CHAPTER FOURTEEN Maren

We left the village late in the afternoon. The village leaders had been generous with what little they had. They’d given us fresh changes of clothing, more food than we had arrived with, and specific directions for the most efficient way to reach Oskiath. Lastly, they’d spared one of their two messenger hawks.

I’d debated who to write to—as there was always a chance that the message would be intercepted. A messenger hawk from a small village addressed to Rowena ben Garret, a princess of Oskiath, would almost certainly attract attention. At last I settled on writing to Melchior, the healer who had treated Sev in Belat. It seemed less likely that their correspondence would be under scrutiny. Still, I hesitated over what to write.

Cousin Melchior, I began. We’ve stopped over in a charming village off Belat Forest. Our journey has been as expected, although my sister’s friend has decided to travel ahead of us. We hope to catch up with him closer to Gedarin—likely in the next week or so. Would love to meet you there, if your work can spare you! —M.

PS: Please convey greetings to your sour friend—I regret that I haven’t the time to write her separately.

Melchior was smart, and they knew what was at stake—they would understand what I was trying to say. That was all I could hope for as the hawk was released from its tether and flew into the distance.

On the road the dragon kit wanted to run again, and I was more than happy to let her wander at her own pace as we walked, since the road was deserted. I was also happy to have a change of clothing. We’d kept our soiled outfits just in case they were needed for a disguise, but I was more comfortable now that I wasn’t wearing an Oskiath herald’s uniform.

“You did well back there,” Kaia said after a while. Now that we were alone again, we’d slipped back into Verran.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The villagers. We had an opportunity to connect with them, and you did.”

“You were right this time,” I admitted. “But we still need to be more careful in the future. Not everyone will be friendly to outsiders like us.”

Kaia shook her head. “I disagree. We shouldn’t be afraid to talk to the people we meet. Would you hesitate to trust a stranger in Ilvera?”

“Zefed is not Ilvera.” The words came out more harshly than I’d intended. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that this is a dangerous place. That most people we meet will be set against us and our mission—”

“Your mission, Maren.”

I recoiled. “Is that what you think? That this is my mission? These are Verran dragons. We are Verran. It’s our responsibility to help them.”

“The dragons, all right. But your friend? Severin? That’s not something you gave me a choice about. Talking about Zefedi strangers, Maren—I don’t even know this person! It’s a lot, to ask me to risk my life for a prince I’ve never met.”

To my horror, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I balled my hands into fists, squeezed, released. Breathed. “But you know me,” I said slowly. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I—” She turned and walked a few paces ahead of me and paused, her head bowed. “I do,” she said softly. “But you need to explain to me why your friend is so important to you. You said that you dreamed about me when we were apart. And now you’re dreaming about him—and not only that, you’re somehow able to have conversations with him?”

“They’re just dreams,” I said.

“Are they?” she asked.

Somehow I had to cross this divide. “While we were parted, Naava sent dreams about you to me. She wanted me to see you. The dragon kit connects Sev and me now. I don’t know why we can interact in these dreams—there’s so much I still don’t know about dragons. It might be because the dragon kit knows both of us, and Naava knew only me.”

“But there might be another reason,” Kaia pressed.

“What are you asking me?” I said. “I don’t understand what you want.”

She shook her head, crossing her arms. “I could say the same thing about you. You’ve changed so much since Ilvera, sometimes I think you’re an entirely different person.”

I felt as though she had punched me in the stomach. I was the same. I was. Just—sharper. Stronger. Better. At least, I thought so.

Was I wrong?

At that moment the dragon kit ran out of the tall grasses, chirping insistently.

“What is it?” I turned to see a person on horseback approaching us, riding fast. “Quick, get in!” I crouched down and opened the pack, and the dragon kit jumped in. Her head poked out of the flap, and I had to push her down gently in order to get it closed. This wasn’t going to work for much longer—she was growing faster than I had previously thought possible for any being to grow.

Kaia and I looked at each other, our argument instantly set aside. At least we had changed our clothes. Assuming that the person hadn’t seen the dragon kit, there was nothing in particular to identify us as two Verran girls. I could easily pass as Zefedi in this outfit, and Kaia looked like any other Lirusan girl.

I put my hand on the hilt of my dagger, then paused. Innocent travelers would not be traveling with blades at the ready.

“It’s going to be all right,” Kaia said, her eyes on the rider. I wasn’t so sure.

The rider reined in their horse, halting at a safe distance. “Are you the dragon tamers?” they called in Zefedi.

I exchanged a glance with Kaia before replying. “We’re just heading to Oskiath,” I replied.

