The Dragons of Noor (17 page)

Who had the power to banish the dragons
, Hanna wondered.

“Do you know why we dragons guard the Waytrees?”

Miles said, “The deep-rooted trees house deya spirits, and they bridge the way between the worlds.”

“Rightly said, pilgrim.”

Hanna noticed her brother’s chest swell with pride. She could have given the same answer, but she was still feeling the sting of the Damusaun’s comment about her limited powers.

“Watching over Waytrees runs in our blood,” said the queen, “since the first age when dragons guarded the greatest tree of all, the World Tree, Kwen-Arnun.”

At the mention of the World Tree, all the dragons sent green fire toward the ceiling. The fire combined into a single burning tree. The tree seemed alive, its branches laden with silver fruit so ripe Hanna felt as if she could smell its sweet, rich nectar, so real she wanted to pluck and taste it.

Hanna knew the dragons had guarded the World Tree
from the beginning of time. But the burning tree here in the cave was like a prayer, and more than any words it showed the love the dragons had for their Kwen-Arnun.

Slowly, the tree burned out. Smoke swirled about, clouding the high ceiling.

The Damusaun said, “When the great quake split the World Tree in the second age and drove a rent through NoorOth, tearing the worlds in two, we winged to Kwen-Arnun’s children here in Noor. We knew the World Tree’s offspring would have the power to hold the two worlds together if they were left alone to grow strong. When the manlings came to fell the Waytrees for timber, we did not let the worlds split apart. We fought with talons, teeth, and fire. Many manlings died.”

Hanna had studied the dragon wars; every child in Noor knew their history. But she’d not learned the reason for the war, or why the dragons fought, only that they’d been fierce enemies of man until the treaties were signed. The books were likely different at the meers’ school, and she was sure she would have learned the truth if she’d read all the pages in the Falconer’s book, for he, at least, was never one to lie. Hanna was still thinking about this when she realized the Damusaun was speaking to her.

“You have been to Oth, Kanameer. You must know the law of the Old Magic.”

Hanna slid her hand in her pocket and grasped Great-Uncle Enoch’s gift. The bottle was cool in her sweaty hand. She knew that magical folk who broke the law of the Old Magic were exiled from the lit lands of Oth, imprisoned in the shadow lands behind the great wind-wall, or expelled from Oth entirely. It was the law of the Old Magic that prevented the Sylth Queen from killing Great-Uncle Enoch when he’d mistakenly released the Shriker from captivity behind her wind-wall. Instead, she’d punished him by enspelling him in the oak tree. The same law also prevented the Sylth Queen from killing the Shriker, so she’d drawn Miles into Oth to do the deed for her.

Hanna cleared her throat and looked up at the Damusaun. “I know that those who follow the law of the Old Magic are forbidden to kill.”

The smoke rising from the she-dragon’s nostrils drifted toward the entryway, joining the gray rain outside. “So you see the way of it, Kanameer. We broke the law when we went to war. For that, we were banished from Oth.”

Meer Kanoae said, “So you can never go home again?”

Hanna cringed inside. Sometimes Meer Kanoae was too blunt, but the Damusaun didn’t snap at her. Instead, she raised her head a little higher and curled her long, spiked tail about her feet like a gown. “When the dragon wars ended, we signed a treaty with all manlings. They would let us keep our forestlands, and there would be no more bloodshed. The Sylth King of Oth pledged to lift the banishment if we abided by our treaties and kept peace with manlings for seven hundred years.”

“Seven hundred years? But that’s too long!” Hanna blurted out.

The dragons flicked their tails irritably. She clamped her teeth. Who was being too blunt now? Dragons lived far longer than men, and she sensed that many dragons here were very old indeed. Still, the punishment seemed overly harsh.

A cooling green color came to the Damusaun’s eyes, sorrow, but no tears, though it seemed all the deeper for that. Hanna could imagine how she felt. She loved her own home on Enness Isle. Loved Mount Shalem, Shalem Wood, her family’s cottage, the green hills that rolled down to the sea. What if she were banished from Enness?

A hatchling said, “Tell us about Twarn-Majas, Damusaun.”

