Dragon Bonds (Return of the Darkening Series Book 3) (24 page)

F
rom the massive
dragon’s back, a measured even voice reached Seb and me. “You have seen sense at last.”

The black dragon’s wings moved in a blur. Looking up, I could see Lord Vincent, with his pale skin and his trimmed beard, looking paler and even more skeletal than before. He seemed tiny on that huge dragon’s back, but I wondered if the Darkening was sapping him of all real vitality and natural life. Or was it that he was trying to control too much?

“Lord Vincent.” I gave a small bow that helped to hide the disgust that was crawling inside me. Whatever he was, he had been the cause of far too much heartache and pain.

“Little Flamma, heart full of fire as always.”
Lord Vincent gave a low laugh as if he sensed my revulsion and it meant nothing to him.
“
Pride, always such pitiful pride in your frail, weak bodies.”
I knew then it was not Lord Vincent talking, it was something else, something that inhabited his skin. I could feel it in the darkness that crept out from him, stealing the very warmth from the air, pulling the life from all around.

“We wish to discuss terms,” I called out.

Lord Vincent smiled. “You have those already. But now I will give you new ones. Surrender is not enough. Lay down all weapons, and you will kneel before me with the head of the usurper upon a pike.”

I cleared my throat and leaned forward to put a hand on Seb’s shoulder. “Lord Vincent doesn’t see what you do, Seb. Perhaps you can make his dragon see?” I hoped Seb would get my message.

He did.

A sudden wave of nausea gripped me as Seb gathered his Dragon Affinity. He blasted it out in a wild punch that left me reeling.

Lord Vincent started as if prodded, and his dragon swayed. He turned to look at Seb. “Is that really the best that you can do, little man?” I could feel him gathering his own dark strength.

Lord Vincent reached a hand up to the three chains around his neck—the Memory Stone, the Healing Stone and the Armor Stone. He wore all three and thought himself invulnerable. He thought he was protected from harm—he was the arrogant one here, the one filled with too much pride.

But his focus had slipped to Seb and away from me.

Reaching into the leather pouch, I touched the King’s Dragon Stone—now we would find out if it really did control the other stones. I send an image of fire melting armor—and then I let go of it and grabbed for an arrow.

The truce banner was in fact my long bow. I nocked an arrow, drew back the string and loosed it.

The arrow flew straight and true, crossing the shortened distance in a second before lodging in Lord Vincent’s neck. We’d done it—we’d gotten past the powers of the Armor Stone. But Lord Vincent still had the Healing Stone as well.

“Now, Seb. Strike out now!” I shouted.

Seb put out his hands and reached out with his Dragon Affinity. The call to every dragon to our aid echoed in my head.

A terrible, whining scream broke from Seb.

Kalax roared and I heard the sound echoed by other dragons. I wasn’t sure it would be enough help. I started to reach for the King’s Dragon Stone, but I checked the move. I could end up killing Seb and Kalax, as well as my father and brother, and myself. And I wasn’t certain it would stop the Darkening.

The First Rider had only managed to defeat the Darkening—but it had returned. I had to make certain I ended this forever.

With a flash of a white hand, Lord Vincent pulled the arrow from his throat. He clutched at the Healing Stone on his chest, using its power to close the wound, which was gushing dark, red blood.

Seb was calling out and sending waves of affinity, luring some of the wild dragons to us, breaking the hold over the other dragons. I glanced down to see fights breaking out in the ranks of the enemy as dragons suddenly switched sides and started to attack those still with the enemy.

Lord Vincent gave a laugh. I looked up to see his dark eyes fix on me. “You think you can hurt me? A girl with a bow and a boy who thinks he can talk to dragons.” His voice echoed, deep and dark. “I have lived for millennia. I am the ghost that haunts all your nightmares! The kingdoms are all rightfully mine—and will be again forever!”

I knew it must be the Darkening speaking, incensed now that we had struck at it.

But I had something else in mind.

Concentrating, I thought of Beris’ name.

I had no natural Dragon Affinity, but Seb had taught me that the affinity could be learned. We had flow together, and I could sense just a little of Beris and Gaxtal. I sent an image of the Memory Stone that hung, even now, around Lord Vincent’s neck.

