The Hearts of Dragons (29 page)

Minawë jolted awake.
Something was wrong, out of place. No, someone was out of place.

Iren was gone.

She raced out of the cavern
where they’d been resting. It was the middle of the night. Stars and a sliver
of moon filled the sky.

Her eyes darted over the
landscape. At last she spied the form of a man walking away from the cave. He
must have left just a few seconds ago, because he was only a hundred feet from
her.

“Iren!”

The man stopped. “I
didn’t want to wake you,” he said without turning around.

That voice, at once
familiar and foreign, took Minawë aback. She choked up as she asked, “Does this
mean you’re going back to Melwar?”

He didn’t answer right
away. Minawë’s breath caught in her throat. The only reason Iren could have for
not answering was if that answer were yes.

She wouldn’t allow it.
She couldn’t allow it. She reached for the Chloryoblaka, but in her haste,
she’d left it in the cavern. If she went to get it, Iren would be gone by the
time she returned.

Iren looked at the sky.
Minawë found herself following his gaze. The stars here were different than
those she had seen from the canopy of Ziorsecth. They made her realize how far
she had come since leaving her forest home.

At great length Iren
lowered his eyes and, to Minawë’s relief, faced her. “No,” he said, “Hana
admitted to Rondel’s accusation about the Karyozaki. I risked my life to seal
away Feng. The world was free of him, and Melwar brought him back just to
fulfill his outdated wish for Maantec dominance. I can’t return to him, knowing
that.”

“Then that means you’re
coming back with us!” The words sounded desperate even to her. “You only came
out here for some fresh air.”

Iren shook his head. “I
can’t go with you. Rondel would never allow it. Right now she’s helpless. I
doubt she has enough magic to cast Lightning Sight, let alone hit me with a
spell like what she used today. Give her a few days, though, and she’ll have
enough magic to challenge me again.”

Minawë’s heart beat
faster. She could barely breathe. “Where will you go?” she asked. “We’re in the
middle of nowhere.”

“I don’t know yet. All I
know is that, for the moment, I need to be alone.”

“But why?” Minawë cried.
“Why do you need to be alone? We’re your friends, Iren! We came all the way
across Raa to bring you home.”

“Maybe you did,” Iren
said, “but Rondel didn’t. You heard her today. She came knowing she would kill
me. That was always the purpose of your journey. You just helped her get here.
It’s hard to swallow, I know, but she used you.”

His cynical tone cut
deeper than a sword. Minawë wanted to lash out at him, to scream, to tell him
he was being a moron, but she couldn’t speak. She stood frozen to the ground.

“I trusted Amroth,” Iren
continued, “and he used me to gain power. I trusted Rondel, and she murdered my
parents. I trusted Melwar and Hana, and they planned to turn me into a puppet
emperor. I’ve tried over and over again to trust others, and every time, I’m
betrayed. That’s why I’m better off alone.” He put his back to her and started
walking again.

Minawë’s fists shook
with rage. This time she found her voice. “What about me?” she demanded. “How
have I betrayed you?”

Iren stopped again.
“Where did you fight today?” he asked.

“The same place as you,”
she snapped.

“Then you should
understand. When I moved to attack Rondel, you shielded her with your own
body.”

“Because I don’t want
either of you to die! Because I love you both!”

Iren whipped around.
Minawë thought she’d broken through to him, but then he lowered his head and
shook it. “You can’t love us both,” he said, “and it’s pointless for you not to
want one of us to die.”

He looked Minawë in the
eye. Even in the dark, she could see the determination on his face. “I am going
to kill Rondel,” he declared. “She murdered my parents. I won’t forgive her for
that. I wasn’t strong enough today, but I’ll keep training until I am.”

“So you’ll choose
revenge?” Minawë asked. “I told you before that revenge can’t make you happy.
It can’t make anyone happy.”

“You think I care about
happiness? My happiness vanished eighteen years ago when Rondel took away my
parents.”

“I tried to stop you
today. What if I do that again?”

Iren looked her up and
down. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not, but I do still care for you.
That’s why I’m walking away tonight. I could have killed Rondel while she was
helpless. I held back on your account. But I will fight her again; that’s a
promise. If you get in my way when that day comes, I’ll kill you as well.”

