Heir of the Dragon Read online

  She gingerly touched her throbbing temples. “Yeah.” He gave her some venison and bread, which she managed to nibble on despite a lack of appetite. “Where…” She looked around, seeing nothing except trees and their celiths drinking from a stream. And a San Quawr messenger. “What happened?”

  “Um…” Terindi scrunched up her face. “Good news or bad news?”

  Skyve didn’t bother waiting for her answer. “Your wave definitely slowed them down...but they’re still on our trail. We need to get moving within a few minutes or you’ll be hearing them soon enough. We met the messenger and stopped to wake you up.”

  If Rikky hadn’t been holding her up, she would have let herself fall back to the ground. “Okay...okay.” She looked at Skyve. “Would you agree that we aren’t getting away from these guys without a fight?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then…” She faced the messenger. “We need help. Are there Elikwai nearby, do you know?” Even a fifteen-man team of Elikwai could make a difference. At least it would be something.

  He slowly shook his head, thinking. “No...not that I know of. But,” he twitched one cheek as he thought, “you know, the Wardens aren’t that far away. Since they split, the Marshal’s team went east, and the Wardens started south-west.”

  She caught her breath. “How close? Do you think?”

  “Um…” He eyed the forest, as if he could see them. “If I can get to them by tomorrow morning, they maybe could get here by the evening?”

  Tomorrow evening. That sounded unbearably far away. Most likely, the problem would be resolved by then, one way or another. Even so...it was better to be safe than sorry, and she needed to see Yhkon. “Do it. It might be too late, but it’s better than nothing.”

  He bowed. “I’ll get them here as quick as I can, I promise.”

  As the messenger galloped away, she sent up a quick prayer for his safety and haste. Prayer had never been her thing, no matter how much Grrake promoted it, or how poetically Mahzin spoke of it. But if it would get that messenger to the Wardens, and the Wardens to them any faster—then today, it was her thing. She accepted Rikky’s hand to help her up, swaying with the dizziness it brought. “How long have I been out?”

  “A couple hours.”

  Her brow knit. “So...what, did my wave only take down half of the celithmen, or…?”

  Skyve swung into his saddle as he answered. “Something like that. And I don’t think it did anymore than knock them out, so they’ll be back in the game sooner or later. It’s the normal cavalry that are following us right now, on coliyes. We can keep ahead of them...until our celiths wear out and their coliyes are still going strong. They’re just going to track us until that point, since we don’t have enough of a lead to spend time covering our trail.”

  She eyed Ember. The mare looked tired, but still a long ways from spent. “So we’ve got a few hours.” And at least a full day before any help gets here. “I guess...let’s go.”

  Rikky helped her mount, waiting a moment to make sure she was stable before he got into his own saddle. Just before they started forward at a canter, she thought she heard the distant rumble of hooves.

  It didn’t take long for exhaustion to catch up with her again. Her thoughts started scrambling, her eyes crossing and closing as her head would start to lull...she snapped awake each time before she could fall, but it was harder each time.

  “Just sleep.” Skyve came alongside her. “You won’t get your full strength back for a few days either way, but sleep will help. If you lean forward you won’t fall off. Until something changes, you might as well rest while you can.”

  Too tired to object, Talea scooted deeper into the saddle and leaned forward, using Ember’s neck as a pillow. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, especially when they were riding at a fast pace, but it was good enough. She dozed, intermittently aware, occasionally jerking upright thinking something had happened. Seeing that nothing had, she was drift off again...gradually sliding deeper and deeper into sleep…

  “Okay, time to wake up!”

  Talea sat up, dazed. “What?”

  There was thunder...no, it wasn’t coming from the sky. It was hundreds of hooves, beating the ground in a rapid pursuit. She shook her head to clear the grogginess and looked over her shoulder.

  The cavalry was right behind them.

  She dug her heels into Ember’s sides. The mare lengthened her strides...slowly. Her hide was damp with sweat. “How long was I out?!”

  “Three hours!”

