Jayell did fall.

  “Larshon!”

  He jumped, lunging for Jayell as she plummeted toward the ground. Fes wrapped her in a connection to his Deshazl magic, using that to grab hold of her, and pulled her to him. Together, they tumbled, spinning through the air as they fell toward the earth.

  Somehow, despite their falling, Jayell still managed to pull on a connection to her fire mage magic. Power bloomed from her, exploding outward and joining Fes in a barrier that they wrapped around each other.

  He shifted the focus of his power. Rather than trying to keep them wrapped together, he tried to send a surge of power below him, wanting to keep from crashing to the ground.

  Where was Larshon?

  The dragon soared overhead, rolling, thrashing.

  Fes couldn’t make out what the dragon was fighting, only that it appeared that he was fighting something.

  “Do you see anything?” he asked Jayell.

  She shook her head. And he was thankful that they had managed to slow their descent. They were still plummeting toward the ground, but it was slower now, and he had the sense that he might be able to stop it altogether, but doing so required him to pour out a tremendous amount of power. He didn’t know if doing so was even safe to do, more so because he didn’t know if he was pulling on power from the dragon.

  Fes continued to push.

  “I can do this,” Jayell said.

  “You can do what?”

  “I can keep us from crashing. You focus on Larshon.”

  Fes let out a frustrated sigh, turning his attention to the dragon, and let Jayell work. She did as she said she would, continuing to slow them, to the point where they no longer descended. They hovered, somehow held aloft through her magic, and Fes focused on Larshon. He continued to twist, spinning in the air, tumbling with whatever he was battling.

  “What is it?” Fes whispered, trying to form a connection between himself and Larshon.

  There was no answer.

  Somehow, the dragon was getting wrested away from him, and if he did nothing, there would be no dragon for him as Deshazl to protect, and there would be no dragon to protect him.

  “Can you land safely?” he asked Jayell.

  She glanced at the ground. “From here, it isn’t so far. What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to go and help the dragon.”

  Fes exploded upward, powering through the barrier Jayell held, wrapping his Deshazl power around himself as he surged higher and higher into the sky, and as he went, he unsheathed his sword, pulling the dragonglass blade free and sweeping it around.

  Larshon was close. It took only another moment, and he would be able to reach him.

  Something struck Fes. He tumbled, spinning, and without meaning to, he drew upon the dragon’s strength to keep himself from crashing. Larshon roared, pain surging from him, the connection that Fes borrowed sharing with him just what was taking place with the dragon.

  He was fighting, but what was he fighting?

  Fes forced himself forward, drawing upon Larshon’s magic for another moment to get himself where he needed to be. At that moment, the connection between them was fortified.

  Without intending to, he could see through Larshon’s eyes. As he did, he realized that Larshon was fighting some creature much like himself. This creature seemed to be made all of wind and streaks of pale color, twisted in the dragon’s strange way of seeing things, and it looked almost as if it were translucent. The dragon struggled against it, thrashing and clawing, his jaws working as he tried to reject whatever it was that attacked, but Larshon wasn’t able to free himself. It seemed as if the strange creature had ensnared him.

  Fes reached the creature near Larshon and swept his dragonglass blade forward.

  At first, he doubted that it would hit, that there would be nothing that he would connect to, but the sword cut through something and there was a painful, high-pitched screech that erupted.

  If he didn’t know where he was fighting, he wouldn’t be able to help Larshon. Fes pulled on that connection, borrowing from the dragon for a moment, needing to have it clear enough that he could see what was taking place and see where he needed to attack.

  The creature angled toward Fes.

  Fes swept his sword toward it, drawing the blade across the strange appendage, and once again there came the same horrible screech that split the sky. Larshon roared, flames spilling forth from his mouth, and as it did, the contours of the unusual creature became clear to Fes. He jumped from Larshon’s back, swinging his sword, hacking wildly, pouring out his Deshazl magic.

  The creature fell.

  Fes looked down, watching as the translucent shape dropped, and his heart sunk.

  “Jayell!”

  He jumped, holding his sword pointed outward from him, drawing on Larshon, wanting the dragon’s eyesight so that he could see the strange creature, and as he crashed toward the ground, he was able to make out the details of the creature, but only barely.

  Jayell remained aloft, hovering, power surrounding her, but this strange creature was heading directly toward her, and if she didn’t move, it would crash into her.

  “Jayell!”

  The wind muffled his voice, and he wished that he had some way of communicating to her the same way that he could with Larshon.

  Fes pushed more and more power into his movement, sending him streaking toward this creature. He held the sword out. If nothing else, Jayell would realize that he was crashing toward the ground, and perhaps she would recognize that she needed to move out of the way.

  It was almost as if she couldn’t see him.

  He was near the creature.

  Fes jabbed outward with his sword, ready to connect. He was screaming, and his voice came to his ears in a muffled sense, but still it seemed as if Jayell weren’t aware of what he was doing.

  Then he crashed into the creature.

