Dragon Tide Omnibus 1

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  Instead, there was just Atura with a long rod in one hand and a stone in the other. She stood beside the torch, her head tilted slightly to the side, concentrating.

  Seleska?

  The voice in my head was weak.

  Kyrowat?

  I tried to keep my expression calm. If Atura saw me, I didn’t want her to notice anything strange. There was a long silence – likely he was talking to Hubric.

  “Hubric?” I said. “Hubric?”

  He gasped, eyes wide.

  And then he fell forward as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut.

  My breath was sucked away.

  And that was all.

  In one nearly silent moment, everything had changed.

  Something bright and pure as spun gold spread from his body to the rod in Atura’s hand and then into the stone in her other hand. The satisfied smile on her face was all I needed to know she’d succeeded.

  My mentor was gone.

  My mouth fell open as I gasped. I just ... didn’t know what to feel.

  Horror.

  Horror that threaded through my ribcage reaching for my spine and bone-deep guilt. I’d told him not to be my mentor! I’d told him what had happened to Ramariri and Vyvera. Why hadn’t he listened to me? He should have listened!

  My thoughts raged, angry and horrified, sick and confused. Loud, but incoherent.

  Hubric’s head was slumped on his chest. His eyes were still open. I could feel the sob bubbling up in my chest. Someone needed to close his poor eyes. Someone needed to protect him from seeing what had happened to him, from seeing the victory on his tormentor’s face, from seeing the hopelessness his death had birthed into the world.

  All that nonsense about bad things being for something. I didn’t believe that. Not for a second. This was nothing but a waste and a desecration. This was bone-deep wrong and if I made Atura pay for it forever it wouldn’t be enough.

  My belly burned hot from the stone within. Whatever magic was contained in it – dark or light or something else was longing to come out and I was longing to let it. Come out, little magic. Come and play! Let’s show Atura a little life force magic, hmmm? How would she feel being sucked out of her body and fed into a rock, hmmm?

  “Well, I can see why you have so many ropes,” I said, trying hard to keep my flowing tears from clouding my tone of voice. “It’s the only way you can keep people around. Even your friends over there are scared of you. Have you been making them into a rock collection, too?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Atura said as she directed the rod to continue feeding the golden strands into the stone. My heart throbbed painfully as the stone began to glow brighter. It almost felt like that was the last breath of him. As if when the threads were done moving, he’d be really gone. “Do you have any idea what power it takes to do this kind of magic? You have to understand the essence of a person. What makes them tick. And then you can pull it out and put it in a ... container.”

  “And what? Walk around with a belly full of rocks for the rest of your life? You told me yourself that you need the Saaasallla to activate the rocks. You can’t do that. All you can do is give yourself a belly ache.”

  It felt good to lash out at her. Felt good to poke at the person who was making me feel so much gut-deep pain. I hadn’t even known Hubric for very long, but he’d been willing to offer me his protection for the rest of his life. And that had been enough to get him killed. He hadn’t deserved that.

  No one deserved that.

  Stand ready. Kyrowat’s mental voice was weak. I call to them.

  Who was he calling? It had better be an army or we’d already lost. I was next. And then Kyrowat. I was not relishing living the rest of my life as a rock.

  Atura laughed. Her laugh made me want to vomit. Nothing about this was funny.

  “Those kinds of rocks are for greater power with manipulating life force magic. Those rocks are like ... tuners. They make it possible to manipulate the life in all living things to greater levels. And yes, for that, I need the blessing of the Saaasalla, may he live forever.”

  “Isn’t he your dad? You did tell me you were a princess,” I said. “If he lives forever doesn’t that mean you’d never get a crack at being Saaasallla.”

  Her eyes flashed.

  Yes! I’d finally hit a nerve! She ignored my words, but I could tell she was struggling with that.

