Tears of War Read online

  Sadira laid a hand on the woman’s arm. “Easy Oksana, don’t kill him yet.”

  Alden sneered as his red eyes settled on her. “Kill me? With what, your shadows?”

  She threw back her head and laughed until tears ran down her face. It sounded maniacal. She didn’t care. He truly thought no one had seen Dreth die? Bern was still alive, if broken and bent. But she’d seen the other turned to ash.

  Alden’s sneer turned to a glower. She wiped the tears away and took a deep breath to calm the laughter. “You think we are naïve and stupid, don’t you? You may have hid from the battle with the Guardians, but the rest of us were there.” She leaned close to him. “I saw Dreth burn. I watched the silver dragon turn him to a pile of ash. My shadows may not hurt you, but a single command from me and Ranit will end you.”

  Fear crawled across the stretched parchment face. “You wouldn’t. You need me.”

  Oksana snorted. “What do we need you for? We have had to learn our magic for ourselves. You can’t read the book, and thanks to you, we only have one of those now. You are inept, unsuitable to lead, and a coward. Paylana died weeks ago, and only now do you crawl out from under your rock and show yourself again.”

  A faint smile crossed his face. “And who will lead you? Sadira? Kovan?”

  Sadira smiled at his attempt to divide them. “We don’t need a leader. We are not sheep; we don’t need a dog to herd us. Because of you we are down two Shadow Riders and countless Kojen. No, Alden, I don’t think we need you.”

  A triumphant smile spread across Oksana’s face. Sadira smiled inwardly. Without realizing it, the blonde was already letting her take the lead. Kovan would oppose her and she would have to resort to working with him. But Oksana and the rest would do what she and Kovan said. She turned an indulgent look on Oksana. “It was your sister, your grievance. It is your revenge. Deal with him how you see fit.”

  Oksana looked up at the black dragons arranged on their shelves. “Dusa, come to me.” The massive black lifted herself from the ledge and landed next to her rider. “Kill him.”

  Dusa drew in a lungful of air. “No!” Alden’s eyes widened. “You can’t do this!”

  Oksana cocked her head at him. “You are right. I can’t. Not this way. It would be too quick. Dusa, start with his feet and work your way up. See how loud he can scream.”

  Anevay stirred awake. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, confused for a moment. She’d fallen asleep in the records room again. It seemed in the past few weeks she’d spent more time in there researching than anywhere else. She sat up and arched her back, trying to relieve the ache from sleeping in the chair. The orb on the wall still glowed strong, but the candle on the desk she used for more light while reading had burned low. It must be the middle of the night.

  A slight energy rippled through her mind. Quiet and unobtrusive, she felt the feather-light touch. Is that what woke her? She rubber her temples and sighed. A ringlet of her long, black hair fell across her face and she pushed it away in irritation. Real sleep in a bed was what she needed. Yawning, she looked at the scroll on the desk in front of her. She had to find the answer.

  She’d researched tirelessly since the battle with the Shadow Dragons several weeks before. Spent endless hours reading the detailed accounts of the War of Fire. That war had ended badly, only a mistake kept it from ending worse. The Shadow Riders had come close to winning the War of Fire. Now, five hundred years later, it seemed history would be doomed to repeat itself.

  The Shadow Dragons were already reproducing again. Two black eggs had hatched in the last three months. The Silver Riders felt each one. In Galdrilene, only one clutch of twenty-one eggs had been laid. Nydara fired them only a week ago. Though the shells had hardened in the last few days, the eggs had yet to send out a call. Until they sang to their intended rider, they would remain unhatched for however many years it took.

  Her eyes drifted over the age-worn parchment. Somewhere, in the history of the War of Fire, there was a key to winning this new war. Something that seemed small and insignificant to others. A clue that would lead her to the weave she needed to make. A weave to eradicate the Shadow Dragons forever.

  Anevay rubbed her eyes again. If only it wasn’t so easy for the Shadow Dragons to reproduce. What did it say about the world that Shadow Riders were so easy to find? How were there so many people willing to give up half their souls for power?