  Borrowing from Larshon, Fes could make out the strange, subtle colorations of the creature, but not so well that he would be able to know where to target his attack. He brought his sword up, jabbing into the creature, not caring what he struck. The sword stabbed through it, and he jabbed again, and then again. Each time he thrust, he heard a terrible scream, the same horrid sound that came from the creature when he had first attacked it.

  Jayell still hadn’t moved.

  Fes had to do something—anything—and jammed his sword down into the back of the creature. Something wrapped around his arms. Fes ignored it, sending his Deshazl magic flowing through the dragonglass blade. He drew upon his strength as well as that of the dragon, and power exploded from him.

  He was thrown free and went spiraling toward the ground. As he attempted to draw upon his magic, it failed.

  The ground grew closer and closer. Fes hesitated, knowing the impact would be painful. Without a Deshazl barrier, he would slam into the earth and likely not survive it.

  Then Larshon was there.

  The dragon swooped beneath him, catching him, and they soared toward Jayell, giving Fes a moment to grab her from the air and help her onto his back before lowering to the ground.

  They were near the rocky coastline, and from here, the ocean slammed against the shore far below. Fes climbed off, his breathing coming rapidly. His heart hammered wildly. When he made his way around to Larshon, forcing the dragon to meet his gaze, he rested his hand on the sword as he looked up at the great elder dragon. “What was that?”

  Larshon growled. “I do not know.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Fes watched Larshon. The dragon rested on the ground, his wings curled around himself, his head raised so that he could swivel and look everywhere. Every so often, Fes solidified the connection between the two of them so that he could look out through the dragon’s eyes, and when he did, he saw nothing other than the same swatches of color that he had seen for the last hour.

  There was no sign of the creature that had attacked them.

  Fes tried to grab for his Deshazl magic, but fatigue made it difficult. It was still there, but faint, and as much as he might want to draw upon that power, he didn’t know if it was safe to do so until he had rested a little bit longer.

  Jayell remained in front of a crackling fire, watching both of them. She had been silent, staring at the flames, her mouth moving in a soft whisper. There had to be some spell involved, but Fes was too tired to care what it was or why she would be using it.

  “Can we talk about it?” he asked Larshon.

  The dragon turned his head toward him, watching. “There is nothing for us to speak about.”

  “Other than this strange creature that attacked you?”

  “As you have seen, it is not the first time that dragons have been attacked.”

  “It’s the first time that I couldn’t see the attack.”

  “That is no different than the attack used upon my kind in the northern mountains.”

  “The trees? Why would they be similar?”

  “I do not know.”

  “What were you able to see of it?” Fes asked. When he had been fighting the strange creature, he hadn’t been able to make out much of anything. There had been the sense of limbs, and what appeared to be a head, but he hadn’t been able to tell much else. It was almost as if it were made of nothingness. “Can it fly like you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  They had searched for the creature’s remains, thinking that in the explosion of Deshazl magic, Fes must have managed to kill it. There was no sign of the creature. Fes had expected to come across something, some sign that the creature hadn’t simply vanished. Could it be so difficult to see, even in death? If that were the case, then they might never know what it was that they had faced.

  “We need to better understand what happened,” he said.

  “What if the other dragons were attacked in the same way?” Jayell asked.

  She looked up from the fire, and her eyes carried a hollowed appearance around them. She glanced from Fes to the dragon, almost as if looking for some answer or explanation, though the longer that they were here, the less likely it was that Fes thought they would come up with anything.

  “We don’t know that anything has happened to the other dragons,” he said.

  “There should be dozens of them around here. They came to these lands to be safe, Fes.”

  And now with the falling of the Asharn, there would be one less protection available. He couldn’t linger here that long. He needed to figure out what had happened to the Asharn.

  “I think we have to go into Javoor to learn what the Damhur have done to them,” he said, thinking of what Velanahr had suggested when he had met with them. The man knew something, and Fes was determined to learn what that was and where the Asharn had gone. If they had enslaved them again…

  “And what if this isn’t the Damhur?” Jayell asked.

  “Who else would this be?”

  “You heard Jesla. She knew there was something that drew the Damhur and the shadows all together. It was the reason she summoned you across the ocean, thinking that the Deshazl needed to come together and work with the Damhur.”

  “I think living in that city has given her that impression more than anything else,” Fes said.

  When he had been in the city the last time, he had shared that feeling, but after meeting with Valenahr, he realized that was misplaced. Now he wanted nothing more than to see an end to the Damhur. Their power seemed to come not only from their ability to Call, but it came from their interest—and willingness—in using the bond he shared with the dragons to throw servitude upon the Deshazl.

  “We can’t stand by and do nothing,” she said.

  “I don’t intend to.”

  The Damhur would still be returning to Javoor. If he could find them, he could capture Valenahr and uncover the key to what they had done to the Asharn.

  Getting to his feet, he looked at Larshon. “When you’re ready…”

  The dragon spread his wings, shaking them for a moment. “I am as ready as I can be.”

