“We don’t need your help in crossing the dragon fields.”
“No? If you intend to reach the Draconis Pass, you might need my help.”
“No one can reach the pass.”
“I have.” They met his gaze, and Fes shrugged. “Those are my terms.”
Donathon studied him for a long moment. “How can we know that you’ve been to the pass?”
“Because I know what’s in it.”
Chapter Nine
Wind began to blow, coming out of the north, giving a hint of cold to the air. Fes remembered it from the last time he’d been this way, but then he had been riding and not working quite as hard as he was now. Walking kept him warm so that when they paused, and the wind kicked up, Fes felt a chill. He shivered, wrapping his cloak around himself.
Fes had a chance to observe the boy the longer they traveled. His name was Griffin, and his long face and rumpled hair made him seem even younger than he was. So far, the boy had never spoken, though he ate and drank with prompting.
They sat near a stream, a small fire crackling late at night at the end of their third day of travel together. Because of the rain, there had been enough softening of the ground to make it easier to follow the tracks left by the horses. Surprisingly, the golem didn’t leave any tracks.
“Do you know how long he has been like this?” Fes asked Jayell.
She sat with her back to the stream, angled partway toward the fire, looking out toward the north. The draw of the mountains was there, but before they even reached the mountains, the dragon plains would greet them, the haze rising off it nearly overwhelming. It was a place he was not eager to return to.
“It has been several years,” Jayell said. “We don’t know much about him otherwise.”
“And there’s nothing that can be done?”
“It wasn’t always this bad. There was a time when he did speak, though it was mostly in one-word sentences, and we were able to determine his name and where he came from—and the fact that his parents thought the priesthood could save him. As he has declined, he has needed more help, and Donathon decided that he would see if he could seek the dragons’ blessing.”
“What’s the dragons’ blessing?”
“The Priests of the Flame believe that entering the dragon plain and reaching the pass will bring upon a blessing from the ancient dragons.”
Fes grunted. “In my experience, there is no blessing when you cross through the pass. It felt more like a curse.”
“How is it that you managed to cross it?”
“We were chasing a fire mage, and I had taken a job.”
“Another person that you were trying to save?”
Fes chuckled. “Not so much. It was about money.”
“What kind of job would pay you to cross the Draconis Pass?”
“A foolish one. And I was foolish to take it. I should have known better, but I thought I could make it through.”
“Did you?”
Fes nodded. “I had help.”
“What kind of help?”
“A priest. Sort of like Donathon.”
“What do you mean sort of like him?”
Fes shrugged. “He was a priest, but he was a different sort of priest.”
“I don’t know any other kind of priest other than Donathon. All of the Priests of the Flame are like him.”
“And what about you?” Fes asked. The longer that he had traveled with them, the more he began to think that Jayell was the one with some connection to the dragon relics. She would have been the reason that he had been saved from the dragon pearls and whatever spell Elizabeth had placed around him.
“What’s there to say about me? I am still training, learning what it means to follow the Path of the Flame, and eventually, I hope to be able to reach the flame and understand the calling of the dragons.”
Fes smirked, shaking his head. “I wonder whether the priests ever think about how ridiculous that seems.”
“There is nothing ridiculous about following the dragons,” Donathon said, standing over him.
Fes looked up. In the moonlight, Donathon’s bald head reflected the light, shining with a dull glow. “You follow the dragons, but you ignore the rest of what’s happening around you.”
“We follow the dragons so that we can protect those who are around us.”
“I’m not certain that there is any protection from the dragons,” Fes said.
Donathon looked at him for a long moment. “Tell me, Fes, what is it that you know of the dragons?”
“I know the same as everyone, I suppose. The dragons were defeated over a thousand years ago, and the empire sprang from their bones.” He said it almost as a ritual, reciting the words that most knew about the empire.
“From their bones. That seems to me to be a critical part of this, don’t you agree?” Donathon asked Jayell.
She nodded.
“Why?” Fes asked.
“Most who live in the empire know of the dragons, and they recognize that they exist, but few have more than a passing knowledge of them. Few know anything more than what stories have told them. Those who have given thought to the dragons know differently.”
“Such as?”
“Such as to question why the dragons needed to be defeated in the first place.”
“Dragons terrorized the people of that time. They destroyed cities. They—”
Donathon smiled at him. “Rumors. Nothing more than that.”
“What else would there be?”
“What has come about since the dragons have disappeared?”
“I don’t know. I’m not a historian.”
“You don’t need to be a historian to know what has come about in the last thousand years.”
“You mean the empire.”
“The empire. Those responsible for the initial destruction. All of that has taken place in the days since the dragons disappeared. So much has been lost because others think they knew better. Because they feared what they did not understand.”
