Dawnspell

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  “It’s here,” Tamerlan said, tapping on the bridge diagram in the place where the architecture was just different enough to accommodate a small hidden room. The place he’d found by looking at the book, rather than the bridge. But that was his way, wasn’t it? He was a man of books, not of action. Or at least he had been before the Bridge of Legends opened.

  And now you are ours. He shivered. He’d never get used to Lady Chaos’ voice.

  “I think you’re right,” Etienne said, his eyes glowing as he looked at the map. “There’s room there. We need ropes.”

  “The Smudgers?” Tamerlan insisted. It didn’t feel right that they were missing. There was something worrying about that.

  “They left the city in droves, headed inland,” Etienne said, his eyes still on the book.

  “When?”

  “When they saw the dragon in the sky.” Etienne looked up and met Tamerlan’s eyes. “I bet you never guessed that your destruction spread to other cities, too, did you?”

  Tamerlan swallowed. “Why leave?”

  “We don’t know why. We just know that they did. Word is, they left all the cities that same night.”

  “I’ll get ropes, if you have the coin for them,” Tamerlan said in a defeated voice. He could burn all his sins in lanterns and never atone for them. He could rappel down high bridges and risk his life in foolish quests and none of it would ever be enough.

  “I think that would be best,” Etienne said, taking the book and handing him the coins he needed. “And maybe you should hurry before the rioting gets this far.

  “Rioting?”

  Etienne pointed toward the Trade District where the smallest pillar of smoke was beginning to rise.

  “You don’t know that’s what’s happening,” Tamerlan protested. “It might be an accidental fire.”

  “Trust me,” Etienne said. “It’s rioting. And there will be more riots until the dragon is dealt with and the threat to the city is over.” He looked Tamerlan in the eyes. “The threat you caused.”

  17: In Tune

  Marielle

  MARIELLE WOKE WITH a start.

  “He left something for you,” Allegra said with a wry look as she shoved Marielle off the foot of the bed. Condescension poured off of her like steam from a kettle, tinged a blush pink and stinking of day-old fish. “And you should stop falling asleep next to this man until you can decide how you feel about him.”

  “I feel pity,” Marielle said thickly.

  Allegra snorted, handing a note to Marielle. “Is that what people are calling it? In that case, you should bring a few refugees in from the cold. Dragon knows they need it.”

  Marielle blushed, looking at the note. It was folded carefully and had her name written on it in a swirling script. That wasn’t what she expected Tamerlan’s writing to look like.

  “Anything to report?” Allegra asked casually.

  “You saw Etienne more than I did,” Marielle protested, opening the note. Surprisingly, it was from Etienne, not Tamerlan.

  Marielle,

  I have need of your services today in keeping the Children of Queen Mer busy. Please give them my condolences. I will not be able to attend them today. And make a note of anything said or done. I will require a full report from you tonight.

  Etienne

  Another person demanding that she report on someone else. By the time this was done she would be Chief Spy of Xin. She swallowed down a feeling of discomfort. She didn’t want to spy on the Harbingers. She didn’t want to spy on Etienne. Her options were narrowing like a closing window.

  Allegra sniffed. “I need you out of the shop today. I have business to attend to.”

  “Do you mind if I spend that time in your inn?” Marielle asked. “The streets are too dangerous for Scenters right now.”

  “Spend it wherever you want, just not here,” Allegra said.

  Easy enough. With the Wind Rose aching over her heart, Marielle would have run to the Harbingers even without Allegra throwing her out, or Etienne assigning her to them. She needed to know about this magic that could amplify her gifts. She was thirsty for it.

  By the time she reached the door to the suites of the Harbingers in the inn, she was already second-guessing herself. What if they didn’t want to see her? What if they had left? What if they decided she wasn’t good enough to train – or worse, what if they took one look at her and knew she was a spy now?

  She lifted her hand and knocked.

  The door swung open so quickly that she nearly fell forward.

  “You’re late,” Anglarok said, pulling her inside the room.

