The Blind Dragon (14 page)

Anna nodded, lifting her chin so that an armorer could buckle the collar of her neck guard.

"Want you to have this, too," Master Zar said. He handed her a brass telescope. Three pale moonstone buttons were set along the telescope's long axis. The oculus was ringed with lapis lazuli.

"Thank you, sir," Anna said.

"Comes from Kon," the Master said gruffly. "Lord Garen gave it to me two years ago. Has some interesting properties. You'll see."

Anna saluted him, sheathed the telescope in the leather loop at her side, and pulled on her riding gauntlets, locking their straps down tight. She holstered the revolver at the small of her back, swung the bandolier over her head, and slid the high silver dagger into its inverted scabbard across her chest. She tucked her helmet beneath her arm, took a deep breath, and turned to face the launch platform.

The morning sun and the endless sky beckoned. Behind her, as if on cue, Moondagger rose on his haunches, spread his white wings wide, lifted his head to the vaults, and roared.

In unison, the armory crews saluted them.

Anna returned their salute, crossing her chest with her fist.

"Arming master," Master Zar asked formally. "Is the rider ready for orders?"

"Sir." Master Jason nodded, fist crossing his chest. "The rider is ready."

31

M
OONDAGGER SAW A
massive, black dragon.

Anna was playing on him.

She was five years old.

The dragon was impossibly huge. He had enormous black horns, a gigantic black tail, and wings like the black sails of a massive ship. His eyes were deep, orange slits, the burning color of a volcano's heart.

Anna was tiny. Just a child. And yet she still managed to climb up the front of the dragon's nose, using his giant, hooked fangs to hold onto, climbing until she sat between his nostrils, a tiny speck of a girl planted squarely on the broad shelf of the black dragon's mighty snout.

She settled herself there, crossed her legs, then bounced up and down a couple of times.

"Wake up!" Anna shouted.

The fiery eyes of the dragon stayed closed. He gave a contented sigh.

"Wake up, sleepy!" She patted the scales beside her. "I wanna talk to you!"

"Gentle," Father said from across the stable. "He's resting." Father checked the flight log at the small desk, goggles up on his forehead, gauntlets folded and stuffed up into the bandolier at his chest. "He wants to take a nap."

Anna paused. "I wanna
talk
to you," she whispered. "I wanna
tell
you something."

The dragon barely cocked his head. Anna put her little hands down to keep her balance.

"See!" she cried. "He
wants
to play!"

She patted the big dragon fondly. Her tiny hand was smaller than his smallest scale. She scooted towards the front of his snout and stroked his delicate facial scales, the fine silvery hairs on his black nostrils.

"He's a good boy," Anna stated.

"That he is." Father walked to her and patted the dragon's massive jaw. The dragon rumbled contentedly, the bass vibrato unbelievably deep.

"He's old," Anna pointed out.

Father nodded. "To you and me. But dragons live their time differently. By his own life, he's just become a young man."

"He's a good young man," she said.

Father smiled. "Indeed."

"I want to ride him."

"You ride him all the time."

"I want to ride him like
you
ride him."

"If I step down, or if I'm killed, then Lord David will choose his next rider. Maybe it'll be you. Then, when you step down, or if you're killed, the next High Lord will choose another rider. And so on."

"You won't be killed."

"Death isn't defeat." He pulled her ear and winked.

"You
always
say that." She squirmed away.

"It's true. My father died in the service of Lady Tamara, Lord David's mother. He wasn't afraid to die. Your mother and I fight for Lord David. We're not afraid to die."

"I'm not afraid either."

"'Cause you're so smart." He kissed the top of her head.

He smelled like clean leather and straw and fresh air. "There're things more important than life."

"Honor, love, and family." She nodded.

"Exactly."

"You won't die," Anna said confidently. She leaned over and kissed the massive dragon on the nostril. It was kinda wet, but she didn't care.

"Listen here, young man," she told him. "You don't let him die. Hear me?
That's
your job. You keep him safe.
You
protect
him
."

The dragon's massive orange eye peeled open, huge and eternal, a glowering pit of unquenchable heat. Moondagger saw his own eyes reflected in it, two pale lozenges surrounded by timeless fire.

And in that moment, Moondagger understood his ultimate duty.

It was not just to fight.

It was to protect.

32

"
M
Y ORDERS?"
A
NNA
asked. Holding her leather helmet beneath her arm, she pushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear.

Master Zar nodded. "You'll launch immediately for the upper stables. There, you'll release Voidbane."

The armory crews stirred and murmured. From Master Zar's shoulder, little Gregory squeaked his approval.

Master Jason raised an eyebrow. "Think that's best? Bane's been uneven for years, ever since we lost Erik." He tilted his head at Anna.

"Don't know." Master Zar shrugged. He rubbed his palm over the Dallanar crest on his forehead. "But I do know this. If it comes to blows, Voidbane will shred Irondusk without half a thought. He's twice as smart, twice as fast, and he'll be hungry for a rematch. We give Bane the opportunity, Irondusk won't stand a chance. Don't forget, Voidbane
loved
Erik. Given the opportunity, he won't need an excuse to destroy Fel's dragons. Truth be told, the real problem will be getting him to stop."

Master Jason nodded.

"Fel knows that, too," Master Zar continued. "No way these traitors didn't consider Voidbane in their plans. They won't be able to touch him, but they'll still need to keep him out of the action. They know he's all we need to turn the tide of any battle. Probably what those dragon riders were doing at the upper barracks in the first place. Anna's gonna cut in there, evade whatever guards they've got in place, and set Voidbane loose. Simple as that. Besides, the big guy has known Anna since she was a baby. She's the only rider for the job, especially considering his temperament of late."

