Dragon School: Ascendant Light

Dragon School, Volume 20

Sarah K. L. Wilson

Published by Sarah K. L. Wilson, 2018.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

DRAGON SCHOOL: ASCENDANT LIGHT

First edition. October 9, 2018.

Copyright © 2018 Sarah K. L. Wilson.

Written by Sarah K. L. Wilson.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

DRAGON CHAMELEON

EXCLUSIVE CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE!

Behind the Scenes:

For Harold, without whom this series could not possibly exist. Thank you, dear friend.

Chapter One

Hold on! Raolcan called to me as we tumbled through the air. I didn’t dare close my eyes. What if Raolcan needed to see through them?

Thwack!

I cried out as one of the loose chains hit my hands. Though I flinched away, I didn’t dare let go. The tiny bones in my hands ached from the hit.

Just one more se-

He hit the ground first – sliding through the mud – and I landed next to him with a rib-cracking hit.

They aren’t cracked. They just hurt a lot.

I gasped. Breathing was so hard! Why did everything hurt so much? I coughed, doubling over. My breath wheezing and painful. How did he know my ribs weren’t cracked? They felt cracked.

We couldn’t stay on the ground. I had the Pipe now. I had to blow it and rescue the dragons from the mirror magic enslaving them. I pushed against the thick mud, only seeming to sink in deeper.

If they were cracked, you wouldn’t be moving like that. You’re sore, but you’re fine.

It coated my hands and the front of my leathers – an inch thick of soft clay. I tried to wipe it off to clean my hands, but it only seemed to smear it.

On your feet!

He seemed tight – like he was close to snapping. I struggled in the mud to stand. We’d skidded to the side of a downed dragon. His rider, a Red was standing at his head, swinging his sword wildly at anyone who came near, friend or foe.

“You won’t touch him! Not one of you!”

Arrows flew around him, some of them flying past and landing around us in the thick mud.

I fought the mud to try to stand. My good leg was too deeply dug into the clay – almost knee deep now – and my crutch was worse. Its narrow point jabbed deep into the mud. It couldn’t hold my weight.

Blow the Pipe!

What if it made things worse? I tried again to wipe my hand on my pants, but in the end, it was a clay-smeared hand that reached into my leathers and pulled out the Pipe. I checked the lever. This was it, wasn’t it? I didn’t want to blow the wrong note. What if I made it worse?

Just do it! There’s no time to second guess!

I closed my eyes, raised the Pipe to my lips and blew my three-note tune, clear as a bell. Dax would be proud.

Look.

I opened my eyes to see the Red shaking himself, his rider still screaming threats from in front of him. Clay and mud sprayed the field around us in every direction as the great Red shook like a dog on a rainy day.

I almost breathed a sigh of relief when a cry to my right caught my attention. The Dusk Covenant army was swarming toward us, throwing logs or planks in the mud in front of them to gain a better position. I looked quickly to the other side to see the Lightbringer’s side doing the same thing. I felt like I was swept up in a vortex of passion and fury.

So, that was why they had been fighting for so long in this field! Even moving a few feet took extra effort! But now I was stuck between them. Really stuck. I couldn’t pull my foot out of the mud and my crutch had only a hand’s width of length not swallowed by clay.

I was trying not to panic. Remember not to panic!

Yells and arrows shot around me as I tugged my foot, my breath coming faster and faster. I half-sobbed, frustration and fear warring for control of my thoughts and then Raolcan’s neck shot around lightning quick. His head went past me and the heat and smell of his flame filled the air. A moment later, he drew his head back to level with me. Did he know how spooky he looked with chains across his eyes?

I look tough! No one wants to mess with me.

Like he didn’t look tough before. He was a dragon. He always looked tough.

Don’t judge me by my bad breath.

What?

He opened his mouth wide and then twisted so he could take me gently in his jaws and pull me from the mud. I grimaced, worried about his sharp teeth. What if he broke me in half? What if he accidentally flamed me?

I was more worried that you’d swoon from my breath.

It was terrible. What had he been eating?

Horses. Cats. Fluffy bunnies.

Tease! I clutched my crutch, pulling it with me as he lifted me up from the clay with a loud sucking sound and then arched his neck around to place me on his back, clay, mud and all. We were in the air before I could even settle, swirling upward into the sky.

Around us, dazed dragons pulled themselves back out of the mud and into the air. I hurried to tuck the Pipe back into my leathers. I couldn’t afford to lose it again. Especially not now.

Oh no.

What now?

A second blast hit us, rocking us back and forth, but this time Raolcan kept his place in the sky. We spun to look at the source of the blast. Fear filled me.

Savette and Starie stood in an empty circle of mud. Anyone and anything that had been around them before had either fled or been pushed back from their blasts of power. Starie’s dark light pulsed out from her blindfold and Savette’s white light shone brighter than ever. They were knee deep in mud. It coated their clothing and stuck to their feet. At the edges where they met, sparks and sprays of light crackled and popped.

My vision shifted, suddenly, to Savette’s perspective.

“I come to claim your soul,” Starie said, her smug smile taking on a new life as she flared to life with the darkness of deception and mirror magic.

“Today, your lies end. Today truth will win,” Savette challenged. Her light flared out to match Starie’s light.

“You can’t beat me,” Starie challenged. “I have something you don’t have.”

“What’s that?”

“I have nothing to love. Which means I have nothing to lose.”

I snapped back to my own mind again, but my eyes lingered on the two challengers, standing across from each other, grim determination in every line of their bodies.

Only one of them could survive this final conflict.

Chapter Two

It won’t be a fair battle.

Why? Because good would always win?

Has that been your experience, Amel? Has good always won?

Well, no. Of course not.

Then think about it. Why won’t the battle be fair?

Because Starie was a cheater. No matter what the battle was, she would find a way to cheat.

Exactly. Look around you.

All around us, the Ifrits seemed to be waking up. They’d been fighting all along, but their sudden increase in speed and deadliness caught me off guard. Had they even been trying before?

They come for her. She is their Chosen One. Their dust lives in the power of the dark light in her. Like all creatures born of deception, they follow no rules.

They were all moving in the same direction, flinging men, horses, and dragons out of their paths as they scrambled toward their goal – the clash between the Chosen Ones. What would happen to Savette when they arrived?

We have another problem.

No other problems mattered right now. The fate of the world rested on this!

Look at the Observatory. Is that our problem?

I swiveled to look to the distant hanging room. Two wooden “X’s” were being lowered from the arches. Was that a third I saw them preparing in the opening of another arch? I thought I could see figures chained to them. What was with Iskaris and those horrific things?

He’s mad. Completely mad. But this time it is Leng strapped to one of those.

Anxiety rose up and choked me. A sound escaped my lips like the cross between a sob and a curse. What about Savette? My gaze swung to her little circle of light as the shadows around her closed in, and then back to the wooden “X’s” being lowered and then back to Savette. She still had a fighting chance. Leng didn’t.

The fate of the world rests on Savette’s shoulders.

The fate of my world rested on Leng’s.

Some people say you need to remember that there’s a difference between personal and important. Savette’s battle is more important. Leng’s is more personal.

So, I should help Savette and leave my husband to his fate? Is that what he was saying?

I’m saying that you have to make a decision. Personal or important?

Personal was important. You could find a hundred thousand people to care about important. In fact, there were thousands of them on the battlefield today. But no one else would take care of the personal. No one but me.

If you go for Leng, everything we worked for to help Savette might be for nothing.

If I didn’t help him, then the world we saved wouldn’t be worth saving. It would be full of people like me who coldly calculated victory over devotion. That would never be me. I’d watch the world burn first.

I never expected anything less from you.

We were already turning in the air. My dragon was with me!

And as always, you prove again why my loyalties lie with you, Amel Leafbrought.

An Ifrit towered in front of us, suddenly stretching and narrowing to a tall, thin pillar to block our path. Raolcan dodged his first blow, but he had to be careful. I had no saddle and nothing to hold on to but his chain collar. Worse, I was slick with clay.

My dragon dodged again, turning a little too far in his dodge and sending me sprawling across his back. I tried to right myself, but a third dodge left me dangling off his back. The chain bit into my fingers while the wind howled around my loose legs. I kicked to try to get momentum to pull myself back up, but it wasn’t enough.

Sorry! I didn’t see the turn clearly enough.

It was amazing we were both still alive, but my muscles were aching already, burning as if someone had thrown hot coals over my biceps and shoulders.

We swung to the side and I could feel the burst of air from the Ifrit’s swipe whip my hair out of its braid. I turned to look at the dust demon – Raolcan needed my eyes! – only to have the Ifirit burst into dust and rain from the sky in a chalky cloud. I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes.

From out of the puff of glittering dust, Kyrowat and Enkenay flew. Rakturan – still glowing with the light he’d used against the Ifrit – gave me a Baojang salute as he passed.

Hubric! Could he help me before my arms gave out?

Kyrowat swooped in close and as he ducked under Raolcan, my dragon called to me.

Drop! Now!

I let go of the chain and fell onto Kyrowat, my tailbone aching from the blow of hitting his bony spine. Hubric reached out and stabilized me as I landed on his dragon’s neck.

“Easy now. Skies and stars you’re a mess!”

“It’s nice to see you, too.”

“We’ll set down in friendly territory, so you can get back on your dragon.”

Kyrowat swooped low over the heads of soldiers fighting in the field. I tried not to see the details, but try as I might, they still burned into my eyes – things I couldn’t forget, wouldn’t forget, for the rest of my life. War was not a pretty thing, though armor and swords and dragons decked out in armor might be. It was a place of horror and misery. A place a person might beg the stars and skies that he could only leave. The seconds would feel like hours as he cried for relief - until his life was snatched away by muddy hands. I shivered and clung to Kyrowat.

I glanced back over my shoulder to see Rakturan rushing toward his beloved wife, his dragon glowing as brightly as he was.

We were following Raolcan across the Dusk Covenant army, taking arrows on Kyrowat’s belly and dodging clumps of Ifirits. As if they had been called by a Pipe, they were closing in toward Starie, ignoring anyone else unless they were in the path to her.

I glanced behind us every few seconds. The Ifrits had clustered in so tightly around Starie and Savette that it was almost impossible to make them out through the clouds of dust demons.

What should I do about the dragons? Should I be directing them with the Pipe right now or leaving them alone?

We can’t direct them right now. We’re going for Leng. Save the Pipe for when it’s useful.

Rakturan was harder to see as we flew further away, but this time when I glanced back I saw light shooting from him and blasting a path through the dust demons toward Savette.

The Observatory was right over the field of battle, but I hadn’t realized how far Baojang had already pushed. The battle line between them and the Dusk Covenant was right beneath the Observatory, close to the base of Dominion City.

Some of the War Leaders were already trying to secure the ropes and cables that hauled boxes and baskets up to the sky city. If Jalla didn’t rein them in, they would try to sack the city before she could stop them.

Worry about your own business. Jalla can mind hers just fine.

She was on the frontlines – of course! – waving that huge sword of hers around and shouting her troops onward from the back of Renn’s Gold dragon. Ahummal looked almost as disconcerted as his real rider as she spurred him on into the carnage of the front line. Raolcan couldn’t possibly hold a grudge toward him now.

Just because Jalla makes him do good things doesn’t make him a good dragon.

But didn’t it? Were we what we did or were we something detached from our deeds? I didn’t see how you could separate the two.

Can we be philosophical later? Distracting yourself from this situation isn’t going to make it go away!

I hadn’t looked up this whole time. I didn’t want to see Leng on that “X.” If I did, it would make it real.

Not looking won’t make it not real. Ignoring the truth never saves anyone.

I looked up ... and my heart broke.

Chapter Three

It was worse than if it was me.

It was worse.

My heart was stuttering so badly I thought it might stop and my hands shook violently as Hubric pushed me off of Kyrowat’s back. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it over the din of battle and the roaring of immobilizing terror in my ears. I couldn’t lose Leng before I ever really had him. I couldn’t.

Hubric shoved me forward. He’d set us down behind the frontlines of Baojang and our allies poured around us like a river around a rock as they rushed to the fray. Trust the people of Baojang to hurry to battle!

I stumbled in the direction he’d pushed me, seeing the rushing soldiers, drawn blades, furious expressions, and brightly colored clothing but not really taking it in. I hobbled forward anyway, the occasional hand shoving me out of the way. I felt like I couldn’t think. The world around me was a teary blur.

Shake out of it!

The crowd parted and then a path cleared to my purple dragon. Puffs of smoke and a little trail of fire kept a narrow path clear for me. He really shouldn’t flame around his allies.

