Tears of War (9 page)

“And what?” Maleena’s brow furrowed; the older woman had left something out.

Emallya shook her head and smiled slightly. “Nothing. It is just sometimes the things that survived surprise me.”

Maleena nodded, thinking the other woman meant the Ka’ti. “You only had three in all that time?”

Emallya chuckled. “As you have discovered, we are not a particularly fertile lot. Our dragons have strange cycles and it messes up the rhythm of our own. How many times have you cycled in the two and a half years since you hatched Nydara?”

“Four…maybe five,” Maleena admitted. It saddened her that it could still be many years before she might have a child.

“You see? With your cycles so rare and erratic, it is hard for your body to be receptive and allow a babe to settle in.” Emallya smiled. “It will happen eventually, I am sure.”

Kirynn’s shadow fell across them as she and Vaddoc walked up. “It’s hard to practice when you are lounging around.”

Maleena tipped her head back and looked up at her friend. The redhead smiled at her. “Emallya decided I had enough and it was time to stop. Honestly, I think she grew tired of knocking me into the dirt repeatedly.”

Kirynn laughed. “You will get it. And even if you are never great with weapons, you have other strengths. Not everyone is meant to be a warrior.”

K
irynn sat in the saddle on Syrakynn, waiting for Vaddoc. The light orbs and torches set around the caldera rim held back the dark of a new moon. Two Defenders stood near, ready to lead the horses through the Slide. Thanks to her dragon-bond, she could pick out the scrollwork on the horses saddles. Namir stood to her left, Cat already on the saddle. Kirynn shook her head, remembering the night Cat had scared a very young Namir. Now, the dragon refused to leave for Shadereen without the animal.

Vaddoc strode across the caldera floor to Namir’s side. He stopped to fasten the catcher strap then stepped up on the gold’s front leg and pulled himself into the saddle. Cat trilled and watched with orange eyes as Vaddoc fastened the safety straps.

Syrakynn shifted, ready to lift off and the horses shied back. The Defenders had to work to keep the animals under control. Kirynn laughed.
“You really need to stop looking at the horses like you want to eat them, it makes them too nervous,”
she sent.

“But I do want to eat them. Surely there is one somewhere that isn’t wanted,”
the red sent back.

“I doubt anyone is going to offer one of their horses up for a meal.”

The dragon huffed and eyed the horses again. Kirynn shook her head. Sometimes the red was impossible.

The other riders and their dragons stood around them. Her eyes drifted across Kellinar, Serena, Taela, Mckale, Maleena, and the new riders. Her companions and greatest friends. Her gaze lingered on their faces and their dragons. When would she see them again? What did the future hold? Sadness tightened her chest for a moment. If things didn’t go well…would she ever see them again?

“We are ready,”
came Syrakynn’s sending.

Namir lifted off with Syrakynn right behind him. They only climbed a short way before the Slide spun open like a whirlpool of heat waves in the air, opening slowly until it reached the ground. The Defenders led the horses through as the dragons moved into it. The world swirled into indistinct colors and then warm night enveloped them. The sparkling black blanket of the sky stretch from horizon to horizon.

Syrakynn landed and Kirynn undid the straps then leaped off to take the horses. Namir held the Slide open and passed back through so the Defenders could go back to Galdrilene. It only took a few seconds before he reemerged and landed next to the red. Kirynn untied her zahri from her horse’s saddle.

She glanced around the dark, empty prairie. “I forgot how open it is in the east.”

Vaddoc took a deep breath and moved through the night with easy familiarity. “I never really thought about it. This was home.”

“Where are we?”

“On the Ash Plains, half a day’s ride to the northern Shaderian border.”

“I thought you were raised in Marden, isn’t that quite a ways south?”

He smiled at her. “We lived close to the border when I was a small boy. My brother and I used to ride out here on the Ash Plains and pretend we were fighting Kojen. My father would come back from his patrols on the eastern border and find out we had been out there and have a fit.” A look of sadness crept into his eyes. “That was before my brother and I knew what Kojen really were.”

Kirynn swung into her saddle and settled her zahri across her thighs as Vaddoc climbed onto his own horse. “Where are your father and brother now? You’ve never spoke of them before.”

He gazed out at the night for a long moment before answering. “They were both killed in a Kojen raid. About five years ago. I do not care to remember that time.”

Kirynn let it drop; he would talk if he wanted to. They rode for several hours while the stars passed overhead. The land remained quiet around them save for the sound of the wind in the grass. Syrakynn and Namir flew high in the sky above them, watching for danger.

