The Lost Lands Page 14

  Valkea snarled, and D’Mara knew she’d painted the worst possible picture in the dragon’s mind. If there was anyone Valkea hated more than D’Mara, it was Bellacrux.

  “But if I name you as the Lennix Grand,” D’Mara said slowly, “no one will question it. Not even Decimus.”

  Clearly this caught Valkea by surprise. The Red was momentarily speechless, but then she shook her head. “I don’t trust you.”

  “Of course you don’t, no more than I trust you. But we could be great together, you and I, if we stopped working against each other. We were pretty great back in the Lost Lands, weren’t we?”

  Valkea made a throaty noise of assent.

  “Still,” the dragon said. “I would need more than your word. I would need your ultimate trust.”

  “Very well.” D’Mara knew the dragon hadn’t fully discarded the idea of leaving her for dead, and for her life, D’Mara could bargain anything. “What can I do that will make you trust me?”

  “You can make me your Lock.”

  The words slammed into D’Mara’s like a cascade of rocks. She reeled.

  “I—I am already Locked,” said D’Mara, her mouth suddenly dry. “As are you!”

  “To weaker partners. Krane is old and sick. Tamra is fierce but young and foolish.”

  “Is such a thing even possible? I’ve never heard of a dragon or human taking new Locks while their old ones lived.”

  “There is a way. There is a ritual. Like you said: We could be great together, you and I.”

  “I can’t do this, Valkea. Krane is … Krane is everything to me.” He was her life’s only love. He’d been with her since she was a child. He knew her better than anyone, and what’s more, he loved her back.

  He trusted her.

  “No,” she whispered. “I’ll give you anything, Valkea. But not this.”

  “Then,” said the dragon, “I suppose this is farewell, D’Mara Lennix. If I must take command of the Raptors the hard way, then so be it. My reign will be all the stronger for it.”

  Valkea’s wings stirred the sulfuric steam, making it swirl like a tornado as she rose into the air. D’Mara gaped, while Sammi cowered behind her. The Red was really doing this—leaving her to die. How had this happened? Minutes ago, everything had been in D’Mara’s grasp: the Lost Lands, the Skyspinner’s Heart, ultimate power, and an unbreakable crown. Yet in the space of a few heartbeats, she had lost it all. Even her life was being taken from her.

  “Valkea! I’ll give you anything else—anything at all!”

  But the Red was already vanishing, as the steam wrapped around the rocky island and cut D’Mara off from the outside world. She felt as if she were suffocating. Calling again for Krane, she found only silence.

  D’Mara had never felt terror like this before.

  Dropping to her knees, she thought of Krane. Her Lock, her love, her only friend. The only good thing she had in this world.

  She remembered what her mother had said to her: Are you a Raptor or a sheep? And years later, when her mother was dying and she’d been passing rule of the fortress to D’Mara: Command will cost you everything, daughter. But power is only forged through sacrifice.

  Despite herself, she began to imagine what Locking with Valkea would achieve. She’d no longer have to watch her back for betrayal within the Raptor ranks. The Raptors would be united at last, at their strongest, just in time to raid the Lost Lands. And Valkea was strong, fierce, ambitious—all the things D’Mara admired most in herself. They wouldn’t be a great match … they would be a legendary one. Together they truly could rule two worlds.

  All it would cost her was the one she loved most.

  Are you a Raptor, D’Mara Lennix, or a sheep?

  Well, she was no sheep.

  There was only one thing D’Mara could do.

  She put her trembling hands to her cheeks and felt tears there. Her heart pounded, unwilling, but her mind overruled it.

  Power is only forged through sacrifice.

  I am no sheep.

  I am a Raptor.

  D’Mara Lennix stood up. She drew a deep breath. “Forgive me, my love,” she whispered.

  Then she called out, “Valkea!” It felt unnatural and twisted, as if she were bending all her joints the wrong direction. But she forced herself to do it anyway.

  “Valkea! I … I will do it. I will accept you as my Lock.”

  For a moment, she heard only silence. Perhaps she was too late. Perhaps she really was too weak. All around her, the stinking fumes of the Brimstone Lake swirled and coiled.