They shouldn’t wave pointy blades near my human. Fair is fair. I didn’t kill any of them. Now, stop panicking and mount up. Let’s go save your husband!

I scrambled forward, letting him boost me onto his back and we leapt up again into the air. Below me, a series of screams and gurgles reminded me that the Sentries were fighting, too.

I don’t even wish that kind of death on the Dusk Covenant.

Didn’t he?

A burst of light so bright and at the same time the opposite of that – black as night – pulsed across the battlefield with a powerful burst. It was stronger than the swipe of an Ifrit. I flew off my feet, sight gone, sound gone.

My entire world was white light.

My vision returned suddenly. My arms ached from holding the chain as I dangled from Raolcan’s back. Enkenay and Kyrowat burst through a cloud of dust. Hubric nodded to me as Rakturan dove beneath Raolcan.

Wait. Hadn’t this just happened?

But not like this. It had been different.

Drop! Now!

I landed on Enkenay’s ghostly neck, Rakturan stabilizing me. My jaw dropped, and I spun to face his blind-folded gaze.

“Wha-”

“No time,” his accent sounded thicker since his time back in Baojang. We spiraled upward, higher and higher. I caught a glimpse of Raolcan following us. “I must return to Savette as quickly as possible. She needs my added strength.

“Wha-?”

“When their power collides – truth versus deception – it reacts. It explodes.” We were still climbing, passing now out of the reach of even the Ifrits. “But the false one has these mirrors - they reflect back the past. Her mirror magic shot us – the whole battlefield – back into the past. I could see it all happening. It will happen again. It’s going to make this last battle ... complicated.”

“You should be fighting her!” I protested. If she could send us backward, even a minute backward, we’d have to fight the same battle over and over!

“I will stand against her. And I will stand with my bride. But first I must entrust this to you.”

“Entrust what?”

“The night you were taken captive after the trap failed, Baojang waited on the other side of the river, but Enkenay and I flew across to spy on them. I saw the false Chosen One talking to the Dominar. I crept close and I heard everything. She said she needed to rein him in, that he was out of control. She said that he’d destroy everything. And then she took something from him.”

“What?”

“You know how I can see through your eyes sometimes?”

“I knew that was you!” My guess was right!

“And you can see through Savette’s?”

“Yes.”

“Starie Atrelan can see through the eyes of the Dominar – more than that. She can control his actions. She said as much when she took it. And watching them now – it’s true. It’s true. He’s like a puppet in a street show, not a man at all. It’s that mirror magic of hers. Everything shiny is fair game – even crowns.”

“What did she take?”

“She took his free will. He’s her puppet now. But a puppet with a crown. The mask and not the man. He’ll never be the man again, only the mask forever.”

I looked at the clouds around us, heavy and dark. This news was heavier. I shivered.

“Why bring me here to tell me this?”

“In a moment we’ll dive back into battle. I’ll help my bride to fight. She needs me by her side if she’s going to stand a chance at victory. But someone – you – needs to destroy the false Dominar. With Starie in his mind, there is no stopping what he could do.”

“Why me?”

His bandaged gaze seemed to pierce me. “I trust you. I’ve seen what you hide from the world.”

Raolcan appeared from the clouds, leveling off beside us and drawing in very close. Rakturan leaned far out to the side and snagged one of his flapping chains. He pulled my dragon closer and began to help me across to his back. I obeyed his wordless directions almost mechanically, too afraid of the implications of what he was saying to be afraid of the crazy thing I was doing – changing dragons in mid-air.

“What do I hide from the world?” I asked as I settled on Raolcan and Rakturan handed me the chain.

“Indomitable strength.”

I grabbed his arm as he tried to remove it, meeting what I hoped was his gaze through the wrapped bandages.

“Thank you, Prince Rakturan. For everything.” I released him and looked down to adjust my grip on the chain.

He was gone before I could look up again, diving headlong through the clouds to the battle below.

That’s our cue to go, too.

Chapter Four

We broke the cloud cover, spiraling down instead of piercing through the dark clouds as Rakturan had. He was already near the clearing where Savette and Starie battled. Light and dark bolts of light streaked between them, countered or dodged or transformed into something else before they could hit their opponent.

The clothing of the two women swirled and flapped in the rising wind as it howled from the east, the muddy edges of cloaks and dresses flinging water and dirt into the air like tarnished ocean spray.

The wind caused the Ifrits to shimmer and waver and the sky cities to almost seem as if they were swaying.

I think they are swaying.

I braced myself against Raolcan’s back. We needed a proper saddle. We also needed to get to the Observatory, now for both Leng’s sake and the fight against Iskaris. Raolcan was already flying in that direction, keeping us high to avoid the fray below.

Everything was easier to see from here and despite the urgency, it was hard to tear my eyes away from the Chosen One battling the false Chosen One in that empty circle of ground. The mud didn’t stop them – hardly seemed to affect them. In some places it had hardened from their battle, in others, it was still thick and soft. No one, man or beast, could enter that circle and live – though that didn’t stop the horde of Ifrits from trying.

With the suddenness of the howling wind, Rakturan and Enkenay dove into the circle, landing just behind Savette. Rakturan’s sword was out, slicing and slashing at the Ifrits who stepped into the circle. He was like a weathervane turning in the wind. When Savette moved left, Rakturan and Enkenay moved to stay at her back. When she dodged right, they dodged with her. When she stepped forward, they did, too. I could watch them all day. Their battle was a dance of magic, power, and determination.

Rakturan’s light joined Savette’s feeding it as she fought. They were growing slowly distant as we flew to the Observatory, but I kept one eye on Leng and one eye on her.

I was worried about him. He seemed to be struggling against his bonds, but so high up, if he freed himself, what hope would he have? The fall was too far. If he could just hold on!

He can’t just give in. That’s what you love about him.

He shouldn’t die, either!

With the added power of Rakturan, Savette pushed forward. Starie stumbled, catching herself at the last minute on the corpse of a dragon and pulling herself back to her feet. Yes! She was tiring! Together, they were too strong for her.

I could feel the cheer building inside me. We could still win this war! We could!

Like a silver arrow shooting from a bow, the Dominar launched from the Observatory on dragon-back. The circling dragons who were guarding the Observatory swirled into a line, flapping hard to catch up to their leader and surround him in an honor guard. Sunlight glinted from his crown and mask, as he searched the battlefield. What was he looking for?

He comes to aid Starie.

His pointing finger proved Raolcan right. But now they were flying right toward us and we would have to make a decision. Would we follow them and fight Iskaris like I had promised Rakturan, or would I rush to the aid of my husband? I’d already made that decision. Already decided that the personal outweighed the important.

Hurry, Raolcan, hurry!

Amel, we have a problem.

The Dominar and his Silvers were headed straight for us.

There wasn’t time to dodge them. There wasn’t time for delay. We needed to get to Leng! How much time would he have before the cords holding him failed? Or worse, until he wiggled free of them. Why couldn’t he sit still?

Hang on tight! This might get crazy!

The Silver dragons swooped past us so quickly and forcefully that I was rocked in my seat as wings beat against me and flames singed my hair. I held on to the chain, white-knuckled, my only thought for Leng.

Please let us get to him in time, please!

Why would Iskaris string him up there as bait if he wasn’t going to stay around to guard the prisoners?

He knows what he is doing. He’s distracting you and anyone else who might care about dragon riders.

A trap?

Remember – he’s controlled by Starie. Aren’t traps like this her way of dealing with opponents?

They were. And yet, I couldn’t ignore it.

Silvers still shot past, flaming and snapping at us as they passed, but they had a goal and we weren’t it. They refused to be distracted. When the last one jostled us and Raolcan could finally get wing space, I almost breathed a sigh of relief, but we still had a long way to go. Where was Hubric? I could use his help?

We were getting closer. Any moment now. Any moment ...

The Observatory was so close that I could see Leng’s face when the Magikas stepped out, filling the windows. Hands lit up like torches, they opened fire on us, throwing one ball of fire after another. The first one splashed across Raolcan’s face, but he dodged the next and the next.

Raolcan? Are you okay?

He didn’t stop flying, didn’t stop pushing right into the teeth of the fireballs. Why didn’t he slow?

One of the Magikas was leaning over the edge of the arch. He pulled a wicked looking knife from his pocket and began to saw at the rope one of the “X’s” hung from. He kept glancing up, looking at us as if he was trying to finish before we could get there.

Hold on tight! These fireballs keep pressing me backward. If I duck under them...

He leaned to the side, leaving me breathless as I fought to keep my seat. With no saddle, my bad leg was useless for holding on and I slipped to the side, dangling again by the chain. There was a horrific scream and I gasped, looking wide-eyed at the “X” plunging to the earth. Had that been Peln? I didn’t have time to scream before a second plunged after it. That was Ashana!

Raolcan was flapping as hard as he could, but I was a dead weight hanging from a chain around his neck, swinging and swaying so hard that I thought my arms would give way. A fireball splashed across his chest, the fringes of it singing my hands.

No, no, no!

The last “X” plummeted past and I screamed as my gaze locked with Leng’s. The grip of my hands slipped down the chain and I was tumbling with nothing beneath me but air and mud.

Chapter Five

Boom!

Light seared across my vision. For a second, I thought I saw Starie through Savette’s eyes. She was cursing, her hands flung outward with dark light crackling from her fingertips. My pupils burned so deeply that they felt like they’d been branded. This time – even without Starie’s curses – I knew what had happened.

Please, be before they fell! Please be before they fell! But I couldn’t count on luck or the favor of the skies and stars to let this time-mirror land in my favor. What if when it happened everything went worse?

But how could it be worse than this?

My vision cleared suddenly.

We’re back. This time hold on harder!

This time I had a better plan. The Silvers dove out of the arches, shooting toward us but I fumbled in my jacket and whipped out the Pipe, raising it to my lips and blowing. This time I had them!

Nothing. They didn’t slow. They hit us with the edges of their wings and flamed at us just like last time. What-?

Starie is in their minds, just like she’s in Iskaris’. You can’t take control where she already has.

My brilliant plan was gone.

My eyes were glued to the wooden “X” they had tied Leng to. It swayed in the wind. What did it feel like to be him, dangling out over a muddy battlefield so far in the air that you could see birds flying beneath you?

I bit my lip. My breath was coming too fast. This couldn’t happen. We had to stop it.

I ducked low as Raolcan darted forward, under the Silvers. I blew the Pipe again, knowing it would do no good to gain their help, but still hoping, hoping that somehow I could stop this.

The gusts of wind shook me as our speed increased and then from below, three figures began to grow. They were climbing through the sky like birds, but these birds were purple.

They heard the Pipe!

I recognized them! Hubric rode Kyrowat, but with him were Rasipaer – his proud neck jutting out – and Ahlskibi – whole and well!

His wound was not mortal. He just needed deep rest to heal. But they were caged. Rasipaer in the cage you saw until Eluci set him free. And Ahlskibi was a prisoner of the troops with the Dominar.

My breath caught in my throat as they joined us. We had a chance! If we could just get there before the Magikas had the brilliant idea of cutting the ropes...

We were all flying at full speed, hurrying toward the hanging crosses. What if they cut the ropes while we were still cutting the prisoners loose?

I couldn’t watch Leng fall again!

He was heart of my heart, life of my life.

Concentrate. Focus. See the hooks at the top of the crosses?

The cables the crosses hung from were fitted with hooks. Where did Iskaris keep finding these torture devices? Did he have them commissioned?

No. They are common in sky cities. Usually, they don’t hang vertically like this. Usually, cables are affixed to the loops at each end of the beams and they hang horizontally. They are used to carry heavy loads up from the ground to the sky city above. They tie ropes around those hooks to secure the cargo. If you slip one of my chains over the end of the hook, I can still catch the weight if they cut the rope.

But could he? The beams were heavy and Leng would be attached to them, making them even heavier. Could he carry that much weight from a chain around his neck?

I should start doubting you every time you have a plan. I bet you won’t like it any more than I do. What am I, a cat?

A cat?

An animal who doesn’t know how to work?

That was a harsh judgment of cats!

We were almost at the beams.

Show me a cat that works for his dinner and I’ll take it back.

“Leng!”

His wrists were bloody where the straps dug into them and his face was white and drawn.

“Amel.” He sounded like he was in pain.

Quickly, I hooked the chain onto the hook and glanced over to where Hubric was reaching across to hook Ahlskibi’s chain into the hook on Ashana’s beam. Would he be fast enough to help Peln, too? What would he do there? Kyrowat had no chains weighing him down – and nothing with which to catch a  falling cross.

“I’m here, Leng. Let me cut you loose.”

I pulled a belt knife from my pocket, sawing at the strap around his wrist. The seconds dragged out, too long, too long.

