A New Beginning (4 page)

None of it changed her decision to answer the call. The sweet song of the dragon was always in her mind. Without it, she would have died that night in Sharren. She owed her life to the draclet still in its shell; she wouldn’t deny the draclet its life by refusing her call.

When Emallya finally stood before the two heavy doors that led to the Hatching Chamber, she did so without wavering. Natsukynn stood on one side of the closed doors, her bondmate, Jedrek to the other.

Jedrek smiled and said, “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.”

Natsukynn picked up the ritual. “Once we open the door, Jedrek 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.”

Emallya gazed steady at the door. “I accept the gift of the call without reservation.”

The older couple opened the doors, and Emallya felt an instant pull. She stepped into the massive chamber. There were at least forty eggs within; several of them glowed softly, their humming filling the space. Emallya barely noticed them as she was drawn toward one of the glowing silver eggs. It filled her vision, her mind, her very being. As if compelled, she reached out and touched the satiny shell with her fingers. The room disappeared.

She stood in an ash field of a recently erupted volcano, the rim but a small reminder of the mountain that had once towered in its place. A dragon, its scales faded to almost white, labored to breathe. A clutch of dead eggs were around her. A woman touched the only living egg left and a silver draclet hatched, forming the first human-dragon bond.

Everything swirled and she saw a city rising from the ash; it swirled again and she saw the city, this time finished and beautiful; it swirled again and she watched dragons fall dead into a lake; it swirled once more and Shadow Dragons flew against a rising sun.

With a gasp, Emallya opened her eyes. Even after being told of the ancestral memories her draclet would share upon hatching, nothing prepared her for the rush of emotions that accompanied the Hatching. So much love, happiness, sadness, and fear. Overwhelmed, she knelt on the smooth stone floor and wept without shame.

When she was finally able to gain some control over the emotions, she raised her eyes and took in the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. A silver draclet about the size of a pony gazed back at her with large violet eyes, her damp wings somewhat folded as she stood among the large pieces of silver shell.

Emallya gently touched the soft scales of the newly hatched dragon. They wouldn’t harden until the draclet was almost a year old. Her heart swelled, bringing new tears to her eyes.

Intense hunger filled her along with love. Jedrek motioned her forward. “The older dragons have brought freshly killed elk for her to feed on. Follow me.”

Emallya climbed to her feet and started forward. “Come along, Rylin; let us get a meal into you.”

They followed Jedrek up a long, sloping tunnel that let out in the caldera. Rylin caught a whiff of the fresh blood on the breeze and rushed forward. Her dagger-like teeth and claws ripped through the hide to reach the meat underneath.

Emallya smiled fondly at the draclet. They were blended heart and soul until she couldn’t separate herself from the draclet. A deep sense of love and contentment settled over her. This was her dragon; the other half that made her whole. She looked ahead to the many hundreds of years she would likely live and could only smile.

“She’s beautiful.”

Emallya turned to see Bardeck standing next to her. “She is the most beautiful thing in the world.”

Bardeck nodded. “Every Hatchling feels that way about their draclet. What have you named her?”

“Rylin. I do not know why. It just came to me when I first looked at her.”

“The name always seems to come that way. Sometimes I wonder if the dragons already know their names and share it as they hatch.” He looked at her. “Would you like me to fetch your family so they can attend the introduction ceremony that will name you and your dragon to all of Galdrilene?”

“Not all of them will be able to come, but it would be nice to have those who can.”

He smiled. “I would be honored to bring them.”

Bardeck took her hand and started to raise it as if he meant to kiss the back of it. Instead, he froze as a thousand luminescent threads flowed out of each of them and reached for the other.

They watched the threads while they wove themselves tight and then faded. Bardeck stared at her with wide eyes. Emallya stood stunned. She could sense everything about him, but not in an uncomfortable way.

Jedrek chuckled from where he stood a few paces away. “It would seem the ever popular Bardeck has been claimed.”

“Claimed?” Emallya frowned.

Bardeck seemed to thaw. He blinked and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. “What just happened…that was a bondmate bond forming. I’ve seen it happen before. Mernoth thought there was a possibility, but I didn’t believe it.”

“You?” She raised her eyebrows, surprise flashing through her. “You mean we…?”

“It isn’t anything you need worry about right now.” He smiled gently. “Not until Rylin is older. For now, all that matters is that you spend time with your draclet.”

He finished raising her hand and brushed his lips softly across it. “I will go fetch your family.”

Emallya watched him walk away before looking at Jedrek. “A bondmate? Already?” Her head spun. So much had happened all at once.

The older man shrugged. “It usually happens right after hatching if the compatible person and dragon are near.”

Emallya turned back to watch Rylin, overwhelmed by the events of the day.

“I like him.”

Emallya heard Rylin’s words as clear as day in her mind. With a smile she returned the sending.
“I think I like him too.”

Even in the face of war with the recent loss of her brother, the future looked promising. Emallya gazed at Rylin and realized every dream she’d ever had for her future meant nothing now. She no longer cared if she ever had children. She had a bondmate and best of all, she had Rylin. That was more than enough for any woman to receive.

T
he light of a single candle flickered across Emallya’s features. Unconscious, she alternated between raging fevers and sweat soaked shivers. The Healing mages could do nothing, not for this. Bardeck sat and dipped a cloth in a basin of cool water. Gently, he wiped away the perspiration beading on her brow. For two days, since they found her broken body lying next to her dragon on the battlefield, he had watched her fight for survival.

The memory of Rylin, her beautiful silver scales blackened by Shadow fire and covered in blood, brought a lump to his throat. Rylin was dead. Bardeck watched tears leak from the corners of Emallya’s closed eyes. He longed to see those violet eyes open, yet it terrified him. He dreaded the shattered look he would see in them. He knew the tearing pain the loss of her dragon would cause.

By the Fates, he had seen enough riders go through Separation during the course of this war. Most didn’t survive the pain of being unbound, and the utter desolation, when their dragon was ripped from them. Even in Emallya’s unconscious state, pain pulsed in her. He felt it in himself, through her and through his own dragon, who grieved the loss of his mate.

He tensed as she stirred restlessly. He already pulled as much of the pain from her as he could. He felt Mernoth ready to block him from pulling enough to harm himself. As much as he wanted to spare Emallya, he understood. Separation was even harder on a dragon.

Would he lose her, as so many others had been lost? Bardeck knew only too well the pain of losing a bondmate. Ilyana, and her dragon, had been dead almost a year. He and Emallya still felt the ache of her loss. Now Rylin was dead and Emallya teetered on the threshold. His heart clenched. How much more could he and Mernoth take?

She bolted upright in the bed, her eyes wide and glazed. Leaping from his seat, he grasped her hand. She sucked in a ragged breath, her voice sounded harsh and otherworldly when the words began to flow from her mouth. “The last shall be fought and both sides will lose. Blood and fire will mark the ruins. A ray of light, a stain of shadow, will endure to breathe life and death into the future. The fire will perish, yet embers shall return to answer the call.” Her eyes were filled with the horror of her vision as she stared off into another time and place. Her breath left in a rush and she collapsed in a heap.

Pain was hers. It writhed through her body and flowed in her blood. Slowly, Emallya climbed out of the dark fog shrouding her mind. The liquid fire in her veins made her thoughts confused and hazy. She knew. Knew to the depths of her being that her dragon was dead. Her Rylin. Gone. Forever. How would she live without her?

The closer she got to the surface, the more intense the pain became. She wanted to retreat back into the darkness, but the life still pulsing in her veins wouldn’t let her. She shivered violently in reaction to the first wave of Separation and lay helpless as the pain convulsed her body.