Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 9-12

Sarah K. L. Wilson

Published by Sarah K. L. Wilson, 2019.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

DRAGON CHAMELEON: EPISODES 9-12

First edition. May 16, 2019.

Copyright © 2019 Sarah K. L. Wilson.

Written by Sarah K. L. Wilson.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Behind the Scenes:

For the friends who stand side by side no matter the odds. This one is for you.

Chapter One

I felt as if the golems were calling to me.

Maybe that wasn’t the right word. Maybe it was just that I could sense them behind me and under me as we fled through the descending darkness. I could see more than just the reflection of the full moon on their scuttling carapaces. I could have sworn I could see every pair of glowing eyes.

What I couldn’t see or understand was where the Magikas were.

They must be somewhere close.

And it worried me that they didn’t seem to need too many of them to control so many golems. I could almost see the future spinning out, weaving in front of me. A future of waves of these things rolling across the Dominion like a swarm of locusts, tearing everything living apart with their snapping jaws.

It chilled me to the core and made my insides roil. Why did my scar always have to flare with the truth of bad things? Why couldn’t I think about a warm fire and hot bath coming up and feel that cold pulse then?

Doesn’t it always flare cold for the truth and hot for lies? I don’t think a warm bath is in your future.

My clothes were stiff from drying out in the air after being doused with swamp water. I must stink.

I have been trying not to mention it.

Zyla shifted uncomfortably in the saddle ahead of me. As the moon rose, she stole glances behind her at my face.

“Just tell me how bad it is,” I said eventually.

“How bad what is?” she asked innocently. “We are being chased by golems, you know.”

But the flying ones had either retreated to regroup or been left too far behind to catch us. The gold dragon was nowhere to be seen. That suggested that they were regrouping. The golems were slower than dragons, but the Gold should be able to keep up if he wanted to.

“And they will kill you unless you find a skycity to hide in,” Katlana said from where she was tied over the saddle in front of me. I leaned an elbow into her back and she grunted. I might not have killed her, but that didn’t mean I wanted to live with her threats.

“The tattoos – or marks – or whatever they are. I still haven’t seen them,” I said. “How bad are they?”

She smirked and I could tell she was going to tease me. I held my breath.

I felt more emotionally invested in this than I usually did in my appearance. Why should it matter? After all, I’d never been the best looking guy around. Having my face all but destroyed shouldn’t break me ... right?

Her smirk faded and instead she looked at me with gentle eyes – almost as if she could tell what I was thinking.

“They aren’t actually that bad. They also look like a crown wrapping around your forehead – a firm band with tendrils of smoke curling through it. They kind of shine like silver in the moonlight. There are roots branching down from the crown along the sides of your face, wrapping down your jaw toward your face and about a quarter of the way across your cheeks. If you could grow a proper beard, you could probably hide the face ones completely and just be left with the crown.”

I felt my face heating. I couldn’t grow a proper beard. I hadn’t shaved in weeks and no one could tell.

“I guess it saves me the trouble of growing one, then,” I said flippantly, but my heart squeezed just a bit thinking about it. Silly. I was being silly.

It’s okay. No one likes having their appearance altered against their will.

I had bigger problems to worry about. I should focus on them. After all, we were still seeing golems creep across the ground as we followed the road. How far did they extend? How much of the Dominion had already been invaded?

I should ask Katlana these questions, but I wanted to wait until we landed. I wanted Nostar’s help in knowing what to do with her. Greens weren’t war dragons, but Nostar was at least ten years older than me and the veteran of a Truth War. Maybe he’d have some ideas on what to do with a prisoner.

We flew through the night until Zyla was nodding in the saddle. It wasn’t until we’d left the last golems behind that I breathed my first sigh of relief. It wasn’t until we reached the foothills of the mountains to the southeast that I finally began to relax.

Just when I began to feel some of the tension ease in my belly, Tachril dove down to the ground, Nostar shouting on his back. I tensed again.

What could be wrong?

The other Green dragons followed him, descending over a grassy forest clearing and flaming the grass with so much enthusiasm that I drew my knives, clenching them in my fists – as if I could do anything to fight with them from the back of a dragon.

Saboraak? Are we under attack?

I scanned the skies and the ground below, but all I could see was the burning grass. It made a strange symbol with a ring around it and in the center of the ring, Tachril stood on his hind legs, his wings spread out and his throat frill expanded as far as possible in any direction.

I clenched my jaw. Perhaps he was under a magical restraint. Perhaps we were under an attack I couldn’t see.

Saboraak?

My heart was pounding in my ears and my head whipping in every direction. Searching ... searching ... searching ...

Zyla had woken up and she was doing the same, a mirror image of my sudden panic.

Saboraak dove from the sky like a rocket from heaven and I sheathed my knives quickly, focusing all my efforts on holding on for dear life.

Whatever was going on had to be more serious than I could possibly imagine.

Chapter Two

We hit the dirt, skidding over needles and tumbled debris in the pine forest. We were on top of a hill, looking down over the burning grass below.

“Are we under attack?” I asked aloud.

Saboraak was silent, her head turning back and forth as if she watched Tachril strutting back and forth on his hind legs, wings extended and frill puffing rhythmically. I could hear the Greens in the glen below us yelling at their dragons and calling back and forth to one another.

“Saboraak?”

Still no response. Maybe she was under a spell, too.

“Watch the prisoner,” I said to Zyla and at her brisk nod, I leapt off Saboraak’s back and down to the ground, rushing in front of her and grabbing her huge head in both hands so I could stare into one of her mirror-like eyes.

Zyla had been right about the tattoos. In the brilliant moonlight, I could see them reflected in Saboraak’s eye. They were ridiculous, but not actually all that bad. It almost looked like I was wearing a crowned helm that fastened under my chin.

“Saboraak,” I said gently, “Are you okay?”

Yes. Her voice was sheepish. That frill distracted me.

“Ummm ... are we under attack? Should we maybe fly again if the danger is past?”

No. We camp here for the rest of the night.

“We can’t camp here. The golems are right behind us. We have – maybe a few hours on them. Maybe. We have to fly. Are you injured?”

I risked a glance up at Zyla. She mirrored my concern, one hand brandishing her polearm, one hand on Katlana’s back to keep her in place.

“If we could just make it a few more hours ...” she said, trailing off when Saboraak huffed.

I jumped back, but it was only a puff of smoke, no fire.

We camp here tonight. A few hours won’t hurt you. I have ... things ... to think over.

“Things? Like a golem invasion and how we need to get to the next skycity to warn them and send a message to the Dominar? Things like the prisoner we have here who needs questioning and the traitor back there who healed me? Those kind of things?”

I felt hot, like my temper could explode at any moment. I took a deep breath, my hand over my face. You couldn’t move a recalcitrant dragon. You couldn’t force her to fly. And it didn’t look like the Greens would be any help, either. The five other Greens were gathering around Tachril now, circling him as their riders leapt off, unsaddling them while they were still moving and dragging their saddles and gear off to the side.

As soon as they were clear, the five green dragons spouted fire around Tachril as he leapt and somersaulted in the air, his own flames spouting from his mouth in a rhythm that matched theirs. It looked more like a tumbling act or a complicated dance than anything else.

And anyone looking for us could probably see it from miles away.

I signed, rubbing my tired face with a hand again.

Whatever was happening had made all of our dragons crazy.

“We might as well build a fire and set up camp,” I said to Zyla. “It looks like the Dragon Riders are coming to join us. Until these crazed lunatics are done with this display, we’re stuck here.”

“Do you think it’s religious?” Zyla asked as she threw the saddlebags down to me.

“Are dragons religious?”

“Don’t ask me. Skies and stars! As if it couldn’t get worse!”

“That’s why golems are better,” Katlana said wryly. “They do what they’re told. Now, more than ever, you will be forced to fly straight to a city.”

Saboraak’s neck arched around lightning fast. She plucked Katlana off her back and tossed her into the needles at my feet and then turned back to the display below.

“Come on,” I said, reaching down to drag her to her feet. I wanted to ask her if she was okay. Should I ask her that? She wanted me dead.

Zyla had a fire lit by the time I settled Katlana on a falling log and I was already starting to pull out bedrolls and a pot for tea when the Dragon Riders arrived.

“They’re crazy,” Nostar said with a pale face. “The whole world has gone mad.”

“About that,” I said, putting the pot on the rocks by the fire. “Why don’t you boys and girls take a seat. I have a few things to say that you might want to hear.”

Chapter Three

“So, you’re not who you said you were,” Nostar said at last.

The fire had died down and everyone else was asleep – even Katlana. We’d tried to question her. She wasn’t saying anything. Not about the golems or how they got there. Not about if more were coming or how many Magikas were back there operating them. Not even about if she could operate them from here. Nostar had given her a herbal remedy that she’d taken without complaint.

“We didn’t have a choice. We didn’t know who to trust and our mission is too important,” I said, sipping my tea.

I was tired, but like Nostar I was having trouble leaving my dragon. Despite my exhaustion, I felt on edge, as if what was going on with them was more important than a mere display of athletics.

“I don’t blame you,” Nostar said, rubbing his scruffy face. He looked at my silvery one from time to time when he thought I couldn’t see him. “And we believe you. I mean, those marks on your face are strange. And I don’t know how else you would have got them. And the girl and the golems back your story.” He sighed. “I did not think war would come again so soon. Did you fight in the Truth War?”

“I watched my city fall from the sky and then burn.”

“Vanika?” he shot me a concerned glance.

“Yes.” The wind was picking up and the smoke flickered back and forth between puffing in my face and blowing away. The embers were bright.

“I heard a rumor that the Dominar set it on fire on her way through your city.”

“It’s truth,” I said. “I saw it with my own eyes.”

I pushed back the memories that threatened to crash in, my hand shaking slightly from the effort. As if called by my pain, the mimic flickered into existence, raising a single eyebrow at me. Angrily, I pushed him away.

I thought I could hear him whisper, “You’ll have to do better than that, Tor.”

“She’s an impressive one,” Nostar said.

“You’ve met her?”

“No. But I saw her from afar. Our wing fought in the Ifrit battle under Dominion City. There were fifteen of us then. We were part of a larger wing of loyal dragons.”

His words were heavy, as full of memories as my own.

“An Ifrit killed many of my friends,” I offered. “Smashed them against buildings. Broke them.”

My whole body tensed as I fought the memories. I took a deep breath deliberately, forcing them away and sipping my tea.

I looked up to see Nostar watching me, nodding.

“You have that look to you. You’ve seen adventures. I could tell you weren’t really a Purple.”

My eyebrows shot up and I almost dropped my tea. We’d told him about everything – except that. We didn’t dare tell that.

“How – ?”

He nodded his head to Saboraak and I froze. She’d shifted from Purple to Green. I cursed quietly.

“Skies and stars!”

He chuckled. “I think you should tell me about that.”

“She’s female,” I said quietly. This was for his ears only. “They change colors.”

He grunted. “Well. That might explain a few things. Have you ever watched grassling birds in the spring?”

I shook my head. What a strange question

We sat silently for a few minutes before he clapped me on the shoulder.

“In that case, Tor Winespring – that is your name, yes? – I think I’ll get some sleep. This will either work itself out by dawn or we’ll be forced to find alternate transportation.”

We had no other options, but I could see what he meant. I nodded, but when he waited for me to join him, I shook my head. As he left for his blankets, I walked forward and joined Saboraak on the side of the hill.

She didn’t look at me. Didn’t even seem to notice me. I sighed and sat down beside her.

“I think it’s time you told me what is happening here,” I said.

They like me.

“And they can only show you that through feats of athleticism?”

Sort of. She sounded embarrassed.

“And you can’t just ask them to do it later?”

Once the dance has begun, it cannot be stopped until it is completed.

“Well, that’s very inconvenient. And they couldn’t have waited until later?”

She shifted uncomfortably.

“What does it mean? What do they want?”

They want me.

“Well, they can’t have you. You’re my dragon.”

She snorted loudly. Was that a laugh?

Of course, you’re my rider, Tor. They want something else. They ... well, they’re courting me.

“What, all of them?” I felt shocked. If a bunch of other guys showed up and wanted to try to court Zyla while I was getting her attention, they could look elsewhere. In fact, I still owed Eventen a good fist to the jaw for proposing marriage to her right under my nose! The nerve!

It’s not like that.

Maybe I needed to go punch a few dragons while I was at it. See if I could show them some sense.

You are always forgetting that we are not human. Dragons do things differently.

“Okay. Why don’t you explain?” I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice. I probably didn’t succeed.

She huffed again.

It’s very hard work to raise dragon eggs. For starters, the eggs must be kept hot until they hatch – not just body-temperature-hot but hot-hot. That means a dragon must be flaming on the egg at all times or we risk losing them. And one dragon – even two dragons – are not enough for that.

She didn’t mean that she meant to take them all as lovers, did she? I felt my face going hot at the thought.

Seriously, Tor. You need to stop being so human!

“Can I help it?”

It doesn’t work like that. There are a lot fewer females than males. A LOT fewer. And when a female establishes a family, it’s not like a human family. It’s like ... a human skycity. It’s a big deal. She has a lot of progeny over many decades and they are a force all on their own. Do you know about bee hives?

“I’m a city boy, remember?”

I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ She sighed again. Let me try to simplify this for you. Tachril is courting me. But his wing – Hyoogan, Nazscal, Elumans, Nelmper, and Izhoedi – they are offering to be his cohort. That means they will guard the nest and warm the eggs and basically begin a dragon city with us. They’re offering to be like an elite guard division with me as their queen.

“I’m not sure if you noticed, but we don’t have time to be building cities of dragons. Or engaging in elaborate courtships. Even if it’s flattering to be offered a role as a queen. We’re fleeing creeping hordes of golems!”

Once the ceremony begins, it must not be stopped without an answer.

“So say ‘no’ and let’s be on our way!”

The look she gave me was distinctly hostile. I stepped back.

“You do want to say ‘no’ don’t you?”

I am not certain.

“You aren’t certain?!” I could have pulled my hair out in chunks. All this because a dragon was proposing marriage!

Are you certain about Zyla? Would you like to marry her?

“I don’t know!” I was almost shouting now. I clamped down on my own words and looked around in the darkness. Hopefully, I hadn’t disturbed the camp. We hadn’t posted a guard. We all just assumed that the dragons would notice if enemies arrived.

Well, I don’t know either.

“Be reasonable,” I hissed, whispering now. I didn’t even need to talk out loud, but it was too hard to feel this strongly and not speak. “Where would you even put a city? Surely, the Lands of Haz’Drazen are crowded by now. The Dominion doesn’t have room for a Dragon City. Think of the practicalities.”

I was thinking perhaps Kav’ai. Or Ko’Torenth.

“What?” I almost broke out of a whisper.

Well, you are marked with their signs. When you’re done defeating these golem armies, I think they’ll owe you something. Like maybe a place to put your dragon city. Although we call them, “Drazenloft” not “city.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said hollowly. She was serious. She was seriously considering this. “If you say yes, can I assume that we’ll be stuck with these Green dragons indefinitely?”

She lifted an eyebrow ridge.

I have been nothing but supportive regarding your attachment to Zyla.

“She doesn’t come with five other dragons and six humans!”

The eyebrow ridge rose further.

I sighed.

“Can you at least decide quickly, before our enemies arrive and we all die?”

The eye narrowed.

Skies and stars!

I heard laughing and spun to see my mimic perched along the cliff. “You could go down there and kill a dragon or two. That would put a damper on things. Or you could tell her that if she agrees to this, you’ll leave her. She likes you. She’d have to take that threat seriously.”

“If you know what’s best for you,” I muttered, glaring at him. “You’ll stay behind me, mimic. You’re nothing but trouble.”

He was still laughing when I slunk back to my blanket and tried to sleep but sleep did not come easy. I couldn’t stop worrying about how I was going to find a place for Saboraak’s Drazenloft. I had no illusions that she would say no. She looked far too pleased at that ridiculous green frill.

I’ll have you know that the frill is a very attractive part of a male dragon.

I jammed my hands over my ears, but her laughter echoed in my mind anyhow.

Chapter Four

Zyla shook me awake the next morning and shoved a hot mug into my hands. I sipped at it, bleary-eyed.

“Come on, Tor,” she said, “you need to see this.”

My eyes went wide. “Golems?”

“No,” she laughed. “Come see for yourself.”

I followed her through the camp – what was left of it. The Green Dragon Riders already had most of it packed away and piled at the edge of the hill.

Saborak wasn’t sitting on her perch anymore. I felt a chill come over me and stopped. Where was she?

Zyla took my hand with a smile and pulled me to the edge of the hillside.

“Look,” she said. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Below us, inside the burnt symbol, Saboraak and Tachril lay in the grass, their heads on each other’s flanks like a pair of dogs in front of a fire. The other dragons slept in a ring around them. I sighed.

“This is going to complicate things,” I said.

“You’re telling me,” Nostar said, coming up from behind us with his own tea. “Think we can get them to fly again?”

“They’d better,” I said with a dark look. “A flood of golems is coming this way. They’ll have to wait to build their dragon city later.”

“Dragon city?” Nostar and Zyla asked at once, mirror looks of shock on their faces.

“That’s what that means,” I said, pointing to the two cuddled dragons. “That cute little display means that all those dragons down there plan to build their own dragon city together for the next few decades and the rest of us are going to just be dragged along for the ride! I hope they can at least hold off until we finish this war.”

Zyla clicked her tongue. “Don’t be so judgmental, Tor. You didn’t expect to be her whole life, did you?” She carefully folded a scarf in her hands as she spoke. “This is one of mine. Yours is a bit the worse for wear. Katlana spent the night rubbing it on a rock. Here.”

She reached up and tied the black scarf around my forehead, covering up the golden crown marks.

Nostar sighed and gave me a grim look, offering a hand. After a moment, I took it.

“Well, Tor. I guess we’re going to be getting to know each other pretty well. Ready to stop a war and then build a dragon city together?”

“They call it a Drazenloft,” I said, shaking his hand.

He chuckled. He was taking this better than I was. “How do you know all this?”

“Female dragons communicate telepathically,” I said.

“You mean she’s in your head all the time?”

I nodded and he laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. “Better you than me.”

“Alert!” A cry came from camp as Janes ran toward us. He was breathless. “Golems spotted to the north!”

I strained my eyes, but Nostar pulled a long thin tube from his coat and looked through it.

“Skies and stars! They’re not an hour away. We’d better hurry!”

“On land or in the sky?” I asked.

“Sky.”

“Can you take Katlana? Three is a big load for Saboraak.”

He nodded.

Saboraak! I called in my mind. Up! Up! They’re upon us!

She went from resting peacefully to leaping up into the air in seconds, Tachril only a wing-beat behind her. The other Greens swirled into the air like a tornado, landing around our makeshift camp. They’d hardly landed before their riders rushed forward, saddles and reins in hand.

Zyla trotted up and shoved Saboraak’s saddle into my hands. “I’ll get the rest.”

She was gone in a heartbeat as I threw the saddle over my dragon’s back. She was Green today. Of course.

“Don’t look so smug,” I told her as I tightened the belly straps.

You’re going to love the Greens, Saboraak said. They’re as adventure-loving and impulsive as you are!

One of me was bad enough. Two, if you counted the mimic.

And they aren’t nearly as cranky.

I wasn’t cranky. I was just dealing with the fact that my entourage was growing out of control.

Technically, you’re all my entourage.

“Keep telling yourself that,” I said, grabbing the bags that Zyla handed me and strapping them in place.

My mouth twisted into a worried frown. I was still frowning as I buckled into the saddle and Zyla buckled in behind me, still clasping her polearm. I was still frowning when we launched into the air in a flurry of wings. Still frowning as the golems chased us – black dots in a golden dawn sky. And then my frown began to fade. If they caught us, an extra six dragons might not be the worst thing. In fact, they might turn out to be a distinct help.

Told you so.

I frowned again.

Chapter Five

It was almost nightfall and we were well over the thick forest before it occurred to me to wonder if the golems were chasing us or herding us. I had thought we’d set the course in choosing to flee to Estabis, but what if we were being herded in that direction?

Katlana had remained close-lipped and though I liked having Zyla behind me, clinging to my back with warm arms, I would have liked to have more time to question Katlana.

“We could try other means,” Nostar had suggested quietly when we stopped for a break at noon. “But we can’t try that until nightfall and even then I’m worried about lessening her dose.”

“Dose?” I’d asked.

“Well, we can’t keep a Magika captive if she’s not dosed. You know that, right?”

I hadn’t known it. I’d been shocked when I realized that Nostar and his men had been giving her doses of a herbal concoction from the moment I’d handed her off to them last night.

“It makes it hard to concentrate,” Nostar had explained. “Too hard to do magic. It won’t hurt her long-term. If you’d actually been trained formally, you’d know all about it.”

I wanted to object, but I couldn’t see any other option. If we didn’t give her the doses, what would prevent her from escaping or even killing us even with her hands tied behind her back?

“But why didn’t she use magic against us when we were escaping?” I asked.

“That,” Nostar said, “is the question. Do you think it is possible that she wanted to be captured?”

“Why would she want that?”

“Perhaps she wanted you to lead her to where you were planning to rally troops. Or perhaps she wants something else from you. Either way, we must keep a careful eye on her.”

I had agreed with that.

And now, in the dark of the night, clinging to Saboraak’s back with a sleeping Zyla behind me, her dark head resting on my shoulder, I was worried about it again. Why had it been so easy to capture Katlana? What did she really want with us? And how could I keep her from getting it?

We’d left the golems far behind us, our faster speed working for us again. The dragons were growing tired but Nostar insisted that we push on to Estabis through the night.

“They can rest in the cotes when we arrive. Our mission is too important,” he said. He was focused, every feature of his face, every movement of his body pointing toward his destination, like a hunting dog. I was starting to like Nostar almost as much as I was worried about Saboraak.

She’d been distant since she accepted Tachril’s proposal. They flew level with each other, glancing often from one to the other and I felt my tension rising as the hours passed with her silent in my head.

“You’ve been replaced, boy-o,” my mimic suggested in the early evening. “Better hold on to Zyla or someone will sweep her away, too.”

“I haven’t been replaced,” I said with a scowl. “I can’t build a dragon city with her. It’s a different thing entirely.

“But it feels like you have, doesn’t it?” the mimic asked. “And it feels awful.”

It did feel awful. Even worse, Saboraak didn’t seem to notice that I felt awful. She was too busy making starry-love-eyes at Tachril.

“You should focus on something else,” my mimic said easily. “How about that Katlana? I knew it was a mistake for you to let her live. As soon as her next dose wears off, she’s going to grab her magic and kill you. Maybe you should arrange for her to have a little ‘accident’ first.”

I ignored him. But I didn’t shove him away as I should have. After all, most of me agreed with him. And it felt nice to have someone agree with me and understand how I felt, even if it was just a mirror of myself.

“We’re the same,” he reminded me as the lights of Estabis appeared on the horizon. “The very same.”

And I listened because I wanted to listen.

I fell asleep like that, my head bobbing on my chest until Zyla’s limp arms tightened and then she was holding me up and I was leaning back on her instead of the other way around. I relaxed into sleep, letting her strong arms hold me. It was different with me and Zyla than it was for Saboraak and Tachril. For starters, we weren’t complicating the lives of a half-dozen other people. And we also weren’t making anyone feel abandoned. And that was important.

Bitterness doesn’t suit you, Tor, Saboraak said, finally taking notice of me as I drifted off to sleep. I ignored her. After all, fair was fair.

I didn’t wake again until Zyla whispered in my ear. “Wake up, Tor. We’re almost there.”

“Estabis?” I asked sleepily, rubbing my blurry eyes.

“Yes. And we have a problem.”

Chapter Six

‘A problem’ was a mild way of putting it. Cold fear washed over me as I looked at the ground before the skycity of Estabis. I had hoped we would be in time. I had hoped that we were flying fast enough even with the delays. But we were too late.

Below us, lit with the rising dawn, the thick forest stopped abruptly, becoming the fields and roads surrounding the towering skycity. On the edges of the forest, miles long and three-deep stood motionless golems. As if the city had built a series of statue tributes to wolves, these golems sat in long rows, faces forward. Eyes dark.

Just like I had in the yellow rain, I felt a pull to them. I stared at one, wondering what it was that connected us. What possible kinship could there be between me and a thing of metal and magic?

As if I had called the golem’s name, his head lifted, eyes flaring to life. He looked up at me and I gasped.

That was all. The rest remained still and silent. It was just that one golem staring at me, following me with his head as we flew overhead. And I could feel, like something pulling at the edge of my cloak, every single one of them lined up there, looking at me, waiting for ... something.

My skin crawled worse than if I’d been covered in ants. I could almost see the future spinning out – these golems marching forward and covering the city. Or ... what if it went otherwise? What if it didn’t have to be that way? What if they turned around and marched the other way? I felt a barrier when I thought that, as if the threads simply wouldn’t spin that way. But in the center of their weaving was something soft – some single point in the weaving of the future that if pressed on, could change everything.

My hand flared cold at the thought. Truth. Interesting. If I could just find that point, that one place where a little pressure could change everything ...

Tor?

Done making moon-eyes for now, Saboraak?

Don’t be bitter. It’s not a good flavor for you.

Well, I don’t know about that. Hubric drinks something called caf and the bitterness is quite pleasant.

She sighed.

Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just strategizing to prevent a war. You go ahead and meld your heart with a group of Green dragons. Don’t mind me. I’m just the human on your back who thought he could count on you.

I’m sorry, Tor. I got ... caught up.

“This is your chance!” The mimic said, flaring to life. “Use this to get her attention back!”

Whatever he said, I should do the opposite. But it took a moment for me to collect myself enough to push him mentally away. Saboraak had been begging me to learn compassion. Shouldn’t I offer at least a little bit to her?

Your city had better be amazing, Saboraak. For the record, I’d prefer a place with a real bed. I don’t ever seem to get to sleep in one.

I could feel flickers of a smile through our connection.

And no golems. That’s a deal-breaker for me, I’m afraid.

I promise there won’t be golems.

And you name the first baby dragon after me.

Aren’t you demanding!

If I’m basically going to spend my life as a dragon babysitter, there should be some perks. Oh, and can you wait until we’re finished stopping this war? Because I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been a bit busy with armies of golems, mad Magikas, soul-stealing artifact dealers, and face-marking prophecies.

I did notice that, yes.

And that’s not really the best environment to raise a family in.

Tor?

Yes?

Can we just make peace without all the sass?

Then I wouldn’t be me.

“I caught most of that,” Zyla said from behind me. “It’s a good thing you two have made up. You know you’re lucky to have her, right?”

“Are all the women in my life telepathic?”

“Saboraak lets me listen in sometimes,” Zyla said a little too smugly.

I gritted my teeth. Were all women in a massive conspiracy against me or did it just feel that way sometimes? Now, even my own thoughts weren’t private!

“Maybe you should be thinking about what you’re going to say to the Castelan when we reach Estabis,” I suggested to Zyla.

“Me?” She sounded nervous.

“Well, you’re the one with the spy-knowledge, not me. You’re the one with the famous family. And you’re the one with the intimidating polearm in her hand. I’m not sure why you thought it would be anyone else.”

“You’re the one with a permanent crown on your face.”

I smirked. “That’s just to impress the ladies.”

“We are not impressed.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the shrinking sight of the line of golems. If only my worries could be limited to teasing Zyla instead of a war with inhuman enemies.

“Stand ready!” Nostar called from beside us and I turned my gaze forward again in time to see the Black dragons breaking off from circling the city to meet us in the air.

These ones had better be real. I couldn’t take one more encounter with a shadow city. I felt a creeping sensation reach up my spine and tickle the back of my neck. Those golems behind us weren’t shadows and if we didn’t find a way to stop them and the other golems rushing to join them from Woelran, shadows would be the least of my worries.

Chapter Seven

The Black dragon rider was impressive when he flew out to us. He was kitted out in full armor – I’d never seen a Dragon Rider in armor before.

His dragon was the largest I’d ever seen, almost double the size of Saboraak and the response of her Greens was surprising. They pulled tightly around her – so close that I could hear their riders cursing and yelling as wingtips brushed and tails whipped in the faces of other riders. Tachril’s throat frill flared again, as if challenging the bigger Black dragon and the Black pulled up short, a look of surprise on his rider’s face. The Black’s throat pulsed and then returned to normal, a jet of fire bursting from his mouth in a harmless direction.

“Steady!” I heard Nostar call.

The Black Dragon Rider cleared his throat. “All visitors are to be immediately escorted to the Castel for interrogation by Castelan Estabis. No exceptions.”

“We are pleased to comply,” Nostar said. “I am Castelan Nostar Kaardis, Dragon Rider of the Green and this is my wing.”

“Greetings, Kaardis. I am Castelan Lee Estabis, son of the reigning Castelan and Dragon Rider of the Black. I apologize for the ... peculiarity of our circumstances,” he glanced at his dragon whose head was weaving back and forth as if trying to get a good look at Saboraak through her wing of dragons. “I’m afraid our current situation necessitates all caution.” His last words were clearly for the Black dragon. “Calm, Isitdor! Calm, now!”

The dragon flipped his head like he wanted anything but calm and Estabis made a clicking sound in response.

“I don’t know what spirit has possessed him! We will escort you to the peak of the Castel. You will land there, and the humans will dismount. You may leave a single Dragon Rider with your dragons to help us bring them to the cotes. They will be cared for during your interview. Understood?”

“Yes, Castelan,” Nostar said.

My eyes were wide. When I’d told Hubric I wanted to be a Dragon Rider this is what I’d imagined. Noble warriors on strong dragons meeting officially in front of cities, issuing orders in grand tones, sitting tall and straight in gleaming armor. Maybe someday ...

You’d never catch me flying around like a pretty show-horse. That Isitdor has far too high of an opinion of himself.

He looked like he ate other dragons for breakfast.

He’s not the quickest on the uptake. He thinks he could take out Tachril’s entire wing to win me as a consort. Fool.

Dealing with dragon romances was definitely not what I’d signed up for. I didn’t have the knitting needles to play match-maker. That was more of a grandmother’s role.

In dragon lands, it is the role of the best friend.

I wasn’t scaly enough, then.

We flew toward the skycity of Estabis, Lee and four other Black Dragon Riders escorting us. It was late afternoon and the city was abuzz with activity, the streets teeming with people. Swarms of colorful dragons leapt in puffs from the sides of the cities, their riders directing them in every direction except north. Interesting.

I felt excitement and trepidation in an equal mix. I’d never seen a Castelan in his audience room. And I still loved the sights and smells of a city. But my memory of Woelran was too fresh. For every bakery I smelled below, I could remember a shadowy one from that city that had turned out to be nothing but a hollow shell. For every bright dragon in the sky, the memory of the empty cotes haunted me. For every bustling street, I remembered the empty streets of Woelran.

This place had better not be as disappointing as I feared.

We followed Lee Estabis and his Black dragon to the apex of the city – the courtyard of the Castel. Someone at some point had been thinking. There was a raised platform in the courtyard made from the same skysteel as the city and big enough for five dragons to land easily.

Lee leapt off Isitdor the thick-headed and one of the other Black Dragon Riders grabbed his reins, tugging him back up into the sky and making room as Tachril landed with Nostar and Katlana, followed quickly by each of the others until there was only Saboraak left to land. Letina on Nazscal was left to tend to the dragons.

Saboraak set down nervously.

You’ll be okay in this Castel?

She was worried about me? I was worried about her.

I have my wing. I’ll be fine.

I have my wit.

So, you’re saying I should worry?

I snorted and leapt off her back. I reached up to help Zyla but she was already on the ground raising a single eyebrow at me.

“Save your chivalry for when there’s only one cup of tea left.”

I chuckled and followed her toward Lee Estabis, but my chuckle died in my throat at his approving look. His eyes traveled from her polearm to her swaying walk. Seriously. Was everyone in the Dominion going crazy? They all had romance on the mind? It wasn’t even spring yet and they were all engaged in one love-dance or another. I rolled my eyes and followed.

Lee Estabis led us through the halls of the Castel. The guards we passed saluted promptly at each doorway, their boots loud on the stone floor. A maid squeaked, darting out of our path with her arms full with a laundry basket.

So far, they all looked real. But I couldn’t shake the worry that they might fade to mist a moment’s notice.

I was so busy staring at each face as it passed that I had fallen to the back of the group by the time we reached the tall doors that led to the Castelan’s audience room. Zyla was in the front of the group, a determined expression on her face and the Green Dragon Riders swaggered between us with their usual carefree panache.

As we reached the large doors, a figure in black leather with green scarves tied around her neck, elbows, and thighs came strutting out. Her high boots came well over the knee and her arrogant look jarred against the half-braided, half-loose jumble of her dragon rider hair. A few tiny ornaments and feathers were tied in that dark mass, but her level gaze was firm in her wide eyes.

“I’ll take it from here, brother,” she said.

Chapter Eight

“Tor Winespring,” she said, putting her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowing. “And where is Hubric?”

“Where’s Ephretti?” I quipped back. I knew Lenora. Those black Dragon Rider leathers must still squeak they were so new. The last time I’d seen her she’d been tagging after Ephretti as an apprentice like a puppy behind a hunting dog. While I had given Ephretti my complete loyalty, Lenora never fully trusted me.

“And what tricks are you up to today, Tor?”

“The trick of saving your skinny hide, Lenora.”

Her eyebrows shot up. If she expected sweet-talk and a submissive spirit, she’d need to adjust her expectations.

She frowned and when Zyla and Nostar turned to me, their frowns matched hers. What? She started it.

“Last I heard, you were nothing but a sneaking street rat scuttling around trying to con your way into a meal,” Lenora said.

“Last I heard, you were licking Ephretti’s boots hoping she’d raise you to a Color someday.”

For Dragon Rider Apprentices there were stages. There were the brand-new trainees, then Initiates who could actually be trusted to ride, then Sworn – those who had sworn in person to defend the Dominar – then a Color chose you and then last of all, they would raise you to full Dragon Rider. I wasn’t any of those things. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t needle Lenora about it. She was born noble and being teased about her low rank in the Dragon Rider world always set her teeth on edge – and that was the only edge I was likely to get if she was running things. She was too smart to be manipulated into anything and far too suspicious of me to be sweet-talked.

Around me, I saw the Greens hiding smirks.

“You’re late, Tor. Eventen told us to expect you hours ago.”

I paled at her words, all teasing gone.

“He’s here?” I asked.

But she didn’t give me an answer, she simply turned and opened the doors, leading us through them into the audience room.

Zyla led the way, head held high. I could count on her. Which was good, because my eyes were on Katlana. She walked like she was here as a guest, despite the fact that her hands were still tied and Nostar was still pushing her forward.

“This is bad!” My mimic said, sauntering beside me. “You and I both know he is a part of all this. He was at Woelran leading those golems.”

But how could he have led them? I saw them following the Gold dragon he rode, but only Magikas could lead golems.

“You don’t know that.”

Katlana told me that.

“You can’t trust her. Why was it so easy to capture her? Why hasn’t she used her magic since? She flew for hours on Saboraak’s back in front of you and she just lay there. She didn’t try any tricks and Nostar didn’t dose her until you gave her to him that night. Something is up.”

Katlana looked over her shoulder at me, a ghost of a smile on her cat-like face. She was venom in a tight leather suit. A copperhead walking where a woman should be.

I shivered.

I hadn’t been in rooms like the audience room before, but it was easy to dismiss it. There were rich rugs and vases on tables and fancy statues and lots of room for people to stand around a raised chair. Typical rich-people trappings. Someone else might have seen significance in their choices of which vase or which rug, but to me, they just said money and power. I had neither. And I’d been just fine without them all my life.

“You probably could get both if you played your hand right ...” my mimic suggested.

We weren’t here for that. We were here to stop a war. And then we’d be on our way. Saboraak had a Drazenloft to build after all.

It warms my heart that you are adopting my goals, Tor.

Yeah. Well. It wasn’t like I had a better plan, and dandling baby dragons from my knee seemed like a better option than dying alone on a cold battlefield.

You can pretend all you want, but I know that you’re secretly excited about our plan.

The Castelan was younger than I thought he would be. His hair was still dark and curling and his short beard was a little wild. His eyes crinkled around the edges as his son introduced us. I would have trusted him under normal circumstances – he practically exuded trustworthiness.

But Eventen stood at the Castelan’s side looking powerful and superior. His little smile made me want to shove him down a well.

My mimic laughed at the thought and began to hum ‘The Farmer in the Well’ a song from our childhood.

“Welcome to Estabis Castel!” the Castelan said.

Zyla, then Nostar, greeted him. They were explaining the situation – the golems we’d seen circling the city, the golems chasing us from Woelran, what we had seen in the city.

But I wasn’t listening to them. I was watching Eventen.

His smile hadn’t slipped at all. I was watching the tiny glances he and Katlana shared. Somehow – I didn’t know how – they were communicating.

I could feel Lenora’s gaze on the back of my neck watching for what I would do and I could hear my mimic making snide comments about the Castelan as he circled the group.

This was spinning out of control. Any moment now, Eventen would speak and all eyes would turn to him. Somehow, he’d wormed his way into this rich room with these rich people. The Castelan wasn’t even looking at him. He was close enough to be stabbed by Eventen and he didn’t spare him a glance. Any moment now, Eventen would offer up a plan and everyone would know it was right and they would listen and this city would fall. Just like Woelran.

I didn’t know how I knew it, but I knew.

And then suddenly, I could see the threads spinning again, weaving the future and I could see the soft spot coming up. That one point that needed to be pressed.

“Enough!” I said firmly.

The silence that blossomed suddenly was not a friendly silence. The Castelan’s eyebrows rose. Fury filled Lee Estabis’ face and irritation filled Eventen’s. Even Zyla and Nostar were frowning. I didn’t bother looking at Lenora. I knew she thought I was a fool. But I had no choice. I needed to stick my finger in that spot and change what was about to happen and I needed to do it now.

“We’re wasting time. And I don’t think you want to do that, Castelan.”

“I – ” he began, but I cut him off.

“You have a skycity bustling with people – lives you are sworn to defend and protect. A sky city seems impenetrable. Until you see what a golem can do. A single one can savage this city, tearing a path of death and destruction through the heart of it as fast as you can blink. It doesn’t matter that you are high above the plains. A creature like that is magic and metal and death. It can climb the stem of the city and creep over the whole of it like descending night. And that’s just one. What will happen when there are hundreds of them attacking? You know there are hundreds standing on the edge of the forest. And hundreds more following. What could they do to this place? Would it last five minutes?”

“Who are you to ask me that?” the Castelan asked, his face white.

“Who are you?” my mimic echoed. I shoved him away mentally. I didn’t need his doubt right now.

“You let this traitor stand beside you – Eventen. He was there when we fled Woelran,” I said. “He is working with our prisoner, Katlana Woelran.”

“I was not at Woelran,” Eventen said quietly, a slight smirk still on his lips. “I left the House of Healing as soon as you left me after I healed you, and I came straight here to help the Castelan. Ask him yourself. I arrived yesterday.”

That couldn’t be possible.

“He presented himself to my father yesterday morning,” Lenora said quietly behind me.

Not possible. But my scar flared cold with truth.

My mind was racing, but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, I knew what future would be woven here.

“He has been working with Castelan Katlana Woelran. And she leads the golem armies of Shabren the Violet.”

“Who is that?” Katlana asked coolly.

“I’m afraid I’ve never met Castelan Woelran before,” Eventen said, still smiling as if to a foolish child. “Though of course, I know her reputation as an accomplished Magika. Strange that she would allow you to capture her if she were truly an enemy.”

My scar – my gift from the World of Legends flared hot. I didn’t need it to know he was lying. But how had he arrived here so quickly?

“I didn’t want to hurt the boy,” Katlana said, the tie falling from her hands as she moved them easily to the front of her body, extending a hand and forming a tiny glowing fireball above it with a satisfied smile. “I was certain that eventually, he would bring me to where adults could make clear-headed judgments.”

My scar was hot with her lies.

“Indeed,” Castelan Estabis said. “We seem to have ourselves an interesting situation here. While I have the utmost respect for Dragon Riders, Nostar, and your family reputation is a good one and while I respected your father very much Zyla Cloudspinner, I also must think of my neighbors. We have no quarrel with Woelran. And Eventen assured me that rumors of golems are greatly exaggerated.”

“Is the line of golems on your treeline exaggerated?” I asked quietly.

“They are here for our protection. There are rumors that the north is preparing for battle. Dear Eventen brought them to us to protect us. By what marvel they have been created, he can not say, but they obey him perfectly. They have not harmed us or our people. They certainly have not torn ‘a path of death and destruction’ through our city as you claim.”

I opened my mouth and he held up a hand. His fatherly face gentle. “We will give your claims due investigation. Until then, the Castelan Katlana Woelran, Eventen Shadereaver, and his Gold dragon Lavanoy are our guests. You others are also our guests. You will keep the peace of Estabis and stay here in my Castel. You will not spread wild rumors or trouble here, do you understand?”

“There isn’t time for this,” I said quietly. “A messenger must be sent to Dominion City with the news of imminent invasion. And your civilians must flee Estabis immediately. We must set up defenses, call in any dragons or soldiers we can from the area. Alert neighboring cities.”

“Enough.” The Castelan’s eyes met mine.

“It’s not enough,” I objected.

“Enough, or you will find yourself in a prison cell instead of as a guest of this house.”

My jaw snapped shut but the fury in my mind drowned out the sounds of Zyla and Nostar thanking the Castelan. It roared, flaring hotter with every cool smile from Eventen or Katlana. I couldn’t hear a word.

How could they be so blind? How could they ignore the obvious? And how was I going to convince them to take all of this seriously?

I had never considered that my warning might not be heeded. Had this happened in Vanika? Had my own city been destroyed because our Castelan ignored warnings that were right before his eyes? How many people were living their lives in the city below just as I had – completely unaware that war was hours away?

I let them lead me to the cluster of rooms we’d been assigned. There was a common room between the bedrooms of Zyla, the Green riders and me. Unfortunately, the Castelan had assigned rooms to Katlana and Eventen elsewhere. If he’d left them here, I would have at least had a chance to try ...

“Try what?” My mimic mocked me. “You had the chance to kill her and you didn’t take it. You wouldn’t be able to do anything, even if they were tied up and defenseless like lambs before feast day.”

I hated that he was right. And I hated that I didn’t know what to do next. The soft spot hadn’t been soft enough and now the threads were weaving faster than I could see them move.

Chapter Nine

“We need three things,” I said as the door shut behind us. “We need to get the innocents out of this city. That’s priority one.”

“And what?” Zyla asked. “Send them out into the plains to be killed there? Golems might be slower than dragons, but they are faster than people, and our seven dragons will not be enough to stop an entire army.”

She threw herself down on a stuffed sofa – a luxurious seat at the center of the common room. I pulled up a more sensible wooden chair. We weren’t here to enjoy palace life. We were here to save this city – if we could. And stop a war. If we could. And rub Eventen’s nose in it. That was more of a personal goal, though.

“At the base of Vanika, there was a door into a tunnel network used by dragons to go from place to place all over the Dominion,” I said. “It was called the warrens.”

“I’ve never heard of that,” Nostar said. “Are you sure we can’t just wait this out. The Castellan will send someone to Woelran to investigate. They will see that the city isn’t right.”

“Did you see it when you first arrived?” I asked.

He sighed. “We didn’t spend the night.”

“And in daylight, it looks safe,” I agreed. “What if the scouts arrive in daylight and depart at the same time?”

How did a city of shadows even exist? There must be powerful magic at work there.

“They’ll see the golems in the forest coming here,” Nostar said. “It’s impossible to miss that.”

“But they think those golems are allies of Eventen meant for his protection. That’s goal two. We need to find out how he got here so quickly and what he and Katlana are planning together.”

Nostar cleared his throat. “We were delayed by the ... dance ... our dragons did. Remember?”

“It would be hard to forget how our friendship began,” I said dryly. “Speaking of which, why are you still on our side? It would be easier to just go with what the Castelan and Eventen are saying.”

“I saw what I saw,” Nostar said. And then he grabbed a chair and pulled it up to sit with us. “And I know Tachril. I’ve been his rider for ten years. If this is what he wants and you are the people attached to his dragon, then we’re in things together.”

There was a murmur of agreement from the other Greens as they pulled up their own chairs.

“Together,” Jordil said for the rest.

I smiled. Allies were a rare thing. Friends even rarer.

“My father had a map to the warrens,” Zyla said, breaking our moment of comradery.

“What?” I couldn’t help my widening eyes.

Zyla always managed to surprise me. She smiled – like the sun breaking through the clouds and pulled a worn leather pouch from under her clothing.

“You should expect brilliance from me by now, Tor Winespring.” She winked.

I certainly expected to be caught off-guard. She never failed at that.

“But in fairness, this is my father’s brilliance. He studied old maps and ciphers. He plotted out most of the entrances and the way to use the guideposts.” Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know about them?”

“I saw the Dominar go down through the doorway to them. She brought an entire army with her. I didn’t know that you needed to do anything more than walk on them. But you should know that it took hours to get her whole army into those warrens And they were ready to ride.”

She laughed, pulling a worn paper from the pouch and then secretively tucking the rest away again. She spread it gently across her lap.

“The warrens are dangerous. Especially to anyone in a hurry, but we can take these people to any of the Dragon Lands or the skycities.”

“All of the people?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Most likely. If they had me to guide them.”

Our eyes met. It would mean splitting up. I could see she was as troubled by the idea as I was.

“And it’s dangerous?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said with a feeble smile. “But no more dangerous than I am.”

I loved her courage. She would face down a dragon if she had to.

“We just need to convince them to go,” Nostar said.

The door to the common room crashed open, hitting the wall as the person behind us stormed into the room.

“Tor Winespring, you will be the death of me! I thought Ephretti was exaggerating about how much trouble you could be, but she didn’t tell me the half of it!”

I gave Lenora my most charming grin. When people were this mad at me, it usually worked in my favor.

“So, you believe me, then,” I said.

“The golems on the treeline have started to move,” Lenora said her face still a thunderhead.

I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think they’re coming to throw everyone a party.”

Chapter Ten

It was amazing how far you could see from the peaks of the Castel. I climbed the last set of stairs to one of the flat-topped towers. Lenora had suggested it.

“Go get a look for yourself while Zyla and I plan the exodus,” she said. The women were irritated with me. But could a guy help it if he wanted to get started right away? They sat with their heads together making lists – lists of supplies, lists of pack animals, lists of what districts to empty first and in what priority, of how to move the sick and the injured.

