Dragon Bonds (Return of the Darkening Series Book 3) (3 page)

“Seb?” Widow Hu glanced back at me.

I had stopped and now I crouched down low. I could hear the dragon now, a sharp rasp of a croaking, alligator-like roar from behind the buildings in front of us.

“Dragon,” Hu muttered. The children around her knew enough to be silent. They stopped and ducked into any bit of rubble that might hide them.

I could sense the wild dragon searching and I worried that it must have felt me at the same time that I had felt its presence. I wanted to reach out to Kalax, but I had to stay still and quiet. But I could feel that she had sensed the danger that I was in and was about to take flight.

Kalax, no!
I warned her.

Of course, a dragon does what a dragon wants to do. I might be able to use my affinity to command dragons—but it was only a powerful suggestion. Kalax would make up her own mind.

A sibilant, triumphant hiss filled the air as the wild dragon picked up on
my thoughts to Kalax. I wondered if that would get the attention of other wild dragons—or was this one just angry about another dragon being near? I just had to pray that Kalax did not come to me. That would attract the attention of Lord Vincent and the Darkening. If that happened, we’d all be lost.

The wild Northern dragon was a creature I could handle. I wasn’t a match, however, for the forces of the Darkening.

I wondered if this one dragon had decided to nest in the cinders here—maybe its wild nature had taken over and it just wanted to eat and rest.

“Children, back!” Hu muttered, her voice low.

I winced. Dragons had good hearing and even better sense of smell. The dragon would hear her words. I could only hope that the smoke from the fires had masked Kalax’s scent.

The dragon’s guttural hiss sounded again. Wood splintered and cracked as the dragon rose up, shaking itself from the rubble where it had been resting.

“To the shelter?” asked Joachim, his face pale.

I nodded and told Widow Hu, “Hurry. Take them with you. Get to the shelter and hide.”

She shook her head and glanced at Sparrow and two gangly-looking boys I didn’t know. The boys had slings and bows they had loosed. “You three, you know the drill,” she said.

How many dragons have they faced already?

The three stood and hurried off in different directions. Sparrow and the boy with the bow ran to the right, and the boy with the sling edged through the rubble toward the dragon.

I headed to Widow Hu and whispered, “Are you mad?” Another loud crunch sounded and I heard the wild dragon snuffling, as Kalax often did after a late daytime snooze.

Rolling her eyes, Widow Hu pointed to the corner just ahead of us. “We can head it off there. Unless you, Sir Dragon Rider, have a better plan?”

Before I could stop her, she hurried toward the gap in the houses ahead of us. I couldn’t believe the half-blind, old Widow Hu was about to try to fight a dragon with only children to help her.

Even I wouldn’t try to fight a dragon on my own. I headed after her, determined to stop her from making a very bad mistake. But she stopped, raised her staff and struck it hard against the cobbles. The sound echoed around us. I stopped and held my breath.

Just past the rubble, glittering, onyx scales shimmered in the sunlight. The wild black dragon was turning toward the Widow Hu.

The dragon roared again, its voice echoing through the wreckage. I could see its sinewy form. Compared to Kalax, it was thin, but barbed scales fanned out around its neck and jaw, and horns spiked its head. That head lifted now and I could see the dark eyes. Its head turned from side to side like a snake’s.

This black was truly wild. I knew that at once. The Darkening wasn’t controlling its actions right now. I wondered if it had broken free of Lord Vincent’s control, or was this just a temporary freedom for the wild dragon?

Widow Hu lifted her staff and struck it against the cobbles so hard a flare of blue sparks came from the end. The wild black dragon couldn’t resist the sudden noise and movement. Something strange had moved—it would attack.

Sword in my sweating hand, I braced for the worst.

S
taring
at the fires in Monger’s Lane, I wondered how I would ever find Seb. I wasn’t even certain where his home was—or had been. In the time I’d known him, he had never talked much about his past and had never invited me to his house. For me, on the other hand, it seemed as if everyone knew not just my family name but all about my brothers, my father and mother and, of course, the instructors had expected me to live up to House Flamma’s reputation for producing the best Dragon Riders.

Your name or your skirts won’t change what I need from you, Flamma!
Instructor Mordecai had once shouted that at me—which was ridiculous really, because I had never asked for any special treatment. I had proven myself one of the best fighters, a solid protector. Growing up with two brothers, I’d had a lot of practice holding my own.

But while my family name had been impossible to escape from at the Academy, Seb’s background as a nobody from Monger’s Lane had singled him out for everyone expecting him to fail. He hadn’t. He was the best navigator—and he had the Dragon Affinity. Not many could claim that. He’d even been teaching me how to communicate with Kalax with thoughts. But I could see why he’d never invited me to see where he’d once lived.

Monger’s Lane was a wreck now, but I could see from the tight press of ruined houses and the narrow streets that this had never been pretty. And it stank. I’d known it was the poorest part of Torvald. And everyone had heard you didn’t go to Monger’s Lane wearing rich clothes if you wanted to keep your money and life. My father had often muttered darkly about how it should be burned to the ground and rebuilt.

Well, now he’d gotten that wish.