  Then, two red eyes materialized in the mist. Wretched in a sulfuric cloud, Valkea stalked toward her.

  “Then come with me, D’Mara,” she said. “And let us perform the Rite of Sundering.”

  In the stunned silence that followed D’Mara’s attack, Joss thought it might have all been a dream. It had happened so fast, with no warning, and then all at once it was over.

  But Sammi was gone, and that had been no dream.

  “Sirin,” he gasped out at last. “Sirin, are you okay?”

  Sirin had fallen to her knees, her eyes wide, staring at nothing. It was more frightening than if she’d been sobbing uncontrollably. She looked … empty.

  Joss skidded down the bank to her and took her shoulders in his hands. “Sirin?”

  The shock is great, Lysander told him. Being separated like that, so suddenly …

  Joss nodded. He remembered what it had felt like when Lysander had been taken from him at Fortress Lennix. While Kaan had flown on his dragon, Joss had been locked in a cell, feeling like his heart had been torn from his chest. Whatever it was that connected a human to a dragon, that bond was stronger than any other force in nature. So having it torn or stretched too far hurt like having your lungs pierced.

  Sirin drew a deep, shuddering breath, and finally focused her gaze on Joss. “She’s gone,” she rasped. “Sammi!”

  “We’ll get her back.”

  “Everything gets taken away,” said Sirin. “Everything and everyone. My dad when I was little, my mum just days ago, and now Sammi. Why do I always end up alone?”

  “You’re not alone. I’m here. And we will rescue Sammi.”

  With a hiccup, Sirin lifted her head. “Please,” she whispered. “Joss, it hurts.”

  “I know,” he said. “C’mon, stand up. We’ll set things right, so don’t give up hope yet.”

  They stood, Sirin leaning on Joss. He’d never seen her like this, so fragile. She’d been so strong, jumping into their world and all its dangers with both feet and never complaining. But now she looked thin and hollow.

  “Joss,” said Allie, with a look of warning, “you know how bad this is, right? The Raptors have found a way to cross portals. And now, even worse, D’Mara Lennix knows about the Skyspinner’s Heart. It’s just a matter of time before she finds it, with or without our help. We have to find it first. Our world and this one literally depend on it!”

  “It’ll take days to reach the city Thorval told us about,” said Sirin. “I know where to look now, but it’ll still take time to find the Heart. And Sammi will … Sammi will be gone before then.”

  “She won’t hurt Sammi,” said Allie. “That hatchling is her only leverage. She’s bluffing.”

  “You can’t know that!” Sirin shouted. “If it were Bellacrux’s life in danger, would you risk it?”

  “We could all go now,” said Joss. “Stage a rescue. With Lysander and Bellacrux working together—”

  “Against scores of Raptors?” Allie shook her head. “It’s madness.”

  “But we could try.”

  “You’re being an idiot, Joss.”

  “You’re being heartless, Allie!” said Joss, looking hard at his sister. “We are family. We stick together. And Sirin’s one of us now, and so is Sammi. If it were me in that fortress, you’d tear it apart to rescue me.”

  Allie looked down; he was right and she knew it.

  “Bellacrux agrees with me.”
Allie put a hand on the Green’s shoulder. “She says the Heart is the most important thing, and we cannot risk the Raptors finding it first.”

  Bellacrux nodded.

  Joss, said Lysander. We have to save Sammi. That little eggbrain is a pest, but she’s a member of our flight. Our family.

  I agree, Lysander. But how do we convince Allie and Bellacrux?

  The Silver sighed and couldn’t offer a reply.

  “You’re glad she took Sammi, aren’t you?” said Sirin suddenly, narrowing her eyes at Allie.

  “What?” Allie’s jaw dropped open.

  “You are! All along, you’ve been looking for a way to get rid of me. You think I’m too soft, that I’ll just slow you down.”

  “I …” Allie reddened. “Well, it’s more complicated than that. But it doesn’t change the fact that the Heart—”

  “The Heart, the stupid Heart!” shouted Sirin. “I’m sick of it! Ash was right. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

  “It’s the answer to all our problems.”

