WinterMaejic (19 page)

The air carries the first stirrings of Spring, and still we wait. In expectation of the final battle, our power pools in the ether. I grow drunk on its essence.

I shall see you soon, my son. I await you.

Apparently sensing my urgency, Grey didn’t ask any more questions. Chase ran ahead of us, easily following the trail. We sped past the place where Grey and I had met, and on, on, on to Xyla.

When we finally got to the cave, I was surprised to find a crowd of maybe thirty or so mages gathered outside. Traz stood to one side, his back to the group, warming his hands over a small fire. No one had noticed our arrival, so I went over to Traz.

“What’s going on?” I gasped, pressing the heel of my hand into my side. “Why is everyone out here?”

“Dunno,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Xyla made everyone leave, even Oleeda and Yallick. Even me.” He frowned at the flames.

I gripped his shoulder in sympathy and gave him a little shake. “I’m sure it’s just, you know, a female thing.”

He scowled at me. Then he saw Grey. “Hey, who’s that? Why’s he here?”

I introduced them. Grey stuck out his hand, but it was a moment or two before Traz took it.

“Grey saved my life, Traz, and sometime soon I’ll tell you all about it.” I pushed down the resentment that rose inside me at the memory of Yallick’s disbelief. “And Traz is my very best friend in the whole world, Grey.” Traz brightened up at that. “
And
he saved my brother. He and Xyla. I’ll tell
you
all about
that
soon.”

Then Xyla spoke to me. “Donavah, come quickly.”

“I have to go to her,” I said. Before I left, though, I whispered in Traz’s ear, “Don’t say anything about maejic.” And without waiting for his response, I dashed to the cave.

Yallick stood outside looking in, a half-worried, half-baffled expression on his face. I didn’t say anything but ran past as if he weren’t there. Just let him try to stop me, I thought.

Xyla lay in the back of cave, her sides heaving with the labor of her contractions. I’d seen plenty of animals give birth, even a snake once, and I knew what to expect, or so I thought.

She lifted her head a little and looked at me. “I wished for you to be here, little one. I am glad you arrived in time.”

“Me, too. But why have you made everyone wait outside? It’s cold out there, and they’d rather be here with you anyway.”

“They have angered you, and that angers me.”

That took a moment to sink in. I was only mad at Yallick, and I’d tried to hide that from the dragon.

“No, Xyla, I’m not angry at all of them. Why do you think . . . ?”

“I sense your anger, but not your thoughts.” Just then a huge wave rippled across her belly.

“Oh, Xyla, let them come in. Don’t worry about what’s going on inside my head now. They’re excited to see your eggs. None of us has ever seen a dragon, well, you know.”

She let out a bellow that must have been a call to the mages, because the lot of them came rushing in. Within moments, I was surrounded by a large group of people, mostly strangers, all of whom had their eyes fixed on Xyla.

A movement at the front of the cave caught my eye. Grey had come partway inside, but, as if the sight of the dragon were too much for him, he’d frozen in place. Chase hung back, not coming inside at all. As I watched, Grey backed out slowly. I took a step to follow him, to ask him to come back, when a huge cry of delight rose up behind me. Should I follow Grey or tend to Xyla? I really, really wanted to see the eggs, but I was worried Grey would slip away and I’d never see him again.

Then the noise rose behind me as people began to exclaim in astonishment. A high-pitched creel echoed off the walls. I turned to see what was happening.

“It can’t be!”

“I don’t understand.”

“Has there ever been such a thing?”

“It must be a sign.”

“But of what?”

I squeezed past the people to see for myself what was going on.

Xyla had stopped straining for the moment and instead was focusing all of her attention on something at her side. But instead of the large egg I expected to see, there was a tiny dragon, the same size Xyla had been when she first hatched.

I took a step closer. “Xyla? How . . . what’s going on?”

She pulled her gaze away from the baby and looked at me with a soft gleam in her eye. “The little ones are coming.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. What about . . . eggs? What happened to the eggs?”

Yallick’s gravelly voice came from behind me. “Live birth.” It was scarcely a whisper, almost a prayer.

“But how?” I asked, my anger forgotten for the moment.

“Legend has it that the red dragons gave live birth to their young instead of laying eggs. I suppose I should have guessed, but Xyla herself was hatched.”

“Would that be the same red dragons who . . .” I trailed off.

Yallick finished for me. “Breathed fire.”

I turned to look back at Xyla. Everything suddenly seemed much more enormous than it had been before. It felt as if the whole world were watching, anticipating some momentous change.

Then the feeling evaporated as another baby dragon crept out from behind Xyla. I took yet another step closer.

“Yes, you may.” Xyla answered my unasked question.

I couldn’t help grinning as I moved forward, slowly approaching the nearest baby. Once it noticed me, I stopped moving to let it get used to my presence. Xyla crooned reassuringly, and it looked up at her. I blew a little air through my teeth, making a soft
ssss
noise to attract the little one’s attention again. It gave a quizzical cheep, and I took another step nearer. And another, and another, and then it was within reach.

