Riders of Fire Complete Series Box Set books 1-6: YA Epic Fantasy Dragon Rider Adventures

by Eileen Mueller

  “Nothing yet,” Riona melded.

  “No one else has seen anything either, “Kierion reported to Fenni.

  They patrolled back and forth along the border of the forest.

  So far, no sign of Zens’ dark beasts.

  When his gloved fingers were numb and his teeth practically chattering, Kierion pulled a waterskin of tea out of a saddlebag and took a swig. “Not very warm. Want some?”

  Fenni held the waterskin before drinking, then passed it back to Kierion. “Try it now.”

  When Kierion took a swig, the tea’s warmth stole through his belly. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Thanks. Mage fire sure is handy.”

  “No worries. “ Fenni said. “You know what galls me?”

  “The way Danion looks at Gret when the Nightshaders are around?” Kierion took another swig.

  “It’s the way she looks at him. I’m sure she likes him.”

  Kierion spluttered tea over Riona’s back.

  “I’d prefer that my tea wasn’t secondhand,” melded Riona. “And I’d rather have it in my mouth, than over my neck, thank you.”

  “Fair enough!” He laughed, rubbing the tea off her back with a corner of his cloak before it froze. He checked that Hagret was flying out of hearing range. “Come on, Fenni. It’s obvious Gret likes you.”

  “I thought so too. I mean, she even kissed me.”

  “I heard about your ribald antics from the Nightshaders this morning.”

  Fenni snorted. “Hardly ribald. Half a kiss and then that sod Danion had a knife at my back.”

  “I can see how that would interfere with your friendship.”

  “Friendship? With him? More like coercion.”

  Kierion passed him back the tea.

  Fenni took the skin. “Maybe those tharuks were wrong. Maybe no dragons are coming today.”

  “They’ll be here sooner or later—the question is when.” Despite the tea, something cold slithered through Kierion’s belly. Seppi was one of Dragons’ Hold’s most experienced riders, and he’d died confronting a dark dragon. Did Kieron, Fenni and Gret stand a chance?

  §

  The snow was heavier the next day. Only a few horses and carts were about delivering goods. Most people were at home. Even the market was closed, ostensibly due to bad weather. Tharuks stalked the streets as Danion, Kierion and Gret hurried toward the edge of town to meet their dragons. Kierion huffed through his scarf onto his gloved hands, but it made no difference—his fingers were already freezing. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his cloak, but nothing would keep out the bone-chilling cold.

  Danion’s shoulders were hunched against the snow. “Flaming cold. The captain’s even called the crew off the streets.”

  A horde of tharuks stomped down the street, their stench whirling among the blowing snow. Kierion and his companions narrowed to a single file until the monsters passed. It was the strangest feeling to ignore these brutes instead of fighting them, but they’d be fighting soon enough.

  “One thing I’ve been wondering,” Kierion said once they were trudging alongside each other again. “Why is the Nightshader crew’s leader called the captain?”

  “Didn’t you see?” Danion asked.

  “See what?”

  “Above the door in his office,” Fenni replied. “There’s an old piece of ship planking, The Sea Dragon. I think our captain might have been a Naobian sailor. That right?”

  Danion grinned. “Nearly,” he said. “The captain’s a pirate.”

  That explained the black teeth, black humor and hip flask. And the blood-thirsty glint in his eye.

  “Think we’ll see any dark dragons?” Fenni asked. “Yesterday was a waste of time.”

  “Maybe it was only a rumor,” Gret said. “Maybe no dark dragons are coming.”

  “Seppi’s death wasn’t a rumor.” Talking about it made Kierion’s throat tight—a death that could’ve been prevented. His shrotty fault. He forced himself to speak normally. “Dark dragons are out there.”

  “They are,” Danion said. “The tharuks were right. Last night, some of them were sighted to the south. It’s only matter of time.”

  “It’s cold. Are you nearly here?” Riona melded.

  “One more street.”

  Just outside the city, hunched over their dragons, cloaks white with snow, dragon riders were waiting. Kierion strode over to Riona. Her warm breath gusted over him as she butted his stomach. He dusted off her saddle with his gloves, and swung up. Fenni clambered up behind him, while the others climbed into their saddles.

