Unleash the Inferno (Heart of a Dragon Book 3)

by Tamara Shoemaker

  Kinna flushed. She didn't agree; she could and would think of love. Ayden would be her husband, and the nations could not part them.

  Lord Fellowes's gaze was far away. “We pretended for a long time that she would run away with me, but of course, she couldn't, and I wouldn't let her. But we used to lie in the fields beneath the Stars and talk of our dreams...” He trailed off, and Kinna's own eyes misted.

  “I—I didn't know,” Kinna murmured. “I have few memories of my childhood; I only remember bits and pieces of the flight from Lismaria to West Ashwynd. I never knew my mother's face.”

  “No, you wouldn't have,” Lord Fellowes snapped abruptly. “Claimed in marriage to a man she didn't love, your father Liam—that, she did for duty and honor to her country. Claimed once again in the bed of that man's brother—Sebastian,” he spat in anger, “and forced to bear his child—she didn't deserve that, but at least she didn't have to live with the pain of it.” His face crumpled as he shielded his eyes with his hands, digging the heels of his palms into them. He took a shuddering breath, calming himself.

  “I—did not know that my mother didn't love my father.” Kinna thought of what Cedric had told her, of the things he'd discovered about Liam's past, the cruel pleasure he found in tormenting beings weaker than himself.

  She'd refused to believe him. The Lismarian people had loved him. She'd sought out the libraries at The Crossings and had read many accounts of Liam's reign, accounts filled with respect and admiration for his monarchy. Nothing had been said, anywhere, of a sadistic reputation for causing pain, or of any other deviances.

  Lord Fellowes dropped his hands and offered her a weak smile. “She may have come to love him in time. In her gentle way, she found it hard to hate anyone. Although I think she may have succeeded with Sebastian.”

  “But she loved you first,” Kinna said softly.

  “Aye.” Lord Fellowes nodded, and he looked at the passing scenery below them, his voice trembling on that one word. He cleared his throat. “Aye, she did.”

  Chennuh relaxed as they drew closer to the Valley of the Dragons. If Kinna hadn't known better, she would have thought he'd grown; his wingtips expanded as far from his body as they could go. His neck arched proudly, and when at last they circled high above the wide, rifted valley, he released a ball of flame that was hotter and brighter than any Kinna had yet seen him make.

  He was coming home.

  He couldn't say it in words, but Kinna knew: this was where he'd been hatched and raised as a young Dragon. Emotions shot through his head, and consequently through Kinna's as she crouched over his neck, the frigid wind whipping through her hair.

  Coming home. It meant so much to her now, the concept of a place not just to stay, but to live. In the Pixie Glades, she hadn't been home, though she loved Tristan and Joanna, her adoptive parents, very much. She was closer in Dragon Hollow, but even there, she'd never really felt at home until...

  Ayden. Dragun Scai. Home of the Dragons.

  Chennuh.

  Cedric.

  Her past bit on the heels of her present and called to her, and she couldn't resist the call, nor did she wish to. She was Andrachen. It was as much a part of her as the blood that flowed in her veins, and she would answer the call of that inheritance and sit with her brother on the throne of her father and rule her people and her nation.

  Below, the vast valley spread like patchwork, variances of topography weaving the landscape with jutting rocks, craggy cliffs, and tree-strewn slopes. Dragons, all kinds, dotted the landscape, all of them arching their necks and eyeing the mirrored intruder who flew overhead, and flashes of Dragonfire burst in greeting, flaming clouds against the setting sun.

  “There,” Lord Fellowes called from behind Kinna. He pointed at a bare, rocky expanse against a high cliff wall where Kinna could see, even among the tumult and confusion of winged Dragons moving and flapping their wings, a giant Mirage. To his left, an even larger Ember burned nearly black with heat. A massive Poison-Quill crouched against the rock cliff, his head lifted as he eyed Chennuh's approach, and a Nine-Tail stood, his tails arched over his head, trembling in attention.

  Lord Fellowes waved, the Mirage snapped at the Nine-Tail, and the black Dragon lowered his tails, sinking to the ground as Chennuh lowered his altitude.

  Chennuh landed at a safe distance from the Great Dragons, but behind them, on the tall cliffs and craggy slopes, even among the trees, the lesser Dragons crowded around, and the air warmed tangibly.

