Embers at Galdrilene (53 page)

He narrowed his eyes. No, it wasn’t a trick of the light. The burned scales looked dull and gray. Why? He would have to ask Serena when they had time to discuss it.

Nydara turned her head when it was done, her large, violet eyes tragic, and looked at her wing. She folded it and unfolded it several times as if to make sure it was right again.

Mernoth made a slow descent, landing a little away from where Kellinar and the others were gathered. Emallya rode in front of Bardeck for the flight down. She normally avoided flying as much as possible. She said it reminded her too much of what she lost. The return of a riderless Nydara must be enough for her to fly.

As soon as all four of Mernoth’s clawed feet were on the ground, and Bardeck let loose the tight grip around her waist, Emallya leaped down. She ran across the beach and knelt next to Nydara.

“What, in the name of the Fates happened Emallya? How did they end up over the Kormai?” Kellinar asked her.

“They Slid.”

“They what?”

Emallya sighed. “They had to have a clear picture of where they were going and I am guessing they got it from Taela’s mind.”

Vaddoc frowned. “I thought our dragons were too young,”

“We have never heard of a dragon under the age of two Sliding. But then we have never known a dragon under two to flame either and Nydara has done both today. You have all–both riders and dragons–matured, grown, and progressed at a much faster rate than we have ever seen before. We expected this would also happen sooner, but not quite this soon.”

“How–” Kellinar started to ask but Emallya cut him off.

“Now is not the time for how, that will have to be discussed later before we move to rescue her.” She turned her attention to the silver. “Lend me your strength and perhaps together we can find what has become of your rider.” She laid her hands on the silver’s massive head.

To Kellinar, time seemed to stop. As if everything around them paused and waited to hear Emallya’s verdict. Beside him, Mckale stood still as stone, his face devoid of expression. Kellinar turned away from the deadly calm and the promise of violence he saw in the steely eyes of his friend. Vaddoc stood in an almost identical stance. The two were like coiled springs. Kellinar was very glad they were on his side. Serena stood close to Nydara, worry written on her face.

Kirynn lounged next to Syrakynn. To the crowd of Galdrilene inhabitants who gathered along the docks and farther up the shore, Kellinar supposed Kirynn appeared completely at ease. But after a year spent in close company with the woman, Kellinar knew she was just as ready and more deadly than either of the bordermen.

Emallya let out her breath and pulled away from Nydara. Bardeck, his eyes full of concern, stepped to her side and put an arm around her waist. “Did you find her?”

Emallya leaned into him and nodded. “It was difficult, even with my and Nydara’s combined strength and magic. She is unconscious–which is why it was so difficult–and in pain even so.” A cry went up from several of the people crowded around.

Kellinar glanced at Mckale. Only the flexing of muscles as his jaw clenched and unclenched showed the reaction in his friend. Kellinar thought maybe he preferred the man who shouted and shook the earth. He looked back at Emallya. “Anything else?”

Emallya shook her head and sighed. “No. I wish there was. We cannot even mount a rescue until we know more.”

“Why not?” Mckale asked, his voice quiet.

Vaddoc moved to stand next to Mckale. “We do not know where to rescue her from, my friend.”

“We know she was above the Kormai,” Mckale said.

Bardeck nodded. “Yes, but we know nothing after that. Is she outside the Kormai, which would be preferable or captured and taken within?”

Mckale turned toward Nydara, who raised her head up and stared at him. There was a long silence before he spoke again. “She was captured and taken within. She is bleeding from a wound on her head and in a cell.”

Emallya stepped away from Bardeck, her eyes intense. “How do you know this? Is Maleena awake?”

“No, but Taela is.”

“The woman who connected with her?”

“Yes. Nydara said up until they Slid, she kept a link with the newly hatched dragon. She was so shocked at first she lost the link and then forgot about it in the midst of all that happened. She completed the link again and asked Taela, through her draclet Paki, what became of Maleena.”

Emallya pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We know where she is, now we must get back to the Dragon Hold. You must all learn to Slide before we can help her.” She turned toward the riderless dragon. “Even you Nydara. You have Slid twice by accident, now you must learn to do it at will.” She walked toward Mernoth. “Come, we do not have much time.”

Kirynn stepped forward and caught Emallya by the arm. “But there has never been a successful rescue of someone taken inside the Kormai.”

Emallya sighed. “I know, but we have to try. It is no longer just the book. It is the very future of Galdrilene we must try to rescue.”

Kellinar stared at Nydara’s empty saddle. “How are the safety straps supposed to help us in battle if they can be burned like that?”

Emallya followed his gaze. “These are training saddles. They were never meant to go into battle. Your permanent saddles will have spells laid on them to keep them from burning so easily.”

“I will accompany you when you fly for the Kormai,” Mckale said, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument.

Emallya nodded. “Of course.”

Bardeck climbed up on Mernoth and helped Emallya up in front of him after securing his safety straps. He glanced at Mckale. “Don’t forget your straps this time borderman; you will do Maleena no good if you fall from your saddle. Kellinar, since Shryden took off before we could get his saddle on, you will need to fly carefully or preferably, with another.”