  “Late? I- ”

  He shoved his big conch shell into her hands and guided her by the shoulder to one of the seats.

  Across from where she sat, Liandari was sparring with two of the harpoon men, all of them soaked in sweat. Marielle felt a pang of sadness as she remembered sparring like that as part of her Jingen City Watch training. Sometimes even Carnelian would spar with her. And now she’d never spar with any of them again.

  There was something different about this, too. The Harbingers didn’t move the way Marielle was used to. They chose attacks she’d never seen before and those flowed into defenses she didn’t know. Her eyes were glued to their movements. She could try that parry next time she had a sword in her hands. She could try that throw. The way Liandari had maneuvered under that harpoon was masterful. If she –

  Anglarok cleared his throat. “Attention.”

  Marielle’s eyes snapped to his face.

  “We’re not here to watch others work. We are here to work, too. Take the shell to your ear and tell me what you hear.” He smelled of anticipation – spring grass colored swirls of cilantro twirled around him.

  Marielle had heard of shells that made the sound of the ocean. She lifted this one to her ear as she voiced a question.

  “Why do the harpooners never speak?”

  There was a gasp from the two sparring with Liandari. Liandari flicked a finger and they froze in place.

  “These are the nameless. They do not speak,” she said.

  “How did they lose their names?” Marielle asked.

  The whole room was looking at her with shock. Eventually, Liandari swallowed and when she spoke, her mouth sounded dry.

  “You don’t have the nameless here?”

  “No.”

  “Then how did you earn your name?”

  Marielle felt her hands go clammy as she watched Liandari shift the grip on her weapon.

  “It was given to me.”

  The room was so quiet, the horror on each face growing, that when the first sound in the shell rang in her ear, she heard it as clearly as if it were in the room with her.

  The roar of a dragon filled her hearing, shooting straight into her brain and running like freezing water down her spine. She could feel her hands trembling as she held tightly to the shell, and then suddenly the room burst with rainbow colors – everything suddenly amplified in brightness as if the sound had caused them all to spring to fuller life. Liandari’s suspicion roared through the room with bursts of bronze hope from the nameless harpooners. There was excitement flaring from Anglarok mixed with a smug satisfaction. And as electric blue sizzled through ribbons of bronze and apricot, Marielle thought she could make out distant voices.

  “Hurry! Get out while he is resting. There’s time to flee!”

  “Dragon’s spit, he’ll see us!”

  “Legends have mercy! Have mercy on me!”

  She shook like a leaf in the wind, her heart reaching out to the voices ragged with terror. Who were those people? What were they fleeing from?

  The looks of horror around her disappeared and the harpooners dropped to their knees, quivering while Liandari swallowed, visibly composing herself.

  “I don’t think we need to question her name, Ki’squall,” Anglarok said quietly. “In all my years as Windsniffer, I’ve never seen such a powerful affinity.”

  Liandari took a deep breat
h, her face growing hard. “Why are you connected to this dragon, Marielle? Did you open the Bridge of Legends? Are you the one we seek?” She stepped forward, aggression in her movements and rose-tinted obsession in her scent. “Answer me!”

  “I – I didn’t open anything,” Marielle stammered. She’d made the wrong choice coming here. It would have been safer on the streets or defying Allegra.

  “Then why does the dragon sing to you? Why do you channel echoes of his magic?” Liandari smelled of violence.

  Marielle stood up from her chair, clutching the shell like it could shield her somehow. “Echoes?”

  “It’s what the shells are for,” Anglarok said simply. “They magnify magic, echo it, take what is already there and make it greater. We searched all night for the dragon. And we searched all night for the one who opened the Bridge, but we found neither.”

  Liandari strode forward, quivering with emotion. Garnet and pitch poured off of her in waves and Marielle flinched back.

  “You are connected to this dragon somehow,” she said. “That level of resonance is no mistake.”