  Kinna slid off of Chennuh's back. Lord Fellowes followed, then Hazel, and Jakkob last. The four gazed at the spectacle, Kinna suddenly aware of just how small she was, and just how large the multitude of creatures before her. Chennuh's thoughts were tense, but not panicked, and she laid a hand against his mirrored neck, waiting for Lord Fellowes as he approached the Great Mirage, rubbing the Dragon's muzzle gently when he reached him.

  “He's a lunatic,” Jakkob muttered beside Kinna. “Psuche connection or no, he's one man in the middle of thousands of Dragons.” His hand rested on the hilt of one of his swords. Dragons to their right tensed.

  “As are we,” Hazel pertly reminded him, and Jakkob shot her a dark look.

  “Jakkob,” Kinna murmured, “kindly remove your hand from your sword and don't touch it again.”

  Slowly, Jakkob did so, though Kinna could see his fingers twitching from tension only orlachs from his weapons.

  Lord Fellowes turned to look back at them, his hand sliding to the neck of the Great Mirage. “Aye,” Kinna heard him say to the creature, “she's very like, is she not? Olivia was perhaps half an orlach shorter, but her face is nearly identical.”

  Hot fire huffed around the man, and he turned to Kinna, motioning her forward. Kinna took a step, dread twisting deeper into her stomach. She'd come with the intention, the hope, of gaining the Dragons' help based on her Andrachen blood, but that would not work at all. The Dragons had withdrawn from the tensions between Lismaria and West Ashwynd, from the struggles of the Andrachen line, because of the history between their kinds. She could not push her claim to the throne; it was what they sought to escape.

  Kinna touched Chennuh's scales one last time as she summoned the dregs of her courage. The Dragon trembled in response, his nostrils flaring at each rumble that issued from the Great Dragons. “Easy, Chennuh,” Kinna murmured. “We'll figure this out.”

  Chennuh snorted smoke as Kinna moved toward the four Dragons. He kept pace with her, flames flickering in luminescent reflection from his mouth, highlighting the tight pupils in the middle of his gray irises.

  Fear, an unusually intense fear, pervaded his instincts as he tailed her, and Kinna found his thoughts mirrored her own.

  I am Kinna Andrachen, born in the fires of Dragons, she reminded herself. I can do this.

  Behind her, Hazel crossed her arms over her chest, her purple eyes dark in the fiery glow of the Ember Dragons, and behind Hazel, Jakkob's black hair seemed to absorb any light that touched it.

  The four Great Dragons paced the crag that jutted out from the sheer cliff. Their heads were raised, their nostrils wide, flaring as Kinna and Chennuh drew closer. Lord Fellowes kept his hand on the Great Mirage, and his expression was tight.

  “I come in peace!” Kinna called.

  A burst of flame left the Mirage's mouth, though it flickered and died in the air instead of approaching her. A warning.

  The Mirage sank onto his haunches, shifting the weight in his forelegs from one side to the other. The Ember paced behind him, uneasy, but holding his peace—for now. The Poison-Quill arched his neck skyward, sniffing, but doing little else, and the Nine-Tail curled into a ball near the Mirage's feet, laying his head on his forelegs.

  Lord Fellowes raised one gloved hand and motioned for her to continue forward. Kinna relaxed. He wouldn't tell her to move forward if the Dragons planned to attack.

  Silence hugged them as Kinna approached, Chennuh still close beside her, his great head only orlachs from her shoulder
. It wasn't until Kinna had reached the rocky jag that the enormous size of the Dragons struck her. Where Chennuh easily measured between thirty to forty spans, the Great Mirage was nearly twice that length. He was a huge monster, tensely staring at them like a cat regarding its prey.

  Lord Fellowes stepped toward them. “Come!” he called. “The Dragons will do you no harm.”

  Kinna pulled in a deep breath and muttered to Chennuh, “How does he know? He can only read the thoughts of one Dragon. Can you get a sense of it, Chennuh?”

  Although Dragons could not read each others' thoughts, they were intensely aware of body language and movement; Kinna trusted Chennuh's view of the situation more than she did Lord Fellowes's.

  Chennuh snuffed once, his gaze swiftly moving across the company again. After a moment, he nudged her forward with his snout, and Kinna's confidence returned.