Kellinar boosted himself up on the blue. “I will fly careful.”

As a group they lifted into the air. Nydara flew close to Mckale and Tellnox. The burned catcher strap swung in the air below her, emphasizing the empty saddle on her back
.

M
aleena struggled through the heavy fog in her mind. With great effort, she pushed through the dark confusion. A rough surface pressed against her back. Cold, clammy air clung to her skin. Her head throbbed and sharp pain stabbed at her ribs. Her eyes opened. She lay on her back on the floor in a dim room. Iron bars crisscrossed the only opening. A cell. How long had she been there? Nydara. Where was Nydara?

Deep shadows pooled in the back of the cell. Somewhere beyond the bars a fitful torch flickered. The light danced across the rough-hewn ceiling and walls. She turned her head to look around and pain pierced her skull. With a moan she reached up to grab her head. More pain stabbed into her ribs. She cried out and rolled to her side, curling her legs up.

Maleena tried to reach out for Nydara, but her thoughts shattered. Her breath came in shallow gasps around the agony in her side. She must have broken a rib, maybe two. Thirst made her tongue feel swollen and she licked at her lips, wincing when her tongue ran across the split in her lower lip. The skin on her left side felt like it was on fire from ankle to waist.

Carefully, Maleena lifted her other hand to her head. Her fingers found a deep gash running from the middle of her hairline across her forehead to her right temple. Something sticky and wet matted her hair. She pulled her hand away. Blood. She felt dried and drying blood all down the right side of her face. More exploration found the left leg of her pants mostly burned away. She gingerly touched the angry blistered skin and higher up on her side and found more burns.

Somewhere in the darkness at the back her prison, water dribbled in a small tinkle. It made her thirst seem worse, like her mouth was stuffed with cotton. The sound of the water pulled at her. She tried to push herself to her hands and knees and cried out again at the wave of agony that tore through her body. The room spun. She gagged.

Maleena gritted her teeth and suppressed a sob; it would only make her ribs hurt worse. Then, like a balm on her wounds, Nydara was there in her mind, crooning and comforting. Her eyes stung as tears of relief welled and coursed down her face. Nydara was safe in Galdrilene.

Then Mckale was there with Tellnox in the background. For a moment, she felt Mckale’s fingers on her face as if he was there. The pain in her head and ribs eased. He was pulling some of the pain away from her and into himself. As much as Tellnox would allow. Her head still pounded and her breath still came in gasps, but she was able to crawl toward the trickle in the dark.

She sat down and reached for the wall. Her fingers touched something soft and spongy, like the moss that grew on the rocks along the bay at Galdrilene. Then she found it. A tiny stream of water, no wider than a finger, running down the wall. It made a puddle about the size of her fist at the floor before disappearing under the wall.

Maleena scooped a handful of water out of the little pool and drank it. Cold and fresh, it slid down her parched throat. She waited while the pool filled back up then drank again. Too tired to do more, she leaned her head against the soft, wet moss. The cold water trickled onto her forehead and down the blood caked side of her face. She dozed slightly, leaning up against the mossy wall in the darkness at the back of the cell.

She woke, drank and slept several times. How much time had passed? Hours? Days? There were no windows, no way to know the passing of the sun. No one came to bring her food. Occasionally, she crawled to the far corner to relieve herself in the rancid smelling bucket she assumed had been left for that purpose. Nydara tried to keep her abreast of how long she slept, but dragons perceived time differently than humans and in her weakened state, Maleena was unable to work it out in her head.

The sound of someone in the passageway outside pulled her from a fitful sleep. Her stomach twisted in hunger. She tried to ignore it. More light reached into the cell and she blinked, trying to adjust her eyes. The dark beauty she had seen in Taela’s mind stood outside the cell staring at her with calculating, black eyes. A woman with golden blonde hair stood next to her.

“I see you found the water we left you. It’s not much, but we could have placed you in a dry cell. I may still do that if I decide it suits my fancy. I am Sadira. This is Oksana. You are?”

Maleena didn’t answer. She didn’t dare reach out and touch Sadira’s mind to find out her plans. With her head already aching and Mckale too far away to shield her, she was afraid to try.

Sadira smiled. “You will tell me what I wish to know.” Thin, oily shadows flowed through the bars from Sadira’s hands. Maleena shrank away from them.

“Tell me your name,” Sadira demanded.

“M…Maleena.”

“Tell me Maleena, are you and your dragon bound together like the Benduiren say you are?”

Oksana shifted. “This is stupid. Why are we trying to provoke them into coming here in force?”

Sadira barely flicked her eyes at the blonde woman. “Alden says it won’t. He says her dragon will react and come on its own.” Her dark eyes fixed on Maleena again. “So, is the binding true?”

Maleena understood now. Her pain would be Nydara’s pain. Sadira knew it. It didn’t matter how she answered. The shadows that coiled and twisted around each other inches from her skin were going to hurt her. Maleena steeled herself against the coming pain. No matter what they did, they would get no information from her. She tried to wall Nydara and Mckale off, but she wasn’t strong enough right then to manage it.
“We are one. I will be with you no matter the pain,”
came the sending from Nydara.