“I’ve been to the dragon plains. I have seen what was there. I recognize the power and the danger of those fallen creatures. There was reason for people to fear the dragons, Donathon.”
“And what if the dragons served on behalf of people?”
Fes shook his head. “Everything I have heard has said that they were dangerous creatures. That they attacked cities. That thousands of people died because of them.”
“Have you given much thought to where those stories originated?”
“Why? Everyone knows those stories,” Fes said.
“Everyone knows them because that is what the empire wants you to know. The empire wants you to forget the fact that their fire mages were responsible for destroying another civilization, a great one, and one of impressive power. If you look around, you can see the ruins of that civilization.”
“I’ve seen no ruins of another civilization.”
“Have you traveled so far that you would know?”
“I have been around the empire enough to know.”
The priest shrugged. “Perhaps you have. Perhaps you would know whether there was anything or not. Or perhaps the empire has attempted to suppress all knowledge of that other kingdom. Perhaps the empire has done everything that they can to prevent others from knowing.”
“Even if they have, what does it matter?” Fes looked over at Donathon before turning to stare at the boy. Griffin had been watching, saying nothing while they spoke. There was something unsettling about the way that he simply stared at them.
“What does it matter? It matters that the truth be known.”
“The empire has been around for a thousand years,” Fes said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’ll be around for another thousand.”
“Perhaps. But a better question would be should it?”
Fes smiled at the others. “Now you’re starting to sound like the rebellion.”
“What if the rebellion has the right of it?”
Fes shru
gged. “Again, that matters very little to me. I am content with my place. I do my jobs; I get paid. And from there, I’m able to have a measure of freedom.”
“There is no freedom, not in the empire,” the priest said.
He fell silent and turned away from Fes, who had seen how the Priests of the Flame had been treated in the empire. They weren’t respected, and often the emperor had his people harassing the priests, but there was nothing more than that.
“Perhaps there is no freedom for you and the other priests, but for people like myself…”
“For how long?” the priest asked. “How long will it be before someone comes for you? What will you do when the emperor decides that you are no longer valued?” The priest smiled softly. “What happens when his attention is turned upon you, Fezarn?”
Fes shivered. Had he given the priest his full name? He couldn’t remember, but he doubted that he had. It was something that he rarely shared with others since he hated it. “Who are you?”
“I am no one. Only someone who seeks truth. I have come this way to help another. I imagine that is something you know nothing about.”
“The reason I’m here now is to help someone else.”
“If you say so,” the priest said.
“What other reason would there be?”
“There is selfishness in you, Fezarn. I can see it. You might believe that there is not, and you might believe that you are acting on behalf of another, but those of us who see through such things are able to tell exactly what it is that you are doing.”
Fes stared at him, unblinking. “What I’m doing is trying to save a girl from a dangerous fate. I don’t see how that is any different to what you are doing.” He looked over at Griffin. The boy met his gaze. As he did, Fes felt a strange pressure from him.
He blinked. Had that been his imagination?
Fes stared at Griffin. They had claimed the boy was sick, but what if there was more to it than what they said?
“What we are doing is much more important than saving one person. What we are after is an attempt to save many people. We intend to prevent the emperor from continuing to harm those with the power to stop him.”
“Such as him?” Fes asked.
He studied Griffin, but the sense of heat pulsing off him didn’t return. Whatever it was that he had detected was gone. Fes had not mistaken it. He had experienced the sense of heat from the fire mage often enough that he knew exactly what it was. But why would he feel it from the boy? What was it about him that he had detected?
Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was only imagined. But Fes didn’t think so.
“We’ve already told you about him. He’s sick.”
“I think he’s not as sick as you would have me believe,” Fes said.
The priest held his gaze for a moment. “The boy is sick.”
“And that’s why you want to bring him to the dragon fields? You want to expose a sick boy to the haze and fire of the dragon fields?” Fes shook his head. “There is more to this boy than what you’re telling me.”
Donathon turned away, focusing on the fire burning nearby. “I think in the morning, it would be best if we travel our separate ways.”
Fes laughed. “Just like that? Are you so concerned about what I might discover about this boy that you will send me off?”
“The only thing that concerns me is your insistence that there is more than what we have shared. Get some rest, Fezarn. And in the morning, you should prepare to make haste.”
Fes only shrugged. “If that’s how you feel,” he said. “I could offer some protection.”
“It is doubtful how much protection you would be able to offer.”
“You think that just the three of you would be able to manage if you were attacked?” Fes smiled. “I know what’s out here. I know the dangers that exist. And if this boy is important…” Fes realized that had to be the reason why they wanted him to depart. There was something about the boy, some connection to him, that was important to them. Somehow, the fact that Fes had felt heat building off him mattered. Maybe he was a fire mage. If he was, could it be that they wanted to use that on behalf of the priesthood?