"And us?" Master Jason asked.

"We're gonna follow Master Khondus's plan. We're gonna kill those traitors in the courtyard, meet up with Khondus and Captain Fyr at the High Gate, and get a message through to Bellános on Kon. Once that's done, we'll keep taking out the rubbish 'til the Drádonhold's been scrubbed clean."

"Will Bellános come?" Master Jason asked.

"How can he not?" Master Zar replied. "His thrice cursed brother arms House Fel against us. And why? So that he can take control of our stables and our dragons. Bellános knows all this. We get him a message, he'll keep his promise. He'll come."

"And if we can't get him a message?"

"It means Fel controls both Dávanor's High Gates. It means we're cut off. It means that we stand alone against Lord Fel, Lord Tevéss, and the Pretender King."

33

H
ER HAND ON
Moondagger's neck, Anna put her foot into her stirrup and lifted herself up into the saddle. There, she clipped her harness into the saddle's safety clasps and belted up her thighs. Dagger shifted beneath her. His neck was a coiled spring of muscle beneath smooth white scales. She lay forward along the saddle's belly pad and double-checked the distance between her saddle and her grips. She twisted side to side and pulled hard against the restraining clips and belts. Everything felt in order, so she secured her helmet, checked her equipment one more time, and pulled her flight goggles down over her eyes. Master Jason and Master Zar stood together on the far side of the launch platform. She nodded at them. Good to go. Master Jason returned her nod. Master Zar gave her a formal salute, his huge purple fist across his broad chest. Little Gregory glared at her with his tired, milky eyes and gave a little squeak.

"Platform clear!" Master Jason ordered.

"Platform clear, sir!" his team replied.

"Rider ready!"

"Rider ready, sir," Anna replied.

"Launch!" Master Jason commanded.

"Launch!" the team cried.

"Launch," Anna whispered.

A muscly grunt, a scrape of claw, and they leapt together into the sky.

34

T
HEY ARCED INTO
the air and dropped away from the platform, diving along the walls, the carved cliffs, and the jagged rocks of the mountainside. Dagger's white tail was a perfect line, his form impeccable, his neck strong and warm beneath her chest, his response to her grips and knees immaculate. A cliff tree flashed past them with a snap of twig. They banked hard and started their long circle around the eastern side of the Drádonhold.

Anna's goggles were clear, and she kept a sharp lookout for enemy sentries and riders. She saw none. Messenger dragons still flurried across the sky as the Drádonhold woke to the day, but it was eerie, as if the citadel had chosen this particular morning to slumber late, unaware of the coiled violence now seething within its walls.

They raced along the eastern side of the mountain. When they'd gone far enough, she lifted Dagger's nose and began the slow, careful climb to Voidbane's lodge.

"Let's go even higher," Anna said. "Come in from up top."

They'd approach the lodge from above. If the enemy saw them, they'd have the advantage of elevation and could drop away, fast. Dagger pumped his wings and banked upwards, angling against the cliff side, climbing steadily. After several moments, they landed on a narrow cliff ledge above the Drádonhold.

Anna sat up in her saddle, looked down at the High Keep.

Voidbane's lodge was directly below them. It was a massive stone building nearly a hundred paces long and half again as tall. Because of the mountain's topography, it sat at one of the highest points of the Drádonhold, connected to the upper stables and barracks by a series of narrow stairs and rock-cut bridges. The lodge's foundation had been carved directly into the mountain top, its wall courses cut from the cliff side. Its huge, gabled roof was tiled with the same silver-grey slate as the rest of the Keep's buildings.

She pulled her goggles from her face, set them on the brow of her helmet, and frowned. Dagger grunted. There was no one there.

She couldn't see the front of the lodge, but the enormous side yard was empty and the big southern and eastern windows were open. Voidbane's launch door was open, too. It was as if he was already out. She could see into the stable proper. There was nobody there.

But how could that be?

"Makes no sense."

She took the telescope from the leather loop at her side, extended it, and pointed it at the lodge. Everything became huge and clear.

But still nothing.

No movement. No Dradón soldiers. No Tevéss soldiers. No dragons. No Voidbane. Nothing.

She moved the sight of the telescope over and around the lodge. As she adjusted her grip, her finger pressed one of the telescope's moonstone buttons. A loud, wet gasp sounded in her ear. She jumped and jerked the telescope from her eye. Dagger growled. As soon as her eye no longer touched the telescope's brass oculus, the sound ceased immediately. She checked around, saw that she was clear, and pressed her eye once again to the telescope. There was no sound. She pressed the moonstone button again. The sound returned.

It was a huge, rattling breath, moist and deeply labored.

The sound of a massive dragon.

A massive dragon that couldn't breathe.

Anna collapsed the telescope with a snap.

"Go!" She pressed herself to Dagger's neck as he launched from the ledge, diving straight at the lodge, straight through the stable's rear window, unfurling his wings the moment he was inside, landing perfectly in the golden straw.

Voidbane was there, lying on his side.

But he didn't move.

"No!" Anna cried.

She unclipped and leapt from her saddle.

He was truly an enormous dragon, over sixty paces long. His scales were black as night. His black tail was long and thickly crested, his huge head marked by massive obsidian horns. The tip of one horn had been broken three years ago and had yet to heal. The other was nearly as long as Anna was tall. His huge eyes were shut. He didn't stir, not even with their landing.