Minawë felt lightheaded.
She knew what she had to say next. “If that’s how you feel,” she told him,
“then you’ve turned into the very person you despise so much. If you kill
Rondel, you’ll do to me what she did to you. Is that what you want? For me to
wind up like you? I’d have to kill you then! And when I did, surely someone
would mourn your loss. Balear, perhaps? He would come after me. The cycle will
never stop.”

“So stop it. When I kill
Rondel, let me go.”

“How can I do that?
She’s—”

“Your mother?” Iren
finished. “Exactly.”

Hot tears flooded
Minawë’s eyes. This wasn’t the Iren who had rescued her from the Quodivar. This
wasn’t the Iren who had become the Dragoon to protect everyone from Feng. That
Iren was gone.

She should kill him. It
horrified her that the thought came so readily, yet she knew it was the right
thing to do. If she let him live, he would become more dangerous even than Iren
Saito.

Iren put his back to
Minawë once more. This was her only chance. He wouldn’t expect an attack. There
was no way he had recovered from his fight with Rondel. Granted, Minawë wasn’t
in perfect condition herself, but she could manage it. She wouldn’t need the
Chloryoblaka. She could channel magic into the ground, make a vine sprout
beneath Iren, and pierce him with poison needles before he knew what was
happening.

She could do it. She
should do it. Mother would have done it. Both of her mothers would have done
it.

As Iren walked away,
Minawë stayed where she was. She watched him shrink. Finally he vanished into
the night.

Minawë fell to her knees
and wept.

*   *   *

From the cavern
entrance, Rondel saw Iren disappear. She saw her daughter collapse. Her lips
pursed.

Any lingering doubts she
might have had were gone. Evil must be annihilated. It had escaped her this
time, but next time it would not. She and Iren would fight again. When they
did, Iren Saitosan would die.

Thank you for reading
The Hearts of Dragons
.
Keep reading for a sneak peak at
The Flames of Dragons
, the third and final
book in the
Dragoon Saga
, coming 2016!

They should have come
back by now.

Prince Narunë stared out
from the southern border of Aokigahara Rainforest. He wiped the sweat from his
face, not that the action did any lasting good. More just dripped in his eyes.

But he needed them
clear. He couldn’t afford to miss even the smallest sign.

A month had passed since
Minawë and Rondel had left the forest and entered enemy territory. Shikari
wasn’t that big. With the speeds those two could travel, they should have
needed only a couple days to cross it and reach Hiabi. At most, they should
have been gone a week.

They should have come
back by now.

Narunë studied Shikari’s
cracked, karst topography, his position putting him inches away from death. The
tip of his nose almost broke the final band of leaves between the rainforest
and the bleak land beyond. If he took even a single step forward, he would
leave the forest. In that moment, the curse Iren Saito had cast on Narunë’s
people would claim his life.

He had no choice. He had
to be this close in order to see anything. Aokigahara had dense plants at every
level. In most places visibility was only a few feet.

At least Shikari wasn’t
like that. As long as Narunë could see past the rainforest’s boundary, he could
observe miles of territory. Shikari was desolate, a sharp land of craggy peaks,
deep crevasses, and scrubby plants. A trio of people approaching would be
visible for miles.

That made it all the
more frustrating that no such trio had yet appeared.

They should have come
back by now.

Narunë had long pictured
their reunion in his mind. They would run up to him, and his niece would hug
him the way she had when they’d parted.

There were other Kodamas
along the border watching for Minawë and her friends, but Narunë hoped he saw
them first. He wanted to meet this Maantec boy Minawë had traveled across a
continent to find.

Today would be the day
they returned. He was sure of it. Nothing had happened to them. Rondel Thara
was the most powerful Maantec in a thousand years, and Minawë was stronger
still. She didn’t know it, but she’d already surpassed her father Otunë.

As the day wore on
though, Minawë and Rondel didn’t appear. When Shikari darkened with sunset,
Narunë gave up his vigil for the day. He stalked deeper into the rainforest and
rejoined his companions to set up camp.

