Immortal

by Nicole Conway

  I offered a hand out to him. “No. But it will be amazing—especially if we succeed.”

  He seized my palm and shook it, “Definitely. And unexpected, too. Your specialty.”

  “It’s been an honor flying with you,” I squeezed his hand firmly.

  Felix made a face. “Don’t say that. It sounds like goodbye, which makes me think we are definitely about to die.”

  “Not goodbye,” I laughed. “But definitely good luck.”

  “Lucky.” He reared back to give me one more solid punch in the arm. “That’s practically my middle name, you know.”

  The royal city of Halfax rose up from the darkness before us, a pool of light against the dark landscape. Through the visor of my helmet, I saw the sun rising on the horizon, turning the ocean into a rippling pane of blood-red glass. I tried not to look at the prison camp that was throwing plumes of foul, black smoke high into the air, but my eyes were drawn to it.

  I curled my lip in a snarl. Beneath me, Mavrik did the same. There was our first target. I had come to finally end my brother’s war, and all the disgusting madness that went along with it.

  “Get in close. We’ll do one pass, focusing on the soldiers guarding the ramparts,” I murmured, knowing that Mavrik would hear my thoughts even if he couldn’t hear my words. “Let Nova know what we’re up to. Let’s make this quick.”

  Mavrik made a series of chirps and growls, and together our dragons moved as one, flying in perfect sync. Mavrik and Nova leaned into a spiraling dive, dipping down to begin a close-in assault of the prison camp. I leaned into Mavrik’s speed, feeling his heart beating in harmony with mine. We were one being in that moment. Deadly, powerful, and as fast as a tongue of blue lightning in the night.

  Flying two abreast, Mavrik and Nova stormed the prison camp walls with a cacophony of roars and a shower of burning venom. Their flames lit up the dark, focused on the prison camp walls and the guards keeping watch there. I saw our enemy scramble. Some managed to fire a few arrows at us, but not a single one hit its mark. As quickly as we’d come, we disappeared, leaving behind an inferno that was sure to keep our enemy busy.

  More importantly, it was going to draw Hovrid’s eye.

  We touched down less than a mile outside the prison camp, taking refuge in the rolling hills that shielded us from plain view. Felix and I dismounted quickly and left Kiran clinging to Nova’s back like a scared baby monkey. He wasn’t wild about the fire.

  It was eerie to be back here. Felix and I had come here once before under similar circumstances when we were just fledglings. This time, however, we weren’t here to deal with a mere Lord General.

  I rubbed Mavrik’s snout as I fed him my thoughts, careful to make sure he would wait for my signal. “Don’t try to save me if things start to look bad,” I told him as I scratched behind his scaly ears. “The last thing I want is for you and Nova to be caught the fray. Just stick to the plan. Wait for my signal.”

  His bright, yellow eyes focused on me, glittering with intelligence and concern. I could feel his thoughts and moods flowing through me. Images of myself, or rather, a much smaller, pitiful-looking version of myself from a few years ago, flashed through my mind. Regardless of what the dragonriders’ academy or Paligno had made me, in his eyes, I was still that fragile, little kid. I was still his—and it was his duty to protect me.

  He growled deeply and pushed his nose against my chest.

  “I know, and you’re right. It’s dangerous.” I gazed past him at the flames from the prison camp. They had the whole skyline glowing red. “But after this, we’re both due a retirement, I think.”

  “We all will be,” Felix agreed as he gave my arm a punch. “So let’s just get this over with, shall we?”

  I nodded. From my saddlebag, I pulled out two big, long, black cloaks—one for Felix and one for me. They were long and baggy enough to cover our armor. Well, Felix’s anyway. I took off everything but my vambraces, the belt holing my scimitar, and greaves. I needed to be able to move freely and couldn’t afford to be weighted down.

  Leaving my dragonrider helmet on the grass, I donned the cloak and pulled the hood over my head. Once we were ready, Kiran gave us a gray elf salute and we started for the city. Behind me, I heard the thunderous pulse of dragon wingbeats and felt the wind as Mavrik and Nova took off again. I couldn’t bring myself to look back and watch them leave.

