Page 161 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 160

Apparently our contribution would involve cutting out many, many little cogs.

“Gods dammit!” I snapped as yet another fine saw blade snapped. I dropped the coping saw on the workbench and looked up at Ged. “I’m terrible at this. I can stitch all manner of flowers on the finest linen, play the pianoforte passably, and paint a portrait that looks somewhat like the subject, but cutting a bloody cog out of sheets of metal is apparently beyond me.”

“Tension.” Ged winked at me, carefully disengaging his saw blade from the metal he was cutting, then setting it aside. “Did you ever play a violin?”

“Mother hated the screeches I made, so I fear it wasn’t for long.”

“Think of the saw blade as being like the bow of the violin.” He held up his saw and pretended to play an imaginary instrument with it. “Too hard and you’ll be snapping horse hairs all over the place. Too soft and you won’t make a sound. Keep your wrist loose and let the blade do the work. You’re directing it, not forcing it through the metal.”

All good advice. So good that some of the women looked up to see what we were talking about. We’d all pulled up stools and started cutting out cogs to Roland’s design, following the templates he sketched out onto the sheets of copper.

“At least that’s the way I was taught, Highness.”

Ged put especial emphasis on the last word, hoping to deflect the ladies’ interest, but he needn’t have bothered. Cloudy was about to do the job for him. We all turned around at the sound of shouts from the streets. Ged dropped his saw and reached for his sword, ready to defend my honour. He leapt to his feet and stood between me and the doorway.

But there was no Harlstonian enemy lurking outside of the tannery.

Cloudy landed with a thud, people scrambling to get out of his way as dust rouse in a massive cloud.

We must go , he said to us, now.

What’s going on? All of my concerns about gimbals were thrust to one side when I saw the red dragon was alone. Where’s Glimmer? What’s happened to Glimmer!

The queens are safe under Wyrmpeak, but some of the thieves have returned. They seek the king.

“We’re off, Da!” Ged called out as he hustled me towards the door.

“I can see that. That dragon of yours has flattened half the marketplace. I hope it’s for a good reason!”

We were about to find out.

What thieves? I asked, as I scrambled up Cloudy’s leg and onto his back. And what are they doing here?

The keep.

That was all the answer we got from Cloudy. Ged had barely settled into the saddle before his dragon started running down the path. People, horses, donkeys, even chickens threw themselves out of the way, all but one person. Marcus Lighthands stood in the middle of the path, a small smile on his face, it growing and growing as the dragon got closer. I went to shout at him to get out of the way, but Cloudy’s wings flapped out, raking through the air to gain altitude. I looked back to see that Marcus was in one piece, sketching a brief salute.

“Royce,” Ged snarled as we stared at the keep roof at the beginning of our descent. “What the hell is the bastard son of the Duke of Harlston doing here, along with one of his little toadies?”

Two dragons sat on the flat roof, their riders still in their saddles, as if they were waiting for orders, not coming back to the scene of their crime.

I can burn them from the saddle , Cloudy said, his tone just as hot as the fire that burned inside him. They’ll be soot on the wind in moments.

Not yet, lad. The general, he’ll kill me if we don’t find what these idiots want.

Ged stroked a hand down Cloudy’s neck.

More dragon eggs? Cloudy’s mind was a hot, hectic place. I felt like I was being whipped up into a firestorm, spun around and out of control. The queens? My mate?

He let out a loud bellow of challenge as we circled down, making clear what he thought of that idea.

They’d have brought far more of their number if that’s what they intended , I said, sitting forward, letting the weight of the wind keep me in the saddle as I peered at the two interlopers. A white flag hung listlessly from Royce’s shoulder as he waited for us to arrive, making clear their purpose. They are here to deliver a message.

One we wouldn’t want to hear, that was clear.

Cloudy landed on the rooftop, tail swishing, a low growl rattling in his throat, but Royce just sneered. I remembered him now. He was the fool who thought I would accept his offer of marriage because of who his father was. While he was a conventionally good looking man, the sneer on his face, the hectic light in his eyes made him ugly.

“Draven left a woman to look after things for him, did he?” Royce looked me up and down. “At least I think she’s a woman.”

“Your queen,” Ged snapped, yanking his sword free. “And you’ll show her the proper respect or?—”

“The keep doesn’t offer the customary courtesy to messengers anymore?” Royce sniffed. “Makes sense the place has gone to pot since we left. Well, as much as I’d like to sit here and argue, my father has a wedding gift for the queen.”