Behind me, I heard the same piercing scream I’d heard before as Peln’s “X” broke free of the cable.

Determined not to let that happen to Leng, I sawed harder. The strap broke.

Feet next so he didn’t fall. I sawed at the cord around the first one. The seconds dragging out too long. There!

The other foot now.

Hurry!

I fumbled with the knife and it fell, glinting in the air on the way down. Leng would have a pocket knife. I looked up at his pale face to ask the question.

“Do-”

He dropped out of sight so quickly that I barely had time to gasp before Raolcan plunged down, too, dragged to the earth by the weight of the heavy cross.

Chapter Six

I craned to the side, searching for Leng and the heavy cross ... there! He was almost on top of an Ifrit! If we didn’t level off...

Hold on!

I dug my fingers under the chain around Raolcan’s neck, holding on for dear life as he whipsawed back and forth, his wings flapping with powerful strokes. He was trying to level us off, but the cross was heavy. He had to let it pull us to the ground!

And land on an Ifrit’s head? I can see through the eyes of the fighters below. They struggle to fight as he tears them to pieces. He’s supposed to be joining the others around the Dominar, but he is distracted by the screaming people and the fire and mud. He wants to destroy, rend, and grind to dust. He will not stop until-

Shake out of it, Raolcan! Get out of his head!

Wow... Yeah. Good call.

Beneath us, chaos reigned as soldiers ran or charged through puffs of smoke and deep mud holes. The boards and logs they’d thrown across the mud did little to give them solid ground.  I could see the Ifrit roaring and leaping, still right beneath us, see the cross dangling at the end of the chain.

These were all farm fields except for the army encampment. None of that stands now. Not even the garrison.

I hadn’t noticed that – I should have. I’d been in that garrison – but I had other things on my mind. Where was Leng? Why couldn’t I see him?

He’s freed his other hand.

We were sinking as Raolcan’s strength faded.

Lower.

Lower.

The cross fell into the dust of the Ifrit and it looked up, eyes ablaze and mouth opening wide. Like a snake, it seemed to open wider than the Ifrit was until the flaming void swallowed the cross whole with a spine-shuddering snap.

Someone was screaming. They were screaming so loud.

We fell, but to the side, avoiding the Ifrit, and soaring in an unexpected arc out of the danger below and to a little rise at the base of the city.

I wished that person would stop screaming. I wished I could breathe easier. I wished I didn’t feel so light headed. The world was going black...

Seriously, stop screaming.

Hands shook me.

There was ground under me and Raolcan’s hot scales against my back. Hands shook me.

“Amel? Amel, are you okay? Talk to me! Tell me you’re okay!”

I opened my eyes. Dark, steady eyes met mine. They were beautiful. More beautiful than a thousand sunsets. More precious than a thousand diamonds. More-

We get the picture.

Leng! He was alive! How was he alive?

“Leng!” I gasped, reaching for him. My voice shook and the side of my face was twitching uncontrollably.

He had already cut his own bonds and climbed up the chain. Didn’t you know that? You were the one looking down there. I literally saw it through your eyes.

All I’d seen was that mouth.

You need to work on observational skills. Thank the skies and stars that you have me! You’d be lost on your own.

“You had me worried there, heart of my heart.” His hug crushed me. His arms were so thick and strong. He was alive. Breathing. Living. His face scruffier than it should be and his scent musky.

Being taken prisoner and kept in a cage isn’t great for personal hygiene.

“You’re alive,” I breathed, burying my face into his neck and drinking in the bliss of his warm skin.

“So is Ashana. Ahlskibi saved her in time.”

I dragged my face reluctantly from his neck to see Ashana and Hubric walking toward us. Ahlskibi and Kyrowat followed.

Leng kissed my forehead affectionately. “I need to check on my friend. Don’t fly off anywhere.”

He ran to Ahlskibi as I adjusted my crutch.

“Peln?” I asked, looking around me. We were on a heap of rubble so close to the base of the city that it was out of the battle – for now. It looked as if there had been a building here before. Maybe one of the storage buildings where goods were shipped up and down from the city. It was hard to tell with the whole thing a heap of rubble.

Ashana shook her head, rubbing her wounded wrists. Hubric handed her a roll of white fabric and handed me a waterskin.

“Go easy on it. It’s all I have,” he said. It was all I could do not to gulp it down. How long had it been since I’d eaten or drunk anything? I was all turned around. I didn’t know how long I’d passed out this time or last time.  I had no idea what time it was or what day it was.

“Something strange has been happening,” Ashana said.

“Time,” I said, passing the waterskin back to Hubric. “When Savette and Starie clash, sometimes it triggers those big pulses and somehow Starie’s mirror magic is sending us a few minutes backward in time.”

Ashana paled. “So I really did ...”

“Die?” I asked.

She nodded.

“I think so. I also know we can’t rely on those. What if next time it works against us rather than in our favor?”

She shivered. “Nothing we achieve is certain.”

My mouth firmed into a grim line. We had a job to do and a nation to save. We didn’t have time to get upset about having to fight the same battle twice. We would do what it took to win, no matter what that was. The sun was setting in the distance, making the shadows around us grow long.

“We need a plan,” Ashana said. “Can you blow that whistle again to get the dragons’ attention?”

Hubric and I exchanged a guilty look.

“I shouldn’t be blowing it at all,” I said. “The dragon Elders said they would forfeit our treaty with them if we forced the dragons to act with this Pipe, or if we didn’t replace the Dominar.”

Ashana looked around at the battle in the distance and her firm expression grew firmer. “If we don’t gather the dragons, they’ll die one by one out there. Blow the Pipe. If we live through this, we can worry about the consequences later.”

“And the Dominar?”

Ashana sighed. “I’m good with dragons, not with succession. Why don’t you leave the dragons to me and I’ll leave the coup attempt to you?”

“It’s not a coup attempt,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “Isn’t it? In war, we all do things we aren’t proud of, girl. Now, blow that whistle.”

There was no point in arguing with her.

I lifted the Pipe and blew the three notes.

Chapter Seven

That’s not good.

What now? Every time I turned around, things got more complicated!

Really not good!

I searched the battlefield nearby but saw nothing. I looked to the sky where dragons were rising up and headed toward us. Still, nothing. How far away was he looking?

We need to get higher in the air to see for sure.

I hobbled around to where he could help me mount and let him push me up his back. We needed a new saddle. Soon.

When all this is over you can have whatever saddle you want.

Behind me, Ashana, Hubric, and Leng were already rushing to mount up, too. The nice thing about purples was that you never had to tell them anything. They always already knew.

We leapt into the sky and rose under the city. It felt strange to fly so close to a sky city without a single Black dragon rushing to challenge you. They were all occupied with the battle below.

Something about the battle looked strange. I watched, looking for the pattern.

Yes. It’s there. See it?

The last Ifrit straggled in to join Iskaris, forming up in his phalanx of Ifrits like a cloud of dust moving back in time to return to the point of origin.  The prophecy sprang to my mind unbidden:

In dust and deception, I am made,

Bound by water and blood.

Who may retrain the dust storm or calm the call of water?

Who may feed the maw of the earth?

Is it not you, dark one?

Is it not your dusk descending upon us?

Raolcan finished the quote:

“Is it not your armies drawn up against us,

Your dark the counter to our light,

Your rebirth the horror of our deaths?”

That part had always mystified me.

Look closer.

I squinted my eyes, looking but seeing nothing.

Closer.

I scanned the muddy field at the bodies laying across the battlefield. Our nation would be mourning for the rest of our lives for the fallen here. As I watched, one of the figures seemed to crumble like dust – and then I startled as a burst of dust puffed up from him, growing, growing, growing to the size of an Ifrit.

That’s what I’m worried about. They are raising our dead into Ifrits.

No!

Nothing is too horrible for the Dusk Covenant. They only want one thing.

Power.

To hold back their own fated demise. The tighter you grasp at what is yours, the faster you lose it. The only way to keep love, to nurture life, is to give it up for the loved one. But that’s not the way of the Dusk Covenant. Oh no, they’ll strangle themselves with their desperate grip.

A second Ifrit rose from the battlefield.

A third.

But this wasn’t over and that wasn’t the only prophecy. Another came to mind.

“But one shall rise,

To stand in the place of the other,

to bear the debt of nations,

to give up the breath of life to dispel the dust of death.

To give up her future for the future of the nations,

Her love for the loves of their hearts.

Her last strength their boon,

Her last gasp, their hope.

Her last flight, their salvation.”

I didn’t want to believe that was about me. I wasn’t ready to die today.

We each only have one life to spend. If my time is up, I’m glad I spent part of it with you and I’m glad I spent it this way.

I was glad to have known Raolcan, too. But that didn’t make me ready to die.

He sounded grim as he said, Would you give up everything to save your people?

I think I’ve proved that I would.

Then let’s take a last flight.

Just below us, dragons began to gather, arriving in ones or twos, some with riders, some without. I watched a Gold swivel suddenly and rip the throat out of a Black. Wait ... I lifted the Pipe.

Stop. Not all of them are allies, even if all are dragons. Let dragons deal with dragons.

If he was sure ...

I am.

I swallowed down fear as a group of ten Reds arrived, worn and ragged. Their riders were bloodstained and muddy, weapons held in their hands. Those ones had better be on our side.

Stop worrying about the dragons. Ashana will deal with them. She’s better at that than you are anyway.

I turned back to where the Ifrits rose out of the mud and dirt. Only Savette could stop that. None of the rest of us could do anything to fight Starie – not with her level of power. Someone had to do something soon, though. An army raised from the dead could only grow.

Baojang was already feeling the blow of the new Ifrits as they plunged into their ranks. Sentries tumbled through the air, their riders spread-eagled as they fell from the saddles. One of the War Leaders raised a staff and then the army charged toward the coming dust demons. Their courage would never cease to amaze me, but there wouldn’t be enough of them, couldn’t be enough of them.

Strange, that Jalla hadn’t been forced to come here and join me. She was still at the head of her army, fighting like Death’s handmaiden. Ahummal was a dragon, and I had blown the Pipe – shouldn’t she be forced to join us, too

I told him he was exempt.

He could do that?

After he began to fly this direction.

Jalla must have loved that – someone else determining what she could and couldn’t do.

Her spirit is only matched by yours.

But they were being beaten back. One corner of the Baojang wedge folded and then dust demons were tearing into their ranks so far behind the front line that nothing and no one would be able to stop them. The line was in disarray. I looked frantically to the clusters of dragons preparing to counter-attack. They weren’t ready yet. I looked back at Baojang, shuddering as men and animals were trampled by stampeding Ifrits.

There was a cry from behind us – from the sky city – and we spun in the air to look. I couldn’t see where it was coming from until I looked up.

Chapter Eight

Ropes fell from the sky – a hundred, no – a thousand ropes of every thickness from arm-thick cables to ropes no wider than my finger. Raolcan dodged to the side to avoid a massive cable, and then he kicked forward, speeding away from the city.

Wha-?

Trust me.

Once we’d cleared the lip of the sky city, he slowed enough for me to look back.

I saw them. First, a pair of Magikas fell from the open windows, their fireballs flying in every direction splashed uselessly against the ground or faded out in the sky.

And then the people who pushed them out appeared.

Citizens of Dominion City descended on the ropes. People in armor, people in everyday street clothes, people with swords and knives and hammers, with axes and makes-shift polearms, people on hanging crates being freighted down by pulley systems, people in harnesses descending on their own, people in uniform and out, in every color and clothing imaginable.

My jaw dropped. And my eyes teared up. We’d thought this was only our battle. We’d begun to think we were the ones about to save the citizens of Dominion City. And now here they were coming to save us. These were fathers and mothers, bakers and grocers and cobblers, city guards and criminals, all descending together to stem the tide of war.

We couldn’t let them sacrifice themselves in vain. We couldn’t let them die easily. In fact, we couldn’t afford to lose them at all. We needed to end this war – now! – before we lost the life of our nation, the courageous people who had built it day after day with the sweat of their brows and with tears and effort.

Ahlskibi climbed up through the jungle of ropes, squirming to join us where we hovered.

“Amel!” Leng called. “Ashana is taking over the fight below, but she’s asking you to wait before you go charging off. She’s sending the Reds to help you!”

How did she know I was about to go charging off?

You don’t become First Rider of the Purple by being an idiot.

Apparently not.

Leng and Ahlskibi closed in the rest of the way. Long enough for me to recognize the tension in Leng’s face. He was ready for battle.

“If what Rakturan says is true, then we have to take out Iskaris, the false Dominar,” I said to him. “That’s our only priority. If we don’t do that, then Savette can’t possibly win.”

