Dragon Legends (Return of the Darkening Book 2) (22 page)

Heart pounding, I faced him. “But…but the affinity…it’s a good thing.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear what Jodreth might say against my connection to dragons. “It’s saved me and Thea on more than one occasion, including just now.”

“And it saved a lot of people at the fall of Torvald,” Thea said, glaring at Jodreth.

He nodded, and then shook his head. “Yes, it can be used for good or ill, but it is a danger. If you cannot control it, the Darkening will use it to control you, to command your mind like a puppet. Don’t lie now. You caught a glimpse of that ancient prince—did you not? You saw true evil.”

I swallowed, but I couldn’t speak. Looking away, face burning, I couldn’t meet his stare, or Thea’s. Was this what had started to happen of late? Was the Darkening starting to turn me into more of a dragon—a person it could control and use?

I heard Thea’s boots scuff against the wooden floor. Looking up, I saw she’d put herself in front of Jodreth. “Your brother trusts Seb. Commander Hegarty believed Seb could use his powers to help us all—that he had to use his powers. We need Seb, and we need his affinity. And he’s strong—more than strong enough to resist the Darkening! He didn’t give into the illness—and we need the Healing Stone now to help others.”

I’d never heard Thea speak like that…as if she really believed in me.

But I also wasn’t sure she was right. I wasn’t sure I really could resist the affinity. It was growing stronger in me.

Jodreth met her stare, and then looked at me. “I am sorry, young Seb. Perhaps I misspoke out of too much concern.” He glanced at Thea again. “This illness, describe it to me.”

I stayed quiet while Thea told him what we’d seen and felt at the Dragon Rider camp—including how the riders were becoming lazier, depressed, and despondent.

Jodreth listened for a time, then shook his head. “You’re right, it is not Dragon Sickness. It is the Darkening, working through the influence of the Memory Stone in Lord Vincent’s hands, sucking the very life and will from the dragons and all whom it comes near. That energy is being used to power the Darkening itself, to make it even more powerful. The Healing Stone will do little—and it is not in my hands.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Commander Hegarty didn’t remember where he put it.”

Jodreth nodded sadly. “It may well be that the only thing that can help us is the Dragon Stone itself.”

“That’s just a myth,” Thea said, but she didn’t sound all that certain.

Jodreth chuckled. “After all I’ve told you and all you have seen, you call still say that? Just as the Memory, the Healing and the Armor Stones are real, so is the one stone that brings them all together.”

“But…what about the Armor Stone?” Thea said, her hand moving to her pouch, and, before I could say anything, she drew out the rounded lump of black rock crystal.

Blinking, Jodreth gave a sharp laugh. “Not only is one of you a dragon friend, but you have found the Armor Stone again?” A wide grin cracked his features. “No wonder the same enchantment could not reach you. The Armor Stone protects not just from physical injuries but magic as well.”

The monk made a quick set of movements in the air, and I saw the air between him and Thea ripple as in a heatwave. And then I felt it, a wave of force that pushed me back, setting aside the tables and papers like a powerful blast of cold air. When I staggered to my feet once more, Thea was still standing in the same spot as she had done before, but the rest of the room around her was in disarray.

“You see. It protected you!” Jodreth grinned. He glanced at me. “You two are also linked through your dragon, otherwise, you would have a very sore head right about now.”

Thea’s mouth tightened. She tucked the Armor Stone back in a pocket. “Can’t we extend the Armor Stone protection to all of the dragons and riders?”

Jodreth frowned and pulled at his beard. “I’ve never heard of such a thing, but if Thea is connected to you, and you were connected to every other dragon there—”

“And every dragon is connected to their own rider,” Thea continued. She turned to me, hope shining in her eyes. “We could do it, Seb.”

I wasn’t as certain as she was. What if I connected to all those dragons and lost myself? What if that was all the Darkening needed to gain control over me?

I started to list the reasons this wouldn’t work, but in my mind Kalax almost shouted,
dragon approaching!

The cottage rafters rattled as she uncoiled herself from around the scrubby stone buildings.

Kalax was roaring as we ran out of the cottage. The fog that Jodreth had summoned was being torn apart by strong air currents.

“I’ll try to hold it! Go now!” Jodreth shouted, raising his staff to the skies. White fog lifted from the grass, but swirled up and disappeared.

Thea grabbed her bow from off Kalax.

They must have sensed me.

I knew that was the truth. The affinity was proving to be as much of a problem as it was a help. I scrambled up into the saddle. I only had enough time to fasten the essentials of my harness.