  She closed the gap between them until she stood roughly fifteen lengths away. The four Great Dragons rose, and all the other Dragons closed in behind her and Chennuh in a circle. She glanced back; she had lost sight of Hazel and Jakkob.

  Kinna bit her lip, turning back to Lord Fellowes. “Should I—just address them?” Kinna asked.

  Lord Fellowes's face creased into a smile. “They won't read your mind without a psuche connection. Although I'd guess they already have a good idea what you're going to say.”

  “Oh,” Kinna said, the word small in the face of what she had to do. Desperately needing confidence, she asked, “Do you think they'll... work with me?” Suddenly, she wished she had Cedric beside her; he was her twin, the other half of her Andrachen heritage, and though she could not lean on her name or her lineage to gain credit with the Dragons, she felt that together, they could represent their vision for the kingdom and the freedom for the creatures they so wished to achieve.

  Lord Fellowes chuckled. “Oh, aye.”

  “How do you know?” she asked, eyeing the assessing gazes of the Dragons above Lord Fellowes.

  “Because you are like your mother,” he answered. “You will never take no for an answer.”

  Kinna half-smiled, and then cleared her throat. “Lord Fellowes, will you act as ambassador on my behalf to the four Dragons?” she asked formally. “I have some ideas—a case, if you will—to make, but I... hoped you would be able to present my thoughts to them.”

  Lord Fellowes shook his head slowly. “Nay, Kinna. If you use me to interpret for the Dragons, you give them too little credit. They are wise beyond time. Do not let them think that you're afraid they will not understand. Such a thing would be a great offense to them.”

  Kinna glanced at all four of the great Dragons; their limpid eyes stared at her, flames mirroring in their reflective pupils from the scales of the Great Ember. “Oh,” Kinna murmured. “Of course. My apologies; I—do not wish to give offense, not in any form.”

  “Nicely done, Kinna Andrachen,” Lord Fellowes chuckled. “You now have their full attention; no other Andrachen in history would have issued such an apology.”

  The Great Mirage got to his feet, his massive frame towering over both Kinna and Chennuh. Kinna held absolutely still, hardly daring to breathe as hot heat, hotter than she'd yet felt from any Dragon, moved closer. She could feel the disturbance of the air as the Dragon breathed in great swathes of air and then hissed it back out in ashy curls from his nostrils. The Dragons surrounding the little gathering on the shelf quieted, their shifting and chatter dying away.

  Chennuh's silvery scales brushed by Kinna, blocking her view of the Great Mirage. Chennuh didn't face the Great Mirage head-on—such a position would have caused an immediate fight—but he wedged his frame sideways between the Great Mirage and Kinna, clearly protective. She could hear the racing thud of his heart as the Great Dragon dropped his head closer. Chennuh still refused to turn into an aggressive stance, but neither did he budge.

  The Great Mirage arched his neck high above Chennuh, his nostrils flaring at the end of his long face.

  “Chennuh,” Kinna whispered, fear sinking low in her chest, “this may be it.”

  Courage, Kinna, is not fearlessness, but rather the ability to face your fears. Tristan's words from long ago when she had fallen from her horse and been afraid to remount it wended through her thoughts. Kinna placed her hand gently on Chennuh's muzzle and dipped her head beneath his neck, emerging on the other side, vulnerable, but strong.

  “Dragons of the Great Valley,” she called, pleased to discover her voice was strong, bouncing off the cliff walls and echoing over the canyons and the Dragons that filled them. “Tonight, I bring before you the terms of a treaty, one that, I hope, will be to our mutual satisfaction.”

  Rumbles issued from the throats of nearby Dragons, but the Great Dragons did not move from where they stared at her. Kinna spread her arms. “It has long pained me to see how creatures are treated, particularly under the rule of Sebastian Andrachen. I speak specifically of the treatment of Dragons and Seer Fey, those who were a part of the Bond of Blood and Fire together with Aarkan the Firebringer. In recent years, Andrachens have used this Bond to bring the Seer Fey and the Dragons into servitude. Hear me now!” Kinna paused, and the dying echoes of her voice dissolved into the night air. She took a deep breath and shouted, “This is unjust!”

  The Great Ember roared as flames flicked across his mouth. He agrees, Kinna thought, encouraged.

  “I wish to free all Dragons from this Bond, all Seer Fey as well. All creatures should be free to seek their own destiny, not live in servitude to others.”