He nodded briskly. The Reds were drawing near, their progress slowed by the need to avoid hurting citizens descending from the city.

“Don’t worry about anything else,” Leng said. “Ashana and Hubric will have it covered.”

“Just Ashana!”

I startled at the words as Hubric and Kyrowat joined us.

“You didn’t think I’d stay back here and let you get all the legends sung about you without me, hmmm?” he asked, but there was a tension in the way he sat in Kyrowat’s saddle. We all knew what we were doing. We were going to die for the Dominion.

And if we were going to die, then it didn’t feel right not to call on every resource. It didn’t feel right to let the citizens of Dominion City come to our aid without asking for every advantage we could have.

Fighting back fear and reluctance I reached out, trying, hoping. Would the Troglodytes hear me?

Help! I called.

CALLER. YOU CALL US AGAIN.

Please! I asked. Please, will you help us?

DESTROY THE PRETENDER. RETURN THE PIPE.

Yes, that’s what I was trying to do! I just needed all the help I could get.

OUR CHAMPION FIGHTS.

I looked toward where Rakturan was fighting, his sword flashing with bursts of light from the blade as he slashed and hacked at Ifrits to defend his bride’s back.

OUR CALLER MUST DO AS PROMISED.

So, they wouldn’t help? They could, but they wouldn’t?

DO AS PROMISED.

Great. Just great. Below us, Ifrits pounded into Baojang. The citizen reinforcements ran to help, but even I could see they would be of little use to the battle. Inspiring as their desperate charge was, it was only that – desperate.

Ashana and her dragons scrambled to pull together enough dragons to help them.

I gritted my teeth as the Reds finally joined us. I signed “follow me” but a blast sent us spinning backward. Everything was suddenly white.

Not this again. I thought I could hear a curse from nearby.

Maybe it will work to your advantage again.

Or maybe it wouldn’t. I felt nervous, licking my lips as my eyes slowly blinked back to reality. Raolcan righted his spin and we were flying between ropes, dodging descending citizens. They cheered us as we passed.

“The Dragons of the Dominion!”

“Dragons!”

“Dominion City and the Sky People!”

This time I wouldn’t beg a Troglodyte for help. This time we’d just go. I started waving to Leng and Hubric before they could even join me. Raolcan was slicing through the sky. If all we had was time, then we couldn’t afford to waste it.

Onward!

We plunged forward over the fields of battle, Ahlskibi and Kyrowat hot on our heels. The Reds would just have to catch up. We had a goal. We had a mission. We were going to show Iskaris what it was like to be brought down.

Take that, Troglodytes! You withhold your help at our darkest hour? All for some maneuvering you don’t even have to do? Well, you can negotiate with Ifrits then, after we’re all dead.

Those are dark thoughts –

WE COME.

Wait. What?

Chapter Nine

The snow began while I was still struggling to process what was happening. The first flake fell like a butterfly curious about the chaos below. It drifted back and forth – so gently, so randomly, that it almost seemed to have a mind of its own.

It drifted down past us as we streaked across the sky toward Iskaris. It tumbled over the heads of the citizenry of Dominion City, ignoring their terrified but grim expressions and brandished weapons, as it drifted past to where the line of Baojang was growing thinner, where Jalla battled from dragon-back to try to get to her stranded troops, past where Ifrits screamed and hissed, smoke and dust billowing around them, to settle – forlorn – in the mud. A moment later, it was trampled.

But it was only a scout before a greater army. Its brothers fell, an enraged army, on the people below. It dumped from the heavens in a heavy blanket as flake after flake fell relentlessly over the broad swath of mud in the middle of the field and even dared to drift up to the magical battle where Savette and Starie still fought. Both women - though dressed lightly and dripping in sweat – ignored the flakes.

I would have ignored them, too. But the field the snowflakes were landing on – that broad stretch of mud in the center of the battlefield – opened up at that moment, as if it thought it were a sky full of snow, too.

A split began at the center of the field, widening slowly. As we swooped over it, a thunderous crack sounded across the valley. My heart stuttered at the sound of it ripping through the air. Raolcan slowed for a moment, almost hovering over the crack. Kyrowat and Ahlskibi pulled up on either side. The dragons looked at each other and then we were speeding over the fields again, the ground blurring under us, the snow blinding us, a lace curtain of white filling our vision more and more the faster we went. My face and hands were wet. Melting snow clung to my hair and leathers. I shivered.

A gust of wind blew the snow veil away and through the descending darkness, I saw Iskaris maneuvering his Ifrits to the platform the Grandis and Starie had held me captive on. The towers were gone, and the platform blackened.

Before my eyes, a line of Ifrits tore them up and threw them away, revealing a circular base of stones interlocked together. At the edges, crumbling bases of what used to be arches told me one thing: this was once an ancient healing arch. It was once a place of great power.

Iskaris climbed up the crumbling remains of stairs, standing at the edge of the ancient platform, his single arm outstretched. The Ifrits lined up before him like ranks of soldiers. At a second signal, they stood at what must be attention for an Ifrit. They seemed to almost hold the same shape for a moment.

I had the surreal feeling that what I was seeing couldn’t be real. Or maybe I wasn’t real. Because this hope and love in my heart and this army of evil couldn’t both survive in the same world. I hoped that Ibrenicus had been right about this, as he had been about so many other things. I hoped that our sacrifice would be enough to stop them.

Iskaris pointed forward and the Ifrits swirled toward the battle at his command.

Despite the descending darkness as the sun faded to red on the horizon, the light of Savette, Rakturan, and Starie’s magic lit the field.

In that light, I saw the Silver dragons and riders swarm around Iskaris.

They saw us coming, and while we might be a ragged, scattered team, we were still a threat to them. I felt a surge of pride at the thought. We wouldn’t die as cowards. We could make even Dominion Dragoons sweat with our ferocity.

Ferocity! Raolcan echoed.

The Reds had finally caught up, surging past us, their greater wingspan overtaking the Purples. Their leader waved to me and I waved back as they passed. Here we go.

Run, silver fishes. This is our reef!

Did that intimidate anyone?

It should! They’ve never felt the wrath of the Raolcan!

I laughed. I shouldn’t be laughing. I should be hyperventilating or sweating through my clothes or something. Instead, I was laughing like a fool, head thrown back and face lifted into the breeze.

I shut my eyes as Raolcan maneuvered in and out of the silver dragons.

Keep them shut. I don’t even need them. I have these shiners beat! I can smell their fear, see their miscalculations in the color fluctuations of their minds.

Oh yeah. I forgot that he needed my eyes. I opened them quickly. We plunged through heavy flakes of snow as Raolcan headed off a Silver dragon, grabbing the other dragon’s tail with his teeth and shaking him. He flung the dragon away and pounced after another one like a cat chasing chickens.

The intelligence differential is about the same.

What?

I am so much smarter than they are.

Very humble.

Very true.

I lost track of the others fighting. Between the dark and the snow, I was disoriented but Raolcan was having the time of his life, chasing and charging after every Silver he could see. It should have been hard to disrupt dragons and riders trained for fighting, but the snow that blinded both me and our opponents was no hindrance to my dragon.

See? I told you being blind wasn’t all bad. I can still see their minds. They can’t see anything at all.

As long as he still knew where the ground was.

Seriously? You doubt me again? When will you learn that I’m limitless?

Wait! Not him.

Not who?

That Silver and his rider. That’s Ralk Wheelspinner. He wasn’t unkind to me when he was my captor. I don’t want to see him die.

You realize he’s the enemy, right?

I realize he can be a captive. He doesn’t have to die.

Fine. He’s the last of them anyway.

Really? We were so close! We were so close!

And then I gasped. Not because I was hurt. Not because I was crazy, but because that burst of light stole my vision again.

No! Not now! Not when things were going our way!

I chewed my lip as I waited for my vision to clear. I could only hope that things hadn’t become worse for us.

We were flying over the battlefield studying the widening crack, but this time there was no snow. Well, that could be worse, right? All it meant was that we were going to have to fight the Silvers again and this time without being soaking wet from melting snow.

And without the surprise of snow cloaking our attack or the veil of it to disguise my pounces ...

I swallowed. I was too tired to do the same things over and over, fighting a battle only to have to fight it again a moment later. Being rejected by creatures from beneath the earth only to have them give me cryptic answers after all. If I saw a chance – any chance – to end this constant cycle I was going to grab it. I didn’t care what it was. I didn’t care what the consequence was. I was going to end it.

WE’RE HERE.

There was a boom and a loud squeal like metal bending and then the earth in the center of the field pulled farther back and the ghostly forms of Troglodytes slowly climbed out of the void below.

Chapter Ten

It was hard to concentrate on diving toward the Silver dragons when I knew that Troglodytes were squeezing through the crack in the earth and entering the battlefield. How did they get here so quickly? How was that even possible.

Remember the last time that you talked to them? When you promised to return he Pipe and defeat Iskaris?

How could I forget?

I think it’s likely that they planned to help you then. Maybe they were already on their way.

Then why did they make me think that they’d abandoned us? Why did they make me work so hard for their favor when they were planning to give it anyway?

They admire you. They might even like you.

It was hard to think of them as liking anyone. They felt so – other – so different from who we were as humans and dragons.

Do you think so? Interesting. I never thought like that. To me, they have always just been – like the moon and sun, like the tides and rocks below.

The Reds passed us again, streaking toward the Silver dragons, their leader waving politely. Déjà vu didn’t even begin to explain the strange feeling of living a patch of my life a second time. I stole a glance at Leng over on Ahlskibi.

No distractions!

And then I turned quickly to look back at the Troglodytes, their knobbly toes left raking marks across the mud and the last rays of the setting sun glinted oddly off their slightly glowing skin.

We have our own business to deal with. Leave them to theirs.

I glanced to the other side to see Savette leap into the air, light spinning around her and flashing in every direction as she landed. Three Ifrits were knocked off their feet, but Starie held up a hand almost nonchalantly and the power deflected in a thousand other directions. Nothing could stick to Starie Atrelan.

Rakturan turned his back on the Ifrit he’d just slain to link hands with his wife.

I flashed into her mind for a moment.

Starie was distracted, her gaze drifting constantly to Iskaris, though new Ifrits continued to pop up in the muddy swath of ground between us.

“I return, bride and morning light,” Rakturan said. “Take my heart, my strength, and my light. All is yours to use as you will.”

His look of devotion was almost shocking. I’d never seen anything like it from the man. But I’d never been in Savette’s mind when he was looking at her before. There was love there, mixed with bittersweet loyalty and strength.

“My heart warms to see you one last time, Dark Prince,” she said, a sweet depth in her voice. “I would have done anything short of failing in my purpose if it meant seeing your face again.”

Already her glow was stronger. When he leaned in to steal a kiss, I snapped back to my own mind, but my gaze lingered on them. What would happen next?

When they both raised the other hand, white light shot out from both of them, meeting in the middle to slice toward Starie.

I need your eyes up front!

We were almost at the platform. Moonlight glinted on Iskaris’ masked crown as he shifted his hands to urge his Ifrits forward – if they were his.

If Rakturan was right, Starie was controlling them through him. That might explain her distraction. How did Savette and Rakturan avoid her controlling them with her mirror magic?

No time for thinking!

We dodged as a Silver plunged toward us, diving out of the way and then spinning so Raolcan could take his flame on his underbelly. I held the chains as tightly as I could, jerking and straining against his maneuvers.

But if I had to guess, I’d say that the light probably protects them.

My dragon! A warrior and a scholar!

And a great charmer with the ladies – but you wouldn’t know about that.

One day, I’d meet one of these fictional lady dragons.

Hold on!

We were dodging again. From the corner of my eye, I saw a Red dragged to the ground by a pair of Silvers. One of them plucked the rider from his dragon’s back, snapping him in half in a single bite. A shudder of terror ran through me and my gasp sounded more like a pained cry.

We circled to the side as Raolcan chased after a Silver. His rider was distracted with trying to catch Ahlskibi off guard. All around us, Reds fell from the sky. We were losing. Without the surprise attack through the snow, they had seen us coming and they were too used to training and fighting alongside each other. We were no match for them.

Got him!

Raolcan grabbed the Silver’s tail, yanking him backward at the same time that Ahlskibi whirled and crunched the Silver’s head in his jaws. Ahlskibi wrenched his head back and forth like a dog fighting for a stick, and then released the dragon, letting him fall from the sky. I watched in grim horror as his rider screamed throughout the fall to his death. That could be me. It could be all of us.

It was already most of us.

I’d lost track of Hubric in the fighting and I didn’t see him now. Leng on Ahlskibi was with us, but as the Silvers re-entered formation, a chill formed in me.