The group looked as wild
as the forest. Their green hair matched the jungle’s leaves, and their leather
clothes matched its bark. Tattoos of rainforest animals adorned every exposed
inch of skin. None wore swords, but each carried a bow on his back and a
machete at his hip.

They were Narunë’s
finest scouts. He’d hand-picked them to accompany Minawë and Rondel to Shikari,
and they’d all sworn they wouldn’t leave until the journeying pair returned.

For the first week
they’d been excited. They’d told fanciful stories and placed bets as to what
might be happening in Shikari.

That enthusiasm had
vanished in recent days. Now, as Narunë and his squad passed around supper
bowls, there was no conversation. The Kodamas ate in brooding silence. Narunë
could guess what they were thinking. Oath or no oath, how much longer were they
going to stay out here, waiting for people who might be dead?

Narunë was halfway
through his stew when a rustling behind him made him pause. He tensed,
immediately on alert. Things in the jungle didn’t make noise without reason,
not if they enjoyed living. The air was still and heavy. Not a trace of wind
passed through the forest floor that could have made the sound.

The Kodaman prince
glanced around at his companions. They were all as focused as he was. Narunë
stood and faced the sound, but he could see nothing. Between the dense brush,
the darkness of evening, and the campfire that had ruined his night vision, he
was blind.

Fortunately, there was
more than one way to see in the forest, at least for Narunë. He placed his palm
against a nearby tree and connected his magic to it, feeling the forest around
him through its roots.

He only needed to touch
the tree’s smooth bark a few seconds before he figured out what had made the
sound. He laughed aloud, a bellowing cry that made him wink his right eye when
he did it.

“Minawë!” he shouted.
“Rondel! You’re back! We’re over here!”

A rustling of leaves
followed, and then a high-pitched female voice whined, “Make me sit in a cave
for a month, then drag me back to the forest after dark. Honestly, children
these days have no respect for their parents at all. I’m going to trip over a
root and break my neck.”

Narunë laughed again.
That voice could only belong to Rondel. Better still, her complaining meant she
was in a good mood.

But as Rondel emerged
into the circle of firelight, Narunë’s laughter died. The silver-haired Maantec
glared at the Kodaman prince with cold eyes that sparked with Lightning Sight.

Behind Rondel came
Minawë. When Narunë saw his niece’s face, any lingering joy he might have felt
at their reunion fled. Her emerald eyes bore just as frosty an expression as
Rondel’s. Even though a month had passed since she’d seen her uncle, she didn’t
say a word to him. She kept her gaze fixed on Rondel.

Rondel walked up to
Narunë. With her diminutive frame, the crone had to bend her neck back to look
him in the face. “It’s been a long time,” she said. Her voice was friendly, but
the blue sparks leaping across her irises told Narunë the tone was false. “I’m
sure a lot’s happened to you since we left. Walk with me, and let’s swap
stories. Minawë, we’ll be right back. Why don’t you stay here and warm
yourself? It looks like they’re just sitting down to eat. You must be starving.
I’m sure they’ll share with you.”

Narunë caught the hint.
“That’s a good idea, Minawë. We’ll catch up when Rondel and I return. Boys,
make sure my niece is well fed. She is your queen after all. Give her your utmost
care and attention.” He stressed the last word.

Minawë cocked an
eyebrow, but she shrugged and sat down in the fire ring. She refilled Narunë’s
own bowl and ate like it was the first food she’d seen in days.

Rondel gestured to her
left. Narunë let her guide him away from camp.

They’d walked in silence
about ten minutes before Rondel said, “This should be far enough.”

“Did she follow us?”

Rondel’s Lightning Sight
flashed. “I don’t see anyone else, and all the animals within earshot are
native.”

Narunë nodded. “So what
happened? A month is far too long to spend in Shikari.”

“It was necessary,”
Rondel said. “The mission went as expected.”

Narunë pressed his thumb
and index finger into the bridge of his nose. “I’d dared to hope that it
wouldn’t,” he admitted. “Minawë believed so much in that young man. I wanted to
think he would come back with you.”

“Melwar has twisted Iren
beyond recognition. He’s become a demon obsessed with revenge.”

“Did you kill him?”

