The clouds parted for Kylan and the dragons, welcoming them back to the land they’d claimed after the great exodus.
Below stood Kylan’s home, the village of dragons kept hidden from outsiders for centuries.
Wregard.
With the ice-capped mountains in the distance, and miles of tightly-knit evergreen trees rustling beneath the bright sun, Kylan flew Amalia across the sky to a clearing right before the wooden gates of his home. With her on his back, they were more connected than he’d ever been with another person.
Escaping the Brotherhood was just the beginning of their adventure, and Kylan was certain that his people would be ready to join him.
He just had to convince them of the truth of Amalia’s lineage, and see her crowned.
He landed, as did the other dragons. They had more than an army at their back.
They had an empire.
She slid down his back to the ground and turned to him as he shifted back into his human form.
Vidar and Sassa stood by his side, eager to gather their people for a grand exodus back to their ancestral home.
The time for hiding was at an end.
Amalia lowered her red cloak's hood and gazed toward the Weeping Mountain.
"How soon can we leave?" she asked.
Kylan lifted a brow, a half-smirk coming to his lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She smelled of the wild, having rode all the way from the desert back to Fjord astride his back. Nothing would ever tear them apart again. A dragon and his rider. He breathed in her scent, resting his chin on top of her head, her soft, black hair tickling his neck.
"We've only just arrived," he told her. "But, we will gather everyone and prepared to leave as quickly as possible.
She nodded, tilting her head backward to look up to him. Silver eyes reflected the sun's light as she gazed into his eyes.
"I know," she said, her brows knitting together. "I just feel compelled to leave this world behind. For so long our people have been kept from their home. I want to see everyone return and get settled."
Kylan kissed her forehead. "As do I. And, we will. We will take ships across the sea, and arrive within weeks."
"How so? Is it that close?"
Vidar stepped forward. "Not quite," he said, exchanging a glance with Kylan. "We know a secret route. It is the way our ancestors traveled from Kjos to Fjord many years ago."
"We call it the Dragon's Pass," Sassa said.
"Very well, then," Amalia said. "Show me Wregard. I'd very much like to see where you all grew up."
Sassa clasped a hand on Amalia's shoulder, and turned her away from Kylan and toward the gates that were now being opened by the Wregardians who guarded the village.
"This way, my queen," she said, and Amalia gave Kylan one last smile before heading inside with the others.
He watched them all file inside, making sure the new dragons were settled. After thinking the dragons the Brotherhood rode were nothing more than beasts, he was amazed to find that they were actually shifters just like he and his clan, and that they had as much of a claim to Kjos and the other orphaned races as he did.
With a heavy sigh, he raised his gaze to the darkening sky. Purples and oranges blended together across the blue above to welcome the setting of the sun.
"King Matsuharu will be pleased to hear you’ve retrieved the heir of the Erani Empire,” Heroki, the general of the Lordisburg army said, approaching as the other dark elves entered Wregard.
He was taller than Kylan, with thin, with sharp eyes as dark as his ash-colored skin. Long white hair was braided and pulled into a knot at the top of his head. He lifted a thick, white brow. “But, the loss of the cleric will not go so well. There hasn’t been a cleric with her power in ages.”
“I figured as much,” Kylan said. Amalia hadn’t taken the loss of poor Eiko well either.
There was little they could have done about the dark elf cleric. She’d been murdered before they’d arrived to rescue her and Amalia, and Kylan had been imprisoned. He just hoped King Matsuharu would understand that the blame did not lie on the dragons.
Their enemy was none other than a god—one that would be reborn—one that he had to discover how to stop for good.
The dark elves were allies, and he hoped it would remain that way. As far as Kylan was concerned, all outcasts of Kjos were welcome at that moment. They were a family, prepared to return to their birthright.
“The other dark elves will follow you to the gates,” Heroki said. “That will be the end of their journey as you defeat those who block your entrance.”
“Aye,” Kylan said. “Kjos is not their home. I wouldn’t expect them to risk their lives any more than they already have.”
Kylan raked his hand through his hair, the smell of coals wafting across the cool air from inside the gates. They already prepared a welcoming feast for their return home. There'd be roasted boar and pheasants, wine, and ale.
A true celebration.
Kylan just wasn't sure when to tell Amalia the truth.
The truth of the Dragon's Pass.