“There will be no protection. Not until he reaches the dragon fields. When he does, then we won’t have to worry about anything.”
Fes stared at the boy, trying to will the boy into saying something, but he remained silent. Maybe he really couldn’t speak. If that were the case, then Fes should leave him well enough alone, but there was something that told him that the priest was hiding something.
“If you really want, I will leave you in the morning.”
The priest watched him for a moment and then nodded.
Fes leaned back and studied Griffin until the fire began to flicker and fade, and when it completely disappeared, Fes tried staring through the darkness but he wasn’t able to see anything.
What was Griffin?
The most likely answer was that he was a fire mage the priesthood thought to take advantage of, but as Fes thought about it, he wondered if that were true or not. Every so often, he swore that he felt the same buildup of heat as he had felt before, but each time he looked over, he couldn’t tell whether Griffin was focused on him or not. Maybe it was only his imagination. Maybe it was only his worried mind that created such thoughts.
Then again, maybe it was real.
But if it was real, it wasn’t any of Fes’s concern.
Somehow, he had to find Indra. Until he did, he couldn’t worry about anything else.
Chapter Ten
A shout woke him from his sleep.
Fes rolled over, reaching for his daggers, and lurched to his feet before he was fully awake. The fire had burned out, leaving nothing more than a few coals glowing. The moon shone bright overhead, leaving a pale glow over everything.
Someone held Jayell to the ground.
Where was Donathon?
Where was Griffin?
Fes lunged at the person holding Jayell down and rolled them off her. It was a soldier, and Fes slipped his dagger into their belly, slicing deeply.
“What happened?” Fes asked Jayell when he turned back to her.
Her eyes widened and he spun around. Two others approached out of the shadows.
Fes lunged, reaching the nearest of them and driving his dagger into the side of the man’s neck. Spinning, he caught the other man’s sword, deflecting it down as he shoved his dagger into the man’s thigh. He cut upward, slicing through the meat of his thigh, and when the blade met bone, it went straight through it.
The man fell, and Fes paused to wipe the blades clean before turning back to Jayell. “Where is Donathon? Where is Griffin?
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I woke to the man’s hand on my mouth.” She shivered.
Fes looked around. They were soldiers, which meant that they would have come mounted. They needed to find the horses.
“Come with me,” Fes said, motioning to Jayell.
She looked around the campsite before reluctantly following Fes. He was thankful that she did, and thankful that she didn’t argue with him. He wasn’t about to leave her behind, not with an attack already having taken place here, but he didn’t necessarily want to drag her along.
As they made their way in the direction the soldiers had appeared, Fes hurried, keeping his eyes open as he searched for any additional soldiers. They reached a rise, and in the distance, Fes saw another campsite.
He glanced over at Jayell. “Did you know that you were followed?”
“They weren’t following us,” she said.
“They had to be following you. They weren’t following me.”
Jayell’s eyes widened slightly. “Why would they be after us?”
Fes frowned. “Probably because you have Griffin with you. What is he, really?”
“He’s a young boy who needs help,” she said.
“I’m not disputing that. What I am disputing is the fact that there is more to him than you have admitted. I
can tell it about him.”
“How do you know?”
“He doesn’t hide what he can do all that well,” Fes said.
“He’s not trying to hide anything. We are trying to hide him.”
“Why? What is it about him that you want to conceal?”
“It’s not safe for you to know.”
“Not safe for who?”
“For him.” Jayell refused to meet his gaze.
After a while, he shook his head. “If they are down there, what do you intend to do to bring them back?”
“I will do everything that is necessary.”
“Even if it means revealing your ability?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have any ability.”
“You have more than you let on. I can sense that about you.”
“I don’t have any ability,” she said again.
Fes chuckled. “You’re the one who removed the dragon pearls from me. You’re the one who countered whatever spell Elizabeth had placed on me, trapping me. You might not want to admit that you have some ability, but I can tell that you do.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a long, milky white item. The item had fine striations along it, and there was a shimmer of color.
A dragon relic.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It is a length of bone,” she said.
“Why do you hide that? I’ve seen priests use dragon relics before.”
“We are not supposed to use these relics. The Priests of the Flame protect them and prevent others from extinguishing the power that burned within them. I should not even reveal this to you.”
“If you don’t reveal it, I think that you run the risk of the soldiers keeping Griffin trapped. Is that what you want?”
She shook her head. “You know that I don’t.”
“I don’t know anything other than the fact that you and Donathon have been keeping quite a bit about yourselves from me.” Normally, Fes wouldn’t care, but in this case, with what they were dealing with, he thought it mattered much more than it normally did. He needed to know as much as he could about why soldiers would be after Griffin.
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