The Reds were gone – obliterated. We’d only escaped because we were at the tail end of the fighting.

I craned my neck back to look for help. Across the field of battle, Ashana finally had the other dragons formed up, heading into battle, but she was going to the aid of the warriors in the field, not to our aid. There would be no help for us.

Leng was signing something. It wasn’t a sign I knew. He always forgot that I hadn’t been at Dragon School for very long.

When the odds are stacked against you, throw something at that stack! If nothing else, it will be fun to watch it topple.

We were diving so suddenly that a scream wrenched from my throat. My hair was streaming behind me, my eyes watering. Raolcan’s neck was stretched as far forward as it would go. A Silver dragon barely managed to dodge our flight. We were a meteor descending from the heavens. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were flames around us as we shot down from the sky toward the ancient stone of the ruined healing arches.

Someone was yelling from behind us.

I think Leng’s mad that we went first. He and Ahlskibi are a pair of glory-hogs!

And then we struck the stones with a mighty crack. Crumbling rock flew in every direction. The smell of char was heavy in the air. We skidded out of control until we came to a stop – finally – just behind the terrifying figure of Iskaris – the false Dominar – the crown-stealer.

If I had been afraid before, it was nothing compared to this.

Chapter Eleven

Ahlskibi’s aim wasn’t as accurate as Raolcan’s. He careened across the platform. Skidding and spinning, flaming randomly at anything that moved. I ducked low, protecting my face with my arms in case he hit me. What was he thinking?

It’s a dragon fear response. He doesn’t like what Leng is telling him. Not one bit.

What was my husband telling him?

I looked up to see Leng leap off of Ahlskibi’s back, sword in hand. He sprang into a fighting stance and gave a shout. Iskaris spun, his masked crown gleaming in the light of the rising moon. The intricate dragons in the carved crown seemed to gleam with a light of their own. He drew a blade with his lone hand, but his head tilted to the side in curiosity.

“My brother’s blood calls out for you,” Leng called. “Come. Face me. I will join your death to his.”

“Brother?” Iskaris was not loud, but his voice seemed to ring across the platform. Was that natural to him, or an effect of the masked crown?

“Shonan, Dominar of these lands.”

Iskaris’ laugh was mocking. “He was your brother? I killed him before your eyes!”

“I haven’t forgotten.”

“Boy, I’ve killed a thousand men and I’ll kill a thousand more. I can add you to the tally if you’re so set on it.”

“You stole a crown that isn’t yours, stole a nation that didn’t belong to you, stole the lives of innocents. It’s time you paid for that.”

Iskaris slashed his sword through the air dramatically. “I’ve never taken anything that didn’t already belong to me. This whole land and every soul within it ... they’re mine.”

What was Leng thinking? If Shonan couldn’t defeat Iskaris one on one, why did Leng think he could? I felt ill watching him mock a man like Iskaris - ill with worry. I didn’t want to watch my love slain on these stones any more than I’d wanted to watch Shonan die. Couldn’t there be another way? After all, we had two dragons just sitting here while they threw comments back and forth? Why didn’t they try to knock this imposter off his feet?

Raolcan moved subtlely and  Ahlskibi – now riderless – joined him. Flames burst from their mouths, hot and quick, narrowly missing Leng as they concentrated their power to destroy one single target.

The Dominar laughed as their flames washed over him, never touching his skin, though it singed the guards around him.

“I suppose you don’t know much about the dragon crown, do you? I didn’t at first, either. But it makes a lot of sense. If a man is going to lead a kingdom of dragons, he’ll need to be immune to their flames. Whoever crafted this crown was ingenious. As long as I’m wearing it, the flame does nothing to me. Your dragons are useless.”

A half dozen Silver dragons descended suddenly, surrounding our dragons with their bulk. Not only was their flame useless, they were also blocked from physically interfering with the fight.

And now Leng was trapped into a fight with Iskaris. There was no way out.

They circled each other, blades up. I couldn’t see Iskaris’ face, but I didn’t need to, to know he was smiling. Just as he dragged Shonan out of the circle to die, just as he stole his life and Dominion, just as he fought him to his last breath and then brutally murdered him – so he would do that to Leng – to the one who was more precious to me than the skies and the stars.

I reached toward Raolcan, but all I felt in him was matching horror. There was no way out of this.

My breath came in short gasps, my heart pounded so hard that my head hurt. There was no way out. Unless ... but those flashes backward in time didn’t come when you needed them most.

They didn’t come when Iskaris’ blade darted out and nicked Leng’s hand before the battle had even begun.

They didn’t come when Iskaris laughed wickedly.

“You’ll die like your brother and I will have everything. Do you know what it was like to serve as a dragoon all those years? I watched the crown go to that boy. He had nothing to recommend himself to anyone. He had no reason to be given it, but the law doesn’t care about fair. It didn’t care about how hard I worked. It didn’t care that I was better than him, smarter than him, faster than him. It didn’t care that he gave such weak orders, that he ignored good advice. When we fled on the ground, carrying his litter, all I could think of was what a fool I’d been to hope in a man. All men let you down. Every human story is a sad story.”

I wanted to scream that it wasn’t true. But how could I say that? Every human story eventually ended in death. Oh, you could put it off for a while – maybe for a long time. You could do meaningful things and love people and make life worth living, but in the end, we all had to turn and face the long shadow. In the end, we all had to look back and see the errors, the failings, the weakness. In the end, there was no way across that terrible chasm except to leap – and we had to leap alone. He was right. Every human story was a sad story.

And as I looked out over the battlefield I saw that playing out in a thousand individual dramas as dragons fell from the sky and smashed on the ground below, as soldiers died in blood and fear, as those citizens who ran bravely into danger when anyone else would have fled, dashed against the Ifrit army like surf on the shore, as Baojang – noble, proud Baojang – was whittled to a sliver, as even our Troglodyte allies began to stumble, to fall into the mud like candles sinking in a swamp. I looked over to Savette and Rakturan, the last hopes of two nations. Starie raised a hand and they both stumbled, dropping to one knee. Even there, it would not be enough.

“And this sad story needs an audience,” Iskaris said, easily parrying Leng’s charging rush and swatting him aside. “You’re not good for much beyond destroying plans, cripple.” He was talking to me! “Let’s see how badly you destroy this man’s plans just by watching. Come down off that dragon.”

Why would I do that? He had to know there was no reason that I would!

The Silver dragons pulled in tighter so that Ahlskibi and Raolcan had to back up. There were more of them, too. The surviving Silvers from our battle slowly rejoined the ranks. Three of them dragged a purple dragon to join us at the edge of the platform. Kyrowat! Hubric clung to his back, but both were muddy and injured, surrounded by Silver dragons.

“Come down, or watch these loyal Silvers melt your dragons into oblivion with their flame. And if they so much as twitch – my dragoons will flame you to smoking bones and ash.”

I scrambled off of Raolcan’s back, adjusted my crutch and hobbled forward. He knew how to make me obey. I’d do anything for my dragon.

Leng, face screwed up in concentration, attempted to leap under Iskaris’ reach, but the older man stepped out of range at the last second, smacking Leng’s back with the flat of his sword.

“A little closer.”

I hobbled closer.

“Good. Stay there. It will keep us both focused and give an audience for what is coming.”

“And what is that?” I asked.

“When I finish chopping this man into mince, you can tell the world what you saw. You can tell them how I destroyed all challengers and how you – somehow a catalyst for the Lightbringers – are now bending the knee to me and to the Chosen One.”

I tried to shoot a determined look at Leng, but he was concentrating on Iskaris. Why couldn’t one of those blasts come? This would be the right time! This would be the perfect time for it!

Nothing happened except that Iskaris and Leng sped up, their blows and counter-blows beginning to blur with movement.

“Stay back!” Iskaris called to his dragoons as they shifted impatiently around the perimeter. “This battle is between me and the boy. The regular rules apply. If my crown is taken from me, it is taken fairly. But, it won’t be. There is no threat here.”

I bit my lip, leaned on the crutch and hoped against hope that Leng would stay quick, that he wouldn’t let Iskaris get the better of him, that he still had a chance.

Every story might be a sad story, Amel, but that’s not the whole story. Why do you think that Ibrenicus wrote down the prophecies? Why do you think that the Lightbringers cling to them? Why do you think that the power of truth in Savette’s magic is still enough to fling back Ifrits and push Starie’s mirror magic away?

Why?

Because this life is only the beginning. And that chasm you must leap is only the beginning. I believe with all my heart that once it’s been leapt you will be surprised to realize that it wasn’t as deep as you thought it was and that it never had the power to swallow you up.

He was just saying that because I thought we were going to die and he was trying to cheer me up.

I’m certain that it’s true. And Amel?

Yes?

You won’t really have to jump that chasm entirely alone. If you die, I won’t be far behind. And when you enter the life beyond this life, I’ll be right there to fly into that sky of skies with you. There’s nothing so dark that hope can’t burn. There’s nothing so tempestuous that it can blow out the flame of truth. There’s nothing so empty that it can’t be filled with love. Don’t give up yet. We have so much more to do.

I wanted to believe him. I could feel that there was somehow more that he wanted to tell me but couldn’t. I wanted to believe that, too. But the dark of the night and the cold of the air and the terrible cries of men, women, and dragons dying were finally the last things to crack me.

Chapter Twelve

I was still standing to the side of the fight between Iskaris and Leng, leaning heavily on my brass crutch, ignoring the way the straps bit into my arm. After the way it had been flung here and there while I was dropped and caught, hobbling and lifted, riding and sitting, it was a wonder that the straps hadn’t broken yet.

It was whole. But I was not. I always had something to hold on to. I always had some purpose, some goal, some hope. But here, watching everything washing away I felt like I’d been broken into pieces.

You haven’t been.

Like I’d lost some part of myself – my sanity maybe. I was barely holding on to clear thoughts.

You are still sane.

I was helpless. There was nothing I could do but stand still and watch my dreams shatter.

You are never without help – as long as I live.

I squinted my eyes and furrowed my brow and hoped for a burst of power to turn back time and change everything, but still, nothing came.

See? You’re still hoping.

I watched Leng dodge a blow from Iskaris, but the edge of the larger man’s blade bit into the side of Leng’s calf as he dodged. Blood flecked the burnt wood beneath his feet. He spun into the next form of the dance of swords, but Iskaris was faster. He moved like lightning, barely seeming to be hindered by his missing arm. His blade flashed and stung, more aggressive than artful. With his power and muscle behind the sword work, he didn’t need to be artful.

He glanced at me from time to time as if watching to see if I was still there. Why did he care so much?

He sounds like Iskaris, but he thinks like Starie. She controls him, though a shadow of him still remains. And she has always wanted to make you pay for something you didn’t do. She’s always seen you as a potential threat. She wants to watch as you lose Leng.

And she would. There would be nothing I could do to stop it.

The Silvers surrounded Raolcan, Ahlskibi, and Kyrowat. Whether they were once good or bad men, they served that mask. They’d always served it. Maybe people from the outside looking in wouldn’t understand that. Maybe they’d find our ways and culture confusing, but you had to serve something. You had to be loyal to something. This Dragon crown was what our people were loyal to. This dragon mask hid the man because it was the mask itself that was important.

These Dragon Riders would keep my dragons from moving to help. Ifrits divided us from the rest of our allies. There was no way to cross their deadly clouded forms to bring aid.

That left only Leng and me free to move, and he was tiring quickly as he fought off Iskaris. His attacks had faded, leaving only defensive parries and dodges as he was pressed backward in a circle. It was just like when Shonan fought Iskaris.

Just like when he died at the hands of this man. Two brothers – companions in life, joined in death.

I shivered in the cold and black of the night. I could see my own breath escaping through my parting lips, like my soul escaping to the world beyond. Leng’s breath gusted out, pale and white in the bright moonlight. We were nothing but breath, spent in a few short months. We were the last gasp of the Dominion trying to stay alive, but she was slain. Slain and in her final death throes.

Stop and remember.

Remember what?

It’s always darkest before the dawn.

Dawn was a long way off.

Remember the prophecies, Amel. ‘When the skies are rent in sorrow,

And the depths bring help no more,

Then the lame and the blind shall lead them,

And guide them from the storm.’

It’s our time to guide the peoples.

But how? We were both trapped. There was nothing either of us could do. Any move by us would kill us both.

Iskaris beat on Leng’s sword, driving him backward. He fought to keep the blade back but sweat dripped down his face and his movements were growing slower.