Rondel’s wrinkled fists
clenched. “I had him in my grasp, but Minawë intervened and saved his life. He
escaped.”

“So what will you do
now?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’ll
carry out Okthora’s Law. Evil must be annihilated. If Iren isn’t slain, he’ll
corrupt Divinion and throw all of Raa into chaos. I’m going back to Shikari to
find him. Iren Saitosan must die, just like his father.”

Narunë folded his
muscular arms. “How does Minawë feel about that?”

Rondel sat on a fallen
log. She shook her head. “I’m sure you know. I originally recruited her to deal
with the Stone Dragon Knight. That was before I knew what Melwar had planned
for Iren. Had I known that, I never would have brought her along.”

“She cares for him.”

“Not that the boy
deserves it. After Minawë went to the trouble of saving him, the fool turned
his back on her. He up and left, saying he would kill her if she interfered in
his revenge.”

“Is that why you were so
late in returning?”

Rondel nodded. “Minawë
thought Iren would change his mind. She thought he was just speaking out of
anger, and that he’d come to his senses. We waited for a month, but he never
showed.”

“Why come back at all
then? Had you waited, he might have returned, and even if he didn’t, you would
already be in Shikari. The trail will have gone cold by now. How will you find
him again?”

Rondel looked up at him.
There was an expression on her face he’d never seen from her. It was pleading.
“There’s something I need you to do for me.”

Narunë pressed his
fingers into his nose again. “Why do I get the feeling whatever it is will be
unpleasant?”

Rondel grinned. “Oh,
it’s not that bad. It’s—”

She cut off. Her smile
disappeared. Her eyes swiveled across the jungle.

“You did better than I
expected,” Rondel said. “Black cat on a black night. That was smart.”

A low vibration came
from the forest. Narunë tensed. He knew that sound.

Then he saw them. A pair
of yellow eyes gleamed through the brush.

The jaguar stalked up to
them, teeth bared. It snarled, but it didn’t pounce. Instead, it reared up on
its hind legs. As it did, those legs changed shape, lengthening and melting
into brown leather with green embroidered leaves. The yellow eyes morphed into
emerald ones, and the hair on the cat’s head changed to the same color.

Minawë stood before her
mother and uncle. Though she was now a Kodama instead of a cat, she looked as
close to lunging as she had before the change.

“Don’t think you can
wander off,” Minawë growled. “Either of you.”

Narunë held up both
hands. “Hold on, don’t lump me in with a troublemaker like Rondel!”

Minawë wasn’t in a
joking mood. Her eyes fixed on her uncle. “You knew she wanted to escape.
That’s why you told your men to keep such a close eye on me.”

Narunë gave his most
innocent smile. “You’re their queen. There are a lot of dangerous things in
this jungle. I wanted them to protect you.”

“Don’t lie to me. This
jungle won’t hurt me. If you want to protect me, then don’t let Rondel out of
your sight.”

“Why not?”

“Because I won’t let her
escape. Iren’s beyond my reach, but Rondel isn’t. If they want to kill each
other, eventually they’ll have to meet. I plan to be there when they do.”

Narunë frowned, his
mouth a thin line. So that was the game.

“Let’s head back to
camp,” he said, “and don’t worry about Rondel. I’ll make sure she comes back to
Sorengaral with us.”

Rondel flashed him an aggravated
expression. She opened her mouth, surely to spit some nasty comment, but Narunë
stopped her with a look.

Minawë eyed the two
elders for a moment. At last she nodded curtly. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll walk
behind you two on the way back to make sure you don’t try anything.”

Narunë shrugged and
motioned for Rondel to take the lead. After a few steps though, he came level
with her. Without turning his head he murmured, low enough that Minawë couldn’t
hear, “Give me until Sorengaral. She’s my niece. I can convince her to stay
there. Then you can disappear without her following you.”

Rondel kept her body
position unchanged as she replied, “I’m counting on you. I saw how Minawë
reacted when Iren turned away from her. She had an opportunity to stop him, and
she let it slip away. I can’t risk her interfering.”

“Why?” Narunë asked.
“Are you afraid Iren will attack her?”

“No,” Rondel whispered,
“I’m afraid I will.