Page 61 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

A’nala dips down, and Daeja follows with the rest of the dragon riders on either side of us.

We turn left, circling around the back half of Vitalis as the wind rips my braids back from my face and threatens to force my eyes closed.

My stomach tips, warning it’ll plummet to the ground at the dizzying speed and angle we’re gliding, parallel with the mountainside.

Luckily for my own pride, we even out before I throw up.

Minutes later, we circle back and land at a southern bridge, each chaotic flapping of wings stirring dust and overgrown vines and fronds. Sethan dismounts, and I unclip myself from the saddle and slide off.

The rest of the dragon riders follow suit, and we all gather a few feet from where the bridge arches over the sparkling, turquoise blue lake below.

Sethan’s eyes are glued on the water, scanning its surface before he plucks a loose cobblestone from the street.

Before anyone can ask what he’s doing, he chucks it into the lake below, taking a few steps back and bracing his forearm against my chest.

And waits.

A bubble of water turns into a rush, and a hiss emerges from the depths below. Daeja flares her wings, as do the other dragons, tails whipping and talons scraping against the cobblestones.

“Get back,” Sethan whispers.

I obey, slowly walking backward until I bump into Daeja’s chest.

“Water dragons,” a woman next to me growls, withdrawing her blade.

I follow suit, unsheathing my own and tossing it to my left hand—while pushing back the thought of who exactly taught me I was better with it.

A long, skinny, blue muzzle with white whiskers rises from the edge of the street near the bridge and scans us in a flash of turquoise eyes.

Two rows of webbed horns start at the crown of its head, then slip back and down its neck.

As it parts its dripping muzzle, it reveals a mouth as black as the oceans.

According to my father’s journal, water dragons could have a myriad of abilities.

And while I’m praying this one might only be capable of the less dangerous ones—echolocation or camouflaging—the possibility of the other powers has me sliding Sethan’s outstretched arm away from my chest. I take a step forward.

If this one is capable of blasting boiling water or producing electric shock waves, we might all be doomed if we don’t play our cards right.

But I have the Blood Ring. And it was me who was able to stop the dragonfire from completely ruining Vathstone. Me and Daeja. What’s to worry about but one single water dragon?

Daeja follows me like a slick shadow, her chin a few feet above my head, clearly attuned to my thoughts. Slowly as to not spook the water dragon, I slide off my gloves and tuck them into my waistband.

“What are you doing?” Sethan hisses each word from behind me.

“Taking the lead,” I whisper without taking my eyes off the dragon.

Its vibrant eyes watch me, narrowing. Water creeps up over the edge of the street and snakes through the cobblestones.

Collecting quickly enough that it begins to bleed out from the grout lines and merge into one wave of water rushing toward us.

The wave is maybe three inches deep when it gushes over the tip of my boots.

But the water rises more rapidly, more furiously from around the water dragon.

I’m not willing to chance the powers it holds.

Today is not a good day for drowning. I rip my right hand up.

Rather than pulling the magic as I’ve practiced with Marge, I push it.

Slamming a wall against it to keep it from venturing farther than a few inches behind me.

As I force the water back, inch by inch until it’s dammed out in front of me, the water dragon hisses.

Just as the fire dragon spoke in my mind back in Vathstone, I reach, calling out into a cavernous void in the event it might hear me. “We mean you no harm. We only wish to pass to Vitalis.”

The water dragon rises and leans forward until the tip of its glistening blue snout is a few feet away from me. Daeja smashes her heavy feet on either side of me in a protective stance, a growl rumbling in her chest behind me.

“Vitalis is no longer for humans,” a gravely deep voice booms in my mind, and the dragon flicks its gaze at my sword in disgust. “You are not welcome here.”

I whisper back, gently, “Vitalis is not only yours to guard.”

It roars, “It is when your species desecrated this ages-old pantheon! Leave, and do not return.”

I shake my head, then sheathe my sword at my side in a show of good faith. Though I still hold the waters at bay with an outstretched hand. “We do not wish to fight you. Only to find answers about how we can save this realm from destruction. Please.”

The dragon focuses on the sheathed blade at my side before it drags its attention to me. “As if it hasn’t been destroyed already. Why should we allow you? You are no different from the rest.”

The water sloshes up against the invisible dam I’m magically holding between us and the dragon.

The water level is equal to my waist now.

Adding a slow but sure pressure against the force I’ve created, two other water dragons rise from either side of the first one.

The three of them a glistening cerulean threat.

“Because you will allow me,” Daeja’s slick as velvet voice chimes in. “And I will not be challenged.”

The dragons turn their attention to her. A flash of recognition, of fear, something, waves over their faces. The water around them stills, allowing me a slight break at keeping it dammed.

The first dragon rumbles, “You side with the ones who stole your future? Who’ve destroyed the Gods’ plan?”

“She is my future. And we have only come to restore it.”

“You know not of which you ask, Moon One. You are far out of your depths.”

“Lis foarth gash dinnen,” A’nala’s hiss echoes around us.

I whip my attention to her, the water leaking out of a crack I allow in the dam before I shove it back. All three water dragons’ eyes narrow. The horns lining their necks and spines, connected by webbing, fan out.

The first water dragon speaks again, “We do not converse with fire dragons. How dare you use the ancient tongue.”

A’nala’s snapping at the air makes me flinch. “Gilltha fintike meesh notak!”

“Stop,” Sethan warns her.

Pride trickles into my skin because A’nala should be scared shitless about not one, not two, but three water dragons before her. They could potentially take out all of our fire dragons if the situation gets worse.

Daeja slides her body in front of me, lowering her head to look at the water dragon eye-to-eye. All at once, a wall of silence slams down between me and the rest of the dragons. Daeja and the main water dragon stare each other down, their eyes dilating as if announcing each silent exchange.

One of the water dragons retreats. And then the other. As Daeja and the first water dragon converse, the water recedes until it’s gone, leaving the cobblestones a darker shade than the rest of the street and bridge.

The first water dragon slides its gaze to me. “Find him in there. Set him free.”

It retreats and slips back down into the waters below. With a relieved sigh, I let my hand fall to my side. I smile up at Daeja.

She meets my gaze. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I’m proud of you. You hold your own, even when others doubt you.”

“Tell A’nala that.” She jerks her muzzle back toward the rest of the group. “I’ll get an earful later of how I shut everyone else out.”

Sethan grabs my shoulder, turning me toward him. “What did you do? What did it say?”

“You…you couldn’t hear it?”

“No. Dragons do not speak to others unless they want to. It’s far too risky of them to do so.”

“Why would it be too risky for them? A’nala spoke to me.” And the fire dragon. And earth dragon.

Sethan drops his hand from my shoulder. “Because it could establish a two-way connection. And they prefer not to get entangled in the problems of humans. That’s why most of them do not want to bond us. A’nala knows you will not manipulate her.”

“So, if they speak to us…it establishes a bond?”

“Not quite. But it makes it much easier to do so. And in previous generations, humans have been known to exploit magic to bond a dragon.”

“Like through the Blood and Bone Ring?”

He shrugs. “I’m not quite sure how. The ways have been lost to translations. But that’s beside the point—what did it say to you?”

“It said for us to ‘find him in there and set him free.’ ”

“Who’s he?”

I peer up at Daeja. “I have no idea.”