A whisper of thought returned back to me from Beris. In that moment, I knew he had not betrayed us, not like my father had. He’d sought to do what we were doing now—to get close to Lord Vincent.

Gaxtal suddenly lurched, his neck stretched forward. With a twist and a sharp lash of his tail, Gaxtal snapped at Lord Vincent like a darting snake. Lord Vincent turned, but too late. Gaxtal snapped the chains from around Lord Vincent’s neck.

Two of the stones tumbled to the ground, but I had no idea which two of the three. And would that be enough?

Lord Vincent gave a sharp cry and the black dragon he rode twisted one massive head and snapped at Beris. Gaxtal closed his wings and dropped, trying to save Beris, but I saw the blood flow, and then they were gone from sight, tumbling to the city below us.

Seb continued to reach out with the force of his Dragon Affinity. I could see other wild dragons start to rise from the outskirts of the city, flying toward us. I glanced at Lord Vincent. He was turning on us now, pulling his sword—ready to kill us if he could.

With a roar like thunder, the king’s dragons reached us and smashed into the enemy dragons. The sky seemed filled with dragons—with teeth and roars and slashing tails and claws.

“Thea—flee!” I heard the shout and glanced over and saw Reynalt’s green dragon descend to attack Lord Vincent’s huge black dragon. He was no match for that immense monster, but Kalax twisted away, wings spread, heading for Mount Hammal.

Fly, Kalax, fly!
I urged her on.

She roared in response. But I could sense something was terribly wrong.

Below us the towers and rooftops of the city swept past. A shadow fell hard against Kalax’s mind—even I could feel that.

Glancing at Seb, I saw he was clinging to his saddle. From what I could see of his face, he’d gone pale as winter snow. Blood splashed back at him—his nose was bleeding. I’d seen this before when he’d stretched his Dragon Affinity too far. The effort to break the Darkening’s control over the dragons was taking its toll. Glancing back, I couldn’t tell who was winning—the sky seemed filled with dragons, dragon fire and death.

We’ve lost.

The thought hit me hard, but Kalax’s thoughts struck me even harder.
The King’s Dragon Stone—all must act, not just you.

Suddenly, I knew just what she meant.

Mordecai had said that together we could do anything. The Darkening wouldn’t understand that. It was alone—it wanted control of those around it. It didn’t want to share anything with anyone.

And the First Rider—he had used the power by himself. That was why he’d died—why I’d almost died, too.

I glanced around, looking for Varla and Merik on Feradima. The other dragons were converging on Mount Hammal, circling over the dragon enclosure, summoned by Seb’s affinity.

Together,
Kalax thought at me again.

She landed on the ridge above Mount Hammal, not far from Commander Hegarty’s grave. A shadow fell over us. I looked up to see Lord Vincent on his huge dragon. I didn’t know where my brother Reynalt or my father were, but Lord Vincent still clutched one stone of power.

“Thea!” Merik shouted at me. He waved at Seb’s limp form. “Is he hurt?”

“I’ll kill you all!”
The scream came from Lord Vincent.

I waved for Feradima to land next to Kalax and shouted out, “Together. We have to act as one.” Dropping my bow, I pulled out the King’s Dragon Stone. I no longer feared Lord Vincent would take it from me. But he would indeed feel its power.

The stone changed at once from gray to glowing, pulsing with waves of heat and light. I reached over to grasp Seb’s shoulder.

“Thea.” Seb’s voice was weak, but I could feel his courage, strong and bright as the stone. His Dragon Affinity flooded into me. Beside us, Feradima landed. Merik and Varla swapped a glance, then swung out of their saddles and came over to press their hands against Kalax’s side.

I glanced over and saw Gaxtal, barely able to fly. But he came for us, carrying Beris and Syl, too, now. With a shudder, Gaxtal landed. Beris stayed in the saddle, unmoving in his harness, but Syl, eyes bright, swung down and put one hand on Beris’ leg and one on Seb’s.

Together. Family.

