Page 39 of Court of Secrets and Flames (Dragons of Tirene #2)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

After one of the king’s guards tells me the prince is with his brother, I race down the hall and startle a second guard by barging through the heavy doors to the king’s private chamber, my heart still sprinting at the terrifying experience I just had. I have no idea what happened. What those creatures were. How we’re going to stop them. Because they’re getting closer and closer to the palace grounds.

The urgency from the pages of the Mother Wurm book hisses in my head, and I know that I’ve landed on the cause.

They’re coming.

A lone figure huddles before the hearth sipping from a goblet a maid stands ready to refill from the pitcher she holds.

Bastian looks as if he’s dragged himself through the bowels of the earth. Dirt smears his skin and streaks the golden highlights in the wings now folded wearily at his back. Though grayed from exhaustion, he still manages to slide me a small smile when the king isn’t looking.

His eyes, dull and tired, communicate that he’s not yet found the hope he ventured out to find.

“Lady Lark.” King Jasper beckons with an imperious wave. “What seems to be the hurry?”

Sterling, resplendent in the full array of princely regalia, offers me a nod, his expression unreadable.

Did Bastian have some sort of encounter like I did? I want to blurt out what just happened…the whole ordeal. Dead pikas, and hundreds of slaughtered crows without a single mark on them. The shadow creatures straight out of a nightmare…no, my worst nightmare pales in comparison. The cold, petrifying fear they evoke.

I need to speak to Sterling, but preferably not in front of the king and all these people.

The tension in the room is palpable. I edge forward, anticipation crackling through me like lightning. “I would be heartened to offer any support or perspective you ask of me, Your Majesty. Has Bastian found any new information?”

“They are gone, Lark.” Bastian’s hoarse whisper scrapes through the quiet chamber.

“What do you mean ‘they’re gone?’ You weren’t able to locate the dragons?” There was never any certainty that he’d be able to catch them. Not even an alicorn could fly as swiftly as a dragon. However, they’re large enough to be seen even from a long distance. At the very least, finding a clue regarding where the dragons had fled shouldn’t be that difficult.

Bastian flinches as Jasper shoots him a cool glance. I’m certain it’s not the first he’s gotten, bringing the king such news. “They were long gone by the time I made it to the air. No sign of them anywhere. I searched every hidden vale, each forgotten crevice. I even attempted to enter the impassable desert area where we never tread. The winds and heat were too much, and I had to leave before investigating them fully. I couldn’t find the dragons, or any signs of them.”

My mouth goes dry as I absorb the weight of his confession. Gone. How could such mighty creatures simply vanish? Where could they have fled? I knew from my connection with Chirean they considered the mountains in a desert another home. A safe haven. But I had no idea it was viewed as impassable.

As much as the dragons’ disappearance concerns me, we have bigger issues to discuss. “Your Majesty. There is another matter that precedes this one and may be related. The alicorns.”

And the deer…the pikas…the crows. Are the shadow creatures responsible for those alicorns’ deaths too? And the fawns? From what I’ve just witnessed, it seems likely.

“The alicorns again?” Jasper asks.

An uneasy knot of fear settles in my stomach. An invisible tide sweeps through our lands, targeting the majestic creatures that symbolize our strength. But other animals besides dragons were killed. Does that mean the shadows could attack humans next?

It’s time. Though I’d hoped to discuss this with Sterling in private first, I have to tell them what I know. “The dragons may have left because?—”

Jasper waves my words away. “Yes, thank you, Lark, the connection is obvious. Bastian, once you have recovered a bit more, take a troop of soldiers out with you to mark those places.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Bastian shoots me a questioning look, but I give a slight shake of my head.

Somehow, I’ve got to convince the king to listen to me. “What if what we face is not mere chance or natural disaster? What if something…awakened? Something ancient and forgotten, which is now feeding off the life of dragons and alicorns alike? And other animals too?”

King Jasper stiffens, like he’s preparing for a blow I’m about to deliver. “Go on.”

And then I divulge everything I know about the deer, the alicorns. My horrifying near-death experience today. The dragons’ sheer terror. How I think it’s all related…that these shadow creatures are responsible.

When I finish, the room is so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat.

Bewildered. That’s the only word I can think of to describe every person in here and how they’re staring at me.

“I have been spending a significant portion of time in your Royal Archives. While hunting for information on dragoncallers and dragontending, I found another book, The Chronicles of the Mother Wurm .”

I swear, the king flinches in surprise.

I’ve come this far, so I might as well finish. “At first I thought it was a fictional story. It’s a tale of a monstrous entity that survives and flourishes by draining the life from animals. But after my encounter with these shadow creatures today…”

Sterling and Bastian listen with rapt attention. Even the king—no, especially the king—hangs onto every word, like my story has some merit.