A single hour into the planning and they’d had four clerks brought in and more pens and ink than I’d seen in one place all scritching and scratching away until my mimic was literally climbing the walls and doing flips from the ceiling beams.

Nostar had been sent out to find Lee Estabis and bring him to Lenora. Meanwhile, the other Dragon Riders had been sent on their own missions to liaise with the heads of the Dragon Riders in the city.

“Do it quietly,” Lenora had warned them. “I will talk to my father, but I want to present him a plan ready and achievable first. He and Eventen are close. Eventen will tear any half-cooked plan apart and then my father will disregard it. We need a plan that’s ready to go and we need it before those golems get too far.”

“They’re already too far,” I’d said. “People need to move now. Messengers need to be sent now. Defenses need to be set up and supplies rationed and – ”

“Enough!” Lenora had snapped. “Don’t think you’re the only one who has seen war, Tor. Go climb to the top of the Castel and assess our enemy. We need that for the plans and you’re doing nothing here.”

Nothing! I was being brushed aside while everyone else did the important work. I already knew what kind of numbers we were facing – massive. I knew how quickly they were coming – too quickly. I already knew our chances of survival – thin. And the chance of saving anyone in this whole skycity – growing smaller by the second.

I didn’t need to look for myself to see that.

But now that I was here, I was glad I’d come. I had a tube like Nostar’s that Lenora had shoved at me. A ‘spyglass’ she called it. With a name like that, I should have had one a long time ago.

The golems were moving. But they were moving at a slow creep. My brow furrowed as I tried to think why they didn’t rush down upon us like the army of metal wolves that they were.

“Maybe they are waiting for something,” my mimic said from beside me. His hands were clenched and his face pale. I felt the sweat on my own forehead cooling in the breeze at the top of the tower.

“But what? We’re sitting here ripe for the taking. This whole city is carrying on as if nothing is happening. Look at the Black Dragons circling for defense. How many do you think are there? Twenty?”

“About that,” the mimic agreed.

“And say they have shifts – three or four a day, then there are what, sixty or eighty Black Dragons? Plus any others in the cotes.”

I tried to think back to how many dragons were in the cotes at Vanika. There were always a few visiting of the various colors. Purples delivering messages. Whites on healing missions or collecting supplies for medicines. Golds settling disputes. Greens off on adventures. Reds usually traveled in larger groups, ready to fight or carrying out training exercises. So, definitely no more than the Black Dragons stationed here. Perhaps as many as forty to sixty. So in total, we might have anywhere from one hundred to one hundred and forty dragons. That would help. There might be Magikas. But that was unlikely in the current political situation.

“And even more unlikely that they would be on our side,” my mimic mused.

“Can so few dragons defend against all those golems?” I asked aloud.

“I’d say there are maybe three or four hundred below, plus more on their way,” the mimic said and my heart sank as he said it. That was my assessment, too.

“Unlikely,” a voice said from behind me and I spun to see Katlana join me along the battlement looking out at the sky city layered beneath us and the plains far below in every direction.

My jaw clenched and my fists balled at my sides.

“I wouldn’t,” she said with a smirk. “Oh, I wouldn’t. That will only get you in trouble with the local Castelan. And do you really want to watch all this play out from a prison cell?”

“Kill her!” my mimic demanded.

“He sure does hate me,” Katlana said. “Shabren was right about him, though. He’s the key to you somehow.”

Her head tilted as she studied the mimic.

“You can see him, too?” That was worrying.

“Any half-trained Magika could see a shadow like that,” she said casually. “And I am more than half-trained.”

“I should have listened to him back in Woelran,” I said.

She barked a laugh. “You couldn’t have killed me then just like you can’t kill me now. You aren’t a killer. It’s not in your make-up. You didn’t even kill Shabren when you had the chance, not even after everything he did to you. But didn’t you notice how easy it was for you to capture me? Why do you think that was?”

“Because you’re terrible at being a villain?” I asked.

“Nice one!” my mimic said, and my jaw clenched. If he couldn’t shut up, he’d ruin everything.

“Your quips aren’t as witty as you think they are,” Katlana said drily. “No, Tor, you were my ticket here. There was no guarantee that Eventen would be able to make that old relic work or that he’d be welcomed with such open arms when he arrived here. No, we needed a backup plan. I’m not Shabren the Violet. I don’t go chasing off after every hare until one turns out to be a pounce-cat. I plan. I make sure that ... sacrifices ... are worth it.”

There was a sadness in her eyes and I felt my mimic shuffle nervously. I took a long step back from the edge of the battlement. What was she suggesting? What sacrifice was she going to make?

“Why not let Eventen do the sacrificing?” I suggested, testing her. “After all, he’s the one with the dragon-sized chip on his shoulder.”

She snorted. “Haven’t you realized Tor that it isn’t the worst of people who make sacrifices? It’s the best of people. It’s the people with true devotion to an idea who will do anything to make it happen. After all, you were willing to go head-to-head with Apeq in the World of Legends, weren’t you? And I ... I was willing to sacrifice the city I grew up in and the family I loved ...” her eyes were glassy and her lip trembled as she spoke. “because it must be done. Because this is the only way that magic has a future. Can you imagine a world without magic, Tor? A world without skycities like this one?”

“That might suit me just fine, Katlana,” I said. “Magic has been nothing but trouble for me.”

“Really?” Her knowing grin sparked doubts. “Hasn’t magic given you a family? That dragon? That girl? Hasn’t it dragged you up from obscurity and marked you as someone special? Without it, you’d just be another dirty piece of human trash.”

I felt my face coloring.

“She’s right,” my mimic chimed in – always helpful. “You wouldn’t even have me without magic.”

If he thought that would persuade me, he was dead wrong.

“If we lose the magic of this world,” Katlana said, her words so heavy they fell from her lips like lead. “We lose everything.”

“The best things don’t come from power,” I said. “And that’s all that magic is. Another form of power. Power can protect. Power can build. But the very best things can’t be forced. The very best things can only be given.”

“That’s too chaotic for me. I can’t trust that good will just come out of nowhere. I need to make it happen. I need to plan. I need to hammer out a future with my genius and skill and even my own soul. The problem is that we aren’t the ones who get to benefit from it. The people who reap the benefits are the ones who wouldn’t sacrifice, who wouldn’t plan, who wouldn’t stand up and fight. And somehow it’s going to be up to them to make all this worth it.”

I swallowed. Her words were making me feel ... wait. My hand had been cold this whole time. My words were true. But so were hers. True for her, perhaps? True for the future she wanted? What was truth?

“I’m glad I met you,” she said, as if I wasn’t deep in my own thoughts questioning everything as she spoke. “I’m glad you were part of this journey. It has helped me ... solidify ... my thoughts on this. It’s helped me really believe that we need magic. After all, Tor, the man you are right now looking over a golem army and determined to fight it – that man? – he wouldn’t even exist without magic.”

Her smile was sad and certain all at once. She turned and strode away leaving me feeling like I should say something. Like I should do something.

But what?

I looked back at the approaching creep of the dark army below us and swallowed. What would I be planning if I was Katlana?

Chapter Eleven

“Isn’t it enough that she’s planning to keep the Castelan from preparing for this attack?” my mimic asked, his dark hair lit at the edges by the afternoon sun.

And yet I was sure there was something more. If it were me planning this attack, I would want more than that. And she didn’t need to sneak in here to do that. She’d indicated that she didn’t know for sure that the Castelan would be on her side in this.

“What are you doing here?” a man’s voice demanded.

Really? Did everyone climb up ten stories for a look at the view? Where did a guy have to go around here to make battle plans?

I turned lazily to indicate that I didn’t jump for just anyone, only to see Lenora’s strapping brother standing there.

“I think Nostar’s looking for you,” I said, turning back to watch the golems.

“I asked you what you’re doing here, and I want a response,” he said, striding up to stand beside me.

Now, there was a man who looked like a hero. He was bulky with muscle and armor and he still moved lightly on his feet. You’d never see me dancing around carrying a bunch of metal around like it was a cape of feathers for feast day.

“Just watching the army of golems that’s going to destroy your entire city,” I said lazily. If he didn’t care about the fate of his people, why should he expect me to?

“My father knows what he’s doing,” Lee Estabis said.

“And when those metal monsters arrive?”

He sighed. “We aren’t so feeble as you think. If they attack – and Eventen says they will not – then we can fight. We have dragons. We have soldiers. Our men are brave and strong. And we have defenses you don’t even know about.”

“Defenses that can save that entire population? Wow. You guys must have magic like I’ve never heard of before.”

He clenched his jaw irritably. “Maybe we do, boy.”

“And what, you’ll extend it over the whole city?”

“The people would need to come to the Castel,” he said through clenched teeth.

Uh oh. The defense – whatever it was – was in the Castel? And Katlana said that she needed to get to the Castel with my help. It’s why she let me take her captive because she was sure I’d come here next and bring her to the Castelan.

I grabbed Lee’s shoulder trying to spin him to look at me, but he threw my hand off with a slight shrug.

“Lee Estabis,” I said through clenched teeth. “You have a special weapon here that can thwart the army marching on your city. And you have two traitors in the Castel.”

“I’m standing with the person we’re most worried about,” he said wryly. “Why do you think I looked for you here?”

“Lenora trusts me.”

“Lenora is blinded by her time with Ephretti Oakboon – that religious zealot. We know Eventen. He has long been our friend. He has brought us gifts over the years and help. We don’t know you. And we don’t believe you.”

“Where is that weapon?” I asked warily.

He snorted. “As if I would tell you.”

“You need to secure it. You need to do that now.”

Because if I was Katlana, that’s what I’d be here to sacrifice myself to stop.

“Me, too,” my mimic agreed.

Lee gave me a suspicious look. “That would lead you right to it.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes and leaning on the battlement to look down as I tried to collect my thoughts. How did I get Lee to trust me? How did I change his mind about Eventen and Katlana?

There were other towers on the Castel below this one. I could see three from where I was leaning. I watched as Katlana strode through the entrance below me onto the top of one of those other towers. From here she looked small. She was only recognizable by her distinct leathers. At least she wasn’t near any secret weapon.

At the far end of that tower, leaning on a battlement just like me, another small figure looked out over the army creeping toward us. On either side of that tiny figure, two other figures stood. Katlana strode toward them. Maybe that was her thing. Meaningful conversations on the edge of the tower. Maybe she said whatever it took to shake a person up. Maybe she didn’t mean any of it.

I wished I could believe that.

“My father keeps our weapon secure,” Lee said. “Nothing will happen to it.”

There wasn’t a weapon on the planet that could keep those golems back. Was there? But if there was, that could explain why they were moving so slowly.

“You shouldn’t be so sure,” I said. “You should be worried like I am. You should be leaning here on the battlement just like me, assessing the threat and trying to find a way out of it.”

Where were those threads of the future now when I needed to see them spin? All I saw still was that one soft spot and no way to press on it at all.

Lee chuckled. “I don’t have to, Tor Winespring. Look down at that tower.” He pointed to the figures Katalana was joining on the battlement below. “My father watches with his guard. He looks. He assesses. You think you are the only one here who cares? How like a young man! We watch. We care. Even now, my father prepares contingencies in case Eventen is wrong.”

The pattern sprung up at his words and it seemed to me as if it was brighter – thicker – more certain than before and that soft spot ... it was shrinking.

As Katlana crossed the last steps to the Castelan on the battlement, the spot grew smaller and smaller and suddenly I knew.

“Lee, your father wouldn’t happen to be the weapon, would he?”

I should have listened to my mimic. I should have killed her. But he didn’t know what I knew – that I was no murderer.

Katlana was. And if my hunch was right, she was about to do the one thing she couldn’t have done from the outside. She was about to cripple this city and destroy its defenses in one blow.

“As if I’d – ”

“Stop!” the word was wrenched from my throat, but I couldn’t possibly have screamed loudly enough or run fast enough to make a difference. “Stop her!”

Already, a green orb danced in Katlana’s hands, expanding and rising to cover her, and still expanding alike a green bubble in a world-sized swamp.

The Castelan spun, his guards running forward, his own hands springing up and lightning forming in them as he prepared his defense. Katlana’s bubble was too quick. It swallowed them and the entire top of the tower in the space of a heartbeat.

Lee was still gasping beside me – still not able to form his own words – when the bubble rippled and then a boom shook the skycity, flinging us both backward.

I flew through the air, landing hard on the stone tower top. My ears were ringing, sound upon sound. Light flared and popped in bursts across my vision. Colors and sensations rocked me.

No time, Tor! No time to be dazed.

I shoved myself to my feet, rocking dangerously. I didn’t know if it was the tower swaying under me or my own balance but there wasn’t time for that – not for any of that.

I stumbled forward, my steps splaying out like a newborn animal. I caught myself on the stone battlement and leaned forward, gripping the stone hard to avoid pitching over the side.

I needed to see. I needed to know.

The top of the tower below was gone. Dust, falling masonry and a rising cloud were all that was left where once a tower had stood.

Chapter Twelve

A wavering hand clapped onto my shoulder and I looked back to see Lee Estabis yelling something at me. I couldn’t hear him. My ears rang too hard to hear anything.

All I felt was shock just like his. What could have done that? What insane magic would tear apart a tower and the people in it in the blink of an eye?

Around the base of where the tower had stood people scrambled like ants from a kicked anthill in the orange glow of the setting sun. Some ran from the still-tumbling masonry. Some rushed forward, helping people out of the wreckage.

I felt a pull from far in the distance. I tore my eyes away from the chaos below to look for the pull. I gasped, a tight grip clenching around my chest, choking all air from me as I struggled with what I saw.

The golem army was no longer creeping forward. They sped toward us dragon-fast. Whatever they had been waiting for had happened. Castelan Estabis must have been the secret weapon. Katlana had known that. And somehow these golems knew it, too.

Fear shot up my spine, clouding my mind with a surge of clawing, desperate fear. I wanted to run. I wanted to leap off the tower onto Saboraak and fly away. I wanted to fly as far and as fast as she could go and we’d worry about what to eat or drink or what to do next when we were far, far from this army of mindless, heartless magic creations.

But where would we go? Would they not wash over city after city until there was nothing left in the Dominion but shadow cities? And then what? Would they surge south to the Lands of Haz’drazen and take the dragons next? Could even a dragon army stand up to them?

I looked back to the fallen tower. Ours swayed, still rocking from the blow to its sister tower. Katlana did that. That was her one powerful sacrifice, wasn’t it?

What would mine have to be?

Lee shook my shoulder and his words were starting to penetrate.

“Coming ... fast!”

Yeah. I noticed that, big guy. I might not be a mighty Castelan but I could see Death rushing toward us on a thousand legs as easily as the nobly born.

“You should run,” my mimic said, picking at his nails as if this was no concern to him. “You can, you know. These other poor fools are stuck here. Don’t be like Katlana. Sacrifice is for zealots. You’re no zealot.”

But Katlana was my fault. She said she had let me capture her so that I would bring her here for this exact purpose. She needed access. She needed me. And I’d played into her hands like a fool.

I ground my teeth, nodding to Lee’s gestures to follow him. I wasn’t running anywhere. This was my fault. And it was up to me to fix it.

I wasn’t one of those responsible people who cared for other people more than themselves, but even I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I fled right now. I had a powerful dragon while there were still kids on those streets who were just like I had been when Vanika fell – powerless and resourceless. How could I just run away and leave them here?

I gritted my teeth and chased after Lee. He was fast. Faster than you’d expect from a hulk of muscle and metal.

He ran down the steps so fast that I was certain one of us was going to trip. As soon as we hit the floor of the corridor below, he skidded into a full sprint. It was all I could do to keep up, huffing and fighting for breath as he yelled orders to servants and guards along the way.

“The city is under attack! Report to your commanders, men!” he yelled as we passed the guards.

“Gather in the kitchens!” he called to the servants, adding frustrated remarks as they tried to gather their things. “The broom won’t save you! Leave it! Hurry!”

Older servants frowned at first but leapt at his fierce calls.

We practically flew when we came to the next staircase. There were nobles here in the upper apartments. Lee was no gentler with them.

“Are we under attack, Castelan Estabis?” one of the women asked grandly, her nose held high.

“Gather in the kitchens,” he barked.

“The kitchens?” the man beside her looked outraged. There was a knot of them there, men and women, young and old, clustered in a clutch of pride and skepticism.

Lee grabbed the man by the coat, pulling him in close.

“You like living, Castelan Fabinis? Then get to the kitchens and take these others with you!”

“Our things ...” the older woman began but he cut her off.

“Can be replaced! Can your daughter be replaced?” He pointed to a pretty girl with long dark hair and slanted eyes.

Their faces firmed and they began to nod, already hurrying off to do as he’d told them.

Lee Estabis, it occurred to me, was a good leader.

Maybe he didn’t need me after all.

We hurried down the corridor, leaving people scurrying in our wake, turning to rush down the next stairway. I’d ended up in front of Lee somehow. I barrelled through the corner and ran smack into Zyla.

“Tor!” her face was pale with surprise and then she threw her arms around me and kissed me.

“We’re in trouble,” I said when we broke apart.

“I thought you were dead!”

“Oh, it’s worse than that.”

Lee Estabis snorted a laugh.

“Lenora is gathering the people in the kitchens and storerooms. From there we can access the city stem and start to ferry people below to where I can guide them in the warrens,” Zyla said. “The entrance to the warrens is in the base of the city stem.”

I knew that. I’d helped the Dominar find the base of Vanika so that she could take that same journey. I seemed to remember that not everyone had survived it.

“Zyla,” I said, gripping her hand – maybe a bit too tight. She flinched. “The warrens are dangerous.”

The determined look that filled her face looked like it was chiseled from rock. “They’re the only chance we have of getting anyone out at all, Tor. How long do you think we have?”

“Hours?”

“Maybe less,” Lee said grimly.

“We need you to organize the people above. Funnel as many as you can to us in the Castel storerooms and we will take them to the warrens. We didn’t finish the evacuation plan and we’re just going to have to work with what we have. Lenora will organize them above and I will lead the expedition. She already has a squad of guards assigned to help me.”

“You’ll need more than that,” I said.

“We’ll need them as badly here,” Lee said quietly.

I swallowed. I didn’t want to think about what we were all thinking. Estabis was a big city. And it was filled with innocents. Children so small they couldn’t walk on their own. Pregnant mothers. Big-eyed children no higher than my waist. There was no way we could possibly get them all out.

“You have to go right now. We’re wasting precious seconds,” I said, kissing the top of her head. It felt physically painful to send her away – like part of me was being ripped away. “Be careful in those caverns, Zyla. You aren’t invincible, you know.”

She nodded. “Don’t die, Tor.”

I kissed her quickly, but intensely, trying to pour every bit of my desperate hope for her into one kiss.

“You, too, Zyla.”

Her last smile was glassy through tears. She squeezed my hand and then she was running past Nostar as he trotted up the stairs toward us.

“What’s the hold up here?” he asked.

People jostled by us, trying to get below, like fish around rocks in a current.

“My wing is gathering any spare dragons to fly through the city and send civilians here,” Nostar said. “The Captain of the Guard is looking for Castelan Lee Estabis. We can’t find your father.”

“My father,” Lee’s face grew tight with emotion. “My father is dead.”

Nostar nodded briskly. “Then now more than ever you are needed in the war room. Go. We will deal with alerting the civilian population and evacuating as best as we can while you prepare the defenses.”

Lee nodded and was already rushing down the stairs before Nostar could grip my forearm. “You take the north section with Saboraak. Start close and move out.”

“Shouldn’t I start at the perimeter where people have the furthest to flee?”

He shook his head.

“There’s going to be a bottleneck in the stem of the city already. They can only lower people down to the warrens so quickly. We need to keep the flow of people steady so they don’t arrive all at once. Besides,” he leaned in close. “Lenora only has so many guards to enforce her decisions.”

“Decisions?”

He looked around to be sure no one was listening, but there was no guarantee of that. The people pushing past us were thinning now that most on this level had already fled, but there were still some.

“Not everyone can go, Tor. There isn’t time.”

I gritted my teeth. That was going to get ugly. I could see what he meant. If there was a choice between sending a man who could fight or a child down below, Lenora would send the child. There would be families torn apart and single men furious at being forced to stay. It would be ... heartbreaking. And violent.

I nodded, but the horror of the day was already filling me, echoing through my bones like the explosion Katlana had caused that changed everything. All of this – and all that would come. It was all my fault.

I followed Nostar silently to the nearest balcony. Our dragons were on their way and then the grim work of this night would soon begin.

Chapter Thirteen

I didn’t see Nostar again until hours later.

I clung to Saboraak’s saddle as the press of bodies rushed against me.

“Slowly!” I called through a raw throat. “Slowly and orderly or you will trample people to death! Flaming –!”

I cut the curse off only by almost biting my own tongue. I was sweaty and exhausted and Saboraak couldn’t stop shifting with nerves at every rush of wind.

I worry that Tachril will fall before I see him again.

I rolled my eyes. Tachril would be fine. He was thousands of pounds of dragon and able to take flight at any moment. Unlike the people who passed me clinging to the few possessions they could scoop up on the way.

None of this feels right, Tor.

Of course it wasn’t right. Even my belly felt sick and knotted.

“It will be okay,” I said aloud, rubbing the scales of her neck.

I wiped my brow with my sleeve. I didn’t even bother to cover the bright markings on my face. The eyes of every new person I met widened the moment they saw them, but the moment I started speaking and explaining what was on the horizon, all thought about my looks vanished in the desperate dash for survival.

Perhaps the markings even added weight to a stranger’s words. After all, if the end had come, wouldn’t strange beings come with it to announce the need to flee?

Or maybe I was just hallucinating from exhaustion. It wouldn’t be the first time. I’d thought I’d seen Eventen duck into a guardhouse three cross-streets away a few hours ago. And then I thought I’d seen him again flying his dragon in the skies high above. I was certainly hallucinating.

Guilt hammered at me every time a wailing child was carried past or a wide-eyed parent asked if there would be time to flee.

There wouldn’t be. Not for everyone.

I already knew that, but I couldn’t accept it. Wouldn’t accept it.

“You should be gone already.” As my strength weakened, the mimic’s strength seemed to grow. He dogged my path now, speaking doubt into every minute. “It’s common sense. You’ve done your best here. And someone needs to fly out and warn the surrounding cities.”

Lee Estabis would see to that. I’d already seen two purples leave the city. Likely, he’d sent them out to warn the neighboring cities. Purples were fast. Their riders used to carrying urgent messages. They would do the job.

I rubbed my brow again.

“Make space there! There’s no point carrying all that. You’ll be exhausted before you reach the Castel. Drop it to the side and move on!” My voice wasn’t made for barking, but bark it did.

I’d been working my way out from the center and I was nearly at the perimeter. Most of the traffic traveled against me, but every so often Saboraak had to leap aside as a line of men went past. There were men armed and armored, and then when they ran out there were groups armed more haphazardly, and then as those ran out there were men sent out armed only with work implements – crowbars, shovels, axes, blacksmith hammers, pitchforks. They pushed past me to the places they’d been stationed by Estabis’ commanders.

They knew what they were doing – whatever that was. Hardened officers nodded to me on their way past. There was only one or two with each group of commandeered civilians. They would have to do – though what use would they be against golems?

They had buckets of tar and torches. Perhaps they planned to set them alight.

I watched them, simply glad not to be the one to lead these men to their deaths. That was a dirty business. Leading fathers and sons to slaughter. I felt ill just thinking about it.

Instead, I was leading women and children to their deaths – or that’s how it felt. How many of those I warned would see safety?

I gritted my teeth at the thought and forced aside the almost overwhelming feeling of helplessness that came whenever I thought of it. Zyla wouldn’t be thinking like that. She was already down in caverns beneath the earth in the dark and cold, leading a dangerous escape through a terrifying underground world. And she was probably standing at the head of the procession like a conquering hero, face alight with hope and hands raised high with courage.

I held onto that thought of her. If nothing else, her bold plan had accomplished one thing that I hadn’t realized I needed until now – it had kept her from what was coming.

Be safe, Zyla. Be bright and courageous somewhere far from here.

I could feel the golems closing in. They were at the stem of the city waiting. I didn’t know what they were waiting for, but I knew that with every delay we lost the chance for one more civilian to be safe.

I found the last row of houses against my assigned portion of the perimeter and I stood high in the stirrups, cupping my hands around my mouth.

“Any citizens of Estabis in these dwellings are ordered to take shelter in the Castel. Attack is imminent!” It was the same thing I’d shouted on every street along the way, ringing the bell I’d found at a butcher’s shop every time to get attention. My throat was raw and painful from shouting and my voice creaked from wear and tension.

I rang the bell, but there were few people left. Even at night, news travels. People had seen the commotion. They’d heard the soldiers rushing past and the commandeered men jangling with unfamiliar equipment. There were few left.

“Please!” A woman’s voice called from beside me. She sounded close to tears. “Please, can you help me! I can’t carry them all.”

She was the only one coming out on the street, her arms full of four children. One – a baby – was tied around her in a white scarf. Another she held on her hip while two little faces peered out from her skirts.”

I opened my mouth to tell her she’d need a different way to the Castel and then I felt it – a ripple. A ripple in the golems below.

Why could I feel them so easily? I’m no kin of yours, golems!

Tachril can see them! They climb!

“Climb up!” I yelled to the woman, my arms opening to take the toddler from her hip.

She shoved him into my arms at the same moment that he started screaming, reaching for her, his face a red mess of tears and snot. I was allergic to children but I clamped him in one arm, ignoring his battering fists and reached for another child, pulling the boy into the saddle in front of me.

Saboraak danced nervously and the children screamed in terror.

“Would you stop that?” I barked, not knowing if I meant her or them. I was nervous too. I was scared too. We all were. And I didn’t have time to be patient. None of us had time.

The next child was shoved at me, a little girl with long dark hair. I put her in front of her brother and reached an arm to help their struggling mother up behind me.

She was still clambering aboard when the first shadow peeked over the wall.

Chapter Fourteen

A row of shadows joined the first one as I pulled at the crying woman. She was having trouble with her center of gravity low and the baby in her sling.

“Hurry!” I yelled still not knowing who I was talking to.

“Too late! Too late!” My mimic screamed, his face a rictus of fear.

Shouts filled the air from the wall and then fire really was being thrown at the shadows. Stones and rocks were next, and shadows were falling from the wall, but one – just one – leapt forward straight for me as if I had been outlined in light.

Or as if I had bright moon-tattoos all over my face. Yeah. So helpful, ancestors.

My arms tightened on the children.

“Fly! Fly!” I called, hoping the mother was holding on. I didn’t have arms for her, too. I only had two. Skies and stars, if only I had more arms!

Saboraak started to launch in the air and then stopped, tugged backward.

She screamed and something inside me shattered with fear. I clung to the children, looking around to see a wolf-golem with her tail clamped in his teeth. Saboraak struggled against his hold, but every flailing move shook at us so that I barely could hold the children. Their mother clung to my back with one arm, the other wrapped around the baby, her own screams and tears added to theirs.

And then Tachril was shooting from the sky like a lightning bolt. His massive wings blocked my vision but the snarls and snapping and squealing of metal behind me was like a song of death ripped from the mouth of an angel.

Saboraak spun free, surging into the air. Was she hurt? Was it bad?

Hurts. Lots. I’m bleeding.

How badly? What did you do to stop dragons from bleeding?

I’ll be okay. We need to hurry.

She flapped hard, dodging the peaks of buildings as she chased the city streets upward, tier upon tier to the Castel. The skylifts that usually carried traffic quickly were silent and unused, their operators pulled away by the urgency of the night. The buildings were dark or filled to the brim with men brandishing weapons. Or – and this made me shudder – mostly empty except for a few people with white aprons and steaming pots. Healers. They were preparing for the wounded.

My stomach did a flip at the gates of the Castel where people choked every entrance. After grabbing this mother and her four wailing children from the teeth of death, I couldn’t just leave her to fight her way through that crowd herself.

“Find one of the lower towers,” I called to Saboraak.

I lowered the mother to the roof as we landed on the lowest open-topped tower, shoving the screaming red-faced toddler into her free arm, wishing he’d spare my ears as a thank you – but no, no gratitude there.

I leapt down from Saboraak and opened my arms to help the other two down, putting one on each hip. There wasn’t time for little legs to keep up.

“Wait here for me, do you hear?” I said to Saboraak, harsh in my jittery anxiety. “Don’t go flying off! I’ll be back.”

Tachril-

“Can look after himself! You’ll build your dragon city but not if you fly off right now!”

That didn’t even make sense. I wasn’t making sense. That ability left me hours ago.

“Follow me,” I told the mother, running to the stairs and descending as quickly as I could with two children in my arms. They were maybe four or five. Were children this size always so heavy?

By the time we reached the bottom of the stairs to the storerooms below I could have sworn I was carrying two dragons.

“Halt there,” the guard at the steps said.

In the storeroom, careful lines were formed, clerks running up and down them with a harried look, clutching shuffled papers and frayed quills, assessing who could carry and be given supplies and who needed carrying. The other entrances were choked with people and five or six guards held the line at each one. Here, inside the empty Castel there was only one.

“No men,” the guard said. “No space for you. Can the woman carry all the children?”

I looked at her. Her red-rimmed eyes looked overwhelmed.

“Pair her up with someone who can help,” I said.

The guard nodded, looking relieved that I wasn’t fighting him. How many fathers had he torn from their families today? His eyes looked haunted.

“You could carry them,” my mimic suggested. “Lenora would let you. She owes you that much.”

No one owed me anything.

But I did catch a glimpse of Lenora as I set the children down.

“Be careful,” I warned their mother. “The journey isn’t over yet.”

“Thank you!” she gasped, tears rolling down her face. “Thank you, sir.”

“Just get them to safety,” I growled. I wasn’t good at emotion. Especially this much of it. It was like a tornado whipping me up into the air and spinning me around until I didn’t know earth from sky.

She hurried away with a clerk the guard hailed. It was hard not to keep watching them with my eyes even as they hurried to what might be safety. I hated screaming toddlers. And at the same time, I wanted to stay with them and make sure they were safe. I was as jumbled as any tornado.

“Tor!” Lenora hurried up from the crowds. She looked like a rag someone had wrung out, her big eyes haunted and aching. “The golems?”

“On the walls,” I said. “I have to go.”

She nodded biting her lip as she looked around. “How many more?”

“The lines are long. Likely more than you’ll get through here before the walls are breached,” I said quietly.

A shadow passed over her face and she turned to go but I caught her arm. “Zyla?”

“She’s down there leading them. It’s up to her now,” Lenora said.

“And your brother?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen him. Skies and stars send he is safe.”

“He seems to know his business.”

She nodded wearily, pulling together a smile for me. “We’re all behind our fighting men.”

Well, that’s nice. Oh, wait. She meant me.

What did you say to that? Was she trying to encourage me? Was it even possible to encourage someone when you were both sure the situation was hopeless?

More than likely, one of us would be dead by tomorrow.

I saluted. It was the only thing that came to me.

And then I spun around and ran back to the steps, sped up them, letting all my emotions push my legs so that I wouldn’t have to think about what I was running from.

Some things no one should have to live through.

Some things no one should have to feel.

Chapter Fifteen

I took a good look at Saboraak’s tail when I got up the stairs.

Leave it.

Gouges of flesh were torn out of it leaving red gashes and ragged scales.

If I live, I can sleep it off. We need to go help Tachril.

Skies and stars! We’d only met Tachril a few days ago. She needed to cool it on the obsession thing.

How would you feel if that was Zyla out there?

Zyla was down in the warrens. She was leading desperate citizens through narrow paths in the infinite dark. I was trying not to think about that. I was trying not to be swallowed up. Skies and stars send her safe!

Sorry.

I leapt onto Saboraak’s back, tightening all the straps as she leapt into the air, flying up, up, up until the city was so far below that we could see everything – a dragon’s eye view.

It was worse from up here.

The black swarm edged the walls like paper dipped in tar. It clung to them as men shoved back with polearms and the dragons of this city swooped down and plucked them from the walls, flinging them back to earth. Would that be enough to kill a golem? If “kill” was even the right word ...

Seems to be working.

Skies and stars, I hoped it would.

They needed to buy the vulnerable more time to flee. We needed to buy them that.

Saboraak plunged down from the air. Did she see something that I didn’t?

Oh, of course. We were headed to where Tachril swooped and fought against the golems on the wall, his Green wing fighting with him. I was surprised to see that Nostar and his wing all had spears in hand. As their dragons lunged and fought, they stabbed as they could. That wasn’t much against a golem, but sometimes pressure from the exact right point could tip the balance.

As I watched, a well-placed spear thrust from Letina tipped a golem over the edge and it fell, woodenly from the city wall into the long plunge to the ground below. I shivered. One down. Hundreds more to go.

I was going to need a spear.

How about a flagpole?

Saboraak banked hard to the side as we flew past a building with a flag hanging out over the street below. The flag hung from a sharp-ended pole sitting in a metal bracket.

I leaned out as we passed and snatched the flagpole from the bracket. It was long – at least a foot longer than I was – a garish red with a heraldic sign on it – decoration maybe? A dragon gripping an arrow. What fool flew that over his shop?

An arrow maker, perhaps?

They called those fletchers.

I pulled at the flag, trying to rip it off, but it wouldn’t budge. I’d just have to use it with the flag still attached. At least it was heavy and sharp on the end - a spear with a flag attached to it.

I positioned the spear in my grip just as we reached the wall.

Saboraak swooped down, her feet snatching a golem from the edge of the metal and stonework wall at the same moment that it lunged toward a knot of men. They barely scrambled away as she plucked it from the ground.

Its weight dragged us down and Saboraak tumbled from the wall, dragged by the weight until she dropped the golem off the side.

One down, only a few hundred more to go ...

The humans fought hard, spears and polearms more use than swords, as groups of thirty or more men pressed and pushed against a single golem.

I watched in horror as one of the metal beasts snatched a man up from the ground with his teeth, shattering him in those mighty jaws even as his fellows shoved with all their might, sending the automaton toppling over the wall and plummeting toward the ground, his victim still clutched in his jaws.

Saboraak dove into the fray again, side by side with Tachril. I could feel her burst of pride and joy at his presence. Oddly, it made me feel safer, too.

His flare of fire raged over the backs of a pair of golems, but their metal carapaces were unaffected by the flames. Tachril snatched the first one up, bobbing under the weight and dropping over the side. We were fast behind him, descending to grab our own golem and replicating the action.

How many golems could the dragons stop one at a time?

In the chaos of the flight, my vision spinning with the flurry and fury of Saboraak’s work, it was hard to catch the rest of the battle in more than glimpses.

I’d catch sight of a group of men shoving a golem over the side of the city with a roar, only to spin away as Saboraak set her sights on another one.

Why were they so easy to knock back when they could climb up the underside of the city?

The pressure from behind them is too great. They can’t scramble back. It’s forward or fall.

I’d catch a glimpse of another group, scattering and screaming as a golem burst through their ranks and into the city, only to lose sight of it again as Saboraak dodged the attack of another leaping golem. It was strange to fight a thing that had no expressions, no emotions, only relentless, snapping steel.

I shoved his snapping jaws away, leaning into the point of my spear with all my might as it caught his fiery eye.

Keep it up! We’re doing great!

We were surviving. Nothing more.

There was a flurry of black wings just above my head as a wing of Black dragons dove down to snatch the rogue golem that had broken through our ranks. The claw at the tip of one black wing scored across my sleeve, tearing it open. I flinched away.

That was close!

I was still catching my breath as Saboraak wheeled, hurtling after Tachril as his wing dove toward one of the great city gates where dragons could enter, and massive platforms were usually raised from the lands below.

Lee Estabis stood before the arch, holding a wickedly shaped polearm high in the air and shouting encouragement to his men as the morning light spread his shadow out like the flag on the end of my spear. Where was his black dragon, Isitdor?

He flies with the other Black dragons. Estabis has chosen to stand and fight with his men on the city streets.

Noble.

His men rallied, gathering around him with a roar as together they pressed back another surge of golems.

The golems crashed forward, shredding bone and flesh and weapons indiscriminately.

And then we were in their ranks, the dragons snatching up golem after golem, and dropping them to their deaths like birds breaking open tortoises.

We were pushing them back, shoving them inch by inch back to the rim of the skycity. I could see hope in the glimpses of men’s faces as they fought.

We were doing it.

We were going to save Estabis.

Chapter Sixteen

A terrible ripping scream tore through the air and Saboraak shuddered under me.

What was it?

What-?

She leapt to the side and in the flurry of her flapping wings I grabbed the pommel of the saddle, gripped my spear and tried to hold on as we bumped against a building, masonry, and dust raining down on us.

The golems in the gate surged forward, leaping over a new obstacle – a fallen Black dragon dead on the street in front of the gate.

I gasped in horror as I saw soldiers scrambling through the rubble to try to pull friends out from under their massive dead ally. The dragon’s rider scrambled up on top of him, spear held high as he jabbed toward the eyes of the first golem. He disappeared as their bodies surged over him, trampling both him and his fallen dragon.

We couldn’t let them pour through the gate like that! We couldn’t –

A horn was sounding. Men fled down the streets.

“Come on, Saboraak! We have to stop them!”

She didn’t seem to be listening. She shoved her body against the building. Was she hurt? I spun in the saddle, looking, looking. I couldn’t see a wound other than her tail, but wounds could be inside, invisible. She matched the color of the building exactly, as if she hoped to blend in.

“Saboraak?”

She didn’t answer. I fumbled with my straps, unbuckling them.

The golems would be here at any moment. They were pushing forward through our defenses. A few men, scattered, operating independently, fought in small groups.

Hyoogan dropped to the ground in their midst, battling his way forward with snapping jaws and scything wings. He grabbed one golem in his strong jaws, flinging him to the side. The golem hit a nearby building and fell to the ground as men scattered below.

But it was too much for one dragon. A pack of golems was on him now, their metal mouths tearing chunks from his wings and scales. His brothers surged down from the sky, grabbing up his attackers and flinging them over the side of the city.

I loosened my last buckle and dropped to the ground, running so fast to Saboraak’s head that I almost tripped over my spear. She leaned against the building, quivering, her head low, her eyes wide.

“Are you hurt?” I yelled over the chaos, taking her massive head in my hands. “Saboraak?”

A black dragon. They killed a black dragon.

Fear gripped my heart in its icy hands. She was afraid. She saw a dragon twice her size fall dead from the sky and she was frozen with fear. I’d seen this before.

I’d been in Vanika when it fell. I’d been one of the lucky ones who survived the fall. I’d been there when the city was taken by the Dusk Covenant. I’d been there when it burnt in wide swaths as the Dominar took it back. But I’d hidden in the shadows. I’d scrambled to safety, hiding and running and hiding again. I hadn’t had to stand and fight. Other than brawls, I’d never really fought at all. My fancy throwing knives were worth nothing here.

I looked around, assessing.

All my ability to charm others and draw them in was useless here. We didn’t fight flesh and blood, but something much more powerful.

And I could feel it. I could feel the tide of the golems surging up. I could feel where they were winning and where they were losing. I could feel them falling over the edge and crumpling. I could feel it as if I were somehow attached to them. If I concentrated, I could feel each golem, point right to them even on a moonless night.

Lee Estabis stood in the street, calling, “Rally! To me, men of Estabis!”

I looked at my dragon quivering, and I looked at him there making a stand. Every minute we fought we bought those poor children more time to flee. I clenched my jaw and ran, darting past fallen rubble and over fallen men – I didn’t want to know if they were dead or alive – and to his call.

Saboraak needed time to recover. That was all. She just wasn’t used to fighting for her life. It was enough to crumple anyone. Enough to freeze anyone for a few moments until they found whatever steel was inside them. And until then, I would fight with Lee.

I joined him in the center of the street – joined the other men who shoved the golems back.

“The eyes!” he called. “That’s their vulnerability! The eyes!”

We fought and jabbed at eyes, leaping over grasping paws and dodging snapping jaws. We fought as a howling, sweating pack of men, bound together by desperate determination.

I could feel the golem we were fighting. I could feel his eye on me. It was almost as if we were connected somehow. He snapped at me and I dodged back as one of the men of Estabis jammed a spear through his eye. He crumpled, the light fading out.

The next one was already upon us. I could feel it before it attacked. Its eyes were already boring through my skull.

“Close your mouth, dog!” I yelled, rushing forward with my spear to plunge it through its eye. I froze as it fell to the ground.

The golem had shut his mouth when I ordered him to.

What madness was this?

The next one leapt toward Lee Estabis from the right, jumping out of a gap between two buildings, growling and snapping. Lee was distracted, fighting a different golem. He didn’t see it as it plunged toward him.

“Stop!” I barked.

The golem slid to a stop.

I froze again. The blood draining from my face.

The golem had obeyed me.

“Stop!” I yelled at the golem Lee battled. It stopped, screeching to a halt.

A burst of hope shot through me as I stared at the still golem. If I could command one, I could command them all.

A heavy shoulder plowed into me, lifting me up from my feet and carrying me off the street with a howl of, “Clear! Clear the street!”

We fell to the side in a pile of rubble as a second Black dragon fell into the street beside us, rocking the street with its enormous impact. Dust and rock burst into the air as he landed, his head so close when it bounced against the skysteel street that I could see his glassy dead eye.

I gasped, horrified and disoriented. No wonder Saboraak was frozen in fear. No wonder she wanted to blend in. I wanted to blend in against the buildings, too. Anything that could fell such a massive dragon could kill me without even noticing.

Lee Estabis let go of me and this time I had the presence of mind to look up into the sky.

Chapter Seventeen

This was why Saboraak huddled against a building shaking. This was why Black dragons were falling from the sky like Mayflies.

The flying golems had arrived.

My breath was snatched away as I watched a dozen of them set into a Black dragon and his rider, ripping them to pieces like a sawyer cutting wood.

I knew my mouth was hanging open. I knew I still hadn’t thanked Lee for saving my life. I knew it was up to me to do something.

I felt like I couldn’t move. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

My mind stuttered and then thought came crashing back. With it came pain. I was battered and bruised and one of my ankles wasn’t bearing my weight quite right. I shoved the pain aside.

There wasn’t time for pain.

There wasn’t time for fear.

There was only action.

“Castelan Estabis!” I called. He was frozen, too, watching the battle above us – the battle we were losing.

“Lee!” I shook him until he looked at me, his eyes haunted with what I knew had been in mine only moments before – panic.

I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes. I would not panic.

“Lee.”

“Yes,” it was like a prayer.

“Sound the retreat. Pull your men back to the Castel. We can’t fight on two fronts out here. We need a central place to defend. By now, the citizens that can be saved have fled.”

“There hasn’t been time – ”

“We’ve had all the time we’re going to get. Do it.”

He still looked stunned. Who wouldn’t be? The dragons had been our only hope. I saw a flash of gold above and something inside me turned to steel.

My mimic stepped out from a shadow.

“Remember how I said I’d be here when you needed me? I think you could use a little help right now.”

He was right.

“I’m going up there to stop Eventen. He’s behind this,” I said.

Even Lee couldn’t deny that now. Not when the golems he claimed to control had attacked the city.

Lee nodded, rallying now. “Sound the retreat! All men to the Castel!”

He was moving as he spoke, rallying his men as they fled.

My mimic pumped his fist. “Come on, Tor! Let’s rub that golem-lover into the ground!”

I ran to Saboraak. The golems – unchecked now – were flooding into the city.

“Stop! Stay!” I yelled as I ran, stopping them one at a time. Even with that – how could one man stop an army?

“Saboraak!” I called as I skidded to a stop in front of her. “Look at me! Talk to me!”

Tor, I just can’t.

“Yes, you can.” If she didn’t, then we had no hope. “Come on. I know it’s scary. I’m scared, okay? I’m scared.” I turned to the golem plummeting toward us. “Stop, you metal dog! Would you cool it for a moment? We’re trying to have a conversation here!”

He stopped, screeching across the skysteel of the street.

“Now, listen to me, Saboraak. Pull yourself together! You’re a dragon. The finest jaw-snapping, fire-breathing creature on the planet!”

Those Black dragons were bigger than me, Tor. They were tougher than me. They are made for this. I’m not. If those things could shred them like that...

Her colors shifted one to another as she shook against the building beside her.

I grabbed her head in my hands.

“There’s a moment in every person’s life when they have to climb that mountain of fear and go over it whether they like it or not. It’s that or die, sometimes. This is one of those times, Saboraak. I’ll be here with you. I will not leave your side – well, more likely your back – but we can’t just sit here and hide while this golem army slaughters every human and dragon in sight. I have a plan, but it will only work with your help. I need you, old girl. I need you to be courageous. Come on! For your dragon city. For your wing of Greens. For me.”

She shook herself, her color settling on Red. Good. She wanted to fight, too.

I gave her my most confident grin. “We can do this. I’ll be right here with you.”

I climbed up onto her back, strapping myself in as she shook herself.

A golem lunged toward us and I threw up a hand. He stopped, the light in his eyes fading. But there were more on their way. We couldn’t wait here forever.

After all, as long as the source of power that directed them was out there, they couldn’t truly be stopped until he was.

It was time to hunt Eventen Shadereaver, or watch this city and my beloved dragon die before my eyes.

I was ready.

If he wasn’t trembling yet, he should be.

Dragon Chameleon: Golem Siege

Chapter One

“There! I think I see him there!” I said, pointing to a flare of gold in the clouds as we flew.

I can’t do this anymore, Tor. My beloved dragon Saboraak said as we plunged through the morning clouds, searching and scanning.

“This time it’s Eventen. All we have to do is get him!” I held on to certainty and determination like twin ropes dangling me over an abyss.

That’s what you said the last three times. I am not a golem, Tor. Not a machine. I can’t fly forever. I need rest.

“She’s right,” my mimic said tiredly. “Even I think you’re going to kill yourself like this.”

I grimaced as Saboraak turned away from the glimmer in the clouds, plunging back toward the skycity below us, but I didn’t have long to flinch at her choice. I needed to work.

Every time we shot after Eventen, we lost time doing the one thing I could do: stop the golems.

We plummeted from the sky, looking for the hot points, the places where men had been forced back, where lines had been breached, where the fighting was the most intense.

There. Men fled from a stab of golems slicing through their ranks, crushing and tearing. I lifted my hands and we buzzed over their heads as I found the spark in each golem, one at a time, and demanded it stop.

“Stop!” I yelled, hand thrusting out in a ‘stop’ motion as the first one ground to a halt.

