Page 154 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 153

“What history?” Flynn asked as we all walked out of the palace. Our dragons waited for us there, looking far too bright eyed and boisterous. Ged grumbled as Cloudy nudged him in the ribs, obviously keen to get going. “What history, Draven?”

“My king.” Draven said that in a tight voice. “I apologise, but beyond the suite walls, I’m going to have to insist on my title. The fact we have no time for a coronation and I’m facing a threat from my own family means I need to use whatever else I have to confirm my position.”

“And does that include what is about to happen today?” Brom asked, looking Draven over with a speculative air.

Our answer came once we went outside.

“So, are we ready to start blowing things up?”

Stefan appeared beside us with a wide grin on his face, standing in the courtyard outside the palace. It was eerie sometimes, looking at him. It was as if I was seeing a Draven that had been allowed to just grow up as he was, unconstrained by palace politics. Would the king have looked this boyish? We’d never know, because Draven was perfectly serious.

“The harbourmaster will have towed the old hulk out to sea by now.” Draven peered at the bay far below as if he could see it amongst all the ships moored at the docks. “It’s been made clear to all the fishermen that they best steer clear of the ocean this morning. Ready, lad?” He turned to Darkspire, who nudged his rider gently. “Let's go show the bloody Harlstonians what a mistake they’re making.”

But not us, apparently. We got no explanation other than an order to mount up. Stefan jumped on Darkspire’s back with his cousin, while Glimmer had chosen Glacier as our mount for the morning.

“With me?” Flynn performed a courtly bow. “This way, my queen.” He helped me into the saddle, Glacier’s breath exhaling in cold, gusty blooms as he waited for us to get situated.

Do you know what’s going to happen today? I asked Glimmer.

Dragonfire , she replied, some trepidation. Aisenbran helped determined the fate of Nevermere in the past, we see now if he does so again.

Find the balance or see all of Nevermere burn. I recalled Tanis’ words then, wondering at what that meant, but before I could ponder further, Glacier took flight. I was caught then by the power of his wings, the way they carved through the air, gaining altitude, only to spiral back down again what felt like seconds later. We landed on the docks, a sizeable crowd already having formed and more arriving. Dragons always caught peoples’ attention, but never more than now. Perhaps because they never landed en masse on the docklands. While we slid from the saddle, I got a front row seat to watch the spectacle from the perspective of the people.

A large ceramic pot had been left on the docks, closely watched by palace guards in livery. Darkspire swooped down, people muttering and crying out as he dove down. I’m sure some of them thought those outstretched claws were reaching for them, but instead ‘Spire grabbed the webbing of ropes that had been tied around the pot.

“Steady, cousin!”

I saw Stefan lean from the saddle, staring at the pot, watching it swing back and forth with Darkspire’s wing beats.

“Gods above…”

“Sir.”

Flynn saluted General Rex as he came to stand beside us, but the man didn’t notice. His eyes were entirely on Draven and Darkspire, watching them cross the water in great sweeps of his wings, getting closer and closer to a decaying ship that was starting to list on one side, pushed over by the lapping sea.

The ocean wouldn’t be the one to destroy the ship, Draven would.

From a great height Darkspire dropped his burden, yet he backwinged furiously, gaining altitude rapidly to put a larger distance between him and the ship.

For good reason.

I faintly heard the whistle the pot made as it plunged down, the ship rolling and waving with the tide.

“Hit it…” Flynn muttered, stepping forward, Glacier shifting with him. Only Glimmer seemed unperturbed. She watched the events with a kind of world weariness.

As if she’d seen it all before.

What will happen? I asked her on a hunch. Glimmer…?

We burn or they burn, she replied almost dreamily. Or everyone burns.

What?

I didn’t have time for clarification. The ceramic pot hit the ship and then everything exploded.

Did they expect the impact to be this great? I thought dimly, right as we were hit with a blast of sea water and air that made a storm feel like nothing. I staggered back, Flynn’s arm snapping out to stop me from falling flat on my behind. Screams and cries went up around the crowd, but when I blinked water from my eyes, I saw what had happened. The ship hadn’t been hit like a cannonball, it had been obliterated. All that remained were some fragments of wood, now bobbing along furiously with the waves that smashed into the dock moorings.

So what exactly did Draven intend to use the dragonfire for?

“Bloody hell, there’s some fishermen out there,” Flynn said, pulling away. “Ged!”

“On it!”