  “We’ve shaved days off of our time to find him,” Anglarok protested. He smelled like he was trying to defend Marielle. Instinctively, she drew back as he spoke. “We can use the girl to track the dragon down. It will save us time, and we will be honored when we return to the ships of the Retribution.”

  Liandari paused, the scent of strawberries rippling from her suggested she was thinking hard. “I still want an answer.”

  “I was meant to be sacrificed to the dragon, but at the last moment, someone ripped me away from the ceremony,” Marielle said.

  “’To be sacrificed’” Liandari quoted her. “’Was ripped.’ Are you only a pawn in the hands of others or do you make your own choices? I thought you said you were not nameless. The nameless do as they are told, go where they are sent, are silent in the presence of the named. The named take their own initiative. They find, they seek, they choose, they do. Are you named?”

  “Yes,” Marielle said, her cheeks hot.

  “Prove it. Make a decision.”

  Marielle swallowed. Liandari was right about her. She’d been pushed in a corner by Allegra, pushed into another one by Etienne. She’d been saved and set on this course by Tamerlan, but where was the last time that she’d made her own choice about something other than the Wind Rose? If she really cared about writing wrongs and setting the course of the world back on track, should she really be hiding in these rooms or should she be headed out to fight a dragon?

  “I’ll need the clothing of a warrior, and a better weapon, supplies for a week of travel, a solid boat, and this shell,” Marielle said as boldly as she could. Was she really doing this?

  “And?” Anglarok prompted.

  “And the help of someone who knows how to follow this resonance.”

  Liandari smiled. “Good. The Ki’Tempest will be pleased. We will locate this dragon before the end of Dawnspell and bring him the head of the creature on a pole.”

  Marielle looked around the room and swallowed. Seven of them to one dragon. What could go wrong?

  Liandari snapped her finger and three of the nameless gathered their cloaks and belt pouches and left.

  “We’ll set out when the supplies are ready,” Liandari said. “Work with her, Anglarok. See if she can find the one who opened the Bridge of Legends, also. Perhaps we will be shown double favor.”

  Marielle swallowed. What had she gotten herself into? She was no Legend swinging a sword and slaying dragons, but it seemed like she might need to be just to survive. She didn’t think that Liandari took the word “no” very easily.

  18: Rope and Riots

  Tamerlan

  TAMERLAN SCRAMBLED along the canal toward the Temple District. He’d run out of coin to hire a gondola and the rope was heavy, but this was still the most direct route back to the bridge. Besides, the edges of the canals were still relatively safe – not like the streets. He clamped down on the anxiety that filled him at the thought of the streets. Etienne had not been wrong about riots.

  By the time Tamerlan had made it to the Trade District to find rope, there was enough smoke in the streets to make anyone worry. On top of that, bands of men and women surged through the choking smoke, weapons in hand and grim looks on their faces. He’d watched a group of them grab a pair of Xin City Watch Officers. They were tying them in rope by the time he left, and he didn’t want to know what they’d do after that. He itched to stop them, but how did you stop half of a city?

  It had taken long minutes and more coin than he would have liked to convince the shop owner to sell him rope. Every shop in the District was barring the doors and windows when he went by. Those who could go indoors were inside. The streets felt eerily familiar. They felt like they had on Summernight in Jingen. He swallowed down the memory.

  “Where’s the Eye?” he’d heard the mob asking the Watch Officers. As if they had some hidden clue. “Tell us!”

  What would he and Etienne do if they found it? If they kept it hidden, this would only get worse. If they revealed it, they’d be torn apart for it.

  The citizenry weren’t the only ones who had gone crazy. He’d narrowly dodged a pair of men in military garb only to see another man grabbed by them and hastily tied to a long chain of other men.

  “Recruiting for the Xin City Army!” one of the men in uniform called as he tied his victim to the chain. “If volunteers cannot be found, recruits will be culled from the populace to fill our quota! Join the army here!”

  He shuddered at the memory of that. Only Lila’s sneaky suggestions had coached him out of the thick of things with his skin intact and still out of uniform.

  “Tamerlan!”

