she ran, Kael would take care of Ulric.
He tore to his feet and pounded his way across the earth to the mouth of the Cleft — where the wildmen still warred with Midlan. There were too many bodies in the way. He couldn’t see any of the mages through the writhing mass of armor and fur, but he knew they would be somewhere near the back of the ranks — if they hadn’t already fled.
The soldiers of Midlan weren’t giving up the fight. They pressed tightly against the wildmen, bracing their companions’ bodies up like a wall. It would only earn them a few moments more: the wildmen would soon hack their way through.
Kael was close enough to see the patterns across the wildmen’s flesh when the Cleft suddenly began to shake. The warriors’ charge slowed as they tried to hold their footing on the bouncing earth. They gaped down, but the real danger was above them.
“Get out!” Kael roared when he saw how the walls of the Cleft shook. “Get out, or you’ll be crushed!”
The wildmen followed his shouts and saw the danger. They left the battle behind and tore for the fields. Two of them dragged Gwen out by the arms. Her boots flailed wildly and an impressive trail of curses streamed from her mouth. She’d beaten the soldiers so severely that her axe’s blades were bent beyond recognition.
With the help of two more warriors, the wildmen managed to carry her away — and not a moment too soon.
Kael watched in horror as the Cleft’s walls collapsed. Monstrous boulders cracked from their tops and stormed downwards — dragging sheets of stone along with them. The noise was every bit as deafening as the chaos inside a tempest’s heart: he swore the rumbling lasted a full minute. He couldn’t hear the soldiers’ screams, couldn’t see the terror upon their faces. But the way their armored bodies flailed at the last told him everything.
In a moment, the army was gone. Silence descended upon the Valley — silence, and a ghostly cloud of earth. Kael was still gaping at it when he heard the thunder of steps
behind him.
The warriors that’d been left to guard Thanehold came pouring out. They carried armfuls golden weapons that they passed around the others. One of them tossed a golden axe to Gwen.
She threw the bent remains of her weapon aside and caught it with a snarl. Dark spatters of blood adorned the swirling lines of her paint. Even from several paces back, he could smell the death wafting from her.
“We’ll gut the dragon,” Gwen promised the wildmen darkly. “But first, I want that mage’s head!”
She hurled her shield with such force that it splintered against the rocks. The warriors howled at the noise of its shattering and tore back for the Cleft. They ripped stones from the fallen pile, cast boulders aside. Kael was about to go after them when a wild yell made him jump.
“No, my Thane! There is danger behind those rocks!”
Silas burst from the snow and into the charred circle — bare, except for the flopping corpse of a white rabbit that he had clamped to his front. His eyes were wide, their glow sharp and wild. The earth must’ve still been hot: the way he leapt gingerly from one foot to the next made it look as if he danced a madman’s jig.
But though he was obviously in pain, he still managed to hop his way to Gwen. “The King’s swordbearers wait behind it — ow! They’ve come to — oh! — to harm you!”
“We’ve already dealt with the soldiers,” Gwen said, shoving him towards Thanehold. “Get out of here before you hurt yourself, c —”
“No, there’s more,” Silas insisted. The rabbit’s limbs flailed piteously as he hopped back to within a hand’s breadth of Gwen. The motion likely would’ve snapped its neck, had it not already been so thoroughly stiff with death. “The King has sent his dragon, and — yow! — and his shamans! You must turn back, my Thane. You mustn’t chase them. There will be nothing but fire and death if you follow.”
Gwen grabbed Silas by the shoulders and flung him away. “Get back to the castle —”
“But it’s true!”
“I know it’s true!” The muscles in Gwen’s arms swelled and Silas turned white as the rabbit’s fur when she lifted his body from the ground. “I’ve seen the King’s dragon, I’ve battled his mages! His fire has already devoured my warriors. And if you cared even a whit about us, you wouldn’t have run away. You would’ve warned me sooner.”
Her voice tightened over those final words. The rage in her glare was frayed, dissolving at its edges into something that made Silas’s eyes go dim.
“I do care. I tried to reach you, my Thane,” he whimpered. “But the dragoness trapped me — she stuffed me inside a cave and blocked it with her great scaly rump. Ask the Marked One!” He held the rabbit in one hand and used the other to thrust an accusing finger at Kael. “He can tell you the truth! I’m certain he was a part of her plan.”
He’d actually known nothing about it — and the fact that Silas seemed to know everything before he did burned him all the more. But before he could even think to be furious, Gwen was upon him.
She ripped the helmet from his head. Her face turned scarlet. “You!”
“Yes, it’s me,” Kael said sharply. “And if it hadn’t been for me, you’d be de —”
The screech of iron cut over the top of his words. Gwen ripped the helmet down its middle as if it were no more difficult a feat than shredding parchment.
Kael had to move quickly to avoid getting struck by its jagged halves.
“You lied to me — you tricked me!”
“I saved your sorry arse!”
“The pest used me,” she hissed, turning her glare to the sky. “This was all just a part of her mischief. She brought Midlan here. She used the wildmen to fight him while she slipped away.”
“No, this was my idea,” Kael said sharply. “If you would’ve just listened to me in the first place, none of this would have —”
“You did this?” Her eyes burned when he nodded; her lips peeled back from her teeth in a snarl that might’ve frightened a wolf. Behind her, Silas quickly dropped into his lion form and darted out of reach.
