Page 5

I instinctively hold my breath as Lemi swims through the wards.

They’re about as thick as a window pane and my skin prickles with heat as we push to the other side.

The water is as warm as the air on this side of the barrier, the atmosphere heavy with smoke.

There are three active volcanoes along the Red Rift that snakes across the belly of the Midlands like a gaping wound, and depending on which way the winds are blowing, your visibility can be close to zero.

At the moment the wind is pushing the volcanic fumes my way, so as soon as we reach shore I’ll have to wear a mask in order to breathe properly.

Just another punishing feature of this forsaken land for those who dare to tread it.

The shore feels far away this time, the craggy features of the small island of Fjallen Rock hidden in the grimy haze.

There are times I think the Midlands and its austere and terrifying geography can be quite beautiful, in the same way a dragon can be beautiful.

But you’re always aware of the danger. Of how feeble and useless you are in comparison.

The Midlands and the beasts that fly above it dole out death without second thought.

But that’s why I have Lemi. I couldn’t do this without him.

The other thieves who pilfer the Midlands have heightened abilities and powers thanks to their egg consumption, senses that may help them find the precious commodities and fight back against dragon attacks.

I have no powers except my dog and years of training with the best fighters of the Banished Land.

Now as we’re getting close to shore, Lemi swims faster.

While the eggs—and more specifically, the suen compound that’s extracted from them—don’t work on me for reasons I still don’t understand, they do work on Lemi.

He’s stronger and faster than any dog ought to be, plus he has the ability to shift through time and space, as long as it’s to a place he can see or a place he’s already been to.

The moment my boots reach the sharp rocks of the seafloor I let go of his harness and he immediately disappears in front of me.

One moment he’s here, the next he’s vanished into thin air, with only a faint whiff of his warm doggy smell left behind.

He quickly reappears farther down the coast, his giant black body blending in with the lava-sculpted shoreline, his head down to the ground, sniffing for our prize.

I let out a sigh of quiet relief and keep my eyes on him as I stagger out of the water and onto land.

I should have stopped worrying about him years ago after he proved no dragon could catch him, but even so, I watch him like a hawk.

It’s only for a little while, I tell myself, though I feel the bitterness on my tongue. All those one more time s and soon I can stop s and almost there s and not long now s have melted into chains of hope that keep me fastened to this trade.

The existence of tomorrow is more intoxicating than any drug.

I want to call out to Lemi so that he doesn’t go too far, but now that I’m on land, I don’t want to attract any attention to myself.

Instead I pull up my mask from around my neck so that it covers my nose and mouth.

It’s wet but that makes it easier to breathe, and in no time I’ll be completely dry, with the heat and the winds the way they are.

I start walking along the coast, the seawater squishing in my boots, keeping an eye on Lemi while minding my step among the sharp rocks.

Occasionally a rock will move and charred legs will appear—a lava crab that scatters back into the dark sea.

If I felt more optimistic about tonight’s hunt, I’d spear the crab and take it back home with me because they’re my aunt’s favorite dish and she’s been doing all the cooking as of late.

But now that my plan has changed, the less I have to carry with me, the better.

Lemi is still visible, though he’s getting farther and farther away. I’ve always had unnaturally good eyesight, and the constant eruptions from the distant volcanos of the Midlands illuminate the sky in an orange glow, but even so he’s getting harder to spot.

An image of my mother flashes across my mind, as it always does whenever I step foot in these dragon lands.

The scene is of the last time I saw her, at the front of the square ship, the lone person at the helm with five hundred rockdeer packed behind her.

Though I grew up in the capital I had never seen what happened every moon at Sacrifice Bay on the outskirts of the city of Lerick.

I always thought the deer would be bleating, terrified at being herded onto the long, wide boat, but what struck me was the silence.

It’s like they knew their only purpose in life was to end up as dragon food.

The silence extended to my mother. She had the same look in her eyes as the sacrificial deer, as if she always knew her purpose would come to this, to be used as a pawn for a religion of sycophants and hypocrites.

She stared directly at me while the Black Guard held me in place at the front of the crowd, forced to watch, just as they forced me to watch my father’s execution, and then with a lingering look that I still can’t seem to decipher to this day, she turned around and steered the boat toward the very land I’m standing on now.

Both of my parents were so elegant and poised when facing their death. I fear that when my time comes, their composure will not have been passed on to me.

I sigh and shake my head, clearing the memory before my attention goes to Lemi again.

I freeze.

My heart thundering in my throat.

Lemi is gone.

And in his place is a dark-cloaked figure standing at the end of the shore.

I’m not alone here.