Dragon School: Troubled War Read online

  But would he stay with them or fly on ahead?

  It’s impossible to know for sure, but judging by his own insecurity, I would guess he will stay with them. He doesn’t expect us to catch up now that he has gained a head start and he won’t want to appear anywhere without a horde at his back. It would make him look weak. And people who steal power instead of earning it are always afraid that people will find out they are frauds.

  But the Dominion wouldn’t see him as a fraud. To them, the mask was the Dominar, not the man.

  He can’t trust that. He knows the truth – that he has no right to his authority. He is always afraid that everyone else knows it too.

  What a terrible way to live your life.

  A surprising number of people live that way. Dragons, too.

  Why would a dragon live a lie?

  Not all dragons have a rider like you, Amel.

  We winged our way south and I pressed my cheek against Raolcan’s neck, enjoying the feeling of belonging. If only every hour could be as beautiful as this one.

  Chapter Four

  You don’t really make camp with dragons, you just find a likely hillside, preferably near water, and stop flying for the night. Our massive dragon army cleaned the mountainside bare of any animal or plant they could find. I hadn’t realized that dragons would tear up grass like a horse.

  Ugh. Don’t compare us to those mindless creatures. Even humans eat salad sometimes.

  We were heading due south through the Dragon Snout Mountains. Iskaris’ army would have had to go southeast of Leedris City to skirt around them, taking the longer route by road to eventually swing south and head to the twin cities, Dominion City and Sky City. If we planned to ambush them, we would need to stage ourselves somewhere along that path before they arrived. Raolcan thought the spot where the road wound between a mountain range and thick forest would be the best place to pin them down.

  It would be better in the mountains, but they will avoid mountains on foot – which is how we will get ahead of them. The river is also a possibility. There is a bridge across it, and if we destroyed the bridge they would be in trouble. Ifrits don’t do well with water and the horses and men wouldn’t be able to cross. But could we reach the river before the army did and have enough time to set a trap?

  I was brewing tea on the fire as Leng gathered more wood for it. We’d pulled a pair of fallen trees from nearby to serve as benches, but we were the only humans and none of the dragons needed a fire to warm them. And if they changed their minds they could set one for themselves.

  They’re happy to be traveling with us. We dragons have taken a strong dislike to the Ifrits.

  Did the dragon army realize that we were fighting to maintain their buffer against extinction?

  They know it is a possibility. We have always known. I don’t know how many of them realize how close this battle will be. We are not very humble, in general.

  That was an understatement.

  “I think the river is our best bet,” Leng said as he dropped a saddlebag beside me.

  He opened the top flap fishing out bread, butter, and cheese from the depths of it. I was beginning to miss hot meals. The last time I’d had one was the broth Dax fed me when I was recovering. I accepted the bread and cheese with a smile, though. It was still better than dried meat.

  “Raolcan agrees with you, but I’m worried about that. If we destroy the bridge before they arrive, then they will know that we are there, and they won’t walk into the trap. If we leave it intact, then we will have to destroy it while they are crossing it. People will die without warning. Those are the only ways to use the bridge as a trap and if we do either, then our own army won’t be able to cross when it gets there.”

  “Warning them won’t make it any easier for them to die,” Leng said, but he chewed his lip like he was trying to find a way to tell me something. “Maybe you should let me lead this ambush, Amel. I don’t think war is easy on you.”

  “Is it easy on you?” It had better not be! He had better not love death or killing.

  “Of course not!” He sounded offended. “You’d have to be heartless to find it easy but ... it needs to be done or worse things will happen.”

  Everyone else understood that better than I did.

  My mind flashed suddenly to a vision of Savette. She looked thin and worn, her face drawn and her dress dirty around the hem. Both of her palms were on a table and she leaned hard on them as if they were barely holding her up. Beneath them was a map.

  “Days at best,” an advisor was saying to her. “We’ve fought hard Chosen One and spent lives like water for you. When will you admit it is time to surrender? Starie Atrelan and her demons of dust are too strong for us. You keep saying that allies are coming, but none are here. Our water is contaminated, our food stores used up, our forces down to the bitter edge of the sword.”

  “Not yet,” Savette said, her expression taut.

  “Please, Chosen One, don’t make us all die for you.”

  “Five more days, Casadis. Just five more.”

  His voice was quiet when he said, “We’ll be lucky to last until dawn.”

  My eyes snapped back to Leng and I gasped.

  “Was that one of your visions? Who did you see? Shonan?”

  I shook my head. “Savette. Her army is spent.”

  “Defeated?” he was pale.

  “Not yet.”

  “Then there is still hope. We need to stay the course. If Iskaris joins the battle with his forces that will be the end of Savette’s army. It needs to be the bridge, Amel.”

  I nodded in agreement, finishing my meal in silence. Time was running out. We were facing down battle after battle to even have a hope of freedom and there was no guarantee that any of us would survive this.

  I looked up at Leng. There was no guarantee that he would survive.

  “Are you okay?” He shifted closer to me on the fallen log, concern all over his face.

  I studied his every feature, trying to memorize them, trying to remember this moment.