  Energy flowed softly through her mind again, a quiet hum. She propped her elbow on the desktop and massaged her forehead with her hand, her eyes still on the scroll. She shoved aside her exhaustion and focused on the task at hand. Her talent, beyond healing, was the ability to create new magic weaves. It rested on her to find the needle in the haystack, the one that would save Galdrilene and the Guardian dragons. The one that would save the world.

  The hum of energy wove through her mind again; soft, sweet, insistent. She ground her teeth in frustration. She couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. Maybe a break would help. A brief walk in the fresh air. She stood, pulled her cloak around her shoulders and left the room. A short hallway brought her out in the Great Hall.

  Only two orbs burned at either end of the massive hall, leaving the passage between the two sets of tall, heavy doors, cloaked in darkness. The doors leading to the city were closed, but those on the other end stood open. The light of the full moon spilled across the broad, inner terrace.

  Anevay rubbed her hands together, shivering slightly in the cool air of late spring. In the caldera, beyond the terrace, the lake reflected the bright face of the moon. Again, the humming energy filled her mind. Crooning softly. She strode past the doors and out onto the terrace. She turned her face into the wind and let it wash over her.

  The need to get back to work tugged at her. But for some reason, she left the terrace and walked across the grass instead of back through the doors. The rim of the horseshoe-shaped caldera was dark at this hour. The low rumble of dragons sleeping in their lairs drifted on the breeze. She walked to a door set in the side of the rim’s wall. Maybe she would check on the eggs.

  The croon in her mind intensified. Elation rippled through her. Elation? What was she so happy about? Her hand froze on the latch of the door. Her lungs refused to work. The energy in her mind, the hum, it was happy. Her breath left her in a rush and tears welled in her eyes. It wasn’t energy she felt. It wasn’t just a random sound in her mind from too little sleep. She heard the Dragon Song. One of the eggs sang to her.

  She pulled her hand away from the door. She couldn’t go in there right now. The pull of the egg would be irresistible; she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from hatching it and there was a protocol for this. Still, she stood in front of the door, unable to walk away.

  “Anevay?” Maleena’s soft voice called out of the dark behind her.

  She turned. Maleena stood a few paces away, swathed in a heavy cloak. Her long, chestnut hair blew around her in the wind. “What are you doing out here in the dark?”

  The other woman smiled and walked closer. “I could ask the same of you. I would expect to find you sleeping in the records room, not standing in the dark staring at a door.” She glanced at the door. “One of the eggs is singing, I felt it. It woke me. Nydara senses it too.”

  Anevay returned her smile. “I know. I was sleeping in the records room. The Dragon Song woke me.”

  Maleena’s eyes, dark purple in the light of moon, widened. “You?” Excitement filled her voice. “One of the eggs calls to you? Oh, Anevay, how wonderful!”

  “I made it all the way to the door before I realized what it was. I know I can’t go in yet, but at the same time, I can’t bring myself to leave.”

  Maleena smiled. “You don’t have to leave. You just have to go in by the other door.”

  “Don’t I have to wait for Emallya?”

  “Emallya will already be awake. She will sense it too. So will Taela. Soon, the entire hold with be awake with the news. You only need to wait long enough for food
to be made available for the draclet, and for Emallya and Bardeck to be ready.”

  A lump filled Anevay’s throat. She wouldn’t have to wait until the next day. “Thank you, Maleena.” The tiny woman smiled at her again then hurried toward the Great Hall.

  High above on the ledge jutting out from their lair, Maleena’s silver Nydara and Mckale’s green Tellnox stretched their wings and yawned as they woke from their sleep. Anevay dragged herself away from the small door. When it was time she wouldn’t go in through it anyway. She might as well wait inside where it was warmer.

  The Dragon Hold slowly came alive as word spread of the impending Hatching. Anevay sat at a table in the kitchen cavern. A junior cook moved about the dark kitchen stirring coals up in the ovens. Anevay yawned. If the ovens were already warming, dawn would only be a couple of hours away. How long had she slept at her desk in the records room? It couldn’t have been long. An hour? Maybe a little more.

  Marda came bustling through the kitchen, ordering instructions at a group of men looking like she dragged them out of bed only moments before. Knowing Marda, she probably had. Whether dragon or human, Marda never let anyone go hungry.

