Core (29 page)

Ava’s smile began slowly, spreading to her eyes, filling up Cale’s core. “Tomorrow,” she said. Then she turned to Jethro.
“Tomorrow. At sunrise.”

The chorus of shouts overwhelmed both dragon and rider. Ava had thought that the Anders’ were loud, but hundreds of reds screaming at once might have awaken
ed the entire planet. Laughing, Jethro stole Ava from Cale, picked her up and spun her around. 
Tomorrow,
 Ava thought in a daze. 
Sunrise.

The dancing struck up again as if the dragons would never tire. The food was endless and Ava began to wonder if there would be any sheep or cows or goats left in all of Ireland once the feasting was over.

“To think this will all happen again tomorrow night,” Cale said, the brew running down his chin, his words finally beginning to slur. “To celebrate the pact.”

“To think tomorrow I’ll be able to ride you,” Ava added. She laughed at the thought. “What will you look like?
A donkey?”

Cale’s laughter was whole-hearted and contagious. “I don’t know, actually,” he said.
“Hopefully fiercer than a donkey.”

Ava laughed at him,
then put a hand to her head. The torches, the dragon heat, the music and shouts made her giddy.

Ava and Cale walked to the hillside and lay down, stretched out in the grass. Ava wanted to worry about how Miriam was doing at the O’Hara house, but she was too happy to be concerned about much of anything.

“Is this how it’s going to be?” She asked him. “All the time?”

Cale took in the stars, the way they littered the skies above them. “It’ll be even better than that. We can fly at night, even. Like right now. We could just take off.”

Ava chuckled. “Where would we go?”

“Anywhere, Ava.
Anywhere.”

Out of nowhere, Cale sat up stra
ight, his eyes darting around. He sprang up and took Ava’s hand, leading them back down the hill and toward Jethro, who took one look at Cale’s face and put his mug down.

“More sirens?” he asked.

It was well known already that Cale had a keen instinct, a gift that told him trouble was on its way before most dragons could sense it.

Cale shook his head. “Worse.”

“Worse than an army of sirens?”

Ava fought her nerves. Usually, Cale seemed alert when he sensed danger. But this time, he looked panicked, his eyes wide, his nostrils flaring. “Where can we hide?” he asked.

It wasn’t what Jethro expected the fearless warrior to say. But Cale had no time for him.

Ava and Cale sprinted toward the fence. Cale hoped they’d make it to the forest, but they hardly had time to clear the center of the village before the force of the churning air knocked them both to their knees.

Cale cowered, covering his ears, then fell flat onto the ground. Ava could hear nothing, nothing but Cale’s terror. Somehow, the black beast that descended onto the ground was speaking to Cale alone.

Ava wanted to rush forward and protect him, but the beast’s rider, gray-skinned and still-faced, lashed out a long whip. It wound itself around Ava’s arm as if it was alive, and she screamed in both fear and pain. White hot electricity seared the skin of her arm as the rider pulled the whip back toward him. Ava had no choice but to go with it. The enormous black beast lifted one of its paw
s and brought it down over her body.

Cale did all he could to move toward it, to stop the monster from crushing his rider, but he couldn’t move. The call of the no-ir rendered him helpless. He fell to the ground, his arms wrapped around his own head as he tried to block the sound only he could hear. With another step, the beast had its other paw over Cale. It clenched its talons together, making a fist around each of them and hoisting them both into the air. The black dragon seemed to shrink as it
vanished into the

night
sky, Cale and Ava tight in its grasp.

Seventeen

Cold

Cale begged. He begged without reserve, and without pride. Nothing but desperation remained in him. It filled his mind, his core, his being. The iron bars of his cell were impenetrable, but still he tore at them, willing his body to fit through them in vain. No one was there to hear him cry out, to hear him plead, but he could not stop. It wasn’t until exhaustion brought him to his knees that
he was forced to breathe. The air was thin, ice cold, and it choked him as he gasped.

Finally, the sound of cloth rustling.
Cale groped in the dark, his arms reaching through the bars, praying to God it was mercy. Praying it was Ava.

The gray-skinned figure that stood before him was cloaked in black. It wasn’t the rider who brought him to the dungeon. That rider
had a square jaw and wide set eyes. But the one that loomed outside of the cell had a narrow face and deep set eyes. 
The rider from the plane.

The rider
’s footsteps made no sound. He unlocked the cell and stepped inside. Then he slammed the door shut behind him, reached down, and grabbed a fistful of Cale’s hair. He flung Cale backwards, his strength ten times that of any red dragon Cale had ever faced. Cale collided with the bricks of the wall. He wheezed, trying to make himself smaller, wishing he could disappear into the cold stone.

“It is your turn to be questioned,” the rider said. His voice carried a thick, unfamiliar accent. It made Cale cringe. When the rider spoke, it was like he was grabbing hold of Cale’s core and squeezing.

“Let me see her,” Cale whispered. He wanted to be bold, but he couldn’t bear it. Not without Ava.