  “Same drill as yesterday,” Danion called, voice muffled by his scarf and the swirling snow.

  They took to the sky, sweeping out toward Great Spanglewood Forest. Not that Kierion could see much other than white. “How do you know where you’re going?” he asked Riona.

  “I have a fabulous sense of direction. I know the landscape as well as the back of my wing.”

  Landscape? It was all white. “Remember, Seppi said those dark dragons’ eyes burn and slice,” Kierion cautioned. “I’m not sure if it’s true, but let’s not risk it.”

  Riona rumbled her assent and shot through the white haze. Fenni’s arms tightened around Kierion’s waist as the dragon beat her wings to gain height. “The higher we are, the more chance we have of taking them by surprise,” Riona explained.

  “And the colder we are,” Kierion retorted.

  “Ask the mage to warm you.”

  “Hey, Fenni, any chance of some heat?” Within moments, Kierion’s back was bathed in a toasty glow. “Not bad. You can come again.”

  Fenni slugged his shoulder. “Might just do that.”

  Kierion would much rather have been tucked up by a warm hearth in his cavern at Dragons’ Hold. The weather was so foul, it was probably snowing there too. He hoped Adelina was warm, not out in the snow. A memory flashed to mind: her standing beside him on the snowy ledge as he held Seppi’s dead body. Kierion’s eyes burned. Gods, how was he ever going to fix that?

  By doing his duty today, even if it was bitterly cold.

  A moment later, a terrifying scream filled Kierion’s head. Kierion gritted his teeth and blinked to clear his vision, but his skull seared with pain. Flame it, he couldn’t think with that racket in his mind.

  Riona’s pain shot through him.

  Fenni’s squeezed his waist in a death grip. “Mind block!”

  “Hold on!” Riona yelled above the noise.

  Kierion broke mind-meld and focused on remembering his home—the roses growing up the trellis, the knotted front door, and yellow curtains in the kitchen windows—but, no matter how much detail he tried to visualize, the screams broke through anyway. He tried again. No good, he’d have to grit his teeth and bear it.

  A glimmer of orange flared in the swirling white below. Riona dove down, talons out. Her descent was too steep for Kierion to nock an arrow. He hung on, Fenni’s arms tight around him.

  Riona shot a stream of fire at a dark shadow. Her flames crackled through the clouds.

  A shadow dragon emerged with a mage on its back. God, the screams—Kierion’s skull was splitting.

  “Holy mage fire!” Fenni cursed. “It’s Velrama.”

  Velrama—the mage who’d been kidnapped by tharuks. How awful to be coerced by Zens.

  Velrama flung out her hands and blasted bolts of green flame at Fenni and Kierion. Riona swerved, and the flame went wide. The shadow dragon roared, charging up at them. Golden beams swept from its eyes past Riona’s belly. The dragon swung its head, the rays striking Riona’s foreleg.

  Riona roared, spouting fire. “Got my leg. Bleeding.”

  “Bleeding? Or burning?” Kierion asked.

  “Feels like both,” Riona replied.

  Kierion snatched his bow and fired an arrow. It struck the dragon in the hind leg. The scream in his head intensified.

  Velrama was at Zens’ command, maybe imbedded with a crystal. Kierion had to help her. But how? Perh
aps if he could capture the dragon…What a crazy idea. He shook his head. It would never work. But the training they’d done, the leap from the tail… Amid a raging snowstorm, with this mad dark dragon and the screaming in his head, who knew what would happen. Was it worth the risk?

  The dark dragon and its mage rider blasted flame at Danion as his dragon swept close. Gret and Hagret, charged, roaring fire. The shadow dragon bucked and writhed.

  Now, while it was busy fighting the others…

  Kierion melded, ignoring the shrieking crescendo in his head. “Riona. I’m going in.” Riona swung away from the fight so they could sneak up from the rear. “Fenni, I’m going in, from the tail.”

  “From the tail? You’re mad.” Fenni leaned to the side so Kierion could turn around and hook a leg past Fenni’s body.

  “Not entirely,” Kierion replied, grabbing Fenni to clamber past him. His knee slipped on Riona’s damp scales. His weight dragged him down.