I repeated it again and again, feeling Saboraak drifting under me.

She really was exhausted. She was willing to push through when we were fighting golems, but she didn’t like my insistence that we also hunt Eventen.

If you want to fly us to exhaustion, it should at least be helping those giving their lives below. It shouldn’t be about a vendetta.

We’d only been doing this an hour. A single hour as the fighting men of Estabis were pushed ever backward toward the keep.

An hour where my wing of Green dragons has had to keep the flying golems from our backs.

As if drawn by her thoughts, another wave of flying golems spun from the city, cutting through the air toward us. I hated how their eyes burned bright with magic. Hated how their empty metal saddles gleamed in the light of the morning.

When we had seen them ridden by Apeq and Katlana, I had assumed that they would always be ridden. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions like that. After all, hadn’t those flying golems in Ko’Koren flown without riders?

But I’d never expected waves of them attacking like a brainless, leaderless army.

We spun, forming up to take the attack of the golems. As soon as they were close, Tachril darted forward, Nostar screaming a battle cry as he rushed toward the enemy. Tachril’s neck arched backward like a snake and then burst forward to bite down on the golem’s head and shake it.

I already had my hands up, looking down and back up again. I had to be careful how I did this. I’d done it wrong once before. I counted under my breath and then yelled: “Stop!”

The light in the golem’s eyes faded and he tumbled from the sky as I held my breath, watching. His trajectory still carried him forward a little even as he tumbled, powerless, through the air.

It was going to be close.

His tumbling body crashed into the city below, narrowly missing a group of humans fighting the creeping golems below. He knocked two other golems off their feet, smashing them to rumble and tumbling into a market, overturning carts and small buildings until he came to rest in a cloud of dust.

I breathed out.

Last time, I hadn’t thought about what was below.

Last time had been bad.

I turned my attention back to what we were doing. The Greens had cleaned up the other golems, carrying them away from the city in teeth or claws like birds lifting too-heavy coconuts. They fell, a directed fall, but still a fall, until they could bring the golems to a safe place outside the city perimeter and then they dropped them, soaring back up again.

We aren’t going to find Eventen like this, Tor. It’s too hard.

I owed the man a debt.

Revenge is a dangerous emotion. Even revenge with cause. It blinds a man. It rots his heart. He’ll do anything to get it, pay any price. And he’ll never even see the people who suffer on the sidelines. He’ll never see the rut of injustice he cuts through the world to get the justice he wanted in the first place. The price isn’t worth the prize, Tor.

“Revenge is a savory emotion,” my mimic argued. “Why deny yourself something you deserve?”

I swallowed. It was getting easy to know what to do in moral situations. Usually, if Saboraak was encouraging something and the mimic was discouraging it, it was the right thing to do.

“Okay. Let’s take a break. You and the Greens need to rest your wings. I can help the men fight while you recover.”

Hyoogan is nursing a bad wound and Elumans needs someone to flame his tail to stop the bleeding. That will take time. And we all need water. You are making the right decision, Tor.

Can you tell Nostar?

Tachril and the rest of my wing already agree.

Was there a name for their relationship with her?

Pledged. We are a Pledged Wing.

The wing turned, heading toward the Castel below and I steeled my jaw. I preferred it up here where we were insulated from the pain and fear below. I could already feel sweat forming under the scarf around my brow as we descended. I wasn’t ready to join them again. I wasn’t ready.

Take courage.

Chapter Two

It was strange how my mind turned to prophecies under stress. The ones I’d read and reread as we traveled came back whenever fear filled me. As we plummeted toward the Castel below, they rang in my ears.

Truth laid bare.

Souls spread out.

Clear the air.

Quell all doubt.

He comes to reign and rule.

He rakes us over fire.

Before him bend the fools.

They plummet from the spire.

Maybe they had never been about me. Maybe they hadn’t even been about Bataar despite the fact that they’d determined all his choices. Maybe they had been about Apeq.

After all, wasn’t he the one reigning Ko’Torenth now? Hadn’t he brought these golems here? And how had he done that? How much metal would you have to mine to make hundreds of these creatures? How much time would you have to have to craft them? How many artificers? How many metallurgists? How many blacksmiths and carters and servants? It seemed impossible.

And where were they all now? Where were the humans? All I’d seen now for hours were golems and occasional glimpses of Eventen, but he hadn’t even been in Ko’Torenth before. Where were the people? Where were the ones controlling these golems?

If we were going to get out ahead of this battle and not just defend ourselves, but attack back, we were going to need to know that. We were going to have to send someone out to find out these things.

Don’t get ahead of yourself. First, we regroup and tend the injured.

It’s good that Saboraak wanted to do that, but someone needed to do what I was doing. Someone needed to think about this from a dragon-height perspective. Someone needed to find where that soft spot in the weaving had gone. I could still see the future raveling out before me, but that spot had disappeared. Would there be another? If there was, I would be ready. And if there wasn’t, maybe I could make one.

One of the rhymes Savette wrote was stuck in my head. Catchy, if perhaps depressing. I’d never figured out if it was a prophecy or just how she felt in the moment. After all, hadn’t she died in a magical battle after weeks of fighting. Had her hands trembled as she returned to battle like mine were trembling now? Had she written these words for that pain or for another time?

Dance the wild battle,

Weep for the souls of man,

Behind the shadow’s rattle,

The dead will rise again.

In the pride of houses,

There lurks a deadly sting,

Under mountain rouses,

An old and ancient thing.

Weep for world breaking,

Weep for souls lost,

The key is in the taking,

The lesson from the cost.

Sing the song of graveyard,

Sing the song of death,

Sleep ye souls in earth hard,

Do not steal our breath.

We circled the Castel, looking for our opening between the dragons fighting in the skies and ascending and descending.

As soon as one appeared, we dove down through the black and red and green bodies of other dragons leaping up to fight again. Our wing dove toward one of the topless towers, landing easily on its skysteel frame.

We must attend to our needs. There is water here.

I clutched my makeshift spear as I slid down from her back.

“I’ll be back soon. Take care, okay?”

She shot me an affectionate glance, but she had her own work to do and as the other dragons landed, she crowded in to help with whatever dragons did to heal each other.

“Tor!” Nostar’s shout halted me.

“Nostar,” I acknowledged.

“Do you know what’s happening?” He asked, following me as I rushed toward the stairway.

“With the battle or the dragons?”

“Both,” he said, following me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see him signing to the other riders as he followed me.

“The dragons say they need water and to tend each other’s wounds.”

“What do they need to do for that?”

“Apparently Elumans’ wounds need cauterizing.”

He shivered.

“The battle is a different matter. I’m going to seek out Lee Estabis.”

Nostar shifted uncomfortably beside me and I stopped for a moment at the head of the staircase. “Yes?”

“There’s no general here. No Red Dragon Commander. The Castelan is a young man, newly raised to his role, and the Captain of the Castelan’s guard died with the older Castelan.”

“Your point?”

“Leadership here is thin. We are barely holding our own against the golems. We started with more than a hundred dragons in the city. Have you counted them lately?”

“I’ll admit I’ve been distracted,” I said, running my hand through my hair. I wanted to move again. I was wasting time.

“I did. There are less than sixty, Tor. That’s bad.”

I nodded. Was he done? I needed to hurry.

He grabbed my arm. “You aren’t hearing me, Tor.”

“Then speak plainly,” I said. I was tired. And I’d never been great at riddles.

“We need leadership and we need it now. It’s not enough to keep defending. We need to counter attack or we’re all dead.”

“I couldn’t agree more, but why are you telling me this?”

“Because that crown on your head got there somehow. If it really means something, now is the time to step up. Now is the time to take the reins and fly us somewhere before it’s too late. All we’ve done is respond. We’re going to lose this city if we can’t get back some of the initiative. Do you understand?”

I nodded.

“Good.” He clapped me on the back and hurried back toward his men.

Ha! As if solving this problem was so easy. ‘You take care of it, Tor.’

I knew what we needed to do, but I had no idea how to do it.

I scrubbed my hand through my hair tiredly as my mind sifted through possibilities. It was only when I was halfway down the stairs that I realized my hand felt cold. It had felt cold the entire time that Nostar was speaking to me. Sometimes knowing something was true was worse than not knowing at all.

Chapter Three

I found Lenora first. She was in the courtyard just inside the Castel walls in what I could only call a vortex of chaos.

Screams and sobs filled the air as the wounded were brought in by cart or stretcher and left with exhausted healers and clerks. The courtyard was still choked with civilians in one long milling line waiting to go down the wide steps to the storerooms below the Castel and from there to be ferried to warrens. The smell of fear was heavy in the air around them. Lenora, papers in hand and clerk beside her, worked her way up the line, sorting people, demanding they leave heavy bags or carts behind. Her arms crossed when she came to a man with broad shoulders who was hunched under a large pack.

I worked my way through the press of bodies toward her hearing only snatches of her words as I tried to keep from injuring anyone as I pressed through the crowd.

“All able-bodied men ...” she was saying.

A gruff voice was arguing.

“... children! In your place!” she argued.

There weren’t any more civilians coming through the gates. I could only hope that meant these ones packed in the courtyard were the last of them. With the civilians safe we’d be able to concentrate on fighting. And on the wounded. And on not dying.

Was Lenora sending the wounded down into the safety of the warrens? I hoped she had thought of that.

One thing at a time, Tor.

But my mind was racing ahead of me.

Lenora’s eyes caught mine as I finally made my way to where she was.

“Tell this man he can’t go,” she demanded, arms crossed over her chest.

She really must be exhausted if she was looking to me for anything other than trouble. Tears had left tracks through grime on her face. Absently, I pulled the cloth from my brow and handed it to her. Someone should have noticed that she needed a handkerchief. Had everyone lost their manners?

“For your face,” I muttered before turning to the man.

He wasn’t much older than me. If he even was.

“What’s in the bag,” I asked.

“My master’s goods,” he said, his jaw thrust out determinedly.

“Did you fight in the Truth Wars?” I asked.

“Of course not,” he scoffed, his expression turning mulish. “And I bet you didn’t either.”

“I didn’t,” I said quietly. Strangely, the crowd around me seemed to quiet to catch my words. “But I saw it. I was in Vanika when the city fell.”

There were gasps around me.

I went on. The point had to be made. “I saw things no one should see. I saw things that should never be done. Those precious goods you’ve been paid to carry? They aren’t worth anything right now. Your master’s business? It’s not worth anything either. That!” I pointed at a woman huddled with her children in front of him in line. She shrank from my finger. “That’s what we’re protecting here. And who is doing the protecting?”

“Soldiers,” he said, still unbudgingly.

I snorted. “Were there a lot of soldiers here before the attack? Because I didn’t see that many. And I didn’t see that many this morning when I went through this city looking for the city’s true treasures – these little ones. These innocent souls.” I paused to let that sink in. “No, what I saw, boy, was men of Estabis. Good men. Carters and fletchers, butchers and vendors, servants and masters. I saw them gathering and finding whatever weapons they could to go out there and defend our true treasures. And I didn’t see them huddled here letting other men fight for them. I saw fathers leave their wives and children to go give their lives for them. And I saw mothers here willing to take a dangerous journey for the sakes of their children. And I saw children like this one,” I put my hand on the shoulder of a boy nearby – the son of the woman who was still staring at me like I was some sort of creature from another realm. “Children who are doing their part to make that sacrifice worth it. And you know what I saw most of all? I saw courage and determination and an unflinching resolve to fight. And that’s why I’m still here. I could have flown off on my dragon and left, couldn’t I? But I’d never do that. If people like you and me don’t stand for the things worth fighting for, then no one will and when they don’t exist anymore, we’ll have no one but ourselves to blame. So, don’t get angry at Lenora for asking you to fight. Be angry at yourself because she had to ask. And let that anger fuel your fight. Because we have a lot more to do today.”

He nodded reluctantly, leaving the line and Lenora offered me the cloth back. I shook my head. She could keep it. The courtyard was surprisingly quiet. Everyone was watching us.

I pitched my next words loud, knowing they’d ring out across the ranks of scared, nervous people. “What you’re doing is valuable, Lenora. Hold on. We’ll keep the enemy back for long enough to get the rest to safety. You have my word.”

I knew better than to look to see if my words had the desired effect. I knew they would only work at all if I walked on and left them to do their job while I did mine.

I strode with determination to the arched gate of the Castel and out into the chaos beyond.

Chapter Four

If I had hoped for more order and less panic on the other side of the wall, then I’d been a fool. People ran through the street with stretchers, water, oil for the fires, and mismatched weapons. Some of the younger boys – thirteen or fourteen – were stripped down to their shirts and breeches, running messages. Which was all well and good, but just as many men ran from the frontlines of battle, their faces etched with terror.

I grabbed the first one to cross my path, throwing him against the wall of a house.

“Pull yourself together, man!” I shouted.

His eyes were wild, mouth working soundlessly. I clucked my tongue. What to do about them? There were dozens running toward me on this street alone. Every man lost to fear was one less to help his brothers on the front line. And Lee Estabis and his officers were too busy fighting to be rounding up fleeing men like a children’s nurse.

“I’ve got him, Dragon Rider,” a voice said from behind me.

My eyebrows rose. It was the man from the Castel. He didn’t have his master’s goods weighing him down anymore.

I nodded briskly letting the man take hold of the deserter. His scolding words sounded an awful lot like my own from moments before.

I strode to the middle of the street, raised my spear with the red flag still attached and waved it in the wind, shouting from deep in my diaphragm. My throat was still raw, but what did that matter? By tomorrow, I might not have a throat to worry about.

“All men fleeing the golems, rally here. All men! Rally! Rally, flame you!”

They weren’t paying attention. Fear ruled them.

I pointed my spear at the closest one. “You, sir, rally or I will spear you myself!”

“Really? You’ll spear him?” my mimic laughed. “The man who couldn’t even kill Katlana and prevent this?”

That stung.

But the man I’d pointed to stopped in his tracks, his eyes on me instead of skittering off everything in sight.

“Rally here,” I barked, and he moved like I was an officer.

I pointed at the next man. “Rally, sir, or so help you I will make you rally!”

He swerved toward us, nearly tumbling into us in his haste to obey. The man from the Castel was hustling the deserter into line with us. I stepped up on top of an overturned crate nearby.

“All men fleeing, rally here!”

Below me, I heard the men talking.

“That’s what he said in the Castel. I heard it myself. This Dragon Rider has a plan.”

“No one has a plan! I saw Jand from the butcher’s shop torn to pieces right in front of my eyes! And our officer was next.”

“My brother fell from the wall. He was right beside me. One of those things knocked him right off. That’s no way to die!”

I looked down at them, setting my jaw.

“Enough.”

“You don’t know what it’s like out there!” someone called.

“You need to rule your fear instead of letting it rule you,” I said. Did they think I wasn’t afraid? Did they think Lee Estabis wasn’t? We were all afraid or we wouldn’t be alive.

“That’s easy to say from the back of a dragon,” one of the men said.

More were rallying to us as I waved the spear. There were thirty now, there’d be fifty in a moment. Now was the time to grab them and turn them around.

“Life isn’t easy. None of it is. It might feel like it’s impossible right now. Like it would be impossible to get back out there and fight, but that fight is coming for you. Whether you face it with a weapon in your hand and courage in your heart, or whether it comes for you, leaping out of the shadows to plunge its jaws into your defenseless back – well, that’s up to you. You don’t get to walk away from this fight. None of us do. We only get to choose how to fight it. Who you are – what you’re made of – we’re going to see that today. Don’t let your families down. Don’t let yourselves down. And don’t flaming let me down or you’ll wish a golem had you in his grip. This is the Dominion. We fought the Truth War for our freedom. We fought and we won. We can win again. But only if every one of us stands and fights. Only if every one of us does what we need to do today and does it with courage.”

Speeches like that shouldn’t work. They were just words. Useless, flimsy words in a world where only steel and muscle made a real difference.

I rubbed at the tiger’s eye pendant on my chest. Sometimes I wondered if it were lucky. If it was, I could use that luck right now.

As if in response to my hope, I heard murmurs of agreement below me, and whispers at the edges where men who had heard my speech passed it on to new arrivals.

“Now lay hold of your arms, or if you’ve lost them, lay hold of what you can find. And follow me.”

I leapt from the crate, landing between two owl-eyed men and marched forward, flag swirling in the wind above my head. I was no leader of men, but I’d seen leaders and I knew how to copy them. Hopefully, this would work. I was no Lee Estabis with broad shoulders straining in the confines of my metal armor and a brave, firm jaw. I was just Tor Winespring, troublemaker.

And I was about to make trouble for the golems.

The man from the Castel caught up to me, falling in step beside me with a barrel stave clutched in one hand.

“What are we going to do when we get there, Dragon Rider?” he asked.

“We’re going to show them how easily metal crumples.”

He laughed nervously.

“You can call me, Tor,” I said. “Not Dragon Rider. Just Tor.”

“I’m Honam. I worked as a clothier’s apprentice.”

“Cut a lot of cloth?”

“Sure.”

“Good. It’s time for you to cut some golems down to size.”

It was a weak joke, but at moments like this people would laugh at just about anything. They just wanted to think that something out there could still be funny. There was laughter behind me and I was relieved to hear it was more than I expected.

I didn’t turn to look. I didn’t want to seem uncertain. Leaders never looked uncertain. They always looked like they could do anything. Like nothing surprised them. These men needed that right now.

I could see others joining us from my periphery. Stragglers from side streets or fleeing right into our ranks were somehow absorbed by their fellows, turned around by whispered conversation and looks of awe. They could be in as awe of me as they needed if it got them back to the battle. It was only an illusion. No more real than my mimic. But for now, it was all I had to offer them.

We were more than a hundred strong by the time we reached the battlefront. And it wasn’t nearly enough.

Chapter Five

“Hold!” I’d yelled the same thing so many times that it hardly seemed to mean anything anymore. “Hold, golem! Hold!”

Sweat dripped down my face as day bled into night and the streets around me bled red into the gutters to rain red to the ground far below. We’d lost men. We’d gained others. We’d fought until we were forced back, an inch at a time.

And my hoarse throat had screamed golems to a stop one after another after another until they stacked up like children’s blocks. And yet their fellows ran over them again and again and again.

I wondered, when I had time to think at all, if the sheer weight of them might bring the city down. It was built for the stress of high buildings and human traffic, but the builders could never have anticipated hundreds of metal golems clogging the streets in high, motionless piles.

Just the thought of clearing them from the city when all this was over made me want a long sleep. Actually, I still wanted a long sleep. And something to eat. I was bone weary. So bone weary that I didn’t care that my golden day crown was fading into the dripping night crown – brighter and bolder and more noticeable than the day one had been.

I’d thought that fighting on the front lines was the best thing I could be doing. I’d thought that standing shoulder to shoulder and putting courage into the fearful was the best thing, but no matter how many golems I stacked up, there were still more to fight.

And I still hadn’t found Lee Estabis. I needed to find him. We needed a better plan than just damage control.

I was starting to suspect that the only way to get the information about what was really going on would be to sneak out of here with Saboraak and fly down out of the city and try to locate any Magika camp or other source of control over the golems.

Tachril and the others would never let me leave their sides. They worry about me.

She had been fighting air golems with them off and on while I fought below. But a whole wing of Green dragons would be far too conspicuous to take with me. One dragon, especially a chameleon dragon, blending in with her surroundings – I hadn’t realized she could even do that – that was one thing that might get through unseen.

I told you I was a Chameleon. I can change colors.

Yeah. But I thought she could only assume standard Dragon colors, not that she could take on any color at all. If I’d known she could melt into the landscape like that I might have had better strategies before.

It was the first time I’ve ever done that. Even I have tricks up my sleeve sometimes, Tor. You aren’t the only one with surprises for us.

Apparently not. And we were going to use her surprises to our advantage, just like we were going to use mine.

There was a ripple down the ranks of my men.

“Castelan Estabis! Glory to Estabis!”

Finally.

Lee Estabis strode down the ranks with a limp and a weary wince whenever his foot hit the ground, but he held his head high, nodding to each man who shouted his name as they fought.

“There you are,” he said to me as he stopped in front of me. “You’re a hard man to find.”

“Yeah, the red banner blends right in,” I said wryly.

“I’ve heard reports of a man rallying others under that banner and holding the line here.”

“Sounds like an interesting guy. I’d love to meet him.”

He rolled his eyes and leaned in close. “We’re losing.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Any more tricks up those sleeves?”

I pitched my voice low for his ears alone, getting serious again. “I need to fly out of here and find out what’s going on behind their golems. Who leads them? How? Can they be stopped?”

He nodded.

“I heard rumors that you’re the one piling them up like kindling.”

I grimaced.

“Is that why you haven’t gone already?”

“It’s a bit of a unique hobby, but I don’t know anyone else who can do it.” I tried to make my tone light, but this was exactly why I hadn’t gone. This was exactly why I’d stayed to fight. If I left, that power left with me.

“So is sneaking around on a flying dragon,” Lee said. “You need to trust us. And we will trust you to go find answers.”

I nodded, reluctantly.

“Can you go now, or are you too tired?”

I’d been awake for two days straight. If I didn’t get sleep soon, I wasn’t going to be able to think.

“I’m not just a man. I’m a legend,” I said lightly, pointing to my face. “Or hadn’t you heard?”

He frowned. “Try to snatch a nap before you go. No sense dying because you’re too tired to react.”

I nodded. I couldn’t shrug that off. Everyone needed sleep.

“Honam!” I called. The man rushed to my side. I shoved the spear in his hand. “Take over. I have business for the Castelan.”

Honam’s eyes shone with pride as he held the banner up. “Hold them, boys!”

He nodded a goodbye to me, and Estabis clapped me on the shoulder.

I wanted to stay with them to fight.

I needed to go, or we’d all watch each other die.

I slunk off into the descending night.

Chapter Six

I found Saboraak on the top of the open tower, nursing a gouge in her already torn tail. Tachril was licking it. Gross.

It will help it heal.

That or your boyfriend thinks you’re so sweet that he just wants to eat you up.

She rolled her eyes at me. I took that moment to quietly signal Nostar. He and the other riders sat in a tired ring, bandaging their own wounds and drinking from a waterskin. Just looking at the waterskin reminded me how dry my own tongue felt.

Nostar joined me in the shadows, offering me a smaller waterskin.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a long swig from the skin. “I need your help, Nostar.”

He nodded, tiredly. “This isn’t good, Tor. We’re losing this fight.”

“Yeah. We can’t get any initiative unless we have more information. You know that. And to get more, I need to sneak in behind enemy lines and see who is controlling these golems. I talked to Estabis about it like I told you I would. He agrees. But I can only do that if I really can sneak.” I pulled a dirty burlap sack out from the crates and barrels in the shadowed corner. It smelled of wet jute. “And that means it has to be Saboraak and me alone. No one else.”

Nostar shook his head.

“What? You don’t agree?” I asked, returning his waterskin and pulling out my belt knife to carve holes in the bottom of the sack.

“It’s not that. I do agree. But there’s no way we can separate Tachril and Saboraak. I can’t even get him to leave the rest of the wing anymore. He’s vigilant.”

“Leave her here when you fly back up. We can say she needs a few more moments of rest. Then, I’ll sneak out of here with her. Next time you need a break, use some kind of excuse to land somewhere else.”

He looked like he thought we were wasting time.

“Just try, okay?” I said. “We need this to work.”

I slipped the stinking sack over my head, wiggling my head and arms through the holes I’d cut. It was the closest thing I could find to camouflage.

Nostar sighed. “Your face is lit up like a Winternight festival.”

He pulled one of his scarves from where it wrapped his midsection and wound it around my head.

“Thank you,” I said. I knew that the giving of scarves was a big thing in Dragon Rider society – an assurance of loyalty or a bond of friendship.

“Pull your hood up, too,” he suggested. “Those tattoos aren’t doing you any favors.”

“You’ll help me, then?” I asked.

“She’ll just tell him. It won’t matter what I do.”

“Leave her to me.”

He nodded reluctantly and then he walked back to the group. I stayed in the shadows. No need to tip my hand.

“Mount up,” Nostar said, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

“Are you sure?” Letina asked. “The female dragon needs more time to rest.”

“We’ll fly without her for this round.”

It seemed to take forever for them to gather their things and urge their dragons back into their saddles. With every minute that passed, my nerves increased. How would I convince Saboraak to do this with me? What would we do if we were discovered out there in the middle of the golems and then they turned on us? Could we escape? What if there were more Magikas out there than just Eventen?

The questions rolled on, one after another like waves onto a beach and I didn’t have answers for any of them. When the Greens finally launched into the night sky, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Step one: complete.

Now for step two.

The step where you convince me to leave my beloved Tachril when he most needs me to join you in some hairbrained scheme?

“The step where I convince you to make Tachril proud and join me in the most ingenious move of this battle in a way that only you can. You know me, Saboraak – I’m a born winner.”

You’re a born something, that’s for sure.

I gave her my best grin, but it never worked on dragons. “That trick you did with the camouflage in the city street – the one where you blended into the landscape. Can you do that while we fly out over the fields behind enemy lines?”

It’s not easy to do while you’re moving. And I haven’t agreed to try.

“Well, obviously you’re going to try,” I said, grabbing her saddle and beginning to fit it to her back. “Why wouldn’t you?”

Because we could end up dead!

I cinched the belly strap, quickly securing the other straps, too, so I could hurry around to her face and take her snout in my hands.

“You’re an amazing dragon, Saboraak. You’ve never let me down.” I paused to let that sink in. “But now we have a whole city of people who need help and together we can’t let them down. Come on, old girl. Tell me you’re in!”

She looked away, rolling her eyes.

Just don’t get me killed, trout. I made promises to my Pledged Wing.

“I’ll try my best.”

I need a better promise than that.

I mounted her, strapping into the saddle.

“I’ll try your best. There, is that better?”

She huffed irritably, but we were in the air a moment later, climbing high into the sky above.

“Try not to let Tachril notice you. This is one time when an entourage is unwelcome.” As opposed to all the other times when I was just thrilled to have every step dogged by a posse of dragons.

I heard that.

Maybe I wanted her to.

I needed to stop teasing my dragon and pay attention. You know I love you, don’t you, Saboraak?

Would I be doing this if I didn’t?

Probably not.

“Look! See where the Black dragons are fighting a wave of flying golems over there?” I could just pick them out in the moonlight. “That’s a good distraction. Let’s try to stay clear of them and fly away from the city to the south and then circle far to the east, loop up north again, and sweep in behind the enemy.”

If you say so.

She sounded uncertain. I felt just as uncertain. It was hard to see the golems in the dark – hard to see anything with only a sliver of moonlight – and what we were doing was insane.

See, didn’t I imply that?

Was Saboraak camouflaging herself?

Yes. Not that it will do much at night with our silhouettes against the moonlight.

We’d just have to do our best.

We flew south, flying under or over or around any cloud or gust that made us think it might be a golem. I was already tired when we finally swept east. It was going to be a long night.

It’s always a long night for hardworking dragons when you are around, Tor. You’re a taskmaster.

See? I knew I was the master of something ...

Ha!

Chapter Seven

I should have asked Saboraak to sweep west.

You’ve thought that same thing five times in the last hour.

Yeah, well I’d forgotten that east of Estabis was nothing but rocky mountains. And we’d had to weave in and out of their ragged foothills and bluffs as we swung north. It didn’t help that I was exhausted. I’d been able to stay awake when I was fighting or moving but now, I was just sitting in one place huddled in an old stinking sack and so tired I thought I might fall asleep in the saddle.

Might? You’ve already nodded off more times than you’ve regretted heading east.

That explained the kink in my neck, but not why I felt more tired than ever.

We were almost behind the army, by my estimation, finally peeling away from the mountains and up to the north of the army. Saboraak should fly low so we didn’t make a silhouette against the night sky.

Teach your grandmother how to flame.

What?

Sorry. I’m tired, too. I mean that I can fly just fine without coaching. Why don’t you go back to sleep and let me do it?

I nodded off again, too tired to care that she thought my help was only an irritation.

Tor! Tor!

I woke at her frantic cry.

We were low in the air. There were rows of creeping golems below us. A small camp of tents not far away. A single flying golem, like a patrol rushing toward us like a shark through the ocean.

I raised a hand, thinking, “Stop!” as hard as I could and the golem dropped like a stone, hitting the ground with a clatter as the metal struck rock.

If that got the attention of the camp, then all our sneaking would be for nothing.

It came out of nowhere. I called you the second I saw it!

I didn’t blame her. Obviously, there would be patrols. I should have thought of that. They would want to prevent us from seeing what they were doing here as badly as we would want to know.

I took a deep breath, weighing my options.

“Okay,” I whispered. “See that little clump of trees just north of us?”

Yes.

“You are going to hide in there while I creep into the camp, okay? Let me know if anything gets close to you.”

Okay.

She was already low to the ground, but her belly practically swished through the grass as she covered the last little distance to the forest and snuck in between the trees.

I dismounted quickly, grabbing my knives and a waterskin from her saddlebags. I was beginning to regret leaving my spear behind.

You could carve yourself a quick quarterstaff from one of the saplings.

A good idea. I cut one quickly with my knife – a poplar with smooth bark and some good flex to it, about two thumbs thick and as tall as I was – delimbed it and then replaced my knife in the holster up my sleeve. I had ground to cover in the dark and no time to waste.

“Take care of yourself, Saboraak,” I whispered and then hurried out of the forest, swinging the staff as I walked and letting it serve as a prop whenever I stumbled over a root or dip that I couldn’t see in the dark.

The camp glowed like a steady beacon through the night. I glanced toward where the moon hung low in the sky. How many hours did I have until the sun rose? I hoped there would be enough.

I had tried to keep distance between myself and the golem ranks – who would have thought there would be more out here, motionless and still while so many flooded the city beyond? What were they doing here? Why didn’t they just join the others and overwhelm all our defenses? Did they want survivors to flee? Maybe whoever was controlling these golems wanted word to spread about what they could expect from the invaders. Maybe they wanted the Dominion to think it wasn’t worth trying to fight. Or maybe they just couldn’t fit more golems than were already packed into the city.

I steeled my jaw as I crept ever closer. I could feel the still golems shifting slightly as I passed, as if I was a wind blowing through leafy trees. There was a connection there. Some way in which I was a part of them. It worried me. It made me wonder. If golems were powered by human souls and if they responded to me – why? What was it about me that connected us?

I crept in behind the tents, keeping into the shadows. There were a handful of people standing around them, speaking quietly, drinking hot drinks. Looking like normal people. Except they wore Magika robes and kept their eyes south toward the city.

“How much longer, Eventen?” One of them asked irritably.

I almost jumped. Eventen. He was here! I crept behind one of the still tents, trying to listen without being seen.

“Until dawn. We’ll finish them then.”

“Dramatic,” a third voice said coolly – a female voice.

“You think so, Alician?” Eventen asked. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

His teasing tone sounded flirty. Did he flirt with all the women? He’d proposed marriage to Zyla. Now he was drawing the attention of this Alician. All while plotting the destruction of our Dominion. Yeah, no one would miss him when I was done with him. That was pretty clear.

“Why dawn?”

“Apeq A’kona is in position. He moves the troops at dawn. We’ll wait to finish off the city until he can see it collapse. He wants to see what happens so he’ll know what to do when we move further into the heart of the Dominion,” Eventen said.

“I don’t know why he’s bringing human soldiers at all,” Alician said. Her voice was crystal in the night air. “These golems are a thing of beauty. Five of us can take a city with them – and we don’t even need to be close.”

“It’s a strain, though,” the first voice said. “My head aches from flickering through so many sets of eyes. “And something is wrong with a lot of my golems. They’re frozen in place. I didn’t even see what stopped them.”

“Well, you can’t expect them to function perfectly,” Alician stated. “They’re ancient creations. There are bound to be some that are no longer in optimal working order.”

Ancient? What did that mean?

“I agree,” Eventen said. “Although A’kona did not mention malfunctions in his testing. According to him, he was able to reanimate any of the unresponsive golems with new sacrifices. We shouldn’t have this level of malfunction.”

“Maybe the soldiers simply destroyed them. I never guessed the dragons would be such formidable enemies to the wolf-golems before this started,” the first voice said again.

“No, there’s something else at play here,” Eventen said. “Maybe when Shabren’s second in command shows up here she’ll have some ideas. What was her name, again?”

“Ambrosia.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He snorted.

“Don’t let the name fool you,” Alician said. “She’s no fool. Worse than Shabren by a factor of ten. He was a megalomaniac. She’s a true believer.”

“Like Katlana Woelran?” Eventan asked.

“Worse. She thinks the world should be governed by Magikas and everyone and everything else should serve us.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Eventen said.

“Tell her that. She’ll love you.”

“Maybe I will. If you don’t believe it, then why are you here?”

Alician’s voice sounded tight. “I have nowhere else to go. I was born to mud farmers near Sky City. Without magic, I’m back there, carting mud around in a wheelbarrow until my joints give out and I die of starvation.”

“They don’t really farm mud, do they?” the first voice asked.

“Might as well. What they do farm isn’t worth much more.”

“However we came here,” Eventen said, “Whatever our private goals, we can’t get distracted. Shabren showed us what happens when you get distracted.”

“They feed you mush out of a cup,” the first voice said.

“Actually,” Eventen said easily, “I heard they don’t need to do that anymore. Shabren died peacefully in his sleep.”

The first voice snickered. “Yeah. That’s what they always say when you die of magic.”

Alician cleared her throat. “Be careful. Shabren had friends. Including Ambrosia. If she hears you talking like that when she comes through the doorway tomorrow, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

The doorway? My eyes widened. Could it be possible that there was a doorway here in the Dominion? I closed my eyes. Where would I put a doorway if I was here? I didn’t need to reason it out. Something was pulling at me – something I hadn’t noticed in all the excitement of listening in on the conversation. It pulled at me like the golems did, but stronger and deeper.

A doorway.

Here.

Quietly, I crept away from the tents, following the pull of the doorway.

Chapter Eight

I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it hadn’t been this.

Behind the tents, not far into the trees, a huge wooden cart built of rough-hewn timbers strong enough to build a bridge from and standing on four iron-reinforced wheels taller than I was, stood on a cleared forest road. It was hitched to a team of ten wolf-golems. And no wonder. What else could pull such a thing?

But there were vines wrapped around their feet and mostly-melted snow drifts there, too as well as on their backs. They had been here for a long time. Maybe since autumn before the snow fell – when vines would still have grown. What would it have taken to hide this here without anyone from the city realizing?

A beaten track went from the back of the cart and out of the forest. A track that looked like hundreds of feet had used it.

I climbed the wooden stairs that someone had built behind the cart, my breath hitching in my throat at what the cart carried.

A slab of rock, roughly hewn, sat in the cart, propped up by stones and balking. Jutting up from the rock, stood a doorway, glowing very slightly in the night, symbols etched along the sides.

It was how they’d brought an army here, I realized, my heart speeding as I stepped toward it. And it was how they would bring more.

It was how Eventen had beat us to Estabis. Perhaps, they had one of these in Woelran, too. Perhaps it was that doorway that had brought the golems there. Perhaps it was a doorway there that had brought Katlana to Woelran. Perhaps it had even been one of these doorways that was used to suck out the souls of the people in Woelran.

I felt bile begin to rise in my throat at the thought of all the atrocities made possible by these doors and at how I was inexplicably tied to them.

I swallowed, reaching toward it with a trembling hand.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I nearly leapt out of my skin when the mimic spoke. “The last time you went through one of those things, you got me.”

I could feel it reaching to me just like I was reaching to it. Like a friend reaching out a hand of greeting. Like a lost love, reaching for an embrace.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could lose me.”

I snorted. That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. And I had come this far. If I wanted to know what was coming for us through this doorway, then I needed to see it for myself. But I knew now that there were two sides to these doorways. One side took you right through and one side took you to the World of Legends. Which was destroyed now. It could be deadly to walk through that side.

“Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t it seem obvious that the correct side is the one with the path leading out of it?” my mimic asked, facetiously.

“That’s the right side to walk out of. Does that make it the right side to walk into?” I wondered.

I studied the engravings around the door. Smoke – like the one that had marked me. Fire. A bird. An oak leaf. The houses of the Ko’Torenth nobility. And the marks on their – our – arms. Carefully, I looked at the other side. It bore the same marks. No hint there. But the backside of the doorway pulled at me. I could see the woven threads of the future swirling into that door.

If I went in through that side, perhaps I could weave them. Perhaps I could find the skill to weave the future.

I gasped. Those had not been my thoughts. How much power did this thing have if it could put thoughts into my head?

“You can’t think thoughts that aren’t yours,” the mimic said.

“I think we’ll go in the side you chose,” I replied, breathlessly. I wasn’t going to be weaving any futures tonight.

“If you say so, boss.”

I planted myself on the beaten trail, took a deep breath and plunged through the door.

The familiar sensation of pain and cold filled me and then I was standing in a place that wasn’t a forest at all, and yet was eerily familiar. The doorway I walked out of was on a cart so much like the one in the forest that they could have been made by the same hands. This one was also strapped to a team of wolf-golems, but here it was blowing sand that had formed around their feet.

And here, in the faint light of the moon, a thousand tents were pitched around us.

Golems didn’t need tents. They didn’t need the fires that dotted the encampment. They didn’t need the luxury of the tent closest to this doorway – though it was still far enough away that it was hard to make out the faces of the guards standing at the entrance. It was a striped pavilion of the finest silk, decorated with swathed silk banners. The colors were faint in the moonlight, but I thought they might be Jade and White. And the braziers burning in front of the pavilion were dead giveaways. They burned with leaping green flames.

Only Apeq A’kona could possibly be in that pavilion.

This is what the Magikas had been discussing so glibly with Eventen. There was an army here – a human army. And they looked ready to rush through that door and descend on us at a moment’s notice. Worse, these doorways on carts meant they could arrive anywhere that a cart could be pulled, to the very heart of the Dominion.

My mouth felt dry as dust and the quarterstaff in my hand shook in my grasp.

“I’m not much of one for camping,” my mimic remarked.

“I don’t think they plan to camp for long,” I replied with a frown.

“We should sneak into that green and white tent and see what’s in there. Maybe he brought interesting devices with him. We could use an interesting device or two. And then he wouldn’t have them.”

It wasn’t a bad suggestion. But I was more intrigued by a ring of wolf-golems three deep off to my left. They all sat on their haunches, looking inward, so tightly grouped that you couldn’t walk – or even see – through the gaps around them. Now ... what could be in there that required that level of protection?

The mimic smiled. “Ah! A better treasure! I like how you think.”

The ground here was so flat that the cart I stood on might be the highest ground around. If I couldn’t see in that ring from here, then I couldn’t go anywhere else to see.

“Except for inside the ring.”

My mimic’s eyes glowed.

I should be a good soldier and go back to Saboraak right now. Before I was caught. Before I gave everything away.

“But then you’ll never know what’s in that ring. You know Apeq is here. You know there’s an army of ... how many would you say that is?”

“Thousands.”

“Mmm Hmm. And a secret weapon in the middle of those golems.”

“It might not be a secret weapon.”

“What else would they hide inside a ring of golems?”

How would you even get in there? It would be impossible.

“Easy. Tell the golems to move. You know you can do that.”

I swallowed. I was moving before I realized I’d made up my mind, skimming over the desert sand toward the ring of golems.

If anyone saw me, I was a dead man. If anyone heard me, I was a dead man. It was a massive gamble to try a thing like this.

“Last time you didn’t push to figure out what the secret weapon was, Katlana destroyed it before you could stop her. This is just being practical.”

I still didn’t even know what the Castelan’s weapon had been.

“Isn’t it obvious? He was a Magika, too. A Magika who had some way to shield the Castel. The whole place was rigged to be used as a shelter.”

Hmm. Even so, that didn’t stop this idea from being completely reckless.

“Recklessly practical.”

Time to play our hand and hope we’d chosen wisely.

“We, who? No one is going to kill me if this goes south.”

I stopped behind the first golem, trying to hide in the shadows behind him. I could hear the “All’s well!” of the guards as they met along the perimeter of the camp. They hadn’t expected an infiltrator from the inside, had they?

Not that I had much reason to look down at them. I was standing behind a bunch of golem rear ends.

“Back up,” I ordered the first one in a terse whisper.

It stirred, shuffling backward but it didn’t stop when it was out of the way. It kept on going, shuffling backward, backward. I bit off a curse.

“Stop!” I whispered frantically. “Stop!”

Hopefully, no one had seen that. My heart was in my throat.

“Well, you can hardly look inside if you’re too afraid to even move the barriers,” my mimic sneered.

I gritted my teeth and softly ordered the golem in front of that one to back up, but he was wedged in place. The scrape of steel on steel sent a quiet, “Stop!” bursting out of me as I moved to the golem beside my original one, trying to move him instead. It was very unthoughtful of the people who built this golem wall to stagger them. It would be easier if they were standing nose to tail.

“And far less amusing,” my mimic said. “You look like you might choke on your own terror. It’s a funny look. Remind me never to try it.”

I rolled my eyes, carefully backing the second golem out to free the third. We were in the second layer now, but I still couldn’t see forward to where the secret was kept. And I would need two more golems from the back layers before I could reach the front layer of them.

This was more complicated than I’d anticipated.

“It always is.”

Maybe I should just go back now. Maybe I should run while I could. We knew enough.

“Don’t be a gutless wonder! You’ve come this far. We haven’t been caught yet.”

But any minute now, one of those sentries might glance inside the camp and notice the moving golems. And then he’d yell, and it would all be over.

“All over but the fun!”

My mimic had a strange idea about what was fun.

I maneuvered the last golem backward, “A little further back, back, back, to the right, back.”

They were amazingly responsive. What would it be like to be one of the Magikas out there beyond the doorway maneuvering thousands of these things at once? Even looking through their glowing eyes ...

“Headache inducing.”

True.

“Stop.”

The golem was out of the gap and there was just enough room for a man to pass through. Oddly enough, now that I could see past them, I could see that a wide metal net had been stretched over whatever they were guarding. It looked heavy and sturdy, held up by tall metal posts. Interesting. Perhaps they were worried about dragons swooping down from above. I took a deep breath and squeezed between the metal bodies.

Chapter Nine

“Now that is a secret weapon,” my mimic remarked as my jaw dropped open. He burst into laughter. “So secret, that it’s not even a weapon!”

I didn’t feel the same. My breath caught in my throat, sudden emotion flooding me.

There were ten of them, huddled between the sorriest looking big birds I’d ever seen. The birds were probably big enough to fly with a man on their back.

“Oosquer,” the mimic suggested. “Those things Saboraak was pretending to be. She hated that, remember? Look at their bedraggled plumage! I’m on her side. You should never have agreed to make her pretend to be one of these!”

But I wasn’t listening to him. I was grinning like a fool at a smiling Hubric standing at the center of all the others. In the back, behind the sad looking oosquer, was Kyrowat, giving me the evil eye. Of course. I could save him from death itself and he’d look at me like I’d offended him.

“Hubric,” I said casually, like I was out on a stroll.

“I should have known it would be you,” Hubric said. “Bataar said he thought that the Ko’roi should have power over the golems.”

“He should. Over all the golems,” Bataar said from beside Hubric. His eyebrows were raised critically. Seriously! This guy!

“Well, I apologize for not being magical enough for you. Weren’t you supposed to be sheltering my people and leading them while I was gone?”

“Yeah!” my mimic said. “Score!”

I felt a flicker of shame. Anything the mimic thought was good was probably petty.

Bataar didn’t have time to answer. At that moment there was a cry from outside the ring of golems.

“Skies and flaming stars!” I spat. “Come on! We have to hurry!”

I spun, running toward that little gap between the golems. It wouldn’t be wide enough for a dragon or one of those oosquers.

“Back!” I ordered it, but as it shuffled back the first guard came racing forward. I raised my staff to fight him, deflecting his first blow.

“Use the golem, you fool!” Bataar called from behind me. “What good is that stick compared to them?”

Oops.

“Fight!” I ordered the golem and then immediately wished I hadn’t. The golem rushed forward, scooping up the guard in his metal jaws and running toward the sleeping camp like an enraged bull.

“Skies and Stars!” Bataar said from behind me and as my cheeks heated in embarrassment, he pushed past me.

“The doorway!” I shouted, pointing toward where it sat on the cart. “Hurry!”

If they got tangled up fighting an army, we would lose for sure. That was our only chance out of here.

I looked over my shoulder to see the other Kav’ai already mounting their oosquer, hunched low on their backs, belly to back as the awkward creatures flew toward the doorway.

I’d lost track of Hubric. I hoped he was mounting Kyrowat.

Everything was happening too quickly. The Kav’ai were streaking past me, the sentries were sounding the alarm. Screams rose from where the golem had disappeared into the camp, the guard in his mouth.

The door of Apeq’s pavilion opened, and in the light of the green braziers, I could see him clearly outlined. I could have sworn our eyes met over the distance, even though I couldn’t pick out the details of his face.

An icy rush of terror shot down my spine. We needed to get through that doorway. Now.

Soldiers charged toward us from every direction, weapons lowered, battle cries and shouts on their curling lips. I braced myself, staff in hand, counting the oosquer. Six, no seven were past me. Was that all? I thought it was.

Kyrowat squeezed between the golem forms, hopping on the ground beside me like he didn’t know if he should fly or leap.

“What are you waiting for, boy?” Hubric barked. “That’s the last of them.”

Kyrowat flamed urgently to the side, his flame sweeping across the first soldiers to reach us and then he was running forward, leaving me exposed.

I was exposed and alone in the sand with nothing but golems behind me and every soldier who could get here quick enough closing in on me.

“Grawlix,” my mimic growled.

I braced the quarterstaff in my grip, ready to fight.

“Bataar is going to laugh at your funeral,” the mimic said.

He was right. But the oosquer and the dragons had passed. Already, they were diving into the doorway like ducks plunging into a lake for fish.

Everyone else had something to ride. Everyone but me.

My eye caught the nearest golem.

Oh.

Yeah.

If I thought about it, I’d never be able to do it. I gritted my teeth and plunged toward the nearest golem, scrambling up his slick metal back and onto the saddle.

“Forward,” I called as he leapt into a run and I was thrown back into the metal saddle. Ungh! These things had not been designed for comfort.

“You didn’t need that tailbone anyway,” the mimic mocked.

We ran toward the ring of encircling soldiers until they scattered before us like birds on a path. Their shouts and taunts followed me, but I wasn’t worried about them. I was worried about their leader. He’d see this as provocation. He’d follow us as soon as he could move this army. And there were so many more people and golems here than I ever imagined was possible.