  Side-by-side, Felix and I walked up to the grand main gate that led into the prison camp. The complex boiled with chaos as soldiers tried to douse the flames. Dragonriders were coming from the royal city, only a few miles away. I could sense them and their mounts, but something about them was … off. It wasn’t Paligno’s curse. Or if it was, I’d never experienced it this way before.

  I knew better than to let my guard down or to hesitate. The time had come. No more hiding. No more shame. It was time to become what I had been born to be.

  Next to me, I saw the flames dancing in Felix’s eyes as he looked at me, waiting for my cue. I gave him one second’s worth of a smirk.

  Then I let myself go.

  Something rose up from deep inside me, tearing past every barrier like a tidal wave. It was primal rage—Paligno’s rage. I couldn’t control it and I didn’t try to. Heat swelled inside my body, sizzling through my veins and stretching out to every fiber of my being.

  My mind cleared. My doubts, fears, and inhibitions vanished. Every flicker of life—from soldiers, slaves, and everyone in between—twinkled before my sight like an ocean of stars. I could feel the pulse of their energy, the thrumming heat of their life force.

  I sensed the soldiers gathering on the other side of the prison gates, preparing to rush us as soon as they were opened. They scrambled to douse the flames on the ramparts above so archers could get in position.

  I stretched out a hand, calling forth a burst of power that pulsed through the earth under my feet. The ground began to shake. Next to me, Felix stumbled to keep his footing. His hand was on his sword hilt and his face was pale.

  The golem shook itself free of the ground, as though it had been buried there since the dawn of time. An entity made of rock and root, clumped with soil, arose at my command and towered before us. It swung its arms wildly, pounding down the prison gates and bellowing with fury as it was met with a volley of arrows.

  I sent the golem ahead to stir things up. It was like throwing a rock into a hornet’s nest. With the prison gates now standing wide open, soldiers and gray elf slaves alike came pouring out. The slaves ran right past us, as though we were invisible. Some of the soldiers did, too. But others recognized that we were the source of the commotion.

  It was time for another golem.

  I raised a second golem much like the first and sent him lumbering into the compound to pound anything too slow to outrun him. With my two monstrosities keeping most of the soldiers distracted, the few that came rushing out were all we had to deal with for the moment. They encircled us, their swords and bows drawn.

  Next to me, Felix had drawn his sword and was squared up for a fight. He bared his teeth like an animal, his nose wrinkled in a snarl as he shouted, daring one of them to make a move.

  I moved before anyone else did.

  With a flex of my hand, the wooden shafts of their arrows and the staves of their bows came to life. They sprouted new limbs and began growing—attacking the men holding them by entangling them in branches and vines that grew bigger each second. The soldiers screamed and some of them began to flee, however, others weren’t so easily intimidated.

  One of the soldiers lunged at Felix and the two crossed blades. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted two more gathering the courage to rush me. I drew the scimitar from my belt and waved them in.

  The soldiers came in waves. As soon as I had beaten one down, there were three more to take his place. Back-to-back with Felix, I knew we were outnumbered and running out of time.

  Then I heard it—the cry of a dragon over
the roar of combat. The cavalry had arrived.

  Only, it wasn’t our cavalry.

  Hovrid’s reinforcements were upon us, bathing the ground around us in flame so we couldn’t retreat. They burned up several of their own soldiers in the process, but I got the feeling they weren’t too worried with friendly casualties.

  In fact, I couldn’t feel anything from them at all. Not a pulse of energy, not a light of a soul. These dragonriders, and the beasts they rode, gave off no suggestion that they were living beings.

  Ten of them landed, encircling us on the other side of their fire barrier. Beside me, Felix panted and growled as he eyed them. Suddenly, his expression became confused, then surprised. Then horrified.

  “T-this can’t be. These riders,” he whispered. “I know them. They were supposed to have died at Barrowton.”

  “Drop your sword,” I said.