  “We’ll make it in time, Amel. Don’t be afraid.”

  He started to smile, but I leaned forward and kissed him, cutting off whatever he was going to say next. I was done with his gentle sweet kisses. I wanted to show him - maybe in this last chance that I had – how much I cared about him.

  His arms wrapped around me and he kissed me back, all restraint gone in his matching intensity.

  When eventually we broke for air he asked, “What was that for?”

  “I don’t want you to forget me.”

  He licked his lips. “I don’t think that’s even possible.”

  He leaned in for another kiss but the spell was broken by a gruff voice.

  “Leave them alone for a few hours and this is what you get.” Hubric strode in from the darkness and sat down beside the fire. “Oh, do carry on. Anything you can do on your own you can do with me here – or did you marry when I wasn’t around, too?”

  I felt the blood rushing to my face as we broke apart, scooting to leave room between us on the fallen log.

  Chapter Five

  “It has to be the river,” Leng said to Hubric as we drank the last of the pot of caf and prepared to fly again. “By my estimation, we can be there by nightfall and the forces on foot will be days away even if the Ifrits and dragons help them go more quickly. The bridge will bottleneck their forces.”

  He was drawing on the ground, showing the road, bridge, and river.

  “It won’t affect the dragons or Ifrits. The dragons can fly over the water and legend has it that the Ifrits can ghost under it. Destroying a bridge won’t stop them.” Hubric’s objection echoed my own.

  “But it will stop the army and the Magikas and the others will be forced to wait and defend them.”

  Hubric shook his head. “Or they might choose to carry on without the regular army and leave them there while the Magikas rebuild.”

  Leng had a firm set to his expression. “There isn’t
anywhere better to stage this. It’s our best bet. We need to leave for there now, so we can assess the situation and plan the details of the trap.”

  Hubric weighed him carefully. “If you’re so certain, then perhaps it’s best.”

  What was he thinking behind those hooded eyes? Did he see something we didn’t? I stared at the lines Leng had drawn, trying to visualize the plan as he saw it and trying not to think of the people who would die at our design.

  “Trust me,” Leng said firmly. Hubric nodded and I joined him.

  “As you say, Purple.” Hubric was already up, wrapping his caf pot in thick leather and stowing it in place for the journey.

  When his back was turned I gave Leng a fleeting kiss and a smile. There was something so satisfying about that simple gesture. I couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

  “I trust your plan,” I whispered.

  “Fly safe, heart of my heart.”

  It was misty in the mountains and chilly and I wrapped my scarf snuggly around my neck before tightening the last straps on our baggage.

  “Ready?” I asked Raolcan.

  Always.

  We leapt into the mist, the droplets of water chilling me as we rose up and above of them in a puff of vapor. The sun was bright and cool above the clouds and only the highest mountains peeked out of the fog.

  Kyrowat and Ahlskibi popped up out of the thick blanket and then a few dozen more dragons and a few dozen more until it was hundreds of us winging our way to the river pass. I pulled out my maps to review the area we were flying to. Leng’s plans made a lot of sense, but I couldn’t help the anxious feeling that welled up in me at the idea of trying to trap an army, Ifrits and all.

  I tucked away the map, pushing that feeling down, and reached for my book of prophecies. I hoped Talsan didn’t mind that I was still using his. I thought that perhaps I’d always use his copy. It meant something to me after all this time. My fingers traced the passage Leng had quoted.

  When the people of the earth sound horn of battle,

  And the land trembles and is torn,

  When the skies are rent in sorrow,

  And the depths bring help no more,

  Then the lame and the blind shall lead them,

  And guide them from the storm.

  I understood the references to battle and war. And the earth tearing apart and producing Ifrits was becoming as common as torn clothing. I shivered at the thought of that. But what did it mean about the depths bringing no more help? What help came from the deep? Troglodytes?

  They had ‘gifted’ me with my visions – and whether that was a help or not was still to be seen. They’d also helped me gain the Pipe which was just sitting there ready to be unleashed on their people. Why leave it there? Why had they not removed it years earlier, knowing what it could do?

  Perhaps they couldn’t get to it without you.

  But they were powerful and magical.

  It hurts them to be above the ground. And I seem to remember it being a terrible battle to get your hands on that thing through the Kah’deem.

  But they were the ones who gave it to Baojang!

  A long time ago. Things have changed.

  They seemed to be glad I had it.

  I think I should point out – again – that being good and being on Amel’s side are not always the same thing.

  What was that supposed to mean?

  Only that they could be a force of good but at the same time sometimes work at cross purposes to you. Like Rakturan.

  I wasn’t sure I agreed with that. If I was right in what I thought – and I hoped I was! – then all right-thinking people would agree with me.

  We didn’t stop for breaks of more than a minute or two for the rest of the day. The dragons seemed content enough. Flying was natural to them and they enjoyed air more than land, but I was getting sleepy when the mist burned away in the afternoon sun and we emerged from the mountains.

  There was the river, winding out before us like a silver ribbon. It made me shiver with memories of Talsan and the Ifrit under the water. It hadn’t been too far from here that I’d almost been killed. I was glad when no one suggested stopping at Backwater Manor. We flew on, tracing the winding river.

