Embers at Galdrilene (28 page)

Serena frowned slightly, her tea forgotten in her hand. “It sounds like it’s a good thing all around, but there are always disadvantages to everything.”

Emallya sighed. “If a rider’s dragon dies, the rider goes through Separation. I am one of only a handful throughout history that survived Separation. Dragons fare even worse when they lose their riders. We are what anchor them to this world. Losing a bondmate is almost as painful as losing a dragon.”

Maleena asked quietly, “Is it worth it?”

Emallya smiled. “Yes, it is worth it. Both the dragon and the bondmate.”

The man that helped Emallya from the lake walked into the room. His shoulder length hair was dark as were his eyes. A long, jagged scar left a twisted path down one side of his face from temple to jaw. More scars crisscrossed his arms. He sat next to Emallya and she turned to him with a smile. He took her hand and brushed a kiss across it. Emallya turned her attention back to Kirynn and her companions. “This is my bondmate, Bardeck Darshan.”

As everyone offered greetings and introductions, Marda came through the door again, this time with plates and food for Emallya and Bardeck.

Kellinar poured another cup of coffee, adding generous amounts of cream and honey. “So how is it this place is here? All the stories say it was destroyed, along with everyone living here, five hundred years ago.”

Bardeck nodded. “Yes, that is what the stories say. Obviously, the stories and the truth have never gotten together to compare notes. In truth, by the time anyone thought to come looking, they became lost and unable to find it.”

Curious, Kirynn leaned forward. “Why would they be unable to find it?”

Emallya dished up vegetables, bread, cheese and slices of meat before she answered, “Almost a hundred years passed before anyone tried to come looking. For the most part, the knowledge of how to get here was lost during that time. For those who did still know, there are protections set around these mountains that interfered with the ability to find us. Of those who lived in the city, very few survived. Those that did were within the walls of the Dragon Hold during the last battle.

“Of the Guardians, only Bardeck, a man named Clem, and myself remained. Clem’s dragon was killed in the last battle. He did not survive Separation. What was left of Galdrilene was so fragile and vulnerable; I could not take the chance of any kind of attack. So I and the few Spirit mages left kept everyone away. When no one could find us, the world assumed Galdrilene and all who lived here had perished.”

“It must have been difficult for those of you that survived,” Maleena said, compassion in her eyes and voice.

Emallya nodded. “It was, everyone lost so much. The town’s folk lost families, homes, and livestock. Most of the city was razed to the ground. Bardeck and I, we had our home, but like the others, our city was lost, our friends were lost. It weighed heavily on us.”

Bardeck pushed his chair back from the table. “Enough about the sadness of the past, it cannot be changed. Instead let us focus on the joy of this night. We have so many gathered to Hatch. This should be a cause for celebration. I would offer all of you a good night’s sleep, but even I can feel the impatient pull of the unhatched draclets. I’m afraid once you are this close to the eggs after the song has been sung for so long, there is no waiting.”

Emallya nodded and stood. “Right now you do not feel too much discomfort, but try to ignore them for much longer and they will make their close proximity known. Come, it is time for the Hatching.”

They filed out of the room and followed her through several long halls cut from the rock of the mountain. Kirynn prided herself on her sense of direction, but they made so many turns in the relatively unvaried landscape of rock halls within the earth, she wasn’t sure she could find her way out if her life depended on it.

They came to a stop in front of two large, heavy doors. Emallya turned to them. “Beyond this door a future you cannot yet comprehend awaits you. Within is a very large chamber with a circle of eggs in the center. Though the chamber is large only those Hatching and a couple of witnesses are allowed. Hatching is a personal thing.

“Once we open the door, Bardeck and I will step aside. You must step through the doorway and into the chamber of your own free will. Once you are in the chamber the compulsion to bond with your dragon will overcome you. You must be absolutely sure this is the path you wish to take and accept the offered gift of the bond without reservation. If you feel any doubt at all, turn and walk away from this door. At the end of the hall you will find someone ready to guide you from the Dragon Hold. No shame will be on you for your refusal. Shame can only be found in a false acceptance.”

T
ogether, Bardeck and Emallya pulled the doors open. Inside, glowing orbs of light hanging high in the air lit the chamber. Gathered in a circle in the chamber’s center sat six large eggs, their shells colored red, green, blue, yellow, silver and gold. They gleamed in the light so much they almost appeared to be lit from within. The chamber reverberated with the humming of the eggs. In here, the Dragon Song could be heard by all. The sound was so beautiful it brought tears to Kirynn’s eyes.

Without hesitation she stepped through the doorway followed by her companions. Transfixed by the red egg, Kirynn found herself drawn to it beyond anything she could resist. She walked across the chamber as if in a trance. As she neared the egg the desire to reach out and touch it overwhelmed her. She didn’t try to fight it. She wanted it more than she had ever wanted anything. Her hand trembling, she reached out. Time seemed to slow and stretch. Then her fingers touched the satiny shell.

The room rocked and fell away.