I followed the line of oosquer through the doorway and out into the night beyond. We’d escaped their grasp, but only for the moment.

Chapter Ten

We crashed through the doorway and down the cart steps on the other side. Ahead of me, the Kav’ai were whooping in excitement and it was all I could do not to yell curses at them. We’d already ruined our chance of sneaking away. Now Eventen and his whole camp would know we were here.

“It’s your own fault. You didn’t warn them to be quiet on this side,” the mimic said. “You always think with your gut instead of your brain.”

I thought – briefly – of storming Eventen’s camp and taking the Magikas there hostage.

“The last time you tried to take a Magika hostage it only worked because she let it. Then she ruined everything by exploding at the wrong time. I don’t think you should trust yourself to take any more hostages.”

The mimic had a point. I could also send them on ahead while we stayed back and killed the Magikas sleeping in their tents while Eventen and the others pursued the whooping Kav’ai.

“Yes! That’s the perfect plan!”

But in this, Katlana had been right. I was no murderer. As tempting as it was to try, I knew I couldn’t slice a man’s throat while he slept.

“You fight just fine in battle,” the mimic argued.

That was different. In battle, it was desperation that threw me forward. And self-defense. And the defense of others. All admirable things. To creep up on someone in the dark of night and slice the life out of them ... that was different.

“How?” The mimic asked. “They are just as much a threat whether they are attacking now or are sleeping so they can attack tomorrow. And whether you kill them now or later they will be just as dead.”

It was different. I couldn’t explain how, but I knew it was different and it was one line that I just couldn’t cross. Not and still be Tor Winespring.

I blew a whistle through my fingers, trying to draw the attention of the hollering Kav’ai. Kyrowat, just ahead of me, crooked his long neck around to look at me and I could have sworn he rolled his eyes.

Let’s just say I’ve been with this bunch of fools for too long. I thought you were bad. At least there’s only one of you.

I startled at the feel of his mental voice in my mind. Kyrowat almost never spoke to humans other than Hubric.

See how frustrated I am? It’s not like me. I have a half a mind to bite one of those oosquer to bring them into line, but I just know they’d taste awful. Where’s Saboraak?

Waiting for us. To the east of here. Saboraak?

There was no immediate response. Hopefully, she’d only fallen asleep.

Shouts coming from Eventen’s camp drew a sigh from me. Yep. He’d heard the racket. We could expect golems following us any moment now. With a grimace, I urged the golem under me forward at a fast gallop. Ungh! Ungh! The jostling of his metal saddle under my bottom made my teeth crash together and my hip bones feel like chunks were being broken off with every bounce. Maybe that was why I’d seen so few riders. You’d have to be desperate to ride one of these.

I pulled ahead of the oosquer. They flew so low to the ground that their wing tips almost brushed the grass but they flew toward the silent ranks of golems rather than skirting them to the north the way I was.

“Follow me!” I called as I passed them. “Skies and stars, would you follow? I’m your flaming Ko’roi!”

“A Ko’roi is not a King!” Bataar called back.

I didn’t care what a Ko’roi was. If they didn’t follow me, they were all going to end up dead. Scowling, I led them toward where I’d left Saboraak a little to the east, passing the lines of silent golems, but not flying over them. Not yet, at least.

I could feel her sleepy mind waking.

Why do you feel strange? You are speeding toward me too quickly. Oh. Ugh. You’re riding a golem.

Trust me, old girl, I prefer you in every way. You don’t make it your mission in life to shatter my spine.

I could try. If that’s what you’re looking for in a dragon...

It was certainly not. My head pounded painfully as my sit-bones bashed again and again against the golem saddle. I wasn’t going to be able to sit down for a month!

I could see Saboraak emerging from the trees, stretching and shaking.

I see you’ve brought down a cloud of hornets. As usual.

A single glance behind me showed me what she meant. The golems in the careful lines I had passed as I skirted their ranks were waking up and turning towards us while others I had passed earlier were already racing in our direction. It was going to be a merry chase.

Saboraak began to run from the trees toward me, swinging away at the last moment and then running parallel with the galloping golem.

Can you jump?

Was she kidding me? Her wingspan was wide. There was no way I could jump that far to reach her back.

She gave a mental sigh and then – before I could brace myself – her neck shot out like a frog’s tongue and plucked me from the back of the racing golem, tossing me onto her back like a sack of leaves.

Hold on.

She was launching into the air before I could even catch my breath.

Can I make a suggestion?

Now she was going to ask for permission to do something?

Can I suggest that we don’t bother circling the army this time? They already know we are here. Why not just plunge right through them?

If they were humans or dragons, that would be madness. We’d be surrounded by a thousand snapping jaws and aggressive enemies. But with golems – well, their keepers would have to realize what we were doing, then identify the right golems to give commands to – and by then we might have sliced a long gash through their ranks. It was possible that Saboraak was a dragon genius.

You’re repeating yourself. Dragons are geniuses.

If only I could get away with being that smug. Usually, when I tried it, Saboraak or the mimic called me down. Where was that mimic? He had a tendency to disappear when he thought I had no new decisions to make. He fed off my emotions when they had a chance to become negative.

I felt nervous as we led the oosquer over the ranks of immobile golems. Flying golems were already swooping toward us from the rear and the west, but they weren’t close – not yet. If we could just keep flying like this, we could make it back to Estabis.

We just had to hold on.

Chapter Eleven

Every man has a breaking point. I had not meant to find mine.

But here it was.

A metal body screamed through the air before me as I blinked unthinkingly at it. A ... golem ... right? I was supposed to do something about it. “Fall.”

It fell from the air into the moving mass of bodies beneath it, crashing down into their ranks as the golden dawn lit all of them with a bright glow.

I was having trouble thinking. My movements were just too slow. My thoughts were too thick. It was hard to remember what I knew. It was hard to remember what I was supposed to do about what I knew.

I blinked owlishly at the strange bird-like creatures following me. They’d been bedraggled and awful looking at night, but as soon as the rays of morning light hit them, I suddenly realized what the Kav’ai liked about these oosquer. In the light of dawn, they were radiant. Beams of light and flickers of fire lit the edges of their plumage transforming them from grotesque to lovely in a single instant. Their riders glowed with reflected fire, their eyes bright with excitement and determination.

At the far rear, Kyrowat flew nervously, leaping away from something. Why would he be nervous?

Because that’s a flying golem snapping at him.

Oh. Yes. Stop. All of you chasing Kyrowat, just stop.

The golems fell from the sky, eyes lifeless and bodies heavy in the air now that the magic had faded.

Wait.

You commanded them all at once! They listened to you! There were six attacking him at once!

Had I not done that before? My eyes closed and I let them, slipping into an almost sleep before Saboraak jostled me awake again.

You have to stay awake, Tor!

Sleep! Oh, skies and stars, what I would give for just five minutes ...

You don’t have five minutes. Concentrate!

We dropped suddenly to one side, but I didn’t care. I could feel the wind caressing my hair, feel the way my body was falling as if I was dropping into bed ...

Tor!

My eyes snapped open a second before a pair of metal jaws snapped closed inches from my face.

Die! Die!

I shook my head hard, trying to clear my head as those golems tumbled away and Saboraak righted herself. I didn’t think I’d even said the words out loud. Or maybe I’d just dreamed that I hadn’t.

It was no dream! They are listening to your thoughts!

It should be obvious how that could help. It should be. Right now, it just felt good that I could do this with minimal effort. Sleep sang to me like a distant siren. I come, my love, I come. My eyes flickered shut.

You’ll sleep forever if you don’t wake up right now! Please, Tor, please!

Who bids me awake?

This is no time for jokes!

Saboraak.

I didn’t want to wake up.

But hadn’t I promised I’d always be there for her?

You did! You did promise that. Please!

I couldn’t say no. Just one more minute ...

No more minutes. I need your help now!

Mmmph. Open eyes!

They weren’t opening.

I could command golems with my thoughts, but not my own eyes.

Please!

With all my will, I forced my eyes open. They flickered open, the lashes stretching as they pulled at each other. I rubbed them with a hand. My hand fell to my side, too tired to stay up. I blinked at the nightmare before me.

We sailed above a hellish dream-like army of golems. We hadn’t seen the city from this angle before, but now that I saw it all I could think of were armies of termites. Armies taking over a tree and stripping it down to nothing at all.

The ground around the city crawled with milling bodies, waiting their turn to climb the stem of the city. Gleaming bodies crawled slowly up the stem and across the underside of the city so that it seemed as if the sky-steel the city was built from had come alive and was moving all on its own.

The edges of the city, where once there had been walls and dragon cotes and guardhouses, were torn and broken, rough and ragged – the mouth of a man with his teeth smashed and bloody.

A gasp ripped from my throat.

We flew toward tiny groups of dragons still fighting the onslaught of flying golems. And as I counted, my heart grew sick.

Five, ten, fifteen, twenty.

Twenty.

Wait.

There must be more somewhere, but though I scanned the air above the city, that was all that I saw.

Just as wrenching was the city below.

When we’d left on our mission only hours ago, we’d left a city half-overrun by golems. Now, every inch of the city seemed to be filled with the swarming masses right up to the gates of the Castel.

A sinking feeling filled my belly as we flew on.

“Fall,” I whispered to the golems surrounding a pair of black dragons. “Fall. Fall.”

I was focused on the flyers. Perhaps some of these dragons could be saved.

Ngh.

The sound coming from Saboraak sounded like her breath had been knocked out of her.

No wonder.

In the distance, I saw her wing fighting. And one of the dragons – I couldn’t see which from here – was being torn apart by five golems, they pulled his wings in two different directions while another wrenched at his tail and another sunk metal teeth into an all-too-alive neck.

I pushed at them with my mind. Stop! Stop! Stop!

And they fell. Oh, they fell.

But they fell with their victim, plummeting together toward the Castel below.

Saboraak let out a dragon scream and then she was dashing after them like a lightning bolt from the heavens while I tried to focus on the other knots of golems fighting dragons. I didn’t dare to stop. Not when there were other dragons to save.

My dragon’s wordless scream was joined by grunts and roars from her other Greens as they dove toward their fallen brother with her.

And then my vision was a whirl of wings and teeth and flaring dragon frills so that I couldn’t see anything or help anyone at all.

Chapter Twelve

“Up! We need to go back up, Saboraak! I can’t see from here and if I can’t see, then I can’t help!”

But even as I was saying the words, I was beginning to catch glimpses of the area in the Keep around where the Green had fallen. There were plenty of golems to fight here, too.

They had overrun the Castel walls.

My breath caught in my throat as I aimed my mind at swaths of golems. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” I said, but even such amazing power – the power to stop these behemoths of metal and ire – was not enough. Not against such an overwhelming flood of enemies.

Nelmper. Saboraak’s mental voice sounded like a sob.

I couldn’t even see the fallen dragon or his rider from my perch – especially not while I fought on against the tide of golems. Around us, the oosquer were landing. This wasn’t a safe place for them. A cranky Kyrowat snapped at a golem.

Not safe.

Where were the defenders?

Nostar was shouting something over the chaos of the moment.

“Grab him, Letina! No, there’s nothing we can do for the dragon.” A pause. “Of course, I care!”

“Nostar!” I called. “Where is Lee Estabis?”

“Inside!” he yelled back. His eyes were haunted, frantic.

“And the other defenders?”

“Inside! They’re all inside – any still alive.”

The world spun around me and I realized in a moment what I needed to do. I needed to seal the entrance to the warrens. If we didn’t do that, all of our efforts would be for nothing. If we couldn’t defend the innocents we’d sent down there, then all was lost.

“Are you ready to counter-attack? Do we know where to strike?” Nostar asked.

I almost laughed. Was he kidding? We needed to get out of here. We were too late for a counter attack. It had always been too late for that.

Saboraak was wailing underneath me. A dragon’s wail was a horrifying thing. It made every hair of my body stand up as I mentally blasted out at waves of golems, keeping the floor of the Keep free of them while the dragons scrambled to regroup and the oosquer landed around us.

“What hell have you brought us to, boy?” Hubric asked.

I bit my lip, thinking hard.

“We need to seal the entrance to the warrens, or everything we’ve done is for nothing,” I said.

“If we seal it with dragon fire, that will keep them back,” Hubric called. “It will melt the stone and steel into a plug that will close that entrance forever.”

“What if Zyla didn’t find the way through?” my mimic asked suddenly. “What if she’s stuck down there with crying children and terrified mothers? What if you seal her in like a grave keeper and leave her there to her fate.”

“Shut up!” I snarled, realizing that Hubric was staring at me strangely. “I don’t mean you, Hubric.”

I swallowed and sent out another blast at the golems around me. I couldn’t think fast enough for this.

“How many men are inside, Nostar? How many?”

He shrugged, looking defeated.

“Is there some way to reach them?”

“The Castel was overrun as you appeared at the city wall.”

So, not long ago. There would still be men trapped inside. I swallowed down my fear, gripped my quarterstaff and thought fast. We needed to get a dragon down there to seal the entrance. And the Castel was already overrun. It was a suicide mission. And Saboraak was certainly not up to it.

I knew that if I died, she was supposed to follow me to the grave, but maybe it didn’t work like that with the females. Besides, she didn’t know for sure that we’d been bound the same way.

I reached into her saddlebags, threw the strap of a waterskin over my shoulder so that it dangled over my back, pulled a cloak on, tying it hastily, and stuffed my pockets with food.  That would have to do.

I shoved the golems back again with my mind. It was getting easier. Sort of.

A moment later, I was leaping from Saboraak’s back to the ground and rushing over to Nostar.

“Take them out of here. The dragons, the oosquer, everyone. Head east to Questan. We’ll catch up with you there.”

His face was grim but also stunned, like he wasn’t listening to me.

“Nostar! Are you listening?!”

“I ... I”

I shook him. “Pull yourself together! The city has fallen! There’s no chance to save it anymore. No chance of a counter attack. There never was. We got the vulnerable people out as quickly as we could, but I need to seal up the entrance so the golems can’t just chase them into the warrens. And that won’t take everyone here. You need to go!”

As if triggered by the word “go” a dragon burst up from the top tower of the Castel, flapping into the air to try to gain height. Golems swarmed it immediately.

I sent a burst against them mentally, clearing them for long enough that a second dragon shot up from the tower to join the first. They looked strange, like they had grown blisters all over them and they hung in the air heavily.

It took me a moment to realize that they were both loaded down with people.

“Is that Lenora?” Hubric called. “I think I recognize her Green dragon!”

“Yes!” And behind her, the other dragon was a Black dragon. Lee’s perhaps?

I ran to Saboraak’s head, gripping her snout in my hands.

“Look, we need to split up for now. Go with Tachril and the others. Go help Lenora. Do you hear me? You need to get out of here. You need to get somewhere safe.”

Why did it feel so wrenching to send her away?

I can’t abandon you.

“You have to. I have to seal the entrance!”

You need a dragon for that.

I looked to Hubric and Kyrowat. Hubric nodded briefly.

“Hubric will help me. Kyrowat will flame the entrance and seal it up, okay? We want you to go to safety. Tachril and his wing need you. And so does Lenora. Look at her dragon? His load is so heavy he can hardly fly!”

I sent another burst at the flying golems rallying near Lenora. Her dragon was dipping too low over the city – too heavy for the burden he was bearing.

“No time to waste. Go, faithful dragon! Go!”

This time, Nostar nodded to me. Tachril launched into the air with a burst of his wings.

“Follow the dragons!” I yelled to the oosquer and then returned to the job of stopping the golems plunging toward us and then pivoting to halt the ones in the air.

With so much power I should be unstoppable. Instead, I was just frustrated. It still wasn’t enough. It still couldn’t save everyone. And I was so tired I felt like I was working through a blanket of fog and exhaustion.

I’ll be waiting for you, trout, Saboraak said as she launched into the air. I felt her torn emotions – she wanted to stay and she wanted to go with the Greens at the same time. I filled myself with confidence as I let her slip away. I wanted her to feel like there was no reason at all to fear.

The last of the dragons and oosquer were forming up above us. Stray dragons from around the city rose to join them. Every last friendly dragon in the sky was joining that group. Every last hope we had of getting out of here alive

But I’d never expected to leave here alive. Not after what I saw last night.

At least there was a chance for Saboraak.

I spun back to Kyrowat and Hubric, a little ashamed that I’d gotten them into this suicide mission with me.

I stopped in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

Chapter Thirteen

“You aren’t the only one with honor, Tor,” Bataar said from behind Hubric on Kyrowat’s back.

“Well, come on then,” I said. No point in arguing if he wanted to get himself killed. The Kav’ai could just get themselves a new set of tattooed people to bury in their problems.

I plunged toward the keep doors, commanding golems out of the way or to stop entirely. It bothered me that I couldn’t see the dragons from here – couldn’t fight on their behalf – couldn’t do anything to help them flee. Saboraak was too busy to keep talking to me.

I’m still here.

It made my heart warm to know she was safe. We plunged into the heart of the Castel and I tried not to look at the mangled dead strewn along the corridors. Every golem that I ordered aside revealed broken pottery, shattered weapons, bloody cloths, or worse – the battered, bloody dead.

I’d failed them. I knew that now.

I had this power to control golems and I hadn’t realized it until it was too late to use it effectively. I hadn’t learned to stop more than one at a time. I hadn’t stood up on the walls or the towers of the Castel and ordered them back in groups of five or six like I knew I could now.

“What if you could do more than that, still?” my mimic asked. “What if you could have stopped this entire war. And you just didn’t realize it. You just didn’t have the guts to do it.”

The guilt of his words weighed heavily on me. He was right. And I knew it.

I’d been a hurt bystander in Vanika. Here, I was guilty somehow. Every person we passed lying dead on the floor made me flinch with the knowledge that their death belonged at my feet. I should have been smarter. I should have been faster. I should have known how to stop this before it happened.

I led them deeper into the heart of the Castel.

“How long have you been fighting?” Hubric asked quietly.

I paused. “I don’t know anymore. Two days and two nights, maybe. Maybe more. I can’t seem to remember.”

Bataar was singing quietly to himself – a lilting song so sad it made my heart want to cry.

“You hoped to save the city?” Hubric asked.

“Yes. Lee Estabis leads it. He was a great leader. We sent the innocents into the warrens beneath the city with Zyla for a guide.”

Hubric flinched at my words.

“Hubric?” I was worried suddenly. “Was that wrong?”

“It was dangerous.” His tone was guarded.

“I didn’t know what else to do!” I hated the pleading sound in my voice – like I was begging him to see why I’d done it. Like I wanted to be justified. “We couldn’t send them across the plains. The golems were already swarming. And we couldn’t keep them safe in the city.”

Hubric nodded but there was a strain behind his eyes.

“And that’s why we need to seal up the entrance below,” he agreed, adding a comforting smile. “And we’ll do it.”

It wasn’t like Hubric to comfort people. Usually, he barked and ordered. He didn’t usually look gentle and mild. I must have really screwed up.

I was surprised that we hadn’t been attacked yet. The golems let me stop them or redirect them, but we had yet to be surrounded or pinned down.

Don’t wish for it, boy. Kyrowat said in my mind. I’m sure they’ll get to that when they realize what you’re doing.

True. Eventually, one of those Magikas would realize there was trouble coming up from behind the frontlines. And then they’d co-ordinate and all these golems would come crashing down on us.

We followed the bodies, mostly. They would lead to the entrance below.

“I’m afraid this is where we dismount,” Hubric said when we got to the first set of doors that Kyrowat had to squeeze through.

Bataar was still singing.

“An angelic song won’t bring back the dead,” I said curtly.

“It’s the Kav’ai song of the dead,” Bataar said. And as he began to sing again, I listened to the words.

Rest, weary one,

The sun, the sun

Is rising.

In this new life,

The pain has flown, away.

Rest child of earth,

And let your soul,

Fly heavenward,

No tear to mar the eye,

Or pain the heart again.

Until one day,

When we, our hearts united,

Stand under sun,

We’ve never seen before.

Until one day,

When hope has shown her merit,

And all will rest in faith,

and warm to brand new life.

It felt strange to sing such a soft, longing song in halls filled with the squeal of metal on stone, and the smell of death and desperation.

I gritted my teeth. Bataar wasn’t so bad. And he’d chosen to join us. No one asked him to come and die with us. He’d just chosen to come along. You couldn’t fault a man for that.

I almost knew his song by heart when we heard the first sound of people still alive in the Castel.

Chapter Fourteen

“Three ... two ... one ... and HEAVE!”

Was that Lee Estabis? But hadn’t he flown away on his Black dragon?

And yet I could have sworn I heard his voice. The corridor ahead was choked with golems pressing away from me but toward the voices.

“Stop,” I said to the others, and then to the golem creeping up on Kyrowat in the hall behind him, “Stop.”

The golem blocked the hallway behind us, but what could I do about the ones in front of me? One by one, I maneuvered them into doorways and arches along the corridor, untangling them like pieces of a slotted puzzle as I slowly worked toward the door beyond. When I pulled the last golem out of the way, tucking him neatly against a tapestry depicting Haz and Haz’drazen meeting in the snow for the first swearing, I saw the few people left. They were guarding that holding room – the room where Lenora and her clerks had so carefully separated people into groups to travel into the warrens.

My heart stuttered at a small child’s toy broken on the ground. It must have been dropped in the chaos. Somewhere there was a child crying in the dark, wondering where that toy was.

No time for that!

I forced myself to ignore the piles of abandoned goods – a sign of the terror of the people who had disappeared down the hole. I forced myself to look past the bodies piled in every entrance where people had stood and fought to keep the golems back. Most of the entrances were collapsed, debris and balking keeping them closed. Likely, the men inside had done that. I could hear golems outside banging at the rubble, trying to get in.

Sweating and swaying on his feet, Lee Estabis stood with four other men. Blood caked his bandaged head and one of his arms hung lifeless to the side. Broken, perhaps. His men were equally battered, their eyes lighting with a hope so slight it barely existed.

“Tor,” Lee breathed. “You have returned.”

He sounded neither happy or sad by the revelation. Just tired. We were all so tired.

I didn’t know why I laughed, but I did. I was so tired. So bone tired. After a moment he joined me.

“I thought I saw your dragon fly away,” I said.

“He went with my sister,” Lee said. “And our wounded.”

I nodded. The nod of one dead man to another.

“And now we are the only ones left to defend the doors of our citizens escape. Pray we can last a few more hours,” Lee said.

“Actually,” I said with a grin, “I think I have a better plan.”

I had envisioned us being killed after Kyrowat sealed the entrance from this side, but it suddenly occurred to me that a door has two sides. Who said he had to flame it from this side? Couldn’t he just as easily flame it from the other side?

“You and your men will flee into the warrens. Kyrowat and Hubric will seal the entrance behind us, keeping the citizens safe and keeping the golems from ever being able to enter through this entrance.”

I looked at the door at the end of the room. It led to a basket that descended deep down the stem of the city into the entrance to the warrens. The last obstacle.

I could go find Zyla. I could make sure she was okay. Kyrowat had even been through the warrens before. He would be fine.

“You can lead us through the warrens, right Hubric?” I said hopefully.

“Could be,” he didn’t seem certain. And shadows wreathed his eyes but if there was ever anyone who could step up and do what needed to be done, it was Hubric.

“Then it’s a plan!”

“There’s a problem with your plan,” Lee said reluctantly.

“What kind of problem?”

“Someone up here is required to lower the basket.”

“I don’t see a problem,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

“But then you’ll be up here when we all go into the warrens. You’ll be sealed out of them, too.”

His words hung heavy in the air. I swallowed. I wouldn’t be seeing Zyla anytime soon after all.

But there was only one person here who could stop golems. There was only one person who had a chance of escaping alive once everyone else was gone. I could see the future weaving out in front of me and there was a soft spot again. One thing I could do to change it.

This time, I wouldn’t miss my chance.

I swallowed down the fear rising up from my belly.

“One thing at a time. First – ”

With a roar, a golem burst toward us down the hall I’d cleared.

“Stop!” I called, but already more were surging around the frozen one, fighting and kicking to push their fellow out of the way.

The Magikas had found us.

“Hurry,” I said to Hubric, grabbing him by the shoulder. “You can do this, right?”

“Are you sure that you should stay, boy?” Hubric looked worried. “Even your power over these things is limited.”

I didn’t want to stay. I wanted to flee, too. The basket that Lee Estabis’ men climbed into looked incredibly appealing.

“Don’t tell me you’re so afraid of those warrens that you’re trying to stay behind, old man.”

He snorted, though the haunted look in his eyes was still there What had happened to them in the warrens before? I hoped Zyla and the people with her were okay.

“I could take you down the shaft on Kyrowat’s back,” Hubric offered as I fought against the tide of golems pushing forward.

Was I imagining things, or had the first few golems I’d stopped started to push forward again?

“If we do that, we’ll be overrun with these before we can block the warrens and if we don’t block them off then all of this has been for nothing.” I risked a glance at Hubric. “I’ve done the impossible before. Don’t mind me while I do it again.”

He snorted at my hubris and mounted Kyrowat. “Stay alive, boy. I’m growing fond of you.”

I fought the fresh surge of golems, my mind forced to give them all my attention. There! One was bursting around the side, snapping with metal jaws. I froze him in place.

The steady boom of the golems attacking the collapsed doorway to one side turned into the gravelly sound of rock being dragged over rock. They were opening that entrance.

I kept the heaving rocks in view while stopping another golem in his tracks moments before he crashed into me.

There was some kind of commotion from the soldiers behind me. It sounded like Bataar was arguing with Lee Estabis. That guy couldn’t get along with anyone! If he wasn’t looking down on me and thinking I wasn’t good enough, then it was someone else!

“Get out of here while you still can!” I ordered, backing up to the crank and beginning to lower it without even watching it while my eyes sought golem after golem as they burst into the wide room. The soldiers would just have to get themselves together and sorted out before the basket was lowered too far to change their minds. I wasn’t waiting on petty squabbles to save their lives.

There was a curse behind me and a few more terse words, but then they faded as the basket lowered down into the stem of the city. Hopefully, they’d make it down there and into the warrens before I was overwhelmed.

Sweat formed on my brow and dripped down my face. My hand on the crank felt slick. I’d better not lose my hold, or they’d plummet down the stem of the city. I gritted my teeth.

“Playing the hero again?” my mimic asked. “Somehow you always find the high ground and draw everyone’s eyes.”

Was it drawing eyes to die alone in a big empty room, crushed or torn to pieces by metal mutants?

I couldn’t hear the soldiers anymore and Kyrowat and Hubric had descended before the basket. They must be at least a third of the way down by now. I just had to keep cranking.

“I wouldn’t call this, ‘alone’,” my mimic objected.

I didn’t consider him someone else. For better or for ill, he really was a part of me. My worse self. The self I had to be sure not to listen to.

“That’s hurtful. But I was talking about Bataar.”

Chapter Fifteen

A hand grabbed the crank from my grip.

“I’ll finish that while you take care of the golems.”

It was a good thing he’d taken the crank, because I froze when I saw him, my mouth dropping open.

“I can’t do everything, Tor! Mind those golems,” Bataar said.

In shock, I continued to fight, swaying with exhaustion. They’d opened up the door from the stairs above and sunlight poured through the opening between the gathered bodies just before they surged through.

I fought them on two fronts. Freeze. Locate new golem. Freeze. Stop wave of golems. Locate new golem. Freeze.

My mind had bled from tired into sheer exhaustion long before I finally managed to gasp, “You were supposed to be in the basket!”

“Lee thought so, too. He thought he should be the one to help you make this last stand. Fool.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s not the fool here, Bataar. You’re a dead man for staying, you know that right?”

“Zin would kill me if I didn’t,” he said coolly.

Zin. I hadn’t thought about her in a while. It was hard to disappoint a girl like Zin.

“She sent me off with these words,” Bataar said, imitating her voice. “’Two must stay where one would stand. Tor always thinks he needs to do things himself, Bataar but he needs you there with him. If he tries to send you away at some point to do something heroic, you have to stay.’”

“Wait, so I’m stuck with you now for the rest of my life?” I asked between gritted teeth. “What if I need to take a bath? I prefer to do that myself.”

“Are you planning to take a bath right now, Tor?” Bataar countered, still cranking the winch while I fought the next wave of golems.

I wasn’t seeing things. Golems that I could have sworn I’d already frozen in place began to move again, reanimating.

“Why does it have to be you?” I asked. “Why not Lee Estabis?”

“Because we’re both marked by the world beyond, Tor. And you don’t know what kind of magic you can access with those marks!” he sounded frustrated. He should try being me sometime and see how that went.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I have the power to stop these things with my mind,” I said. “That’s kind of a big deal.”

“And you think that temporarily stopping them is enough?” Bataar argued.

“What more could you want?” I growled. Because that was Bataar for you. Always wanting something more. Always wanting a guy to measure up to his high standards of faithfulness and responsibility.

“What powers the golems, Tor?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s souls,” I replied.

There was a thunk and the crank stopped.

“They’ve reached the bottom,” Bataar said, and then his hand clamped on my shoulder. “If there are souls trapped in those golems, however they are being used, we need to free them, Tor. It’s our responsibility.”

“Great. More responsibilities,” I growled. “I was just thinking, ‘Boy, I’m all out of responsibilities now that I’ve volunteered to die so everyone else can escape. Wherever will I find more?’”

“Sarcasm aside,” Bataar said gravely, “We must find a solution to the problem.”

The man had no sense of humor at all.

“How long do you think it will take for them to seal that passage?” I asked, wiping sweat from my forehead as I concentrated on the golems.

Freeze. Locate. Freeze. Locate.

“I don’t know. Why?” Bataar asked.

“Because I’d like to try to survive this once we know they’re safe!”

His eyebrows rose. “Oh, I thought this was a suicide mission.”

“Well, we can hardly free all those trapped souls for you if we both die here!”

I felt like rolling my eyes, but all I could do was continue to fight.

Freeze. Locate. Freeze. Locate.

A faint voice spoke in my mind.

Still alive, Tor? It was Kyrowat. If you are, the door is blocked. Glory to the trickster. We will remember your name.

It faded from my mind. Great. A real consolation being remembered like that. Made dying soooo worth it.

With a roll of my eyes, I turned to Bataar. “How fast can you run?”

Chapter Sixteen

“Run?” Bataar asked, but I was already racing toward the cleared entry, blasting the golems in front of me with barrages of mental force, demanding that they stagger backward before our charge.

“What are you doing?” Bataar asked.

“We need to get higher up so we can see what’s happening,” I said.

“We already know what’s happening! We’re surrounded by hundreds of golems!”

I searched for Saboraak’s mind. Nothing.

Hopefully, she and the other dragons were far away out of this mess. Hopefully, she was flying free toward Questan. There would be allies there.

We climbed the stairs between the frozen golem bodies as my mind raced. If these things were reanimating, it meant I could only pause them, not kill them. And an army this size couldn’t be stopped for long. Bataar was right that we needed a way to get those souls freed from the bodies of the golems.

“How do you think they made so many golems so quickly?” I asked Bataar as we scrambled up the staircase. I could barely spare enough mental space to ask anything with the effort of keeping the golems back. Someone had said something about where these golems had come from. Why couldn’t I remember it? I was too tired.

“I don’t think that Apeq made all of these, if that is what you are asking. I think he made the flyers. Ore production has massively increased in Ko’Torenth over the past two years, but even with all of that, the industries in that country can only produce so many finished metal products. I could see him making these flyers. But I don’t’ think he made the land golems.”

“I think of them as creeping golems,” I said. “And someone said something about them being ancient.”

We reached the next floor and I led the way to the staircase. It was the exact route I’d taken before to come downstairs with the mother and children. Now, I was racing time again – but this time with Bataar.

“Stop,” I shouted at the golems. “Stop, stop!”

“I think you need to stop shouting and sing,” Bataar suggested.

Ha! My singing was bad, but not bad enough to slay the enemy.

“Any idea where he could have found thousands of creeping golems?” I asked, ignoring his suggestion as I blasted at golems behind us and in front of us.

The Castel was crawling with them – every room, every hall, every staircase had golems creeping across it, slowly and steadily like ants marching in a line. It made my skin crawl.

“There is an ancient legend of Kado the Wolf King,” Bataar said. “Kado marched his army of silver wolves across the earth and won for himself a great kingdom.”

“Lucky Kado.” I paused to catch my breath. We were on the third staircase. One more to the top of this tower, if my memory was correct.

“When he had finished cleansing the land of a great evil and winning it back for his people, he marched his armies under the mountain and there he died with them.”

“Wait, so they all just disappeared?”

“Yes. The people celebrate it on the night of the darkened moon.”

“The eclipse?”

“Yes. Kado and his wolves were at peace under the mountain.”

“And where was this mountain?” I asked.

We were almost there. Just a few more steps. I was growing used to the constant distraction of freezing golems, but it still felt strange to walk between their frozen forms. They were like dozens of serene statues posed with snapping jaws and half-raised paws.

“The location was secret. And the secret was lost.”

“Maybe it was in the kind of place you might find if you operated an extensive mine?” I suggested drily. I was beginning to get a feeling about where Apeq might have found his army.

“If they were mining in the heart of a mountain,” Bataar agreed.

“And how did Kado power his army of silver wolves?”

“They aren’t golems in the story,” Bataar said. “They are actual wolves. But the legend did say that they grew stronger on the memory of the dead. That they grew stronger and increased as they defeated enemies.”

Yeah, stealing souls would do that. It would swell out those ranks.

We reached the top of the stairs and I froze every golem at the top of the tower in a single wave of mental strength.

Wow.

No time to stop and marvel, Tor. I needed to see what was happening.

I strode to the edge of the tower and looked out over the heaving, writhing city. It was impossible to distinguish streets from buildings anymore. Everything was completely covered by moving golems, their bodies flashing in the light of the morning sun.

Except for a small space cleared out at the edge of the city. In the center of it, a man with a bottle green cloak stood, so tiny from here that it was hard to see him at all. I pulled out the tube Nostar had given me from inside my pocket and took a look. In the wobbling glass I could see his face as clear as day:

Apeq A’kona.

Chapter Seventeen

“This is why you need to start singing the song of the dead,” Bataar said. “Look! He can wake them up again!”

He was right. Below us, I watched as golems I had frozen hours before came back to life. Wisps of green mist whirled out from Apeq, bringing life back to the frozen golems. Or at least, that’s how it looked to me. I was so tired that I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.

The sky was black, despite the bright golden sun. Black with bodies of golem fliers. The streets were black with creeping golems. My vision was black around the edges like it was trying to tell me something, too.

The mimic appeared, dressed in black from head to foot with a black scarf around his face and a wide-brimmed black hat.

“You had a good go of it,” he said, “but now that you’re here, you can see there’s no way out. You’ve backed yourself up a tower with no way down but to jump or die.”

Wouldn’t jumping kill me, too?

“Oh, ha!” the mimic said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

No. I wasn’t the kind of guy who gave up.

“No point in heroics,” the mimic said. “There’s no one to see them.”

The point of true heroics had never been to be seen.

“Then why do heroes wear capes?” the mimic asked.

I pushed him away. I wasn’t ready for his gloominess just yet. I still had things to try. I called to the nearest flying golem with my mind.

I was so tired. I was so tired that death almost sounded like it might be a welcome rest.

“I’m serious, Tor, you need to sing!” Bataar was saying from beside me.

“Look, I want you to know that I’m touched that you stayed,” I said to him. This might be my last chance. “It means a lot to me. I don’t know why you bothered. It’s not like you needed to fulfill that prophecy and Zin won’t even know that you did what she wanted. But you stayed and I’m thankful. We’re going to try to fly out of here, you and me, okay? It probably won’t work, and we’ll probably die trying, but we’re going to try.”

“The song, Tor.” His eyes flashed with intensity.

“And if we live, you can talk all you want about this song.”

The flying golem dipped low, skimming the top of the tower with its belly. I grabbed Bataar’s shoulder and forced him ahead of me, running parallel to the golem and then leaping onto its saddle.

Ungh! I cursed loudly. I kept forgetting that there was no give to these metal saddles, that it wasn’t at all like leaping onto the back of a friendly dragon. My tailbone was screaming.

Once my eyes uncrossed, I let go of Bataar and gripped the saddle. At least I’d kept the staff. Bataar had lost his spear in the flight.

“Here we go, Bataar. Let’s see if we can show these golems how to fly!”

I forced the golem upward as Bataar began to sing. Whatever he needed for courage was fine with me. I gritted my teeth and tried to dig deep into my own courage.

“I don’t know why you bother,” the mimic said. “You know you won’t survive this, why bother fighting it?”

I couldn’t not fight. I couldn’t stop striving. I was that kind of person – the kind of person who was born to strive and fight and ache and grapple until the end.

I gripped the saddle and my quarterstaff and forced my mind to focus on the wave of flying golems coming toward us.

I was trying to steer the flying golem east with my mind, trying to flee the city. I didn’t know if the same thoughts were attracting these other flyers, but they rose up from the east of the city, blocking our path and rising into the air to join us. There must have been a hundred or more of them, flying in small shoals like schools of fish to join the larger cloud.

I swallowed, not sure what to do next.

There were too many to dodge – they were spread out like a net – and too many to fight one at a time. I tried to turn them with my mind but as they began to turn north, so did the golem I was riding. When I turned back east, they followed that, too.

Bataar’s song cut off as he called to me, “Incoming!”

I risked a glance behind me, my hands shaking as I realized what I was seeing. A black cloud rose from the city behind us. Where hundreds of golems were ahead of us, thousands rose behind us and seated on one of them was Apeq A’kona, his green cloak whipping in the wind behind him.

“Skies and Stars!” The expression burst from my lips as all thought vanished for a moment, overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty. My expression faded to a whisper. “Skies and flaming stars.”

Bataar’s song began again. Sounding more mournful and sad than before, like a death dirge for the two of us.

Rest, weary one,

The sun, the sun

Is rising.

In this new life,

The pain has flown, away.

Rest child of earth,

And let your soul,

Fly heavenward,

No tear to mar the eye,

Or pain the heart again.

Until one day,

When we, our hearts united,

Stand under sun,

We’ve never seen before.

Until one day,

When hope has shown her merit,

And all will rest in faith

and warm to brand new life.

Maybe I had been wrong to send Lee Estabis and Hubric and the others away. We would have stood a better chance of survival if they had stayed. We flew towards the waiting golems, seconds from reaching their grasping claws and open mouths.

“If they were here, they would just die, too,” my mimic said.

He could keep his doom and gloom to himself.

“I’m no more gloomy than you right now,” he laughed.

With a grimace, I urged our golem forward, letting Bataar’s comforting song wash over me, drifting on it as we reached the first golems. With effort, I drew back in my mind, holding a mental thought of our course and our need to plunge forward on the golem we rode in one part of my mind while another part of my mind willed the golem right in front of us to dodge out of the way.

Keeping two thoughts present at once was as hard as trying to hold a grip on two slipping eels. It made my head ache, grinding at my mind like heavy stones dragged over the scoured earth by a pair of oxen. I gritted my teeth. Someone was screaming, drowning out Bataar’s song, but despite that, the golems before me fell, one by one and my golem plunged on.

We were barely avoiding them, barely twisting away from the attack of one in time to force the next one from the sky. And every time that I had to hold two opposite thoughts in my mind at once, my brain screamed harder and harder. I was losing my mind. I was shredding it like torn cloth.

Pain screamed through me and whoever was screaming grew louder and louder as we darted past a set of snapping jaws, plunged under a clawing foot, stopped the golem in front of us dead, forcing him to drop from the sky like a stone, and then fell in his path, taking advantage of the empty air until we had to climb over the head of a new adversary.

I didn’t know how long the desperate flight took. It felt like it had been days since we’d left Hubric and the others. It felt like months since I’d had a drink of sweet, sweet water. Eons since I could think without stabbing pain piercing my eyes and skull like iron bars driven into them.

I was a world of quick breaths, jagged pain, torn heart-beats, and sudden stabs of desperate terror.

We were falling from the sky. I fought the golem under me, forcing him to level off, but he fell again and this time when we leveled off, we were inches from the ground.

Hands grabbed the cloth of my coat, ripping me from the golem. I lost my quarterstaff. I didn’t know where it was. My world blurred – pain flooding in now that concentration was broken.

Someone – Bataar, I thought – dragged me across mossy ground. There were trees nearby. We must have made it out of the city at last. My eyes hurt too much to stay open for long.

Snarls and the snap of metal jaws echoed above me.

“It was Apeq. He stole the life out of the golem we rode,” Bataar explained. He was standing over me, I thought. Why did he sound breathless?

There was a squeal above me.

Was he fighting golems with my staff?

I tried to open my eyes but even with them open, I couldn’t see. Light seared across them and with the light, pain. I clung to consciousness like a child to his mother, but it was pulling away from me, heartless and cold.

My last thought was that Bataar was still singing.

Dragon Chameleon: Memory of Mountains

Chapter One

I woke with a pounding headache. The last thing I remembered was Bataar standing over me battling the golems as they pressed in on us. I blinked in the darkness, every blink bringing blinding pain. Aching, grinding, spiking pain filled my head making my ears and throat and teeth hurt until I wished I could just fade back into unconsciousness.

Lights flickered in the distance – bright, but small.

Fires? Perhaps.

I shivered in the cold of the night. I was lying on something hard. I felt awful.

Exhaustion swept over me and I slept.

I woke again to jostling. I felt like I was in a cart being pulled over a bumpy road. I should get up and figure out where I was and what was happening. I couldn’t seem to open my eyes, though I felt a little warmer – as if the sun was shining on me, warming my body.

I slept again.

When I woke this time, I sat up.

“Mmmph,” someone said nearby.

It was night again and the moon was faint, though many campfires dotted the land around me. I lifted a hand to my throbbing temples experimentally and blinked in the darkness.

“Tor?” Bataar whispered. There was a shuffling sound as he sat up.

Relief filled me. I hadn’t been able to admit it to myself, but I’d thought he was dead. I had no sense of Saboraak nearby. Hopefully, she had escaped and was well away.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“In a cage.”

The bars of the cage were easier to see in the dark now that he pointed them out. Who had man-sized cages lying around? Did someone think to themselves, ‘Hmm, if I catch a man, I might want to throw him in a cage. Maybe I should acquire a few of the correct size.’

The cage was on the back of a cart harnessed to a pair of wolf-golems. Of course. I was never going to be rid of wolf-golems.

“They were keeping some of the oosquer in the cage,” Bataar explained.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“You’ve been in and out for three days.”

Three days? That wasn’t a good thing.

“Thank you for defending me,” I said. “That’s the last thing I remember. You were standing over me, defending me.”

“Maybe that’s what Zin’s prophecy was about. You needed me to keep you alive.”

“Or maybe it was just you being a good guy. You have a self-defeating tendency to do that. Where are the guards?”

“They don’t bother to guard us,” Bataar said. “The lock is strong and there is nowhere to go. Do you want water? They left a skin of it behind. I bandaged your injuries and cleaned you up a bit. Got rid of that old sack. I couldn’t do anything about your hair, but the rest seems to be okay.”

“My hair?” in a panic I reached up to feel my head. I still had hair. I sagged in relief and then snorted a laugh. I was worried about hair when I was in a cage captured by my enemies? How vain did that make me?

“It’s silver over your temples. It looks like an extension of that crown.”

“I don’t care. I’m unlikely to survive to old age and get grey hair naturally.”

“Well, you’ve made it this far. You might surprise yourself.”

We were quiet for a while.

“Are we headed east?” I asked.

“Yes. Through the mountains toward Questan.”

“I hope they were warned in time.”

I hoped that Sabroaak and the others with her had warned them and then flown far, far away. I hoped that they weren’t planning any wild rescue missions. I didn’t hear her in my head. She must be far enough away.

“Apeq leads the army and the golems, but you knew that,” Bataar said.

“And you were trying to tell me something about a song.”

He sounded surprised. “Yes. I thought you weren’t listening.”

“I was a touch preoccupied. But I heard you. What were you trying to say?”

“The song I was singing – it’s the song the Kav’ai sing to our dead. A way to send their souls to rest.”

“It was fitting to sing it over the city. Thank you.” If I was going to die a captive, I could at least try to be civil and thoughtful to Bataar. It was the least I could do.

“It releases the souls of the dead – or so we say.”

“That’s nice.”

How were we going to get out of this cage? Perhaps there was a way to pick the lock. Or to trick Apeq into letting us out. Or something I hadn’t thought of yet.

“Remember how you could freeze the golems but Apeq could reanimate them?”

“It’s something I was hoping to forget.”

“He reanimated every golem that wasn’t too badly damaged in the battle.”

“Great.”

Bataar was just full of good news.

He laughed wryly. “I thought I could send their souls to rest so that the frozen golems couldn’t be reanimated.”

I froze.

Wait.

I looked at him, looking so serious in the faint light – like always.

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say. I could hardly say that I’d thought he was being silly and wasting time. I could hardly say that I thought he was a superstitious fool at the time, and I was only just now realizing he’d actually been trying to help.

“It didn’t work. I have a feeling that I don’t have the power to release those souls.”

“It was a nice try.”

“I think it has to be you,” he said, his eyes bright in the moonlight. “I think it might be the role of the Ko’roi. I mean, you are the one who controls the World of Legends, who is supposed to recreate it and fill it with the heroes of this world. Maybe you have the power to release these souls back to there.”

“I’m not sure there still is a World of Legends. It was burning to the ground the last time I saw it.” His theory kind of made sense. Especially if you were Kav’ai.

“There’s an easy way to find out.” He pointed and through the dark, I saw another cart hitched to wolf-golems. The cart that held the mobile doorway. “If we can get you to that door, you can try it out and see.”

“If we get out of these cages, I can’t help but think I might have other priorities,” I said. “Escaping, for instance. Or maybe stopping Apeq and Eventen – should I assume Eventen is here?”

“Yes. And a Magika named Ambrosia who makes this Eventen seem like a newborn puppy in comparison. But the World of Legends is a priority. If it needs to be rebuilt, then that has to be our first priority. How can you stop an army that can just be revived? We need a way to permanently stop them.”

I clenched my jaw.  He had a point.

“And only you can do that,” he reminded me.

How pleasant.

“Why did you stay with me when you could have run, Bataar?” I asked. “I know that you wish you were the Ko’roi. Maybe you could be if I had died.”

He shuffled uncomfortably. “I don’t wish that. You know I didn’t want to lead my people.”

