Page 54 of The Dragon Queen #3

“Where are all the ships?”

We flew half the day to arrive outside of Blackreach by mid afternoon. The sun was starting to slip in the sky as Draven stared down his spyglass, trying to gauge how many vessels were moored around the duke’s estate. The steep cliff the city was built on and the high walls around it made it hard to see accurately. With enemy dragons flying high around the duke’s residence, we couldn’t afford to get too close. The entire flight of the Royal Riders was stationed on the plain beyond the walls, past the now empty fields. Every carrot, every stalk of wheat looked like it’d been pulled from the ground to be stored behind the walls in preparation for the siege that must come.

“I can’t see clearly from here,” Draven said with a hiss, putting the spyglass down on the table Rex had set up in his tent. “I need to go up?—”

“We’ll send a reconnaissance team,” the general replied smoothly. “You’re not a gentleman soldier anymore, Majesty. You’re the king.” He waited for Draven to see his point, then took his silence for agreement. “Cooper, you and your wing will do a sweep of the ocean around Blackreach and?— ”

“Don’t go too close.” A muscle in Draven’s jaw flexed as he stared out at the black spire of the duke’s residence. It had been built in the same way other cities did churches, to ensure it was the tallest, most impressive building in the entire area. “My uncle will be looking for an opportunity to strike back, no matter how unwise that may be.”

“Not too close,” the general echoed. “Not until the dragonfire arrives.”

I swallowed hard, the same thing I did every time Flynn was dragged off to transport large quantities of the powerful explosive. Was this the time it all went to hell and he and Glacier were blown from the skies?

Not today , Glimmer said, staring across the empty expanse at the city walls.

That wasn’t as reassuring as she thought it might be, but I didn’t get to quiz her on that.

“Harrison, your wing can fly out to the east,” the general ordered. “See if any of those ships are headed across the channel. Farley, your wing can do a sweep of the fields around the city, see if there’s a water source we can use.” Each wing commander nodded in response to their orders, turning on their heels to do as they were told. “Emberly.”

I stiffened at the sound of Brom’s last name. He stepped forward, his eyes meeting mine for just a second before they slipped to the love bite on my neck. It was only partially concealed by the collar of my tunic, something that had him almost smiling before he turned to give Rex his full attention.

“Sweep the city walls.”

“Rex…” Draven growled as he leapt to his feet.

“Your wing has the most agile dragons, the fastest.” Ged and Soren stood taller at that. “They’re the best men for a risky job.”

The general looked over his shoulder, waiting for us to contradict him. Instead, my hand went to Draven’s, clasping it tightly. He drew me after him as he approached the three of them.

“Be careful.” He shook Soren’s hand and then Ged’s. “If my uncle sent ballista all across Harlston, then he’ll have twice as many on the parapets of Blackreach.” He then moved to Brom. “He’s treacherous, devilishly so, and?—”

“We played on those parapets as children,” Brom told him gently, taking his hand and shaking it, but when he went to pull away, Draven held him fast. I eyed the other two, their looks of concern mirrors of my own. “I remember all the hidey holes.”

“That overhang on the left side.” Draven’s words came out faster and faster. “Under the cliff where the old?—”

“Cannon ports are? I remember.”

I stared at the two of them with a growing sense of hysteria. It felt like everything before this was just children playing at war, but now…

“Perhaps we should sit down,” I suggested. Some queen I was. My voice wavered the entire time. “Map out all these ‘hidey holes,’ traps?—”

“Don’t worry, lass.” Soren seemed to realise his impropriety after he’d used that pet name, then reached out and squeezed my shoulder. It took a dark look from Rex for him to pull away. “This is what we’ve trained for.”

Except it wasn’t. We hadn’t dealt with a civil war in generations. Our threats came from over the sea and in small fleets at most. This was something else altogether.

“Be safe…brother.”

Draven pulled Brom into a rough embrace, the kind that friends often used, but I’m not sure if they were fooling anyone. When he worked his way down the line and hugged the other two, it felt completely different. They were comrades, but Brom, he was a lover. I was at least consistent because the thought of losing any of them broke my heart equally. My eyes ached, the evening sun way too bright, so I squinted hard, that way I could maintain some sort of composure.

“We’ll be back within the hour,” Brom said, stepping back, “with a full report.”

“See that you are,” Rex said, clasping his hands behind his back. “We’re relying on you, Emberly.”

But what I felt went far beyond necessity. Glimmer scrambled off Darkspire’s neck as the other dragons rose to her feet. Under a semblance of going after her, I followed her progress.

They’ll come back. They’ll come back.