  Anevay took a deep breath, a sudden flutter in her stomach. She was called. In a short time, she would hatch an egg. The hum in her mind crooned happily. For some reason, when Anevay had contemplated her future, she never considered she might be called. It hadn’t bothered her; she was happy being a mage. But she wouldn’t trade the sound of the Dragon Song in her mind for anything.

  She folded her hands on the table and laid her head on them, closing her eyes. The croon, quiet and soothing, filled her mind.

  A touch on her shoulder woke her and she blinked up through bleary eyes. Taela stood with a smile on her face that reached her dark blue, slanted eyes. “It’s time if you are ready.”

  Anevay stood. “Already?”

  Taela laughed. “You’ve been asleep for a little over an hour. Emallya, Bardeck, the dragons and the other riders are awake. Food has been placed for your draclet. All we wait for now is you.”

  Excitement growing within her, she flashed Taela a smile, glad the other woman was there. She remained close friends with Kellinar. When Taela became Kellinar’s bondmate, Anevay had felt an immediate connection to the woman. Taela became the sister Anevay never had.

  “Emallya and Bardeck are ready then?” she asked.

  Taela nodded. “They are waiting for you in front of the Hatching doors.”

  Anevay smoothed her dress, suddenly nervous. What if she was wrong? What if she really was sleep deprived and only thought she heard the song? She took a deep breath and let it out. Such silliness. She’d grown up in Galdrilene. She knew what the Dragon Song was.

  Taela led the way out of the kitchen, across the inner terrace, and into the Great Hall. A small door led into a hallway, its stone walls smooth and unadorned. They came to stop at a set of heavy doors. Emallya, her violet eyes shining, stood at one. Bardeck, his dark hair hanging to his broad shoulders, stood at the other. He smiled; his dark eyes kind.

  His voice filled the hall, “Beyond this door, a future you cannot yet comprehend awaits you. Within is a very large chamber with a circle of eggs in the center. Though the chamber is large, only those Hatching and a couple of witnesses are allowed. Hatching is a personal thing.”

  Emallya picked up the ancient ritual, her voice soft, “Once we open the door, Bardeck and I will step aside. You must step through the doorway and into the chamber of your own free will. Once you are in the chamber, the compulsion to bond with your dragon will overcome you. You must be absolutely sure this is the path you wish to take and accept the offered gift of the bond without reservation. If you feel any doubt at all, turn and walk away from this door. At the end of the hall you will find someone ready to guide you from the Dragon Hold. No shame will be on you for your refusal. Shame can only be found in a false acceptance.”

  Anevay stared at the doors. “I accept the offered gift without reservation.”

  Together, Bardeck and Emallya pushed open the doors. Inside the chamber, twenty-one eggs rested in a depression in the middle of the floor. Five greens, three reds, four yellows, six blues and three golds. No silvers this time. Her eyes raked across the eggs. One yellow seemed to pulse with light, the hum reverberating off the stone walls of the chamber and in her mind. The egg pulled at her. She walked toward it and reached out her hand. Her fingers touched the satiny, yellow shell.

  The room disappeared in a kaleidoscope of images. Galdrilene, as it had once stood, fell away as she rose in the air. A rainbow of dragons flew with her. A dragon, black as despair, flew at her. Green fire flooded her vision. A crystalline dragon, water dripping from its scales, hung in the light of the rising sun above a perfectly round lake. A gold dragon, his scales marred with ancient injuries, tore a black dragon apart in mid-air. The last image was consumed in a massive, swirling firestorm.

  Love. Unconditional, irrevocable, all-consuming love washed over and filled her soul until she wept with the sweetness of it. On her hands and knees, Anevay sobbed as tears flowed freely down her face. She raised her eyes. A bright yellow draclet, the size of a small pony, gazed back, her dark eyes filled with the love Anevay felt inside.

  In an awkward, uncoordinated movement, the yellow haphazardly folded her damp, leathery wings. Large pieces of yellow shell lay scattered across the floor. Anevay climbed to her feet and scrubbed away the tears. More rolled down her cheeks in their place. The yellow reached her wedge-shaped face toward her. A sense of intense hunger rolled off the draclet. Anevay looked around.