  “It’s not the answer to Sammi’s problem! Which is, oh wait, I remember: getting killed!”

  “Sirin, just tell us where the Heart is. The sooner we find it—”

  “I’m not telling you anything.”

  “What happened to you being a member of the team?”

  “Oh, so now you want me to be on the team?” Sirin threw her hands in the air. “Now you want to listen to my ideas?”

  “Stop!” Joss said. “Both of you!”

  They ignored him and kept arguing, their voices getting louder and louder until even Bellacrux was groaning.

  Joss walked away. He couldn’t listen anymore. He agreed with Sirin, but he also saw Allie’s point. With the Lennixes now hunting the Heart too, there was more at stake than ever before.

  Joss.

  Stopping, Joss sighed and turned to his Lock. Lysander had followed him, and though they could still hear the girls shouting, Joss couldn’t make out the words anymore.

  I’m tired, Lysander. I’m tired of the running, the fighting, and I’m sick of Allie and Sirin always arguing. How do we fix all this?

  When hunting two prey, the flight may divide.

  Joss stared at the Silver dragon.

  “Lysander,” he whispered. He knew at once what his Lock was thinking.

  Joss chewed his lip and watched his sister and friend as they yelled at each other.

  I trust Allie, he sent. And I trust Sirin. And I trust you, if you think this is the only way.

  Lysander nodded. And I trust you, Joss. Always.

  Then let’s not wait any longer. If we do, I might chicken out.

  I was thinking the same thing, my Lock.

  Joss climbed onto Lysander’s back and settled into the rider’s dip, his stomach tumbling. This was by far the stupidest thing he’d ever done, but he also knew it was right.

  I’m sorry, Lysander. I wish there were another way.

  I’m not sorry. We have unfinished business with the Lennix clan, anyway.

  “Allie!” Joss called out. “Sirin!”

  They didn’t even seem to hear him.

  So Lysander roared a roar to flatten the very grass under their feet.

  Startled into silence, the girls stared at them.

  “Joss?” Allie took a half step, raising her hand. The color drained from her face. “Joss! What are you doing?”

  “What I have to do. I can save Sammi, while you two save the world.”

  “Joss! NO!”

  “Find the Heart!” Joss called out. “I’ll find you when we’ve escaped Fortress Lennix. Again.”

  Allie’s next shout was drowned out by the whoosh-oosh of Lysander’s wings as he lifted into the air. Bellacrux trumpeted, but her size slowed her down as she attempted to launch herself in pursuit.

  By the time the Green was airborne, with Allie shouting desperately on her back, Lysander had opened the portal, and then he and Joss were gone.

  D’Mara Lennix stood on a stone ledge just below the top of a massive volcano, Valkea beside her, the hostage hatchling limp at her feet.

  Smoke wafted from various cracks and pits in the volcano’s slopes. Despite their elevation, the air was hot enough to make D’Mara sweat in her leathers. She stared at the place Valkea had brought them to.

  Before her loomed a cave just large enough for a dragon to squeeze through.

  This was the place where, according to Valkea, they would sever the links with their current Locks and form a new bond—with each other.

  The hostage hatchling had given up struggling, thanks to D’Mara’s belt, which was now wrapped around its nose as a makeshift muzzle. D’Mara had tied her wings together with a bit of leather lacing she’d pulled from her coat cuff. The little Green shivered, too tired now to even shoot angry looks at her captor. She would go nowhere while D’Mara and Valkea went in to perform the ritual.

  Would Krane feel it the moment their connection was severed?

  D’Mara shivered and pulled her coat tighter.

  I’m doing this for the bigger picture, she reminded herself. For the clan. For my children.

  Really? whispered a voice; if she didn’t know better, she’d think it was Krane’s. Or for yourself?

  D’Mara scowled. Yes, for myself too! And what’s so wrong with that?

  Squashing the fear inside her, D’Mara squared her chin. “All right, then. Let’s get it over with.”