  “The rock I just made – the one I’m about to eat – is distilled from a person. And that’s different. It makes it possible for me to absorb some of that person’s skills and knowledge. And it doesn’t require anything more than swallowing it to activate it. Don’t you think that might be helpful?” Her smile was wicked. “I heard he has a lot of connections in the Dominion and Ko’Torenth. By the time I get there, I’ll know what he knew, and I’ll be a much more convincing “guardian” than you are. Especially once I put Felroc’s little mask of light back in place and he plays pretty, pretty dragon baby for them.”

  The sound that came out of my mouth was pure guttural anger. I was going to kill her. I was going to rip her apart.

  “Any help you thought you had,” she said with a smile, “is mine now.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Waves of despair washed over me one after another. She would have Hubric’s knowledge and the ability to pretend that she had a baby dragon to protect. How could I possibly beat that? I would look like a fraud.

  But if I didn’t at least try, then all the magic left in the world would go to Atura and the Saaasallla and I’d seen what they would do with it. I’d seen how little they valued life beyond their own. They wouldn’t stop at just killing everyone I ever knew. After all, they’d killed Octon’s whole family. He’d said that they put them in mass graves.

  If they killed their own people, they wouldn’t even blink at killing mine.

  A flash of a memory filled my mind – an image too painful to digest. I shoved it away, cold fear washing over me. I’d never seen all those bodies I was just remembering. I’d never seen them thrown into the earth.

  Those were Octon’s memories.

  That I had.

  Because I’d swallowed his rock.

  Heat flared painfully in my belly, mixing with my emotions of regret and guilt. I shouldn’t have swallowed that stone. What had I done?

  There was no taking the past back. All I could do now was try to honor Octon. It wouldn’t exactly make up for this, but it was all I had.

  Atura was playing with my Dragon Staff now that her rock was made. She jabbed it into the air with a puzzled look on her face, twisting the haft, spinning the staff. Her expression only grew more cloudy as she worked until eventually, she set it back against the rock I was tied to – though woefully out of reach.

  In the distance, the Bubblers had made camp and the quiet sounds of retiring for the night were drifting up to us. For them, the torture of strangers was just another night. Same old boring stuff happening all over again.

  “The waves washed over them,” Jeriath mumbled. “Waves of Destiny. And at their crest, a blue dragon rode.”

  I almost wished I knew what he meant. One thing was certain – Atura was unlikely to get any information of value from a man as out of things as Jeriath.

  “I can tell by your expression that you finally realize the situation, Seleska.” Atura was bathing in her victory, happiness making her face softer.

  With a quick movement, she popped the freshly glowing stone into her mouth and swallowed, opening it after to show me her empty mouth.

  “Your friend is mine and soon you will be, too. Not that you have much to offer me, but maybe that staff of yours will work once you’re in my belly.”

  “I doubt it,” I said through my numb feelings. “You’re not the type of person who can use it.”

  It was wrong that she’d eaten Hubric’s stone. Wrong that she had any part of him at all!

  She laughed. “Ah, but you are. And that’s all that matters h
ere.”

  I clenched my jaw. But as my belly flared with heat, my hands began to work at the ropes of their own accord. What had I just done there? That was a trick I didn’t know. The ropes began to loosen. Was it possible ... was it crazy to think it? ... that Octon’s abilities really had transferred just a little to me?

  “I have a special rock saved just for you,” Atura said with a smile. I was beginning to hate her never-ending smiles. “I selected it after our first meeting. We’ve already proven that I can’t just pull your soul out of your body with my magic, but that won’t be a problem. Burning always works when simple magic doesn’t. Something about the pain and heat, I think. And you’re already tied perfectly for the process.”

  Burning? Fear slashed through my thoughts making it impossible to think as nausea swept over me. There were a lot of ways to die. Burning sounded like the worst of them.

  Seleska?

  Kyrowat. Sorry, old boy. I couldn’t save your friend. My friend.

  Coming for you.