Both of them leapt into the saddles of their dragons, launching themselves into the air and then skimming along the wildly rocking waves, plucking several bedraggled looking fishermen from the water and depositing them on the docks moments later, where they were joined by Darkspire. The king’s dragon buffeted the crowd with his wings as he landed with a flourish.

“I call that little experiment a success.” Stefan looked positively gleeful as he jumped down, turning to look back at their handiwork. “A few of them would put a fire up the arse of Harlston.”

“Harlston?” I said, looking around me, but all the men were converging on Draven.

“Exactly how much of the dragonfire was used?” General Rex asked the king. “The entire vial?”

“Just a drop,” Stefan chortled. “That and a pot packed with blasting powder was all it took to take out the ship.”

“And you have considerable stores of dragonfire?” Rex asked.

“More than you could possibly need,” Stefan replied.

“Your Majesty, we need to start testing this weapon on land targets.”

Land targets? I could just imagine what such an explosive would do to Nevermere.

“You’d blow up half the countryside, dropping this stuff,” Stefan explained.

“Sire—”

Draven held up a hand, silencing both before turning to face me.

He found me in the crowd with ease. The crowd had recovered and were talking excitedly about what they’d just seen, but he didn’t seem to care at all. Just a small smile and then he reached out a hand. He wanted me to play at being a queen now?

No playing, only being.

Glimmer followed me over, nodding to the people we passed, as if their enthusiasm was her due.

“You need me to be a figurehead again?” I muttered as I drew close.

“I just need you,” came Draven’s reply.

He drew me in close, stirring up memories, so many memories of last night, but while we shared a moment of connection, we had work to do. He turned to the crowd, his dragon at his back, Glimmer before us, and then addressed them.

“Some of you will be informants for my uncle.” His voice carried across the crowd, creating an uneasy silence. “I invite you to sell your recount of what happened today to him and include this. The Nithian dynasty has wielded dragonfire in the past for the queens of Nevermere. When Gloriana proved unfit to reign, we used that power to create stability in the realm.” He stepped forward, one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other wrapped around mine. “We are not afraid to do so again. Tell my uncle that he can return my dragons, my dragon eggs and my riders, and I will punish only him for his sins, or…”

Darkspire rose up, his wings flaring wide, the shadow felt on my skin. Somehow this felt like a foreshadowing of something ominous.

“Or he and the people of Harlston will be forced to pay for the error of their ways. Nevermere united!”

He jerked our hands up and gods, everyone else’s went with it. They shouted his last two words over and over. Why? I wanted to ask, and yet I knew. My history tutor had made sure I understood how these sorts of things eventuated at my father’s insistence.

“In times of great uncertainty, the person offering the opposite of that becomes very appealing,” the old man had said, sitting on the window seat of my schoolroom. “He takes away the need to find solutions ourselves. We can rely on faith rather than good sense.” He tapped his temple. “Now, tell me, how did the first Nithian king utilise this at the beginning of his reign..?”

I was taught that the Nithians were in the right, that they provided strong leadership while Gloriana was preoccupied with her own pleasures. The history books said they were canny leaders, ones who created a stronger economy, helping ward off increasing interest from the continent. The Nithian military prowess against even dragons was a further point in their favour, though how they fought against aerial strikes was not.

Was it with dragonfire?

I saw then the vision I’d gotten from the cracked egg we’d found in the dirt, of dragon riders flying forward, toting similar ceramic pots. I stared at Draven, catching the small look of triumph on his face, right before he turned my way.

“You won’t really use weapons like this against the Harlstonians?” I asked. He frowned. “Draven, you?—”

“I don’t want to. My family has kept the substance closely guarded for centuries. Honestly, whatever was left of my father’s mind, I think it was focussed on protecting the knowledge of dragonfire from my mother,” he replied. “But I must use whatever means possible to protect my country. Those dragonlings in the stolen eggs, Beatrice, my uncle, all of them will be using the tricks my mother discovered to enslave them in the egg.”

Glimmer shifted restively, then glanced back over her shoulder, and I knew what she was thinking without needing to touch minds with her. That claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in an egg shell with no means to escape as minds pummelled yours over and over, trying to break your will. I sucked in a shaky breath, trying to shove that feeling away.

“My uncle will have an army when they’re grown, one that rivals ours.” Those blue eyes bore into mine, pleading for understanding. “Because those dragons will never be allowed free will.” Darkspire let out a low rattle in response. “They will be mindless slaves. Extremely powerful, mindless slaves.”