Her thoughts, emotions, were like a harsh wind, buffeting me back and forth. I felt like I was about to get swept up in them, my own desperation twining with hers, because as they took to the air, I felt like I went with them.

Except I didn’t.

“Highness,” Rex said smoothly, “would you like some tea?”

I did not, but I sipped a mug of it as we were all seated. The remaining officers clustered around the table, moving markers across the map of the peninsula in a way that set my teeth on edge.

“Sir, if we managed to hit the tip of the peninsula with dragonfire, that would bring the duke’s residence down.” The rider grinned at the others. “Force the bastard to go for a bit of a swim.”

That had the others chuckling.

“Perhaps the sharks could finish him off?” another said. “Though perhaps they’d just spit him out again.”

“Sharks don’t normally eat their own, do they?” All eyes went to Draven and their smiles faded. “No disrespect, Majesty.”

“None taken,” he replied, staring at the map steadily. “What love I might’ve felt for my uncle was extinguished before I reached ten years of age. I haven’t felt anything other than enmity for longer than I can remember.” His finger traced the shape of the peninsula. “Though as to your suggestion, it's a smart one.” The man beamed. “But not possible. A dragon would have to fly under the outcropping to unleash the dragonfire. He and his rider would likely die in the attempt.”

A sombre mood settled over the table, which had me shaking my head. I leaned forward, setting my mug down and staring at the symbols inscribed on the parchment.

“That wouldn’t just send the duke’s residence into the sea.” I followed the rabbit’s warren of streets, almost able to imagine the houses that lined it. “People’s homes, their places of business, they would be destroyed too. ”

If I hoped to see concern when I looked up, I was severely disappointed. The rider who had proposed the reckless plan grinned.

“Can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs.”

He looked to the others for support and got a slap on the back and confirmations.

“Highness, you have to understand?—”

That tone, every time Rex used it, I was driven mad. My teeth ground together until I couldn’t hold back.

“That people will die?” I snapped. “If not from the initial explosion, then from the collapse of the peninsula. Drowned, crushed by a landslide, or simply blown to pieces.” I regarded each one of them, refusing to look away until they did, if only with irritation. “Women, children, who have no role to play in this fight.”

“Pippin…”

Draven’s voice was far gentler, but the way he clasped my hand, what he said, was still an attempt to placate me. That wouldn’t work. I could see it in ways they never would, not until it was done. They had no life experience, whereas I had borrowed some when watching the visions unfurl each time I touched the eggs.

“No, this must be factored into any plan,” I insisted. Rex sighed and I shot him a dark look. “What did we learn from Castle Fast? That the vast majority of Harlston wasn’t even aware of their duke’s treachery. The assassinations, that was a coup, not a declaration of war.”

“It became one anyway,” Draven growled.

“You can’t condemn yet more people…” I blinked, seeing the bodies that had been dragged from the ruins of Castle Fast. “To die needlessly. All this talk of Harlston and Skane, Cantlyn and Tharfield, is forcing us to forget something important. We are Nevermerians.” Draven’s grip on my hand tightened, but not to silence me. There was no joy in his eyes, but there was… pride. “Whatever plan we come up with, it must focus on that fact.”

Appealing to their sense of justice wasn’t working, I could see that in their sidelong looks.

“If only to prevent a wholesale brutalisation of one of the largest duchies in the country. The sons of men killed, their daughters, they’ll pass on stories of the barbarity of the Royal Riders for years to come, and at some point, one of them will rise up to get revenge for what is done here.”

“Yes, well,” Rex said, his mouth pinched. “That is something we need to consider, but?—”

A dragon comes , Glimmer told me.

“Who’s that?”

Draven had his spyglass to his eye, and I was already on my feet. The large dragon, I thought it was Obsidian for a moment, but Brom’s dragon wouldn’t launch itself off the parapets of Blackreach.

Vigilance’s ‘rider.’ The scorn dripped from Glimmer, right before she turned to Draven’s dragon. Darkspire.

He was lumbering forward, ready to scoop my dragon up, when Draven and I began to move.

“Majesty?” Rex said. “Majesty!”

“The bastard thinks to come and confront me?” Draven said, throwing himself into the saddle as soon as Darkspire got close. “He’ll regret that.”

“Take me with you!”

His eyes burned into mine, the setting sun turning his hair dark red. Those full lips parted as he readied himself to deny me, but Glimmer decided for him.

Now, Pippin, she said. It must be now.

I couldn’t pause long enough to ask why, scrambling up into the saddle and holding tight as Darkspire launched himself into the sky.