Images swirled around her. A wide stairway led to a massive, intricately carved archway. A red dragon roared and leaped into the sky. The city of Galdrilene, full and undamaged, shrank away as the dragon soared higher. Kirynn felt the sheer joy of life and flight.

Everything swirled and she felt the aching loss of comrades fallen in battle. Again everything swirled and the images came faster, flickering from one to another in quick succession. A black dragon took to the sky, evil spreading like a cloud beneath its wings. Kojen tore through the ranks of human armies; cities were aflame with fire that burned stone and wood alike. Ashes covered the ruins of villages where people wandered, weeping. A rainbow of dragons lay dead in an open field, their riders strung by their hands from poles. Another black dragon–this one flying at her with its mouth open. Sickly, green fire washed over her and everything went dark.

The images faded, but the feeling of devastating loss lingered. Unrestrained, unconditional love washed over Kirynn. The smooth stone floor pressed against her hands and knees as she sobbed under the flood of emotions. She opened her eyes. A piece of pale red shell rested on the smooth stone floor between her hands.

She raised her head. Amid the pieces of broken shell lay a young dragon. Covered in soft, gleaming red scales and surrounded by large, awkward, leathery wings, it was about the size of a large pony. Deep green eyes fixed on her. Never had Kirynn seen anything so beautiful or wonderful as the creature in front of her. She was aware of the other young dragons around the chamber, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from her own long enough to look.

The draclet tried to take a step forward and fell in an ungraceful tangle of wings and tail. After some struggle, the draclet righted herself and managed to haphazardly fold her wings, though the tips still dragged the ground.

Hunger. The need to appease a gnawing and growing hunger shimmered clearly in Kirynn’s mind. She reached out and stroked the soft scales comfortingly, and looked around wondering what she was supposed to feed the young dragon. She noticed the others were looking around in the same manner.

Emallya beckoned to them. “Bardeck will take you out to the feeding grounds.”

The six companions and their young dragons made an awkward and ungainly parade as they followed Bardeck from the chamber through a different set of doors than they had entered. Kirynn took a moment to look around at her companions and their draclets. Ahead, Vaddoc’s eyes were glued, even as he walked, to the gold draclet at his side. Kellinar seemed equally as enthralled with the blue he had bonded with. Behind her, Mckale, Maleena and Serena walked with their draclets colored green, silver and yellow. Each young dragon was stunningly beautiful, each with eyes that matched their rider’s in color. Kirynn turned her eyes back to the red walking beside her and was almost overwhelmed at the perfect beauty of the creature.

The hall was long and devoid of any other doors or openings to other passageways. It curved gently upwards until it let out onto the field with the lake. Along the wall of the ridge several yards from the door, carcasses of deer and cattle were laid out on the ground.

Bardeck motioned them toward the grisly scene. “For the first week they have to be fed freshly killed animals. After that they will be big enough and strong enough to kill their own food. Nothing so large as a cow, they will start out on sheep and goats. They won’t be able to conquer the larger animals until they are bigger.”

When they were within several feet of the freshly killed meat the young dragons broke away from their newly bonded riders and rushed forward. Planting their taloned front feet on the carcasses, they used their powerful jaws and razor sharp teeth to rend the meat and flesh into pieces small enough to swallow.

As the eating went on, Kirynn began to worry the draclets might eat too much and bring harm to themselves. When she put the question to Bardeck, he shook his head. “The draclets will eat until they have completely gorged themselves. They will do this several times a day for several weeks. They will grow at an astounding rate during this time. Even after their growth has slowed they will eat ravenously twice a day until mature in size. Once they are mature they will only need to eat every few days.”

Kirynn nodded. “So they are not like horses and dogs that will eat themselves sick if allowed.”

Again Bardeck shook his head. “No, they are not. Even a newly hatched dragon is as intelligent as a human. A mature dragon is more so. Do not ever make the mistake of underestimating a dragon or thinking of them as nothing more than a beast of burden like a horse. They should always be treated as equals, never less.”

Kirynn couldn’t imagine ever thinking of her draclet as nothing more than a beast of burden. From the moment of the Hatching, their souls, minds, and hearts were bound tightly together. Life without her dragon bond would be at best, a half-life. She looked at the small red dragon tearing apart a deer and smiled fondly. The dragon needed a name. What would the little red think of the name Syrakynn?

“I like it very much.”
The words came clearly into her mind. For a moment she was shocked the young dragon could speak to her in that manner. It should have been strange having the dragon inside her mind, dwelling in her thoughts, but it wasn’t. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“Syrakynn it is then,”
Kirynn sent back.

After several more minutes of feeding the young dragons staggered away from their meal. There was barely enough left to call scraps. Bardeck beckoned them to follow him and spoke to the group. “Once your young dragon has eaten, make sure it spends some time in the lake cleaning its scales. For newly hatched and very young dragons the scales are soft and pliable, and blood is not an issue. Once the scales harden, blood left underneath or on them for too long a time can damage them. A few days, if there is no choice is fine, but it’s best if the habit of cleaning right after feeding is started early.