I heard Jodreth groan through clenched teeth. The fog he was trying to weave around us billowed and was pushed back by a chill wind. A shadow fell over us, almost turning the day into night. A deep roar echoed.

It sounds big,
I thought, and Kalax leapt into the air.

“I can’t find a target,” Thea shouted. She was trying to track the shadow that appeared and then slipped away again into the fog. Looking down, I glimpsed Jodreth fling fog and then clouds up into the sky.

With a roar, a black shape swept down on us. I’d never seen a wild dragon so big—it was easily three times the size of Kalax. For a moment, I thought it was the brood mother come back—but this black was even bigger.

The fog cleared and then I saw the black had a single rider on its back—a tall, thin man with a narrow face and black hair. He turned and stared at me—it was Lord Vincent.

“Fly,” Jodreth shouted at us. He swung his staff up in a circle over his head, throwing a gale at Lord Vincent. The black dragon was pushed back, but swept its huge wings up and down as it struggled to maintain control.

I heard the twang of Thea releasing an arrow. It flashed in the air and hit Lord Vincent.

I saw Vincent twist and slump in the saddle. The huge dragon lurched to one side, suddenly confused by no longer having a rider in command.
Oh no.
It did the only thing that wild predators knew how to do when confused and attacked—it went after the nearest target.

The black swooped down on Jodreth, claws extended.

I screamed and tried to reach out with my mind to stop the dragon, but it was all over with much too fast. The black caught up Jodreth. The air shuddered and Jodreth’s magic slammed into the black dragon, sending it tumbling down the mountainside.

“He’s—he’s dead.” Thea said. “Jodreth is gone.”

“Come on, if Lord Vincent has the Healing Stone, we’re not safe yet. Let’s at least honor Jodreth’s memory by saving his brother.” I wheeled the agitated and cawing Kalax around to fly as fast as she could back to the Dragon Rider camp.

*

Seb was leaning forward, not talking, just concentrating. Just like at the battle of Torvald, I could tell that he was using every bit of strength he had. I could even feel the thrum of energy off him, that echo of his dragon affinity that I shared with him through Kalax. And I was worried for him. Because Kalax was worried, too.

Behind us, the fog that Jodreth had raised had clung to the edge of the mountains, forming a deep haze as we flew over the ravines and forests and out to the desert and the Dragon Riders camp. I really wanted to fly there and find out that King Justin had managed to rally the troops to fly back to Torvald—but I knew better. Jodreth was gone, the Dragon Riders were still ill, and we were in trouble.

But we have the Armor Stone…and a plan now.

It seemed to take hours to fly back. I pulled out a little of the dried meat and bread from our supplies—there wasn’t much of it left. We were going to need to find better food and a place to sleep—a safe place. It hit me again that the academy might be gone. It had become our home, but now…now it might be just another ruin. I shivered and pulled my cloak tighter.

At last, Seb pointed down to the smoldering campfires, most of them unlit. The camp really hadn’t changed from when we’d left. The dragons still looked ill as they lay on the sands, and I hoped none of them had died. The rider’s tents were starting to look at little wind-battered. I really hoped we’d be able to shake everyone out of this daze.

Seb started to bring Kalax down, urging her to land closer than she had before. I could tell she was uneasy—I was, too. We were protected right now by the Armor Stone, but we had to find a way to spread that protection over everyone.

I looked at Seb to see how he wanted to handle this, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. He wouldn’t talk to me at all. By the time we’d landed and alighted, his jaw looked clenched tight and he was frowning.

“Seb, what is it?” I said. “We’re here now—we have a chance.”

He turned and stared at me, his eyes dark. He pulled off his dragon helmet and shook his head. “You heard what Jodreth said. The affinity…I felt the Darkening through the mind of that wild dragon. The Darkening, Lord Vincent, or whatever it is behind him—they got to Jodreth because of me. They found him because of me. I’m becoming the biggest danger around here. And I’m going to end up getting you in trouble again.”

He started to turn away, but I grabbed his arm and swung him back around so he had to face me. “No, Seb. It could have been this that the Darkening sensed.” I drew out the Armor Stone, holding it between us to remind him of our duty. “Jodreth died trying to protect us so we could bring this here and save his brother. Don’t take that away from him. You heard what he said—we need the Dragon Stone if we are going to win!” I held out the Armor Stone. “But first we have to save the king and our friends.”

Seb shook his head again. He opened his mouth like he was going to protest even more. Instead, he slowly put his hand on mine, closing his fist around the Armor Stone. He pushed the stone back to me. “You keep it. You need to stay safe.”

All stay safe, together.