They would reach the northern border of Shadereen the next day. The dragons would have to keep out of sight. They didn’t want to scare everyone before they had a chance to explain.

M
aleena watched the Slide spin open and reach all the way to the ground. She tried not to think about the friends they were leaving behind, or what it would be like meeting the people of Calladar. People who wouldn’t welcome their magic; people who would look at her with suspicion and dislike.

Ahead, Tellnox and Mckale entered the Slide. Nydara flew through right behind them. The swirl of colors turned into cold dark sky. Mountains ranged to the north and the west. Beneath them, the mountains gave way to canyons and broad plateaus. They were about three weeks ride north of Calladar. The deep chill in the air surprised her. They weren’t that much further north than Galdrilene, but the air had held the warmth of late spring there.

Nydara settled on a plateau while the Defenders led Arella and Blain through. She’d worried about bringing the aged mare, but a thorough examination by Serena assured her the old mare could handle it.

She undid the safety straps and jumped down from the saddle. Arella greeted her with a soft whinny as she took the reins. Blain gave a soft snort and nudged her arm. She gave the massive black horse an affectionate pat.

Within minutes, Mckale had slid the Defenders back and returned. He jumped off Tellnox and came to stand next her. Blain shoved him with his head as he took the reins. Mckale laughed and scratched the horse around his ears. “I’ve missed you too, Blain.”

Maleena smiled at the two of them. Although they had ridden a couple of times a week in Galdrilene, the horses didn’t see as much of them there. She stroked the dished face on the old gray mare.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,”
came Nydara’s sending.

Maleena turned her smile on the silver dragon.
“I know you won’t.”

Mckale reached out and took her hand. “Come on, there is a path off this plateau. In the canyons we will find enough small trees and brush to have a fire to take the chill off.”

“You aren’t worried about someone seeing it?” she asked. She remembered his refusal to have a fire during their journey to Galdrilene over two years ago.

He shook his head. “Tellnox and Nydara will see anyone approaching long before they can see the fire.”

She followed him down the narrow path and into the canyon. Stubby trees and scraggly bushes lined both sides of the canyon and a narrow river ran through its center. Tellnox and Nydara pulled up several of the trees, clearing a place by the wall.

Maleena and Mckale pulled the packs from the horses and stacked them against the wall. While the dragons made a competition out of breaking the trees into smaller pieces, Maleena took each horse’s head between her hands. When she released them, they began to graze on the newly formed buds on the trees and bushes.

Mckale piled the wood together and stepped back. “Tellnox, do you mind starting the fire?”

The dragon lowered his head and shot a thin band of flame at the pile.

When the fire was burning well, Mckale glanced at the horses. “You aren’t going to tether them?”

“I don’t need to. They won’t go far, I made sure of it.”

He shook his head and walked over and put his arms around her. “You always amaze me.”

She pulled his mouth down to hers. After a moment, he broke away. “Perhaps we should get the sleeping rolls laid out.”

Maleena watched Mckale untie the sleeping rolls from the packs. The firelight played across his bronzed skin and gathered in his silver eyes. A brief tingle of energy interrupted the happy mood filling her.

She glanced out at the night, her eyes scanning up and down the wide canyon. What had she felt? She sent her mind out searching. The tingle felt foreign and familiar at the same time. Her confusion was reflected in Nydara.

“What was that? I feel as if I should know, but the answer is out of reach,”
the silver sent.

Maleena maintained her concentration, her mind searching farther into the night.
“It did feel familiar, like a long forgotten memory or dream,”
she sent back.
“Tellnox, did you feel it?”

The massive green lifted his long nose, taking in the smells on the breeze.
“I felt it, but I don’t know what it is.”
He turned his silver eyes to her.
“Like you, it seems as if I should know it.”

Mckale touched her arm. She glanced at him; he stood with his eyes on the canyon. “You might as well come back. If you haven’t found it yet, you probably aren’t going to. What I sensed through Tellnox didn’t feel that far.”

She sighed and brought her searching mind back. “I suppose you are right. If there is someone…something out there that can use magic, I should be able to find it.”

He turned away from the canyon and put his arms around her. “You can’t find Loki a lot of the time.”

“This was not Loki. This was different. It worries me that I can’t find the source. It’s gone now anyway.”

“Tellnox and I are going to hunt. We will search for anything in the canyon and the surrounding area.Perhaps we can locate the source. We won’t go far in case you need us,”
Nydara sent.