  She strode into the cave first, before Valkea tried something stupid like ordering her to. Then D’Mara would just have looked like she was obeying the dragon, and she thought it very important that they established early that D’Mara would be ordered around by no one, not even her Lock.

  Valkea followed, her tail scraping the stone as it dragged behind her.

  Inside the cave, D’Mara found not darkness and damp, but a fiery-orange glow that scorched the walls and heated her skin nearly to blistering. She walked past bulbous mounds of black rock that had once been roiling magma, then stopped and let out a long, low whistle of awe.

  Before her flowed a river of bright red lava. It bubbled and slurped as it moved lazily through a channel of stone, flowing deeper into the mountain. And like a trail of stepping stones, pillars of rock rose from the lava and marched down the center of the river.

  On the stone walls ran deep gouges that could only have been made by dragon claws. She wondered how long ago they’d been carved there. It looked like whatever dragon had made them had been trying to claw its way out of the lava. Judging by the scattering of large bones around her, D’Mara guessed it had not succeeded. In fact, it looked like many dragons had died here.

  “Is it not glorious?” hissed Valkea. “I grew up not far from here. Before I joined the Raptors, of course. My clan used this place as a rite of passage. If a young Red traveled the length of the fire river, they were made full clan members. Of course, many failed.” She sneered at the bones.

  “How can this place sever the bond between Locks?” D’Mara whispered. “Even if you separate them for years, the bond will still exist. Death is the only true and final separation.”

  “If you would find out, enter Hama Sarath,” intoned Valkea.

  D’Mara’s heart thumped hard and fast. Hama Sarath was dragonsong for The Jaws of Death.

  “Well, what you standing around waiting for?” she said, and then she jumped to the first stone pillar. It was just wide enough for a dragon’s claw to stand upon, so there was plenty of room for D’Mara. Without slowing, she jumped to the next stone.

  The pillars led all the way down the tunnel of searing lava, but where it ended, D’Mara could not see. Still she leapt onward, building momentum as she hopped from stone to stone. The heat was merciless and hungry. The lava slurped as if it were anticipating swallowing her whole.

  But D’Mara was nimble and quick; she’d been training all her life at swordplay and knifework, and it paid off now. Her feet flew, her steps were sure. Before she knew it, she’d land
ed on solid ground—the other end of the deadly pathway. A stone tunnel stretched away before her, into shadow.

  After a short walk, lit occasionally by cracks in the wall that revealed more pockets of simmering lava, they came to a large round chamber. A moat of lava encircled the space, and they crossed a small stone bridge that arced over it. In the center of the chamber rose a rocky pedestal, and on the pedestal sat a stone.

  But not just any stone.

  D’Mara approached it carefully. Its surface swirled and shifted, as if it contained a legion of living shadows. It seemed aware of her, and she shivered.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  Valkea replied, “My clan called it the memory stone. There were even rumors that it was once the heart of an ancient dragon queen, brought over when we were sent into exile.”

  “Like the Skyspinner’s Heart,” said D’Mara.

  “Perhaps so.”

  Was this dark, glistening stone truly the heart of an ancient, star-born dragon, one of the first of their kind? D’Mara yearned to touch it, even as it frightened her as nothing ever had before. It was full of power, that much was undeniable.

  “What do you mean, memory stone?” asked D’Mara. “How could that sever a Lock’s bond?”

  “You can’t be bonded to someone you never met,” said Valkea.

  “But I’ve met Krane.” D’Mara thought of that day in the fortress, running scared for her life, while hungry Krane hunted her. The sacrifice of the servant man, Krane’s offer to be her Lock.

  Are you a sheep or a Raptor?

  “You will have,” agreed Valkea, “until you touch that stone.”

  “It will make me forget him? And that will sever us?”

  “As surely as death. My clan called it sundering. They discovered that the memory stone could break Locks’ bonds by erasing all memory of the human from a dragon’s mind, and it’s why they sent us to this place when we came of age. Locks made by hatchlings are usually rash and poorly chosen. If a young dragon chose a human Lock too early, it could sunder that bond here and choose a new, stronger Lock after completing the Rite.”

  “How do I make it work?”