  The Great Mirage did not soften his stare, though a solitary smoke ring released from his nostrils.

  Kinna continued, “But in return, I ask, if you be willing, that you will join me in unseating Sebastian Andrachen from his throne. While he holds power, there can be no end to the Bond of Blood and Fire.” She paused. “We go to war against Sebastian in the coming days and weeks—to fight for justice for the oppressed creatures and people beneath his reign. I—ask that you enter this war with me.”

  More deep rumblings shook the ground beneath Kinna's feet as the Dragons reacted to her words. Chennuh whiffed a warm breath over her; approval ran through his thoughts.

  She glanced at Lord Fellowes. He smiled encouragingly, the scar on his face nearly disappearing beneath it. Speaking loudly to be heard far through the crowd, he asked, “Kinna Andrachen, though their homeland is Lismaria, many Dragons,” he motioned expansively to the audience, “have long been driven out of it, fleeing capture by Lismarian hunters. They have made a new life here, and while they may long for their homeland, what you ask of them will essentially strip them of their shelter, their comfort, and their protection. They have survived these many years out of notice and out of mind of any of the Lismarian kings. Now the Andrachens bring their attention to the Valley, and they come asking for aid. The Dragons have heard of Sebastian and his power-crazed notions, and it does not leave them undisturbed. But as yet, they have not thought to return to Lismaria, not while Sebastian uses the Bond of Blood and Fire to enforce his tyranny. The offer to break the Bond is a generous one, but what surety can you offer them so that they know you do not follow in the corrupt footsteps of Sebastian Andrachen?”

  “I can offer you only my word that I will do as I have said,” she called, her words echoing throughout the Valley. A deep rumble shook the Great Mirage's throat, and flames licked his muzzle as he stared at her. Kinna cleared her throat nervously and continued. “I cannot offer you surety beyond that, for the four Great Dragons know that treaty was not drawn by only Aarkan's hand. The Seer Fey, the Dragons, and the Stars themselves blessed the treaty. The only way to end the treaty and free its members is to destroy the Amulet given us by the Stars as a symbol of our agreement.”

  Dragons around the Valley hissed smoke and fire as they listened, and Kinna shivered even in the heat of the many scales surrounding them.

  “I had heard and understood,” Kinna continued, training her attention on the Great Dragons and hoping
they'd comprehend where she was going with this, “that the Great Dragons had been the ones who had sought out the treaty in the first place. Did you request Aarkan's protection from threats on all fronts as rebels killed Dragons for the value of their scales for crafting mail and plate? Did you not seek to solidify the Bond for eternity by asking the Seer Fey to bless it, uniting all of us in one accord for generations?”

  Lord Fellowes took his time answering. The Great Mirage slowly lowered his head, his attention riveted to Lord Fellowes's face, their communication evident. At last, Lord Fellowes turned to her. “Aye, 'tis true; that was the case at the time. Generations and time have changed the Dragons' circumstances, however. They are far more numerous now than they had been in Aarkan's time. Their habits have changed as a result of their comparative freedom from persecution. Where once they dwelt singly, in hiding, from those who hunted them, they now exist in great tribes, with very few who go off to live by themselves. They are far more capable of protecting themselves, and quite honestly, they wish to be left alone.”

  “Then surely,” Kinna swept a deep curtsey to the four Great Dragons who towered around her, “the four can know what must happen for freedom from the Bond to be enacted. You were each there when Aarkan drove the point of his knife into your muzzles and mixed his own blood with yours. You were there when the Seer Fey, Wendren, pulled the Amulet from the fire and prophesied over the forthcoming generations. You beheld the blessings of the Stars with your own eyes. So you know, you understand, that the Amulet that was born of fire in the midst of that ritual must first be destroyed before the Bond can end.”

  Kinna returned her gaze to Lord Fellowes, who nodded quietly. “They understand,” he said. “They ask, however, that the peace that was born of the Bond not end, only the connection by blood that came of it.”

  “Of course,” said Kinna in a rush of relief. “I give my word, extending also the word of my brother Cedric, as oaths from the Andrachen line, that during our lifetime, should we win this war, we will never oppress nor hunt the Dragons nor their progeny. You will be left in peace to dwell where you wish, and as you cause no harm to us, we cause no harm to you.”