‘But one shall rise,

To stand in the place of the other,

to bear the debt of nations,

to give up the breath of life to dispel the dust of death’

I think you’re that one, Amel. I think now is that time. It will take self-sacrifice, but that’s why we’re here. We’re here for our people. We’re here to stand for them and take down this evil.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t even hobble fast enough to jump between Leng and Iskaris. They’d just dodge out of the way.

I don’t know how this is going to work out. I just know that you need to be ready. Remember some of the first words of the book of prophecy, Amel, “When your salvation is near, you may lay hold of it. Do not wait. Do not doubt. Seize life while you still have breath and peace before it has dissolved like snow.” If there’s an opportunity, whatever it is, you have to take it.

I swallowed. Maybe I’d already missed the opportunity. Maybe it had come and gone while I was busy doing something else.

And then it happened.

Chapter Thirteen

Iskaris jabbed at Leng and Leng spun to the side in a sudden burst of speed, reversing the direction they were turning in. Now, as Iskaris forced him back, he was backing up toward me. He parried and dodged and danced, a wisp in the wind, a reed dancing on the shore. Leng’s movements were more graceful than I’d ever expected. I hadn’t realized how incredibly skilled he was with a sword.

As he passed me, being driven backward, our eyes met for a moment – like a touch, like a caress, like a last goodbye.

He stumbled, distracted by our shared moment and I gasped as he barely managed to parry a jab from Iskaris. He was on one knee – so close I could almost touch him. Iskaris advanced, his gaze never wavering from Leng as he unleashed a series of strikes toward my kneeling husband.

Iskaris didn’t seem to even realize I was there as he passed within inches of me – as he stopped so close I could touch him.

My heart leapt into my throat. An opportunity ... or a trap? I didn’t – couldn’t – hesitate. A sudden memory came to me of tending to Shonan when he lost his arm. Unbidden, his face swam into my mind. Another memory was hot on its heels – Iskaris dragging the limp form of the Dominar out of the circle right before we fled the warrens.

I gasped.

I reached out, and it seemed as if the moments stretched to minutes as I chose my spot and grabbed, grasping the sides of his mask, and ripping it away. It stuck for a moment and I had to throw my weight backward against it.

There was the sound of something snapping – a leather cord, perhaps? And then all I heard was the gasping as I fell to the ground, hugging the Dragon Crown to my chest. The spikes along the top bit into my chin and jaw, but I didn’t care. Now that I had it, it would take more than pain to take it away again.

“I ... Iskaris?” I recognized that voice. Ralk Wheelspinner – the Silver who had held me captive – broke away from where he stood, guarding our Purple dragons. His mouth was open, shock flooding his pale face.

Hadn’t they heard him mocking us? Hadn’t they realized who he was?

Even if they did – they couldn’t admit it. Not and remain true to their vows. But now ... now they can say what they would have wanted to say.

“It can’t be,” one of them muttered. “He died when they fled. Died guarding the ... Dominar.”

Iskaris spun from their shocked gazes, finally finding his opening in that moment of distraction. He kicked Leng back and my husband went sprawling across the platform. His sword tumbled away.

“No!” I cried, pulling myself to my feet.

Iskaris stormed forward, sword held out. Two paces and he’d be close enough to ram it through Leng. There was no one close enough to stop him. No one but Ralk, but why would Ralk do anything to his Dominar?

The seconds dragged like weeks.

I glanced up, taking in our situation with a single glance.

Savette and Rakturan were on their knees, a triumphant Starie poised above them. Our armies were overrun with Ifrits. The last glowing Troglodyte fell as I looked up, the mud coating his fallen body as he rolled across the field. Leng lay helpless on the platform.

We were beaten.

It was all over.

All because of this betrayer who had stolen the mask from the true Dominar and ... put ... it ... on.

I didn’t second guess it.

Didn’t dare.

I just put the mask on my head.

“Stop him,” I ordered, raising my hand to point to Iskaris. Somehow, my voice seemed larger, deeper, fuller – the voice of the Dominar.

Chapter Fourteen

It was a heartbeat before the dragoons understood what had happened. They looked at me, stunned, shocked. Even Iskaris spun to look.

Another heartbeat before Ralk saluted.

One more and the other dragoons joined him.

Raolcan barrelled forward, darting past them all to launch himself at Iskaris. He grabbed the betrayer in his mouth, barreling over the edge of the platform and into the darkness.

I gasped – but the sound was muffled by the heavy mask and crown. They were so heavy that already my head hurt. No time. No time to think about that.

We had barely moved an inch before Raolcan was back, blood coating his snout. Whatever he had done had been quick.

Leng was the first to move, scrambling to his feet and whistling for Ahlskibi. I hobbled to Raolcan, meaning to mount, but finding it impossible.

Ummm ... should I pick you up? I’m afraid my mouth is a bit of a mess ...

“Dominar! If you please!” Ralk Wheelspinner was at my side, a dragon saddle in his arms. I stepped back as he hurried to saddle Raolcan.

It’s his saddle. The one you were tied to.

When he was finished he dropped to one knee and a chill settled deep in my body as the other dragoons dropped with him, fists pressed over hearts, heads bowed.

“We live to serve, Dominar.”

I was their Dominar.

Forever.

I reached up and felt the heavy crown. There would be no way out of this now. I was as much a prisoner to it as I had been in those cages. As much a prisoner as I had been when I was tied to Ralk’s saddle.

I turned to look for Leng. He sat on top of Ahlskibi staring at me, a look of apprehension on his face. Had I ever seen him so stunned? So worried?

Tears filled my eyes as I realized how great the barrier was between us now.

Light burst over us suddenly, and with a sigh of relief, I let it take me. We would go back in time. I would choose something different. Something other than this.

It was all going to be okay. Thank the Skies and Stars for Savette and her magic!

I opened my eyes as the bright light faded.

The moon glinted over the helms of the dragoons still bending on one knee.

No.

No.

No.

Yes.

Chapter Fifteen

I stared at the dragoons kneeling before me.

Do something.

I cleared my throat.

“I accept your loyalty. We fight now with Savette Leedris and our Baojang allies. Go through the field and tell our generals and our troops their new orders: we band together against the Ifrit horde.”

“Dominar?” Ralk Wheelspinner’s voice was full of respect. “If we go, we will leave you unprotected. You are our charge now, and we are your bodyguards.”

There’s no getting out of that. They live their lives to serve the Dominar – whoever that is.

I was protected enough with Hubric and Raolcan and ... Leng. I could barely meet his eyes through the mask and what I saw made me flinch.

“Then you’ll have to hurry, won’t you?” I replied. My voice still felt louder, deeper, more resonate. It didn’t feel like it was me talking at all.

The dragoons bowed lower and then hurried to mount their dragons – all except for Ralk Wheelspinner.

“One of us must stay with you, Dominar,” he said. “Always.”

To do what? Keep someone else from snatching the crown off my head?

Among other things. But yes – they were off their guard. They should never have allowed that to happen. I suspect that like so many others, they underestimated you, judging you by that brass crutch rather than by your iron will.

I turned my back on Ralk and mounted Raolcan. The saddle was comfortable and a bit of a relief after riding bareback for the whole battle – and that was irritating. What right did Ralk have to make my life easier? What right did the dragoons have to guard me?

The right of blood. They’ve given theirs to defend the Dominar.

The false Dominar! Iskaris. While he was killing the true Dominar!

It’s more complicated than that. I know you don’t like complicated - but it is.

I frowned and strapped in. Next stop, dealing with the Ifrits. I turned to look at them when I felt something strange, like a thought trying to enter my mind from outside. It was as if I was being drawn to feed anger into the Ifrits rather than redirect them. As if I wanted to make them attack instead of retreat.

I wanted, suddenly, the opposite of everything I’d thought I did. I wanted to take power and rule this land as Dominar without those fool Lightbringers. I’d throw the Troglodytes out, too, while I was at it! I’d–

Raolcan snapped to attention, his head rising so suddenly that I thought we would take off into the air, but instead I saw what looked like a faint arch of light spring up from the battlefield, from the place where the Troglodytes had fallen, and arch over the battlefield to touch his head. He snarled and shook.

All thought vibrated from my mind as I struggled to hold on, and then he was done. I felt like myself again. Immediately, I raised my hands, knowing somehow that it would stop the Ifrits in their tracks.

They froze.

All across the battlefield, they froze into pillars of air and fire, immobile but still present. What had happened to me that for a moment I had been on their side?

Starie. She took hold of you through the mask and crown, just like she did to Iskaris.

I shuddered.

Did you know I was born on a mountain?

What? Wait. The first prophecy I had ever heard spoke of a mountain. I had thought it was about Savette, but hadn’t Ralcan said that these prophecies could be about more than one person?

Born high on the mountain,

Blazing bright under the sun’s demise,

Twice blind but still seeing,

The only bulwark against the dark

Watch as the arches proclaim

Dominion of Light.

Convenient.

Sometimes magic is convenient.

And strange. Where had that magic come from?

Dragon magic. I did mention I was a prince, right? Sometimes, we can tap just a little of the power of the Troglodytes – if they’re willing, that is.

But it seemed just a little too easy that he drew upon that now.

Easy? I’ve been saving up that favor all my life. I didn’t use it until today, and I’ll never get it back. Easy, maybe. But not without cost.

My dragon would never stop surprising me.

And I wanted the prophecy to be about him. I wanted everything from here on in to be ruled by Light. I wanted peace. I wanted my people to be safe. I wanted the killing to be over and a happy ending for everyone – or at least everyone who could have one.

I glanced over at Leng, but he was strangely silent, his back straight, and his face staring out into the field beyond. Hubric and Kyrowat snuck up beside him and my old mentor leaned in to speak to him. They both glanced at me before putting their heads back together.

That was how it was going to be from now on, wasn’t it? Everyone else – and me.

This crown, this mask, was my cage.

I looked out over the battlefield, watching as the Silver dragons set down among clusters of men in the fields. Slowly, one group after another stopped fighting.

A hush washed over the land.

You did that.

And it was worth it, wasn’t it?

I watched a young soldier climb up on a mud hill and raise a banner. As the wind took it I could almost make out the moonlit crest.

It’s the flag of the Lightbringers.

A knot of white dragons swirled out of Dominion City, soaring down to the field below.

They were waiting to bring healing. Waiting for the end. Someone always has to mop up at the end.

They should have been there for the actual fighting. What good were they when everyone was fighting and dying?

What can I say? That’s Whites for you.

He seemed remarkably unaffected by our sudden entrapment. Wasn’t he as torn as I was?

Remember, we were willing to die for our nation. Are we not willing to live for them, too? One day after another, giving ourselves to make them thrive?

I felt tears prick my eyes. I tried with all my might not to look at Leng. I had been willing to die. I wasn’t sure I was willing to live like this.

I might like seeing you receive the respect you deserve.

Locked in a sky city, surrounded by Silvers?

Who says you have to be that kind of Dominar? Who gets to say who you will become?

I didn’t know. There were probably rules.

When have I ever found a rule I couldn’t break?

I almost laughed at that.

And then something below us twitched.

The Ifrits were waking up again.

Chapter Sixteen

It started small. A movement here, a twitch there, but the moment that the first Ifrit shook himself back to life and rushed forward, my heart leapt into my throat. They weren’t finished. Ending Iskaris’ reign had not been enough to stop them.

What could we do now?

I flashed into Savette’s mind so suddenly that I reeled from the shift. She was looking out over the fields, too. I watched through her eyes as the first Ifrit woke enough to launch himself at the soldiers still laying down their arms. Her gaze shot back to Starie, standing above her, a look of triumph in her eyes.

“See?” Starie said. “Your pet has destroyed my pet, but it is of no concern to us. I have many, many pets.”

“She’s not my pet,” Savette said through gritted teeth. “But you wouldn’t know that, because you don’t know what the word ‘friend’ means.”

“It means nothing,” Starie said, her smile gone. “And now I’ll take your last pet.”

She turned to Rakturan, a calculating look in her eyes, but Rakturan wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Savette, his eyes full of love and confidence.

“I knew who you were from the moment I saw you after the fall of Vanika,” he said to her. “Hasa’leen. The bringer of light. I knew that day what your fate would be.”

“And you married me anyway?” Her voice was full of wonder.

“Face me!” Starie demanded from the sidelines, but whatever magic she was using to fight them wasn’t enough to break their focus.

“I love you, Savette Leedris. I love you as a woman and I love you as the Chosen One, the one who will save both our peoples. I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to help you.”

“You’ve always been here to help me.” Her voice was adoring.

“And I’ve always known what I would help you to do.”

Her vision was blurry with tears, but I didn’t think she was sad. She was grateful and so full of love that it was flowing from her tears.