“Then why do you stiffen every time you see me?”

“Because it shouldn’t have been you. It should have been someone worthy who knows and treasures our people. Someone who understands our ways and wants to preserve them. Someone who would protect us from the ever-growing power of Ko’Torenth. Someone like me, even if I didn’t want it to be me.”

“Then why did you save my life?”

He laughed. “Well just because you’re a terrible choice for the Ko’roi doesn’t mean that you aren’t the one with the job. I’d die to keep you alive. For the sake of my people. For the sake of the world.”

Heavy.

“Would you feel better if you knew that I plan to live in Kav’ai when all this is over?” I asked.

He looked surprised in the dim light. “You do?”

“Actually, Saboraak and those other Green dragons you saw are all planning to come with me. They want to establish a dragon city there. Don’t look so horrified. Dragons will protect your people. They’ll live at peace with you.”

“I’m not horrified. I’m in awe.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Zin said this would happen.”

“She can be remarkably perceptive.”

He grabbed my shoulders pulling me into an awkward hug.

“Ummm.” I patted him awkwardly. I didn’t like hugs.

“We will be brothers! Both married to the sisters Zin and Zyla!”

Skies and stars!

“Whoa! Easy there. Is this your way of saying that you’re getting married?”

I’d never said anything about marrying Zyla. He was really rushing things if he’d gone and given his word to Zin. We were all in the middle of a war and none of us might survive it. Didn’t he see that? Didn’t he realize –

His words cut off my thoughts.

“We were married before I flew away with Hubric. We married in the caves. It was a beautiful celebration. It was our one sadness that you and Zyla could not be there.”

I felt like someone had hit me with a club. Married? Bataar and Zin?

“But you only just met!” I gasped. “You hardly know each other.”

“It was prophesied.”

“You can read those prophecies any way you want!” My voice was getting too loud, but I didn’t seem to have any control over it.

“Not this one.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I’m not the one who speaks to his own shadow in his sleep,” Bataar replied with a smug smile.

Well, he had me there.

“Let’s get some sleep,” I said, irritably.

“There is only one blanket.”

I lay down on the cold cage floor and turned my back to him. “Consider it a wedding present.”

I had things to think about and I couldn’t be distracted by thoughts of innocent Zin marrying the least fun man in the world just because she thought it had been prophesied. But I also couldn’t shake the feeling that Bataar might be right. That the key to this whole situation might be to open up that doorway and see if I could reconstruct the World of Legends somehow and send the souls of the dead from the bodies of these golems to rest there. I’d heard that the dead could move on from the World of Legends if they wanted to. I just wanted to give them that chance – and coincidently, to make the golems useless shells so they couldn’t swallow the Dominion.

It was a lot to think about when your head was aching and the guy with the blanket was saying annoying things about prophecies and marriage.

Marriage!

The fool.

Chapter Two

When I woke again, the army was waking, too. Tents fell to the ground as they were dismantled and rolled away. A soldier in a rumpled uniform with mud streaking his boots brought us two bowls of porridge and a fresh waterskin.

“No time for niceties this morning, boys,” he said as he handed it to us. “Eat fast. We need to march. Maybe we can get out of these mountains sooner. I’ve never seen such pathetic mountains. They’re nothing like the majestic Ko’keewin Mountains of home.”

We were in a valley between mountain ranges where the main road meandered between their curves and bends. This would be the perfect place for the Dominion to attack. They could close the bottleneck of the pass and sweep down from the mountains on dragon-back. Wishful thinking. No one knew they were there but me and Bataar – and of course the enemy army.

I felt like there was a ticking clock in my mind speeding up with every minute that passed, as if it were counting down every second that I wasted while the enemy rushed across my land like a tidal wave.

I clenched my jaw and shoveled the porridge in, counting numbers of troops and watching to see how responsive they were to commands, who led them, where the golems were positioned, and trying to think about what all of it meant.

“And you must be Tor Winespring,” a tinkling voice said from behind the cage.

I spun, standing up from where I had been crouching on a three-legged stool. From my place in the cart, I stood so that my feet were waist level with anyone on the ground. It gave me a very full view of the tall brunette woman addressing me. She was at least ten years older than me, though it was hard to judge that for certain.

I almost laughed at her attire – a rosebud pink dress billowed in gauzy waves in the breeze while white rabbit fur was wrapped in a warm collar and stole around her neck and shoulders, barely enough to shield from the wind, especially considering the low cut of the dress.

“And you are Ambrosia. A Magika with plans,” I said.

She laughed. “You’ve heard of me.”

Now, why would she look so pleased? I noticed that she did not speak to Bataar or even seem to notice him. He quietly took my empty bowl from my hands, murmuring to the soldier who was collecting them on the other side of the cage.

“I suspect anyone who is near you has heard of you, Ambrosia.”

“Tell me, Tor, were you trained by Magikas?”

My eyebrows shot up. What was she getting at?

“Well,” my mimic said, springing to life and peering through the bars with a look of delighted interest, “I think the pretty lady noticed that you can make those golems do as you say. And that’s Magika territory.”

I was so used to my shadow-self popping up whenever he felt like it, that I didn’t notice Ambrosia’s shock at first.

“And what,” she asked, “is that?”

“A mimic,” I said. “A gift from the dead.”

Her eyes were wide, but rather than shock or even maliciousness, they seemed wide with delight.

“I’ve never seen a magic like yours before, Tor. And I don’t feel you pulling power from the nearby well, or even from the plants and animals nearby. Where does your magic come from?”

“I have no magic,” I said coolly. There let her chew on that for a while. I had the sneaking suspicion that a woman like Ambrosia wasn’t just dangerous, she was deadly, but like most people of high intelligence, there was nothing so good at distracting them as a puzzle. When a person thinks they are smarter than everyone around them, it bothers them to no end if there is something that they can’t figure out.

“I think that you and I should spend some time together, Tor Winespring,” she said with what I thought was meant to be a seductive smile. Anyone fool enough to fall for that probably played with full-grown vipers for fun, too. I knew that charming look. I used it all the time. And just like when I did it, she didn’t mean it at all. She simply wanted to disarm me so she could maneuver me as she willed. Time to throw her off balance again.

“Do we have to?” the mimic asked. “I think I’d like it if she made me her plaything.”

“Shut up,” I told him and then turned to where her smile had turned into a predatory grin.

“I heard rumors that you were already spending time with someone – Eventen, I heard. He claimed to have you spun around his pinky finger and all it took was telling you that he approved of your plans for the non-Magika populations.”

Her grin disappeared, her cheeks flushing. “We aren’t done here. I will be back to deal with you.”

“Looking forward to it,” I called to her back as she stormed off in her impractical heeled boots.

“Are you entirely sane?” Bataar asked me quietly as she strode away.

“Probably not,” I muttered.

“Only, sometimes you talk to people who aren’t there.”

“What can I say? I’m just a really friendly kind of guy.”

“And I have a feeling that you don’t want to get on that woman’s bad side,” he said with a frown.

“I think being on her good side might be just as dangerous,” I said quietly. “It would be best for us if we could find a way out of this cage before she returns.”

“I agree.”

He didn’t sound at all hopeful. And neither was I. The clock was ticking.

Chapter Three

Moving a large army – or was it two armies, one of men and one of golems? – was not as quick or easy as flying on Saboraak was. Awkward, crowded and irritable, the mass of men and metal squeezed along the narrow mountain road. Often, the carts or golems became mired in mud as winter lost its grip on the earth and the snows melted away into soft earth. Frustrated curses and the grunts of men at work filled the air. It seemed as if we hardly began to move before our caged cart was mired in thick clay ruts.

“Heave! Heave!” the men said, pulling ropes and trying to maneuver the cart out of the mud while a Magika directed the golems that pulled us. I could feel their spark calling to me. And it wasn’t the only thing I could feel that seemed to be alive. The cart with the open doorway was right behind us, stuck as often as our cart was. We hardly seemed to begin to roll again before we were stuck all over again. And every time we were stuck, my gaze drifted to the doorway as it pulsed its call to me.

By noon, we’d only driven twenty cart lengths. By dark, twenty more.

“Just let us walk,” I told the soldiers nearby.

“Shut it,” was the reply.

“If we walk, things will go a lot faster. I’m not sure if you noticed, but we both have functioning legs. You could even just let us out while you pull the cart out of the rut. Wouldn’t that help if there was less load on it?”

The sergeant scowled at his men who were nodding in agreement and then spat in my direction, though the spittle landed short. He was too tired to bother trying again.

“I couldn’t let you out of there if I wanted to, fool. That’s no ordinary lock.”

I strolled over to it, trying to look nonchalant. Just a man engaged in a friendly interchange. In the fading dusk, the lock glowed slightly. When I touched it, it sang to me like the golems.

“They used to keep oosquer in that cage, remember?” the Sergeant said.

“Oosquer flame when they get excited. They’re like big fireballs. They melt normal metal,” Bataar said. “This cage is likely made of heart-metal.”

“Is that like skysteel?” I asked.

He shrugged. “How would I know? I’m no Magika. But it’s magical. And so is that lock. Nothing but magic will open it.”

“Indeed,” a resonant voice said from behind us. I cursed internally. I hadn’t heard him creeping up on me.

I whirled, my best grin on my face, ready to take on the enemy.

Apeq A’kona was not alone. He strutted forward, sleeves rolled up to expose his marked arms in the rising moon. Considering the coolness of the evening, he was probably just showing off. A smile spread across his face.

Beside him, Ambrosia walked in a cloud of filmy white dress and black furs. When had she changed her clothes in the middle of all this chaos? And who wore white in knee-high mud?

“I see you’ve cooled off,” I said to Apeq, putting a hand on my hip. “Last I saw you, things were really heating up.”

There weren’t any marks on him from the fire. Though I noticed that he stood in a way that made it look like he was looking over his shoulder in between talking to me. He hadn’t walked away with his own mimic, had he?

“He should be so lucky,” my mimic opined.

He could just shut up and let me handle this. I saw Ambrosia watching him with hungry eyes. Skies and stars!

“You left me to burn to death. You didn’t expect me to escape.”

“Let me guess, when you arrived in hell, they didn’t even want you,” I was trying to stay calm, but I recognized what Apeq was carrying. He held in his hand one of those lightning rods the Magikas used to fight. And in his other hand, he had a length of metal rope that made my skin crawl. He wasn’t here on a social call.

“You men can leave now,” Apeq said to the soldiers. “Go set up your camp. We’re stopping here for the night.”

“Calling it quits like usual?” I couldn’t help myself. He brought all the worst things bubbling out of my lips.

“We’re making great progress,” Apeq said, unworried. “It takes time to move an army into position to attack a city. But it’s not like we’re in any rush. The Dominion will fall, piece by piece and we will raze it to the ground. Ko’Torenth will take over this land and take the dragons for their magic. In times of want, when resources are small, we need to reduce populations to survive. Cut the fat.”

“So, this is like a Ko’Torenth weight-loss plan?” I asked, but I was worried. Ambrosia was opening the lock.

“You stay here,” she said to Bataar.

I hadn’t realized that he’d moved to stand behind me, standing with fists clenched at his sides like he was ready to fight. He silently looked to me and I nodded. Whatever they had planned for me couldn’t be good. Best not to drag him into it, too.

“If you try to attack us or escape, we’ll kill him,” Apeq said, pointing the rod at Bataar.

I rolled my eyes. “Do they teach you these lines when you sign up to be evil? Everyone uses the same old tired threats again and again.”

It was Ambrosia who replied as she opened the door, waving me out with a curt gesture. “They teach us that magic doesn’t come from nowhere. Nothing comes from nothing. And in a world where magic is fading, any chance to find a new source of magic should be explored.”

“Then maybe you should be doing that instead of slaughtering people. Just a suggestion,” I said as she relocked the cage.

“I’ve always believed in efficiency,” Ambrosia said, taking the metal rope from Apeq and wrapping it around my wrists. “I plan to do both things at once.”

“And you’re going to tie a knot in a metal rope, too?”

“That, we’ll do with magic,” she said, standing so close that I could feel her breath on my face as she placed her hand gently on mine and I felt the metal tighten around my wrists. She was probably trying to be seductive or charming. She only seemed ridiculous.

They both did. This whole situation did.

Only days ago, I’d watched courageous men fight and die for the lives of others and these fools were strutting around a muddy landscape in fancy clothes talking about magic and trying to toy with me. They seemed so meaningless in comparison, like children playing at life.

As they led me away from the cart, holding me with bonds of magic, it felt like they were leading someone else. My mind was on other things.

Bataar might be right about the souls in the golems and he might be right about the World of Legends and if he was, then that should be what concerned me because these childish fools had thousands of souls held prisoner in metal cages and forced to do unthinkable things when they should be free.

And someone needed to be adult enough to stop these two before they broke the world.

Chapter Four

They herded me up the rocky mountainside to a boulder as large as I was.

“Stand against the boulder,” Apeq said.

The moon was rising slowly over the camp and the tattooed designs swirling around his arms were bright in the light. I smirked at them, knowing full well that my face was showing a crown. I could see where this was headed. This was the part where they brutally tortured me while asking me questions, I couldn’t answer like ‘Where did you get your magic from’ and ‘Tell us where!’ Louder and more insistent with every foiled attempt.

“And that doesn’t worry you?” my mimic asked? “The last time we were in this situation, I was the one who was confident, and you were squirming like a little worm.”

“Maybe this time you’ll be the one to squirm,” I said, not realizing I’d said it out loud until Apeq flinched.

“I don’t know how you think you’re going to get out of this, imposter, but I should warn you that what I’m carrying isn’t one of the fire rods I had before. This is a lightning rod and with the magic imbued in it, I can strike you with bolt after bolt of lightning until you’re sobbing on the ground.”

“Yeah, it’s hard to find entertainment in the mountains,” I quipped, trying to keep the shake out of my voice. “You have to make do with acting like a creep instead.”

“Shut up,” Apeq said. But this time, when he stalked toward me, I could feel the markings on his arms pulling me just like the lock and just like the doorway, as if they were all interconnected. I could even feel the metal rope coiling around my wrists and fastened to the rock by Ambrosia with threads of magic and the lightning rod in Apeq’s hands.

“You should look into hiring a guy to help with your army’s creativity,” I said. “I mean, this is almost exactly what Shabren did to me before I melted his mind to jelly. Do you guys have trouble coming up with original ideas?”

“Hey!” my mimic said. “I melted his brain to jelly. I told you not to mess with his shadow.”

“Only Magikas are supposed to have shadows,” Ambrosia said. Apeq looked surprised and I smirked at him again. I liked digging at him. The angrier he got, the sooner he would get this over with. And he couldn’t see the mimic, for some reason. Which was really weird. Ambrosia could see it. Shabren had been able to see it. But for Apeq he was a blind spot.

“Maybe that was his curse in the World of Legends. Maybe he was cursed with not being able to see the spiritual world,” my mimic said.

Now that was as good of a theory as any. Even Ambrosia had her head tilted to the side as if she were considering the mimic’s words.

In the ghostly light, I could make out silvery scars on Apeq’s face, barely visible.

“How did you keep your skin from melting off in the World of Legends?” I asked him, genuinely curious.

“You forget who you are speaking to,” Apeq said, anger in his voice. He raised the lightning rod and I could see the pattern rolling out all around us. I could see him torturing me and killing me and I could feel the rod he’d use to do it like it was a part of the pattern. He’d lose his temper and far from that making things better for me, it would mean he would kill me. I shivered.

I could feel the tattoos around his arms gripping them, holding them. I could feel them as if they were my own. With a flick of my thoughts, I forced them downward.

My eyes widened slightly when his arms dropped. With another flick, I willed his arms still and they stilled.

Sweat broke out on his brow, his jaw bulging with tension. He must be fighting the command. But those tattoos responded to me and I had the power to stop him.

And now I knew what it meant to be Ko’roi.

I was also starting to understand why a person might not want to be marked unless they were going to get all the markings.

“Interesting,” Ambrosia said, a finger to her chin like she was considering everything.

She spoke just in time. In a burst of realization, I left the metal rope binding me in place. I shouldn’t show her that I could mess with her magic, too. Not if I wanted to open the lock on our cage and sneak out later tonight.

“I think we’ve learned what we need to know tonight, don’t you, Apeq?” she asked with a lovely smile.

He nodded, tightly, and I forced his hand to let go of the lightning rod. Ambrosia scooped it up.

“I’ve never been fond of these things,” she said. “I prefer pure power, not something defined by its own limitations. But I suppose we must use what we have.”

The metal rope slipped from around the rock and snaked out to her open palm, settling there.

“Come along, Tor. Let’s return you to your bed, hmmm? We’ll need you full of energy and ready to go for our talk tomorrow. Won’t we, Apeq?” She raised an eyebrow and Apeq stirred, his hands still frozen at his sides.

I released them.

“Yes,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

This wasn’t over yet – clearly – but I kept my taunting to myself. I’d stirred him up enough tonight and I didn’t want to tip them off to what I had just learned – that I wasn’t really a prisoner here at all.

Chapter Five

“Did they torture you?” Bataar asked after our captors left.

The wagon with our cage had been left beside the wagon with the doorway – both stuck deep in the ruts of mud that held them fast. The soldier’s tents had been pitched farther away where people could move without slogging through mud half-way up to their knees.

“No,” I said. “Not that they didn’t want to.”

They hadn’t even left any guards to watch our cage. The perimeter guards walked the perimeter of the camp not far from where we sat at the rear of the army, but I hadn’t seen one pass by since I’d been brought back.

“What does that mean?” He was eating some kind of hot slop in a wooden bowl. He offered me some as I answered.

“I could stop Apeq’s arms from moving. I have power over his tattoos. That’s new.”

Bataar squirmed and I was conscious of the tattoo showing from under his sleeve. Well, he could just calm down. I wasn’t going to be forcing his arms to do anything.

“You really need to focus on your responsibility,” Bataar said.

“You really need to focus on your responsibility,” my shadow self repeated, in a higher voice. Great. Now he was a four-year-old – and still stuck in my head.

“If you learned everything you can do now that you are Ko’roi that would be more helpful than charging off into every dangerous situation that pops up.”

Charging off? I’d been trying to avoid trouble all this time and look what had happened! It came looking for me!

“I’m going to sneak over to that doorway and give your theory a try tonight,” I said, pitching my voice low even though there didn’t seem to be anyone else around.

“Tonight?” he sounded shocked.

“Well, when else are we going to find a convenient doorway around? We’re in the Dominion now, and these things aren’t just hanging around on the landscape like they are back at your home.”

Bataar rolled his eyes. “This Dominion of yours is very wet.”

“Mmmhmm.” My thoughts were on the doorway.

If I could open the lock – and I was relatively sure I could – then I would need to creep through the mud and try to get in there. I tried to ignore the tingling in my skin when I thought of returning to that burning world. Hopefully, those fires would be long out. Hopefully, Bataar was right and there was some way I could change that place to make it suitable to send all these golem souls to. The annoying thing about Bataar was that he seemed to be right a lot lately.

Married man Bataar. I shook my head at the thought, my mind drifting to thoughts of Zyla. It had been days since she went down into those warrens. Had she succeeded? Had she found a safe place for the people of Estabis? Was she still alive?

I wished she was here so I could tease her and convince her to help me with the soul-thing. That would be right up her alley.

I sighed.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Bataar said. “When you get there, let the doorway tell you what to do.”

Nonsense. I did the telling. But he could think that was what I was going to do. I threw my bowl of slop down. It was awful stuff.

“You can be the lookout. See if you can pile that blanket into a Tor-shape dummy.”

Bataar paused. “I’m surprised that you aren’t just going to run. If you can open the lock like you seem to think you can ... well, that’s usually what you would do.”

“You’ve convinced me that we need a more permanent solution to this problem.” This time it was my turn to pause. “But maybe you should leave the cage with me just in case we need to run.”

“No.”

“Why not?” As always, he objected to a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

“Because it might take you more than one try to make whatever it is work. And in that case, we need access to that door again.”

“I don’t need you for that.”

“If I escape, they’ll know you can open the lock and then they’ll find some other way to hold you and the plan will be ruined.”

Of course, he was more concerned with doing something responsible than he was with saving his own skin. That was Bataar for you.

I sidled over to the lock. No one was watching. No one was near. Not too far away, people ate and talked around cookfires or prepared gear for tomorrow’s march. All of them looked busy and preoccupied. I could wait until they all went to sleep, but if I did that, then every noise I made would draw attention. Better to try now when my movements were disguised by the noise of the camp.

I grabbed the lock, reaching out through the kinship I felt with the magic there, and pulled.

The lock fell into my hand.

Time to take the gamble.

Chapter Six

I left the lock on the cage so that no one would notice it was open.

“Be careful,” Bataar whispered.

Yeah, because I was totally going to start screaming that I was ‘Free, free, ah ha ha ha!’

I trudged awkwardly through the mud, struggling as it built up under my boots and clung to every step. It was hard to move at all without making squelching sounds and I was grateful that I hadn’t tried it when the camp was asleep.

It wasn’t far to the doorway cart, though in the mud it seemed to take an eternity. The golems that pulled the cart stood motionless, but when I approached, their muzzles turned to follow me. It was creepy how attracted to me these things were.

I steeled my nerve and crept up the cart stairs, scraping the mud from my boots as I climbed. I circled the doorway, staying low, until I was on the other side of it. Now that I was here, I was getting nervous. What if it killed me to try to go back? What if it was still on fire? Time worked differently there. It could be a thousand years had passed on that side of the door, or only a few seconds. Zyla had said that there was nothing on the other side anymore. Did she know that for sure? What if I stepped past the door and there was nothing there at all? Would I die? Would I ever have existed at all?

“I can’t stress enough how important it is to save yourself instead of walking through mystery doors,” my mimic said from the sidelines. He was free of mud, though still dressed in all black. “Oh, these old things? They’re just my funeral attire. I figured I’d wear them since you seem so keen on digging your own grave.”

I ignored him, running a hand over my hair as I tried to calm myself. Sitting here wouldn’t give me any answers. There was only one way to get those. It was better not to think. Thinking only got me in trouble. I took a deep breath and plunged into the doorway.

A flash of cold and burning pain washed over me and then I was stumbling into the daylight on the other side of the doorway.

Horror swept over me. Where once there had been massive, verdant trees and tangles of roots and wide green leaves, now there was nothing. I stood in an empty space well, not stood, just hung there like a puppet, but without strings.  I could almost see an echo of what had been here before but blackened – burnt stumps as far as the eye could see. Some of the tree boles were still there – at half height but blackened and filled with holes. Others were gone completely. But everything was just a ghostly overlay over nothing at all.

At least I was still alive. At least coming through hadn’t killed me. Would that have been true if I wasn’t the Ko’roi? If I hadn’t been able to see that swirling all around the shadows was that sense of affinity I felt for the doorways and the lock. That sense that I was connected to everything.

I could see the threads of the pattern swirling all around where once there had been trees. It was strange. It was as if in seeing them I could see them as sprouts and saplings, as growing into maturity, as spreading and branching and becoming homes and then as the burned, dead things before me in the shadow image – and then as nothing at all. I could see it as if all those things were true at once.

And out, across the horizon where the pink sun should be rising over the blackened landscape, I could feel a pull drawing me.

“I wouldn’t follow that, if I were you,” the mimic said.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m pretty sure that’s where souls go when they’re ready to move on. You’re here in the body. What do you think will happen if you go to the afterlife?”

“Good point.”

I tried to ignore the powerful pull of the horizon and focus instead on the weaving of the pattern around me. It was frayed at the edges, like it had been affected by the fire somehow.

I focused on the threads, moving them, like I mentally moved the golems. It hurt my head, making it throb painfully as – yet again! – I was forced to maintain multiple thoughts at once, pulling one thing in one direction and another in a different direction. I was trying to pull the threads back into the pattern they’d been in when the trees were a mighty forest, but the best I could seem to do was pull them back to the pattern of when they had been saplings growing in the grass of the rolling fields.

But now my imagination was running ahead of me as I worked.

What if I didn’t want there to just be trees? What if I could carve out magnificent mountains with my mind? Large valleys with rock walls where the rock was carved by wind and rain into swooping umber forms with colorful grasses clinging to them? What if the trees wove between the rocks, their trunks bare and curving like dancers? What if a river ran through the center, watering everything around it and creating pools for flashing fish and bends for lazy boys to sit and fish? What if there were animals and birds? Things no one had seen before – bright and majestic?

The threads wove and pulled, and my head hurt, hurt, hurt, my eyes burned and teared and then burned again and the sun burned hot on my skin and then slowly faded. There was ground now, beneath my feet. I sat on the ground as the hours ticked on, everything around me fading into the background as my mind worked fast and hard and painfully to put the weaves where I wanted them to go.

There would be no trials here. There would be no one trapped and forced to run them. This would only be a welcoming place to send those people whose souls had been plundered from their bodies before they moved on to where they should go. It would eventually need a caretaker. Perhaps, in time, that would be me. But there was no time for that now. Right now, there was only the weaving, the restoring, the hoping it would all grow.

When I finally surfaced from the work, stumbling to my feet, my mind aching, I felt an odd satisfaction.

The dead heroes of legend had been right about me. I would reweave their world. And that was good, since I was the one who had destroyed it in the first place.

“It won’t last unless there is someone to keep it going,” my mimic remarked, looking around. “And that’s going to take a lot of work.”

“Maybe Bataar will decide to do it. He’s a big fan of responsibility,” I said.

“I think it has to be you,” the mimic said. “And you are woefully unprepared to care for anything.”

“Well, I still have you, don’t I? I must be good at keeping something alive.”

“Don’t kid yourself.”

I was still arguing him mentally when I snuck back out the door into the sleeping camp. The sun was almost up.

Chapter Seven

I squelched through the mud in a crouch, hoping that the guards wouldn’t see me.

I’d done it! I’d grown a new World of Legends with the power of my mind. It was a heady thing. And a sobering one. I was responsible for that place now. Along with a nation, a dragon, and a bunch of other people. I felt ill at the thought. Or maybe that was just my headache.

I managed not to pass out until after I made it back into the cage and put the lock back on.

“Did you -?” Bataar asked and then the world went black.

I woke with a pounding headache. It was late afternoon and I didn’t recognize the place we were on the road. The ground here was stony and easier to travel than the muddy fields had been. Our cart rattled and banged as it jostled over the road, leaving my teeth clashing together with each jarring bump and my head pounding like a pair of dragons were tossing it back and forth.

“Ungh,” I said.

“Awake?” Bataar asked. He was beside me, a hand on my shoulder. “Sorry. I was just holding you still. If I don’t then you roll all over the cage bottom. It’s been a few days.”

That sounded about like how I felt.

“Thank you,” I said thickly.

“Of course. And the World of Legends?”

I looked around, squinting painfully in the bright sunlight, but no one was near enough to hear us talk.

“I think it will be okay. It’s growing back. It’s a safe place to be.”

He nodded. “Then we need to sing the souls of the golems back to the land of the dead.”

“Sure,” I agreed, but before I could say more a horse rode up and ran parallel to the jostling cage. Ambrosia sat in the saddle, head held high and filmy blue dress swirling behind her in the wind. Her light blonde hair was loose and swirled behind her like a golden flag. I was beginning to realize that she always looked as fresh and innocent as a baby’s dream – and it was always a ruse.

“We will be out of these mountains and heading down the road toward Questan by the end of today,” she said with a faraway smile. “Which means you need to be ready to give up your magic, Tor, or we are going to have to take it. I’m sure you understand. We can hardly afford a repeat of what happened in Estabis. Neither Apeq nor I am in the mood for that. And, of course, we need to continue to persuade the heads of the Ko’Torenth Houses that this invasion is a good idea. We still need their armies and resources for now. They’ll be arriving tonight by doorway. And you will be a good little boy, yes?”

“Sure,” I agreed. “I love dancing like a trained bear.”

She smiled. “You think that’s a joke, don’t you? But when I am done with you, you will beg me to make you into a dancing bear to entertain my guests.”

I shivered. Somehow, the threat felt worse coming from her innocent looking lips.

What I needed to do was to get a chance to talk to Bataar. We needed to get out of this cage – and fast. I’d healed the World of Legends and we had a plan to send the golems back to it, but if we tried that now without any help there was just no way that I could immobilize enough of them before they overwhelmed us. We needed an army for that.

And that meant running might be our only option left. If we stayed, I’d face whatever this thing was that Ambrosia was threatening, and despite her pretty, frothy looks, I was certain that underneath she was a woman of brimstone and steel.

I was flat out of luck. As the hours passed and my teeth grew progressively more sore from the jarring cart ride, it became apparent that Ambrosia was not going to let me out of her sight. She rode, seemingly unaware of us, but if I so much as twitched, her eagle eye was on me in an instant.

Frustration filled me, grinding at me like the rocks under the wheels of the cart. Biding my time was the only option while I was in a cage. And it was just so hard to do.

I wished more than anything that Saboraak was here.  If she was here, we would just leap on her back and fly away. I wished for her voice in my head scolding me when I was irresponsible or risky. With nothing else to do but worry, I set my mind to worrying as much as possible. I worried about Saboraak and about Nostar and the Greens. I worried about Zyla and about Lenora and Hubric and Kyrowat and Lee.

I worried about how I was going to get all the golems immobilized and empty of power before they could overwhelm me. The best way would be on a dragon, but what if that wasn’t an option. Was there some way that I could do it without one? But every time I tried to think of one, all I could see in my mind’s eye were memories of Apeq reanimating all the golems I had stopped before.

And now we were marching on Questan – yet another vulnerable city full of little children and innocents. I needed to stop this army before it got there.

I didn’t know when I began to bite my nails, but they were ragged by the time the cart finally stopped.

Chapter Eight

Ambrosia waited beside our cage when it stopped, casually tying her horse to the side of the cage while soldiers brought her a folding camp chair and started a fire for her.

I looked at Bataar and then looked at the horse and then back to him, hoping he realized what I was suggesting. He nodded slightly. It wasn’t the best way to escape this army, but it was an option and if I could get Bataar out of the cage and on the horse he could go and ... and what? Warn the city? The dragons would have already done that. Find Saboraak? How? I had no idea where she went and if she returned, she’d only be one dragon.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, thinking. What should I do? I could try to start immobilizing these golems and singing the souls to rest. But how many could I do that for before I was overwhelmed? And when that happened, wouldn’t they just kill me? They were only keeping us alive right now because they thought I had something they might like to study. I was pretty sure they were only keeping Bataar to ensure my compliance. If it suddenly became more trouble to keep me alive than to kill me, I knew they’d choose just to get rid of me.

I had all this power – but no one to help me use it. No way to make it work.

“I don’t remember you being so indecisive,” my mimic said. He was watching Ambrosia. “What? She’s pretty. Do you think that’s her real name?”

“I don’t know, she could have been named a fancy name in hopes that she would be important eventually. What do you think they’re doing over there?”

Soldiers had rolled out reed mats running from the stairs of the doorway cart and across the mud to where they were busy erecting open pavilions and starting campfires. If I had to guess, I’d say we were about to receive visitors from the other side of the doorway.

“Then why isn’t Ambrosia over there instead of babysitting us?”

“They have a present for me,” Ambrosia said clearly from where she was setting a kettle on the campfire. The soldiers must have found fresh water nearby. I’d never realized before how much work it took to move an army or how dreadfully slow the whole process was. “Did you forget that I can hear your parasite?”

She smiled at the mimic and he winked at her. Really? My shadow self was flirting with an evil Magika who wanted to destroy the non-magical people of the world? Talk about self-destructive tendencies!

“What sort of present are they sending you?” I asked. I glanced at Bataar. He had coaxed the horse over and was petting her nose through the bars of the cage. Hmm. If it liked him, then that was a good thing.

“Well, to be honest, it’s more of a present for you, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

I swallowed, worried now. Any surprise that Ambrosia might have for me wouldn’t be a good one.

A servant ran up to Ambrosia, breathless.

“House A’kona requests your presence at the doorway for the welcome ceremony.”

Ambrosia sighed, “See why I’m sick of people with no magic? They waste time on pointless ceremonies when they could be studying or actually achieving something.”

She stood and followed the servant, leaving her horse behind her.

“Bataar,” I whispered urgently. “This is our chance. If we put you on the horse, you can be well away from here and I’ll make my way to the center of the golem army up ahead and disrupt it.”

“I’m not leaving you. We can go to the center of their army together.”

Bad idea. Two would be caught more easily than one.

“I’m not riding a horse with your arms wrapped around me like Prince Charming and his darling bride,” I snapped. “I need you to get to safety. What good is it to keep you here?”

“I know the song. Besides, I think you can use me with that Ko’roi power just like you stopped Apeq’s tattooed arms. We’re marked. Not just as representatives, but as your ... something. Captains maybe?”

My whispering was as urgent as I could make it. “It’s a suicide mission. Before I’ve freed half the golems the humans will stop me and probably kill me, okay?”

“Then why don’t you flee, too?” he asked.

At his question, a hundred images flashed through my mind. Images of crying children, their desperate mothers clutching them. Images of broken bodies dashed to pieces by the golems. Images of abandoned toys and panicked soldiers. If I didn’t try, that would be Questan, too.

“I have to try.”

“Then I have to try, too,” he said mulishly.

“Well, I’m not riding that horse with you!”

“Honestly, Tor, I think riding a horse through this camp might draw some attention, don’t you think?”

He had a point. “Fine, if you want to die with me, I guess I can’t stop you.”

“I thought that would be clear by now.”

I hated giving him the last word, but it was pretty clear he was going to keep taking it. With a shake of my head, I went to the lock and opened it with a flick of my wrist. They should have locked it with more than magic, but that was the problem with people who did everything with magic. They thought it could do everything. They relied on it too much. It was the people who didn’t have it who knew you couldn’t just take things in this word for granted. Not locks. Not victory. Not friendship and not even the idea that you had more days to live. I’d steeled myself for death before. I could do it again.

I took a deep breath, looked around and then slipped out of the cage.

Time to take another gamble.

Chapter Nine

I was risking our lives betting on two things. First, that the guards and our captors would be relying on that magic lock to hold us and second, that the arrival of their guests would be enough distraction that they wouldn’t be watching us.

So far, it was working out just fine. We left the horse behind, loosening its reigns from where they were tied. When it eventually wandered off, it would distract people and make them think we’d taken the horse.

I sauntered to the closest tent, slipping inside.

“What are you doing?” Bataar hissed.

“Looking for a uniform. Don’t want to stand out,” I said.

But there were no uniforms in the first tent.  Fortunately, Ko’Torenthan soldiers were orderly and hardworking. Their tents were already laid out in neat lines and they were all off greeting the new arrivals or guarding the perimeter, or tending horses, or cooking food, or whatever else they were up to.

“Here!” Bataar hissed. “Try this covered cart. Maybe it’s a supply cart.”

We slipped inside and I hissed a sigh of relief that he was right. Stores were piled carefully in sacks, barrels, and bales. These were dry goods, not food. Horseshoes, spare rope, broadcloth for tent repairs, and other mismatched items needed for a group of people this big.

“Here,” Bataar called and I hurried to his side where he’d opened a cloth bale. Inside were matching Ko’Torenth jackets in the colors of the arms men of House A’kona.

“Perfect,” I agreed, slipping one on. There were no trousers or boots, but no one would be looking at that if we were just walking by, would they? I grabbed a black cloth and wound it around my head. No sense tipping everyone off to who I was. I pulled the hood up from the uniform jacket. Good thing they had so much snow in Ko’Torenth or they probably wouldn’t have a hood as a part of their uniform.

“Walk with purpose, but not too quickly,” I suggested to Bataar as we slipped back out. There had been no weapons in the cart.

We strode along the tent lines, me with my hood up and Bataar nodding congenially to anyone who passed. We strode with purpose, just two soldiers on a mission. We were halfway across the camp when the trumpets sounded to greet the guests. How stuffy. I was glad I was no Ko’Torenth Head of House.

“Why are the golems so far away?” Bataar was looking nervous.

“They don’t need tents or fires or food. Makes sense to keep them out front where they can keep the road clear for everyone else,” I said.

But I was getting worried, too. With every moment that ticked on, I felt like more eyes were on me.

When we finally reached the golems on the edge of the camp, I breathed easier. Together, we ducked into their ranks. They stood silent and still, row upon row of metal wolf-golem death and destruction. The ones nearest me shuffled slightly, conscious of my presence. I felt a knot growing in my belly.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s try this.”

“Just sing the song,” Bataar urged me. “And try to give me the power, too. I’ll sing with you.”

It felt silly to stand between rows of silent killers and sing Bataar’s song. I cleared my throat awkwardly and he frowned.

“Okay, okay, I’m getting to it.”

“You look like a fool,” the mimic laughed.

I felt my cheeks heat as my voice cracked on the first note.

“Maybe you can get us started,” I muttered to Bataar.

He began to sing – rich, powerful notes drifting from his lips and filling the air around us. I closed my eyes to try to feel less foolish, and I began to sing, too.

At first, it felt like nothing was happening.

And then I felt it. I felt my connection to each of the dots of the trapped souls that powered the golems. I could see how they connected to the greater pattern. It all seemed so clear with my eyes closed. As I sang, they began to wink out, one by one, absorbed out of the golems and back into the pattern.

I opened my eyes, trying to pull at Bataar with my mind so I could give him my same ability. But no matter how I moved my mind to push or pull, nothing seemed to happen with him.

The souls were still winking out. One at a time, slowly. It would take days to free the army like this but saving even one of these souls was something good. Saving as many as possible – that was what we were here for.

I was okay with the idea of giving up everything for that. It would give my people a fighting chance at this army. It would give Zyla a chance to survive. And Hubric. And Saboraaak.

Tor? Is that you?

The song fell from my lips, my concentration shattered.

Saboraak?

If you can hear me, please help! We were looking for you, but they found us.

What happened? Saboraak? What’s wrong?

They captured us, Tor. All of us. They’re taking us somewhere.

Where? Where are they taking you?

My mind felt numb. I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate, but the song wouldn’t come back, and neither would Saboraak’s voice.

Bataar’s song stuttered to a halt.

My eyes shot open.

A smiling Ambrosia clipped a bronze ring around his neck, and he fell to the ground like a stone from the side of a bridge.

“Your turn, Tor,” she said. “I told you I had a present for you.”

I turned to run, sprinting three steps before soldiers closed in from every side. Something struck me from behind and I fell to my knees, gagging when rough hands wrapped a bronze collar around my neck and forced me to the ground.

Chapter Ten

When I woke, I wished I was still unconscious. Cold winds whipped around me and someone had lashed my hands to a pole. I really hated being lashed to poles. It had never gone well for me. I gritted my teeth and looked around me.

I was leaning against the pole on my knees. Heavy black stone formed a floor under my feet and the wind whipped and swirled snow around me in shredding icy blasts. In the hazy clouds, a dull glow marked where the sun should be. Wherever I was, it was not the road to Questan. And based on where the sun was in the sky – it was not the day I had been collared, either.

The stone area was ringed by low walls and at the very center, a Doorway stood, snowy drifts gathering around its base. That explained how I got here. I stood, feeling the cold metal collar around my neck biting into my neck. For some reason, I couldn’t feel that doorway, even though it was so close. But I could feel the collar just fine.

Not far along the circumference of the stone area, Bataar was slumped against the stone wall, his own hands lashed to a pole.

I stepped toward the low wall, my hands tugging behind me. I could just see over the edge to the mountains below and the city laid out tier upon tier under this high, open-topped tower.

This was not Ko’Koren. Or any other city I was familiar with. But it clearly a Ko’Toreth city. How long had it taken them to get us here? How many days had I lost? I felt a sinking feeling in my belly.

Where was Saboraak?

Saboraak?

She wasn’t close enough to hear me. But she had been in trouble and I hadn’t been there for her. A sick feeling washed over me at the thought. Was she still alive? Would she be okay?

I worked at the leather lashings on my hands, trying to free myself, but they wouldn’t give.

“Bataar?” I called. “Bataar?”

He was still unconscious.

The doorway seemed to glow suddenly and then Ambrosia was stepping through it.

“I thought those things only linked one location to one other location,” I said through chattering teeth.

“I knew you could use magic, whether you realized it or not,” she said coolly. She wore a thick fur cloak with a wide hood and a fur muff for her hands. While I was flinching from the freezing wind, she looked warm and snug.

“How did you get us here when that doorway connects to one in the deserts of Kav’ai?”

She laughed an ugly, mocking laugh. “Like all fools, you think that you know everything. You don’t. The doorways can be tuned to link to other locations. Apeq A’kona knows the trick of it.”

“So, it didn’t take you days and multiple doorways to get me here?” I asked. But my mind was racing. Any of them could be connected to anywhere? That doorway they were moving to Questan could carry more than armies. It could transport more than golems. It could bring whole cities into connection with one another.

She ignored my questions. “Your friend is still unconscious. Those collars have bad effects on the non-magical.”

“I’m non-magical,” I argued.

She smirked. “Apparently not. If you were not able to access magic, it wouldn’t be blocking that magic and it would have knocked you out like a blow to the head.”

“I was knocked out.”

“Sure. But that was because one of the soldiers hit you too hard.”

“If you can just move anything through these doorways, why haven’t they been using them in Ko’Torenth for years? I don’t see much traffic coming up here,” I said, looking at the single lonely door in a cavern cut into the rock.

She shrugged. “Who knows? There aren’t many Magikas here and a lot of the old knowledge was lost. I think that Apeq has dug up more than anyone else can even dream of. He’s an amazing man.”

“Yes, I first noticed that when he was sucking souls out of innocent people.”

“It’s funny that you should mention that. We were going to suck your soul out. Apeq is quite concerned about how you were able to stop his arms just because you’re marked up by those tattoos – horrible things! – and I am quite interested in what sort of object we could power with such a fascinating soul – now that you’ve proven that you don’t know what you are doing and can’t teach it to us. After all, if those dead heroes chose you as their Ko’roi – over Apeq! – they must have seen something interesting in you. Now, to you that might be flattering or some sort of vindication. To me, it just means that I should dig a little and see if I can pull it out and use it for our cause. I rather liked Shabren, you know.”

“So did I,” I said, my mind racing. Keep her off balance. Find a way out. “It was his dogged pursuit and easy distractibility. Made me think of a puppy.”

Her expression turned sour. “What you think is funny, I think is a disgrace. You destroyed a man worth ten of you. And you destroyed him at a time when we needed him. With Shabren gone, Apeq is forced to lead the armies. And that means he isn’t back here tailoring this nation to be what we need for the next step. And that bothers me. I’m not working for our side out of vengeance – that was Shabren’s thing. Or out of disillusionment – that is Eventen’s reason. My reason is very simple – ideology. Our civilization was built on magic. Magic holds our cities up, gives us protection, helps us travel, grows our food, mines our ore. Do you know what happens if it fades away?”

“You have to get your white hands dirty?”

She sneered. “Thousands of people will die.”

“So what? You’re going to kill them first?”

“If thousands of people are going to die and we’re all going to descend into a dark age of magicless life, reverting to a time before the technology that magic has made for us – without the structure, without the gifts – then we need to try to balance the scales in our favor. That’s just survival sense. We need to horde magic objects. Because we’ll need those when the magic sources are gone. We need to take captive as many dragons as possible and tap their magic before they die, and it just melts away like snow. And we need to keep as many people as possible alive who are capable of accessing magic so that they can find a way to bring magic back some day.”

“So why do you want me dead so badly if you’re keeping magic people alive?”

“I’m not concerned with whether you live or die, Tor, but I want to take that power you have away. You’re going to use it to try to stop us,” she said calmly. “And what we are doing might just save humanity before we fall back into a time past – a time where we’ll end up killing each other over food and clothing while we sink deeper and deeper back into the past with no magic wells left to tap and no way to recreate the world we once lived in.

“But just the magical parts of humanity, right? You’re planning to kill everyone else.”

“We need to limit who lives. Look at this vertical city we stand over. Does this even make sense without magic to power it?”

“You Magikas are always talking about how magic is fading, but I see you using magic all the time,” I said.

“Oh really?” she almost looked amused. “Tell me what you’ve seen?”

“You took Estabis with a siege. You transported armies across huge distances. You put these collars around our necks. You locked us in a cage with a magic lock and tied me with magic to a rock.”

“We took Estabis with golems – powered by souls we took a long time earlier. There was no new magic there – hardly any is even used in directing them. We transported the armies through doorways – we don’t power those. They are ancient things that don’t seem to take from the surrounding magic stores at all. The only magic you’ve seen used were the lock and the restraint. And those I made too weak to hold you because I couldn’t find the resources to make them stronger. You think you’re seeing magic everywhere? Ha! You’re seeing the dying flickers of an old way of life. And you’re making it all worse by destroying the few resources we have left in wanton disregard of the future. These are end times, Tor Winespring. We are living in them. There isn’t time or resources for generosity anymore. Not for second chances or hopes. All we can do it hold tight to what we have left.”

“Or, you know, and this is really just me thinking out loud,” I said, as I tried to move my toes. I couldn’t feel any of them anymore and I was worried about Bataar passed out along the wall. “You could try not killing thousands of innocents to protect your way of life.”

“They would die anyway. I’m just finding the best path.”

“The best path for you, you mean, right? Because it isn’t the best path for the mother and her four kids that I saved from death by golem in Estabis,” I said my fury filling me so that I hardly noticed how my teeth chattered and my lips had trouble forming words as I spoke. “It isn’t the best path for Woelran where the people were captured and their souls drained into the bodies of golems. It isn’t the best path for Ko’Torenth. Do they know that you’ve stolen their wealth for this campaign, leaving them defenseless? It isn’t the best path for the dragons – who were meant to soar free as no one’s slaves. And actually, now that I think about it, it really isn’t the best path for you, Ambrosia. Because with every decision you make that’s for you instead of someone else, where you worry about what is owed to you and what your future will be – for every decision like that you are curling inward, loop by loop, turn by turn, getting smaller and smaller until soon there will be nothing left of you. And all this power and all your intellect will have turned out to be nothing but a trap that you ran into at full speed.”

She hit me in the mouth so hard that blood spattered across the stones.

“Enough.” Her tone was quiet – menacing. I hadn’t expected her to get her hands dirty.

I coughed. But I wasn’t done.

“The harder you fight, the more trapped you’ll be. The stupidest, least magical, mud grubbing farmer is a bigger person than you are now. Imagine how much further you’ll decrease before this is done.”

She was quivering with anger, as she pulled in a ragged breath.