“You have two options.” The rider pulled off his black leather gloves to reveal gray hands. His skin was so thin, black veins formed webs just underneath it. “First, you may answer my questions truthfully. If you comply, you will be executed painlessly.” He paused, his face unchanging.
“…Relatively painlessly.” The black pits of his eyes were impossible to decipher as he continued. “Or second, you will be tortured. Severely and without mercy. After which you will answer my questions truthfully. If you choose this option, your execution will begin now. And I assure you it will be as deliberate as I can imagine. Do you understand this?”

Cale
nodded, his throat too dry for any more words to come out. He understood, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t process what the no-ir rider told him. 
Where is she? Where is she?

He hadn’t seen where they took her when they had arrived. But he knew Ava. He knew she wouldn’t be as afraid of the no-ir as he was.
She didn’t know any better. And she would be stubborn. She would be too proud to beg for her life.

“I’ll tell you everything
,” Cale said, summoning the strength to speak, though his voice trembled with every word, “if you let her go.”

“We already have everything we need from the human. She’s useless.”

Useless?
 The word scared him. It rattled around through his brain.
What do they do to those they deem useless?
“Then let her go. Let me see you free her, and I’ll do whatever you like.”

“The questioning begins now. Answer carefully.” He knelt before the place where Cale sat, crumpled. “Why have you chosen to upset the balance?”

Cale wished he knew what to say, but he didn’t. 
Please, God. Give me the answer.
 Nothing. So Cale licked his lips. “I don’t know what you mean,” he confessed.

The rider did not hesitate. He reached out and wrapped
his fingers around Cale’s arm. His skin was so thin that the ice in his blood burned into his victim. Cale screamed, pulling away and kicking until his foot landed against the no-ir rider’s chest.

The rider pounced on Cale. In a single, fluid move, he strapped shackles around one of Cale’s wrists. The other end of the chain was fastened to the grimy dungeon floor. Cale was
trapped, nearly face down, unable to run, unable to fight.

The rider sat down in front of hi
m. “I’ll ask again. If you fail to answer, I will resort to more colorful methods. Why have you chosen to upset the balance?”

Cale pushed his brain to come up with an answer.
Anything that made even a little sense. “I didn’t mean to,” he said.

“Yet
when you found out that you were guilty, you did not confess. You did not remove yourself from the path of corruption. Correct?”

“I couldn’t. I still don’t know what path caused it,” Cale said. He could feel the imprint
of the rider’s hand on his arm. It still burned, like acid was eating away at his flesh. “I–don’t know what I did wrong.”

The rider put his hand around Cale’s neck and lifted him so that Cale struggled to breathe, searing pain ripping through him. All he could think about was Ava.
 
Did he do this to her?

“You’re a liar,” the rider said.

“I don’t lie,” Cale said through gritted teeth. “I can’t.”

The rider released him. “You would not be under arrest without reason, dragon. Even you know this.”

Cale coughed. When the rider grabbed his neck, he had summoned Cale’s blood to his hands. The dark red trickled from Cale’s lips. Cale had never thought there was anything more terrifying than a black dragon, then talons and poison breath. The rider proved him terribly, terribly wrong.

“Tell me what I’ve
done,” Cale gasped, “and I’ll fix it.”

The rider frowned at the sudden sound of screams down the hall. They came from a man and not from Ava, and for that, Cale was grateful. Another rider, the one who had apprehended them, appeared before Cale’s cell. He was clutching his hand.

“She bit me,” he said. “The wretch bit me.”

“Don’t be a child
, Pendulus. Go and deal with her.”

Her?
 Cale’s heart leaped in his chest. 
Who else could it be?

The other rider shook his head, still cradling his hand. “You do it.” He almost pouted. “She’s no fun at all.”

Cale’s torturer sighed. “You are the one who argued to have her just last night.”

“Before I knew she was mad
,” Pendulus said.

“Chain her down.” He was getting impatient, and it showed. “You’re interrupting me.”

“But I can’t hold her still long enough.”

Cale cleared his throat, hoping his speaking out wouldn’t bring the rider’s wrath down on him again. “If you bring her here, if she could see me….”

Pendulus disappeared before the other rider could protest. His silent footsteps were joined by another pair. Ava reached the cell bars before her guard did, the lacerations on her forehead still bleeding down her temples.

As soon as Pendulus opened the cell, Ava lunged at the other rider. He reached out and put his hand onto Cale’s head before Ava could get close enough. Cale cried out against the rider’s palm.

“Move and I will cripple him,” the rider said.

Ava froze exactly where she was. She kept her eyes on Cale. Her heart beat out of control, yet it seemed as though no blood was reaching her limbs. Finally, the rider let go of him. Cale wanted to ask if she was alright, but he couldn’t manage the words. His body shivered, trying to recover from the chill of the no-ir rider’s touch.