He began to quote the prophecy that I thought was meant for me, but it was so obvious from his lips that it had always been about Savette. How could it not be?

“But one shall rise,

To stand in the place of the other,

to bear the debt of nations,

to give up the breath of life to dispel the dust of death.”

“And that one is me,” Savette said.

“Face me!” Starie screamed, breaking the tension of the moment, but Savette didn’t face her. Instead, she stood and Rakturan stood with her.

The light they had been holding in their other hands faded out and they joined both hands stepping toward each other. I could tell he was about to kiss her before he did. I could almost feel her racing heart and the hope surging in her veins as she stood on tiptoe and leaned into his embrace.

Light surged bright and full and I fell from her mind.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the light where they had been standing only a moment before. It was so bright it burned my eyes. It was so bright that time seemed to stop – not just for me, but for everyone.

And then, the two of them were rising up in the air, though nothing but magic seemed to propel them upward. As they kissed, power came up and through them and burst outward – so bright that it blinded me, but I refused to shut my eyes.

Somehow, I could almost make out the pair of them locked in their embrace. And around them, Starie and her Ifrits burst into dust. Dust rained down everywhere and blew in the howling winds whipping up around them.

When the light finally faded, the sun was coming up.

I blinked rapidly, my eyes tender and sore from the light.

There were no more Ifrits, though there was dust in the air everywhere and sweeping across the muddy fields. It had begun to snow while we were all frozen in place and everyone – humans and dragons alike – had an inch of snow on their heads.

And out in the center of the battlefield where once there had been a garrison, between the two sky cities, a massive white statue rose into the air, twice the height of any dragon.

I barely choked back a sob as the details of the statue registered. It was as if Savette and Rakturan had frozen in their last embrace, floating forever on the top of a swirling pillar of white stone.

At the base of the statue, a white, glowing dragon shifted his weight slightly and the snow that had piled up on him fell free.

Enkenay stood guard over his humans.

Chapter Seventeen

And then I did cry. I cried for my friend and her husband and for the hundreds of others who would wake up this morning with loved ones lost forever. And I cried for myself and the future I would never see.

After what felt like a very long time, I pulled myself together enough to look around me.

Silver dragons ringed the broken healing arches, their dragoons facing outward on guard for me. And inside the ancient circle stood a solitary man, his own sword drawn, his back to me.

The gold and pink of the morning lit the edges of his figure, but all the rest was dark - as unknown as his thoughts. A long shadow clung to him, spilling across the platform.

Leng.

He hasn’t left you.

Neither had Raolcan. My great dragon lay with his head nestled on his forepaws. He yawned dramatically as he spoke with his mind.

Well, you are strapped to my back. I’d have to kill you to get you off and as much as I’d like to find a nice horse to eat, it’s not worth killing you for my appetite.

Eventually, he’d stop joking about the horses.

Stop being a fool and get down off my back and go talk to your husband.

The best thing a girl can do, is listen to her dragon.

I unbuckled my straps and slid down off his back and hobbled forward.

All across the ruined valley, people were picking themselves up and helping those around them. Fires – tiny specks of light with plumes of smoke above them – were being lit and tents set up. As people everywhere did, the citizens of the Dominion were gathering themselves, counting their losses, quelling the tides of war.

They’re your people now. Yours to direct and protect.

I shivered violently. I was not ready.

Fortunately, there were no eyes on me yet. I could see movement from the fields – movement in this direction – but everyone else was too far away to see how crushed I was by the burden of this crown. All the Silver dragoons had their backs to me. Their eyes were on potential threats, not on my weakness. Not on my hobbling, ridiculous self. Who would ever mistake me for a Dominar?

Everyone. Everyone will see you as nothing but the Dominar from this moment on.

I could throw the crown away – give it away. I could give it to Leng.

It can’t be given. Not really. Such a thing is no gift.

Can’t be stolen – you saw that with Iskaris. He made a terrible Dominar, not just because he was an evil man, but because he always knew he was a fraud. Why wasn’t he here leading his armies in the war? Why did he go north chasing after a whisper? He knew he had no right to lead.

It can’t be thrown away.

And the way our ancestors set it up, it can’t even be chosen or pursued.

It can only be accepted. Can you accept it?

I swallowed.

And do you realize yet what the consequences will be if you do not?

More war. More death. More evil.

Yes.

I had no choice.

There’s always a choice, but sometimes there’s only one good choice.

Then I would just have to find a way to make that choice.

Leng still hadn’t looked back at me. He must hear me coming. My crutch tapped metallically on the ancient stones.

I chewed my lip, trying to think of what to say. A thousand fragments came to mind from ‘It’s not my fault’ to ‘I’m sorry’ to ‘Do you hate me?’ They were all terrible beginnings.

So, I straightened my spine, and took the last step to stand side by side with him. I didn’t look at his face as I began to speak. I looked instead at the people pouring out of the twin sky cities on ropes and lifts or dragon-back, bringing – no doubt – medical supplies and blankets and food. I looked to them – my people, my life now – to find the courage for my next words.

“When you thought it would be Shonan, you said you were used to the idea. You said it might even be fun to see him in secret, to sneak into his rooms, to be his eyes in the world beyond his palace.”

He didn’t reply.

“I didn’t have a choice, Leng. I could take up the helm, or let you and everyone else die.”

Still nothing.

“Don’t you think I’m as devastated by this as you are? Don’t you know that I still want that little farm and those dragons and a life with you?”

The silence was so deafening that I almost glanced over to be sure it was him at all.

“Is it impossible for you to accept me like this?”

On an impulse, I dragged the crown from my head, letting it fall to the side in my free hand. I spun to look at him, my loose hair obscuring my vision as badly as my tears. My lower lip trembled uncontrollably. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to still it.

A warm hand reached up, and brushed my hair aside, tucking it behind my ear. Leng’s face was suddenly so close that I could feel his warm breath on my cheeks.

“Is that what you think, heart of my heart? You think it is impossible for me to love you as the Dominar?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Never. I’ll die before I stop loving you. They’ll rip me to pieces and watch my heart stop beating and still I’ll want my life to be yours.”

“Then why do you stand with your back to me?”

A tear slipped from his eye, though the rest of his face was hard as stone. “The Dominar gives up all right to her life before. The Dominar has no family. Trust me! I of all people know that! The Dominar has no friends.” His voice was rock hard. “The Dominar has no husband.”

I dropped the Dragon Crown, ignoring the clang as it hit the stones and grabbed his hand with mine. I was shaking from the intensity of the moment. My hand was cold as ice.

“This Dominar does.”

I stood up on tiptoes and kissed him gently, afraid he would push me away. His kiss was bittersweet, as if he were afraid it would end at any moment.

“I plan to change a lot of things,” I said, drawing back so I could watch his eyes. “I plan to fix a lot of things. I hope that you’ll help me. I hope that you’ll stick by my side and help me know what to fix and how to fix it. And I hope you’ll do it as my husband. I made promises to you and a spiky hat doesn’t change any of them.”

I tried to smile, but my lips were trembling so much that it was hard. What if he couldn’t take the burden of what I was thrusting on him? After all, I had wanted to give it away. What if he did, too?

He looked up, finally and he smiled – a little mischievously. “It might still be fun to sneak a bit and meet in secret ...”

I laughed and after a moment he joined me, and as we laughed together the tension melted away. His fingers entwined around mine and he leaned in so close that his cheek brushed mine and then his lips dragged gently across my cheek to find my lips and seal the promise.

Chapter Eighteen

The dragon throne was as intimidatingly large when seen up close as it had been when I’d seen it in my mind. I had not been able to climb it – not with my bad leg – and Raolcan had been forced to help me up. Perhaps it could be replaced with something practical.

Don’t you dare. For once there’s a room that fits me and a chair that keeps you too high above the ground to get into trouble. I’m not losing that!

He was sitting at the base of the throne as the last officials left the room. Seven days after the great battle and I still wasn’t used to being in charge. I still had trouble trusting the generals and administrators and dignitaries who had been happy enough to serve Iskaris just as they had Shonan.

And with good reason. Traitor once, traitor ever.

I’d been replacing them as much as possible with Lightbringers as suggested by Hubric, but too many of the Lightbringers had fallen in the war and there was no way to fully replace all the people who made me suspicious.

We’ll just do the best we can.

And we were definitely doing that.

In the wake of the battle, we’d spent the first day establishing my authority and returning rule of law to the twin sky cities. It had taken longer to sort out the wounded, bury the dead, restore transportation and communication between the cities. And all of that had taken meetings. Meetings about food stores and fresh water, meetings about dwindling coffers and weakened fortifications, meetings about sending loyal Castelans back to their own cities to quell rebellions and return order. It would be years before we could restore the Dominion to what she had been.

Restore? We’ll make her twice the land she ever was. Better than the days of Haz! With your crown and my mind ...

Raolcan was still wearing those chains wrapped around his eyes. I thought they must be uncomfortable, but he wouldn’t budge on removing them.

I earned them. I’m wearing them. They make me look terrifying. Did you see how the generals looked at me?

Like a dog who hadn’t been housebroken.

Like a dragon so tough he wears chains.

Either way, my next meeting would be with Ashana. She was going to have to sort out Dragon School. In a perfect world, I would like to do that myself.

You can only live one life at a time. And it will never be the same again, anyway. We have a new deal now with the Elders.

A deal that meant only dragons who wanted to be at the school would arrive. And they would be involved in choosing their own riders.

I could still remember how surprised I was when more Troglodytes crawled from the crack in the earth when the battle had finished on that strange pink and white morning. The first one had approached me on the ruins, his movements so slow that eventually, we met him halfway, and there, in the swirling snow as his brothers retrieved their dead, I returned the Pipe of Wings.

IT IS DONE, CALLER.

That’s all they said. And then they were gone, back down into the earth.

But if they feel like it, they could come back.

I hoped not. I hoped all would be peace between us now.

It will be. If you make my mother happy, that is.

I still felt queasy thinking about that part. Sometime soon I’d have to go back to the Dawn’s Gate and give an account to Haz’drazen and seal the deal between Dominar and Queen of Dragons. But not today.

Today, I had an old friend to see before my next meeting.

I’ll help you down.

I let him lift me down off the ridiculous throne, glad that the dragoons pretended not to notice the indignity of it. Their eyes stayed ever forward, still as statues. I’d put Ralk up as second in command of them – at least I knew he had some morality – but all of them worried me.

We’ll deal with that in time.

I hobbled out of the throne room to the balcony beyond. My old friend Hubric was waiting for me there, looking out over the battlefield. The last troops of Baojang were still in sight as they marched away. Raolcan hadn’t been sorry to see them begin packing.

I really do hate those Sentries. And I never even got to eat one. It seemed ungrateful after they fought with us.

But I was surprised to realize that I was sorry that they were leaving. I looked to the white statue at the center of the valley. Even from here, it stood out. It seemed to almost glow, as the eyes of the two people immortalized by it had glowed.

It had been just after the meeting with the Troglodytes that I insisted we go and look at that statue. I’d laid my hands on the base, wanting to feel where Savette had been. I knew she was gone. I knew she’d left for us.

Now, seven days after her sacrifice, it was even more clear what she’d done. Reports were coming in from around the Dominion. When she and Rakturan gave their lives in that last act of magic, it hadn’t been just these Ifrits that exploded into dust – it had been all Ifrits in the Dominion – maybe even in the whole world.

The scourge was ended.

I ordered a plaque to be put up at the base of the statue. Everyone should know the words of the prophecy she had so perfectly fulfilled. I still shivered when I thought of it.

“Healing comes from the one who pays a steep price.

In this, victory will begin to grow like the first sprout of a mighty oak

And our hopes, bright as the dawn will rise over the horizon of our hearts.

And the people will be free of terror and the nations of uproar,

when the Chosen One brings truth to the heart of the Dominion,

when the dominion of darkness comes to an end.”

I had been standing there under the statue when Jalla flew down on Ahummal. There wasn’t even any point in pretending he was Renn’s dragon anymore. He was hers as much as Baojang was – everything that girl wanted became hers eventually.

She leapt off the Gold with curt instructions to Renn. “Stay put.”

Like with everything else that wasn’t currently interesting to her, Jalla ignored the cold. The wind whipped through her dark curls and billowed her fur cloak out behind her, but she didn’t try to draw the warmth of the cloak in, and she didn’t huddle against the frigid blast. She was as straight-backed and confident looking as if artists were about to paint her portrait for the generations to follow. Maybe they were. I’d been told that tiny watercolors and ink drawings of that moment where we met under Savette’s immortalized statue were already being sold on the streets of Dominion City. We both looked grander and more beautiful than we really were in the drawings, and the artists hadn’t included the thick mud climbing up our boots.