  “Are you insane?”

  “Do it,” I repeated and let my own scimitar clatter to the ground. I raised my hands in surrender.

  Reluctantly, Felix followed suit.

  The dragonriders came through the flames one-by-one, their helmets covering their faces. None of them said a word. They kicked our weapons out of reach and began to search us, taking away every other instrument we might use to fight back. Even without a blade, it took two of them to bring Felix down as they began shackling our hands.

  I didn’t resist. So far, everything was still going according to plan.

  Alarm bells tolled in every tower of the royal city. Halfax buzzed with activity, as the dragonriders who caught us outside the prison camp forced us through the streets at sword point. Citizens poured out of their shops and homes, filling every avenue and clamoring to see us. They took one look at me, the half-blooded traitor who laid siege to their beloved prison camp, and I could feel their hatred and anger building. It was like a disease, a madness that spread through them. They fed off one another, becoming a mob that the soldiers and city guards could hardly keep restrained.

  They spat on me. They cursed at me. They slandered my parents, accused me of heinous things, and dared me to show them some of my pagan power.

  “Why don’t you free yourself, if you’re some kind of great sorcerer?” One man broke free of the guards and got right in my face, so close I could see the pores on his nose.

  “Hah! I’ve killed and burned hundreds of filthy halfbreeds just like him. He’s nothing special,” a soldier sneered.

  Someone threw something at me—a shoe it turned out. That began a shower of everything from pots and pans, rotten food, and … worse things, raining down on Felix and me from every side.

  “Why did you come here? Did you really think you could defeat the power of the Maldobarian Army?” Another soldier laughed at my back.

  “No.” I looked back at him. “I came to save you.”

  His expression twitched. I saw fear and confusion for the briefest second. And then he laughed again and gave me a violent shove that made me stumble. I fell face down in the middle of the street. With my hands shackled, I couldn’t catch myself to break the fall.

  My head cracked off the stone surface of the street. For a minute or two, I was delirious. I could hear Felix shouting, calling my name. He was fighting them again.

  One of the dragonriders grabbed me by the hair and dragged me back to my feet. He forced me to start walking again. My vision was still swimming from the fall. I caught glimpses of Felix as he kicked, fought, and wrenched against his chains.

  My head had finally cleared when they brought us into the courtyard where I had sworn my oath to become an official dragonrider. Memories of that day snapped at my heels, mocking me for my ignorance, as I climbed the steps into the grand front foyer of the castle.

  The doors were standing wide-open to receive us. The wave of raw power that seeped out through them hit me like a boulder to the forehead, which didn’t exactly feel great considering what I’d been through. For a few seconds, I was dazed again and I staggered. I knew that power came from the god stone. It really was here, hidden somewhere behind these walls. And the closer I got, the stronger the pull of its presence on my soul became.

  “Remember what I said. You mustn’t touch it. Don’t even look at it.” I murmured to Felix, as we were taken down a long, cavernous hall into an even larger room, with ceilings so high you could barely make out the details of the sky that was painted there. Any other time, I would have been awed at the beauty of this place.

  Before us, on a raised platform of alabaster, was a throne made in the shape of three dragons. Two made up the seat, with their heads fashioned into armrests and their clawed feet as the legs. The last had been carved into the back of the chair, rising up with wings spread and its head looking straight down at us. The light from the burning golden braziers made the rubies set into its eyes seem to flicker with life. There was a large, jagged black crystal set into the center of its head that shimmered like obsidian glass.

  Seated in that grand chair, his face still covered by an intricate mask, was the King of Maldobar. He was slumped to the side, as though this whole ordeal bored him. The fingers on one of his gloved hands rolled as he drummed his fingers impatiently.

  On either side of his throne stood ten of his elite guards. All of them were dressed in black, wearing their trademark white masks, and were armed to the teeth. I saw swords, scimitars, bows, spears, and all manner of weaponry strapped to them. One was even carrying a belt loaded with round canisters made of clay. I had a bad feeling about those.

