The Heart of Oldra

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘You saw nothing of her future here?’

  ‘Maybe she does return. Maybe she isn’t the way to push Merik from the shadows.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Henda murmured. ‘And what did she show you of your past?’

  ‘Only what I wanted her to see, my move to the cavern. She doesn’t trust that now. I saw her parents...’

  ‘She showed you their past?’ Henda asked excitedly.

  ‘Her father is sure she must connect to another Oldra. I saw them come together. The connection was overwhelming. I don’t know that I want that.’

  Cora felt her mark burn sharply at the comment, but she wasn’t sure what it was a reaction to. Was she disappointed? Was her father wrong? Was it only something her parents shared? She squeezed her eyes closed. They wanted her here for a reason. They wanted her here to do what they could not.

  Artell had described Merik as difficult to define, but did he have the strength to get what he wanted? And what was that? Cora had found her healing, but there was more. It was like they were looking for more, but she couldn’t identify it.

  She tried to think of Wyndha and the gifts she had. They were all different. But what made Cora the great Oldra her mother was so sure she was? None of it made any sense.

  In her mind, Wyndha walked through the cavern of the Penna. Her white tunic matched those of the other Draga. She was a warrior first, Cora thought as the woman walked fluidly past a hearth and smiled at her. Another memory of her mother’s.

  Arminel came to mind, taking her hand in his and reaching for her with his mind. One of my own, she thought. So often she dreamt of others—rarely did she dream her own past. Maybe because she held her memories so close. Or was it because she was focused on everyone else?

  Cora focused on the conversation that had stopped by the fire. Henda was so like her mother, yet so different. Her mother had been prepared to sacrifice herself for her people; these people wanted to sacrifice Cora to save themselves.

  Was Henda Oldra? Artell had indicated that she was, as was every Ancient she knew of. Cora focused on the idea of the woman as she lay still, her eyes closed. She imagined the red tunic. Her dark hair bobbed as she raced through the cavern. The older woman from her memory of Artell appeared just as old, although the Henda she saw was almost as young as Artell when he ran away.

  ‘What do you hear?’ the older woman asked. But instead of listening for the answer, Cora focused on the woman. She didn’t know her name. No one had mentioned it, yet she should have sensed it from the memories as though they were her own.

  ‘Silphi,’ Cora whispered. The old woman turned to her with a smile and bowed her head. ‘Do you know what I am?’ she asked.

  ‘I am not the one to ask,’ Silphi said, turning her attention back to Henda. Cora watched as Henda continued to run, then dropped to the mat beside Silphi.

  ‘We flew so high,’ she said, still breathless from the running and, Cora was sure, from the excitement of the dragon flight. She remembered her own excitement at that first time, and she still felt it when she flickered. Her mind leapt to Serassa, wondering if she could flicker with her, and the dragon came to her mind.

  Do you want to leave them?

  I’m not sure. I think I can learn from them, but I’m scared, Cora thought in return.

  I will do as you wish.

  ‘Thank you,’ Cora whispered.

  ‘Cora?’ Artell asked, his voice barely audible above the gentle crackle of the fire.

  She sat up then.

  ‘Are you awake? Who do you thank?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure what... I might have been dreaming,’ she murmured. ‘Can I have a cup of water?’

  ‘Do you always dream?’ he asked as he handed her a cup.

  She shook her head.

  ‘Have you ever dreamt of something that wasn’t your past or someone else’s?’

  She was almost tempted to admit that no one in her dreams had talked back to her before tonight, but then she hadn’t stopped and asked them questions before tonight. Maybe she had more access to the Ancients than she’d realised. ‘Only once,’ she said.

  Both of them watched her too closely.

  ‘Before I came here, not long before, I dreamt of Teven. I was standing at a hearth with him. Although it wasn’t the hearth of the cavern where he lives.’

  ‘Do you know where it was?’

  She shook her head. ‘Merik was in the shadows.’

  ‘Always watching,’ Artell murmured.

  ‘So it seems, although he doesn’t see it all.’