  Riona listed to one side, counterbalancing as Fenni gripped Kierion under the armpits to stop him from falling. “I knew we were close, but this…”

  Kierion didn’t laugh at the gag. Heart pounding like a battle drum, he clung to Fenni.

  “Come on, Kierion, you’re always up for acrobatics.” Fenni’s words were light, but his green eyes were grave, his grip strong.

  “Sure,” Kierion’s breath whooshed out of him. He made his way to Riona’s next spinal ridge, and the next, as Gret and Danion shot arrows at the dark beast, fire and green mage fire roiling around them.

  When he was finally on Riona’s tail, she sneaked up from behind while the dragon was busy fighting. Kierion clung on with half-frozen hands, hoping his recklessness would pay off. It was worth it if he could save Velrama’s life. Besides, if they could examine the dragon at the hold, they’d glean vital information about Zens’ latest monsters.

  Ahead, Hagret dove in from the side, belching flame at the dark beast. Its flank bristled with Danion’s arrows. Danion’s dragon closed in from the other side.

  Kierion flicked his head around. With no other dark dragons in sight, it was now or never. “Riona, I’m ready.”

  The mighty muscles in her tail quivered and she whipped it up. Kierion let go, sailing through the air. Was he going to make it? Oh gods, the dragon was swerving…

  “Ooph!” Kierion smacked into the side of the beast’s body, flinging an arm around a spinal ridge. The dragon bucked. Kierion scrabbled with his feet, hoisting himself high on the dragon’s back. The beast roared and thrashed. Hagret’s flame seared its maw. Gret’s eyes shot open wide and Hagret backed off. The dark dragon pursued them. Kierion scrambled his way past two spinal ridges until he was high in the saddle behind Velrama. The mage spun. Kierion ducked as a green fireball whistled past his head.

  He whipped a knife out of his belt and held it at Velrama’s neck. “Hello, Velrama. I’m Kierion. I’ve come to help you.”

  The mage snarled and twisted.

  Kierion’s blade pricked her skin, blood running over his hand. “Stay still. Tell your dragon, that if it doesn’t obey, I’ll plunge my blade into its side and jump. Its guts will spill through the air, and you’ll both be impaled on the pines below.” If there were pines below. He couldn’t see a flaming thing.

  Velrama stiffened. The dragon stopped thrashing.

  “Now,” said Kierion, “fly us to Dragons’ Hold.”

  Riona and Fenni closed in, flanking him, staying out of reach. The dark dragon turned and headed northward, through billowing snow.

  Kierion glanced back. Jets of flame flared as shadows flitted through the snowstorm.

  As they flew farther, the screams in his head receded until there was only soft keening. Odd. The dragon’s cry was one of pain. Maybe the screams weren’t weapons, after all? Maybe these poor beasts were expressing their agony.

  Piaua

  It was nearly dusk when Liesar landed near Paolo’s farm. A lone candle winked in the window—a beacon for the boy to come home to. Marlies gave Paolo a tiny pot of her precious healing salve. “Here, this is for your pa’s wound. Now, go straight inside and see your mother. Tharuks are roaming. She won’t rest until she knows you’re safe.”

  “Thanks, Marlies.” Paolo patted Liesar’s foreleg. “And thanks for the flight, Liesar.” He scampered to the house.

  Marlies got out of the saddle and smeared swathes of thick healing salve on the gash in Liesar’s shoulder. The pungent aroma of peppermint, arnica and the faintest tinge of piaua filled the evening air.

  “Where will we sleep tonight?” Leah asked.

  Good question. Marlies was drooping. The piaua juice would have to wait until tomorrow. She pulled herself back into the saddle. “We have a homestead nearby. We’ll sleep there.”

  When they arrived at their farm, Marlies swallowed. She couldn’t believe it. Their home was a charred wreck—razed to the ground. She pressed her fingers against her lips, closing her eyes until the urge to cry passed. All those years of sweet memories, gone.

  “Where to now?” Liesar asked.

  “Ernst and Ana are at Dragons’ Hold. Let’s sleep at their house.”

  They landed near Ana’s vegetable garden, now a tangle of dead weeds and icy patches. Marlies unpacked some food and a waterskin from her dragon’s saddlebags.

  “I need to hunt.” Liesar winged over the river toward the forest.