When he pulled out a swaddled bundle, I knew what it was. I was right back in my father’s hall, my stepsister raging. Royce hefted the oval-shaped bundle and then tore away the cloth covering, revealing a blue dragon egg, right before he threw it into the air.

I was moving, sprinting across the keep roof, despite Ged and Cloudy’s protests. I dimly heard their shouts, their roars, but I couldn’t focus on more than one thing at a time. The egg, in my heart, if not my head, it was Glimmer’s that spun through the air. My eyes were trained upon it, my hands outstretched, ready to capture it as I lunged forward…

Only for the shell to crack and collapse inwards as soon as my hands clapped around it.

I had saved an empty shell from being shattered on the ground, only to do that work myself. For a moment, there was only my frantic heartbeat, my staring eyes as I tried to make sense of this, then I heard Royce’s mocking laughter.

“Well, she might not be much of a queen, but I’d have the lass on my side if we were playing a game of football.”

“What the fucking hell did you do?” Ged stormed over, pushing in front of me, sword held across his body. “What the hell did you monsters do to that dragonling? It’s bad enough that you stole a clutch from the hatching sands, but?—”

“I’m in no mood to listen to your spluttering, peasant.” Royce’s eyes narrowed as he looked down his nose at us, before taking an exaggerated breath in. “You’ve still got the stink of the tannery on you. No amount of bathing will ever get that off you.”

“He’s a better man than you.” I stepped forward, taking him and his dragon in with a withering look. While Royce might be all hauteur, his dragon was blank eyed and staring. It was then I noticed the fine gold chain he wore over his leather tunic. Hanging from it was a pendant that was all too familiar. Raina, the old queen, had worn one just like it, because without it, she’d never have been able to control Zafira. “And a better dragonrider. He doesn’t have to mind rape his bondmate to keep his dragon by his side.”

Royce went pale, then bright red spots formed in his cheeks as he rallied quickly.

“No, but Vigilance is a far hardier creature than that poor excuse for a dragon.”

I followed his gaze and saw that all the fire had gone out of Cloudy, literally. Where he was at my back, ready to attack, now he had become subdued. That long, red muzzle stretched forward and nudged at the shards of the broken eggshell. I watched his fiery eyes blink, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“You bastard…” I growled.

“You can call me all the names you like, queen-in-waiting, but I need you to pass the message on to your king.” He made a show of considering what to say next. “Or your husband. Perhaps both of them, since they’re always together.” Royce nodded at the broken shell. “Draven needs to stand down. He’ll be king of the three remaining duchies, though any son you manage to bear him?” He shrugged. “That still remains to be seen. Harlston is seceding from the state of Nevermere and will be recognised as a separate country with my father as king. Any incursion from the west will be seen as a declaration of war.”

“You think to win a war against our dragons?” Ged asked in a ragged voice. “You’ve less than half our number.”

“And all of the dragon eggs.”

Royce’s sneer was gone and the rider beside him was starting to look around nervously, obviously wanting to go. His dragon, however, sat there, still as a stone. His eyes were filmy, almost as if he were dead, not just controlled by the dragonstone at his rider’s neck.

“My father will smash every single one of them, leaving the dragonlings to take their last breath on the flagstones of his palace, if you make a move against us.”

“This is madness!” Ged shouted. “You’ll have no young dragons of your own.”

“We’ll make more when the young queen is grown,” Royce replied, and that’s when the true horror of what they proposed hit me.

I was right back in those memories of what Glimmer had endured, trapped in the shell, unable to get out and away from the punishing psychic onslaught. Beatrice would be using Raina’s tactics to ensure the queen dragon was bonded to her.

Without Glimmer’s considerable mental resources to protect herself.

“No…” I barely whispered that, but Royce got exactly what he was looking for in that response. His eyes lit up, his grin like a knife’s edge against my throat. “No,” I said more firmly. People kept trying to make me queen, so I needed to act as one truly. “No, you will not do this.”

“Stay where you are, little queen, and the dragons will remain unharmed.” His eyes slid to the shells on the ground. “Well, the rest of them.”

Cloudy prowled forward, smoke trickling from his nostrils. His period of mourning was brief, and anger had replaced it.

We need help , I said, eyeing the two intruder dragons. They seemed to jerk to life, but not wholly. Just enough to start conjuring fire themselves. Those dragons are being coerced, but there are two of them and one of you.