  Her heartbeat quickened. The “few hours” before their celiths tired and they had to deal with the cavalry offensively had gone by as she’d slept, and there was no time to strategize. Outrunning them was no longer an option, and they could only keep ahead of them for so long as their celiths gradually ran themselves to death. They could fight, but she had no energy reserves to get them out of a tight spot.

  It was fight now, or fight later.

  “Are you guys ready?” she called above the noise.

  “Yeah!” Rikky was the only one that replied verbally. Skyve and Terindi nodded.

  Let’s go. “No celiths!” She pulled Ember to a stop—the mare wasn’t hard to convince, despite the cavalry hammering down on them. Dismounting, she faced the charging coliyes on foot. Rikky, Skyve, and Terindi joined her. Once the cavalry was dealt with, they would need their celiths. It was too great a risk to fight mounted. But if the enemy were still mounted, they would be trampled. “Terindi, Skyve, the coliyes!”

  Usually, taking down coliyes or celiths was her responsibility, as it took extra electricity. The two of them working together, however, made a wave that traveled parallel to the ground, knee-high, into the animals. With shrieks they bucked and thrashed, or collapsed from the shock. Riders were either thrown, electrocuted through contact if they were touching the animal, or forced to jump off as the beasts fell. Few remained mounted. Those that did continued the charge—until lightning bolts from Rikky took each down individually.

  The hundred or so remaining soldiers, now on their feet, hesitated. They had probably seen enough of their fellow Kaydorians fall in the past weeks to know what sort of fate awaited them.

  Talea hesitated, too. They could get back on their celiths and ride off, without killing the men. But she knew the coliyes would simply recover and their riders would renew the chase.

  It was kill or be killed.

  So she blinked back the tears in her eyes, drew an electric blade from her fingers and a steel one from her scabbard, and ran to meet them.

  It was the first time in three years that she’d been in a close-combat fight that wasn’t training. A practice duel, no matter how intense, didn’t involve the same raw fear. The Kaydorians wouldn’t pull back their blades if she failed to block it. They wouldn’t let up the moment Yhkon called it off, or if she disengaged.

  They were fighting with every intention of killing her.

  Four of them against a hundred meant twenty-five for each, though Rikky would be doing more than his share. In a swordfight, without as many advantages as her abilities usually afforded, each kill required a varying degree of effort. Her mind had to stay sharp, keeping track of where the soldiers were, not letting anyone sneak behind her. Her arms had to constantly defend and attack—her left, with an iron sword, deflected; her right, with an electrical beam, struck. Within moments, she was relying on instinct and muscle memory to keep both blades moving, putting all the concentration she had left into not letting the Kaydorians surround her, and listening for a distress call from any of her friends.

  She cut down a sixth foe, splattered by hot blood as he fell. Nausea twisted her gut and she staggered backward. Three more were bearing down on her. The glint of their eyes...fear. Aggression. Savagery. Iron gleamed dully in the muted sunlight as their swords danced. The silver of their armor was stained with crimson from comrades. Her mind was retreating, dimming every thought, leaving only emotion and reaction. Survive. A sword raced from her left, she parrie
d with hers. Another came down toward her head, she ducked sideways. A soldier impulsively tried to bodyslam her, she spun out of the way and cut her electric blade across his back with the momentum.

  A seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth. The bodies began piling up. The ground was slick with blood, corpses as great an obstacle as boulders and trees. Her thoughts may have fled, but her senses hadn’t—the air was thick with the odors of blood and sweat, her ears rang with the constant clang of iron, screams and groans and dying gasps echoed in her mind. Every muscle was burning with exertion. Every pore felt clogged with the horror around her. Every breath caught in her constricted throat, tasting of death.

  At some point...it ended.

  Talea hacked down a soldier and turned to face the next, only to find that there wasn’t a next. Suddenly she could see around her, more than the immediate threat—Skyve had a few adversaries left, Rikky was helping Terindi with five more. Otherwise...every Kaydorian was on the ground.