  Marlies pushed the door open. The house was strewn with debris, smashed furniture and scattered foodstuffs. Sword in hand, she stalked down the hallway. There was blood on the floor in the littling’s bedroom, so Marlies took Leah into the master bedroom.

  Leah let out a heavy sigh and slumped on the bed. “Master Marlies, I hate tharuks. I’ll do anything to fight them. Anything to stop them harming our people.”

  “We need you to keep learning the healing arts. Some people are warriors, others heal those warriors so they can fight again.” She hesitated. “Are you afraid?”

  Leah’s eyes cleared. Her shoulders straightened and she stared at Marlies. “No, Master Marlies. I’m not afraid. When I remember those beasts slashing my parents, I get so angry I want to scream. I’ll do whatever my dragon queen needs.”

  “We desperately need tree speakers,” Marlies said. “How did you discover you had the talent?”

  “Trees have spoken to me all my life.” Leah lay back on the bed and gazed up at the ceiling. “At first, it was a hum. In time, I understood their whispering. On the day the tharuks came, everything sounded… sort of… wrong, like an untuned gittern, but I ignored it, and played in the forest.”

  The day Leah had been injured. Ezaara had told Marlies how the girl had turned up at Dragons’ Hold, limp-locked, bleeding profusely, with her finger hanging by a flap of skin.

  “I’ll never ignore the trees again.” Leah’s throat bobbed once, twice, but she met Marlies’ eyes with a steadfast gaze. “When I returned to my village, tharuks had slaughtered most of my friends and family. I ran through the house, calling their names, but a beast turned on me. I fought the tharuk off with a kitchen knife and managed to get away, but not before it’d gashed my hand with its claw.” She held up her hand, wiggling the stump of her little finger. “With every breath I take, I vow to avenge the deaths of my parents. If I have to fight those monsters with a splinter or my bare nails, I will.”

  “Let’s pray that you never have to fight barehanded,” said Marlies.

  “My sword is sharp and ready,” Leah replied.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” Marlies said, limbs aching. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  A knock sounded at the door.

  “Quick, under the bed. If anything happens to me, escape through the window and run for Liesar.”

  Leah scrambled under the bed, and Marlies tugged the covers so they draped over the bedside.

  She tiptoed to the door, and cracked it open.

  Klaus stood there, scratching his beard and looking awkward. “Marlies, welcome back. I,
uh, need your help. The blue dragons who were supposed to defend our settlement have disappeared.”

  Marlies slipped her knife into its sheath and opened the door. “Come in.” She sighed, dragging her fingers through her hair. “I found them in the forest near the Horn, dead.”

  Klaus huffed out his breath. “Well, I guess that’s that, then.” He shook his head. “What’ll we do if more of those dark dragons come?”

  Marlies frowned. “We’ve only had one dark dragon near Dragons’ Hold. How many have you had here?”

  “Only the two.” Klaus’ shaggy eyebrows dropped down over his eyes. “And they were bad enough. Look at the havoc they wreaked in town. You know, I can’t help but think what would have happened if Zaarusha had never come here for your daughter.” He jabbed a finger at Marlies. “Would tharuks have stayed away from Lush Valley, too?”

  Although she’d been wondering that very same thing, something snapped inside Marlies. “Zaarusha came here to imprint with my daughter so Ezaara could lead Dragons’ Realm in protecting people like you, Klaus. People who’ve lived in ignorance, never knowing the threats that the rest of the realm faces.” She jabbed her own finger toward him. “Ezaara and Zaarusha did not cause this invasion. It was Commander Zens and his tharuks.” She turned and stalked back to the bedroom.

  Klaus’ chest heaved. “So that’s it? That’s all the help I get?”

  Marlies didn’t bother to answer. She shut the bedroom door, leaning against the wood, and sighed, “It’s all right. You can come out.”

  Leah scrambled out from under the bad and sat on it, smiling at Marlies.

  Moments later, Klaus knocked at the bedroom door, the reverberations running through Marlies’ spine. Marlies’ waved a hand at Leah to stay seated and opened the door. “If dark dragons come, Klaus, I’ll fight them from the air on dragonback, but if I do, I’ll need someone to look after Leah.”