  Felix and I were brought forward and forced to our knees, with swords held to the backs of our necks in case we made a wrong move. Behind us were the ten dragonriders who’s captured us at the prison camp, although I still couldn’t sense even a hint of life from any of them. They stood between us and the only exit.

  Thirty-one to two. Exquisitely bad odds, even for me. So much for being lucky.

  I imagined that right about then, anyone would wonder how this was possibly a part of the plan. Hovrid could just have us killed without letting us say a word. But I was counting on something—that his pride wouldn’t let him end this so quickly. He had an ego to feed.

  “So, these are the traitors who have stepped forward to challenge my rule,” Hovrid’s voice dripped with sarcasm and amusement. He pointed to me. “That one, I want to see his face.”

  The dragonrider looming behind me grabbed a fistful of my hair and jerked my head up so that I was forced to meet Hovrid’s seething glare.

  The moment he was able to see my face clearly, Hovrid sprang out of his chair with surprising agility. He prowled towards me, dragging the length of his kingly robes behind him. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look up into his eyes. There, I could see something I hadn’t expected:

  Fear.

  “You—you—you!” He hissed in a fit of rage. “Tell me your name, swine!”

  “Jaevid Farrow.”

  Hovrid snatched the sword away from the dragonrider standing nearby and beat Felix over the face with it. It made an awful sound. I cringed and looked away.

  “Care to try again?” Hovrid leaned down closer to my face. I could hear his furious breaths hissing through the holes in his mask.

  “Jaevid,” I snarled. “Jaevid Broadfeather.”

  I saw him hesitate. I wondered if he actually remembered my father’s name. Then, slowly, Hovrid began to pace around me. I felt his gaze all over me, sizing me up from every angle. I heard blood dripping onto the marble floor next to me. Felix was hurt, but I couldn’t see how badly. I didn’t dare look at him; I was afraid I might do something reckless if I did. I couldn’t lose it, not now. Not when we were this close.

  “Why did you come here?” Hovrid demanded.

  “To surrend—” Felix began to answer.

  Hovrid hit him again, even harder than before.

  “Your friend isn’t very intelligent, is he? Humans seldom are, I’ve found. Don’t think for a moment I don�
��t know who and what you are. You may not look like her, but you are the son of that foul witch, Alowin. You are the chosen of Paligno. The stonespeaker. The one they call lapiloque. Why else would you be here? Why else would you be willing to risk your own life, however vain and pathetic a gesture it may be. Dying for these wretches? Honestly. They’re like rats. Worse than rats, really, for even animals have a base sense of what’s going on around them.”

  Hovrid kept pacing around me, his steps smooth and calculated. He spun the sword over his hand with expert ease, twirling it over and over again. I could see Felix’s blood on the hilt.

  “But then again, Paligno is the source of all life. And so you are duty bound to care about these pitiful creatures, too.” He pointed an amused smirk at Felix. “You must know I have no intention of surrendering the stone. It is mine. So why would you come here? Or is this fool the only one who was willing to follow you on this futile crusade to save your mother’s people?”

  “They’re your people, too,” I reminded him. “You may have everyone else fooled, but you cannot hide from me. I see what others can’t. With or without the mask, I know exactly who you are.”

  “Oh? And who is that?”

  I clenched my fists, flexing against the heavy shackles on my wrists. “By name, Hovrid. By blood, my brother.”

  He stopped. Standing before me, I saw him sizing me up from behind that gilded mask. Slowly, he brought up a hand and took it off.

  I heard Felix suck in a sharp breath.

  I tried not to do the same.

  It was heinous, what he had done to his face. It was gnarled, skeletal, and warped like a wax-carving that had been held close to an open flame. It didn’t look like he should even be alive. I fought not to gag.

  “A strange thing, shrike venom. At first, I feared I hadn’t diluted it enough. I thought I might die. So much pain … I even prayed for death, before it was over,” Hovrid mused as he dropped the mask on the floor between us. “But it was the necessary price for anonymity. You know, it was that stupid human boy who helped me do it. I believe you call him Father, don’t you?”