Dragons of Kings (Upon Dragon's Breath Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  “What?” I stared at him. “How do you know such a thing? Did Jaydra tell you?”

  He shrugged and tossed the straw away. “No, Zenema spoke to me. After you started with your magic, I called for help from the dragons. You were right—I called the dragons and they came.” He waved to the mountains tops.

  Looking up, I saw three dragons perched on the rocks. They were larger than any dragon I had ever seen, with shimmering red scales. Even from this distance, I could see how they were grooming each other. They also looked to be keeping an eye on the settlement.

  “They came to help you?” I asked.

  “Us,” Bower said. “They helped us.”

  Glancing to where Jaydra snoozed with one eye half open, I asked her, What do you think of the reds? Are they like the wild dragons—mindless and angry?

  They hear Jaydra but do not always understand. They have forgotten much. She opened one lazy eye wide. Jaydra senses reds are suspicious—they wonder why Jaydra is here with you when Jaydra could be with them instead.

  It had never occurred to me that Jaydra might want to go off to visit other dragons. Even on the island, we had always been together. I suddenly wondered if I was holding her back.

  Jaydra huffed out a breath as if I was being stupid, closed her eyes and settled back into a doze, refusing to listen to my thoughts. Tired as I was, I was also frightened of what had happened—and what might come next. But I felt better knowing it was Jaydra’s choice to stay beside me.

  I also had Bower, and I proceeded to drag from him everything that had happened. It seemed that I had slept a night and almost a full day as well.

  I still had no real recollection of why I had walked toward the Iron Guard. Blood called to blood, Enric had told me once. Maybe his commands through the Iron Guard had drawn me, but I had also struck out with my magic. I remembered that—but not the boulders rolling loose.

  Staring at me, Bower said, “Jaydra watched out for you. She helped you channel your magic. And then I called out for the aid of any and all dragons. Zenema said Ysix and her brood were on their way, and then those three reds—Crimson Reds, they were once called—came from the mountains and rained fire and destruction down on the army. It at least gave us a few days of time—Enric’s army is going to need to regroup before they can attack again.”

  Glancing up at the red dragons on the mountain top, I watched them stretch their wings and asked, “So they heard you call?”

  Bower nodded. “I think they must be refugees from Mount Hammal, the home of the dragons of Torvald. They must have escaped, much like some dragons did when they fled to the Western Isles.”

  “We are not refugees,” I protested, echoing Jaydra’s annoyance over such an idea.

  A small smile lifted Bower’s mouth. “You are not. And you said Jaydra was born onthe islands. But once upon a time, the dragons of the Middle Kingdom lived near Torvald and the Dragon Academy. And I think that these Crimson Reds came from Mount Hammal. They fled Torvald after the old king was overthrown by Hacon Maddox, and they hid themselves here in the far north. I don’t think any human even knew of their existence before now.” Bower stared up at the mountain and the huge dragons. “I wish I could hear their story—learn if they even remember anything of what was once a great dragon academy.”

  “That would make them as old as Zenema or even older.”

  “Not if they are the children of the dragons who fled—much as Jaydra is a child of Zenema.”

  I nodded—he had a point there. “But I thought you said you called them. How can you do that and not hear them the same way I hear Jaydra’s thoughts?”

  Bower’s cheeks reddened, and not from the wind that had risen. “I can’t even talk to Jaydra all the time. And Zenema only talks to me when she wants to. When the battle was ended and before you woke, I tried reach out to the Crimson Reds, but all I got was a buzzing in my head and then a headache. I kept hearing clicks and mutters that didn’t make sense.”

  Bower spent too long in his city and in his paper books, Jaydra thought at me.

  I had to laugh—for Bower had once carried a bag of books with him.

  “Did I say something funny?” Bower asked.

  “No, it’s just…nothing. Just Jaydra making a joke.”

  Jaydra sent me a surge of affection and I sent it back to her. Then I turned to Bower and waved at the spears. “Ysix is not going to be happy if she gets here and finds the Three-Rivers clan tried to imprison me and Jaydra.”