“If suchcreatures did exist, perhaps long vanquished from history, that would explain what we’ve all witnessed…what I’ve seen firsthand.” Despite myself, my voice hovers between conviction and doubt. “I admit, it does sound fantastical, but much of our history, if not properly recorded, can become the fodder for myths.”

“You believe that’s what happened with these…creatures?” Bastian pauses, tugging his ear like he’s pondering my revelation. “Do they have a name?”

“In the chronicles, they’re referred to as creatures of shadows.” I’d just discovered that little detail yesterday. “Could such an abomination have been roused from slumber, growing more formidable with each siphoned life?”

The king’s face pales. “Creatures of shadows? Is that what you said?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He utters a vicious curse and blanches even more. “The drachen,” he whispers.

For the second time since I launched into my theory, everyone falls silent.

Sterling’s throat works on a swallow. “The what?”

“They are called drachen.”

In a matter of seconds, the king’s private chamber starts buzzing with a flurry of questions and theories.

Finally, Jasper raises a hand and quiet settles over the space again. “Hold your questions, and I will explain. I have not read The Chronicles of the Mother Wurm , but I was aware of its existence. My curiosity was piqued when you began reading it, Lark, and when you mentioned the creatures of shadows just now, that’s when I made the connection to the prophecy.”

What is he talking about? “I’m afraid I don’t understand. I’ve read the prophecy, and I didn’t see anything about creatures known as drachen.”

The king strides to a desk in the corner of the chamber, opens a drawer, and produces a piece of parchment. “I found an addition to the prophecy in a different book.”

As my gaze skims over every line, I commit the words to memory.

Heed the drachen

Creatures of shadows,

Born of darkness

Strengthened of bane,

Enhancement of elements

Death of many.

Childe of dragons

but no one’s childe.

Not of Tirene

Nor Aclaris.

A dragoncaller buried alive,

Unearthed only to die.

Forged in fire,

Reborn from ashes,

The lost heir will break the worlds

And save the worlds.

When I read the words, I’m positive my jaw hits the floor. I review them once more before returning the paper to the king, who reads the passage out loud.

Why? Why has King Jasper kept the first part of the prophecy to himself? None of this makes sense.

I give the king a moment to finish. Then, at the risk of irritating him, I say what’s on my mind. Based on my earlier encounter with these horrible creatures, time is not on our side.

“Your Majesty, there’s something I don’t understand. If you’ve known about the whole prophecy, about the drachen, why haven’t you informed the kingdom?”

He heaves a sigh, and his shoulders droop. For the first time since we met, he doesn’t exude royal, healthy airs. Instead, he could pass as a weary, elderly man stripped of all pretense. “It was just a suspicion, one I hoped I was wrong about. If I was, then I would have caused widespread panic and confusion among the people.”

A valid reason, but I still don’t understand. “Okay. I mean no disrespect when I say this, but if you knew about the chronicles, why didn’t you read them?”

“What I’m about to say does not leave this room.” He meets each person’s eyes in warning. “The book is warded, protected by ritual magic. It’s penned by the daughter of Queen Aero, an ancient queen of Tirene. Only her descendants can touch the book.”

“That means…Lark is her descendant.” Bastian vocalizes my own thoughts, and my mind is blown at the implication.

I’m the descendant of a queen.

“Why ward it so only those of her lineage could read the book, though?” Bastian wonders aloud.

“Due to their dragoncaller lineage, it was Aero’s family who fought the drachen and were nearly obliterated long ago. The crown princess wrote the chronicles, masked the collection as fiction, and somehow hid it in the Royal Archives to gather dust and be forgotten. Waiting for the day one of her descendants would find it and read it if the drachen ever…reemerged.”

I still have a lot to process and far too many questions. “These shadow creatures…the drachen. How can we defeat them? The book doesn’t say.”

“I don’t know yet,” Jasper tips his head in a surprising respectful gesture, “but I think as a dragoncaller, you’re the key to their downfall.”

Sterling opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, pandemonium erupts outside the chamber.

Shouts and screams of despair reverberate through the night air, starting from outside the windows and trailing into the corridor. The rattle and scrape of metal on stone echoes around the suite door.

I stand, heart pounding a relentless warning.

The door bursts open under the force of a handful of guards, who literally trip over themselves to get into the room. Their faces are ashen, their eyes wide with horror, and their armor spattered with blood.

“Your Majesty, they’re dead,” one gasps, fighting for breath. “Half a dozen…throats torn out…”

I swallow hard to keep the bile down. Throats…that’s what’s on his armor. Pieces of someone’s…

Deep breaths. Slow, deep breaths.

“By these…black shadowy creatures.” The last guard enters with wide, unfocused eyes. “Made of shadows, yet corporeal at the same time.”

The drachen have come.