Monger’s Lane and all streets around it looked gutted by fire. Around it, the houses built from stone had mostly survived the dragons, the Wildmen and the raiders. Down here, the whole neighborhood had been crushed. Blackened piles of things that might have once been buildings littered the streets. The narrow lanes wound through the piles of charred wood as if they’d been planned by a demented, mostly blind spider. Tiny alleyways gave way to the entrances of now hollow warehouses. Streets didn’t seem to lead anywhere. I could see no open plazas, gardens or public buildings—this wasn’t anything like the wide streets I was used to. In the distance, I could hear the clash of metal on metal—fighting still going on. Cries echoed around us, but so far away from this place of desolation.

I was never going to find Seb.

Nudging my arm, Ryan asked, “When do we give this up?”

I glanced at him. “I didn’t ask you to come. You invited yourself along. You can give up anytime. I won’t. Seb’s my navigator.”

He gave me a crooked smile. “What? Leave all the fighting to you? And what else would I be doing—joining Father and Reynalt in their crazy thinking?”

“Thinking about treason,” I muttered.

Ryan put a hand on my arm and stopped me. “I am
not
going to be telling King Justin any of what they said. I don’t think you should, either.”

I pulled away from him and started walking again, but I said, “Don’t worry, I still hope it was only talk. I just can’t believe Reynalt would ever consider trying to depose the rightful king. As for Father and Mother…?” I let the words trail off.

That was the entire problem.

I’d been at the deathbed of the old king when he’d declared Lord Vincent—his enemy—to be his rightful successor. The old king had obviously been under the influence of the Memory Stone. Luckily for us, the only other people to have been there had been Seb and Instructor Mordecai, who’d sworn us to silence on the matter.

Not that it should matter—King Justin had been the only heir to the throne. The only true heir. But he was young, and he, too, had come under the influence of the Memory Stone. What if Lord Vincent killed King Justin, or brought him under control of the Darkening? Or was King Justin still under the influence of that dark magic? Was his plan to attack Lord Vincent’s forces just a way to lead us all to a final defeat?

Shoulders slumping, I glanced around at the ruined part of the city. We were headed into even more trouble, and I didn’t want my family to be caught up in the midst of what could be a civil war on top of the war with the Darkening.

Ryan kicked a broken brick and said, “You know Reynalt. He always had a stick up his backside. He probably thinks he’s doing right thing, and —”

T
he guttural croak of a dragon cut off his words. We both stopped and looked at each other.

Not one of ours?
I mouthed the words.

Ryan shook his head and put a finger to his lips. He already had his sword in hand, as did I. King Justin had wisely asked us to enter the city on foot as our dragons could attract the enemy. I felt lost without Kalax at my side, and I was wishing this was a dragon from the enclosure—one of ours. But if Ryan did not recognize the dragon’s call, this had to be one of the wild black dragons. We could only hope it was not serving Lord Vincent and the Darkening.

A crunch and the sudden bang of rock cracking against rock had me turning to see a building wall as it crashed to the ground. Dust choked the air.

Another sharp bang followed. I held up my hand and waved that we should run to the other side of the street. Ryan nodded, and we ran.

The roar of an attacking dragon echoed over the ruined streets. I wasn’t quite sure what we could do against a dragon with only our hand weapons—I didn’t have my bow with me—but we had to do something. That wild dragon was attacking
something,
which would probably turn out to be a
someone
.

“Now!” A woman screamed the word.

We reached the other side of the street and saw an old woman standing at the far end of what had once been a narrow lane. A black dragon bore down on her, crushing houses and breaking glass as it advanced. I opened my mouth to shout to her, to tell her to duck behind the rubble. The dragon reared up and flexed its ruff of spines.

Suddenly, something
struck the black dragon’s nose. The dragon paused and shook its head. Another small rock bounced off the beast’s head and dropped to the ground. The dragon was being pelted with cobblestones. The dragon blinked and shook its head.

More stones struck the dragon against the head, neck and hind quarters, pelting it like a hail storm. The dragon turned, whipping its barbed tail low across the street.

The old woman had just enough time to duck behind fallen wood timbers. The dragon’s tail swept over the top of her, crashing into one of the few standing buildings. Walls exploded, the roofs fell in and dust billowed with a deafening thunder.

I gasped, but the old woman stood and shouted, “Now! Now!” Two figures jumped up from the top of a pile of wood that had once been a structure. They were children really, but they ran toward the dragon and threw nets over the beast’s head before jumping and sliding down the wood timbers.

The dragon bellowed a roar and thrashed against the rope nets, rubbing at them with one foreleg. I realized they were fishing nets, the sort that river workers might use for a big catch. The dragon tore the nets off, but its jerky movements showed it was becoming flustered.

“They’re only succeeding in annoying it. Why anger a wild dragon?”

“They’re trying to scare it away!” Ryan pointed to where more tiny darts and rocks shot out from the rubble to hit the dragon.

The tactic never would have worked on a trained dragon, but the wild dragons liked easy hunting and resting grounds. Maybe this could drive it off.

Flinging the nets off, the black dragon reared backward on its hind legs. It looked as though it might tear into the sky. Suddenly, it rammed its claws down onto the ground with a thud that vibrated up my legs. “Oh, no. It’s decided to fight.”