Kalax unfolded her long wings and wrapped them around us, and I knew she was seeking to stop our arguing. For one moment, I felt infinitely warm, protected and secure. Almost at peace. I was leaning against the warm belly of our strong dragon, and in front of me I could feel Seb’s hand on mine, on the Armor Stone.

Together,
I thought, and heard that same feeling echo from Kalax to Seb, to Kalax, and back to me again.

A shiver, like an electric spark passed between us, a pulse of power like Seb’s dragon affinity, but this time it was coming from the Armor Stone.

Seb’s eyes widened. “What the…? Did you?”

Together. Safe.
Kalax repeated.

If I concentrated, I could feel the ripple of whatever had happened start to expand beyond our tiny circle. It was spreading out like a strong wind, flowing over the camp of Dragon Riders. I could almost sense them starting to remember their duties and who they were.

Looking up in wonder, I watched Kalax stretch up and turn to the nearest dragon—a green who started to snort and cough, as if waking from a long dream.

Yes,
Kalax said in my mind.
But not enough. Many still need to heal.

I turned to nod at Seb. “We are going to do it! We’re going to free the Dragon Riders.”

I put my other hand on the Armor Stone—Seb did as well. The hum of power seemed to surge. This was what I’d expected to feel from the Armor Stone. The stone seemed to warm in my fingers. I could feel Seb making a connection with Kalax—and with other dragons. But I also sensed he was holding back a little. It was as if he was afraid now to use his dragon affinity.

“Seb—concentrate!” I told him.

He snapped back, “I am.”

The flow of energy from the Armor Stone seemed to waver—and then something odd happened.

I felt the flow shift—as if something else was pulling at the power. I shivered, remembering how Jodreth had said that Seb’s affinity could be a bad thing—it could link him too strongly to the Darkening. Was that happening now?

Opening my eyes, I glanced around. It seemed to me the dragons around us were waking up. They were all starting to stand or rise and stretch. I could hear a low hum of voices from the camp, too—the riders were starting to come out of whatever had been draining them.

But something was still pulling at the Armor Stone.

I tried to follow that tugging thread—and glanced at the mountains that stood next to the camp.

The mountains rose up a dusty rose color, near enough to see the scrub trees and rocky outcropping. Something was stirring in the mountain—I could feel it. A vibration started in the Armor Stone and spread up my arms.

“Seb?” The word came out of me with a caution—were we doing something wrong? I wasn’t sure, but Seb seemed totally caught up in the Armor Stone and connecting it to our dragons and the riders.

The ground started to shake under my boots. Heart pounding, I glanced around again, wondering what was happening. “Seb—did we do something wrong.”

His eyes popped open and for an instant, he almost seemed more dragon than human. His eyes had that swirl of color I’d seen in dragon eyes. He blinked and it vanished, leaving me thinking I must have imagined it.

He also turned to stare at the cliffs above us.

The mountain looked like it was shaking as if a giant had hold of it. Rocks tumbled down the side, loosened by what was happening. What was happening? Great spouts of dust burst from the mountain. I could still feel the Armor Stone—it was straining now, shaking in my hand as well, as if something had old of it and was trying to drain its power.

“Seb, that’s no earthquake,” I said, taking a step back and breaking the connection with Seb.

At once, the pull on the Armor Stone stopped. I could hear dragons around us, stirring, roaring. Kalax roared as well, a challenging call that I knew was one she only gave if a strange dragon came near.

Seb was staring at the mountain as if he couldn’t look away, as if he was caught somehow by something there.

Grabbing his arm, I shook him. “Seb? What is it?”

He didn’t react. I clutched the Armor Stone tighter, and thought to Kalax,
What do you sense?

Danger comes.

She was right. I looked around us. The camp had at last come alive again. Riders were grabbing saddles and harness and throwing on their leathers and clothes. Someone blew a horn, sounding the call to mount. I could hear shouts—Ryan, it sounded like to me—yells to get into the sky.

Under my boots, the ground still shook. The mountain nearest us seemed to be changing—or was that cracking apart? I couldn’t really tell, but dirt kept shifting and now rocks spit past us. I had to duck as one shot past like an arrow. The scrub trees were sliding down the slope, and as I watched, two large caves near the mountain top seemed to collapse into the mountain. It was as if the mountain was coming alive.

I glanced down at the Armor Stone as it rested in my palm—it was cool again and I no longer felt the tug on it. But something, I knew, had reached out to pull energy from the stone. A lot of energy. Had the Darkening connected to it through Seb? If so, he’d been right to worry.