The rider stood and walked toward Ava. “It is no shame he brought you in here. Even more than the dragon, you are the one I have wanted to repay.”

Without warning, he landed
a clean punch into Ava’s ribs. Cale shouted out every foul name he could think of in every language he could speak as she doubled over. Ava had dealt with Pendulus easily enough. He had been unmotivated. But this rider had spite in his eyes.

“You can hit me all you want,” Ava said as the air slowly filled her lungs back up. “But we’re innocent, and it’s you who won’t be able to wash the blood off your hands.” She glared at him in defiance. “And I know you aren’t supposed to interfere with humans.” Pendulus had hinted that well enough.

The rider wrapped his fingers around Ava’s neck and roared, slamming her into the wall. The pure black of his eyes were only inches from hers, spilling over with fury. But his skin had no effect on her. Instead, it was 
her
 skin that burned his hand. Still, he refused to let go of her, fighting through the burn of his palms.

“
You will never see the justice of the court, for I will see that you’re dead before the night is out,” he said, spitting in her face when he was finished. “I pay no mercy to those who harm my dragon.”

Ava
did not flinch. “From the mouth of a hypocrite,” she whispered, “As he tortures mine.”

She
couldn’t tell how much her words had affected him until he released her. The thin air rattled in her lungs as she drew it in.

“I don’t reason with cowards,” he said.

“Then you don’t reason with anyone.”

The rider scoffed. “I have heard of you, Deceiver. I am not as stupid as your sirens, and certainly not like the red fools of Great Nest who have fallen in love with your lies.”

“Just because I point out truths you don’t want to hear doesn’t mean I’m lying.” She braced herself for what she was about to say. “It only means you can’t stand to hear it. You’re the coward.”

The rider struck Ava’s face so hard that tears came to her eyes. She had taken hits in the ring before. But nothing
like that. Nothing like that.  

She crumpled but, t
he rider hadn’t had enough. His boot connected with her stomach. Then once more. When he stopped, Ava had to use the wall to stand herself back up.

“Confess your guilt,” the rider demanded.

“Fine.” Ava spat out blood. “I hurt your dragon defending my own. I’ve done nothing you aren’t guilty of as well.”

“You,” he heaved, dark veins pulsing, his eyes wild
, “you have upset the balance.”

“You can’t even tell me what that means.”

The rider’s eyes narrowed, his chest rising and falling too quickly. He took Ava by the back of the shirt and led her out of the cell. They climbed a flight of stairs, him pushing Ava along, her slipping on the slick stones. She could hardly inhale as they ascended. The air at that altitude was too thin. The cold caused her muscles to seize, but the rider didn’t care. He pushed her up and up until they were outside on a stone tower, the morning sun throwing pink and orange onto the clouds.

Ava couldn’t see anything else at first.
Nothing but the clouds and the clean, piercing blue of the sky. The dungeon floated, weightless somehow above the earth. Despite her pain, Ava wanted to stop, to take in the feel and sight of it.

B
efore her eyes, the beast appeared. It had been so small that it might have fit into its rider’s pocket. But it was enormous before her then. The last time she saw those black wings, those razor sharp talons, it had torn a plane in half, almost killing her and her dragon.

Ava wanted to run, but the rider thrust her forward so that she stumbled, landing on her knees. The beast’s breath chilled her. She almost wanted to laugh, she was so delirious with fear, but she knew she only had tears left inside her.
 This is how I die, 
she thought.
 As a snack.

The rider commanded the beast in a language that seemed to have no consonant sounds. It lay down on its side with a huff. The rider then grabbed Ava by the arm and tossed her forward. He pushed her shoulders downward,
then forced her to kneel once more. He dropped deftly to his knee beside her, removing both of his gloves. Slowly, he reached out and touched the beast’s belly. Barely, and only if she squinted, Ava could see the scars she’d made in its thick hide. Ava watched the rider’s face as he examined his dragon. The beast growled at his rider’s touch, and it reminded Ava so much of Cale that she had to swallow to keep from crying.

“You almost killed him,” the rider said. There was
a sadness in his eyes. “…To save your own.” He pressed his hand to its chest. The dragon’s heartbeat was so strong, Ava could see the rider’s hand move along with it. “You are selfish,” he said. “I am selfish.”

Ava nodded. A
s she stared at what she’d done to the dragon, anger welled up in her. She remembered Cale lying on that beach in Peru, his bones crushed, blood oozing from his ears. She remembered his groans as his body healed itself.

She shook her head. “I can’t say I’m sorry.”

The rider looked at her, surprise in his odd features. He wasn’t handsome. In fact, he was frightening in so many ways. His eyes were pits of obsidian, his skin so thin that she could see the network of veins crisscrossing just below it. Beneath his eyes were dark, gray grooves, as though he was impossibly tired.

 
“You say things I do not expect,” he said.

“My own kind of truth, I suppose.” Ava swallowed, but her mouth felt like cotton. “Are you going to kill us?” she asked. It was another bold question.