We met under the statue, the wind blowing our hair into our eyes and the gaze of the armies on us. I knew how powerful the image was. Two rulers. Two nations. Meeting under the sign of sacrifice and truth. If peace could be found anywhere, couldn’t it be here?

“I was far-sighted when I made you my blood-sister,” she said with a laugh.

“I thought I earned that.”

She shrugged. “It’s all the same.”

I followed her gaze as it drifted upward to the statue towering over us.

“We will always revere the Dark Prince and the choice he made to save us all,” she said.

“He’s bound to our Chosen One forever.”

She smiled. “Exactly. As you and I are bonded. You won’t forget that, will you?”

I swallowed. I knew that with Jalla every word counted. “You saw how I burned Vanika. You saw how I retrieved the Pipe of Wings.”

“My victories,” Jalla said, baring her teeth.

“My sacrifice.”

“What of it?” Her bright eyes were hard as rocks.

“If my nation is threatened, what won’t I do to keep it safe?”

Her eyebrows rose. “I’ve always been a personable prince. I like people. I bring them together. I create alliances. Is this not so?”

I felt my own eyebrows rising. Was she kidding?

“And so, Jalla, the Winged Prince of Baojang, will triumph again.”

“And how do you expect that I’ll do that for you this time?” My tone was drier than I’d meant it to be and the black gaze she shot in my direction told me it bit at her.

“By making an oath with me this day that we are blood-sisters and blood-nations. Today, we drenched this mud in the blood of our people, fighting side by side. Today, we drove off the Ifrit horde – our Dark Prince and your Chosen One. Today, we become family and we swear an oath of peace that will last as long as we both draw breath.”

I blinked. Jalla wanted peace? Jalla wanted an ally? Was this the same Jalla who watched indifferently as men fell to their deaths? Was this the same Jalla who had been measuring my nation for her cities and armies?

The same Jalla who is a brilliant strategist and politician? That Jalla? The same Jalla who is honorable in her own way? I rather think so, yes.

“Well?” Jalla asked, her fists moving to her hips.

“Are you still marrying Renn?” I asked.

She looked taken aback but she grinned. “I think so.”

“Good. Then yes, you have my oath.”

“And you have mine.” She grinned so wide that she looked more like a wolf than a human. “And I will send you Renn as my ambassador after we are wed. I can see you like him.”

I felt the blood draining from my face under the masked crown. My eyes must be as wide as saucers.

“I jest.” Jalla’s laugh bit through my panic, but then her expression hardened. “But if you try to take advantage of us, don’t think I won’t do it.”

“Understood,” I said with a wry tone. There was Jalla for you. Promises and gifts – and a little threat to remind you who was boss.

“I always liked you, Amel. I’ll visit from time to time, so we can play cards.”

She took my hand in the ancient gesture of treaty-making and then she was striding back to Ahummal, chastising Renn for not being ready quick enough, and waving merrily as she leapt into the air.

I would never get used to Jalla. She was like a hurricane in human form.

A shame. She certainly seems to like you.

If you called that ‘like.’

No, really, she likes you.

At least I didn’t have to lead Baojang. I would never understand those people.

Now, seven days later, I was saying goodbye to another friend – a real friend.

“Hubric,” I said as I joined him on the balcony.

He bowed, almost by instinct.

“You don’t need to do that.” My voice still sounded too loud in the mask.

“I do need to do it, Dominar. Some things have changed.”

I touched my purple scarf – the one Hubric had given me so long ago. I knew it was precious the day he gave it to me – but not that it would be this precious. There was so little that I could keep of my old life.

“I said you were ready the day I gave you that,” Hubric said. “I just didn’t know how much you were ready for. If I could have handpicked a Dominar ... well.”

I felt my cheeks heating behind the mask. “I have to ask you for something.”

“I’m your man.” He looked proud to say it.

“The Lightbringers – without them, without their help and their safehouses and their supplies – we would never have succeeded. Before you go off and do your own thing – I need you to deliver a series of messages for me.” I pulled the cylinders out of my pocket, each perfect and white. There was a time when all I wanted to do was carry these. Now, I never would again. Reluctantly, I passed them to him. “And I hope that while you deliver these, you’ll take the time to check on your network – help those who survived. You have all my authority and resources.”

He smiled. “I’d hoped you’d think that way.”

“These messages are the top priority. They will help restore order in our sky cities and give them hope. You understand?”

“That I’ll have to put off personal plans until after I deliver these? Yes, I understand.”

“Did you have personal plans?” I asked gently.

“I want to honor Haskell. And I have a promise to keep.”

I smiled. I wanted to take off the mask, but I couldn’t – not here in public.

“If anyone can be depended on to keep their promises – you can.”

“You were my favorite apprentice, Amel Leafbrought,” he said with red-rimmed eyes. “The best I ever trained. Purple to the core. Truth, loyalty, faithfulness. Stubborn and with a mind of your own. Difficult-“

“Hey!”

“I’m glad it’s you sitting on that throne. Tell that old dog that he’s got a good life by the fire now. Tell him not to bother bellyaching about it – we all knew he always wanted the life of ease.”

Tell Hubric he’s a rotten-toothed foot eater.

Hubric laughed as if he could hear Raolcan himself.

“Tell Raolcan that Kyrowat says there are worse things to eat than feet.”

Tell him that he would know, not me.

I coughed, barely covering a laugh. “I think you two might want to talk in person. You have so many sweet things to say to each other.”

Hubric smiled, but now he was tearful. “Keep making me proud, apprentice.”

“Stay alive, Hubric,” I said, throwing his old advice back at him. I wouldn’t see him much after this. We both knew that. But I hoped I’d still see him sometimes. I’d grown to depend on Hubric. “And come see me from time to time. There’s a message in there for you, too. Read it when you have a moment.”

He smiled and then coughed again, as if he couldn’t trust his own voice. Instead, he waved briskly and then hopped over the edge of the balcony like a much younger man might. I’d been a Dragon Rider long enough that I didn’t worry. I just glanced casually over the side of the balcony, just in time to see him land lightly on his old mount and dart away.

You’re never too old as long as you can fly.

My dragon joined me on the balcony and we looked out over the sky city and to the plains and the mountains beyond. Dominion City was strange to me – more foreign than Baojang had been – and my new role as the ultimate ruler not just of this city but of the whole nation, was even stranger.

What’s in Hubric’s message?

I was making him a part of my spy network. Never again would our enemies conspire against us without us knowing about it.

Hubric? A spy? The man is soaked in truth.

Then who better to spot a lie?

I watched the bustle below for a moment. All across the Dominion, the same sights would be seen as people fought and struggled to rebuild what we had lost. I wondered if back on their farm somewhere my family was doing the same thing. I wondered if they ever thought of me. They would never guess where I was now. I could hardly believe it myself. I wasn’t made for this.

Don’t worry – I was. I’ll be here for every meeting and order, every edict and decision. I’ll help you.

Then you’ll get out of shape because you won’t be flying.

Oh, I didn’t mean here exactly. That would be boring. No, as soon as order is restored in this city, I think you should make a tour of the Dominion. Visit the land. See to the rebuilding. Visit Haz’drazen as promised. And maybe break in that dashing new Captain of the Dragoons you acquired.

As if on cue, my Captain of the Dragoons came striding out onto the balcony, the noon light glinting on his brand new armor and off a helm almost as shiny as my own masked crown.

I thought only Silver Dragon Riders were charged with the protection of the Dominar.

He insisted.

And that worked? It never seems to work for me.

I pulled the mask off my face. I wasn’t supposed to. Not here in public. But I could never keep it on when Leng was around.

I can’t keep my lunch down when Ahlskibi is around. He struts like the smallest rooster in a barnyard. Purples just don’t look imposing next to Silvers. I tried to tell him, but he’s too puffed up to listen.

Leng grinned sheepishly in his shiny new armor and held out a silver crutch, inlaid with gold dragons.

“I know you said nothing ornate,” he said, offering it in exchange for my old battered crutch. “But I thought that maybe it would do for now while they repair the old one. I was certain that you wouldn’t want it replaced, only repaired. Was I right?”

“Hubric gave it to me,” I said with a smile. “How did you know I’d want to keep it?”

“Because you have the good sense not to throw away something useful or exchange something beloved for something more ornate.” He looked around stealthily before taking the last step toward me. Raolcan slid across the doorway to the throne room, blocking the view to the balcony completely. “And because I know that a woman as faithful,” here he kissed my forehead, “as smart,” and my cheek, “and as magnificent,” a quick kiss to the lips, “as you would want it that way.”

“You won’t leave me, Leng?”

He looked down at his shiny armor and back to me. “Would I have let them fit me for this silly get up if I was planning to leave?”

He pulled me close, kissing me gently, as his fingers found his davari on my finger. When we broke apart he deftly slid a second ring on the same finger – a simple circlet of pure gold.

“What is that?”

“The davari marked a promise made. This davara marks a promise kept. I-”

I never heard what he said next. I launched myself forward, nearly knocking him off his feet with my kiss. He could talk later.

All this kissing makes me ill. I swear I’m thinner. Gaunt even.

I didn’t even care if Raolcan mocked us.

I’m losing my touch. But it’s worth it, spider. It’s worth it.

He sang something, giving us our mental privacy, a dragon lullaby, I thought.  But in the song, he’d incorporated the prophecy that we both knew for sure and certain was about him.

He loses half the sun to save the world.

His crown he lays aside to choose one star, from a sky of stars.

One part, one place, one role: to be a mountain and an anchor in the storm.

Hope for the hopebringer, light for the lightbringer, wings for the lame.

He was hope and light just like the prophecies had promised ... and I couldn’t have asked for a better dragon.

And to think – I could have chosen Starie Atrelan.

Enough.

Or what was that guy’s name? Daedru Tevish?

We’re a bit busy here ...

Sure, brush your dragon off. Don’t even stop to think how lucky you are that I chose you.

I was lucky.

Especially now that I have a recommendation ...

Anything. Just give me a moment of privacy.

I’d like to pick the first location we travel to.

Sure, sure.

I’m going to remind you that you agreed to that. Are you still kissing? That can’t be healthy. You’re probably spreading germs.

Go eat feet.

No gratitude. That’s humans for you. No gratitude at all.

THE END

DRAGON CHAMELEON

AMEL AND RAOLCAN MIGHT have found a happy ending, but the Dominion still has problems to be solved. What will they do about the dwindling magic, the nations that banded together against the Dominion and the tenuous bond with Haz’drazen? Find out in DRAGON CHAMELEON: ROGUE’S QUEST, the next season of Dragon School.

DRAGON CHAMELEON: ROGUE’S QUEST

It's great to be a spy. Trust me. Who wouldn't want to leave everything, get pushed around by a haughty dragon, and do it all without fame or glory?

It takes a special kind of magic to hide in plain sight.

I've been hiding all my life but now I'm doing it for my country.

My partner in crime? A chameleon dragon who takes things way too seriously.

They keep telling me that the world hangs in the balance, but I try not to take things like explosions, spies, and illicit magic too seriously.

After all, I get to ride a dragon! That is ... when she lets me.

DRAGON CHAMELEON: ROGUE is episode one of a brand new series set in the world of DRAGON SCHOOL. It's the perfect beginning for readers new to this fantasy world but still contains hidden gems for long-time fans.

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Behind the Scenes:

USA Today bestselling author, Sarah K. L. Wilson loves spinning a yarn and if it paints a magical new world, twists something old into something reborn, or makes your heart pound with excitement ... all the better! Sarah hails from the rocky Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario -

learning patience and tenacity from the long months of icy cold - where she lives with her husband and two small boys. You might find her building fires in her woodstove and wishing she had a dragon handy to light them for her.

Sarah would like to thank Harold Trammel, Eugenia Kollia, and Sarah Brown for their incredible work in beta reading and proofreading this book. Without their big hearts and passion for stories, this book would not be the same.

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Dragon School Reading Order:

Dragon School: First Flight

Dragon School: Initiate

Dragon School: The Dark Prince

Dragon School: The Ruby Isles

Dragon School: Sworn

Dragon School: Dusk Covenant

Dragon School: First Message

Dragon School: Warring Promises

Dragon School: Prince of Dragons

Dragon School: Dark Night

Dragon School: Bright Hopes

Dragon School: Mark of Loyalty

Dragon School: Dire Quest

Dragon School: Ancient Allies

Dragon School: Pipe of Wings

Dragon School: Dragon Piper

Dragon School: Dust of Death

Dragon School: Troubled War

Dragon School: Bitter Darkness

Dragon School: Starie Night

Dragon School: Ascendant Light