I didn’t know if the thought came from me, or Seb, or Kalax, or the voice of the King’s Dragon Stone itself. But this was how it had always been meant to be used—the Dragon Stones and the Dragon Affinity, and even the King’s Dragon Stone. We were a part of one thing, one world…one life. We had to learn to act together—or we would all die.

A roar made me look up. The huge black dragon was driving down onto us—we had but one last chance. Closing my eyes, I gave myself to the fire.

Fire…fire in the sky and in the heart.

Fire in the depths of the earth.

Fire in the heart of the sky.

Fire that binds us all. Fire that lights the day and banishes dark.

My hand burned, but the fire spread out from me this time, filling me, spreading to Varla and Merik, to Syl and Seb. It washed into the dragons.

Even with my eyes closed, I could see the King’s Dragon Stone pulsing. Waves of heat and light exploded outward.

I heard a scream, which I knew to be Lord Vincent’s last cry.

Fire brighter than the light surrounded him. It flashed as it struck the Dragon Stone he held. The wind hit, spilling out from us, sending every dragon in the sky tumbling.

Kalax and Feradima wrapped their bodies and tails around us, pulling Gaxtal into that circle, sheltering us under their wings. I felt as if I was fire—fire and light and as if I might forever fall into that brightness.

But I could feel Seb stir under my touch, and Varla shifted and muttered something, and Merik gave a soft groan. Syl slumped against Kalax.

The world became quite again. Slowly, I opened my eyes.

The sky was blue and the sun shone.

The Darkening had been vanquished.

Forever, I hoped.

O
ne of the
many problems of surviving is trying to figure out if it’s time to rejoice or time to mourn? Thea didn’t seem to know any more than I did. We also faced the question of what should be rebuilt—the old life, with all of its faults, or should we start anew?

After the battle, all of us stood on what was left of Mount Hammal for a long time, too numb to talk or do anything but sway in the breeze. For the first time in ages, I couldn’t feel any dragons—it was as if the affinity had been burnt out of me. Or used too much. At least Thea hadn’t passed out from using the King’s Dragon Stone. It, too, had stopped glowing for once. We all swapped looks and, without saying anything, Thea went over to Commander Hegarty’s grave and tucked the King’s Dragon Stone into the pile of rocks that made up the cairn. It looked like just an ordinary rock there.

Then we went to look after Beris.

There was nothing we could do for him, and the Healing Stone was not to be found—although later, we discovered the Memory Stone and the Armor Stone in the ruins of the city and gave them to the dragons to hide and keep, since the riders had not done well with that. Without the Healing Stone, we could only give Beris a hero’s grave. We built a cairn next to Commander Hegarty, and Gaxtal stayed beside Beris for three days and three nights.

The rest of us trudged down to the Academy.

With Lord Vincent and the Darkening gone, the king’s forces were able to run off a confused group of Wildmen and Southern raiders who no longer wished to fight. It took weeks, still, to clear the city. It was taking even longer to rebuild. The king wasn’t all that happy with how we had acted on our own—but he couldn’t exactly punish the people who had saved his realm. Besides, he had bigger problems. The nobles turned out to be one big headache. For too long, they had been allowed to live in their manor estates, while others struggled to make a living. It was an inequality that no longer existed—everyone had to work to rebuild the city, or they could go elsewhere. That was one decision that King Justin made that I approved of.

Dealing with the Wildmen was another problem that arose.

Thorri arrived on the day after the second battle for Torvald. For all their rough ways, the Wildmen set to work at once to help with the rebuilding. They were strong and once others got over their fears, the Wildmen proved to be not just skilled hunters, but they had all the old stories we had lost. They had them in their memories and now it was just a matter of writing them down in books again.

But the Wildmen weren’t looking to move back north, not until they had better access to trade routes and access to the rich farmlands. The king didn’t seem inclined to deny them our friendship—a wise move.

But more than a few grumbled.

Trying to sort everything out, King Justin put Commander Ryan in charge of the Dragon Riders, and we were put in charge of both nobles and refugees. Life seemed to become endless meetings to attend and arguments to sort out. All the time, I kept looking for my family—just as I knew Thea was searching for her own.