The wild dragon shook its shoulders and wings, snapping off the remnants of the fishing nets. Now it was ignoring the stones that drummed against its scaled hide. It turned and headed for the old woman, its tail swishing like an angry cat.

The old woman slammed the bottom of her staff into the ground. “No, you don’t.”

A shout echoed over the ruins of Monger’s Lane, but also in my mind. “Halt!” I felt the word in my chest. The dragon stopped, almost as if it had been frozen. I had only ever witnessed that kind of power before from two people—one had been Lord Vincent, or the Darkening working through Lord Vincent, and the other was…Seb.

Glancing around, I saw Seb step up to stand in front of the old woman. He put out a hand, palm toward the wild dragon. I could feel the wave of power radiating from him, as if he was a taut bowstring waiting to be released. I wondered what would happen if he did let go of his control. Could he command a dragon to do anything?

But I could see Seb’s hand shaking. It had to be taking a lot of effort to try and wrest control of the wild beast from itself, and from the Darkening. I’d seen Seb use his Dragon Affinity to sense and interact with dragons, or to drive them away or pull them toward him. But how could he fully control a dragon that had no training—and no bonding with any human?

I hoped this would work. I didn’t want to see anyone die today, not even a wild dragon. But this skill—controlling dragons and bending them to your will—was what the Darkening sought to do. It left me wondering just how close Seb’s skills were to those of Lord Vincent. That wasn’t a good thought. Lord Vincent had almost killed me. With a shiver, I kept watching.

The dragon’s eyelids lowered. A tremor went through it as if it was fighting against Seb’s affinity. Its black eyes twitched, flared to almost yellow and turned deep red once again.

Could the Darkening sense what was happening through the dragon? I hoped not.

“You will return to your mountain and never bother the human world again
,”
Seb commanded, his thoughts once again making that weird echo as I heard it in my mind and my ears.

The black dragon blinked and shook its head. It swayed as if trying to fight the suggestion Seb had given it. Even from this distance, I saw sweat glisten on Seb’s face. The shaking of his hand spread to his arm.

The wild dragon’s eyes flared again… and then all tension fled from its shoulders. Its wings relaxed, its mane of spikes settled back. It dropped its head, turned to sniff the air above as if scenting the best current to take. With a rattling noise, almost the sort of chirrup that Kalax made when pleased, the dragon leapt into the air.

Rubble clattered to the ground behind the dragon. The black shadow circled once. I thought it would fly north, but Seb gave a cry and fell to his knees. The dragon above us screamed as well.

“No!” Seb shouted.

“What is he doing? What is going on?” Ryan yelled. I ran for Seb’s side, and Ryan matched my pace.

I crossed the ruined street in a moment. Seb knelt on the ground, holding his head with both hands. “Seb, snap out of it!” I held his arms and glanced at my older brother. “Ryan, where is the dragon?”

Ryan dropped his sword and picked up a long, broken beam of wood to use as a makeshift spear. He was doomed. We all were if the dragon came back to attack.

The dragon circled once more, cried out, then fell from the sky as if it had been struck by something. It hit the ground not one street over from us. Smoke billowed into the sky. I stared at Ryan and he stared back.

“No. no. There was no need… No need,” Seb muttered. He looked up at me. He wasn’t shaking as much, and he wiped the tears from his eyes. “They killed it. The Darkening killed it for disobeying.” Seb looked up at me through eyes shining with tears, and I knew at once who he meant.

The Darkening and Lord Vincent. They had somehow snapped the mind or the heart of the wild dragon rather than let it submit to the will of another.

“Come on,” I said, helping Seb up to his feet. “We have to get you out of here, and your friends, too.”

* * *

“
Y
ou sure
he’ll be well?” Ryan asked once more.

“Seb will be just fine,” I said, making the words firm. I was certain I hadn’t even convinced myself. “But, uh, you know what you were talking about not talking about?”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to remind me. Does the king know of…of your navigator’s skills?”

I shrugged. “Remember all the chaos and confusion at camp when we were attacked by that massive black dragon and Lord Vincent?” His face tightened, but he nodded. “Well—most of you woke up from the enchantment then because of Kalax, Seb and me. So I am fairly certain King Justin knows, as does Reynalt and Commander Hegarty. They’ve been trying to find ways to put Seb’s Dragon Affinity to the best use.”
Or they’re ignoring it altogether
.

He glanced at Seb. “Just don’t spread it around too much that my sister is partnered with a freak.”

“Ryan!” I thumped his shoulder, but he was already grinning.

He held up his hands. “Joke.” He shook his head.

“Haven’t we got better things to do right now?” I muttered, looking toward the ruined fortifications.

The sight of the palace, or what was left of it, deeply saddened me. The defenders had done a valiant job of trying to defend it, but many of the towers had been destroyed, and the vast scale of the structure left entire wings that had to be abandoned during the battle. Parts of it still seemed to be smoldering. But, after ransacking it, the Wildmen and the Southern Raiders had left the palace. It was about the safest place to be since most of the gates and walls still held strong.