Kael tried to speak calmly. “We didn’t use you. This wasn’t about slipping away — it was about putting a stop to Midlan. Why would Crevan send an army after Kyleigh when he knows that their swords would be no use? Think about it, Gwen,” he said when her face burned redder. “The King never meant to simply capture her and leave. He planned to take the Valley the same way he’s taken the seas. Crevan’s lost his grip on the Kingdom, and he means to get it back.”
For half a breath, her glare wavered. Kael stood still — as if to move even an inch would undo what little ground he’d gained. But in the end, it didn’t matter.
“Wildmen died today,” Gwen said, her words deathly quiet. “They’ve left their wives without husbands and children without mothers. They are friends I’ll never see again … and it’s all because of you.”
Her words stung him for half a moment before he realized that she was wrong.
No, this wasn’t his fault. He’d done everything he could to help the wildmen. If Gwen had stopped scoffing at him long enough to listen, they might’ve had a decent plan. They never would’ve marched straight out into the open. When he told the warriors to let go, she was the one who’d ordered them to hold their ground. Had she only listened, they might still be alive.
The weight of their blood belonged to Gwen, and Gwen alone. He had every right to yell this at her, to throw it all back into her face. But when he saw the glass that covered her eyes and the raw, red anguish behind it, he found he didn’t have the heart to say these things aloud.
She already knew it.
“I’m not your enemy,” Kael said quietly. “I’ve been trying to help you, for mercy’s sake! Don’t you understand? The King isn’t going to stop — he’ll call his army down upon every hold across the realm, he’ll send his dragon to turn their bones to ash. The wildmen are the only people who have any chance against him. You’re the only ones who can stop him. The Kingdom needs your help.”
“The Kingdom’s forgotten us. I owe it nothing. You’ve done enough, mutt,” she added, turned back for the Cleft. “I don’t want to see your face in my lands again.”
It was the excitement of battle that was making her snarl at him — it had to be. Nobody in her right mind could’ve possibly thought the King’s fight would end here. She couldn’t honestly believe this was his fault.
But there was no room left to be calm. Kael’s frustration had finally boiled to the top of his head. He could hold it back no longer: “You’re a fool, Gwen. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody so ridiculous. The King’s going to come back to Thanehold — and next time, his army will be ready to fight the whisperers.”
She said nothing. She never so much as turned. Kael wanted nothing more than to march as far as he could in the other direction, but Ulric was behind those rocks.
And he had to be stopped.
No sooner had Kael begun to jog than a familiar roar drew his gaze to the clouds. Kyleigh swooped down in front of him, landing with such force that the wind coming off her wings nearly knocked him backwards. But shock kept him on his feet.
Large cuts split her face — from the side of her forehead and across the bridge of her nose, down to the tip of her chin. The green of her eyes was muted and glassy with pain. Kael didn’t even remember moving: the next thing he knew, his hands were upon her face.
Her words burst inside his head: No, there’s no time.
“It’ll only take a moment. I can’t let you —”
I’ll be fine. We have a chance to stop him, Kyleigh said, the fires in her eyes rising against the pain. The dragon’s curse is weakened. If we can reach him, we can put an end to this. But we have to go now.
Kael wanted her nowhere near the black dragon. He’d felt how easily it’d torn through his scales. The wounds on Kyleigh’s face were the marks of its claws, and he had a feeling the dragon had been responsible for the tear in her armor, as well.
No, there had to be a better way. He turned back to the Cleft. “Ulric is on the other side of those rocks. If you can get me close, I can kill him.”
Ulric is gone — I’ve already looked. He never stays for long, once the tide turns. I’ll bet he slithered off the moment he felt the curse weaken. Believe me, I’d like nothing more than to gut him. Her snout twisted in what could’ve only been an expression of contempt. But he’s too quick.
She lowered her wing, waiting for him to climb on. But Kael couldn’t. “This is madness, Kyleigh. We’ve got no chance at all against that dragon — it’ll tear us from the skies!”
His curse is weakened, she said again, as if that utterance should’ve done everything to assure him. I know he won’t harm us.
“How could you possibly know that?”
I can sense it, she growled. The King’s curse maddens its victims — it makes them do horrible things. Don’t you remember what it did to Jake?
Yes, Kael remembered. They would’ve lost a very dear friend, had they not set him free. But then again … Jake had never carved lines down Kyleigh’s face. If he had, that story might’ve had a different ending.
“All right,” Kael said after a moment.
By the time he’d pulled himself onto her back, his mind was already made up. Perhaps she was right: perhaps the dragon really was harmless. But if it wasn’t, if its claws curled or one of its wicked eyes so much as twitched towards Kyleigh, he would put a dagger straight through the middle of its blackened slit.
The dragon wouldn’t get another chance to harm her.
CHAPTER 19
The Voice of the Mountains
Griffith watched the pest as she thudded into the charred field. The man who ran up to her must’ve been Kael. They talked for a moment, their heads close. Griffith squinted through the clouds of whipping snow as they spoke. He tried to see what they were saying.
After a moment, Kael climbed onto the pest’s back. She took off with a burst of her wings and turned her head towards the ramparts. For a moment, Griffith thought they might be coming back.