“I have your dragon. And her friends. And we’ll be taking her soul and putting it into a thing of metal. In the next few hours, you’ll be thinking your last thoughts before you die, too.”

I should have been panicked or afraid. But I wasn’t. I was furious.

“But at least they’ll be hours that I lived clean and free. Hours I haven’t robbed from someone else,” I said. “Every minute you still have left, you stole from someone who deserved it more.”

She leaned in close. “Now, you’ve gone too far, Tor. And I’m done playing with you.”

She stormed away, her movements so big and bold that her fur cloak swirled behind her as she stalked through the doorway and back to where she’d come.

And I knew that I really had gone too far, because Bataar was here with me, and Saboraak was her captive. And I couldn’t save either of them now that I’d infuriated the very person who I should have charmed into letting them go. I bit the inside of my lip until the blood mixed with the blood already flowing from my injured cheek and I thought about all the regrets I’d be bringing with me to the other side.

Chapter Eleven

“Principles are great until you hang yourself with them,” my mimic said, playing with the black scarf around his neck. “Has anyone ever told you that you tend to sabotage your own future?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you look terrible in black?” I asked.

“I look great in black.”

“Go make yourself useful,” I commanded.

“And how would I do that? You know I’m bound to you. I can’t go where you don’t go or do what you don’t do.”

“You can in there,” I said, nodding to the doorway. “Why don’t you slip into there and see if you can find us some help.”

He shrugged. “I’m surprised that you trust me with this. You know that when you die, I might be the soul that lives on. How does that make you feel?”

“About the same. I was already regretting my life.”

“Ha! Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. After all, I might be the real Tor.”

He sauntered through the doorway as I leaned against the pole I was lashed to, letting my blood drip, drip, drip onto the ground while my mind swirled ineffectively in a circle. I needed to get free to save my friends. But I’d blown my only shot. And now I was destined to stay here and freeze until I was killed.

I was too cold to think about that. I was so cold that I needed to get free. So I could save my friends. But I’d lost that chance. I was so cold.

I looped round and round as the sun crept across the sky like a beetle across a frozen pond.

I must have lost consciousness or fallen asleep at some point because I woke to Bataar’s voice.

“Tor?”

“Bataar,” I breathed.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” my voice croaked like a dying toad. I shook myself, pulling my forehead from where it rested against the pole. I was so tired. I was so tired that I just wanted to go back to sleep. I couldn’t feel my feet or my fingers anymore.

“I should have left for help like you asked.”

“I shouldn’t have let you stay with me,” I replied.

“You didn’t. I kept disobeying you.”

“Ah, but I liked it. I’m not really a solo kind of guy. I like having people around,” I said. I hadn’t realized until right now how true that was. I even missed the mimic. If I was going to die, then I wanted everyone to be around when it happened. Even the worst parts of who I was. “Do you think he’s real or me?”

“Who is real?” Bataar asked, his words slurred by frozen lips.

“The shadow-self.”

“If you were ruled by your shadow-self we wouldn’t be in this mess. You’d be ruling Ko’Torenth or something. At least you’d be ruling Kav’ai. The deserts are so lovely and warm at this time of year ...”

His words faded off.

“You make it sound like he’d be way better at life than I am,” I muttered, irritated.

“Evil often thrives. Selfishness is gain for a time. Heartlessness can be profitable.”

He was still sitting, slumped against the wall, his head leaning against it, his words tired.

“You should probably stand,” I said. “The less of you to touch the ground, the less the rock can suck the warmth from you.”

“Too late,” he said with a ghost of a smile. He tapped a leg. “They don’t work anymore.”

Despair washed through me. Usually, that felt cold, but right now, everything was cold. The life was slowly being frozen out of me, as if I was being solidified in time as the Tor of this moment. And I had so many more lessons to learn. I felt like I’d barely begun to grow and learn, like there was so much more for me to do and to be. I’d hardly even started.

“I’m glad to have had the chance to fight beside you,” Bataar said, his face a picture of nobility. “Tell Zin that I love her.”

This was the part where I was supposed to say something inspiring like ‘Tell her yourself’ and then I’d shake off the chains that held me and free him, too.

Instead, I coughed.

“How do you expect me to do that? You know I’m dying right here with you, right?”

He grunted.

I would have found some way to comfort him eventually ... probably. But at that moment, the mimic burst back through the doorway, another man with him. The mimic had a grip on the bewildered man’s coat and was shoving him forward.

“I swear, I leave for a few minutes and everyone wants to give up and die,” the mimic said, rolling his eyes. He shoved the man toward me. He was about my height but thirty years older than me and his iron-gray hair was thinning.

“You’re ... you’re him,” he stammered.

“The Ko’Torenth Beauty Contest Winner? Yeah, that’s me,” I said wryly.

“The man who stopped me from killing that fellow with the spear.”

I tried to raise my eyebrows, but my face was too stiff.

“When I was a golem,” he said, as if that explained things. “Or at least, when I was in one. You froze it. And then I remember singing.”

“There may have been singing,” I agreed reluctantly. “Who are you and can you untie us?”

“He can’t untie you any more than I can,” my mimic said, rolling his eyes. “Are you losing your mind as well as your life, or are you always this idiotic? He’s a spirit. I grabbed him from that World of Legends that you built. This is Ty’nea. He used to live here in Ko’Loska – that’s the city under us right now. You really have been out of things. I could have sworn that guard who checked on you two a few hours ago mentioned it.”

“Guard?”

The mimic sighed. “Look, just stay alive for a bit longer and Ty’nea will do us a little favor and go find his friends. After that, he can go back to the World of Legends, right Ty’nea?”

“T – they won’t believe it’s me. They’ll think I’m a ghost!”

“Which you are,” the mimic said dryly. “So, hurry it up. Who knows what will happen if you try to stick around too long?” The ghostly Ty’nea ran across the parapet, disappearing from sight around the edge of the parapet. “The dead! I’m telling you, they are harder to train than cats. Don’t die on me, Tor. I can’t handle two of you right now.”

“I’ll do my best,” I replied, not knowing why I bothered. None of this could be real. I’d heard about people seeing visions of things before they died. I’d heard about them seeing the dead and talking to them. That was all this was. I was just dying and having weird visions while it happened. By the time Ambrosia returned, there would be no soul left to suck out of me.

There was a thunk as Bataar fell to the ground, unconscious again. I felt a ghost of sadness. Bataar was a good man. And he’d saved me more than once. Thank goodness I wouldn’t have to tell Zin. That was one upside to the fact that I was dying.

I yawned.

I was so sleepy.

If I just shut my eyes for a moment.

Just for a moment.

Chapter Twelve

I woke to hands shaking me.

“I thought I told you not to die,” my mimic said.

If he was shaking me, he could just go ahead and stop. I wanted to sleep.

“If you keep sleeping you will freeze to death.”

I wasn’t going to freeze to death. Ambrosia was going to come and suck my soul out.

“Something must have delayed her. You’re both going to die before she gets back.”

Then couldn’t I just die in peace? Was that too much to ask?

“I was wrong. The dead aren’t the irritating ones. It’s the living, hands down. I’m trying to keep you alive, you fool. Now, OPEN THOSE EYES!”

My eyes opened and I thought I grunted but it might have just been in my mind. Hands were pulling the leather thongs from my wrists and lifting me up.

“Shhh! We only have a few minutes before the guards come back. Grab his feet!”

There were so many half-whispered voices that I couldn’t tell one from the next.

“He’s not helping at all!”

“I think he’s frozen solid.”

“Can we even save them if they’re frozen solid? You said that we needed them – that they were our chance. But there isn’t a chance if they’re dead!”

“Would you be quiet already? Shush!”

One of my arms was dragging on the ground. I tried to pull it up, but it didn’t move. Skies and Stars! I was in trouble now! I tried to catch a glimpse of Bataar, but I couldn’t see him from where I was. I hoped he’d survived. He was in worse shape than me before.

“You should be soooo glad that you were given me,” my mimic said. “Otherwise, we’d be in the World of Legends right now and I can tell you this – I would be running things there. It suits me perfectly.”

I ignored him. Yes, he’d been helpful, but that didn’t mean that he’d be running anything – except maybe his mouth.

Someone was tying something around me – a rope? Why had they bothered to untie me if they were just going to tie me up again? But then I was being lifted, and to my horror, I was balanced on the top of the wall.

“Ungh,” I managed to say, not at all expressing my terror at balancing over a precarious drop. I could barely make out the details of the city below.

“Three, two, one, and heave!”

Something pushed me from behind. My breath stuck in my throat, my heart thudding irregularly. And then the ropes around me jerked and I bounced against them before hitting the end of the rope again. I swung toward the rockface like a pendulum, gritting my teeth for the impact.

To my surprise, it didn’t come. Instead, hands reached out from the wall – really? – and grabbed me.

No. It wasn’t the wall. It was a door in the wall and a group of young people in fur cowls and warm coats – did they have any extras? – grabbed me and pulled me into the doorway. Hands pulled the ropes from me and then someone was tossing them back outside the door.

My head was whirling as I tried to make sense of what I could see.

“Get him below so that Gran Ti’wilren can warm him up,” someone said and then I was carried roughly to a cart that looked like it might be used for mining. It was on rails. But the sides of the cart were too steep and once I was inside, I could see nothing but the rock above and the occasional light as I was shuttled down the tracks.

Voices echoed around me, none distinct enough to catch the words and before I knew it, I was being unloaded again and carried into a wide circular stone room with windows cut into the rock. A roaring fire in the center of the room vented up into a stone chimney. There were furs spread by the fire and I was dumped onto one of them to lie next to the fire.

I wasn’t complaining. Being dragged and dropped and thrown around like a sack of potatoes had been ... well, it wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat ... but lying next to a warm fire? Now that was the thing! I could just lie here all day.

And then the pain began.

Chapter Thirteen

“Don’t fight it. You can’t stop it and you might bite your tongue,” the words were slow but clear.

Pain rippled through me as every muscle in my body cramped up.

“We should really put you in a tub of water and thaw you out that way, but I don’t have the tub or the water here.”

An old woman crouched down beside him, her hair woven into a long, gnarled rope and her coat a bright red wool. The furs around her collar and hood were striped black and white so that she looked more like a wildcat about to pounce on me than a woman.

“I’ll have these young ones rub goose grease bitters on you. It will help the muscles as they thaw.”

And then she was gone again and there were younger hands stripping clothing off of me and rubbing something stinky on my skin.

“Stop fighting it,” a girl’s voice said.

“He’s cold,” another person replied. “We can lay warm cloths on him soon, but not until he’s thawed enough that it won’t damage the flesh.”

Damage the flesh?

“Cloths,” I murmured. “Warm cloths.”

Maybe saying the words would prompt them to hurry.

“Isn’t he a pretty one?” I heard someone saying. “I could take him for a husband.”

I smiled. See? I still had the power to charm the ladies even when I was half-frozen.

“I think he looks Kav’ai” one of the other voices said. Oh. They were talking about Bataar. My smile faded.

“Married,” I muttered.

“It’s okay,” the girl tending me said. “Your wife won’t mind us saving your lives. Even if you are married. Besides, it’s the other one that Katsa is swooning over. He’s awfully good-looking.”

I would have ground my teeth if the old woman hadn’t warned me about that.

Eventually, there were hot cloths and hot tea and fresh – warm! – clothing and then I was being carefully helped to totter over to a chair set in a ring with about twenty other chairs. My feet were still frozen and stiff. I needed help to even move.

“Bataar?” I asked weakly. “Will he live?”

“He’ll live,” the old woman said from her chair. “He might not stay unmarried, though.”

“He’s already married,” I said and felt exhausted just by those words. Even speaking took out everything I had.

“Good,” one of the young men in the circle said. “Then my sister can stop fawning over him and get back to work.”

The old woman laughed. “Enjoy your youth, To’chris and stop fussing about your sister enjoying hers. It passes too quickly. Trust me.”

“Who are you?” I asked. Someone offered me a mug of broth. I took it, frowning when I had to be helped to bring it to my lips. This weakness was going to be a problem. Saboraak was in trouble, the golem army was about to lay siege to Questan, and I was stuck with limbs that wouldn’t move.

“We’re the Ko’Loska chapter of the Ancient Order of Balance,” one of the young men said. There were probably about thirty young men and women in the circle of chairs and a few more tending to Bataar. None of them looked older than I was. Except for the old woman, of course. “Gran Ti’wilren leads us.”

I looked to Gran Ti’wilren. “Why is everyone else so young?”

She clicked her tongue, scolding me. “You’re hardly showing wrinkles yourself, old man.”

I shook my head. I knew I was too young. That didn’t mean that they weren’t too young, too. It worried me that everyone here was as young as I was. I knew how much I needed more experience and tempering.

“We’re good enough to save your pathetic hide,” To’chris said, his dark eyes glowering.

Gran Ti’wilren tsked. “We lost the older members of the Order when they attempted to prevent Apeq A’kona from removing the treasures of the Ancients.”

“The golems?” I asked.

Gasps sprang up from the young people around me.

“He knows!” one of them gasped. “Can we trust him?”

“Among other things. Like that nice ornament you’re wearing,” Gran Ti’wilren said, a glitter in her eye as she peered at the collar around my neck.

“I didn’t choose the ornamentation,” I countered.

“Did you know it is heartstone? With heart-metal for the hinge? In my day, we would have kept that hidden away – out of sight and out of mind. A small way to keep it from the hands of the ambitious. But now here it is, locked around the neck of a foreigner – the very reason the Order was started in the first place!”

“You object to it being in the hands of a foreigner?”

She laughed. “I object to it being used to imprison a foreigner. I object to campaigns that destroy lives and push out the boundaries of Ko’Torenth, leaving us vulnerable and subject to the consequences of such aggression. The ancients learned what folly came of such arrogance. The Ancient Order of Balance was formed to put away the misuse of magic and return power to the hands of the people – to protect everyone from the powerful ambitions of evil people. But look at us now? We are overrun with magic. We are so few left to stop so many. What will become of Ko’Torenth when their plans have succeeded?”

“We’ll stop them,” To’chris said, raising a fist passionately. He reminded me of someone.

“Me,” the mimic said.

I ignored him, staying on task. “I didn’t realize that there were people in Ko’Torenth who objected to what was happening here.”

“You didn’t realize?” her tone was sharper than it had been before. “You didn’t think that foreigners could produce good people?”

“No! Of course – ”

“Of course, what? Your ignorance is not an excuse for judging an entire nation.”

“Sorry, I – ”

Again, she rolled over my words. “You are marked. We can all see that. Marked with the sign of our Ko’roi.”

“I thought that was only a Ka’vai thing.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ignorant! Foolish! You are destined to rule us and yet you know nothing about our people!”

“Ummm rule you? Bataar is always saying that a Ko’roi is not a king. That a Ko’roi is destined to sacrifice himself for the people.”

She shook her head, exasperated. “What do you think a good ruler does? Every day is another sacrifice! Every moment, another choice to put the nation before himself.”

I was stunned. I had realized that it was my job to take care of the Kav’ai. I had realized it was my job to stop the golems. But no one had mentioned this.

“Have you not noticed your ability to use our most precious artifacts? The doorways? The golems? Anything made of heartstone or heart-metal is bound to our Ko’roi.”

“I did notice that, yes. I’ve been trying to stop your rogue army from starting a war,” I put a little bite into my words. After all, I hadn’t been sitting around drinking tea and enjoying warm fires. I’d been out there fighting for peace!

“Not our army! An army. It does not belong to the people of Ko’Torenth. It belongs to a few fools who think they rule us.”

I looked around. “There are thirty-four of you here. And while I appreciate your help – ”

“We came because Ty’nea asked us to. He was our leader before he was taken from us.”

“Okay,” I continued, “While I appreciate the help that Ty’nea sent, it’s going to take a few more people than the ones in this room to turn this situation around. I mean, even if I manage to get back there and stop the war that’s begun. Even if I defeat every Magika there, and all the golems, and stop the Heads of House that are running around the Dominion now like dragons with their tails lit on fire – and remember, I’m just one guy and that’s a pretty tall order – even if I do all of that, I’ll still come back here and find what – thirty people who want to be ruled by me? And the rest will all be ready to tear me to pieces. Where do I register a personal rejection for this offer?”

Gran Ti’wilren crossed her arms over her red-jacketed chest. “You don’t get to object, Ko’roi. When you have completed your duty, we will stand for you with your people, but it will be up to you to win their hearts.”

“What, all of them?” I asked, both surprised and irritated. It wasn’t enough that I had to fight armies and suffer pain and almost die, now I had to charm an entire nation that I didn’t want? “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but Bataar is the good-looking one.”

“He is marked as your lieutenant.”

“Yes, not that it’s done him much good.”

“You can direct some of your power to him. Especially now that he wears the collar.”

“Excuse me?”

“The collar. They linked you with collars. The fools!”

“They said that the collar knocks people out and prevents me from accessing the power of the doorway.”

She began to laugh. “Fools. All fools. The collar was precious not because it can prevent things from happening. It is precious because in the right hand it will amplify power. You should be able to feed him more power, greater power than you could before. Your own power will be greater.”

“Right now, it’s blocking me from accessing anything,” I said wryly. “So, they do seem to have known how to make it work the way they wanted.”

“Stop trying to reach around the collar and reach through it. Then it will amplify your power.” She shook her head. “Do they make you stupid on purpose? Young people!”

I bit back the words that desperately wanted to rush out at her and instead tried what she suggested, reaching for the door above us through the collar instead of around it. I gasped when I could feel it – not just a small pull, but a pull like someone had grabbed me by the collar and begun to shake me. I stopped reaching, shock making my mouth fall open.

“I think I’ll have to go with you,” Gran Ti’wilren said with a sigh. “It’s clear that you’re no use on your own.”

I ground my teeth. Better to lose a few than to let the words slip out that wanted to bubble up from my heart.

“Yes, you won’t ever need to be alone again, Ko’roi. I shall see to that.”

My mimic had no such restraints. He stood in the corner cursing until I could have sworn his face went blue.

Chapter Fourteen

“I can’t stay here,” I said the minute that I began to feel my feet again. “My dragon is in trouble. I need to go back through the arch and rescue her.”

“What you need is to gather Ko’Torenth under your rule so that when you defeat Apeq A’Kona and the Heads of Houses, then you can step up as our Ko’roi,” Gran Ti’wilren said.

Around her, there were murmurs of agreement from the others in the room.

“I’m not sure that people will take kindly to a foreigner swooping in and taking over their country. Especially if he’s the reason that their Heads of Houses lost a battle in a foreign campaign.” And I hadn’t even figured out how to defeat them in battle. Never mind what I would do after that.

“We aren’t here because of our fresh young faces,” one of the women said from the ring of chairs. She was barely older than I was, with slanted dark eyes and full lips. I would have thought she was beautiful if I hadn’t been so busy thinking about how to get out of this mess in time to save Saboraak. “Each of us has ties to important groups throughout Ko’Torenth. Some of us are a part of merchant guilds or mining families. Some of us are the sons and daughters of the Houses who do not rule Ko’Torenth - not yet, at least. We haven’t been happy with our leadership for a long time. We’ve been waiting for a sign.”

“And now there’s a Ko’roi,” one of the young men said – he was younger than me and a little too bright-eyed for my comfort. “Just like in the stories! And just like in the stories you will unify us!”

“I have a dragon to save and a battle to win,” I said, trying to ignore the fallen expressions around me. “I don’t have time for politics.”

“The great leaders never do,” Gran Ti’wilren said comfortingly, and at the warm look on her face, I saw hope springing up in the faces around us again. What did I need to say to shake them back to their senses? I wasn’t the great leader of promise that they were waiting for. I was just a guy trying to stop a war. “The great leaders are too busy being brave and strong, defeating evil, overcoming magical opposition, saving the world. The hard work is for other people.”

“Yes, it’s a real easy life,” I muttered.

“It will be up to the rest of us to speak with our networks and raise support for the Ko’roi. It will be up to us to have a nation to hand to him when he has finished the work of saving it for us. And of course, he will be advised by the Ancient Order of Balance to keep him from excesses.”

“Of course,” I said, barely able to keep from rolling my eyes. There was always someone to keep you from enjoying the things that you’d “achieved” and make sure that you still did all the difficult parts.

Pins and needles filled my feet, but very soon, I’d be able to walk on them and the minute that I did, I would need to move. Saboraak needed me. And so did the souls trapped in the golems.

“That is our hard work,” Gran Ti’wilren said.

“We’ll need to show them something,” one of the young men objected. “We can hardly ask them to give their loyalty to a man they haven’t seen before. And we’ll need someone to deal with the golems guarding the Sh’drin Palace. They are still keeping all citizens out until Apeq A’kona sends further orders. The people are in chaos. The City Watch can hardly keep down the riots. We need someone to deal with that. It can’t wait.”

All eyes turned to me.

“I’m only one man and I have my own battle to fight,” I began, but a familiar voice interrupted.

“You said these rings around our necks connect us, right?” Bataar asked, shuffling toward us with the help of the two women who had been tending to him. “Would your people accept me as his representative? I could help you with the golems and with restoring order to the city. I bear the marks.”

He rolled up his sleeves a little higher to murmurs of agreement.

“The last time you were my representative, you left the place I’d ordered you to keep safe,” I said, still not happy with any of this. I needed Bataar with me. Especially if I could give him some of my power.

“We each have our role now,” Bataar said seriously. “Yours is to end the golem scourge and save the Dominion. Mine is to establish peace in your name over all of Ko’Torenth.”

Bataar always sounded like someone in a story. Someone noble and right-minded. Maybe he’d get lucky and I’d die in battle and he could finally live the life he was destined to live as a King or a noble Prince or whatever it was they liked in Ko’Torenth – a Ko’roi perhaps. The worshipful looks that the young people around me were giving him only confirmed my suspicions that it was the perfect role for him.

“You should be more like Bataar,” my mimic said, popping up beside old Gran and smirking at me. “Everything always seems to work out just fine for him.”

“Sure, fine, okay,” I said to Bataar.

He gave me a complicated salute with two arms crossed over his breast. “Remember the Song of the Dead, Tor. With it, you will shatter the Golem army, restore the dead to peace, and save us all.”

“Sure, sure.”

“And you’ll have to give him some of your power now before we get going,” Gran Ti’wilren said sternly.

I almost rolled my eyes.

“Anything else?”

“I’ll pack while you work on it.”

“You aren’t coming with me,” I protested. “If I can’t have the help of Bataar, then I need to do this on my own.”

“Nonsense,” she said. “You’ll get a lot farther with old Gran at your side.”

“Let me guess, you have a special kind of magic that will help us.”

She winked. “It’s called memories, son, and mine are wide and deep. Now, concentrate hard and try to suck some power out of that doorway up above us and put it into the ring around your friend’s neck. He’s going to need it after we’re gone. Not too much, mind, or you might kill him.”

She tottered off before she was even done speaking, leaving me clenching and unclenching my hands and trying not to lose my temper.

“She’s going to be a real joy to work with,” the mimic said.

Chapter Fifteen

It was irritating how simple it turned out to be to channel power from the doorway to Bataar’s ring. It almost made me want to spit. If I had only known to draw it through the ring by reaching through it mentally, then Bataar and I would have been free hours ago – no frostbite, no debts to this Order that saved us, no almost dying.

“You don’t have frostbite now,” my mimic reminded me. “Whatever that grease was, it must have had magical healing properties because your skin is fine – though you smell pretty ripe.”

I ignored him, filling the ring with power. Hopefully, it wasn’t too much power.

“You’re going to win, Tor,” Bataar said as I finished up. “I have every confidence.”

Easy to say when he’d opted to stay back here.

“And when you return, we will have solidified your place among the people of Ko’Torenth. Is there any message you wish for me to pass to the people as I gain their trust and support?”

I frowned, “Tell them not to do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Bataar looked worried. He was silent a moment before smiling and saying, “I will tell them to follow your model of courage and stalwart determination.”

“There you go,” I said.

When I’d finished, I was surprised to see Gran and one young woman standing off to the side waiting. Both were wrapped up in warm clothing and Gran carried a staff. The young woman was carrying a backpack almost bigger than she was.

“This is Stef. She does my carrying,” Gran said, as if that explained everything.

“We’re going to have to sneak through the enemy camp,” I said, barely holding back my irritation at this new development.

“Stef has a coat and staff for you,” Gran said.

Blushing, I took the coat and wood staff that Stef offered. “Thank you.”

I busied myself with dressing in the coat and pulling up the hood to hide my bright face, while Gran spoke loudly. “My first husband – poor Daryn who died of the break-bone shakes – he was like that. All bark and no bite. I sure liked that man.”

“Of course, Gran,” Stef said respectfully.

I looked up, surprised when everyone in the room bowed to me.

“No need for ceremony,” I said awkwardly.

“We will gain and guard your land in your name, Ko’roi,” one of the young men said.

“Erm. Thank you,” I replied, feeling my cheeks grow hotter.

“Do you have any last requests of us?” one of the women asked.

“Save a spot for a dragon city,” I said.

They laughed. Well, they’d find out that I actually meant it if I survived the battle, and then they’d see who was joking, wouldn’t they?

“Don’t die,” I added, again to laughter. I was in the wrong line of work. I should be paid to tell jokes instead of ... oh, wait, the joke was on me. No one ever paid me to do anything.

Bataar turned to me unexpectedly, sweeping me into a massive bear hug. “Be careful, Tor. We’re all betting on you.”

I patted him awkwardly on the back. “Thanks, Bataar.”

I was starting to like him.

I cleared my throat. “We’d better get going.”

It turned out that Gran actually could sneak. We snuck out of the secret lair into a back staircase and then up through narrow tunnels until we reached another hidden door that took us right back to the open tower and the slightly-glowing doorway.

“Why don’t they guard this door?” I whispered but as it shut behind us I could see why. It blended into the rock perfectly. “And why didn’t you take me through it in the first place?”

“The ropes were faster and we were in a hurry,” Stef explained. “The guards are at the base of the tower and they almost never come up here, but if they do they would know who we are and that would be a problem.”

“We need to hurry through the doorway before they do notice,” Gran said. “We may have many on our side in the cities, but we aren’t organized yet and the guards are.”

And now my hands were sweating despite the cold and my stomach was churning at the thought of walking back through that doorway. Had Ty’nea felt that way when he returned to the World of Legends?

“He didn’t need to step back through,” my mimic said. “When he was done delivering his message I released him and his soul went back on its own.”

Lucky. I never seemed to be done a task even when it looked complete.

On the other side of that Doorway was war and pain and most likely death. I shouldn’t have been so hard on Bataar. I should have been happy that he was going to stay here and not go back to it. I should have been more expressive when I told him I was thankful.

“One life to live. No do-overs,” the mimic reminded me.

True. And it was time to run back into the fray and save my dragon.

“Now you’re the one sounding like you’re in a storybook. Can we get this over with?”

The mimic ducked into the doorway and, steeling myself, I followed.

“Wait,” Gran said. “Pull on your power and fill up the ring like you did with Bataar. You might need it on the other side.”

It was good advice and I took it. Maybe Gran would be useful after all.

Chapter Sixteen

On the other side of the doorway, chaos reigned. This was why Ambrosia had not returned for us. She had her own problems here.

The cart with the doorway had been hauled through the rest of the mountain pass to the edge of the forest surrounding Questan. From the hillside road where it sat, I could see around the bowl of the valley as I stumbled through the door, Gran and Stef close behind me. I was still struggling to walk on my newly-thawed feet.

In the center of the valley, Questan loomed like a high platter on a stem, her thriving city full of life. Smoke curled up into the sky over the city and baskets hung from the underside. My heart lurched at the sight of the city. It was so vulnerable and so precious. And I’d seen how that could all turn for the worse.

I would have thought it was business as usual in Questan, except it was anything but that. I breathed a sigh of relief at the dragons flying rings around the city. They were still there, and they were still safe.

My relief lasted only a moment.

The golem army had already flooded the valley, surrounding the city. Flying golems swarmed over the heads of the creeping ones, not high enough to reach the city, but placing themselves as a protective cover over the wolf-golems. The reason why was immediately obvious.

A ring of Magikas surrounded the city, each at the head of teams of wolf-golems hitched to long chains. The chains were attached to the stem of the city. I could already see what they were planning in my mind’s eye. When the teams were ready, the Magikas would pull back and let them wrench the city apart – if that was even possible. Was it possible?

“Sweet mountains and cold winter save us,” Gran gasped.

Not my kind of cursing, but I agreed.

Why weren’t the dragons above the city soaring down and attacking?

“The flying golems are smart cover,” Gran said. I don’t think the people up there know what’s about to happen.”

I was about to open my mouth to say what we should do next when I felt a weak voice in my mind.

Tor?

Saboraak! I scanned the edges of the forest, looking for her and the next horrific scene scalded across my vision. My dragon and her wing of Green dragons were all strung in a long line hanging by their feet from one of those thick chains between two hillsides. On either hill, wolf-golems in groups of eight strained to keep the chain tight. Their heads were pinned to the ground with chains and their wings chained to their sides. With the dragons, a pair of oosquer were also chained. And was that Lenora’s Green dragon, too? And Lee’s Black dragon?

I took a step forward before I saw the long line of humans strung up just like the dragons only steps away, dangling head downward.

My friends.

Hung up like the people I had seen in the cavern beneath Apeq A’Kona’s House of Marvels. A gasp ripped through my throat.

I was moving before a clear thought surfaced.

I had to save them.

I had to do it now.

They hadn’t posted guards at the doorway – fools! But there were soldiers between me and the dragons – human soldiers. The golems were all gathered in ranks around the city, waiting for their chance to tear the innocent apart after the city fell – or at least that was how it felt. The actual golems probably felt nothing at all and the souls inside them did not see their victims as enemies.

“Stop! Will you stop, you fool?” An urgent whisper followed the tugging at my arm.

I turned, shaking the tugging hand off. “Those are my friends up there and I’ll do whatever it takes to get them out of that mess and safe again!

Gran Ti’wilren rolled her ancient eyes at me. “You’re thinking too narrowly!”

“It’s a narrow threat, Gran.”

She grabbed me and pulled me behind the cart. We hadn’t been noticed yet. Everyone’s attention and energy was focused on the innocent victims hanging from the chain or on the city they were about to destroy.

If that’s you, Tor, please hurry! I feel so weak ...

“Ignore the old woman and go save your dragon. Her mind is probably too muddled to know what’s happening,” my mimic said. “You only let her come so that the others would secure an empire for you back in Ko’Torenth.”

I tried to shake the old woman’s hands off. I needed to get to Saboraak! But she clung to me like lichen to a rock.

“Get a hold of yourself!” she whispered.

“Listen to Gran,” Stef agreed, poking me in the ribs with her staff.

We were all three huddled behind the cart – useless! – while our enemies had the chance to do whatever evil they wanted.

“Focus!” Gran grabbed my face between hands as strong as a vice. How had the old woman gotten so strong? I’d always thought old people were delicate. “You are going to run off like a fool and ruin everything. Don’t you see that there are two huge problems here?”

“Of course, I see!” I hissed. My heart was racing, panic choking me. I needed to get to Saboraak and I needed to get there now! I was going to be too late! “If I don’t rescue my dragon, I won’t be able to do anything about the city they are trying to collapse. Don’t you see? I need to get to her right now.”

I shook her off like a dog shaking off water.

“Please!” she begged. “Please listen! You are the Ko’roi! You can stop both things, but only if you listen.”

“What could an old woman say that matters?” the mimic asked, laughing. “You’re going to lose everything because you’re too nice to tell an old woman to go to – ”

“Talk fast,” I growled, forcing the mimic out of my head. He disappeared in a puff of black smoke. My hands were shaking, energy rushing through me like fire. I would give her a heartbeat to offer me a plan. If the mimic thought she was useless ... well, I’d done well in the past when I ignored his prejudices.

It hurts. Please, Tor!

Saboraak’s voice rang in my mind and my head whipped around to look through the cart toward her. I felt like I couldn’t think. The thought of her in pain made me crazy.

“You can tell all the golems to stop pulling the city and at the same time, you can send golems to stop what is happening to your dragon. The ring around your neck – it was called a “Yoke” when it was made – is powerful enough for that. But you must push away your panic and trust me. You must focus your mind. From the cart, you can see the whole valley. You can do this from there, but only if you listen. Stef and I will protect you while you work, just please listen!”

I felt like time had frozen. I had to make a decision and I had to do it now, but it would mean trusting an old woman I had only just met, and I wasn’t good at trusting. I was better at relying on myself and my own strength and cunning.

“You’d be a fool to trust her. You’ll lose everything,” the mimic wailed.

I tried to push him away, but his scoffing filled my ears instead. I was too weak. I gasped, anxiety welling up. I knew I should trust the old woman, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to solve this myself and every moment that I wasted thinking about it was a moment that I wasn’t doing it.

A gentle hand took mine and I had already followed a few steps before I realized that the old woman was leading me back up to the bed of the cart. She was humming a tune that sounded like a lullaby. In harmony. Oh, wait, that was Stef. Stef squared herself on the steps after we passed, taking her pack off and holding out her staff.

“Think now about channeling the power of the doorway into the Yoke and then push against the Yoke to harness it,” Gran said, still holding my hand.

I gritted my teeth and obeyed. I hated relying on someone else. Hated it so much. But what if she was right? What if I could do both things at once? What if I didn’t have to choose – for once?

“Now, grab a hold of the golems close to where your friends are in trouble. See them there?”

I could certainly see them. There were eight golems on each end of the chain that held the dragons. They kept it pulled taut. Two more held the chain from which the humans hung. Surrounding both chains were groups of Magikas and human soldiers.

“Get ready to tell those golems to relax the chain – but don’t do it yet!” Gran said. How did she know how to direct them? How did she know what to do? “And now find the souls in the golems surrounding the city – the ones with the chains. Can you feel them? Can you feel the Magikas directing them?”

I could feel them. Oddly enough, I could feel each one now, separate them out from the cloud of consciousness, feel their distinct flavors.

“Now ... stop them while you ask the others to ease the dragons and humans down to the ground. Focus. Focus.” Her words dissolved into her lullaby and the gentle hum of the lullaby calmed my mind as I focused on doing both things at once.

It was working! The golems eased the dragons and humans to the ground while the Magikas and soldiers around them scrambled like ants with an upturned hill.

The golems in the distance stopped dead against their chains.

My heart raced. It was working! It was really working!

“I knew you’d be back,” Eventen said, stepping out from around the edge of the cart. The look on his face was smug.

Chapter Seventeen

“And look who our spies found sneaking around near Sky City? Turns out there was a way through those warrens after all.” He held Zyla in his grip, twisting one of her arms painfully behind her back.

In the distance, behind him, I could see the prisoners struggling against the chains holding them. Letting them back to the ground had not been enough to free them. With a mental shove, I pushed the golems nearby, rousing them in their teams of eight and moving them slowly toward the Magikas who were trying to shift them back into place to tighten the chains. I didn’t think that golems had enough dexterity to free the human prisoners, but maybe if I could delicately move one of their mouths to grip the chains of a single dragon, I could wrench those chains free. Even one free ally would help to free the others.

Sweat broke out across my forehead as I tried to maneuver the golems and speak to Eventen. I had to divide off more focus to keeping the golems at the city stuck in place. Apeq was trying to reawaken them. Each one he woke up, I shut back down, but I was trying to take in too many things at once and I could feel the pressure frazzling me.

“Wow, yeah, you guys are amazing, spies everywhere,” I managed, wincing at the pain in my mind from doing too many things at once. I gripped Gran’s hand as if I could gain power from her. Right now, she felt like the only one nearby who might be stable. How was that for ironic? And the mimic had thought she was useless!

I caught Zyla’s gaze in mine, trying to communicate that I was glad she was alive and that I hoped I could get her out of this again. Her bright eyes sparkled with unshed tears.

“You could ease up on her arm, you know,” I said to Eventen.

“Oh, you don’t like this?” he asked in a petty voice twisting her arm a little more. She gasped in pain.

“If you hurt her any more, I’ll make one of these golems wrench your arm off and see how you like it,” I said between gritted teeth.

Gran tsked at my words, clearly disapproving. But it was hard to be subtle. It felt like my brain was melting out of my ears as I reacted to Apeq reanimating the golems: flick, flick, flick. While I fought back flick, flick, flick. And at the same time, I maneuvered a heavy golem to the nearest dragon – Lenora’s? It was hard to tell from here – and opened its wide mouth, slowly lowering the head and pinching the chain wrapped around his wings and torso. Okay. Careful, careful, careful.

My breath hitched in my throat while my heart hammered a million miles a second.

It was too much.

Every nerve of my body hurt. Magic flowed through the yoke like a torrent. I could feel it passing through me as I fought to keep the golems under my control.

And what about Saboraak? Had I interrupted them in time to save her.

Her voice was faint in my head.

We are weak. They did not get our souls yet ... but we are weak.

The chain pulled free from the first dragon at the same moment that Eventen lifted his free hand and balanced a Magenta fireball on his palm.

“You might be playing games with golems, Tor, but I have all the aces. You’re defenseless, easy to find, and your enemies are closing in.” I risked a glance to see he was right. Now that Eventen had alerted them, soldiers were racing toward us from every direction. “And I have the winning piece – the girl. Don’t cry, Zyla. You chose this fate. Remember? I offered you a better choice before. But now none of us has any choices.”

“You healed me,” I spat, fighting to get my golem in place to free Saboraak from her chains. The first dragon was fighting the Magikas surrounding him, flaming and snapping like his life depended on it. It probably did. Magical fires flared from every direction around him. If any one of them hit the imprisoned humans, it would kill them.

“I healed you because I thought you would leave. Our reports said you were never given a choice. And you’re terrible at this. You aren’t a thinker, Tor. You just react to things that happen, following gut instinct instead of anything useful. You aren’t a fighter. You aren’t a leader. You aren’t even much of a friend. Of course, we thought you’d be happy to find a way out. Why wouldn’t you? I guess we gave you too much credit. You weren’t even smart enough to do that. And now I have you cornered like a bug.”

He stepped forward and Stef backed up to stand to my right, her staff held out with the end in front of me.

Gran was still on my left, whispering to Stef but whatever their plan was, it wasn’t going to be enough. Eventen was right. I was trapped.

The golem I was directing freed another dragon – I thought – hoped? – it was Saboraak, but in the chaos, it was impossible to tell, and her mental voice was weak. I moved him to another one.

But I was losing the golems down around the city. As fast as I was, Apeq was faster. He had only one task to concentrate on. And other Magikas were helping him somehow, grabbing the golems the second he reanimated them – moving them immediately so it was harder for me to find their flickers of soul.

My vision was darkening around the edges as I tried to focus, desperately tried to bring every bit of mental strength to bear. The darkness began to close in.

A third dragon was free.

Gran and Stef pushed me back a step as Eventen stepped forward. Whatever they were muttering wasn’t doing anything. They should run while they had the chance. I opened my mouth to shout at them to go, but I had too many thoughts buzzing in my mind and the words wouldn’t come.

A fourth dragon was free.

“Now!” Gran yelled and Stef punched the end of her spear into Eventen’s belly.

He roared, releasing his magenta fireball. It tore past me, splashing across the side of my face before flying through the doorway.

Pain filled me and a scream tore from my mouth, but now everything was happening at once.

Stef grabbed Zyla while Eventen was distracted, pulling her toward me. She reached for something on the doorway that I couldn’t see, guiding Zyla’s hand to press on the doorframe and then jumping through with Zyla still caught in one of her arms.

“Tor!” Zyla called as she was pulled through the doorway, her words cutting off as she left me.

At the same moment, Gran jumped in front of me and shoved me backward as hard as she could.

I was still screaming in pain as I stumbled backward and fell through the doorway

The last thing I saw was the look of shock on Eventen’s face.

Dragon Chameleon: Color of Victory

Chapter One

I was still gasping when we hit the ground on the other side of the Doorway in the World of Legends. My face felt like it was on fire.

“Don’t touch it!” Gran said urgently. “Magic fire sticks like tar!”

I hissed in pain, my hand hovering just inches from the burning pain in my cheek. It was all I could do not to scream.

“And it’s marked up your crown!” Gran said, her hands steadying me as I quietly keened at the agony, my eyes rolling up in my head and my jaw aching from clenching so hard. “What a shame. Hand me my bag, Stef!”

“Can you help him?” Zyla asked, grimacing.

“Hurry, Stef!” There was a shuffling sound. “There it is.”

Gran rubbed something on my face and the pain went from screaming agony to a dull ache.

“You’re lucky,” she said. “But then you knew that. You have an Eye Pendant, don’t you? They make you lucky. Or at least they give you extra chances. I don’t know if I’d call that luck every time.”

She was still rubbing.

“We need to get back there,” I said now that the blinding pain was subsiding.

“With what army?” Stef asked. “Didn’t you see the soldiers charging toward us? I can only hold off so many attacks with my staff!”

“Eventen ...” I began but my words were cut off by Zyla. She grabbed me by the shoulders and kissed me fiercely on the mouth until my cheeks were on fire in an entirely different way.

When she was done, she pulled back, looking entirely shameless.

“I knew you’d never get around to that on your own,” she said. “Sometimes, a girl has to take charge or she’ll wait forever for a man to do the right thing.”

“I ... I was just getting to it,” I stammered, my cheeks getting even hotter at the combination of amusement and disbelief in the eyes of all three women. “I’ve been preoccupied.” I frowned at their giggles. “We need to go back there. Or haven’t you noticed that we’re in the middle of something?”

Zyla nodded fiercely, her laugher cutting off and her expression turning serious once again. She rolled up her sleeves like she meant business.

“Another Ko bearer!” Gran said with a grin. “This is good. You will give her some of your power.”

“She doesn’t have a ring,” I objected.

“The ring only amplifies what you can do and how much you can give. You can still share your power with her. Give her some.”

Reluctantly, I tried the same trick I had with Bataar, reaching through the ring to pull magic from the Doorway to give to Zyla. It pulled through so easily that it was more like removing a dam from a river than pulling a cart. It flowed through me into the marks on her arms like it was filling a pitcher.

Zyla’s mouth formed a pretty “O” as she watched her Ko glow a brilliant purple as they filled with power.

“What can I do with this?” she asked.

“With that, you have power here in the World of Legends to rearrange things. And you have power over golems to stop them.”

But that didn’t solve the problem before us.

“Maybe if you grab Eventen you can pull him in here and weave some kind of trap around him,” my mimic suggested.

I hadn’t noticed him before. He stood off to the side surrounded by a gaggle of people who spoke to him excitedly. It worried me that he had friends here. Where had they all come from? The mimic rolled his eyes at my thought and pointed to Ty’nea in the crowd. Oh. They were the released souls from the golems.

“And now we need a plan,” Gran said. “Urgent or not urgent, we can’t just race back into harm’s way without an idea of how to get out again.”

“I think I have a plan,” I said.

“And if your plan is to pull our attackers in here one by one to dispose of them, then you need a better plan than that.”

“I was only planning to trap Eventen in here,” I said, blushing.

She snorted a laugh. “See? I can read your mind.”

“I think that might work for Eventen,” Zyla said. “And I think I can do that part.”

Her face was set in grim determination.

“How are the refugees from Estabis City?” I asked, remembering my responsibilities and nervous about the answer.

“All safe,” she said, coloring as she spoke. “We had them safe and under the protection of the Dominar when I made a foolish mistake and trusted the wrong person. She grabbed me, stuffed me in a sack and the next thing I knew, I was here.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said earnestly. But I was worried about the ‘next thing I knew’ part of the story. Did they have a Door of Heavens somewhere else?

“Enough of the sweet chatter. There will be time for that when all of this is over,” Gran said gently. “More than enough time. Now, this girl –“

“Zyla.”

“Zyla will grab Eventen and use the power that you just gave her to secure him here. But we still need a plan for the soldiers, Tor. They aren’t golems. You can’t freeze them in place. We need an army of our own to fight them blade for blade – at least as long as it takes for us to get to your dragon.”

“Agreed,” I said, smiling as I looked at the mimic and his friends. “I think I have just the souls for the job.”

Chapter Two

We plunged through the door and I tried not to think about what we were doing or how Zyla had the most dangerous job of all.

“I don’t think Eventen counts as the most dangerous person out there, do you?” the mimic objected. “I mean, he’s hardly on the same level as a whole army.”

The familiar icy cold of passing through the Door hit me and then we were back on the battlefield. For a moment, I thought I saw my mimic out of the corner of my eye as I rushed forward.

“That’s not me, you fool. That’s you! We’re arriving before we left!”

Uh oh.

“Jump through the doorway, fools! Go!” I heard the mimic yelling. Who was he talking to? “Go now or all is lost!”

I leapt forward off the cart to the ground below and swung my staff before my sight cleared. It made contact with something hard and a grunt filled my ears. By the time I recovered enough to see what was happening, Eventen was on the ground, clutching his head. I’d remembered where he came from accurately. But I’d forgotten that he’d been holding Zyla, too. She lay on the ground, cradling her cheek in her hand.

“Ngh!” she said.

Uh oh. My eyes grew big. I’d jumped before I thought.

“As per usual,” the mimic remarked. “And incidentally, I just saved you from meeting your past self. I have a bad feeling that you probably can’t both be in the same place at the same time.”

I didn’t have time to listen to his babbling. I had a Magika to fight.

I grabbed Eventen by the front of the shirt and pulled him to his feet. I could feel the magic building in his palms, ready to blast me with his Magika fire. I reached through the ring and pulled it away.

Oh wow. I was going to like this new skill.

“Don’t get too big of a head,” my mimic said. “This new skill is only useful if your enemies are.”

I grunted a laugh.

“I’ve got bad news for you, Eventen,” I said as I stole more magic from his hands. His face was growing pale, his forehead beading with sweat from the effort of drawing so much magic that was just snatched away. “The harder you work, the easier it is for me. And I’m one of the world’s natural leeches. I can do this all day.”

I pulled more power from his hands, looking up at the shout from the cart behind me. Zyla stood on the back of the cart, her eyes looking past me to the ground. I followed her gaze to see Zyla lying on the ground nursing a split cheek.

My eyes grew huge as the Zyla on the ground popped out of existence. I glanced quickly back to the Zyla in the cart and almost missed seeing her pop away, too.

“Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!” My mind was racing over Eventen’s laughter. I spun him around, twisting his arm behind his back so I could hold him in place while I tried to think. He just kept laughing.

“Think you’re so smart, street urchin? You’re nothing but instinct on legs. You know those things warp time, but I bet you never stopped to consider that they might put you back in time. That’s what happened, isn’t it? We’ve already had this fight, right?”