  Bardeck smiled at her from where he stood near the exit hall, his eyes full of happiness. “Somehow, I knew one day an egg would call you.”

  She sniffed and wiped at the tears again. “I’m so glad she did. I’ve read it about it, heard about it, but nothing can prepare…”

  His smile grew wider. “No, nothing can prepare you. Not fully. Are you ready to take her out to eat and meet the other dragons and riders?”

  Anevay nodded and followed him as he stepped into the hall. The yellow walked by her side as they moved down the long hall that gently curved up. And then they were at the door, where just over an hour before she’d stood on the other side.

  When they stepped out onto the green grass of the caldera floor, they were greeted by the others. Dragons lined up on one side, their riders on the other. The yellow stopped and gazed up at the adult dragons. Nydara lowered her silver head to touch noses with her first daughter. Tellnox, his green scales bright in the pearly light of early morning, gazed down at the draclet with pride in his silver eyes.

  The riders, her closest friends, smiled at her but stepped back to allow room for her to lead the yellow past. As soon as the draclet smelled the freshly killed carcasses, she abandoned Anevay in her rush to eat. Her razor-like teeth sliced through hair and hide to the meat below.

  Anevay turned tear-filled eyes on her friends. Maleena smiled, joy radiating from her. “I’m so happy for you, Anevay.”

  Mckale wrapped her in a hug, his silver eyes full of warmth and happiness. “Welcome to the ranks of Guardians, Anevay.”

  Vaddoc, his amber eyes catching the morning light, hugged and welcomed her. Kirynn, her long red braid hanging to the back of her thighs, gave her a brief but welcoming hug as well. Serena, her face radiant with delight, threw a tight hug around her. “Not only a Healing sister, but also a rider sister.”

  Taela gave her a fierce hug as well. “You have no idea how happy I am.”

  Kellinar stepped forward, the beads at the ends of his pale blond braids clicking together and his ice-blue eyes sparkling. “It couldn’t have happened to a better person.” He enfolded both of them in his hug.

  The morning came alive with bright, luminescent threads. Thousands of them flowed out from Anevay. More flowed out from Kellinar and still more from Taela. The threads reached out toward each other, weaving themselves tight. Weaving the three of them together.
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  Anevay only stood and gaped. As the last thread wove tight, they faded and were gone. Her eyes flickered between Taela and Kellinar. Maleena stood with her hands over her mouth, eyes wide. Anevay couldn’t tell if the tiny woman was shocked, or desperately trying to keep from laughing. When Maleena turned and buried her face in Mckale’s chest with muffled choking sounds coming from her throat, Anevay strongly suspected the latter.

  She looked around at the others. Kirynn made no secret of her amusement. She laughed so hard she doubled over, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She hung on to Vaddoc for support. Vaddoc’s face held a bemused look as his eyes shifted between the three of them.

  Serena ran her hands through her short, dark, spiky hair. Her blue eyes were pinned on Kellinar as if she tried to determine if this was somehow his fault, though her mouth twitched into a smile.

  “Well.” Emallya stepped forward. “That was unexpected.”

  “Unexpected?” The word sounded so mild compared to the shock driving Anevay’s mind into confusion.

  “Oh, Anevay!” Taela’s voice held no animosity. In fact, new tears swam in her eyes as she hugged her again. “We are bondsisters.”

  Kellinar shook his head. “Two of them?” His voice rose a little. “What, in the name of the Fates, am I supposed to do with two of them?”

  “Well,” Kirynn said between gasps of laughter, “I’m sure you can think of one or two things.”

  Kellinar glared at her, but his lips twitched. “You know what I mean.”

  Bardeck smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “I have been bondmated to bondsisters. It isn’t always easy, but you will find it as comfortable as a pair-bond.”

  Anevay took a deep breath as Taela stepped back. “Are you angry, Kellinar?”

  His face relaxed and his rich blue eyes softened. “No, Anevay. Not angry. Confused. Why would I be angry when I’ve been fortunate enough to be bonded to the only other woman, besides Taela, I could possibly love.”