“Seb, we need to get to Kalax, to get in the air,” I told him. Grabbing his arm, I pulled at him. He seemed stuck now, like the riders had been. He could only stare at the hillside. “Seb!” I shouted at him.

Around us, riders hurried to their dragons, which were bellowing now and stretching their wings. After so many days on the ground, the dragons needed time to loosen stiff muscles, I knew. Riders were throwing saddles in place. Tents were forgotten, as was everything else except the need to get into the skies.

Muttering an oath, I grabbed Seb and dragged him with me to Kalax’s side. But I couldn’t very well throw him up in the saddle. I took his shoulders and shook him. “Seb!”

“It comes,” he muttered. “It comes.”

“Yeah, well, we’d better go.”

Dirt had been pushed into the air. The ground shook again, and the side of the mountain was sliding down. The camp wasn’t so close to the base of the mountain that it was in any danger, but all that moving ground pushed even more dust into the air. I coughed and pulled my flying goggles into place. Stuffing the Armor Stone into my glove, I turned to Kalax. “Can you get Seb to mount up?”

But Kalax wasn’t looking at me, either.

In fact, all the dragons were now staring at the mountain, roaring and calling out like another dragon was coming at them. For an instant, it seemed to me that the side of the mountain bulged out—like something was pushing to get out. The features of the mountainside shifted and I stared, my mouth dry and my heart pounding. It couldn’t be. But I knew it was. Those irregular features—the angular head, the horns, and the spiny back— those were of something every Dragon Rider knew by heart.

A dragon was coming out of that mountain.

But it was a dragon larger than any anyone had ever seen before—bigger even than the black Lord Vincent had been riding.

It was like it was being hatched from the stone—as if it had been growing unnaturally inside the hill. Was this why the Dragon Riders had been lured here? To see this monster’s birth. Or to be here as food for the beast?

More rock shifted and trees slid as the huge dragon began to climb from its hatching ground. The beast shook itself free from the ruined rock and earth, clutching at the ground and hauling itself up. I saw then that it wasn’t like any dragon I knew.

Six horribly mutated limbs and four wings lifted into the air as it roared at the sky. It was mottled black, and its tiny red eyes glittered as it swung its head around.

Grabbing Seb’s arm, I shook him again. “Seb, we have to go!” Around us a few other dragons launched into the sky, their riders clinging to their saddles and harness. The air seemed filled with dragon roars and dust. The huge dragon from the mountain bellowed a roar that shook the air and vibrated in my chest.

I knew Lord Vincent would be near—he’d want to see his beast come to life. This has to be some monster of the Darkening. I searched the sky, looking for Lord Vincent or his wild, black dragon. But what I really needed was to get Seb into the saddle.

Fumbling to pull the Armor Stone out of my glove, I called out to Kalax, “Be ready to fly.”

I pulled the Armor Stone free and pushed it into Seb’s hand, closing his cold fingers around the stone. “Hold it tight,” I told him.

For two heartbeats nothing happened, but then Seb blinked and his eyes focused again. “Seb, let’s go. That monster over there—if he’s like any newly-hatched dragon—it’s going to be hungry.”

At last Seb’s eyes focused on me. He nodded, and then glanced at the huge dragon now stretching its wings over the crumbling mountain top.

I was hoping we could stretch the Armor Stone again to shield the rest of the camp, and maybe we could keep this monster from destroying all of us. But I wasn’t sure that would work. The stone seemed cool in my hand as I took it from Seb and clutched it.

Not dragon-kin!
Kalax hissed. She was right, it wasn’t. It was a creature larger than the size of an entire castle, larger than the entire academy and Torvald put together.

Kalax bent her forelegs to make it easier for us to mount our saddles. Seb climbed into his harness as if he was an old man. I vaulted into the saddle, but my harness would need to wait. We had to be in the air.

Hearing a screech overhead, I looked up to see a wild, black dragon. Seb was in the saddle, so I shouted, “Kalax, fly!”

She took off so fast, I clutched at the saddle to stay on. The black kept coming at us and I knew we’d collide.

Kalax had to turn and bank as the huge dragon from the mountain reached out with a long claw toward her. That monster-dragon had a reach longer than any river I’d seen. Kalax turned, and the wild dragon hit her side.

For an instant I held on, but I had the Armor Stone in one hand and my grip on the saddle leather began to slip. With a cry, my fingers gave way.

I spun into the air and fell, landing on my back. The breath whooshed out of me in a gasp and I lay there, dizzy—the Armor Stone had saved me from a deadly fall. But as I struggled to sit up again, I saw the black Armor Stone had slipped from my grasp.