  Artell shook his head and looked at Henda. When he turned back to Cora, he smiled. ‘You need your rest,’ he said, indicating that she lay back. ‘We would like you to stay with us.’

  ‘If your chief agrees, I will stay.’

  Artell looked at her quizzically for a moment and then nodded. ‘I will check with him, but we are the Ancients.’

  ‘Ancient or not, he is Chief. It is his cavern and his people at risk in having me here. It must be his decision.’

  Artell sighed, but he nodded. Then he sat back down by the fire. As Cora waited, Henda rose to her feet and headed out of the cavern.

  ‘Would it not be best if you asked?’

  ‘It matters not,’ Artell said, and Cora lay down.

  Mama would know what to do, she thought as she closed her eyes and found a comfortable place within the furs.

  Chapter 22

  Cora opened her eyes to find herself in the Ancient cavern of the Penna. Arminel clapped like a child, and her mother smiled. Cora threw herself into her mother’s arms and held her tight.

  ‘I knew you were special,’ her mother whispered, and Cora leaned back.

  ‘I’m not here. Is this another dream?’

  ‘You have travelled far,’ Arminel said, the grin wide across his old face.

  ‘Can I visit Re-Mah too?’

  ‘Who have you visited?’ he asked.

  ‘Only those I am with, mainly their pasts. But when I went back to when one was a child, I was able to interact with the Ancient of her past. Silphi.’

  ‘You hadn’t met her?’

  Cora shook her head. ‘I didn’t even know her name until I was in the memory.’

  ‘Anyone else?’

  Cora took a deep breath. ‘I may have met Wyndha. But,’ she added quickly at the look of both wonder and sadness on Arminel’s face, ‘it may have been a memory of when Mother first came to the Penna.’

  ‘When I first saw her, I thought she was the most amazing woman in the world,’ her mother mused.

  Cora nodded. ‘It was your memory.’

  ‘Any other memories you have discovered?’ Arminel asked.

  Cora opened her mouth and then closed it.

  Her mother looked at her questioningly, then blushed.

  ‘It didn’t get that far,’ Cora blurted. ‘I pulled myself from it. But I saw your first kiss.’

  Her mother smiled, and the love she felt for her mate radiated across the distance between them.

  ‘He doesn’t want that,’ she said, feeling the threatening tears prickle at the back of her eyes.

  ‘Who doesn’t?’ her mother asked, gently placing a hand on Cora’s knee. ‘The Ancient I saw with you last time?’

  Cora nodded, but she wasn’t sure what she wanted herself. She had thought there was a connection to Teven, yet now she was certain it wasn’t there. She had only just met this man, and there were no sparks—no trust, she reminded herself.

  ‘It may not be as you expect.’

  ‘I’m not sure what to expect,’ she admitted. ‘Dra,’ she cried. ‘Did he return home?’

  Arminel nodded, but he looked sad.

  ‘Is he hurt?’

  ‘Only his heart,’ Arminel murmured. ‘He misses you. They all miss you.’

  Cora’s lip trembled. She missed them all so very much. ‘I have found a new dragon. I think she is young, as she looks very different. She has chosen me,’ Cora said, wondering w
hy it was so hard to admit it. ‘But there are only the two of us. Her choice has given me a greater understanding of the dragons and how they connect to us. The people here have dragons, green dragons like the trees, but although they will talk with me—well, one has—it isn’t the same as Serassa.’

  Gerry nodded slowly, and her smile was sad.

  ‘I’m not going to make it back, am I?’ Cora asked, but she already knew the answer. It was a painful ache in her chest.

  They looked at each other, and then Arminel held out a hand for hers, which she gladly took.

  ‘I want to come home,’ she said. ‘I want to come home now.’

  Her mother took her other hand and smiled as though she understood far more than Cora. ‘I think you have far more choices than you realise. You may be able to return. You may not want to.’

  ‘Did you see this?’ Cora asked hurriedly.

  ‘I have seen so much it is hard to determine what belongs to whom.’