More than one , Cloudy replied.

Before he could say another word, a rhythmic sound broke the silence. The breeze began to pick up, becoming brisk, before rough winds buffeted the lot of us. Everyone turned around to seek the cause, and that became immediately clear as Hadrian appeared behind the two intruders.

The ancient dragons were far fewer in number, I realised, because of their size, and while Hadrian would’ve been dwarfed by Aisenbran, there were few in Nevermere that could match his size. Cloudy and the Harlstonian dragons were like children beside him.

And that’s how the intruder dragons behaved.

Some primitive instinct fought the control their riders had over them, forcing their hearts to race, their muscles to tense, as they knew they were in danger, but it wasn’t their struggle I focussed on. It was her.

Glimmer!

My mind leapt over the space between us, trying to lock onto hers as she sat proud on Hadrian’s neck, her own body bristling with fury. She replied to my thought, but more besides, her scales glowing brighter and brighter gold in the evening sun.

You seek to use my brothers as bargaining chips? I didn’t know how Royce and his comrade stayed in the saddle as her mind lashed theirs. You seek to coerce my sister into becoming a breeding machine for your vile purposes? You come into my territory and threaten my bondmate?

Glimmer, no!

I remembered this, the way her scales began to glow bright as the sun the moment she healed me. She was using some kind of power I didn’t understand, but I knew each time it took something from her. But she blazed like a wildfire, the dragonstones at the Harlstonians’ breasts dulling and then failing as Royce’s dragon turned around.

Was Royce ever supposed to bond with Vigilance, or had he used the same tactics as Raina? I wouldn’t get an answer now, but the change in Royce’s expression made me wonder. Vigilance’s snake-like neck twisted around, a savage snarl rattling in his chest. Cloudy rushed forward and by the sounds coming from the air, more dragons were arriving by the second. Vigilance’s jaws opened as Royce began to splutter, then hold out his hand, as if that would ward his dragon off.

No, Vigilance wasn’t his dragon anymore.

Royce seemed to come to the same conclusion, leaping off the dragon’s back and onto his companion’s.

The other Harlstonian dragon fought the pull of the dragonstone amulet. I could see it in the way his head jerked, like a horse fighting the bit. But much like a horse, his resistance was futile. Both of these envoys shouted at the beast and it moved sluggishly, stumbling forward, then beginning to flap its wings.

Run home, little riders . Hadrian’s voice boomed inside my head, so I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for Royce and his companion. Tell your silly little lord that he does not make war with just the Nithian throne, but… One of his claws slapped down on the edge of the keep and bricks sheered off and went tumbling down as a result. With Hadrian as well.

That was enough to make the Harlstonian dragon move. Not due to compliance, but fear. It scrambled towards the edge of the keep and then threw itself off, dropping alarmingly before gaining altitude. Dragons landed around us, people threw themselves out of saddles, everyone shouting at once as others gave pursuit, chasing the poor beleaguered creature across the skies.

“Pippin!” Draven appeared by my side, wrenching me around to face him and then Flynn, Soren and Brom appeared at his shoulder. “What happened? You were supposed to be at the palace.”

Your enemies entered your territory , Hadrian said in my stead. They delivered the shell of a dead dragonling and made clear they intend to kill more to meet their goal. I care nothing for human squabbles and everything for my queen. She is about to bear her last clutch… There was a pause there, but not for long. In the last hatching sands available on this island. You’ve allowed one clutch of eggs to be stolen out from under your nose. Ensure no more dragonlings are treated so poorly, or I’ll be forced to step in myself.

Hadrian turned tail then, swooping back down to return to Cynane in the depths of Wyrmpeak, but whatever business Glimmer had with the wild dragons, that was now done. She threw herself off Hadrian’s back and it felt like my heart leapt with her, but her wings worked and she climbed in altitude, hovering there for just a second, before descending in a leisurely spiral.

Glimmer! I ran forward and wrapped my arms around her the moment she landed. Glimmer, I… You…

Must save my brothers and sisters from this terrible fate. She pulled back to stare into my eyes. Whatever must be done, whatever preparations we must make, then make them. They cannot coerce my sister in the way they tried to do me. They can’t.

They can’t , I agreed, closing my eyes and pressing my face into her shoulder, but what I saw in the darkness wasn’t us riding to victory. It was the screams of dragons, of humans, the moment the dragon town was blown to smithereens.