I looked to where the dragons were still tied up in a line on the hilltop hanging by their feet.

“Grawlix!” I spat as Stef and Gran stepped through the doorway. The soldiers were still closing in, hurrying to run to Eventen’s assistance. We were in the same spot we’d been in before – only this time I had Eventen as my hostage instead of Eventen having Zyla as his hostage.

Panic welled up. I didn’t know what had happened to Zyla and I needed to repeat everything I’d done with the golems and the dragons to get the dragons free.

Everything felt muddled and confused in my mind, like I couldn’t keep track of what had already happened and what still needed to happen.

I blinked, confused and frustrated.

“One thought at a time, Tor!” Gran yelled, hurrying down the steps. “Calm down. Take a breath. One thought at a time.”

And to think I’d thought she would be a hindrance.

“Stef, step up beside him. Any soldier that comes, you hit him with that staff. I’ll take your staff, Tor. Now, there’s a good boy. Focus! Focus on getting those dragons free and stopping those golems just like last time.”

I focused, repeating my work before. Flick, flick, flick, I turned off the golems under the city. At the same time, I eased the golems on the hillside down the slope to lower the dragons and humans.

“And we’re walking toward the dragons,” Grans said, steering me as she spoke. “Hold on to the little Magika.” Did she mean Eventen? “That’s right. Keep siphoning off his power. When the first of the soldiers gets here, we’ll use it to carve a path. Just hold onto it for now.”

I was sweating from the effort. My eyes flicked back to the doorway.

“Don’t think about the girl. Whatever happened to her, we’ll sort it out after. Maybe we’ll even go back in time again to stop it. No, don’t panic, that’s just my joke! Focus!”

I focused, letting Gran guide my feet while I pressed forward, flick, flick, flick. I directed my hillside golems to gently break the chains and free the dragons one by one. I’d done this before. I could do this again. I pushed emotion aside. I pushed worry aside. I pushed planning aside. I focused. Gran would think of a plan. I needed to do my part.

“That’s right,” she was saying. “Step, step, and here are the soldiers.”

The first ranks of soldiers rushed toward us.

“They have Eventen!”

“Grab them!”

“Watch out!” Eventen warned, pushing forward, but I held him back, my hands gripping his arm to keep him in place. This couldn’t go on for long.

“Don’t worry about the next step. Focus on this one,” Gran said.

And as I followed her directions, it was like I walked through a trance where everyone else was living and breathing and reacting and I was just carefully working on three mental tasks without any connection to the body that was following Gran’s instructions.

Chaos ruled and I ducked a swinging sword at the same moment that the ghosts finally poured out from the Door of Heavens behind us and raced across the ground to us. Like a tidal wave, they swept over the ranks of soldiers, not slowed at all by their startled cries.

The soldiers converging on us hadn’t been expecting anything like this. No one expects the ghosts of their past to come back to life.

Ghastly figures swept past, rushing into the ranks of soldiers and even through their bodies with bloodcurdling screams, saucy taunts, and dramatic pounces, leaving the soldiers more startled and terrified than actually hurt. After all, their ghostly bodies couldn’t damage the soldiers, but that much chaos could. Soldiers turned, hacking and slashing in their terror and injuring the men around them. Cries and curses sprang up from all around us.

Stef swung her staff, protecting me as I reached out, looking for Saboraak. Where? Where?

My heart stuttered when my eyes reached the hillside where I’d last seen her. The dragons were down, and my golems were freeing them, but I hadn’t heard her voice yet. Until I saw her whole and well, I wouldn’t believe that she was okay.

I tried to search for her as I worked, but Stef’s shout brought me back to what we were doing. She’d barely managed to deflect a blow aimed at me with her staff.

“Use the magic,” she grunted, shoving aside a second attack.

“Now would be good,” Gran reminded gently as her own staff flicked forward, hitting a soldier across his exposed neck. He choked, his hands wrapping around his damaged neck.

I released Eventen’s magic, shocked when it burst out from him like dragon fire as fireballs shot out from his hands one after another. They were green and magenta, and one was even yellow.

They tore through the ranks as soldiers dove from the path of the fireballs, losing all desire to fight in their desperate run for safety.

“And now we run,” Gran said, hitting Eventen hard on the head. He slumped to the ground and I was still gasping in shock when she seized the collar of my jacket and shoved me forward. “Run, Ko’roi! Run!”

“Eventen,” I gasped.

“He was just going to slow us down. Run!”

I ran.

I ran as I fought the Magikas under the city for control of the golems. My control there was slipping away bit by bit. There were too many of them. They were too dedicated in their fight to stop me.

I ran as I continued to free the dragons from their chains. One of the dragons had risen into the air. It was hard to see him as we scrambled across the muddy plains, but I could see the bright glare of his flame ahead.

Saboraak? Saboraak? Are you there?

We ran, stumbling over clods of mud and dried wheel tracks from carts. We ran, fighting the suck of the mud under our boots. Any moment now, the soldiers would reform and attack us again. But until then, we ran like we had wolf golems on our heels.

Who knew that Gran could run so fast? She was shoving me forward like she planned on forcing me into her plans one way or another. I should have been offended, but I was just relieved that I didn’t have to try to figure out what to do next. I had enough to concentrate on.

I could see through the wolf golem eyes – sort of – enough to see that we’d freed the dragons from their chains. But I couldn’t see well enough to distinguish who was who and who might be hurt. One of the dragons lay in a heap on the rocky hillside. Another limped to fall beside the first one.

I pushed my wolf golems to form a ring around the fallen dragons and then seized the minds of the ones near the humans. Freeing them would be more delicate work.

We were almost to the hillside when the clash of Stef’s staff on metal alerted my mind to return to what we were doing.

I dodged under a sword swipe just in time, feeling a second swipe pierce my coat and graze my ribs. They stung with sharp pain, protesting when I twisted my body to dodge a third lunge. We’d found a knot of soldiers. Cooks and farriers, unless I missed my guess. They were smeared and dirty from their work, but they were still men with swords. I’d run out of Eventen’s magic and I had none of my own, unless you counted the power of the Ko’roi, though what good weaving would do right now –

My words cut off as the threads of the future spun out around me and I saw what could be done.

I began to sing Bataar’s song. The song of the dead. It tasted bitter in my mouth as I leaned into what was coming next. And then, with a groan, I reached through the ring and pulled the souls from the bodies of the men in front of me, letting them fly free to the Door of Heavens as their bodies slumped to the ground.

Chapter Three

I didn’t realize that I’d frozen in place until I felt Gran’s hands shaking me.

“Now’s not the time for a metaphysical panic, Ko’roi. You have more power than you can handle. It happens. Get over it and move on.”

What did that even mean? I wasn’t thinking about power. My mind was filled with horror over what I’d just done. I – Tor Winesping – was not a killer. I was a trickster and sometimes a liar and most definitely a fool, but I was no killer. And yet there were six men on the ground in a knot at my feet that said otherwise. I wasn’t even certain about how I’d done it.

Images of other men dead in Vanika, burnt and curled up in the pain they’d felt as they died flashed through my mind. They were replaced by other memories – faces of men as they fell, fighting on the walls of Estabis, faces of men already fallen in the long halls of the Castel keep in Estabis City.

“For every moment you take thinking about this, you lose more of the battle. Look at the city,” Gran said.

I blinked back to where we were.

In the distance, the city swayed as the teams of golems pulled at it. I’d lost my hold on them in my panic at what I had done.

“We will deal with this. Just not yet.”

Deal with what? The loss of human life? This wasn’t something you ‘dealt with’ like losing a button or getting a hole in your boot.

“But seriously, did you really think you’d enter a war and come out on the other side without killing people?” my mimic mocked.

I thought that I’d at least know they were bad.

“Ha! Well, I suppose you can ask. ‘Please, mister, while you’re trying to cut my throat, can you tell me – are you a bad person?’” He scoffed. “Where do I sign up to be someone else’s shadow?”

He was stuck with me and my conscience.

“Stuck is the word, alright. No matter how much I try to wear it away it sticks around ...” the mimic said, but I ignored him, steeling myself for what was to come.

I had a dragon who was unresponsive, a friend who had vanished like a puff of smoke in a metaphysical incident, a city to save, and a nation to take over. I’d have to mourn the cooks and farriers later.

“That’s the spirit.”

And if I was lucky, I’d lose this mimic along the way.

“Lead on, Gran,” I said, fumbling with my mind to gain control of the golems again.

We were in a mass of boulders at the foot of the hills that the dragons were on. I couldn’t see them – not with so many boulders in the way, but if we could just press on, they weren’t too far. Through the eyes of the golems there, I could see blurry shapes of Magikas running away, their robes and hair on fire. Some of the humans had escaped the chains and were helping the others. Their forms were blurry.

Gran pushed me forward and I responded to her urgings. “Not much farther, Tor. Come on!”

In the distance, I wrestled a golem back from Apeq – just one, but this time, I sucked his soul away. I hadn’t realized I could do that! I sent it speeding toward the Doorway of Heavens. It must be the ring around my neck. It amplified my power. It let me send them free without needing to be close enough to sing the song.

I focused on finding a golem in another group. If nothing else, the teams would be hampered by motionless golems until they could unhitch them.

There!

I focused, ripping the soul from the golem to send it back to the World of Legends. It was a painstaking process. The life in the golems felt – slippery, if that was the right word. Hard to hold or pull. I mumbled to myself as we climbed.

“We’re hidden here in the boulders,” Gran was saying. “Keep us in them for as long as you can, Stef. You’re doing well. Keep it up.”

And with her encouragement, we slogged on, my eyes glazed over as I worked on pulling the souls free of the golems in the valley below, one at a time. One at a time.

I needed to get to where they could hear my song. Dealing with them individually was simply not enough.

I must have said that out loud because Gran was crooning, “We’ll get to that, Tor. One thing at a time. Follow Stef’s steps, that’s right. Here we go, I think after this boulder we’ll be in the clear again. What do you see, Stef?”

“Not far now, Gran.” Stef peered around the boulder and then she was motioning us forward, staff held at the ready.

I fought a persistent soul. Did it want to stay in the golem? It slipped and slid through my fingers like a buttered eel.

“Nothing likes to be forced,” my mimic said wryly. “I’ve noticed that you tend to squirm when anyone is dragging you anywhere. Try being more appealing. Make them want to leave the golem.”

That’s what the song was for. But I was too far away to entice them with the sweet strains of the Song of the Dead. I needed to use what I had.

“Here’s our chance!” Stef said and then Gran was shoving me forward and we were running from the boulders out onto the hillside.

Chaos reigned over the hills. Magikas flung their magenta and green fireballs – why was it always just those two colors? – while Tachril flamed them from above. He was okay!

Beside him, Isitdor roared, snatching a fleeing Magika from the ground and flinging him with a mighty shake of his massive head. The Magika’s scream disappeared as he flew past the boulders to the fields beyond.

But the people who had been tied up were in trouble. My golems stood around them, motionless, but the soldiers and Magikas who had imprisoned them ran between the golems, seeking the people bound to those dragons. The looks on their faces weren’t looks of fear. I moved one of the golems suddenly, crushing a soldier between him and the wolf golem beside him. I didn’t know if he lived or died, but I left the golem there as I grabbed another golem and charged him at a second soldier as he raised his sword to kill one of the humans trussed on the ground. The wolf golem leapt forward, snatching the soldier up in his jaws and leaping past into the hills beyond.

In the chaos, it was hard to count heads or see specifics. Every time I thought I might see Saboraak, someone moved in front of my view. I counted four dragons in the air. One appeared to be hurt. I counted four humans trussed on the ground and three standing. I counted two oosquer, dead. Their throats slit where they lay trussed in chains.

But there was so much I wasn’t seeing. Frustrated, I ran on, moving golems as I could to block the Magikas and soldiers from attacking the tiny band of humans as they tried to free their fellows. One Magika raised his hands, fireballs leaping from them to smash into my golem’s chest, but fire didn’t stop golems. The wolf golem swept him up as easily as a dog scoops up a bone, running down the hill like he was playing with his prize.

I didn’t have the time to direct them after I used them to clear the path. I had to trust that they would stop eventually.

“They probably won’t. There will be wild golems running around with the bones of dead Magikas in their mouths for years to come,” my mimic said wryly. He seemed to think his grisly joke was funny. There was nothing funny about death.

And then we were finally in among the humans.

“Tor!” Nostar said, looking up from where he fought the chains around Letina. They were locked with heartstone. I laid a hand on them and the lock fell away.

“What happened?” I asked, hurrying to where Janes was also locked in place. Lenora, streaked in mud, was trying to free him.

“One of the Kav’ai was a traitor,” Lenora said, leaning back with a look of relief as I broke the heartstone lock holding Janes. “He betrayed us into the hands of the enemy. We had warned Questan and were on our way to Dominion City when we were set upon by dragons and Magikas. They pulled us from the sky and bound us and delivered us over to the army here. The other Kav’ai said he had also betrayed his people at a place called Kav’ru.”

So that was how Shabren had known to look for us there!

I moved to help Devind and Jordil, breaking their locks as Lenora pulled them free of the chains.

“Thanks, Tor,” Devind said quietly.

“Where is Karillion?” I asked Nostar. The man beside him was dressed in Estabis colors – one of the soldiers who had fled with Lenora.

“Dead,” Nostar said, his face wooden as he used the chain he’d been tied with to deflect the attack of a soldier who darted toward us.

“The Kav’ai?” I asked, waking one of the golems up to attack the four men who were racing toward us from behind the first soldier. My golem batted the first one away like an annoyance and rushed after a second.

“Dead,” Nostar said, ducking a sword swipe. Stef smacked his attacker in the temple with her staff and he fell to the ground. Jordil snatched up his sword, but the threat was past. My golem had run down or chased off the other attackers.

“The other soldiers who fled with Lenora?”

“Killed when we were ambushed.”

I nodded, my own expression hardening. I needed to find Saboraak. The soldiers attacking us right now were just ragged groups from the army’s flanks, but they were already pulling together an organized counter-attack and unless we could group up, we’d all be taken captive again.

“I need to get to Saboraak,” I said, rushing forward, shoving past the immobile forms of the golems. I’d set them in a ring around the humans to help keep the humans safe, but now they stood between me and my dragon. I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of her through their heavy bodies and thick legs. I could ride one, perhaps. But I didn’t want to stop and mount it. I needed to get to Saboraak, and I needed to get to her now.

I ignored the protests and cries from the people behind me, as I rushed past the golems. I needed to find her – to even just catch a glimpse. It worried me that she hadn’t spoken to me yet.

Chapter Four

Isitdor and Tachril fought from the skies, flaming wildly at the human Magikas rushing toward the dragons on the ground. Guarding their flank were Nazscal and Hyoogan.

Now I could see why we’d only had ragged assaults on the human captives – most of the army’s efforts were focused on the dragons. A flood of soldiers plunged toward the dragons still bound on the ground, Magikas in their midst flinging fireballs as the dragons in the air dodged and rolled to avoid the sticking fire.

But the dragons were anchored to this spot. They didn’t dare leave it to use their advantage of mobility – not when three dragons lay on the hillside, immobile. I picked out Izhoedi’s form first. He was still chained in place, his head fighting wildly at the chain keeping him in place. At least he was still alive! If I could get to him, I could unchain him.

I heard breathing behind me and then Devind overtook me, rushing toward his trussed dragon like an arrow from a bow. The shouts behind me told me that the others were following, too, but I needed to keep running. If anyone could get Izhoedi free, it would be me.

“Just do it from here!” my mimic urged. “You keep forgetting everything that you can do. You’re wasting time!”

He was right. I reached out to the lock on the chains through the ring around my neck and snapped it free. The chains fell off Izhoedi like cut vines as he thrashed them away, his wings unfurling. Devind barely had time to leap on his bare back before he was in the air, scouring the earth before him with streams of flame.

The attempted theft of the dragons’ souls clearly hadn’t weakened all of them.

But Izhoedi’s leap into the air revealed the two Green dragons lying still on the ground behind him. They didn’t lie tense like they were trapped and waiting to be freed. They lay limp, wings deflated, heads lolling.

And one of them wasn’t a Green at all.

“Saboraak!” the cry ripped from my lips and I ran, stumbling, rolling across the dirt, getting up again and then barreling forward with no thought to what was behind me or under me or above me. Had they succeeded? Was she dead?

I reached her side, my vision a blur as my heart beat too fast.

My hands reached her muzzle first, running over it. She was hot – burning hot. Her eyes were closed – but she was breathing. Her breath was weak and thready for a dragon, but it still puffed out her wide nostrils.

“Saboraak.” My tears splashed on her hot face leaving little puffs of steam where they hit. “Hold on. I’m here. We’ll get you out of this.”

But how was I going to help her? I released the lock on her chains, letting them fall away, but the long tube that ran from her neck was still there. I followed it with my eyes to a metal rod on the ground. The tube seemed to be jammed between her scales. I reached for it to pull it out.

“I wouldn’t,” the mimic warned.

Why not? It was what had done this to her! It had sucked the life out of her!

Beside us, I saw Lenora fall to the ground, skidding across the mud to get to her dragon.

“Lypukrm!” she wailed. But there was no warmth rising off Lypukrm. And the rod on the end of his tube glowed with an unearthly light.

“I think they were sucking her soul out,” the mimic said.

“Got it in one guess, genius.” His words stirred a fury in me. I reached again for the tube. It shouldn’t be in her. She shouldn’t be disgraced like that!

“Stop!” my mimic screamed at me. “Listen!”

What?

“You have power over souls. You suck them here and shove them there. Just pull it out of the rod and put it back in her!”

I froze. It couldn’t be that easy.

“Easy? What are you, divine? Moving a soul from one place to another is not what anyone else would call easy!”

True.

“If you don’t try, you’ll lose her forever. Look at Lenora. Do you want that to be you?”

I glanced at Lenora, draped over her dragon bawling. On either side of her Nostar and Letina stood, fighting off any soldiers who pushed past the flames of the dragons above. There weren’t many, but those who came had bloodlust in their eyes.

My hands shook as I held the tube, not pulling it away this time, but instead concentrating, focusing, forcing my will upon it.

“Come on!” the mimic encouraged.

I tried to be gentle. I tried to be enticing. I tried to ease the energy from the rod back into the tube and move it toward my dragon. Instead, it flashed through the tube like lightning, blowing me back with the force of it.

I fell backward, hitting my head on the dried mud ground. Stars danced across my vision but when I opened my eyes my dragon was pulling herself up onto her feet, shaking like a dog out of a pond.

Tor? What took you so long.

I stood, shaking, joy filling me like a sunbeam in my heart. She lived! She was fine.

“Oh, you know me,” I said. “Always like to make an entrance.”

Her dragon smile made the world right again.

We seem to be under attack. Mount up!

But I had something to do first. Could she take my friends? I motioned to Gran and Stef, standing back a little, their eyes large as saucers as they watched Saboraak’s transformation.

Of course. But hurry. Isitdor says we need to move.

I nodded. But I wanted to make sure that all of us could move. I ran to where Lypukrm lay in the mud. Gently, I shook Lenora.

“Lenora? You need to stand up.”

“I can’t leave him like this,” she said, her eyes red and puffy.

“Just let me look, okay?” I tried to keep my tone kind as I bent over her dragon.

It might not work. After all, Saboraak had not been completely drained when I got to her.

I put my hand on the tube and called to the life in the rod.

Nothing.

I tugged a little harder, asking it to come.

Nothing.

Skies and Stars! What was with stubborn souls? Irritated, I yanked at the soul in the rod, demanding it return to the dragon it belonged to.

I should have expected some blowback after what happened with Saboraak, but I was too focused on the task.

The world went dark.

Chapter Five

I woke to hands shoving me down against something hard and hot. The ground trembled and wavered under me.

I’m not the ground.

Saboraak! Are you okay?

Your friends dragged you onto my back after whatever you did to Lypukrm knocked you two dragon-lengths backward.

No wonder I felt like I was covered in bruises. And Lypukrm?

He lives! Oh, Tor, you wouldn’t believe how happy I am to see that you’re okay! I thought you were dead!

She thought I was dead?

When we left you in Estabis, I thought you’d never survive. I was so worried!

She was worried?

Is there something wrong with your brain? You keep repeating me.

No. Nothing wrong. It’s just that I was worried about you.

My stomach lurched as we dropped in the air and a bright flash crossed my vision.

Ummm... Saboraak? Are we having this cheerful little conversation during a battle by any chance?

Yes. We’re flying toward Questan to join up with the Dominion Dragon Riders over the city. They just launched an attack on the flying golems. I guess the City Council finally made up their minds what to do. They’ve been fighting about it since we left them.

Oh.

Too little too late.

I fought against whatever was pinning me to Saboraak.

“Tor?” Stef asked. “Are you okay?”

“Would you let me up?” I said, pushing harder against the restraint. Hands grabbed me, pulling me up and I realized that it hadn’t been Stef holding me down but Gran.

“Only if you don’t run off like a hound after a hare,” Gran said. “I swear you don’t have the sense you were born with. You should be thanking the Skies and Stars every day that someone saw that and gave you that Eye pendant. You’d never have survived this long without the added favor that thing gives you.”

“Luck, you mean?” I asked, arranging myself in front of her on Saboraak’s shoulder blades.

We’d passed whatever enemy she’d been fighting and were racing over the heads of the Ko’Torenth army. I glanced around counting dragons. There was Lenora riding Lypukrm. He looked like he’d never been dead at all. My efforts had worked!

There was Tachril with Nostar and the other soldier from Estabis. There was Isitdor and Nazscal and Hyoogan and Izhoedi. We were alive. We had survived.

“Yes,” Gran said. “In a way. It channels power from the World of Legends to tip the weaving of the future just slightly in your favor.”

Oh.

Somehow, that made sense.

How many times in the last weeks had I survived things that should have killed me – survived by just a hair? How many times had I taken a crazy gamble only to see it pay off – or at least not go as wrong as it could have? And all this time it had been this gift from Ephretti making things just a shade more survivable. I should find her and thank her. I’d do it if I survived this battle.

Is it true that Bataar is making an empire for you and that you asked for a place for our Drazenloft?

How did she already know that?

Stef is telling me that she wants to live in my dragon city.

Of course. I couldn’t keep a secret from Saboraak if I tried. Other dragons kept their thoughts to themselves, but not Saboraak. She was a Chatty Catty. But now wasn’t the time to worry about secrets.

Right now, we were about to help a second city under siege and this time we had less time and more enemies. I could already feel my skin crawling at the prospect. We’d barely lived through the last siege. What would we do to save the people in this city? Was there any way that we even could?

Ahead of us, the dragons of the city met the flying golems in the air. This force of golems was larger than the force that had come at us in Estabis. Three or four times as large. Worse, with so many Magikas in the ground – and some riding the flying golems – they tore into the dragons like a tiger through a nest of chicks.

My breath caught in my throat.

Two hundred dragons – maybe more – flew into twice their number in flying golems. The clash was like the clash of storm fronts. The sound filled the air and winds buffeted us. Dragons, torn to pieces and golems crumpled and broken – were already raining from the sky. It took a heartbeat before I shook myself and realized what I needed to do.

I found the first Magika riding a flying golem – his hand outstretched with a lightning rod at the end of it, spewing bolts of lightning into the fray. I sucked that golem’s soul from his body with a single snatching motion. I didn’t wait to watch him fall from the sky – couldn’t bear to watch.

I was already hunting for the next one.

There!

I pulled that golem’s soul free, too, sending it spinning toward the World of Legends.

Again, and again I repeated the motion.

Locate, pull.

Locate, pull.

Locate, pull.

It was fast as thought, fast as heartbeats. Before I had even felt the passing of time, I’d run out of Magikas riding golems.

I switched my attention to golems in groups ripping dragons to pieces.

Snatch. Snatch Snatch.

I stole them quick as thought.

Was it stealing to take something that was already stolen and set it free?

I could hear Stef and Gran yelling about something, but I didn’t dare spare any thought to it.

Snatch. Snatch. Snatch.

Below, under the city and sometimes over it, dragons fell like rain and flying golem shells fell with them. I blocked myself from feeling.

Snatch. Snatch.

I didn’t dare feel the horror of the loss of dragon and human life as dragons and their riders plunged screaming in terror from the sky, falling to land on the ground among the wolf golems. Even if they survived the fall, they didn’t survive long in the flurry of metal jaws and feet below.

I didn’t dare think of family and friends who would never see them again.

Snatch.

Why was I crying if I wasn’t thinking of that? I wiped my eyes harshly.

Snatch.

I didn’t dare let myself imagine what it would be like to die that way. Or what it meant for all of us to have lost so many brothers to the madness of Apeq A’kona.

Snatch.

He was out there somewhere. Out there and doing this to humanity. Fury boiled within me, fueling me.

Snatch. Snatch. Snatch.

And then the screaming was coming from Saboraak, too.

Snatch.

Tor! Oh, Skies and Stars! Tachril! Hyoogan! Help!

A metal body swooped so close that I had to duck. I heard Gran screaming and Stef cursing behind me but as soon as I could lift my head, I snatched the soul from the golem who had just grazed our heads.

We were tumbling from the sky, golems all around us like a cloud of metal and fury.

Snatch. Snatch. Snatch. Snatch.

They fell around us, raining bodies heavier than teams of oxen onto the ground.

Snatch. Snatch.

But there were more, still more. I focused harder, trying to grab two or three souls with every snatch, sometimes succeeding, sometimes only getting one.

Snatch. Snatch. Snatch.

My jaw slammed shut, rattling my concentration as we hit the ground.

Saboraak? Are you okay?

Snatch. Snatch.

Lost my wind.

I leapt from her back. We had landed on a mound of fallen flying golems, but around us, all I could see was a sea of metal-bodied wolf-golems as they turned all their attention to us.

Chapter Six

I began to sing.

Bataar’s song for the dead spilled from my lips like pearls from a velvet bag.

Rest, weary one,

The sun, the sun

Is rising.

In this new life,

The pain has flown, away.

I shoved them back in waves, stopping them a dozen here, a dozen there while the song lifted the souls of each one I stopped, drifting them up to the World of Legends.

Rest child of earth,

And let your soul,

Fly heavenward,

No tear to mar the eye,

Or pain the heart again.

From the corner of my eye, I saw our wing landing around us, forming defensive positions around Saboraak, their own wings torn and bleeding. Hyoongan had a bite mark in his neck. Tachril had lost the tip of his tail.

Until one day,

When we, our hearts united,

Stand under sun,

We’ve never seen before.

I shoved them back relentlessly, singing, singing. There was shouting behind me. These days, there always seemed to be shouting.

“Except this time, it’s for a reason,” the mimic said.

Until one day,

When hope has shown her merit,

And all will rest in faith

and warm to brand new life.

I continued to turn, slowly, pushing, pushing. Whatever they were yelling about would reveal itself in time. Until then, I had thousands of golems to stop. The hundred or so I’d managed so far barely seemed to make a dent as I piled them up around me.

At the next turn, I saw what the commotion was.

“I wondered when she’d come out to party,” the mimic said.

Ambrosia was striding toward us, the golems clearing a path for her as she walked, hands held out on either side, blazing with magical fire.

The dragons tightened around us, protective.

Saboaraak? Can you ask them to move back? I think this is between me and Ambrosia. I think I have to fight her.

Why? That’s just stupid. Let us stand with you!

Hyoogan flamed at Ambrosia, blocking her way. She flicked a wrist and he tumbled aside as if blown over by a massive wind. Janes rolled with him, keeping his seat – but barely.

If I stood and fought her, then the other Magikas would see what they were up against. Maybe it would shake them enough to pin them here while the armies of the Dominar were rushing to reinforce Questan. Maybe, it would buy everyone a little more time to survive.

Or maybe she’ll kill you!

And then, like she was being called, Saboraak’s head whipped to the side.

What? What did she see?

Zyla! She made it back! She’s here!

But she would be alone out there, surrounded by enemies and vulnerable. Saboraak shifted back and forth like she was being pulled in two directions.

Go! I insisted. Go and get her!

But you...

I’ll be fine. Take everyone with you. You need them all!

Tor – she sounded agonized, like it was hurting her to leave me. I knew the feeling.

Please, Saboraak! Please help her. Please take your friends to go and get her. I’ll keep the army distracted. I’ll make sure the attention is on me so you can swoop back there and get her. Most of the army is concentrated over here, anyway.

That’s not what I’m worried about.

Ambrosia was almost level with the hill of fallen golems I was standing on.

“Let’s see how long you can pull those little stunts when you face a real Magika,” she said, a troublingly warm grin on her innocent face.

I’m worried that she will kill you, or the golems will. I’m worried that you won’t have anyone to protect you.

Please, Saboraak. Zyla is in that position right now and she has nothing but that little bit of magic I gave her.

With a sound that was more like a cry of frustration than anything else, Saboraak spread her wings behind me, throwing shadows over me as she lifted up into the sky. Around us, the other dragons joined her, lifting up into the grey clouds above us.

The weather, like my mood, was grim.

“Yes, that’s right,” Ambrosia said. “Just you and me and our shadows.”

Her shadow pulled away from her, stepping out to stand on her own, her mimic hair gleaming despite the cloudy day.

Uh oh.

“And your grandmother, I guess,” Ambrosia said with a tinkling laugh.

I looked behind me, surprised to see Gran there. Hadn’t she flown off with Saboraak? Stef must have. She was not beside Gran.

“Stay back,” I warned Gran, easing my way over fallen golems to pull away from her. Ambrosia would be aiming her attacks at me. No need to get Gran killed while I played this gamble.

Because I knew it was a gamble to face a powerful Magika like Ambrosia one on one. And I knew it could get me killed. I was just hoping that Gran was right about the pendant and that it really would nudge the lines of the future in my favor. I could see the pattern weaving all around me. And if it didn’t weave in my favor, there was no way I was going to survive this.

Chapter Seven

“I thought maybe you could fight Gran,” I said easily. “I’ve always thought it was bad sportsmanship to pick on people weaker than you.”

Ambrosia’s face clouded over with anger and her mimic pulled a magical whip out of thin air, flexing it threateningly.

“I think the mimic is even prettier than the Magika,” my mimic said. “It’s not often that you get to meet other shadows.”

“Why have I only ever seen her shadow and Shabren’s?” I asked, not realizing I’d said it aloud until Ambrosia replied.

“Everyone has a shadow, Tor. But you only see the shadows of people who play with magic. We mess with things in the spiritual world and so we have a spiritual residue that can be seen.”

“Then where is Eventen’s?” I asked.

“It takes a lot of magic to develop one. He’s simply not as strong as me. Or you.” She snickered. “Now say goodbye to Grandma, Tor. It’s time to show the watching world why Magikas are going to win this war.”

“Well, it can’t be because of your practicality. A one-on-one showdown is ridiculously showy. And I’m guessing it’s not because of your warm hearts, either. If there was an award for ‘Coldest Heart of the Year’ it would be a close heat between you and good old Apeq.”

“Oh, I’d win that one, Tor. I treasure my cold heart.”

“It’s the only treasure you have.”

She threw the first fireball and I dodged to the side while my mimic laughed. He should be trying to get her mimic! If he could kill it like he’d killed Shabren’s then we’d win. Shabren had gone insane.

“I don’t think I want to kill her mimic,” he said. “She’s pretty. Maybe she has some good in her.”

Unlikely. My mimic didn’t seem to have any good in him and he was my mimic. Ambrosia was already pure evil. Her mimic could only be worse.

“Maybe her mimic is the good one,” he said.

That got a laugh from Ambrosia. “If you think that, then you’re more naive than I could have hoped for!

“If you think you can kill me with fireballs, then you are exactly as naïve as I’ve been betting on,” I said, leaping to the side as she threw the other one and sucking it up into the ring like I had with Eventen’s.

I pulled at her soul, trying to pluck it from her like I had accidentally done to the cooks and farriers, but it didn’t budge.

“If you’re trying to steal my soul, Tor,” she said with a smirk. “You should know that the mimic protects me from that. There are no easy wins for you today.”

“There never are,” I mumbled.

Our battle was working. Around us. The golems continued to crowd in, their focus on us, and when I looked up from my precarious perch on top of the fallen golems, I could see Magikas and soldiers watching us from afar. It was the perfect distraction from Saboraak.

Almost there!

And the perfect way to stall the war.

“You can only stall for so long,” my mimic warned. “And then you have to figure out what to do next.”

“Don’t worry, Tor.” Ambrosia laughed as she began to climb the pile of fallen golems to meet me at the top. “I know exactly what to do next. I’m going to take back that ring – it seems I was wrong about that – and then I’m going to take your soul and use it to fuel this fascinating little item.” She pointed to the spiritual whip her mimic held. “Which I’m pretty sure I can use to bring back the souls of the few golems you have destroyed and continue our little war.”

“You threatened me with that before,” I said dryly. “Try a fresh threat.”

I leapt forward before I was finished speaking, knocking her backward and grabbing her arm, twisting it behind her back.

“Surrender!”

My mimic shrieked and I spun, losing my grip on Ambrosia’s arm. Ambrosia’s mimic had him by the throat, her hands digging in as her face twisted in violence. I leapt toward her, twisting my ankle over a fallen golem and stumbling as I leapt. I jumped right through her, falling through their struggling bodies, my hands empty.

“You didn’t think I was planning to kill your body, did you?” Ambrosia asked sweetly. “Oh no, Tor. I’m planning to take your mind – just like you did to my dear friend Shabren. It will be much easier to take your soul then.”

My mimic’s flailing was growing weaker. I reached again for Ambrosia’s mimic, but my hands closed on nothing as Ambrosia laughed.

My mimic stilled. He had seconds left – if that. Seconds before I lost my mind to madness. With every fiber of strength I had left, I reached through the ring, drawing on the power of the World of Legends and pulled at the mimic, my jaw dropping as she was sucked away. I should have started with her first.

My surprised gaze met Ambrosia’s shocked one and then she slumped to her knees with a cry, falling forward onto her face, blood pooling around her shattered skull.

Gran stood behind her with a bloody rock clutched between her aged palms.

“Talk is fine. Action is more useful,” she said after a moment, dropping the stone.

I couldn’t seem to stand up. My legs felt like jelly. She’d killed the Magika without hesitating. She’d bashed her head in with a rock.

Horror shook me. We’d almost died. We’d almost died because I couldn’t do what Gran just did.

“She saved my life,” my mimic muttered in disbelief.

“Remember this, Ko’roi. There is no man so powerful that a blow from a common object can’t be the end of his life. There is no woman so skilled that she can’t be outsmarted by an old woman she thought wasn’t worth watching. You’re made of flesh just like her. We all are. And no one, not even the Ko’roi is above that.”

I didn’t feel above anything as I pulled myself painfully to my feet, favoring my twisted ankle, clutching at my sword-grazed ribs and feeling the ache of my burned face more intensely.

I felt overwhelmed.

The golems still surrounded us. The war was still raging. If I’d thought that defeating one powerful Magika in one-on-one combat would end a war, I was wrong. War was too big for one person to end in one stand-off. I was going to have to think bigger than that.

“Eat this,” Gran said, offering me a small hard cake from her belt pouch. “You look pale.”

Chapter Eight

We’ve got her. Saboraak’s voice seemed tense.

What was the problem?

We got Zyla but, Tor, the flying golems have wheeled away from the city. They’re coming straight for us. We’re already mired down by Magika attacks.

I needed to see this for myself. Hastily, I scrambled up the pile of still golems to the highest point and looked over the battlefield. Saboraak and the others swirled in the sky near the doorway, dodging and darting as they fought groups of Magikas riding flying golems, lightning and flame spurting from the rods they held. More flying golems streaked across the sky toward them like a flight of deadly birds.

I craned around me, looking for a way to help. The dragons on the city were occupied, fighting the golems beneath them. The teams of golems below may have failed, but that didn’t stop the crawling masses of golems from creeping up the sides of the city. I couldn’t get help from anyone in the city.

On the distant horizon, a black mass was growing larger. I hadn’t noticed it before, but something was flying from the south and east. Did I dare to hope it was allies? Could I dare to hope it was the Dominar’s dragons coming to our aid?

There was a cry from below and Gran pointed to the wolf golems closing in.

I began my song again, stilling them in waves as I sang. But holding this one place was not enough. I grabbed one of the golems racing toward us and stopped him, but I didn’t pull his soul free. Instead, I turned him around.

“Come on!” I called to Gran and we hurried to the golem. I sang and fought with my mind as she mounted the golem and then I quickly mounted, too, pushing the golems nearby out of the way to make a path for our golem.

Forward, I thought to the golem, pushing other golems as I drove him toward our friends.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Gran said, as if it wasn’t hard enough to urge this golem forward and clear a path without her chattering away, too. I needed a bigger mind for all this mind-work. Hubric should have chosen a scholar instead of me.

“Or anyone, really. Then you and I could be flying around exploring instead of fighting this war,” my mimic said.

But that wasn’t how it worked. Powerful blessing – the kind that transformed you into a new person, the kind that meeting Saboraak had brought me – didn’t just drop in your lap. You owed something for being given it. Or maybe not owed. Maybe it was just that if you didn’t live into that transformation, then it just disappeared. It was like moonbeams and smiles. You couldn’t store them up, or trap them, or trot them out when you wanted them. You had to enjoy them when they came, had to seize them while they were near. You had to live into beauty and love. You couldn’t just take them for granted.

“Pay attention,” Gran said, gripping my arm uncomfortably hard.

“You have my attention,” I said through gritted teeth, still pushing golems aside and sending their souls to the World of Legends. It was getting a little easier every time I did it. And wasn’t that an insane thought?

We were racing down a wide lane, golems standing on either side of it like they were waiting to wave to a parade.

“The soldiers,” Gran said. “You need to think of the soldiers as you did before.”

“I won’t be able to freeze them in place,” I agreed. “Hopefully, the dragons can help there.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She sounded disgusted, but I was too busy fighting with my mind to understand why. “They are your people now. And you had the right instincts about them back when those cooks attacked us.”

“What?”

“You are our Ko’roi! That means they’re your people!”

“Well, then they should stop fighting me!” I thought she’d wanted me to kill in this battle. After all, she hadn’t been too shy with that rock.

We were getting closer to the dragons now. Close enough for me to pick off one of the golems carrying a Magika before returning to freezing golems along my path. I felt like there was too much for me to be concentrating on. I couldn’t keep up with the golems around me, the dragons in the air, where the soldiers were, where Apeq was, what was happening with the city, and the faraway black mass. I was going to forget to act somewhere and someone was going to die. My nerves were buzzing at the thought and that didn’t help with concentration at all.

“They are loyal to their Heads of House. Didn’t you see them with Apeq A’kona when we were flying on your dragon’s back? It was easy to pick them out.”

“I didn’t see them.” I’d had just a wee bit on my mind.

“Well, we can’t just kill the soldiers – not if they are following their Heads of House. They’re your people. And they’re trying to be loyal. That changes things. You need to find a way to save them, too.”

“You killed Ambrosia!”

“She is not of Ko’Torenth.”

“Neither am I!”

Agh! ‘Save the Dominion, Tor,’ they said. ‘And the spirit world, oh and all the souls that were put in the golems. And the dragons. And, is it really too much to ask you to save Ko’Torenth, too?’ When did it end? When could he just please, for the love of the Skies and Stars, just please take a nap?

“If you can prove to the Heads of House that you are Ko’roi, they will listen, and we can save the lives of all these men. My countrymen.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said through gritted teeth. After all, I owed her. She’d just saved my life. But she sure did know how to call in a favor!

Chapter Nine

The problem with power was that it attracted attention.

“We like attention,” the mimic reminded me.

But this was not the good kind of attention.

I had been mostly unopposed as I rushed toward where the dragons fought for dear life against flying golems and Magikas. Or at least, it felt like fighting unopposed because I could just stop every golem in my path, but as I froze the last golems ahead of me, I realized that behind them were hundreds of human soldiers, forming up in a line with polearms and pikes in a proper formation. If I didn’t stop the wolf-golem I rode, I’d run right into their formation – or over it more likely. Which would be fine if Gran wasn’t slamming her fist into my ribs.

“Remember! No hurting the humans!”

“Nngh! What do you suggest?”

“Stop!” she roared, and I stopped, skidding to a halt at the last knot of golems, my eyes running up and down the human line.

How was I supposed to get around them when they were lined up like that? How was I supposed to save the dragons without hurting these soldiers? This was impossible!

I was about to say so when a blast of fire rocketed out of the human ranks. I had been distracted, looking at the dragons. I didn’t see it until it was upon me, blasting me backward off the golem and throwing me through the air to land with a hard smack in the mud. My head hit hardened mud and I moaned in pain. Trying to clear my eyes of the sudden stars I was seeing.

Something was roaring like a fire. Was that me?

“Roll, you fool! Roll!” the mimic screamed at me.

Awkwardly, I flopped over onto my face and then barely managed to throw myself back onto my back. The smell of burning cloth and burnt flesh wafted up to me.

Painfully, I pulled at my coat. The front of it was mostly gone, ragged around the edges, revealing bare flesh. In the center of my chest, the Eye pendant lay, untouched, and the flesh all around it in a sphere the size of both my palms was whole and healthy, as if the tiger stone had protected it, but the flesh around that circle sizzled and stung, flesh open and burnt around the edges.

I hissed in pain, struggling up to my feet. I was dazed, uncertain of what had happened to me.

I must have been knocked from my mount by a Magika fireball. I scanned the earth for Gran. My mouth went dry when I saw her bent and broken at the feet of a still golem, her head at an angle no head should be.

Gran.

I needed her.

She couldn’t be gone!

I needed her.

Panic welled up within me and a bone-deep sense of loss. I hadn’t protected her and I should have. I kept leaning on her for wisdom without remembering how vulnerable she was. And now she was gone. I felt like I’d lost a treasure I’d never really had in the first place.

“Now you can kill those people without anyone complaining,” my mimic said with a shrug. “And you might want to get on that. They’re charging.”

I blinked as the wall of humans surged forward. The roar I had heard was the roar of their voices. They were already past the golem I had been riding, closing in on Gran – Skies and Stars rest her soul. There was really one thing to do. I turned and ran, scrambling across the muddy terrain down the aisle lined with golems.

Who would have guessed back in the day that I’d die running from an army instead of from the City Watch? Or that I’d be dirty because I was knee-deep in mud, not because I’d taken a bribe. Good deeds never paid. Not the way criminal acts did. But I’d rather die like this than live like that.

Something grabbed my shoulders, ripping me from the ground. They had me. I closed my eyes, waiting to feel the blades stabbing through me, but when nothing happened, I opened them.

I was soaring over the battlefield.

My heart stuttered at the sight.

Got you. Saboraak said.

My heart slammed against my chest in either relief or a new heart attack.

I twisted in the grip of her feet, looking behind us to where her wing of Green dragons soared on either side, a tail of golems streaking toward us. Saboraak flew with all the speed she could muster as bright fireballs streaked around us.

Who said life with me wasn’t exciting?

No one ever said that.

Who said it wouldn’t get the old ticker ticking?

Seriously, no one has accused you of being boring.

Who said it wouldn’t make every day taste sweet because you didn’t know if it was the last?

Are you making these accusations up?

It felt so good to hear her voice!

You should hear Zyla. The girl swears like a sailor when she’s frightened for your life. You should have a quiet word with her about language.

Because that would go over well. I could already tell that Zyla was a girl who took critique well.

It would be for her own good.

In the distance, the dark cloud had almost reached the city and now it was very clear that it was an army of dragons and at their head, a rider in a bright mask sparkled.

We needed to get to them. We needed to meet with the Dominar and tell her what was happening. And I needed to find a way to end this war the way Gran would have wanted – with few human deaths and a future for everyone.

It felt like someone had left a shard of glass in my chest when I thought of Gran. Maybe it was just the burns.

Or maybe you’ve finally learned compassion.

It couldn’t be that.

We should see if Nostar knew how to sign to the dragons ahead of us.

Unnecessary.

We’d need to tell them we were friends.

They already know.

How could they know?

Hubric is with them and let me tell you, Kyrowat has a bee in his ear about you. He says you’d better get over there fast or he’s going to show you what tricksters get as rewards.

Hot cocoa and a warm blanket?

Joy filled me at the thought of Hubric and Kyrowat alive and healthy. Relief at the thought of Kyrowat’s complaints.

No.

A comfortable nap by the fire?

Definitely not.

A new coat to replace this torn one?

They thought you were dead. Kyrowat is angry that you put him through that. I really think I’m doing a poor job conveying his tone...

But I was just happy he was alive. And I had an idea. One that maybe, if I was lucky, could end all of this.

Chapter Ten

Flying over an army wasn’t as simple as it sounded in my mind’s eye. By the time we reached the city, we were mired in flying golems and fireballs thrown from the Magikas below.

We’re being hit! Saboraak cried as she spun away from an attack.

I bit back a moan as her claw dug a little too tight into my shoulder as she dodged, but it only lasted a second before a dragon scream ripped from her throat. I looked above me to see her wing alight from where a fireball hit her and then we were spiraling down to the ground below. I swallowed, trying to clear the golems out of the way for her fall, but there were men and women below us, too, their Magika robes billowing as they darted in between the golems.

We were at the base of the city, so close to where Aqeq and the Heads of Houses watched the siege – from a small cluster of pavilions sited on a small hill –  that I could almost pick out faces from their pavilions. Human soldiers ringed their tents and formed up defensive protection in a low make-shift log wall – barely the height of my waist – and trenches.

I glanced toward the Dominar’s flying army, but I couldn’t catch sight of them with Saboraak spinning so quickly.

Skies and Stars!

My feet hit the ground first and I was running before I had my balance, trying to get out of her way as her belly hit the ground. Behind me, I heard Zyla screaming and then there were dragons descending all around, nursing injured wings and tattered tails, flaming and flaring at the surrounding golems.

I sang at the top of my lungs, forcing golems back while Nostar and Lenora dismounted, weapons in hand. They were circling the dragons, lining them up in a defensive position while Zyla and Letina spilled water over burning wounds and applied salves.  I hadn’t had a chance yet to tell her how glad I was to see her.

“You might not get a chance. This is a famous last stand if I’ve ever seen one,” the mimic said.

Hold on. Help comes!

But the humans were charging us now, and there was nothing I could do about their martial fury as I flung golems back, wrenching their souls from them by the dozen. Nothing that I could do to stop the surge as I fought to keep the magic-made creatures back. I saw Devind slip in the mud and Nostar caught him, pushing him behind his own body as he fought with the other arm to hold back a charging enemy soldier. I saw Lenora pushed back with Janes as a second surge rushed forward. She looked to me, eyes wide as she retreated.