“Twarn-Majas,” said the queen. “You have never seen it, little Agreeya,” she said tenderly. “I was born there. No land is more beautiful, no ground more richly colored. The mountains there are deep-blue stone. Sky and land look to be brother and sister on a clear day. I still remember the scent of the masayan trees in bloom.”

“I, too, was born there,” said Kaleet.

“As was I,” said another and another.

“Twarn-Majas. Twarn-Majas.” Whispers drifted through the cave like a sigh. And for a moment Hanna saw the mountains rising blue against a pale green dawn, blue above the eastern Othic sea.

The Damusaun said, “This month on the night of Breal’s Moon our banishment will end.”

“Breal’s Moon,” whispered Taunier. “It’s less than a week from now.”

Hanna remembered the eclipse she’d seen through the porthole her first night on the
Leena
. Breal’s Moon, the first full moon after an eclipse, was the night when it was easiest to cross from Noor to Oth and back.

The queen said, “We will be allowed to cross over
that night. That is, if any Waytrees are left by then.”

Hanna started. If all the Waytrees were felled, how could she hope to bring Tymm and the others home? “There must be enough left!” she argued. “There’s still an azure grove higher up the mountain. I saw it when the storm blew us here.”

“Kanameer! Speak with your mind and not just your heart. There is but one grove left, and it’s vanishing under the Cutters’ axes and root poison. We are losing this battle—one we could win with ease if we could kill.”

Miles stood. “We can kill for you, Damusaun.”

The Dragon Queen roared fire. Miles leaped back as the flames nearly singed his feet. “You would kill men for us? Tell me, foolish boy, how that is any different than killing them ourselves?”

Meer Eason stood and cleared his throat, but Miles was already answering, “It’s not, I suppose.” He was visibly shaking.

Hanna stood up beside him. “My brother means no harm, Damusaun.”

“Harm is just what he means.” She snapped her jaws. “If you wish to help us, you must fight our way. Kill a single man, and we will be exiled from our homeland forever.”

Taunier said, “We’ll take a vow. Whatever you want us to do to help you save the trees, we will do.”

Meer Eason and Kanoae joined them in a row facing the dragons.

Smoke curled from the Damusaun’s nostrils. “Will you vow by breath and fire to fight but not to kill?”

They all said, “I vow it.”

The queen sealed the vow by sending her fire to each in turn. The intense heat was startling. Hanna gritted her teeth, waiting for it to be over. When the flame was extinguished, she was grateful for the rain outside that sent a cool, wet wind coursing through the cave.

“We accept your vow,” replied the Damusaun, and she bowed her great head to the small band of humans who had come so far to aid them in their battle.

C
ool droplets pricked Miles’s arms as he left the dragon’s cave and crossed the sand with Taunier and Hanna. Clouds shrouded the moon. The spare light would make it harder for the Cutters to see the dragons flying over their camps. It would also be more difficult to find the trebuchets hidden in the hills.

They headed for the high stone arch to get out of the wet, while they waited for the dragons to assemble on the beach.

Hanna tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. It fell across Thriss’s back like a blanket. “If I find the passage into Oth …” She adjusted her rucksack, and the corner of the Falconer’s book stuck out. Miles covered it
to keep it dry. The Falconer’s maps could not pinpoint the Waytree passage here in the east. The mysterious passage from Noor to Oth was never in one place for long but moved, from Waytree to Waytree. It would not be easy to find. Hanna buried the toe of her boot in the sand and seemed to lose the rest of her speech. Taunier, too, was silent.

Miles said, “If you think you can find Tymm, then you have to go, Hanna. As things are now, we haven’t much time.” He leaned against the cliff rock, feeling torn. Part of him wanted to go with her. He’d promised Da he’d find his little brother, but he and Taunier were both needed here. “We’ll fight to keep the Waytrees standing long enough for you to get Tymm and the others out of Oth.”

Hanna wrapped the cloak more tightly about herself, Thriss disappearing under the folds. “When the Damusaun said she’d seen the children blowing over Jarrosh, I thought she’d tell us where in Oth Tymm had gone.”

“She wasn’t holding back from us,” said Taunier. “She just—”

“Couldn’t go after them,” said Miles. He, too, had
been sorely disappointed to discover the queen knew so little about the Wind-taken.

“Still,” said Taunier, “the Damusaun saw them disappear into Oth. We’re closer to finding Tymm now than we’ve ever been.”