  Fes turned to Jayell. “I intend to understand what happened. If we can figure that out, we can come up with a way of stopping it and preventing another attack against the dragons.”

  “Don’t we need to know if there’s anything to worry about with the other dragons? Think about it, Fes. What happens if the others have been attacked?”

  If they had been, it was unlikely that they would have survived. He had recognized the power of that attack, and there was nothing in it that spoke of an attempt to control the way he expected from the Damhur. It was an attempt to destroy, nothing more than that.

  Could they have raised the dragons only to see them perish so soon?

  Anger surged up within Fes. He did his best to suppress it, knowing that anger served no purpose other than to prove to Valenahr and people like him that they were animals.

  “We need to go get Jesla,” Fes said.

  Jayell cocked her head, watching him. “Why?”

  “We need to find the dragons, don’t we?”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. “I was worried that you might decide to go after the Damhur.”

  “I still might.”

  “What will that serve?”

  “Besides making me feel better?”

  “Fes—”

  “I’m not going to do it, but it would make me feel better to destroy them.”

  “You’re the one who returned to the empire, telling us that the Damhur needed to work with the Deshazl. After everything that you saw in these lands, you were adamant that we must find a way to work together, to restore that ancient power, or else…”

  “Or else what?”

  Jayell glanced to the sky before turning her attention back out to the water. “What do you think they might have known?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Which is why we need to return to Thoras to see what sort of records they keep.”

  “What if they don’t have the kind of records that we might need?”

  “Then we have to go somewhere that might.”

  She scrambled onto Larshon’s back, climbing quickly and with more urgency than she usually did. She waited for Fes, watching him, waving her hand to encourage him to move more rapidly. Fes breathed out heavily before climbing onto the dragon’s back. He patted Larshon, and the dragon promptly jumped to the air, bringing them higher and higher into the sky. As he went, he did so with increasing speed that came from Jayell’s fire mage spell, and the dragon headed straight toward Thoras and the Dragon’s Eye.

  No one spoke during the journey. Fes searched the sky, watching for signs of the dragons or of the creature that had attacked, but thankfully he came across nothing. He could easily guess why such a creature would exist, but would Jayell believe it?

  A creature like that would be beneficial to the Damhur. They could use it to bring down the dragons and then harvest the bones—and their power—to give them an advantage over both the Deshazl and the empire.

  The distant sight of the mountains surrounding the Dragon’s Eye came into view, and they swooped toward it, heading quickly and still mostly quiet. Fes looked around, searching for signs of other dragons, but there were none.

  “Where were the other dragons heading when you visited with them?”

  “They were flying to a sacred place to the dragons.”

  “What place is that?”

  He twisted so that he could look at Fes. “A place that we do not share.”

  Fes recognized the tone and realized that Larshon wanted to keep this from him, but was it safe to do so?

  It was the dragons who had told him that Deshazl protect dragons while the dragons protect the Deshazl. How could he do his part if the dragon prevented him from knowing what was taking place?

  “I can go to them,” Larshon said.

  They started to descend, and Fes leaned over his side, focusing on the dragon for a moment. “If you go to them and something happens to you, we might not know about it. I don’t think that’s safe.”

  “Nothing will harm me.”

  “I would have believed you up until several hours ago. Now?”

  The dragon roared and breathed out a streamer of flame, his way of showing frustration. Fes ignored it. He wasn’t about to let the dragons simply blow off his concerns, especially not when his concerns were borne out by what they had seen and experienced.

  “Please,” Fes said. “I know you don’t want to admit that dragons have any weakness, and normally I would agree with you, but in this case, it seems that there is reason to be careful. That’s all I’m asking from you. Let me help protect you. Dragons protect Deshazl, but Deshazl protect dragons.”

  The dragon roared, settling to the ground and flapping his wings in what Fes recognized as irritation. “I will not take you there, but I will not go without you.”

  “That makes it a little difficult, I think.”

  “It does.”

  “Why don’t we see what we can come up with here, and then we can work together to make sure that we can find the rest of the dragons?” It was possible that the people of the city would have seen dragons, and if that were the case, then he could rest more comfortably, figure out what sort of strange creature had attacked, and go on from there.

  The dragon rumbled again, and Fes could feel his agreement, though he also recognized the reluctance within it.

  It didn’t matter if the dragon was reluctant or not. All that mattered was that he allowed Fes to stay with him. Fes had a pretty good idea what would’ve happened had he not been with the dragon when the attack had taken place. The dragon was powerful, but it was highly likely that he would have suffered in some very real way, possibly not even surviving.

  Jumping from the dragon’s back, Fes helped Jayell down and then turned to Larshon. “You will wait, won’t you?”

  “I said that I would.”

  He hoped the dragon would do as he said, but if he didn’t, Fes had to be prepared to go after him. He was prepared for that anyway, and if it came down to it, the priority for him was in coming up with some way of keeping the dragon safe, even if the other dragons had already fallen into some sort of Damhur trap.

 

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