He wasn’t the only one waiting for me to understand. Darkspire’s deep emerald eyes and Glimmer’s watched me closely with all the focus of a snake on the hunt.

“Drills, Your Majesty,” the general said, returning to our side. “We’ll need to start the dragons practising with ceramic pots of different sizes.”

“Each one can be packed with blasting powder at first to get them accustomed to the delivery and blast range,” Stefan said, looking like a little boy about to have cake for dinner. “You want to save the good stuff for the real battles.”

“I think we’re going to need to trial actual dragonfire—” the general started to splutter.

“No, we don’t want to do that.” Everyone turned to stare at me and I blinked, realising I’d spoken. Now I had everyone’s attention, I needed to continue. “Imagine that…” I turned to look back at the sea, watching the bits of flotsam wash up against the docks, the waves still choppy. My eyes flicked back to meet their collective gaze. “Imagine that destruction in a field, a farm, a forest.”

Imagine the people affected by it, I wanted to say.

“Yes, well…” The general’s brows drew down into a severe frown.

“Dragonfire is too volatile, too explosive, to be deployed willy nilly,” Stefan said, waving his hand vaguely at the ocean. “And it’s a finite resource.”

“So we must use it wisely.” Draven silenced us all with his confident reply. “Train our dragons as best we can to deliver explosives and…” He let out a sigh, watching some of the crowd disperse, others to cluster closer around each dragon, not daring to get too close. “Hope to all the gods we don’t need to use them.”

That was our aim. My mind grabbed onto that idea like I was one of the hapless fishermen out there on the sea the moment the explosive was dropped and someone had tossed me a rope.

“I hope that too.”

General Rex nodded, his eyes narrowing as he stared at me.

“Well, Majesty, while we do our best to prepare to quell a civil war, I must bring another issue to your attention.” He glanced at Draven then. “Obviously you are aware that the wild queen rose to mate last night.”

“I am aware.”

Just a slight twist of Draven’s lips, that’s all it took to make clear last night wasn’t just a fever dream.

“Then you will no doubt be aware of what comes of these things. The wild queen?—”

Cynane, Glimmer thought, glaring at the man.

“Cynane.” Rex corrected himself unconsciously. “She has taken to nesting in the hatching sands. We could conceal the fact that we have several wild dragons for some time, but when we have wild dragonlings as well?”

I didn’t need Glimmer or Darkspire to read his mind. The gleam in Rex’s eyes made clear what he would like to do. Re-purpose these young dragonlings as potential bondmates for yet more riders, adding to the corps number, potentially replacing those lost to Harlston.

All these baby dragons surrounded by humans that wanted to use them as warriors, as weapons. I swallowed hard, trying to moisten my suddenly dry throat. Perhaps it was for them that I spoke.

“I’ll talk to Cynane,” I said in quite a different tone than I usually used. Not a suggestion, I was informing Draven and the general what I would do. “Find out what she intends to do. She came here to fulfil the dictates of the treaty forged by Queen Inara, one she took an instrumental role in creating.”

“Queen talking to queen?” Rex had sucked in a breath to protest, but Draven cut him off. “That sounds like a wise plan. Let me know what Cynane has to say.”

“Got our orders?” Ged asked me as I walked over to Cloudy. He caught my stricken expression and took a step towards me, stopping himself before he got too close.

“Orders?” That came out in a half hysterical snort. “I told the general I’d go visit Cynane in the hatching sands to stop him from eyeing her off, measuring her for potential eggs he could steal and bond to future riders.”

“Taking two queens to meet with another one?” Soren winked at Glimmer. “Sounds like we know what the next step is. Your Highnesses.”

As he swept my dragon a deep bow, Wraith extended a foreleg, allowing Glimmer to claw her way upwards with ease.

Deferential , she told me. I think I like this one of your mates the best.

You say that whenever any one of them does something you like.

It is the way of queens , she told me sagely. When they please us, then we reward their good behaviour.

I watched her lean down and rub her head against Wraith’s neck, the big purple dragon making a rumbly sound of pleasure.

“Ready, my queen?”

I answered Soren by taking position on his saddle, but when he slid in behind me, it didn’t feel like we were queen and her rider. I couldn’t help but see him, naked in more ways than one, staring down into my eyes, forcing me to stay in the moment as pleasure tore us apart.

“Ready,” I replied, as if that were true.