  He nodded and frowned. “That is just what is worrying me. It seems to me that Ysix is not much like Zenema. What if she burns the settlement when she gets here? Maybe you could talk to her first?”

  I shrugged. “Ysix may not want to listen.”

  Bower sighed. “Ryland said he and the elders will meet in council tonight to decide whether to release you or not. They also want to figure out how to get the Crimson Red dragons to help them.”

  I sat up straighter. “And just how does Ryland expect to lead red dragons if he is not a dragon-friend? He treated his black dragons like they were prisoners. If he has no connection with the red dragons, what’s he going to do? Try to chain them, too?” I shook my head. “Ryland will have to ask us to help him with these dragons, and then we can ask the reds if they will help. It’s starting to sound like the Three-Rivers clan needs us more than we need them.”

  “That’s how we view it, but Ryland saw your magic. While you slept, the entire clan could talk of nothing other than the stories of how you moved boulders to smash the Iron Guard.”

  “That should impress them.”

  Bower shook his head. “Ryland is suspicious of such power—it’s magic that is too much like Enric’s power. Add in the distrust between the dragons here and the Three-Rivers clan, and I’m not sure Ryland is wrong to be cautious.” Bower looked at his hands for a long moment, and then glanced up at me. His face seemed even paler, what with the bruise on his cheek. He asked, “Why do I feel like I should be happy, but I’m not? I managed to call the dragons, I managed to fight by your side, and yet it feels like we already lost everything?”

  “We haven’t lost.” I put a hand over his. I tried to make my words firm, but I had my doubts. Even with Ysix and her brood, and those three red dragons, even with Jaydra on our side and even if the Three-Rivers clan fought with us, would it be enough?

  We had met the Iron Guards and the king’s army—or at least part of his army—and his magic and his forces had been stronger. We had to find a way to defeat Enric, but I wasn’t sure how we could do that.

  Forcing a bravado I didn’t quite feel, I squeezed Bowers hand and told him, “We just haven’t won yet.”

  And I hoped those words were true.

  Shortly after I spoke to Bower, the Three-Rivers clan horn sounded. It was either a warning or a call to assemble. Judging by how people walked past the spear circle, their steps slow and deliberate, I judged the council was about to start.

  Bower told me he would tell me everything that happened and left. Again someone parted the spears for him and he stepped outside. I hated the idea of sitting here, doing nothing, but Bower could talk better than I could.

  But I was not going to spend another night in this hut, trapped behind spears.

  We can go? Hunt…fish? Jaydra opened her eyes but didn’t raise her head.

  Standing, I pulled the blanket from the ground and wrapped it around my shoulders. I thought to her, Yes, we will. I won’t let them treat us as if we are sheep to be penned, but first we must give Bower time to see if his talking will work his own kind of magic with words.

  While we waited to hear from Bower, I began to stretch my muscles, doing what I could to make myself ready for whatever came. I was stronger now than when I had woken—the food Bower brought me helped. But I still felt weak—magic would not even spark from my fingertips, and my chest seemed hollow and empty.

  The evening darkened. I wondered if Ysix was near. Stretching my thoughts out, I sensed she and
her brood were near but had stopped at the lake to feed and drink so they might arrive rested. I sent to her my approval of such a plan, and got back from her faint impatience, as if she wondered why she would ever need my approval.

  So I sat down again to wait, resting my back now against Jaydra’s side. Even from where my hut sat near the edges of the settlement, I could tell the council wasn’t going quite how anyone had planned. Angry shouts lifted into the air, the words indistinct, but nothing happened. And Bower did not return.

  A few fires were lit in the settlement, but I noted that every flame seemed shielded, as if the Three-Rivers clan was worried the king’s army might spot them. I heard the flap of wings and looked up to see three dragons circling the settlement. Waves of curiosity came from those dragons, and I thought the reds must be wondering what had happened to the Dragon King who had called them.

