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I WAS YANKED BACK – suddenly – by my cloak around my throat. I fought for a strangled breath as my hand fumbled for the strap again. There! I grabbed it with both hands and the pressure on my throat eased.
“Almost lost you there,” Zyla said from above me. Her face was pale. She must have amazing reflexes to have caught me so quickly.
Saboraak spun and dove suddenly, her neck arching around and her jaws snapping at something below us.
Do you still want this spidery thing?
Yes! Wait – why didn’t you grab me when I was falling?
Zyla is a very capable woman. She didn’t need my help.
My heel was throbbing painfully. I had a bad feeling that the burn was severe.
Don’t be a baby. You didn’t let me whine about my burnt foot.
Skies and stars, it flaming hurt!
Language!
I looked down, trying to distract myself, and then immediately regretted it.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
We were very high up.
Maybe my shortness of breath wasn’t just from being strangled by my own cloak. Icy air bit into every inch of my skin from hair to that flaming heel.
I give up. Just remember. Words shape us. The ones we use shape the way we see the world and what we value and those things shape our very souls.
It was just a word. A useful word for channeling anger and frustration.
And your soul is just your soul. But it’s the only one you get. Guard it well.
Beneath us – far beneath us – white plains lapped at the edge of the mountains and a hazy blue and white horizon drifted off to the wide expanse beyond. But up here we flew between the peaks of a delicate crown of mountains. There must be a hundred peaks – their tops craggy and white with snow. The nearest three seemed to be smoking. I squinted at them through light-blinded eyes. The rising sun glittered diamond-bright off the white-crusted shards of mountaintop.
“Legendary Ko’Koren,” Zyla breathed from above me.
“I thought we were going to Ko’Loska,” I said. But none of us had bargained for that arch, had we?
“We were,” Zyla agreed. “But this is even better. I know someone here who will hide us and send word to Hubric on our behalf. The further we penetrate into the depths of Ko’Torenth, the better, and it will be easier to hide a dragon here. Ko’Koren is the heart of Ko’Torenth culture, a city known for arts and trade. There will be visiting Dominion dragons here, sentries from Baojang, oosquer of the Kav’ai and adelini of the Westlands. Saboraak can hide among them.”
I swallowed.
A city.
A huge city to be learned and conquered. I would plunder her secrets. I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my mind any more than I could keep my lungs from burning in the cold. I leaned in close to Saboraak, trying to absorb her heat.
There was a cry from behind us and I looked back. On the mountainside behind us, I could still make out the small doorway on the edge of the cliff, at the very peak of the mountain. A carpet loaded with Magikas was crossing through – but whatever they used to fly it failed as it rolled through the doorway. It crumpled, a normal carpet once again, leaving its cargo to fall to earth. The Magikas fell, looking like tiny specks as they disappeared into the blue haze below.
I swallowed down bile and looked up at Zyla. Her face was green.
“Which of those mountains is the city?” I asked faintly. All three peaks were smoking – from fires, I guessed now. And all three had structures clinging to them, like barnacles on a rock. I’d seen a sea-rock with barnacles being sold as an oddity in Vanika once.
“All three,” Zyla said, her voice shaking. We didn’t turn around when the second set of screams began. We didn’t want to see that. After all, we couldn’t stop it and we couldn’t catch them even if we wanted to.
I can barely carry four. Don’t ask me to do more.
I wasn’t asking. Boy, she was touchy.
It’s my conscience. I don’t do well with needless death. There should be something I can do.
Why? It wasn’t her responsibility. We could only be responsible for ourselves. And even then, well, accidents happened.
Compassion means taking responsibility for all other people.
Ugh. That sounded awful.
It will make you a fuller person.
Or a deader person. No one could live like that.
I disagree.
I sighed. “Which peak should we aim for, Zyla?”
“The closest one.” Her voice was very certain. “That’s Eski. The other two are Ziu and Balde. The three peaks of Ko’Koren.”
“Is that where your contact is?”
“No. It’s the closest place to not freezing to death, which I think should be our main priority right now.”
Agreed.
“Is your dragon slowing down?” she asked.
Yes. The cold makes it hard to fly.
Skies and flaming stars! Out of one mess and into another!
I warned you about your language!