Page 74

J ai sat within the plumes of mana, sucking it in with great heaves of his chest. He had no time to wait for the Caelite to return. No time for Erica, or lovesick Winter.

Not now. Not when the Great Tribes were already beginning to fall. He heaved in another breath, letting the mana roil within his core, its crystalline shell straining.

He felt pain, like no other, as if his very soul might split in two. It built and built, until he could push no harder.

Still, he maintained the pressure, hoping something would shift. But it seemed no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much pain he endured, nothing happened. The shell remained stubbornly the same, refusing his attempts.

He pushed the stray thoughts from his mind, trying to shake free the distractions. The memory of his flight back, tense with silence. Of Jai leaving Winter and Erica without a word, ignoring their attempts to comfort him.

His rage... it was so great, he could hardly contain it. He put every ounce of it into his attempts to advance. But it was not enough. He could not summon the strength to blossom.

Jai cursed, feeling hot tears upon his cheeks, though if they sprung from pain, rage of helplessness he did not know.

He felt a presence beside him. Opened his eyes, allowing himself momentary pause. Eko. Sitting amid the mana with him, his dark eyes staring into Jai’s own.

Eko reached out a slow hand, laying it upon Jai’s chest.

‘Beautiful,’ he said. ‘But...’

He trailed off, catching Jai’s expression.

Jai stabbed his finger west, his brows raised, his face set with a scowl.

Eko sighed, and Jai left the half-trance, the golden mist surrounding them fading away, until they were just two men on the high peak of a windswept mountain, deep in the shadow of an overcast sky.

‘We buried the dead,’ he said. ‘As many as we could. Put out the fires. Sent word to the Great Tribes. No harm in that.’

Jai turned away, his jaw set. He wiped at the tears that sprung, but they soon froze on his cheek.

No harm...

‘When you ask your favour,’ Eko said, ‘you ask it of all the Caelite. We vote, you see, if we are not of an accord. All of us.’

Jai looked at him, his brows furrowed. The man knew Jai’s mind was made up. Yet he seemed... sympathetic, in this moment. Jai listened, closely.

‘The others have kept themselves apart for so long,’ Eko said. ‘So focused on the path, the search for life eternal, they ignore their flock, their acolytes. The Speaker and I... we are the oldest. We still remember when the Caelite cared. Buying the fettered of the world, providing them safe haven... they were more than just cattle to feed our hunger for mana.’

He sighed, and stared out into the darkness.

‘When your father came to us, we numbered almost a hundred. And we had seen the slaughter of your people. Many of us were Sithians too. So when he asked us to join in the war, our sect rose to the occasion. Only the Speaker and I survived. We have rebuilt our numbers, slowly. What you saw today is the sum total of our forces. A dozen, against the Gryphon Guard’s fifty knights.’

Jai hissed through gritted teeth, unable to hold back his words.

Rules be damned!

‘I am not asking you to fight them all at once,’ he replied. ‘Hell, the dragons of the Dansk are probably keeping most occupied right now. But they fly the skies with impunity, guiding the legion, massacring traders and small tribes. You know it, and I know it. If this continues, it will not be long before all the Great Tribes are hunted down, one by one. They will burn the grasslands, turn it to wheat and corn. Fetter my people by the thousands to work them. Is that what you want?’

Eko was silent.

‘You tell me to ask for something else,’ Jai asked. ‘I tell you I cannot. If you have anything else to say, then say it.’

The big man shook his head softly.

‘Your core is too thick to blossom,’ he said. ‘You won’t have the strength to pressure it enough. Thin it down from the inside, or you will never force the metamorphosis.’

He stood, and walked a step, before hesitating, his back stiff.

‘Remember, the others care little, even for their own.’

And then he was gone, striding into the darkness.

Jai cursed bitterly beneath his breath. Too thick? He had spent a great deal of care to thicken its walls, to make it blossom as large as it could. Now he learned he had been overeager.

He held his head in his hands, staring at the perforated floor. The holes yawned black, like the eyes of the dead. Jai brought his mouth closer to the hole, and found he was able to suck in mana a little more effectively, the mana jettisoning into his mouth.

It was strange, for there was barely a draught, so his lungs filled as normal, even if mana flowed like a fountain down his throat.

He tried once more, and found it easier than ever to soulbreathe. It made little difference to the quantity he managed to take in, but the passage of mana was effortless, borne by the pressures that pushed the mana through the fountain.

It allowed him to pressure his core more than before, but despite the pain that almost made him scream aloud, his core was still too thick.

He cursed once more, slamming his fists, only to make out another figure on the approach. Flying in, just visible against the dark sky.

At first, he thought it was Winter, but she was elsewhere, sulking at Jai for cutting off their communication. But no... it was Regin. With Erica upon his back.

She laughed aloud as she alighted on the mountaintop, the dragon hop-skipping sideways, unused to her weight upon his back. Then she was there, her smile fading a little at Jai’s grim, tear-frozen face.

Still, he pawed his wrist across his eyes, and forced a congratulations.

‘Just like that?’ he asked.

Her smile widened.

‘He’s a jealous boy, aren’t you, Regin?’ She pulled his snout close to her, and gave it a kiss. ‘One whiff of how much I liked flying with Winter and he came nosing around.’

The dragon snorted, and turned up his snout. Erica reached down and unknotted something heavy from where it was strapped to the dragon’s belly. A saddle fell to the snow.

‘A graduation gift,’ she said. ‘A little early.’

Jai looked at the saddle in awe. He could see a channel down its centre within, where the spines of Winter’s back would slot. By now, he was used to pain up here, for they beat the leather off him each day in their training, but it would be sweet relief to be comfortable when he flew.

‘I don’t know how to thank you,’ Jai said.

She glanced at him, a smile playing across her lips.

‘Want to go on a gryphon hunt?’