  Her stomach climbed to her throat. She doubled over, heaving, feeling everything in her stomach desperate to come out. Yet there wasn’t anything to throw up. She covered her eyes with her hands, trying to block out the sight of the terrible battlefield...only to find her palms coated in blood and grime. Blinking it from her eyes, she just stood there, body shaking so badly her knees knocked together. Until they buckled altogether.

  Her eyes closed, it was the final scream and dropping body somewhere nearby and the following stillness that told her it was all over. That it was finally over. Still she didn’t rise. She didn’t know if she could, and she didn’t care to find out.

  “Lea?” Rikky’s hand was on her shoulder, then his arm around her. “Are you hurt?”

  Probably. Nothing serious, that stood out over the general ache that gripped her body or the lingering pain of the earlier arrow wound. She shook her head. Finally opening her eyes, she saw that he was covered in blood. She doubted if any of it was his.

  “Come on.” He tightened his arm around her shoulders, put the other under her knees, and lifted her easily. He walked with his head down, watching the ground, avoiding as many bodies as possible. She still heard his boots sloshing, and shuddered. Out of the mass of wreckage and on clear ground, he set her on her feet, holding her steady. “You okay?”

  No.

  Skyve had made his way over, looking exhausted himself. He took Rikky’s place and made Talea sit down. Rikky went back into the carnage and carried Terindi out the same way. She looked to be more injured, bleeding from her thigh and shoulder.

  Skyve must have realized that Talea didn’t have the strength to take charge. He looked all of them over and whistled for his celith. The animals hadn’t wandered far. They came trotting back, instead of galloping like they were trained to, heads drooping. Fetching his medical kit from the saddle, he knelt beside Terindi and mutely patched up her leg and shoulder. “Rikky, get her some water.” Done, he returned to Talea. “Let me see your arm.”

  Not knowing which he meant, she scanned first the right, then left. Skyve had already bandaged the cut from the arrow earlier when she’d been unconscious. Her left forearm had been nicked by a sword. As soon as she saw it, she could feel the sting. He simply poured disinfectant over it and wrapped it with some cloth. “You need water too.” He gave her a canteen and watched intently until she had gulped down half of it. “Rikky, are you hurt?”

  “No.”

  Nodding, Skyve quickly dressed a cut on his side, before sitting down with an exhale. He was tired, he was sickened by the battle too...she wanted to do what she was supposed to instead of making him do it, to take the responsibilities of the leader...but she could barely keep her eyes open. Attempting to wipe the blood off his hands in the grass, he spoke wearily. “I say we get going and let the celiths walk as long as we can. With any luck, it’ll be a couple hours before more Kaydorians catch up. I doubt we’ve seen the last of them. Talea?”

  As much as she wished it was over, she doubted it too. “Yeah.” Even the single word was hard to get off her tongue.

  Rikky helped her and Terindi into their saddles. If he was exhausted, if he was nauseous from the death they’d dealt out, he didn’t show it.

  The ride was unbearably slow. Her brain said they should be galloping. Getting away from Aydimor, from whatever armies were tracking them, as fast as possible. By the way Ember plodded along with her head down, the mare couldn’t have galloped even if Talea had asked it of her.

  In a way Talea wished she would doze off, as she had earlier. Sleep—void, tranquil, oblivious—sounded so much better than the thoughts and emotions that refused to give her any peace. Than the queasiness that wouldn’t go away, or the distinct awareness of all the blood staining her clothes and skin. Yet as exhausted as her body was, her mind was too haunted to doze.

  So the time passed. Slowly. Nighttime obscured everything in darkness. All of them were silent, straining to hear the rumble of hooves that they knew was coming, sooner or later.

  ~♦~

  Zoper drummed his fingers on his knee, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. There was a perfectly good chair a few feet to his right, and a perfectly good bed across the room, but the ground was where he’d landed, and the ground was where he’d stayed. At some point, someone would burst in with the news he was vaguely awaiting. Mac, Kaydor, someone.

  It was Kaydor, after a few minutes. Except, no bursting in, growling about something, like Macquinn would do. He slipped in stealthily, sat down on the bed, and clasped his hands. “Have you heard from Mac?”