  I sent thoughts out to the red dragons, but it was as Jaydra had said—they either didn’t really understand my thoughts or did not want to let me know they had heard me. The three reds landed not far from my hut, and Jaydra lifted her head to speak to the reds in dragon, with whistles, clicks and hisses.

  Evening was starting to fade when I heard bootsteps outside the spear circle. I stood and watched as what seemed to be a half-dozen men and women strode to where the red dragons sat in the meadow. The moon was rising, turning the red dragons into huge, dark silhouettes that blocked the stars.

  I couldn’t quite see who was headed to face the red dragons, but I assumed Ryland would be there and Bower, too. Or could the Three-Rivers clan be so unwise as to try to negotiate with these dragons without Bower? They certainly had not been wise in how they had treated their black dragons.

  Leaning against Jaydra, I watched the small group stop a good distance from the red dragons—however, they were still close enough that the reds could have flamed everyone with one breath.

  I thought I recognized Ryland’s voice but I couldn’t hear what was being said—the wind carried the words way. But Jaydra thought to me, Jaydra hears humans.

  Her dragon senses were sharper than any other creatures in the land.

  “Please repeat to me what they say!” I asked, my eyes fixed on shadowy figures that faced the three dragons.

  In my mind, Jaydra repeated Ryland’s words.

  Oh, mighty dragons, we humbly beseech your aid. We ask you to remember who we were, and who you were of old… The dragons and their riders.

  Suddenly, Jaydra was snorting soot and fire as the lead crimson dragon lifted its head and roared a gout of flame into the sky. Even from this distance I could hear the panicked cries from the delegation as they ran backwards a little way, before realizing that the Crimson Reds really had no intention of killing them all—yet.

  “What was that about?” I demanded of Jaydra.

  Their clutch-queen called them liars. Jaydra snorted as if that was the best joke ever.

  “Why would she do that?”

  She can smell their blood and knows none are true dragon-friends. She smells on them the scent of the black dragons—she smells the hate the black dragons had for these people.

  “Those are strong words.” Didn’t Ryland know better than to lie to a dragon? To lie was to insult them, for it was treating them as if they could not sense the truth.

  But what worried me more was that all the dragons I’d ever known were very straightforward in that they did as they pleased. If a dragon didn’t like you, it would either never talk to you again or would kill you. Simple as that. So while dragon minds could be complex and subtle, their emotions were very direct.

  The reds hissed and rumbled an answer. The human delegation could not understand the dragons, but two stepped forward and spread out blankets. On this, they unwrapped what seemed to be gifts for the dragons.

  Gold trinkets glittered in the light of a lantern held aloft. From how one woman put her hands over her mouth, as if grieving, I guessed this was everything precious held by the Three-Rivers clan.

  They’re attempting to bribe the dragons? I thought to Jaydra.

  Jaydra’s amusement drifted to my thoughts. Shiny metal? What dragon has need of such a thing when we have shiny scales and the skies?

  I would have laughed if not for the fear spreading up through my belly. How would these large red dragons, each the size of a house, take being insulted twice now? Jaydra would probably sweep her tail at them, casting them aside and fly away, never to be seen again, but these dragons might not be so polite.

  Not worth killing, Jaydra informed me, and I hoped she was conveying the thoughts of the red dragon.

  She was not.

  The biggest dragon let out a roar and smoking flames.

  The half-dozen people started to back away. I knew now that Bower could not be with them—even he knew better than to treat dragons with such poor manners. But more men hurried out from the settlement, the tips of their spears glinting.

  This was far too much like how the villagers had faced Jaydra, myself and Bower.

  Watching the warriors start to advance on the dragons, I told Jaydra, “Bower is not there and this is all going wrong. It’s time for us to do something before someone is hurt.”

  I no longer cared about what the Three-Rivers clan would think of me if I broke from their ridiculous cage of spears, and I was done with waiting for Bower to fix things with his words.

  Jaydra sprang to her feet, unfolded her wings and casually flattened the hut by sitting on it. I dragged myself up her neck and settled onto her back. With a leap, we were flying free.