And then a second voice joined my song. Bataar? No. It was Nostar, singing with me, lifting his voice. A soprano joined us. Zyla?

I stumbled backward and a hand caught my arm as Zyla pressed past,  staff at the ready to defend me, Stef at her side, brandishing her own staff. There were tear stains on her face.

Saboraak’s color melded with the earth as she wrapped her wings around hurt dragons nearby. A kind effort, but I was pretty sure that the enemy could see us just fine.

Bataar! Saboraak shouted through my mind and I was rocked by the strength of her communication. He just came through the Door of Heavens. He is asking that you refill the power of his rings.

Because it wasn’t like I was busy fighting for our lives or anything. I reached out with a trickle of strength finding his ring and refilling it. I filled Zyla’s tattoos while I was at it. She rewarded me with a brief flash of a smile and then turned her mind to pushing golems back with me.

He says all has been set in motion in Ko’Torenth.

That’s nice. Now, if I could just finish my end of the bargain.

He says to remember the prophecies.

I’d been a poor student of the prophecies. Really, the ancestors should have chosen Bataar as the Ko’roi. He knew them all by heart. I focused on shoving back another group of flying golems, sending them spinning into their churning land-brothers below. But humans were plunging toward us, too. I watched from the corner of my eye as Nostar braced himself for the attack, turning the blade of an enemy with a single stroke.

There was a cry from beside him and I spun to see Janes sprawled in the mud, Letina rushing toward him.

There were too many. We were going to be overwhelmed in a moment.

He says to remember: He commands armies with his visage. One glance and war withers. His hands weave justice. His right hand divides truth

Uh huh. Very nice. But it was me who had to figure out how to fulfill that, and there were no thoughts coming to me. I wished Gran was here. I wished she could provide some insight.

A column of men had formed behind the log wall where the Heads of House waited with Apeq. They were dressed in tunics bearing oak leaves. I’d almost forgotten about the Order of the Oak – Ko’Torenth Magikas. Just like I’d almost forgotten about the Midnight Artificers. There were probably plenty of them here today, fighting, winning, dying. We wouldn’t know who was who until it had all played out – if we even knew then.

If I was even alive to know anything by then.

I gritted my teeth, standing back to back with Zyla who had moved in close. The golems I’d been fighting were all frozen around us and nothing nearby moved but the humans, plunging toward us. Could we get back up in the air now?

No.

Would the Dominar’s army arrive in time to save us?

No. They fight not far from here, but they are hindered by the flying golems and the Magikas on the south side of the city.

I wasn’t going to be able to do this without shedding human blood. I was going to disappoint Gran.

The Order of the Oak and the human fighters in front of us burst forward past the last frozen golems and I steeled myself for death.

“It’s been nice knowing you,” I told the mimic.

“I know,” the mimic replied.

And then the screaming began.

I didn’t even have a weapon anymore. I’d lost the staff. I was just a strangely tattooed mud-covered freak with the power to command metal creatures.

One of the Order of the Oak rushed toward Zyla, his hands crackling with lightning. On instinct, I reached for his soul like I would for the soul in a golem.

Just like with the cooks and farriers, the man fell in a crumpled heap and I sensed his soul flying from his body to the Doorway. But it didn’t have to be this way if they would just surrender!

“Surrender!” I roared. “You will surrender!”

I snatched at them like I did golems – snatched at fists of five or six at a time, pulling out their essences and flinging them to the door while their bodies dropped around us.

It was wrong. It was horrifying.

It was my only option.

Chapter Eleven

Sweat soaked me as I fought, spinning at one enemy after another. I caught glimpses of Saboraak flaming at the hordes of humans, saw snatches of Nostar fighting beside Letina, of someone helping Janes limp to the dragons. Of more fire. Of Lenora fighting, streaked in mud, her face set in beautiful determination. Of the faces of enemy after enemy swirling from around empty golems to plunge toward us, magic flaring from rods and hands. I felt a pang of guilt and despair every time that I snatched one of them from this life.

Gran would be so disappointed.

I was so disappointed.

It seemed to take hours and hours. When at long last the attacks stilled and I leaned against Zyla, sucking in drawn-out breaths, Saboraak spoke.

Those were the most intense minutes of my life.

Minutes? They had felt like hours. I was overwhelmed – exhausted by the task at hand. How many were left to fight us?

Hundreds. Thousands, maybe. They are distracted by the Dominar’s attack to the south and a small group of Dominion dragons is plunging through the battle toward us.

We needed to fly a white flag.

Surrender?

No. Parlay.

We needed to get Apeq and the Heads of Houses here. And the Dominar. We needed to talk about a way to end this that didn’t involve a ravaged city and thousands of dead.

How?

Could she speak to the Dominar’s dragon?

I ... yes. But he is a Prince of Dragons. I’m shy to speak to him.

Shy? Dragons were so confusing.

Then speak to Kyrowat and ask him to talk to her dragon. Ask her to come to where we are. And we will parlay.

But don’t we need Apeq here for that?

I’d have to handle that part.

“What are you volunteering us for this time?” my mimic moaned.

“I need to speak to Apeq A’kona,” I told Zyla.

“I’m coming with you.”

“You should stay and take care of the dragons here,” I said through gasps for breath. I was so tired. So very tired.

I glanced behind me at the broken, wounded dragons and the broken people. I couldn’t tell who was hurt or who was helping. I didn’t see Stef or Lenora. I bit my lip, refusing to think about that.

I needed to keep going. As long as I was alive, I needed to keep hoping.

“You can barely stand,” Zyla said gently. “Here. Lean on me. I’ll help you get where you are going.”

“I don’t need that,” I said, but she was already slipping her shoulder under my arm and lifting me up.

“Shhh, my brave hero. Let someone else do something for a change. Even you have limits.”

It would be too much work to stop her. Better to just let her do it.

We started forward, me limping slightly. When had I hurt my ankle? It didn’t seem to want to bear weight.

Be safe, Saboraak said.

Was the Dominar coming?

Yes.

Then what I was doing now was more important than safety.

We walked carefully through the fallen bodies and I tried not to let my stomach heave too much.

They were my fault. Every one of them had fallen at my command. As we skirted the frozen golems, I could see up the hill to where our enemies were regrouping, and the Heads of Houses were speaking in a small huddle. Was that Apeq I saw?

Someone noticed us, pointing and shouting and then there was a flurry of activity around the tents as they hurried to tell their superiors about our little two-person invasion.

They’d be more than ready for us by the time we arrived. Walking uphill through the mounds of bodies was no picnic. I shouldn’t have let Zyla come with me, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t stay behind. I had no power to make her do anything. Better to at least have her nearby. I didn’t want to admit how pretty her encouraging smiles were or how heavily I was leaning on her as we walked.

I wasn’t thinking entirely clearly. My brain had been too tasked by its newfound skill.

A pair of soldiers ran out to block us, as soon as we reached the enemy defenses throwing up their hands to halt us.

“No one approaches the leaders of the Midnight Artificers and Ko’Torenth without express permission,” one of the soldiers said.

“I’m not carrying a weapon,” I said wearily, not mentioning the fact that I was deadlier than any weapon I could carry.

We pushed through the soldiers as they shared a confused look and then glanced back at the camp. Someone with a fancy helmet was waving frantically at them. They didn’t want to kill us – yet – but they didn’t know how to handle our lack of fear at their show of arms.

Forces were amassing around the tents, grouping for something – perhaps to destroy our little band of dragons, or perhaps for a human assault of the city of Questan.

“I’m here to speak to Apeq A’Kona,” I said as I approached the tents. From here, you could see across the valley plains that stretched under the city with ease. I shivered at the hordes of golems still crawlingup the stem of the city, at the flying golems swarming like clouds of locust over the hundreds of dragons the Dominar had brought. It was strange to be so far from the battle – to only be able to see it, but to barely be able to hear the clash of battle, the rallying cries, the shouts. It had felt more real when I fought face-to-face with the enemy in Estabis, but this time my battle was on the outskirts of the action.

My heart soared at one sight.

Between the fighting dragons and the tiny group I’d just left, a knot of dragons flew at full speed. Even from here, I could recognize the Silver Dragons of the Dominar’s Guards, the purple of the Dominar’s dragon and of Kyrowat as they soared toward my friends.

Maybe there was some hope after all.

Chapter Twelve

There is something about a single (or in this case double?) enemy walking weaponless into an army encampment that makes everything stutter to a halt. Humans love drama. They want to see what happens next – even if there’s a possibility that they might not like what that is.

Rather than charging us and instantly killing us with their overwhelming numbers, the men and women of Ko’Torenth drew aside, creating a path for us to walk through their heavily armed ranks to the tents beyond.

So far, so good.

I tried not to study them too openly. No need to make them suspicious or defensive. But what I saw wasn’t hopeful for us. I recognized some of those Heads of House from their furtive meetings with Apeq in Ko’Koren. And I also recognized some of the Midnight Artificers. They stood around Apeq like a clutch of ducklings around their mother, long rods in their hands – weapons wrought of the souls of others.

Souls that didn’t belong to them. Souls they didn’t have the right to take.

Fury welled up inside me and I snatched at the rods with my mind, pulling the souls out of them and loosing them to return to the World of Legends. They never belonged to these power-hungry vermin.

“Your anger is showing,” Zyla whispered warningly.

I smoothed my features as I stumbled to where Apeq stood, looking at his ease. His clothing was clean and orderly. His appearance was ... kingly. After all, wasn’t that what he was here for? To prove he could be king to the people of Ko’Torenth and king over the Dominion, too?

Not while I still lived.

“Yeah! Show him!” the mimic encouraged me. It was strange that Apeq still couldn’t see the mimic. Strange and a little chilling. Where was his shadow self? Was it possible that the Apeq I spoke to was the shadow self and that the less shadowy Apeq had been left somewhere in the World of Legends?

“Yes,” my mimic said.

Whoa! Really? But I didn’t have time to explore that train of thought.

“What do you want, urchin?” Apeq asked with a flicker of cruelty playing around his twisted smile.

“To talk.”

“I’m a little busy at the moment.”

The people standing around him tittered like he was the funniest thing they’d heard all week.

“Well at least you’re keeping busy,” I said casually. “It’s good to stay busy when you’ve lost everything.”

“I don’t seem to have lost anything,” he said, and his voice betrayed that his patience was thinning.

“Except for Ko’Torenth. I went ahead and scooped that up,” I said. I pulled the scarf from around my head, letting the bright crown flare in the light. “Seeing as I’m the Ko’roi.”

That caused a stir in the Heads of House.

I looked over at them. “If you return home now, you’re welcome to keep your houses under my rule.” Some of them laughed, but not all of them. It was the nervous ones that I fixed with a steady gaze. “I’ll replace any of you who don’t leave right now with a new House of my choosing.”

There were some shuffling feet, but Apeq barked a laugh.

“Well, you’re good at one thing, boy. Lies. Threats and lies.”

“That’s two things,” I said with a cocky grin. “Three if you count stopping golems in their tracks.”

“Four if you count being a hero,” Zyla said softly and her words made my heart leap.

“I don’t see golems stopped in their tracks,” Apeq said, pointing up to where the wolf golems were rushing over the walls of Questan. “In fact, I think they’re winning.”

And now was the time for my big gamble. I hadn’t relly been planning it – in fact, I hadn’t been sure what I was going to do when I got this far, but it came to me – a sudden inspiration like a gift from the heavens dropping straight into my open mind.

I swallowed, fighting the nausea swirling in my belly. If I was wrong about this, if it was the wrong choice  ... but I couldn’t be wrong. There were children up there counting on me. Children just like the ones I’d saved in Estabis. Children who would have no one to save them now if it turned out that I had misjudged.

“Last chance,” I told the Heads of Houses. They didn’t move, their eyes fixed on Apeq.

I’d better be right about this.

I concentrated as hard as I could and I pulled, sucking at every golem at once and tugging at their souls, fighting the writhing wave of them. It felt almost as if Gran was there pulling with me, and the ancestors who had chosen me as Ko’roi, and the people who had fallen defending Estabis, and the souls I’d already sent back to their rest, as if Karillion and Nelmper pulled with us and all the fallen dragons who had fought and died for the people of Estabis pulled, too. We pulled with all our might.

The wolf-golems ground to a halt and the valley was suddenly quiet, save for the sound of flying golems falling from the air and dashing to crumpled messes on the ground below.

It had worked.

I swayed, my vision blurring as Zyla grabbed me, bearing all my weight in her small arms. I was going to black out.

No! Not yet! Not here!

Take my strength!

And then, like I’d rested a full night, I shook myself, standing on my own feet.

Saboraak! My dragon! How in the world had she done that?

Remember when you wondered if we were really bound by magic? Apparently, we are.

Chapter Thirteen

“It’s not possible,” one of the Heads of House gasped, looking out over the still golems.

Apeq said nothing, his eyes locking with mine. He knew this was possible.

“How many souls did you drain to make these golems?” I asked. “Was all of Woelran enough?”

“What was made once can be made again,” he said in a tight voice.

“But you didn’t make those golems, did you?” I asked and he flinched. “You found them under a mountain when you were mining. And you and the Midnight Artificers learned a secret there – a secret so terrible that you kept it to yourselves. But eventually, keeping it to yourself wasn’t enough. Eventually, you wanted to see how far you could go. This is how far, Apeq. You’ve come to the end of the line.”

There was a stir in the ranks of the Heads of House, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Silver dragons piercing through the human defenses, pushing them back. They weren’t attacking, just rolling their large heads at the ends of their sinuous necks and twitching wings like they might want to fight. Their riders wore plate armor and carried long halberds. They were ready for battle.

At the center of the Silvers was a knot of other dragons and as they drew close, the Silver dragons opened up their ranks, spreading out to reveal who was at the center.

The Dominar rode forward on her Purple dragon. The expression on his face was one of dragon amusement combined with a hint of deadliness, like we were all still alive only because he hadn’t decided to kill us quite yet. He opened his mouth and I clenched my jaw, but he only yawned dramatically.

Beside him, a second purple dragon stalked, his expression cranky. Steam escaped his nose in little puffs and the man riding him was lithe and young, his bald head gleamed in the afternoon light. He made a movement with his hand, two fingers going one way and three the other and then the Silvers halted, drawing up into what looked like a stance of attention.

Behind the Purples I saw Lee Estabis on Isitdor, his sister Lenora beside him on Lypukrm. And beside them Hubric rode, giving me a nod when our eyes met.

I looked further back. Where was my Saboraak?

I’m weak. I had to give you too much.

My heart squeezed at the sight of her being carried over the backs of Tachril and Hyoogan.

I’ll be fine. I just need rest. I need the deep sleep of dragons, but there is not yet time.

She shouldn’t have given me so much! She should have protected herself!

You know that I give with an open heart. Especially to you. I’m proud of you, Tor.

I felt my face heating. I was proud of her, too. This wild journey wouldn’t have been possible without her. She’d saved me more times than I could count. When all this was done, we were going to build her that Drazenloft and she could hatch all the eggs she wanted there. A city of little overly-generous, overly-fussy dragons just like their mother.

But right now, I needed to focus.

Some of my friends were dismounting – Lee Estabis, Lenora, Hubric. The Dominar’s captain of the guard also dismounted, and three of her guards joined him. It wasn’t until they were ready, spread out defensively, that the Dominar dismounted a little awkwardly, settling herself onto the crutches she’d had tucked in her saddle. I wished I could see her face, but the crown of the Dominar was masked – a shell of authority riding heavy on the head of the young woman who hobbled forward.

If her body looked weak, her voice was not weak at all.

“Who,” she said softly, but with authority, “has brought an army to my Dominion?”

Apeq stepped forward. “A little display of dragons isn’t enough to establish your authority here, girl.”

The dragons in the line flamed, little fires erupting along their ranks as if they couldn’t contain their irritation at his words.

Soldiers scrambled back, some of them crying out in pain at flash burns that seared their flesh.

The Dominar cocked her head slightly to one side. “The Dominion Sky People demand that you return to your land. Now. Or you will suffer the full wrath of the Dominion. Our cities are not ripe fruit for you to pluck from trees. Our dragons are not slaves to be taken for your land and sucked dry of their power. Our land is not a prize or a token of your power.”

“Your Dominion is a thing of the past. It’s a new world, Dominar. Magic is fading from the world. You won’t be able to defend this place for long. And we plan to take what’s left of the magic you’ve been hoarding here.” Apeq crossed his arms over his chest – but he stood back out of the range of the dragons’ fire.

“We will stop you,” the Dominar said. “If you do not surrender right now, we will destroy your army with our dragons and every man and woman with you will die.”

“Maybe,” Apeq said. “But you haven’t seen all of our power, and you don’t have enough dragons to stop us. It will be a long and bloody battle, but in the end, we will win.”

“Wait,” I said stepping forward.

The Dominar’s dragon flared as if insulted that I was interrupting. Her Captain of the Guard stepped a little closer to her.

Ridiculous. I was no threat to them.

Behind me, I heard Apeq’s people gathering. There was a shout from a little way behind us. Hopefully, it would sort itself out.

I cleared my throat. “Ko’Torenth would be gutted by the loss of so many lives. And it’s my job to protect both the Dominion and the people of Ko’Torenth.” A vision of Gran passed over my eyes. I looked to where Stef was standing beside Saboraak, nodding her head. “Surely, we can find a way to do this without bloodshed. You saw how I stopped the golems in their tracks.”

“They can be brought back to life,” Apeq said.

“And you know that I have other authority,” I said, looking at his arms.

He shifted uncomfortably.

But now this was the part that made me uncomfortable – the part I’d been trying to avoid all along. I glanced to Zyla and she nodded as if she knew what I was about to do. I wished Gran was here. She would have understood why it was so hard and she would have told me exactly how to do this. When it was all over, I was going to find her and give her an honored burial. I cleared my throat, raising my voice and looking out over the soldiers surrounding the tents.

“I am the Ko’roi – prophesied by your people, chosen by your ancestors, three times marked to be the ruler and caretaker of Ko’Torenth.”

All that was true. I’d never asked for any of it. I didn’t want it, but it was true. I should have realized the first time I was marked that it would lead me here. There had been no point fighting it or doubting it.

“So, you’re just going to roll over and give up your freedom and let it happen?” my mimic asked.

I looked at Saboraak in the back of the crowd, weak and tired. She’d done that for me. I thought of Gran, broken in the muddy fields. She’d been there for me with no concern for herself. I Iooked to where Lee Estabis was moving closer through the Silver dragons and their guards, his face concerned. His city was gone. His people were scattered. All because of me. It was time for me to do the one thing that I could for all of them.

“I have the support of the people of your land, and the power of the World of Legends and I am laying claim to that power now. All loyal citizens of Ko’Torenth will lay down their arms at my command. All loyal Heads of House will submit to my authority. There will be no more bloodshed. No more theft and murder of the people of the Dominion and if their Dominar will allow us to return to our lands – no more dying for you, either.”

I didn’t know what I expected from my dramatic proclamation – but it wasn’t laughter.

Apeq laughed, shaking his head and then he caught the gaze of someone behind me and nodded slightly before addressing the Dominar.

“This man is nothing. And you are nothing but a child. Your rule is a joke. Today, I will destroy your army and grind them to powder.”

He lifted his hand as if he could reanimate the golems. He must not have realized that I stole their souls – that they wouldn’t come alive again, not now or ever. I began to smile.

Lee Estabis’s shout rang out so suddenly that I didn’t have time to turn and look at what he was pointing toward. Agony ripped through me, sudden as a bolt of lightning. I tried to turn to see what had happened, but my limbs wouldn’t respond.

Zyla cried out, “Tor!”

I slumped to the ground,

I was paralyzed with pain. I looked up to see Zyla bending over me and above her was Eventen, still holding a dripping knife.

He’d stabbed me in the back.

The man who had healed me before had just stolen my life with a single stroke of his dagger.

“Well, he did save your life, so I guess he’s just taking that back,” my mimic said, standing over me with an unconcerned look.

I heard a battle cry behind him and saw figures leaping forward.

Lee Estabis, looking like the hero of a story, leapt into the knot of Heads of House, his blade leaping from its sheath. He swung, his muscles bulging, and two things flew in different directions. It took a moment for my mind to make sense of it. One of those things had been Eventen’s body and the other had been his head.

“He’s going to have a harder time with the ladies now,” my mimic said. “I hear short men are at a disadvantage and he just got a head shorter. Get it? A head shorter?”

I tried to sit up, but my legs and arms had no feeling. Tried to say something to Zyla as the tears poured down her face, but it only came out in a moan.

“Don’t die, Tor!” she said. “Don’t die! I care about you. I want to make that dragon city with you. And we can live there with Saboraak and my sister and Bataar.”

“Maybe you’re getting off easy,” the mimic said. “Would you really want to live the rest of our life with Bataar?”

He was getting louder as the blood roared in my ears and Zyla was getting quieter. I tried to memorize the golden color of her eyes, so full of love and kindness. Imagine! Someone felt all that for me.

Hold on, Tor.

Saboraak’s voice was gentle, too. But she would be okay. Tachril would take care of her. They would make a city for dragons. If not in Ko’Torenth, then somewhere. She and Zyla should take care of each other. They agreed on most things anyway.

“Yeah, like how you are an idiot. I agree with that, too. Can I stay alive?” the mimic asked, rubbing salt in the wound.

I couldn’t control my eyes anymore. They slipped from Zyla’s lovely face to where Lee Estabis hacked down Heads of House as they fled from him, screaming. To where the Dominar’s Captain of the Guard and her armored Silver dragon riders fought as she tried to keep her dragon from bursting forward and flaming everyone. There were two smoking corpses in front of him where people had broken past her guards.

My vision was fading as Zyla gathered me into her lap.

She smelled so good. She was so warm. Her tears splashed hot on my face.

She shouldn’t have to cry like that. She should be happy. She should have a bright future. Maybe it would be even brighter without me getting her into trouble.

“I love you, Tor,” she said, and the words made me feel like warm honey inside as my spirit finally fell free and soared toward the World of Legends.

Chapter Fourteen

“Nice place you have here,” the mimic said as we entered the World of Legends together. “Good thing you spent some time fixing it up.”

I rolled my eyes. Who would have thought that I’d be stuck with him in the next life, too?

Sadness, heavy as a stone, weighed on me. I had so many regrets. And now, I’d never have a chance to make them right. I’d never really told Saboraak what a good friend she was. And now, if she lived, she’d have to build her dragon city without my help. If I could do it all over again, I would be better to her from the very start.

I hadn’t thanked Hubric, either. He’d taken me out of the gutter and yeah, the life he’d given me wasn’t an easy one but it sure was more exciting than the one I’d left behind. Without him, I wouldn’t have these friends.

If I could do it over again, I’d be as crazy as Bataar and see if I could con Zyla into marrying me. It would have taken quite the trick, because she was too smart to be talked into anything she didn’t want to do, but I would have tried. I liked that about Zyla. She had a mind of her own and I had to work to impress her.

If I could do it over again, I would even be nicer to the mimic. Maybe.

“Oh, thanks,” he said sarcastically. “It’s been your approval I was missing all these days. By the way, this isn’t the next life. That comes when you go over that horizon.”

He pointed to the horizon – the very one that always pulled at me. It pulled now, stronger than ever. And despite the beauty of the World of Legends – the meandering creek I’d laid out with the trees bending over it and the cool shade dappling the soft grass and the huge moon hanging in the sky – I still felt drawn to it.

“You could go there,” he said as I watched other travelers working their way toward the horizon.

From where we stood on the rocky ledge of a cliff looking over the creek, I could see a long way off. And there were hundreds – thousands, maybe – of souls working their way through the gorgeous landscape toward that horizon. I wondered if they were hungry or thirsty or cold. I hadn’t thought to provide for that here when I built the new World of Legends.

“They aren’t,” the mimic said.

“How would you know? I thought you can only know what I know.”

“Not here,” he said. “Here, I’m more than that. I’m not just your mimic – I’m something more.”

“I guess it worked out for you to come here with me,” I said. The look he gave me was surprisingly penetrating for someone who could already read my thoughts. “What?”

“It all depends,” he said. “Remember when you chose me as your gift?”

“Yes. And what a wonderful choice that turned out to be,” I said cynically.

He grinned. And for a moment, I felt like my old self, a carefree boy who had nothing to worry about in the world – no nations depending on me to keep them whole, no dragons needing me to build them a city – no love.

My heart sank.

Responsibility wasn’t all that bad when you factored in the love and purpose that was all woven through it.

“Oh, there’s love. Beyond the horizon,” the mimic said. “If that’s what you choose.”

“What other choice is there?”

He laughed. “I was just getting to that. Remember when you chose me as your gift?”

“We’ve covered this already.”

He ignored me. “Well, I really am a gift. Not just because I make you self-aware so you do fewer foolish life-killing things. Not just because I showed you the shadows of the Magikas so you could find their flaws. Not just because I’m a much more interesting person than you are. No – there’s a bit more to our relationship, Tor.”

“Oh yeah? Let me guess, I owe you something, too.”

He looked sheepish. “Actually, I owe you. I’m your other life.”

“Other life?”

“Like, you know how you keep spare throwing knives in your sheaths for if you lose one?”

“Sure.”

“I’m your spare life.”

“Are you saying that when I walk to that horizon that you get to go back to my body and live my life?” Panic welled up in me. What a disaster that was going to be! “See Saboraak’s eggs hatch? Ride my dragon?”

He snickered. “Kiss Zyla?”

“Shut up.”

He sobered. “Could be, sure.”

A cold fist clamped on my heart.

“Or, I could walk to the horizon and you can go back. Kiss your own girl. Watch your friend’s babies hatch and take over the world because there’s nothing so charming as more ravening carnivores in this world. You could, I don’t know, generally take all those responsibilities back.”

He couldn’t really mean that. Could he? Because if it was true, if I could really get a chance to go back and keep trying ... well, I’d do better. I’d try harder. I’d be less irritated by Bataar.

“No, you won’t. You’ll still find him irritating. He’s your polar opposite.”

But I’d be kinder to him.

And I’d get revenge on Apeq.

“Yeah!”

Or maybe not ... not if it made the mimic so happy.

“Ha! How are you going to make decisions when you can’t blame me for everything?”

Somehow, I’d muddle through.

“So,” I said, feeling suddenly awkward. “How do I do this.”

“Close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes. “This feels weird.”

“That’s why I told you to close your eyes.”

“I feel like I should be thanking you,” I said.

“About time!” he agreed. “Oh. And I should mention ... this is going to hurt.”

Pain flashed through me so hard and fast that I wondered for a moment if he had tricked me, if perhaps he had gone back to my body and I had gone to my final destiny – one where I would be repaid for all my cruel thoughts and heartless actions.

When the agony subsided, there was only a dull pain in my chest and indistinct murmuring from above me like I was surfacing from underwater.

I opened my eyes.

Chapter Fifteen

My eyelids fluttered open.

“I knew you’d be okay. I just knew you couldn’t be dead. The prophecies were so clear.” Bataar was leaning over me excitedly, his face practically glowing.

“Send me back,” I moaned. The last person I wanted to come back for was Bataar.

“Tor!” Bataar was pushed away and a much prettier face leaned over me. Tear-streaked and puffy-eyed, Zyla’s was still the prettiest face I could imagine. “You scared me half to death!”

I couldn’t tell if she was relieved to see me or angry that I’d almost died.

“In fairness, I was the one who actually died,” I said, gasping as I tried to sit up.

“Don’t move! He stabbed you in the back! You don’t want to make it worse,” Zyla said.

“There’s something worse than death?” I asked, finally forcing my body to sit. My back and chest ached and it hurt to breathe – like my lungs had forgotten how.

Zyla laughed in a way that was too high-pitched – like she didn’t know if she should be laughing or crying.

“I don’t know how you’re alive, I don’t know,” Zyla said. She sounded like she might cry again. “You weren’t breathing. I thought Bataar was crazy to keep saying that you’d come back to life.”

“Sorry to see me still alive?” I asked and my voice was a rasp. It was like my body had liked having time off and was rebelling against the thought of having to do the work of living all over again.

Her response was half-sob and half cry of protest, but she launched herself at me, knocking me back to the ground as she kissed me. Tears flowed down her face, mingling with our kiss and I laughed hoarsely at the feeling of it. It felt good to be alive. To hold her again.

This time, I’d treat her right – buy her all the books she wanted. I remembered that she liked those. And make sure that she had plenty of interesting things to study and know more about than me.

Whatever I did, I wouldn’t break her heart again.

She pulled away after a long – very enjoyable – minute.

“Don’t die again,” she said sternly.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” I said with a laugh that cut off into a cough.

She pulled me up to sitting and this time I caught a look at where we were. I was sitting on a rug in an elaborately furnished tent. Bataar sat awkwardly in a folding wooden chair, his fingers still threaded through a stack of papers set on a small travel table beside him.

“Is this Apeq’s pavilion?” I asked.

“Yes,” Zyla said.

“And the papers?” I asked Bataar.

“Details. He wrote down everything – where he found the golems. How he got them out of the mountain, a few at a time, and stashed them in the deserts of my people. He sent down spies and emissaries to the Magikas here, seeking their help and a few agreed to help him – mostly of the Dusk Covenant – but then the Truth War broke out and when it was over, it turned out that a lot of Magikas wanted to follow him and assist him in his goal to destroy the Dominion. Their names are listed here. The Door of Heavens he had dragged down and hidden in the mountains near Dominion City – just like Zyla thought when she had that sack over her head! There are other things, too. Spies in the Houses of Ko’Torenth, storage vaults where he hid his things. More. Everything you will need to set all of this right as Ko’Roi.”

“I don’t think so, Bataar,” I said easily.

“You must. You are Ko’roi. The prophecies say, He who walks the World of Legends commands the ancients. He who passes their scrutiny will divide truth from lies and set the course of history. He will be called Ko’roi – the weaver of the future. And then further on they say. His hands weave justice. His right hand divides truth. He shall weave for them a new land and find for them new friends. From the ashes of their power, a shoot of hope springs green. From his palm, he grants them life again.”

I hated it when he quoted prophecies at me. They all sounded so grand that they couldn’t be about me. He looked at me with bright eyes as he stood up.

“We need you more than ever, Ko’roi. We need you to rebuild us.”

“I didn’t mean that I was going to abandon my responsibilities, Bataar. Only that I was planning on asking you to plan all of that out. You’re better at it than I am. And I’m going to need your help to know what to set right.”

His smile was far too happy. “It will be my honor.”

It was all I could do not to roll my eyes at his enthusiasm.

“Now,” I said, pulling myself painfully to my feet. My chest was hurting less, but it just made everything else hurt more. My coat had been removed and the shirt underneath it was in tatters, my chest still showing the ring of burn around the pendant and the grime and mud of the battlefield. “Are we still in the middle of a battle? Because if we are, then we need to get back to work. There’s no call for laziness.”

My hands shook at the thought of returning to the horrors of war, but I’d promised to be better. I’d promised that I’d never again shirk a responsibility.

I stepped out of the tent and my breath caught. Around our tent was a ring of Magikas, hands raised in the air and magic sizzling from their fingertips.

“Did I mention that Bataar and I are captives?” Zyla said quietly from behind me.

Chapter Sixteen

It felt surreal to stand inside the ranks of Magikas. Hadn’t they realized that simply putting me in a tent untied, uncaged, would leave them vulnerable from behind.

“They thought you were dead,” Zyla whispered. “When Lee Estabis went on a rampage at your death, Apeq’s Magikas fought back. I wasn’t paying enough attention. I was too upset about your death. You still haven’t explained how you’re still alive! The next thing I knew, you were being dragged in here and so was I.”

“They caught me at the Door of Heavens,” Bataar whispered, joining us as we looked out the gap of the tent wall. “Threw me in here after you two were already here. I think they planned to use me and Zyla as bargaining chips. They knew we can’t escape. We’d be caught and killed in a moment. No one expected you to come back from the dead, Tor.”

“But you were speaking as if we’d already won,” I said.

“Well, you’re alive, aren’t you? Now, you’ll win this for us,” Bataar said, certainty dripping from his voice.

Of course. I should have known.

I snuck another look out the tent flap. Dragons swirled in the air and fireballs and lightning streaked to meet them. Even with the golems gone, the armies left behind were a powerful force. In front of the Magikas, giving orders and firing his own lightning, was Apeq, looking powerful and triumphant as always.

Strange. He felt similar to me, as if there was some kinship there. No, that wasn’t it. And it wasn’t just his tattoos, either.

I thought that it might be the magic he wielded. It was as if I could feel it sizzling through the air, just like I could the moment before I stole it from Eventen.

I stepped through the tent flap, just standing there, letting the scene of horrific battle sweep over my vision. Dragons dove down into the ranks of Magikas, flaring bright flames while Magikas fought back, tossing fireballs and lightning, holding up fan-like devices that I hadn’t seen before. The flames of the dragons washed over the fans like water off an umbrella. Foot soldiers swarmed whenever a dragon went down, hacking and chopping at them when they were weak and vulnerable. My jaw clenched and my spine straightened. This needed to end. Now.

This was what I was trying to prevent. This should not be.

I reached through the ring around my neck – why had they let me keep it in death? Hadn’t they realized how dangerous it was? Or maybe only Ambrosia had known what it was – and toward the magic in the rods Apeq held in his hands. It was no effort at all to snatch the souls away from them, sending them to the Door of Heavens.

Apeq shook the rod, confused. But after a moment, he pulled another rod from a basket nearby and went back to shooting fireballs.

I was thinking too small.

That was always my flaw.

I shouldn’t be disabling one weapon, or even one man. I needed to remove all of this magic. I needed to do what Bataar’s prophecies had said and weave some justice. The lines of the future weaving out before me suddenly popped back into view. It would be a gamble. It might even kill me. But hey, I’d lived through death once before.

Time to take the gamble.

I reached through the ring, closing my eyes so that I could concentrate on every flicker and flare of magic, every soul trapped in a Magika’s rod, every well of magic under the ground. I found them all, one by one, concentrating, concentrating until I could pinpoint each one in my mind’s eye.

And then I pulled, wrenching them all from their sources and funneling them toward the Door of Heavens.

There were yells of alarm around me and then someone was cursing nearby. Zyla pulled at me, trying to bring me back into the tent, but the time of hiding was done. Now was the time to weave the future, to paint the victory, to finish this or die trying.

And slowly, one by one, I felt the pin-prick lights of magic disappear, felt the souls release, felt the magic of the wells disappear into the Door of Heavens.

I reached, further out, as far as I felt I could go – to Woelran where the spirits had been trapped in some magical way, pulling, pulling to free them and up to Ko’Torenth, searching with my power for anyone trapped in a magical device. I hoped I had freed them all. I hoped there were none left trapped forever in a terrible half-life.

I opened my eyes.

Around me, Magikas stood stunned, looks of horror on their faces while fury painted the face of Apeq.

“I am your Ko’roi,” I bellowed, hoping that at least some of Ko’Torenth could hear me. I wished I knew that trick to make my voice louder. “I was dead, but I am alive again. Lay down your arms. We surrender to the Dominion. The ashes of our defeat will fertilize the green shoot that is our future!”

It sounded silly to my ears. Like a boy playing at being a king.

But the Magikas in front of me fell to their knees like puppets with cut strings. And behind them, others began to kneel in waves. And the dragons stopped their mad dives and slowly, peace ebbed out over the muddy plains around Questan until they reached a place beyond my ability to see.

I scanned the horizon, looking for the one dragon who could remain unseen if she wanted to. Had I been too late for her?

There was no sign of Saboraak as the words ‘too late’ reverberated through my mind. My heart raced until I thought it might burst.

And then, rising up like that green shoot of hope was a faint voice.

Just in time, Tor. You’re always just in time. It’s one of the things I love most about you.

Chapter Seventeen

Wars, it seemed, took a long time to clean up. It was almost dawn before I got a chance to sit down beside a friendly fire.

First, I’d had to speak to the living leaders of Ko’Torenth – my people now. To the soldiers, my orders were simple. Gather the wounded. Bury the dead. Pack up your gear and march back through the Door of Heavens. Simple, but not quick. It had taken them all night to square things up and line up in front of the Doorway.

After an hour of testing, Bataar and I had tuned it to Kav’ai again, and he’d gone through ahead of me to round up enough Kav’ai to be sure my orders were obeyed on the other side. There, the orders were just as simple: go home.

I’d deal with them all when this was done. We’d sort out Ko’Torenth and mete out justice after peace was wrought here.

Apeq, I gave to the Dominar. She said she had a use for him, and I certainly did not. Besides, even with my mimic gone I was worried about what my inner voice was pushing me to do. Revenge was a terrible thing – as bad for the person getting it as the person they were making pay. I was worried about what I might do if I kept Apeq. And I certainly couldn’t set him free. The way Raolcan’s eyes had glowed when the Dominar had Apeq tied behind her saddle made me feel confident that Apeq wasn’t getting an easy way out.

We will give him to Haz’drazen, Raolcan said in my mind. She has been asking to be given one of the troublemakers who want to see the downfall of dragons. She would like to ask some questions.

That didn’t sound so bad.

Her questions can be ... uncomfortable.

Like, “How often do you bathe?” kind of uncomfortable?

Like, ‘Do you prefer to be set on fire with orange or red flames?’ kind of uncomfortable.

He was probably joking. I’d heard he was a real prankster.

The golems had been another problem. Without souls powering them, it was impossible to clear them from the fields and roads and city unless dragons lifted them one at a time and flew them to the nearby mountains.

The Dominar’s forces had taken over that task, and Saboraak’s wing of dragons had wanted to help. I’d ordered them not to.

“You’re with me now,” I told Nostar. “And I say that you’ve earned your rest. Besides, I need to go to Ko’Torenth soon after we finish here, and Saboraak is too tired to even fly. She needs the deep sleep of dragons.”

They’d chosen a place away from the battlefield and I’d joined them for long enough to stroke my exhausted dragon’s snout.

“You’ve done well,” I told her. “You’re the best dragon a man could hope to meet. You know that, right?”

She snorted, a flickering flame barely visible. Her eyes were already closing as her wing of dragons closed in around her, laying their heavy heads on each other’s backs and slumping into the relief of slumber.

“Sleep well, Saboraak. You’ve earned it. Dream of Drazenlofts and golden eggs.”

Golden?

Well, I didn’t know what color they would be.

I felt traces of a dragon laugh as she drifted off into sleep.

I’d gone to find Gran after that, setting out on foot across the muddy plains until I found the row of golems I’d frozen in a long corridor and at the end of the corridor, the broken shell of the old woman who’d given her last day and last hours to a man she’d never known for the sake of a people she loved. She deserved to be honored and I would make sure she was.  There would be a statue. Maybe more than one. But for now, there was respect to be shown.

I was still looking around trying to figure out what to do next when Hubric and Kyrowat dropped down from the sky, alighting nearby. I wiped tears away hastily. Blinking up at a silent Hubric when he clapped me on the shoulder and handed me the other end of a litter he’d made with a blanket and a pair of saplings.

Stef nodded from beside him – but they were both silent as we gathered Gran up and flew her to where our friends had gathered.

We found our friends beside a fire. Lee, his face tear-streaked and an air of mourning surrounding him like a cloud stood beside a carefully built pyre.

“She fell in the battle after you were stabbed by Eventen,” Lee said, his voice heavy with tears. “She was the best of us. Better than me. Better than you.”

No argument from me. Lenora was better than I would ever be.

Together, we gently laid Gran out beside her.

And then Stef said something about Gran until she broke down in tears and Lee said something about Lenora until he was too choked up. The pair of them leaned on each other, two lost ships in a storm.

We stood around our precious dead for long minutes and I was sure that everyone’s minds were as full of memories as mine was. My strongest memory of Lenora was of her wiping the grime from her forehead as she stood firm and strong as an oak helping women and children flee to safety from Estabis. She had saved thousands of lives by her levelheaded courage and determination.

“She was better than me,” a slightly muffled voice said as two more figures joined us. There were tears in the Dominar’s voice as she continued. “She was a good friend. Brave and strong.”

“A good Dragon Rider,” her husband, Leng Shardson agreed. “Adventurous and brave like the Greens should be.”

After long moments of silence together, Kyrowat shuffled forward with another Purple – the Dominar’s dragon Raolcan – and Lenora’s Green Lypukrm. Together they blew a white-hot flame, lighting their pyre.

“This isn’t how I thought this story would end,” Zyla said sadly as she hugged my side. She’d been oddly quiet all night. Subdued. “Why is victory so bitter?”

“Evil always steals and destroys because it cannot give or build,” the Dominar said, her face pointed toward her dragon as if she were listening to him as she spoke. “So that even when peace is restored and salvation won, there’s a hollowness to the victory because you know the great cost. And you wonder if anything can ever be worth it.”

“How do you know if it is?” Zyla asked.

I thought that perhaps behind the mask the Dominar was smiling when she said, “You make it worth it. You keep building and giving and loving and hoping. Pour so much back into the world that the wounds can heal, and the scars be strong.”

Zyla hugged me tighter, as if she was trying to pour all of that into me in that one moment.

“I was planning to have an official meeting with you, Ko’roi,” the Dominar said eventually. “I was planning to call in the scribes and make it official – peace between our two nations.”

“Well, why can’t you do that?” I asked. Hubric coughed loudly. Flushing, I added a hasty, “With respect, Dominar.”

I could have sworn she was laughing a little under that mask when she said.

“We’re all too tired, Ko’roi. I have a broken city to attend, to rebuild, to comfort. There are many dead whose loved ones need my help. What I propose is this: in one month’s time I will visit you formally with my court in Ko’Koren. We can sign a treaty then in the presence of what I’ll assume will be your new government and until then, we’ll shake on it. No more fighting. Peace between us.”

I stretched out my hand. “Deal.”

There was a gruff voice in my mind as we shook hands.

And consider yourself lucky that she’s so lenient about your disrespect, boy.

That was Raolcan. I could see he was as personable as ever. I could have sworn that I heard Kyrowat laughing at us in my mind.

“So,” Hubric said. “That’s victory, then. Who would have thought things would go so far, hey boy? Oh, don’t try to hug me goodbye. I’m coming with you. We need to talk about spy networks. Don’t give me that look. There’s one in Ko’Koren – even if you never found it.”

“Is all the magic gone from the world?” Zyla asked me, leaning her head against my shoulder.

It wasn’t all gone – or at least, I didn’t think it all was. I’d only taken the magic from the land close to Questan and Woelran. But restoring magic to the world would be someone else’s task. I had my own responsibilities.

I leaned down and kissed Zyla as thoroughly as I knew how before replying, “You tell me.”

This was victory.

Victory was the color of sunrise, the color of the blood of my friends, the color of Zyla’s face when I whispered to her that maybe marriage wasn’t the craziest idea in the world.

Victory was red as the blood I’d shed to keep the peace until the day I died.

Epilogue

“It’s hatching!” Zyla squealed, holding her sister’s hand tightly as their twin faces showed identical looks of awe and excitement.

We were all grouped around the orange, scaly egg, excitement in every heart.

Tachril and Saboraak were jaw to jaw, faces inches from the egg and the rest of her wing of dragons were crowded around the egg, too. Hyoogan, Naszcal, Izhoedi, and Elumans had all been just as much a part of keeping the egg warm all these long months as the two parents were and we humans had to dodge their occasional flares of excitement as the big event had finally arrived.

The ring of humans kept back to stay out of the flames: Nostar and Stef – who was teaching the Green Dragon Rider everything about Ko’Torenth society – Janes and Letina, Devind and Jordil, and Hubric – who thought all of this was hilarious and kept winking at me like an expectant grandfather.

I rubbed awkwardly at the ring on my finger. Zyla said that in the books of the traditions of Ko’Torenth all married people used to wear symbolic rings a thousand years ago and why was I so fussy about mine? But I wasn’t used to wearing a ring. It wasn’t like the crown and tattoos all over my arms and face – those I couldn’t feel anymore even if everyone else could see them. It wasn’t even the same as the ring of white around my hair. This felt – weightier – like I’d done something heavy when I’d married Zyla.

Across the cave – if you could call something like this majestic group of pillared rooms set into a mountain a “cave” – Bataar smiled at me knowingly. He looked as if he’d been to a thousand dragon births. Skies and stars but I hated that knowing look! I saw it all the time now as his plans for peace and prosperity for Ko’Torenth slowly came to fruition one after another.

I hitched the child in my arms a little higher so that she could see. She looked just like her mother. Or at least, that’s what I told myself because I didn’t like to think that any poor child might look like Bataar.

“Uncle Tor, what will the baby dragon look like?” she asked in her tiny voice, her big golden eyes glittering with excitement.

“Like a dragon,” I said dryly.

She laughed as if I’d told her a joke, her black curls bouncing.

And then there was a cracking sound and another, and then bits of hard shell fell from around the egg and even I couldn’t help but hold my breath.

We all gasped together as a small, Red head emerged from the egg. It looked around at us like it was choosing a treat and then leapt toward me.

I shifted little Xoi behind me, my other hand outstretched protectively as a tiny flame, barely hot enough to make me flinch, washed across my palm.

“I think he likes you!” Zyla laughed.

And then the little ball of red scales and energy hit me right in the chest, nearly bowling me over. I scooped it up in my free arm, trying to keep my face back from its inquisitive snout.

“Ummm, don’t you think you’d like to see your baby?” I asked Saboraak, thrusting the little dragon toward her.

A dragon laugh echoed in my mind.

Hasn’t anyone told you, Tor? Baby dragons choose who in the family will raise them by flaming them with their first flame. Congratulations! Yaweanl has chosen you. It’s a job for a hero!

“I think there’s been some kind of mistake,” I said. “I’m no hero.”

***

WATCH FOR GLIMPSES of Tor and his story in the other series set in the Dragon School world.

Behind the Scenes:

USA Today bestselling author, Sarah K. L. Wilson loves spinning a yarn and if it paints a magical new world, twists something old into something reborn, or makes your heart pound with excitement ... all the better! Sarah hails from the rocky Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario -

learning patience and tenacity from the long months of icy cold - where she lives with her husband and two small boys. You might find her building fires in her woodstove and wishing she had a dragon handy to light them for her

Sarah would like to thank Harold Trammel and Eugenia Kollia for their incredible work in beta reading and proofreading this book. Without their big hearts and passion for stories, this book would not be the same.

www.sarahklwilson.com