It had been my idea to open the terraces in the city where the worst of the war had hit, turning them into parks, farms and communal orchards. It took a full year, but the trees were now blooming with their first buds and it seemed a step in the right direction.

A few noble families had either died out in the battle or fled, never to return. The king ordered the land to be farmed and worked to feed anyone in need of a meal. That went a long way to helping settle a few more Wildmen and gave the refugees something to focus on other than those they had lost.

One refugee I had not been expecting to ever see again had been none other than my father. He had fled the city and stumbled upon the king’s forces when they were heading north. He’d been with them during the Darkening’s attack. By what I heard, he’d devoted himself to mending what armor he could, repairing harness for the Dragon Riders, and even forged new blades from scrap metal. The work seemed to have done him good, for he had not touched a drink in all that time. When I met up with him after finding my stepmother and my sister again, my father seemed a man I could admire, and that was a strange, new feeling.

There was much sadness we couldn’t avoid, and the biggest loss was that of Beris.

Both Gaxtal and Syl were still mourning. For a time, it seemed as if Gaxtal would head to the enclosure, which had been reclaimed by our dragons, never to fly again. But Mordecai urged Syl to find Gaxtal a new rider. And Feradima, who had bonded with Gaxtal on our travels, pushed at the blue to do what she had done and choose again.

It was a happy surprise when Syl’s dragon sought out none other than Beris’ younger sister, who was now old enough to learn the ways of a protector.

Thea was helping her with that—and she had almost given up on searching for her father and brother. No one really wanted to speak of them. The king said Thea’s father and brother had died trying to save Thea, and that was that. But Lady Flamma had been found alive and still living in the Flamma household. She was not quite as boisterous as she had once been, or so Thea said. But Lady Flamma installed herself as advisor to the king, acting as something between a godmother and a steward, running the royal household and organizing state affairs. It was a role perfectly suited to her and it seemed to ease her grief, although, she, like Thea, often took long walks along the ruined mountain paths.

The top of Mount Hammal had been blown apart by the King’s Dragon Stone, it seemed. Something none of us had noticed at the time. Those who had seen it said it was like the heavens opening and every storm happening at once.

I didn’t remember that, and Thea wouldn’t speak of that day. Varla kept saying one day she would write a story, but Merik and Seb said they didn’t want to remember much of it.

Gradually, my affinity came back to me and when I asked Kalax about that day, she simply said,
Together
. That was all she would say.

That was probably enough, for we had work to do to rebuild the Academy.

Mordecai became the new commander, and he didn’t let a day pass without telling us we were lucky the King’s Dragon Stone held within it the power to heal and protect. He didn’t see how else we could have survived. No one, thankfully, asked where the King’s Dragon Stone had gone.

For myself, I often went to Commander Hegarty’s grave just to sit. Dragon eggs had hatched and new cadets had been chosen by the young dragons. Training would soon take up most of our days.

That pleased me.

On this morning, Thea had come up with me to see where the dragons were digging out new tunnels and caves. Scratch and Hiss had decided to stay with us and were arguing over their new caves. Scratch kept carrying in dried branches and Hiss kept throwing them out. Kalax had dug herself a new cave, closer to the hot springs.

Come next spring, another choosing would take place. Only this time, we’d have a batch of black dragons in the mix. A few Southern Realm dragons had also stayed, making Commander Hegarty’s dream of someday adding new bloodlines into our dragons a reality.

As I stood on the ridge, looking out over the new enclosure, one of the new cadets—just chosen by his dragon—called up to us from the path below. “Instructor Seb? Instructor Thea? We have a question about rebuilding the Dragon Academy and just where the foundations for the map tower should be placed.”

I glanced down. The cadet wasn’t alone. He had two other cadets with him. Their faces looked pinched and a little worried. The winter wasn’t quite ready to let go and the air still carried a bite of cold. But they also looked as eager as we must have once looked.

For now, I slipped my hand around Thea’s and pulled her closer to my side. Together we headed down the path. And in my mind, I heard soft amusement from Kalax as she thought of us as teachers for the young.