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NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S DRAGON

A female dragon rider told Tearloch, Nogel, and I to follow her. Her clothing was tight and the same color as her flesh, so from any distance, she appeared nude. Gold straps crossed her body at all angles. Her long blond braid reached the backs of her knees and was wrapped in the same gold strips, woven in an intricate pattern, the tip of which perfectly matched the tail of her tan dragon.

The beasts’ talons were gold, like Kivi’s, as were the fingernails of its rider.

I thought I hid my terror well until Tearloch rubbed his gloved hands up and down my arms.

“You’re shaking,” he said. “Don’t worry. The beast is young and able. I doubt they’re taking us up just to drop us to our deaths.”

“But you’re not sure.”

He bit his lip and looked at the stars, at a waiting Ciro, then back at me and laughed. “Let’s say I’m hopeful.”

There was no long skeleton of seats attached to the dragon’s back, but the woman expected us to climb up anyway. Once she was seated, long sentient tendrils of gold wove around her, beneath her, then stretched themselves out along the dragon’s spine to create three saddles behind her. After we were in place, more gold came up around our legs to clamp us firmly in place.

I let out a heavy sigh of relief and I felt the rumble of Tearloch’s laughter shake my bones and bubble in my blood. I bit my lips together to keep from grinning like an idiot.

The difference between an old and dying dragon and a young one was the difference between sleeping and running. I was surprised Old Grim had taken us as far as he had. If we'd been riding on the DeNoy's dragon, we might have reached Ristat in a couple of hours, it was that fast. And I suspected it could have gone even faster with only one passenger on its back.

Free of any riders, I wouldn't be surprised if it could shoot across the sky like a star.

With my gold seat locking me in place, I was slightly less terrified than I'd been when falling out of the sky on the old dragon. Only this time, we were falling forward. And once again, I had Tearloch at my back, holding tight, assuring me that if I were to die, at least I wouldn't be alone.

The air grew progressively colder and I couldn't imagine how the DeNoy woman could stand it. I reminded myself that she wasn't in fact nude, but her gown couldn't protect her from the wind—a wind much harsher than our last ride. I might have asked her how she managed, but there was no chance of being heard.

I regretted not hauling that nightcoat along. I had nothing I could pull up to cover my head. All I could do was pretend I wasn’t freezing to death. But perhaps I was. That might explain why I was slow to realize we were reducing speed. And in the distance, I recognized the physical manifestation of a mountain range I’d only seen on maps.

The range that marked the start of the Eastlands. And just inside the Eastlands, lay The Soundless.

For as long as recorded time, the Eastlands had belonged to the DeNoy. Though they, too, were citizens of Hestia, they were allowed to live by their own rules and were granted dominion over a swath of land reserved for them alone. Anyone crossing into their territory was subject to their laws. The fact that we were about to fly into that territory meant I could no longer pretend that the king would come to my defense should I need him. My gown and my ruse were now worthless.

My only solace was that, if I could convince Ciro to let us go, I might have a fast flight to the capital city. But it was Morrow with the power to get me an audience with Moire. If and when I was allowed to leave The Soundless, I had to take him with me. It seemed like a reasonable thing to expect, but I felt in my gut that Ciro wasn’t a reasonable man.

With the death of all Hestians in the balance, however, I couldn’t allow myself to give up hope.

Because we had traveled northeast, we met the sun coming up a little sooner than we might have. One piercing orange eye appeared in the col between two mountains on the horizon, taking us from night to daybreak in an instant. The sky paled further while we came to a stop mid-air, then hovered while to both sides of us, some of the other DeNoy and their dragons lined up.

In the darkness, I was sure there had been more…

On the green beast nearest us, the sole rider produced a circular trumpet and sounded a call three separate times, then waited. A moment later, a different call came from somewhere ahead, also three times. And as one, the line of hovering dragons proceeded forward.

It was as if we passed through some invisible bubble—a physical substance I felt against my face…and then it was gone. And in that same amount of time, it seemed we’d moved from one dimension to another. Where nothing but a smooth blanket of snow lay beyond the mountains before us, there now waited a bright and colorful city—more colorful than even the dragons that now dispersed in all directions.

My ears popped as they adjusted to the altitude and popped again just before the tan dragon touched down in a wide courtyard, long before reaching the city. Ciro and the dragons carrying our companions landed close by. The gold removed itself from my legs, and after I stood, it disappeared the way it had come and finally coiled itself around the upper arm of the DeNoy woman. I was anxious to ask Lennon if she might have something similar.

The dragon rider pointed to a red beast in the distance, landing near a large structure. “The little woman is being taken to the Recovery,” she said, “where they can properly dress her wounds. The horned man refuses to leave her side.”

Tearloch helped me climb down, and even when I was sure-footed, I felt like the ground was moving.

“It will pass, my lady.” Nogel came to stand beside me as the tan dragon and its rider walked away. “Now I understand why they call it The Soundless.”

“Why is that?”

“Outside, I assume no one can hear what happens under the dome.”

“Yes,” Tearloch said. “The dome. You don’t happen to know just how we get outside again, do you?”

Nogel shrugged. “I think it involves those horns.”

“Excellent. It will give me something to do.”

I didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”

“If we are not on our way to Ristat by tomorrow, I will have to learn how to blow a horn” He reached his arm around me and yanked me close. Our faces were inches apart. “I’m going to save you, Asper. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to save you before you can save yourself.” Then he kissed me, hard and quick. When he pulled back, he turned away. I had no idea if he liked it.

As for me, I sucked air into my lungs and savored the tingles pouring through my body, thawing me. It felt very much like I’d been kissed by a heartstone. I glanced down to see if I might be standing on a bit of the black rock, but the only thing beneath me was snow.

It had to be snow—though I’d only read about it. What else could cover the ground so completely and cleanly?

When I looked up, Tearloch waited with a smile.

I was so relieved. If he’d disliked the kiss, it would have broken my heart as before, when he let it slip that he didn’t trust me.

I laughed at the wonder in his eyes. “Is this your first time too…seeing snow?”

“Yes. I guess it is.” His voice was strangely quiet. He inhaled deeply, shook his head, then kicked a bit of the white stuff with his toe. “Well, I thought I’d seen it before. It was a long time ago. Hard to remember…”

* * *

The courtyard sprawled wide beneath a sky heavy with moisture. I could feel it each time I inhaled. Stone walls towered around us, weathered and dark, each block etched with the wear of centuries. And between those blocks ran a vein of familiar black heartstone.

The chips and scrapes along the top edge had to be from dragon claws. Here and there, the walls were reinforced with iron bands as if they were so ancient they might crumble. The metal gleamed faintly in the morning sunlight which slowly chased away the frost.

After depositing their passengers, the colorful beasts and their fanciful riders left again. The blanket of snow on the ground remained untouched except where the sweep of wings and large feet left indentations. Some of the heavy, warm bodies left patches of slush behind. Their scales gleamed like jewels as they caught the sun again—a deep emerald, stormy purple, and rich gold. Steam rose from their nostrils, the heat from their breath cutting through the cold, mimicking the fire and smoke they were capable of.

In the far corner of the courtyard, a small fountain stood frozen in mid-flow, the water captured in a delicate sculpture of ice with veins of frost radiating from the spout. Icicles dangled from an arch above it, glittering like shards of glass.

Out of the center of the castle itself rose a multi-faceted tower with a round roof. Windows repeated in each section, and the tiny figures moving on the inside would be able to see the sky in every direction. Protruding from two of those windows were long straight horns—probably the ones that Tearloch planned to use to get us through the dome.

Except for a tattered banner flapping weakly above our heads as we entered the keep, nothing moved.

The castle was blissfully warm though the frigid air still clung to our clothes as we followed our host down a dimly lit corridor. His cloak rustled along the stone floor, the sound oddly unsettling. His smiling voice offered no warmth, despite his words.

"Welcome to The Soundless. Here, you will find everything you want and more. Asper and Tearloch, you and your entourage will be housed in the North Wing.”

While he walked, he turned to show us his smile. It curled at the corners in a way that made me itch to remove my dagger now tucked in my boot.

"Spacious apartments, comfortable enough for your needs, of course. Each room with a view of the valley below, though I doubt you'll have much time to admire it." His gaze flicked over to Tearloch, then me, where it lingered a beat too long.

As we continued, Tearloch moved closer and curled his little finger around mine.

“Lennon and Griffon will stay in the South Wing, above where we are now.”

Tearloch pressed. “We prefer to remain together while we’re here.”

Ciro’s eyes glittered when he looked back a second time. "The South Wing is better suited for a DeNoy.”

Lennon spoke up. “Why is that? I don’t need anything special.”

“But you would like to keep an eye on our Kivi, and you can do so from there. Unfortunately, there is not room for all your friends in the South Wing.”

Lennon shook her head, even though the man had turned his back again. “I’m sure you’ll understand that I intend to stay with my dragon.”

“Sadly, not possible. Kivi must be kept safe until the celebration. Even now, she is bedding down in a special drakehouse you will be able to see from your room. And I’m sure she will assure you herself that she’s being made comfortable. Of course, she’ll be guarded as closely as if…as if she were my own.”

Griffon had heard enough and stopped, which stopped us all. Ciro took a few more steps, then sighed and returned to us.

Griffon put it bluntly. “If Kivi is in danger, we are leaving.”

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Forgive me. I should have explained. I intend to keep her hidden until the celebration. More dramatic that way. Moire’s prophecy has plagued us for millennia. You’ve ended that plague. And like a people kept in bondage for so long, we want to commemorate our…liberation. Surely you can understand that.”

Griffon wagged his head slowly. “You don’t need us in attendance for that.”

“Oh, but we do! We do! We want to show our gratitude. And we want to celebrate Kivi. Fate chose her to be special among all the DeNoy, and she deserves our veneration, does she not?” He waved away their response as unimportant. “Only a few of us have seen her. The rest of the DeNoy will want to see her with their own eyes. Surely a few days won’t matter, in the end.”

“Yeah, well,” Lennon said, “ the end is what everyone is worried about.”

“One day,” Griffon said. “We’ll give you one day.”

Ciro laughed and started down the hall again, waving for us to follow. “We cannot possibly be expected to plan such a festivity in as little as a day. But we can try.”