The person tugged down their hood, revealing a young woman with long dyed hair the color of silken straw. “Please,” she said. “We’ve been attacked. Two dragons, and they’ve burned their way through three villages. Even the Talons have been unable to stop them. We didn’t know what to do, until we heard about the other village.” She pointed past us in the direction we’d come from. “They told us what happened. What you did.”

So I’d been right—news of what we’d done had already spread. These must have been the dragons that Naava had freed, but I wasn’t confident we could help now. The kit and I had had such a difficult time freeing even one. Would I even be able to replicate what we’d done yesterday with dragons I’d never connected with? And what had happened to the Talons?

“You said there were Talons, and they couldn’t help?” I said.

“Yes. They’re gone now—I think they were afraid that they’d lose control of their own dragons.” The woman’s lip curled with disgust. “Please, we don’t know what else to do. We have nowhere else to turn.”

I already felt like we had lost too much time. But if there were confused dragons running amok through the empire, we had to help them. On the other hand, what if they were already absolutely free, and had made the decision to take their anger out on the empire? Glivven had agreed to go in peace after I’d had the chance to talk with him. But what if these other dragons disagreed? What if they wanted to keep up the attack?

If I was being honest, I wasn’t sure what I would do if that was the case. Was it my right to coerce them if they didn’t stop? If I tried, would I be any different from the tyrant?

Kaia leaned toward me and blocked her mouth with a hand as she whispered, “We have to help them.”

“But—”

“You have this ability, and the responsibility that comes with it. This is important.”

Of course she wanted to help. I looked back at the woman, whose desperation was written clearly across her face.

“I can’t promise anything,” I said finally.

Her relief was palpable. “Thank you. We’re grateful for anything you can do.” She looked around as if noting our surroundings for the first time. “I should have prepared better. I didn’t bring another horse for you to ride.” She dismounted from the horse. “You’ll have to take her—you’ll travel faster that way.”

She waved us closer. “Don’t worry, Clem is very gentle. And she knows the way home.”

She was being too accommodating, and it made me suspicious. But Kaia didn’t hesitate. She took Clem’s reins and looked back at me. “Come on.”

It seemed the decision had been made. The woman gave me a boost into the saddle, and Kaia swung up behind me.

“Thank you,” the woman said. “Just follow the road—you’ll see the smoke soon enough. Tell them that Olina sent you.”

She patted Clem on the nose and whispered to her, and then we were off at a modest trot.

I waited until we were out of earshot before speaking. “You don’t think that was strange?”

“No, why?” Kaia said. “Her village is burning down. What else do you expect her to do?”

“But a stranger just gave us her horse. We could easily steal it. We could easily be anyone. Even if they had heard the stories, how would anyone know what we looked like?”

“I suppose there aren’t that many young women traveling in pairs by foot on this road,” Kaia pointed out. Which I had to agree with. We had been walking for hours and hadn’t yet encountered another person. This road wasn’t forgiving for travelers on foot—and it would be night soon. Anyone else would have been seeking shelter by now.

Now that we were on the move, neither one of us seemed particularly interested in picking up our previous argument, so we rode in silence. It wasn’t long before I caught the scent of smoke on the wind, and soon we saw flickers of fire in the distance. We crested a small hill, and my breath caught in my throat as we looked out upon a landscape of destruction.

My head felt light. I pulled the horse to a halt. I had never seen a war field, but this was what I imagined one must look like. The fields had been completely razed by fire, and the ground scorched in its wake. I could see charred skeletons and the crumbling foundations of a few houses. But by and large, this village had been burned to the ground.

I dismounted. My boots settled softly in a layer of ash. A breeze stirred it up, sending flakes dancing into the air. All was quiet.

Was this what Lumina looked like now? I was hit with a wave of nausea at the thought that I had caused such devastation as this.

The dragon kit poked her head out of the pack and rested it on my shoulder. I let her nuzzle into me, but there was nothing I could say. This amount of destruction would have far-reaching consequences, even for the survivors. Where would they live? What would happen when the seasons changed? I was ashamed that I had doubted Olina’s story.

“Are you all right?” Kaia asked.

I couldn’t speak—only reached out and took her hand in mine, squeezing tightly. I had a task to complete here. I could not turn and run, no matter how much I wanted to.

The temperature rose as we passed through the scorched landscape. Small fires still burned on either side of the road—or what was left of the road. It was hard to distinguish it from the rest of the blackened earth. Sweat beaded on my brow, and the smell of burnt things I didn’t want to identify overwhelmed my senses. There were people ahead of us working to stamp out the flames, but it was clear that they were nearly spent. They barely spared us a glance as we passed, though one raised a hand and pointed—there, in the distance, two dark shapes twined together on the ground. The dragons.