Hanna rocked on her feet. “But we’re no closer to understanding why Tymm and the others were taken.”

Just overhead a spider clung to her damp web. The high stone arch was keeping them dry, but it was cold and later would be colder still. Miles took his sister’s hand. “You’ll understand who took them and why when you find them. I’m sure of that. When we were back in western Noor on Othlore Isle, the High Meer told us what he’d seen in the scrying stone. He believed the Wind-taken children were brought here to help the Waytrees.”

“How?” asked Hanna, irritably. “How can they help the Waytrees if they’re in Oth?”

“If we’re fighting to keep the worlds together here, there must be others in Oth who want the same.”

Hanna watched the spider climb her web. “I hope you’re right.”

“You found me last year,” said Miles. “And you
will
find Tymm. You have to.” These last words came from
his belly, from the ache that had been there since he’d seen the empty cot in Tymm’s loft.

He reached up to straighten her windblown hair. She was taller than he remembered, not a child anymore.
She’s beautiful
, he thought. The idea startled him.

Taunier was gazing at her. It was more than a brotherly look. Miles was taken aback. Hanna and Taunier? His best friend and his sister? He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Or was he just imagining it?

“You be careful in Oth,” Taunier said. He looked down at her, for he was nearly a foot taller than she.

Hanna squared her shoulders, a determined look on her soft face. “I’ll do what I have to.”

Taunier frowned, but Miles understood. Hanna would not promise to keep herself safe. She’d do what must be done to bring their little brother home.

“You’re a good sister,” Miles said, and he caught the faintest smile from her.

Breal trotted down the beach. Behind him, terrows and taberrells exited the cave with Meers Eason and Kanoae.

Taunier patted Breal. “I have to go now. My dragon is waiting.”

Hanna rubbed Breal where Taunier had just withdrawn his hand. “Please be careful.” It was the same thing Taunier had said to her moments before, and he, too, did not make a promise.

“I’ll join you soon.” Miles tried to hide his irritation as he said this. He couldn’t wait to go to battle, and the Damusaun
still
hadn’t told him which dragon he was to ride.

Farther down the beach, Meers Eason and Kanoae were mounting their dragons. Taunier climbed over a driftwood log and headed for a golden terrow. The red-ringed neck showed it to be a male.

Miles fought jealousy as he and Hanna followed his friend. They came to a stop at the driftwood log. The Damusaun had honored Meers Eason and Kanoae when she’d seen the blue meer signs on their palms, so he understood why she would send them out in the first wave of fighters.
If I’d been blue-palmed before I left Othlore
, he thought,
she would have chosen a dragon for me by now
. Yet Taunier was going out. The dragons seemed to revere his power over fire, for they could not rein it in or make it move the way he could.

Miles kicked the wet seaweed. The Dragon Queen
didn’t seem to value his shape-shifting gift. Instead, she seemed to view it as dangerous. Well, wasn’t herding fire dangerous?

“Look,” whispered Hanna.

Just down the beach, Taunier was bowing to his terrow. Miles heard his formal speech. “May I ride with you, Findarr?”

“We will greet the sky together, Fire Herd.” Findarr knelt down, extending his long neck. His ridged tail, which ended in sharp spikes, curled about him like a spiraling staircase. Taunier paused a moment before stepping closer to the giant kneeling form. Putting his hand atop the base of the scaly neck, he climbed on.

Miles and Hanna followed Taunier and Findarr as they joined the first group of dragons parading down to the water’s edge. Meers Kanoae and Eason both waited atop their taberrells. Meer Kanoae seemed as sure on dragon’s back as she did captaining her vessel. Her thick hair was braided and tied back with a leather strap. Meer Eason wriggled on his perch, less confident than she. Still, he gave Miles and Hanna a nod from above. Breal wagged his tail and barked, which made the meer laugh and wave, and Hanna waved back.

Miles tried to look cheerful.
There are plenty of dragons left
, he told himself. But with every minute, his mood was darkening. When would the Damusaun choose his partner?

Hanna couldn’t fly into battle after the warning in her dreamwalk. No one wanted to risk her and the Damusaun being shot down from the sky. And anyway, Hanna was bound for the Waytrees, higher up Mount Olone.