  He spun at the sound of his name, sagging with relief at the sight of Jhinn rowing along the canal.

  “Jhinn!”

  “Hop in the boat, boy. What are you doing with all that rope?”

  Tamerlan leapt from the side into the little boat, rocking side to side as he regained the balance he’d lost as he landed.

  “I ... I couldn’t find you before, Jhinn,” he stammered. “I don’t know how to thank you. You saved my life!”

  “I might have just saved it again. This city is in bad shape,” Jhinn said, pointing to where the Trade District was going up in plumes of smoke. “Setting fire to boats. Theft of property. Dumping waste into the canals. It’s disgusting. We should move on. Find a different city.”

  Tamerlan laughed. If only he could. But he sobered up quickly. Just because he needed to atone for his sins didn’t mean that Jhinn did.

  “You should go, Jhinn. Pick anywhere but here. You should go somewhere safe. You don’t owe me anything.” He paused, feeling guilty. “I owe you everything, but I can’t pay you back. Not yet, at least.”

  “None of us is promised anything in this life, Tamerlan. Nothing but adventure. And I’ve had a few. But now that you are real again, you should come with me. Leave this horrible place and find a better one.”

  Tamerlan scrubbed his hand through his hair. “I can’t leave – not yet. I have to find an amulet and use it to stop the dragon. I owe the world that. All the destruction that dragon caused – it’s all my fault.”

  Jhinn shrugged. “You didn’t make the dragon. You didn’t build a city on him.”

  Tamerlan sighed. “If only it was that simple.”

  “And the rope?”

  “We’re looking for the amulet in the Dragon Collar Bridge.”

  “I don’t think there’s any treasure hidden in that bridge,” Jhinn said critically. They were in the lock now, working slowly upward toward where the bridge spanned the canal. It soared high above them, a marvel of modern engineering. Tamerlan swallowed. He couldn’t see the variances in the bricks from here and he was starting to doubt that the amulet would be there.

  Because it’s not. Lila Cherrylock’s voice rang loud in his mind. Behind her voice were echoes of Ram – always close to the surface.


  Dragon. Dragon. Dragon.

  “You should smoke that stuff. I have all your herbs hidden and I bet that those spirits could help you find the amulet,” Jhinn said quietly.

  He wasn’t going to smoke it. Not ever again.

  We’ll see.

  “They seem to think you’re wasting your time with the bridge,” Jhinn said with a shrug.

  “You can hear them, too?” Tamerlan asked wide-eyed.

  “Sure. Can’t you?”

  “I thought I was the only one!”

  Jhinn shrugged again like it wasn’t important. “They’re dead people talking. So what? Dead people talk all the time. They call to me from the shore. Sometimes they offer coins even before they become real.”

  How strange would it be to live life thinking everything on dry land was not real? That it was owned by the Satan?

  “Just smoke the stuff,” Jhinn said. “Stop wasting your time.”

  “I can’t do that,” Tamerlan said with trembling hands, examining the bridge piers as he spoke. “Last time I chose to do that, I did terrible things.”

  “Because you did it in the world of the Satan. Do it in my boat. I’ll row you out into the sea. What harm can you do out there?”

  “I could hurt you,” Tamerlan said reluctantly.

  “Those spirits aren’t going to hurt me,” Jhinn huffed. “The red-haired one just winked at me.”

  Tamerlan put a hand over his eyes. How embarrassing.

  But Jhinn’s plan was solid. What could it hurt to try it out on a boat far from people? Maybe he would get added insight that way.

  Do it!

  Was that all four legends speaking at once? Tamerlan shivered at the thought.

  “Okay, but we’ll have to sneak out of the city into the river or out to sea,” he said nervously.

  Jhinn grinned as he rowed the gondola out of the lock and to the side of the canal where a small jetty allowed gondolas to offload passengers.

  “Good. I want to fish. There isn’t a scrap of food in this Mer-forsaken city! Do you know the message tree near where I dropped you and Marielle off?”