I picked it—him—up, careful not to tweak his wings. His skin was still birth-damp, and I wiped his body down with my sleeve. I sat on the ground and set him on my lap. He looked up at me, blinking. With gentle fingertips, I wiped his face. He seemed to enjoy my touch and when I stopped, he pushed his head against my hand, just like a cat when you stop petting it.

I smiled, lost in wonder. All of my recent difficulties seemed to fade into insignificance in the presence of the miracle of new life.

The next thing I knew, two more baby dragons came over to investigate. Soon they were crawling all over me, while I laughed harder and harder at their antics. My laughter was echoed inside my head by Xyla, who seemed quite charmed with her own offspring.

“You egotistical beast,” I said, trying to look up at her but finding my view obscured by wings, tails, and lithe, writhing bodies.

“It is the dawning of a new age,” she replied. Again her laughter filled my head as I lay back and let the little ones cover me.

Then I saw Yallick standing nearby and for the first time became aware of all the mages watching. I gulped, suddenly self-conscious. Disentangling myself from dragons, I rose to my feet and brushed the dust from my clothes. The first one I’d handled gurgled up at me and plucked at my knee. One of his claws went through the heavy fabric and scratched me painfully. I picked him up, and as I held him, he made a noise deep in his chest that reminded me of a cat purring.

Hours passed, and more and more baby dragons filled the space around Xyla. Eventually, she said, “Twenty-three,” in a self-satisfied tone.

I gasped in amazement. “Twenty-three babies?” I tried to count, but they were all wriggling around far too much. “Twenty-three! Xyla, that’s amazing!”

“As I said, a new age.”

“Well, Xyla,” Yallick said aloud. “You have given us rather a surprise.”

She turned her gaze on him. “I require food now.”

Yallick looked taken aback, and I choked back a laugh. But before he could reply, someone spoke from the mouth of the cave.

“I have meat.” Grey’s voice echoed off the walls, and everyone turned to see.

He’d fashioned a sort of sledge and was pulling it behind him. Animal carcasses were piled high, and I wondered how he’d managed to hunt so successfully in just a few hours.

Xyla let out a bellow and stood up. Seeing her standing there, drawn to her full height and surrounded by her tiny young almost took my breath away.

Grey approached with the sledge, and the mages made way for him. He looked up at Xyla, his eyes a little wide. The baby dragons pounced on the meat, and I wondered whether Xyla herself would actually get any at all. Yallick, deciding that the show was over, began to herd everyone out. I slipped my arm through Grey’s and walked out with him.

“How did you know . . .” I started to ask, but Yallick interrupted.

“Donavah, it is time for afternoon meditation,” he said, but I noticed that he was actually looking at Grey as he spoke. “There is another cave just beyond that outcrop that we can use.” He went on ahead.

I sighed. “I’ve got to go,” I said to Grey, “but I’ll be back.”

“I need to meditate, too. I’ll find somewhere sheltered in the woods. It’s what I’m used to, after all.” He gave me a shy smile.

I followed the path in the direction Yallick had pointed and found the cave easily. Traz stood just inside, holding a bundle in his arms.

“Here,” he said, grinning. “I thought you might like to see an old friend.”

“My pack!” I took it from him and held it to my chest. “I wondered what happened to it. Thanks for keeping it for me.”

“Well, not me, exactly. Yallick. I did go through it once we got here to take out any food,” and he pinched his nose, “but I didn’t look at anything. I promise.”

I grabbed him with one arm and pulled him into a hug. “That’s all right, Traz. Nothing private anyway. I’m just glad to get it back!”

Traz had called it an old friend, and silly as it seemed, that’s exactly what it felt like. I wandered into the cave. Two separate pools of candlelight glimmered where Yallick and Oleeda were beginning their meditation sessions. I went to the far side and sat on the ground.

My pack didn’t actually have much in it: some cooking gear, my waterskin, a few packets of herbs. And the traveling set of meditation candles that Kibee had given me before I set out on the journey to try to rescue Breyard.

I pulled a pair of candles randomly from the leather bag. Lavender for clarity and red for love. A warm feeling rose inside me as I lit them. I might be far, far away from every familiar part of my life, but here was a unifying thread.

I slipped easily into the routine. Within only moments, it was as if I were outside myself, drawing on the power of the forest life, pulling it toward me, almost as if I were hoarding it into my soul. It swirled inside me, sparking and igniting, expanding and multiplying, until my spirit felt it would burst with joy.

A sense of peace then settled on me. I looked around the dimly lit cave. Yallick sat nearby, facing me, and his eyes reflected glints of candlelight. I blew out my own candles, rose to my feet, and walked out of the cave.

Grey stood nearby, waiting. I held out a hand, and he took it in his. Chase trotted ahead of us as we walked back to Xyla’s cave to look in on the babies again. Grey squeezed my hand, and I knew everything was going to be all right.