  ‘I miss you,’ Cora whispered. ‘But you still annoy me.’

  Her mother laughed. ‘You will find what you are meant to be and where that is. You may cross the world to return to us and then go back, you may return and stay, or you may not. I have not seen what you will choose. I only know that you will do what is right by your people, as any chief would.’

  ‘What if I’m not destined to be Chief?’

  ‘Your father would have much to say on that,’ she said.

  ‘I miss him too. I have met two chiefs, one very much like father, the other...’

  ‘Be careful,’ her mother said. ‘He may be stronger than he looks.’

  ‘Cora,’ a distant voice called, and all three of them turned to look behind her.

  ‘I love you,’ Cora said to her mother, then kissed Arminel’s cheek before the world around her disappeared and she blinked into the dim light of the Ancient cavern of the Nerrim.

  Artell sat beside her, his hands clenched in his lap. She tried not to sigh. Despite the distance and the conversation, she felt rested. She only wished she had really been there and could stay.

  ‘Will you come with me?’ he asked. ‘I want to test some of your skills.’

  ‘No, thank you,’ she said, sitting up. Confusion flittered across his face. ‘You might succeed in dying this time. And I might not want to save you.’

  She stretched her arms above her head and climbed from the warm furs. Padding across to the fire, she found a pot over the flames. As she pulled it towards her, the water boiling rapidly, she realised he was still sitting in the same place.

  ‘What did you dream?’

  ‘Nothing of your past,’ she murmured.

  ‘Why would you dream of my past?’

  ‘I’ve had your blood on my hands. It seems to follow that whoever I heal gets into my head and I learn more of them.’

  ‘What did you learn of Teven?’

  ‘We have talked of this,’ Cora said, looking around for a cup. Then Artell was too close, a cup in his hand. ‘Thank you,’ she said, holding out her hand.

  ‘What did you dream?’ he asked again. ‘There is something different.’

  ‘I heard you talking,’ she said, taking the cup and pouring the water into it. ‘I know you plan to use me, only I’m not sure what for.’

  He looked at her as though trying to work out what to say to placate her. She sat down, the hot cup in her hand.

  ‘Will you use me as bait to draw him out?’

  He continued to stare.

  ‘And then what will you do? Will you let him take me? How do you think you can stop him? Or do you not even intend to try?’

  He let out the breath he had been holding.

  ‘I have seen the shadows of my mother’s past. I have seen the man that used them. He didn’t travel with them—he was the shadows.’

  Artell leaned forward, and she leaned away from him. ‘We can do this together,’ he said.

  She shook her head. ‘Give me time to learn what I can do, and then I may be able to help you, but that is all there is.’

  ‘I thought you wanted more.’

  She shook her head too quickly. ‘I think you are right; my father was mistaken.’

  ‘He seemed very certain,’ Artell said, almost disappointed.

  ‘My parents are not like others. And although I am to follow them, I cannot expect the same.’ She blew across the top of the cup and sipped at the water.

  ‘What have you learnt?’

  ‘You see what I am to be. You tell me what I should be learning.’

  ‘I want to help,’ he said. ‘Is this new hostility because of what you heard last night? I don’t think you heard the full story.’

  ‘I heard enough,’ she murmured, then turned towards the doorway at the ruckus in the main cavern.

  Artell indicated that she stay where she was, but she was on her feet and through the hide curtain. Teven stood in the middle of the cavern, several men around him and a bow over his shoulder. It looked out of place, and then she recognised it as her own. It was so new, and yet she hadn’t had the chance to use it.

  ‘You have to give her back,’ Teven shouted into the men around him.

  ‘We haven’t taken her,’ the chief said. ‘She walked through our doors.’

  Not quite, Cora thought, but she was glad she was here. In some ways, she had more space to breathe.

  The group opened up for her as she walked towards him.

  ‘What have they done to you?’ he asked.

  She shook her head and held out her hand. He reached his hand out towards hers. ‘My bow,’ she said.

  His hand dropped. Then he took the bow from over his shoulder and handed it to her. She bowed her head in thanks.