  “Nope.” He quit his finger-drumming and slapped his knee instead. “But I take it you have the update.”

  “I do.” His uncle’s tone was measured. “They got away. Dejer thinks the leader made a big enough wave, as they call it, that she won’t be much use in a fight anymore. The other three are fine. Last we heard, a hundred-fifty cavalry were following them. That was a few hours ago. It’s probably safe to assume they either got away, or took the force down.”

  Zoper was glad that Kaydor couldn’t see the strange satisfaction the news brought him.

  Or, maybe he could—the man’s gray eyes were hardening. “Listen, I realize that you don’t like this war. That you don’t feel the same way about the San Quawr as I do.” A pause. “That’s fine. Until it gets in the way of our success.”

  As stupid as it probably was, Zoper shrugged. “How do you know it did? My presence might not have made any difference whatso—”

  “Don’t try that with me.” His uncle’s eyes were like steel now. “We’re done discussing the past. Now it’s time to deal with the present problem. How are you going to get them now that your first plan failed?”

  Zoper’s smile and nonchalance faded, despite his best efforts. He didn’t want anything beneath the surface visible to the world—he preferred to keep a carefree shrug and a mirthful laugh. That wasn’t always possible. Just as it wasn’t always possible to let Mac lead the Tarragon on missions Zoper didn’t care to lead himself. “I’m going to take my men and deal with it myself.”

  Kaydor got up, approaching to give him a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you. Do you need anything? You know you have access to whatever you might require.”

  “I know.”

  His uncle nodded, stepping away, and hesitating there. “You know, well, you know that your father supported the Eradication, don’t you?”

  Zoper flinched. Was that supposed to mean that by not supporting it himself, he was letting his father down? Failing his legacy?

  “All I mean is,” Kaydor’s tone softened, “he would be proud of your stand against them.”

  That was probably true. And it was reassuring...just not as reassuring as he wanted it to be. “I know.” He started to get up and Kaydor took his hand to help him. On his feet, he went to the table where he’d left his gear. If the rebels already had a few hours’ head start, it was time to get started. “I’ll have them here by tomorrow.”

  Dragon Fire
>
  T HE sun was up, the air cold, everything still and silent in the early hours of the day. Usually, Yhkon would have gotten up twenty minutes ago. He’d been awake for an hour and normally he wouldn’t lie there uselessly for so long. He’d get up and find something to do...but now there was Jaylee lying beside him. That made it a lot easier to stay.

  She stirred, snuggling closer, using his chest as a pillow.

  If he’d been planning on getting up, he no longer was. Stroking back her hair, he made himself comfortable and closed his eyes again. Of course that allowed his mind to wander to all the problems it always dwelt on, but it was easier to think about them calmly with Jay snug against his side. A couple weeks ago, Grrake had finally realized Yhkon wasn’t pleased about something to do with him. As was his way, he’d tried and tried to find out what it was. He’d given that concerned, gentle look. He’d asked questions. He’d flinched when Yhkon eventually lost patience and simply told him to back off.

  And, after one more hesitant attempt, his father had done as told.

  Jaylee said Yhkon needed to talk to him. Give him another chance. He supposed that was true...she was, unfortunately, rarely wrong...but it was a lot easier said than done. What was the point of talking about it, if he wasn’t willing to forgive the man, at least not yet? It wouldn’t get them anywhere. Not until there was somewhere for them to go—as of right now, a conversation would simply involve Yhkon getting angry and not being able to articulate why, and Grrake being wounded and uselessly trying to mend things.

  Jaylee drew him from his thoughts when she tilted her chin up, looking at him. “Good morning. Is this you actually sleeping in?”

  That was all it took to make him smile. “Giving it a try. I didn’t realize you were awake.”

  “All your brooding woke me up. You really should just talk to him. Nothing will improve until you do.”

  She knew him a little too well for comfort, sometimes. Yet he loved it. “Nothing will improve if I do, either.”