  He sounded so tired and so selfless. He was clearly hurting and barely conscious and yet he was trying to come to my aid. Well. At least I wouldn’t die without friends. That was a kind of accomplishment, wasn’t it?

  If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to do it cowering. I straightened my back still working on my bonds as I did it. I was going to make sure to take a moment to be grateful before I lost that chance.

  And I was grateful.

  You’d think that I’d be bitter that Nasataa had come into my life. After all, his presence had thrown me into danger and chaos. But I wasn’t sorry. If he hadn’t arrived on my beach, I probably would never have known Vyvera, or Octon, or Hubric, or Kyrowat. I would never have learned that it’s better to give love and affection to others than to keep it for yourself because I never would have felt that kind of protective selfless love that I felt for that little dragon. I probably wouldn’t have realized how much Heron meant to me. That I ... that I loved him.

  I felt tears forming. But they weren’t tears of despair or regret. They were deep thankfulness. If I died now, at least I’d really lived first. Maybe all that nonsense of Hubric’s actually made sense. Maybe all of this really was for something that would come after us.

  Maybe.

  At least these last moments of mine were blessedly free of Atura. That was something to be grateful for, too. That mudfeeder was going to kill me in the cruelest way she could, but I would never give her my knowledge and skills. Not even if I was in a rock.

  A roar from the other side of the camp filled the air and then a bright flash of fire bloomed. Maybe they had some kind of weapon. Or maybe they were trying out whatever they were going to use to burn me alive.

  A second roar followed by a burst of flame made me tilt my head to the side. That had sounded just a little bit dragon-like.

  Something tugged at my ropes.

  What?

  Sela!

  Chapter Twelve

  I gasped.

  Nasataa! He was alive!

  Sela! Sela!

  The tugging continued and then a tiny flare of light seared the edges of my vision. The ropes fell free.

  I snatched up the Dragon Staff, ready to defend myself, but there was no one there, just a small dragon flaming wildly and rubbing his face all over my belly.

  “Nasataa,” I breathed, caressing his excited face as relief filled me. He was okay! From the light of his flares, I could see he was unharmed. But where had he been?

  He was trying to show me a picture in my mind, but it was broken and blurry, flashing from one thing to another too quickly for me to make out the details.

  “Calm down, little blue. We need to get out of here while we can!”

  He was tugging me behind the rock before I could complete my sentence.

  “But first we have to free Kyrowat!”

  I owed him that. I looked uncomfortably at Hubric, slumped against the ropes. We were in a hurry. There was no time to tend to him.

  “One minute, little guy.”

  I sprinted back to Hubric, gently reaching out to shut his eyes. There’s something wrong about an empty body where a friend should be, as if life isn’t really meant to end at all and death is just a horrible ruse. I hated it.

  “I’m sorry,” I breathed. “I’m so sorry. This isn’t the death you deserved.”

  But what was a death you deserved? How was any death a ‘good’ death when it was an end?

  I hated endings. I just wanted more beginnings forever.

  Maybe in whatever life came after – and I was really hoping there was some life after this one that didn’t involve being a rock in Atura’s belly – there was a reason for all of this like Hubric had hoped. Maybe there was a great reason for reason. I wanted to hope like he did. I wanted that kind of certainty.

  Nasataa hissed, pulling me away from Hubric. He was right. There wasn’t time to honor him the way we should. We’d just have to honor him in our hearts.

  I followed my little dragon through the rocks as we crept around the camp. If that was a dragon making all that noise, then I sure hoped it wasn’t Kyrowat. We’d never get him free if he was flaring and flaming like that!

  The way around the rocks was slow as we tried to hurry without light or attracting attention. Nasataa found my progress frustrating. He would flutter a little way and then wait for me. Flutter and then wait. Flutter and then wait.

  And all the time I was trying to tell him how happy I was to see him again, sending him images of cuddles and his happy face, letting him know that he was precious to me.