  ‘You need to return with me.’

  ‘No,’ she said softy. ‘I have been welcomed here,’ she said, glancing towards the chief. It wasn’t quite right, but his subtle nod indicated that she could stay. ‘I don’t want to return to Merik.’

  ‘You can’t call him that,’ Teven whined like a child. ‘He is Chief.’

  ‘He is not my chief. And if I am to learn what he is so sure I can learn, I must stay here.’

  ‘Must you?’ Teven asked.

  ‘Yes. You are well enough now to do as you must for your clan. I need to do what I can for mine.’

  ‘Your clan?’ he asked.

  ‘If I am to return home,’ she said.

  ‘Is that what you want? You don’t want to stay with me?’ He sounded far more wanting than Cora thought he could be. What did he think there was between them? He had hardly spoken to her, just done his father’s bidding and forced a kiss on her that had only proven to her that her father had been wrong all this time.

  ‘It is not where I am meant to be,’ she said softly.

  ‘Who are you to be with?’ he asked, pushing through the crowd and across the cavern. She watched him go, wondering what he would think when he found the boy he thought dead sitting in the cavern. But he stopped in the doorway, and Cora could see Henda standing before him.

  ‘She is strong,’ she said. ‘She will train with me.’

  Teven bowed his head and turned back. His face a mixture of sadness and anger, he stomped out of the cavern. Several men made to follow, but Edgris called them back. Then he looked across at Cora. ‘I hope you know what you do,’ he said.

  ‘So do I,’ she murmured, then headed back to the Ancients’ cavern and Henda.

  Chapter 23

  Cora sat silently on the mat of the Ancient’s cavern and watched the woman fuss over a pot on the flames. Artell had disappeared, and she wasn’t sure if he was hiding from her or Teven.

  ‘Who is the human boy?’ Cora asked.

  ‘I think he would consider himself a man,’ Henda said without looking around. ‘He was called by a dragon.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Sometimes they do what they do, and we know nothing of it.’

  ‘He was called for a purpose.’

  ‘How can you be sure?�
�� Henda asked, turning from the flames.

  ‘Why call someone if there is no reason? My mother was human; she was called for a great purpose. Darring was called because they needed Draga.’

  ‘Two?’ she asked.

  Cora nodded.

  ‘Would they fight for you?’

  ‘Is there a need?’

  ‘You sound too calm, too measured. Where is the nervous girl of yesterday?’ Henda asked, waving the spoon. The porridge flicked across the mat, and Cora raised her eyebrows. Henda dropped the spoon altogether. ‘You found it,’ she said, lowering to her knees before Cora.

  Cora shook her head. ‘I need to be here to find it. I understand that. I also understand that you intend to use me in some way to defeat Merik, although you don’t know what he is.’

  Henda sat back. ‘He talks too much.’

  ‘As do you,’ Cora said. ‘I heard you last night.’

  Henda looked down at the mat. ‘I am sorry,’ she murmured. ‘But he is stronger than he appears.’

  Cora waited.

  Henda sighed, then glanced at the doorway before continuing. ‘He can travel in his dreams, enter those of others, watching and learning.’

  ‘I have seen him in the shadows of my dreams.’

  ‘He is looking for something great, although I’m not sure what it is. He will take that power for himself; then he can do as he pleases.’

  ‘But he is with his own people, whom he neglects while he searches for this unknown gift. He could be more powerful than he is. How will he take this gift when he finds it?’

  ‘He can take strength from others.’

  ‘Then he could have taken my mother’s, for she is much stronger than I am.’

  ‘He might have seen what you would become from her, and so left her as she was.’

  ‘Rhali said he caused the girl’s death.’

  ‘He may have taken her will to live, strengthening his own. It is not a gift I understand.’

  ‘Can you see what he will do?’

  ‘He will suck the life from all the people and live long after we are gone.’

  Cora stared at the woman opposite her. ‘Has he lived longer because of what he has taken already?’

  ‘He was very ill as a boy, and he should have died.’