  There it is. The bridge.

  As usual, Raolcan’s eyes were better than mine, but I scoured the golden landscape along the silver river, looking for a bridge. There were mounds along the river like small hummocks. They stretched all across the plain and into the nearby forest as if a farmer had stacked hay through the wild grasses and trees.

  There! There was the bridge. It crossed the river at a narrow point where the water rushed and gurgled over dragon-sized boulders, steep cliffs on either side. Built with rock and carefully dressed stone, it was an amazing sight. For a country girl used to ferries, seeing a bridge was still a surprise. Someone had carefully planned each stone of this structure before putting it into place. Someone very clever.

  A Magika.

  But why did the countryside around it look so peculiar?

  We’re not the first to arrive here.

  As if responding to his thought, Ahlskibi dove toward the ground like an arrow shooting out of the sky. Leng! Was he okay?

  The bumps along the river unfolded into dozens of dragons.

  Chapter Six

  Dragons? Here? It was as if they had laid an ambush for us!

  Leng isn’t the only one to think the bridge makes a good place to ambush someone. His brother thinks the same way.

  His brother? Raolcan leaned into a spiral and beneath us I could finally see Shonan standing between a Red and a Gold dragon as he spoke to his brother. What were they saying? I leaned to the side, trying to see as Raolcan slowly leaned into his own landing in front of them. Leng embraced his brother and they broke apart before Raolcan’s feet hit the turf. Where was Rasipaer?

  Back to Ashana. These dragons have taken turns carrying Shonan. None are bonded to him. It is a strange alliance and a slightly uncomfortable one.

  Kyrowat was close on our heels and Hubric leapt off his dragon before Kyrowat had finished landing, earning him a grunt from the old dragon.

  “A bit off course, aren’t you Shonan?” he asked gruffly. “I’m pretty sure our Chosen One needs you on the fields around Dominion City.”

  “I’m needed here,” Shonan said tightly. His voice sounded nervous despite its usual strength. I shifted uncomfortably in my saddle. In my experience, that voice of authority was rarely nervous and something in me – the part that stood up and took notice whenever Shonan was around – was screaming at me to fight with him to fix whatever that thing was.

  “In the middle of an empty road?” Hubric prodded. Why was he baiting Shonan?

  He has his reasons. He can feel there is more to it than the bald face of things – and you must think so, too. Remember the promise Shonan made to the Troglodytes? After all, you were the one who made it through him.

  My eyes grew wide at the memory of gripping the handles of the Kah’deem and seeing the world through Shonan’s eyes. The Troglodytes had demanded that he topple the imposter Dominar before they would ratify a treaty with him – and I’d agreed to it through his voice.

  “In exchange for a new treaty with the dragons, I am required to challenge and destroy the current Dominar.”

  “The pretender,” Leng said with tight lips. “Which is perfect timing. We plan to stop his army here at this bridge and defeat as many of them as we can with these dragons, our allies.”

  Shonan looked worried but still very controlled. “Haz’drazen was very strict in her renegotiations – and the Troglodyte Elders even more strict. They gave me a long list of things that will nullify the treaty and forcing any dragon to serve us – other than those sent to us by the lottery system – will mandate an immediate termination of the treaty. Did you force these dragons to follow you here?”

  “They’re here of their own will,” Hubric said carefully.

  But were they? After all, they might
be in line with us and our goals now, but originally I had called them inexorably to myself without them having any will of their own.

  Shonan nodded with a look of relief and we began to choose a hidden place with a good view of the road and bridge to set up our camp.

  “I arrived here only yesterday,” Shonan said as we moved to a nearby hillside. “We fought in the south with Savette until we realized that the Dominar had moved north to Leedris. He had business there with the Magikas – or so our captives told us. Why he would leave a battle over his capital city for that ...”

  “They were manufacturing Ifrits in the north and channeling them through Leedris to send to the war,” Leng explained as we laid out the camp.

  I busied myself gathering rocks to ring the fire. My recently injured leg was stiff from all the riding, but a little bending was good for it. If I didn’t move it, I would heal with less mobility. I knew how these things worked.

  “A wise Dominar would not leave his city simply for that.” Shonan sniffed.

  “I think he was waiting for word from Ko’Torenth and the Rock Eaters about a possible alliance. They must have been planning to meet there – away from the conflict,” Leng said. “They spoke of those other nations often. But always quietly and always with a sense of uncertainty.”

  “They want the dragons. They always have,” Shonan said as he and Leng set up the tents. I couldn’t help shaking my head. How long had it taken me to realize what Shonan saw immediately?

  Hubric set down the wood beside me and set to making a fire as I put his caf grounds into a pot. If we were going to wait, we might as well drink something hot. This cold was going to be the death of me. It sank right into my bones and chilled me so I couldn’t get warm again.

  I hate winter. We should fly back to Baojang when it gets really cold.

  That was definitely not an option!

  Maybe we can go invade their territory. You know, take a turn at the whole invasion thing. And they can try defense and watching their beloved cities burned to the ground...