  “Thanks for saving me, little guy,” I said as we emerged around the last standing rock to see Kyrowat bound, his angry snorts loud in the night. I thought they weren’t going to tie him down? They must have changed their minds.

  Flares and shouts continued closer to the Bubbler’s camp and the snarls and ground-shaking roars of the Manticores made me jumpy, but they weren’t centered around Kyrowat like I’d feared. Whatever was happening over there, was happening with a different dragon – or dragons.

  “Hurry!” I whispered to Nasataa. Hopefully, if we could free Kyrowat that he would be able to fly.

  I can fly.

  Hope flared in me at the sound of his voice. He was alive! It was hard to believe. I could smell the blood pooling under him. It turned my stomach as I used the staff blade to free his mouth first. They’d twined rope around it to keep him from opening it and flaming them.

  Next, I moved to the huge cables, keeping him pinned between four big rocks. Fortunately, the blade at the end of the staff was sharp and the ropes sliced with only a bit of effort from me.

  He stood gingerly when his bonds were finally shed, shaking his head with only enough effort to send the last scraps of rope tumbling from his neck. He swayed on trembling legs as his wings slowly unfurled. They hadn’t removed the saddle or bags from his back though the saddle had slid slightly to the side of his back.

  He was in no condition to carry me. I wasn’t even sure if he could carry his saddle.

  Get on.

  Not a chance. I’d already watched Hubric die. I wasn’t watching Kyrowat die, too.

  “Go,” I said gently. “Flee and take Nasataa with you. You can both fly faster without me and I want ... I need you to get as far away as you can. Head to the Dawn’s Gate. Flee this land.”

  I just needed them both to be safe.

  Wait in this exact spot. I will send help.

  Yeah, that would be a winning strategy.

  “Sure,” I said, but I was humoring him. There was no way I’d wait here.

  Right here. Promise.

  That would be promising my own death.

  Promise or I won’t go.

  “I promise,” I said with a heavy heart. I needed him to go. Now. Before that disruption on the other side of camp was done and the Bubblers all came back to get us.

  He ducked his head in a bow and then he launched awkwardly into the air. Nasataa launc
hed himself into my arms and after a brief cuddle, he shot up into the air, hugging close to Kyrowat’s underbelly.

  Fly free, little friend, I thought. Get somewhere safe.

  Sela.

  Nasataa.

  At least he wouldn’t die here with me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I felt strange just watching them go and standing in one place. Maybe I should go and see what was happening among all the screams and flares of fire on the other side of camp. But I’d promised to wait here. I gritted my teeth, eyes narrowing as I looked toward the sounds in the dark. I couldn’t see anything. It was too dark and too chaotic. If only I could see!

  If I hadn’t been looking right at that spot, I wouldn’t have seen the figure hurtling through the dark in time to dodge. I jumped back as far as I could, just in time. One of the Manticores skidded across the dark rock, landing in a heap right where I’d been standing. His massive paws were larger than my head and if he hadn’t been completely still, I would have panicked.

  Was he ... was he dead?

  I prodded a paw with the butt of my staff, but he didn’t move. I couldn’t even make out his features in the darkness, only hints of fur and wings from the distant fires.

  It was looking like a worse and worse idea to wait right here.

  The screams in the distance grew louder and the earth began to shake and then suddenly the fire flared brighter and I could see. The Manticore beside me was definitely dead, his face and shoulders marred by nasty burns.

  But worse, there were Bubblers rushing toward me, those bubbling rods brandished in their hands. It was too late to do anything but fight, too late to run or hide. I gripped my staff in both hands, ready to be as grateful as I could be and shove fear aside, but as if by its own will, my body suddenly shifted the staff to the side and leapt forward, chopping with the staff faster than I thought I could. The Bubbler running toward me stumbled as my staff slashed into his shoulder but my arms wrenched the staff blade from his body and spun it to plunge into his back as he fell past me – quicker than I could have imagined.