  16

  Dangerous Alliances

  I’d tried to go with Ryland to see the dragons—Saffron would expect me to be there—but two of the elders held me back, refusing to let me leave the central hall where the council had been held. From there I watched Ryland and the other five approach the dragons. I had told him to be stand fast, echoing what Jaydra had told me when I had faced the wild dragons. He seemed to manage that part, but now I could feel the anger of the Crimson Reds. Ryland had done something very wrong and I had to fix this.

  Breaking free of the two old men who kept trying to hold me back, I slipped past the other warriors and ran after the dozen men now headed toward the Crimson Reds. I had to dodge hands that kept reaching out to grab me.

  Ryland and his council had decided to approach the dragons to judge where their loyalty lay. I feared now that they’d said the wrong thing, had perhaps treated these Crimson Reds as they had the wild black dragons. In truth, I thought the Three-Rivers clan seemed a little afraid of the Crimson Reds—they were huge dragons and needed to be respected.

  I had tried to offer what little advice I could to Ryland, telling him not what I had read but what Saffron, Jaydra and even Zenema had taught me.

  Running now toward the Crimson Reds, I saw that Ryland and the others had spread out bits of gold. A cup, a belt, some chains and silver plate glittered in the lanterns' light. I sprinted past two more men who tried to catch me, slipping out of their reach. There were advantages to being slight.

  Yelling, I called out to Ryland, “What are you doing? These dragons fled Torvald because humans turned against them. This is about offering them a return to their home in Mount Hammal!”

  Turning from the Crimson Reds—and backing up more than a few steps—Ryland looked at me, his mouth pulled down and his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. He did not look a man ready to listen to reasonable arguments.

  The warriors now assembling at the edge of the settlement as if they could protect their huts with spears, grabbed me. I struggled to break free, but a roar from above had everyone stopping and looking up.

  A flash brightened the sky as Jaydra let out a dazzling breath of flame and swept toward the Crimson Reds. The red dragons called back to Jaydra with a roar. I had no idea what they were saying, but I worried it did not bode well for the Three-Rivers clan.

  “Saffron! Jaydra!” I called, pulling an arm free to wave at them, unsure if th
ey could hear me over the noise of the Crimson Reds as they roared, or over the shouting villagers.

  Jaydra landed with a heavy thud between the warriors and the Crimson Reds. Saffron climbed down from Jaydra, but without her usual agility. She was as worn out by events as was I, but we had to prevent this from becoming a disaster.

  Instead of addressing Ryland and his people, Saffron turned to face the Crimson Reds. She swept a deep bow, her arms spread wide and then straightened to start at the huge dragons. “Great dragons, I am Saffron of the Maddox clan, and kin to the kings who stole the throne of Torvald and who have tormented us all. But I’m also Saffron, den-sister to Jaydra and den-daughter to Zenema, of the Western Isles. I beg you to forgive these humans. They do not know how to speak or behave, but I believe they can learn.”

  The largest of the Crimson Reds stepped forward and thumped her tail against the ground. I had a sense of distrust from her. Jaydra edged a little closer to Saffron and hissed as if warning the other dragon not to take out any insult on Saffron.

  Things didn’t seem to be going well, and Saffron confirmed my fears when she turned to glare at Ryland. “How dare you insult these noble dragons in such a manner as this. Do you think dragons can be bought with worthless trinkets? You have no business talking to dragons.”

  Ryland’s mustache twitched and I thought I saw a spark of anger in his eyes. He lifted his chin and told Saffron, “We know how a dragon should be treated.”

  One of the burly warriors next to me let go of my arm and shouted, “All these beasts know is pain and blood anyway!”

  Glancing around, I took in the glinting spears and the torches that had been carried from the settlement by some of the clan. I wondered if I had been deluding myself. The alliance I had wanted to build with dragons and the Three-Rivers clan seemed utterly impossible just now.

  Jaydra curled her tail around Saffron as if to protect her. The red dragons had fixed their stares on the warriors and I thought it looked as if these Crimson Reds were ready to destroy this settlement.